Teenage Pregnancy

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7136196.stm

I came across this article today while reading the news about a 15 year old girl who became pregnant at age 13 and chose to have the baby. Although teenage pregnancy rates have been dropping in the past few years, it's still shocking to hear a story like this. When I hear a story like this, I try to remember what I was like at 13. When I was 13, I was just going through puberty and had no interest in even having a boyfriend never mind committing to doing something so drastic and potentially physically/emotionally damaging as having sex. I wonder why these girls are interested in sex at this age and who is to blame for their behavior. Is it lack of sex ed in school, being molested at a young age (which is often the answer for many girls), or is it lack of parental attention and teaching. That's another frightening idea. Most parents who have a 13 year old girl (or boy) will most likely talk to their child about puberty, but how many of them will find it necessary to talk to them about condoms or abortions? Is this something parents need to do now? Will I need to, when/if I have a child some day, talk to my 10 year old about sex just to make her/him prepared for it? Our generation has truly brought about a death of innocence and it scares me to think about what the world might be like 10 or 20 years from now.

Shortage of Organ Donors

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7136005.stm

This recent article from BBC News states that there is a serious shortage in organ donors which is leading surgeons to use organs from drug-addicts on their patients. It also goes on to state that the government might instate a law forcing everyone to be an organ donor unless they specifically decline. I find myself disturbed by these ideas. First of all, it has been proven (according to this article, and common sense) that giving a sick person a liver or kidney from someone who died of a drug overdose can be unhealthy and can lead to greater risk of infection, and I believe that it should be considered unethical on the part of the doctor. The organs of someone who abused their body to the point of death in life should be considered "damaged goods" and should not be used to "improve" the health of the sick and dying.

Also, personally, I'm uncomfortable with the idea of everyone being written down as an organ donor. My boyfriend once expressed his concerns about this idea to me a while ago. He said that he would never be an organ donor because he believed that if he was in a near-fatal car accident, and the paramedics came and saw he was an organ donor, that they might let him die instead of trying to save his life just to harvest his valuable organs. At first I thought this idea was paranoid and ridiculous, but now I'm not so sure. If organs are becoming such an important and scarce commodity, and the government may be (practically) forcing us to give them up when we die, I don't know if I would feel safe getting into an accident and being put into the care of paramedics. I know it sounds somewhat crazy, kind of like something out of a sci-fi movie, but I think it could happen--not to everyone, but to some unlucky people, maybe.

Furthermore, I'm not so sure that not having enough organs to save the lives of already sick people is such an important cause. Since the onslaught of modern medicine, we've forgotten entirely about evolution. I know it sounds cruel, but some people just aren't meant to live. It's a hard pill to swallow but we are still evolving (this process doesn't just stop) and nature, as always, weeds out the weak. I know its tragic when a 7 year old child needs a heart transplant to live but think about it, even if she gets the new heart, her life will never be entirely normal or without health problems. And if someone is over 50 or 60, personally, I believe they should just accept that their time has come. It just seems to me that because of medicine, we like to think we're invincible; we forget how weak we really are. Its not that I don't believe in medicine; I believe that people should get help when they are sick, as much as doctors can give. I just believe in drawing a line and remembering that death is a part of life.

What Is True?

Last class I brought up an idea relating to truth and its existence. The example I provided to explain this idea was as follows: if every single person on Earth believed that the world was flat, and there was no prove that the world is round, then the world would be flat. Personally, I believe that if enough people believe that something is true, even if 20 years later that thing is proven false, for the time being, that thing would be true. Truth is subjective in many cases, and that is what makes it so difficult [for me at least] to know what is true and what is false. There are many cases in which the truth cannot be discerned because we do not have enough knowledge of the subject to do so, so that makes me wonder, is everything that I believe to be true actually true or is it just something I believe?

Education

Today, in my english class, we read an article from The Wall Street Journal about Phil Knight, CEO of Nike, who, at the age of 69, went to Stanford U. to learn how to become a writer. I thought this was amazing. It is so rare today to see people go out and strive to learn and become better people, and to see someone who is almost 70 do this is very admirable. Of course, Mr. Knight is a billionare and can afford to take time off to go to school but even though he has more money than the average person will ever see in 10 lifetimes, this does not mean that everyone shouldnt go out and try to do the same thing. I see people at this school who are simply coasting through life without a care; they come to school, talk on their phones in class, and seem completely jaded by the entire education process. I wonder why these people are in school, why they care at all? I feel that every single college student should show 100% dedication to learning or else they shouldnt be in school at all. If a man 50 years older than the average college student still has the desire to learn, then certainly an 18 year old fresh out of high school would want to do the same?...Right?

Reading Today

I was on the subway today and noticed an ad for "books" that one can listen to via one's iPod or similar device. The text in the ad went on to state, essentially, that one can become a more intelligent and worldly person through doing this. I find this appalling. If a person wants to become more intelligent, worldly, and insightful they should READ! Not listen to a book, not hear a friend recite it, but read it; as in pick up a book, look at it, and process the words. Reading is essential to learning; it expands one's vocabulary and quickens one's mental processes. Listening to a book just isn't the same and never will be.