Boston Marathon Bombing: The Aftermath of the Aftermath

The bombing of the Boston Marathon was a terrible event that brought all of North America together to give support; at the time. In the modern world it seems that there is a common strain of events following a disaster. Society seems to trace the same steps over and over again for every large disaster. First, directly when the terrible event happens, everyone immediately starts talking about what happened. It's in the news, on the internet and on everyones mind. Secondly, charities start popping up like Whack-a-Mole. Everybody 'wants' to do their little part but in reality never get around to it. Then comes a time where we wait until it is acceptable to push the event out of our minds and only talk about it if someone else brings it up first. It seems to that we focus on terrible events only to follow with everybody else, then after an acceptable time has passed our true colours show and we stop caring.

On April 15 at 2:49pm two pressure cookers exploded near the finish line of the famous Boston Marathon. The bombing of such a prestigious and public event created chaos and dismay that infected the whole city. Then, three days later the FBI released two photos of the alleged brothers Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev. Boston was consumed with panic and fear as the search for the suspects dragged on, everyone knowing that two dangerous bombers roamed the city searching desperately for a way out. The city of Boston was caught in the grips of a full lockdown, everybody was told to stay indoors as the streets were transformed into an urban battlefield. Shortly after midnight on April 19th a Watertown officer identified the brothers in a Honda Civic and a stolen SUV. A relentless gunfight ensued on the 100 Block of Laurel Ave where an estimated 200-300 rounds, several crude grenades and at least one further bomb was used. When the older brother Tamerlan ran out of ammunition and was apprehended by police, younger brother Dzhokhar drove the stolen SUV toward police and proceed to run over Tamerlan. Dzhokhar sped off but about a half mile away, at the corner of Spruce and Lincoln, abandoned the car and escaped on foot. An intense manhunt then began.  Fully armoured troops of the Massachusetts Army National guard, Boston Police Bomb Squad and the Boston Police Department went door to door through the streets of Boston's Watertown district. All public services were suspended and a "shelter in place" order was given. Two hours after the shelter-in-place order had been lifted, on the same day, a Watertown resident noticed that the cover on his boat was loose. The residant looked into the boat and saw a body lying in a pool of blood; he promptly notified police. When the athourites finally captured Dzhokhor he had multiple gunshot wounds to the head, neck, legs and hands. The search was finally over, and now the rebuilding could begin.

Or so everyone would have thought. It seems to me that everyone wants to help tons right when the event is happening and directly after, but no one will put in the effort for long term commitment. Also, everybody wants to help if the media blows it up or if a bunch of others are helping. A great example of this is Kony 2012. Kony 2012 was a short film, released on March 5th 2012, with a goal of getting International Criminal Court fugitive Joeseph Kony arrested by the end of 2012. The Kony incident blew up and suddenly everyone was talking about it; by October 17 the film had over 97 million views on YouTube. Everybody felt that Kony would be caught and put away for all of the terrible things he had committed. Things that many of the people supporting the campaign had no idea of but were just following societies lead. Within a month of intense interest into the Kony crisis, everybody was back into their normal lives and the subject was dropped. Interest was lost into the subject and it seemed that everybody felt that just because they had payed attention to it they had done their part. Today Kony is still alive and well creating new problems daily, does anybody care?

Current events seem to fuel our interest. When you are keeping up with something in the "now" you will be more proactive and focused. Then we find some new terrible event to focus on and push what is old into the shadows where it will be forgotten safely. "Out of sight, out of mind." How about "No thought, no problem." 

Can we for once focus on something, put our mind to it and see that it is finished? Hopefully we can find more inside than what it takes to look at a tragedy and then push it out of our minds. Hopefully

Civic Mirror: A Look At The Outside World From Inside a Classroom

Civic Mirror: A Look At The Outside World From Inside a Classroom

By: Nicholas Pavanel

For the past two weeks my grade ten Civics class has been participating in the interactive game Civic Mirror. Civic Mirror is supposed to mirror the real world and allow students to become citizens of a country they create. While in this country students experience a taste of what the outside world might be like. In our own Civic Mirror game, the judicial branch of government greatly impacted the nation, our own country of Gillamore is not unlike the Cedar Revolution of 2005 in Lebanon and we learn the very important lesson of being aware of your actions.

