Express Yourself!

"Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his/her religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his/her religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance." - Article 18 , the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

In a world filled with myriads of religion and culture, it's hard to find where one belief ends and another one begins. Everyone is unique, and everyone has different beliefs. And, in a sense that's what makes the Earth so wholesome. It's all the combined different beliefs that make up the world. It's when we learn to respect the different beliefs that we can truly live in harmony together.

Since the 18th century, France has decided to be a secularist country. It's an interesting concept as it separates the government and religion. It doesn't encourage a specific religion for the country, but instead, allows different cultures to show. During the French Revolution, France experienced heavy conflict between church and state. Several Church assets were seized and priests were forced to swear their allegiance to the republic. Throughout the revolution and afterwards, the Vatican fought against the republican order Paris was trying to impose on Europe. The French responded to this opposition by marching on Rome and abducting the rebellious Popes. In the end, Napoleon came to terms with the church, which was guided by the state, but left alone as long as it constrained itself to religious matters. The arrangement, which was known as the Concordat, lasted for a century. In 1905, the Third Republic announced the separation of church and state. And that, is the long but rewarding journey of French secularism. But lately, it doesn't really seem as if this remarkable concept is really pulling through. The French government seems to have altered this phenomenal idea to their own views.

On September 2nd, 2004; a new rule was put into full effect in France. The French government passed a law stating that in school, children weren't allowed to wear any items that demonstrated their religion. Muslim headscarves, Sikh turbans, Jewish skullcaps and Christian crucifixes weren't allowed to be worn as the new school policy . The law affects 12 million different children. Nadia, a sixteen year old Arab girl, was pushed to the point, where she felt ashamed to be seen wearing her headscarf. It's not right to push someone to the extent that they have to compromise who they are just to fit in, or avoid judgment. People should have the right to express what they believe in, without the opinions of other people.

In April 2011, France banned women from wearing face veils. France is the first European country to do this, and frankly, I don't think any other countries should follow their lead. It's simply unfair; to ban something that a lot of people feel is a religious duty. Specifically, the French government bans both burkas and niqabs. The difference between burkas and niqabs is that the burka is the most concealing of the Islamic veils and covers the entire face and body, with only a small mesh screen to see through. Whereas the niqab, which is more common than the burka, covers everything except for the eyes. (See the link for detailed pictures and explanations). The offenders of this new law face a hefty fine of 150 euros which is roughly 602 RM and on top of that- a citizenship course. I understand that to people who are brought up in Western culture, it might be a little bit odd, to see clothing like that. But, it's important to bear in mind that maybe to them, what you're wearing is odd too. People should have the right to wear what they choose to wear, and no ban should change that.

The world wasn't made for people to impose their beliefs on one another. I understand that the French government is trying to discourage the segregation and inequality that religions might create. It makes sense, as everyone, regardless of religion should be equal. This blogpost isn't only about France; this is about the whole world. The need for everyone to be able to express their beliefs without fear is much greater than any individual's beliefs. But you need to understand, that in the end, it all comes down to choices. And every human is entitled to their own decisions and choices. And that's what makes their beliefs their own.

Moccasins That Just Don't Fit

“Don't judge any man until you have walked two moons in his moccasins”~ Native American Proverb

Moccasins That Just Don’t Fit

The voice is a nagging child,
trying to pull you into its dark,
twisted,
realm of thought.
‘Join our bandwagon of cultural ignorance’,
it calls to me.
‘Never!’ I cry.
Why should girls like pink,
and boys like blue,
is this not completely askew?
Like a built-in mental disorder,
a continental divide,
it continues,
spreading lies,
and opinionated false beliefs.
Prejudice is a contagious disease,
spreadable by close contact.
Never,
will I travel so close as to become what some call,
Severely Biased.

By- Sonja & Cindy :)

The Road Not Taken

           

           The world has evolved so much since its previous days, but it wouldn't have been possible if people didn't stand up for their rights. Everybody-- it doesn't matter who or what you are, should be entitled to rights. And that's why standing up for yourself, is so important. Because, if you don't stand up for yourself, who will? It's by standing up, that you make a difference. It may seem small, but what I've realized, is that small actions can go a long way.

