I have changed a lot over the past year...mostly in my thinking. As opposed to my high school/teenage years, in which I was an ultra-conservative, I find myself being more of an independent thinker now. Does this make me more of a negative person...as it's seen in the media? No, I still live life with a passion and more often than not, you'll see me with a smile on my face. I do, however, analyze things more often before accepting them. With that sentence, I have to ask, why does the general population do exactly that? Everyday I see people accept the way things are without thinking otherwise. Some examples are:

1) Religion: If you're hispanic and you watch hispanic television, you must be familiar with "La Igelsia Universal" (The Universal Church for my non hispanic friends). This church actually advertises itself by offering things such as "the holy towel" which will "protect you from evil". Are you kidding me? I'm supposed to believe that a towel is supposed to protect me from evil? Now, I know that I have to respect other people's religion, which I do, but what I can't stand is seeing people actually fall into and actually believe this. I understand that this is only one example...but remember, this is only one example...countless other churches are doing the same...or worse.

2) Sexual Orientation: This is something that has been hot in the media. Now, when the subject comes up, most people will start saying things that will actually make gays/lesbians seem less than human. Now, do I agree with this lifestyle? No. But that doesn't give me the right to treat them like they're below me. What ever happened to the supposed golden rule: "Treat others as you would like others to treat you". Let me ask you this...if you have a friend that you met when you were kids and now you're both 30 and he turns around and tells you that he's gay and that he always knew he was, will you turn your back to him and never speak to him again? Is he still not the same person?

3) The Media: lol, where do I start. To keep things simple, I don't trust it. They (the media) feed us only what they want us to know without giving us the full details. Also, they keep us distracted from the real issues by giving us the latest celebrity news and who's cheating on who and blah, blah, blah. What do we do about this...we sit in our chairs and eat it up. Don't believe me? Next time you go on a train, take a look around. More than likely people will be on "page 6" of the post or have some tabloid in their hands. If that's not enough, we (the youth) are constantly being attacked by rims, big house, cars, and what not. I mean, for crying out loud, when did education become so little an importance that only 76 percent of high school kids are graduating? Is it any wonder that the United States is falling behind in subjects like Math and Science while other nations are excelling? Take a look at their houses...1 television....how many do you have in yours?

So yeah, that's it. Hopefully, if you're reading this you'll be inspired to look into things more before accepting them. Oh...before I forget, check out www.axisofjustice.org  (they're number 4 on my top)  it's an organization that lets you know about things that really matters, without the extra crap.