Commitments

My short term commitment is to be more friendly and, as weird as this sounds, smile at everyone, friends, family, and complete strangers! i see people on campus extremely stressed and worried about finals this week, and i beleive that if you receive a smile from a someone it can remind you that everything will be fine and well.. its just nice to have someone smile at you. My long term goal is to be part of a charity, i have always wanted to participate and help out, but i never looked into it or anything. Now, all these discussions about peace in the 1311 English class, have really encouraged me to be a part of making a difference in this crazy world.

Inner Peace

I Beleive that inner peace is achieved when you have many problems but you dont let those problems affect the positive things in your life and you dont let them stress you. It is very important to know how to limit yourself as far as stress goes. when feeling stressed you should take your mind off completely off the negatives in your life and focus on the positives. :) i think thats one of the important steps in achieving inner peace.

Egypt

Egypt is undergoing total political reconstruction.  The country has been a republic since 1953 and four Egyptians have served as presidents. Because the last president Hosni Mubarak stepped down as president after several days of huge protests the country is now a republic under military rule. Egypt's cabinet today approved a decree-law that criminalizes any type of protest that can affect the economy.  this obviously created a scandal and it was all over the media. i personally would be against this new law.  It was because of these protests that things are changing in Egypt. Protesters in general where aiming for a non violent revolution.

Fearful Citizens Preventing Peace (opinion piece)

            Ciudad Juarez, Mexico- one of the most dangerous, if not the most dangerous city. Early in the morning, before the sun rises the city becomes filled with people, and busy streets create chaos. As the sun goes down streets become almost completely empty, and international border crossing to the United States begin to get full of cars and pedestrians forming long lines to wait for their turn to cross as soon as possible into El Paso, Texas.  EL Paso Texas- one of the safest city, according to an article in the El Paso Times, El Paso is the safest big city in the United States. 

            The sun set is seen as a beautiful moment of the day in most places, there is a feeling peace and serenity at that moment.  In El Paso, people are at the park, driving, going out for coffee, enjoying the last hours of the day. The sun set in Juarez is a bit different; people are worried and fearful at this time of day. Everyone rushes to get home, businesses close, and buses stop circulating the streets before the sky turns black.

            The people in Juarez live in fear. And it affects our community because many El Paso citizens have family members that are living in Juarez and they are also living in fear because they are worried for their families. There are so many horrible things that are happening just across the border, but most people instead of trying to confront these things for the better, just leave Juarez and come to America. In reality only the people who do not have the option of leaving Mexico try to put a stop to the violence and injustices in that city.  I do admit that people in El Paso are trying to fight for peace in Juarez as well, but from this side of the border.

            Fear can make people do many things. Gangs in Juarez obtain new members mostly by threatening them to kill them unless they join that gang.  So many businesses around Juarez are closed down because of the fear of being robbed by these gangs or the cartel.  It is extremely difficult to stay in a city with so much violence and conflict, but there needs to be something done in order to give the people who do not have the option to leave, a normal fearless life.  Fear could be the main element that is preventing peace to come to Ciudad Juarez.

Stand up for homophobic bullying

The way the people in this video responded to this situation was very peaceful and direct. It served its purpose. I really believe that in El Paso there is more respect for homosexuals than in other places. People in this city are very different and unique because of the cultures, even though the Mexican culture can be a bit against homosexuality but because El Paso is enriched with other cultures people often expand their views on issues like this. Because I am always around artists and dancers I see that a lot of people have an open mind about sexuality.  Even so it must be hard for homosexuals to accept who they are or become who they want to be. Actually from what I’ve experience in high school Homosexuals are very confident and have a lot of friends because of it.

