Opinion 1
Election Opinions
On the day of school that Cathy Mcleod, Bill Sundhu, Steve Powrie and Matt Greenwood visited, I didn't have an opinion on the election. My parents are European immigrants although, as of late my mother became Canadian, although my dad has not. I am still too young to vote and since my parents were not able to either, my entire family did not have a lot to say about politics, and if we did there wasn't a way to use it.
Due to my lack of involvement in the subject during my childhood I was confused when the subject was brought up in my humanities class. I didn't know a lot about parties and the only way I even knew what the runners names were was because of the signs posted everywhere around town. Since I was practically clueless about the election, my opinion was based solely on my thoughts of them as a person. I didn't have a thought on the people running for prime minister so I was left with the impressions that the four people visiting my school gave me.
While being introduced to the school and learning their way around, Bill definitely struck me as the most welcoming. He seemed genuinely kind to the students and staff and he definitely made a good first impression on me. After taking our seats in the school assembly room and scanning the four proud looking people at the front with our eyes, we listened to a brief introduction that Cole Stone presented. When Cole pointed out Steve Powries age he made a distasteful upturned face and looked quite unimpressed. I didn’t like how visibly annoyed he looked with that comment. Next I noticed certain things about Matt Greenwood that I didn't like. He vocally called out his opponents by name saying that they were wrong and correcting them, he also made a mistake in my eyes when saying the words: “Bill is actually right” I thought he was not exactly rude, but also said a few things that could definitely have been worded better. Although I loved how nice Bill Sundhu was I couldn’t help noticing that he seemed very passionate about the subject of immigrants and non-canadians deserving a good life here, which I completely agree with, my own parents are immigrants. My only doubts from him were that he seemed so overly passionate about that subject that it seemed like the only thing he spoke of. He was my favourite, but I was just unsure about his passion and interest in other subjects apart from that one. So that left Cathy, I was really impressed with her from the beginning. She didn't call out any other candidates, nor did she roll her eyes or make faces, she clearly had experience which I think is good. I quickly realized that I was the only one that thought so, as soon as I said that she impressed me the most, everyone was saying how bad that was because that meant that I was supporting our current Prime Minister, Stephen Harper. Which wasn’t entirely true, I liked Cathy, but I didn’t have an opinion on Stephen Harper. Apparently a lot of other people did though, I was shocked to find that almost everyone I talked to hated our current leader, I thought he was rather fondly spoken of before I was told differently.
In conclusion I don’t know who I would vote for with 100% certainty. I liked Cathy’s experience, Bill’s passion and care for the people. I liked Steve and Matt for different reasons as well. I definitely understood people's frustration with Cathy speaking through the mind of Stephen Harper and avoiding the point of the questions we asked her. Like I said earlier, I didn’t know almost anything about politics. But this definitely opened my eyes.
On the day of school that Cathy Mcleod, Bill Sundhu, Steve Powrie and Matt Greenwood visited, I didn't have an opinion on the election. My parents are European immigrants although, as of late my mother became Canadian, although my dad has not. I am still too young to vote and since my parents were not able to either, my entire family did not have a lot to say about politics, and if we did there wasn't a way to use it.
Due to my lack of involvement in the subject during my childhood I was confused when the subject was brought up in my humanities class. I didn't know a lot about parties and the only way I even knew what the runners names were was because of the signs posted everywhere around town. Since I was practically clueless about the election, my opinion was based solely on my thoughts of them as a person. I didn't have a thought on the people running for prime minister so I was left with the impressions that the four people visiting my school gave me.
