As I sat back on Memorial Day yesterday and listened to the radio, I learned that nine U.S. soldiers had been killed. It made me realize a sad truth about the United States. It has been 5 1/2 years since September 11th, and we have learned nothing. I am sick of waking up every single morning and seeing that the first news item on CNN is which celebrity has been caught doing something stupid, as opposed to nine young men and women who are now dead, for absolutely no reason. I refuse to believe that this war has a place, a purpose and a meaning. Even Republicans are starting to see that; this is the most unpopular war in American history. I'm sorry, but you honestly believe that the President of the United States has the power to ignore the will of over 75 percent of his people, then you have a disgusting and sad view of how our democracy should work. George W. Bush has made sure that Memorial Day has lost its meaning. He has made absolutely certain that the heroes of today will die for a failed cause, and that is the mark of someone so incredibly ignorant and stupid, it amazes me. I don't care who told him what or what adviser may or may not be pressuring him, the buck stops here. And until he decides to stop attempting to spoon-feed the tiny percent of Americans who still believe in this misguided cause, we owe it to him to hold him personally responsible for the lives that are lost. How many of you have known people affected by the war? I haven't. I will openly say that I have not been personally affected by this war; I don't know anyone who died or was injured or anything of that nature.

But I can tell you one thing. In the five years (give or take) that we have been in Iraq, we have successfully ruined a nation, created a more dangerous state then that of a dictator with no regard for life, and worsened the instability and sectarian hatred that exists in the Middle East. You tell me why our soldiers needed to die for that, and then maybe I'll be quiet.

I have established a tradition on Mother’s Day over the past
two years, where I have taken the opportunity to use this day to thank not just
my amazing mother, but all of the amazing women in my life. Someone mentioned
to me a few years ago that Mother’s Day should be a chance to thank every
single woman who has made a difference in your life, and I have decided to take
that to heart each year on Mother’s Day. Two years ago a made an effort to
individually thank each and every woman in my life (which you can see here). I
found last year that repeating that format would be an impossible task, so I
simply wrote down some reasons why I value and treasure the women in my life
(found here). I’m going to stick with that format this year, and provide some
key reasons why I could not exist without the women in my life.

First, and foremost, each and every one of them is a unique
and powerful individual. I laugh at anyone who seriously tries to tell me that
women are inferior to men. I reply that they obviously have never met the women
I know. Some of you guys have talent beyond comparison or comprehension, some
of you have the ability to love and care so much more then anyone else, someone
of you have elements of your personality that make you shine and set you apart
from the world, some of you possess extreme loyalty and devotion, both to the
people that you love or a set of tasks that you have to do, and some of you
simply have the ability to amaze me each day with the person you know you are.
The self-confidence of the women I know is outstanding. Each and every one of
you has a drive to succeed and go make a name of yourself in the world. None of
you are alike; every single one of you has a quality or ability that sets you
apart and makes you incredibly special, and there is no sentence or cliché
saying that I could offer that could ever truly express the truth of that
statement.

Second, I rely on you. Yes, I am admitting to the fact that,
despite all of my attempts to rely on no one but myself, I could not look
forward to living each day if it wasn’t for the joy and love that the women in
my life bring. I could provide an endless list of the things that every single
one of you has done for me; sometimes you realize it, and sometimes you don’t.
But you make my life special. Some of you just let me talk; you see that I am
bursting with something I need to express, and you just look me in the eye and
tell me to go for it, and I feel completely comfortable doing exactly that.
Some of you I just love to see, because your energy and presence on the stage
of life can brighten up the darkest of days. Some of you are just quietly
supportive; you may not do or say something specific, or spend hours talking
with me about everything under the sun, but I know that you will support me.
This category is the main reason why I couldn’t possibly try and name people in
something like this. I have been shown unconditional love so many times by the
women in my life, that there is no way to possibly thank every single one of
them.

Third, you bring humor to my life. I have a rather unnerving
tendency to sometimes take things more seriously then they really need to be,
and you are always there to gently remind me that it isn’t always about
winning, but rather, about having an amazing time while doing it. You smile and
laugh at me, and as much as I hate being laughed at, I can’t help but just give
up and laugh with you. You remind me that there are more important things in
life then some of the things I tend to focus on. You bring to my life the
special qualities that each one of you possesses, and you don’t hesitate to use
them to bring joy.

