Stabbed

                                                          Stabbed

Yup, it happened. I read about this in the New York Times and was shocked. I liked the ways of Buddha, they have good quotes and perspectives, but I guess there’s always another side to things.

 So here’s what happened.

Buddhist mobs killed a 94-year old Muslim woman. They also burned 70 homes. Hello? What’s the reason?  If it’s what I think it is, well I don’t have to say anything, we all know how religion can spark some wars. And if it’s for something else…it’s still pretty unnecessary. I mean, come on, a 94year old woman? You’re gonna stab her to death?

Apparently, this was not the first time that they had sectarian violence break out and the President, Thein Sein, arrived at the capitol of Rakhine State…I guess to get some business done, maybe get it taken care of.

The story is short and there are a lot of questions in my mind. I know that this article may be biased and I may only being seeing part of the story, and that this doesn’t mean all Buddhists are violent, but killing is still wrong in my view. Especially in this way. Reading this article just really turned my Buddhist loving world around. I couldn't believe that what I saw as the most neutral religion could be quite aggressive.

Abort Mission!

A protest of the masses, ash the souls, forget the casket

bodies drop -- bodies drop --bodies drop.

Your choices are of my concern, choose your wrongs and you will burn

bodies drop -- bodies drop -- bodies drop.

Do you like war? How about the world?

The Missiles drop, the buildings fall and bodies -- drop.

Life is a jungle, manipulated

Who made the rules, you think it's God?

How are you made? Sexually, asexually?

Do you have parasites? or any disease taking your energy?

Or demons haunting your memory?

Then a seed inside your belly in a month can maybe start to breath

But don't forget that you're the pilot in this world war

 -- Morality won't play a part

When the enemies are shooting, and you've had no guns since the start

Fly away, fly away, fly away.

Irresponsible and unprepared, never learn from your mistakes

The seed's now in you, it isn't safe..

Abort the mission.

Eventually --

Get lost in the air, heavy with -- death on your hands

You're flying down at super speed

Change course or you might crash

-- Abort the! --

Despite it all, who is to judge?

-- We've killed before.

This time it was.. yours

But you're still the pilot.

The Death Penalty

Albert Camus once said: “There are causes worth dying for, but none worth killing for.” I’m against the death penalty. It’s really hard for me to blame someone so harshly for anything that they do because I think actions are shaped by experience, and that person who has committed a crime so heinous as to end up in the position of “death penalty” must have had a terrible past experience that led them to such actions. When defending my position on the death penalty I often think of the movie “The Ides of March” and how George Clooney playing a presidential candidate defended his opinion. It is societies job to be better than the average man. We are animals. This is proven time and time again by how many murders take place, but it is our job as a community to make each other better, to soar to greater heights. I’m against the death penalty because I still believe in humanity and I believe that if we come together as a community we can help each other past violence instead of creating more. 

"That's So Gay.."

“That’s so gay” is probably the worst thing you could say in front of me. It equates gay with something lesser, often “dumb,” “silly,” or “feminine.” When I lived in New York City everyone was really PC. No one ever identified things other than homosexuality as “gay.” Now that I’m back in Miami I’m hearing people say it again. Saying “that’s so gay,” emphasizes that there is something wrong with homosexuality. That’s what happens when we identify things we don’t like as “gay.” It ostracizes a large group of people in our community and it is wrong. 

Dream Act

Some people that were not born here but grew up in the United States, have graduated from high school but are facing an uncertain future.  At this moment, those students are relying on what's called the Dream Act (Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act).  The Dream Act is a legislation that is trying to help those these students to apply for a temporary legal status and to eventually become eligible for a US citizenship if they go to college or serve in the US military.  Also, this act helps with tuition eligibility.

          I agree with this act because as long as the people are doing no wrong they should be able to go on with their future in order to better our future.

Obama Care

When I heard about the Obama care, I said to myself, "Good that every citizen will have medical insurance.  But at what price?  Will it be low enough for them to afford it?" Yes, there are several options for the Obama Care.  If you don't choose one of the options you will get penalized.  A person with no insurance will pay a fee included in their taxes.  But we would all have to wait until this new program officially starts next year on January to see all pros and cons it will carry on.

Reefer Madness!

Hot Topics: Reefer Madness!

Some issues are less about right and wrong and more about sense and nonsense. In a nation where both cigarettes and alcohol are perfectly legal, it simply makes no sense for cannabis to be outlawed. The issue of legalization is not a moral one in my view. Legalizing marijuana isn't morally right, it's rationally sound. Marijuana's effects are no more devastating than that of alcohol or cigarettes, the fear of marijuana generated by multiple sources in the last century are outdated and motivated by financial gain, and the current number of men imprisoned due to drug possession has massively crippling effects on the economy.

Ganja is not good for you. Some argue that it possesses properties that combat cancer, but this has not been proven. However, marijuana is by no stretch of the imagination worse than cigarettes or alcohol. The adverse effects of alcohol and tobacco have been documented extensively. Alcohol damages the liver, is calorie-laden, and yet perfectly legal for anyone above the age of twenty one. Cigarettes have been so closely tied to lung cancer that they require a warning to be printed on the side of the box. Marijuana can also have a slew of negative outcomes, but many would agree that they are relatively minor. Furthermore, many consider marijuana a “gate-way drug”. It is my belief that many move into a more dangerous territory (That of hard drugs) when they see that marijuana isn't all that bad and begin to believe that the government is simply lying to them for their own gains, and that is marijuana isn't as bad as it was cracked up to be, so to must be the case for harder drugs. I am not an advocate for any other illegal substance.

The amount of people currently incarcerated due to drug possession in the United States is startling. We have more prisoners than China despite having a population roughly a third as large. If that isn't a comment on the problem with the system, I don't know what is. Having so many people as wards of the state is economically unfeasible, and our current economic track says as much. I do not pretend that legalization will solve our problems as a nation, but it would at least let us relax as everything turns to dung.