Guest Speaker: Religion, Culture and Environment

Amazing would be the word that describe the lecture by guest speaker Mr. Daniel Anthony who took the time to come and share with the class his thoughts on religion, culture and environment. For someone to grow up with a strong balance in culture and religion it was interesting for me to hear Mr. Anthonys point of view where religion controls culure although he did clarify on the balance that lies within. I agree with him when he said that belief is a strong aspect of someone's life which I believe is true. This made me think of how I overcome my fear of what my family will think of me with what Im doing with my life. They always wanted me to be someone who will serve in the house of the Lord as in being a nun but my beliefs of teaching the future generation gave me the courage to be different. I told them that I believe in doing something different (which is becoming a teacher) and all of them refuses. They tried to let me applied for being a nun but I stick to my beliefs and applied for Hawaii Pacific University to further my education on being a teacher. Although, they treated me different after I told them about what I want to do; my acceptance to HPU change the way  they look at me. They were proud that I made it this far and that their pushing and encouragement toward Nun School will get them nowhere. I mean why do something in life that doesnt interest you? Its wouldn't be fair.People should not be able to accomplish something they don't want to just because they were told to do it from the begining. As Mr.Anthony states in class its good to have some great beliefs on things you want not because you were told or its a family tradition. In order to achieve something it has to come from the inside then work its way on the outside.
Aside from listening to his point of view the other area of interest that strikes me are the subject being discussed. Religion, culture and environment links together in reality. These aspect of life shapes the way we create our future. We are living in an environment that was there for everyone to survive on and to keep it as it is. I think this lecture made me realize that environment would be useless without the help of religion and culture. The cycle that revives around them balance out how it should be treated by the people. For instance, the idea of the environment being their for survival comes from both religion and culture. From a Christian's point of view on enviroment, people must respect the way it will be use (no more no less) and destroying it will not pleased the creator. However, it all depends on the kind of religion people serve because obviously others are still cutting down trees for lumber to be sold at the hardware store. Anyways, even though Mr.Anthony is from an ambitious family, he lived his life the way he wanted because of his beliefs not because he was told to. I got the impression that he is someone who believes in what he does and he doesnt need to go with the flow just because he was told to. I really enjoy listenting to the guest speaker and his point of view because its the kind of situation I can relate to and its not a bad thing to trust your instincts and do what you got to do to make life worth living for.