(As The Beatles Would Say) When I'm Sixty-Four

                When I’m sixty-four, it doesn’t look as though there will be much hope for my retirement. The Social Security system is failing fast as the baby boomers are slowly retiring. The main problems are these:  the population increase rate has declined in comparison the baby boomer generation. The baby boomers are also expected to live longer lifetimes overall, and so shall we, by the time we are sixty four. All of these added up will leave us with next to no money for retirement. Now, there are other plans for retirement such as 401Ks and our regular savings but can they possibly cover the projected need for elderly citizens? On the upside, there are still medical programs such as Medicaid which can cover medical costs but food, clothes, and taxes are still bills we’ll have to face. Some tax breaks that would go to retirement funds are one suggestion, but I feel that the social security system should only benefit citizens who need it. Some people retire rich, and don’t need that extra help.  

                The elderly took care of us, so we need to take care of them. They’ve paid for our educations, they’ve raised us and loved us and we owe it to them to help pay for them. But how can we do that if we don’t have enough money to do so?

                I think we should cut their taxes down extensively. We’re paying them wages with Social Security, some of which they give back in taxes, so why not cut the taxes down so we don’t need to pay them quite so much? If we can cut their costs we can cut ours. Hopefully the new medical bills will help lower the living costs for the elderly so they won’t need as much social security as they do. We need to start spending wiser, and cut costs so we don’t have to spend as much to live on. If taxes weren’t so expensive people wouldn’t need as many government benefits. If they could pay less on one necessity they will need less aid overall. We can make this work; we need a team of experts to diverse a system, which will then be handed over to the lawmakers to be translated, then brought to the Congress’s attention to be reviewed, then through the Court and the President. Something needs to be done, and someone in this country can figure it out, preferably not an actual politician to begin with. We’ve been in worse spots and survived. Let’s do it again, fight against a problem and win. America could use some more hope to wave our flag with.

                It almost makes me wonder if our Mexican immigrants aren’t the worst idea in some respects. If we could get them legalized they could bring in more revenue toward our generations retirement. We need to bring more industry back to America so we can create more jobs and generate more revenue toward state projects. This period of unemployment is costing us way more than we can afford in state funded programs and a general loss in revenue and taxes. We’ve crippled our economy bad, so bad it affects the future funds as well as the current. We could well be in a worse place when I’m sixty-four and I may jolly well hike myself up into Canada and start living there if we can’t ever fix it.
http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_ID=17582

Music Enchantment

Music is simply amazing. There are so many varieties of music, and everyone likes some kind of music, maybe even many kinds. I love blues, blues rock, rock, hard rock, punk rock, metal (to some extent), classic, jazz, Jrock, Jpop, pop, alternative, and many more. Music is one of the most important parts of my day. I get up in the morning, and switch on my iPod as I get ready for school or work. I’m listening to music right now. Music is indescribable. Kurt Vonnegut Jr. once said that “music is proof that God exists”. Nearly every human being on Earth can sing, whether they’re talented or not, and the vast majority can play some kind of music. The Beatles were a sensation across the world; women fawned and fainted over Elvis Presley. Musicians are regarded like gateways into Heaven, capturing the soul behind every moment, and appealing to hearts around the world. There is something truly magical about music.

                I went to a Black Keys concert last year and was blown away. Words cannot describe how incredible they were. The whole area was alive, people dancing, raw energy pouring from the stage. We all screamed and shouted as one, united by pure love that floated through the air. The musicians were as gods, on a pedestal above us, as we roared and danced in their honor. We were simply taken away by the energy of it.

                When you really get into a song it’s like a trance, you’re fire, energy, and sexiness all wrapped up into one. Nothing can stop you then, and nothing will, save for the music ending. You twirl and twist until you’re out of breath and your heart is running like a freight train. When you come down off that high, it’s like the rain after a muggy summer day. It’s beautiful; you’re not sure what happened to you, but it was so amazing you don’t care.

