I am asking people, everyday people--my peers--to give me their thoughts on human trafficking. So far I have collected a fair amount of thoughts. The nature of their thoughts can be summed up in three words: WTF?

We live in a world where we learn about slavery in the past tense, because American slavery is over. Yet, what about the other slaves in the world? Human trafficking occurs on a daily basis, even here in the United States.  In foreign countries, girls as young as five ares sold for sex. Young boys are sold for slave labor.

Imagine what kind of world you want to live in.  I am pretty sure that your ideal world has nothing to do with human trafficking, or slavery of any sort.

Proud Death

Here's one thing I've always wanted to do: write a novel in verse. So that's exactly what I'm going to do. This novel won't be "fluff". It won't be about a teenage girl and her teenage angst issues. It will be about death.

I am going to write a novel written from the perspective of "death". I have always wondered, if you could have a conversation with death, what would it say? Also, what would you say? Could you speak, even if you were able to?

I am going to write from the perspective of death, as well as the perspectives of those affected by this "death character".

As you can see, I've got a lot of thinking to do. This is no doubt a work in progress.

Who are you calling disabled?

I've recently started thinking about the person I want to become. I am not saying that I do not know who I am. But at one point or another, one realizes that the music you like, the actors you prefer, the books you have read only make up a small portion of who you really are. It's only a small bit of your genetic make-up.

What people see, and I can attest that this does matter to others, is how you treat others. But, most importantly, what matters most in the eyes of others is how you treat yourself. Now, I understand that not everyone reading my blog is going to be Christian, but the bible states that "your body is a temple". Live up to this. Doing this does not have to be literal. You can do drugs, you can do...whatever. After all, it is your body and it's your life. I cannot take that away from you. But you can learn that your life is valuable. Most importantly, YOU are a unique, multi-faceted human being. You have thoughts, ideals, dreams, plans.

If you are like me, you may have a disability or handicap that prevents you from doing some things that others can do better. If you are like me, hard of hearing, you might have to ask someone to repeat something several times before you can actually comprehend what is being said. Sometimes, I can hear someone clearly but still have to ask them to repeat it because I haven't quite comprehended what was being said in the first place. It's an annoyance, a nuisance.

While having to wear a hearing-aid, and having a mental health condition, may make me disabled, I beg to differ. Sure, according to the U.S Congress, this fact would be true. This, however, is the same congress who passed the Patriot Act, without reading it. In many ways, this same congress has not read me, either. They do not know me. No congressman (or woman) came to door, interviewed me and made a list of the places where I was deemed disabled, or not disabled.

The word "disability" is such a negative word. It implies that one cannot do something, and in some ways implies that one should never even attempt to try, either.

During my freshman year of high school, I saw a speech therapist, for only 3 weeks. I even remember her name. She took one look at my report card and declared (with shock) "I can't believe you have good grades." According to her biased judgement, I should be failing because of a stutter. How ridiculous is that? That my stutter (which is now virtually gone) should literally handicap me, make me unable to earn the grades of an honor student? I only saw that woman for 3 weeks. One day, she just stopped showing up. Go figure.