Call a halt to Facebook

Today, many people of all categories are using Facebook (a social networking website), to stay in contact with their friends, their family members, or to establish new relationships. Since its foundation in 2004, its members have been increasing. More than 175 million people are holding membership in Facebook, about 5 million new users per week (Hempel, 2009). Although this network has become very popular nowadays, I think someone should avoid holding membership in it, for the following reasons: it makes people waste their time, it makes whosoever snoops around their privacy, and it fosters encounters of dangerous kinds, particularly for teenagers.

The proponents of Facebook argued that there is nothing wrong with it, since it is a way that allows people to connect to each other. However, Facebook is a potential danger for the productivity at the workplace. Undoubtedly, Facebook is a thief of time. For instance, there is a so-called “25 Things about Me” that people joining this network generally write. In addition to that, they may send videos, photos of some special occasion. Suddath (2009), estimated the number of individuals who sent those notes, at 5 million during this week. According to the author, if each person spends 10 minutes involving in those stuffs, overall 800,000 hours of work time productivity is lost. It is probably for this reason, some countries such as Syria and Iran blocked the access to this network.

Another issue about Facebook includes the privacy snooping. Some people tend to deliver unconsciously some sensible secrets about their life, when they become Facebook members. The fact is that people are likely to tell everything about themselves while they are online; they do not even figure out if they are betraying themselves by so doing. Most of the times, they put themselves in an uncomfortable position. For instance, Popkin ( 2009) made this important remark in “Random things about Facebook”: a certain employee who would receive an invitation from his boss to bind friendship on Facebook, is faced with the dilemma of accepting or rejecting the offer. If he accepts, he mortgages his chance of keeping the job, for his employer may eventually stumble upon something wrong about him. If he turns him down, he may be fired immediately for offending his or her employer.

Teenagers usually make encounters of dangerous kinds in cyberspace. If adults are prone to tell almost everything about themselves in Facebook, how much more likely will teenagers be to do it? They are so suspicious that some of them are concerned because many parents are also using Facebook. This is the declaration of a young student: “It is really weird that nonstudents and parents use Facebook”, said Emma Gaines (Davis, 2009). She continues by saying: “It makes me really uncomfortable that my older aunt has Facebook, because she says that she likes to check up on her teenage nieces and nephews and takes our pictures for her own use. That is creepy”. Peers easily influence young people. Today’s society is glutted with crimes, and young people commit most of them. Moreover, a large amount of adolescents begin dating early, becoming addicted to cocaine, holding illegal weapons, because of bad influence. The fact of the matter is that parents should be careful about their children’s frequentations. Unfortunately, a network such as Facebook is designed to make void their attempts to really control their offspring’s relationships.

To sum up, in spite of the claim that people make about the advantages of Facebook, it actually takes more from the society than it brings. Its drawback mainly targets work productivity, people’s privacy, and adolescents’ accord with their parents. So, all these reasons demonstrate how deleterious Facebook is for the moral standard of the society.

Davis, A. (2009, Jan. 3). Friended by mom and dad on Facebook Students worry about parental snooping, devise ways to protect privacy. ABC Nwes. Retrieved on February 19, 2009, from: http://abcnews.go.com/OnCampus/story?id=6555853&page
Hempel, J. (2009, Feb. 17). How Facebook is taking over our lives. Fortune, cnnmoney.com. Retrieved on February 17, 2009, from: http://tinyurl.com/ab5aua
Popkin, H. (2, Feb. 2009). 26 random things about Facebook. MSNBC.com. Retrieved on February 17, 2009, from: http://tinyurl.com/bwwrka
Saddath, C. (2009, Feb.5). 25 things I didn’t want to know about you. Time Magazine online. Retrieved on February 17, 2009, from: http://tinyurl.com/d3okh7

Abortion: a means of controlling overpopulation

In the “overpopulation growing at a furious rate” article, written by Magaret L. Usdansky, in July 18, 1994 USA Today issue, concerns are expressed about overpopulation and its drawbacks on the environment. It is such a crucial issue, that it drew the attention of St-Aime Ricot who expressed his concerns. According to the author, controlling the population growth is possible, but some countries or religions will fight it.

