I'M ZOOM ZOOMING OUTTA HERE AND INTO OUTER SPACE

Washington DC Program

Phew!

That was one heck of a semester. Still recovering from it, I am glad I have done all that I could to make it a memorable one.

What an amazing group of individuals. I, along with 9 other amazing and talented students of Lewis & Clark Pioneer brigade, bravely left the Pacific Northwest on a quest to America’s political center in Washington DC. Located on the East Coast, Washington DC is the capital of the United States and is not even one of the 50 states!!

I will let you know more soon enough. Peace :)

A Prayer

I really love her. I know I haven’t been the best boyfriend to her, but I wish I could show her how much I love her and how much I need her.

I wish she and I were together again. I dream of holding her in my arms once more. Dear Lord why does this hurt? I miss her more and more everyday. I wish I had not made those mistakes, I wish I had not hurt her. Lord give me strength because I don’t have any. 

What am I to do without her in my life? I have tried thinking of reasons to be without her, to go on without her, but every single time my thoughts end up running back to her. 

God if she is not the one for me why do I miss her so much? Why do I dream of being with her for the rest of my life?

God I know you want me to love you first and foremost. You blessed me with a friend who told me that I have to risk by faith. If I focus on pleasing you and placing “fulfilling your will” as my first priority, she might love me more - but if she doesn’t, then I have to be happy that You are there for me.

Lord I miss her. I’m sorry for the wrong I have done to her and I am sorry I pushed you away. Lord, you deserve better than this. I am so sorry I failed you and I need your forgiveness please.

Please make me a new man because I know I am drowning without your Love. Please make me a new man Lord because I already failed you many times before by pushing you away and as a result I pushed away the one person you blessed in my life. 

I should have held up your commandments from the start, then I would not have wronged so many people, especially her. I made the mistake of giving all my love to her when I should have given all my love to you because I ended up being disappointed more and more with myself and then eventually her. 

Give me a sense of peace Lord. Please let me know that the future you have planned out for me is bright. 

Lord you are wonderful and great in all your ways. Your love is unprecedented and ultimate.

Make me despise all that is unrighteous and against your will, but fill me with compassion and love and the power to forgive those who have wronged me.

Lord give me strength and the courage I need. Sustain me with your love and mercy throughout every day of my life for as long as I live.

In Jesus name

Amen

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She looks in the mirror 4 times a day, hoping not to see what she feared - her reflection,
Self-hate consumed her deeply - she woke up every morning unconsciously telling herself what she was - far from perfection.
Three hours spent looking at her hands - lost in thought, ended up wondering why they looked so dirty and begrimed,
No matter how much she scrubbed and washed her hands they still looked grimy - even when the skin of her hands turned red and began to peel - the feeling remained.
Two hours in a crowded classroom and she cant hear a thing - her ears dont take anything in,
People walk right past her and don’t seem to notice her sorrowful expression - “nobody bothers about whether you’re happy or sad” , she tells herself - not caring too much knowing that the world was a cruel place for any being.
She then sees this girl, there she was, doing what she always did - smiling and laughing with her many friends - the centre of attention wherever she went - her and her friends would be so happy and loud,
She liked to watch that girl with her group of friends - they reminded her of the dolls her granny used to buy her back in 1995 , they were so much like those synthetic toys - painted with a smile on their faces,
She looked around the classroom she was in – the four walls of the room seemed to have a sort of power over the students – it kept everyone together, she knew that no one really wanted to be there, in a class filled with different people, different styles, different races.
She then looked at her hands and wondered whether that girl ever cried or felt sad - she was always smiling and that made her feel odd - was it jealousy or was it a longing to be part of the crowd ?
Maybe it was both. She didn’t quite know - she always had a problem with making decisions. Like deciding stuff ever since she made the wrong choice that cold September evening - No. The memories rushed back into her mind: screams , gunshots and blood. She closed her eyes hoping that it would go away,
A hand touched her shoulder , it was covered in blood , she screamed. she opened her eyes - everyone in the class was looking at her, it was just that fat blonde boy standing before her , with an expression of fear upon his face - “ummm -errr.hey uh - just wanted to ask you if I could pass through, youre in my way”
She moved aside and let him pass. Meanwhile, aby, the girl next door , grabbed the seat beside her and sat down,
Aby was not her friend - just somehow who felt sorry for her - who would even want to be friends with freak that killed her own parents ? She felt downcast and felt herself frown,
Two hours in the bus headed for the place she was afraid to call her home - looking outside the window, passing parks, houses, children laughing, fast cars, slow cars, shops - normal people. she always tried to picture herself as one of them - but no matter how hard she tried - a distance sound of a single gunshot would make her shudder and get her back to reality,
This was her reality. a life with people she knew didnt give a damn about her life - people who were being paid thousands to look after her. a life filled with psychiatrists and student counselors - people who pretended to give a damn. they seemed so artificial. but then again, in her world - what wasnt ? It was an ugly world and far from the fake gleeful thoughts of being something beautiful or pretty,
She knew they thought she was a monster. Just by the contemptible looks that they gave her – it wasn’t her fault for being abused and taking revenge – was it ? Why did it have to be her ? Granny used to tell her that all things had a purpose. So , did being the victim of constant abuse Gods plan ? Was her, killing her parents the will of God ? she could ask herself a thousand times – but nothing ever seemed to make sense ,
10 years down the line and the ghosts of her past still haunted her – it followed her wherever she went , stuck to her like a mosquito sucking all happiness or normal feelings, never allowing her to make right – holding back from her the thing she knew she could never have, a second chance.
At night she loved to stare into the night sky - she had a habit of doing that, staring into the big black space and visualizing herself as a star - so distant yet appearing to be so close – she sometimes felt stupid for thinking that she could be special – but she knew she was a fool,
It had become sort of like a taboo for her to smile - but when she was truly alone, feeling so detatched to the rest of the world - she would smile. And when she did. It was beautiful.