           Clara Barton is an inspirational woman, and is one of my favorite heroes. But what is so important about her, is her selflessness and her sense of duty to those in need. Which made her a very capable and compassionate nurse. It took a lot of bravery to be a nurse in the Civil War. But the journey didn't stop for Clara Barton. In 1869, in Geneva, Switzerland, she was introduced to the Red Cross. And it was there, that she began to believe in the possibility of an American Red Cross. But not many people agreed to this idea. Clara persevered, and finally in 1882, President Chester Arthur accepted and the American Red Cross was born. With Clara Barton as its' founder and leader, the American Red Cross thrived. Clara Barton is a great example of a person who stood up not only for her rights the right to create an organization; but for other's rights, the right to have well-functioning aid system. Perseverance and self-advocacy go hand in hand. You need perseverance, because the first time you stand up, people might be reluctant to listen, but you should keep standing up, because as you keep speaking, more people will start to listen.

               In 7th Grade, Mr. Peters, showed us a video on Youtube. It's a very famous video, but not for any random reason. It's because of what this particular man did, and its' impact worldwide. He is referred to as Tank Man or The Unknown Rebel because of what he did. In 1989 there were protests in Tiananmen Square, Beijing; and the Chinese government decided to put an end to them. So on June 5th, 1989- the tanks started to roll in, but they were met with an obstacle. Against all odds, this brave man, stood in front of the tanks, put his life in danger, all to stand up for what he believed in, which in this case was- protest without disruption. Free Speech. It was simple, it was meaningful, and it was non-violent. I wonder, how someone could think up something, that when portrayed around the world would demonstrate how much it meant. Time's magazine- 1999 added him to the Time 100- the century's most influential people. By standing up for what he thought was right, Tank Man was an impetus, a reminder to people that we should always fight for what we believe in. It will never be forgotten. But I think that's a big part of what standing up for your rights or beliefs is about. It's about courage. The courage to make that final decision and stand up.

              Another powerful woman is Ichikawa Fusae. She and many other Japanese women activists were a big part of introducing the “Fusen Kakutoku Domei” a.k.a Women’s Suffrage League, it was the first in Japan. They fought for women’s suffrage in Japan. With women’s suffrage, countries can fully start to accept gender equality. Ichikawa Fusae, fought to enforce the fact, that women, are just as equal as men and in turn, should be allowed, to vote and run for office. What Ichikawa Fusae did, was start part of a revolution in women's suffrage. And by doing this, she fueled the ambitions of millions and millions of girls and women, worldwide. She refused to be quiet and by being so outspoken and so adamant that this law had to be made, full women's suffrage was achieved in Japan on November of 1945. And many other countries, especially in Asia, followed Japan's lead.

              And, I'm not asking you to stand in front of tanks, or create another huge foundation. We're only 13 and some of us are 14. But that doesn't stop anything. While we're crossing the road, we take small steps, and keep in mind that, even the biggest of heroes started with small steps. Small steps could mean anything, it could mean standing up to bullies. When you stand up for your rights, there will always be people, who will discourage you, or put you down. Forget them. What you're doing is right, because in a world this big, a person without a voice is lost. In a poem, Robert Frost once said- "Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference." Standing up for yourself, is often like taking the “road least traveled” in the sense that not a lot of people take that road, but the outcomes are rewarding. We need to remember that we should always stand up for what we believe in- if we truly think that it's right. And that we should persevere, even if we stand alone.

The Marathon of Hope

Hope. It's something that so little of us have these days. But, I've begun to think of it as a necessity. Hope is believing that things will turn out well. A quote that I think describes this the best is by Martin Luther King Jr. "We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope." The quote tells us, that though life can be hard, we should always have hope to guide us through our lives. In our lives, we face so many problems, but it's important that we never lose hope and keep believing in ourselves, so that when we face the next problem, we're ready. As Steve Jobs stated in his Commencement Speech at Stanford University, in 2005, "Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith."

Terry Fox is an excellent advocate for hope. In school, we run for 20 minutes and hope to achieve as many laps as possible. I hate the Terry Fox run. To me, it's always been a source of aching joints, and a waste of time. But, today, while I'm typing this blogpost, I see the run in a whole new light. I've always taken Terry Fox for granted. But, Terry Fox was, much like they say in his documentaries- an extraordinary person. He was motivated. He ran 5,573 km in 143 days, all to raise money for Cancer Victims. His run was called the Marathon of Hope. And if I can't run for 20 minutes, which is less than nothing compared to what Terry Fox did- and with a prosthetic leg, what kind of person am I? So, today I make a resolution. I know, I know, resolutions are supposed to be made on December 31st at 12 am. But, I disagree. Resolutions are goals for us to live by, and we shouldn't have to wait until January 1st to make them. I resolve to never, ever underestimate the power of Terry Fox. Because, he did something great. He raised hope. Hope. Hope to find a cure. And that very same hope is still living today, because of what he did.