The worldwide population is mushrooming nowadays. To avoid our planet’s being collapsed, population must be controlled. The main way to control overpopulation is through birth control, of which several methods are used. But, out of all these methods, abortion is the key.
First of all, abortion is one of the best methods to control overpopulation, because a lot of teenagers become pregnant both in developed countries and in underdeveloped countries. These adolescents are still at school; then they do not do anything. In this case, their parents must necessarily meet their needs. So, it is irresponsible to let these adolescents have a baby. Abortion must be the tool to refrain from this problem.
Another reason that justifies the use of abortion as a means of control of overpopulation is its innocent target. Just a fetus, not an individual is aborted; in this case their person who initiates the process cannot be held as criminal. For the well being of our planet, people must be aware of the harmful effects of overpopulation on the environment as well as on the natural resources that sustain life on the earth.

Anxious at the beginning, but excited at the end!

During my undergraduate study, I felt interested in pursuing my study for getting a master’s degree. Since I did not want to study anymore in my home country, I desired to study in the United States. Two years after my undergraduate study, I heard about the Fulbright Scholarship program. This program is a scholarship granted by the American government to the citizens of about 150 countries throughout the world. It is designed to foster cultural and educational exchanges among U.S. citizens and those of other countries.
In fact, this scholarship was the best way to help me start my graduate study in the U.S. But how will it get? I had to compete. First, I applied online. Next, I brought some additional files to the U.S. embassy in my home country. Then, I was scheduled to take the Institutional TOEFL as the Fulbright selection process. In the meantime, I was anxious, because 200 people were competing for this scholarship. However, only 12 or 16 people out of those candidates, should be selected as recipients. Anyway, I went to take the exam. As it was my first TOEFL exam, I did not understand all the instructions. And as a result, I made a mistake that could jeopardize my chance of being selected for an interview. So, I was very scared. Surprisingly, I was among the 60 candidates who were selected for an interview. What a relief! Thus, I prepared myself for the interview, for I regained confidence. When the d-day arrived, I headed to the U.S. embassy, filled with confidence of convincing the selection committee. Interestingly, I gave impressive answers to all the questions it asked me. Thus, four days after the interview, I received an email that notified me of my final selection for the award. Then, I was excited. As I was dreaming of studying in U.S., right now, my dream comes true.
In short, dreaming and trying are important to succeed in life, for where there is a will, there is a way.

The Woman I would like to marry

Every human being is created with a strong desire to involve in a relationship where love is received and given. Thus, each person longs for meeting a special mate who is able to fill him or her with lasting bliss. However, the choice of a future partner is not an easy matter, for it calls for wisdom, patience, and confidence to God. By the way, as every single person, I dream of finding someone to share my life with. Knowing beforehand, the responsibilities that will be laid upon me when I marry a woman, I am willing to choose a person regarding her inner qualities. All the character traits I need in my future wife are summarized in this great quality: the fear of God. All of the other qualities will be reliant upon it. Why do I give the fear of God, priority on all? It is because I need a wise wife, for the Bible said that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge i.e. wisdom (proverbs 1:7). Because my wife will be wise, additionally, she will be virtuous. Thus, my heart will safely trust her. Furthermore, she will not be quarrelsome; on the contrary, kind words will always proceed from her mouth.
Apart from her inner qualities, I would like my future wife to be attractive. By attractiveness, I mean, even she becomes mother, she must be always well-groomed. In this case, she will arouse my desire to be close to her. In addition to this, she must be conscious of her responsibilities as mother. The success of her children’s education must constitute her main goal. So, if it is necessary, she must be ready to sacrifice everything to the education of our offspring. Above all, I expect my future partner to be someone who devotes her life for a right cause.
In short, finding a trustworthy woman to share my existence, is a big challenge for me. There are so many pitfalls in marriage today, that I feel perplexed to engage myself with a young lady. Despite of the large amount of broken marriages throughout the world, marrying someone is a worthwhile choice. Therefore, help me pray so that I may find a suitable partner. Thanks!

Take a stand against abortion

In the “Abortion: when do rights begin?” article, published in the Capitalism Magazine, Andrew Lewis wrote: The mother is free to remove the fetus from her womb though the fetus’ rights begin prior to his birth. However, the fetus’ rights become effective when he becomes a baby. Thus the concept of rights is applicable only to the mother as a real individual, not for the fetus who is a would-be individual. Moreover he argued that someone who has a valuable reason for aborting, does not commit any crime since abortion is included among the political rights of humanity. There is no reason to force a couple to enter parenthood if either person does not want to, he pointed out. Assigning rights to a fetus is a destructive and deceptive conception of rights, concluded the author.

