GJD Essays

GJD Essays, short for Gregory J. Daniel Essays, is a collection of essay Greg had seemingly written for school. He shared them all on the 2005 version of his Onision website. (Source)

Speech: Joy In Life Does Not = Sex

I find many posts in regards to sex, sex games, and other random mentionings/promotion of... what? Sex...

If you think boys are all about it, you're right, for the most part ~ yet this male says, "I'm bored of it ~"

You can make all the assumptions you like ~ but let me assure you, if they are negative, you are wrong...

I just realize there is so much more to life than... sex...

I have a wife, so I feel little desperation to gock at every female that passes by... I think little of it, I did before and I do now...

Just understand, being openly sexual is not a terrible thing, it's even find to joke once in a while... but as constant as I've seen sexually-based bulletin posts on this site... well... I feel vomit boiling at the base of my stomache thinking about what the truth behind the words are... where they come from...

Am I the only one burnt out and pushed away by the mentioning of such subjects beyond what is natural? What is respectively-conservative?

We are not JUST animals of this earth, we are animals with intellect, and with this gift we should all have the ability to understand what helps us grow, and what depletes and destroys our self-worth entirely.

I have little respect for those to which focus one few things other than sexual intercourse...

Seriously, it's great, it's amazing, but staring at the stars is also amazing, cuddling with the one you love most is mind-blowing, protecting the weak, standing up for what's right, teaching children the ways of this world, camping on a cool night ~ these are all amazing things...

And yet all we can think of... is sex...

It's incredible, incredibly pathetic.

The United States of What?

In the founding the new world, many questions arose in civilian minds of who exactly was to take power of the newly forming country. As is most often, the most powerful country seemed to immediately take power. Was this power deserved? Is it not, first-come, first-serve?

Hundreds of years ago, Caucasians like us invaded a peaceful country with the habitants, people of the earthly perspective, running, or fighting back in fear, and with confusion. An advanced world of corruption was brought to the new world, and since that time, we have only hurt this country more and more… so much so, that one could no longer recognize it for what it once was; beautiful.

So many parts of this country, we have yet to place a bridge, or cut a tree down, yet with time, and a growing population, this country as we know it today will have lost all of its green depths, and we will choke on the air we once before could breath.

Throughout the billions on this Earth, a large percentage of them destroy more than they build. Taking the lives of those who have no reason to fight… hurting others for personal gain. The United States is now filled, more so than any other country, with these hateful people. It was so long ago that we slaughtered Natives on a regular basis, and then we brought Africans over, only to whip, rape, and kill them after so many years of hard work… we did not even treat animals so badly.

Believing that oneself is better than another is a plea for future torture. Houses were burned to the ground, wives and children were killed, all out of attempts to claim a country. For some reason, we felt that the country was more rightfully ours than anyone else’s, and so did any other who tread upon the new grounds.

When we first arrived, the Natives were mostly non-violent. We brought them boom-sticks and whisky, mutually, they gave us leather, with dried meat. Later on, perverts showed their faces, trying to become a Native’s man, trying to sleep on unwelcome territory, trying to reverse their trades, and acting exactly the way an immature child would in any interaction.

Eventually wars broke out in realization that most of us were not here for the greater good, but rather to steal their food, and slaughter their hunting game by the hundreds, leaving the carcass, and taking the skin.

Killing them in the hundreds, they had less guns, less knives, and less people, yet the mother country did not see it as an unfair advantage, they only saw profit in the aftermath. Money matters… so lives are insignificant?

Imagine the rage a person could feel, what was felt when people that had never been fathomed before came over with objects unseen before by native eyes. We are welcome for a while, and the Natives learn many new things from us, the foreigners. One day later, conflicts arise in differences of culture, and attitudes. Militias form, and tribes are eliminated. They fight back, and so we send our armies over. We win in the end, and with the victory, plans were made. Is this a new country? Is this a sister of the mother?

Many years pass undecided on the purpose of this new country, yet with time, political powers migrate, and develop documents which for some reason have the power to own land. We fight again, except this time it is among ourselves… killing the mother to save the sister? She should not have been born from the start.

