Cartel Land

 I chose to watch the documentary Cartel Land. This film was directed by Matthew Heineman.The film showed the intense drug problem along the Mexico border. The film showed how drug crime was taking over innocent people’s lives. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from the film. I found the most shocking scene to be in the first few minutes of the film. A local citizen was being interviewed and he explained that 3 men that he knew were murdered and then the film showed a picture of the 3 men with their heads propped up on a platform. The man explained that he had to get a heavy weapon to protect himself because he was the next target. He was saying that if it were you, would you sit around and wait for the bad guys to come, or would you prepare yourself. That really stuck with me because it can be very difficult to put yourself in a position like that. But I tried to imagine and I would definitely do everything in my power to protect myself and my family. It’s devastating what happens to the innocent people in Mexico. I found the most shocking part of the film to be in the beginning because I really didn’t know what to expect. To start off with such a powerful thing really made an impact. The film showed devastating stories of the reality in Mexico. 

Completion

 I like finishing things all the way through. I think it’s important to try your best to not quit on things. Sometimes it can be difficult to finish things that you don’t like to do or things that can be difficult. My mom always taught me that it was important to be a dependable person. There have been many times throughout my life where I wanted to quit multiple things, but I followed through with most of them. But is it okay to just give up and quit once in a while? I think so. I think it really depends and there’s no set rule for this. For example, I think it’s important to not quit school work, relationships, family, and other important things in your life. I think it’s very rewarding to follow something through that gave you difficulties because at the end you can say you did it. I personally love finishing papers or any school assignment because I get to check it off a list and reflect on my work. I tend to put a lot of effort into assignments so it’s very rewarding to get good feedback. This relates to the microtheme we just finished because it was a little bit challenging to come up with a topic and finishing the paper with just one page. I’ve never written something in that style before so I was a little bit nervous about it. When I received feedback on it, it was very rewarding. Now let's talk about quitting. I quit my job last Saturday because the environment wasn’t very safe. I think in that particular instance it was definitely okay to quit. I gave a two week notice because I remembered that it’s still important to be dependable. Overall, I believe it’s okay to quit something when it is putting you in danger or not making you happy. 

Dear Future Me

 Dear future me, you are going to become a pediatric social worker after receiving your MSW. I wanted to be a teacher my whole life until about 2 months ago. I wanted to be a teacher because I didn’t know what my passions were or what I was good at. So, majoring in education was just a default for me. If I would have been able to get more experience or if the whole schooling system was different, then I could have explored different options and possibilities sooner. I’m changing lots of things about my life path right now because of choices I made when I was 17-18 years old. I had to pick a college and a major without a whole lot of guidance. I made lots of mistakes. I’m writing about this today because it was my topic for my microtheme assignment. I didn’t get to go into depth about my whole life story so I wanted to write about it in my blog this week, as it relates. If 17 year old me knew that I’m no longer majoring in education, she would be so shocked. I’m so happy with my decision to change my path because there was just something about it that did not feel right. I think it’s a big problem in todays world that we have young adults deciding on huge life decisions without any experience. If it were up to me, all students would get a free gap year after high school to find their passions and skills. I would have used that year to travel, try different jobs, do some job shadowing, and be a kid for another year. But, society has a time line for people. Dear future me, you should be proud that you finally found your path. 

(5 year old me)