Getting Civil

I am against the government sanctioning same-sex marriages. Am I intolerant? Am I homophobic? Am I

part of a fundamentalist religious sect of some sort?

What if I tell you that I am against the government sanctioning marriages between a man and a woman
as well? Am I against marriage? Am I an anarchist? Am I insane?

Actually, I believe I have the sanest solution to the whole marriage debate and I don’t hear anyone
talking about it.

My solution is to leave marriage where it belongs – in religious and private institutions.

What business is it of the government to sanction relationships between consenting adults? Why is it up
to the government to define what marriage is? Why should the government be involved in promoting or
discouraging particular types of relationships?

We are a free country, so why is it up to the government to tell us how we, the citizens, can define our
relationships and which ones are acceptable in their eyes?

My contention is that – unless relationships chosen by consenting adults of their own free will endanger
other individuals – the government has NO business sanctioning them or preventing them.

Am I saying that the government has no role in personal relationships? Well, not exactly.

Legal arrangements are necessary for the purpose of expeditiously dividing property and providing for
custody of any children resulting from a relationship, should the relationship end. Through legal
arrangements, the rights of all involved can be protected.

That’s why I believe that all legal partnerships between two people who have committed to each other
should be civil unions in the eyes of the government. Whether these relationships are called ‘marriages’
or not is up to religious institutions and the individuals themselves.
I have a friend who is a lesbian. The woman she loves is Dutch and they were married last summer in
Holland, where such a union is legal. I saw the pictures. They were happy, joyful. Their families and
friends attended the ceremony and continue to support them in their commitment to each other. They
have a house together. They have jobs and pay taxes. They participate in civic activities. They are
enjoying life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

But what if their families did not support their choice and their commitment to each other?

If something were to happen to one of them, either a life threatening illness or even death, by law, the
family could prevent the partner from being involved in making decisions for her loved one’s care or
even the arrangements for a funeral. Unless prior arrangements were made, the benefits of being a
legal couple would not apply to these two committed partners who make every bit as much of a
contribution to society as any heterosexual married couple does.

I have a lesbian friend who has two children with her partner. If their partnership were to dissolve, it is
possible that the woman who actually gave birth to the children could bar the other woman – the
woman that the children have always known as their mother – from having any contact with them. The
non-birth mother would have no rights. Are the children’s rights protected here?

Some people argue that allowing same-sex couples to have civil unions would result in an undue
financial burden on society, primarily because the benefits that currently apply to married couples
would subsequently have to be extended to same-sex couples.

So are we trying to prevent people from having equal rights to save a few bucks? To me, that’s like
saying we should not have allowed women the vote because it would increase the cost of elections.

Some people are concerned that allowing same-sex couples the legal rights of a civil union would
require religious institutions to marry them. There would be no such requirements. Churches and other
religious institutions would be free to exercise their beliefs and traditions as they have always been.

Two people who love each other should be able to commit to each other and be protected by law in
their relationship and in the case that the relationship ends. Any children who are the result of the
relationship should have their rights protected as well.
In my opinion, all people who want to have legal recognition of their committed status should have the
option of a civil union and all people joined in a civil union should have equal rights regardless of their
gender.

Whether a name is given to that union beyond the legal one should be up to religious institutions and
the individuals themselves, not the government.

Luck is not a matter of chance…Lucky You!

Thomas Jefferson once said “I’m a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of
it.” What, though, is luck? Webster’s dictionary suggests that luck is the “events or circumstances that
operate for or against an individual.”

In truth, luck has nothing to do with something operating for or against you. Luck is not a matter of
chance. It is a matter of being open to new experiences, perseverance, hard work, and positive thinking.

