After reading and discussing the beatings and hard times people put themselves through in order to become a part of something, it got me thinking about th many ways people do that in every culture. Even in the United States, people do that stuff all the time. The most obvious and familiar ones are hazing in fraternaties and gang initiation. However, I was watching TV and I realized that many of the reality TV shows have or had similar situations. Shows like Fear Factor and Survivor pit people in painful and disgusting situations. They do it for many reasons: for fame, for money and prizes, and maybe even simply to prove themselves. Everytime I hear about those shows I wonder why the people do it. It does not seem worth it to me. There must be something about it that makes it worth doing for those people, though. I think that, aside from the cash, people like to overcome problems to become victorious and gain what they think is respect. The same thing can be said for all of the other situations we talked about. While getting beaten half to death may not seem worth it for one of us, there has to be something about it that makes it worth it for those people. Again, I don't think its those fancy gifts, I think its the respect and bonds that are made once the hard times are over.