            In the first “year” of Civic Mirror, the judicial branch of our government had to deal with two very influential prosecutions. One specific case, between the holder of the only energy plant and a colleague whom she took money from, greatly affected the nation as a whole and demonstrated that you need to be aware of your actions in the real world. The case was started because the accuser believed that the energy plant owner took her money and bought the energy plant without giving her anything in return. The plant owner believed that because the accuser didn’t sign a contract she basically gave her money for free and she could use it how she liked. In the end the accuser won the prosecution. This event influenced the whole nation in a number of ways. One such way was that it transferred half of the energy monopoly to the accuser. This will affect the nation so much because now, since the monopoly is shared between two people with different views the price of energy will lower and more people will be able to afford it. This can be related to real life because sometimes in a real prosecution, money or business percentages can change hands. Also this can be related to the real world because before the prosecution even started the accuser made the first mistake, she forgot to sign a contract and assumed that the other party would act nicely. This gives me insight to the real world because it is showing that you can’t assume things about people you don’t know. Another way this influenced the nation was that it showed people that they have to be more cautious of who they deal with and to be more cautious about their actions.  Now it is going to be much tougher to trick someone into a bad deal because they have seen what can happen if you are not aware of your actions. Also this will mean that many business deals that have been proceeding so far will stop until both parties sign a contract. This gives me insight into the real world because it shows me that if you are unaware of the rules people will take advantage of you. In this situation particularly the accuser had no idea that she needed a contract and almost lost all of her money. This teaches me that I need to be aware of what I’m doing and whom I’m dealing with for my sake and for others. A citizen forgot to sign a contract and almost lost all of her money. Now, people will be more careful of who they deal with and more people will try and understand the game.

            Just eight years ago Randy “Duke” Cunningham, a decorated Navy fighter pilot and US congressman, admitted to taking bribes of at least $2.4million dollars from at least three defense contractors in exchange for government business. Corruption, it can reach any level of order, it can reach any man and it will always take place in government. Our civic mirror judicial branch of government was no different. Our nation found out our first government appointed judge could not take action in the second prosecution because he was corrupt. The people of Gillamore thought our supreme judge was corrupt because he was a close friend to the prime minister and was overheard saying how he was going to fix the prosecution. This influenced our nation more than many thought. This affected our nation because if the government judge can become corrupt anyone can. This will end up making people more cautious, and the crime rate will go down in our country. This could also make the schemes more elaborate and dangerous. I think the general security of our nation will rise and everyone will be watching his or her own backs for betrayal. This gives me insight into the real world because it shows me that even though we might think that some people are impenetrable, they may be corrupt and are really working for someone else’s interests. Also this gives me insight in the real by showing that some people may be acting the way they do just be to get the best of you. Another way this influenced our nation was that it might create distrust in the current government and change the tides in the next election. The elected judge could not be able to participate in the prosecution because he was corrupt. If the government appointed a corrupt judge that could be won over by money and power then how are we to trust the rest of the government? Since the judge is representing the government it puts a large shadow the whole party. Usually people want a government that follows the laws they create and that is respectful of other peoples trust. This scenario gives me insight into the real world because I don’t know any of the party members well enough to know that they aren’t corrupt. Before the first time I will be able to vote I’m going to make sure that the party I am voting for isn’t corrupt. The government judge of the existing government was corrupt and due to this surprising discovery the party in power may lose next election and general awareness will increase. Only time will tell.

            The English dictionary states that revolution “Is an overthrow or repudiation and the thorough replacement of an established government or political system by the people governed.” Revolution usually happens when a corrupt government is disliked by the people enough that they stand up and go against the government in either violent of non-violent manners. The peaceful Cedar Revolution that happened back in 2005 in Lebanon is very alike to our own government’s situation in Civic Mirror. The government in both countries does not represent the interests of their people as much as they should. Syrian interests, not the ideas of the people heavily influenced Lebanon’s government. In our Civic Mirror country the current government also does not represent the peoples interest enough as it should. The problem in Lebanon was resolved by a peaceful revolution with lots of protests. The Cedar Revolution can be thought of as a change of government. Our Civic mirror government problem can be resolved in a similar way. At the next election the people of Gillamore need to elect a new government to power that more represents their interests. Another way that both problems are similar is that both of the governments were very corrupt. Syrian’s who wanted the power for personal reasons consumed the Lebanon government. Our Civic Mirror government had a judge that was only there so he could gain in game status, power and wealth. The Lebanon’s resolved their problem by electing a new government and making sure that every member had a fair mind and cared about the people. In our game we can do the exact same thing, elect a new government and appoint a fair judge. I think the Lebanon people resolved their problem exactly as it should be done anywhere possible. Using strong protests and peaceful measures the people reclaimed their government with the right procedures; I hope that my Civic Mirror country can do the same.

