| T o o C o o l F o r L i f e |
| There are many things that I am about to mention that I believe need to be discussed but I doubt that most of you will listen if you are guilty of these �crimes�. Most of these are charges against my fellow high school students, while others may apply to anyone. The first topic is being �too cool for school spirit� as my friend Ruth so eloquently put it. I, for one, am glad that I am going to the high school that I am going too. I do believe they are overly strict at times, for example Halloween, and also have problems communicating to the students, for example Halloween, and at times it is hard to take them seriously since they treat us like five year olds most of the time (granted of course, that we act like five year olds most of the time). The point is that if you aren�t miserable, if you feel like you�re getting a good (or at least an average) education, and you�re having a decent time in the high school that you�re in, you should have school spirit. Even if you don�t fall under ANY of these categories, there is someone that you know that does, and if it wasn�t for this school then they might be more miserable than they already are (if they are). Now, I must say that I am proud to go to Southeast and I am glad of our school�s achievements and just overall how our school is run. The administrators (though they may seem like demon-spawn most of the time) are trying in the best way they can to make our lives more educated. Something else that I am proud to be a member of is the United States of America. I am proud that our country fought for our independence and won it, and for all the lives that were lost in all American War�s up to this day. While I am proud to be an American I am also aware of how shitty (sorry for the language but I feel it is appropriate) our society is. As Americans we are mind-numbed, celebrity chasing, junk-food eating, lazy-ass, stuck up, conservative bastards. And our greatest representative yet is our leader, George W. Bush. Now that I think about it I�m not surprised that he got elected, I suppose that I was just hoping that the American people would have made a logical choice, and I forgot that the world doesn�t run on logic, it runs on money, power, and your father�s name. But I got off on a tangent. I am not proud of the discrimination our country has committed to it�s own citizens in the past or present, or the War on Iraq, or on almost completely ignoring the world when a lot of people are starving and dying in other countries. What I am proud of is that we are a country, and that even if we don�t help others that hopefully, in some future date, lots of people in the country will come together to help the other nations of the world grow as rich as we are now. I have one last to say about being �too cool� or even just being in disagreement with someone or something. Our current social system in the United States of America has a few things that it lacks in. The first is honor, the second is control, and the third is respect. A lack of honor is obvious in the school system, as well as in news reports, and general daily life. The lack of control is obvious in crimes committed in the �heat of the moment�, which I can�t recall if there is lesser punishment for such an offense, but if there is, then there shouldn�t be. The third and one of the most important problems is the lack of respect. Students don�t respect teachers, kids don�t respect parents, parents don�t respect kids or teachers, teachers don�t respect kids, adults don�t respect elected officials, media doesn�t respect people�s privacy, and I could go on and on but I�m sure you get the point. Think before you act, respect one another in the choices we make, and do something with your life that you can go back and say �I did my part to make people�s lives better�. That is the most honorable life one can lead: a life devoted to the bettering of other�s lives. The second topic that I bring up is more in the male part of the school, and may apply to those outside of school. I have noticed, in nearly every bathroom, that guys: A.) Don�t care about� how can I phrase this lightly� aiming? And 2.) Don�t wash their hands. This is quite obviously disgusting. First of all we�re reverting back to the black plague times when all the waste was just thrown out back (or out front even) by not being cleanly. Not mentioning that you wouldn�t want to shake someone�s hand if they had it just pulled it out of their pants, so why shouldn�t you wash your hands since it is the same thing. What does it take but an extra 15-30 seconds and getting your hands wet (and not just wet, but also using soap). Honestly. The third topic has to do with things that are going on around the country. I myself tend to put myself a little bit on a higher ledge than some other people in this particular problem. I am of course referring to piracy of songs online. I admit that I do download songs, and I admit that I have burned some CDs with the songs I have downloaded. However, the songs that I download would never see a cent of my money, because generally I only like one or two of the songs they make, with a few exceptions. The exceptions are Sixpence None The Richer, Coldplay, and Michelle Branch. I downloaded a number of Coldplay�s songs after seeing their music video on TV, and realized that four or so of the songs on the CD my sister wanted of theirs I had. So I bought it, and I burned a copy for her since it was her who helped me get interested in it. While I was downloading a Coldplay song (or what I think is a Coldplay song, it�s lyrics don�t match those of the real Coldplay song with the same title) I happened upon another song, by a band with a familiar name. That band from a few years back that did �Kiss Me�, Sixpence None The Richer. So I went to their site, and on their site they had a set up that you could play all the songs off their site. Not just a couple 15 seconds, but the full songs. Now there was no way for me to download off their site, but I�m sure if you were an expert computer hacker (1337 is the online term for one of these persons) that you could find a way to copy the songs off of their mainframe. I, however, went to Kazaa and found all, that�s right, all of the songs� except one I believe that I couldn�t get a good copy. Anyway, after I download all the songs and listen to them repeatedly, you know what I did? I went out and I bought the CD. I�m sure that you think I�m losing my mind or that I�m rich (not that I would disagree at the moment, considering I have a fairly large bank account which is around $700 but will be dropping when I make my own computer) but I felt like I should go out and give back to the band that performed and wrote the wonderful music that I spent hours downloading and listening to. Michelle Branch was known to me earlier from other songs, but my friend told me about the site and I went there and listened to some parts of the songs (since there were only clips and not the full songs) and I went out and bought that CD as well. The very last CD I bought was Linkin Park�s Meteora, where I mimicked my Sixpence pattern and downloaded them all off the internet and then bought the CD. Other than those four or so CDs there are not many bands that have inspired me to go out and buy their CDs. Having �one hit wonders� doesn�t make me want to go out and buy their CD and have to pay for 10 or so other mediocre songs. Soon I believe that I will have to move onto paying for my music, but it will be difficult since no one company will be able to offer all the music due to competing record labels and online companies fighting over rights, which will only lead to further downloading off the internet. I do hope that something in this writing will inspire some of you to do something different to make your lives better, and less like the leeches that our generation is growing up to be. Thank you for taking the time out of your busy life to read the writings of this 17 year old boy. |
| Have something to say to this? E-mail me. You never know... I might post it. But give your real first name and atleast the first letter of your first name... and I won't post spam crap... and be sure to have few errors... just 'cause it's e-mail doesn't mean you shouldn't type in english. o_O word. ......I'm so oxymoronic sometimes. XD well I might post any I get. Depends if I find I can fit it in. But if you want I'll reply to each one personally... if you want. |