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Thursday, 10 September 2009

  • The state of the world.

    A few minutes ago I was reading a blog while I was on my other Xanga. It was about a picture of a starving child in Ethiopia and how instances like that should no longer be occuring in the year 2009. Now, I know that the entire world will never be completely taken care of. There will always be people in need and other people who could help them, but choose not to. It's human nature to turn a blind eye to suffering.

    This blog really got to me though. It reminded me of something that happened to me a few years back when I was fourteen. This was at a time in my life when I was attending church. The church I went to organized the event but it really did not have much to do with religion at all.

    I worked for a whole year doing odd jobs for people to earn the $1500 to go on a trip to the Caribbean to put on a day camp for Haitian immigrant children there. We left in the end of june and stayed there for two weeks in a hotel. We worked all day in a church with kids.

    Not far from the hotel strip and the tourist beaches where the buses ran at all hours of the day was the other half of the island. It was far from glamorous. Abandoned and broken down buildings were everywhere. Kids ran wild in the streets because both their parents were working full time and there was no one to watch them. The roads were unpaved and there were no other cars. No one could afford them on the wages they made working in the hotels and on the beaches.

    We spent days with the kids. There were dozens of them. One day our attendance was up over 100. I had over a dozen children to take care of myself. They ranged in age from older than me, all the way down to still being in diapers. Most of them just showed up alone through out the day because they had no where else to be. We even had a little boy that was still in diapers wander in by himself. No parent dropped him off and checked him in. He was just wandering around in the street by himself and found his way to us. We even went to the store and bought diapers because we didn't have any with us.

    I'll spare you the details of the entire week, and just skip to the last day.

    Near the end of the day when kids started wandering off and parents started getting off work and coming to find their children, a woman showed up to get her daughter. Her daughter was in my group, and had been with me all week. She was probably about three years old, but she was very small. I carried her around on my shoulders most of the time. She just hugged her little arms around my head and stayed up there out of the chaos. When her mom got there to take her away, she asked me if she would see me tomorrow. I told her that I wasn't going to be there tomorrow, and that I was getting back on the airplane and going home soon. She started to cry.

    Her mom saw her crying and saw that her daughter really liked me and was going to miss me. She came over to me with a warm smile on her face and put her hand on my shoulder. She asked me if I liked her daughter, and I told her that I did. She was a sweet little girl. The mother then went on to say that she had quite a few kids, and couldn't afford to take care of them all. She said it would be easier for her if she had one less, and that I should take her daughter back to the US with me.

    I was dumbfounded. This woman was ready and willing to hand her daughter over to me. I was a stranger, and a child myself. She'd seen me and talked to me once. I'd just spent a few days with her daughter. She was fully convinced that her daughter would be better off going to a different country with a stranger. A mother was willing to give away her child because she couldn't feed her, couldn't buy her clothes or send her to school, and couldn't take the time to really take care of her.

    I cried that day. Tears of sadness, anger, and confusion. As I walked back to my hotel that night I looked out at the port. There were cruise ships docked everywhere. Those ships pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to dock there. There were dozens of huge hotels on the strip, and each room cost at least $120 per night. Where did all this money go? How could these companies make millions of dollars and leave the children of their employees with no food or clothing?

    I know now why the buses don't run to the other side of the island. No one on a vacation wants to see ghettos and kids running in the streets with no shoes to wear. It is truly disgusting that things like that hide right behind the facade created by the more affluent members of the world.

    Someone makes millions from every hotel, every dock, and every port there. According to human nature, they plunder their spoils and turn a blind eye to those who are hurt in the process or simply left behind in the wave of development.

    Sometimes I still wonder what happened to that little girl. If she's still alright and if her mother was ever able to take care of her. I still hope that someday someone who could do something will go for a walk and take a stroll to the other side of that island, the side that no one ever sees.

Wednesday, 21 January 2009

  • A Complaint for Mrs. Gregoire...

