Entry 1 - My service project is helping run the Camden Catholic Boy's Basketball Grade School
Tournament. Being part of the Camden Catholic Basketball program gives me the opportunity to give back to hose whore support
us during the year. Many of the kids and schools who participate in the tournament help out and donate to the Basketball program.
This service project and the tournament also gives a chance to those who are less fortunate and might not get a chance to
play high school basketball. These kids get good because they get to play in a nice gymnasium in a nice environment.
This project is important because it helps the less
fortuante get a chance to do something they love that they might not ever get again. These young basketball players who might
not play at the next level get to remember something that might stay with them for the rest of their life. One shot or pass
in a big grade school tournament can make someone feel good inside. This is important because we as Christians can't forget
about the less fortunate that need our help too.
I think I can learn a lot from this project and I
believe the main goal is to learn how to put others before ourself. This can be learned not just in this project but in any
service project. You need to do what you can to help those who are not as lucky and who don't have the things you do. When
serving your community and helping others you maybe giving up your time, money, or possessions to make those who are less
fortuante feel good. When you make people feel good about themselves I almost guarntee it will put a smile on your face as
well.
Entry 2 - My first service project was helping work the Grade School Basketball Tournament at
Camden Catholic. My other project was helping people move from one neighborhood or section of Philadelphia to another. While
doing this I learned about different aspects of life and why people might want to live in a certain area with a certain group
of people. We talked about racism in class and I believe this stems from how people will choose to only live with people of
their own race and ethnic background in a certain community. This is very evident in the city of Philadelphia where I helped
move. Many people say the world we live in today is a much better place to live and here in the United States people from
all races and cultures get along. I don't find this to be entirely true and I think there is still a great deal of racism
toward others for the simple reason of skin color and their ethnicity. People in Philadelphia live in sections of the city
and each section has its own race and ethnicities that populate most of these sections. In North Philadelphia it's African-Americans,
in South Philadelphia it's Italians, in West Philadelphia it's Hispanics, in Northeast Philadelphia it's Polish. These different
groups of people do not like it when people of different race and ethnicity move into their community. I find this to be racist
and that it is wrong of people to judge people by their skin color. Many times it is difficult for people to go through these
different sections of the city if they arent of the race. If you are not of the race or ethnicity you might be possibly harrased,
mugged, beat up, or even in some cases killed for not looking or being like that group. We have made strides over the years
to eliminate as much racism in society as possible but we still must move on. We as a whole must judge people for who they
are, not what they look like.
Entry 3 - The past two service projects I worked on helped me receive my full ten hours of service
hours . I worked the Camden Catholic Grade School Basketball Tourament and helped people move from their homes in the city
of Philadelphia. Through these projects I worked with a lot of people of my own Catholic faith but also a number who are not
Catholic as well.
In class we recently learned about Religious Bigotry and how
people disrespect and look down on others because of their faith and religion. While working both service projects I met a
number of interesting people who are not Catholic. They would ask me some things about myself and my religion and I also discussed
their religious beliefs with them. This ofcourse occured a lot more in the city because I met so many different people with
diverse backgrounds and cultures. These people helped me understand that each person has their own views at life. I began
to realize no matter how much we may disagree with someones religious beliefs we must still respect them.
We can look through history and even today how wars were fought
and thousands of people killed becasue of religious disputes. Today, Americans are being killed in the Middle East due to
the Religious Bigotry and hate in that part of the world. If we take time to respect each and every individual we come across
we can help make the world a better place. Each person should be able to live their life and worship their God without having
to worry what other people think or may do. God gave us free will to choose what we believe in.
Entry 1 - My globalization topic for this marking period is Oceans and the main topic from chapter
7 that I can link it to is poverty. Every single day we use our oceans for economic and recreational activities. The ocean
is essential to our world to survive and 70% of our entire Earth is covered by the Oceans. These Oceans need to be protected
but the problem is no one nation owns them so no one country or nation can protect them. Pollution is hurting the environment
each and everyday with sewage, agricultural runoff, and even oil spill. The major problem is no one wants to take responsibility
for the problem. This is the same problem that we have today with poverty. You go everyday seeing starving children on t.v.
in third world countries or walk through the city and find homeless people lying on the ground. We these things everyday yet
we do nothing, everyone feels bad but no one takes responsibility for these things. It is extremely hard for these people
to get out of poverty by themselves because most have no car or job for which they can not even buy a home. It is our duty
as Christians to take responsibility for such problems as poverty and help create a solution.
