January 18

Do They Really Consider This To Be Equality?

How many of you know someone who is gay or lesbian? Now how many of you know of anyone who is involved in a same-sex marriage? Questions arise when you overhear someone talking in the school hallway “oh did you hear she’s not straight or he’s gay?” like why does it even matter? There is no need for such judgments to be placed upon people and to make it unsafe for them to be around everyone because what they believe is not what you think is right. The commonality of age is statistically similar all over the world, many children grow up and realize that they prefer one gender over another which is not wrong it is a choice and decision which is taken, we cannot judge someone for what they value and what is of great importance to them. By forcing someone to take interest in what you value and trying to change them is like forcing a little kid to give up their special blanket, it’s impossible.

All around the world speeches are given about equality but when it comes to such a personal topic why is this phrase “equality” given no importance?  According to Gay Facts and Statistics 2013 there are a total of 594,391 gay couples and probably this number has changed drastically since 2000, but that is a huge number when you read it, many illiterate people have not even seen such a huge number but go off ranting about how it’s wrong to marry someone of the same gender. People find the necessity to speak before realizing what they say is not meant to be heard or is not right, they do not think before they utter a single word out of their mouths.  Having as many as 9 States already legalizing gay marriage, it should be starting to get legalized worldwide. Recalling the question, why is it so wrong in people’s eyes if you’re not straight? Or if your involved in a same sex marriage? We all have the right to be equal but then why does our equality not get taken into consideration when we go against societies beliefs and follow what our heart desires. Over viewing the article in The Times of India, about a Sikh man who blocked for posting a picture of him kissing another person of the same gender comes to show how low our society can get. We all talk about being equal but why are these people being targeted? Why they are not considered to “fit into society.” Kanwar Singh captioned his photograph stating “Last night my uncle told me if they knew I was gay before 20 they would have killed me. He also said I’m gay because I was molested as a kid…”  Threats are verbally given to children because they believe in something their parents do not consider right? Households up bring their kids in rough situation but that is not the right reason to blame them for the choices they think are right. It is okay to be how you are, to be straight or to love someone of the same gender; you should not be judged or discriminated against. Kanwar Singh has not yet stopped, he is raising his voice and taking a stand because being gay or lesbian is not wrong and you should not be told that it is, what is wrong is the rejection and cruelty society brings upon you.

Although, I believe same-sex marriage or even being gay or lesbian is right many people may disagree with me. Reading an article from The Imaginative Conservative I came across a strange statement, which quotes as follows “Any child raised under same sex union faces a tremendous loss— either no Mommy or Daddy,” No, no child faces and loss, Just because a couple is of the same gender they can still raise a child right. This is a way of society indirectly stating that getting involved into such relationships can affect your child, I disagree. If a child had to be ill-mannered and you would blame it upon the parents who are of the same sex, then what will you say of those kids who have a mother and a father but yet behave so irresponsibly? That remark towards same-sex marriage is wrong and it disgusts me how people can stoop to a level so low to involve children who are innocent and yet to learn about such things in this matter. A women can play a father role and a Father can play a mother role, a child does not need both to not be “a good kid”.

Now I’m asking you all, do you think it is right for people to be involved in such relationships which are looked down at in many countries?  Many of our beliefs and values do not think it is right, but you cannot force someone to change. It is okay if they want to get married to someone of the same sex, or they wish to be lesbian or gay, you cannot make someone feel ashamed when they are doing absolutely nothing wrong.  This editorial cartoon I was viewing last night on the internet made me think greatly about how our society plays a huge role in this, the cartoon was of two women getting married and the priest saying ” I now pronounce you out of luck,” In other words, the phrase “out of luck” actually means that you will no longer be viewed as a human or no longer will be supported. This is wrong, no matter if your handicap, of the same-sex marriage or whatever you are you should all be treated fairly and equally and it is not wrong to do what you think is right for you. No one should ever stop you from being someone you wish to be.

No matter if you are of the same sex getting married or soon planning a future with some one of the same gender, it should not be considered wrong, because following what you believe in and doing what you please is a right you have and that right should not be taken from you.

 

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December 18

Demons Awaiting

They told me about the danger

That this world is cruel

They said you have to stay alert

That there is corruption everywhere

Always getting influenced by others

That is not what they taught me

But I wanted to take a little risk

I didn’t know what would stop me

And now i’m gone

If i keep going down this path i wont live

Even though i’m breathing, I’m dead within

Now that I’ve been taken away by the evil

I know they won’t let me go back

I may have to live my life with this regret

And when I look at these young children

All I see is their innocence, soon to be lost to

The demon that is awaiting

 

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November 26

Mumbai vs. Ethiopia

Today, after being away from home for four months, I finally landed in Calgary, from the cool breeze just before the first snowfall to the holiday decorations in the windows – I missed everything. It was a blessing to visit Mumbai and Ethiopia;  living in two totally different areas of the world showed me a lot of things from different perspectives.

