The Golden Rules

P.C. is a phenomenon that has taken over our country-- everywhere from preschools to college campuses, from start-ups to retirement homes. Everyone everywhere seems to be looking for some solution to avoid offending others, going so far as to censor language, create safe spaces, and otherwise tip-toe around the rest of society.



There seems like a much simpler solution than going through all this trouble.

When we were all children we were taught a series of rules by our parents and teachers. Looking back they seem silly, just a bunch of mumbo-jumbo invented to keep us kids from tearing each others hair out. But what if there was some truth in it all? Well, let's take a quick review.

1. If you have nothing nice to say, say nothing at all.
2. Say what you mean, and mean what you say.
3. Treat others how you wish to be treated.

If we take all of these rules into account, the world would be a better place. No one would intentionally harm another with their speech, no one would say something they didn't mean, and everyone would stick up for what they believe in.

If we could only go back to how things were when we were five, if we could only remember the rules that were instilled in us when we were young, we could fix a lot more than a couple of silly insults and "you're stupids" coming out of a child's mouth.

Here's what I'm proposing, let's not change words, let's change attitudes. If we all just tried to be polite to each other, to act like civilized beings, we could change the world. So next time you go out in the world, take with you a few golden rules, everything else should fall into place.

Parcel 11

As we as a class reflected on the environment this past week, I began thinking more and more about a plot of land in our very city. On Tuesday I attended a School Board Workshop to fill my quota for AP Government. What I thought was going to be a couple of boring hours filled with mundane budget proposals a decisions such as whether the toilet paper in schools should be one ply or two, I was pleasantly surprised that while some of those things, the meeting also brought out a passion in this community I didn't even realize existed.

The first thirty minutes of the meeting were left open to be filled by public comments, the Board would not reply, just sit silently as citizens poured their hearts out in front of a microphone. The topic of discussion at this meeting? Parcel 11.



The little section of woods, about seven or eight acres, is going to be sold by the school board to create an early childhood development center-- basically a glorified preschool. And while I have no skin in the game either way, it seems many are strongly against this decision... and those for? Well they didn't even bother showing up.

I watched people cry over the birds, deer, and elusive Bald Eagle that may live somewhere within the parcel. I watched people argue over diminished property value, and the educational value of the woods. I listened to people in their fifties reminisce about playing in the trees, about watching their children play in them too.

Although I had heard about this issue a few weeks before attending the meeting from a friend on Facebook, I hadn't realized how big of a deal it was for the people directly effected. There are 795 supporters on change.org, I am now one of them, and the number is still growing.

It would truly be a shame if the government refused to listen to this outcry of voices, each one protecting something bigger, older, and purer than their self. The people are calling, it is time our board listened.

What a Girl Wants

Women are interesting creatures. Considered to be testy, irritable beings, Girls are also considered the fairer sex, more deeply attached to those, well, deep feelings. To many men the Woman is seen as a conundrum, something abstract, and no matter how hard many of them try, completely impossible to understand. It is true men live in a simpler world, one in which colors are duller and tasks happen one at a time. It's genetics, really.



Where in genetics though, is it determined that Women will live in a marked world and men can bounce around freely between them if he so chooses? Well, in the very base of it, chromosomes, those for Female, and those for male, are different. XX for Women, XY for men. In this case, wouldn't it be the man that is marked? Wouldn't he be doomed to a marked existence? That doesn't seem to be the case. A Woman is judged on what She wears, the amount of makeup painting Her face, and whether or not She chooses to smile at a stranger on the street. A man is judged when he decides to step out of the box, to flaunt his differences. When a man is marked, it is because he chooses to be.

But maybe that is where we have it wrong. Maybe the X is the marked chromosome. As Women, we only have one option, one world, we are marked. As men, however, two options are presented: one in the marked world, X, and one outside of it, Y. Where Miss, Ms, and Mrs, don't determine the contents of a Girls character, where the length of Her skirt does not label her intentions. It'd be an interesting place to visit every now and again, if only we had the option to.