Does submission mean defeat?

Submission obviously means to submit to something or someone. Defeat on the other hand means trying and being beat or being overcome, not necessarily as much of a choice as submission. Sometimes, one might have to submit. Sometimes the battle may be too strong for a person that they have no choice, but to submit. But submitting does not mean giving up. Submitting means to acknowledge that your stance in a situation is so inefficient that it would be better to submit to the problem/person rather than trying to fight it. This does not mean you were defeated. It does not mean you lost your fight. It actually is just showing that you are stronger because you were responsible and courageous enough to admit your inability. Submitting does not always have to mean to become someone/something's slave. Submitting can be, as stated above, acceptance. For example, submitting to a bad grade that you does not mean you are going to fail. It means you acknowledge the situation and now you are trying to fix it. Defeat would be knowing you have this bad grade and not getting it up. You lost the battle. Something that stuck out to me was the ability to use defeat as a noun and verb. To defeat means to overcome, but to be defeated means to be overcome. It's just weird to me how this one word when used differently can mean the total opposite of its other meaning. So submission can mean you defeated the oblivious while defeat can be not admitting the oblivious and thus getting the shorter end of the stick.

Why do we ignore obvious tragedy? (The Plague)

I mean, it's right there in your face. Everything you ever knew as concrete is dissolving. Everything that you held on to to remind you that this life you are living has meaning is disappearing. No one around can explain or even console you. So, why are you still sitting here with a painted smile across your tired face? Could it be that you are in denial? You may not want to accept the fact that everything that you've ever known as real is now only memory. You may not want it to appear to others that you are cracking on the inside. That you are no longer this strong individual whom some used to look up to. Holding on to your pride. You make be trying to hold together the sanity of others. They look to you for comfort and their comfort shattering means a hysterical people. Could it be that you are in shock? You are passed denial. You have accepted that tragedy has come to your front door, but now you are having trouble acting against it. You don't know what to do next and quite frankly you don't want to think about it. You're thinking about everything and everyone you love and how all of that must and will now change. Or could it be that you have hope for the future? You find no point in worrying about what is in front of you because you have hope that it will all pass and everything will go back to normal. This is only a phase, something that you are being put through just to become a stronger individual. But that's the thing. Tragedy is not a phase. Tragedy strikes suddenly and takes almost all   very quickly. You cannot ignore it. You cannot expect things to be the same in the future because they won't. You HAVE to accept it. Because it will shape the rest of your life. Nothing from that point on will feel, taste, smell, sound, or look the same to you. Something will remind you of this tragedy.

An Open Letter To Parents (Not Mine)

Parents, Parents, Parents. Let me first start by saying just because you are the authority and because you are much older than us, that does NOT mean that you know everything. The world is not how it was when you were growing therefore there are some things you have to learn from us. Parents always use the excuse "I want you to have a better life than I did" or "I do it because I love you." Well, you know, some things don't work as far as teaching us lessons. For example, putting us on punishment just makes us more angry at you. It does not guaranteed that we will not make the same mistake again because we most likely we will. Why? Because we are children! We do not think of the consequences of our doings and you bickering and nagging about how something is going to affect us will not change our minds. You guys must realize that just because you warn us of things because you've experienced them yourself does not mean that we have automatically learned a lesson. We must experience things and live our own lives to learn! On another note, please listen to us! You could avoid so much backtalk, confrontation, and frustration if you just let us say what we have to say. We might actually be saying something that would make the whole situation make sense to you. Don't just automatically think that because we are young that we know nothing! Geez. Ehem. And lastly. Lastly, pay attention to us. We grow up and we stop wanting to share things with you because you began to form a life our own. That does not always mean we are going through some puberty phase. We may actually need you and may feel too embarrassed, afraid, or may not know how to approach the subject with you. Life is not like Full House, The Brady Bunch, or The Cosby Show. Everything is not always picture perfect and obvious. Okay, I'm done.
- Just Another Misunderstood Kid

Something Everyone Should Do?