    In wake of this momentous inauguration, I have a more localized complaint. As we face some of the worst economic times in history, here in Washington State our governor is cutting funding for many important programs. Among these programs are many related to healthcare. The United States has never been vey close to that "healthcare for all" slogan that is so often toted on picket signs, but this is a new low. The cuts include a freeze on childrens basic health!

    So this means that as a low income individual in Washington State one will find themselves having a very hard time trying to get their children on this plan (if that will even be possible at all anymore). It is predominantly the only insurance catering to the children of low income residents, so basically: if you lose your benefits or have another child in the near future do not count on getting them imunizations, well child check-ups, or any other necessary healthcare.

    Other budget cuts that I myself have encountered include the Parents as Teachers program, which my daughter and I participated in prior to Mrs. Gegoire cutting the funding for it. It was a very beneficial program which educated parents on which areas of the brain and what type of development are active during different stages of childhood between the ages of 0 and 3 years. Apparently, human beings activate upwards of 80% of their brain mass during the first 3 years of life. This program helps teach parents how to activate and engage the brain during this early developmental stage. By engaging the brain it helps the children's brains develop more efficiently, and, for all intents and purposes, actually makes them smarter in the long run.

    Having my daughter being relatively advanced for her age, this program was more of a way to cope with my daughter's constant boredom and need for excessive stimulus. I can imagine, however, that there are now many parents, young and old, who have no concept of what they should be doing to engage their infants and toddlers. If one has not dedicated a decent amount of time to observing a parent or other capable care taker interacting with a child, they will not know proper activities to partake in with a child.

    I have seen many other mothers leaving their children on the living room floor, with the television on, and some toys on the floor for hours a day. Their children just sit there. I've watched it many times. They do not talk to them. They do not read to them. They do not teach them how to say words, to sort things, to match shapes and colors, or any other skills that young children should be learning to do.

    Thanks to Governor Gregoire, there is now no hope for these children bring properly insured or properly stimulated. They may get sick, they may not got medical attention they need, they may not learn to talk in a timely fashion, they may experience long term side effects from not having proper stimulus as children, and there is not a damn thing that anyone can do about it.

    These are just a few of the budget cuts that I have personally experienced. There are dozens more listed in the paper every day, but I decline to comment on every single one of them. All of this stems from the slight mishap that Gregoire caused with the state budget. Apparently, she confused the terms 'deficit' and 'surplus'. Exactly how we have ended up with a $3.2 billion short fall for the 2009-2011 budget in not certain.

    Perhaps we should cut out some of those road improvements, like the ones on Sleater-Kinney Rd. in Lacey, WA which just costed over $3 million for maybe a mile long stretch of road, some sidewalks, and a few decorative trees. Perhaps those $3 million should have been saved for the healthcare for the children.

    This is just my take on the situation, however, as a young mom who relies on such programs to take care of her child. I would rather have healthcare than a perfectly smooth new road, how about you? Have you experienced any odd budgeting in your state during the recession?

Friday, 19 December 2008

  • Anti-Semetism.

    In addition to being a teen mom, I am also a Jew. Most commonly you will not find a person who possesses both of those characteristics, but indeed, I do. I have recently been trying to unearth some information about my race and culture, since I have not been raised in a traditionally Jewish family. I frequent many forums and web pages and I have taken part in several on going discussions on the topic to attempt to learn.

    What I have found is a deep seated hatred toward Jews in many people. I am not suggesting that everyone hates the Jews, but I have come across many offensive individuals. I am not entirely sure how the internet setting affects people's opinions, since much of the time one can remain rather anonymous, but I am deeply disturbed by much of this behavior.

    We just celebrated the election of the first black president. This triumph of black people was taken quite seriously by many people. There was celebration even on a global level for what seems to signify the true end of racism in America (for the most part). This view is so inexplicably flawed, however. The hatred between the two races that are absolutely polar opposites has been basically proven to no longer exist, because many, if not the majority, of caucasian voters chose a black man over a white man. It said nothing, however, of any mutual tollerance between any other ethnic groups.

