Book Blog #2

Concussions are not going to stop, but there are many ways to prevent them. In the book The Concussion Crisis Anatomy of a Silent Epidemic they teach you ways how to prevent it. In the last chapters we get introduced to a High School football player from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. On a Friday night game under the lights, Mark Lenkiewics was playing football and the score of the game was 14-14 in the third quarter. The next thing he knew he was getting carted of the field by trainers.  Lenkiewic received a concussion while running the ball with 2:03 left in the third quarter when he was in the open field a defender came in to hit him, Lenkiewic put his head down to protect himself. The Defender for the other team was not trying to make contact with Lenkiewics head rather he was trying to hit his mid-section. By putting his head down Lenkiewich exposed himself to the chance of getting a concussion. The main point that the authors were trying to get across in the last few chapters was that concussions can easily be avoided. If athletes would use the proper technique of hitting and receiving a hit.   Lowering your head puts you at more risk of getting a concussion, and if you don’t get a concussion you are also at risk of injuring your neck. The author went on to say, “One of the biggest pushes with concussions is to educate people and athletes about the symptoms and warning signs.” By spreading the word and educating the severity of concussions, the injuries will be cut down.  

Size and Speed of Athletes

Detroit Lions linebacker Nadamukong Suh took part in a study by ESPN’s sports science lab. They discovered that within ten yards Suh could generate 3200 lbs. of force on a tackle. That much pressure directed towards an opponent’s head will more than likely end with a concussion.  We need to teach these athletes at a young age the proper way to tackle and to absorbed hits. When hitting you lead with your shoulder not your head and the point of contact needs to be at the midsection not the head. When receiving a hit you need to keep your head up and lean into the opponents with your shoulder not your head. These technics will not stop all the concussions in sports, but a significant amount of them

Playing With a Concussion

Colt McCoy was the starting quarterback for the Cleveland Browns and when facing the Pittsburgh Steelers he was determined to win. In the fourth quarter linebacker James Harrison slammed into to McCoy where the main point of contact was his head. After being walked off the field by the medical staff McCoy returned to the game only saying, “I’m ready to go”.  Going back out there McCoy threw an interception in the fourth and scored no points. The next morning when talking to his dad McCoy said, “Dad. I don’t know what happened”. McCoy had such a serious concussion that the next morning his memory was gone about the game.  The problem at hand is that athletes today are becoming so big and fast that the impact generated on their hits is enormous. . In an article by IllinoisState.edu the author says, “One of the biggest pushes with  concussions is to educate people, athletes have to be aware of the symptoms, they have to be aware of consequences or else, they can hide things or not even know they’ve suffered an injury.”

Jim McMahon

Jim McMahon was known as the rock star mentality and quarterback of the Chicago Bears, now he is just a retired football player with dementia. After suffering many concussions and continuing to play McMahons short term memory is gone. Within 10 minutes he forgets what he was doing. According to a documentary by ESPN McMahon will walk into a kitchen for a drink and forget what he was doing, all of this just for a game. Concussions had a huge impact on his career, but he continued to play through it, because that was what he thought was normal. After receiving a huge blow to the head against the Detroit Lions McMahon was walked off the field by trainers, at halftime he was assessed by the team doctor. When the 3rd quarter came around McMahon was back out there playing with a concussion. Not realizing the risk of what could happen McMahon took several more blows to the head. The Trainer when asked about his injury said, "He had a concussion, but it cleared by halftime" Chicago Tribune October 12, 1988. It is impossible for a concussion to clear up in less than an hour. The awareness of concussions has improved, and there are many more methods of preventing a player from continuing with a concussion, but there is a lot of room for improvement. Many people are very cautious about playing with concussions, but many kids and athletes don’t know the risk of playing with a concussion and we need to share it.  

