The R word

Honestly, I haven't heard "The dreaded R word" used in years. Personally, I just think that the R word was a past phrase, like "the bomb" or "the bee's knees". This word used to be heavily used in schools and recreational areas. However, since political organizations have attacked the use of "The R word", this word has faded away. Many people realized how terrible it was to use the R word as a derogatory term. Before this phase faded, many people were hurt by the use of this word, and many efforts were made to help stop the use of the R word.

 Linda Horsman, a mother of an autistic child, took much offense when she heard the R word casually being thrown around by several teenagers in her area. She wanted to tell them that the R word had actually been banned, being replaced by the term "intellectual disability". However, she hesitated, and didn't say anything. She thought the teenagers wouldn't understand her argument, and further spread around the word. As a parent of a child with autism, she was greatly offended by this scenario.

Another mother who has a daughter with multiple mental disabilities is also greatly offended by the word. Se feels that every use of the "R word" is a personal offense against people with mental disabilities. She wants her daughter to have the same chances in life as everyone else.

Many efforts are being made to stop the use of the R word.

At St. Mark Elementary School, four hundred people, including Cleveland Browns Pro Bowl Offensive tackle, Joe Thomas gathered to "take a pledge" to "Spread the Word to End the Word". The event was organized by a parent that had an autistic child attending the school. Joe Thomas encouraged the crowd to "Respect Everybody, no matter who they are!" as the crowd roared. St. Mark has raised the bar for other schools, realizing that education is for every child, not just the "typical" kids.


Lillian, a student, had an assembly in school about "spread the word to End the word" and learned all about the cause. When asked if she had used the word, she reluctantly raised her hand, owning up to her actions. She has a cousin with a mental disability. She broke down, starting to cry.

However, one student argues that the R word doesn't need to be totally banned. Vicki, who has a brother with "mental retardation", states that the R word does not need to be derogatory. There are multiple definitions for the word "retard"

Many of us forget, but retardation is still used as a regular word, not just slang. To retard something is to hinder or slow down something, such as a fire extinguisher is a retardant for fires.

While this word can prove to be offensive to people, it doesn't mean that we have a right to "ban" the word from our vocabulary. Banning a word goes against the first amendment of the constitution, more specifically, our freedom of speech. While we should work on discouraging use of the word, it would be illegal to make it against the law to use the word.

Saving Private Bosco

Bosco, a child soldier in Africa, marched for days without food or water. Bosco did not dream of the future. He only focused on the immediate present, as he knew he might not live another day. Armed with an AK-47 to loot and kill, he recalls his abduction from his Northern Ugandan house by the Lord's resistance army. He recalls the sight of his parents, shot dead, lying lifeless. He recalls the adrenaline pumping as he felt the barrel of a pistol pressed against his forehead. He recalls the desperation he felt as the officers forced him into their  jeep. He hears a gunshot, and snaps out of his recollection of the past. If he wants to stay alive, he needs to stay alert, even without the food and water to do so. He doesn't want to end up like one of the tens of thousands of children murdered within the last twenty years in the small African country of Uganda.

The Invisible children is trying to stop this from happening to any child. This non-profit organization, run by a group of young adults, aims to stop Kony, the leader of the LRA, the organization responsible for these kidnappings.
The Invisible Children organization looks to make this problem in Africa viral. If more people know about this problem, more people will contribute towards stopping Kony. If Kony is stopped, these children will be saved. As seen in the graph below, 80.6% of the funds going toward the Invisible Children organization is contributed directly towards stopping Kony.

These proceeds will go toward several projects funded by the Invisible children. Radio towers will be set up in African villages, allowing for communication between the villages regarding the LRA's whereabouts. The economy of Uganda will be restored through investments in education, defense, and economic recovery programs. The invisible children is also using their funding to make movies and documentaries to make this problems even more viral. However, this problem can't be solved without your help.

This problem is happening right now. Many African children have AK-47's mounted on their backs. They're marching without food or water, searching for African schools to abduct more children.

Why? These children don't deserve this fate. They need our help. We are the only people who can help the invisibles. WE can donate our time, notifying others of this problem. We can donate our money, helping set up radio towers. We can donate our efforts, making sure this ends. We need to make this happen.

The Right Path

Should you drink beer with your friends at the party or stay on soft drinks? Should you look at the test answers for this test you didn't study for on the teacher's desk when she's out of the classroom? Should you take the money in the wallet left in the locker room or return it to it's owner? Should you have sex with your girlfriend or boyfriend or wait until marriage? Should you go to your friend's party, knowing that your mom disapproves of your friend? These are just some of the moral dilemmas that a teenager faces in their everyday life. With all these expectations and pressures suddenly burdening teenagers, they often lose sight of what's really important in life; Faith, hope, and love. These Theological Virtues guide teenagers to the right answer. Each question has a right answer, with its reasoning behind the First Commandment "You shall have no other gods before me" (Exodus 20:3).  Who is God? Why should we put God first? How would teenagers live the first commandment? These questions will be further examined.

