Status Updates From Strength Through Peace, The...

Prediction: What McCarthy talks about in this final section of the book about animal rights and the issue behind it leaves a mysterious cast over the issue. More people are taking a stand with this cause, but this causes will not be 100 percent erased from America, and to achieve its goal of having livestock and other animals live freely more people have to become vegetarians which I doubt will happen.

Ask: In this section a human rights activists William Kunstler talks about how he did not think about animal rights for over half of his career. Even though now this man brings great attention to animal rights causes, why did he not become aware of it sooner when the opportunity for him to become aware of this issue was there?

Summary: In this section still about the nonviolence of hamburgers, it talks about how making hamburgers and other meats like steak and pork is dangerous to the environment and how becoming vegetarian is not only more beneficial for the world, but more beneficial for humans health wise, and it will allow more livestock to live and be free.

Connections: In this section of the book which talks about nonviolence towards animals, I made the connection between what my friends were saying about animal cruelty and the benefits of being vegetarian to animals and this planet and this book on how Americans overkill and abuse animals for pointless purposes like entertainment and fashion. Thus this section has made me think harder about becoming a vegetarian.

Visualization: During this section they talked about marriage and family conflict and how to resolve these issues with three things, sensing, sorting, and shifting. The example was a family arguing with each other while watching TV and using details it made it extremely easier to picture this family arguing and the tense and circus like atmosphere of this family arguing around the TV.

This section talks about marriage equality and how women and men act and react within a marriage. A researcher took research on men not being the dominant force, and how stronger marriages have equality in them. If this section was about having equal standards, then why did this research only help men in marriages, and help console them and not women? Is this a truly egalitarian society we say it is?

Summary/Inference: This section of the book talked about a women's story, Marie Deans, & how she went around prisons advocating to stop the death penalty, even though her mother law was murdered, & she was personally affected by this law. My inference about her personality is that she is a loving and compassionate person who believes every person's life is sacred no matter what.

Prediction: In this section, it talked about how there are few male black teachers, and that in impoverished neighborhoods, black male teachers are needed to help shape these students into better citizens since they are surrounded by misleading people. Also, it talked about the death penalty in prisons. It can be predicted this section will critique this system & how this act is unnecessary to deal with murderers.

Ask: McCarthy adds an essay from Carl Upchurch, who is African American, & states that people in poverty, particularly African Americans, need to first reflect on themselves & their actions to get themselves out of poverty and not get mad at society for their circumstances. Isn't it difficult for African Americans in poverty to escape it when white people in society paint a picture of what minorities should be like?

Ask: In this section of the book it discusses the Vietnam War and all the outside circumstances, events, and decisions that played a role in the war. What I am confused about is why this war? He could have chosen any war in the timespan of his life, he is elderly now, why did he decide to critique this war and the ideas of nonviolence that tried very hard to make their point across?

Ask: This section of the book he includes essays about the ideology of war and the circumstances and events it graves into our world. With that, is it strange to see that all of the greatest philosophers and thinkers of the centuries before us condoned war and thought of it as a cleansing of society?

Writers Strategy: In this part of the book the writer talks about how some people justify war because it is needed to have more nationalism in a country. Throughout those opposing views McCarthy constantly disregards those theories, and claims how nonviolence and peace are the only way to unite a nation.

Summary-Throughout this part of the book McCarthy includes essays about Ghandi and the work he did as a figure of nonviolence. He went to jail and refused to have the amenities of a 5-star hotel when in England, showing that he would not support the system that oppressed him.

Writer's Strategy: McCarthy includes and writes many essays about the work of Gandhi and his teaching and actions of nonviolence. Throughout this, McCarthy states that Gandhi is not the only example of nonviolence, but he really only talks about Gandhi and his no violent actions working, thus contradicting himself since he states that there are more examples of people and actions of nonviolence.

Visualization: In this part of the book McCarthy talks about Gandhi and how he was a monumental leader in the idea of using non-violence to achieve an outcome in any area. He also talked about the idea of good vs. bad in people, and he adds stories of this topic from soldiers in the Vietnam War and their take on it, and how students are taught to get A's instead of learning how to live and to achieve a peaceful life.

Writers Strategies: Through most of this part of the book, McCarthy (the author) uses statistics to support his argument and to show readers how much money the government spends on defense and organizations aiding war, versus the amount if money they give organizations like the Peace Corps. For example the Peace Corps receives 3/100,000 dollars of the US Defense Budget.

My first two updates are about the Summary of the book, and the last two updates are about the Writers Strategies he uses in the book.

This book so far has opened my eyes to multiple things about how to creat peace in a world led by violence. Colman McCarthy's underlying message is wanting the youth of the world to understand the advantages of creating and using peace. According to him, the youth are the ones who will change the tide of history and not the adults/elderly who have led violence continue on in the world.

As I continue reading this book it has become apparent to me that the author is creating this book will all these different essays to make people aware that change is needed now in our education system, our government, and in our world. He states that all of this can be achieved if children are taught from the beginning in school, peace education.

Up to this point in the boo, McCarthy makes it clear that peace can not be achieved through violence. He wants readers to understand that people revolting by killing the system or group who is trying to suppress them through killing is not achieving peace, but puts the group being suppressed at the same level as the people who are trying to suppress them.

Reading this book has shown great interest to me as people share their views on how countries and people can achieve their goals not through violence, but through persisting with nonviolence and being psychologically active instead of being intensely physically active. I agree with the author and his statements, but it is interesting how he uses other people's take on the topic to make his view seem not alone.

The reason I chose to read this book is I met the author, Colman McCarthy, this past summer and listened to him give a speech. After he spoke, I bought his book, Strength Through Peace, The Ideas and People of Nonviolence. The whole summer this book has sat in my room, and I now finally have the chance to read it.