Riddell Helmets Dont Prevent Concussions

Protection of athletes should and are the main focus of companies that manufacture equipment. Riddell a football company spent several years developing a helmet that “protects against concussions”. They said that the helmet was 31 percent more likely to prevent a concussion from happening. But the honest truth was that no matter what football helmet you had a player was 95 percent likely to get a concussion from a strong enough blow to the head. After hearing this study thousands of former NFL players sued the NFL and Riddell for marketing a product that did not prevent concussions. The jury ruled Riddell guilty and made them liable for 3.1 million dollars out of a total 11.5 million dollars that was awarded to the family of a young man who was seriously injured after a concussion in a high school football practice. Frank Azar a lawyer for the plaintiffs said, “What it proves is that Riddell knew for sure in November of 2000 that they had a problem with their resting of these helmets and they didn’t disclose it to anybody.” The real issue is that after developing the helmet and determining the problem they continued to market these helmets falsely. Chris Withnall who was the senior engineer at the Ottawa base biomechanical firm Biokinets said, “No helmet can prevent a concussion. Full stop.” Now that Riddell has been sued and convicted guilty maybe they can help design a helmet that prevents a concussion. On top of the companies not doing what they need to, I believe that especially in a sport like football we need to stop young athletes from leading with their head when tackling. We need to teach the proper technic of absorbing a hit and giving a hit. Leading with your head will only cause more brain and neck injuries.

Book Post #1

The book I have chosen for my second semester reading has to do with a topic I am very interested in. The book talks about the importance of treating concussions. It is called The Concussion Crisis Anatomy of a Silent Epidemic. The first chapter of the book talked about how often concussions go un diagnosed. If an athlete takes a blow to the head many people look at it as just a bump on the head. The athlete might not show any signs of being concussed and might feel fine only 10minutes after the blow, but they have a very slight form of a concussion. Most athletes including myself compete as soon as they feel “normal”, but what most athletes don’t realize is the danger they are putting themselves through. The book referenced a story of a college football player in the second chapter. Dave Showalter experienced only one diagnosed concussion before playing in college. Once in college Showalter never got diagnosed with a concussion but he does recall getting “bumped around a little bit”. Now as a graduated student he is suffering from dementia. The doctors accredit it to playing football. Although only being diagnosed with one prior concussion Showalter experienced so many “silent concussions” that his brain was affected. Showalter said, “I never got the feeling in college that I needed to see a trainer, because it only felt like a headache” (9. Carroll). The first few chapters of my book have taught me that we need to eliminate blows to the helmet as much as we can in sports, and that athletes need to be more concussions about what they are putting their heads through.

Senior Year

I was reminded today that we only have 16 days left of school as seniors. I can honestly say I have enjoyed my four years at Deerfield High. Having the privilege of going to a great high school with great teachers made me really appreciate our community. It made me think about "no child left behind" which I believe is very false. There are many kids that don’t have the privilege that we at Deerfield High school have. They don’t have the resources or the caliber of teachers that we do. I hope that most kids take advantage of the privileges given to them. There is a big problem in schools today, because not all kids are given the same opportunity as they should be. My aunt teaches at an under privilege school in Michigan and she told me that the kids come to school with no food and not enough money to get a lunch. People need to be reminded that what is given to them are special, and the kids at Deerfield High School need to take advantage of a great situation.

Boston Bombing

On Friday we finally caught the Boston Marathon Bombers. No one is exactly sure why the brothers from Russia committed this act of terror on the innocent people of Boston, but I can say I hope the punishment that 19 year old Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev receives is worthy of his crime. Not only did these two men kill 3 people and injure over 100 people with a bomb, they also killed MIT police officer Sean Collier, and injured another officer who is now in stable condition. What these two men did to the city of Boston and the families of the victims is awful.  I hope Dzhokhar Tsarnaev will be put through the same terror as the family’s that were affected by the bombings and shootings. I believe that older brother Tamerlan Tsarnaev got the easy way out by getting killed in a shooting with Boston Police. I hope we can find the reason for them committing this act and punish Dzhokhar appropriately. I don’t believe he will receive the death penalty, but life in prison would be appropriate to me.  My heart goes out to all the victims and their families and I hope they can move past this awful week. I was also happy to see the way the people of Boston responded and if I was from Boston I would be proud of the way they responded.

