A day after a class on bullying, a suicide

            http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/18/us/illinois-suicide-sophomore/index.html?hpt=us_c1

                Lewis said he learned Thursday that Carterville High School in Crainville, Illinois, had shown the sophomore class a video on Wednesday about bullying. "And, at the end of the video, that the kid that was being bullied went home and committed suicide," he said. The fact that Lewis did the same exact thing as the kid in the video shows that the video wasn’t good in showing the proper way to handle bullying. It should’ve shown the kid going to a counselor to get help or someone stepping up to help this kid get a hold of the situation. It showed have shown the kids suicide is not the answer, maybe they could of stressed this at the end of the video how what the kid did on the video is not the answer and there is better ways to cope with bullying and stand up to it the right way. I do remember seeing a video similar to this in middle school where the kid tried to commit suicide but somebody stopped him.

                "This bullying has to stop," the father said in his video. "People have to stop treating other people the way they do, because some people just don't have the strength to overcome the humiliation, the continuation of being picked on constantly, every day, to the point that they have no outs." This is very true, we need to stop being mean to others especially when you have no idea what that person goes through every day. Just because you go to school with someone doesn’t mean you know them enough to be rude to them and think they deserve it or that they can handle another person bringing them. Regardless if you know them or not you should never feel people deserve to be treated badly and told hurtful things about themselves. There are kids out there that get bullied at their own household, by their own siblings and maybe even parents. They may have a terrible home life or broken up family and by hurting them at school on top of the hurt they feel every day because their family life isn’t the best can only lead them more to the conclusion that the only solutions is to die, but it isn’t.

                But, she added, "We need to, as a society, not just the press, need to handle suicides in a way that's knowledgeable, that provides hope and real resources for people who are struggling, and not just a story that presents suicide as the one and only outcome." We need to come together in all aspects and defeat bullying for once and for all, if that is even possible. Until then we need to look out for people we think are going through a rough patch and make sure they know we are always there to talk to them and that suicide is never the answer. 

'Unconcscious bias' led to police shooting

http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/16/justice/north-carolina-police-shooting-ferrell-attorney/index.html?hpt=us_t5

          “Ferrell had wrecked his car down the street and had simply gone to the nearest home seeking help, family attorney Chris Chestnut said.” When he choose a random home to go to he made a mistake in choosing this one which he found out later that night. How was he supposed to know walking up to a random house would get 911 called on him for all the wrong reasons? To me this case seems a lot like he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. I don’t understand why somebody would call 911 and lie to them about such a huge situation that could get Ferrell, the man that “was beating on the door” in trouble. If you lie there is consequences this being one of them, falsely leading others into trouble. I feel as though she was part to blame but of course she didn’t know the cop would shoot him even when he was not threatening anybody when they got there.

            "The onus isn't on the homeowner. The onus really here is on the officer, because it's the officer's job. He's a trained professional. She's a citizen. She can panic. An officer cannot," Chestnut said. Of course the homeowner isn’t guilty, maybe she made a mistake in stretching the truth and blowing things out of proportion. But any defense less person would and we all make mistakes and freak out without thinking about what would be the appropriate thing to do. Now when your job involves staying calm and making smart decisions and knowing what to do with criminals, maybe you should better prepared and more careful about the life of others at risk. Instead Kerrick freaked out along with the woman even though Ferrell was not armed in any way, showing no threat. Not to mention he wasn’t running from the cop at first sight, because he wasn’t guilty of anything, that he knew of. The cop should use his knowledge of the fact that usually when somebody has committed a crime or attempted to, they would be running at the first sight of a cop. So clearly this was no sort of defense, no sort of shooting to get the burglar from escaping, it was him not thinking about the decision he was making before he did it which is something a cop should always do before shooting at someone.

             "The public should see the video ... because it tells the story better than anyone," he said.
The more evidence to the case, the better. Getting the public involved would also give another point of view. Of course none of the police and attorneys in support of Kerrick wanted anybody to see the video because they only cared about defending their fellow policeman. If that was what they were trying to do by not showing it, which it probably is, then they are very selfish for that which is definitely not a good look for someone who is supposed to “serve and protect this country.” I’ve heard many cases about the police abusing their power and shooting innocent people based on them thinking they were doing something bad but in reality were not. I’m not trying to say all policemen are bad, but ill equip ones are and they are the reasons situations like this are happening.

 I can’t imagine how Ferrell’s family must be doing but I hope they find justice in this all and we can stop things like this from going on.

Marathoner didn't breath for a month

      http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/11/health/miracle-marathoner-carlos/index.html?hpt=us_t2

The title of this article in itself is interesting. It drew me in because when you think about breathing you think of something you are doing no matter what and if you aren’t you aren’t living. So in all it had me attracted in the title come to find out, ARDS was slowly killing Carlos by attacking his lungs which was why he needed to get oxygen pumped into him.  "Not only that, but he had multiple organ failure related to the infection. So his kidneys were not working. His liver was not working. And his bone marrow was failing as well." It’s crazy that this man is still living.