My first visit was to Mumbai, India. During my two month stay there I saw the different cultures all come together in this particular park, it was a recreational park. Sikhs, Hindus, Muslims all these different religions having fun under the beaming sun rays, laughter filled the air. It was a great experience, everyone was oh so kind. After two months, I made my way down to Ethiopia. From the day I landed there I felt uncomfortable because I was not used to living in houses made of mud, sleeping on the floor; overall, life seemed so worn out here, I did not like it at all but I made a commitment to stay here for an entire two months and I had to follow through on my words.

Many of us take things for granted; life in Mumbai was hundred times better than life in Ethiopia. Viewing the different conditions that people live through every day made me realize how blessed I am to have everything I need. We still complain about it the stuff we own being not too good, but living in a place such as Ethiopia made my eyes open to the idea that we shouldn’t take things for granted.

Water. It’s an essential part of life, but what can we really do if we are unable to access it? Ethiopia, ever so dry, there is no place for running water. People dig holes in the ground and collect the water they can find. Living there was really difficult for me, being in Mumbai I actually got filtered water to drink, but here we dug holes in the ground until we were deep enough to find water; however,  this was ground water it was dirty and dark but in order to keep hydrated we boiled what we got and drank it. Supplies were limited. Back home, and in Mumbai life was easy going, after visiting the water park then flying out to Ethiopia I saw such a drastic change occur. From swimming in tons of water to digging holes for a cup of water life showed me the worst that could happen to a human. I was one of those kids to take everything for granted and now seeing how people struggle to live makes me concerned about what will happen if water is nowhere to be found in the area.

In Mumbai all the families were playing in water running around screaming in excitement, but in Ethiopia it was dead. What we do not see is, where we waste such valuable things others die to see them. From one place to another I stayed, for two whole months each, everything hit me in the face. Living without water on a daily basis made my body go dry, made me feel weak, but looking around seeing innocent faces that have to live with this made my eyes tear up. People are dying to live, and in other parts of the world people have such luxurious lives, if I could I would bring the water park to Ethiopia so these people could have some fun too.

During these four months of my life I experienced complete poverty and luxury. But from experience now, I can say that rather than taking things for granted we should be happy we are blessed with a home, water, food because in some parts of the world little kids and families are dying because they can’t afford such things or they aren’t available. We spend so much money on useless things instead we should donate and help out those who need these things more than we do. By donating money we can gather it up, send it to countries in need, open up a well in Ethiopia so that people do not have to dig and they can have some access to water.

Living life in two different scenarios in a period of four months showed me that everything doesn’t necessarily have to be perfect; it has to be worth it. Seeing the need for water and how people live in Ethiopia and then the amounts of water available in Mumbai made me think of a way to help out, rather than spending millions of dollars investing in a water park we should donate that money to helpless countries so they can get some supply of food and water to help their citizens survive. Hopefully one day someone can use their brain to say this out loud, to make a change.

Mumbai to Ethiopia, I saw life in two different forms and learned about the preciousness of water – how lucky we are in Canada! Things are not always perfect, but I’m grateful for the world I call my home.

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October 15

This is Reality.

600460_443487002389932_1886851819_n-p0hbvd-225x300       484692_456660344405931_872985626_n-1x0mr8u-300x225    Waking up and realizing the person you have always had by your side is not there anymore. Wouldn’t that scare you? No one ever wants to see the ones they love in pain no matter if it’s emotional or physical. Although, we do not always want to listen to them, they still mean everything to us no matter how they are, or how they act in different situations. There is always this fear inside you that you won’t know what to do if you were all alone, but can we really change someone’s faith? Can we really change what’s written in their life? We can only pray for their safety and well-being because nothing is in our hands when it comes to life. So is it worth the risk to trust someone with your eyes closed, not knowing what is actually going on in their mind? They say you never know what you have until it’s gone, but the truth is we know what we have, we just don’t think we are going to lose it .

A cold winter night, my mom was fast asleep in her room, everyone besides my father- he was at work. On the night of January 23rd, my cousins and I were all underneath our blankets trying to warm up our toes, the cool of our room was nothing compared to the cutting, cold wind blowing outside. It was probably the coldest night in Calgary, a killing cold wind that pierced the skin. Our laughs echoed in the room, but something was wrong. I didn’t know what was going on because I was having an excellent time with my cousins, but this unusual feeling was eating me up from the inside, yet I ignored it and carried on with the night. A few hours into the movie us kids were watching, the same feeling started reoccurring and now I got really worried because I feared something wrong was happening, somewhere, to someone I loved.

The cold sun rays beamed into the cracks of the blinds, awakening me in the early morning. As I was getting up to close them, my eyes, half open caught sight of the yellow tape, it was not an ordinary tape, it was the “police line do not cross” sign. Although, nothing was of my concern, I caught sight of my mom and older cousin standing by the cop, which was unusual because they were last asleep when I woke up earlier.

I could feel my chest tighten. My breathing became faster.  I ran down the stairs. Before I could even utter a word from my frozen mouth, my cousin told me to keep quiet and to go back to sleep. I was really restless, I was worried, I didn’t want to sleep, so I just lay there thinking of what was happening outside. It hadn’t even been an hour when the house phone rang.

