Declaration of war against Reverse Discrimination

I'm sure Thomas Jefferson wouldn't mind if I borrow his words from the declaration of Independence to write my own declaration of war against reverse descrimination. So, here goes...

When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one group of people to assume among the people of the earth, a position different from that which agrees with the laws set forth by a government, but one to which the laws of nature and of nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men and woman are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these rights governments are instituted to establish policies and laws, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. Whenever any such laws become destructive of these ends, it is the right and duty of those who suffer from it to refuse obedience, and to insist upon the institution of new laws to repair the damage. Prudence indeed, will dictate that Affirmative Action laws long established should not be changed for light and transient causes. But when a long train of abuses pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their duty to defy and to abolish such laws, and to provide new guards for their future security. Such has been the patient sufferance of Caucasians and persons of Northern European descent under this form of excessive government, and such is now the necessity, which compels them to demand the equal station to which they are entitled.

The history of our government in its handling of Affirmative Action is a history of repeated misinterpretation, abuses and usurpations against Caucasians and persons of Northern European descent. It has created “Reverse Discrimination”, a dangerous side effect of Affirmative Action with unfair race-based public policies and racial preferences. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world.

What has mishandled Affirmative Action accomplish?

IT has corrupted the true mission of the Executive Order 10925 issued by President John F. Kennedy, which established the president’s committee on Equal Employment Opportunity. It specifically states that, “The Employer shall not discriminate against any employee or applicant because of race, creed, color, or national origin…”These criteria were declared irrelevant. Taking them into account was forbidden.

IT has accepted President Lyndon B. Johnson’s Executive Order 11246, imposing upon our present society the South’s legacy of slavery and with it the guilty verdict for such past slavery crimes, of which our present society is innocent.

IT has allowed discriminatory practices based on race, gender, or national origin by imposing hiring and contracting quotas. Equating the bitter sting of not getting what you want with Affirmative Action trivializes and demeans the atrocities of slavery.

IT has used Affirmative Action to rob the white men of promotions and other opportunities, by enabling an admissions officer faced with two similarly qualified applicants, to choose the minority over the white for the sake of filling a quota, even if the minority individual is as useless as two tits on a bull. For a manager to recruit and hire a qualified woman instead of a man; for hiring decisions to be based on quotas.

IT has robbed the employer of the freedom to fire a "good-for-nothing" employee for fear of  contracting the "cry race" syndrome.

IT has set goals and timetables for increased diversity and thereby forced institutions to use recruitment, set-asides and preference as ways of achieving those goals.

IT intends to perpetuate unjustified guilt over crimes of slavery committed by others, by the principle of compensatory damages, which enjoys a long tradition in our society. Slavery is in the past and those who still feel so strongly about it must GET OVER IT. That past has been dead for a long time and does not belong in this century.

IT has permitted the inclusion of questions such as “what is your race and sex” in employment and academic applications, which enables a color-blind society to discriminate at hiring time on the basis of color, gender, etc. in order to fill in the required quotas. The preferential hiring of blacks and minorities is just as wrong as the preferential hiring of whites.

IT has freely imposed labels such as “minority groups” upon our richly diversified society, making us not human beings but cattle of various breeds. We’re either white cows, brown cows, poodles or Chihuahuas. Every individual was given a specific label, all of which we consider an insult to the true nature of mankind.

In every stage of these oppressions we have petitioned for redress in the most humble terms. Our repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. WHEREAS, The great percept of nature conceded to be, that “mankind shall pursue his own true and substantial happiness” as dictated by the laws of nature and by God Himself, is of course superior in obligation to any other. Although I'm not known for my religious affinity which is none, if I remember what I learned about the Almighty, God sought no distinction in race, color or gender, for God loved all of His children the same way. It is binding over the entire globe in all countries and at all times; no human laws are of any validity if contrary to this.

Therefore, We the people oppressed by the corruption and mishandling of the “Affirmative Action” laws have firmly decided with resolve, to declare war against such Reverse Discrimination created by excessive government and to set forth the following:

WE shall maintain and respect Executive Order 10925 issued by President Kennedy. This Order makes sense and its true mission shall prevail with the broadening application given by the Civil Rights Act of 1964 declaring that “No Person in the United States shall, on the ground of Race, color or national origin, be excluded from participating in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity.

