The God's Must Be Crazy Reflections

The God’s Must be Crazy

                1. In the film The God’s Must be Crazy, the coke bottle which falls from the sky symbolizes how we create meaning from our social life and base it on various symbols. In our modern world, we could equate this to brand name sunglasses or a sports care as symbolizing elevated financial or social status. In the film, the coke bottle was an extremely useful tool which could not be recreated. It quickly became a source of jealousy between the members of the bushman tribe, much like a member of a neighbourhood winning the lottery would do. The branch of social science which would examine this is primarily anthropology. Anthropologists frequently dig up and examine ancient or modern artifacts and try to explain or theorize their purposes in a society or culture. In the God’s Must be Crazy, the coke bottle is one of those artifacts. Obviously, a modern anthropologist would know what a coke bottle was, but someone from another planet might think it has a completely different use.

                2. In our society, we have numerous socializing agents with many variations for each one. Some of them are government run institutions, some are private, and some are religious. In our society, school is a very important and influential socializing agent. It is in school that we learn how to interact with one another, how to learn, and how to discover ourselves as people. The media is another very important socializing agent. The media teaches us slang and influences how we speak, it encourages us to dress a certain way, and decides what our interests are. In the bushman culture, there are much fewer socializing agents and they are much simpler. Since they have no centralized government, economy, or organized system of education, the socializing agents of the bushmen are much more related to their day to day chores and activities. For example, the bushman children play games together and learn to interact in that way. As they grow older, they learn to hunt and gather food which affects their roles in the community.

                3. I would prefer to live in our society. Although the bushmen have a simple and relaxed life, I would miss the perks of technology, the comfort of our modern world, and the potential for learning and achieving large scale goals. I think though that there are sometimes, and will continue to be times when I am stressed out about things, such as school or work, and I would gladly live in a society where those things do not matter. With the bushmen, there is no need to worry about money, material things, and commitments to oneself and others. The bushmen just live peacefully and happily, sharing what few possessions they have and helping each other out in any way they can. That to me would be a very good life, however it would be too simple at times and would not give the opportunity to fulfill all of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs according to me. With the bushmen, I would never be able to achieve self-actualization.

                

Globalization

                Over the last few centuries, changes in communication, colonization, politics, and economics have drastically changed the way we live. As the world’s civilizations become ever more connected, it is important to look at globalization and the impact it has on the lives of people around the world. As with all issues, there are many sides to the question as to whether globalization is good for humanity, or bad.

Let us first examine the positive changes that globalization have brought to the world. It is now much easier for countries to diversify their economies, allowing for greater financial growth and freedom. Take China, for example. With the advancement of more efficient globalization, the nation of 1.3 billion people has a market of billions more to ship its goods and resources to. Consequently, China has become a vibrant market full of international investment. They are seeing some of the greatest amounts of GDP growth ever and there are fewer people in poverty than there were in the past. There is, however, a flip side to this in terms of human rights and ethics, which we will examine later. Another positive aspect to globalization is the global connectedness between people that have been brought about by the media, internet, communications systems, and cheap travel opportunities.  We are now much more informed about other cultures and societies as well as world events due to our universal access to the internet, social media, and various other news sources. The availability of (relatively) cheap air travel has also allowed more people than ever to engage in cultural tourism. This has led to more understanding between cultures and societies and less cultural stereotypes that may have been due simply to ignorance.

One of the most negative impacts of globalization is the human rights abuses that can derive from it, as well as the desolation of smaller economies at the expense of larger ones. In many nations which specialize in primary and tertiary industry, (mining and production), low wage workers who have next to no formal education can be employed. These workers often work very long shifts in dangerous conditions and the pay does not reflect on this. This occurs due to the western consumer demand for cheap goods. Another negative, which was mentioned above is that smaller countries can be taken advantage of. There was an example with Jamaica, where the IMF loaned a large sum of money to them to repair and build much needed infrastructure. However, there was a catch. In exchange for this loan, Jamaica had to accept a high interest rate and open up their markets to the world. Consequently, they are still repaying this loan today and the local banana trade, which made up a large and important part of their traditional economy. The banana trade was destroyed because multinational corporations were able to harvest them for cheaper, leaving local farmers without a market.

The principal change Globalization has made to my life is the availability of very cheap clothes and cheap electronics, both of which are manufactured in multiple different locations around the world. The other major impact globalization has on my life is the availability of news sources. I find world events fascinating and it is easier now than ever to see what is going on around the world. 

Journal 4: Financial Wellness

There are many different form of wellness and varying definitions on these forms. Our group chose to highlight financial wellness. We needed to be aware of our own personal financial wellness and to set goals for improvement. Financial wellness can be defined as being aware of one’s financial assets and being in control of the intake and outflow of capital resources. To be financially well, one must have a steady source of income and be able to regulate how much is spent in order to ensure that extraneous debts are not acquired. However, in life, debt is almost always an inevitable reality so an individual must be able to make a plan to control and repay this debt in a timely and efficient manner.

My personal goals during the five days I was monitoring my financial wellness were similar to the definition of financial wellness mentioned above. This year, I got a flexible, well paying job in which I work around 5-8 hours a week, although occasionally it can be upwards of 15 hours. I made sure I was making at least twice as much as I was spending, and I was successful in this endeavor. However, I was still surprised at the amount of money I spend in my daily life. Looking past the five day period, I saw that I had made a total of approximately 870$ since the beginning of my job, which was the end of September, through to late November. This struck me a being a very decent amount of money, however I was shocked when checking my bank balance to see that I had spend upwards of three hundred and fifty dollars in that same period without much to show for it.

Seeing how much money I actually spent was a real eye opener for me. Consequently I made a goal for myself to keep receipts for things and keep a track of my expenditures. I pay half my car insurance and my cell phone bill which together amounts to around 80$ a month. Other expenses of extra food, clothes, and personal amenities accounted for this money spent, however it was still a shock. The second half of keeping a track of expenses is to control expenses, and cut extraneous or unnecessary spending. To deal with this, I looked at my wants, my needs, and what was really worth it. Although I don’t need a cell phone or the ability to drive, they are luxuries that I do not want to do without. To keep costs low however, I do try to bike when I can to save on gas money. For example, driving across town to work really only takes a minute less time than biking—and often longer than biking during rush hour. Unless it is colder than -5*C, I try to ride my bike. Driving across town and back is extremely inefficient due to all the stopping and starting and leaves a noticeable dent in the fuel level indicator. Another way I have been saving money has been by being less lethargic in the mornings, thus giving myself time to make a lunch. Previously, I have been so slow at getting up, that I end up just giving to go buy myself a lunch because I simply do not have time to make one. Waking up an extra 10 minutes early has put an end to this problem.

Throughout this assignment, I was acutely aware of the personal psychological impact financial wellness can have on a person. My realization at the amount of money I was spending made me feel stressed out and desperate. However, when I planned out my finances, the stress became much more manageable and I realized that in the long run, the money I was concerned bout was fairly inconsequential and would be recovered in a short period of time.

By the end of the five days, I can’t say that I felt better about my financial wellness. The realities of how much I spend put a damper on my happiness over planning and setting goals. However, I have a clear plan for the future and I appreciate the need for saving so I am confident that I will be in a very good financial shape during and after university. I plan to, no matter what deposit 100$ a month into a medium risk mutual funds account when I turn 18. I will continue putting money in this forever and it should eventually rack up a significant sum of money. Overall, these past few days have led me to be more aware of my state of financial wellness and I will be better off for it now, and in the future.