Let Us Keep Our Bullets

Let Us Keep Our Bullets
Payton O

Is it our right to bear arms in the United States? Is our Second Amendment guaranteed to be in place for all lawful citizens that choose to own a gun? I believe in the right to bear arms for the following reasons. States that have implemented gun control have seen huge rises in violent crimes. Gun control violates our Constitutional Rights. Banning guns would take away a person means to feed and protect their family. I understand the reason for concern about violent crimes, but lawful gun owners are not the problem.

          To start with, States with gun control have seen huge rises in violent crime. In Washington D.C., a district with zero tolerance for guns, had a murder rate of 3.1 people per 10,000, this is 5.6% higher than the U.S average (NRA.com). In England, country that has banned guns has also seen the opposite effect. “Over the course of a few days in the summer of 2001, gun-toting men burst into a court and freed two defendants; a shooting outside a London nightclub left five women and two men wounded; and two men were machine-gunned to death in a residential neighborhood” (Malcolm, 1).  On the other hand, Florida, a state with concealed carry permits, has had only five know instances of gun violence out of the 315,000 permits that have been issued (Los Angeles Times B-5).  With these facts to look at, nonproliferation seems to take guns away from good people, and put the guns in the hands of criminals. Would you want to live in a society like that?

              Next, there is the issue of our Constitutional Rights. Our forefathers, who fought for years for the freedoms that we have today, believed in the Right to Bear Arms. This is the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. If gun control were passed in any part of the U.S., this would be a violation of our rights. We as a whole cannot give up our rights. Once the government is able to stick its nose into taking rights away, it opens up the possibilities of losing any of our rights. Can you imagine no more guns, no more freedom of speech, and no more rights to choose religion? Where does this travesty stop?!

               Then, what do we do for the wildlife, sporting, and protection of our homes guns give us? Should we stop shooting the many animals that society hunts? Without guns wildlife population would spread into cities everywhere. We would not be able to gather with the family at the local gun club for a little trap. People do use their guns for target practice and educate their families in firearms. Any law-abiding citizens have the right to protect their own property against unruly thugs. We still have these rights, do not give them up.

                In conclusion, we need to be aware of what is going on with gun control. This is a right that may not seem important to you, however hopefully after reading this it will be on your mind a little more. We as a Country have to stand up for our rights. Places that have tried gun control have shown it does not work; yet places that allow guns find that crime is lower. That’s interesting put a gun on a person, that rapist might think twice, funny how that works. Also let hunters who want to shoot some game for dinner, have at it. Let us use education to control gun laws not give total control to Big Brother (government).

My poem I wrote for literature class. It was kinda funny though, cause I started out writing about flowers then it kept changing on me to girls :)

The Prettiest Girl (Flower) Around 

I see you there in glory shining bright,
Following the sun and its path of light.
Standing tall above all others in the field,
You grow, conquer, and do not yield.

The little birds take great delight
in playing round you, from day to night.
With your petals of love that always sheen
how very easily you are seen.

But there is more to you than first sight,
More than beauty and grander to delight.
Every beautiful aspect that appears,
Gives praise to the Father dear.

He made you a part of creation,
and you praise him in glorious celebration!
The beauty that within you is expressed,
Gives testimony to his greatness.

Beautiful flower, how I long to be like you!
Glorifying God in all I do.
Following the Son and His path of light,
to worship Him in His glory shining bright.

I can learn from you, my friend,
with every breath, praise to God, I might send.
With all of his creation telling the story,
Might I, with you, proclaim His glory.

Payton O

I found that true friends don't always stay true friends, and that you have to find new ones depending on your vision/goals in life. This last summer my family and I went down to the lower 48 and that's what really helped me join this school called Williamsburg(because I had no outside influences telling me it was a stupid decision) and become a different person than what all my friends here thought I was. When I came back from our vacation, all my friends had changed in my opinion, but I found out this last month that they didn't change at all, it was me it that changed I had become a way better person than what I was before I left. And my friends didn't agree with what I had chosen to do with my life, so they found new friends.

I'm not sure why I just told you all that, but I was trying to get to the point; that our society has changed so much in the last couple hundred years that now everyone is labeled and sent to our "groups" of popularity, brilliance, age, looks, money, and many others, and we're not allowed to leave our groups without being accused of doing something wrong, or doing something against the rules. I decided researched it and found out that most of this "corruption" of the minds of these kids has been parallel to the "corruption" of the government. So every time a president or a group of powerful leaders becomes in charge of our country, thus the social part of most people, mainly kids in school, they become corrupt and brain washed from media and music and friends and everything else the people "in-charge" can throw at them, destroying our country from the inside out.

I still don't know why I'm writing all this down but from what I learned brings me to my next goal - Changing the world back to the way it should be. 

