Tuesday, November 11, 2014

Exploration 7: Austin Nininger


1. I marked down the purpose of public documents. "Not only does this establish an identity for members of the group, but it also enables them to be heard on the public record and to shape public opinion." I marked this because it summed up the inspiration behind the documents, that followed. In the case of the Declaration of Independence, our founding fathers were trying to establish the colony as its own separate entity. These documents are extremely important in establishing a group. Without documents like the Declaration of Independence many groups including the United States would not exist.

2. The story "From My Own Country" tells the story of a doctor who is treating a patient, who is dying from an infection caused by AIDS. The purpose of the story was to stress the importance of legal documents because he can not follow the desires of the patient because he did not have it in writing. He also could not allow the patient's partner to make the decision because the law states, that the patient's family were the only ones able to make a decision. The story did a good job at expressing the importance of legal documents. It shows the drama and emotion caused by the lack of documentation. His partner couldn't tell the doctor how to respond because he lacked the documentation needed to prove the patient's desires. The troubles caused by the lack of documents can be observed by his partner's reactions. His partner was extremely distraught because of his inability to fulfill the patient's desires. Towards the end of the story the drama is extremely apparent. The doctor was regretful because if he had not mentioned the respirator at all, then he would not have the dilemma he was facing. "All I had to do was to come out and say that the pneumonia did not look good, that it looked like the end. I mentioned the respirator, I offered it as an option. I could have just kept quiet." The doctor was under immense pressure, but he had to follow what the law said and eventually had to do what the family wanted not what the patient's lover wanted.     

3 comments:

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  2. I agree with what you said about Public Documents. I think that they are also very important in how they cause change and even revolutions. It is very clear how important and powerful public documents are. They are also extremely effective in establishing groups and changing the course of history.

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  3. I also agree that public documents are very powerful. These documents mostly express the majority of the people's voices and I think that it's good that the government should have to acknowlegde what we want.

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