Below is a link of the fans of the Boston Bruins singing the national anthem a day after the bombing. It was a very happy moment in an awful week.

 http://video.nhl.com/videocenter/console?catid=35&id=240938&lang=en

Tiger Woods #1

It has happened again Tiger has climbed the ranks and has become the number one golfer in the world. He's driving like he use to and putting like he was famous for. No one knows the answer to why he is so good again but some accredit it to his new girlfriend Lindsey Vonn. Whatever is helping Tiger it is working. Although he did not win his 5th masters this weekend he very much could have. An unlikely hitting of the pin on 16 on Saturday coasted him a couple strokes. On top of hitting the pin and making it bounce into the water Woods was charged with a two stroke penalty for an illegal dropping of the ball. Many thought that Woods should have withdrawn from the competition after being caught for dropping the ball illegally but I disagree. He did not know of the rule which was put in place only a year ago, and he apologized and accepted his punishment with respect. Many people also said that if it wasn't Tiger Woods then he would have been kicked out, and honestly how can you blame the masters? Woods brings in so much revenue that it would be an awful business move for them. I think with everything that happened this weekend it was not a failure for Woods.

Hidden Bias

After completing my test according to the IAT tests I show a strong preference towards whites. I was surprised by my result, because going into this I agreed that I had a small bias preference towards whites, but I wouldn’t consider myself to have a strong preference. I think I had this result, because I honestly got confused and tried to go fast. I honestly don’t know how I feel about this test because it is a possibility that I do have a strong preference towards European white people and I associate bad things with African American people. The major question I have concerning this assignment is how they get there results? Do they add up the ones you got wrong? I’m curious to know how they come to their conclusions. Also I’m curious to know how this test reflects on my everyday life? Do I always have a strong bias?

I now realize not to take this test as literal as my result and to not assume that I have a strong bias towards whites. I also now understand what it truly means to have “hidden bias” towards someone. I’ve never believed in treating someone different because of the color of their skin but I do agree that people like myself have hidden thoughts in their head about people of a different race. If you see an African American male driving around Deerfield in a very nice car you might assume he’s an athlete or assume a stereotype, purely because of the color of their skin. Although you may not be raciest it still comes to your mind first, it’s the society we live in. I also learned that I am one of those kids that sees an African American male driving a Mercedes and the first thought that pops into my mind is that he is an athlete. I feel ashamed of that, but I can assure you I am not raciest. I know understand the true definition of what it means to have a preference to be around someone of your own race. I agree that people develop prejudice when they are young it is something your born into and when you’re young you have a less developed opinion on subjects. I also agree that people embrace bias after developing a prejudice. Like I said before hidden bias might affect me, because my first thought about a person of different race might be a stereotype.  

New Pope

This past Tuesday we found out who our new pope was. From all of the news and press coverage he has received I get the feeling that Pope Francis is a really down to earth guy. He is being portrayed as the people’s pope a guy who understands the people.  Before he first addressed the people for the first time ever on Sunday, he walked by a crowd and stopped to say hello to several priest he knew previously. And when he finally did make his speech he seemed very relaxed and collected. He is a down to earth kind of guy. Not only was Pope Francis a shocker, but he was also elected within two days which has never happened before. Obviously he is a favorite among the people and the cardinals who elect the pope.  Last spring break I was lucky enough to go to Rome, Italy and I went inside the sixteenth chapel and it was unbelievable. I can picture all the priests and cardinals sitting in there together trying to discover the next pope. I can picture Pope Francis talking to his colleagues and them immediately falling in love with him. He seems to be a very enjoyable guy to be around. On top of all of his qualities he's the first Jesuit and the first Latin American in modern times to lead the world's 1.2 billion Catholics. He chose the name Pope Francis because he wanted to honor St. Francis of Assisi an admirer of nature and a servant to the poor and destitute . St. Francis of Assisi was born the son of a rich cloth merchant. But he lived in rags among beggars at St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. To show he is truly a pope of the people.