I believe that since the day the declaration of independence was formed, the fire of hope that this country had to stay clean, and unharmed, was burned out. We have caused more flaws to arise than we have positive elements. We fear this childish idea of a devil, not realizing that the closest thing to such evil in existence is us.

We don’t deserve to be here, I should not have been born, as I am a percentage Native, yet mostly Norwegian. If I could take my life, to give back this countries beauty, I would, yet I cannot, as the hopes and dreams of one, will not change the world.

We have criminals, we have wide-area loggers, we have trophy hunters, and we are all pollutants to the skies above. Maybe one day we can all find a way to get past the pollution, and rightfully rid ourselves of those who seek out pain in others, and our Earth, for profit. Yet today I live in a world of which I wish did not even exist, because of our fake land ownership rights, because of our indefinite pride in this country, because of our preposterous religions, and most of all, our own sensations of non-existent superiority.

The world’s curse is the human race, not mammal, nor reptile, just the animals with a mind to expand. We should have all been born, too idiotic to invent, or not have been born at all. For now we build death machines, with living counterparts to control them.

Life is supposed to be simple and beautiful, yet with our focus on the greater gains, and the superior status’s, we forget what beauty is, and replace it with materialism.

Teachings of The Furnace

This quarter of school has offered a significant variety of literature and teachings to me beyond many other quarters I have experienced. Through English 221, Astronomy, and English 102, boring, controversial, unique, and historical literature has been presented to me, and although I disliked much of the material due to personal preferences, I still learned a significant amount, and the key point of education is to teach/learn, not to worry of moralistic/personal objections to the methods of progression.

When I first joined the class, I was inspired by the luminosity that the room gave off after the first day of discussion, everyone seemed to be happy, and I was as well. The poetry was amazingly deep with intellect to back it up, and the perspectives offered by the other students were equally valid. I have enjoyed the input many have given… but then again, this only lasted until the group project days.

There is not too much to say about the group I was involved in… some were just uncomfortable with an amount of the ideas suggested. Many people in the group failed to contribute, and shrugged it off when we realized how they let us down. But I really have already spoken of this before, and there is no need to bring it up once more.

In the Essay 4 description, you asked us to discuss our “efforts to improve as a reader and writer” and I can honestly say that I have not attempted to improve other than the monitoring of my commas and the level of expectations I now give writers in books. I have learned to silence my voice when I think something in a book is bad as from what I have seen, it helps no one when I contribute such an opinion. Beyond these I could say that I have learned about new forms of poetry… such as the idea that constant repetition can be seen as beautiful by the masses, or make references to Nazi’s constantly and you have a better chance of ending up in a book (which could be true… who knows?).

I also learned a bit more about old women and I realize their feelings do not necessarily improve as the age, but rather bitterness gains on them, and their feelings become most everything they concentrate on (way to generalize!). Flannery O’Conner could not avoid racism (some like to call it the way of her time) and after seeing her picture, I was most definitely less surprised than others.

It was also asked what I contributed to the class as my portfolio may agree, I have made many posts to the online board, I influenced the group projects in a large way, I have turned in all of my essays, and I continuously participate in class discussions (if that is a good thing than I am happy you think so).

I really have tried to read “with an open mind” and even critique other’s papers just the same… it just seems that by being myself I am unable to avoid conflicts with my peers and even the instructors. I have never really tried to hurt the class or the students in it, but as the lights come to dim, I realize that it is best if I speak less and analyze more. If I have learned anything this quarter, it is that I cannot critique others in the ways I normally do as often times the result is most deconstructive and the authors with often times get the wrong idea from my reviews.

Twice I have been approached by the authors and both times they resorted to attacks/questioning me directly. Asking why I feel like picking on them, what reasons I have for saying what I do (they assume I don’t have reasons) and the classic assaults on my education level to make me seem less hurtful to them. I don’t want to hurt anyone, and I was even called immature (not by you) even though it has been more than obvious who has been less than adult about the past situations (the critic or the attacker?).

Human cooperation is what I have learned, literary tolerance is what I have learned, but I have yet to master either subject, maybe one day I could be the person to advise someone to attack another’s work less harshly, and as time has told, I have already done such a thing… I guess what this says is that I do not appreciate literature as much as most do, and for that, I learn to know my place better than I have before.

