Act of Resistance 101

Okay, so did my first act of resistance ever on Wednesday, for our assignment. I chose to hand out clips of Various issues that I wrote about, that exist in our society today. I want to raise awareness to them and just show my classmates that although some issues may seem like “Oh, that wouldn’t happen to anyone I know …” or “That stuff doesn’t go on all the time ... only when the news mentions it”, these issues are real and happen to people everyday. I chose to write about : suicide, drunk driving, gay marriage, our environment, and hate crimes.
Personally, coming up with the act was more influential to me than actually doing it, just because of the fact that while I researched the statistics regarding these issues, I myself was in a sense (for lack of better terms) “dumb-founded” . I simply could not believe how much these issues impact the lives of people everyday and every year. The issues that impacted me the most were drunk driving and suicide. I cannot believe that half of the accidents that occur in Wisconsin can be avoided if only people used their common sense and chose the right decision to not only keep their lives from danger, but the lives of others also.
Suicide impacted me greatly because of the fact that suicides are the second leading cause of teen deaths, following vehicular homicide. Not only that, but I AM a teen and it is hard for me to picture that anyone I encounter throughout my day both at school and outside of school could even consider suicide. Another reason why Suicide hit me the hardest is because when I handed one to Ms. Daroszeski (you) she told me about when she can across a story about a seventeen year old young man who decided he was going to commit suicide live on the internet. He was in a live chat rooms with cruel human beings (if you want to consider them human after what they were doing) who were egging him on, to commit suicide right before their eyes. He chose to overdose on medication and there were a few lovely souls who seen the cruelty and wanted to reach the people who ran the sight so that they could find him hopefully in time to hospitalize him. Turned out they found him twelve hours later dead, and the camera was still running when the police arrived. I cannot believe that someone would first of all, do this, and second of all, WATCH. Not only that, but those people were egging him on. This is just evidence to why our world is becoming worse and worse in a sense that people do not have respect for themselves, others, of the environment which sustains their lives. In my eyes, it really is just pitiful.
While I was doing my act of resistance, I really was happy when people took the time to read my clips and they actually were “dumb-founded” just like me. I feel that they were ashamed at how ignorant people can be these days. One experience that I was somewhat upset with was that when I gave a clip to a fellow classmate, they chose to set it aside and not even give it a look, my reaction was to take the clip and give it to someone who would actually take the time to read it and I did. This was just evidence to me, why these issues occur. People choose to be ignorant to the issues that occur in society and that is why these things keep going on. If people took that time to be more aware, we would not have these problems. I do not mean to “bust anyone out”, because I respect everyone, I just thought I might share this because I wass totally appalled by this behavior.
If I were to do anything differently, I think I should have handed out more clips and handed them out in the hallways rather than just in my classes, because I feel like seniors are usually more mature and aware of issues and the underclassmen should be filed in on the issues too, so that they could carry on the awareness to Rufus King’s future students.
Well, as far as if my act has any affect on the future, I am not sure, but I know that f someone in my classes is encountering these issues they will think twice about their actions because they can be the ones to save someone’s life, even their own. In the future, I hope that I can be part of a huge movement to tackle these issues in society, and I will always try to stay aware of the issues and be updated to see if the world as we know it is improving.

If you were interested in my clips, here they are:

OUR ENVIRONMENT…
Our world as we know it, does not have a never ending supply of natural resources and many of us sometimes forget this. We leave the water running as we brush our teeth, we forget to recycle, and leave lights on as we leave rooms…there are so many things we forget to due, but they all hurt our environment.

IF YOU WANT YOUR GRANDCHILDREN AND THEIR GRANDCHILDREN TO ENJOY THE WORLD LIKE WE DO TODAY, HELP CONSERVE AND RECYCLE AS MUCH AS YOU CAN!

HATE CRIMES…
The number of hate crimes occurring in Wisconsin has over doubled in the last decade. Hate Crimes are those committed against another person due to them being “different”. The most common hate crimes are those against, those of another religion or sexual preference. About 46% of hate crimes are never even reported. If we live in a nation where people are suppose to be embraced by diversity…why are these things happening?

HATE CRIMES ARE NEVER ACCEPTABLE…NO CRIMES ARE ACCEPTABLE. THINK TWICE BEFORE JUDGING SOMEONE ELSE!

DRUNK DRIVING…
In 2006, there were approximately 772 vehicle accidents in Wisconsin alone. 352 of those vehicle accidents were due to a driver being under the influence of alcohol. That means that approximately 46% of accidents were caused by drunk drivers. You can only imagine how the numbers have gone up since then.

HELP TO PREVENT ALCOHOL-RELATED ACCIDENTS, MAKE SURE YOU FAMILY RETURNS HOME SAFE AFTER THE HOLIDAYS…DON’T LET THEM DRIVE DRUNK!

GAY MARRIAGE…
Imagine if you could not marry someone you loved, because you weren’t granted the right. You would have built your lives together, to not be granted the right to legally be binded. If one of you grew old and were to die…the other would be left with nothing, not matter even if the deceased partner was the provider in the relationship. The partner left would be left to fend for themselves.

YOUR SEXUALITY SHOULD NOT AFFECT THE RIGHTS GRANTED TO YOU BY LAW. HELP SO THAT NO ONE WILL BE LEFT ALONE!

SUICIDE…
Did you know that suicide is the Second leading cause of deaths in people ages 15-17, just after the number one cause: vehicular homicide. Males tend to commit suicide by a significantly greater margin than females. There are about 2,000 hospitalizations each year for suicide attempts within this age group.

SUICIDE IS A REAL PROBLEM AMONGST TEENS. LOVE THY NEIGHBOR AND MAKE SURE EVERYONE KNOWS THAT THEIR LIFE IS WORTH LIVING!