Hazing

The last four years my view on hazing has always been very relaxed, because I never thought there was bad hazing at Deerfield High School and still don’t. But in other areas like college and even around the corner at schools like GBN there is. I never saw the harm in class colors and a freshman bedtime chant, if that is really going to ruin your high school experience in my opinion you need to grow up. I understand that there are some things that need to be shut down right away like making pledges drink vinegar and swim in the most discussing mixture of feces and urine. In the Dartmouth case I think the kid has a right to sew and be disappointed in the colleges Greek system, because what him and fellow pledges had to go through is abuse and an awful case of hazing. Honestly any kids that would put there “brothers” or friends through that are just gross. I don’t know why anyone would want to hang with those kids it is just weird. I agree hazing like the one that took place at Dartmouth is awful and needs to be stopped but I also think that some people need to lighten up and not worry about class colors or a freshman bed time chant because it isn’t insulting it playful fun that should offend anyone.

Female Kicker

 Lauren Silberman was the first woman to compete at an NFL regional scouting combine on Sunday, but left the New York Jets' practice field after re-injuring her quadriceps. She tried two kickoffs, the first going 19 yards and the second about 13 yards, and then asked to see a trainer. Tons of news networks came to see her attempt and she made a joke of it. I don’t mean to sound ungrateful and harsh but she only attempted two kicks not one going over 20 yards.  The NFL was grateful in giving her a chance, not because she is a woman, but because she is a unheard of inexperienced kicker. To get invited you usually need to have experience and need to be heard of.  It was great to see a woman get a chance to show talent, I just wish Silberman was able to represent herself and woman better than what she did.

NFL Combine

The NFL combine has been nothing but a surprise. The most impressive quarterback was unknown coming into the draft Arizona’s Matt Scott. Most experts said that the ball exploded out of his hand. The best Offensive Line man at the combine was an unheard of kid coming from an unheard from school. Terron Armstead is a 306 Ibs offensive tackle ran a 4.7 at the combine he played his college ball at Pine Bluff University. Where that is I can’t tell you. The most surprising Wide Receiver was Denard Robinson; a converted quarterback from Michigan proved to the scouts that he has hands. This made me believe that no matter what school you play at to look good in the combine athleticism is key. You can’t teach athleticism but looking good at the combine is a far way from being a good football player. This is why I always believed that the combine never meant anything unless you have to prove yourself. If you’re going to get drafted the combine doesn’t mean anything you can go 1^st overall and still be worse then the 300^th pick. Take Tom Brady for, seven quarterbacks were drafted before him and only one is still playing in the NFL today. Tom Brady has 3 super bowl rings  while everyone else is working a desk job. Its how you prove yourself when you’re in an actual game.

MJ

Michael Jordan turns 50 in only a couple days now and even when he’s out of the game he is getting worldwide attention, just for his birthday. Michael Jordan changed the face of basketball, the shoe market, and advertisement. Before Michael Jordan you would never hear of athletes singing with companies. As a 50 year old retired from playing he still makes a little over $80 million a year. He owns a N.B.A team in Charlotte and let’s not forget about the famous shoe line Jordan’s.  The way Nike marketed Michael Jordan and the era he came into was perfect. Originally Jordan wanted to sign with addidas but they denied him when Nike offered him a contract he jumped on it. Giving Nike an amazing profit Jordan wasn’t only the face of the bulls, and the NBA, but he was also the face of Nike. Addidas later found Allen Iverson and tried to follow what Nike did with Jordan, but it didn’t work nearly as well. Sports marketing companies now recruit people to sign with their businesses instead of the players coming to them. Some of the bigger companies start with kids that are in high school. Let’s face it Michael Jordan changed the way sports were perceived in this country and he helped grab the attention of every marketing agency. He was an amazing athlete, a great basketball player, and one of the best in the world at marketing himself. Retired from the game and still making $80 million a year doesn’t sound so bad to me.

