Books and Bullets

 I used to feel fairly safe in school. I mean, the elementary school cafeteria food was really gross. I skinned my fair share of knees on the playground. But, all in all, I felt safe. Then came Sandy Hook. I was eight, and I remember being really confused. The kids who died were only a little bit younger than me. I was too young to die,  so surely they were too. I was sad about it, but I also thought it would be just a one-time occurrence. I was horrified, but not worried about it happening to me. I thought I was safe. Then came the Stoneman Douglas shooting this past Valentine's Day. I think the day after when I read about what happened and saw the news about it in school, was when it finally hit me. I wasn't safe.  When I was watching our government's response to it, I was heartbroken. I do not agree with them on a lot of things, but I was sure that we would agree that better gun control was necessary. I was sure that our leaders would care more about my life in the lives of my peers than their guns. That was not the case, and it was left to the students to demand change. We rose up in a nationwide movement and showed the world that we are not going to back down until this problem is solved. People can dodge our questions. People can ignore our demands. People can write off our determination as childish whining, but nothing will stop us from speaking out. As long as people keep dying from gun violence, as long as people don’t live long enough to graduate from high school, we will keep speaking out. As many years as it takes, as many laws that will need to be made,  we will keep turning up the volume of our voices. Until kids don't have to do the job that the government should be doing, the March for our Lives will continue.

The Politics of a Petticoat

 It has been over a year since the #MeToo movement started. Millions of people have come forward with allegations of sexual harassment and assault. Members of the movement range across different levels of social status and all genders. The perpetrators include powerful men such as Mario Batali and Harvey Weinstein along with everyday people. There are some things that give survivors hope-for example, Bill Cosby was sentenced to 3 to 10 years in prison for sexual assault and Harvey Weinstein will likely go to trial. However,  there is still a big problem. People across America and the world have to deal with discrimination based on gender. According to CNN, women in 2015 made 79.6 cents to every dollar that a man made. Women or sometimes passed up for promotions that they are perfectly qualified for and have to deal with customers that don't think they are capable or bosses but tell them to smile a little more if they want that raise. this problem is not confined to the workplace. Women also have to deal with catcalling as they walk down the street and girls deal with people who don't think they are smart enough to take a particular class or complete a particular task. When sexually assaulted, the victim is often blamed. She is asked what she was wearing and when she says she was wearing a tight dress or says she was drinking, her trauma is suddenly her fault and the wrongdoing is entirely hers. In the cases of some schools, dress codes send girls home for, say, exposing shoulders. First of all, not a single boy at school that I know cares at all if they can see our shoulders.  Second of all, even if they did think that they were distracting, why are we punished for others not being able to control themselves? We are not objects. It is time for society to know that.  

Earth on her Deathbed

Ever since I can remember, climate change has been a big issue. One of the first movies I remember watching as a little kid was a movie about the Arctic that included scenes of ice breaking up and polar bear families being separated. I was heartbroken. Of course, me being so young I did not grasp the full gravity of the situation. I figured global warming would go away in a few years and then all the polar bears would be fine.  However, the issue of climate change is one that still remains today. There are some signs of improvement. I recently read that the hole in the ozone layer is shrinking and could possibly even close up. Mostly, hope for our planet’s health is shrinking. in a recent article by CNN, it was stated that we only have until around 2030 to prevent disastrous climate change. Some people think that the problem can be solved by just taking public transportation, but this is not always possible. Public transportation doesn't go everywhere,  it's not always clean, and it's not present in every city across the globe. some people simply have no choice but to use greenhouse gas creating cars to get from place to place. so, what will the world look like in 12 years? It could be about the same as today, what's the possibility of recovery but a long way to go. It could be nearly perfect, with clean and efficient public transportation that everybody has access to and cleaner personal transportation options. Then, we have a worst-case scenario where our world becomes one reminiscent of a dystopia, with huge storms that have destroyed half of the planet and the first annual Hunger Games set to take place. Nobody wants that. So, please. Believe in climate change. The evidence is right there in front of your face. Global warming was not invented by the Chinese or anybody else. It is a real problem with real consequences that are already starting to show up. It's not too late to fix this problem, but soon it will be.