—-Snaps

I for one, am in a long distance relationship, and many people have told me I am “crazy”, or “stupid”, or “dumb” because I’m dating  someone in a different state. Those people who mock me or other people in the same situation as me are pretty much saying (in my opinion, of course) they can’t handle a long distance relationship, and so if THEY can’t handle it, then to them, it’s automatically ludacris. If you want to have a long distance relationship, I support it 100%.

—Snaps.

This brings me to my first point: people ultimately want change. Even the happiest person on earth has something more they think might make them happy. This is just the way we are! There’s absolutely no use trying to hide it, deny it, or stop it. People living in poverty want riches, people living in riches wish they had a family. As much as they try to act like they don’t, do not be fooled. It’s perfectly okay to admit this. It’s a trait characteristic in every living organism – a desire to thrive. We don’t want to just live, we want to live comfortably (some more comfortably than others).

As we grow up, these desires and wishes are innocent and harmless. The new toy, to be able to play with siblings this very minute, so on, etc. When we get a bit older, however, and enter the dating scene, these desires may get a bit more scheming. Now we want him to be jealous that he left us, to get the grades that will allow us to go to the sparkling university of our dreams, avoid the overbearing eye of our parents. At each new stage, we realize the silly notions of the past level. We laugh them off without realizing that eventually the “cool”, new ideas we’re embracing now will soon become those we’re ridiculing of the past. For as long as high school seems, four years really aren’t long in the grand scheme of things, and the heartaches of the present will become the heartaches of the past.

People wonder why high school can be so hard. The truth of the matter is that this is the time where we’re discovering ourselves, our talents, our weaknesses, and our image of ourselves, and the only way to develop these ideas is to experience events that challenge our perception of our world. Like it or not, those events will sometimes hurt. How hard they hurt invariably depends on how you handle the situation. But I digress, how to handle painful situations is not the point of this article and shouldn’t be anyone other your decision.

Once we are adults and senior citizens, undoubtably we’ll look back and note these times with fondness, not remembering the pain and anxiety we once felt. Our desires will have changed to more reasonable goals. We hope to be able to pay bills, provide for families, and eventually not break our hips or need dentures. Even in age, humans tend to want something may it be material or otherwise. No matter how much of a conservative you are, there is still an amount of change that you wish to see take place in the world by the end of your lifetime.

So next time you feel upset about a particularly bad break-up, worried about your next job performance evaluation or AP European History exam that you really haven’t studied for just remember that eventually the waves of time will  caress the hurt of your heart and smooth out the pain, eventually eroding it to leave a peacefully blank space of sand for you to do whatever you wish with it.

-mmeyer

Well, maybe it’s cause we’re awkward teenagers that have a new outlet to avoid conversation. Maybe it’s cause our curiosity is just too starved to ignore.

Or maybe it’s because we have some SERIOUS issues on the way.

Face-to-face communication is starting to suffer, greatly because of social networking sites and texting. Don’t get me wrong; I’m an avid texter/Facebook stalker, but I feel that interpersonal relationships have suffered because we all rely so much on communication via-electronics.

And this is just the beginning. Soon, we’ll all be able to just THINK a thought and it’s automatically sent to Twitter for the world’s viewing pleasures. This idea may seem ridiculous, but it is more likely than not being cooked up by some Apple scientist, somewhere (yes, Apple, not Microsoft).

Are we ready for this?

I’m sure as hell not.

So next time you see someone you love, give them a hug. Tell them you love them. Ask them about their day, as opposed to reading it later on your news feed. While our economy may be suffering with a side effect of inflation, personal relationships are suffering from deflation. A friendly hug is now worth MUCH more than it used to be. Take advantage.

-alishasmoo

People like to categorize other people they don’t know very well into tiny little groups with specific characteristics. This may be because humans have an inherent lust to “fit in” somewhere or because maybe we’re all just a little xenophobic. But whatever the cause, it results in these ridiculous groupings based off of next to no information. This is also why first impressions are worth so much however so often wrong. So if these generalizations aren’t accurate, on what are they formed?

Stereotypes may be formed from material items like clothes, or it may be how someone acts or the choices he or she makes. This is extremely prevalent in high school where teens create cliques and decide they need to be in the “right” clique – preps, jocks, whatever. However, these classifications are certainly not limited to high school. Adults group each other all the time but often to disastrous effects. While these categorizations may be partially correct, they don’t by any means tell the whole story. By stereotyping people into one group, any chance for them to be full, faceted human beings is completely eliminated.

If you use stereotypes, you are implying that anyone who is Irish must have a drinking problem, or anyone who is Asian is automatically a genius. While some of these are humorous and ennobling, most aren’t, and that’s why many people are extremely offended by them. Also, these ideas don’t leave any room for grey area in between. People are more than their race or economic situation. They are a little bit of you and a little bit of me and a whole lot of their own selves. No point in trying to suffocate them into meaningless strata.