                Now the first thing I thought to myself was how on Earth is it possible to not breathe for a month? CNN explains how here, “With this treatment, doctors turn down the patient's respirator, then insert a special tube through the heart. A pump draws blood from the body, flushes it through an oxygenation machine that removes the carbon dioxide and delivers oxygen back to the heart. It functions as an external lung, without the patient taking a single breath.” Carlos was said to have a 40%-50% chance of survival. Carlos ended up using the treatment for weeks longer than the doctor had expected. I’m sure the family at this point was pretty worried about his health and if he would get better eventually.

                Finally after the month, he was able to breathe on his own. "You can imagine, before going into the hospital you are this active person. Then you go in, they put you under, and when you wake ... you can't sit up, you can't move your arms up and you look at your legs, and they're just not there anymore," Carlos said. "Then you realize it's far worse than you ever expected it to be." Clearly what had happened was pretty bad.  When he finally went back to his old life you could imagine how refreshing that would be.   He talks about slowly working back into his old rituals. The fact that this event didn’t stop him from staying active and running in marathons and he was continuing to try and improve shows his strong will. His willingness to proceed and succeed and go back to running marathons shows dedication and he explains it isn’t something for time instead he does it because he can. It seems to me that he didn’t take anything for granted and stays living his life to the fullest. 

'Rapebait' e-mail reveals dark side of frat culture

      http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/09/opinion/foubert-fraternities-rape/index.html?hpt=us_mid

“You can expect well-meaning commentators and bloggers to wonder how such a horrible man could have done such a thing, much less have gotten into a good college.” After reading through this and even seeing the title I was way shocked about fraternity’s secrets. It’s shocking to me that after getting into a nice college those guys would be sending out emails on how to lure your rapebait. I would have no clue about this if I it weren’t for this article so clearly our public is a little uninformed about fraternity’s. Although when I am thinking about college big parties, drinking, and drugs comes to mind. Let’s not try to act dumb we all think that along with the education part, but my point is I can see where this could’ve turned into something so terrible.

“What was particularly remarkable about our study is that we found that it was the fraternity experience that led men to be more likely to rape.” I’m curious as to why this is happening, why does the fraternity experience led men to this? It makes you think if they are pushing them to think a certain way about women, like women deserve to be raped or that it isn’t a big deal. They could’ve taken a step to stop it because I’m sure the campus knew about these cases, how could you not? This is why I think that they may not think highly of women and men are superior. This definitely isn’t a good way to start off your life, leading them into this direction could cause them to continue with their habits and even abuse women even more.

“Rarely does a college discuss sexual assault with its students for more than 60 minutes in an entire college career, if they do at all.” This to me shows the lack of prevention for this situation. In every college, I feel they should bring it up and make sure every student is aware and even give support to women. Let them know they can come to anyone about the situation and to never feel like they deserved it so they shouldn’t tell anyone. I feel that they should also set up some discipline for the men that are raping females. The fact that they won’t take time  out of their day to make things get better, that have been shown in studies to help with the situation is crazy.  On the other hand women should be more aware of the possibility of being raped if she goes alone and has too much to drink and nobody is there to watch out for her. All in all everybody needs to just be smarter about things and take the actions needed to stop this.

                

Support NFL or not?

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1802904-can-we-really-support-a-league-which-has-caused-so-much-harm-to-its-players?hpt=hp_c3

            As Americans we can all genuinely say that we like to watch football or at least have gone to one game in their lifetime. If not that, everyone knows about it and may or may not have their favorite NFL team I for one don’t really watch football but when I’m bored and there happens to be a game on I will watch a little bit of it. I have gone to many college football games and of course all of my high school games. From watching it you don’t see all that happens behind that football stadium. Consider the amount of money is invested into the NFL and the owners, executives and staff behind the players. What kind of people are they? How are they treating all the players? The answer to all this wouldn’t exactly please anyone but instead making them unsure of their support of the NFL.

            “ESPN journalists Steve Fainaru and Mark Fainaru-Wada, working together with the Frontline folks and other journalists, told the story of an NFL that spent almost two decades stonewalling, blackballing and bullying everyone who looked into the connection between football and brain injuries.” I frankly do not find this very shocking, when bad things are happening in a big company that makes a lot of money, they will try to hide it from anyone they can. Of course the NFL is going to deny those widows and crying children and many doctors plus scientist that football doesn’t cause brain injury. Discrediting everybody’s work and covering up what information they have to share with the public and the many players of all ages. Because if we all boycotted the NFL and never watched another game and never spent another dollar supporting them, they would have nothing. Now, why would a big business want to voluntarily do research that could prove the sport is very dangerous and they didn’t properly tell their players about this?