Who is God? Teenagers might be tempted to say that he is our superior, our creator, and a presence. To an extent, this is true, but God is more than just that. God is everything and everybody. Think about that. Everything in this world has been created by one, and only one God. All the stars, the planets, the sun and moon, every living and non-living being. All created by one God. I feel pretty small just talking about it. Along with being God's creation, we are all apart of God. Everything has a bit of God inside of it. Every person you talk to is one of God's. Everything you use is one of God's. Even the device you are reading this blog on is God's. This observation makes it obvious why we should put God first.

We should put God first because he is everything. He created everything. There is a little bit of God in everything. It would be like going to a friend's house just to play on his Xbox 360. People should go to their friend's house for the company of their friends, not for their possessions. Even though this seems completely logical, people still don't see this simple truth. Some people preach heresies, denying the truth of our faith. Others, will flat out deny the existence of God. These atheists, those who deny the existence of God, in my opinion, are cocky. They think of themselves as higher than God, even high enough to judge God. This is the ultimate sin against the first commandment. Options such as atheism tempt teenagers to turn away from God.

This is why it's important for teenagers to live with the first commandment in mind. Along with showing reverence to our one and only God, it strengthens our morals, and guides us to make the right decisions in peer pressure situations. Should you drink beer with your friends, or should you stick to soft drinks? Drinking Beer will only harm your body, which is a creation of God. Harming your body like that shows a disrespect to God, breaking the first commandment. Should you take the money in the wallet left in the locker room or return it to it's owner? You should return the wallet and money o it's rightful owner. Taking the money would mean putting material goods before God, which breaks the first commandment. Should you have sex with your boyfriend or girlfriend or wait until marriage? You should wait until marriage. Along with sharing your first time with the most important girl of your life, having sex before marriage means risking pregnancy, which will destroy a teenager's potential. Destroying yourself, along with destroying another of God's creations, is a sin against the first commandment. The first commandment guides teenagers to make the right decision.

If teenagers take out some time to examine the meaning behind the first commandment, it'll truly guide help teenagers guide themselves along the right path. Having a monotheistic belief in our one and only God will help teenagers make the right choice not only for God, but for themselves as well. Temptations, such as worshiping material goods over God, also known as Idolatry, are easy to fall into if you're not guided by the first commandment. However, living the first commandment will make such temptations easy to resist. The first commandment keeps teenagers on the right path to moral, mental, physical, and spiritual success.

The Stand-Your-Ground Law: an excuse for murder

What is murder? The killing of one party by another party. While there is a charge for murder, people find loopholes in the system, this being the Stand-Your-Ground law. This law gives "victims" permission to use deadly force against their perpetrator for self-defense. However, this law has protected many murderers from facing charges. Three example of this include the murders of Emmet Till, Trayvon Martin, and, within the last few months, the murder of Jordan Davis. Each of these cases has a common theme: a black teenager being murdered by a white man in self defense. This "Stand-Your-Ground law needs to be modified so gruesome murders like these don't occur in the future.

The most gruesome murder of them all, the murder of Emmet Till, stirred up controversy over black rights and privileges. Emmet Till, a fourteen year old, was transported to a barn, beat up, and had one of his eyes gorged out before finally being shot. Bryant, the perpetrator, was let off scot-free because of confusions regarding the murder as well as the position of self-defense. Later, under the protection of Double Jeopardy, Bryant admitted to killing Till. This stirred up controversy amongst the black community, and was noted as a pivotal event towards obtaining African-American rights.

Last year, February 2012, as you all know, Trayvon Martin was shot after reportedly seeming out of place, walking around the rain leisurely, cutting in-between houses, and looking at all the houses. Zimmerman, the perpetrator, came out of the violent encounter with a bloody nose. Zimmerman claimed to be acting in self defense, and was protected under the Stand-Your-Ground law. My question is, why did Zimmerman have a gun to shoot Martin in the first place? Does everybody have a gun in their back pocket or something? Everybody seems to want a gun for protection, but I don't see any stories about a man protecting his family from a murderer. I just don't see the point in having a gun, it only causes more and more harm. No person should be able to decide whether a person should live or not with a pull of a trigger.

Most recently, in December 2012, Jordan Davis was shot by a gun collector in self defense. Michael Dunn, the perpetrator, claimed that when told to turn their blasting music down, Davis pointed a gun at him. When the area was searched, it was reported that Davis never had a gun. In this case, it was only logical for Dunn to have a gun; he's a gun collector. He felt threatened by Davis, thinking Davis pointed a gun at him. In response, Dunn pulled out a gun and shot at Davis' car eight times, killing Davis. While the circumstances were unfortunate, Dunn had a right to shoot at the car. This proves that these murders are still happening.

The United States Government needs to revise their policy of the Stand-Your-Ground law. Given the current condition of the law, if one feels threatened by another, they have a right to use deadly forces to stop the threat. However, this law has been stretched. In the case of Emmet Till and Trayvon Martin, both of these teenagers didn't pose a direct threat to the citizen until the citizen got involved. Along with the stand-your-ground law, gun control also needs to be monitored. No citizen should have the right to decide the fate of another citizen with the simple pull of a trigger. People shouldn't feel the need to buy guns for their own protection. However, because of stories like this, more and more Americans seek to buy a gun, "just in case". The only result of having the power to decide whether a person should live or not would be irresponsible use, resulting in unnecessary death. Leave the dangers of the world up to the police, not yourself.