2012 Is Upon Us

Boy oh boy, it is already 2012. My final semester of college. Kinda scary but kinda exciting! In just 4 short months everything I have been working for since...well, I guess K-3, will finally all be over with. I will walk across the graduation stage, get my diploma, and be forced into the real world to get a full time job and start trying to support myself for the rest of my life. It is an exhilarating, terrifying, thrilling, scary thought. My whole life I have been given the job of a student (among other things and part time jobs) but my main responsibility was to go to class and do well in school. This comes with a sense of security in knowing exactly what you're doing and knowing what is expected of you, but again, it is what you have to do and you are tied to it. So when you graduate, although now you don't have a default "job" of being a student, you are now free from anything really. You don't have to worry about writing papers, studying for tests or working out a schedule with employers around your classes.  You are free. Free to do what you want and when you want. (This is not entirely true seeing as I would love to do a lot of things, but am restricted in the fact that doing almost anything costs money.) But after graduation is a crazy time in one's life (I would imagine and will soon find out.) Everything you've always known is suddenly done and you have the world before you; it is trying to figure out what to do with it that is the scary part. Actually taking those chances, following your dreams, feeling disappointment and fear, walking blindly into the unknown, knowing things are going to be hard, confusing, difficult, and sad but doing them anyway because sometimes there are things that you just have to do but will feel better after they are done, even if it is hard at the time. So here is to enjoying my last semester. My last semester of certainty, of schooling, test taking and group papers/presentations, my last semester of being tied to an obligation that requires time and location. Because come May, it will all be over and done, with the world before me. I have absolutely no idea what 2012 has in store for me (at least starting in May) but I hope whatever it is I am happy, love what i'm doing,  and making great memories.

Hear Me Out. Spread The Love.

After seeing 3 different people post this video on Facebook and Twitter I decided I should probably watch it. It is heartbreaking. What is so wrong with society that this kid had to start cutting himself in second grade? I mean, I know kids can be mean and bullies, but where are all the adults? What are the teachers up to, do they see this going on? Does no one notice any of his scars?

Now, i've never actually been bullied, but I do know what it is like to be an outcast...to feel like you are on the outside looking in, to not have many friends and to be mad at yourself. I could feel his tears. I have no idea why kids would be so cruel as to call this kid all these names. From the sound of it, maybe they think he is gay. Now is he? I have no idea; I mean, he is only in 8th grade so can we cut this kid some slack? And so what if he is? Does that give kids a free pass to bully and teachers a free pass to look away?

I get it, everyone has their own beliefs and their own views but a difference of opinion shouldn't foster hate. Given the fact that I have grown up in a Christian environment and going to church all my life, I know how almost everyone around me feels about this subject, which is why I haven't really spoken up about it until now whenever I see things like this happen. I've heard it in my own family. We think being gay is a sin so it is ok to look down on people and call them names and make them feel terrible about it...cause it is something you don't agree with or understand. But since when did God say it was ok to go around and turn a blind eye on bullying since it was to a person you think is less than yourself? Or think, 'I will bully or let this bullying slide because who the person is is something I don't want to stand up for or support.' ...like they deserve the nasty looks and remarks they get.

Look, people are different. I don't get a lot of people and i'm sure a ton of people do not get me, but I think it's about time to put these differences aside and try to work on a more loving and civilized society...and that goes for everyone. Smile when you pass a homeless man on the street. Be patient when there is an elderly person trying to cross the street and you are waiting to turn. How about not judging the guy or girl next to you in line who has a lot of tattoos and has gauges in their ears.  Be kind to that one person that always seems to be picked on, for whatever reason. Befriend the outcast and love them too, in spite of who they are or what they believe.

Now, i'm not trying make people change their minds on what they believe is right or wrong...all i'm looking for is a little bit more compassion and love. Even if it is to those you don't agree with. That's all. Because truth of the matter, where do you think these kids get the idea to bully each other and who to pick on? From their examples. People they watch; their parents and society. So that's where this change needs to start. With adults, with society, with you, with me.