ABORTION- A WOMAN’S PERSONAL CHOICE

               Abortion, in my eyes, is one of the most controversial issues to talk about and has been that way for many years. Many people see it as a horrible thing to “abort” a baby. If you think about it an abortion can only be done with the baby hasn’t even began to actually develop yet so technically, you’re not “taking away” somebodies life. I believe that abortion is acceptable and it’s up to the WOMAN impregnated to decide what she wants to do with the undeveloped baby. People criticize others for the actions they take when in actuality they are the ones who should be condemned for their own statements against the subject. Abortion, when you go to the right place, is a very safe medical procedure and usually only done within the first trimester of a woman’s pregnancy. In case you weren’t aware, during the first trimester, the baby cannot survive outside of the womb, classifying them as dependent and not technically an actual living being yet. There are many ups and downs regarding this particular topic but either way, it’s up to the woman to make the choice of what she wants to do with the baby.

Below is a link that provides 10 reasons for pro-abortion and 10 for pro-life.

http://womensissues.about.com/od/reproductiverights/a/AbortionArgumen.htm

                As said in the link above, abortion is connected to a woman’s CIVIL RIGHTS! It is absolutely, under any circumstance regarding this topic not okay to take away a woman’s or anybody else’s civil rights! If you don’t agree with abortion, it’s not only you that matters. Everybody is entitled to their own opinion, with their opinion they must take action to abort or keep the baby and nobody should be able to tell them different.

                There are many cases in which a woman may be raped or a victim of another sexual harassment leaving them impregnated. In those cases it is absolutely not their fault that they got pregnant so you can’t blame them for irresponsibility. If a woman chooses to keep the baby and love it, so let it be; if she chooses to abort the baby, then that’s her choice not to live with an unplanned pregnancy.

Teens also face many controversies with abortion. Yes, I believe that often, teens are irresponsible and shouldn’t have sex if they can’t deal with the consequences. If they believe that abortion is the right thing to do, they too should do what they want. In many cases, families pressure young teens into abortion, which I believe is wrong. I think that yes, they should discuss the issue with their parents but ultimately do what they feel is right. Having a baby can put such a big hold back on one’s life. You can’t really stay in school, you’ll have to go on maternity leave, and then be behind in your classes. Abortion can prevent all of that from happening and cause the girl to continue with her life. After that, they most likely will be very cautious not to do the same thing again.

               

                Did you ever think about women with physical disabilities/illnesses?  Personally I know a grown, married woman who suffered from severe complications of being pregnant. She became pregnant, and the doctor told her that most likely, she and the baby would die if she continued carrying the baby. Her only choice was to get an abortion. She did what she felt was right and received one. I consider her brave for making such a complicated decision. In this situation she also had to deal with being there for her husband and adopted son. In my eyes, she did the right thing. 

               

 No matter what, people will always have their own opinions regarding this subject. Nobody should be held criticized for the decisions they choose to make.

STOP THE BULLYING!

              Across the nation, bullying has taken over. Over 160,000 students every day in America stay home from school because they are scared of being bullied or harassed. Bullying is caused from all different reasons, sexual preference, skin color (which also can relate to racism), gender, obesity; the list goes on and for all the WRONG reasons. In my eyes, the bullies are the ones who are weak and insecure! Why do you feel the need to put down another person? It must be because of your own faults and insecurities. Bullying is completely unacceptable and the rate of students being bullying have gone up tremendously over the years. Under absolutely no condition, should bullying be acceptable. It is not only students who bully other students, parents also bully their own children! Often times, the children who are the bullies, are in fact also put down by somebody else such as their parents, siblings etc.

                In Mentor, Ohio, Eric Mohat a 17 year old high-school student committed suicide due to being bullied. His case was so severe that at one point in school, a “classmate” told Eric, “Why don't you go home and shoot yourself, no one will miss you," the sad part is, he did. Eric took part in many Music and Theatre activities and was called, "gay," "fag," "queer" and "homo" sometimes even in front of other teachers. Teachers and the school were accused of knowing about the situation and failing to protect him. The parents don’t ask for anything but for Mentor High School to recognize their son’s death as a “bullicide” and create an anti-bullying program. It is horrible to think about such a young man killing himself because of constant harassment. Below is the full article, adding more details about Eric’s friend who was also a victim of bullying.

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/MindMoodNews/story?id=7228335&page=1

                Cyber bullying, relatively new, is also causing a devastating downfall in the teen population.

According to Cyber bullying statistics from the i-SAFE foundation:

• Over half of adolescents and teens have been bullied online, and about the same number have engaged in cyber bullying.
• More than 1 in 3 young people have experienced cyberthreats online.
• Over 25 percent of adolescents and teens have been bullied repeatedly through their cell phones or the Internet.
• Well over half of young people do not tell their parents when cyber bullying occurs.

The link for more statistics regarding cyber bullying-

http://www.bullyingstatistics.org/content/cyber-bullying-statistics.html

Cyber bullying is ironically more convenient. They say cyber bullying, requires no muscles which is why it has become increasingly popular. Regardless of how the bullying is being done, it’s still horrible and needs to be stopped! Everywhere, it doesn’t matter, bullying is taking place and lives are being ruined because of some idiotic, sly comment somebody makes.

In Massachusetts, two high school students are being held responsible for a girl who was bullied at school and committed suicide. 15 year old Phoebe Prince moved from Ireland to Massachusetts and school bullies had harassed her though text messages, Facebook and other social sites. The Principal of South Hadley High School, Mr. Daniel Smith sent out a letter to parents informing them of her suicide. He wrote that he doesn’t know why she chose to commit suicide. He mentioned that the bullying often was based on teen dating and arguments regarding relationships/dating issues.