Entry 2 - As I discussed before my globalization topic is Oceans and in Chapter 8 our text book talked more
about poverty effecting the economy. As you know we use the Oceans because they help the ecnomy a great deal. Many
coastal towns rely heavily on fishing, trading, and other recreational activites to keep their towns and cities economy booming
as much as possible. Many people we see in poorer nations that are living in poverty are living in costal towns that rely
on one or maybe two if types of business to bring in money. The two major types of business are fishing and tourism. We need
to make sure that we take care of the Oceans because some people may need them more then others. In places such as the Bahhamas,
Jamaica, and other islands in the Carribean, they need tourism and fishing to keep their economy alive. Many of these people
if you go into towns you will see they are barely getting by. They need the fishing and tourism to boost their economy. An
example of what can happen to these countries if they loose one or the other types of businesses is happening in India. Before
the tsunami many if not most of the locals there needed tourism to keep their businesses alive. After this natural
disaster shops, stands, and hotels were completely destroyed which devasted the economy in these poverty stricken towns. Since
the tourism will not get back for quite sometime it will be even rougher times in those countries. This is why we need to
take care of the Oceans because maybe we don't need them right now but their are sure a number of people in the world who
do.
Entry 3 - Chapter 9, Respect for Human Life is the perfect chapter to link to my gloabalization topic which
is Oceans. The main topic in chapter explains how to care for God's creation. One thing that we can really take from this
chapter is stewardship which is the responsibility that people have to respect and care for all creation. This is exactly
what I have been trying to say in my past two entries. We as a society living in the richest country in the world must do
our part to care for creation. Oceans are so important because we use them everyday to help us survive. Our economy relys
greatly on our oceans because it provides food, trade, and jobs for our society. It is essential that we protect the oceans
from pollution as well as the wildlife who inhabits them. By preventing pollution as much as possible we are also protecting
ourselves becasue we use these oceans all the time for recreational activities. Ocean Pollution is a major problem but can
be solved if we just remember that we as Catholics have a responsibility to respect and care for all creation.
Entry 4 - Chapter 9, Respect for Human Life first talked about stewardship which directly related to my
globalization topic on Oceans. The next part of chapter 9 also directly relates to my topic, the chapter explains and describes
how to keep the integrity of creation. The integrity of creation is necessary for our world to thrive as God intends. Each
element within the order of creation; air, soil, water, plants, animals, and even humans have a specific role that serves
the greater good for the whole community of life. One of them roles as humans we must play is protecting our oceans especially
the oceans off the coast of poor and poverty stricken costal towns. These people do not have enough money or technology to
properly care for the oceans. They usually dispose of waste into the ocean because they do not have the waste disposal technology
we have. This becomes an even greater problem because many times these same coastal towns rely on the fishing indusry to support
their economy. It is our job to help keep the integrity of creation by supporting these less fortunate people with either
the funds or education to care for the ocean themselves.
Entry 5 - One section of Chapter 9 , Power Over the Earth explains ideas that we should follow to make our
world a better, safer, healthier place to live in. One of the three ideas really links towards my globalization topic, protecting
the oceans. The idea states, the earth is owned by whoever has the power to take it. We need to be responsible for our actions
meaning if we have the power to bulid large fishing ships, ocean liners, and oil tankers we need to be liable for the consequences
of the pollution they give off. We must think about the many lives that are effected when pollution is given off into the
ocean such as garbage and oil spills. It is not just the wildlife effected but thousands of people rely on the ocean each
day. Fishing for many people is the main source of money and food that people need to survive. If we have the power to run
these oceans we must take full responsibility and use this power to make our oceans a safer and healthier environment for
the good of all wildlife and mankind.
Entry 6 - Our Oceans are very important to our everyday lives and this is just one of the many things
I have learned about my globalization topic of Oceans this marking period. Our oceans are used everyday and provide business,
food, and money for people throughout the world. This is why we need to keep the oceans clean and do our part to make
a contribution. The Bible tells us as Catholics we need to do our part to keep the world we live in a clean environment. We
have a requirement of our faith to care for the Earth. We need to be Stewards of the planet and take responsibility to care
for all creation. It is our duty as Catholics to make the entire globe a beautiful place to live in.
Entry 7 - Throughout the third marking period it was my goal to connect my gloabalization topics of
Oceans to the Gospel imperatives and readings from Chapters 7, 8, 9, and 10 in my text book. I have connected protecting our
Oceans with Poverty, how protecting our Oceans benefit our Economy, and how as Catholics we have a responsibility to
show Stewardship toward our Oceans. The biggest connection and problem that I linked with Oceans and Poverty is that no one
wants to take responsibility. Everyday we use our Oceans for economic and recreational activitiy yet no one wants to care
for them because no one nation owns them. This is the same thing with people in Poverty. Each and everyday we see people
on the streets with nothing at all to live and yet we do nothing. With Oceans and the Economy we need to do a better job with
educating poverty stricken countries on how to keep their Oceans clean. Many of these countries rely heavily on Fishing and
Tourism so it is key for their economy to keep their environment clean. Our faith calls us to be stewards of the Earth. This
is the most important thing I learned this marking period. As a Catholic, I now understand that it is my responsibility to
do my part to keep our Oceans and our entire planet free of pollution. We must all come together to make our World a better
place to live in.