Memo

As a Hispanic region, the El Paso/ Juarez community carries some Mexican, old fashioned traditions that can sometimes interfere with the development of the region. One of these traditions is that women are to be married at a young age, procreate and take care of their family for the rest of their life.  Even though time has changed people’s view on that, there are still many adolescent girls who believe that that is what they are expected to do because of their family background.  This can have a serious negative impact in this society as a whole.  The girls who follow this tradition don’t have or don’t continue with their education, marry too young and miss out on every opportunity they might have had of a successful life, therefore they have to conform with living in poverty.  This not only affects this society but it contributes to the world’s poverty in general. This alarming issue is well known around the world but unfortunately there is very little aid to prevent this from happening.  There is need for organizations to educate girls in their rights and make them aware of all the options around them.

The Coalition for Adolescent girls is an organization that is well aware of this problem and is taking action in helping young girls in many ways so that they are able to continue their education and have a rewarding life.  The organization was founded by the United Nations Foundation and the Nike Foundation in 2005, and has partnerships with more than 30 leading international organizations, that are also related to this cause. The coalition for Adolescent girls has 10 global actions, which are divided into three steps, “count”, “invest” and “advocate”.  The first action is to give girls an official identification. The organization makes sure girls are provided with a birth certificate as newborns to facilitate access to health services and education. Also it provides identification card to girls starting at age 10. The second step is to collect data on adolescent girls and track weather beneficiaries groups are reaching out to these girls. The third step is to invest in the adolescent girls and their specific needs and track what it achieves in the future. The fourth step is to help fund for girls’ education by providing them with scholarships, subsidies, and conditional cash transfers to make it affordable for the girls with most disadvantage. Also the Coalition is investing in non-formal schooling options. Step five is to focus on Aids and HIV prevention. The sixth step is to offer medical check-ups for reproductive and sexual health risks to girls starting at age 10. The seventh and eight steps are to build up marketing skills in the girls and also hold tutoring and mentoring programs.  The ninth and tenth steps are to educate the girls on their rights and give them the empowerment to take control of their lives. Also it promotes for a healthier and supportive community towards adolescent girls.

The organization encourages everyone’s participation in this movement. The Coalition for Adolescent girl’s website provides plenty of helpful information. It includes various links and the website is very easy to follow. It also provides reports on all the actions the organization is doing and there are also narratives from girls who were helped. All the organizations that are linked to The Coalition for Adolescent Girls are also listed. It is important to keep in mind all these organization for the sake of not only the girls but the world in general.

The Central Asia Institute

The film about the education in central Asia Institute gave me a lot to think about. First, having an educated community is very important because it allows progress in every way possible. One thing that really stood out for me is how this video was especially focused on education for women. It is interesting that they’re concerned about women’s education in this region of the world since education for women was completely frowned upon not too long ago. Also I can see how the focus on women can be of great impact to their society since they are the ones raising the men and leaders of the community and ultimately continue with the progress and well being in general of Asia. The man that established the central Asia Institute is extremely dedicated to helping these people grow as a more civilized, more educated group, which makes me understand why the people in Asia are responding so well to the changes around their community, especially the women. It brings me joy to know that there are people like this man helping the ones in need and especially in that part of the world like Pakistan where there has recently been a war. The man has great courage to be there in the first place, and helping them out is really outstanding. Not only is that, but the people’s response to his aid amazing since there could be grudges from the war. Although there are so many places where people are in need this video helped me realize that people are always willing to help and understand the situation people are in. There should be more people with the patience and kindness to help and be part of something amazing like it is helping the progress of a community to become civilized and better in every way. It is great that there is finally attention focused towards the women in that region. The way they were treated before was so brutal and uncivilized but the thing is in my opinion, the women never even realized what they were being seen as. They did not realize what kind of a life they could have if they had an education to rely on. They can gain lots of skills that would allow them to provide to their families.

Peace, and its real meaning.

When i hear the word "peace" i think of everything wrong that is going on in the world. The word reminds me that there is no peace around us. Hippies and flowers don't come to my head because that is not what peace is really about. There are many reasons why the peace that everyone wants cant be found.  I believe it is because there are so many people forming groups and organizations to try to create world peace, which in my opinion is in someway affecting the world in a negative way because there will always be people who are against those organizations, therefore creating more chaos.  Its all just a big mess. Maybe the best way to achieve world peace is to stop trying so hard and just keep a positive energy.