This was just a response to a question on an application I was filling out last night that I thought was long enough and debatable enough to put on my blog :)

7. What is an issue that you feel particularly strongly about and why? (Social, political, or economic issues, on any scale be it local or global, or anything else that you feel strongly about)

The abuse of human rights is an issue that can - and always will -  readily stir my emotions.  I believe that people are inherently good, so the abuse of human rights can feel like betrayal to me.  However, because we all have good within us, our wrongdoings are rectifiable.  This is the primary reason I fervently oppose the death penalty.  When a man kills another, the death penalty merely repeats the process - regardless of whether the law technically allows it, does not mean authority can be exempt from upholding the most basic human rights. The United States is in utter violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights - how can that be permitted, nonetheless ignored? Also, it is well known that the crime rate has been far from deferred in spite of the death penalty, so the reason of protecting society is considerably breeched.  Life in prison, however, can guarantee a cease to future crimes, particularly if a state opts for life in prison without parole (as NJ and NM have done).  I could debate much more against the death penalty, but will save some of my arguments so I can move on to the next issue.

Akin to my opposition of the death penalty is my advocation for prison reform.  Both issues are not ones I have been able to sink my teeth into yet, but I hope to seek out grass-roots opportunities in college and beyond.  Presently, however, I continue to acquire more and more enlightenment on the management and corruption of the United States Justice System, especially in their handling of so-called Federal Correctional Institutions.  I say 'so-called' because I find the correctional aspect of the institution to be quite phony.  I will admit that I am biased, as this is an injustice far more than close to my heart; however, any unbiased third party would see the same injustices I do, if only it was exposed to them - there's the rub.  Unfortunately many imperfections in present-day society are swept under the carpet, so to speak.  The fact that an immense majority of Americans are uninformed that prisoners are denied essential human rights is the reason they persist.  My hopes for the future are that I can contribute to a movement that will amend these wrongs and protect the undeniable freedoms that are being compromised.

A Christmas Sermon for Peace

     "It really boils down to this: that all life is interrelated.  We are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied into a single garment of destiny.  Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.  We are made to live together because of the interrelated structure of reality.  Did you ever stop to think that you can't leave for your job in the morning without being dependent on most of the world?  You get up in the morning and go to the bathroom and reach over for the sponge, and that's handed to you by a Pacific islander.  You reach for a bar of soap, and that's given to you at the hands of a Frenchman.  And then you go into the kitchen to drink your coffee for the morning, and that's poured into your cup by a South American.  And maybe you want tea: that's poured into your cup by a Chinese.  Or maybe you're desirous of having cocoa for breakfast, and that's poured into your cup by a West African.  And then you reach over for your toast, and that's given to you at the hands of an English-speaking farmer, not to mention the baker.  And before you finish eating breakfast in the morning, you've depended on more than half of the world.  This is the way our universe is structured, this is its interrelated quality.  We aren't going to have peace on earth until we recognize this basic fact of the interrelated structure of all reality.
     Now let me say, secondly, that if we are to have peace in the world, men and nations must embrace the nonviolent affirmation that ends and means must cohere.  One of the great philosophical debates of history has been over the whole question of means and ends.  And there have always been those who argued that the end justifies the means, that the means really aren't important.  The important thing is to get to the end, you see.
     So, if you're seeking to develop a just society, they say, the important thing is to get there, and the means are really unimportant; any means will do so long as they get you there - they may be violent, they may be untruthful means; they may even be unjust means to a just end.  There have been those who have argued this throughout history.  But we will never have peace in the world until men everywhere recognize that ends are not cut off from means, because the means represent the ideal in the making, and the end in process, and ultimately you can't reach good ends through evil means, because the means represent the seed and the end represents the tree."

-Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
December 24th, 1967

happy human rights day 2009!

...:::upside down; find the things they say just can't be found:::...

Having an iPod with a short battery life on a six-hour drive  gave me a good amount of thinking time.  And while gazing out into vast expanses of really fascinating farmland, I realized something absolutely...ludicrous? insane? paradoxical?  So brace yourself, and try to read this with an open mind:

I realized that, looking back, I've found peace with--and even embraced--the challenges and struggles that have come my way, particularly the ones I faced in the past couple of years.  <--- I told you...insanity, right?!

So this is my idealistic effort to compel you to put a new, positive spin on your life, if you haven't already.

It's no secret that life's adversities and crises are not accepted too feasibly.  Yet, at one point or another, everyone is dealt some difficulty; if you haven't yet, you will.  Fact of life.  This universal entity of despair will creep up on us when least expected (or least deserved), and slowly try to extinguish hope from our everyday lives.  Most of us view said challenges as the "end-all, be-all", and rightfully so.  However, society isn't telling us to mope (well, not exactly).  Neither is some standard code or doctrine.  We, ourselves, dictate our reactions to adversity.  There is a time to lament, understandably, but then follows a time to just move on (cue the cliche: "life is 10% what happens to you, 90% how you react").

