Conversation 4

March 25, 2014           

The first words that came from Anastasia’s mouth the fourth time we met were “Did you hear about the Volcano?”  Apparently, Putin had send out a warning on the news about a super Volcano that was about to erupt in Yellowstone National Park.  Anastasia’s friend told her this and said that every Russian in America was encouraged to leave to avoid the eruption.  I had seen a post from on facebook about the possibility of a super volcanic eruption in the U.S. the day before.  I knew it was only a theory and was not back up by much scientific evidence.  I thought it was funny how Putin had used his power to try and get Russians out the U.S.  Anastasia recognized this, too, and we only had more reason to believe those in power and those with money can control the media with much ease and it can cause a public opinion to from based on lies and manipulated truths.

            We moved on from this Putin conversation to one about a debate she had just come from.  It was all about gay rights and gay marriage.  Anastasia asked my opinion on this and we talked about how we both think homosexuals should be able to get married, but she added that most of her class did not.  She says a lot of her classmates are from Arabic nations, with the majority of them coming from Saudi Arabia.  Their religious beliefs forced them to believe gay marriage is wrong and should not be allowed.  Many Americans are against gay marriage for the same reason.  Anastasia and I both think gay marriage should be allowed because homosexuals should have equal rights in society, but others from completely different parts of the world do not think this way because of religion.  Two people from completely different cultures can think the same way about issues, while people from different parts of the world, who think of each other as enemies most of the time, can think the same thing based on two different religions.  I thought this was cool that people from all different parts of the world can have similar beliefs.  Many people do not realize that they share many of the same beliefs with people that they label as the enemy.

            After this we began discussing Anastasia’s debate on Obamacare.  She had not given it yet and was finding the subject confusing.  Most of her confusion came from health insurance.  She had never had to deal with health insurance before she came to the U.S.  TCU’s health insurance was the one Anastasia had and she said it did not give her much coverage.  She had no dental insurance or anything like that and many other people in her class who came from wealthy families were able to afford a large healthcare plan.  Her experience with healthcare had been always been socialized healthcare, and I understood her struggle to understand a foreign concept.  She had heard many different opinions about it, and by the way she talked I knew she liked socialized medicine better because it was easier to deal with than the confusing health insurance we have in America, and everyone gets the same treatment regardless of how much money they can and how much insurance they can afford.