Killing "The Man" to Save "The Woman"

To the reading woman:

If a man has ever said or done anything disrespectful to you that either you passively disregarded, or bear as a inexorable burden, I want to apologize for the past, present, and future generations of men with no morals or self respect. Personally, I believe that women are one of the greatest gifts that Life has ever given me or any other man/boy. When I was living with my mom and sister for two years in an small home in Alabama, I learned how important women are to the everyday lives of a young man. They teach him humility, respect, and courtesy. You learn quickly that they are the true treasures of life that we, as men, need to appreaciate better. Women, who not only keep this society we live in from falling apart by raising us up full of morals and ethics that help shape who and what we are, also have a kind of limitless, nonjudgemental, enduring love that seems uncharted and passionate everytime a man dives into its deep waters. But, the men who jump on their high horse and believe they can "control" women like pawns and treat them like complete children toys are apart of the majority of people corrupted by the archetypal theme "The Man."

The Man believes that he can have any women he wants and can do whatever he wants to him if he does the right things. He's repeated the same plan over and over again, "Walk up to her, make her feel good about being around me and ask her on a date tonight. Then, when on the date, I do all the listening; I have her believe I really care about what she's talking about. Remember, do alot of listening, but when you do talk, it's all about romance; tell her she looks beautiful; talk about her personality, you know, make her fall for me. When it's time to go, I tell her something she will remember like, 'I've been on like, a few dates this year, and you have taken my breath away tonight; it's unexplainable. Everything about you is just so right to me. You're beautiful, funny, intelligent, and just plain irresistable. I'm trying my hardest not to just kiss you on those beautiful, perfect lips.' After that, my work is done. She's all over me! I go inside, get the "job" done and drop out while she's sleeping, and never call her back again. Then, on to the next one!!!" After the woman realizes that the guy won't return her calls and text messages, it's too late. He's probably off on another "date" and she's sitting at home emotionally attached to this guy she met two days ago who doesn't truly care for her, so she fills her emotional void with another guy tomorrow, then two, then four, then sixteen, then thirty. All because The Man wanted a quick fix, that same girl at Starbucks is pregnant with a child with twenty-nine possible fathers. Cold world right?

The morals of men have been thrown away. What happened to holding the door open? What happened to yes ma'am/no ma'am? What happened to letting them have your seat if there weren't any left?What happened to sincere listening? What happened to,"I'll never leave you."? What happened to saying, "I love you" and with every fiber of your being, meaning it? What happened? It doesn't have to be this way; treat every woman with the most extreme levels of respect and regard for themselves and their beliefs and opinions. Show them that they truly matter to you, because I'm almost positive they do to someone else; you won't find a kindness like the one a heartfelt woman holds anywhere else in the universe.

For my LLP, I plan to present this idea to my "students" and hope that one of them choose to create a campaign for Women's rights. This is a problem that has bothered me for a long time now and I'm tired of it, so it's time to take action. That's another man's pride and joy you're playing with; would you want someone doing that with your daughter? I need our generations of misogynistic "playas" to wake up; this project will expose the truth of the importance of Women in the world to men and will slowly but surely kill off The Man inside. It's time to stop trying better your "swag" and start to work on having some kind of Class.

I'm done ranting. Next Post:

"Every man must do two things alone: he must do his own believing and his own dying."
- Martin Luther

Fair-Minded Dreams

"I'm not on the outside looking in; I'm not on the inside looking out; I'm in the dead f****** center looking around." - Kendrick Lamar - Ab-Soul's Outro.

That one lyric represents what I'm trying to accomplish in my life right now. I can't speak for anyone else's community, but in the community of Powder Springs, Ga, there are sides to take in everything. From being the Jock who is deeply respected by all your peers to the Ivy League bound scholar who is destined for greater things and runs almost every school club and school related gathering, those are really the only two roles that give you a respected reputation. If you aren't with either side, you are considered either a Pothead, a "Scrub," an Outsider, or a Follower; a "Scrub" is someone who comes to school, doesn't speak to anyone except maybe the teachers, makes average grades, and doesn't play any sports. I really don't know how I did it, but for some reason, I took every role there was. I was the arrogant, cocky AP student who could play a little basketball, read voraciously, and was VERY rebellious and followed the wrong crowd usually. This was my Freshman and Sophmore year when I was still trying to find myself; where you could have told me anything and I would've believed it. My Sophmore summer completely changed my whole perspective on my life, the world, and my future.

In a nutshell, at the Global Leadership Forum were the internatioanl leaders of the future who were hell-bent on ending the world's most persistent problems. I originally came there to look around and not really partake in activities because I expected it to be just like home, you pick a side and you stay there or you're a "Scrub". But from the first car ride to the Castle to the bus ride to the mountainous Colorado to a Wolf reservation, I realized quickly that this isn't like home. This is a place where you find yourself; a place where you find your passion; a place to determine what you really want in life; a place free from castigation and discrimination. So, I allowed GLF to take's it course on me. On one occasion, we were all in the mountains at a wolf reservation respectively named Mission: WOLF. Our mission was to gather firewood for the reservation and pack them up on a truck. We honestly had to pick up these huge tree stumps and carry them across holes, slippery mud traps, and over other logs. For some reason, when we were out there, a few people started fighting about who knows. Now myself, I was just going to kick back and just take the logs to the truck with no problem. But, as soon as I see the arguement, I just take on this role of some sort of leader who motivates us to get this job done while constantly yelling the phrase, "Teamwork Make the Dream Work." We must have gotten the wolf reservation enough firewood for most of the winter. It was so scary, the hidden potenital that was taken out of me at GLF. I learned more about myself there than I did from living in an two story house where Dad is never home and Mom's quick temper can seem even abusive  at times. I learned that I have to power to become an amazing motivational leader who can persuade even the most arrogant to do greater things. One of the biggest lessons I learned which turned out to be the greatest irony, there doesn't have to be sides in life. Someone can choose to be friends with one side of the social world and still hang out with the other.  Also, in politics, I do not prefer either side of the partisan government. I believe that both have very good intentions, but the way that they carry out their plans may come with negative repercussions. It still baffles me today how people can fight and fight without even taking the other person in concern at times. One of the biggest lesson I learned from GLF about the world, I believe that there is a middle ground in every conflict; if you don't find it that middle ground, then you stopped looking for it.

