World Peace | 81

World peace is something I've always been hopeful about. For as long as I can remember, since I was a child and before I saw how cruel the world can be, I would always ask for world peace on birthday wishes and letters to Santa. There are a few times/things when I have strong faith or hope in, and this is one of them. 

I always thought people were nice and friendly. Then I slowly started learning about war. September 11, I didn't understand it. I learned that just how in kinder we fight for the best crayons, people in the world fight harder over bigger things. And those fights unfortunately end up being fatal. 

I don't like the fact that as the years go by, many of us live in fear. Ironically living in the land of the free. And as much as I don't want to, I do live in fear. I hear a loud noise, I hear someone screaming, I immediately think I have to run and hide somewhere. I don't want to live like that, we shouldn't have to live like that. Living in fear is basically letting the enemy win. I'm only 20 years old, and as I'm starting to realize what it is I want in life I have many more fears. I used to think that only people involved in crimes would "pay the price". But no. Innocent lives have been taken in the most normal situations. Theaters, schools, even church where it's considered a place of respect. And it's not just in places like Mexico or Colombia. It's in our own homeland, sometimes in our own city! 

If and when I have kids, that will become a bigger worry. Wondering if my children are safe in school. When I was a kid, the only drills we were taught were "stop, drop, and roll" and going under the tables protecting our heads. Students now are being taught what to do in case "a dangerous person comes to school". Whether kids understand the situation or not, it's already stealing their innocence. Earlier this year LAUSD closed all schools due to bomb threats. A tweet became viral after a teen said he picked up his little sister from school, after his little sister asked what was happening he simply said it was because he missed her and wanted to spend time with her. A teacher in Mexico singing to her students which were on the floor while a shooting was happening outside. A mom who posted a picture of her 3 year old daughter standing on top of the toilet. At first the mom thinking this was adorable and innocent, later realizing her daughter was showing what they had to do if they need to hide from someone. As kids, my brothers and I were told that we go to school to learn and make friends and have fun. The biggest worry for parents was what color (behavior) card their child got for the day. 

Why can't the news ever show good and happy things. Seems like every day we are further and further away from world peace. It's not just steps that are being taken back, it's miles. If we were ever close to it, we're sooo far now. I want to believe and I continue being a firm believer that one day we won't have as many wars, as many killings, as many innocent lives being taken away. It can be me being "stupid", or me just having a lot of faith. I'm not going to deny that we're in a pretty bad place. People (including myself) say that life sucks and life has horrible things. But that's not really true. Life is beautiful. You experience many wonderful things such as friendships, relationships, family, nature, celebrations, achievements, etc. Unfortunately there is an obstacle that every day seems to get bigger and bigger. I wish I knew how to make a difference. I wish we could all work together and bring people together to be understanding and even if we're not all friends, we can at least learn to respect one another. 

As I said, life is beautiful. Instead of fighting, why can't we celebrate our differences? Many things such as sports and food are blind to culture. Soccer brings people together, and even though we go for opposing teams in the end we're all there for the same reason. Think about the "commercial" Regal Cinemas have before a movie starts. Where different people are arriving to the theater and talking about snacks and what movie they're watching. Different color, ethnicity, and age. But once the lights go down, they're all the same. Same thing with food, we all love to try food from different cultures. Trying tortas ahogadas from Mexico, eating panes con pollo from El Salvador, ravioli from Italy, ramen from Japan, etc. We don't discriminate when it comes to that, why do we discriminate with other things? 

I wish we could share ideas and traditions and recipes. I wish we could celebrate each other's differences instead of killing one another. I wish we could be understanding of things. I wish we could go out without fearing we won't come back home. I wish I wouldn't grow more scared every Fourth of July. The world and life isn't ugly, people make it like that. If you have any doubts, go to a park, lake, admire nature for a bit, hang out with friends and family, play with animals. We have beautiful things around us, and I wish that beauty could continue to grow so we won't have a lot of hurt around us. 