I'm going to start doing hard things and even if I can't change every one at once, I can change one person at a time, and that will make a difference. I know this because someone changed me and I'm returning the favor

“When we change the way we see the world, we change the world.”  ~Warren Macdonald

I was digging through all of my school folder this morning and I found this poem by Taylor Mali, and I realized that our country is falling apart from the smallest least important things like our speech!! Even though we don't know it we're losing our ability to speak our thoughts and our ideas with other people. So please read this and comment your ideas and teach me something new.  

Totally like whatever, you know? 
By Taylor Mali
www.taylormali.com

In case you hadn't noticed,
it has somehow become uncool
to sound like you know what you're talking about?
Or believe strongly in what you're saying?
Invisible question marks and parenthetical (you know?)'s
have been attaching themselves to the ends of our sentences?
Even when those sentences aren't, like, questions? You know?

Declarative sentences - so-called
because they used to, like, DECLARE things to be true
as opposed to other things which were, like, not -
have been infected by a totally hip
and tragically cool interrogative tone? You know?
Like, don't think I'm uncool just because I've noticed this;
this is just like the word on the street, you know?
It's like what I've heard?

I have nothing personally invested in my own opinions, okay?
I'm just inviting you to join me in my uncertainty?

What has happened to our conviction?
Where are the limbs out on which we once walked?
Have they been, like, chopped down
with the rest of the rain forest? Ya Know?
Or do we have, like, nothing to say?
Has society become so, like, totally . . .
I mean absolutely . . . You know?
That we've just gotten to the point where we’re the most aggressively inarticulate generation
to come along since . . .
you know, a long, long time ago!

So I entreat you, I implore you, I exhort you,
I challenge you: To speak with conviction.
To say what you believe in a manner that bespeaks
the determination with which you believe it.
Because contrary to the wisdom of the bumper sticker,
it is not enough these days to simply QUESTION AUTHORITY.
You have to speak with it, too.

Speech I gave about Habits

Who am I?

I am your constant companion.  I am your greatest helper or heaviest burden. 

I will push you onward or drag you down to failure. 

I am completely at your command.

Half the things I do you might just as well turn over to me and I will be able to do them quickly and correctly.

I am easily managed- you must merely be firm with me.

Show me exactly how you want something done and after a few lessons I will do it automatically.

I am the servant of all great individuals and, alas, of all failures, as well.

Those who are great, I have made great. 

Those who are failures, I have made failures.

I am not a machine, though I work with all the precision of a machine plus the intelligence of a human.

You may run me for a profit or run me for ruin- it makes no difference to me.

Take me, train me, be firm with me, and I will place the world at your feet.

Be easy with me and I will destroy you.

Who am I?

A Habit

What exactly are habits?

Habits are things we do repeatedly. But most of the time we are hardly aware that we have them. They’re on autopilot.

Some habits are good, such as:  exercising regularly, planning ahead, and showing respect for others.

Some are bad, like: thinking negatively, feeling inferior and blaming others.

And some don’t really matter, including: Taking showers at night, eating yogurt with a fork, or reading magazines from back to front

Depending on what they are, our habits will either make us or break us.  We become what we repeatedly do          

Watch your thoughts, they become your actions;

Watch your actions, they become habits;

Watch your habits, they become you character;

Watch your character, it becomes your destiny.

Luckily, we are stronger than our habits.  Therefore, we can change them. 

For example try folding your arms.  Now try folding them in the opposite way.  How does it feel?  It feels pretty strange. But if you folded them in the opposite way for thirty days in a row, it wouldn’t feel so strange anymore.  You wouldn’t even have to think about it.  You’d get in the habit.

At any time you can look yourself in the mirror and say, “Hey, I don’t like this about myself,” and you can exchange a bad habit for a better one.  It’s not always easy, but it’s always possible.’

Here is five short verses from “There’s a hole in my sidewalk” by Portia Nelson:

1.  I walk down the street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I fall in. I am lost…. I am helpless. It isn’t my fault. It takes forever to find a way out.

2.  I walk down the same street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I pretend I don’t see it. I fall in again. I can’t believe I am in the same place. But, it isn’t my fault. It takes a long time to get out.

3.  I walk down the same street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I see it is there. I still fall in. It’s a habit. My eyes are open. I know where I am. It is my fault. I get out immediately.

4.  I walk down the same street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I walk around it.

5.  And lastly, I walk down another street.

What are some holes in your sidewalk that you keep falling into? 

Do you brush your teeth and make your bed every morning? 

Do you give your all when doing chores?

Do you study to learn or just enough to pass the test?

Do you get up on time and go to bed early?

Do you waste time doing things that aren’t important?

I challenge you to go home and write down in your journal your bad habits and exchange the bad ones for better one’s before you get stuck in your own hole.

My story

Ok I'm going to have to explain a little bit. I don't really have a reason for starting this, besides that fact that something has been nagging at me for a long time to start telling people what my opinions are, on life and the world. So hopefully I'll be able to get across to you what I believe. It might not be true, and if it's not, please look it up and comment.