Fourth, you astound me with the lives you live. You astound
me with the ability you have to organize, sing, act, dance, run, get amazing
grades, wow an entire audience with one verse of a song, care, love, pick people
up, run around like crazy, and just do every single possible task under the
sun, and do it better then anyone else. I had an experience a few weeks ago,
where someone who will remain nameless performed a song, without even really
realizing that they were performing at all. Their ability was breathtaking; it
was captivating, even in such an informal setting. That is the best way to
describe each and every one of you. You captivate me with the things that you
are willing and able to do. I don’t think you realize sometimes how incredible
it is for each and every one of you to live the lives that you do. It has
nothing to do with your gender; the talents and abilities you have outstrip and
outshine the rest of the world. I can see it, and I know that it’s true. You
astound me.

Fifth, and last, you love me. You love and accept me as a
person, and there is no higher praise I could bestow. You have made the choice
(quite possibly against your better judgment) to be my friend and you will
never stop amazing me with the love you have for me. It has shown itself time
and time again to be endless, unconditional, deep, overflowing and amazing.
Don’t ever chance yourselves for anyone else. I am truly thankful for every
single one of you. You have made an impact on my life that I will never, ever
forget, no matter where life may take us and where we may go. I won’t ever be
able to forget the women who made my high school life something to live for.

And my final word is to men. Do something special today.
Don’t give your mom a cute little flower in the morning and then go back to the
normal routine. Take time today and do something for the women in your life.
Love them, pamper them, don’t be afraid or embarrassed to express to them how
thankful you are to know them. Throw out the ridiculous notions that society
tries to pin on Mother’s Day, and make it your own. Love the women in your life
every day, but take today as a chance to make sure they know that.

Happy Mother’s Day.

I will be writing something about Virginia Tech, once I feel enough information is known for me to properly analyze some of the elements of the situation. I wouldn't ever want to write something prematurely though, so it may not be for a little while.

In the meantime, all I can say is pray. Regardless of religious belief or affiliation, pray that whatever happened there will never happen again.

So, I leave for San Diego tomorrow. I'm not really looking forward to it; I won't lie. It's hard to explain, and it has to do with a lot of things that I don't feel like going into, but I'm just very apathetic towards the entire thing. Either way, it's still a new experience in a new city, and I'm going to do my absolute best to enjoy myself. However, I still want to hear from people. San Diego is three hours behind us, but honestly, I don't care when you call. If I can't answer, I won't. If I can, I will. Just give me a ring at some point, especially those of you who have been gone for most of spring break. Have a wonderful rest of spring break, and I will see everyone on Wednesday.

This war needs to end, now.

Does anyone else share that feeling with me? See, I realized something this morning. I'm sick of people losing fathers, mothers, sons, daughters and loved ones for a part of the world that a majority of America doesn't care about. Civil war is a horrible thing, of course, and I would never wish it on another country. And I also understand that the Middle East is an incredibly unstable region, and there's a lot of things that are happening there that have the potential to be very dangerous.

But here's my point. When Ronald Reagan first employed "cowboy diplomacy" in the 80's, it was appropriate. Putting aside my highly negative feelings about anything remotely related to Ronald Reagan, he was one of the main factors in the fall of Soviet Communism. Cowboy diplomacy worked against the Soviets, because we knew who they were. We could openly threaten them, and then back it up. But I'd like to offer a fresh perspective on today's war.

When you learn about the American Revolution, what is the first thing you learn? Simply put-- the colonies won because they knew the land and they used the tactics that would be effective with the land and the terrain. The British used outdated fighting styles that may have worked 20 years before, but for that war and that new enemy, were out of date and completely ineffective. But did the British admit their mistakes and adopt new fighting styles? The answer is not really. They did, a little bit. But for the most part, they assumed that their superior numbers, experience and powerful global position would eventually propel them to victory. What happened? They ended up tucking their tales and running. Yes, I know that's not exactly how it happened. There is more to it then that, but on the most basic level, the colonies won because they, in essence, were terrorists. They fought under the cover of night, they used deception; you could never know exactly where one of them was going to strike at any given time. The British had never experienced this before; their wars were fought out in the open, and won by the side who managed to muster up the most men who could aim a rifle at a line of golden-clad Frenchmen.