NHL is Going Strong

It was something I needed to talk about, the NHL is back and coming strong. There ratings are great and people are packing the stadiums. The only thing that I have to complain about is that the Black hawks sitting on top of first place. They have great talent and are playing great as a team. As a Detroit Redwings fan Ive got to say I'm hoping for a fall in their play. I cant hear another Hawks fan come up to me and say. "How about them hawks" or "Tell your Redwings to keep up." We get it the hawks are a good team. I never know what to say, because they are a more well rounded team then the wings this season. I always come back with the fact that the wings have 11 cups and the hawks only have 4, but I hate that I'm the kid living in the past. Overall I'm happy that the NHL is going strong again, because it is the greatest game in the world. I never understand how people could argue with me, but  I guess its something I've fallen in love with. Hockey has the physicality of Football, the athleticism of basketball, and the physical stamina of soccer, while doing this all on a thin blade. It is a sport that I think anyone can start watching and fall in love with. I hope I can see the NHL reach one of the top sports in America again that would be great.

Troops Coming Home

Recently President Barack Obama will announce in his State of the Union address that 34,000 U.S. troops will be home from Afghanistan within a year. This is about half of the current active military that serves in Afghanistan. "Obama will announce the troop draw down and the future of the U.S. role in Afghanistan during a joint session of Congress that is otherwise expected to be dominated by the economy and other domestic issues." Fox News reports. Many people are on the fence with Obama's decision, but the one thing I would not want to see is people who voted for Obama to complain. We all new when he was elected president was to cut down on our active men and woman actively serving, and also he wanted to settle are wars. It is hard to be completely upset with Obama, this term. He has stayed on track of what he told us he was going to do. Unlike last term when many of his promises were not delivered. I realize things cant get better with one term but four years is a long time of not seeing that much of a progress. Coming from someone who was disappointed with Obamas last term, I cant argue with most of his decisions this term.

Sexual Assault

Our society is very screwed up; many people that set awful examples are what kids look up to. Athletes are the center piece of bad role models. Many of them have criminal records, and think that they can do no wrong. It starts with scandals like Manti Te’o’s and criminals like Marshawn Lynch star running back for the Seattle Seahawks. Many people don’t understand that they are the center of attention, they are people that kids look up to and inspire to be. If they cannot accept this role then they should not be in the lime light. Personally I also believe that the media is to blame. They do whatever they can to take stories and twist them around. Kids see how stars are portrayed and accept and inspire to be them. The other factor to High School athletes miss behavior is the way they are treated in the community. For example Steubenville the town that had several student athletes of the Big Red sexual assault and under age drink promote the actions of the football players. They don't mind what is happening and support all the decisions they make. I don't believe that the issue is rape, because most High School students are not among the people that would rape, but if they are under the influence and see it as funny knowing nothing will happen to them they will take advantage of girls. The town and society expects them to drink and do things that they know are wrong. Knowing they cant get in trouble the kids take advantage of the situation. The problem is that people don't let this kids know that playing sports isn't something that is given to you, but it should be an honor. You represent not only yourself, but your school, and all the people that have taken the field before you. The alumni the town and the organization are represented by you and your teammates. Society lets people get away with whatever they want and when something so disgraceful happens they finally punish them.