Silence. This was the first time my house was so quiet. You could hear a pin drop if it was to fall on the ground. All of a sudden I heard this loud cry, the phone fell from my mom’s hand and she was crying. As I took in and realized what was happening, I felt the walls closing in on me. I felt shaken up, afraid. Was this true? Was I dreaming? I was standing there absolutely frozen. Everything was starting to turn black and within a matter of seconds, I was smack down on the ground unconscious.

The last thing I remembered was cramping into one vehicle and being rushed to the hospital. Few hours later … My dad, he was critical.  The weird feeling I had last night, the sirens were for my dad. Last night, after work, my dad went out with his friends and during those hours he was with them, they drugged his drink. Footage was taken from the surveillance cameras from the work and my neighbor’s house, showing that when they dropped him home around 5:00am one of them struck the back of his neck, fracturing it. My dad, who considered the his best friends, was the victim of their devious plans.

He was in the ICU, in a coma, fighting for his life. Doctors had refused for any further treatment because he had his body frozen so badly from the frost bite that made the doctors came to a conclusion, they wanted to amputate my dad, from knees down and his right hand. We fought, we stuck together and my father, after three days started to improve his condition. From 5% survival chance he moved up to 10%, slowly recovering. From one unit to another we kept shifting, but later, doctors and nurses did whatever they could to naturally recover the frost bites and to not amputate my father’s body.

Even though, this occurred over a year ago I still remember every detail clearly. Something this big, as almost losing my father, I can never forget. My family has been through such tough times, and people say such negative remarks about issues, but people judge with blind eyes they really do not even know the true story. Something this big can change a person forever, even the people you trust can backstab you to a point that you lay in a hospital bed fighting to live.

 

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September 30

Should Aurora Theatre Stay?

DIPLOMA EXAM PREPARATION:

Dear Prosper Town Council,

I’m Kerry Sinclair and I’m a recent graduate from the Prosper High School. The purpose of me writing to you today is regarding a very important issue that is being brought up in every corner of the town that you go to, which is regarding the Aurora Theatre Closure. The theatre is to be located at 1701 Enterprise Way,Prosper,Alberta. The proposal that was received from Councilor Stan Coates states that the closure of the theatre is to be done by the end of this year, which if followed through with will leave the towns people with no other entertainment place, and disappointment.

The proposal of closing down the Aurora Theatre should be rejected because it is the only theatre that is available to the citizens of the town; stood there for more than 75 years. Instead of closing the theatre we can make it useful for many other things such as, having live performances done by groups in the town, having fundraisers rather than just watching movies. After reviewing the results of the 3 year Academic Study, it has shown that kids are becoming really anti-social, and are isolating themselves from social interactions, so if we keep the theatre we can put on shows and performances that the younger audience will enjoy. This will be an encouragement to the youth to come out and watch, making them more aware of what they are missing out in their town. The youth of today are capable of downloading movies and other live musicals on to their high tech devices but doing that they are missing the real meaning of performances, the true value of the people doing it live in front of their eyes. If a performance was to happen at the Aurora Theatre and the youth came out along with their families to watch, it will give them family time to bond and do something together, because I  have also been through that stage where I have isolated myself and being anti-social is not much fun nor a good experience. Keeping the theatre will let the youth of today know what it feels to bond with one another and to spend quality time with the people they love the most.

Although many people have  agreed to closing the theatre, there are plenty of people whose voices are yet  to be heard. Sue Chan, she posted to her blog recently stating that “I luv hanging out with my friends at the theatre. It’s one of the only fun places left 2 go in town” and Frederick Oman says “Hey, did you see that GREAT 24 hour horror flick marathon @ the AURORA?”, these two individuals have not only given their opinions indirectly but have also told us the benefits they receive from the Aurora Theatre. If we end up closing the theatre what will happen to Sue and her friends? Will they enjoy spending time together somewhere that’s boring and they totally hate? Or will Frederick be able to watch marathons of movies whenever he pleases? We only see the negatives in the movie theatre but we don’t recognize the benefits of having one present. As seen on the map, Aurora Theatre is located between a Diner and a Coffee House, which is across from the Fitness Centre and the Youth Centre it is the perfect location where a lot of the citizens from the town probably spent most of their time on a daily bases. If the council decides to let the movie theatre remain where it is, it will become beneficial for the people of the town and the youth. Aurora, it allows people to come there and relax, to have fun and if we destroy the place what fun will remain? The theatre is not an ordinary place, in fact its more than a landmark, many of the older citizens have had beautiful, heartwarming memories attached to the place because its old as 75 years. Elderly citizens may have taken their beautiful wives on dates to the theatre and are still doing that whenever they get the chance here and there, who are we to destroy a memorable place for innocents?

In my opinion the council should reject the proposal of the closure of Aurora Theatre, not only because it’s a landmark but also because it gives an opportunity for people to come out and enjoy their time. Aurora Theatre should remain for the sake of the citizens of the town. Taking all my points into consideration, I hope it will give you time to reconsider your decision regarding our town theatre.

 

Sincerely,

Kerry Sinclair

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