Exploring My Mind-Proceed with Caution

By Linda Patton~July 16, 2015

                   For today’s blog, I am going to take advantage of the true meaning of “Freewriting.” My brain hurts from worrying. How am I ever going to find a thesis topic? But wait! I remember our first assigned essay giving me the same trouble, so I’m not giving up yet. For this exercise, I am going to shut off my worry, close down my “thinking” and begin to sort thoughts. So many things have trampled through my mind that I can no longer find what lurks in the corners, waiting to be thrown out or written down. Here goes nothing, and boy do I hope it turns up something.

                  What things did I want to know more about? I want to know more about how the people of Bosnia, Croatia, and Rwanda had survived such horrible times. How are they living today? It’s been so many years, are they still in refugee camps? What could possibly turn someone to torture or murder another human being? What would it be like to compare a life of an average American child with that of one from any one of those countries? Maybe I should explore the life of a child from a few different countries. What could have been done to prevent the terror of the genocides in so many countries? What is being done now in countries such as Rwanda and Bosnia where the genocides ruined lives as well as societies many years ago? Have they recovered? What hopes of recovering do they have. I realize that these ideas are vague, but there are so many that I can’t possible explore each one to the fullest. What organizations are present in Rwanda, Boliva, Bosnia, and Croatia at this point in time? How are they making a difference? How can that translate back to an everyday Missouri resident who wants to help and does not know how?

                    I also would like to explore what affect the discipline of Martial Arts training, as well as Boxing has on how one handles fear and courage. Does it affect each participant the same as it affected Greitens? How does education affect one’s ability to make a difference in others’ lives? Or to bring about change? How does financial stability help? Would Greitens’ story have been different if he were an OTC student who struggled to make ends meet? How much of our lives turn out the way they do because of a “calling”?

                     And my final thoughts: Can the genocides that occurred in Rwanda, Bolivia, Croatia, and even Germany be compared to the threat of ISIS that faces Christian people today? What are the differences? What are the similarities?

                      Now that I have swept out my brain, I am going to do an assignment from another class, then I am going to watch some mindless tv show, that I will pay no attention to, and doze off to sleep. I have every hope that throughout the night, my mind will roll all of this around, spitting out the bad, polishing the good, and I will awake with a sense of where to focus my research. Other posts from the week would be more suitable to turn in for evaluation, but since this is an English Class journal and I value Ms. A’s opinion, I think I will turn this blog in as week 7’s blog of the week. It may only show my weakness, but how much strength do we actually start out with?