We discussed in Humanities about Hope being idealism. Mrs. Peters has started getting sick of the word Hope being associated with Idealism. But, we, as students, have clung to it as our definition and example. I'm getting sick of it too. But for different reasons. To me, idealism has always been defined as a pursuit of a higher principle, and despite, how good it should be, I mean, what's not great about believing in the best parts of life? Idealism still seems somewhat unreal. Mostly because with ideals, sometimes, we're believing in things that aren't exactly achievable, and it's in that way that I connect idealism as a feature of a Utopian society. By saying Hope is an example of Idealism, we encourage the idea that Hope is unreal. I argue against this idea. Hope isn't unreal, it's as real as you and me. It's not tangible, but it's still there, and it's still working invisible miracles on the people around us.

In 7th Grade, we learned about Pandora's box. Pandora's Box is often associated with danger and chaos. It was a trap, set, as Zeus's revenge on the humans because Prometheus stole fire from heaven. So, Zeus created Pandora, the first woman, and sent her off with a box. Now, Pandora was a curious girl, and she wanted to know what was in the box. I'm sure many of you have heard the popular proverb: "Curiosity killed the cat."- Ben Jonson. Well, in the story, read, curiosity released a whole lot of horrible creatures, each with a horrible feature that was unleashed on the Earth and on the humans. Fear, greed, pain and many more of the evil characteristics of life that we see to today. And, unfortunately for Pandora, there was no UNDO button. What was done was done. But, what we tend to forget is that, there was one more lonely creature in that box that came out. And its name was Hope. And though small, the creature had the power to reduce some of the suffering that went on in the world. The passage we read emphasized how Hope gave the humans a sense that they weren't completely alone, because they had Hope by their side.

Hope is much like a Marathon, but it doesn't have to be done alone. You can call it- a relay race. Hope is the baton, and the race is life. Think of your purpose in life, as passing the Hope on. You're trying to pass it to as many people as possible, without dropping, or losing it. But what we need to remember is that Hope alone is not going to do anything. It's not enough. You have to act upon your Hope too. It's the action behind the Hope that makes a difference in our world. And I'm sure, many of you are asking, how do you fight for hope? And, you're right. Hope isn't fought for. Hope is spread. Spread the hope, and build a better tomorrow.

Our Hidden Voice~Found Poem

Our Hidden Voice
By Bernice, Cindy, Yuichiro & Mohamed

These days wisdom
is disguised by uncertainty,
you know?
Opinions and speaking with strong
conviction and authority,
as opposed to the invisible determination
in our society.
To aggressively question and implore,
to challenge our tragic generation.
Personally chop down interrogative...ness,
to stop declaring
our so called whatevers.

Side by Side

 Unity. It's a powerful force, that makes all the difference in how our world works. People can only wish for a world where everybody works together to achieve a result that gives us a common good. Why people don't do this more often, I don't understand. One of the problems with our world is that we seem to find so many things that are different about us to justify separation, then finding things that we have in common. A thought that reflects on the quote by Bob Riley: "For too long, we have focused on our differences - in our politics and backgrounds, in our race and beliefs - rather than cherishing the unity and pride that binds us together." Unity is important to fight for, because Unity is the concept of working together, to improve on the environment that surrounds us. With 7 billion people in this world, a number that is both rising and falling, we can't afford to work as individuals, but rather as a group, and we can do this best, when we're standing together, side by side.

I know already for a fact that my family is big on unity. My parents always ask my siblings and I to work together, especially in those moments where we feel particularly unsympathetic towards each other. We have a poster in our living room that has a picture of ten to fifteen people in a long canoe or kayak. In bold, capital letters it says TEAMWORK across the top. Next to the canoe it says: "Together, we are winners." This poster speaks to me, because, beneath that phrase, in an implied sort of way is the reflection that if we win together, then: Separated, we lose. The famous Greek writer Aesop stated that: "...divided we fall." That poster reminds me of what could happen if I don't work together with my siblings and with my parents to make our environment, (which in our case, is our three story house in Ampang) a better place.

Already in ISKL, unity is a part of our curriculum. The SLR that demonstrates this is: Collaborate Constructively. I feel that this is, to me, one of the most important SLRs. All the SLRs in a way, connect, whether evident or not, with this idea. Reasoning Critically, for example, (as I learned in Band last year), isn't an individual concept, it can be seen as a group task, as you can Reason Critically by adding to an idea with other people's ideas. This form of work, seemed to work really well, especially when we were editing each other's portfolios. Collaborating Constructively is also important in school, because I know that I always tend to want to work with my friends, rather than others.

