Taking a Stand, or Ignorance Cover-Up?

WARNING: CYNICAL CONTENT! READER DISCRETION ADVISED
The administrators at Bedford High School are just now realizing that bullying occurs in our school building, halfway through the second trimester. Even though it's great they're trying to do something, I personally think this is absolutely disgusting. Helooooo! Social issues are essentially the words in between "high" and "school"! Maybe if some of the faculty didn't have such an ego that "Oh our school is so wonderful, we're safe from all of this nonsense," they would be more on their toes and realize that bullying is not as uncommon as they think. And while they may cut down on bullying in general by taking this strong stand, there is still a ton of ignorance going around. Everywhere I go, I hear racial slurs, anti-semetic comments, even sexist remarks. What is this, the 14th century?! Being Jewish, I've tried the best I can to counter these remarks and educate the ignorant, but nowadays it seems the only answer is to simply ignore it. And it's not like the faculty is doing anything about it. Last year, along with a few other classmates, I had lunch with the superintendant and he brought up the issue of bullying, to which I responded by bringing up the issue of ignorance. He was totally surprised and bewildered, and really didn't know what to tell me. I almost fell out of my chair when he responded that way. I don't think the faculty even knows how to handle this sort of problem. I've dealt with anti-semetic bullying all my life, and no matter how many times I've called out for help I've only been ignored or recieved fake responses. In general, there is too much ignorance going around the student body as well as the administration. Maybe one day this will change.
But for now, I'm only one voice.
One opinion.
One meager cry for help.

But those are my thoughts, not yours.

Haiti and The World: What Next?

The recent devaestation in Haiti has roused people all over the world to rush to everything they can to help out. One of those people is my dad. Today he left with a crew of four others to go do construction work about an hour north of Port-au-Prince. The orphanage his church sponsors was completely devesated, so they're going down to do something about that. One thing he was talking about before he left is how Haiti really always has been in a state of complete devestation, and now that the earthquakes happened the media is really paying more attention than ever to the nearly lost country. For example, the media is making a huge deal about how more than 2 million people have been rendered homeless, when in reality almost all of them were homeless even before the earthquake. Now it's even more difficult to find shelter because there aren't as many allyways to put up tents between (since most of the buildings are destroyed). Haiti always has been in this state of poverty and chaos, but now beacause of the earthquakes more people are finally starting to do something about it. Hopefully this support will continue on after the shock of the disaster, but even if it does, there are still so many areas around the world like Haiti that need as much help as they can get, including places in our own country. And what are we doing about it, as a whole? Very minimal, to say the least. Maybe one day we'll be able to do more. But for now...Who knows.

But, those are my thoughts, not yours.

Flash Foward

It's hard to predict what any one of us will be doing ten years from now, but based on the path we're on now I supose we could make a pretty good guess. Personally, I think I will just be getting out of school (or possibly still in school) with a degree in something along the lines of either law, medicine, or the performing arts. I'll be starting a good job and have my own apartment. For sure I'll have some sort of pet (most likely a dog, maybe a cat). All of the women in my family haven't been married until around the age of 28, so I can assume that when I turn 25 in ten years I'll probably be single or have a boyfriend. For sure I'll have my own car that I've saved up for, which will be a sports car of some sort (depending on how much money I have, it could be anything from an Audi to a Corvette to a Chevy Cobalt to a Lamborghini). And I will deifninetly be playing my alto saxophone somewhere, somehow, no matter what.

;D