Don’t get me wrong, I love getting my paycheck and heading to the mall just as much as the next seventeen-year-old girl, but today, I am going to explain you my absolute favorite thing to do and just what I love about it.

   In the eighth grade, I moved from your average tiny private school to Catholic school. I had to adjust to wearing uniforms, tucking in my shirt, and meeting all new people. To me, all of that stuff was just part of it. I didn’t really mind. Another new aspect of Catholic school was theology class or “religion”. It was basically just like another history. I just sat back and soaked it all in. At the beginning of the year when all the teachers were explaining the requirements expected of each individual student my religion teacher introduced me to a new concept: service hours. I don’t really remember how many hours we had to volunteer that year, but per six weeks we had to obtain a certain amount.

   At the school that I attended prior, we never really were held responsible for anything more than homework, and to be honest I never even really thought about helping the community I lived in. I grew up attending private school, so basically all of my friends were able to live comfortably. My family was never rich, but we weren’t dirt poor either. I basically had all of the things that I needed and a little extra growing up. My friends from school and my family were all I ever really saw. In that aspect, I was sheltered. I was oblivious to the need in my community because I had never really been exposed to it. I lived in a nice little bubble where everything was peachy.

   If I remember correctly, my first year of service was composed of a lot of collecting in projects such as canned food drives. So still, I didn’t really get to go out and physically see those that needed help. I knew that helping made me feel awesome though. Someone who wouldn’t have a meal to eat before would now get to have something in his or her belly.

  I was unaware of it at the time, but I was developing a very rudimentary understanding of what it means to give of yourself, without reason, to improve a stranger’s quality of life. 

   The years went by and I had no sense of it, but I fell in love with serving.

  “Love your neighbor as yourself”, the golden rule, these are things I heard my whole life, but I never took those things so literally as I did after I got to see those who struggle to make it day by day right down the road from me. I gained an incredible amount of perspective on daily life. I began to appreciate everyone that I come in contact with on an individual level.

   We have all heard or seen someone make fun of a homeless person. Whether it was directly to that person or quietly where no one could hear. Maybe that homeless person looked funny because he didn’t have teeth, or because he was so skinny, or he was sleeping on a bench. Maybe his clothes were old, torn, or too small for him. Well, what if everyone knew that people in that homeless man’s shoes are the majority in the world? What if everyone got to see the circumstances that brought him to the place where he is? 

I love volunteering because it gives me a chance to meet people who come from all different walks of life when usually we are separated by class.

    At the end of my junior year, I moved schools again, this time to public school. I left behind having to earn service hours for a grade. Now, it was up to me to find somewhere to serve. One Sunday after church, there were many booths set up with many opportunities to get involved. I came across a particular booth sporting the words “Broaden Horizons” and for some reason it stood out to me. I had no idea about the program, but I thought I should go talk to the smiling, pretty lady at the booth and learn more about it. She explained that Broaden Horizons was a mentor program that tutors kids and has parties every month to reward the kids for good grades and conduct. I am a huge supporter of education and I love kids, so without even thinking I signed up.

  On my first day volunteering, I went to the church and I think I just helped with the paperwork and daily sign in sheets for the program. My work with Broaden Horizons went on for a little while like that, then finally I was able to go to the schools and serve the kids. Broaden Horizons is not a program that was built to serve just any schools. It was built specifically to serve elementary and middle school level kids who attend school in the impoverished areas of my community.

   All of the schools we went to I had heard of, but they were in areas where I would not normally go. In Monroe, Louisiana, there is still obvious evidence of the segregation of whites and black, even though it was dropped years ago. Communities and schools that were predominantly white then are still predominantly white and the same goes for communities and schools that were predominantly black. For whatever reason, whites and black still live, for the most part, separate.  Everyone that I told where I was going told me to “be careful”, that it was “dangerous”. Even though I was the minority at many of the schools I visited, that wasn’t going to stop me from loving the kids there like they were my own little sister or brother and it sure as heck wasn’t going to stop me from going.

