If the whole is equal to the sum of its parts than our "whole" cannot be reached until our parts are gathered and acknowledged. This blog will act as a collection, a gallery that records our “parts and particles” (our particulars) in an effort to connect the dots; to endlessly connect the dots.
Monday, August 9, 2010
Second Chances
Do you think people deserve second chances? If so why do you think that, what circumstances make it acceptable? How do second chances relate to our books? In True Notebooks, without knowing the crimes committed, do you believe they deserve second chances just from reading how they express themselves?
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If it helps maybe an example of a situation would be easier? just a thought...
ReplyDeleteI feel that in certain situations, people deserve second chances. I feel that maturity and honesty controls the fate of a second chance.
ReplyDeleteBy that - I mean, if someone cheated on me I would break up with them and leave them alone. Once a cheater - always a cheater.
However, if someone was involved with drug dealing and such and had a long sentence in jail - the time would allow them to reflect on their past mistakes and mature. I feel like they would deserve a second chance.
I feel that second chances relate too our books due the idea of the criminal mentality. All the young men in the book reflect on what they did wrong in the outside world and have indentifyed what they could have did better or what positive things they miss.
In the book "True Notebooks" I feel that all of them should have been rewarded for actively participating in the writing class because that is something very positive - so I think they should have recieved a second chance with life verus being locked up for life.
i believe in second chances in certain situations. Things like relationships and mistakes made in school or at work deserve things like second chances. Second chances gives you the ability to prove that you can improve and be a better person. But if you are in a situation that involves peoples lives or their health and you mess that up, a second chance should not be allowed. Second chances relate to true notebooks based on the fact that thses boys wish that they had a second chance on life to change alot of the immature decions they made. I believe that they do deserve a second chane, we do not know what exactly they did to be put into that situation and maybe they had to do it to save themselves. We can never know unless we are in their shoes.
ReplyDeleteUnder the bored walk, (bored walk)
ReplyDeleteIt depends on the situation. If someone committed a terrible crime and wanted the opportunity for a second chance I dont believe that they would deserve. If you are willing to do the crime you should be willing to take the punishment.
ReplyDeleteThe young men in True Notebooks are murderers and half of them probably planned on committing the crimes that they did. Others accidently killed a person or people and were punished for it. Honestly, I dont think anyone that murders another human being should be given a second chance. If you have your mind set on ending someone's life, whether or not you kill the planned person, you should not be given a second chance point blank.
I find this incredibly hard to repsond to. There are so many of different perspectives and circumstances that could change a situation. I'll constantly contradict myself trying to explain my views, which aren't very solid.
ReplyDeleteIf I thought that everyone deserves a second chance, my reasoning for it being acceptable would be that mostly everyone makes mistakes, and should get another chance to learn from them.
However, I don't believe second chances should apply to murderers. Because we don't know what the boys are in juvenille hall for, saying if the boys should get a second chance or not is very difficult. In the book you see the nice side of them, and when they're telling you about their life and how much they could've changed. You don't get to know if they killed someone, or if it's something to a lesser degree.
To answer Abbeys specific question: Yes, i think that a few of the boys have faced the consequenced and they themselved have realized they want to change for the better. A second chance might be a good idea.
I believe the right of second chances are subjective but they should be awarded regardless of the individual. This is so because otherwise one's oppurtunity to change and learn from their mistakes is blunted by the absence of forgiving and teaching. Personal evolution is always possible and a person's capacity should never be doubted, wouldn't you want the same?
ReplyDeletejust from reading Sierras first sentence, i completely agree about honesty and maturity!
ReplyDelete"Second chances gives you the ability to prove that you can improve and be a better person. "
ReplyDelete- I really liked this quote jayvon.
** mainly because i agree...isnt that the reason to give a second chance?
ReplyDeleteAntonio is a good example to use to answer this question: Antonio said he stole stuff, but he would return to his activity. So, he doesn't deserve a second chance because he didn't learn from the first time he got in trouble. Prison should be offering outlets for the inmates to express their emotions; Antonio is offered a second chance by writing. He's taking a writing class that lets him put his ideas on paper and not just bottle them up, it's a chance to release emotion. It's a chance to get away from the life he was given and learn how to bring out his emotions. Antonio did not have this chance because gangs did not facilitate his emotions.
ReplyDeleteIn my lived experience, I have a friend that was in jail for fifteen years for something he did not do. After he got out, he was able to get a second chance by getting a job and making amends with family members and friends, which some prisoners don't have the opportunity to do.
This second chance is not the same as Antonio's because my friend had to learn how to live outside the walls of prison. The records for both of these people are different--my friend didn't commit the crime; the chances of getting a job are weaker, he might not learn how to live beyond the walls because it's too easy for him to fall back into gang affiliation, and he seems stubborn to learn the "right ways."
Reading the personal writing of the characters does not make me feel "bad" because they are still high risk offenders. They are still a danger to society. It is interesting to see how the prison system is teaching them and how "deep" they are as people, but it doesn't give them a free pass.
I haven't read True Notebooks but in my opinion we all do things wrong and do deserve a second chance. Reason being sometime it is hard to get out of a habit that has been repeated several time, and sometime people are afraid because of how other my look at them. Influence is doesn't stop rotating which my effect their everyday life.
ReplyDeleteI sometimes wonder why it does depend on the situation why isn't this such a black/white idea why are their shades of gray..is it solely because we have a conscience? or is how we have been taught? i love the thought of something so complex and you can just go on and on and on to going about talking about or answering about it.
ReplyDeleteI believe chances are 100% up to the person giving them. I wouldn't be where I am right now if it weren't for second chances, or even third, fourth, fifth and so on chances. But I turned myself around and i may not have if I wasn't given the proper amount of chances to do so.
ReplyDeleteChances are for people who deserve them, and I suppose people felt that I deserved chances for whatever reasons they had. Therefore I feel that if i were to give someone a chance, and i thought it would make a difference, even if they didn't succeed, it may motivate them to try a third or fourth time. what if that person had the cure for aids? or cancer?
We don't know anything but what we KNOW, therefore take the chance to know more. which may mean give the chance to someone else so you or them will know more.
The general consensus is that second chances should be determined by the crime. No one is really talking about the idea of rehabilitation; that second chances should be determined by the individual's drive for remorse and change. Why is that not a factor? Why do you all seem so definite in your answers based on the simple fact of the "severity" of the crime?
ReplyDeleteIn my experience with reading, writing, and breathing, I've noticed the only thing that you can really be sure of is that people change. You are not the same person you were 5 years ago and you will have changed again in 5 more years. Perhaps Sierra's statment "once a cheater, always a cheater" can be extended to things like murder or rape, and things like second chances should not be risked, but what about the determination to be rehabilitated? Isn't the prison institution supposedly built on the idea of rehabilitation and second chances? That you pay for your mistakes, and thusly learn of your errors? Or will convicts be forced to carry that with them forever?
This ties into the ideas of the "Other" that you've been discussing in class. Have any of you had experience with a person who has spent time in jail? Has committed a crime that they regret and feel rehabilitated for? Has this changed your opinion of them? Think if you were an employer. Would you hire an ex-convict? Would you honestly believed he was reformed? Or would that be dependent on the crime that they committed in the first place, regardless of reason or intent?
i believe ppl do deserves second choices to prove they can change...
ReplyDeleteeverybody deserves to prove themself at least once...
i think that the students in Mark class just made bad decisions but if you read their writing or essays you would never except that they did something bad to put them in the situation that they are...