We Can Make A Difference.

I believe we should never underestimate the power of the human mind. Why do I say this? I think the human brain is just capable of so many interesting things, both positively and negatively. Its up to you to tell your mind how its 'supposed' to be programmed. When we (children) read the news we look up to the BIG names that made AMAZING changes in society. For instance, some of us look up to Bill Gates. Why? He's rich and successful and every single one of us wants to be him. I think one of the things that us children don't understand or don't yet know is that we can make a HUGE difference in today's society. Especially when we are the future of this generation. 


The International Children's Peace Prize acknowledges children that made HUGE differences in today's society. In 2005, Nkosi Johnson, a South African boy who fought for the rights of children with HIV/Aids. As Johnson said at the international Aids conference in Durban "Care for us and accept us - we are all human beings". I agree with Nkosi. We are all human beings and they are just human beings that need help. Shouldn't we care? Express our concern. Nkosi has set up a project that is set up to help and prevent mothers with HIV from sending their children to orphanages which often is the case. I really admire what Nkosi has done. He has saved tons of children from being sent to orphanages and from feeling that their mothers didn't want them or that they were just alone in life. 


Another inspiring story starts with Om Prakash Gurjar who won the International Children's Peace in 2006 for fighting for working against child labour in India. I support Gurjar as he believes that every child has the basic right to education and the key to a better life. He has made sure hundreds of children have received birth certificates to be better protected against child slavery. I truly admire what Om has done. Protecting children against child slavery. No child deserves to work their butt off and to be treated as slaves. I'm glad that there are organizations that back Prakash up to help him continue to fight against child slavery. 




The latest winner of the International Children's Peace Prize was won by Chaeli Mycroft, 17 from South Africa. Chaeli is a teenager who was born with Cerebral Palsy which limits the functions of her arms and legs. Chaeli had a positive attitude about her Cerebral Palsy and now, is an inspiration to many kids all over the world. As Chaeli has said, “It’s what keeps us striving for the lives we deserve. I have hope for myself, but I also have hope for all other children with disabilities. I hope that my actions as an ability activist will leave the world more accepting and more accommodating for all people and not just people with disabilities, because we are all different and we all have the need to be accepted regardless of having a disability or not.” I strongly agree with Chaeli, I think that we should all have hope for children with disabilities and I believe that she has changed many lives for many children. Her project is the Chaeli Campaign which started of with herself, a few friends and sister started by raising money for a motorized wheelchair and now helps more than 3000 children with disabilities in South Africa. 


These three stories are only three of millions. From these stories, I have learnt how powerful the human mind is and if you put your mind to it you can achieve it. I want to take this opportunity and remind all the other children in the WORLD that we can all make a difference. Maybe not as big, but big enough. 

Freedom

What is worth fighting for? I think freedom is one of the many things I think is worth fighting for. Freedom of speech, freedom of thinking and freedom of action in particular. So are all allowed to convey our thoughts and feelings, think the thoughts that we want to and be free to become and do whatever you want.

So much is expected in us kids. Especially the ‘now’ generation. We are expected to keep up with our grades, join activities, get a 4.0 GPA and have good recommendations. I think it’s important for the ‘now’ generation to have these three key aspects of freedom. A lot of times I listen to my friends complaining about how much pressure they’re under. They have to keep up with the A’s, play one or more instruments, theory exams and participate in sports and it’s not that they can’t do these things but sometimes it’s the fact they’re just not interested as they want to be. But my question is whether we should keep this up and just go through life or to convey and express our feelings to our parents. Although, some parents will force their kids to continue even if their kids express how uninterested they are. Is that right? I’m not sure. I’m torn between both worlds. On the parents side, they’re just concerned for their kid’s future but on the kid’s side, he’s just not interested so shouldn’t he have the freedom to choose?