  Before visiting each of the schools I went to, I was responsible for picking up like a hundred things of ice cream and twenty pizzas from Little Caesar’s. When I rolled up with my stack of pizzas taller than me the kids always wore the biggest smiles and that made my car smelling like pizza for a month totally worth it. I loved rolling up my sleeves and putting gloves on to serve the kids, asking them which kind of pizza and ice cream they want, rather than telling them what they get. My favorite part of all was meeting all those little people and making friends with them. One time a little girl told me that her daddy was in jail like it was completely normal. Things like that were always tough for me to swallow, but it made my heart glad that I was able to be a part of this program and be at least a little bit of light in those kids’ lives.

  The Broaden Horizons After School Mentor Program is such a great program because it literally “Broadens Horizons”. The kids who are in the program are, for the most part, victims of the cycle of poverty, meaning that no one in their family before them had the chance to move up in the world, so the odds were against them from the day they were born. It not only encourages the children by showing them that Jesus loves them, they are capable of anything, and they were worth it, but it also rewards them for their achievements. It motivates children to flourish in their education early so that they can be whatever they want, rather than just flunking out or graduating with low grades and working wherever so that they can get by. Ultimately, the Broaden Horizons program opens the door for success by first getting kids to believe in themselves and I love that.

 I had the privilege of participating in this program throughout 2014 and the beginning of 2015. However, at the end of February 2015 I got a job that I had to go to every day, rather than just a few days every week. So, much to my dismay, my work with Broaden Horizons came to a screeching halt. I’ve served Barbecue and been a cashier in a grocery store, but working among adults at a desk every day is something entirely new to me. Four months, I let work overwhelm and consume me.

I have always felt pride in the fact that I had the passion to going out of my way to help people. For those four months, I was just like all the other people who justify only doing for themselves because they work five days a week.  For that, I am ashamed. Recently, I went to the Thrift Store at First Baptist Church, West Monroe and I told them I would clean for them every day after I get off work and do whatever they need me to do on Saturdays. First Baptist doesn’t make any profit off the store. All of the money in the cash register goes to eight different programs in my area, one of them being Broaden Horizons.

After one day of cleaning for the Thrift Store, I have met phenomenal people who I probably would have never met if I had not volunteered there. I cannot wait to see where this new journey will take me.

That’s another thing I love about volunteering, every day is a new experience.

Every day is an adventure.

Preoccupied with Death and Life Alike

“When he shall die,
Take him and cut him out in little stars,
And he will make the face of heaven so fine
That all the world will be in love with night
And pay no worship to the garish sun.” – William Shakespeare

Most seven-year-olds spend their days playing ball with neighbors or riding bikes.

When I was seven years old, I had my mother drive me around to cemeteries. My favorite cemeteries have always been the ones that have been more or less forgotten over time, with crumbling headstones and tall grass.  I would always bring a notebook with me to jot down the names of the departed, their birth, and their death. At seven years old, I could not really do much with those names. None of my friends would understand that hobby, so I didn’t discuss it with them. I didn’t really know how to use a computer for anything besides playing games, so my research wasn’t going to go any further than just having names and dates.

At seventeen, investigating cemeteries is still one of my top favorite things to do. Until recently, I never really considered my hobby strange. I never even really thought about it. Lately, I began to wonder, “why“? Where did this irregular fetish come from? Just what was it about traipsing around in cemeteries, commemorating individuals who died one hundred years before I was born, that kept me coming back?

When I was around thirteen the reality of death hit me. I had been experienced loved ones passing away and been to many funerals, but to me, it was almost as if death was some tragic occurrence that happens every thousand years.

I had experienced loved ones passing and I had been to many funerals, but to me, it was almost as if death was some tragic occurrence that happens every thousand years. I was in my room at my dad’s new home. My step mother and I were painting my walls Tiffany blue. I began thinking about how fragile life is, how I could make one wrong move and be gone forever. I’m not sure if it was the paint fumes or that realization, but I got really light-headed.