            The NFL’s Mild Traumatic Brain Injury committee prevented many suffering former players from knowing the nature of their torment—and they let another generation of players come through the game without understanding its devastating risks. What is even worse than hearing this is seeing that we are funding this all, we are paying to watch them ruin many lives in the NFL. The players are not very informed as you would think, we still are doing research about the causes of the brain damage to these players and we can prevent it. At the same the NFL is promoting little kids to get involved without fully knowing the risk involved. They’ve even set up some regulations that would help determine how to tackle properly but not knowing the cause, how would we know if this is the proper prevention? I think us sending out younger generations to begin the game and start at younger ages then before is a bad idea but we can’t stop the NFL from promoting kids to like football and want to play it. The only way we could is to better inform everybody of ways to get in contact with the NFL and petition.

           

Alex Rodriguez sues Major League Baseball

             http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/04/us/alex-rodriguez-mlb-lawsuit/index.html?hpt=us_c2

 "He alleges that MLB and Selig "engaged in tortious and egregious conduct with one and only one goal ... to destroy the reputation and career of Alex Rodriguez." Rodriguez tries to justify his reasoning behind them trying to ruin his reputation by saying they were not being confidential about the case. It seems as though he was trying to distract from the fact that he was using drugs and team up against MLB. He was probably trying to make him have more time, to get justice and get out of what he did wrong, which is childish.  His actions are making him seem ridiculous and not making him look any better than MLB.  This case is being dragged out for no apparent reason in my mind.

“There are accusations that a representative of MLB purchased stolen documents for $150,000 in cash, documents presumably that would document Rodriguez's use of performance enhancing drugs. In addition, the document says the same MLB representative engaged in an inappropriate sexual relationship with a witness in the case against Rodriguez.” All this information has nothing to do with the actual case at hand, maybe the representative did purchase stolen documents but that was all to find out if Rodriguez was using drugs. It may be bad but if it helps the case, then why shouldn’t MLB use it against him. He clearly is bringing stuff like this up to get them in trouble and distract everyone from the bad he is doing. The MLB is just trying to figure out the facts about something a player is doing and the player is using anything he can to make MLB look bad.

"While we vehemently deny the allegations in the complaint, none of those allegations is relevant to the real issue: whether Mr. Rodriguez violated the Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program by using and possessing numerous forms of prohibited performance-enhancing substances, including testosterone and human growth hormone, over the course of multiple years and whether he violated the Basic Agreement by attempting to cover up his violations of the program by engaging in a course of conduct intended to obstruct and frustrate the Office of the Commissioner's investigation." It seems as though they are admitting to trying to take down Mr. Rodriguez but even if so he still has done something wrong in his agreement with MLB. It says in the statement that he violated the basic agreement by trying to cover up what he’s guilty for but putting more stress on others to distract them from the issue at hand. Many other players that violated the rules and regulations that they agreed upon following didn’t drag it out like Rodriguez.  In return his suspension lasted a lot longer than the suspension of other players who just agreed with the suspension and didn’t argue and try to make the MLB look bad.  Hopefully he will learn not to fight the consequences of his actions.

                

Rebuilding disabled veterans lives

             http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/03/us/cnnheroes-conklin-veterans/index.html?hpt=us_t4

              "When these guys come back from war, they are broken," he said, reflecting on the missing limbs, traumatic brain injuries and other devastating wounds he observed.” I believe this to be very true because I’ve seen movies about men coming back from war very damaged. In the movie the lucky one, when he comes back he isn’t injured or anything but he goes through experiences most other don’t experience. He came back and got defensive when people would play fight and he remembered seeing his best friend die in war. Even if their bodies are in good condition, they are damaged in their mind. Having to see people get injured and even die in front of their eyes can change a person and make them more protective when they get back.

                "Every one of them is different," Conklin said. "Some will need service dogs, guide dogs, housing assistance, special equipment put through the house, drivers." Reading this you can’t imagine how hard it is to come back from that setting not only injured but having to get assistance you’ve never needed before. You would have to think about the kind of jobs out there that would want you working for them. In the article when it talks about finding jobs for these men and women. This is very important because them being injured it can be hard to find a job that will work with their disabilities.

                “The Sentinels of Freedom program rigorously screens each candidate, and scholarship recipients must continually provide status updates to keep getting assistance. But it's not just about the money, Conklin said. It's about building relationships and reintegrating people into society.” I think that after coming back from war they need all the support they can get. I’m glad to see that they have someone checking up on them and somebody to talk to about what is going on in their life. They definitely need some kind of moral support after going through war. Even those who aren’t damaged need to bring out their feelings and what is on their mind.

                I would imagine if these men and women didn’t have anyone to talk to about their experiences with the war that they would have a hard time adjusting to the real world. They could be a lot less relaxed and still have tension from the war bottled up inside them which could lead to a mental breakdown.  I’m very happy to see people talking to and helping out with veterans after the war.