PEACE.
honestly, i probably haven't met 5 people in my life who actually truly care about helping others. i am one of those people. i always try to raise awareness in things that are going on around the world. when i graduate college, i plan on joining the peace corps for a year or two. i'm really into the whole 'save darfur' thing. for those of you who don't know, darfur is in sudan and suffers major genocide. google it, i don't want to explain the whole thing but i think everyone should know some terrible facts, things that's taken place in the last five years-
1) 400,000 darfurians have been killed.
2) 97% of these killings were innocent civilians.
3) 80% of women are displaced and are victims of sexual violence and are abducted into sexual slavery. 4) 80 infants die each day due to poor nutrition.
5) 2.8 million people have been displaced within sudan.
i know you can't change it, i'm not that stupid to think that i can stop all of this. but everyone can make a difference.

next, i'm sure most of you don't know this but there are more slaves today than ever before in history. it's called human trafficking, and it's growing. basically, it's defrauding people and forcing them into labor or sexual exploitation. about 800,000 people – mostly women and children – are trafficked across national borders each year, and there are 27 million slaves worldwide. facts that i've found-
1) the average cost of a slave worldwide is $90.
2) trafficking comes in many forms, forced prositituion, involuntary servitude, compelling victioms to commit sex acts for the purpose of pornography and other disturbing exploitations.
3) most of trafficked victims are under the age of 18.
4) women experience a significantly higher rate of HIV and other STDs, tuberculosis, and permanent damage to their reproductive systems.
5) victims do not get help because they are afraid their owners will hurt their families.

POVERTY.
over three billion people in the world live on less than one dollar a day. seriously, think about being in their place! but you probably can't because you're living you're comfortable lifestyle. walking around with money in your gucci purse and strunting without a care in your true religion jeans. BTW. what is with those? why would you by a pair of $300 jeans when there are starving people in the worlddddddd?! gosh, it seriously discusts me. you have to hear these-
1) every minute, 18 children die to poverty-related causes.
2) about 1.1 billion people in developing countries don't have access to water, and 2.6 billion lack basic sanitation.
3) about 1.6 billion people – a quarter of humanity – live without electricity.
4) over 11 million children die each year from preventable causes like malaria, diarrhea and pneumonia.
5) almost all children in developing countries are underweight or stunted.
want to help? here's what you could do.
support the global child survival act or join global citizen corps youth movement.

GO GREEN.
i'm most definately not a tree hugger, but i do care about the enviornment.
facts-
1) the average american uses 650 pounds of paper each year,100 million tons of wood could be saved each year if all that paper was recycled.
2) every month americans throw out enough glass bottles and jars to fill up a giant skyscraper, but all of these jars are recyclable!
3) recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to run a TV for three hours. in spite of this, americans throw away enough aluminum to rebuild our entire commercial fleet of airplanes every three months.
4) by 2025, two-thirds of the world’s population will suffer from water shortages.
5) water sources have become so polluted that one in every five of the world’s freshwater species have become extinct, threatened, or endangered.
SO BASICALLY, don't be so wasteful.
recycle, turn off your water, unplug electronics, ect.

EDUCATION.
more than half of all americans hate school and think it's not needed. well guess what? it is. you are lucky to go to school. there are kids all over the world who wish they could get an education who can't. so take advantage of going to school, work hard, and get an higher education and a degree.

EQUALITY.
in the words of harvey milk, "All men are created equal. No matter how hard you try, you can never erase those words." that includes gays, straights, whites, blacks, poor people, rich people, catholics, muslims, buddists, new yorkers, californians, parisians, EVERYTHING.
GAY RIGHTS are a big freaking deal to me.
i'm straight, but i have gay friends whom i really look up to. gays have not done anything to you and you shouldn't hate them. watch the movie MILK. :)
this is to straight boys-
1) just because you are standing near a homosexual, does not mean that he will come and hit on you.
2) people are just people! get over it.
3) be nice to homosexuals, unless they start something with you, you should not have anything against them.

MENTAL DISABILITIES.
don't make fun of people with problems, everyones different. some people can not help what they look like or what they say or do. imagine if you were in thier situation.
facts-
1) autism affects about 1 in every 150 kids, but no one knows what causes it.
2) kids with autism usually keep to themselves and some can't communicate without special help.
3) over three million americans stutter. DO NOT MIMIC THEM.
4) children with anxiety disorders are will do poorly in school and are more vulnerable to drug and alcohol abuse.
5) boys are more than twice as likely to be diagnosed with ADHD than girls.

HEALTH AND FITNESS.
just exercise and eat right. i may not be the one to talk, but i know this is the right thing to do. if you know someone with an eating disorder, don't you dare make fun of them. get them help. that's what they need.
FACTS-
1) the average american woman is 5’4” tall and weighs 140 pounds. the average american model is 5’11” tall and weighs 117 pounds.
2) about 7% of 12th grade males have used steroids in order to become more muscular.
3) one out of every four college aged women has an eating disorder.
4) if barbie was a real woman, she’d have to walk on all fours due to her proportions.
5) if GI Joe were human, he’d have larger biceps than any bodybuilder in history.

RELIGION.
this section is pretty much just my opinions.
okay first of all, i'm tired of people blaming things on god. it's not his fault your parents got a divorce, and it's not his fault your boyfriend cheated on you, ect. i 'm also tired of people talking to me about religion and looking shocked when i tell them that jesus is not my savior. i do not believe that he 'saved' me nor do i think the bible is something to look at when you need guidance. this does not mean that i am a satanist or anything like that. i simply do not believe in any of it, hence the term atheism, that means that i disbelieve that there is an invisible man living in the sky sending people to a place of fire for all of eterenity if you've been bad... but he loves you? um no. if god is essentially nondetectable, it must therefore be the case that he does not interact with our universe in any way. many atheists would argue that if god does not interact with our universe at all, it is of no importance whether he exists or not. a thing which cannot even be detected in principle does not logically exist. there are so many questions i have about the world and i don't really think god plays a part in any of it.. like how did we get here? why does the earth spin around? why am i a female and you're a male? sure, there might be logical answers to these questions, but you can think about these questions for hours and you'll never be certain of it. i'm not saying there isn't a god or other deity, but i think it is impossible to prove the idenity of the said god. you religious people i know are thinking, 'well that's why it's called faith.' but i can't have faith in anything i don't know for certain about. oh, and if you didn't know, i've been raised a catholic, i've gone to church my whole life. and this is what i've been thinking the whole time. so now you know. and by the way, i will not have anything against you if you're religious.

HELP YOURSELF, THEN HELP OTHERS.
things you can do-
1) if an insensitive joke isn't funny, let people know.
2) get a hobby.
3) don't call things that are boring or dumb, "gay."
4) stand up for others, even if you aren't friends with them.
5) learn self-defense.
6) don't send out texts or pictures that you wouldn't want your mother to see.
7) help someone whose being abused.
8) spread awareness of gay rights.
9) don't pig out on food.
10) put a birdbath in your backyard.
11) try going vegitarian at least once a week.
12) don't wear animal products like fur or leather.
13) educate yourself about HIV's and spread your knowledge.
14) speak up when someone speaks negatively stereotypes about people with disabilities.
15) read a book by a person of a different ethnicity or culture.
16) get a pen-pal!
17) smile at the next person you see, no matter what.
18) when you donate to an organization, make sure you find out where the money goes.
19) take shorter showers.
20) plant a tree.
21) use organic products.