Category: 1st Unit: Literacy (Page 2 of 24)

Jackson Zhang

Section/E106 – Course/English 1121

Professor: S. Schmerler

Date: 3/1/19

Revision date: 5/19/19

Freedom through laws

Freedom today can almost be anything from, the freedom of being able to live, to the freedom being able to follow laws. We are born into a world today where we must obey laws, or else there would be consequences. Law is one of the most important factors in society today. Freedom to me is the result, and inspiration where one can do what they please without having to live in the shadows. Often, over the years, people have been incarcerated, and have died because society’s laws are advancing and we are caught up in the middle of it. Victims are sometimes forced to act violent in order to make changes in society. Laws can sometime be out of control, or abused. An example of an outrageous law is when China had placed a limit of having one offspring only. I was always that person that would wonder why some of the most unnecessary laws existed, and what would life be if they were never there.

As I got older, I began thinking about life more. There is a saying, “Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated”, by Confucius. This quote applies to me every time I think about life. Laws are the most appealing to me in society. When I heard about someone becoming incarcerated I wonder if it was the criminal’s fault, or the law maker. I came to a conclusion that it was both party’s fault. My reasoning is because, when you create more laws it would mean more crimes. At the same time, it’s also the criminal’s decision for knowing there are laws, and decide to take matters violently instead of a peaceful way. I am not saying all laws should be free. Majority of them that people fight over today, and is to come in the near future would just make life easy if they were just gone.

There are many reasons why there would be laws. Laws, overtime can encourage people to form habits. What I mean by “encourage people to form habits” is the fact that back then laws/rules were formed to strengthen, and bring unity to people. People felt that it was the best option, and that these laws should keep on forming in order to preserve their peace. Therefore laws began to form continuously to the point where a country like North Korea, and China became communist countries. Some Laws can be beneficial, but some not so much.

Can there be a world where no laws exist ? That’s a very important question to a lot of people who cares, and don’t. I believe that having laws and certain laws is true freedom. Having a world where no laws exist would mean chaos. A great analogy of a world with no laws would be the movie called “The Purge”. Having laws is like freedom because, people are given chances. The ones that abuse the law are brainwashed into thinking it’s alright to keep disobeying, and that they’re gaining freedom, but in reality they are fighting a war.

Throughout life many people have been incarcerated for doing crimes, however when they are in prison they are restricted to the outside world activity. The incarceration of inmates and restricting them to connect with the outside world is like taking the right of someone’s life. Someone like Malcolm X who was a prisoner for 10 years was unable to do no more than read books only in prison as time passes. It is when we hit our lowest point that we are open to the greatest change, but sometimes we don’t get to fully embrace our possibilities, instead we are restricted by the rules that are put on our shoulders. Majority of the people in the U.S could likely be wrongly, and over incarcerated. The world’s incarceration number is steadily rising, as laws are formed so are crimes.

The closure of my freedom is the perspective of a lower magnitude of laws. My freedom has been restricted, laws are made where my comfort is steadily lowering. I believe laws are both important, and too much. My freedom isn’t backing down, and it’s not only affecting me, but also a lot others, some are more impacted than I am. I will always consider freedom as an act of being able to desire something, and executing that goal that we want. Therefore it’s nice to not have certain laws, but not too many, and not the unnecessary ones that makes our life harder.

Sometimes too much freedom is not a good thing. This essay on “Freedom” I don’t know where should I start. Freedom has many different mean to different people. Today for me, freedom is the choice to live our life, doing what our wants, live where our wants, eat by own choice and learn what our heart desires. This means that freedom can apply to different aspects of life and freedom is not an absolute term.

Muaz Alkabass
English 1121, section E115

Professor: Sarah Schmerler
March 4th 2019                         
                     Women’s Rights in Saudi Arabia
Freedom is the power and ability to express who you are and who you want to be. Freedom is a form of power that many Americans possess. It is unfortunate that  many Americans take the power for granted. Here in America, we have many privileges that many people in other countries do not have. In America, we have the freedom of speech and many rights such as the right for women to vote. In other countries, women are not allowed to vote and are forbidden to ever speak in public. For example, most of the people in Saudi Arabia is governed by sharia law, which is quite strict with regard to sexuality. Many people are held back due to religious reasons or the law. In America, you can marry the person you truly love , even if you are the same gender or the same sex. In most countries same- sex marriage is forbidden, unlawful, and could even get you killed. Women have the ability to be more than just your average housewife. In a country such as Saudi Arabia, women still do not have the right to vote. Until recently women in Saudi Arabia did not  have the freedom to drive. Women in Saudi Arabia are not allowed to go out out of the house without their husbands to take them anywhere.

Many women in Saudi Arabia are oppressed because they are not allowed to wear what they want to wear. They wear a veil and long black dress, which is called burqa. This is to be worn by all women. Women are not allowed to wear anything that may show their figure or reveal their hair. It is not a old religious, some say, man-made, law that restricts women’s clothing in public. Laws have been changing the past couple of years. Women and young girls are allowed to play sports in school, whereas in past years, women were banned from all sports.

Here in America women can go to any sporting event, but until recently in Saudi Arabia, women were not allowed to attend any sporting event. The government just gave freedom for women to attend any sporting  event. The King of Saudi Arabia, before 2018, banned women from attending any sporting event such as soccer, which is significant in Saudi Arabia. Only males were allowed to view soccer games in public.

In Saudi Arabia, women were not allowed to join the military because their families were against it. Now with this new law, the government  just gave the right for Saudi Arabian women to able to serve in the military, but they get to earn a high school diploma, and they get to mentally and physically compete. Also, in Saudi Arabia, any woman that would come forward in regards to sexual harassment would be frowned upon, and the judge would always rule in the males’ favor.  Before 2018, women were banned from driving. Women were fined and arrested in Saudi Arabia because they were seen driving in public.

Many women faced many challenges due to not being able to drive and relying on poor public transportation or a male guardian to take them to work. In Saudi Arabia, education for women is a new thing because many women had struggled to get their education, that is, they had to through many trials and ask for guardians. Saudis started to educate their housewives instead of having them stay at home

The oppression has been lifted in Saudi Arabia because Saudis want their wives to be educated so the wives could help their husbands with raising their kids and teaching them, so the kids are better. Saudi Arabia’s new generation is coming up, which will start to give more rights to women to educate themselves. More women in future generations will be educated and will change the society view on females being educated.

Women back in Saudi Arabia have to go through many obstacles so they can finish their education. For example, I talked to my aunt. She want though so many trials so she could finish her education. My family was against it, and wanted her to get married after she finished high school. However my aunt did not want to get married and she refused to get married and wanted to to finish education, so she did not listen to my grandma and my grandpa, and she went to college. She finished college, and she became a teacher, which was very complicated for her but she still did it.

In conclusion, many of us take freedom for granted. Freedom to me is the ability to educate yourself freely, to have equal rights, to live in a way that both men and women can speak freely. It means to me the right to speak or say something you want to say without you worrying about what going to happen to you. Our future for women in Saudi Arabia will empower all women from all over the world. Women will have the power and mental freedom to conquer the world, which some still see the world as a man’s world. Generations are changing to the better, and slowly people are adapting to the culture where all men and women are equal.