Kaycie

=What type of footprints do you want to leave behind? =  Self in Society is not your average high school class. Instead of solving inane math problems or writing tedious essays on the importance of John Adams, you learn about life. What we learn in this class is far more important than facts or data. We learn how to live in the world that we are creating. Probably the most important question we've been asked to answer tthis year is: what do you want your legacy to be? What do you want to leave behind for future generations to find? We've learned about happinesss, value systems, morals and ethics, conformity, social cruelty and the abuse of power and control. We've learned about the paradigms that define our reasoning, about naturalistic ethics and resolution principles. We've seen how relationships function and learned the definition of confirmation bias. We've been tested for common sense, for brain type, and everyday we are tested for our reactions to certain situations. We've studied behaviorists and psychologists, deindividuation and cognative dissonance. What does all this amount to? It's different for every person. That's what makes Self in Society unique. We are all taught the same concepts but we all learn something different. And we all apply this knowledge differently. This why individuality exists. We all leave different footprints.

"Happiness is an emotional or affective state that is characterized by feelings of enjoyment, pleasure and satisfaction. As a state and a subject, it has been pursued and commented on extensively throughout world history. This reflects the universal importance humans put on happiness." Conversely,unhappiness is defined as the gap betweeen what we have and what we expect. Happiness is a concept, not a fact.
 * Happiness **

Happiness is subjective. What does it mean to you? media type="custom" key="3882439" width="100" height="113"

Our value systems allow us to make difficult decisions and determine much of who we are. Ethics and morals can be rather sticky. Nothing is concrete when dealing with difficult situations. We need to change our ethics if we are to survive in the twentieth century. Integrity Honor Family Love Truth Perserverance Loyalty Courage Justice Hope Righteousness Devotion
 * Values, Morals and Ethics**
 * What do you value?**

When we are faced with difficult situations, our reactions are determined by our morals. Many people today walk right past a homeless person with a look of disdain on their face. Others cannot bear to walk by someone in such squalor and will avoid them completely. A very small amount of people will stop and kneel by their side and try their best to help them. Who you are is determined by what you believe.

In a world where there are roughly six billion people, and it may seem that a single individual cannot make a significant impact on the world around them. However, you don't have to change the world to make a difference. **How lovely to think that no one need wait a moment, we can start now, start slowly changing the world! How lovely that everyone, great and small, can make their contribution toward introducing justice straightaway... And you can always, always give something, even if it is only kindness! -//Anne Frank//**
 * Making a Difference **

Why is society the way it is today? The media influenecs so much of our thought that it is frightening. Free thought is dying. We see people act like everyone else and conform. The external forces in our lives show us that it is hard to be unique unless it makes you famous. It's no good to be open about your ideas unless they are the ideas of everyone else. I disagree. We should be the diamond amoung the rocks, the beautiful cyrstaline structure formed from the molten fires of the Earth.
 * Social Construction **
 * Beware of deindividuation!! **

Humans are funny creatures. We've been around for millions of years and still almost nothing has changed about how we behave. Truth is you could flip this picture around and it's true too.
 * Behavior**

I get my inspiration from lots of places. My family always is there for me. My friends help me pick myself up when I'm feeling down. I read constantly. Ask any of my good friends and they will tell you I read a minimum of one hundred books a summer. Many of them are rereads. Each character I meet is special. Reading teaches me a lot about myself. When I see girls my age being married with children or living in poverty or fighting to save their families, I know how special my life is. It's cliche, but I find myself crying and laughing with each character, rejoicing and lamenting as they fall and rise again. It makes me pick myself, stop complaining and start living. People normally say that someone inspires them to be better. The world inspires me. Everything around me is worth living for, worth fighting for. Just watch a really spectacular thunderstorm one night, or gaze up at the full moon at the winter solistice, or stand on top of a mountain and feel the wind on your face. Let the world move you, and you'll be inspired too. Here are some great titles I love: //__The Weight of the Sky__ by Lisa Ann Sandell __A Matter of Profit__ by Hilari Bell __Avielle of Rhia__ by Dia Calhoun __The Diary of Anne Frank__ __Carpe Diem__ by Autumn Cornwell __Fallen Angels__ by Walter Dean Myers __The Summer King__ by O.R. Melling __Dawn__ by Elie Wiesel __The Sweet Far Thing__ by Libba Bray __Shiva's Fire__ by Suzanne Fisher Staples __A Girl With a Pearl Earring__ by Tracy Chevalier __Exodus__ by Julie Bertagna __A Ring of Endless Light__ by Madeliene L'Engle __Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow__ by Jessica Day George __Twisted__ by Laurie Halse Anderson __Green Angel__ by Alice Hoffman __Memoirs of a Geisha__ by Arthur Golding Forgotten Fire by Adam Bagdasarian //
 * Inspiration**

Where do you want to be? What kind of footprints do you want to leave behind? The day I turn this project in I will have just turned seventeen. Seventeen......... Twenty years from now I want to look back on this day and say that this is where it started. I want to look back and see that this is where it all began. I don't want to say that I will be a successful business person or have a lot of fancy materialistic things because nothing is certain but change. All I want is to be happy with the life I have made for myself. Seventeen is the start.
 * Twenty Years From Now..... **