I have appreciated all the conversations that have taken place in class, the material did not teach me much, yet the discussions were truly helpful. I was not able to have any of my papers graded by the others, and maybe it is better that way, yet overall I had a good/constructive time. Thanks for everything.

Columbine Report

“Hello My name is Bubbles. I think you have no right what so ever to call Eric and Dylon MOnsters. I know what probably went through their minds. You have no right to catorigize them. That is probably the same thing that drove them to this maddness. People putting them in with their opinions. If people would just find out who they were on the inside then maybe this wouldn't have happend. Instead people judged them for their clothes and the way they acted. You have no right. You didn't know who they were. All you know is that they were MONSTERS. The real monsters are those who hurt people to make themselves feel better. If you want personal gain then go find some one else to pick on. You are not God so don't try to judge these boys. The Bible says that they KNOW NOT WHAT THEY DO. Maybe you should learn from the bible. In other words why don't you grow up and get a life. Stay out of these boys life. I think you will be very disappointed if you end up in hell for your judgment while they are sitting with God. Everyone deserves forgiveness. If you want to put this in the "NEGATIVE" box then go ahead but it is the truth and you know it. Have a good day.” - Bubbles

“Hi Bubbles. This is not Nazi Germany, Soviet Russia or Communist China. I spent 5 years serving my country to protect the "right" of everyone to express their opinion. My opinion is that these monsters were monsters, big time! I also have the right to state that I find it ludicrous that some naive infant has the nerve to tell me what I have a "right" to say. I also don't think that even God would want to sit with these particular monsters.” - Editor

That was a quote from a web site that reported on Columbine High Schools past shooting. The girl was obviously scratched the wrong way by calling these two boys “monsters”. I believe this girl was a good example of why the two shooters felt the way they did, other than the jocks, they were tired of the BS, but they were awful decision makers. Something like columbine should have never happened.

The reality of it all? We are human beings… we need to realize that. In life both amazing and horrible things can happen, it is all up to what medication we do or don’t take, who picks or doesn’t pick on us, and who cares for us, for who, and what we are.

Columbine High School has desperately attempted and possibly succeeded in moving on from the shootings that took place on Hitler’s Birthday, April 20th, National Pot Smoking day, however you want to put it – in the year of 1999

The day of the shootings at columbine was a collaboration, and reunion of all the ideas Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, the killers, had been planning for the past year. The jocks were said to have picked on a group that Eric and Dylan were a part of… now widely known as the trench coat mafia for its time. Dylan had problems at home, Eric was heavily influenced by Dylan’s opinions… they were best friends.

It seems that both boys had allot of emotions in this, from a source of his web site on Angelfire.com - Eric sought out payback for what experiences he had at school in the past, his goal was to kill everyone in the school, he hated everyone for either picking on him, or not stoping those who were messing with him. Around the time of the shooting, Eric was diagnosed with Obsessive-Compulsive disorder, in other word, Eric was using medication to alter his mind, which could have effected him in many different ways, depending on how he functioned, and the caliber of his mental disorder.

Along side Eric, was Dylan, who mainly did it because he had little to live for, and he sought out glory for the event coming, he imagined that killing the kids at he school would start a “Domestic War” which is basically a rebellion in homes all over America, where children start to say “no” and seek out independence early on, before capable.

Before I continue, let me direct you towards my visual presentation, the first picture I am pointing at, is Dylan and Eric. This Dylan, this is Eric. Many have called these two monsters… I personally believe Dylan and Eric were ignorant, they did not think of the positive and the negative, they just focused on the negative, and if one is to ever do that, that person could easily loose their mind with only rage to express for what emotions are left standing.

The next picture I am pointing at is the TEC-DC-9 that was the same gun found in the hands of the killers at the scene of the crime. The TEC-DC-9, in translation, is basically a the evolution of a pistol, it can unload a clip of 20+ bullets in seconds. This gun was fired 151 times.

The next picture is a pump action shot gun, which is a single barrel shotgun that can fire five shells until you must reload it again. This gun was shot over 20 times.

