This I Believe

I used to believe in things greater than myself. I looked up to my parents and abided by the rules that they made, because I believed that they were right; that my parents were benevolent and omniscient. With age, I lifted the veil put over my eyes as my father left and my mother turned to alcohol, a realm outside of reality where only her own pain exists. I used to believe that the support of a family could save a person from despair, until I needed it and received no alms. As a young girl, I wrote letters to God and waited for some kind of consolation, but that never appeared. I felt as if I were being punished by him in my waiting, and I resented him. It was not until I let Him, the resentment, the hopelessness, and everything else go that I found the ground under my feet again.

I learned the peace that comes with making one’s self exist. Because with nothing else, you are left alone. And I am great enough a power to maintain myself. I believe that if you truly want something bad enough for the well being of yourself, you will go out and get it, and you are capable of achieving it. In my pain, I realized hopelessly that in the end, I have no one else but myself to support me. But this idea no longer brings me despair. Because I believe that everything that I have ever wanted to accomplish is possible by my own hands. I believe that the greatest power that exists is the one that every individual holds. And now, I don’t believe that there is any obstacle that can defeat me in the path to success. And that knowledge is greater than what anyone else could give me.

A Modest Proposal

Going Greener: A Modest Proposal

 

In the spirit of going green, I have come up with a stimulus plan in hopes to save the economy. It is evident that with our rapidly plunging economy, a stimulus plan is in order that will save the future of our country. And let’s face it—no one wants to go along with a plan that may take years or months to affect us personally. Immediate gratification has never failed us before in times of economic need.

Instead of continuing to tax the average working American, it is clear that it would benefit everyone to make a tax on something with no clear residual benefit. Scientists involved in the process of “going green” to save the environment have made another claim on something green: that marijuana, although clearly labeled as an illegal drug, has medicinal purposes. So why not give those pot-smoking hippies what they want—legalize it!

By legalizing this drug, scientists and drug users will get what they want, and pay for it. It is evident that modern technology has created a façade to trick us again: that grass will help cancer patients see through their pain in a delusional state of hazy pot smoke, and anorexic boys and girls will learn how to eat again. Obviously science’s “proof” has come out to get us again. Why keep a tax on average American needs:  cell phones, cigarettes and alcohol, when we can target those causing the real problems in this country: habitual marijuana smokers.

Due to the higher price on marijuana compared to cigarettes, the economy could benefit even more with a higher tax on the drug than it does now on other currently legal taxed substances. A bunch of stoner kids and cancer patients walking around stoned should have little effect on the rest of us, anyway. Not only that, but along with boosting our economy, we could at the same time be reducing the cause of much gang violence and drug dealing in our country by eliminating the illegality of this substance.

Some may say that this proposal is irrational due to the former illegalization of this drug, but let’s contrast and compare. How many people become violent or angry when under the influence of marijuana?  And how many people have been influenced in this sense when they are drunk, or without their fix of nicotine? To me, it is clear that marijuana is a benefit to our society, as well as a lesser of many other taxed evils.

1984 v. Brave New World

Although Huxley's vision of the future was proposed almost ten years before Orwell's 1984 proposition, it is evident that the future held a world much more like that of Huxley's Brave New World. Despite Orwell's accurate depiction of the 1980's in some other part of the world for a period of time, Huxley's idea of the future is what has become closest to reality in today's society.              

   

It is hard to deny the sex obsessed culture of the West. To some, it is still considered taboo, but for a large part of our society, sex is a comfortable subject. This would be all well and fine, however, it is hard for those who are not ready to be consumed by sex to avoid its influence in culture today. Try and watch tv without seeing any Viagra commercials or other male enhancement tools displayed in infomercials at any time of day. On most satellite television packages come with a pornography channel for a few extra bucks.  This leads into the loss of parenting in our society, as in Huxley's parenthood has become an explicit word. Despite how parents may try and protect their children from the influences of sex that infest our society, essentially there is no control over whether or not your children are having sex. This is not so much a matter of will power as it is of the accessibility of sex. There is no age limit for buying condoms, nor is parental consent necessary for a young girl to go out and get birth control at a clinic. I'm not saying that wanting to protect one's self from STDS and pregnancy is a bad thing, but that everyone should be exposed to sex at a point where they are mature enough to understand it and be ready for it. Much of this will come from the parents' preparation for their children, which has become of little influence today.

