Racism is Taught. Stop Teaching It!

                     In reality, racism still exists and is NEVER going to end. Sounds a bit harsh but it is  indeed true simply because there will never stop being different types of races on our planet. As long as there's races there will be racism. However, has anyone ever taken the time to analyze the behaviour of children? Sure! We all have at some point, right? Children are always asking questions, exploring and trying to find out more and more about this world we live in, mostly because they're new here. This behavior implies what we already know is true; Kids don't know everything! That means to a child, unless he is taught to see people as different from himself, everyone is the same to him! Shocking, huh?
            Racism is not inherited. Its not a trait that gets passed down through our blood and through our genial lineage. Racism is taught. The only way that this ugly set of beliefs can be stopped is to stop the teaching of it to our future generations. This means our children.
          Would you agree that kids learn even when we don't want them to? Whatever you do you can almost trust that they are right behind you doing the same thing because they want to be like us. We're all that they know! This can be understandably frustrating, especially when you're doing and saying things you wouldn't want them to do or say. Yet the fact remains, children learn everything they are taught and we as adults never cease to be teachers, whether of good things or bad things. This is sadly how racism is carried on through generations in spite of years of trying to be corrected. One racial slur belted out in a fit of rage or softly whispered because you think no one is around to hear you is in fact being heard by the tiniest of ears. Comments and jokes that contain racially insensitive content is not "just a joke" or "just a comment". Its racism in its biggest form because of the fact that its taken so lightly. To think how many times a child encounters or over hears a racist remark or term expressed in everyday life is appalling considering that there are actually some people who literally tell their children not to associate or to be afraid of, and generally frown upon a certain race of people or all races that are not their own. Then there's the media, and though we cannot hide from it, we can counteract it by our own simple choice. We must choose to change ourselves first in order for racism to stop effecting future generations and though it is a change we all must make, each person must make their own personal commitment to stop teaching racism in our deeds, actions, habits, words, and beliefs because aren't these the real things that make us who we are?

Haiti Two Years Later: A Million Haitians Still Homeless

                    Two years ago January 12, a completely devastating earthquake hit the country of Haiti, a country that was already known to be one of the most poorest countries, and now the number of homeless and hungry has increased! Since the earthquake there has been over $4.6 billion pledged to the rebuilding of Haiti by donors across the globe yet experts reveal the shocking truth that it could very well be ten years before any "visual" recovery is made in the country. After two long years only a measly 43% of relief funds have been disbursed and still over 500,000 Haitians are without homes, not to mention the millions without food or decent amenities.

          So where did all the money go???? Watchdog groups claim that charities failed to govern and facilitate the funds properly, importing overpriced equipment and supplies /personnel, and shelling out millions for board members in high end renting. Another pitiful account for the funding is campaigns that cost millions! Telling people to help Haiti costed more than actually helping the country! Organizations, groups, charities, television appearances, newly formed social societies all in the name of the country's earthquake sucked the funding dry by the millions, leaving a still suffering Haiti to wonder does anyone care at all.

       American Red Cross, one of the largest organizations that fled to Haiti's rescue received a staggering $486 million in donations following the country's earthquake. They however announced that their main focus would be on building "permanent" homes and repairing the damaged ones instead of constructing temporary residences. So basically this means that they would rather take years to build permanent housing and risk the lives and safety of millions of women and children than to act now and build a home, permanent or temporary, to satisfy the quite obvious needs of the Haitian people. Poor excuse and reasoning in every one's book I'm sure. According to president and CEO of the American Red Cross, Gail McGovern, "Recovery is well underway". This statement is quickly contradicted pictures and first hand accounts of the suffering of people in Haiti two years later.

         So is there hope for Haiti? Oxfam, an organization created to solve infrastructure problems in Haiti states, "The second anniversary of the devastating earthquake must be a call to action!" (Cecilia Millan, Oxfam's country director in Haiti). While this sounds a tad bit promising, another organization offers a quite clear perspective on reality. "Quite honestly, donor funding is never going to be enough", says Tom Adams, U.S State Department's Haiti special coordinator to the Miami Herald. "In some areas we are really just starting".

Do Short-Lived Celebrity Marriages Give Holy Matrimony A Bad Look?