The last of the three guns is the sawed off double barrel shot gun. It was sawed off as soon as Dylan’s 18 year old girlfriend bought him the specific weapon, and the other three for his birthday. This gun cut up Eric and Dylan’s hands at the event because they had cut the barrel too short, which offered extreme recoil.

I should be pointing now at the graphical version of the surveillance tape shot taken during the shootings in the cafetieria. This simply, is Eric and Dylan looking around the cafetieria for any extra students that had not yet run away, and at the bombs they had previously planted around a table.

Now look at the actual image, this will hint why the other was created, to clear things up and give a new perspective of the area.

This next image is Eric attempting to shoot a propain bomb that was planted in a duffle bag around the table mentioned before. It was later stated by police that if the bomb would have fully detonated, the entire library upstairs would have collapsed on the floor below… which if it did happen, would have killed everyone in the library, and the two boys below.

This last image is of a boy who was shot running out of the school, in fact he was not the only one shot outside from the inside, over four others were.

Now let me take you to the Audio, the soul reason for me talking through this speaker through Mrs. Chapman’s computer.

This first audio is something that Eric and Dylan listened to often, although I personally believe it had no connection, and that the words were already there, Marilyn Manson did sing it…

The first clip is from “Beautiful People” in which he basically complains about the personalities of the ignorant and other various messages.

[beautiful people plays]

The next song is called Redeemer, it is also by Manson.

[redeemer plays]

You might think Manson is evil for his lyrics, and you might say nasty things inside your head about him, which honestly does not prove you any better… but all in all, Manson was rejected much like many say is why Goths, Punks, etc exist, because they are sick of trying to be a part of something that does not feel right… that does not accept them for their opinions.

I’ve never heard of a true grit prep who likes mosh pits, and manson at the same time… “He’s a freak” they say… and then they come up with some Homosexual related reference which isn’t even relevant.

Dylan and Eric forgot not to take things so seriously, Manson even says things should not be so serious as to physically hurt anything without reason.

What I am wearing today is somewhat like what Dylan and Eric wore… except they did not have fancy things like new leather, or pants that remained unripped, because they probably did not want them.

A stereotype has gone around that waring black means you hate, that every thought and comment you make should be an insult, because that is what hate does, it attacks. Most people who dress/dressed like I do, start to think more logically over time, and they get tired of trying to be weird looking, and “scary”. They conform to whatever they were originally. I know of quite a few people who growled at those “happy-go-lucky” folks one day, and sat on their lap the next… Much like Dylan and Eric, it is hard to label exactly who is a threat to the school population. The two boys never caused trouble other than the teacher reporting violent essays they turned in to their English class.

They did not often times ware black at all, in fact the only thing they ever really wore was a black trench coat, which means the Goth thing is all a myth.

Just like those survelance photos, you see a white teashirt, cargo pants, other green pants, and a dark shirt, does that sound like anyone you know at this school? That should be obvious.

Now to the actual event, what I have gathered is near exact information on how everything went down, I never found a precise timeline, so I am using the many, many, many reports I used to report.

Dylan and Eric drove separate cars to the school. Dylan parked in the junior section, Eric parked in the senior. Eric set a bomb in his car for 12:00am, which if you really think about it hard, is 12 in the morning, not the noon like they planned.

The two met before walking in, moments of “Hellos” or whatever they said before the attack went by, and they then began their approach to the school, which at the time, they had a duffle bag, and trench coats on.

Walking up to the school, one of them fired, windows outside were shattered, and they both walked in. This is where they shot everyone they saw. A few outside, but most inside. Walking through the halls and to the cafeteria, they began fireing on the lunch room. People fled in all directions except that of which the two boys were approaching. One of them walked to the center of the cafeteria, and set the explosives down. Now having both their trench coats off, probably for mobility reasons, they walked over to the far side of the room, and shot at the duffle bag/bomb they had placed in the center.

The table on top of the bomb burst into flames, with the roof also scolded. Eric and Dylan walked around the area searching for other people to kill. After a short while, they made their way to Library where they shot a large amount of people inside.

After the shootings had died down, and it seemed everyone in the library was dead, the boys commited suicide, side by side.

Littleton Colorado would not be quiet after that for quite some time.