I went out on the back porch and thought about the fact that I probably won’t last another 83 years. Even if that is a long time, it still makes my heart drop to think that my time is limited. I am afraid to think that I will not have my parents one day. I am afraid to think that one day my future husband and kids might not have me, that I might depart from Earth tragically.  Whether I get to work so that I can make a mark on the world or not, I am going to die.

Being organic matter, my body is going to waste away. 

Then, I am going to dissipate into the wild blue yonder.

I believe that my fascination with headstones and my “startling” realization that I am not immortal go hand in hand. Over the years, I have been able to come face to face with the fact that the only two things that are certain in this life for a person are that you were born and you will die. This is not something that was made up to scare children. Time is fleeting. Death will come and pass just as all of the other milestones in life do.

Sitting at the foot of whoever’s grave from eighteen ninety something when I was seven years old opened my mind for good, no doubt. It led me to understand that the remnants buried under me used to make up a person that had dreams.

 No matter what the story waiting to be uncovered behind the information on the headstone was, I have always been transfixed by the lives of those who came before me. When I visit their graves, they are not longer a fragment of glass making up the mosaic of history. I am able to envision them as individuals who truly lived. I spend a majority of my time trying to peer back into the past because quite honestly I am in love with it.

Please, Open Your Eyes.

“This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear Children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.”  1 John 3:16-18

“God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” Genesis 1:27 

“But now, this is what the Lord says, he who created you, Jacob, he who formed you, Israel: Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I give Egypt for your ransom, Cush and Seba in your stead. Since you are precious and honored in my sight, and because I love you, I will give people in exchange for you, nations in exchange for your life. Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bring your children from the east and gather you from the west. I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’ and to the south, ‘Do not hold them back.’ Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth— everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.” Isaiah 43:1-7

 Every person on this planet was made in the image of the Heavenly Father. God handmade each person. Since we were all made in the image of God, that means there is goodness in all of us. Every person deserves to be treated as such. Every person is worthy of love, acceptance and understanding. God knows everything that will happen from now, until forever and it has always been that way. Every single thing that occurs is a part of God’s plan. I have no doubt that when God created man, He knew what would happen on June 4th, 2015. When God sent Jesus to us, He knew what would happen today. When Jesus died on the cross, he died for all of humanity, in atonement for the sins of all of the children of God. God knew every sin every human would ever commit and He loves us still.

“Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.” Colossians 3:12-14 

I do not understand how one person, who calls himself a Christian, can even begin to speak about the sins of another. We are all sinners. On judgement day, we are all going to have to account for our sins.  When did we as humans begin to think so highly of ourselves that we now believe that we can rank sins in the order of their severity? We are all equal in our sin. I will say it again, we all have a piece of God inside of us.  So how can one say he truly loves God if he only chooses to exhibit love toward those who he sees fit?

 “Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.” Romans 13:18

Scripture was not created so individuals could ride around on their high horse and talk down about those whose sins and the inflictions spawning from them are different than theirs. If I have to read another post of a “Christian” using scripture to bash Caitlyn Jenner, I think my head might explode. As Christians, we should not be using our beliefs to assert ourselves above those who choose to live their lives in a way that we consider immoral or not ideal. Doing this creates only widens the gap between the community which struggles with “immorality” and the one that does not. Doing that does not promote the love of a neighbour, for the sake of doing so. In fact, it does quite the opposite.

In the case of those who are transgender or gender non-conforming, like Caitlyn Jenner,  41% of those surveyed reported that they had attempted suicide.

Now, more than ever is the time for Christians to love conditionally and without end.