    Due to my recent endeavors, I am going to reference the Jews and the Islamics, although there are many others that would work just as well. I am not going to try to assert that I know much of either religion. I will assert, however, that much of America has turned a blind eye toward the hatred that is shown toward the Jews by Islamic peoples and many others.

    Lost in the triumphs and controversies of more publicised ethnicities, such as blacks and hispanics, the offensive comments and racial slurs toward Israelis and Jews remain common. It is sad to think that in a country so great as our own, such deep seated animosity still exists toward a people that cannot even be identified visually for the most part.

    I have many memories from my high school of offensive comments and racial slurs because of my ethnicity. I remember having to be so very careful discussing the "N word" in an english class while reading To Kill a Mocking Bird. However, I also remember being told to "go burn in an oven" while we were reading Night, a story of a holocaust survivor. I remember a classmate, Greg, who is black, getting very offended and throwing a fit over us reading To Kill a Mocking Bird. He then proceded to throw every racial slur and offensive comment he could possibly think of at me while we reading Night. This was done openly in class and no one really paid any attention to it. I would have probably been suspended had I done the same to him.

    In my research and my discussions on the internet, I have run into more than one situation where an Islamic person has insulted me for no reason. I have been called the daughter of a whore and a sodomite, told that the only thing I deserve is a gas chamber, I have received death threats, and many other things that I find quite offensive and hurtful. I know that these people are Islamics dues to the religious perspective of many of their comments. Other people, however, just whimsically post statements such as "I hate Jews and Israelis." Short, sweet, and to the point.

    The only reason that I can think of that would cause such an immense difference in treatment between racism toward Jews and racism toward blacks is that Jews are not easily identifiable much of the time. If a man is black you can tell as soon as he drops his job application off, but if a man is Jewish you really cannot tell. This difference would make blatant racism difficult to diagnose. You don't usually see Jews filing law suits for not being hired for a job or accepted to a college or program, but you do see Jewish centers being bombed and Jews being verbally attacked. Unless someone tells you they are a Jew or you meet them in a place that would suggest they were Jewish, like a synagogue, you cannot tell.

    Despite the recent strides made by blacks, the world remains the same for the rest of the races. It should be made just as clear that making offensive jokes and comments about other races is just as deplorable as calling a black man a "nigger". The world is full of ignorance, and now that we have conquered ignorance towards one group we must move on to another. Whether it is Jews, Asians, trannies, or any other group is irrelevant. There are many more decades of hard work toward acceptance to be struggled through by our country. We need to remember to keep striving toward a society of complete tollerance.

Wednesday, 29 October 2008

  • Abortion Debate...

    As I have been watching the political garbage on TV and listening to the Republicans and the Democrats argue, I have come to one conclusion: everyone sees things in black and white. There is no gray area. There is no middle ground. It's either right, or it's wrong. I do not agree with this stand point.

    Both parties I believe are at fault for this, but predominantly it is simply the general attitude towards the debate. Is it okay for the woman who was raped to get an abortion? Is it okay to abort the mentally disabled fetus? Where do we draw the line? As in many situations in life, there is no line drawn in the sand dividing right and wrong.

    The pro-choice supporters say that a woman should be able to do whatever she wants with her body. It is her choice to have the baby or not. I must ask, what about the baby's body? What about it's right to life? It could be argued that it is not "a person" yet. Where is the line in the sand dividing the "person" from the glob of tissue seen as a parasite in the woman's body? When do basic human rights kick in?

    The pro-life section states that as soon as the baby is conceived, it is a person. It has a full set of DNA, it is it's own person. But what about the woman? What if she was raped? What if she'll die carrying the baby? To what extent will we protect a person who has never even seen the light of day?

    I present the middle ground. It is the woman who was raped. The woman who was diagnosed with cancer and then got pregnant accidentally. The woman who has a compelling reason to not have that child. It is not the woman from the drunken night at the bar. It is not the woman who had a little too much fun with a man she didn't really know. It is not the teenager who doesn't want to lose her bikini body.