I am now going to play you some audio released from the police offices near by. It is generally people calling in to report the incedent, searching through the 48 minute long tracks, I found the significant reports, as follows.

[play tracks]

I will now redirect you to reality, here I stand before you, ready to report statistics, so future me, please take the lead.

Die Like Your Customers

As time progresses on, people from all locations of the Earth are realizing that there are many elements of life which are toxic to both the Human species, and our home. Fuel exhaust, arousal cans, and even those passing gas can be harmful to many aspects of our lives. However one of the most deeply hurtful is the one many chose to fill themselves with on a daily basis, cigarette smoke.

Tobacco has said to be most deadly on newborn babies. Recently “truth” commercials have come out on television which reports 3,000 infants die each year. Following this, second-hand smoke has been reported to be almost as deadly as first-hand due to scientific research on the toxins inhaled, and exhaled.

I personally am saddened to know that most smokers want to quit but can’t due to involuntary addiction (technically, is there any other kind?). Seeing all the commercials that state facts regarding statistics, it seems like cigarettes are one of the biggest issues this country has, yet we fight wars, cut forests down, and burn oil (non-replenishing source of energy).

Tobacco.org reports the latest cigarette related news, and most every headline in most recent news is the bans taking place all over our country, and many others across the seas. I support the ban of smoking as it is hurting everyone who uses it. I don’t really understand why we would be created, grown, placed, whatever on a planet that has such harmful materials, but then again, many things in life are a test of rights and wrongs, so many right now are dying because of the wrongs, and I feel the death needs to end. Cigarettes need to go, and the people who use them need our support.

Creative Writing Eval. 1

1. The poem/story I choose to focus on is “Making a Fist” on page 177. This story seems very interesting with significant depth. The character that takes on the majority of the voice in the story is seven year old child. The youngster is talking to their mother about life and death and because of this I concluded that the child is somewhat intelligent, being able to think outside the box. Along with intelligent, it was said in the poem “I felt the life sliding out of me.” Which somewhat shows the child has depth. Normal individuals would have said “I feel like I’m dying.” Or simply “I’m dying.” So now we know that the child is deep, and intelligent. The last two words I can come up with are confident (as the word was even mentioned in the poem) and happy. When the child seems to be most happy is when years pass only to show the kid smiling after thinking of the events passed. The confidence seems to hit me most when the child talks of how life is still in their grasps, they are still alive, and clenching that fist. Overall the poem shows how true the colors are in this individual’s mind.

2. Honestly I feel the title and the sentence that reads “When you can no longer make a fist” show to be the strongest metaphors. I believe that in this story (poem) the mentions of the fist were not just of a hand but rather a clutch one could have on life. The same sentence can also be taken otherwise in a literal sense where when you can no longer move your hand, there is a good chance your dying. This metaphor effected me most out of the 1 other I noticed because I could understand it right away. In many perspectives some could come to the same conclusion that the metaphor in itself carries the story, and makes it what it is. The “Making A Fist” title calls out to me in translation as “Not Willing To Give Up” or simply “Never-ending Consistency”. I learned from this as I have personally never heard or read about the clenching of the fist relating to living. I have always thought of life as an option, and when you are truly ready to give up on life and living, then so will your body. Those who are more “confident” in themselves and have a strong will to live seem to last a lot longer than those who do not. This poem speaks such truths to me, and reinforces the belief that strength of heart will get most people through any woe.

3. What is somewhat strange about this poem is the word choice. I find that the poet switches from present to past tense a few times. Naomi Shihab Nye (the author) uses words like “felt” “sliding” “lay” “watching” “smile” and so on. It is a bit confusing if you focus on the present and past tense, but it is also intriguing. This is the most “striking” and “memorable” because of what the words make up once collaborated. Every sentence seems to start out by bringing you into the location/general setting, and then moves on to the content of the child’s life itself. The words can throw readers back and fourth, and in doing that it can get their minds to start pumping, to begin to really think about what is happening. I like it because it is very similar to flashing lights, even a strobe light. You flash a positive, then a negative back and fourth rapidly which ultimately gains everyone’s attention if they catch on to the actual words themselves. Looking over the words I see about 60% of them are past tense, which makes sense as the author writes them in the future, if the author is even the child. This poem really makes me use a different part of my mind that I don’t exercise enough, I like it.

