In regards to the Sandy Hook shootings

You all know what happened in the Sandy Hook Massacre. Reiterating these events will simply resurface memories you want to forget. We've had too many of these shootings over the past decade. The question is, why? Why are such shootings occurring?
Every time one of these shootings occur, my Facebook and Twitter feeds are flooded with statuses and tweets. At first, shock. People talk about how shocked they are that such an event could occur. Second, acceptance. They accept the fact that twenty kids had lost their lives. Third, all the politicians enter the debate, discussing how tragedies like this could be prevented in the future. They try to find a source they could blame. Unfortunately, there isn't only one factor that lead to such a massacre. That's the problem with today's debates; people are saying that if we stop one aspect from happening, then the shootings won't happen in the future. Gun control is a prime example of this fallacy.

Gun control has been a widely debated topic over this past year. First, when the movie theater shooting occurred, now with the Sandy Hook shooting. Some people claim that controlling distribution of guns will stop these shootings from happening in the future. This is simply ridiculous. If a person was this motivated to shoot up a school, they would find a way to illegally buy a gun. Besides, Canada has basically no shootings, and they don't monitor purchases of guns strictly. While I do think that the purchase of guns should be more strictly monitored, it won't stop shootings from occurring in the future.

People also blame video games for these shootings. Now this is where i call shenanigans. Video games do the opposite; they help prevent shootings. Video games take people away from their own life, and put them in an imaginary, fantasy world. It helps numb the brain of the stresses of the real world. I've heard stories of people not shooting up their school because they were able to imagine the person they hated as a video game character, so they could shoot them in the video game. Video games save, rather than kill. Now, what is the real cause to these shootings?

Personally, I think we need to look at the backgrounds of the shooters to find out how we can prevent them. The shooter in this case was in his early twenties. He had a mental illness. He never had many real friends. He shot his own mother, then proceeded to shoot up the school at which his mother taught. He must have not had the best relationship with his mother. Perhaps the shooter had nobody he could go to when he had a problem. He was very quiet, so he didn't have many friends. He shot his mother, so he must have had some beef with her. Maybe if he had someone to go to, this shooting could have been prevented.


Maybe more shootings like this could be prevented in the future. Maybe saying hi to a kid nobody talks to will make that kid's day. Next time you get a chance, talk to a kid you usually don't talk to. Along with forming a new friendship, you might even save a life.

What You Need to Know About Sin

As we grow and mature into adults, many of us forget what sin is, as well as the consequences of drifting away from God. I'm not here to give you a religious lecture about morals and such. I'm here to tell you what you NEED to know about sin, and how it affects you.

According to a survey taken in 2010, 76% or more of the United States' population believe the country's moral values are getting worse. Ask yourself right now, do you think America has a bright future? Apparently, most Americans think not. Personally, I think this results from all the unethical articles said and written by the news. They focus on the bad things Americans do, not the good things. If we heard more about the good things Americans did on the news, maybe this statistic wouldn't be so deep.

The New Testament is clear about the ultimate consequences of sin: in his letter to the Romans, Paul said "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord". Paul reinforces the idea that sinning leads to death. Think about that for a second. If you sin, you are going to die. You will be separated from God the rest of your life and put into hell. Just imagine what hell is like, being separated from God and all. Would it be like going to sleep one night, and never waking up? However, if we don't sin, we don't have to worry about this terrible fate, because we will be with God in heaven.

You might be asking yourself, what makes an action a sin? well, three elements determine the morality of any human act: 1. the object, the action the person has chosen to do. 2. The Intention of the person doing the action, and 3. the circumstances surrounding the act. If an action is a sin, then it is an offense against God and his reasons. For an action to be a sin, usually at least one of these 3 circumstances has to be in question. For instance, a chemistry teacher may not have enough money to support his family, so, given his knowledge of chemistry, he starts to make methamphetamine for extra money. The object in this situation is obviously bad. The intention is that he is trying to raise money for his family. The circumstances are also questionable. Overall, this would be considered a sin. even though the intention was good, the object and the circumstances are still questionable.