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean.” Matthew 23:27

“ In the New Testament Jesus said it would be more bearable on the day of judgment for Sodom than for Capernaum because of Capernaum’s unbelief and refusal to repent after witnessing His miracles (Matthew 11:23-24). The sins of Sodom were identified in Ezekiel 16:21 as arrogance, gluttony, indifference to the poor and needy, haughtiness, and “detestable things. When Jesus spoke of his second coming and judgment, he warned that among those deserving punishment some would “be beaten with many blows” and others “with few blows” (Luke 12:47-48). He also reserved His most fierce denunciations for the pride and unbelief of the religious leaders, not the sexually immoral (Matthew 23:13-36).” – Billy Graham 

from: http://billygraham.org/answer/are-all-sins-the-same-in-gods-eyes/

Beauty in a Nutshell

 I don’t neglect to wear makeup on most days because I believe it takes beauty away,

I do so because I do not believe that you can trap beauty in a jar.

I refuse to believe that our scars need to be concealed.

 They are the details that distinguish us in a crowd.

They are evidence that you have been and that you have seen.

They are proof that no matter how gruesome your inflictions were,

you came out on the other side, a survivor, 

with the courage to face each day and smile.

Who decided that everyone in the world should be polished

and that society should scorn those who bear their blemishes openly, without fear?

Beauty is raw.

It the first version of yourself you see each day

when you are straight out of bed.

I believe your unaltered self is the most beautiful self you can be.

Beauty transcends all the stereotypes which are constantly at war to define it.

Beauty is present in the darkest of times, in the worst of situations,

It just takes a special kind of soul to identify it.

Beauty is the strength that it takes to smile and love,

when it seems like there is no reason to at all.

Do not let the judgment, opinions, or the desire of others to stuff you into a category

prevent you from letting your light shine.

Beauty is driving 70 down the highway without a care in the world,

with your hair blown all around.

It is getting to spend your life with the man or woman of your dreams,

or simply embracing free will and living the way you are happiest.

Beauty is having the courage to stand up for what you believe in,

and never wavering.

Then, smiling down at your oppressors from the mountain

that your courage built for you.

So, never be afraid to show the world who you are,

even if the odds are against you.

I wish society would encourage individuals to show themselves authentically,

rather than providing guidelines for people to follow and standards to achieve.

Typically, the greatest impression is not made when individuals endeavor to make one.

When people have the fortitude to face the world and be who they are,

despite what the world might say-

that is when the greatest impression is made.

Imagine if the entire world picked up on this example.

What if it spread like a wildfire?

What if everyone believed that they are wonderful just the way they are?

What if no one felt the need to hide?

I can see it now…

Now that’s beauty.

The Age of Adaline

 “The Age of Adaline”

(Warning: Spoilers)

Last night, I saw what may have been the best film that I have seen in all of my seventeen years. When I left the Theater after seeing “The Age of Adaline”, the best way to describe the state that I was in is utterly fascinated.

This movie is about the extraordinary life of a young woman in the early 1900’s who became immune to time. Imagine, your entire life stopping exactly where you are. Imagine being immune to death. Imagine having no life-clock counting down until your last moments on earth. Adaline Bowman was going through life like everyone else does and then, out of nowhere a scientific anomaly occurred. She did not really notice it at first, but after awhile it became apparent that something was different about her. She was not getting grayer as her little daughter Fleming grew into a vibrant young woman. Eventually, the two looked as if they could have been sisters and then adhering to the natural aging process, Fleming started looking older than her.

Adaline studied endlessly to find an answer as to how and why she simply could not age. She concluded eventually that science could not offer an explanation. Eventually, people started chasing Adaline. They wanted to hook her up to machines and run tests. Adaline did not want to spend her life like a monkey in a cage, so she ran. She spent the majority of her life running, Her nomadic way of life causing her to miss out on the things that normal people treasure. She could not take photographs, live or work in one place for long for fear that someone would recognize her and her immunity to the ravages of time.

She lived in obscure places where she could not be easily located and did not give out her address. She avoided creating long-term relationships at all costs.