4. Through it all I believe that the author/child is trying to send a message through about themselves and the world. There was the point I mentioned before about the mother telling the child should know whether or not they are going to die, and how the clenching of the fist should define it. Along with this was the insinuation that making a fist is a metaphor for refusing to let go of life. I think beyond all the other messages, this one stands the most clear and bold. That very mention was in the ending, in the title, and the middle of the poem. I was very happy with the ending as it did send through that partial closure of “Happily Ever After” however it did not leave too much information about the mother. Did she die? Is she still “in the car”? Only the author knows for sure. I am led to the conclusion that this poem is trying to send out a message of the main characters strength because of the quote “How do you know if you are going to die” leading to the response “When you can no longer make a fist” which concluded with “I lay in the car… clenching and opening one small hand.” The message that the child alone will persevere was not as limited as just the child. I also see the larger message to be that we can all hang onto life with faith in ourselves, and in our ability to overcome challenges of any kind. Those three quotes combined, the title, and the above decryption of the metaphor all comes together to explain what the meaning/message of this poem is --- which all holds significant value in my mind.

True Self vs. Self Image

Beauty is said to come from within the soul’s vocal and emotion expression, however in the United States, more than any other country, beauty is thought of more as a physical element representing the human body. In past experiences, I have witnessed those who despise their reflection, and those who adore it. Often times however there is a contradictory mindset in how one judges themselves in the personal perspective verses the public.

In recent times I had decided to conduct an experiment to find out whether or not self-esteem had two faces. This experiment was to be called “True Self vs. Self Image”. The original hypothesis followed the lines of “Males will find themselves to be more attractive publicly and personally than females do.” Side hypotheses revolved around “60% of the people researched will believe themselves to be more attractive than others give them credit. 20% will suggest that they perceive themselves to be unattractive. 20 % will claim they have a relatively average appeal.”

In the survey, and in summarization of it, questions covering personal appeal, public appeal, physical appeal in contrast to others in our daily lives, and desire to be someone else were asked of the subjects involved.

Being a webmaster, I decided to conduct two forms of research. One method was online, and the other was exclusive to the classroom for both convenience, and a sense of value in the research. Online 20 people responded to the poll, while offline, in the classroom 18 responded. In the responses I found that more females had replied than males, and in this I deducted 2 male surveys for equality purposes.

Through observation of the surveys, and by predetermined outcomes from previous dates, I found that the likelihood that some participants were not interested enough to answer honestly was a high one. In this note, I felt a sense of failure to the project and the overall purpose, but was not ready to start over.

I later presented the information to the PSYCH 110 class, and in that reported the statistics including the 36 out of 38 people polled. I found that in my conclusion the original hypothesis had shattered and fallen still --- for my results told me that most people see not difference in true self vs. self image as if it is a Siamese-twin that fights only itself to prove that it has no relation. Regardless of this, some did report interesting statistic, which is where the questions “If you could switch bodies with a random person (not of your choosing), would you take up the opportunity?” and “If you could choose the person, would you take up the opportunity?” gave the survey more meaning (yes or no questions can make things more complicated if one were to lie, as they are simple, and to the point).

The yes or no questions had told me that approx. 40% of the males polled wanted to be someone else, while the females had a little under 30% wishing such things to change about themselves.

Overall this research has advanced my knowledge of the human psyche in the realm of self image. My thoughts not included in the hypothesis were confirmed with the desires others feel to have a different face. If someone else were to research this topic, I would advise that they enforce more requests to have a panel judge whether or not a person is attractive in comparison to what they think of themselves… this however would exit the realm of personal self vs. perceived public self… but maybe such an alteration in research is required for continued interest in this subject.

No other research was compared to this assignment.

The Fifth Amendment

Alongside the revolutionary war, and the proclamation of a desire to achieve true independence from the mother country, a list of rights were written which would later be debated by governors and representatives from various states around our country. After final agreements were made by majority ruling, the Fifth Amendment among many others was set in stone, an amendment which granted avoidance of double jeopardy, self-incrimination and many other areas which would define the remainder of one’s life if sitting in the defense chair.