Just one candy bar can start it

Why do people sin? One reason is because people develop vices. Vices are opposite virtues, which are habits of good action. If we repeat bad actions, these actions can turn into a vice. Eventually these venial sins, or not so serious sins, could turn into mortal sins, which have serious consequences. For an example, Let's talk about a boy who sees candy in the store. He really wants it, but he doesn't have the money for it. He ends up stealing the candy and getting away with it. Because he stole the candy, he think he might be able to get away with stealing something slightly more valuable. The next shopping trip, he steals a magazine of his favorite sports team. The consequences of stealing become dulled in this boy's mind. He attempts to steal a pair of Jordans, and gets caught. He now faces serious consequences for his sin. This all started from a candy bar. You should try to cease bad habits before they become a vice.

Every person is crated in the image of God. Therefore every human being has infinite worth and dignity because we all share God's worth and dignity. No mundane object can be worth more than a human life. You don't want to sin against God, right? If you don't want to sin against God, then you shouldn't sin against others. Let's forget the consequences of sin real quick, and focus on the benefits. Would you want a friend who is trustworthy, whom you could tell anything? Would you want a friend who always supports your decisions, but advises you if you are doing something wrong? Would you want a friend who will help you become a better person? If you don't sin, along with being in communion with God, you'll be a great friend and role model to those around you.

Sin isn't just about the consequences. Sure, sinning does have terrible consequences, but you shouldn't live in fear of sin. If you don't sin, then you shouldn't have to worry about the consequences of sin, right? If you don't sin, you'll not only find your moral and religious life increased in value, but you'll also have a great social life, do well in school, and overall, you'll set yourself up for a good future.

Platform Post

With Elections coming up, many issues, such as education, health care, energy, jobs in the economy, and national security are being put up for debate. Recently, current democratic president Barack Obama, who is looking for re-election, and republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney debated on these issues. In November, Americans will elect a new president to serve for the next four years. For Americans to make the best decision with their vote, they should examine the democratic and republican platforms. Voters should contemplate these issues, and each party's stance, before submitting their vote.

With high school and college costs increasing, Education is becoming a major issue in today's election. Many students who come out of college remain unemployed, allowing themselves to drown in student loans. The republican platform believes that the best course of action is to limit the role of federal government in education. Republicans support giving control to the teachers, parents, and school boards. Republicans also support home schooling. Romney doesn't think pumping money into schools in the answer for the problem of education to the masses. I think Romney is avoiding the issue of education, personally. It's too late to not fund the education of Americans, especially in such hard times. We need to invest money in education so more students have the potential to be successful, and so the future of America turns brighter.

With less students able to obtain jobs, the economy is becoming an important issue. When Obama was elected in 2008, the economy was in a free fall. It looked like we were entering a major recession. Now, four years later, many more Americans have money in their wallets. An economy that was losing 700,000 jobs a month is now gaining jobs. Obama has excelled in reviving the economy. However, democrats are looking to further stabilize the economy. Obama wants to end tax loopholes in the system, create more jobs, and invest in a clean energy economy. Obama has guided us out of a potential depression, I say we should continue following Obama's ideas for a clean-energy economy.

With gas prices going up, energy is also becoming a big issue in America. democrats are focused on developing cleaner energy resources and encouraging fuel efficiency. This will create many more jobs for Americans, decrease our reliance on oil, and crate a cleaner world. With less of a reliance on oil, gas prices would have to decrease. I want to live in a world where gas has been replaced with a more abundant, renewable resource. With Global Warming becoming a threat to the world, these policies are essential to the future of America.

 National defense remains an issue. The Republicans support increasing our military power, to decrease threats to America. Romney wants to have the most modern technology implemented in the U.S. military. Romeny wants to mimic Ronald Reagan's military policy, because it successfully confronted the Soviet Union and ended the Cold War. Romney wants the support of all the Americans in order for his plan of national defense to work. Personally, I think this will fail. There are bigger issues than national defense right now. Romeny is cutting taxes for students, the economy, and for energy efficiency to invest in national defense. We have bigger problems in our own country to worry about before we shpould talk about national defense.

Health care is one of the biggest issues in the United States. Currently, America is under Obamacare, which grants health care to all Americans. By 2014 health reform will eliminate all discrimination for pre-existing conditions, start the process of expanding health insurance coverage for 32 million more americans, and provide the largest middle-class tax cut for health care in history. I think Obamacare is still a work in progress. Romney wants to cut Obamacare down. I think it's too late to cut off Obamacare, and if you give this idea more time to mature, it will benefit all of America.


