My thoughts on the class.

Well this class has been… interesting to say the least. My thinking process is definitely different than it was upon the beginning of the semester. I think I have a better idea of what I want to do with this major. Also, I have a new appreciation for many types of films, literature, and art.

I am definitely purchasing, “The Gospel is…” because I learned so much from that book about story-telling. I’m sure I will read that more than once time in my life.

I loved the section that we did when we just looked at painting after painting, and I also loved the literature that was included. This really broadened my interest and my knowledge about what affects art.

Every single reading that I read taught me something that I never knew before, and then I continued to learn when discussing it in class.

The best part of the whole class was watching the film. I mean, how many classes do you get to have that the majority of it is watching good films and animations that you have never seen before. I still remember watching World of Glory, and thinking about the future class consisting of darker videos. Fortunately this did not happen.

Overall, I am Extremely grateful for this class and wish it lasted the entire year.

Blogging

I’ll have to admit, blogging was super beneficial to me in this class. Although, I personally do not really like to blog, I am learning to like it more. Sure, writing blogs was helpful and caused me to really focus on my thoughts, but the main thing that was influential to me was the blog discussions that we had before class. I did enjoy reading everyone’s blogs on the site, but there were always just so many different points and topics, and typically I always thought that they were good points of view and that the writer had something valid to say. But then when we discussed the particularly good, controversial, or conversation-related blogs in class, I was always very challenged. I was force to think and decide what I though about each controversial issue. I found so many interesting clips and sited from those blogs. I often times ended up re-reading many of the blogs that we discussed in class.

I left this class with a whole lot more insight thanks to the blogs and the discussions. I know that blogging had helped me a lot in this class, and I hope to someday become better at it, cause I think it serves a good purpose.

The Screwtape Letters

One of my favorite books of all time is C.S. Lewis’ “The Screwtape Letters” I would recommend that everone read this at some point in their lives because it literally will change their outlook on life, God, and Satan. It makes the spiritual war between God and Satan so much more real. 

The Screwtape letters is all about demons and how they try to hide what is true and what is right from humans and how they try to lead them down the way of sin and destruction. It takes the reader through experiences that each person can relate to and challenges their  faith through every letter.

The story begins with a demon named Screwtape who is writing to his nephew, Woodworm. Like the other demons, Woodworm has a human, who’s life he is trying to corrupt, and his Uncle Screwtape is there for him and gives him advice about the ways to do so.Woodworms human, known as “the patient”, is converted to Christianity. Woodworm is of course punished for this, but uncle Screwtape reminds him that there is still hope. If he goes about it the right way, he can bring “the patient” back to their side. 

From then on Screwtape writes woodworm many letters about how to get to the patient. Screwtape is sly, and suggests using clever  little techniques that will add up in the end, rather that using a few big temptations like Woodworm wants to do, saying that "the safest path to hell is the gradual one." 

 Screwtape knows that it’s the little lies and sins that slip by that gradually destroy morality and wins over souls. One of Screwtapes greatest strategies is hiding the truth, making it difficult for the patient to see the enemy. Scretape knows that distracting the patient from the enemy is the best way to destroy a soul.  

This book definitely caused me to really think about how hard Satan tries to get us to turn away or not accept God. It definitely got me to put my guard up and turn to God for the strength to overcome Satan’s attacks

Mr. Rogers Neighborhood

I know it’s been awhile since we talked about children’s film and television, but I just wanted to bring up one of my favorite childhood television shows. This was Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood.

I sort of wished I would have posted about this when it was relevant to the conversation, because I think that  he entertained and challenged children with out crossing any lines. By “not crossing any lines” I mean that there was really nothing that happened where a parent would potentially question if their child should be watching that or not. I think that protecting children’s innocence is important and that these sort of shows need to exist. After all it people should decide for themselves what their children should watch, so if a parent wants their child to not be exposed to unpunished deviance, profanity, ect, then Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood is a good option.

Another great thing about Mr. Rogers was that he provoked creativity in children everywhere. Mr. Rogers always seemed to be a warm, kind, and genuine man with a enormous imagination. This is what I saw in him as a child at least. But I also saw a man that was able to show me a whole other existing world. This is so important for children shows.