Freedom of thoughts and feelings. For example, Aung San Suu Kyi. She was Burma’s leader and she fought for the freedom of her people but the Burmese government sentenced her to house arrest. I admire Aung San Suu Kyi as she fought for the freedom of thoughts and feelings of her people. On the day of her house arrest release, she took the time to listen to every person that had something to say to her. Aung San Suu Kyi has said that every person has the right to express their thoughts and feelings and they deserve to be heard. I believe that's one of the things that we all have to start doing. Listening. Listening to each other. We all listen to the media and yet sometimes, we let others feel hurt as they feel disconnected because nobody listens to them. Or it could just be the fact that people aren't accepting them. 

Freedom of action. I think this is important in any society. The ability to become and embrace who you truly are. For instance, ridiculed kids. Some kids find that they are 'gay' or 'homosexual' and we see that they are constantly ridiculed and labeled because of that. Is that right? I certainly don't think so. I think if it's not affecting you, just let it be and let them embrace who they really are. I'm don't have the best body in the whole entire world but I do try to keep it fit and looking good and embracing myself as a swimmer. I realize that you can't compare yourself to anyone else in the world. You know why? Because there's only one you and if you can't be yourself. You're cheating on yourself. Embrace people around you and don't label or ridicule someone. It hurts feelings.

Freedom of thoughts and feelings, action are all so important to our society. We're all talking about world peace and how we can achieve that. I think if we all play by the book we might eventually get there but for now, listen and embrace your differences and speak your mind. You should never feel judged or worried about who you are. You are free to speak your thoughts and feelings and act however you want to act. No one can bring you down.

One Day The Trafficking Will End

 One day we will stop it, the trafficking will end.

Arunadha Koirala is a woman that has taken a stand to something that is the worst that humanity has to offer. Human trafficking. She runs an organization called Maiti Nepal which is strictly dedicated to helping girls and women that were/are victimized by human trafficking.


Maiti Nepal operates a rehabilitation home in Kathmandu. They also have transit homes on the Indo-Nepal border and an academy in Kathmandu. Maiti translated from Nepali means 'mothers home'. Maiti Nepal has been a refuge for women or little girls rescued from the brothels in India. It has become a home for the women and girls that have been sexually abused and is the true meaning of home for these girls.  The women or girls can stay in the homes run by Maiti Nepal until they are able to return to their homes and if they are not accepted by their parents they may stay there until they become able to live on their own. Maiti Nepal also works on reuniting these girls with their families and patrolling around the Indo- Nepal border with police or other authorities to rescue trafficked women.


Anuradha Koirala has received the the Courage of Conscience Award from The Peace Abbey in Massachusetts in 2006. She also won the CNN award of 2010. Anuradha Koriala is an amazing woman. She was brought up in India. She has fought for the rights of children and women. Non-stop fighting. The Courage of Conscience Award and the CNN Award of 2010 are only two of her 30 national and international awards. Anuradha Koirala has helped the lives of 12,00 girls and women since the year of 1993 and has not stopped fighting ever since. Koirala has a personal experience with sex abuse. "Every day, there was battering. And then I had three miscarriages that I think [were] from the beating. It was very difficult because I didn't know in those days where to go and report [it], who to ... talk to." So this is why she has done this. This is why she is helping all these young innocent girls.


 In this YouTube video, the girls that are represented in the video shown, are so thankful to her and this shows us all how much they appreciate everything Koriala has done. Statistics show that human trafficking is estimated to be the third largest international crime industry. According to the U.S. state government, some 10,000 to 15,000 women and girls from Nepal are trafficked to India and then sexually exploited each year. Don't you think this statistic is just so crazy and scare? I do. Imagine if someone you knew, someone close to you, you're sister, aunt or whoever was sent of to India to be sexually exploited. Think about how much you would fight for them. How much it would affect you. Anuradha Koirala is speaking for these girls and fighting for them when nobody would. 20% of trafficked victims are children. This really scares me. I hope people that read this blog post understand the severity of human trafficking. I certainly do after reading about all these statistics even though I'm just a school girl.