When seventeen year old Steven Spielberg spent some time with his cousin in the summer of 1965, they
toured Universal pictures. The tram stopped at none of the sound stages. Spielberg snuck off on a
bathroom break to watch a bit of the real action. When he encountered an unfamiliar face who
demanded to know what he was doing, he told him his story. The man turned out to be the head of the
editorial department. Spielberg got a pass to the lot for the very next day and showed a very impressed
Chuck Silvers four of his eight millimeter films. This was the foot in the door Spielberg needed to start
squatting on the lot, a decision that led to his first contract with Universal Studios.

Studies have shown that lucky people tend to be far more open to new experiences. Those who are
unlucky are creatures of habit, never varying from one day to the next. If you want to be lucky, add
some variety to your life. Meet new people, go to new places, and increase the possibility of those
chance opportunities the “lucky” people always seem to run into.

Luck, though, isn’t JUST about trying new things. Luck is also about hard work, even when it is, well,
“hard.”

A 1994 study suggested that lucky people are the ones who continue to try, even when they are faced
with obstacles. Study initiator Richard Wiseman said, “People have to persevere, they have got to stick
at it. People give up too soon. The ones who achieve their goals are the ones who – when they hit
obstacles – don’t just give up and pack it in, they try again! They find another route. They are versatile,
they are flexible, they have got new ways of finding solutions. (Luck is) accepting responsibility for who
you are and being the person who drives the bus, not the person who is being driven.

If you want good luck, you have to work through the times of bad luck to get there.

Being open to new experiences and persevering are important in creating luck, but so is your thought
process.

One participant in a luck study was constantly thinking about her bad luck. One of the study creators
said, “When she would come to the unit to be interviewed, it would be just this whole string of bad-luck
stories: “I can’t find anyone. I’m unlucky in love. When I did find someone, the guy fell off his motorbike.
The next blind date broke his nose. We were supposed to get married, and the church burned down.”
But to every single interview, she’d bring along her two kids. They were 6 and 7 years old – very healthy,
very happy kids who’d sit there and play. And it was interesting, because most people would love to
have two kids like that, but that wasn’t part of her world, because she was unlucky in her mind.”

The old adage related to positive thinking seems to apply to the concept of luck. Even though a
particular business deal didn’t work out or you missed the bus, looking at the bright side of things may
very well encourage more luck to come your way.

Proponents of the idea that luck is a matter of chance will tell you that some people are just lucky. Some
will even tell you that luck happens in phases, and that a bit of luck is sure to come your way eventually.
The simple truth of the matter, though, is that luck is not a matter of chance.

The great Lucille Ball once said, “Luck? I don’t know anything about luck. I’ve never banked on it, and I’m
afraid of people who do. Luck to me is something else: Hard work – and realizing what is opportunity
and what isn’t.”

You make your own luck in this life, and the great thing about it is that anyone can do it. Lucky you!

Should students be required to wear a uniform to school? That is the question that has been raised for
discussion here today.
Private schools have long been known for having school uniform policies. Now some public schools such
as ours are deciding whether or not they want their students to wear a school uniform.

Some people argue that requiring students to dress a certain way takes away their sense of creativity
and individuality. However, there are several strong arguments in favor of schools requiring school
uniforms.

Wearing a school uniform can encourage some students to take their responsibilities more seriously.

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If they wear the same clothes to school that they wear when they go to the mall with their friends, they
may have the same laid back attitude in both places.

Wearing “work clothes” to school can change the students’ frame of mind and inspire a more serious
attitude that is focused on study.

School uniforms can also lessen the negative effects of class status. In some schools you are only
popular if you wear the latest fashions and trends.

Students are sometimes left out or even teased if they are unable or unwilling to pay to dress the way
the popular students are dressing. Requiring students to wear a school uniform levels the playing field,
by reducing the implied class status that is created when only certain students can buy the most
expensive clothes.

Not only is teasing decreased, but violence can also be prevented at schools that have a required
uniform.

Gang violence is becoming more prevalent at schools around the country. Sometimes fights can start
over someone wearing the “wrong color” or gang symbol. There have even been instances of gang
members sneaking into schools to recruit or harass students.

