Merry Christmas

Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual Christian holiday commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ. It is celebrated on December 25, but this date is not known to be Jesus' actual birthday, and may have initially been chosen to correspond with either the day exactly nine months after some early Christians believed Jesus had been conceived,[8] a historical Roman festival,[9] or the date of the northern hemisphere's winter solstice. Christmas is central to the Christmas and holiday season, and in Christianity marks the beginning of the larger season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days.
Although a Christian holiday, Christmas is also widely celebrated by many non-Christians, and some of its popular celebratory customs have pre-Christian or secular themes and origins. Popular modern customs of the holiday include gift-giving, music, an exchange of greeting cards, church celebrations, a special meal, and the display of various decorations; including Christmas trees, lights, garlands, mistletoe, nativity scenes, and holly. In addition, Father Christmas (known as Santa Claus in some areas, including North America, Australia and Ireland) is a popular folklore figure in many countries, associated with the bringing of gifts for children. [1]
Because gift-giving and many other aspects of the Christmas festival involve heightened economic activity among both Christians and non-Christians, the holiday has become a significant event and a key sales period for retailers and businesses. The economic impact of Christmas is a factor that has grown steadily over the past few centuries in many regions of the world. [2]
The interesting point is that almost every country celebrates the new year of its own in some similar way. And in our own country there is a special ceremony to welcome the New Year and celebrate the rebirth of nature and awakening of it. To Christians their celebration has some sort of religious connotation, but for us as Iranians there is no religious background and it is a celebration of rebirth of nature and we hope that with rebirth of nature all the good values and hopes and wishes will be reborn to us an to our families as well.
Sources
1. Christmas, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas
2. Christmas, www.history.com/content/christmas

Schema

Schema has a broad scope of definition. Schema is a general picture that exists in our mind about everything. There exists a variety of schema in every branch of science, there are schemas in psychology, politics, literature and so forth, but here in this post by schema I mean the general negative picture that exists in people’s minds and usually it is because of lack of information and being away from the true reality.
According to what we discussed in our classroom, some of the schemas are distorted realities that have taken shape on the basis of some presuppositions and perceptions. I think the essence of lots of our troubles in communicating and making relation with each other is due to these schemas that are not based on true reality and actually are distorted realities. Because we are not aware of the truth behind concepts and events we being to shape pictures that are far from reality and the problem is that we deem them as reality. These schemas are the major impediments to our true and effective common understanding, it is said that lack of knowledge is the cause of shaping these schemas in our mind; actually the unintellectual, uneducated person tends to behave and act according to their instinct and are not ready to reasonable communication, but it is expected from the educated reasonable person to leave aside all the presuppositions and prejudices and do not judge people before hand and let the idea to take shape based on true communication.
There have taken shape lots of pro and anti American schemas around the world. To some people just the name of America brings some sort of respect and yearning that inspires them to admire America ignorantly and when you ask them why you are so in fond of a country that you do not know much about it, they rely don’t have a clear answer to it. And also there are lots of anti American schemas, some people just reject whatever is told about America and do not even listen to discussions and speeches and just want to reject whatever is told or is related to America.
I believe as long as we do not get rid of all the presuppositions and prejudices that exist in ourselves, we cannot move forward in the direction of true human communication and achievement.

Reference:
www.images.google.com/
Dr. Amelie,s class on schema

Women back from combat are not welcomed

WASHINGTON – Nobody wants to buy them a beer.

In a report that was published in yahoo news, it is noted that women veterans coming back from battlefields in Iraq and Afghanistan face cold faces and there is no sense of welcome in them. Some people in America believe that, these veterans coming home have not done anything for their country or even for other countries and do not deserve even a glass of beer. But what do these women think? Didn’t they really do anything to help America in the new world? Didn’t they really do anything for America?
Some of these women come back home expecting a warm welcome but there is no sign of that. They face cold salute because people don’t believe any oppositive job has been done in battlefields in Iraq and Afghanistan, because of the bad economic situations at home and more pressures outside women veterans are not considered as heroines and they face lots of challenges at home. Why is it the case? Why women are not welcomed? And even worse these women are facing a larger amount of challenges. Aimee Sherrod, an Air Force veteran who did three war tours, said years went by when she didn't tell people she was a veteran. After facing sexual harassment during two tours and mortar attacks in Iraq, the 29-year-old mother of two from Bells, Tenn., was medically discharged in 2005 with post-traumatic stress disorder.
She's haunted by nightmares and wakes up some nights thinking she's under attack. She's moody as a result of PTSD and can't function enough to work or attend college. Like some other veterans, she felt she improperly received a low disability rating by the Department of Veterans Affairs that left her with a token monthly payment. She was frustrated that her paperwork mentioned she was pregnant, a factor she thought was irrelevant.( Associated Press, yahoo news). Now the question is that why? Why women in American army face more troubles than men? maybe the answer is that they are more emotional than men and are not ready enough to face harsh scenee tha t are inevitable in battlefields. the other reason may be the moral conduct of those women, maybe they are crossing some red lines that should not be crossed. If they observe moral ethics it is more likely that they would face less troubles.
www.news.yahoo.com

Obama's plan for health insurance reform

Health care in the United States is provided by many separate legal entities. Health care facilities are largely owned and operated by the private sector. Health insurance is primarily provided by the private sector, with the exception of programs such as Medicare, Medicaid, the Children's Health Insurance Program and the Veterans Health Administration. According to data compiled and published by multiple international pharmaceutical trade groups, the US is the world leader in biomedical research and development as well as the introduction of new biomedical products; pharmaceutical trade organizations also maintain that the high cost of health care in the U.S. has encouraged substantial reinvestment in such research and development.
At least 15% of the population is completely uninsured, and a substantial additional portion of the population is "underinsured", or less than fully insured for medical costs they might incur More money per person is spent on health care in the United States than in any other nation in the world, and a greater percentage of total income in the nation is spent on health care in the U.S. than in any United Nations member state except for East Timor. Medical debt is the principal cause of personal bankruptcy in the United States. According to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, the United States is the "only wealthy, industrialized nation that does not ensure that all citizens have coverage" (i.e. some kind of insurance) (Wikipedia)
Now Obama is going to reform this sick health care system. Obama believes that the reform of health insurance will provide more security and stability to those who have health insurance and it will provide insurance to those who don’t and it will lower the cost of health care for the families and businesses and the government, but on the other hand democrats believe that this bill would also burden middle-class Americans with billions of dollars in taxes and fees. The taxes and fees kick in next year. The health care coverage doesn't start until six years from now.(www.withehouse.gov)