While being introduced to the school and learning their way around, Bill definitely struck me as the most welcoming. He seemed genuinely kind to the students and staff and he definitely made a good first impression on me. After taking our seats in the school assembly room and scanning the four proud looking people at the front with our eyes, we listened to a brief introduction that Cole Stone presented. When Cole pointed out Steve Powries age he made a distasteful upturned face and looked quite unimpressed. I didn’t like how visibly annoyed he looked with that comment. Next I noticed certain things about Matt Greenwood that I didn't like. He vocally called out his opponents by name saying that they were wrong and correcting them, he also made a mistake in my eyes when saying the words: “Bill is actually right” I thought he was not exactly rude, but also said a few things that could definitely have been worded better. Although I loved how nice Bill Sundhu was I couldn’t help noticing that he seemed very passionate about the subject of immigrants and non-canadians deserving a good life here, which I completely agree with, my own parents are immigrants. My only doubts from him were that he seemed so overly passionate about that subject that it seemed like the only thing he spoke of. He was my favourite, but I was just unsure about his passion and interest in other subjects apart from that one. So that left Cathy, I was really impressed with her from the beginning. She didn't call out any other candidates, nor did she roll her eyes or make faces, she clearly had experience which I think is good. I quickly realized that I was the only one that thought so, as soon as I said that she impressed me the most, everyone was saying how bad that was because that meant that I was supporting our current Prime Minister, Stephen Harper. Which wasn’t entirely true, I liked Cathy, but I didn’t have an opinion on Stephen Harper. Apparently a lot of other people did though, I was shocked to find that almost everyone I talked to hated our current leader, I thought he was rather fondly spoken of before I was told differently.
In conclusion I don’t know who I would vote for with 100% certainty. I liked Cathy’s experience, Bill’s passion and care for the people. I liked Steve and Matt for different reasons as well. I definitely understood people's frustration with Cathy speaking through the mind of Stephen Harper and avoiding the point of the questions we asked her. Like I said earlier, I didn’t know almost anything about politics. But this definitely opened my eyes.
Opinion 2
My Opinions on the Death Penalty
Yesterday in Humanities class, we discussed what we wanted and expected from our new elected Prime Minister. Each group in class choose the top five most important things that they wanted from the new elected leader. I was really disappointed and surprised when I heard that the return of the death penalty was supported by so many of my classmates. Since simply saying that I disagree with this awful punishment isn’t enough, here are a few reasons that I hope can change peoples minds on the subject.
During class, the main reason people wanted the death penalty to return was due to the fact that the homeless had worse lives than most of the murderers out there. Which is something I can completely agree with and I do think that there is something very wrong with that. But if you have a problem with it, improve the lives of the homeless, but do not take away the lives of someone else to do it.
The thing about it that boggles my mind the most is that people say they disagree with murder, when the death penalty is literally the exact same thing: murder. You are disagreeing with killing people, but then you kill people, you are quite literally writing the definition of fighting fire with fire. You are representing disagreeing with something, yet doing that exact same thing. You are taking the life of someone, for taking the life of someone. You are ending someone's life for the crime of ending someone's life. Someone please explain the reasoning behind that.
This pointer is a bit of a stretch. But sometimes you could not be killing the murderer. Anyone who has taken a life is clearly mentally disturbed and needs help. Things like split personality or bipolar disorder could be the reason behind the death of someone and if that is the case, those people should not be killed for having a mental problem, but instead given help to get better. I know this is not always the case but people do change. If you take the life of someone who has mental disabilities you have taken way not only their life, but their ability to change, even if it is slim. I am aware that there is not always an excuse like that for murder. I know that there are just some people who kill for entertainment, and yes, they deserve the worst of punishments. But wouldn't it be so much more rewarding to see that awful person rot in a cell for the rest of their life, instead of giving them the easy way out? I think even the most awful people don't deserve death, for some death is too easy. But if someone is a living, breathing human being then no one should have to have that taken away, not the victims of murder, and not the murderer themselves. I think the best revenge would to be to watch them wish they could die in a jail cell, when they can’t . And imagine if you took an innocent life thinking they were guilty. Someone could be wrongly accused and killed for being in the wrong place at the wrong time and that should never happen to anyone.
To finish things off, it doesn’t seem like Canada is in great need of the death penalty. Murder is not a huge issue in our country, not as badly as other places. Some people deserve to spend the rest of their lifetime in jail, but who is to say that that is always the case? People and scenarios can change and someone who made a mistake and committed a crime in the past could still have the chance to work and live as normal as possible. I do not mean to say that murderers deserve good lives after what they have done, but they do deserve a life none the less. I am not saying that murder is okay, that is why I disagree with the death penalty, because murder is not okay and just because there is a reason behind it doesn’t change the fact that it is taking someone's life.
Yesterday in Humanities class, we discussed what we wanted and expected from our new elected Prime Minister. Each group in class choose the top five most important things that they wanted from the new elected leader. I was really disappointed and surprised when I heard that the return of the death penalty was supported by so many of my classmates. Since simply saying that I disagree with this awful punishment isn’t enough, here are a few reasons that I hope can change peoples minds on the subject.
