No Silver Lining

There is absolutely no silver lining here. The shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary are a tragedy from which it will take a long time to recover.

26 people lost their lives

Of those 26 people, 20 were under the age of 10, 6 and 7 to be exact. The lives of 20 children were taken and nothing can make that better. Their friends and families may never be able to fully recover from the loss. 

A very similar thing happened in China around the same time as the Sandy Hook massacre. A man in China stabbed 22 children outside of an elementary school. No one was killed. This is not to take away from the trauma, pain and suffering of these victims. Their experience was traumatizing and may leave mental and physical scars on the victims for the rest of their lives. But at least they get to have a "rest of their lives." The victims of the Sandy Hook massacre will not. 

The differences in these two stories calls into question the always controversial topic of gun control. Even without this latest tragedy, I would be for tighter gun control. Most violent crimes are committed with guns. The type of gun also matter. Assault weapons cause mass casualties that would not be possible with guns of a lower caliber. 

They would find a way to get them anyways.

This argument does nothing for me. Its like saying that a criminal could still break into the house so just  give them the TV now. If assault weapons were illegal or even just regulated more closely, illegal guns would be harder to obtain and much more expensive. This would reduce the number of individuals that had access. There is nothing that can be done to totally elimination  the number of people that have access to these guns and I know that. Something has to be done though.

"Guns don't kill people, people kill people." 

VS. 

"Guns don't kill people, they kill LOTS of people."

Really? There were 22 children attacked by a person. They all survived. There was another group of 26 people attacked by a person. All of them died. Was the difference the person or the weapon? Guns are part of the problem. The truth is that a person with a gun can do a LOT more damage than someone with a knife or even a gun of a lesser caliber. There is evidence that proves that strict gun laws can be effective. The very strict gun laws in Japan include a thorough background check system. Gun ownership is down and they have 11 gun related murders to our 12,000. I am not suggesting that we adopt their policies verbatim but it is food for thought. The U.S. has the highest gun related death rate in the world. By far. There IS a problem and those that say there isn't are either a) lying or b) just that ignorant. (whether or not they believe gun control is the answer.)

Chris Rock is a very funny man. But he makes a good point behind the even better joke. 

“You don’t need no gun control, you know what you need? We need some bullet control...I think all bullets should cost five thousand dollars… five thousand dollars per bullet… You know why? Cause if a bullet cost five thousand dollars there would be no more innocent bystanders.
Yeah! Every time somebody get shut we’d say, ‘Damn, he must have done something ... S**t, he’s got fifty thousand dollars worth of bullets in his a**.’ - Chris Rock

Does this look like something you shoot a deer with? It doesn't to me. But it is what 20 school children were shot with.

I don't pretend to know everything about gun control. I know even less about guns themselves. But you don't have to be a genius to know that there is a problem. You don't want stricter gun control or ammunition control? Then what do you propose we do about this? How many school shootings and other tragedies like this have to happen before something is done about it. Gun control is just the first issue that comes to everyone's mind but if anyone else has a suggestion to help make sure that these things can no longer happen, I'd love to hear it. I'm all ears. 

There is no cut and dry response to an issue of such grave importance, but something has got to give.

What you need to know about sin

"Sin is rebelling against God."

In its simplicity, it holds truth. No matter how complicated your life and the decisions you make get, it can all be broken down to this one statement. When you sin it never affects only you. At the minimum it affects you and God. God laid out clearly Ten Commandments for us to follow, the Beatitudes, all of scripture, there is any number of sources to turn to for guidance in our actions. To sin is to go against him, especially when his will is clearly laid out before us. 

"...human beings live in lawless communities that do not reflect God's plan for humanity."

The sins of man cannot be blamed on God. So many people make the argument that if there is a god why is their war, famine, death, etc. This argument does not hold true because of free will. When evil things happen on earth because of the personal sins of man, that does not mean God willed it to be so. It means that they went against God's will. With free will comes great responsibility, responsibility to do that right thing and follow God's will not our own. But most people don't follow this and make irresponsible decisions, decisions that go against God. 

"[Sin is] an offense against God as well as a fault against reason, truth, and right conscience."

You can sin even if you don't believe in God. God's will is not just for Christians, it is for everyone because his will is what is good. He wants what is just and good in the world, the right thing to do. It is logical and stands to reason, truth and right conscience. His will is not ridiculous requests like 'it is sinning to not wear a purple hat after you ate meatloaf'. No. Don't kill. Don't lie.Don't cheat. Don't steal. These are simple things, easily applied in every day life that everyone should live by anyways regardless of religion, age, or social standing. When you sin it isn't just against God, but also against reason, truth, and right conscience because it simply wasn't the right thing to do.

"A sin of omission occurs when we fail to do something that is required by God's moral law."

