Exploration 3 Chris Phillips

I recently read a story written by a man about his recently deceased wife. He described how she loved to sit and play video games and watch television for hours at a time. After one of her sessions of binge-watching a show on Netflix, she had some pain in her leg, which she was sitting on. The pain moved into her chest and she seized. It turned out that all of the sitting down she did formed a blood clot in her leg, that moved to her chest and gave her a pulmonary embolism. At the end of telling this story, the man urged people who don't think twice about sitting down for hours at a time to take a break from whatever they're doing. He said that it's important to go on a short walk or to stretch if there are times that you will be sitting for hours. After reading this story, I learned that there are real implications for watching a lot of Netflix or playing too many video games. I am reminded in my subconscious now to take a break from such activities.

Issues of substantiation are defined briefly in the reading as "questions of disputed facts, definitions, causes, and consequences" (p57, The Call to Write, Brief Edition). In other words, all aspects of an argument that involve real substance. These are things that can not be disputed, only interpreted differently. An issue that affects me as a young citizen is the tax on income. As a college student who takes care of all of his own expenses, the reduction in immediate income can have a big effect. In my case, this tax works out to reduce my hourly wage by about two dollars. While a loss of two dollars an hour doesn't seem like so much, it can have a big impact when you are paying for things paycheck by paycheck. Even though I get most of this money back at the end of the year, it's the day-to-day that has the biggest impact. The draw to work under the table or to make money illegally is also increased due to the tax on this small income. It is my opinion that this tax should be reduced for those who are under a certain age or income bracket, because this is the group that it affects the most.