Sandy Hook Shooting

My prayers and blessings to the families and friends that lost a loved one in the Sandy Hook shooting this past friday, I can not even fathom the grief that you must have. Today, I was informed that 8 of the 12 girls killed were Daisy Girl Scouts and two of the boys killed had a sister that is a Girl Scout. This hits home with me because being a scout myself I can not imagine little kids having to endure the sadness that they are going through. I do not know what the drive of this act was, and I do not know if he knew what the outcome of his actions would cause because in reality -- he hurt the whole nation. I am stunned just as much as anyone else is by this event but all we can do now is help and support those that have been effected and grieve as a nation. All I know is that the 20 little kids and 8 adults that lost their lives are in heaven looking down on all of us; especially their families. Have a happy and safe holiday season and keep the victims of Sandy Hook in your prayers.

Post Election

Wow I haven't posted in a while... Sorry i guess high school just got to me. This past tuesday, President Obama was re elected to office, this is a large milestone in the women's rights movement. Under Obama's watch we will hopefully see a real change, one that encompasses equal pay for every woman. One that cracks down on women abuse and actually makes a difference. Although we are not 100% sure what his presidency will do, I am quite sure that a positive change will come out of whatever he choses to do. The only thing that all of us can hope is that the changes Barak Obama makes today will change the country and the world, forever.

Power of Education

Because I'm of the age, I need to start looking at colleges that I would be interested in going to. My brother is a freshman in college and he just went through the whole rig-a-ma-row so it's pretty fresh in my whole family's minds. Us in the US are very familiar with the whole process; take big tests, write big applications and wait. This time period can be very stressful for many people because on top of maintaining their current grades, they also have to thing about their future; a hard task. But I think that people here in the US complain  a lot for what they are offered. If you really think about it, we are one of the luckiest countries. In the US anyone, especially a girl, can receive scholarships for a plethora of different accomplishments. In other countries, girls in particular are lucky if they can go to primary school. Girls do not get the chance to go to school to learn how to solve a quadratic equation or how to measure the velocity of an object. Girls are offered none of that. What they are offered is how to be a wife 101. If you watch the videos below, you will see what I am about to explain. By keeping a girl in school while young will keep her off the streets and away from prostitution. By doing this she has a lower risk of contracting AIDS and passing it on to her children. By staying in school she will learn and get a higher education so she can get to a place of power. When at the place of power this one girl can change the lives of many others by making it a law for girls to get education. Soon enough the world has changed. That is the power of a girl.


The Girl Effect:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIvmE4_KMNw&feature=relmfu

The Clock is Ticking:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1e8xgF0JtVg&feature=relmfu

A Girl With A Book

Today on Facebook, I saw a quote that made me stop and think. It stated "What terrifies religious extremists like the Taliban are not American tanks or bombs or bullets... It's a girl with a book." This is 100% true. Educated women in many cultures are considered a threat. This is why many girls around this world are not educated. Why not, instead of thinking of those girls as a threat, respect them and work with them to solve the worlds problems. If men realized what potential we have, half the worlds problems would not exist due to the new perspective. Women have to start holding positions of power so they can make a difference, because obviously men aren't cutting it. I can't say this enough, women are the key to the future even if we didn't have a choice in the past. We can change that, we need to change that.

Amanda Todd

In the past few days, there has been a story floating around about a girl by the name of Amanda Todd. I'm not sure if this story is true of made up, but it brings up a topic that is very touchy for some people. If you didn't already know, Amanda committed suicide because she was bullied. Amanda was on a video chat with a guy at her school, he convinced her to flash him. After he took a picture, he sent it out to the whole school. She was bullied to the point where she thought suicide was the only way out. This brings up a topic that is not acceptable, but still occurs in this world. Bullying. In this case, an innocent girl was pressured into something that she probably didn't want to do. Many girls are forced to do things all around the world every day. Some might include arranged marriage, rape or other such things. Girls are viewed as weak in many mens eyes. We are important and we can not take this anymore. Most of the time girls are victimized and we take the heat. This is just another reason why we need to achieve equality. We need our voice.

40 Years Ago

One of my favorite things to do is play lacrosse. If I'm ever angry, happy or sad I can just go outside and throw a ball around and it never gets old. Instead of looking at what is wrong with the world for this one post, I will focus on how far we have come. My mom always tells me stories of when she was in high school. She tells me that I am lucky I can be on a sport, especially at school. She's told me that 40 years ago, the only sport a girl could be on was cheerleading or dance. Back then they did not have the laundry list of sports that any girl could participate in, unlike today. After title nine was put into place, that allowed girls to participate in all sports, but girls still had to fight for it to be socially acceptable to play a sport. I personally want to thank those women that fought because if you did not, I would probably be more stressed out and not know where to channel some of my energy. A well known concept is that the current generation is fighting so that their kids can have a better life. This is exactly what our parents did. They fought for something most of us could not imagine living without. Thank you. I'm not saying that we don't have work to do. Every girl has worked to accomplish gender equality and the outcome has been amazing, we just need to keep working just as hard. Keep up the good work girls, even if we don't see the effects, I know our children will.

FIRST Day of the Girl

Today is it! It's the first Day of the Girl. Today is dedicated to all the girls in this world. Unfortunately, not every girl gets the same opportunities as men do. As a girl, even in America, we struggle to be treated as equal. Today is the day that we need to publicize the unfair treatment we receive. Some girls are denied education, others are denied a voice. This needs to stop. Now. For the longest time men have ruled this earth and for no reason at all. Yes, today is Day of the Girl. But every day is Day of the Girl in my book. Every day we need to stand up, whether is be a remark someone makes about a woman's "job" or a sexist act, stand up. "Alone we are weak, together we are unstoppable." This is so true. If we all stand up, no matter what age, sex, nationality, we can stop this unequal treatment of women across the globe. Today in Choir class, we started a new song. It's about a woman that stands up against the traditions of her culture because it does not treat women right. How perfect for Day of the Girl. So, even if you didn't change the world on this day, that doesn't mean you can't help. Anything you do will bring this world towards equality and peace. Happy Day of the Girl, as many have said, it's a great day to be a girl.

Respect

As I was scrolling through my news feed mindlessly I stumbled upon a status that really caught my attention. This guy, Logan, from my math class last year has as his status "I'm getting tired of all the women jokes these days, I think it's about time we give woman the respect they deserve." Wow. I have never seen a high school boy make a statement of that maturity level. Ever. This really shocked me, because Logan is the type of guy that has a lot of friends and makes them easily. I knew that there were men (because thats what they REALLY are) out there with us to end sexism but I didn't think to look this close. Even though it was just one status about women's jokes it honestly is a huge step forward. The problem has been realized. Although he might just be one out of 3,000 guys at my school, it is still one more than yesterday. And on top of just realizing it, Logan did something about it. He let the one thousand friends or so he has on facebook know that this is wrong, and we can't ignore it anymore. Previously I had only seen action being taken on the news or other places, but now I have seen it first hand, from someone I know. Logan might have not realized it, but his status was a step towards solving a world wide problem.

Pakistan is Missing Out

Today I heard of a girl in Pakistan who was shot because of her gender. This girl was an activist for girls rights in Pakistan. Because she was posting things on the internet about empowering girls, standing up etc. she was shot. I am fortunate to live in a country where I do not need to worry about speaking my mind and having an equal opportunity. I am lucky for that. I realize now that girls in other parts of the world are not as fortunate as I, and I want to do something about this. Girls and women have a place and a job. More so than men and if they think that they can just take those opportunities away from us they are wrong. We are important and have been since the beginning of time. It is our turn to fight and accomplish equality for all women in this world.