Americas Killing Problem

The shooting at Columbine High School will always be a negative day in America’s history and something that will not be forgotten. America has had many awful massacres that we all wish we could forget about, and instead of figuring out what the problem is we continue to let these killing sprees take place. Why is it that no other country in the world has even close to as many killings as us? In the documentary Bowling for Columbine many people in America have a theory, for example many people said entertainment, video games, more guns, etc. The hard fact about all of these theories is that all the other countries have the same if not more guns video games, and many of the same exact entertainment. So if it is not the social media and the amount of guns what is it? I cannot give an answer to that but I believe it is a topic that our government and people in our country should explore. We have 10 times the amount of killings then most countries. Why is that? What can we do? The only reason I can come up with is the society we live in supports violence. The media is constantly covering negative things like killings, because it draws people in. Many role models are known for killing and doing illegal things. Many Americans see the way to resolve their problem is to kill. If we could figure out the reason of why we have more killings then our country would be a vastly improved.

Book Report 5

Chapter 10- Although I thought the end of this story would be uplifting I was wrong. The author lets us know the destruction it has truly had on him. Romeo said when talking about his sister, “She fought as a soldier bud died as a child.” He goes on to say, “I have witnessed the destruction of children who have been recruited as child soldiers not only the bodies of the dead but the living souls of these once children who have been influenced to commit such horrific acts.” Romeo is trying to say that even though these children have committed awful acts that no one an evil person could commit, they are only doing it to try and save themselves, and they don’t know the difference between right and wrong. They do what there expected and trained to do. When they get the great privilege of getting away they are already destroyed. Although this story is awful in its self the main point of the story is to help spread the word. At the end of this chapter he goes on to say, “Bring your new-found depth of argument to the political elite mous responsibility to protect, to assist, to intervene.” This was obviously an important part of Romeo’s life. Romeo is in great fortune that he was able to come out of this awful experience with a positive attitude. I enjoyed reading this book and I would recommend this to readers.

Book Report 4

Chapters 8-9- Like I said in my last blog these children will and are scared for a lifetime, but when you have to kill another child and are forced into it the child has no way of coming back. The mental scare’s it leaves on the children is just awful.  Romeo goes on to tell us his story; he was sitting doing his usual two hour stretch of sentry duty, when it started raining very hard so he went back to his tent, minutes later “rebels” had attacked his camp. When the rebels came running past him Romeo hide when he saw his chance he turned around and opened fire on them, only doing what he was trained to do. After shooting he hide until everyone was killed. Later Romeo went to check on who he had shot, it turned out to be a young teenager thirteen to fourteen years, and a smaller girl. It turned out that Romeo shot a girl dressed as a rebel acting as a warrior trying to protect the children. Romeo stated that he never wanted to shoot them, but it was what was programmed into him, he had to. It was either that or he would have to face awful consequences later. He did everything to try to tell himself it wasn’t him who shot them, and it wasn’t his fault, but whatever he could never forgive himself. He was paralyzed for a long time not wanting to talk or move, because he was scared for life. It is just heart breaking not only for the people around the child soldiers because they have to live in fear of getting killed, but also for the child soldiers. They are forced to kill innocent people, because awful men program it into them.

Book Report 3

Chapters 5-7- The last three chapters were heartbreaking it talked about the training the children go through and the way child soldiers are made. There are over a quarter of a million child combatants in wars around the world. The author, Romeo stated that the thing that struck him the most was that the place they were taken to was so beautiful with flowers mountains and a beautiful landscape, but the hardest part was accepting that this beautiful place was a place where children were abducted and trained to fight in a battle that wasn’t there’s. In the community that these children were forced to live in you most likely had a family member actually at least one in five kids were there, and for all those five at least one would die at birth. Then within years another one would die from either HIV/AIDS or a sickness that was never treated because the leaders didn’t care about treating the kids. Romeo states that the easiest way for these  leaders to get the kids to participate was not using a bribe or anything that would make the kids happy, but was fear. A small child is not going to be able to say no to a gun or a man that could inflict a lot of pain on them. Unlike a traditional route of training soldiers that helps develop skills and experience the children are forced into trying things. The training is grueling and inhumane it was designed to separate the strong from the weak, using the weirdest ways. They would take the shortest time to assess the kids and not give them any back round on what they were doing, hitting and beating them while they do it. Chapter 7 is called “How to Unmake a Child Soldier” It is very sad to begin with the amount ok kids that die threw the long process is awful, considering no one has a any record of how many kids were abducted, how they died or if they even are dead. Parents and loved ones are left wondering how there kid is doing. Also by the time they get away or are set free they have all kind of diseases and are scared for life. No one can come back from a awful experience like that.