Johnny Cash Project

I know it’s been awhile since we watch the Johnny Cash videos, but this one really stuck out to me, so I figured I’d blog about it.  I love Johnny Cash and have seen some of his music videos, but I have never heard of the Johnny Cash project.

After seeing the Johnny Cash Project Music video, “Ain’t No Grave” I was in awe. The video has so much power and it seriously touched me watching that. Seeing flashes of Crosses, skeletons, Jesus, and artwork reminded me of just how many people are out there all with a different outlook and voice. I just saw the artwork of thousand of people that I know nothing about, but somehow was impressed and moved by every single one of them.

Then I went onto the website www.johnnycashproject.com and I was even more astounded. You can look at each slide separate from the video and even contribute your own art. Then, re-watching the video had even more impact, seeing all of the slides together. All of these artists had one thing in common: Respect and love for Johnny Cash. It seriously is such a beautiful video and I could seriously watch it over and over again.

Marcia Furman

Marcia Furman is a local artist in my town, and I love her art so much. I had the pleasure of meeting her on a missions trip to the Dominican Republic. I first fell in love with her work when sh painted murals on the walls of churches here.

I think that she is one of the few artists I know that do a good job a including Christian aspects in her work, without being objective. She has a lot of Christian inspiration in her paintings, but it is not like she is  painting a bunch of crosses and nativity scenes. Her work is open for a lot of interpretation and is playful, relate-able, and enjoyable.

One thing that I find very interesting about her work is that she never draws faces on her people, but yet they are never creepy-looking. She says that it allows for the viewer to decided for themselves what the person is thinking. The viewer gets to decide the people’s emotions or even put themselves into the paining.

Here is just a bit of her work




This is based off of "Romans 7:15"


"It Just Comes Naturally


"This isn't the Way it Was Supposed to Happen"


"Faith Like a Child"


"Marvelous Light" (I actually have this one, and it is of out view in the Dominican)

If you want to see more of her art, she has a facebook page called "The Art of Marcia Furman"
She also has an Etsy account if you have an interest in owning her art.

An interest in Darkness.

Romans 7: 14-20

14 We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. 15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18 For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature.[c] For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

This is one of my favorite passages of scripture because it is so true to how I feel most of the time.
I think that this passage explains humans’ physiological interest in darkness. I remember a while ago in this class someone gave their thoughts on the subject of darkness. I don’t remember who it was but it was something like, “ We’ve been taught to play in the light our whole life, so we begin to become curious about what’s in the darkness”

Perhaps in a world of light, darkness speaks louder than light. I guess the same thing is true though with light. In a world of darkness, light speaks louder than darkness. It is very similar to the concept in “The Gospel Is…”, where silence speaks louder than words.

Sigur Ros- Glosoli

It has been made clear to me that I need to be watching more music videos like Sigur Ros’ videos because I am a huge fan of the ones we watch in class. I already blogged on Hoppipolla and now  its time to talk about Glosoli.

This video was so astatically pleasing, and even though I could not understand the words, I was moved. I suppose that sort of goes back to the idea that silence can speak louder and have more influence than words. I mean there’s this boy, who without even saying anything, got all these other kids to trust in him and take the jump.

I thought the parallelism to Jesus was really cool. It’s not easy to include it subtly and still have the same effect. I would say it was well accomplished in this music video. All of the other children follow the main child off of a cliff, trusting that there is something more out there than what they know.

I remember talking about post-modernism and living  in the moment when we watched the video. Post-modernism involves focusing on the moment, not knowing if there is really anything deeper to focus on. I’m not sure if Leeper said that video is post-modernistic or not, but I don’t actually believe it to be post-modernistic at all. In fact, I think the opposite. When those kids jump, it’s not because they are “living in the moment” but its because they know that there is more out there. That is what is worth jump.

That’s what’s worth a leap of faith

Sigur Ross - Hoppipolla

 I absolutely loved this music video that we watched in class.  There is something so simple and beautiful about childhood, and this video completely captures it.

Most people in our culture associate age with wisdom and rationality. The older you are, the more brains and reason you have. Also, the older you are, the less physical activities you are able to perform, limiting the amount of running and playing you can do. Another factor Is that society has put elders in and elderly category, as well as kids in a kid category, which limits what is considered socially acceptable for each category of people to do.  Kids are often times more associated with having fun and enjoying the moment. Adults are more associated with long-term things.