I believe everyone should be themselves regardless of what is approved and disapproved, what is looked down upon and magnified, what is "acceptable" and unacceptable. Society has made it so that people will feel ashamed for following and believing certain things. It has even gotten to the point that if you do something that is not "right" that you will be disadvantaged or even punished. Now, I'm not saying go around and do something idiotic like murdering people because you love video games that much and you wish you lived in one. I'm simply saying that as far as individuality goes and doing what you love, you should not be hindered as long as you you're not hurting someone. As I explained in my first semester informal, school is not for everyone. Just like how everyone is not meant to be on stage, everyone is not meant to be in a classroom. It is because society has made it so that the easiest and "right" way to be successful would be going to school. As if that's not enough, society has somehow managed to rank the schools. So now education is not enough. Now, you have to go to a cream of the crop of school in order to be recognized as someone of intellect. I say, if you know that books and a desk are not what you see yourself surrounded by in the future, then don't pursue that path. Everyone should be themselves. We all may think that we are individuals, unique, different from everyone around us, but the truth is we are only as unique oas society allows us to be. Change that. Prove them all wrong. Be you.

Poverty: A Choice?

First glance at this question, I was like "Of course not! What?!!" But, then I realized that this question is rather difficult. Very general, I do not think poverty is a choice. I believe that the decisions that people make that lead them into poverty are a choice. But, think about it. Not everyone makes mistakes to land in their poverty, some people are born into it. In that particular circumstance, poverty isn't a choice at all. It becomes that persons lifestyle. I wonder a person born in poverty would feel like they were in poverty. If nothing is all they've known all their life, then would they really look at their life as the outside world does? Would they see themselves as poor or misfortunate? I digress. People can make the choice to get out of poverty but, considering their current circumstance, that would obviously be easier said than done. Then, you have your set of people who have done things probably knowing the consequences and then ending up in poverty. Those would be the people who abuse drugs and alcohol. Someone could be in poverty because they lost their job thus, losing their house. That wasn't a choice they made. I really don't know. I think it's very important to establish what poverty is physically and morally. Once the world has agreed on a definition (we don't agree on anything) then I'll have a straightforward answer.

Malcolm X: Light Skin Vs. Dark Skin

Though this blog is late, I still felt obligated to talk about this issued of Light Skin vs. Dark Skin within the African-American race. Around my freshmen year, right when I graduated from 8th grade, Lil Wayne came out with this song called "Every Girl" where he says "I like a long hair thing red-bone." Red-bone means those of a lighter skin complexion and they were obviously expected to be prettier and have longer hair than those of a darker skin complexion. Anyway, this song started the most foolish trend. Every light skin girl was branding themselves as "red-bone" and "light bright" and every guy would only go looking for light skin girls. Then, Chris Brown came out with this song called "Look At Me Now" where he says "Yellow Model Chick." Once again, he was highlighting the nature of being light skin. If Malcolm X were alive, he would probably say this is brainwash. He would ask why lighter is better and why longer hair is more preferred. The theory that I was told was quite interesting. I was told that light skin African-Americans are preferred because back during slavery, there were the "house slaves" and they received better treatment than the dark skin people who were "field slaves." How foolish is it for a people to be oppressed so long, finally become liberated, and then characterize themselves by those who oppressed them? It is rather hypocritical and idiotic. African-Americans can never be taken serious if they are just puppets. I believe my generation is corrupt. For some reason, our history has gone to the back of our brains and our definition of beauty has become an unrealistic goal that can only be achieved by compensating for what was not given to us. As Lauryn Hill once said It's silly when girls sell their soul because it's in.Look at where you be in hair weaves like Europeans. Fake nails done by Koreans." Why can't we appreciate who we are? Why can't we love us, for us?

King Still King?

That is a very hard question. It kind of seems rude to extent to even ask such a question. Yet, this question is reasonable and has probably been asked thousands of times since The King. MLK changed almost everything in this world by fighting to eliminate discrimination and segregation. Thanks to his determination and fight, we no longer live in a world where the color of your skin will determine the education you receive, the movie theaters you attend, the washrooms you use, and the friends you make. The question now is if what MLK did still bigger than current issues. My answer? Yes. Yes I still believe that King is still the King. Without the results of MLK's battle, none of the current issues would be as big of an issue as there are now. For example, if we were all still segregated, the issue of gay marriage would not be as big of an issue as our separation because laws would be different. What MLK did was literally change the world. By defeating discrimination, he forced the world to look at everyone as an equal. Without equality, many other issues would not be brought up, ideas would be shot down, TV shows and music would all be different. So, in conclusion, I think you Mr. King, for you have made it possible for us to focus on the important things by eliminating such a petty issue.