Well that was quick...

I felt I had more time to get this done than I actually did. Since I already talked about the actual content this will be more Need to work on knowing about deadlines more than the day before. I didn't get as much time as I would have liked but I did get all of the corrections I wanted in. Just wish I had more time to look over it, and consider how to get my point across. The peer review worked better than I expected. Usually in class peer reviews are not helpful because the reviewer either doesn't understand the paper, or is rushing to finish it so he/she can do more interesting things. However in this class, when you finish the review, you discussed it with the person. I feel people actually read my paper, and critiqued it insightfully and actually helped me improve my paper. I did try to include their inputs in the final paper, as well as tried to clean up a few corners. Hopefully it came out nicely.

This I Believe

I believe people are inherently good. Now that's not to say every person is good in their hearts, but simply that as a whole, humans are compassionate, generous, and trustworthy. Now most people would immediately mark this off as me being optimistic, or sheltered, and I couldn't say that it isn't true. However, the  most compelling argument for me is simply this: If humans weren't naturally good, how could we have made it this far?
At this point I think it's necessary to define "good". I don't mean good as in smart, or good as in never lies or cheats. I mean good as in most people are not driven simply by selfish motives of greed and power. They have a moral code and care about being accepted in society over materials goods. Now this often does lead people to take misguided actions, but they do have good intentions most of the time. Now there are some outliers. You do occasionally run across some people who act based on selfish desires, spite, or even sometimes just to cause chaos. But none of those are the norms.
Most people act based on what they think is sociably acceptable. We are a race driven by communication, by interaction, by unity. For tens of thousands of years we have worked together overcoming obstacles to get to where we are today. There is a psychological desire each of us has to be accepted and part of a community. Without it, we would like to be as far apart as we could, and would never have developed civilizations, never built cities, or raised monuments, never became the dominant species on Earth. Instead, we will try to help where we can, however we can, because that is what makes a society work. And ultimately, most people understand that by being part of something bigger, they themselves will benefit more as well.
However, this can, and has, led many people down the wrong path. Often times society does push people to make choices they wouldn't normally make, and commit crimes that they wouldn't even consider by themselves. Society leads to wars and destruction, has stagnated progress, and encouraged atrocities. But that's what makes it all the more important that we don't let ourselves be pulled down into one of these times of darkness. As long as we as a society hold true to our morals, it will ensure that others do the same. It is vital that we stay a society built upon community, and altruism, and not let our actions be governed purely by greed and hate.