But in some cases in our world of 2009, the parents of future generations have too much influence. Although there are many aspects of genetic engineering that are favorable for the future, there are some cases in which it is not necessary; only done for the appearance of our super babies of the future. Genetic engineering has made many steps forward and continues to, such as in locating genetic mutations as well as debilitating diseases, and has begun to find a way to eliminate them. Perhaps it was necessary in the beginning to experiment with such traits as eye and hair color in order to understand how to move forward to mapping out genetic diseases and eliminating them, but this is no longer the case. Just as in Brave New World, parents can chose what color eyes, hair, skin tone: everything that characterizes the appearance of their baby. There is no futuristic benefit for the child in doing this, it simply encompasses the vanity of our culture: a mirror image of Huxley's prediction. 
 

Hence, it is clear that Huxley's vision of vanity and sexuality has become a reality. Although our society has not escalated to the extreme Huxley depicts in Brave New World, there is much evidence that our world is rapidly moving towards a world without parents and without any knowledge of the confines of the past. 

Toulmin's Model of Argument

It is apparent that the past decade has called for new degrees of protection for high school students. Instances in history such as Columbine have made this evident. High schools such as my own have made an attempt at protecting our students by placing a tag upon the masses. Theoretically, no individual can enter and stay within the walls of High Point Regional High School without wearing an ID card around their necks. Despite the administrations best efforts, this tactic has been proven unsuccessful. This arbitrary approach to protect high school students is clearly ineffectual. Hence, students at High Point High School should not have to wear Ids.

Despite the school's hopes that the usage of IDs will protect us from those lurking on the outside peering into our school, the plastic cards of safety are unnecessary. The rules are blatantly defied every day. Seniors entering the school through the side doors are meant to have IDs displayed upon entering the building, but these rules have never been enforced. Even worse, there has never been an arbitrary rule marking the front door: the easiest way to walk into the school, where the masses enter from the buses. Any individual could easily waltz right into the school with a gun or a bomb, making IDs again, faulty.

Aside from the fact that most individuals can make it through an entire day without wearing an ID at all, it is common for students to borrow a copy of another student's ID and wear it in place of their own. Since no teacher or administrator actually checks what is displayed on the ID, this is easy. And as I did for the majority of the year, it is also possible to display between one half and three quarters of an ID, without a name or a face on it. Teachers and administrators accept this as a form of identification. Despite the underlying idea of keeping the students safe from intrusion during school hours, the enforcement of IDs is somewhat lackadaisical. This is especially true since the IDs server no purpose such as they would in a college setting: allowing students to enter certain rooms or buy meals. IDs at High Point Regional are meant only to be worn around the neck.

Lastly, it is also important to make note of the places in which wearing an ID have been made most important: mostly, just the lunch room. The cafeteria is the only place in the entirety of the school where I personally have been asked to put on my ID. This is simply because (as many teachers in cafeteria duty have proclaimed) so the teachers observing the students eat lunch do not suffer repercussions from the administrators. It is in this instance that IDs have been proven to actually be destructive. Because students are forced to wear the ID cards around their necks while eating, disasters have happened, such as jerseys destroyed because an ID card snuck its way into a pile of ketchup. Hence, it is clear that IDs are not only useless, but they actually have a negative affect as well.

Although High Schools should be making an attempt at protecting all students at the school with a universal tool, it is obvious that ID cards are ineffective. The rule that states IDs need to be worn at all times is arbitrary at best, as so easily avoided. Not only are these ID cards unnecessary, there are also cases in which they are harmful, having a negative affect. In short, students at High Point Regional High School should not have to wear IDs.

Blog About Anything.

I am not sure if one should feel good or bad about loving the holidays. The fact is, most people do not love them because of a celebration of our freedom and religious equality or as the celebration of a savior's day of birth.  Is it wrong to love holidays if that is not why you celebrate? The fact is, I love to be around my family on holidays, because at one of two of the those mentioned above, my family takes the time to engourge themselves with food and not try to kill each other, for once. And obviously, that is not what the holidays are about. But that is exactly why I appreciate them and look forward to them. 

There is something about spending time with your family that guilts everyone into behaving and acting coordially, even when you really don't like them at all. That's fine with me, because I need that down-time, regardless of how uncomfortable that makes everyone else. Even though it may not really be the best way to celebrate, I think that it is a clear representation of that all the same. We participate, we express gratitude, we pass the stuffing. Despite the falsehood that may appear through expressing grace, I think that it brings out the best in even the worst people. The bottom line is that the credit given to a person in expression of your gratitude for them is probably true, even if it is hard to say.

But the best part of all is that I don't see my family much. Even the ones I live with. So the holiday lives on even after everyone has left the table, because we leave with that gratitude. I savor the fact that no one is around each other long enough to explode with frustration and spread the truth. Because I don't speak with the negations the next day. No one high tails after me in their car to confront me about the lies told in between smacking jaws across the dinner table. The holidays go to sleep and re-appear a year later. That is how I celebrate them, and I am grateful none the less.

