Trayvon Martin

On February 26, 2012, a 17 year old African American named Trayvon Martin was shot and killed in Sanford, Florida. The shooter was George Zimmerman, a 28 year old white man. Zimmerman admits killing Martin, but claims he was acting in self-defense. Almost a month after Martin's death, no arrests have been made and Zimmerman remains free.

The day Trayvon was killed, he was walking home from a convenience store with a bag of skittles for his little brother and a can of iced tea. Zimmerman called the police to report Martin's "suspicious" behavior, which he described as "just walking around looking about." Zimmerman was in his car when he saw Martin walking on the street. He called the police and said: "There's a real suspicious guy. This guy looks like he's up to no good, on drugs or something. It's raining and he's just walking around looking about." Zimmerman kept complaining about the suspicious behavior and even after the police told him to stop following Trayvon, he continued to.

Zimmeran was not even a registered member of the Neighborhood Watch group but he violated basic Neigborhood Watch guidlines by carrying a 9 millimeter handgun. The sound of the gunshot that killed Trayvon was on the 911 tapes and it is clear George Zimmerman murdered an innocent young man. Zimmerman claims he killed him for self-defense however he cannot prove that Trayvon was doing anything suspicious. On top of that, Trayvon was unarmed and had no criminal record.

I think that George Zimmerman is a racist and was racial profiling. Trayvon was wearing jeans, white tennis shoes, and a hoodie. Zimmerman saw him and said he looked odd and suspicious. If a white person was wearing the exact same thing I don't think Zimmerman would have thought twice about the guy. I think that if the shooter was black and the victim was white the case would be handled differently and the shooter would already be in jail. 

It is really upsetting to think that Trayvon's parents have to live their lives thinking about how the murderer of thier son is walking around free. Zimmerman needs to be put in jail for the horrible deed he did and justice needs to be served. Rest in peace Trayvon.

Ending the "R" Word

Many times, either in school or outside of school, you hear someone say the word "retarded." This word can be very hurtful to those with mental disabilities or special needs. It is not a word you should just throw around and say all the time because it can cause a person with special needs or someone who knows someone with special needs to feel horrible about themselves or the person they know. 

I know people who have mental disabilities or special needs and they are some of the kindest, most loving people I have ever met. Just because they don't look or sound like you, does not mean that they are any different than you. I can imagine life is already hard with a disability and by saying they are retarded, just makes them feel worse and makes life harder. They did not choose to be born the way they were and people should not judge them for something they cannot control. 

I do not think that the "R" word should be banned however I do think that people need to be more conscious of what they say. People should stop judging others and start worrying about more important things. Those with mental disabilities can accomplish just as much as you or I can and they are no different than we are.

My Teacher Won't Let Me Swear On the Internet

At the beginning of the 2011-2012 school year, my religion teacher asked all students to make a twitter account for educational purposes to make it easier for him to grade the blogs that we have to post for the class.  In just a few short months many of the students started using twitter more and more for recreational purposes and not for school.  Students started using profanity and became careless with what they were posting on twitter. 

Our teacher had a conversation with us about not swearing on twitter and if we want to use profanity, we need to make two accounts, one for school, and one for fun. Some people are upset with this because they say that their twitter is theirs and they should be allowed to say whatever they want on their twitter. I think that since our twitter accounts are for school we should not swear on our twitter until we are done with the class that requires us to have a twitter.  We should respect the teacher and stop using profanity on the internet because once you say it, it is on the internet forever. 

I personally started using profanity on twitter, however now I will stop swearing on the internet and I will try to help others stop using profanity on twitter as well. It is important to respect the teacher and even though the twitter accounts are ours, we got them because of religion class and we should not be using them to swear or say anything inappropriate. 

New Years Resolutions for the World

1. Help end world hunger
2. Stop crime and murder
3. Pay more attention to the church
4. Fix the economy
5. Keep families together
6. Keep kids in school so they can get a good education
7. Make more jobs so everyone can have a good income
8. Support countries less fortunate than America
9. End obesity
10. Try to have less teen pregnancy

Invisible Children

In the spring of 2003, three young filmmakers, Laren Poole, Jason Russell, and Ben Keesey traveled to Africa in search of a story. What started out as a film making adventure transformed into much more when these three boys from California discovered a tragedy that both disgusted and inspired them, a tragedy where children are both the weapons and the victims of a violent war.  They spent some time in Uganda and when they returned to the States, they created a documentary "Invisible Children: Rough Cut," a film that exposes the tragic realities of northern Uganda's night commuters and child soldiers.  This film was originally just for friends and family but soon it became a huge success and now has been seen by millions of people, effecting every person who lays eyes on this documentary.



The war in northern Uganda started by Joseph Kony, the leader of the LRA, has been called the most neglected humanitarian emergency in the world today. For the past 23 years, the Lord’s Resistance Army and the Government of Uganda have been waging a war that has left almost two million innocent civilians caught in the middle. The Government of Uganda's attempt to protect its citizens from this rebel militia has largely failed, resulting in an entire generation of youth that has never known or seen peace. 

Since Invisible Children: Rough Cut was filmed in 2003, night commuting has ended for the children of northern Uganda. In recent years peace seemed to be within reach, mostly due to the Juba Peace Talks. From June 2006 to March 2008 in Juba, Sudan, the Lord’s Resistance Army and the Government of Uganda engaged in a series of peace talks in order to end the conflict. These peace talks, supported by special envoys from the United States and other nations, allowed for the longest period of peace in northern Uganda’s 23-year war.  A great accomplishment for all people forced to be involved in this tragic violence.

"We are story tellers. We make documentaries about war-affected children in east Africa and tour them around the world."