By Lavenia Bogitini

Information on Fiji's Political and Economic History as well as it's current Political and Economic Climate

A Tragic Occurrence

I woke up this morning to the sound of my phone’s alarm. The night before I had set my alarm to go off at approximately 5.30am with R.Kelly’s song - Ignition being the alarm. I have to admit, it is one of the better alarm sounds that I have woken up to, and the good thing is, it does not annoy the hell out of me like some other alarms that are just a cacophony of sounds, and quite frankly are a huge contributing factor to ruining my day…

Anyways, back to the topic at hand. I had gotten out of bed, rather reluctantly I must add, and remembered that my laundry was still in the dryer downstairs from the previous night. So I put on my flip-flops and grabbed the two bags of clean laundry beside my bed, that I was too lazy to empty the week before, and began to make the long but determined descent to the laundry room.

After I had spent a good 10 minutes packing my dry laundry, I made my way up again to my room, and this time went to the bathroom to wash off the sleep from my face and to rid myself of my morning breath. Once this was done, I sat down by my computer, which I had switched on earlier, and opened up my facebook account. This is my daily routine. 

After I had spent about 10-15 minutes just browsing through facebook, I went on to open up my yahoomail account. I read a few emails, and then logged out. But then something caught my eye. It was a news article concerning the death of a 16 year old by the name of Ridge Barden. He died whilst participating in a football game. 

Ridge Barden was a 16 year old who played football at his Phoenix High School in New York. The article reports that this young man collapsed on the field after he told his peers he was suffering from headaches. Not long before, he was tackled and was still recovering from it when he suddenly collapsed. His parents stood at the sideline, horrified at what had just occurred whilst Ridge’s team did their best to rush him as fast as they could to the hospital. It was too late, for Ridge Barden was pronounced dead on arrival.

According to the source, the hospital had not yet released an autopsy report but was confident that Ridge died from internal bleeding in his brain probably due to “blunt force trauma” sustained when he was tackled.

It is a sad and tragic story that reveals to us how fragile life really is. Here was this budding teenager so full of promise and energy, but it took only one unfortunate incident on the football field to take his life away.

Ridge’s family are still trying to come to terms with the loss of their son. Although it is a tragic moment for their family, Ridge’s mother assured her son’s football team that it was not their fault nor was it the fault of the opposing team.

