Ignorance is bliss?

The other day I got in to an argument with some friends about modern slavery. They denied the existence and said sex slaves do not count. There are currently 27 million slaves, and how do sex slaves not count?

Being as interested in the world as I am, the fact that there still is slavery is well known to me and many of my friends. However, not everyone knows about it which leads me to wonder about the old saying ignorance is bliss. Are the people who deny slavery happier? Does the world appear a pretty place if sex slaves are not real slaves? I can't really answer that, since i'm not ignorant about it. I don't know if anyone would really answer that question.

Another thing that really bothers me is when people admit there is still slavery but don't admit it is in their country. Slavery is a thing for underdeveloped country, third world countries and not countries with a well established justice system. The truth is that there are slaves everywhere, right under our noses. Diplomats will bring youth back to their home country, when their visa expires they do not get them a new one which leaves the youth under blackmail. They do not get paid and yet they can not go to the police because they are now in the country illegally.

This ignorance is bliss, does not only go for slavery, there are so many things out there in the world that people deny are happening. But does this denial accomplish anything? No, awareness needs to be raised for these issues. How can we stop something from happening when people won't admit it is happening?

The Abolitionist Hymn

We ask not that the slave should lie
As lies his master, at his ease,
Beneath a silken canopy
Or in the shade of blooming trees.

We ask not "eye for eye," that all
Who forge the chain and ply the whip
Should feel their torture, while the thrall
Should wield the scourge of mastership.

We mourn not that the man should toil;
'Tis nature's need, 'tis God's decree;
But let the hand that tills the soil
Be, like the wind that fans it, free.

Facts: www.un.org

Team Phoenix

A Congenital Heart Defect (CHD) develops early on in pregnancy and causes the highest amount of infant deaths within the first year. There are 35 different types on Congenital Heart Defects but out of every dollar donated to the Heart and Stroke foundation only one penny is sent to CHDs.


The Problem
CHDs are not well known, they're mainly only known to people who have been affected by them. And yet everyone knows about childhood cancers that actually cause less deaths than CHD's.


Some Things To Think About
Almost HALF of all donated blood goes to CHDers
1 in every 100 babies have a CHD
1 in 10 of those will have a fatal CHD
Some CHDs aren't found until adulthood, or until it's too late for anything to be done
Over 1 million babies born worldwide each year will have a CHD
Congenital Heart Defects do NOT have a cure, there is only a bandage for this.


For more information/support: http://jointhefightchd.webs.com/

You know I've seen a lot of what the world can do

And it's breakin' my heart in two

--Cat Stevens

Blue Jeans

I wear my jeans all the time, they're comfortable, convenient and suit me. I think jeans are one of the greatest inventions. They're durable, they match everything, anyone can wear them and they come in such diverse styles.

The word jeans actually comes from French bleu de Gênes, the blue of Genoa. Named after sailors in Genoa, Italy. In the 18th century it was made completely from cotton and worn by workers. In the 19th century, it caught the attention of coal miners, especially one named Leob (Levi) Strauss. From then on, the use of jeans only grew until now, when almost everybody has a pair.

She wore blue jeans and a rosary

All her friends think she's a little crazy

She wears a smile, heart on her sleeve

--Kid Rock

Winter Isolation

Well I got homesick for the first time tonight. I don't know if you'd really call it that, I just really miss my friends right now. It snowed, and the snow stayed on the ground. The first conversation I had with my best friend was about snow ball fights so this really makes me think about her and all the good times we had. And of course that now we're over 17 hours away from each other and not going to see each other until April.

With my friends back home we would fool around in the first snowfall. We wouldn't care if we looked like children, we didn't care what people thought of us. We did whatever we wanted, and I miss that.

I’d rather stand on the edge of a cliff

And hang my toes over a bit,

And then jump when they dare me,

Even if it scares me and I get hurt.

I’d rather build my wings on the way down,

Do my best not to fall to the ground

and than laugh at my mistakes

‘cause there only lessons I’ll learn

--Paul Brandt

I feel as though I am changing, which is of course expected. It makes me worry about my friends back home. When I go back in April, will it be like I never left? I talk with my best friend almost every day but I miss hanging out, shopping, goofing around and just being ourselves. I haven't found any one here who I can act around them as I do with her. I worry that I will have changed too much for our friendship to survive. And that scares me because of how much she means to me.

People say that the friends you make in University are the friends you have for life. I believe I found my life long friends in high school and I don't want to lose them. I don't regret going so far from them for schooling, I needed the distance from everything else. I don't know how I'll make it four years with hardly seeing them, without having someone like them here.

Into the Wild

So I was watching Into the Wild again the other night. It's going to be one of my most watched movies and most read books. The courage that it must have taken to just walk away from life is inspiring. I keep wish I had his courage, I already have his philosophy. I have three more years in my University program but maybe when I'm done I'll finally have the courage to take off. I don't think I would do it the same as he did. For starters, I'm from Canada, and I don't like the cold. I'd make sure I had things in case of an emergency, not things like a phone or money but i'd let someone know I was going.

Two years he walks the earth. No phone, no pool, no pets, no cigarettes. Ultimate freedom. An extremist. An aesthetic voyager whose home is the road. Escaped from Atlanta. Thou shalt not return, 'cause "the West is the best." And now after two rambling years comes the final and greatest adventure. The climactic battle to kill the false being within and victoriously conclude the spiritual pilgrimage. Ten days and nights of freight trains and hitchhiking bring him to the Great White North. No longer to be poisoned by civilization he flees, and walks alone upon the land to become lost in the wild. - Alexander Supertramp

I like the idea of being a leather tramp but there are so many words for it; vagabond, gypsy, wanderlust, beatnink, nomadic...They all come down to the same things; wandering and no possessions. I wish that having possessions did not mean as much in our world as it does. I think i'd like to live in a simple cabin, built from natural things, have no electricity, wood stove for warmth, candles for light, feet for travel, garden for food, no phone, no computer...just freedom.

Beliefs

I was raised as a Christian and I didn't start to question it until High School. Once in High School, people would question my belief, mock it and try and show me that theirs was better. At first I fought them, I stood strong that I was right and they weren't. However, now that I am away from all those influences and no one cares what I believe, I have become interested in other beliefs.

When I was in high school I really butted heads with a Wiccan. I had once said that I thought witch craft was wrong and she took it as a personal insult. At that point I was still strong in my beliefs but I didn't care to convert people to mine. If she questioned me I would answer. For a long time after that I didn't want anything to do with Wicca because of my experience with this person. Now I see that we were both just young and trying to do what we thought our belief required.

Now that I am away I have really gotten into neo-paganism. If that friend could see me now and discuss our beliefs it would be so different then when we were in high school.

I think it should not matter what a person believes, it should not effect a friendship and I wish that all those fanatics would back off. Unless their beliefs are actually harming you or someone it is none of your business. If everyone sticks to their own beliefs there would be a lot less problems in this world.

Oh, life is bigger

It's bigger than you

And you are not me

--REM