There is something about the essence of childhood that is enjoyable to be seen in every age category of people. I feel like childhood is the only thing that has this quality though. For instance it is not considered beautiful when a child acts like an adult, or a teen acts like an elder.

Childhood is always beautiful.

Being child-like is a quality that I think everyone should try to achieve. Its an act of leaving your burdens behind and enjoying life for what it is; not what it has been or will be.

Word Without Meaning

Words are such a complicated phenomenon. They are simply just the same twenty-six  characters rearranged into different patterns and different ways, different lengths and different styles. When they become arranged, they immediately spark meaning, they create a picture in your mind, they remind you of something.

I mean, a person’s name is just a word, but when that word is said, you are instantly overcome with how you know that person. You see their face, you feel your feelings that you have towards them, you remember some experience you had with them. But a name is just a word.

Everything I’ve written us just a variation of the same twenty-six letters, and it’s crazy to me that this somehow represents my thoughts. Then I think about everything that I read: assignments, blogs, the Bible, literature, ect. All of it made up of the same elements, the same basic, twenty-six letters, but have all made up the way I think, and each word provokes or changes a particular though of mine.

Words are so simple, but they can have so much power and meaning.
I like for  the words that I say  to be honest and to have meaning or some sort of value or to them, rather that just be ramblings or failed attempts at sounding profound
Unfortunately, I have a feeling that my next few blogs may not contain as much meaning as I would like, Fortunately with the mass amount of blogs being posted, I doubt anyone will be reading them.

I just never knew His name

I’ll never forget my 6th grade teaching telling me one specific story. I wish I could remember all of the details of this story to make it more legitimate, but unfortunately I only remember the general idea. She told me about this man that lived in a part of the world that had never heard of “Jesus Christ.” I put quotes around Jesus because the man had a spiritual relationship with someone and knew that there had to be a God out there to create the world. For some reason (I really wish I could remember), he came to America. At the airport, there were some sort of evangelists telling passengers about Jesus Christ. The man was immediately filled with joy when they spoke with him about Jesus Christ and His love. He exclaimed, “ I know Him! I know Him! I just didn't know His name!”

In class on Thursday, Leeper mentioned general revelation. Can people come to know God without the Bible. The Bible gives all of the logistics of Christianity, all of the famous names involved in its history, and the all of the ways that God wants His people to live. So if someone doesn't have the Bible, can this person know really anything about God? Can they be saved? Maybe there are two types of people in hell: people who have chosen to reject Jesus and people who simply were never told about Him. Maybe aborted babies go to hell, and maybe anyone who worships a God without the same name as ours will be there as well. Maybe if I had grown up in Saudi Arabia and given a Koran, I would be going to hell too. I do not know… These are all things that I have been consistently questioning,; some questioning since I was a child. I do believe, in full confidence, that the Bible is accurate, that Jesus is Lord, and that no one can come to God except through Jesus. I also believe that there is a hell of a lot that we don’t know about what determines eternal damnation.

If God only accepts people who believe in Him, have accepted His son as their Savior, and have applied the His Word to their everyday lives, then that leaves each of those categories in hell: people who have rejected God, people who have never been told about God, people who have never been given a chance to live, and people who have been worshiping the “wrong” god. This could be the case. After all, we all are sinners and deserve hell, and its only by God’s grace that any of us are going to go to Heaven. There is definitely plenty of scripture that can argue this.

But, God is also a fair and just and loving God. It always comes back to me that it is not characteristic of the God that I know to just give some the option of grace, while withholding it from others.  Although, I am not the one who decides what is fair and just for God to do. It seems to me that He would not do these things, but I do not see the world as God does, and I could be completely incorrect.

The one thing that potentially save three of the four categories of people, while still holding biblical evidence, is general revelation. General Revelation is when God shows himself through the wonderful things he has created, giving everyone a chance to see the Glory of God.
Here are just some of the references that mention it:

Psalm 19:1-2 

 1) The heavens declare the glory of God; 

the skies proclaim the work of his hands. 

2 Day after day they pour forth speech; 

night after night they reveal knowledge. 

Psalm 97:6 

 6 The heavens proclaim his righteousness, 

and all peoples see his glory. 

Isaiah 6:3 

And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.”

