Just Keep Swimming

In unit 3, Apotheosis, we looked into the endurance of survivors. We examined their experiences and used them as inspiration for our own life missions. The main people we learned about was an African man who was a child soldier and Elie Wiesel, author of Night. For our FE this unit, we were tasked to come up with and design our own based around a fear or our missions. I ended up basing mine off of my mission and went to interview two Chicago police officers to get better insight on what to expect when I join the force. For the action project we were to write a survival guide about our life's future goals. This, for me, is the process of becoming apart of the CPD discussing what I will need to be prepared, a potential timeline, and a back up plan if the worst case scenario were to happen while pursuing our missions. Overall, this was relatively straightforward as I, mostly, know what my life will look like in the next three years. However, it was slightly troublesome writing the timeline past that since I do not know when my number will be called to start the academy, so I had to put down my educated guess for that date and those past it. Doing this project really helped me figure out some kinks in my plans for the future giving me a clearer vision for what needs to be done. This was a great way to end my last humanities class before moving onto my next stage in life. I hope you enjoy my survival guide below.

Beginnings of a Journey

In unit 1, Morpheus, we learned about different people and groups who have had to endure harsh physical and mental challenge and how these trials helped them evolve. This unit really focused on finding our own dreams and our journey in getting there. As a class we have even done some endurance challenges of our own. The first being to sit silently, with no distractions, for fifteen minutes straight. The second task was to hold an ice cube in our hands for one minute, we did this twice. For our FE we went to a dojo to do boot camp training, pushing ourselves to the physical and mental limits. The action project consisted of writing an autobiography in the perspective of ourselves thirty years in the future. We will “look back" on our journeys that have lead us to our chosen goals and dreams. I struggled with deciding on which dream I wanted to go with, and after some deliberating I decided to go with the future of being a Chicago Police Officer. I enjoyed being able to do this because it gave me a real chance to think of how I want to achieve my dreams and what I really want to do in the future. Please enjoy my autobiography below.
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Chapter 1: Against All Odds

TS. Red Cross Training. 2015.

My existence is a miracle. Not only was I an accident, but also had been an emergency C section--being strangled by the thing that kept me alive for nine months, the umbilical cord. It was discovered that the cord wrapped itself around my neck four times which is rarer than rare. This trend seemed to continue as I grew up, I have constantly surprised people with my resilience. Whenever someone would tell me I couldn’t do something, I would prove them wrong. Due to this, I developed the skill to learn things quickly. I have been put into a multitude of activities over the years, always managing to awe people at the feats I was able to accomplish. One activity I did in my spare time was solving any type of puzzle. When my parents saw this, they would play crime shows on the television for me during Sunday mornings. I was hooked from then on, becoming infatuated with spies and detectives. My favorite was, by far, Batman. I had always had a love of reading, but this new interest in crime shows caused me to start reading all sorts of mystery novels. I especially loved the Nancy Drew series.

My home life was never a stable, happy one with my parents seemingly having perpetual fights and moving all around the United States. Because of this, I took on more responsibilities and acted older than I was. Other people would repeatedly tell me that I had an old soul and that I was wise beyond my years. Their words did not make sense to me until I was in my preteens. I just figured that all children dealt with issues like these. As the years passed by, I soon realized that this was not how families should act; mine was one filled with domestic violence, both emotional and physical. Being the older sibling, I took it upon myself to shield my little brother from the hate filled violence that plagued our home. I did not want him to become jaded at an early age like I had been. My desire for him was to live as carefree as possible for as long as he could. At this moment, unbenounced to me until later in life, I discovered my life’s mission: to help and protect others. When I entered grammar school, many of my friends were being bullied. Every time I saw this, I would stand up for them. I have always had a strong sense of justice and a good feeling for what was right and what was wrong, so if I saw something that I believed was bad or wrong, I would do my best to stop or fix it. I had never thought anything of it, I was just helping a friend out in their time of need the same way that I trusted they would help me when I needed them. I later found that the trust I felt had no merit as I was left behind in my time of need.

