Author: SandeeL

Should old traditions be stopped to fit in with modern society? The Lottery, by Shirley Jackson, is a short story about a tradition that a town practices. One object that is used in this lottery is a black box that is very worn out from age. ” … the black box now resting on the stool had been put into use even before Old Man Warner, the oldest man in town, was born … The black box grew shabbier each year: by now it was no longer completely black but splintered badly along one side to show the original wood color, and in some places faded or stained.” (Jackson 1) The box represents the long time that this town has kept this tradition. In this lottery, families draw paper slips from it, a family gets chosen, and then the individual person gets picked. When you think of a lottery, it may give you ideas of money or happiness if you get chosen. In this case, the person who gets chosen gets stoned to death. In our community, we see this as an outrageous tradition.
However, we also have traditions that people may find questioning. For example, in many cultures, marriages are chosen by the parents and are arranged instead of the people deciding themselves. In America, this may seem wrong even though it’s normal for others. Another tradition in America is how we use fireworks and gather together when its the New Year. Other countries may think that this is weird. Some traditions can be kept, but how about the ones that go against what we believe in now?

You may have seen information about the number of deaths or number of people infected by COVID-19. However, how exactly do they get these numbers? One thing that happens when someone dies is that they get a death certificate. This is the main thing that the people use while counting the amount of deaths. The cause of death is also described on the certificate. These gets signed by doctors or other people in charge of it. Autopsy also helps determine whether someone’s cause of death is COVID-19 if they died before a doctor could check them. One big problem that makes the exact number inaccurate is that the definition of a coronavirus death may differ between states. There are people who die with the virus and people who die from the virus. People can die from other diseases while having COVID-19, but does that count as a coronavirus death?