Football is a contact sport and the dangers associated with it will always exist. People who play this sport are well aware of the type of injuries one can sustain if (1) they play carelessly, (2) if they are not physically fit and (3) if they don’t play by the rules. However, despite these reasons, one cannot rule out the fact that Ridge’s death did not come about as the result of any of the three reasons mentioned. So the question is, should youth football be banned to avoid further major injuries and possibly future deaths from occurring? Why ask a question like this you might wonder? Well, firstly, if the human body is still not fully developed to sustain the amount of force and trauma experienced during a contact sport like football, wouldn’t it make sense to disallow teenagers from playing until they have reached a certain age where their bodies are fully matured and physically fit to sustain those types of injuries? It is an unfortunate thing for someone’s life to be unnecessarily lost during a game, especially if they are at a young age and still have their lives ahead of them.

The number of traumatic brain injuries sustained in sports and recreational activities in U.S High Schools amount to 21 percent. Of this figure, about 28 percent are of football players (http://www.sportssafety.org/sports-injury-facts/). This is an alarming figure!! 

Recently, another sport has come to mind that has been dubbed the most brutal and roughest sport in the world - Rugby. Rugby earns it reputation due to the fact that players don’t wear protective gear like football players do, and apply the same amount of, or more, hits to the opposition (http://www.worldsultimate.net/most-dangerous-sports.htm). As noted by the website : “The world’s most roughest and brutal contact sport has the least protective gear. This is regarded as the maximum injury prone game. The vicious tackling produces far more broken bones, torn muscles and concussions than even marshal arts. The totally absorbed players don’t stop till exhausted by injuries.”

However, focusing again on high school football, one might ask what measures have been taken to prevent serious injuries from occurring frequently in contact sports. The good news is, there are measures in existence. Measures,  such as the Concussion Awareness Management Act enacted by the state of New York, have been taken to reduce the amount of serious injuries caused in football. 

I recall filling out a form in my freshman year that is a general requirement for anyone wanting to participate in college sports. I was trying out for the college rowing team and I remember being asked “if I had any past head injuries?”. It was focused specifically on concussion injuries that are most common in contact sports but are not excluded from other sports as well such as baseball and athletics etc.

So the question is not really if we should ban contact sports such as football from being carried out in High Schools in the country , but rather “what more should we do to increase the safety of players in a particular sport at any given time’? Injuries happen all the time and if we look at Ridge’s case, he did not suffer from any previous head injuries, but his death was purely caused by injuries to his head. This means that the Concussion Awareness Management Act and many other acts similar to it in the U.S focus only on players already experiencing head injuries and fails to give attention to the well-being of those players who are injury-free.

All Sports are hazardous whether they may be contact free or not, and I think once we acknowledge this then can we be able to find, create and implement measures that protects the well being of all players and not discriminate against injured players only. For all sports, my only concern is that every player should be mindful of the possibilities of sustaining injuries - whether it be minor or serious. If they are well educated on the type of injuries that can be sustained, hopefully they will be able to prepare themselves in every possible way before actually participating. 

This may not be a perfect solution and fatalities may still occur, as seen in Ridge Barden’s case, but atleast players will know and understand the risks in certain sports. 

As for banning youths from participating in sports that have proven to be dangerous, I think it’s up to the youths to decide that - but I also think that the authorities of the day have a huge responsibility in providing the most accurate information on sports related injuries and ways that they can be avoided.

It was just a dream

She is standing by the ocean, her hair flailing in the wind. She seems deep in thought. I wondered if it was the crashing of the foamy waves that captured her full attention. What was in her mind? 

Was she thinking about me? I dreaded that thought because I did not see her smiling.

Was she enjoying the peace that the environment around her offered? It was hard not to embrace such beauty. I saw her standing there, a complete object of beauty. No, she was more than that. She is a thing of beauty, no doubt, which is why my eyes were ever glued to her.

I wanted to call out to her but was afraid that she would run away. I felt that the waves and blowing wind could take her away from me. When I realized this, I suddenly felt helpless. Maybe that’s what she was thinking. Maybe she was thinking of leaving this physical world and joining the spirits of nature that were beckoning her from the wind and the waves.

I fell to my knees, head bowed, hands clasped. I said a prayer asking for her not to go and leave me on this island. She is the only thing keeping me going. Please spirits of the wind, please spirits of the waves - stop casting your spell on her. I want her still. Please don’t take her away from me. I need her still. There is so much that I still need to do for her, so much that I still have to say to her.