- mmeyer

If they get involved in a situation they don’t belong in, it could benefit poorly in their postion, as well as their friend who dragged them into the problem in the first place. I don’t believe friends should “go after” who ever messed with their friend, rather be there for that person and comfort them.

I’ve learned this from experience that if you get involved in a situation that doesn’t concern you personally, you should simply keep your distance and stay loyal to your friends in a SAFE WAY. Being a “good friend” doesn’t necessarily mean you fix the problem yourself.

People have to fight their own battles, no matter how hard they are. A little help never harmed anyone, but getting involved is a different story, there is a very fine line dividing “helping out” and “getting involved”.  People never realize how strong they really are, until being strong is the only option they have.

Life unfortunately is a cruel thing, and it’s unfair and dealing with it can be very stressful, but  friends are there to ease the pain away from stress, not simply making it go away.

–Snaps

I hear it all the time. “Have you seen how fat she’s getting?”, “Jeez, he needs to get a bra for his manboobs”, and “She’s too skinny.  I bet she never eats” are commonly phrases used to poke fun at someone, and I personally find it disgusting.  It’s time that this kind of superficial categorization is stopped.

First of all, how is talking about someone’s weight even interesting?  Yeah, maybe being anorexic or obese is unhealthy and not particularly attractive, but why the duration of the discussion is longer than two seconds is a mystery to me.  Is someone who feels a compulsive need to criticize the appearance of others simply such a boring person that they have to attack others in order to come up with a topic to talk about at all?  If not, then why not discuss something else?  There’s plenty of topics out there that are more relevant.  To me, even gossipping about that one girl that hooked up with that one basketball player is more mature than talking about weight.  At least the former actually reflects on who the person is, even if it the content may distort the truth.

Which brings me to the second point.  How does someone’s physical appearance show who they are on the inside?  Believe it or not, some people actually believe that those with a healthier weight have better personalities than their over or underweight counterparts.  Overweight people are stereotyped as lazy while underweight people are said to be overconforming to society.  This is not always true.  Body shape is strongly correlated with genetics, and sometimes there is not a lot someone can do to change it.  If a person is genuinely nice, then who really cares?  It’s not your body, so don’t judge it.  And by the way, you really don’t have to check it out. No one is forcing you to stare at anyone’s cellulite.  Even if they’re wearing short shorts, you can still look elsewhere, maybe into their eyes, where most people prefer you look anyway.

And if that isn’t enough to convince you, think of how the person talked about feels.  He/she is probably already really self-conscious about themselves, and they don’t need you to rag on them even more.  How would you feel if you overheard people criticize you for something as trivial as your body shape?  Not so good, right?

It’s not even just preteen girls that do it.  It’s guys, girls, men, women of all ages.  It’s universal, but if you happen to be one of the few that refuse to participate in this superficial trend, then kudos to you.

In conclusion, next time you run out of topics to discuss, try talking about somthing that doesn’t make fun of someone else.  There’s so much more variety in that category, and I’m sure you’ll find that they’re much more fun to discuss anyway.

-chelliejellie10

However, my question to you is this: why would anyone consider denigrating the belief system people have had their whole lives comical?  To me, and several others, it was an example of blatant disrespect to the majority of people on this planet who happen to have a faith in a higher being.  Is someone really “stupid” just because they were taught from birth that certain things occur a certain way because of a certain metaphysical deity?  Are they “ludicrous” because they can look beyond society and see the divine beauty of the universe in a way that cannot really make sense to someone who has not had the same kind of religious teaching they did?

Ironically, my religious views and Maher’s are actually in sync.  I, like him, choose not to be affiliated with a large, organized denomination and constantly question the existence of a higher power.  However, my answer is a firm, confident “No.”  Why should anyone have the right to label others idiots simply because he refuses to see the other side of the story?  Especially since he is actually in the minority, and not the majority.  How does Maher know, exactly, that he isn’t the idiot in this situation?  Now, I’m not saying he doesn’t have the right to judge others, because in a country like America, he obviously does.  He can poke fun at people he doesn’t agree with when he’s hanging out with his friends as much as he wants.  We all do it.  But to go up to people, filming them while trying to prove how “low” their intelligence is, and then proclaiming he has produced a comedy, is completely uncalled for.  What good, exactly, does it do for him to harass others about something that brings them comfort?  Absolutely nothing.  It’s disgusting.

Everyone has their opinions, and no one will ever agree on everything with everyone they meet.  That’s normal, and it’s perfectly understandable if one side lacks facts to maybe politely explain them.  But opinions should be respected, not made jokes out of.  In fact, I strongly encourage listening carefully to the explanations of the other side.  After all, what if you’re wrong?  Wouldn’t you like to quietly accept that rather than be humiliated in homes all over the world?  Honestly.

–chelliejellie10