She simply moved about, changing her name, simply existing, never truly living.

Twice, Adaline let her guard down. In the 1960’s she fell in absolute love with a free spirit named William Jones. The two went on tremendous adventures together in Europe and back in the United States.

However, she never told William her secret. William came around to proposing to Adeline. She saw him from a cab, ring in hand, and told the driver to keep going. Fast forward to modern times and Adaline is celebrating New Year’s Eve with a close friend of her’s who is blind. Across the room, she spots Ellis. The two immediately make a connection. Adaline tries to shake it off.

Ellis finally convinces Adaline to “let go” of whatever it is that is holding her back. The two go on several dates and Adaline agrees to visit Ellis’s parent’s home for their 40th wedding anniversary, unaware that she is about to come face to face with William Jones, the man whose proposal she stood up thirty years earlier and Ellis’s father.

William cannot believe his eyes when he comes face to face with Adaline. She tries to cover herself, telling the family that her name is Jenny (her current alias) and Adaline was her mother who died a few years prior. However, William cannot shake the feeling that he has just encountered the woman that he loved who fled him so long ago. After a few days of William awkwardly staring at “Jenny” and questioning her about her “mother”, he snaps. He goes out to an old storage shed to search for what may have been the only photo Adaline ever took with him.

When he sees her face in that photograph, he recounts the way she acted, her face, her smile and he knows without a doubt that the woman, Jenny, who is dating his son, is actually Adaline Bowman. William confronts her saying that he knows who she truly is, asking why she abandoned him so long ago and how she is so well preserved. Adaline simply says that she does not understand her circumstances either. The reality of the situation is too immense for Adaline and she flees the Jones’ beautiful woodland home, taking Ellis’s car, leaving only a note for Ellis.

Ellis knows that he cannot live without Adaline. So, he chases after her, taking his father’s car. Adaline reeling with emotion drives way too fast. She is taking turns too sharply and not paying attention. She is trying discern what is truly important and necessary for her to do. She stops the car in the middle of the road and picks up her iPhone. Seconds later she is hit by a truck which sends Ellis’s tiny car flying off the road and into the ditch. The truck leaves her to die at the scene of the accident. There we see Adaline’s body, lying cold and motionless on the side of the road. Essentially she dies. Ellis drives quickly, chasing the love of his life. He comes upon the accident and darts to Adaline’s side. Paramedics are able to respond quickly and using the defibrillator they are able to revive her.

In the hospital, the doctors reveal to Ellis that Adaline remarkably sustained no long term damage from the accident. Ellis, who has obviously been scrutinizing over trying to figure out why Adaline fled, starts apologizing for putting too much on her too fast and everything that he might have done wrong. Adaline decides at that time to tell him the complete truth, starting with “My name’s not Jenny”. Fleming hurries into the hospital to be by her mother’s side. She tells Ellis that she is Adaline’s grandmother. Adaline informs her daughter, “He knows”. Tears flood Fleming’s eyes as she is filled with happiness and peace, with the assurance that her mother can finally live her life. The three are in the midst of accepting the reality of Ellis and Adaline’s unique relationship of Adaline remaining the same while Ellis ages. However, they do no realize that when the paramedics revived Adaline, it set her back on the normal course of aging. In the end, Adaline and Ellis are getting ready to go out and celebrate the New Year. Adeline checks her appearance and notices something irregular- a gray hair. In the end, she is finally free to live a long, happy, normal life with Ellis Jones.

I have always been intrigued by time. Everything about it captivates me. There are many things in this life that you can burn or lose that can be replaced. You can never replace time. Time passes and never returns. Even if every being in the galaxy was destroyed, time would go on. Time is ever present. It is always moving around us, even if we are unaware of it. Often, I find myself so preoccupied with petty everyday concerns that I forget time is moving on all around me.

Each human is given roughly a hundred years to make their mark. On the scale of eternity, one hundred years is quite small. I really think that is the beauty of life. Every moment is worthy of being treasured because you’ll never have another moment like the one you had before. 