Terrorists

Lately there have been a lot of terrorist attacks in the news, and as disturbing as that is, there is something else disturbing about them too. If they weren’t committed by a Muslim they’re simply “attacks” or “shootings” or even “suicide bomber” at the closest. That makes me sick. Terrorists come in all shapes, sizes, and colors. Yes, the current terrorist organization we’re worried about is a radical Islamic organization but that doesn’t make all Muslims evil any more than it makes white suicide bombers not terrorists. When will people learn? Stereotyping has never proven to be the norm for any group of people. In fact, there is no norm. People are like snowflakes, not any two are the same, so when you’re sitting on an airplane, and you see a Muslim person sitting a few rows down, don’t start panicking and wondering if the plastic fork they gave you for your meal will save you. Calm down, most likely they’re just like you and they have somewhere they need to go.

                It’s happened before, the Internment Camps in the Forties are a good example of old fashioned American panic. Did those Japanese-American citizens really spy on the United States? No, they didn’t. American-Muslims are the same way. They are not the radicals we should be worried about; they just want to practice their religion in peace.

                Not too long ago, a boy shot 20 some people, including a senator, down in Arizona. That was a tragedy, and a terrorist attack as we would know them today. It wasn’t called that because it wasn’t a Muslim who attacked them. This makes me sad because it wasn’t the Muslims who attacked us. It was Al Qaeda and it has always been. Don’t judge a religion based on one small group.

Japan

                So I was very excited to discover my passport arrived in the mail! My trip to Japan is just that much closer to fruition. I’ve been saving up for years to go on this trip.

 I fell in love with Japan’s culture after getting into their anime and manga in seventh grade. Their manga and anime generally proved to have awesome art and a zany storyline. And reading the manga and watching anime gave me an insight into everyday Japanese culture which got me interested. I took Japanese class because I wanted to learn more about their culture and their language.

Their culture is very different than ours but there are big similarities too. I can’t wait to actually visit Japan and stay with a host family and experience the culture up front. I want to try the different foods like sashimi, tonkatsu, udon, and other such dishes. I love their refined art and their cute styles too. They have almost two kinds of distinctly Japanese styles, the woodblock style and the anime style.

They created one of my favorite characters of all time: Hello Kitty. My friends will tell you that I am pretty well obsessed with Hello Kitty and that is actually a main reason for me to go to Japan. Hello Kitty is adorable and I like collecting Hello Kitty things although bathtubs and toasters are a bit overboard.

I have made a few friends from Japan over the years by hosting a student and hanging out with Japanese students while they were visiting my school. I love them all and I miss them dearly because they were so much fun to be around. I can’t wait to see some of them again.

I have so much I could say about Japan, and it’s hard to pick just what to say. I want to teach Japanese because my Japanese class has been so much fun I want to try and continue the experience for other people of the high school and college ages. Truly, it’s been my favorite class for years (with some really close seconds). There’s so much for my language obsessed brain to absorb. Everything from the way they say things to how they write them shows a big cultural connection. The more I learn the happier I’ll be.

Unseen Tyrants

Could it really be that we’re under the reign of tyrants?
           Could Corporate America be the major controller of our lives and everything that we think about? Well those curly mustaches are awful suspicious. The working man raises a red hammer and shouts justice for him and the damsel citizens in distress. The same old black and white cartoon struggle right? Probably not.  Recently, we watched a movie called Food, Inc. which claimed the food corporations of America were controlling everything we eat (much of which is unhealthy), for the sake of their own profits (Companies such as Tyson and McDonalds were criticized as well as our Government). To some extent, this is probably true, but I find it doubtful that it is that simple. Nothing in reality is ever that simple, especially a big problem like food supply. The way we produce cows is criticized, and rightly so, but if we did everything completely by the book we would have significantly less cows to eat. I agree though, changes for our health and the way the cows are treated needs to change, but maybe not as much as people thing. I think that the manure problem and very potential e-coli problems really need to be solved. The cows need to be cleaned more often and the manure needs to be cleaned up. It cannot be sanitary for the cows to be in that mess and many of the illnesses and disorders can transfer to consumers when we eat the results. So not only is it unnecessarily cruel, it is also a health risk.

                The whole system of laws need to be re-examined to prevent health risks that can come from eating the wrong foods. Laws about how they can advertize food to actual health and safety laws need to be re-examined and reinforced. I shouldn’t have to wonder if the meat I’m eating will kill me or worry that the vegetables I eat may be contaminated. And neither should anyone else.