Required school uniforms can reduce fighting among students and prevent outsiders from being able to
get into the school undetected.

Some opponents of school uniforms worry about the cost, but uniforms can actually cost less than other
school clothes.
With regular clothes you usually buy a different outfit for each day of the week. You may even buy more
than that. With a school uniform you can just purchase a few items, as you don’t have to worry about
wearing something different each day. You can also pass school uniforms down to family members, or
find them on sale from other families.

There is a lot of controversy over whether or not school uniforms should be required. However, when
you look at the facts you will see that there are many benefits to students all wearing the same thing to
school.

Students may take school more seriously, teasing and violence can be decreased, and you may even
save some money.

Please keep these benefits in mind when you vote today!

Humans… we are believed to be the smartest creatures on earth.

We have our own special ways of communicating and acting around others. In fact, every single day, we
talk, act, and behave so that our words and actions meet the primitive expectations of society.

I like to think of my entire body as a coffee machine; my heart the multi-colored coffee beans before
they’re ground; my mind the filter, and my words and actions as the coffee. And what happens to coffee
beans? Before you put them into the machine, all of them are multi colored and special in their own
ways. But after they are ground up and blended together, the uniqueness within each bean is obscured.
Once they have traveled through the filter, all people can see is just the plain coffee that they wanted.
Nobody will ever see the rainbow colored beans in the darkish brown liquid. Just like nobody can see
your initial thoughts and decisions, that are at conflict with your words and actions. All people can see
and taste is the generic, finished product.

Maybe you’re afraid that if you do not “filter” your original ideas and intentions, others will reject or
dislike you. Perhaps they will see your ideas and decisions as too strong or too bitter, so you instinctively
feel the need to change or to filter your coffee beans.

People would be so surprised if they saw MY original coffee beans. They would be shocked when they
found out the real person I am.
When I was in 4th grade, I transferred to a new school. It was my 5th week there when I saw a kid being
bullied on the playground. I was playing on the swings when I heard screeching and screaming noises
from the other far end. I asked the girl beside me what it was all about.

She was like: “Oh, don’t worry about it, it’s just the 6th graders teaching the new kid in our grade a
lesson.” She said it as if everything was so natural.

She then smirked then whispered in my ear: “Don’t tell anyone that I told you this but he has the
plague!”

I was confused, so I asked her what kind of plague he had, and she told me “It’s the ‘nano plague’.”

She then explained that it was a virulent disease caused by nano worms that bit into your face, causing a
permanent red mark. And if others touched the victim or touched something that he’d touched before 3
seconds had passed, they would be infected as well. Frankly, I was dying to see what that that kid looked
like.

When I got to the other side, I was astounded. I had never seen that many students circled around and
cheering about something. I squeezed my way into the center of the circle, but the “plague” was
nowhere to be found. All I saw were the backs of two or three tall guys dressed in our school uniform.
They all seemed to be pointing, and talking to something on the floor. Even though I didn’t quite get
what they were saying, and I couldn’t quite see who or what they were talking to, my assumption was
the plague.

Then I saw that most of the older spectators were laughing, so I laughed with them. As if the things the
tall guys were saying were amusing in some way. After a while I actually started to enjoy myself.
Gradually the guys at the back started moving aside. My heart beat rapidly as I stretched out my neck
for a better view of the inner circle. I was actually expecting to see a monster looking plague or perhaps
a clone of Frankenstein or something. But to my surprise, it was just a normal boy.

He might not have been the most stylish person I’d seen, he might have had glasses that were way too
big for his face, he also might have a birthmark that covered up a little less than one third of his face, but
to me, he was just a normal human being. Who deserved to be treated like one. The smirk gradually
vanished from my face. It was then that I realized that this was not a game, this was not something
funny, this was bullying.
For a moment, there were just way too many thoughts and ideas going through my mind, and I was just
overwhelmed. I remember thinking and asking myself questions like: Should I go in and help him?
Should I at least stop it and tell an adult?

