Silence begets Violence

I would like to express my deep sadness for all those who are affected by the horrific tragedy that occurred last friday.  I could not believe what I was seeing on the news that day, as if I was in a nightmare.  I cannot even fathom the terror that erupted throughout the school that day and the ongoing fear and sorrow ever since.  I feel like the shooting in Newtown, CT has really sent a shock wave throughout the nation, especially in all the schools.  This specific tragedy I believe has touched everyone's hearts because it had to do with innocent children.  These children were 6 and 7 year olds who didn't get the chance to experience the world.  The parents kissed each of their children goodbye that day, leaving them to get on the bus at 8 in the morning and expected to see them again at 3 in the afternoon.  A parents worst nightmare came true last friday, and prayed to God they would see their children once again.  But 20 children did not see their parents again.  Just writing that sentence gives me chills throughout my body.
This tragedy has really brought everyone of all races and ethnicities together to help those affected by the shooting tragedy.  This tragedy brought all the school districts together to look over their safety instructions in case of an emergency ever occurred to keep the students safe.  Every parent wants to feel safe when they send their children to school, and thats why I feel this tragedy really affected everyone. Also, the courage and strength that was exemplified by the teachers and staff of the school really touched my heart.  The teachers put the children's lives first and the seven teachers and faculty died a hero that day.  I'm extremely sad that this tragedy ever happened and I will continue to pray for all those who are affected by this shooting.

Bangladesh Factory Fire

After I read this and a few other articles related to the horrific factory fire, I was enraged about the treatment the workers went through in such high-risk environments.  Over 100 lives were lost in this factory making clothes for major companies such as Wal-Mart, Disney and Sears.  What point I was very shocked about was when Kevin Gardner, a spokesperson for Wal-Mart, refused to comment on the situation when he was asked how a supplier could use a factory without the retailer's approval.  This really shows how corporations have gotten lazy and began to slack off on their job and let certain things fly under the radar.  How can a person not know where their company's merchandise is being produced at?  Is that not a person's job to find safe areas to supply their brands to be made?  This also happened with the company, Sears, who knew after the fire that their merchandise was being produced there without approval through a vendor.
Another point I thought was absolutely insane was that the eight-story building had no emergency exits.  I cannot seem to understand why the three men arrested would lock the people inside the factory at their stations.  A safety drill or not, if the fire alarm goes off everyone should exit the building immediately.  What were the three men gaining when they locked the workers inside?  They put 1,400 people's lives at stack and killing 112 of them.  This tragic fire is a wake-up call for all companies to double check the factories and their safety/work methods.

Radical Forgiveness

When I read the blog about Pope John Paul forgiving the man who shot him 6 times, I was in a complete state of shock.  I cannot even imagine how much strength and faith it took the late Pope to forgive his almost assassin.  Personally, I find it extremely hard to forgive someone who may have talked about me behind my back and I cannot find the strength to forgive.  I feel guilty saying that I have trouble forgiving people at times because I am causing hate and anger in the world, but it is extremely hard to forgive someone who has hurt you or a person you love in some way.  But it is absolutely unbelievable to me that the Pope forgave the man who almost killed him...the thought is utterly mind blowing.  I am glad the Pope found love and forgiveness in his heart to forgive this man with the help of God and I think every human being should look at the Pope's actions as a role model for their own life.  Forgiveness is hard, but without forgiveness there is no peace or love, and this is what starts wars and violence and hatred.  Even though I would find it extremely difficult for myself to forgive someone who tried to kill me, I commend the Pope for his faith and large amounts of forgiveness.

The Messy World

Just as Kofi Annan said in an interview on "The Daily Show with John Stewart", the world is indeed "messy".  I believe the world needs to come together and find eternal peace and work together and fix problems such as world hunger or government control.  We as a whole live on this Earth together and set forth to follow God's plan, not to fight with each other for control or power.  Just as the article said, why is peace so difficult for humankind?  How much is it going to take for everyone to come together and find peace?  The world should not hate one another and fight for land or power.  How many dying children is it going to take for the world to realize we need to solve world hunger and equally distribute and share goods?  How many terrorist attacks is it going to take to fix all the violence in the world?  These questions need to be answered before the world goes into another World War.
When I watch the news and see all the the violence in our own city of Philadelphia, I get immensely sad.  Many people break into stores or banks because they are so desperate in need of food or money, they go to extreme measures to get it.  Also, people need to stop with the racism and all the violence and stop shooting each other in the streets.  Killing someone and causing violence only causes more problems.  I try to do the best I can in my own life by helping others around me with there problems and cause peace.  The little things definitely do matter in the world.  I always talk with my friends and give them advice in their life because we are all brothers and sisters and children of God.
The Gospel message tells us to follow God's word and to love your neighbor as you love yourself and treat others how you want to be treated.  We as a global community need to really come together and find peace and love each other, or else thousands of innocent people will die from all the violence and hate.  We as a nation need to solve our problems first by keeping the nation together and not having states secede from the nation.  We need to solve all the messiness in the world fast, or another war will start causing chaos and destruction everywhere.

Global Solidarity

I do believe that the world is responsible to help other countries in need, especially if it is to protect the rights of others.  I found this article very disturbing in many different ways.  I cannot even imagine a mother-in-law beheading her own daughter because her daughter did not want to go into prostitution.  How can a mother cold-heartedly murder her own daughter?  Why would you want your daughter to go through such turmoil such as prostitution just to get money?  Twenty year old Mah Gul stood by her rights as a human and say no, but was unfortunately betrayed by her own family.
This article should raise flags all around the world because a girl was defied her own rights as a person and was forced into something she did not want to do.  The theme of Rights and Responsibilities really refers to this article because every person has God given rights to follow, such as the basic needs to live.  Mah Gul had her rights taken away from her by her family and did not have the ability to say no to something she did not want to do.  Also, the theme solidarity can be found in this article as well.  Every person is created in the image and likeliness of God and are all created equal.  We are all children of God and should be treated with equal amounts of respect.  Mah Gul's family did not treat Mah Gul with any respect and saw her as an object, not a person.  This is morally wrong on many levels and I am shocked on how brutally and disrespectfully this girl was treated.  