So I ask you. I implore you to help stop human trafficking. How? To at least by taking the step where you would promise all of mankind and to yourself you would never be part of it. Never let anyone trick you into being trafficked. Never be a man that would traffic someone. Why? Because it scars. It scars the purity of a girl. Think about what if something like this were to happen to someone around you. I know I've thought about it and it sure is frightening. So I will never become a part of human trafficking and I hope you don't too. 

The Challenge Of Our Generation

I believe in opposing a society,
that is infected by tragic living.
The aggressive infection has been disguised,
and is the challenge of our generation.
I implore you to stop this invisible problem with conviction
Personal determination is uncertain,
unless you exhort your opinion to this problem
Poverty has nothing to say to you,
so I entreat to question authority and attach yourself to the problem.

Stop Hating And Start Loving

I think people should start realizing how much hate can affect one person. I personally think one thing in this whole world that is worth fighting for is a world without bullying. This may not occur as such a big thing but in the teenage world it really is. It happens in movies, television series, documentaries and in real life. How many documentaries are out there about kids killing themselves because they can't take the pressure? Answer: TONS.

Bullying is certainly an issue we all have to attend to. I found this video on YouTube and have watched this video in health class last year about a boy that committed suicide in 2003 at the age of thirteen. His name was Ryan Halligan. He committed suicide because he was constantly bullied at school and on the internet. One day this girl and her friends decided it would be a laugh to pretend to like Ryan and Ryan told her all this personal things about himself and she copy and pasted all these secrets that he had told her into other chats and spreading them to others and laughing at Ryan. Ryan's father now has spoken at over a hundred schools about how he thinks Ryan made such a bad mistake. But I'm sitting here asking "Can you blame him?" Imagine everyday going to school being laughed at and teased and coming home and have the same people tease you. The worst part. There's no escape. I can understand why Ryan did what he did. He wanted this to stop. He didn't want to listen to it anymore. He wanted to just erase it from his mind but he couldn't and it certainly wasn't one of those incidents that you would have with a friend and the next day you're buddies again. He felt alone and he wanted to stop the teasing but how was he supposed to do that?

I personally have gone through a time like that. When every time I turned the corner I had eyes on me and I could hear my name repeatedly in sentences and sentences. I was more fortunate than Ryan because I had a friend that believed in me. She believed that I did none of those things that were circulating around the school. She knew how bad I felt about it even though I tried so hard to deny it. For a year, I felt so alone but thanks to this girl she really made me understand what true friendship is and to keep going at life and not decide to throw it all away. These things that were going around the school kept coming back to me and trust me it was like I was in a nightmare. As an adolescent, all your thinking about right now is about 'Hey, I wanna be so and so's friend!' 'I wanna be popular!'. And what people say about you really gets to you in terms of whether it is positive or negative. Last year, rumors went around about me liking this person and mentioning harsh words. But it was this friend that reminded me that you can't always please people and that you just have to walk away and don't have a care in the world about what they are talking about. So I want to take this opportunity to thank this friend, for always being there for me and always encouraging me.

Back to the topic. Why do people find differences? Why do people like to bully? Why do we have to hate? According to Bullying Statistics of 2010 , there are about 2.7 million students bullied each year. Why are the statistics that high? I want to ask the bullies of the world and if you are currently bullying someone either emotionally or physically. Would you want this to happen to you? To the bystanders, you have seen the statistics. 2.7 MILLION STUDENTS!!!! And about 56% students in schools, have witnessed a bullying crime taken place at school. How can we stop this? It's up to you. I bet if one student starts saying no a thousand others will say no. To the bystanders, don't just stand there. Do something about it. If you are scared to confront the bully yourself report it to a teacher. It's the only chance of stopping bullying.

If you are reading this, think about Ryan. Think about yourselves. Would you like to go through whatever bullying victims are going through as we speak? Stand up. Take a stand for what you believe in and stop hating and start loving.