There are parts of all of us that will always stay the same. Sometimes we hate these characteristics that are our nature, and sometimes they are what make up the best of us. Either way, there are some parts that we carry for our entire lives. Some people are born thoughtful writers: people who know how to express themselves in a colorful way from early childhood and keep that skill. Some develop this is adolescence or adulthood. Regardless, defining characteristics such as those are what make us up eternally.

Not to say that we are everything that we once were forever. As O'Brien says, “I was Timmy then; now I'm Tim.” (O'Brien, 236) The little things change. We grow older, and perhaps, more mature. But envy is still envy if it is over a new toy or a new washer and dryer. Being a jealous person is the same no matter how old you are, and the like. People will change how they look and how they dress, but that can't change the basics. Of course, a lot of things change, but it seems that most of important values and characteristics that we gain in life are from kindergarten and first grade- everyone is still somewhat those curious little faces finger painting and making friends and asking where babies come from.

It seems that instead of really changing, we gain more instead. Whether it's knowledge or just more baggage, such as O'Brien, “a twenty-three-year-old infantry sergeant, a middle-aged writer knowing guilt and sorrow.” (236) For better or for worse, the core of a person will generally stay the same, even if the outside influences of the individual's life change them outwardly. Shy individuals could find a reason to be more outward and become more social, but they could also become calloused and anti-social because of being mistreated or neglected due to their coy nature. Although our outsides may be adulterated by personal life experiences, our insides are conclusive, or as O'Brien eloquently puts it, “ Inside the body, or beyond the body, there is something absolute and unchanging.” (236)

There are parts of all of us that will always stay the same. Sometimes we hate these characteristics that are our nature, and sometimes they are what make up the best of us. Either way, there are some parts that we carry for our entire lives. Some people are born thoughtful writers: people who know how to express themselves in a colorful way from early childhood and keep that skill. Some develop this is adolescence or adulthood. Regardless, defining characteristics such as those are what make us up eternally.

Not to say that we are everything that we once were forever. As O'Brien says, “I was Timmy then; now I'm Tim.” (O'Brien, 236) The little things change. We grow older, and perhaps, more mature. But envy is still envy if it is over a new toy or a new washer and dryer. Being a jealous person is the same no matter how old you are, and the like. People will change how they look and how they dress, but that can't change the basics. Of course, a lot of things change, but it seems that most of important values and characteristics that we gain in life are from kindergarten and first grade- everyone is still somewhat those curious little faces finger painting and making friends and asking where babies come from.

It seems that instead of really changing, we gain more instead. Whether it's knowledge or just more baggage, such as O'Brien, “a twenty-three-year-old infantry sergeant, a middle-aged writer knowing guilt and sorrow.” (236) For better or for worse, the core of a person will generally stay the same, even if the outside influences of the individual's life change them outwardly. Shy individuals could find a reason to be more outward and become more social, but they could also become calloused and anti-social because of being mistreated or neglected due to their coy nature. Although our outsides may be adulterated by personal life experiences, our insides are conclusive, or as O'Brien eloquently puts it, “ Inside the body, or beyond the body, there is something absolute and unchanging.” (236)

"Why I Write" by Ishmael Beah

I did not believe in my youth that I would be one to write a book. There was little that concerned me aside from survival for a long time. Even after I had gone through rehabilitation and left Sierra Leone, my experience there was not something that I was able to discuss, even with people in my life that I was closest with. However, it was not something that I could leave to dredge in the desert sand of my home land. Seeing the faces of the other children at the UN conferences, I knew that I was not like them. I knew that they had not seen what I had, nor could they understand it. But it was not just the children that made me want to share my story; they were not the only ones that did not understand. Adults everything viewed my story as surreal- as if it couldn't be true. Most did not want to believe that children and civilians could be caught up in the middle of such madness. The children in Sierra Leone are the ones who suffered the most. Most of us were not saved by the expected end of death, but forced to go on, and stare it in the face. In writing A Long Way Gone, there were many times in which I felt as if I were 12 years old again, the cold dead feeling of drugs and hate. We no longer cried as children, we were not afraid. We wanted to bathe in blood. It was long before I finally understood what the nurses and rehabilitation workers were trying to tell us all: “it's not your fault.” At first I hated this. Sometimes I can feel the courage of a young warrior fighting to say that I fought for my family, for my country. In reality, neither side was right. We were twelve year old boys, brainwashed by drugs and loss. I do not write because it does my existence any kind of justice to do so. I write because I want people to understand : my story is not the only one.  There are many others crying out to be told, others who want the world to never forget, and never let it happen again. I am not the only one.