Abortion has been a controversial issue since ancient times. Some people believe that this practice is convenient, whereas others assume that it is an immoral act or even worse, a crime. I believe abortion is wrong for many reasons. Those reasons include the violation of children’s rights, its ethical immorality, and its drawback on humanitarian progress.
Abortion is a violation of children’s rights, because life is a gift that every human being has received; thus it is not fair to deprive anyone of this precious gift. Those who abusively claimed that a fetus has no rights, promote oppression in the society. Generally, people who are stronger tend to deny the rights of the feeble. This attitude was commonplace throughout the world while some powerful nations were dominating other nations through slavery. The colonists considered the slaves as their personal estate; in this case, they could take advantage of these oppressed people. Similarly, as a helpless and innocent human being, the fetus is treated spitefully by his torturers. Unfortunately, no one is ready to raise his voice on behalf of those voiceless creatures who are victim of human cruelty.
Ethical immorality is another reason that makes abortion wrong. In every society where the moral standard is present, murder is unlawful no matter its form or motive. The proponents of abortion argued that a fetus is not an individual, because he still needs his mother’s womb to survive. However they ignored all individuals are constituted of cells. They also ignored the definition of cell which stands for the basic structure and functional unit in people and all living things. What does this definition imply? A cell is a human being or a living creature in miniature. If a cell is considered as the starting point of life, then a fetus can be considered as its middle, for a fetus may contain thousands of millions of cells. Moreover the proponents of abortion take a selfish and ungrateful stand by stating that since the fetus is nourished by his mother through the umbilical cord, he is not a person. Nevertheless, those who hold such opinion have short memories because they forget that they also were in need of the tender care of a mother from the very beginning of the existence.
Finally, abortion sets a huge drawback on humanitarian progress. Today’s society is facing numerous problems related to health, environment and food shortages. For instance, various diseases such as AIDS, cancer remain until now incurable. Maybe those potential individuals who are being killed before they come on the earth could fix some of the problems we are facing nowadays. Obviously, if Thomas Edison was victim of abortion, maybe humanity would never taste the benefit of electricity. This may be applied for Luc Montagnier, who discovered the HIV virus, and Louis Pasteur, who solved some problems related to health through the development of the first vaccines. In fact, the benefactors of humanity are countless. Interestingly, all of them without exception passed by fetus stage.
Because life is an inalienable gift granted to all living creatures, it must be respected and protected. On the other side, as reasoning creatures, humans are called to set a good example to the other living beings. Then our society should be a safe place instead of a jungle. In conclusion, abortion is wrong for all the reasons listed above and more.

Lewis, A. (2000, Feb. 14). Abortion: when do rights begin? Capitalism Magazine.Retrieved on February 2, 2009, from http://www.capmag.com/article.asp

A Change of strategy

Because of the failure of peace workers NGOs to ease the armed and deadly conflicts among herders’ communities in northern Kenya and Uganda, donors have been invited to cut off their financial aid toward them; at the same time, eastern African authorities were asked to join their effort in order to ensure safety in their area by taking away guns from those who have them illegally. Those conclusions, found in Africa News/The Nation and reported in an article (Kenya; Aid Has Failed To End Gun Among Herders), were drawn by Mr. Kennedy Agade Mkutu throughout his book “Gun and Governance in the Rift Valley” and Mr. Dave Eaton in “African Affairs”. According to Mkutu, some Kenyan pastoralist communities have owned a large amount of illegal weapons during the past ten years; during the same period, the amount of cattle stolen was ten times higher. On the other side, Mr. Eaton criticized donors who continued to give money to so-called transient peace groups which are yearly founded back and forth, purposely to satisfy political interests instead of promoting peace. Any real solution to this matter requires a new approach which consists of giving back the stolen animals to their owners, affirmed Eaton. On the other part, Mkutu suggested that governments of the region conjugate their effort to bring a lasting solution to the problem by disarming all the communities and by reestablishing trust and confidence among them instead of using violence through security forces. Without a participatory approach which takes into account all the actors of the crisis, no solution will be possible, he pointed out. Finally Mkutu suggested that concerned governments set up solid institutions which will be responsible for rendering justice to everyone regardless of his or her economic and social backgrounds.

Donors always spend a lot of money to solve conflicts in several areas in Africa. However, people from different regions in this continent are still fleeing their country because of internal wars. In my opinion, donors should use other strategies regarding this issue.