As the hands on a clock tick away, even children are a second closer to being old and gray. 

This film undoubtedly gave me a higher appreciation of the special moments in life, such as choosing a companion to journey through your one hundred years with.

 That someone has to be something really special, because you don’t get another hundred years to try it all over again.

This film, was a MUST SEE in my Book. 

To My Father on his Birthday Eve

Dear Daddy,

   First off, I want to say “thank you” for being a part of my life. Thank you for not just being a father to me, but being my “daddy”.  I want to let you know how big of an influence you have been on my life. Although our family did not have many years to be together as a whole, I still consider them to be the defining years of my life. The whole time I was watching you and mama, learning and gaining perspective. It always stood out to me that you tucked me in basically every night, even if you were about to go to work.

Little things like that are really big in a little kids world.

I loved going with you when you drove eighteen wheelers, it was probably one of the coolest things I have ever done. I cannot help but smile when I remember you trying to put my hair in a ponytail before taking me to Pre-K. In first grade, I always felt like the coolest kid in school when you brought me to school before going to work at the Fire Department. To simplify all of this, you  have always been an immense figure in my life. You have always been an inspiration. You have always been a hero to me. The toughest thing in my life has been not being able to have you every day, but that makes every time I do get to see you even more special.

  Even though things have not always come easy for our family, I feel so privileged to have been able to live through that. No doubt, I have seen you and mom struggle, but eventually out of that, you both found a place in the world again where you both could be happy. I am so proud of you for always keeping your nose to the grindstone. Never ever doubt that Jacob and I are proud of you. Never doubt that you are on our minds from one time we see you until the next. You are such a great example of passion and devotion to everything you do. Although we live in a world of constant distractions, you stayed true to the role of a hard working father first and foremost. You are a great example for me to stay focused, to never quit. I can say without a doubt that I am where I am today because of you. Although my high school years were difficult at times, I could always think of you and mom and how hard you both worked to provide an education for me that was beyond our means, and that would always give me the extra push I needed, when I felt like I did not have anything left to give. I have so many things to say “Thank you” for.

I could never, ever say it enough.

   I am so thankful you were born forty years ago tomorrow and that things have played out just as they have over that time. Every moment was part of a God’s plan to bring us exactly where we are today. Thanks, mamaw and papaw for giving me such a great dad. Thank you, Mrs. Christa for being such a wonderful companion to my dad and taking care of him. Thank you, Dad, for being you. Keep it up.

Here’s to you Big Guy,

Happy Birthday. 

How I Feel About “THE PLAN”

5 .  2 7 . 2 0 1 5

  I am following the routine that is expected of people my age.

I am going off to college to earn a degree, in the hopes of gaining a little more leverage in the world.

I guess you could say I have a “plan”.

However, Something really just turns me off about following the same routine as everyone else. To be completely honest with you I am not passionate about fitting into the mold, despite the fact that I have worked hard my whole life to do just that.

I’m not scared of college itself. I am not afraid of Student Loans. I am not scared of going to a city I really do not know anything about. I’m not afraid of the curriculum or studying for long periods of time. I am not scared of professors. I am not intimidated in the least being in a place with thousands of people where I only know a few. So, if you think I am hesitant to follow “the plan” because I am uncertain and afraid of it, then you are wrong.

Don’t get me wrong I am incredibly thankful for all of my dreams that have come to life right in front of me. I know that not everyone has these opportunities, but at the same time, I would readily give my opportunities away to someone who is more passionate about them than I am. I know there is someone out there who would kill to be me in my shoes and here I am, indifferent.

The source of my indifference is my belief that the revered attributes which individuals possess are also the source of their degeneracy. I would conjecture that most of the individuals that are in college today are not there because they are passionate about it. They are not there because it was their craziest wildest dream. Today, it almost seems as if the widespread view is that if you do not go to college to “make something of yourself” then you are nothing.

