Liberal Arts short essay 750 words

Anon #1

Brandman University

LBSU 304 Week Five Writing Assignment

September 27th 2017

History and Me

Timeline

1988-2001 Personal

situations/events

Important Historical Events

Key indicators

1988-2001: Born and raised

in Cape Town, South Africa

after apartheid.

2001: Moved to the United

States

1988: Religious leaders

started a program to end

violence and apartheid in

South Africa. (A., 2016)

2000: George Bush elected

president. (C. & T., n.d.)

1990: The World Wide Web

was created by Tim Berners-

Lee, a computer scientist. (C.

& T., n.d.)

2001: Terrorist Attack. Two

airplanes crashed into the

World Trade Center (C. & T.,

n.d.)

1994: South Africa

unemployment rate 31.5% (A.

Check, 2017)

2000: Forbes rate South

Africa #1 highest

unemployment rate in the

world (M. Patton, 2015)

2001: Transport Security

Administration established in

November 2001. Sky

Marshals increased from

fewer than 100 to more than

several thousand by 2004.

(IATA, 2016)

2005-2010 Personal

situations/events

Important Historical Events Key Indicators

2005: Parent’s Divorce

2007: High School

Graduation

2005: Hurricane Katrina (C.

& T., n.d.)

2006: Execution of Saddam

Hussein (C. & T., n.d.)

2007: Global Recession (B.

Johnson, n.d.)

2005: Due to storms, 600,000

jobs eliminated, shipping

traffic disrupted, refining shut

down and energy

infrastructure, resulting in

high gasoline prices ($3 per

gallon) nationwide. (D.C.

Beckwith, 2005)

2008: Barack Obama won the

2008 election. (C. & T., n.d.)

2005: Banner year for U.S

Economy after natural

disasters. Created over 2

million new jobs, causing

unemployment rate to fall

from 5.4% to 4.9%. (D.C.

Beckwith, 2005)

2005: When The Facebook

expanded to Facebook

(Graves, n.d.)

2005: YouTube invented

(Graves, n.d)

2006: Twitter invented

(Graves, n.d.)

2007: iPhone invented (R.

Ritchie, 2017)

2007-2009: 8.8 million jobs

lost due to recession (U.S.

Department of Treasury,

2012)

2010-2017: Worldwide social

media users increased from

.97 billion users in 2010 to

2.62 billion in 2017 (Statista,

n.d.)

The historical information I researched, changed my perspective on one personal

situation in particular. The year I was born, 1988, was right after apartheid had ended in South

Africa. For example, according to A. (2016), on May 31st, 1988, over 200 South-African

religious leaders including those of Christian, Muslim, Jewish, and Hindu Faith, concluded after

a 48-hour meeting, to start a non-violent program to end apartheid. I was essentially born into the

residue of what apartheid had left behind. I had a fairly satisfying childhood all throughout the

90’s, due to the outstanding care received from my parents. However, I also spent my 90’s in

fear, and experienced a lot of hate as a white female, because of the division, segregation, and

hatred within the country at that time. The hatred lead to an increase in crime. The revolver my

mother slept with under her pillow at night, was the same revolver I learned how to use at the age

of 6 “in case of emergencies.” After some research on unemployment in South Africa during the

1990’s and 2000’s, I found that the unemployment rate was 31.5% in 1994 according to A.

Check (2017), and Forbes rated South Africa the #1 highest unemployed country in 2000 (M.

Patton, 2015). I believe that most of the crime during that period was not only due to the results

of Apartheid, but also the unemployment and extreme poverty that the country faced. When

unemployment strikes for such a long period of time, people would do the unthinkable out of

desperation to provide for their families’ needs.

The quantitative data of the TSA at the airport supported my personal situation during the

time my family and I moved to the United States from South Africa in December 2001, only

three months after the terrorist attack. According to C. & T. (n.d.) Al-Qaeda, Islamic terrorist

group, coordinated that two planes crash into the north and south tower of the world trade center,

and the third plane into the pentagon. This attack left 2,996 people dead, and over 6,000 injured.

The entire move was exciting as a 12-year-old, but also very stressful at the airport because of

the increase in security. For example, Transport Security Administration was only established in

November 2001 due to the terrorist attack that had taken place, and sky marshals increased from

fewer than 100 to more than several thousand by 2004 (IATA, 2016). At that time, I specifically

remember how serious and intimidating the airport felt. On the other hand, my parent’s divorce

had no connection to the natural disasters faced in 2005, nor did the quantitative data have any

correlation. According to D.C. Beckwith (2005), in 2005, 600,000 jobs were eliminated, the

shipping traffic disrupted, refining shut down, and gasoline prices raised to $3 per gallon

nationwide due to Hurricane Katrina. My family was not directly affected because we were

based in California in 2005, and nowhere near the Bahamas, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi,