I was around ten years old when I truly discovered my mission and aspired to become just like my fictional heroes. I began reading all sorts of finished case files that were posted and easily accessible. I studied famous and infamous (well known & lesser known) serial killers that were caught or never found. The library was my second home and my face was buried in more books than ever before. Ultimately, I noticed that during shows I would subconsciously piece together the clues, figuring out things most people would not think of until much later or what would happen next. This was not limited to crime shows, but comedies, dramas, and horror as well. This went as far as to branch out to events I witnessed in real life, from me walking down the street to being in the classroom. I was continuously analysing my surroundings and the people in it, without being conscious that I was doing it. When I discovered that my family was good friends with another family whose dad was an agent for the FBI, you can only imagine how ecstatic I was. He was the first official person I had met that was the physical embodiment of the characters I grew to idolize. Whenever I could I asked him questions about what was going on and what it was like being apart of a government agency. This man gave me a true goal to work towards in the future that felt realistic and bigger than a simple detective, he pointed me towards the future of being an FBI agent.

By the time I entered high school I was extremely jaded, having laid witness to too much and being used as an outlet for my parents rage towards each other. At this point they were in their third year of their divorce and, being the eldest, I was held responsible for my brothers mistakes and was visualised as either my mom or dad, depending on who I was with, due to having picked up traits from both of them over the past fourteen years. Now, despite appearing healthy, I noticed that something was apparently wrong by reason of the fact that I started to actually struggle in multiple aspects of my life. In order to ascertain if I had a legitimate problem I went to my mom’s psychologist and got diagnosed with ADHD. This explained the extreme difference in my grades compared to grammar school, and why I struggled to remain on task with work I found uninteresting. Despite this hindrance as a freshman, I was still aiming to become an FBI field agent. It was not until sophomore year where I started to question my dream. This was the year where I had been informed of my severe depression. My already low grades dropped along with my GPA. I began doubting whether or not I would be able to make it into any good schools and/or programs that the FBI highly recognized, so I decided to pursue the military path (preferably the Coast Guard or Marines). However, right before junior year I figured the military wasn’t for me and I ended up changing it to do something with history because of a couple of reasons, one being that I’m good at it. The other reason is that I strongly believe in the words George Santayana once said: “ Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it.” Half way through the year I learned that being a history major required writing a lot of essays, and since I knew I wasn’t a strong writer I switched to wanting to be a psychologist. I thought that I could help a lot of people, especially because it’s hard to find good psychologists that truly help those who have mental disabilities; most just prescribe medication as the solution. When I entered senior year, the pressure of the commencement of applying to colleges and basically figure out what I planned on doing with my life was on. From the start of my last year I knew I needed a break from school, but I did not know where to go from there. In October a friend told me that the Chicago Police Department test was coming out again and, because I was eighteen, I was eligible to apply. I knew that inside I still wanted to be apart of the law force, so I finally chose to take the test and move towards becoming a police officer. Despite the constant changes to what I wanted to become there was one common trend, my mission that I have had since young childhood -- the need and action of helping people.

Subsequently after applying to the CPD I needed to prepare for the tests. There were three main parts that I was required to pass before being given a number that would tell me when I would start at the academy. First the written test, then the physical test, and lastly the interview. I knew that the written test would be rather simple, but I’ve always struggled with self-doubt and, add that to my anxiety, it was difficult to think I’d pass. The POWER test, physical fitness exam, was by far the most challenging and taxing. Due to my small size, no taller than five feet two inches and weighing one-hundred and ten pounds, I’ve had to do intense workouts for longer periods of time to have a chance at being able to keep up with the other, larger candidates. There were numerous exercises that had to be completed in either a certain amount of time or by reaching a specific number minimum. These tasks had been doing sit-ups for a minute, bench pressing half your weight, push-ups, and a mile and a half run. Not only was I hindered by my stature but by past injuries from accidents and activities. The run ended up proving the most demanding, with me barely finishing in the expected time for my age bracket, because of my bad knees from years of softball, volleyball, and track/cross-country. I was very surprised to find out that I passed the test and received a date for the interview. I was a nervous wreck and feared that on account of my poor mental health, which totaled up to three disorders, I would be deemed unfit for the job. Luckily this ended up not being the case.