We're doing the exact same thing. This war is a few things. One, it is an infringement of national sovereignty. Did I think Saddam needed to go? Eventually, yes. But lets be frank here. If the interest of the United States was to challenge the nation who posed the most danger to our existence, we would invade Iran tomorrow. But let me put this very simply. Say, for example, the hostage crisis between Britain and Iran had escalated, and Iran eventually executed a few of the hostages. We do not have the manpower or ability to uphold our commitment to NATO. We would have to leave our British comrades, our bravest and most loyal allies, to fight their own war against a much more volatile and evil-minded enemy. Our presidential candidates are not allowed to say this, but the over 3000 young men and women who have died in Iraq have died so that one man could finish what his father started, and so that we could all enjoy gas at a lower price (which hasn't even happened). They are dying in the most honorable and brave way possible, for a man who dares to pretend that his actions were genuine. President George W. Bush deserves to be impeached, more then any other president in the history of the United States. More than Nixon, more than Johnson, more than Clinton. The man is a dishonor to the Presidency, and he has cost 3000 people their lives, 3000 families their husbands, wives, sons, daughters, fathers and mothers, and he has made the global bodies turn against the United States. It's time to let these countries handle their own situations, so that we can address ours, and only ours. Two things need to happen.

One, Bush must be stripped of his additional executive powers, and should be forbidden to send additional forces or take any military action without the approval of Congress. I understand forcing this is nearly impossible, because of the addition of Roberts and Alito to the Supreme Court, but it needs to happen.

Two, we need to leave Iraq. We need to stop letting our young men and women get killed. See, we're fine with civil war and mass murder in every other region of the world; we only care about "the people of Iraq" because they affect our approval rating. Let nations handle their own fate, and allow our military to regroup and be prepared in case a true threat emerges onto the global scene. We can accept absolutely nothing less.

Bring our troops home.

A fascinating conversation last night put me in a writing mood today, and so I figured I would give it a shot. It got me thinking about servant hood. Now, I’m not going to lie—I hate that word. With my strong Christian background and upbringing, I hear the world “serve” so much; it has almost established a negative connotation in my mind. Obviously that isn’t completely true, but I have heard the word abused so much that I often associate it with a specific scenario. One thing that churches, including mine, love to do is to pretend as if they are making a difference, when in reality they are simply taking part in an activity that simply appears to have redeeming value in its various actions. I hear all the time about “servant projects” that people at the church are doing—activities that, although wonderful in their intention and motives, are simply useless and have no true value or use in the least bit. Everyone loves to pretend to serve—it’s a lot easier then actually serving. Putting together a cute little project so that everyone can commend you for your efforts is a lot of fun, and it gives you another little thing to add to your resume so that everyone will understand how wonderful and glorious of a person you truly are. Servant projects are excellent things, and quite often they provide things for other people that they need and could not provide for themselves. But by making sure that everyone knows what you do, you’re completely defeating the purpose of what you’re claiming to do. Serving is about remaining anonymous, in the most literal sense of the word. It’s really a simple concept; you don’t do something for someone else to help yourself. If you want to help yourself and better yourself, then do something to directly benefit your house. If you’re paying money to help someone else, when in reality you’re just attempting to benefit your own personal situation, then just do it for yourself. There’s not much else to say about it.

So why do I say all that? Well, let me share a little story. True story, I promise. (If I was just making up a dramatic story to further my point, I would identify it as such). I met someone a few years ago at an event I was attending. I only spoke with this person for around 10 minutes; it was just a brief encounter of the most arbitrary kind. This person shared a story with me about a donation that an individual had made to them. I don’t remember the medical details well enough to accurately state them with certainty, so I won’t try, but suffice it to say that without this donation, the person I was speaking to would not have lived. However, there was something a little less ordinary about this person’s testimony—they had absolutely no idea who had given them this particular donation. It was done with complete and total anonymity. This person had their life saved by someone; without the generosity of a stranger, they would not have lived. And yet no one, save a doctor or two, had any idea who it was. They didn’t know why the person had done it, they didn’t know the person’s life, their background, their history, or any detail whatsoever about who this person was. All they knew was this person gave a part of them to help another person live. It goes right in line with one of my favorite quotes ever; it’s from the Bible, but you can appreciate it regardless of religious background or affiliation. It states that “there is no greater sacrifice then to give your life for that of another.” That, in a nutshell, is the beauty of life.

What is the purpose of life, if not to give your life for that of another? See, regardless of what you believe about where we go when we die, it is very clear that our existence is temporary. We all grow old, we all wither, die, and then are eventually forgotten. Yes, you have your revolutionaries; people who will seemingly never be forgotten, but in reality, everyone is forgotten eventually. Maybe the history books will remember a select few, but even that existence is just a technicality; they don’t remember the person for the person, they remember the person for the actions they undertook that changed the lives of others. Our life is temporary, and if we spend the entire time trying to figure out how to benefit ourselves, we’re going to waste our time. Obviously, taking care of yourself is important—it’s part of our responsibility as people, and it’s part of the reason why individual mental health is so important and such an issue in modern society. But the simple fact is that there’s no point in putting forth an effort towards something that benefits no one but you. Why is that? Well, who is there to share your joy? That’s the beauty of interaction with another person, even on the most basic level. That person is sharing the experience with you; you have different perspectives, different ways of viewing what is going on, and different minds to interpret and analyze the world.

This brings the entire concept back to where I started. Life isn’t about recognition. It isn’t about how many times people say your name or who cares (or doesn’t care) about what you’re doing. Life is about love, and the way you choose to experience it. You can love yourself, which is important. Or, you can choose to love yourself so much that you become blind to anything else. You can make yourself so self-centered that you completely miss the incredible world that we live in. You will miss the people who pass by, and you won’t even understand what you missed. Life isn’t about you; possibly the most powerful sentence in the history of Christian commentary is the beginning of Rick Warren’s “The Purpose-Driven Life,” which simply begins “It’s not about you.” Most of Christian literature is useless; it makes ridiculous connections and adds completely arbitrary conclusions to unrelated events. But this line is plain and simple, to the point (which believe it or not, is my favorite writing style). Whether you believe that life is about pleasure, love, God, others, being comfortable or anything else, the simple fact is that living for yourself first is wasting your life. I know I look at this from a tainted perspective; my religious nature automatically makes me very disconcerted towards materialism and secularism. Maybe some people live perfectly pleasantly without a second thought towards what they could be putting into the world.

But here’s my final point about why that is so wrong. See, some people are more lucky then others. Sometimes, fate brings poor situations on good people, and sometimes irresponsible people bring bad situations upon themselves. But why does it matter? Why does it matter how someone got to be the way they are? Yes, everyone makes their own decisions, and we all have to own up to them. But when you’re living in a luxurious existence, and people in other places of the world are living the way they are, then you are the perfect example of what is wrong with our world. You are the perfect example of people who the world could do without, because they choose to ignore their ability to make a difference, and instead they just act as if they are the only person who matters. Whether they know it or not, they’re contributing to the lack of moral accountability that runs society and culture. If you can make a difference, and you choose not to, then I have no respect for you. When you are given the chance to change the world, or change one life, and you choose not to, then you are choosing not to care about the well being of other people. You are living for yourself. That, in a nutshell (although a rather large one), is why I can’t stand the way people see the act of serving today. What’s in it for me? It shouldn’t matter what’s in it for you. It shouldn’t matter who you are, or what people think you are. You define yourself, not other people. By choosing not to act, you are letting the world define you, and I can’t imagine a worse insult to bestow upon a person.

Bowie: 48
DeMatha: 47

Circuit finals, down.

I guess I'll elaborate on this one, just for the sake of a little glory. Yesterday was the finals for the circuit in Mock Trial. Maryland Mock Trial is divided into eight circuits based on the different counties in Maryland, and each circuit competes to name their individual champion, who then competes in the state competition with the other seven circuit champions to determine who the state mock trial champion is. We were seeded eighth going in to the Circuit 7 playoffs due to the Laurel match, which we lost due to an absolutely horrible judge. However, we never lost our focus, and we won our first playoff match by 10. Our next match was trouble for me; I though we lost, but we pulled it out by two. The next match put us against Thomas Stone, who was seeded number 1 in the entire circuit. We pretty much dominated them, and won by a compassionate 3 points, which brought us to yesterday's final match against DeMatha, who had also upset several teams along the way to get to the finals.

It was an incredibly close match, and each team had their own strong points and weak points. However, it was pretty clear that the direct and cross examinations of our witnesses were more direct and effective. We had our weak points, obviously, as we aren't a perfect team, but most of the team was pretty confident that we had won once the match had ended but the score hadn't been revealed yet. I myself thought we had lost, but in the end, I should have listened to the lovely women on my team who kept telling me we had won; we prevailed by the slimmest of margins, 48-47.

So, we're moving on to states now, and as soon as I know the date, I'm going to start recruiting people to come. It is going to be incredibly stiff competition; we're going to be going up against the best of the best, the most effective and knowledgeable teams in the entire state. So trust me, these are going to be exciting and intense matches, and I really would like for some people to come see us. To be honest, I have no idea if we have an honest chance of winning at the state level; this is three levels farther then anyone on our team has ever been. I'll keep people updated on when the state matches will be, because I can promise you one thing: we are going to go there and do our best to keep winning, and you're not going to want to miss that.

Bowie: 56
Thomas Stone: 53

Round three, down.

Sometimes I find inspiration in the strangest of locations. My brothers borrowed Cheaper by the Dozen from me tonight, because they were bored and decided to watch a movie. I was otherwise occupied for most of the evening, but happened to walk in the room during a few points. One of the points that I sat down and watched for a few minutes was when Steve Martin's character is giving his speech to his family about how important each one them are-- all 14. Yes, I know it's a cheesy Hollywood movie with Hilary Duff and Steve Martin being occasionally serious, but it got me thinking about the importance of life and of relationships.

During a recent class in AP Psych, we were talking about how humans are meant to interact. We are social creatures, and we have a natural and inherent desire to be around each other and to form bonds and social hierarchies that will define who we are. These two events in combination helped me gain a perspective on how important people are. Yeah, it's really easy to say how important people are to you-- of course they are. It's an obvious and simple conclusion to reach. But think about it on a little bit of a deeper level. You wake up in the morning, and the mood in which you leave the house is defined by the people you encounter. If your father or mother was in an especially good mood, and decided to wake up early and cook a big breakfast, there's a strong chance that you are going to be awake and prepared to meet the day. The one time that I've ever come to school in full-fledged tears was the result of an hour-long shouting match that took place that morning, interrupted only by the brief warmth of the shower. However, that one morning was somehow salvaged by the unconditional love of one of my most amazing friends, who poured out unconditional love beyond what I could have imagined. I still didn't have an enjoyable day, but it wasn't ruined any longer. Just as my encounter with people started my day out on the wrong foot, my encounter with people gave it a dose of something so amazing and compassionate, I could barely believe it.

It can work in reverse too. About two weeks ago, I had an amazing morning. I woke up feeling refreshed, awake, and at peace with a lot of things that have been tearing me apart. I joked with my dad, helped my mom, gave Charlotte a ride and just basically enjoyed the beauty of being alive. People put me in a good mood that morning, and they helped me prepare for the day with a positive and peaceful outlook. However, around an hour after I got to school, a friend of mine made a remark to me that I found to be so incredibly hurtful and insulting that it completely ruined my entire day, in the span of one ten-second period. I was noticeably upset for the remainder of the day, and didn't manage to shut myself down and get to sleep until after three that night. I pretty much isolated myself  that evening, because I was so upset by the way in which I was portrayed by this person that it made me feel completely useless.

Where am I going with this? Well, I'm not completely sure-- I'm sorta just letting it flow. See, I love writing about beauty. For those of you who read my paper about love, that entire paper came from a feeling of beauty. I got this sense of beauty in love that day, and this was during a time period where I was very insecure about myself and scared for the direction that life was taking me. But something grabbed me, and forced me to see that no matter what I was struggling with, and no matter what was affecting me, I am so incredibly blessed to be alive in the world that I have today. I really only believe that about half of the time, but when I do, it makes me feel so incredible, I can't even describe it. When I can honestly accept the fact that I have a true purpose in life and that people honestly care whether I exist or not, then everything feels right. However, on those other days, when I don't believe or see how incredible life can be, there is nothing that could ever bring me back. It's pretty scary to think about in a way, how easy it is to lose focus. It is so simple to watch life in a mirror, only caring about yourself and how you happen to feel that day. Think about it a little bit-- we're all guilty.

Alright, I'm going to wrap this up. I barely said anything meaningful, but here's the simple though behind it all. We aren't here to love ourselves first. If we were, we wouldn't need anyone else to even exist. We exist for other people. We exist to love each other, to interact with other and to care with each other. That's why love isn't some cheap McDonald's toy that China can mass produce; it's something special. That's why it's so important to respect everyone and treat them like you would yourself. Every person is human, from the simplest toddler to the cruelest and most inhumane serial killer. We have to be so careful with every single thing that we say and do, because they can have dire and extreme consequences that we will never ever see. So, somehow, I managed to tie this to the beginning-- in a very roundabout way. I should call it the Amelia Earhart method, minus the whole part where it ends up crashing and never returning. That's not really the intention.

Monday, March 26th
Bowie (Defense) vs. Thomas Stone (Prosecution)
Upper Marlboro Courthouse

Thomas Stone is the number one seeded team in the circuit, so you all need to be there to witness them go down. There's already some people going, so let me know if you want to go. You should.