The True Meaning of Christmas

Today in the world many people do not understand the true meaning of Christmas. Many people just focus on  on the aspects of presents and how much they are going to get, but that is not what we should be focusing on. Truly Christmas is a time for family and friends to get together and show the love that they all share. It is a time for love and happiness that should not but usually does get overshadowed on  what we receive. We should all focus on the love and sharing aspect of the Christmas season and enjoy the time we spend together. Christmas is not about what we get its about who you are with, it brings us all together and we shouldn't forget that.

                                                                                                  HAPPY HOLIDAYS

Invisible Children

Joseph Kony

Today in Africa there is an invisible war going on, everyday hundreds of children are being abducted an and turned into child soldiers. In 1987 a man named Joseph Kony started the Lords Resistance Army (LRA) and have been fighting the Ugandan government ever  since. Kony considers himself a Christian man and he says he wants to turn Uganda into a theocracy  based on the Biblical 10 Commandments. If Kony is such a religious man  why is he abducting children to become soldiers and killing hundreds of innocent people.
One group that has been started and made a lot of progress in stopping the LRA is the invisible children. This group was started by three young adventurous teenagers who set out on a journey to explore Africa and what they saw forever changed their lives. These three young men were Laren Poole, Jason Russell, and Bobby Bailey, ever since there first trip to Uganda they have been on a mission to give these "invisible children" a voice.

Laren Poole, Bobby Bailey, and Jason Russell

Since Invisible Children's first visit in 2003 they have made tremendous progress in helping to warn the Ugandans of the whereabouts of Joseph Kony and the LRA and they even have had talks of peace with Joseph Kony. Although they have made progress in the last eight years the war is not over and they still need help to give a voice to the invisible children in Joseph Kony's army.

 As of right now there has been 146 civilians killed and 523 innocent children abducted to become either child soldiers or sex slaves in Kony's army and the overall number is even more shocking. Since only 2009 there has been 963 innocent civilians killed and 1,810 children abducted. That is an extremely disturbing number and that has only been in the last 2 years. This war has been going on since 1987, that is almost 25 years. The amount of atrocities Kony has committed is almost uncountable, how could a "religious" man do any of this. On the left there is images of two innocent civilians that Kony's soldiers brutally attacked for no reason other than fear. Above is a picture of one of the invisible children that we are fighting to save, he is a child soldier in the LRA.
For more information about invisible children, Joseph Kony and the LRA or you would like to make a donation to support this noble cause please visit  http://www.invisiblechildren.com/. The slightest donation can save hundreds of lives and help to put an end to this terrible war in Africa

Westboro Baptist Church... BULLIES?

When someone thinks of a church today they think of a peaceful safe place to go and worship not a dangerous place that bullies people. If the Westboro Baptist Church is really a church can they be bullies too? In my opinion and and many other peoples eyes yes they can be bullies.
The Westboro Baptist Church or the WBC claims to be an Old School Baptist Church that lives according to the Bible, but I would like to question if what anything they're doing is moral. This church goes around picketing at American soldiers, who bravely fought and died in The War on Terror, funerals. They carry signs saying Thank God for Dead Soldiers and God Hates Fags. I'm willing to say that what they are doing is immoral and goes against human dignity that every human has. In Christianity we learn to be charitable love our neighbor as we love ourselves and that Jesus died for everybody. The WBC shouldn't be protesting against soldiers they should be thanking them for protecting us and they shouldn't persecute the homosexual community either.

As you can see along with protesting against the soldiers the WBC also protests against homosexuality. America is not a Catholic nation and we have the freedom of religion here. It is wrong for the WBC to try the blame the homosexual community and persecute them for making that choice. It is there decision to live that way and if it makes them happy we do not have the right to tell them that it is not okay or wrong to be a homosexual.For more information about this awful group visit there website and see how mean and terrible they are to people that are not like them.
http://www.godhatesfags.com/wbcinfo/aboutwbc.html

Cyberbullying

cyber bullying is just as bad as regular bullying.

Throughout our lives as people during some time period we get ridiculed and made fun of by our peers. Usually this is just a joke among friends trying to have a fun but when the joke is meant to hurt and continues over a period of time its called bullying. Bullying is a terrible thing to do and can cause depression and even thoughts of suicide if it goes on. One form of bullying that goes on a lot is cyber bullying which is just as bad or even worse than regular bullying. Over the internet people feel that nobody knows who they are and it is safe or okay to say what ever you want. The truth is that it is not okay to cyber bully people, the internet is a place where people can go and find out information or just have fun, it shouldn't be used to hurt or to continue bugging people when you are not around them.
Everyday we read stories about teens taking there own life because of regular bullying but this can also be true about cyber bullying. Soccer star Alexis Pilkington, a 17 year old from Long Island, NY, took her own life because if vicious taunts on social networking sites. The main site of the online attacks on Alexis was FormSpringMe.com and even after her suicide the taunts kept appearing showing how much of a problem this is. A survey that was put out showed a huge 42 percent of children are being bullied over the internet. This can cause mental trauma because even if the children are not at school they can be reached by bullies.

