Media 111 – Module 9 – Weekly Essay

Posted on by jesse

My Responsibility as a Citizen

As a dignified citizen of the Milky Way galaxy, I feel like it is my responsibility to not only respect and embrace others from where I live in the United States on Earth, but to also respect and embrace others who live in different countries, on different planets, or in different galaxies! It’s important to be proud of where we live and what kind of culture or traditions we have, however, we should always remain open-minded and know that these norms and traditions can differ greatly in other areas. That’s a good thing, though! Diversity is awesome! Imagine how boring we would be if the entire galaxy was populated by American humans?? It would probably be destroyed by now. I feel like it also vital that we be open to change and willing to adapt to policies that allow our home to become a place where people of all walks of life have the opportunity to grow, flourish, and comfortably enjoy their lives.

One of the places I have discovered along my galactic travels, is Finland, another country on my home planet of Earth. Finland is a beautiful country! It is known for being the happiest country on the planet, according to an insider.com article by Theresa Christine.1 The article states that Finland has held first place in the World Happiness Report for the last four years! I highly recommend reading the article. It goes on to state that Finland is known for it’s universal healthcare, highly literate population, well-mannered citizens, and one of the best education systems in the world!

If the time ever comes where I feel the desire to move out of the United States, I know exactly where I am moving to now!

Helsinki, Finland. Panoramic View Of Pier, Embankment On Kanavaranta Street, Uspenski Cathedral And Pohjoisranta Street In Evening Illuminations. Photo by Grigory Bruev. Sourced from Adobe Stock.

References:

1.) Christine, Theresa. What it’s Like to Live in Finland, the Happiest Country in the World, 31 Mar. 2021,

https://www.insider.com/life-in-finland-happiest-country-2019-6

Also check out:

https://worldhappiness.report/ed/2022/happiness-benevolence-and-trust-during-covid-19-and-beyond/#ranking-of-happiness-2019-2021

Media 111 – Module 8 – Weekly Essay

Posted on by jesse

The Animation That Changed My Life

An animated video that I believe enhanced my life would be one that I found on YouTube from the American Museum of Natural History when I was younger where the camera is focused on Earth, but then zooms all the way out to the edge of the observable universe. I was completely blown away by this! I was absolutely fascinated.

I grew up going to church on and off with my parents. I can’t say I was as devout as others, but I believed that there was a God who was watching and listening to us. As I became older, I started to question that more. I started to wonder why there wasn’t any physical proof of something that so many people were convinced existed. After watching this video, it really made me wonder. It made me realize just how insignificant we really are in the grand scheme of things. Our planet is essentially a speck of dust in an overwhelmingly vast sea of nothingness, yet some of us claim that it was all designed and built around us, for us, by some divine being. There are billions of other galaxies out there. Each one of those galaxies contains billions of different stars, which can all have their own solar system and planets.

Watching this animation got me interested in science and space. I then discovered people like Richard Dawkins, Neil Degrasse Tyson, Lawrence Krauss, Christopher Hitchins, and Sam Harris. Today, I fully identify as an athiest. I strongly believe that religion and deities are things that humanity has fabricated ourselves due to the inability to go through life not knowing why we are here or where we go afterwards .I have a different line of thinking. I think as a species, we naturally tend to think too much of ourselves. We cannot imagine our existence without there being some meaningful purpose or reason for it. I can imagine that. I also don’t have a problem with it. I am perfectly okay with all of this happening by some random chance and just making the best of it while I’m here on this planet. I don’t need to believe in a magical being or a place in the afterlife in order to have a moral code and behave while I am alive.

When it comes down to it, I am glad that I have the views I have today. They are liberating. It’s quite possible that I wouldn’t have the views I have today if I hadn’t have watched the aforementioned animation.