Many people often put on their mind that money can bring up any problem; such an opinion is delusive. Sometimes money creates more problems than it resolves. For instance, throughout the world some people often take advantage of a disastrous situation to make money. In some regions throughout the world, when a flood is coming up, some people rejoice, because they will take as their own the aid that is dedicated to the victims. It is not without reason that money is considered as the root cause of every harm.
NGOs have no interests that the conflict be ended among herders communities; if so, they will not receive money anymore from donors. That is the main reason which prevents them from solving the problem. Moreover, donors encourage them to do so; for in spite of the lack of results from their activities, they still continue to receive money from donors. Obviously, many poor countries are victims of this kind of situation. For example, in Haiti there are a lot of NGOs which are working in several poor regions in the country with the objective of fighting poverty; nevertheless the situation of those regions never change. Most of the time, when a project is implemented, the greatest part of the fund is used to buy new brand cars and/or big houses; only a very slight percentage goes to the population. Thus, I think it would be fair if the money were going where it was intended, or helping the people whom it was intended to help. The situation would be improved if donors could be ensured that their money was very used properly.
As pointed out on the outset of the essay, donors must change their strategies if they really want to obtain better results. Instead of giving money back and forth to NGOs which use it to other ends, it should be wiser to find out a means to meet directly people of different communities. By so doing, their request could be taken into consideration. Believe it or not, poverty is the main cause of this situation. Why is violence commonplace in some places in Africa? Does it mean that African people are more violent than people of the other continents? I don’t think so. Violence is due to poverty. Hence, the eradication of poverty among pastoralist communities is the best strategy to solve the problem.
A lasting solution could be found to many problems that humankind are facing today. However, people who could contribute to fix them are often blinded by love of money; thus those problems still remain unsolved. In this case I can not agree more with the authors when they invited donors to cut off money from NGOs until they manifest good will to solve the problem.

Kenya; Aid has failed to end gun trade among herders. (2008, April 17). Africa News,
The Nation. Retrieved on January 27, 2009, from Lexis Nexis datadase.

My Experience in U.S./CESL

Very often, ignorance causes a lot of problems to people. My recent experience in the United States learns me more about that. So, I think it is interesting to share it with others.
As a foreign student, I did not know many things beforehand about American Education System. This lack of knowledge could jeopardize my success at my intensive English program at Center for English as a Second Language (CESL). At the very beginning, I did not figure out that I was supposed to pay close attention to everything, especially in my Core class, taught by Ms. Gretchen Smith. I put in mind that all the tests would be taken with opened documents. As a matter of fact, I never study. Consequently my scores were very low for each test I have taken. Then I felt uncomfortable because in my country, people have known me as a good student. Nevertheless, I did not let myself carried away by a poor self-concept. On the contrary, I tried to figure out what was the main cause of my failure. I realized it was due to a misunderstanding from my part. Thus I took the initiative to fix that problem. Interestingly, things are improving right now. My scores become better and my performance changes for good. However, I have to work on some important skills in order to be more efficient. Those skills especially include: speaking, listening and speed reading. Improving the above skills will be my greatest satisfaction for this term.
Finally, my experience in U.S. has taught me how easy it is to fail because of misunderstanding. It has also taught me to tolerate people when they act wrongly because of their lack of knowledge.

What I wish all Americans knew about Haiti

One of the most interesting things that I would like all Americans to know about Haiti, is a finest beach named Labadie. Located in Cap-Haitian, the second city of my home country, Labadie is a beautiful and splendid place. Its beauty is the result of the interplay between the landscape and the brightness of the sun. Surrounded with small hills protected by vegetation, this beach is the best destination in the Caribbean region for tourists. Its blue water is so clean and warm that no one can go there without feeling like taking a good shower. It is such a nice area that people who go there, often call it a paradise. Obviously, everybody who visits this place can not help coming back over and over again. So I feel happy about that, because many foreign people are visiting my country every week thanks to this beach. Each Monday and Tuesday, thousands of tourists coming all over the world, visit Labadie. Interestingly, most of them come from United States. Such visits constitute an opportunity for other people to know a lot of things about Haiti. For example, people can learn how hospitable, generous and altruistic Haitians are. Moreover they also learn about our history; for Haiti has a memorable past. It is the first independent Republic of Negros. So it is a land of freedom.
Although some American tourists visit Labadie, it remains obvious that only a few Americans know about it. I think it should be interesting for all Americans to hear about Labadie, because it is a suitable place for relaxing. Not only it offers a beautiful atmosphere for recreation, but also it is a safe place. Finally, it is the best place to take a sunbath. From now on, I invite all Americans to go visiting this earthly paradise. Come on!