With a degree, you make more money, you have more power, more influence in the world.

Still, no matter how hard I try, I cannot make myself believe that a certificate determines the worth of an individual. I cannot understand why money, power, and influence are more appealing to society than being and doing what you love. Why do these things take precedence over happiness?  In this world, reputation is everything and most uphold those things above all else.

When in all actuality, they are all things that will die with you.

Regardless of if Earth explodes tomorrow, killing all of us, time is going to go on and accomplishments and other things we treasure in this life will be nothing.

People and the things in this life that we have become so preoccupied with are nothing in comparison to all of eternity. What is the point in working to become influential and important in the eyes of society if the things venerated by society in our meager one hundred years are insignificant on the scale of all eternity?

I believe everything you could ever aspire to be is inside you from the day you are born-

The qualities that distinguish individuals from people cannot be acquired or replicated.

I believe that possessions and status, which people in Western Culture struggle to uphold, are incapable of determining individual worth-

because the whole world is not given the same chances we are.

The majority of the world has to go without the little things that the culture I live in takes for granted.

 

And regardless of how gruesome the reality of that is-

no matter how far away from our “normal” they are,

These people wake up and live each day in the same world that we do.

2/3 People Lack Access to Clean Water-

and they have to survive on less than $2 a day.

Nearly a billion people entered the 21st century unable to read or write.

So, do I feel blessed to have the opportunity to further my education?

To have the opportunity to have a title in this world?

I cannot believe it is really happening… to me, of all people.

But where would I rather go?

I want to go meet the majority

and step out of the bubble we live in.

Although it is not ideal, I know for a fact that these people

could make me into something entirely new,

something far greater than college

ever could.

Images From:

Loretta Sylvia- People Of Our World

LifeStlyeByps.tumblr.com

YouTube.com

Mysteryoftheiniquity.com

Hayhouseworldsummit.com

goodreads.com

rvision.daydreamlabs.com

Poverty Facts From: 

http://www.globalissues.org/article/26/poverty-facts-and-stats#src2

“My Workout Tip”

5 . 1 4 . 1 5

natural beauty

My advice to you, before reading this, is to clear your mind. Do not let bias block out what I am about to convey to you. You may not agree with me, but I believe that the following insight that I am about to provide is at least worth considering.

…

It is obvious that Social Darwinism has made its mark on the world.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with that term, it is an idea that became popular around the 1870s. Social Darwinism comes from the ideas and the observations of geologist Charles Darwin. Darwin theorized that when resources to survive are available in any environment, animals will compete and only the strongest will survive. In Social Darwinism, these ideas are applied to humans, more specifically, economics and politics. It is the survival of the fittest.

Society is a cruel place.

 In my eyes, humans and animals should not be compared. Although we, like animals, are made up of organic matter, we live and die, and have basic needs to survive, we are different. We feel. We have the ability to think and let the world know what we think. Social Darwinism lumps people into categories based off of what they have and how capable they are to do certain things because of what they have. It restricts those who have the abilities to be successful but do not have the resources available to develop those abilities. It also places those with vast resources on a pedestal, those who are “able”. Sure, it causes those who are motivated who aren’t on top to strive to be more than they are, but it undeniably causes individuals to be unhappy with what they are and what they have.  It will always promote those who are higher on the totem pole looking down at those who are at the bottom and those at the bottom will always be looking up.

The number of people on Earth is edging closer and closer to 7.5 billion every second.

There are debatably 196 countries in the world. Every country is composed of separate, unique cultures, even the countries where people are not allowed to express themselves. Even in the smaller subcultures, there are different variations of people. There are different ethnicities, orientations, religions, and views on the world. My point is, you will never be able to find two people who are exactly alike, mind, body, and soul, ever.

Despite the fact that every person in world, without doing anything at all, is unique and irreplaceable, I believe without a doubt in my mind that the majority wishes that they could obtain some or all of the qualities belonging to someone else. 

