ISAT+Responses

=**.......................................ISAT Extended Response........................................**=

=Mummies=

Mummies are displayed all over the world in different museums, but have you ever wondered how they got like that? It starts off with a dead body being taken to the “Beautiful House”. It resembled a butchers shop in many ways. The “Beautiful House” was where the mummies got embalmed or mummified. Next, the person’s lungs, stomach, liver, and intestines needed to be removed. They did this by cutting a large slash into the left side of the body. Now they reached in and pulled them all out. The important organs were placed in there own jars, called canopic jars. The inside of the body was now rinsed out with wine. In my opinion, this is gross and i would never do it! I like the way we bury people today! Now, the brain had to be removed. This was trickier then the other organs. Smashing the skull would create a mess, so they took a little spoon attached to a long wire and stuck it up the nose. The pushed it higher and higher until reaching the brain. They kept scooping it until it was basically out. The brain wasn’t an important organ so little parts of it were fed to stray animals. Today, we know that the brain is very important. If it weren’t for some people who used their brain to invent, we wouldn’t have most of the stuff that we have. For example, the computer you are using to read this. The only organ they left in the body was the heart. The Egyptians believed that when you reached the afterworld, your heart would be weighed up against a feather. They believed that this would tell if you were a good person, or a bad person. A good person’s heart would weigh less because it was free of guilt. If you passed the test, you would move onto an afterlife filled with fun and games. Personally, I think this was very smart of them to think. Fourthly, they would cover the body in natron. This took 70 days to complete! They let the body sit for 2 and ½ months. The salt in this chemical absorbed all water from the body. The chemical also had a mild antiseptic that killed any bacteria lurking around on the body. After being soaked in natron, the body was painted with resin. This varnish-like substance came from trees and plants. Now oil, then more natron. The body was now stuffed with sand and other things. This gave the body shape. Then it is the time to wrap the mummy. They wrap **__EVERY__** toe and finger separately. In between layers they apply glue. Some mummies had 20 layers, but the average had enough linen coving him, to cover a whole basketball court! That is shocking! Now they placed you in a coffin. If you were an everyday person, you have an inner coffin and an outer coffin. If you were royal you had muliple inner coffin that jewel-studded sliver and gold, and then placed in a beatifully decorated outer coffin. Sometimes two. Then they finally put your coffin in a stone outer coffin balled a sarcophagus. Therfore, I and probably you, understand how a mummy was made.

= = =Democracy=

Government is not only the politics, but the people too. As it stated in the text of John Lewis’s piece, “Democracy is an act. It is an act that requires participation, organization, and dedication, to the highest principles.” And I agree with him, here’s how. First I’ll start with the participation point. I think democracy means a government in which people have a say in our government. Now in order to have a democracy you obviously need people. So you need to participate in order to have a democracy. Next organization, a democracy needs organization or else things can get to out of hand. If people get to much freedom, then they could take advantage of it and do something bad. Finally dedication, you need to have a strong feeling in your chose or vote. For example: if you just go willy-nilly and chose a random person, then if they win, you might not like what they are doing. So be dedicated in you chose or vote. Adding on to dedication, you have to be dedicated to your country for what is right. If you chose the wrong person to represent our country, they might go off and ruin it. As stated in the text, "We are still rediscovering the true meaning of our democracy. Democracy is not a state. It is not some high plateau that we struggle to reachso we can finally settle down to rest. Democracy is an act. It is an act that requires participation, organization, and dedication to the highest principles." He admits it right there, we still are not sure what democracy is, hopefully some day we will. In the text it talks about Martin Luther King Jr., if it weren’t for him our country might still be acting the way they did 40 years ago. He acted out how he believed; that everyone should be treated equal. He stood up and said to the world, “This is not right, I don’t agree with these laws, and I’m going to fight for my freedom!” While he later got African Americans the same rights as Caucasians, we are still having problems. I believe with some more efforts and one person at a time, we can make the world a better place. With everyone’s voice heard, we will get farther ahead to the goal we are trying to reach. A world free of hatred.