For lack of a broader example, I'll narrow in on myself.  Because of what turns my life took, I morphed into an entirely new person (...in a good way, I hope?).  I developed direction in my life, newfound optimism, and an improved compassion for every single person, no exceptions.  I backslapped those devilish obstacles by turning them into opportunities for gradual improvement.  Ka-pow.  Definitely try it sometime.

I believe this opportunistic outlook, along with some genuine peace and love, is a great concept ever so slowly captivating humanity.  Filtering the "good" from a mass of "bad" in itself is definitely a challenge, especially considering the patches of grey that taint our world, but it is nothing we can't rise above.   It's what a promising future depends on.



just puttin' it out there...

"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."


-Voltaire

  
     I was recently thinking about a conversation my dad and I had (more like a mildly tense debate) in the car a long time ago about Chris McCandless.  And if there is anything I wholeheartedly believe in, it is Chris' philosophy and the purpose behind his self-sacrificing hegira.  My dad's opinion, in tune with the majority of people's, was that Chris was a distraught outcast who embarked on a journey of cowardice to escape the blights of mainstream society.  So maybe his odyssey was an escape, of sorts.  But, honestly...who can blame Chris?  Here is a man relinquishing himself to the perils of nature, simply in quest of inner contemplation.  He sought a means towards obtaining clarity amidst a world that, as he thought, amounted to empty materialism (inject your own opinions about that here...).  Behind the mask we all wear that conforms us to the mainstream, isn't that what our subconscious impels us to seek - simplicity and freedom from conformity?  These renowned figures professed the same ideal:

*Ghandi ("Live simply that others may live.")
*Thoreau ("Our life is frittered away by detail...simplify, simplify.")
*Lennon ("I'm not going to change the way I look or feel to conform to anything.  I've always been a freak and I have to live with that, you know, I'm one of those people.")
*Amiel ("Materialism coarsens and petrifies everything, making everything vulgar, and every truth false.")  <-- Ok, so he's an unknown, but this was a really good quote for my case.

     Simplicity is an essential ideal our society needs to grasp.  I think it's safe to say that our world does mostly revolve around an axis of consumerism, while the minority suffer in mild to extreme forms of poverty.  So I understand Chris' message.  He dreamed of an ideal world, one in which man was man, stripped of titles, honors, and materials, possessing only his intrinsic and genuine self.  You have to admit, he's right.  After all, this message is a variation of exactly what visionaries, Platonists, and transcendentalists alike have been trying to orate throughout the ages.

     Although I fully support Chris McCandless' view on mainstream society for the most part, I think where he does lose kudos is in his faith in mankind.  For all of you who think Chris was a psycho, I will give you this: the way he chose to deal with society was to not only rise above it, but condemn it.  Chris was a true Thoreauvian seeking to right the wrongs of the world, but he failed to recognize the inherent good within mankind.  Sure, people get caught up in fashion, things, and "Corporate America"; and although it may seem like those sorts of things dominate that person's life, they don't dictate that person's true character.  All people truly are good underneath it all - we just live in a world where conformity equates to survival of the fittest.

[Symbiosis: close and long-term interaction between two biological species; relationship in which both species benefit from the other]
     One of the most intriguing of all symbiotic alliances is that of the clownfish and the sea anemone.    Clownfish are very poor swimmers by nature, and therefore are an easy target for any predator.  Sea anemones, though the clownfish's protector, are generally dormant/neutral creatures. Their tentacles do, however, have nematocysts, which sting  when provoked (this is very rare),  but the anemone is incapable of harming the clownfish.  Marine biologists have studied this pair since the early 19th century, but still have not come to a certain understanding as to why the anemone doesn't sting the clownfish.

[Parasitism: relationship between two biological species in which one benefits at the expense of the other]
     Within parasitism is a relationship known as social parasitism.  This is when the parasite takes advantage of interactions between its host and one of the host's symbiotic partners.  For example, Pseudoatta ants are the parasites to "cuckoo" birds (these birds have a symbiotic relationship with another organism as well).  The ant and the bird will have a symbiotic alliance for over half of the bird's life-span, and then the ant detaches from the bird and takes the bird's symbiotic partner away.  Ultimately, while the bird was giving of itself as a host, the greedy parasite used and harmed the bird to join with another organism.

[Please know, this post is a parallel to very common relationships in life, especially the changes in a relationship that occur.  Sorry if you were excited that I had genuine interest in Marine Biology.]

**5/12/10 - I take back this post.  I must have been in a weird mood.