LectLaw.com quotes a passage from the fifth amendment writings, “No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger” This translates to what we have today, which is rights in court, with fair ruling, and in some cases judgment before various people of which those involved are to not have met or been associated with before or during any trial. This passage also speaks of the military and exceptions that can be taken to avoid judgment by a grand jury, subjects like this revolve around JAG.

LectLaw.com continues, “…nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb” This means you cannot be convicted twice for the same crime. “…nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law;” This section supports the avoidance of self-incrimination, and the theory that all suspects are innocent until proven guilty. LactLaw.com continues “…nor shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation.” which significantly associated with fare trade, and individual rights of property.

The Fifth Amendment also covers an important subject which is the Miranda rights. In all police arrests there is an obligation to state what rights the offender does and does not have (mostly “does”). Police officers are required in most states to remember and present the following statements during an arrest “You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to talk to a lawyer and have him present with you during questioning. If you cannot afford a lawyer, one will be appointed to represent you, if you wish.” - DactRung.net. This quote in minimal translation states that you don’t have to speak to the officers or any investigators as what you say can be used against you later one if put to trial. Along with this, those in custody have the right to speak with someone who is destined to represent them in court. An attorney, who is required to know what is ok, and not ok to say. The Miranda rights support the right to avoid self conviction.

The quote from DactRung.net continues, “Do you understand each of these rights as I have explained them to you? Having these rights in mind, do you wish to talk to us now? You have the right to talk to a lawyer for advice before we ask you any questions, and to have him or her with you during questioning. You have the right to the advice and presence of a lawyer even if you cannot afford to hire one. We have no way of giving you a lawyer, but one will be appointed for you, if you wish, if and when you go to court.” Most officers do not say the Miranda in this exact way, but what is vital is that the arrested openly understand their rights as not understanding one’s rights can lead to possible conviction evasion.

The Fifth also covers many other topics that FindLaw.com reports the following aspects of the fifth amendment, “Indictment by Grand Jury, Double Jeopardy, Development and Scope, Re-prosecution Following Mistrial, Acquittal, Conviction, "For the Same Offence", Self-Incrimination, Development and Scope, The Power to Compel Testimony and Disclosure, Confessions, Due Process & National Eminent Domain Power” Because the amendments are as densely detailed as they are, quite a few other elements of the legal system, and individual rights are covered in just this one section of the bill of rights.

In many court cases throughout the United State’s history, the Fifth Amendment has been held key to conviction and evasion of conviction depending on the scenario. However these rights in specific supply the American sense of independence with added support. In trials if officers do not follow the laws of the Fifth Amendment all the paperwork and efforts that had previously invested in the suspect arrested can go to waste as the prisoner is released due to the smallest flaw initiated during arrest. Recognition of Self-incrimination, and double jeopardy before a judge can also act as justified reason to throw a case out of trial.

Overall the system works in favor of attorneys and suspects, yet if police officers do their duty based on the book, most often a criminal is judged as he/she should be in absence of loop holes, source of the bill of rights.

In the Fifth Amendment there is a passage that attracted my attention, and as FindLaw.com reports it, “Right to Sue the Government .--A right to sue the Government on a contract is a privilege, not a property right protected by the Constitution. 148 The right to sue for recovery of taxes paid may be conditioned upon an appeal to the Commissioner and his refusal to refund… …the denial to taxpayers of the right to sue for refund of processing and floor stock taxes collected under a law subsequently held unconstitutional, and the substitution of a new administrative procedure for the recovery of such sums, was held valid. 151 Congress may cut off the right to recover taxes illegally collected by ratifying the imposition and collection thereof, where it could lawfully have authorized such exactions prior to their collection. 152 “ This was a shock due to the newly recognized ability to hurt the very source of the rights provided to American citizens. In this, significant responsibility for potential errors in the government are taken into consideration, along with a message being sent out that suggests a greater level of equality for Americans. However it is hard to imagine actual compensation for tax violation in such situations involving the government.

Among the many amendments, the Fifth is essential to our rights in avoiding unfair conviction, especially interrogation. It is by far one of the most important amendments we have.