Reflecting on the road I have taken and the opposition faced, I think of these two great people: Demi Lovato and J.K. Rowling. Both of them have strained relations with their fathers, suffer from sever depression, and lived in a home that had some form of domestic violence. However, despite these adversities they each did/do something grand. Rowling went on to write the Harry Potter series while Lovato continued to create music and wrote a book, Staying Strong, about her daily affirmations. They had both overcome their own ordeals when they were at their lowest points, in the end making them stronger than they were previously. That is all that I did. At my lowest point there were only two options left: give up on everything, or claw my way back up. I used these two women as inspiration to keep me going knowing that they have dealt with similar trials in their youth and early adulthood as I have, yet became successful and achieved their goals.

Many believed that I would have amounted to nothing. I used to believe them, but now that I see where I am and how far I've come, I know I always chose the best path for me. Being a police officer has given me so much purpose in life. Regardless of the crap the news and people say about cops, and the overall assumption that we are corrupt, I love what I do. Working on a much smaller level than the FBI has allowed me to get closer to my community and help more citizens rather than the government. It has become painstakingly clear to me over the past few decades that I don’t possess the ability to change everything or help everyone. Although, in spite of not being able to change the world, I can change someone’s world. As Mother Teresa once said “Never worry about numbers. Help one person at a time, and always start with the person nearest you.”

The Great Recession vs. Everyone

In unit 1, History, of Equality we learned about issues revolving around race, gender, and class. For our action project we wrote a history chapter about a major event from the past twenty years. The catch was that it needed to be written in the point of view of a marginalized voice. The event I ended up choosing the Great Recession in 2008 because we as a country are still recovering from it nine years later. The specific voices I chose were those of business owners, college graduates, and construction workers and I interviewed someone from each category. We also needed to include three educational devices to make it both support my writing and appear as an actual chapter in a history textbook. I really enjoyed researching more about this topic because my family was greatly impacted by this event. However, I ran into many problems the main one being who to interview. I had to ask my teacher who the marginalized voice would be during the Great Recession. Please enjoy my history chapter below.

To War or Not To War

In Unit 2, Execute, of Policy we learned all about the Executive Branch, from the people involved to the powers it holds. We also learned about the Vietnam War and the policies the United States had made that caused this war to be unjust. Leading us to our FE to the Veteran's Art Museum which showcased "The Things They Carried" exhibit which is based off of the book Tim O'Brien wrote. For our action project we needed to research a war the United States was apart of and a policy involved with it, then we had to decide if that war was just or unjust. I chose the first Persian Gulf War because it is an interesting war that one of my family members took part in as a United States Marine. I definitely enjoyed learning more about the war and how quick it was. Though it had been very difficult finding a policy that was involved with the war considering it did not last long and involved 39 nations. Please enjoy my essay on the Persian Gulf War below.
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Staff Sgt. Vance. "Marines In The Persian Gulf War." (1991)

The first Persian Gulf War was fought in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia starting in August of 1990 and ending in February of 1991. This war was between Iraq and 39 allied countries, the largest being the United States, Great Britain, Egypt, France, and Saudi Arabia. This was one of the first wars that used pre guided missiles (PGM’s) which were “smart-bombs” that had laser guided targeting systems to help them hit their target. This war also had the appearance of the F-117 stealth fighter-bombers that were made to be undetectable by Iraqi radar, and Tomahawk cruise missiles that were made to launch farther than conventional missiles. This war was started by Iraq invading Kuwait on August 2, 1990. Saddam Hussein aimed to take over Kuwait’s large oil reserves and cancel Iraq’s debt to Kuwait. Not only did Iraq want to get their hands on the oil in Kuwait, but Kuwait had also refused to cancel Iraq’s war debts to them. This war was just because nations involved tried to solve the conflict peacefully and it could have had large economic effects.

