GENEROSITY

Photo by Matthew Jones
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Last summer I had an amazing opportunity! I was able to travel to Malindi Kenya on a two-week mission trip. It was without a doubt the most incredible thing I have every done in my short 19 years of life. The team I was apart of had one thing in mind “help others.”

After getting off the airplane that we had been on for 17 hours our first concern was taking showers. Once we had done that and recovered from our jet lag we went hard to work. Our first stop on our two-week adventure was in a small village named Sanguaia. The people of this village were the most kind and giving people you could ever hope to meet. While we were there to build their church they took it upon themselves to keep us comfortable.

Every day after we had done our mornings work on the church they brought us lunch. Unlike you or I, when they give food to another person it is more than just being generous. When they gave us lunch they gave us their meal. This absolutely blew my mind when I found out that we were eating their food! It wasn’t like we didn’t have the means to bring our own lunch if we needed to but these people would not allow that. In their culture they were not allowed to accept such a gift from us without giving something in return.

These people were unlike any I have ever met in the United States. Willing to give up their food because we were willing to build them a church. When was the last time anyone in our culture was willing to give up something without expecting a larger return for there efforts? We are one big corporation always looking out for our own interests. 

SHOW ME THE MONEY

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Normally I like to stay away from controversial issues such as politics and money but there is something I have to say. Republicans need to sit down and shut up when it comes to extending the Bush tax cuts. Now don’t get me wrong, if I had to choose between Democrats or Republicans I would most likely be a Republican. There is just something wrong in my mind though when I think that during this time of economic turmoil our government will be handing out large tax cuts to the richest people in our country.  

            The United States deficit is at $14,000,000,000,000 and growing by billions every month. We cannot afford to continue on this path. If we allow the tax cuts to be given out again it will cost us another $36,000,000,000. I don’t know about you but I don’t feel like footing the bill just so someone else can afford to upgrade from the 800 foot yacht to the 1500 foot yacht.

            Now I also understand the trickle down effect and how a lot of research proves it works a good amount of the time. I just don’t believe anyone below the upper middle class line can afford to wait another 2 to 6 years for the benefits to finally rich them. This is not the time to keep doing what we always have done. This is the time for action. This is the time to get our house in order and get rid of the massive debt handing above our shoulders. Because if we don’t start doing that soon the string that is holding it up will collapse on top of us.  

WHERE IS YOUR KNOWLEDGE COMING FROM

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Can you tell me what the most widely viewed type of corporation in our country is today? Given a little thought you might have come up with news corporations. At some point in most adult’s morning routine they turn on the television to see the news for a few minutes before rushing off to work. While at work some probably have favorite news websites they like to check. Then when they get home from a hard day at work they turn the television back on to see what the next day has in store for them.

Even teenagers are becoming more engulfed by the vast amount of news available to them. Chances are if you have a teenager or are one you most likely have some type of news app on your smart phone. Whether it be the New York Times app or the Weather Channel app. Even networs have begun to tailor news shows for younger audiences. Like the Colbert Report on comedy central that provides real world knowledge about politics and economics in a much more entertaining fashion.

Today as Americans we have hundreds of television networks, thousands of newspapers, and millions of websites that we can draw our information from and not all of them are credible sources. Yet some more naïve people believe if you are allowed to air it or print it then information must be factual. Truth be told no matter how unbiased someone claims to be everyone has an opinion. This is why it’s so important to gain your knowledge from multiple credited sources; but in the end it is you that must see through the curtain of fluff news providers throw at you and decide what you think about a specific issue or topic. 

A World with Choices

This is my freshman year in college and went ahead and decided to get KPED out of the way. Which if you don’t know is the equivalent to high school PE/Health.  Currently my class is focusing on the PE aspect a lot more than the health side. This class has been good for me so far because I really haven’t worked out any since I played football in high school. The class has also gotten me to think a lot more about what I put into my body. One of the first things we learned is that the old saying “what you put into your body is what you will get out of it” is really a true statement.

But if you are a college student or every have been one you know that we don’t exactly have the time to eat right and often don’t even have access to a place to cook a proper meal. So in between the rush of classes and time at the library we run by the student center to pick up a cheeseburger or a fried chicken sandwich. Even at night when we have time to go out and eat we are on such a strict budget that often we can’t afford to eat a sensible meal. With all the fast food chains knowing students would like to eat healthier but just can’t it is surprising to me that there really is only one healthy fast food restaurant, Sub-way.

If I was opening a fast food restaurant and knew my only competition would be one other store I would choose to bring more variety to the healthy side of fast food. I would open a restaurant that students could afford, where I would have a virtual monopoly and where students could begin to wean of their grease addictions. But hey, I’m just some kid and there is some adult out there thinking “I can make an extra buck by doing things quick and easy.”

NO WORK & ALL FOOD MAKES FOR ONE FAT WOMAN

At 8:00 this morning I was seating in my car driving to campus for my first class of the day. I had chosen to grab an extra 30 minutes of sleep as usually so I was unable to eat breakfast before leaving my house. So I grabbed a breakfast bar and a cup of milk on my way out the dour. I turned on my radio to listen to the Heather and DC show on Alice like every morning. Today the topic was dieting and one of the things brought up on the show was how a woman had decided to sue McDonalds for $5,000,000 claiming the fast food chain had made her fat. So here I was eating my nutria-grain bar thinking to myself “I need to stop eating this and go pick up a McDouble because I could use a little extra money for tuition.”

Now how ridicules is it that this woman had decided to sue McDonalds because she chose to throw back a few to many Quarter Pounders? Is it McDonalds fault that she decided to not workout? Is it McDonalds fault that this woman is apparently incapable of choosing healthier foods that don’t contain excessive amounts of grease and fat? Absolutely not! Now have we as a society told corporations like McDonalds that we care more about taste than health? Probably, but we still can control what we put into our own bodies.

People like this woman are a perfect example of how far we as a nation have fallen. Where you want the world placed on a silver platter but don’t want to do anymore work than absolutely necessary and if something goes wrong blame the other guy. We were once much better than that! In the coming years we will have to remember where we came from if we wish to remain the super power that we are.