Orlando Shooting | 80

(photo taken: June 14, 2016)

This post has been long overdue despite the fact that it's only been a week. It might be a good thing because I won't be as aggressive, at least I'll edit it out. But I do have to give a warning...

DISCLAIMER: If you get easily offended, stop reading. If psycho people like this person have the right to obtain deadly arms, I have the right to say what I want to say without people starting chaos! So...you've been warned! 

Don't know where to start so I'll just start with this: WHY CAN'T PEOPLE BE OPEN MINDED AND BE ACCEPTING? I don't remember who I heard this from, most likely a YouTuber, but "as long as you're not causing harm to yourself or others, do what makes you happy"! I'm a strong believer in that. These people weren't doing anything wrong. They're not living life "wrong". In fact they're living it to the fullest by being who they are instead of being afraid and depressed, suicidal, etc. The majority of them had good jobs or were in good paths or a bright future. What's the difference, yes it's "same sex", but it's still love which is what this world desperately needs! People worrying over the fact that two men or two women are in a romantic relationship, but keep in mind there's also people who get involved with their own siblings or cousins, then having children with both mental and physical disabilities. You're not anyone to tell someone who they can and cannot love. You can't control someone's lifestyle, you can only be accepting and supportive. During those days a mom was talking to some reporters and she just broke my heart. 36 hours til she found out her son had died. She was proud of the life he was living and the example he was giving. He organized the LGBT group in his school and had done many great things. And in the end, in tears and bawling, she pleaded for everyone to "just get along, why can't we accept each other and love each other?" They were just ordinary people having a fun time, seems like we're not allowed to do that anymore. 

I know many people take the "religious approach". And see, I don't want to disrespect any religion or belief, unless it's completely morally wrong. "God doesn't love gays", have you personally talked to God about his likes and dislikes? You're against two people of the same sex loving each other, but you're preaching and believing in something you've never seen. It's said somewhere in the bible, from what my grandma says, that if someone does something horrible (example: a massacre) and if they're truly sorry about their actions, God will forgive them and let them into heaven. I'm sorry, what? If God can forgive and accept someone like that, He can love and accept people with different "interests". The popular saying, "Dios dijo Adan y Eva, no Jose y Juan"...I don't know if it's popular among you guys, but everyone in the neighborhood would say that. Anyway, let's say that's what God says. God also says one shouldn't lie, steal, should honor their parents, shouldn't commit adultery, etc. Yet everyone does that! There's siblings all with different dads and the same mom, you have people stealing from each other and holding false testimony, marrying their 3rd partner in like a 5 year span. They're also going against what God says or what's in the bible, but why is it that they don't suffer the same as these innocent people?

I don't know how many more lives need to be lost, I don't know how many more parents' hearts need to be broken and how many more massacres need to occur in order for change to actually happen! On Sunday morning, June 12th, I woke up and checked my phone. Since I have my notifications on for breaking news, I began seeing the words: BREAKING NEWS, ORLANDO, CLUB. As I was scrolling through it and turning on the news, unfortunately the first thought that came to mind was "another one"? As if this is something that ALWAYS happens and it's normal. That's what it's become. It's all you hear about: shootings, killings, guns, etc. I don't want to be living in a place where things like this is the norm. I don't want to be living in fear. I'm 20! I want to enjoy going out in the day and night without having to fear for my life. I want to be able to enjoy fireworks without worrying if it was fireworks or gun shots. I don't want the future generation to grow up with this mindset and being afraid of exploring and being themselves. This is supposed to be the land of the free, we can't live in fear.

By now I lost my train of thought and don't know what else I had to say. But I think I covered the most important key points. Let me know what your opinion is! I'm shocked at how much this tragic event has hit me. Every time I see or hear something related it brings tears to my eyes and it's something I keep in my mind. I don't know what's it gonna take for actions to replace words. Because I'm honestly tired of hearing "my thought and prayers are with the families", if we act on this there wouldn't be a need to say that.