Book Report 2

Chapter 4- In the last few chapters we learned a lot about main character Romẻo. He has many responsibilities he has to take care of his sister Kesi, and his neighbor and friend Jacob. Romẻo is the most mature of the three and was expected to look out for them by his father. Romeo and Kesi’s father was a hard man to please. He was one of those parents that pushes and doesn’t really allow the children some down time. There oldest brother Mosi was someone the whole town inspired to be and Romeo couldn’t live up to the expectations. He was a good looking kid worked hard and was smart. He did whatever he could and made people proud. When Kesi and Romeo would play games there father would always yell at them saying things like, “You play these games to much, and don’t do your chores.” They had enough chores to last five men days. Later on the kids were at school when they heard shots fired Romeo grabbed Kesi and held her as the teacher protected the door. When there teacher was shot falling into the classroom. All of the students started to cry. The people who had shot there teacher will child soldiers. Mosi Romeo’s and Kesis brother Mosi was running towards the classroom when they had escaped when running towards Mosi the child soldiers talked both of them holding a gun against their heads telling them to sit so they responded. The soldiers tied them up and threw them on the back of a truck and took them away.

NHL is Back

Recently the NHL lockout was uplifted and made the hockey world happy. As a huge fan of the game I was happier than anyone to see the season start, but at the same time I am disappointed. In case you didn’t follow the lockout the players who were in the NHL formed a group called the NHLPA, national hockey league players association. They formed this group because they didn’t want to lose money that they thought they deserved. The NHL has had the biggest increase of profit in its history the last 3 season. The players felt that they were getting cheated out of money and the owners wanted more money to. The part I don’t understand is that these players are getting paid millions of dollars to play a game they love. Many of the owners were only making small profits last year due to the players making more money than ever before. The players described it as this, “Imagine you helping a company make more money than they have ever made before, and the owners taking that money that you earned for them.” Although true the way they described it sounds like every business. Employees work for businesses and bosses the bosses are always going to get a large profit of the company’s success, it’s how businesses work. I’m just happy to say hockey is back.

Book Report

Chapters 1-3: In the first two chapters of my book They Fight Like Soldiers They Die Like Children, the author introduced us to his life as an early teen. His destination was set his father was a military veteran and a hardworking man that worked for everything he had. The same way he wanted his son to be. The author tells us that he had no choice he was going to have to train to be a soldier. He connects it to the children soldiers who were called Hutu youths. From what I understand the author was saying although he was not excited about what his father was putting him threw he could find things to enjoy, things that could still put a smile on his face unlike the Hutu youth. The children of the Hutu youth spent their days  nights and morning standing on corners of a poverty stroke community. When growing up the author was taught to be mature. He said, “the gallant old soldiers who taught me as a boy created a learning atmosphere that was serious yet very considerate, very human .” he goes on to tell the readers that this is completely different, “The children soldiers under the gun of inhuman adults see no end in sight.” The children are abused and the way they treat them is comparable to nothing it is just awful what the military soldiers make these young innocent children do. I was outraged that the men who throw these children into to war don’t have the guts to fight. The whole reason they have these kids fight for them is because they don’t care about their lives. The value of one of these kids’ lives is nothing to the war lords. If a kid dies it doesn’t affect them, they have thousands of more kids to fight their battle. It’s still early in my reading and I’m upset with what the people do to these kids.