But instead of following my heart, and doing what was right, I froze. I froze there like a statue, too
shocked to even blink. The shouting noises seems to have faded into the background. And I seemed to
have faded in my own world. I regretted that I’d ever laughed at him. The feeling of complete
melancholy, the feeling of downright regret and hatred, the feeling of resentment made an alliance and
loomed over me. I felt like I was gagging on salty waters, but too afraid and too bashful to use my arms
and legs to swim to the surface.

He must have noticed me, for he looked up at me with all the strength he had left. He was bruised all
over his face. For about ten seconds, he looked at me and I looked at him. He then mouthed the words:
“Help, please.”

Instead of standing up for him, I backed down.

I walked backwards, further and further back until I stumbled and fell out of the circle of spectators. I
looked in his direction until the gap in the crowd started to fill in. Then I walked away fighting back tears.

I wanted to march up and tell the aggressors and the spectators that what they’d done was inhumane. I
wanted to tell everybody that they did not have the right to pick on a boy one third of their size, they did
not have the right to tell a boy that he wasn’t beautiful, just because of a subtle birthmark on his face. I
wanted to tell them that they were the definition of ignorance and failure. I wanted to tell them that
what they were doing was wrong!

But instead, I walked away and let the victim down.

Three years have passed since the incident, and a lot has changed and happened. But strangely, that
scene is as clear and concise in my mind as it was then. The regret and the pain stings just as much as it
did then. The incident has became a scar that has formed on my heart and never seems to heal. It’s like
a curse that can never be broken.
I’ll bet he has forgotten and hated me for what I have done. And I have hated myself for not speaking
up. But I know that it’s too late now and I have already lost a chance to be brave and to be myself.

So with this opportunity, I wanted to show and tell everybody that: Sometimes, the things you see about
me are only the things I reveal. The things you think you know about me are only the things I let you
know about. There is much more of me that I haven’t revealed, of which you have absolutely no idea.

Perhaps the reason that people are afraid to reveal their true identities is that they might think their
thoughts are too bitter, unlikable, unique and different. I’m a great example of that! I could have
followed my heart and stood up for the boy, but instead, I went with the flow and didn’t help a person
in need.

I hope that people will learn from my experience and stop filtering their own unique coffee beans just to
go with the flow. Please always be the person that you really are. I want to tell everyone that it’s okay to
go upstream. You don’t always have to end up in the same position as others. And that’s what makes
this world colorful.

How Humor Heals

I had to spend a week or so in the hospital last year. A minor ear infection turned into some major
problems for my immune system. I was fairly depressed and frustrated one night after my doctor had
given me the news that still more tests would be needed, which meant another few days in an
uncomfortable bed with people poking and prodding at me.

As I thought about it, the pain began again, and I was sure that my condition might only become more
serious. About the time I began to wonder if I would ever see my own home again, my best friend from
high school stopped by. She was, quite literally, our class clown. She always had a great joke on the tip
of her tongue. She was the mascot at the football games because her antics were so funny. Even now I
can’t help but smile when I think about her.

Two hours after she left, I felt great. I had no pain when I woke up the next morning, and that evening,
all of my test results were positive. A miracle? Actually, yes. Study after study has indicated that humor
has interesting healing powers.
One way that humor can help to heal is that it literally changes our outlook on life. As we laugh, we have
trouble seeing life’s difficulties the same way. Suddenly, our problems don’t seem quite as bad. Humor
allows one to distance him/herself from a painful physical or medical situation while also acknowledging
that he or she is in such a situation.

This change in perspective is a powerful healing force. Distancing yourself from a distressing situation
allows you to view certain circumstances from a more objective perspective, and this can help you
extract powerful emotions that focus on your pain or sorrow. In doing this, you do not reject the painful
circumstances surrounding you, but acknowledge the reality of your situation – the good with the bad.