Many people don't realize this. Not doing what you are supposed to do is just as bad as doing something you weren't supposed to do. It goes perfectly with another quote, "There are two kinds of evil people in this world. Those who do evil things and those who see evil things and don't try to stop it." It can be applied so many places in life. In school, if you see someone being bullied and don't stand up for them and do something and you just stand there and let it happen, it is almost as bad as being the one throwing the punches. Many people just let evil things happen and feel they have done nothing wrong because they weren't directly involved, but they have. A sin of omission is quite serious, just like a sin of commission. 

"Social sin happens when a sinful attitude or action becomes so commonly accepted that it goes unchallenged by most people"

We as a society are constantly guilt of this. The 'Oh thats just the way things are' attitude infects many situations. Individuals commit personal sin, but when many commit the same personal sin, that is when it becomes a social sin. For Example, paying a woman less for equal work as a man. If one boss does it, it is a personal sin. But because so many do it across the country, even the world, it is a social sin. Sexism, racism, ageism and the like are all social sins. Sometimes the social sin can originate from laws and spread that way. An example of that would be segregation laws that forced black and white Americans to have different schools, drinking fountains, park benches, bathrooms, transportation, etc. That is racism but is was manifested in the laws of some states. It began from racism and perpetuated it. While many disagreed, they often did nothing about it, a sin of omission. 

There are many kinds of sin and many things to know about them but it can be boiled down to much simpler terms. Sin is bad. Okay? Don't do it. Do the right thing. It isn't that hard. Your conscience is there to help you and there are always people to lean on for advice. It doesn't have to be that complicated. 

*Quotes from Christian Morality: Our Response to God's Love.

*All but a few of the opinions expressed here are the opinions that I was supposed to get from reading the textbook, not my own.

I am not a Democrat or a Republican but I am definitely not a Republican

I do not officially belong to a political party but my views are classified by most as left of center.

One of the planks of the Republican platform is entitled "reining in the EPA". The EPA is the Environment Protection Agency. As stated on their website, their "mission is to protect human health and the environment." The republican platform claims that regulations and restrictions put in place by the EPA are a burden on the economy. They put forth accusations backed by extremely vague numbers that their new regulations with cost American businesses and consumers money. To put it mildly, I disagree with this. This says that keeping the environment clean and livable is too much to ask of American businesses because it may cost them some revenue. Reform very well may be needed within the EPA but not for the reasons given by the platform. "Because it might cost us money" is not a good enough reason to strip a government agency designed to promote health of humans and the environment of the power to function.

I could not agree more with the democratic view on marriage. They "support the right of all families to have equal respect, responsibilities, and protections under the law." This particular plank calls for the repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act and a stop to the Respect for Marriage Act. Both try to deny same-sex couples the right to marry. Gay marriage is not an issue that affects me personally, I am not gay, but I feel very strongly about it. Whether of not two men or two women want to get married doesn't affect anyone but them and the people that attend the wedding. A straight couple doesn't lose any rights if a gay couple is allowed to marry. Some argue that argue that it desecrates the sanctity of marriage. Two gay men that are in a loving, committed, life-long relationship is more detrimental to marriage than something like Larry King being married 8 times? The amount of time, energy and money some people put into fighting someone else's right to get married is truly astonishing to me. They have to work so hard to get the same rights, the rights that they deserve.

I also agree with the Democratic view on the right to bear arms. It is a constitutional right to bear arms and that cannot be taken away. Some republicans feel that is what Democrats want to do but it's simply not true. They believe in reasonable regulations to help reduce gun violence in America. Democrats see the need to enforce the gun laws that we already have in effect and improve the current background check system. They want to reinstate the assault weapons ban and take other steps "so that guns do not fall into the hands of those irresponsible, law-breaking few."


I completely disagree with the Republicans desire to extend the Bush tax cuts. Those are the very same tax cuts that contributed to getting us into the current crushing debt crisis that we are in. The ideas behind some the tax cuts are agreeable, like the tax cuts for lower and middle-income taxpayers, but the overall package is not what America needs. Huge tax breaks for the elite few, or 1%, hiding behind the idea that those are the "job-creators". Republicans refuse to acknowledge that Bush, a republican, inherited a balanced budget and left it a huge national deficit by the time he was done. Bill Clinton said "the Republican argument against the President's re-election was pretty simple: we left him a total mess, he hasn't cleaned if up fast enough, so fire him and put us back in."

I agree with the Democratic policy on women's rights. The first bill that Obama signed was the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. It helps ensure that women will get equal pay and help them fight when they are paid less than men for equal work. Democrats fully support enforcing Title IX that further protects women's equal rights. Democrats want to protect women's rights and especially their right to make decisions concerning their own health and reproductive choices that in many cases Republicans are trying to strip them of. The Democrats continually fight the fight for equal rights protected under law which I respect and appreciate despite than the Republican's extensive knowledge of the female body. "If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down" - Republican Todd Akin.