What I have written on Phoebe Prince’s case doesn’t even do justice. To read more about it, click on the following link.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/01/27/massachusetts-teens-suspended-cyber-bullying-suicide-case/

Bullying is a horrible thing and it’s hard to just sit back and watch somebody being harassed. I understand sometimes you don’t feel it’s your place to put your two cents in but there are other things you can do. No matter what, this whole bullying problem will not be resolved overnight. By telling people not to be a bully will not do anything, if somebody wants to do something, they will do what they want regardless of what anybody else says. In order to help prevent bullying, you must take action. No one person or one sign saying “Stop the bullying” will prevent it but it may possibly encourage one more person to take part in the effort of relieving the issue/victim.  

Universal Devastation -ユニバーサル荒廃

As most of you already know, Japan is facing a serious, gruesome natural disaster. The tsunami that has hit the archipelago is the biggest in Japanese history. They were up against an 8.9 earthquake on the Richter scale and 10-meter tsunami. Families are homeless, jobless, and starving. Children are alone on the streets and it is horrible to hear about let alone, sit down while others are looking for a safe place at this very moment. Not only is this horrible disaster impacting Japan, it is also affecting 50 other countries who are on tsunami alert.

http://www.mapsofworld.com/world-news/japan-earthquake.html

Below is a link directing you to one of the many relief groups created to help Japan through this tough situation vv

http://www.globalgiving.org/projects/japan-earthquake-tsunami-relief/

Despite all these natural disasters occurring, the biggest situation that everybody is worrying about is the nuclear emergency. As reported in the Daily News, “A cooling system failure occurred at the Tohoku Electric Power Co’s Onagawa facility and the process to fix it was "not going as planned," an administrator at the plant said.” The nuclear crisis will come into effect if radioactivity leaks from a nuclear power plant. The United Nations recorded that four of the Japanese nuclear power plants located near the center of the disaster have been shut down due to this emergency.  On the news it has been said that the country is releasing iodine pills as a precautionary measure to prevent future health problems from the radiation, but this has not been confirmed yet.

Streets of Japan

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/2011/03/11/2011-03-11_japan_tsunami_and_earthquake_spark_nuclear_emergency_power_plants_shut_down.html

^^ Above is a link to the Daily News article regarding Japan’s status.

As you probably know, I am a big fan of Lady Gaga and she has once again, come through at a time when Japan needs it the most. Aside from her having two tattoos from Japan that show her admiration to the country prior to the disaster, she has also started a relief fund. She has designed a bracelet worth $5 that features "We Pray for Japan" and a red hand in the shape of Lady Gaga’s famous “monster” claw.

Japan is in a horrible condition/predicament and things aren’t really getting much better. This monstrous catastrophe is impacting the lives of many especially in the long run. Over 10,000 people have been reported injured and many dead. I believe that we should all do whatever it is that you can to help contribute to Japan in their time of pleading for help and aid. Whether it’s donating money to praying for the country, help is help and they will not turn it down.

http://www.aolnews.com/2011/03/13/lady-gaga-creates-prayer-bracelet-to-benefit-disaster-relief-in/

We should all pray that this doesn’t result in the next Chernobyl incident. For those who are unaware of the disaster that Ukraine faced in 1986, it was a horrible accident that occurred at a nuclear plant due to untrained personnel working. The steam explosion and fires released 5% of the radioactive reactor core into the atmosphere and downwind.  To this day, people cannot reside in certain parts of the city because of something that occurred two and a half decades ago.  For further information  regarding Chernobyl, click on the link posted below.

http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/chernobyl/inf07.html

Everybody's doing it! Are you?

Drugs and alcohol are taking over the teen population quickly. Don’t get me wrong, there are many teens including myself who are above the influence, but for those who are influenced and easily manipulated, in my opinion are weak. Personally, I know many intelligent people who have been overcame by drugs and it’s a hard thing to see. Many parents blame the shows and movies being shown on television nowadays, but I feel the only ones to blame are the kids. I’ve heard time and again,” Kids of this Generation are a disgrace, but look who raised them” and I don’t agree, a parent is not to be at full blame of the outcome of how their child behaves. There are many families who properly raise their child to do well and avoid being brought down but that doesn’t mean that those kids will always follow what their parents say. In many cases, the teens who are brought down by drugs or alcohol are in fact the ones raised by great families, that doesn’t mean the family didn’t raise them well, it means they themselves failed to choose the right path. “Marijuana is the most widely used illicit drug used by teens today” as said in the article Marijuana use among Teens. As of 2003, the statistics for teens using drugs are as follows:

·          8th grade -- 30.3%

·         10th grade -- 44.9%

·         12th grade -- 52.8%

The following link features many articles regarding teens and substance abuse:

http://www.teendrugabuse.us/teendrugstatistics.html

Another thing about drugs is that society always seems to blame television. The MTV series Skins has been criticized a great deal and in my opinion it honestly shouldn’t be. I understand where parents are coming from saying that the show is a little risqué but if their child is so easily influenced by a television show, they shouldn’t be watching it anyway. If the one watching the show is swayed then maybe they aren’t mature enough to watch it! I myself have actually been very determined to stay away from drugs because I believe the show reveals the horrible things that are consequences of doing drugs. One of the characters on the show, Caddie, was actually institutionalized because of her drug addiction and to me that’s a caution advising teens that if you do drugs there are serious repercussions.

Cast of MTV's Skins