Commentary
Ryan Palmer
Communicator

The value of a human life should be determined without regard to race, nationality, and ethnicity. Unfortunately, often times that is not the case. Tragedies and death internationally get less attention than those locally. Practically this makes sense; the people we are closer to are the ones that are missed more when they are gone. Philosophically it does not; they have the same properties that define them as human as any other.

When the numbers of killed and injured are compared between Iraqi civilians and U.S. soldiers the disparity is shocking. Iraqi Body Count (online) estimates that civilian deaths in Iraq since the invasion to March 30 this year, are between 84,501 and 91,714 (this number is taken to be considerably low since it only accounts for reported incidents). American loses in the conflict remain at 4084 (this is also deceiving because it does not account for private contractors lost or seriously injured). A number far too high, but in comparison to the Iraqi death toll it seems miniscule.

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Kateryna Poradiuk
Communicator

Learning a new language may sound like an entertaining task but it requires determination and hard work. I remember two years ago when I faced the toughest obstacle I ever had: coming to a country with a language I didn't know.

In Ukraine, I went to a school and studied English. Our English teacher had never been abroad, and I don't know if she had a chance to meet any foreigner to practice her English. In the class, she never made sense, and she couldn't even teach us how to create an English sentence. But listening to English music or watching movies in English were popular activities among Ukrainian youth. I remember listening to English songs such as Whitney Houston's, Alicia Keys', Mariah Carey's and just guessing what these could mean and learning the language from these songs.

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