Don’t let me live forever with this regret. Nature is beautiful and it wants to take back what belongs to her. She is a thing of beauty and I am just as grey as the rocks onto which the waves crash. The winds start to blow violently, but she is unaffected. The waves begin to churn and churn, and they start to rise and rise. I stand horrified as it crashes down on her. 

“My love”, I yelled out with tears streaming down my face. I stretched out my hand hoping to pull her close to me. I could see her standing calmly as the waves crashed all around her and carried her up. She finally turned to me, her eyes filled with tears and happiness. She gave me one last smile and said goodbye,then finally, she disappeared into the watery depths.

I ran to where she stood and collapsed. She was gone…forever. 

I woke up with my clothes drenched in sweat and my cheeks wet with tears. How? What Happened? I turned to my right, and there she was, a thing of beauty, sleeping soundly. She was not gone. She was right there sleeping right beside me, her hand holding mine.

And then, I heard the sound of our baby crying. She stirred from her sleep, and slowly opened her eyes. I looked deep into her eyes and smiled at her. I kissed her and then told her, “Don’t worry honey, I’ll take care of it…I love you”. 

As I got to the door I could hear her mutter the words, “I love you too…make sure you warm the milk before giving it to our daughter ok”. I paused, turned around with a smile and said, “Sure will”.

thementor679 asked: What do you think of the many conflicts that are raging throughout the world?

Well, I am an advocate for human rights and believe that any act of violence inflicted upon an individual or a group that is either physically, mentally, economically, politically or militarily disadvantaged is a direct violation of that individual’s and that group’s human rights. 

Conflicts have always been a part of human nature because humans are inherently aggressive. We can find all the evidence we need in history, and we need not search very hard because the majority of the major conflicts were the wars fought by opposing kingdoms and states, and of course my favourite example, the biblical account of when Cain kills Abel. Although we hardly see large scale conflicts between states anymore, we can see the bulk of conflict and human rights violations being committed within states, i.e to say between an oppressive government and it’s civilians. 

From a strategist’s point of view, and also a political leader’s point of view, conflict always exists because people have conflicting interests. Everybody wants a piece of the pie, and hardly anybody is willing to share or compromise their piece with anyone else. This is precisely what is happening in the world between states. Look at the on-going conflict between Palestine and Israel. It is quite remarkable how long this conflict has been going on for. The only reason that no negotiations have been reached is because both sides do not wish to reach a compromise.

To make way for compromise, people have to look beyond the current situation, more importantly they have to forgive and forget. It is easier said then done. The harsh reality is that there are bullies and there are victims in this world.

Th Rwanda genocide stands as a perfect example of how slow the international community was in reacting. How can we put a cost on a human life? Political leaders, I have no doubts, genuinely want to do whats best for their country. They see another country in need, and although they may feel some sense of humanitarianism, they still feel the need to advance their country’s interests first and  foremost before lending any helping hand. It’s like a bad case of a neighbor beating his wife, while the rest of the community looks on; some wanting to help either out of pity or out of a desire to be noticed; some focusing on their own household problems and deliberately ignoring the abusive neighbor; and then there are the members of all the households who cry out  for a community effort to be taken by the head of each household, but lack the power themselves to put a stop to the injustice. 

It’s a harsh world we live in. Like I said before, there are bullies and there are victims. I feel for the oppressed. I am against bullying of whatever form. I hate seeing someone less capable being pushed into the corner by someone who clearly has all the strength. On a larger scale, I hate how current governments mistreat its people and I wish I could do something to make a positive impact and difference.

What I can say though is this, we as individuals can fight bullies by starting with ourselves - our biggest bully is fear. If we can learn to overcome that we can start moving out into our communities and put a stop to the bullying that happens there. We need to start small, we need to start with ourselves.

Imagine if everybody was against bullying? If every individual made it their mission to speak out against injustice. 

Indeed it has been happening. You will be no doubt familiar with the Egypt uprising and the political upheavals in other parts of the middle east. People are beginning to tire of oppression and they are willing to fight to get their freedom. At the end of the day, we will have to question ourselves, where will we be when that happens?

tumblrbot asked: WHAT MAKES YOU FEEL BETTER WHEN YOU ARE IN A BAD MOOD?

When I am able to listen to a good song and then sing along to it