TOMORROW IS EARTH DAY! (April 22)
WOOT WOOT!
Recycle and reuse!
BTW: Pick a reusable grocery bag at Ralphs for free! No more plastic bags! :]
I'm gonna touch on a rather..um...touchy subject. The Iraq War. If I offend in any way I'm really sorry. These are just my views and my opinions. If you don't like it, feel free to read a post BELOW this one.
So we all know the September 11th incident. My birthday is on September 10th. I remember, I was all happy that it was my birthday and everything. You know--it's that feeling of euporhia that you can't shake off. It was just the day after and I was still pretty happy. I got great presents, I had a decent birthday with my friends and family, and I was feeling pretty darn happy. I turned eight and I was just in the third grade. Whoo that was a long time ago...But anyways, the moment I heard of September 11th events I just dropped to the floor with a look of sheer torture on my face. [As described by my best friend and mother.] I rushed to the TV in horror and turned it to the news channel. Tears flooded my eyes as I watched the two twin towers go up in smokes. I could hear the screams of the people inside. I could feel their pain. [That's just how I am. I'm....overly sensitive to other people's feelings.] I could care less that I just turned eight. I wanted to donate all of my birthday presents and birthday money to the families who lost a precious member. From that day forward, I immersed myself into the well being of other people, politics, and world issues. And that's why I'm here today with this Save the People blog to raise awareness of things around us.
After a while, I learn that President George W. Bush had declared war on Iraq. My first reaction was "WHAT?!" Okay sure, they had bombed the twin towers and killed many people and of course, it's tragic. And it's understandable that our country would want to punish them. But war? Isn't that a bit too drastic? Couldn't the president have had diplomatic talks with them? [Yes, they do exist in the UN] Work out a compromise? And if President Bush had such a yearning to punish them, wouldn't sanctions be enough? [Sanctions is when all exports and imports are cut from one country]
But now, we're over there, killing so many people. Do we need to give them more of a reason to hate us? They hate us already. Why? Because we have freedom. They were willing to bomb us because we have FREEDOM. What are they gonna do next after we're killing off a bunch of their people? Just because a few select men bombed us, we have to go kill everybody who is NOT them? Innocent women, children, men.
This is a True Story[if you're a bit sensitive, don't read this next paragraph] ::
One day in Iraq, an American soldier, let's call him Bob, spotted a teenage girl on the streets. He stalked her to her house and memorized the way to get there. Late that night, he brought up the girl to some of his soldier friends, asking them if they wanted to have some "fun". They all agreed and followed him to the girl's house. The girl was packing up to leave for her grandparent's house. She was scared of all of the American soldiers in their town. Unfortunately, she didn't move fast enough. All of the American soldiers that accompanied Bob broke into the house and held the family hostage. As Bob went to go kill her family, the other soldiers took turn raping her. When Bob came in, he took his turn with the girl then shot her in the head multiple times. But he wasn't finished yet. He had some lighter fluid with him. He doused the girl's dead body with it and set her on fire. When Bob was brought to court, they asked him why he joined the army in the first place. He replied that he hated all of the people and wanted to kill each and every single one of them. All of the soldiers from that night are now in jail.
So who is the enemy now? Us or them?
Do not be THAT alarmed by the title. Well. Be alarmed. But be alarmed in a few seconds. By "Green Our Vaccines", I don't mean dye all of our vaccines green [even though that WOULD be like the BEST thing EVER.] I mean, make them enviromentally friendly. I'm not saying there's trash in our vaccines. I AM saying that there are chemicals in our vaccines. Chemicals that SHOULD NOT be there. Mercury, a very very bad chemical for humans, are found in flu shots. Sucks huh?
Well the suckish news continues. Everyday, a child dies from vaccine related injuries. Isn't that dumb?! A kid died because they were trying to stay healthy? WTH, isn't that just messed up? AND get this-the government refuses to remove the chemicals because they believe that ONE: there is no alternative to the chemicals and that if they removed them, the effectiveness of the vaccine would deteriorate and TWO: that they cannot afford to do more researching to FIND those alternative chemicals.
WHAT
THE
HELL
I'm sorry for being rude in this particular post, but this makes me UBER ANGRY. So this is what I hear when they say that bullshit: "Well we can't save your children because we have our asses too deep in debt because of the great and WONDERFUL war in Iraq. So your dying children are going to have to wait. We have a third world country's government to conform!"
I'm PISSED. Spread the awarness and become pissed with me!
GREEN OUR FREAKING VACCINES GOSH DARNIT!!
Child labor is, to me, one of those silent problems. They're obviously there, but it's so quiet and you never hear about them, that you never think about it. So, I'm gonna tell you about them.
A few months ago, I was AGAINST AGAINST AGAINST child labor. But then I had to go to a M.U.N. (Model United Nations, small scale version of the United Nations) conference. I was representing Chile's stance on child labor. Chile does endorse child labor. So basically, I had to write a speech and debate with other people on why child labor is ABSOLUTELY wonderful. I was like "WTF, I'm screwed."
After a few months of researching for hours on the internet, my view on child labor started to change JUST A LITTLE BIT. Chile is a poor country. More than half of the population falls on or beneath the poverty line. These kids HAVE to work to survive. This is the only way then can meet ends. Their families don't make enough money for them to live on, so the kids have to lend a hand. If I was in the same situation, I would rather quit school than let my family starve to death. Wouldn't you? Farming a few vegetables and working in a factory seems like no big deal to these kids. They've seen much worse jobs. Unfortunately, Chile is not the only country where many kids have to work to live. Third world countries sadly do not have enough funds to focus on a public welfare system.
There is a line where child labor goes to the dark side. One very controversial issue is child prostitution. Girls are mainly the victim here, but some guys have to suffer too. Sadly, nothing is being done about child prostitution. Some people just refuse to acknowledge that an eight year old girl could be selling her virginity; it's not pretty to them, so they block it from their minds. The signs are there. A little girl out on the streets late at night, hoping for a "pimp" to walk by. Tears streaming down her face as she bites back the urge to run back to the safety of her home. The truth is ugly and disgustingly...TRUE.
Some factories in which the children work in are clean and professional...but not all. Most are dark, musty, and disease infested. Who made your shirt? Who made your shoes? Probably kids ranging from the age of 5-10. Maybe even younger. The truth is, kids are becoming blind, getting sick, and dying to make clothes for you. It's sad. But true.
Unfortunately, a few hundred protestors aren't going to do anything to dent this problem. We need an EPIDEMIC. So tell everybody. Inform EVERYONE. Email this article to people. DO something. Save the CHILDREN.
So I'm sure by now a lot of you Otakans have heard the phrase "Save Darfur" Darfur is not a person nor an animal [not even a gopher, despite what rumors may say] but they are a country. A region actually, that lies in Southern Africa. [Darfur is also referred to as Sudan]
For the past few years, a mass genocide has been occuring there. What is genocide? A fancy name for cold blood murder. More than 500,000 people have died (more than half, women and children) and the number is rising. The UN and the Big Five are trying to help with this atrocity, but it's not enough. China is too focused on the upcoming exciting Olympics and America is too into the war in Iraq (which by the way, I think is absolutely USELESS) Efforts to supress genocide isn't working. Guns are still slipping into the market, into their outstretched hands. Women and girls have been mutilated and raped by troops sent to help them, and the boys have also suffered mutilation. The deaths are slow and painful and not quick and merciful. They are crying out to us, but nobody can hear them. But you CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE.
Click here to sign up to be a member of the SAVE DARFUR COALITION. We must take matters into our hands now. Only we can make a difference.