Wow man; Kendrick Lamar really spoke to me in that lyric. I had heard that line before, but sitting in the airport in Atlanta, Georgia, just reminiscing on the last two weeks while that line runs through my head, I finally see a glimpse of who and what I want to potray to others about myself and my thoughts. Until I hear otherwise, from what I learned this summer at GLF, to coming home and seeing my world with new impartial eyes, I believe that my role in society is to view this world from an unbiased standpoint and reflect it in a way that others can see it for what it really is while motivating the unwilling and educating the ignorant. Or, maybe life has another mission in mind. Only time will tell right?

I'll try to leave you with a quote that give a insight to what my next post will be, if it doesn't work out every time, then expect a surprise. Til Then,

Torran G.

A woman is not an object. She is not something; she is someone. You treat a woman with respect. She is not your toy. She doesnt owe you anything just cause you are a man. When she come to you for comfort, you listen to her; you dont make a move on her. Grow up and start treating women how they deserve to be treated.
                                                    - Unknown

Rama's LLP: Anti-Plastic Campaign at Delia School of Canada, Hong Kong

This summer, global educator Maggie Chumbley (dot com) talked to a group of bright eyed teenagers about plastic pollution. I was one of them, and my bright eyes held a little bit of cynicism. Maggie told us how she was cutting disposable plastic entirely out of her life, and choosing to use substitutes in every situation possible. She spoke about standing up and even telling disinterested peers about the issue, and ways to combat it. As I sat there listening to her, I admired her strength and courage in going against the norm of having plastic be a part of everyday life, but at the same time, I thought, "come on, just because a small group of people do something, the problem won't go away. And she hasn't met my peers, they'd never care. This is simply.. unrealistic." In an effort to express that to her, but in a polite manner, I said "Maggie, that sounds really difficult." Maybe it didn't capture exactly what I was trying to convey- but it spoke to what I was really thinking, deep down inside. All Maggie dignified my response with was, "I know, it doesn't." BAM!

Here's what I realised: I'd been living my life choosing what was easy and convenient over what was right. What I learned that day was, I didn't have to keep doing so. When I came back home to my peers who I was sure would be disinterested, I was full of optimism and determination. I realised that two weeks of life without plastic had made me passionate about the issue, and eager to start spreading the message on. I started talking to my group of friends about plastic every day- some were interested to hear, but most just found it annoying. But the one or two successes fueled my ambition, and I came up with an idea; Maggie had told us about an anti-plastic campaign run by students at a school where she used to teach; why couldn't I start one at mine? After weeks of negotiating with school administration, counselling with Maggie and a teacher at school (more on her later!), getting my friends to pledge support, and writing and rewriting proposals, I had a working plan!

Today is about a month or so into that initial plan. What the revised version looks like is almost irreconcilable with the original. We wanted to hold a presentation for the entire high school; we've been allowed to hold one for the grade 11's and 12's. We wanted there to be dialogue and discussion during the presentation; we're going to have to have it entirely scripted. We started out with about 28 people; now we're down to 18. But that's all okay. A smaller audience allows us to make our presentation intimate, personal, and moving; giving high school kids the license to interrupt a presentation has the potential to end in chaos (as many of my teachers know very well); the people left in the campaign group are all dedicated and prepared to invest themselves into this endeavour. We've learned to take everything positive we can get out of our environment, and make it work.

So, here's what our plan looks like. We've decided to focus on plastic bottles- it's a common trend at my school to buy one from 7-11 in the morning, throw it out when school ends, and buy another the next day! So we're going to talk about the alternatives- bringing reusable water bottles from home, or taking plastic bottles home to reuse.We're to hold a 30 minute presentation for three different groups on December 14th- just over a month away! But we're ready! We have speakers willing to share their personal connection to the issue, and why they think it is important to take action, to encourage the rest of the student body. We're collecting plastic bottles from around the school every single day (people have actually been generating a lot of buzz just through this!) to create a visual display of just how many bottles we go through in only a month; it's been but a week, and we already have four large garbage bags full of them! (augh!) Finally, we're working on a video of ambassadors for the cause, showing that it isn't 'uncool' to care; it's human! We've decided that if we can get just one person to start bringing reusable water bottles or reuse their plastic bottles, our campaign will have been a success! Our biggest asset is our teacher adviser, a Ms. Tabitha Mark who is just a gold mine of energy (SHE DOES NOT RUN OUT), creative ideas, and support. She's given us her room for meetings, storing the bottles we collect, and discussions. She's always around to give us pointers, help us find structure, and relay "teacher-tips". As for me, personally, I've been happily proven wrong about the peers who I thought would "never care about something like this".

This is the story of how a doubt grew into an idea which grew into a movement. I'm excited to see if I can get a happy ending out of it.