Recent mental health studies have shown that laughter can stimulate areas of the brain that release
endorphins, helping us to see our situation more clearly.

The benefits of humor, though, aren’t all mental. Humor triggers laughter. According to physiological
studies, the laughter, in turn, stimulates our cardiovascular systems by increasing the rate at which the
heart beats and contracting the muscles. In fact, one study suggested that laughing one hundred times
per day is the equivalent of spending ten minutes on a rowing machine.

One study went so far as to suggest that the benefits of laughter reach far beyond our body system.
“Laughter reduces levels of certain stress hormones which suppress the immune system and increase
the number of blood platelets – which can cause obstructions in arteries, and raise blood pressure,” said
one researcher. “When we’re laughing, natural killer cells that destroy cancer cells increase, as does the
level of Gamma-interferon – a disease-fighting protein, T-cells – a major part of the immune system, and
B-cells – which make disease-destroying antibodies. Laughter may also increase the concentration of
salivary immunoglobulin A, which defends against infectious organisms entering through the respiratory
tract so it helps us to resist colds and viruses.” That makes quite a case of the adage “A barrel of laughs a
day keeps the doctor away.”

The healing power of humor is wide-ranging in scope and situation. Though medically, the interesting
healing powers of humor are still being studied by many scientists, humor clearly heals the spirit – a part
of every one of us which is often neglected by medicine and science.

Seeing the humor in our painful or emotional situations can free us from the chains we have built
around ourselves, helping us to recognize that life is more than anger or pain or sorrow, but that it is full
of humor and the contagious sound of laughter.
That so many of us are here today is a recognition that the threat from climate change is serious, it is
urgent, and it is growing. Our generation’s response to this challenge will be judged by history, for if we
fail to meet it – boldly, swiftly, and together – we risk consigning future generations to an irreversible
catastrophe.”

These are the words President Obama used to begin his global warming speech before the United
Nations Summit in 2009.

Search Google for global warming and you will get almost 65 million pages of results.

The subject has certainly drawn a lot of attention. But just what is global warming? What is causing it?
What effects does it have on the earth and its inhabitants? What are some possible solutions? These are
the questions that I will be addressing in this short, informative speech today.

What is Global Warming?

Global warming is the gradual increase of the temperature of earth’s atmosphere and oceans.

Over the past century the average temperatures have gone up by just over one degree. This may not
seem like much, but many scientists agree that the earth’s temperatures are starting to increase at a
faster rate.

What Causes It?

Global warming occurs when greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, and methane trap
heat inside the earth’s atmosphere.

Think about what happens when you open your car door after the windows have been rolled up on a
hot day. Heat from the sun enters the car, but the frame of the car prevents it from escaping.

To a small extent, this is a representation of what happens during global warming. Burning fossil fuels
like petroleum and deforestation both contribute to the problem.
What Effects does Climate Change Have on the Earth and its Inhabitants?

Global warming has already started to affect the earth in several ways.

Arctic glaciers have begun to melt, threatening indigenous life such as the polar bears. Melting glaciers
also cause sea levels to rise. This could become a problem for low land areas like the ones in the South
Sea Islands.

Ocean temperatures have begun to rise. This causes some of the algae to die which can affect the entire
food chain.

What are some Possible Solutions to the Problem?

There are ways we can combat the effects of global warming. The Clean Air Act of 1990 is a law in the
United States that attempts to protect and improve the earth’s air and atmosphere.

Some of the components of this law include limiting harmful vehicle emissions and phasing out the use
of chemicals that can damage the ozone layer.

On a more personal level, we can work to prevent global warming by planting trees and by car-pooling.

Climate change is seen as a serious threat that is receiving serious attention world-wide. Hopefully,
this global warming speech has helped inform you of what causes it and the effects that it has on the
earth. It’s up to you to decide how you can help to do something about it.

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