Peace Within Ourselves

Peace. World Peace. Peace within ourselves. Peace with each other. This has what the world has tried to aim for but somehow it never really seems to work. Why? I'm not sure. But I do know one thing if everyone just stays calm and talk rationally we might actually get there. But the truth is everyone is fighting with each other. Finding differences in each other. Ever since when I was a kid, I've witnessed fights on the streets, people screaming at each other just because they want the last cereal box in supermarkets. Is this all really necessary? The worst of all? World War. You see every time we have a world war. It always ends up messy and killing millions and billions of innocent people. Why do we need this? I seriously can't answer this question.

If I was to be lucky enough to be given the opportunity to create a 'New World' I would hope the society to be built around the idea of Peace. With peace, we won't have anymore fights, arguments and wars. The idea of peace would make our world a better place to live in and allow the our world to be democratic. With peace with everyone everyone would be given the chances that we all deserve. People would vote to who they think is the suitable or the right choice.

Peace would also allow our world to stop judging everyone else like you would judge a book by it's cover. Yes, we all say that we don't but who are we kidding? When we look at someone its obvious that you look on the outside and sometimes your not even bothered to start knowing the inside of that person because of his or her looks. That is wrong and we all know that. With peace, we would be looking at each other through our hearts. We would be at peace with everyone. Letting everyone get to know you.

Why do people fight? Answer. Many people say we fight because people are animals. Because we originated from the apes. Another possible answer could be because of the fact that the 'natural person' is naturally selfish. We're always thinking about ourselves. Look into your thoughts everything comes out as "I need this" and basically everything starts with "I". This causes starts to occur when people start to get selfish. Have you ever seen little kids fighting over toys? How one kid picks up something and starts playing with it and the other gets another toy and starts playing with it. Then the first kid realizes that the second kid is having quite a good time with his toy and he comes and snatches it away from him because he wants to play with it now. This is a situation when the human selfishness comes into place. Also, people love fighting because it's a sign of significance. In middle school dramas and TV shows we see fighting throughout the whole main plot. The bully beats one kid up and the rest of the kids are scared of him and he will keep bullying a different kid each week and soon the WHOLE school is aware and they think he is superior.

How can we achieve world peace? I personally think we need rules for world peace. Firstly, people have to start understanding the fact that NOBODY has the right to take a life of another human being and governments also have no right of taking a life. This is how people start thinking that they can just kill anyone they want to. People in their minds would be thinking, if the government can take a life 'WHY CAN'T I????' I should have the same rights as everyone else. So I think if we start enforcing that NO ONE has the right to kill anyone we might be a step closer to world peace. How do war occurs? Simply one has to convince their people by saying things like "The land used to be ours, so we have the right to take it back" and "They did it to us". How do we overcome this? REJECT the thinking that the land used to be ours so we have the right to take it back and citizens have to be active to prevent a war. For example in WW2. All Hitler had to say was "IT WAS THE JEWS THAT DID THIS TO US" and none of the Germans could take a stand and say 'No'.

In conclusion, Peace could be the answer to our prayers. Peace could stop all this hate, war and arguments we don't necessarily need. So lets all try to start with the idea of peace. Peace within yourself and to others.

Kristallnacht

On the nights of November 9th and 10th 1938, Nazi gangs attacked a Jewish villages. They burnt down the homes, shops and businesses of innocent Jews and left nothing behind but shattered glass everywhere. This night is known all around the world as Kristallnacht. The name Kristall meaning crystal and nacht meaning night. There were more than 270 synagogues, 70 businesses and thousands of homes were burned to the ground. Hundreds of people were killed. Yet, few Germans had the courage to speak out against the Nazi’s, who were ruthlessly destroying everything and everyone that came in their path. The strange thing was the Nazi's weren't charged for any damaged they had caused. There was no turning point for Kristallnacht.