During class, the main reason people wanted the death penalty to return was due to the fact that the homeless had worse lives than most of the murderers out there. Which is something I can completely agree with and I do think that there is something very wrong with that. But if you have a problem with it, improve the lives of the homeless, but do not take away the lives of someone else to do it.
The thing about it that boggles my mind the most is that people say they disagree with murder, when the death penalty is literally the exact same thing: murder. You are disagreeing with killing people, but then you kill people, you are quite literally writing the definition of fighting fire with fire. You are representing disagreeing with something, yet doing that exact same thing. You are taking the life of someone, for taking the life of someone. You are ending someone's life for the crime of ending someone's life. Someone please explain the reasoning behind that.
This pointer is a bit of a stretch. But sometimes you could not be killing the murderer. Anyone who has taken a life is clearly mentally disturbed and needs help. Things like split personality or bipolar disorder could be the reason behind the death of someone and if that is the case, those people should not be killed for having a mental problem, but instead given help to get better. I know this is not always the case but people do change. If you take the life of someone who has mental disabilities you have taken way not only their life, but their ability to change, even if it is slim. I am aware that there is not always an excuse like that for murder. I know that there are just some people who kill for entertainment, and yes, they deserve the worst of punishments. But wouldn't it be so much more rewarding to see that awful person rot in a cell for the rest of their life, instead of giving them the easy way out? I think even the most awful people don't deserve death, for some death is too easy. But if someone is a living, breathing human being then no one should have to have that taken away, not the victims of murder, and not the murderer themselves. I think the best revenge would to be to watch them wish they could die in a jail cell, when they can’t . And imagine if you took an innocent life thinking they were guilty. Someone could be wrongly accused and killed for being in the wrong place at the wrong time and that should never happen to anyone.
To finish things off, it doesn’t seem like Canada is in great need of the death penalty. Murder is not a huge issue in our country, not as badly as other places. Some people deserve to spend the rest of their lifetime in jail, but who is to say that that is always the case? People and scenarios can change and someone who made a mistake and committed a crime in the past could still have the chance to work and live as normal as possible. I do not mean to say that murderers deserve good lives after what they have done, but they do deserve a life none the less. I am not saying that murder is okay, that is why I disagree with the death penalty, because murder is not okay and just because there is a reason behind it doesn’t change the fact that it is taking someone's life.
Opinion 3
Humanities Opinion
Humanities was by far my favourite class in the first semester. It had my two favourite subjects in one class, and it seemed to make sense that we would mix Socials and English together since they are the most similar. The only thing I didn’t understand is why we wouldn’t have one semester dedicated to English and one for Socials. But I was fine with it. I really liked that we weren’t graded on every project, but only our best work. I also really enjoyed the projects we were assigned and I think it was planned out well with the mix between the two subjects. I loved learning about Ancient Civilizations and writing poems and opinions on the Politicians. My favourite project was definitely the halloween story and my personal project because it was something that I had wanted to work on for many years and now I finally could. Overall I think that for what it is, the humanities course was planned out very well, considering that it is a mixture between two subjects. And it did a very good job of making my two favourite subjects, as enjoyable as they are on their own.
Humanities was by far my favourite class in the first semester. It had my two favourite subjects in one class, and it seemed to make sense that we would mix Socials and English together since they are the most similar. The only thing I didn’t understand is why we wouldn’t have one semester dedicated to English and one for Socials. But I was fine with it. I really liked that we weren’t graded on every project, but only our best work. I also really enjoyed the projects we were assigned and I think it was planned out well with the mix between the two subjects. I loved learning about Ancient Civilizations and writing poems and opinions on the Politicians. My favourite project was definitely the halloween story and my personal project because it was something that I had wanted to work on for many years and now I finally could. Overall I think that for what it is, the humanities course was planned out very well, considering that it is a mixture between two subjects. And it did a very good job of making my two favourite subjects, as enjoyable as they are on their own.
I tried very hard in these pieces not to make my opinion come across as the one right answer. I wanted to state it as simply my opinion, not saying that I was correct, but just sharing my thoughts. One of my biggest pet peeves is people who suggest that their way is the only way and that they are right, when there is no way of proving that. I tried to keep an open mind while writing these and although I did make my opinion very strong for the writing about the death penalty, I in no way mean to say that I am correct. I believe I am, but that doesn't mean everyone else has to.