Overall, I think the best decision would be to re-elect Obama. Romeny is proposing too many tax cuts to allow America to escape it's debt. Obama is planning for America's future. While we might have to endure bad conditions now, if Obama is re-elected, we will have a better America in the future. While Obama emphasizes clean energy, crating jobs, reviving the economy, and getting more Americans educated, Romney is focused on breaking down Obamacare, cutting taxes, and raising our U.S. military prosper. Given the current circumstances of America, Barack Obama should be re-elected.

High School Bullying

As you all know, High school bullying remains a huge problem in the United States. I mean, you hear about it all the time on the news, and schools are always talking about the negative effects of bullying. Whether you have been bullied or not, you have a clear idea of what bullying is. At least, you think you do, but do you really? You might appear as a bully in the eyes of another right now.

Recently, Robert Gladden, a 15 year old in High school, brought a gun to school and fired a few rounds, in hopes that he would be shot by a policeman. Gladden had been bullied in his high school, and wanted to get revenge. Gladden didn't want to injure anyone with his shots; he just wanted to be shot by a policeman. Gladden did shoot and injure a kid, and now, since Gladden is in questioning, says that he shows deep remorse for the child who was injured. Now, let me ask you, did the "bullies" want Gladden to shoot up the school, in hopes of being shot by a policeman? Of course not. Gladden just suffered the bullying, and nobody reached out a hand of acceptance to him. The ironic part of this story is that now, students are holding anti-bullying rallies. Did it really take someone to shoot up a school for you to change your stance on bullying?

While the schools claim that they are fighting against bullying, they really aren't helping the case. In Houston, Kennedy Brumant, a 13 year old, is the victim of a bullying scenario. Girls at the student's middle school attacked her, kicking her and pulling her hair out. Naturally, the seventh grader fought back. However, after the whole scandal was over, the victim, Kennedy Brumant, was suspended from the school for three days. The school told her that she shouldn't have hit back. She should have "balled up or ran". However, when a girl is pulling on her hair, running away or balling up is simply impossible. This holds to be a common issue in school, where students can't trust their school. If a student tells on a bully, and the bully gets in trouble, it will only increase the bullying the student is recieving. Schools need to rethink their methods to stop bullying.

Another case of high school bullying brings up another issue schools are hopelessly attempting to stop: cyber bullying. Over the summer, two twitter groups began posting degrading comments about students attending Traverse City West Senior High School. These posts harassed students because of their name, appearance, or dating partner. One student, a victim of these tweets, Catilyn Keener, was very upset by these posts, and reported the group to the police department. The police said that since students could choose whether or not to view these posts, they couldn't do anything about it. You might ask yourself, why would students follow such a group? Because of two reasons: 1. they want to be aware if their name appears on their list, and 2: people eat up gossip. It's a common fact: gossip spreads around schools faster than free candy during Halloween. High School is really survival of the fittest. In order to keep your reputation high, you might have to bring someone else down. This is bullying, and this is why bullying happens. This is also why bullying is impossible to truly stop. Surely, bullying can be toned down though. It is impossible to truly stop bullying in an environment where everyone wants to be at the top of the social pyramid.

 Jamey Rodemeyer, a 14 year old boy, committed suicide after years of bullying about his sexuality. Rodemeyer declared himself a bisexual, and was endlessly bullied about it. Rodemeyer went to the school for help, but they provided little assistance that was proven to be beneficial to Rodemeyer. Lady Gaga, who Rodemeyer was a dedicated fan of, was furious when she heard of the suicide. She tweeted and posted on Facebook about the bullying, and that bullying should be stopped. Jamey was just a normal kid, who liked to play with his friends, and was excited about going into freshman year. Yet, because of bullying, his life was taken away. again, it took such an extreme to prove that bullying should be stopped. It really is horrible. People trying to reach the top of the social pyramid, pushing Jamey down in the process. Did the people pushing Jamey down the pyramid know what they were really doing? Of course not. They didn't want Jamey to commit suicide. They didn't know how Jamey really felt. If someone just offered him a hand, to help him up, maybe he wouldn't have gone through with it.

 "Bullying is lame" -Frank B
 "Bullies need to get over themselves and get a real life" Tom O
"Bullying is never the answer" Tyler C

Bishop Kearney promotes anti-bullying through their demerit system, their positive student body, as well as their supporting faculty. However, this isn't enough to truly minimize bullying. Next time you see someone you might not like, or someone who nobody really talks to, offer them  a hand, and have a nice conversation with them. This little action will gain you a friend, and it might even save a life.