Georgia, or Alabama at the time of the hurricane. The data even suggests that 2005 was a banner

year for the U.S economy after the natural disasters. Over 2 million new jobs were created, and

caused the unemployment rate to fall from 5.4% to 4.9% (D.C. Beckwith, 2005). As much as I

wish I could have blamed my parent’s divorce on the economy or natural disasters at the time, it

was purely an outside decision based upon the struggles within the marriage. A few key

indicators from 2005 through 2010 include the rise of social media. Social media started taking

the world by storm, rapidly expanding each year. According to Graves (n.d.), in 2005, Facebook

went from The Facebook where it was only available to college students, to Facebook when it

became available to everyone. That same year YouTube was invented, allowing individuals to

share videos worldwide. In 2006, Twitter was introduced, and in 2007, according to R. Ritchie

(2017), the iPhone was invented. In 2010, social media users worldwide increased from .97

billion users in 2010, to 2.62 billion in 2017 (Statista, n.d.). The invention of the iPhone and

social media played a big role in my senior year of high school and the years to follow. I have

remained friends with the individuals I graduated with through social media. It has helped us

remain in contact and stay updated on one another’s lives. Social media also played a large role

in the election of Barack Obama. For example, according to J. Eilperin (2015) the head of the

White House Office of Public Engagement, Paulette Aniskoff, “had journeyed from Washington

to the offices of the entertainment company Live Nation for a strategy session on how YouTube

and Vine stars could use their digital celebrity to promote some of the Obama administration’s

key policies.” I believe Obama paved the way for presidents to reach out to the masses and the

younger population through social media. Some might even say Obama won the election because

he was promoted over social media. Finally, the recession of 2007 supported the quantitative

data found from 2007 to 2009. According to the U.S. Department of Treasury (2012), 8.8 million

jobs were lost due to the recession. In 2007, my father went through a dry season of work. He

was working as an electrical engineer and work was scarce during that time. Although we did not

lose a house, and my father remained employed, times were still a bit tough.

Personal recollections, history, and quantitative data are not the same, however could be

interconnected at times. Ecological or natural disasters, political violence, poverty, or

unemployment might affect individuals personally in the world, but it also might not. For

example, those whom live in the exact neighborhoods that the massive natural disasters occur in

will be directly affected. On the other hand, those whom lived in other parts of the world, may

only see it as a tragedy in history and could not connect any personal hardship to the natural

disaster. Another example would be the 2007 recession. During the recession, I had many friends

whose parents lost their jobs, and even knew a few neighbors whom lost their homes. It appeared

as though everything slowed down financially for a while. However, I was not as affected by the

recession, because I was used to financial instability. My father’s free-lance career often had

times where money was scarce. I remember in 2004, my family had a Christmas where my dad

could only afford to give my brother and I one candy bar each and a picture frame with a photo

of the family in it. My brother and I were not foreign to financial hardship, and we were aware of

dry seasons. Therefore, when the recession hit and my father faced financial insecurity, we just

saw it as any other season when we had a little less to go around. We never took it personally,

and only grew into more grateful individuals because of it.



References

A. (2016, February 02). General South African History Timeline: 1980s. Retrieved September

28, 2017, from http://www.sahistory.org.za/1900s/1980s

Beckwith, D. C. (2005, December 31). United States in 2005. Retrieved October 01, 2017, from

https://www.britannica.com/place/United-States-Year-In-Review-2005

Check, A. (2017, July 20). Is SA worse off now than 19 years ago? Retrieved October 01, 2017,

from https://africacheck.org/reports/is-sa-worse-off-now-than-19-years-ago-the-facts-

behind-that-facebook-post/

C., & T. (n.d.). Major events from 1980-2017. Retrieved September 28, 2017, from

https://www.sutori.com/story/major-events-from-1980-2017

Eilperin, J. (2015, May 26). Here’s how the first president of the social media age has chosen to

connect with Americans. Retrieved October 02, 2017, from

Graves, R. (n.d.). Social Media Over The Past Decade [Infographic]. Retrieved September 28,

2017, from https://blog.hubspot.com/insiders/social-media-over-the-past-decade-

infographic

IATA. (2016, September 3). The Impact of September 11 2001 on Aviation. Retrieved October

1, 2017, from http://anyflip.com/lnnz/vygt/basic

Johnson, B. (n.d.). Top World News Stories of the 2000s. Retrieved September 28, 2017, from

https://www.thoughtco.com/top-news-stories-of-the-decade-3555536

Patton, M. (2015, December 28). The Five Highest Unemployment Rates In The World.

Retrieved October 01, 2017, from

https://www.forbes.com/sites/mikepatton/2015/12/28/the-five-highest-unemployment-

rates-in-the-world/#57cba98d40a5

Ritchie, R. (2017, June 29). 10 years ago, today, Apple and iPhone changed our world. Retrieved

September 28, 2017, from https://www.imore.com/history-iphone-original

Statista. (n.d.). Number of social media users worldwide from 2010 to 2021. Retrieved October

01, 2017, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/278414/number-of-worldwide-social-

network-users/

U.S. Department of Treasury. (2012). The Financial Crisis Response. The Financial Crisis

Response, 3. Retrieved October 01, 2017, from https://www.treasury.gov/resource-

center/data-chart-center/Documents/20120413_FinancialCrisisResponse.pdf.