             We all know that no one is perfect and even the people that are idolized in our society for their appearance or special talents are sure as heck not perfect, having all of their most vulnerable moments strewn into the public eye day after day. How many embarrassing celebrity moments have we seen on television and the web....the public breakdowns....the legal drama... the list never ends! Still, with all of this being realized, we as human beings idolize each other all the more when fame is involved...no matter what we hear or see about each other. Take celebrities for example. We still listen to their music, flaunt their fashion line, sell-out their movies on the big screen and tune in to their reality shows faithfully. Could this be creating a responsibility on celebrities subconsciously? Being in the public eye means you definitely have a responsibility to the public in what you do and how you portray yourself. The slightest misunderstanding can cause a on-sleight of unwanted trends. Celebrity looks aren't the only thing beings copied or made apart of the life of the average population of their viewers. Even personalities, motives, and alarmingly so, many beliefs are adopted as well due to the words and actions of many of the rich and famous. Like marriage! Being married in the celebrity world surely doesn't mean "til death do us part". In fact, marriages in the public eye could begin and end as fast 24 hours! Could this atrocious fact slowly be giving marriage a bad look?

                              To many people around the globe, marriage is not a casual union, neither is it a mere shallow agreement. In some countries, religions, and cultures, marriage is a most sacred act and is done not out of selfish ambition or with the intent to end it in 72 days. These beliefs have held up and esteemed marriage in the eyes of people everywhere, so much so that as children we are taught that marriage is an honor, an achievement, and a lifelong commitment to look forward to with someone that you love. Many religions consecrate marriages in the presence of a minister, priest, or holy clergy signifying the holiness of the act, meaning that it is a commitment made in the acknowledgement of both God and man. For marriage in the public eye to be taken so casually could even be found as blasphemous  but because money and fame are two of the most valued things in our society, this idea is overlooked and swept under the carpet.

                             Lets slow down here! You may be thinking that celebrities aren't the only people on earth who get married with false intentions and impure motives and they certainly aren't the only people getting married and divorced within the same year. You are correct! However there is a major difference between what I do and what someone else does with the fame and fortune of Kim Kardashian. You have never met me in your life and you probably never knew me before you came across this blog. Kim Kardashian is a well known figure and even though you probably never met her, you'd bet your bottom dollar that you knew about her and so does the rest of the world for Pete's sake! When I go out to eat people don't take pictures of what I'm wearing and post them in everyday fashion magazines around the world for women to idolize and try to mimic. Do you see what I'm saying? What the average citizen does is non-existent to some extent compared to what a celebrity does and how it effects people. A simple outing for me does not change fashion history or cause a media frenzy. So for a celebrity to partake in a sacred union and break it in 72 days is like giving the okay to their fans and the general public to denounce marriage and all that it stands for....after all, marriages come and go! This the wrong idea to have about a life-long relationship and commitment! Marriage is a commitment and commitments are born out of convenience or someone having too much to drink and suddenly feeling loved. When its portrayed as such by people who are highly respected in some way, the morals and values of such a decision begins to die. People begin to form unwise similarities in society between dating and getting married. Dating is not the same a marriage. Dating someone for 72 days is different from marrying them for 72 days but our minds have become so numb to the fact that such short and unthought-out decisions are made in the eye of the media that we say, "Oh, well", instead of saying " This is horrible". Our reactions have become so passive to the promotion of what is wrong and the demotion of what is right. This is extremely dangerous because who is going to hold up our beliefs if we don't. No one. They disappear like "the gentlemen", or "the virgin". Such things don't hold value anymore and are forgotten, seen as ancient characteristics. The sad part is that ancient characteristics almost always belong to a once great civilization that now belongs to history.

                    

                          

How Smiling Is Physically Healthy For You!

Smiling is one of the easiest things we can do everyday that not only makes us better but makes us feel better too! Everyone is attracted to a smile, even people you don't know! It's a common language that everyone can speak and understand. This is the reason why many people smile when they are trying to persuade, convince, or relate information to other people! Let's take a look at how smiling is not only mentally healthy for you, but also physically healthy as well!

Smiling Changes Your Mood
Smiling has a way of tricking the mind and body into changing its mood and believing you are actually happy physically as well as mentally. Even if you still remember things that make you unhappy or feel physically bad, by smiling you trick the body into going along with your outer appearance! Smiling on the outside can make you smile on the inside!

Smiling Lowers Your Blood Pressure
If you have a blood pressure monitor at home with you, try monitoring your blood rate while smiling and you will see the significant decrease in your blood pressure rate!

Smiling Boosts Your Immune System
Smiling boosts your immune system by helping you to relax and therefore allowing the immune functions to work properly. You can easily prevent flu and colds by smiling!

Smiling Releases Endorphins and Serotonin
Endorphins are chemicals released into the brain that helps us feel better mentally and physically. Serotonin is also. These chemicals when released can serve as natural pain killers and help heal bodily ailments faster.