For unity as a country, I can think of no better place to start with, then Malaysia. Malaysia is made up of four main ethnic groups: Malay, Chinese, Indian and the Indigenous people--e.g. Orang Asli. Does the phrase Satu Malaysia sound familiar? It probably is, as it's EVERYWHERE, whether if it's in song form, on posters or in an extremely artistic way, this is something that living in Malaysia for 4 years has opened my eyes to. "Satu Malaysia", is a phrase and idea, that the more I see, and the more I understand, the more it grows on me. Satu or One Malaysia is an on-going program designed by the Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak (who has been in office since April 3rd, 2009) on September 16, 2010, calling for the country to draw more attention to ethnic harmony, national unity, and a more efficient exercise of authority. I think that the Malaysian government has done a great job in enforcing this way of life. This is a lifestyle that involves tolerance in a both racial and religion point of view. Hans Urs von Balthasar once said: "Even if a unity of faith is not possible, a unity of love is."

An example of Unity in the World, is the Kyoto Convention, which you may or may not have heard of. Which either way, is fine, as I just learned about it a few minutes ago. The Kyoto Convention reflects on the fact that the Earth is a deteriorating environment, what with the mass destruction of Forests, which provide prized oxygen, and creates a balance in the ecosystems of the Earth. Not only that, but the emission of greenhouse gases and the burning of fossil fuels, effects our atmosphere, climate, and contributes to Global Warming. These effects are caused individually by countries, but can be fixed as a united world. The Kyoto Protocol was adopted on December 11th, 1997 in (surprise, surprise) Kyoto, Japan. It began its work on February 16th, 2005. Slowly, more "industrialized" countries agreed to sign this treaty, to cut down the amount of gases that they released into the air. You might think, then where does the problem start? And, though you might seem awfully pessimistic, you'd be right, because where there are solutions, there are often more problems. And, in this case that problem, starts with the country that I call home: the US. The United States, still to this day, refuses to sign the Kyoto Protocol. Without the US backing the Kyoto Protocol, the ability to slow the heating of our atmosphere isn't very likely, because the US alone, produces a quarter of the world's greenhouse gases.

Unity. We revisited this word over and over in this post, and you've seen different views of Unity, which slowly, but surely worked its way from Family, and in our own Houses, to reach the World. Which, is eventually what it all leads to, doesn't it? If we look to our future, the world depends on a generation that will connect our World, to save our planet. And, it's now, in a reverse of format, that I put a fourth quote into your already questioning mind. "So powerful is the light of unity, that it can illuminate the whole Earth."- Baha'u'llah. Each individual has metaphorically, a candle, call it hope if you will, and when we put our candles together we have an enormous light, that shines and fills the whole Earth with a sense of harmony. It's up to each of us to keep that light shining.

The Voice of The People

"As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy."-Abraham Lincoln. Democracy is a government of the people, by the people and for the people. If I were given a chance to create a New World, I could only hope that it would be built around democracy.

Democracy is important because it gives everyone a chance for free expression, and gives the opportunity to those freely chosen to represent the people, a chance to make the rules and laws based on the opinions of all. In this way, I feel that democracy connects to freedom, because people are free to say what they think. An example of this is current day New World in the book: The Knife of Never Letting Go, where Voices and Noise are nothing short of abundant. There shouldn't be a prominent voice, to which everyone should listen to, like Mayor Prentiss, but instead, there should be a common voice to which everyone has a part of. That way, decisions are made not only by a leader, but by the people as well.

Also, I think it is important for a society to be built around democracy because everyone is equal. In a democracy, votes are all the same worth. It doesn’t matter who voted, because they are all counted in the process of fair election. Equality is important because in a place where everyone can be from different minorities or ethnic groups because of immigration, people shouldn’t be put apart or not considered because of their roots. It is because of equality that people can attempt to coexist, whether it be with the opposite gender or people from different places. Going to an international school has helped boost awareness of the importance of this in me.

Without democracy, New World is not guaranteed long lasting peace and prosperity, because of the fact that choices made are not always shared by all. Which means that war could be started based upon the fact that people simply aren’t happy with the choices made by the leader. In a democracy, those who are chosen to represent the people are held accountable, whereas, dictators don’t have the same sense of accountability. An example would be in dictatorships of our world today, like Gadhafi. Abraham Lincoln states "As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master..." Through this quote, Lincoln expresses the idea that, democracy is for everyone and that everyone should have a chance at democracy, no matter who they are. Abraham Lincoln was not only an inspirational leader but an advocate of democracy. I can only hope that New World will find a leader that follows in his footsteps.