Daniel 2:20-22 

20) “Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever; 

wisdom and power are his. 

21) He changes times and seasons; 

he deposes kings and raises up others. 

He gives wisdom to the wise 

and knowledge to the discerning. 

22) He reveals deep and hidden things; 

he knows what lies in darkness, 

and light dwells with him. 

Romans 1:20  

For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.

People are without excuse… so there has to be some point when we all come to see God_ in whatever way He may appear_ and have the option to choose Him or reject Him…

-right??

Tree of Life

Hmmm… what can I say…? This film was…. thought-provoking.

I can’t say that I fully understood what was going on the entire time, but I think it is a necessary film to see at some point in life.  It’s definitely not a film that I would like to see often, but I do want to see it one more time, knowing what I do now after the discussion,  so that I can pick up on some of the concepts and symbolism that I missed this time.  If I ever do watch this again, I will probably choose a setting where I have the ability to fast-forward. don’t get me wrong, the montages were great, and there were some parts that the length and the silences certainly added to the scenes. It’s just that, after seeing everything once, I think I could get away with skipping through certain parts of the film.

Although I typically enjoy Signs and Wonders when I go, my appreciation was heightened after seeing “Tree of Life.” This is mostly because I know that I would not have taken as much as I did away from that film watching it anywhere else. Let’s be real, I probably would not have watched until the end anywhere else. I am still thinking about it and its meaning today, which is always a good sign. I may still be a bit confused, but I’m really glad that I saw it. I’m not even going to try explain what I thought because frankly, I am not even quite sure.

This is another one of those moments that I've sought for something reflective and insightful to say and have been left almost completely speechless.

Moonrise Kingdom

I was so excited to hear that this movie was playing at Sounds and Wonders. Fantastic Mr. Fox is one of my favorite movies, and Wes Anderson met my high expectations with “Moonrise Kingdom”

This Film was simple and enjoyable. The two main characters, Suzie and Sam, are not accepted in their own lives. Sam is and orphan, who does not fit in with and is not liked by the other boy-scouts in his troop. Even his foster parents see him as too different or “mentally disturbed” to be allowed back it into their household. Suzie has outburst and has had a hard time be a suitable child for her family. She finds a parenting book in her house about how to deal with a troubled child, and she immediately feels betrayed. Both of them seem to desire acceptance and wonder why they are not exactly liked by others. The two of them meet, write letters, decide to runaway, and fall in love among the way. They finally have someone that accepts them for who they are.

Even the adults in this movie seem to struggle with acceptance in their own way. Suzie’s parents have a lack of connection between them as well as with their daughter. Also, the police officer is single and seeks for love and human connection.

Besides being an amusing film, it also reminded me of people’s need to feel accepted and have relationships with other people.

Quiz 2: Tchou Tchou

This is both a clever and amusing film. I have always been so intrigued by stop-motion, but seeing this film has taken my interest, as well as my expectations, to a new level. The stop-motion detail is unbelievable, and I cant even imagine how long this film took to make. Co Hoedeman has some serious patience and expert technical skills. Although it is clearly a children’s film, it can definitely be appreciated and be enjoyed by adults.

“Tchou Tchou” has such a clever story. I love the child’s take on the Adam and Even in the garden. The blocks are perfect to represent creation, especially with all the detail on each one. It is just so playful and fun, that I know any child would enjoy this. The boy and the girl are so innovative when dealing with the serpent. It’s fun to see what they are going to do each time the serpent comes around. Although I guess that the we aren't  merely watching and waiting, but the film is arranged to have us help figure out how to deal with the serpent ourselves.  Then after all the plans fail, all of a sudden the serpent becomes something else. We see the joy of the boy and the girl and experience joy ourselves as they ride away on the train.

Life of Pi

Over Thanksgiving break I saw the new movie, “Life of Pi.” I believed this to be an incredible movie and would recommend seeing it. Not only was the picture  absolutely stunning, but the movie left me thinking about it and reasoning it for quite awhile afterwards. It left a lasting impression on me and caused me to question things that I was completely certain of.