Smiling Lifts The Face
All across the country cosmetic surgeons would be mortified if all of their patients began smiling more! Smiling acts as a natural face lifter, giving you the appearance of being younger than you really are!

Smiling Brings Monetary Benefits
Smiling has the effect of making you appear extremely confident! People who have affectious smiles are often hired and/or promoted by their appearance of extreme confidence which helps them to attract business, people, and important relationships which can all be converted into monetary benefits if preferred.                                                   

                                          So when you think about it, smiling has 100% profit because its absolutely free and you have both mental and physical benefits from doing so! Smiling is a whole lot cheaper than doctor visits, make up and cosmetics, therapist visits, and all the other things people make crazy amounts of money on. Just think of how much your really getting when you smile and it will help you to do so even when outer circumstances are contrary :)

Why Have So Many Celebrities Died At Young Ages? What is The Real Price of Fame?

                                     Is anyone else alarmed at the rate of deaths among celebrities who are under or at only 50 yrs of age? This has been happening for a long time now (actually since the 1970s). Apparently, there exists a club, "The 27 Club", which is a group of artists and many other celebrities who have all passed away at age 27. Isn't that alarming? Why do so many celebrities die so young? Is the celebrity life such a hard one that celebrities actually lose their live behind it? What is the real cost of fame and is it worth paying?

      
          We must realize that in order to attempt at finding the mysterious culprit for so many young celebrity deaths we have to look at the vulnerabilities of being in the public eye, for unlike us, a "regular" or "normal" life is a luxury that many celebrities had to give up as just one of the costs of the fame they sought. They are now exposed and made more vulnerable to criticism and exploitation and even hated and adored by people who don't really know them. This type of vulnerability is not normal to endure on regular basis and can cause extreme amounts of depression and poor mental health even to the best. It can also cause the destruction of their belief system (not knowing whats real or fake).

With these things being said, usually drugs and alcohol is the only solace in the constant struggles of fame and stardom, drugs and alcohol being the number one killer of young celebrities across the country. You may be thinking that stress and depression  is not enough to outweigh the perks of being a celebrity. With mansions, condos, millions in cash, and people waiting on you hand and foot (not to mention tons of fans), what more can a person ask for? Stress and depression, loneliness and longing for stability reaches an entirely new level when stardom and the public eye is involved. Fame increases everything it touches....and some may feel this is a good thing....but what about vulnerability and insecurities? While the cash keeps rolling in, these problems roll in with it! Fame is not free and for some celebrities who are no longer with us, the price for fame was just too high.

                              A second point we must look at is the rate which life moves for a celebrity and how much faster life seems to be for them. As a young star, many celebrities have not had the chance of experiencing and going through life at a steady and normal rate , with highs and lows, good times, bad times, first times, last times, and generally a balance of all life experiences. In the life of a celebrity who has acquired a high amount of game, everything is fast paced, accelerated as if they are in another dimension almost. Becoming a celebrity  at the young age of 17, for example, can really take a toll on someone, seeing as though life is really just beginning for them and at the faster rate of living (due to the high amounts of cash) a celebrity can live right past his life! This is why many celebrities take to hiding the real them and putting on a show for others because they too do not know the real them and this is painful to realize. Sometimes a person can get caught up in "living" until they lose their lives. To the public, a celebrity is the epitome of "living the good life", yet they are seeing only a tenth of what this person is actually experiencing. Most of their life is seen on camera or on stage and in the "media-perfect" lens created by their producers and publicists. A fast paced life may seem exciting but I ask this question: If the celebrity life is so great then why do many celebrities try to revert back to normality or harp on and on about celebrity life being such a challenge?

What is the real cost of fame? Lets read what some celebrities say about their experiences in fame:


" I.....I like it at times but you know, I like it when I'm on the stage, but honestly I would be very happy if I could cut it off....and just enjoy my life when I wasn't performing."        -Beyonce Knowles (CNN Official Interview)


"I don't have friends in this industry. I have my circle and I have my people who've been with me through the bad times and the good times. Everybody else is just wallpaper."              -Chris Brown (Angie Martinez's Hot 97 Radio Show)

"I no longer know who's my friend or my enemy. I'm always second guessing everyone, trying to figure out, 'who is this person and what do they want from me?' "                        -Nicki Minaj (Black Book Magazine Interview)

" 'Oh, he's so arrogant, he's so this, he's so that!' People don't even f---ing know me and have so much to say. Paparazzi, anybody who comes close enough to me, if I ask you not to take a picture of me or not to ask me something: just realize I am a real person. I'm not a celebrity. I'm just famous and stuff, and I make good music."                    -Kanye West (MTV Europe Music Awards Interview 2008)