Getting my voice heard

Right now I'm listening to the Beatles "Revolution".  I've been watching and listening to Les Miserables especially the songs "Do you hear the people sing?" and "Red and Black".  I've had a horrible day and I'm frustrated with myself and the whole world around me. 

I have a feeling this is going to be a ranting post.  I hope I don't offend anyone but this is really how I feel at this exact moment in time.

I don't even know where to start.

I have watched elections that I haven't been able to vote in and I've watched the government make mistake after mistake after mistake.  I have always learned that here in the USA we are ruled by the people for the people.  Is that really the case anymore?  I just don't know anymore.  I have been told that majority rules but what happens when the majority becomes silent?  Or becomes so loud that they can't even here themselves anymore?  Many people that I have talked to have become so dissillusioned with the political system and feel like there is nothing they can do to change everything that is happening in the world that they disagree with.  I mean what can I and my friends and family do?  We can vote.  We can write our representitives.  We could protest.  But really none of those things will do a whole lot of good at this point.

I think that part of the problem is the two party system.  I think more people should vote third party.  The democrats have become so liberal they are conservative and the republicans have become so conservative that they're liberal.  I agree with about half of what each party stands for and I think both parties have some really flawed thinking.  Half the problem is that they won't compromise, they are all too worried about being right and getting whatever is on their agenda passed rather than focusing on what is good for the American people and what the majority wants and needs.  This is a huge issue.  It's what causing our country to go downhill.  In the Book of Mormon it talks about how the majority of people will usually want what is right, so it's up to our leaders to listen to the majority.

Another problem is in fact the internet.  Don't get me wrong, I love the internet it can be helpful how easy it is to get information.  The issue is that it makes it so easy for everyone to put their ideas out there that there are so many voices and so many putting out their opinions it's virutally impossible to unite people.  (And yes I understand the irony of me writing this on my blog.) Everyone is so busy speaking, yelling their opinions that no one is taking the time to listen.  We as a generation need to remember to use our ears and mouth proportionately. 

If you look throughout history, it is always the young people who bring about the necessary changes in the world.  The American Revolution, the French Revolution, and the Civil Rights, they were all started by college students.  Adults my age.  But now people my age either don't care or feel like there is nothing they can do about it.  But I think that we need to stand up for our country and for what is right. If we don't stand up, who will?

Basically I want to be able to tell my children and grandchildren that I stood for what was right, that I didn't sit by passively and let the world change around me for the worse without trying to make a change for the better.  I want to make sure that the world is a better place when I leave it then it was when I got it, then it is right now.  Whether it be politics, standing up for the family, or just plain standing up for what I think is right, whether or not it's popular, I just want to be able to stay that I stood up and had my voice heard and counted for.

Sorry this post is kind of rambling and I don't know if it made much sense, but I just had to get it out there.

Crazy World

This post was written last February but for some reason, I never published it.  So I'm going to publish it now. 

The last week at institute we have had missionary week.  For missionary week I wet on a media fast.  I loved it!!  I realized how much time I waste on the interet.  It's rather sad actually.  I was much more productive ad a lot less stressed.  I actually had time to think and I was able to realize what constatntly being hooked up to the media does to you.  I realized that it's so hard to tune out the world when you are surrouded by media all the time.  It's extrememly difficult to listen to the spirit.  So I am going ot try to have a "media fast" whenever I have school.  So this will just be a weekend blog.
I read this week in the New York Times about this 17 year old girl who has written a best selling novel in Germany.  But recently it was revealed that she pladgiarized her book.  She lifted entire pages from another book.  But she says that it's no big deal because it's just "mixing and matching" and that is apparently what her generation does.

Speak for yourself.

I am a part of that "generation" she is talking about, but I would rather not be grouped with a girl who obviously doesn't know what integrity and honesty is. Let me be the first from my generation to stand up and say that is not right and to stand up in defense of honesty and morals.  If the rest of the world won't I will.  If you want to read more about this story go to this link. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/12/world/europe/12germany.html?scp=1&sq=plagiarism&st=cse

"Mixing and Matching"

So I was reading the New York Times the other day and I read this article about this seventeen year old girl in Germany who recently wrote a bestseller.  But then someone noticed that parts of her book were exactly like another book, and they realized she had pladgerized her book.  She had lifted whole pages without changing anything.  So this girl admitted to the fact that she had in fact pladgerized, but she said it was totally ok.  She said that it's just what "her generation" does "mix and match" things. Author, 17, Says It's 'Mixing'

I must say, speak for yourself.

As a member of "her" generation, let me to be the first to stand up and say that is wrong and it shows no integrity. "Mixing and Matching" is not ok, it doesn't matter if you're writing a book, an essay for a class, a blog, or anything else, you always cite your sources and you do not take someone else's work and say that it is your own.  It's wrong.  End of story.  And I hope that my generation realizes that or we're in for one heck of a future.