On August 7, 1990, President George H. W. Bush ordered operation Desert Shield to start. This also signifies the beginning of the United State’s involvement in the first Persian Gulf war. The U.S. got involved because we believed that there was an immediate threat to Saudi Arabia which was, not only the world's largest producer and exporter of oil, but also an ally to the U.S. Operation Desert Shield placed 500,000 Americans in Saudi Arabia to ensure that Iraq did not end up controlling one fifth of the world’s oil supply. Democrats first brought the sanctions resolution to congress, suggesting that the U.S. to rely on economic sanctions instead of using force. This resolution was rejected in both the senate with a vote of 53 to 46 and in the house with a vote of 250 to 183. When the idea of the U.S. going to war was brought to congress, the senate adopted it 52 to 47 and the house agreed voting 250 to 183. This was congress's most explicit authorization of war since the Tonkin Gulf Resolution in 1964. This decision also stood out because it was the narrowest margin in the Senate’s votes since the War of 1812. Congress encouraged the President to start with a massive airstrike against Iraq and use everything short of nuclear weapons.

During this war, Resolutions 660-678 were put into place. The main ones were 660, 661, and 678. Resolution 660 demanded that Iraq immediately withdraw from Kuwait. Resolution 661 imposed economic sanctions. Resolution 678 established the United Nations Special Commision (UNSCOM) to inspect Iraq’s suspected chemical and biological weapons capabilities. The U.S. mainly used these resolutions to remove Iraq from Kuwait and Saudi Arabia without necessarily starting a war. Resolution 661 made it so that America could prevent imports from, the sale of weapons and military weapons to, and the availability of funds and financial resources to either Iraq or Kuwait.

The governments of the world interpreted these resolutions exactly as they were meant to be interpreted. They were a way to remove Iraq from Kuwait. To the U.S. however, they were somewhat of an excuse to retrieve the chemical weapons that they gave to Iraq during the Cold War. The way it was applied to the situation was justified. The multiple resolutions were warnings being sent to Iraq to let them know that if they didn’t remove themselves from Kuwait, we’d have no choice but to do it forcefully. Iraq, however, ignored the resolutions for the most part, so a war did break out in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. The resolutions did manage to remove some of the chemical weapons and advanced war machines from Iraq, as well as cut off military funding from other countries.

The United State’s involvement in this war was justified. America did what needed to be done to prevent Iraq from gaining control over one fifth of the world’s oil supply. Iraq’s intentions once in possession of the oil was unknown, so the economical effects were also unknown and possibly very problematic. Iraq received many warnings in the form of the resolutions and even attended the vote for Resolution 661 but chose to ignore them anyway. One unjust part of this war was the number of Iraqi civilians that were killed during the war, but civilian deaths are an unavoidable part of any war. All in all, the methods used were effective. The real fighting only lasted a month before Iraq agreed to a cease-fire after losing large numbers of their troops.

References:

Citino, Robert. "Technology in the Persian Gulf War of 1991." The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 May 2016.

Fritz, Sara, and Wiiliam J. Eaton. "Congress Authorizes Gulf War : Historic Act: The Vote in Both Houses, Supporting Bush and Freeing Troops to Attack Iraq, Is Decisive and Bipartisan. It Is the Strongest Move since Tonkin Gulf." Congress Authorizes Gulf War. Los Angeles Times, 1991. Web. 14 May 2016.
United States. Resolution 660 (1990). New York: UN, 1990. Print.

"The Gulf War, 1991." Milestones: 1989–1992. United States Department of State, n.d. Web. 14 May 2016.

United Nations. Resolution 660 (1990). New York: UN, 1990. Prin

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia. "Persian Gulf Wars." Infoplease. Infoplease, n.d. Web. 15 May 2016.

The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica. "Persian Gulf War." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 15 May 2016.

"Operation Desert Storm." Ushistory.org. Independence Hall Association, n.d. Web. 15 May 2016.