Resolution

Starting on October 11, 2012 and going all the way to November 24, 2013, Pope Benedict XVI announced it is a "year of faith", to celebrate the Vatican and being apart of the Catholic Church.  After reading the article, I started to reflect on what I can do to celebrate my faith and what my resolutions would be.  My first resolution is raising money for my Church.  Saint Andrews is very big on raising awareness about local charities and giving support to families in need, so donating money would be helpful.  Also, I would like to be more involved with CSC at school.  There are so many amazing programs that are apart of CSC that I would love to do to help out.  I am really interested in taking part of the dog walking and donating to the SPCA that take place on Sunday's.  Also, I would love to do Saint Francis Inn.  There are so many good charitable things I would love to be apart of to help my community.  I also want to get into the habit of going to Church on Sundays.  I'll be honest, I have not gone to Church in months, which is something I regret.  But during this year of faith I want to start going to Church more often and being more in touch with my relationship with God.  I also want to always keep in mind others before myself.  Even though I am a senior and want to act tough infront of the lower classmen, maybe talking to a Freshmen or asking how there classes are going will make someone's day a little brighter.  There is no point on pushing down a Freshmen if they walk too slow in the hallway; we were Freshmen once, and it can be a terrifying experience.  So I want to treat others how I want to be treated and also go out of my way to help out a friend or even a stranger.  During this year of faith I am really going to get a better relationship with God and be more involved with my Church and faith.

Circle of Protection

I believe that the Cirlce of Protection project is a great idea to help the poor and less fortunate.  The economy the United States is in at the moment is terrible and it is nearly impossible for every person to have a job.  Millions of people are homeless or live in poverty because they were not given an opportunity to show their talents and what they can bring to the world.  It is heart breaking to hear about children growing up in poverty, or a parent unable to buy groceries because they can't afford it.  We need to come together as a nation to help out one another to get out of this depression.  This is what Circle of Protection is trying to achieve, one step at a time.  This program is set to help the homeless and families in poverty and supply food and help get a person back on their feet.  Circle of Protection is a second chance for those who want a better life, and we need to all work together to help those who need our help.

Govenor Romney talked about how important it is to help the poor and less fortunate.  He feels pain for those in suffering.  With Romney's 5 step economy plan, Romney hopes to supply about 12 million jobs for people in this country.  He understands that this is a delicate process, but he is determined to get those in poverty up to the middle class.  Romney is going to enforce some budget cuts, but he believes it is necessary in order to restore the economy. 

President Obama also discussed the importance of charity and showing support to your neighbor.  Obama wants to help  the less fortunate by getting themback on their feet.  Obama believes in helping out your neighbor, and understands this country needs to work together as one to restore the economy. Obama does not want to put more taxes on the poor and middle class, but isn't going to raise taxes on those who were blessed with a lot.  Obama wants to keep the government as a saftey net to the poor; for example, the government supplies food stamps for those with a low income.

All in all, both canadites understand how important it is to bring back a stable economy and help the poor because no one should live on the streets or in poverty.  We need to restore hope back in this country and supply jobs which leads to more opportunity.      

Project H.O.M.E

When I looked around the website of Project Home, I really came to appreciate this organizations hard work and charitable acts towards the homeless.  Project H.O.M.E strives to help people with housing, get opportunities for employment, receive medical care, and get an education.  Most homeless charities only raise money to help those who are homeless as a temporary fix.  Most other charities receive money and supply food and supplies to survive for the homeless; that does not fix the problems in the future.  What I think is amazing about Project Home is they think ahead and how to permanently solve the problem, not just temporaraly fix it.  This organization works to supply a good living environment for the homeless and help them get back on their feet to get a job and go back to supporting themselves.  America is currently in a terrible economic state and it is very hard for many to get a job and find themselves unable to pay the bills, forcing them to loose there house and insurance and become homeless.  Every person deserves equal opportunities and should not spend their life living on the street.  I really an inspired by Project Home and I commend them for all there hard work for making the world a better place to live in.

Remembering September 11

     September 11 is a day that no American is every going to forget.  I remember everything that happened that day.  I remember my grade school closing early and my mom coming to pick me up and was crying in the car.  I remember sitting in front of the TV with my parents and watching people hang out the burning windows 100s of floors in the air.  I remember that day was complete chaos.
     After reading the article, I want to forgive Osama bin Laden because I feel like a bad person if I can't find it in my heart to forgive.  But I just cannot seem to forgive the unspeakable actions Osama bin Laden and the al Qaeda.  1,000's of innocent lives of people who were expecting a normal day at work were lost.  How can a man device such an evil plan on hijacking American airplanes and flying them straight into buildings.  I don't understand how a man can go to sleep at night and know that he caused many families to break apart, much destruction to a city, and send terror flying like wildfire through the United States.  I will not and cannot forgive a man who has such evil in his heart and is not okay for what he did.  Yes, I can move on and not dwell in the past and look at the future, but I cannot find in my heart forgiveness.
     September 11, 2001 was a terrible, terrible day and will always be remembered in history and was caused by an evil group of people who like spreading terror and disrupting peace.  There was no reason for 9/11 and Osama bin Laden had no reason to eliminate the lives of many innocent people.  I will not forgive Osama bin Laden and never be able to forgive a man who committed such a terrible, terrible crime.