All in all, the country is a disaster. If politicians spent half the energy on trying to actually accomplish something that they spent on attacking the other party we might actually get somewhere. If the opposite of pro is con, is the opposite of progress congress? For right now, the answer to that question is absolutely YES! 

Okay maybe my views are slightly more than left of center but I don't think that the country should be. I think that the country should be governed from the middle, with politicians reaching across party lines to do what is best for the country and for its people. But I know that is crazy talk. The Republicans certainly aren't right about everything but neither are the Democrats and people seem to forget that the country isn't divided strictly into blue and red with one side perfectly right and the other dead wrong. What the country really needs is a little purple. 

Bruises Heal

Bullying has been a problem in high schools for countless years. There is absolutely no question about that. Today's technology just makes bullying easier than ever. Devastation, tears, and years of therapy now just one click away! Bullies can hide behind a fake username to deliver their torments anonymously. This is dangerous for several reasons. The victim does not know their attacker and it makes it much more difficult to locate and stop a bully. 

That is just what happened in the Traverse City Area Public Schools. Two Twitter feeds were created and began attacking local students by name on Twitter. When a girl that was targeted by the bullies tried to report them she was told "kids had a choice whether or not to look at [the posts], so there was nothing they could do about it." Cyber bullying is out of the control of the school in most cases and in order to figure out who is behind anonymous postings a court order is required. Social worker Diane Burden added "it may not be something physical, like punches thrown in the hallway, but students can annihilate someone's reputation in a matter of seconds." There are several restrictions on laptop use in schools and anyone who violates them is subject to punishment even involving the law if the situation calls for it. One of the schools in the area has set up a hotline where students can report incidents anonymously. It has helped deal with several cases since its inception. 

Some high schools are working to prevent bullying in other ways. Students at Stephen Decatur High School formed the Acts of Kindness Group. It is a student organization that works in the school to prevent bullying. "Kids listen to kids better than anybody else" said the principal of the school. They provide a place where kids can talk to other kids and do things to cheer up those who seem to need it. Their leader, Calvin Garrison, works tirelessly for the group coordinating and organizing events. Some of the group's work is on a small scale but they also hold much larger events as well. Having students be the ones to help with the bullying problem that affects so many people is a new idea that should catch on. Students are much more inclined to really listen to their peers.

A major problem that comes with the territory of this new type of bullying is the sustained image of bullying as just a physical problem. A study done by the University of Michigan about Children's Health says that only 56% adults think that "isolating a student socially should prompt school intervention" and only 48 percent said that it should be considered bullying.  There are new ways of bullying and new consequences. Even though that is true, the data shows that not all people believe all types of bullying are equal even though any type of bullying can have harmful and sometimes lasting effects.



Jamey Rodemeyer was a 14-year-old boy from the Buffalo area. He was bullied because of his sexuality through middle school and had just started high school when he committed suicide. There is documented proof that he was cyber bullied through anonymous posts that said some truly heinous things. Jamey had encouraged others like him online through the It Gets Better Project. Jamey's case calls attention to the double-edged sword that is social media. It provides a place where LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) teens or any teens with problems can talk to peers and seek help and support if they are struggling. The other edge of that sword is that it also provides a forum for them to be bullied. Jamey's idol was Lady Gaga, the singer. After his death she tweeted her support and said "Bullying must become illegal. It is a hate crime." Jamey's story is tragic. Does it have to go this far before something is done about bullying?


The Kearney policy on bullying reads as follows, "Bullying, intimidating, harassing, hazing, name calling, verbal and/or physical confrontations will receive disciplinary consequences including but not limited to suspension or dismissal, depending on the severity of the incident." It states that things that happens outside the regular school day is out of their control and requires actions of the parents of those involved. This is controversial because many feel that even if cyber bullying occurs outside of school, certain incidents may still require school action. "Bullying is never cool" says Mike C. Nick H. adds "Bullying is never cool." The school and the majority of its students feel that bullying is never acceptable and should be dealt with. Frank B. says "Bullying is lame." The brevity of such statements show that no matter what kind of bullying, it is not okay and should not be tolerated. 

Bruises heal. Bullying has changed but in many minds its definition has not. Some feel that bullying is only serious when someone bleeds. That isn't the case. Emotional scars don't always heal. Some students have been pushed over the edge by cyber bullying and social isolation. It is too late to help them but it shouldn't be too late to help others. The battle starts when it is understood that all kinds of bullying can be severe and help should be provided to its victims. Bullies feel important and powerful by making others feel small and weak. In the words of the late, great Jimi Hendrix "When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace."