Wiki Comments

Racism: Growing up in white suburbia, I never really saw the racial issues that so many people in this country preach. I understood that certain areas had problems, but did not think it was as bad as some made it seem. More and more I am discovering the hardships that occur for different races. I feel that discrimination affects all people, even whites. By making our nation truely colorblind, I think that we need to start in the education system by teaching the children of the future to think differently about all people. I take pride in being American, but this is a shameful part of American History the needs to end its existence in the present.

Smoking: When I was little, I used to stick my head out of the window while I was driving in the car with my Grandma. I let her think that I just liked the wind whipping in my face like a dog on a car ride. Well that was partly true, the other part to the story is that I could not stand her smoking cigarrettes and didn't want to hurt her feelings by telling her. I am very sensitve to smells and cigarette smoke is just something that irritates me and gives me an almost instant headache. If other people choose to smoke, why should I have to walk through and entrance/exit or sit in a resturant and share it? Whatever reason appeals to them that made them start smoking (the added health risks or merely the outrageous cost of the habit) is fine for them, but I want no part of it.

Volunteering-Engagement: Too often people get sucked into their own little melodramatic lives and do not see what is going on around them. It is important to get involved in your community. While volunteering is important, not everyone is built for working with children of mental retardation. Start out small if that helps, understand the laws being voted on in your town meetings, or help out with organizing your local carnivals. If everyone took a little time out of thier day to be involved in something more, I think that they would find a lot more meaning in their lives.

Spousal Violence/Intimate Partner Violence (One form of 'Domestic' or 'Family' Violence): I think that most people that are in an abusive relationship do not realize it. So many people think of physical abuse that they forget the most important part of the body can be abused too...the mind. A spouse or boyfriend/girlfriend is often the closest person to you. You see something in that person that made you want to make them an intimate part of your life. Therefore, any violation of the trust and support that should exist in such a relation ship needs to be brought out into the open so that it can stop. The more that people are aware of such occurances, the better they will be able to look for signs of it in their own relationship without being blinded by love