The main character, Pi, peruses three religions: Confucianism, Christianity, and Muslim. In Confucianism, there are many gods, but Pi considers only one of these gods to be the alpha god, which was the one that he addresses and prays to. Pi was raised a Confucianist, and when he was young, he became interested in Christ after he snuck into a Catholic church. Pi was drawn to Jesus and eventually embraced Christianity. Later he discovered Muslim and began worshiping Allah. Although Pi now claimed three religions, it seemed that he still only had one God rather than a different god for each religion.  So the question is, is believing in three religions the same thing as not believing in anything at all? Are all religions separate, or are some of them actually worshiping the same God: the one true God?

In the movie, Pi finds himself on an escape boat stranded in the middle of the ocean with nothing but an ordinary bangle tiger for company. When this tragedy happens, Pi immediately turns to God saying to Him that he is God’s vassal for whatever purpose He had In store. In addition to the shipwreck, the loneliness, and the vicious animal on board, Pi faces many other trials and storms. There are several times when Pi addresses God, not understanding why these things were happening. Whenever Pi turned to God, I always naturally thought of Him as “my” God that Pi was talking to. I related everything to “my” religion, thinking wow, what would he do without God? I completely forgot, until the end of the movie, that it was not necessarily my God that Pi was talking to, and a Muslim or Confucianist watching the movie would probably naturally think of him as “their” God.  The same boy, the same situations, the same words, the same feelings, but is it the same God?

I know that there is only one true God, and the Bible is clear that we need Jesus to get to Him, but ii was certainly something that got me thinking. Was Pi just really messed up? Did he need to pick one of the three and solely follow it? Or could it be that since Pi accepted Christ and later prayed to Allah, that Allah could  still be the Lord that Pi was praying to?

Mutemath: Typical

I really like the music video, Sugar Water, that we watched in class. It’s just always nice to see something different that makes you wonder how they did that or how much planning went to it.

I’m sure some of you  have seen the music video for Typical by Mutemath. Obviously, they’re not the first band to put their music video in reverse to make something awesome, but It seem like they are one of the only ones to actually make a band performance out of it. Each member of the band had to learn how to play their instrument to the song backwards. That seriously had to of taken so much planning. I mean, learning every drum beat backwards and still being able to keep a beat, or learning the way certain words look in reverse and trying to match that on beat with everything else that’s going on. That’s all crazy.

There is so much going on throughout this entire video, and they all have to remember their instruments at the same time. It had to of taken so much planning to do this, but it definitely played off. They have a really different, interesting, and fun music video. It may not have some deep, conceptual meaning, but it is certainly entertaining.

Burning Man Festival

I have never heard of this even until class on Tuesday, but apparently it’s an extremely big deal. It’s more than just a small group of people, gathered around to watch a sculpture of a man burn. This annual festival attracts tens of thousands of people to the Black Rock Desert in Nevada.



 The burning of the wooden man is the main event, and last year the man stood 104 feet tall. I can’t even imagine seeing this something this massive burning. Last year there were 48,000 people who came to participate in this event. The word participate is crucial because no one goes to simply watch.
Everyone who goes is a participant and is expected to be a part of it in some way. Everybody comes together with something to contribute to make up a self-reliant, self expressive community. It’s not about what you’re supposed to do, but its about what you want do. One participant said,  “You can set up a Thomas Jefferson themed party camp.  You can run a hotel.  My first year at Burning Man I carried around a book of original fairy tales and read them to people I met.  Last year I started a war.”  It’s a community of people that are all living in the moment. This community of 48,000 makes up the most populated city in America, that literally exists for one week. At the end of the week the city is taken down, and after about a month of tear-down, it’ll as if the city never existed.
These 48,000 people live in the moment for this week, contributing all of their talents, ideas, and wants to a city that is only going to be destroyed.

This event is not cheap, and tickets for the next burning-man festival are going for an average of $1043.85. Last year they were sold-out.

the desire to be desired.

On Thursday night, there was a forester lecture by Dr. Kim Gorman and her experience with anorexia. She spoke about her own struggle with the eating disorder as well as gave insight as to how and why so many girls suffer from this disorder. She gave some unbelievable statistics about how high of a priority being thin is to women. “Half of women would rather be hit by a car than be considered fat” and “two-thirds of women would rather be stupid than fat.” She said that many girls believe that they can be somebody…  if they are thin.

If and only if they are thin will they be of value.