    Ethically, I can not condemn a woman for getting an abortion after being raped. I can not scorn the woman who choses her life over her child's. It may not be the choice that I would make, but ethically, is there really anything wrong with that?

    I agree with the pro-life movement that abortion should not be a form of birth control, but I agree with the pro-choice idea that sometimes it really is better for the woman to just get an abortion and be done.

    However, can we really condone the teenager running to the abortion clinic by the thousands? Is that okay? The abortion option has left my generation numb to the consequences of having sex. The primary purpose of sex is to reproduce. That is what it was meant for. It was not simply meant for pleasure. There are many other ways to make youself feel good, but they all have consequences. For example, eating ice cream. If you eat ice cream every day, you will get fat. It's just commonly known that eating sweets all the time is bad for your health and your appearance. What we've done with sex, however, is remove the consequences. There are many options for bith control, condoms to help prevent STDs, and now abortion if push comes to shove.

    Is this okay?

    The pro-choice idea is that a woman should have the right to chose what happens to her body. Don't we make that choice when we chose to have sex? I did. I knew full well the consequences of what I was about to do. I did it anyway, though. Having sex is taking a risk. You could become pregnant. Everyone knows that from a very young age.

    If the government made a fund to reimburse people who lost bets, would it be supported? No. Why? Because everyone knows that when they gamble they are taking a risk. Why should the government pay to remove the consequences of the risk they took?

    In my state of Washington, that is exactly what happens. I come from a public high school in a relatively small town. It's suburbia in all honesty. Plus, it's not even low class suburbia. I come from the lowest class in this area, and we still live in a two story house in a nice neighborhood. It's safe, quiet, and a good place to raise a family. Is it okay that I can list off names of girls that I know that have gotten abortions for no real reason? Is it okay that I run into friends at the DSHS office that are applying for medical coupons to go get abortions? This is reality.

    Abortion has become a form of birth control. It is no longer something that is used when your health is at risk or when you were raped or a victim of incest. It is the middle class high school girls who don't want to get in trouble from their parents that are seen at Planned Parenthood.

    On the other hand, I have lived through some sticky situations in my short 17 years, and I have actually been raped. I know what it feels like to go out to a friends house and wake up the next morning with bruises on your thighs and upper arms. I try to block out that memory, and I could not imagine having to live with a child from that experience. I could not imagine having to have a baby in my belly for nine months reminding me of that. Plus, there is the bodily damage that occurs. Imagine looking in the mirror after a shower and seeing stretch marks on your stomach from a baby that came from your rape. How would you ever get past that? I don't know if I could, and I'm a very strong person.

    There needs to be a middle ground in this debate. Abortion should not be used as birth control, because it's not. It is a traumatic experience for your body, and it does actually end a life that at least would have come into existence. It is also not right to deny an abortion to someone who has a good reason for one.

    Abortion should be legal, but it should have more constraints on it. Even if they do not put any real laws against it, the government should not pay for them all. If a woman was really raped, shouldn't she be able to find the $300-$500 dollars to get the abortion? It's really not that much money to most people. Not to mention, most upstanding citizens would not be caught dead in that DSHS office applying for the medical coupon. I know I avoid that place like the plague, even though I have to go there some times to fill out information for my daughter's medical insurance.

    This is not a black and white discussion, and it should not be treated as such. This is coming from a mother who, statistically, was the most likely candidate to get an abortion. I got pregant at 15 from a man who was 21 (Don't hate, we're getting married in May, he's an awesome guy) and I was an honors student. I had everything in the world to lose. I have given up a lot for my daughter and I would never make a different decision.

    I will probably write more about this later. Check back!

  • Starting a political blog!

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  • I like weird controversial shit and I like to bitch about it. If you like it too, you should read my blog. Who knows, maybe you'll even feel moved enough to comment.