Phoebe Prince

Alexis Pilkington

Another girl named Phoebe Prince, a 15 year old from Massachusetts, hanged herself because of the unrelenting bulling of nine teenagers. These nine teenagers were charged with crimes because of the bullying and two of them were even charged with rape. Phoebe was just a normal high school girl who was dating an older football player and the older girls didn't like that. She was constantly bullied through school, text messaging and Facebook. As you can see cyber bullying is a pretty big deal, it can even cause teens to think that suicide is the only option. Bullying and cyber bulling are very awful things to do and they should be made illegal in the United States. To find out more about these girls and other victims of cyber bullying please go and visit these two links.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/03/29/earlyshow/main6343077.shtml
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/TheLaw/teens-charged-bullying-mass-girl-kill/story?id=10231357

Bullying

What is the definition of bullying? A lot of people do not know the meaning of bullying and think its only stealing someones lunch money like what is seen in the movies.A bully is a blustering, quarrelsome, overbearing person who habitually badgers and intimidates smaller or weaker people and bullying is not just what you see in the movies its anything that is done to annoy or emotionally hurt someone.

In the Democrat and Chronicle there is a story of a girl Delaney Escher who did not really know what bullying was and was furiously bullied and harassed by her peers. She finally went to her school psychiatrist and told him about her problems with the other kids. Although the other kids did not like her for it she told someone and the bullying stopped. It is very important for people to know what bullying is so they know when there being bullied and can talk to someone about it because if you do not talk about it bullying can lead to serious emotional issues.

Another story I read in the Democrat and Chronicle was about a boy who grew up getting bullied and coming home with bruises. His parents were mad at him when came home because they wondered why he wouldn't tell the adults at his school what was happening. It was not because Jim Harold Jr. was afraid it was that he physically couldn't tell. Jim was diagnosed with aspergers which causes serious social difficulties. After he was diagnosed with this the kids at school stopped bullying him and he found a group of friends at his high school. i think it is wrong that the kids picked on him for so many years when he was ill and they did not know about it but were nice to him once they found out. They should have ever bullied him and let him live a normal life.

The third story i read in the Democrat and Chronicle is about a young girl, Elise, who was being brutally tormented on the bus and eventually in the hallways at school. She was just a normally girl who couldn't go on a date with a boy so the boy started picking on her. Her arms and legs were covered in bruises when she got home and one day her chin got split open by a seat belt. Finally her mom had enough and she stopped going on the bus and school altogether because of this bullying.

As you can see bullying is really bad and it affects many teens lives negatively causing emotional issues but bullying can even lead to death. In a Buffalo a boy named Jamey Rodmeyer (pictured above) was driven to suicide because of bullying. Ever since 5th grade Jamey was thought to be gay and was made fun of all the time for it. It seemed to be getting better during the first couple weeks of high school but it really wasn't. The kids still made fun of him and continued to do so after his death. At a school dance just days after his death a song by Lady Gaga came on, the boys favorite artist who really inspired him to be who he is, and his friends started chanting for him. When this occurred the bullies started saying he was better off dead and that they were glad he was dead. This really shows how bad he was tormented at school and how much of a problem bullying is.

Blake O., Brian E. and Alan L. all had to say that bullying is very harmful and that it should not happen because it caused a lot of problems. Mr. Miller also had a quote about bullying, he said bullying is mean and if you are being cyber bullied you should block whoever is cyber bullying you.

Bullying is really bad and it should be stopped at all costs. As everyone can see bullying causes massive emotional issues and can even lead to suicide. If bullying is going on in your school or within your group of friends you should really try to help to prevent harmful effects.

Issues in America

A couple issues in America today are pirating music and people being racist. Both of these are big moral issues and people deal with them everyday. I believe that both of these things are very wrong and people should stop doing them. We should not pirate music because it is stealing and wrong to the artist who spend their money and time making the music. We should all be decent enough to actually buy artist music not steal it. Racism is another big issue in America. Everyday people are discriminated against because of there skin color or there decisions of dating or marrying another person of a different race. As Americans we should leave these people alone and respect there decision of interracial dating or adoption and let them live a happy life like everyone else.