This is what causes people to develop eating disorders and what motivates America to spend $40 billion on dieting each year: the desire to be of worth. In many women’s lives beauty equals value, and unfortunately media and advertisement get to decide what beauty is. Not only is there an inappropriate obsession or need to be thin and beautiful, but there is also a false perception as to what thinness and beauty are. We see all these ads and commercials with extraordinarily tall,  thin, beautiful, perfect models. Many models go through extreme, unhealthy lengths to look the way they do. In addition to that, most are photo-shopped, like we saw in class, to look absolutely perfect. These models represent the ideal look that women all across America desire to look like, and it is simply unnatural. This is not true beauty, but women believe it to be and feel inadequate in comparison.  One experiment found that exposure to thin images taken directly from fashion magazines produced significant increases in self-reported depression, stress, guilt, shame, insecurity and body dissatisfaction relative to women exposed to images of average weight women from magazines.

The Dove campaign videos that we watched in class the other week showed just how messed-the perception of beauty is in media. Adults, teenagers, and kids are exposed to this misconception constantly throughout each day. Knowing that God values people for everything other than outside appearances, it is struggling to find how many people find little value outside of looks, especially distorted, unrealistic ones.

Of Gods and Men

“Of Gods and Men” is a film about monks living in the extremely violent, Islamic culture of Algeria. There is a group of militants that are trying to eliminate all foreigners and non-believers (of Islam).  This is the predominant conflict of Christianity versus Islam, but there is also conflict among the monks themselves. After the ruthless, Islamic group massacres a nearby group of foreign highway workers, the monks know they are in danger. They must decide whether to stay in their village at high risk of becoming martyrs, or flee their abbey, which does not defy their creed. Some monks want to stay while others want to flee. The monks are warned several times by the militants that if they stay, they will probably die. The monks end up staying at their abbey. There is a very long, dramatic scene of the monks faces, simply awaiting their death. They are then kidnapped in the night. The last scene you see is the monks being taken through the snow off into the distance. The viewer is then told that they were killed.

Religion was such a dominant element in this film. Islam and Christianity filled the movie. The monks did not force Christianity on the Islams. They merely offered help to them and acted as a light and hope for the people. The monks even participated in the Islam ceremonies and celebrations. This was how the monks lived.  Most of the beginning was dedicated to portraying the monks lifestyles. I found it interesting when Prof. Tait mentioned the director actually had the actors live in a real monastery before the film was shot. It leads to believe that the monks were probably accurately represented.

I feel as though I would have to watch this film again to fully understand and appreciate it for what it is, but I definitely think religion was interpreted well. Religion often causes tension, defensiveness, or offensiveness. In “Of Gods and Men” each religion was presented with an acceptance of the other. The Islamic villagers accepted the monks and appreciated their help, while the monks accepted the Islams and participated in their lives. The film did not try to change anyone’s view on Christianity or Islam; it simply told the true story of a group of monk’s lives and deaths. The monks were in no way perceived as perfect. Yes, they were wise, meek, humble, and faithful, but they had problems, issues, and flaws as well. The Christians were people, just as everyone else in the film. 

Fridge

Looking back now, I can distinctly remember the feelings that I had when watching “Fridge”. To be honest I had slightly forgotten about this film, and seeing the others in the class comment on it reminded me of this. As we watched this on the same day as “World of Glory”, a film that I will not ever forget, it sort of got passed over as the only film I thought about for awhile was “World of Glory”.  It almost was as if “Fridge” was a warm-up piece to the final, horrific film.

Now, when I think about “Fridge” separately, I realized that that film took as much of toll on my feelings and my outlook on the human nature as “World of Glory”, just in different ways I guess. As the boy was locked in that fridge, all I could think about was how he could potentially be helped. The “worthless” bums are there to help, but their resources and strengths are limited. When I saw the people looking out the windows, I kept thinking, “Oh, there is the hero. That old lady…. Or oh… maybe that man… guess not him…. Or maybe that mother who has a child of her own….” Nope… No one was there to help the homeless couple save this innocent child from suffocating. Everyone just watched and continued on with their lives.  The human nature: self-centered, cold, uncompassionate. We are just great, aren’t we. I mean in reality we all do this same thing as the people in this movie. I did the same thing immediately after.  I watched the problem and then moved onto the next thing in my life, forgetting everything that I saw.