journal 3...thoughts and feelings on today's lesson of oppression:

Today's lesson on Oppression helped define a lot of places in my life. I found it to be a real eye opener into helping me understand my own experiences in the world of oppression. I also found it quite inspiring to be able to start identifying my place in life through understanding and defining oppression.

Besides giving me insight to my own place and struggles with oppression it also gave me insight to understanding that there is a much bigger picture and window of oppression that affect so many people in so many different ways. Our individual problems with oppression also go to an even bigger level of problems on a institutional, structural and cultural basis. I felt the lesson did start to help me define my place and make sense of my struggles with oppression. It also gave me insight to understanding the bigger problems we all face with oppression as it shed light on my own experiences. It also made me aware of the many different problems that so many people have in all target groups. I now realize there is a bigger picture of many problems in our country and our world caused by oppression.

I believe that to help the problem of oppression and bring equality to us all, starts with us individually identifying the problem within our own lives. This will make it easier to open up and also identify other types of oppression that affect so many people in so many different ways. There is a huge need to stop the spread of inequality and I believe the stereotypes and judgements that we grow up with lead to oppression which continues to drag us down as a nation in distress. Hopefully through understanding oppression in my own life I can help shed light on the subject and make others more aware of the problems that continue to oppress us as a person.

Dissecting oppression in my own life will better help me to understand some forms of oppression and will be a start to understanding oppression in a bigger world view. My goal is to learn more about it in the places that I have not experienced it and have a better understanding to the bigger picture. Perhaps then I can work in helping to minimize so many hardships that affects people in their daily lives. By doing this will help give people equality and social justice.

I grew up in the working class/working poor, in a rural community. I was not aware of other racial cultures other then the working class farmers in this small dairy farming community I grew up in. My views of so many things were limited. Also my father was not very educated and I don't' believe he graduated from high school. He also grew up in a city, which he hated and never supported I'm not sure why. I do know that once he was walking home from school and attacked by a young group of black men, which planted more prejudice in him. I felt his prejudice growing up in his fear based behavior and environment of ignorance, prejudice, and insecurities. He was also very controlling and physically abusive which made for a very unstable environment. His behavior and position always caused me to fear him, and be very insecure about myself. His prejudice behavior didn't make it my prejudice but eventually down my road of life I realized I was very insecure, shy, reserved and lost. . My life was limited in views and not having the opportunity to identify with other ethnic backgrounds. After moving out of my families home and eventually going to college my life changed and provided many new experiences and challenges. I eventually did have the opportunity to meet people of different races and ethnicity's and develop friendships with other races and ethnic groups. I eventually moved to NY and had a job which allowed me to travel to lots of places in the world, giving me many opportunities and experience of meeting people from all over the world.

In New York I attached myself to a family(older married couple) who became my surrogate or second family. They were Jewish and lived in a upper class Jewish community. The husband was a hard worker, they were good people and financially and socially successful. I lived with this couple who were like second parents to me(there 3 children were all moved out married with their own families). I ended up living with them for the next 13 years. Now living in this safe home and comfortable neighborhood I still always felt a little empty and lost and in the middle of both families not really having an attachment and stability to either one.

I have felt privilege in being white and being accepted by my second family who has helped me out incredibly over the years by learning and growing in their environment . I feel a very privileged in not being disabled and being healthy and going to the gym and being fit and all the privileges of mobility.

I have been overwhelmed with oppression over the years in lots of different areas in my life. Oppression affects me to this day and it is a challenge at times to deal with. My goal is to get educated and understand myself better hence to better help others in this very tough place in life. It is important to understand stereotypes that oppress and I believe in understanding my own life experience better this can open up doors to understanding so much more. I know that people are affected in all different ways and that my experience is just a piece of how oppression can affect your life. My goal is to help achieve a better understanding and to help everyone open their eyes to oppression and the affects it has on every ones life.

Together we can help to minimize oppression. Perhaps in helping people to understand how important each of us is affected by oppression and how each of us is important to each others life, can we then shed some light on the subject. It is important to work together as a nation to understand how together we could minimize the stress and sadness of oppression and to solution the problem.

Finally in helping and guiding others it will reward us with a sense of power in loving and caring and giving thus helping the world have a more peaceful existence. It is essential as a nation for us all to have equal rights and to feel a sense of empowerment to our own purpose in life. It is important to have a feeling of accomplishing something purposeful in our daily life. Thus it is important that we guide everyone to an understanding of a good direction for their lives and step by step feel a sense of accomplishment and fulfillment to our daily life and it's purpose..