 There are people in third-world countries building sources of fresh water for those who have never had it readily available and you rarely see articles about them in “US WEEKLY”. Instead, we get to read articles telling us how we can get a butt like Kim Kardashian.

For every generation, from the beginning of time there has always been standards set by societies for individuals that they have to meet to be beautiful, to be acceptable, or to be tolerable. Of course, for each culture expectations are different, but the same principles apply. No matter where you live, I feel like we can all agree that we are under tremendous pressure. More and more people vouch for surgery to look better, buying supplements and other products to assist them with weight loss or gain and running miles upon miles per week, but those things are just a chip off the iceberg!

From homes to the clothes you wear, from the car you drive to your facial features, from what you weigh all the way to the way that people in your circle see you, people are lining up to trade individuality for the approval of others…. AND SOCIETY ACCEPTS THIS BEHAVIOR, which brings me to the title of this article.

“My Workout Tip”

When we think of working out, you typically think of going to the gym, playing a sport, or taking a run around the neighborhood. My advice to you all is stop thinking of working out as something you can do to improve your physical appearance and ability. The term “work out” originated around one hundred years ago in boxing gyms. It literally means to work until you have nothing left to give or until exhaustion.

 If you are going to the gym twice a day, to work yourself to exhaustion, do it for yourself, for a better you.

Do it so you can serve the world better, serve your god better, or serve your family better.

If your motivation for working out is obtaining the approval of others, then you are doing it wrong. With little or no effort, society is undermining the best of us. Don’t let yourself become a slave to the expectations of society.

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 5 . 1 2 . 2 0 1 5.

dad & me

 I have decided to title my first post “what is it like to graduate?” I just graduated yesterday. The only word I can think of to describe that experience is: surreal. 

 I do not believe I am alone in feeling this way. Regardless of if you are a homebody and you are headed off to a college miles away, you really stood out in high school and you are not ready to leave it behind, or if you are simply not ready to grow up, all graduates of high school are confronted with the fact that life is about to change forever.

That sounds pretty scary huh?

 I can think of one instance that parallels the immensity of graduating high school. That is going to school for the first time. Way back in 2000, at the beginning of a new millennia, I was on my way to my first day of Pre-K 3 at St. Paschal’s Catholic Church. I wore the customary dark green polo and a navy blue skort. I do not remember where I thought I was going at 7 in the morning, but I know for a fact that it did not register in my mind that I was going to school. When we got there and I realized that my dad planned on leaving me at that place that smelled of Lysol wipes, Cheetos, and sweaty little kids, all hell broke loose. I cried until I made myself sick, literally. I was determined that I would not let my dad leave me at that God-forsaken place. I guess I broke at some point because, here I am almost fifteen years later, a high school graduate. It seems that transitioning into school is going to be almost as strange as transitioning out of school.

 Waking up each day and throwing some clothes on to make it to school before the tardy bell, eating school lunches fit for dogs, being herded down the crowded halls like cattle, being treated like inmates, and being unable to escape those who drive me up the wall because they were in my home room, were things that never quite made my bucket list, but I am going to miss the familiarity of it all. I remember how thrilled I was to get my license to drive myself to school. Now, I would give anything to have my mom drop me off. I want another elementary school field day or even a grandparents’ day. What about another recess? I never realized it, but school was slowly weaning me off of the things that children depend on and teaching me what I needed to know as an adult at the same time.

 I think that is what strikes me the most. I felt like I would be in school forever. It was almost as if the diploma was a legend. Now, graduation day has come and gone. All that is left for my school memories are for them to fade into the past. That bird has sung. The focus is no longer on keeping my grades up for college. That part is complete. There is a new task ahead. I am set to head off to Louisiana State University in August.

I am unable to grasp the immensity of all this.

The only thing I can be certain of at this point is that I am becoming, whether I like it or not.

It is time to move forward.