Invisible children's staff and founders use the power of media to inspire young people to help end the longest running war in Africa. Their model has effected hundreds of thousands of people and many of those people have been called to action through the films and the volunteers that tour them.  These people do everything they can to help out and believe that the problems of central Africa need to be tackled comprehensively, from peace to education. Solving them will be no easy task, and it will take many people doing all that they can to ensure the best result by the end of this war. 

Wesboro Baptist Church

Westboro Baptist Church, based in Topeka, Kansas, is a small, extremely homophobic, anti-Semitic hate group that regularly stages protests around the country, often several times a week. The group pickets institutions and individuals they think support homosexuality or otherwise disagree in what they believe is God’s law. Established in 1995, as a not-for-profit organization, WBC considers itself an “Old School" Baptist Church. WBC’s leader Fred Phelps and several of his children and dozens of his grandchildren appear to make up the majority of the group’s members.

On the church's website, WBC states "We engage in daily peaceful sidewalk demonstrations opposing the homosexual lifestyle of soul-damning, nation-destroying filth. We display large, colorful signs containing Bible words and sentiments, including: GOD HATES FAGS, FAGS HATE GOD, AIDS CURES FAGS, THANK GOD FOR AIDS, FAGS BURN IN HELL, GOD IS NOT MOCKED, FAGS ARE NATURE FREAKS, GOD GAVE FAGS UP, NO SPECIAL LAWS FOR FAGS, FAGS DOOM NATIONS, THANK GOD FOR DEAD SOLDIERS, FAG TROOPS, GOD BLEW UP THE TROOPS, GOD HATES AMERICA, AMERICA IS DOOMED, THE WORLD IS DOOMED." 

WBC members say that “God’s hatred is one of His holy attributes” and that their picketing is a form of preaching to a “doomed” country unable to hear their message in any other way.  WBC says they do what they do because if they did not act in the way that they do, no one would listen. They think that their actions are moral and correct in God's eyes. WBC says that this is how God wants everyone to act.

Some people agree with what Westboro is doing. No matter how "loathsome" the Westboro Baptist Church may be, says Alana Goodman at Commentary, "the court's decision is correct." The "universally despised" group is better opposed by counter-protests or picketing laws, not by ignoring the constitution. "The price of free speech is that we have to put up with the worst of it."

However most people disagree with Westboro Baptist Church. The First Amendment should not be used to justify the "vicious verbal assault that occurred in this case," says Justice Samuel Alito in his citation of dissent. In fact, the Supreme Court has ruled before that words can, "by their very utterance, inflict injury." The First Amendment was not designed to uphold this type of "malevolent verbal attack."

When I googled Westboro Baptist Church I notice right off the bat that something was wrong.  Instead of having a normal website name such as "www.wesborobaptistchurch.com" the website is called www.godhatesfags.com. What Wesboro Baptist Church is doing is both immoral and disgusting.  They put words in other peoples mouths claiming that they are Christians and following what God wants, by believing in Christianity.  These people are no where near Christian.  By traveling around the world spreading their hate towards soldiers, homosexuals, and Jews does nothing but promote hate.  Human dignity is a type of worth that every human being has. It is used as a right of respect during political, moral, or ethical conversations. The people at Westboro use their human dignity in the wrong way by not respecting peoples opinions and ways of life. These people think that what they are doing is a charity for the world but it is just sick and wrong.  Everyone is entitled to their own way of life and these people should not try to stop it.  Especially the way they are doing it.

Cyber-Bullying

Cyber-bullying is the use of the Internet and related technologies to harm other people, in a deliberate, repeated, and hostile manner.  As cyber-bullying is becoming more common in society, many groups are trying there best to stop it.  The term cyber-bullying was first coined and defined by Bill Belsey, as "the use of information and communication technologies to support deliberate, repeated, and hostile behavior by an individual or group, that is intended to harm others."  Cyber-bullying can be as simple as continuing to send e-mail to someone who has said they want no further contact with the sender, but it may also include threats, sexual remarks, "hate speech", ganging up on victims, and posting false statements about someone to humiliate them. 

Cyber-bullying statistics: http://drclaudiocerullo.com/2011/01/05/cyber-bullying-statistics/

The Harford County Examiner reported concerning statistics on cyber bullying:

• Around half of teens have been the victims of cyber bullying
• Only 1 in 10 teens tells a parent if they have been a cyber bully victim
• Fewer than 1 in 5 cyber bullying incidents are reported to law enforcement
• 1 in 10 adolescents or teens have had embarrassing or damaging pictures taken of themselves without their permission, often using cell phone cameras
• About 1 in 5 teens have posted or sent sexually suggestive or nude pictures of themselves to others
• Girls are somewhat more likely than boys to be involved in cyber bullying

These statistics alot with many others are very alarming and scary to see.  Statistics show that cyber bullying is a serious problem among adolescents and teens. By being more aware of cyber bullying, teens and adults can help to fight it.  Many cyber bullies think that bullying others online is funny and harmless. Cyber bullies may not realize the consequences for themselves of cyber-bullying. The things teens post online now may reflect badly on them later when they apply for college or a job.  It is always important to be extremely careful of what you put online.  Once you hit the send button whatever you type or post is on the internet, FOREVER.



There are many ways to help stop cyber-bullying. http://www.stopcyberbullying.org/take_action/take_a_stand_against_cyberbullying.html is a great website that gives individuals information on how to prevent and take a stand against cyber-bullying. We need to teach children that silence, when others are being hurt, is not acceptable. If they don’t allow the cyberbullies to use them to embarrass or torment others, cyber-bullying will quickly stop. It’s a large task, but in the end, our children will be safer online and offline. We will have helped create a generation of good cybercitizens, controlling the technology instead of being controlled by it.