            The Cedar Revolution of Lebanon in 2005 was very successful and should be viewed on by the world so everyone knows how a revolution should be handled. The country of Lebanon and our Civic Mirror country of Gillamore defiantly have different situations to deal with and will use some different methods to achieve the same goal. The Lebanon problem had a different government structure than Gillamore. The former Syrian-Lebanese government was full of Syrians trying to run the country with their own interests in mind and almost all of the Lebanese wanted a change of government. In Gillamore only a couple of corrupt politicians sit with the ruling party and some of the citizens would not mind the current government staying. The Lebanese did what was right when they took out all of the corrupt people in government because that’s what the majority of the population wanted. In Gillamore it may be a better idea to banish corrupt politicians from the current parliament if they get re-elected because if they get re-elected, in means the people still want that party leading their country; but nobody wants a corrupt politician. Another way that the two situations are different is that the Lebanese had a whole country wanting change for their government and it was easier for them to gain a large majority. In our small classroom it will be tough to gain a majority of the people to vote against the government because we have many different people with different views. It was easy for the Lebanese people to uproot the parliament because they had a different nation’s people controlling their own government so many Lebanese felt that they needed their own nations people controlling their own country. In the Civic Mirror country we have many people with different views and some of the people believe that the party in government at the moment should stay. To fix this problem we should raise awareness about other parties more suited to our country and try to get as many people to vote as possible.

            The online real world simulation Civic Mirror has a main goal of getting students to realize what the world outside of their little town is like. Civic Mirror shows some citizens what it is like to have complete power and others to have completely nothing. In every scenario you will always learn something new and will always be able to look at the world with a new perspective. An important lesson I’ve learned from Civic Mirror is that you need to be more aware of your actions. Being more aware of your actions could improve the quality of living in many places, in many different ways. One way that being more aware of your actions could improve living quality is that if everyone were more aware, everything would be done safer. When you are more aware of what you’re doing you have a much better chance of keeping yourself and everyone else safe. If you are driving your car and are not aware of what you are doing you could cause an accident or lose control. Also if everyone were to constantly pay attention to their actions you could rely on many more things. Another way that being aware of your actions could improve living quality is that you would have less legal mix-ups. If more people were aware of what they were signing or doing with a business there would be less chance of doing something that you don’t want to do. If everyone were aware of what they were doing with businesses then there would hardly ever be a scenario where somebody wants to go to court. The last way that being aware of your actions could improve your community is that everything would be more stable. With everyone being more aware of what they are doing things will be done safer and more controlled. This means that everything will be done with more care and people will be able to put more trust in each other. If people trust each other more than there will be less problems and commotion.  Civic Mirror has allowed me to see that if we are more aware of our everyday actions, our past actions and think about our future ones we can create a better life for everyone around us.

            Civic Mirror, an online game that engages students and creates a simulation that exposes people to things that they had no knowledge about. In my particular game of Civic Mirror, the judicial branch of government is playing a large role. I also gained insight that being more aware of you actions can improve general life around you and others. Civic Mirror is an influential game that will forever help teenagers get a glance at the outside world.

           

Bibliography:

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/lists/most_corrupt_politicians/randy-duke-cunningham.html?state=play

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cedar_Revolution

A Poem on Separation

One In Three

By: Nicholas Pavanel

Fairy tale beginning,

Thinking we understand completely.

It’s like the world is encased in cloudy glass,

Never changing,

But also never allowing us to see clearly.

Loud voices,

Short, sharp, strained conversation,

Clear the glass that is our understanding.

We now begin to see the breaking point is near.

All that can be handled between two separate parties,

Two official oppositions,

Two that can no longer be one.

All that can be handled boils down to one moment,

A moment that is different than the rest.

Soft voices meant to be comforting,

Are negotiations finally being made?

Not of the kind the people wish to hear.

The world is split into two sides,

Like a magician would split a volunteer,

Except there is no joining back together this time.

Crash!

The glass finally shatters all around,

Lying crumbled at our feet,

Mixed with tears of confusion,

The realization hits us.

Now we can see everything.

This time,

We are the one in three.