WE shall burn or otherwise erase from the pages of history President Lyndon B. Johnson’s Executive Order 11246 which gave birth to the Affirmative Action fiasco. All it did was do away with EEO and pass the buck to the Secretary of Labor. The man is dead, and he doesn’t particularly care what we do with his Executive Order. Private and public enterprises have better things to do than to spend the next century fussing over the technicalities of designing an equally highly technical and politically correct “Affirmative Action program” to please the government and the government alone. The people are perfectly happy with the consideration given solely to their performance abilities.

WE shall ban preferential treatment for any particular group and we further resent and reject being classified as part of any particular racial group, herd or breed. We demand the right to be classified merely as God’s children, human beings or in this case AMERICANS.

WE shall ban from every employment application, every school application and every other application there is, specially the US Census, such questions as “What is your race and sex”; Race and sex should have absolutely no bearing whatsoever on any document or application.

WE further have determined that the office of Civil Rights and the Department of Labor shall mind their own business and find a hobby with which to occupy their free time. Producing a nationwide racial profile on every job category and industrial classification does not qualify as a hobby, because it is unethical, racist and it  makes Affirmative Action an even bigger fiasco.

WE shall reject and refuse to accept the side effect “Reverse Discrimination” imposed upon us by Affirmative Action mishandling; We reject and dissolve the EEO-1 Form, responsible for enslaving all employers both federal and private, to this excessive form of government. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.



Sources:

Thomas Jefferson “US Declaration of Independence”

Their eyes were watching God

                          (Book review)

If you haven’t read “Their Eyes were watching God” by Zora Neale Hurston, I highly recommend it. This has to be the most beautiful masterpiece of American literature. The skilled author uses the southern black dialect brilliantly, to tell a story rich in culture and where she portrays so effectively the legacy of the south. Far from being just a fictional novel, “Their eyes were watching God” reaches deep into some of the most debated issues in American society: Sexuality, race, class discrimination and religion, just to name a few. Zora Hurston’s genius reaches far beyond the boundaries of her time, because these issues are still very much alive today, yet she approaches every single one of these issues with art. The erotic scene under the pear tree where Janie finds her sexuality is art at its best.

"The thousand sister calyxes arch to meet the love

         embrace and the ecstatic shiver of the tree from root to

       tiniest branch creaming in every blossom and frothing

              with delight. So this was marriage!… Then Janie felt a pain

        remorseless sweet that left her limp and languid." (Hurston 11)

Nature is portrayed as something short of a Goddess and the author uses it to give an angelical, yet powerful holiness to her most important scenes. One of such meaningful scenes is when Janie meets “the end of her childhood”. After the pear tree experience, Janie now sees a “glorious being… Johnny Walker” (Hurston 11) “through pollinated air” (Hurston 11) after “the golden dust of pollen…beglamours his rags and her eyes” (Hurston 12) and lets him be the one to give her what is to be her first kiss.


Nature becomes Janie’s sanctuary and she carries it as a part of herself. To her, Nature and marriage are closely related and the two belong together. Every time Janie makes a new discovery, nature is usually there to help her understand it better. Nature is there when she discovers womanhood. Everything meaningful in her life has a vision of nature from the very beginning of her journey “Oh to be a pear tree -- any tree in bloom! with kissing bees singing of the beginning of the world!” (Hurston 11). She searches the “garden field entire…seeking confirmation of the voice and vision, and everywhere she found…answers…for all other creations except herself” (Hurston 11). This is the garden where her search for her own identity begins.


Janie is the product of her mother’s rape by a teacher, who has never seen either one of her parents. Raised by her grandma “and the white folks she worked wid”(Hurston 8) she grows up to be a beautiful girl with light skin and whose long black hair becomes a very significant symbol to the story, and only discovers she is black at the age of six, when she sees a photograph of herself among the white children she has lived with since birth. She now has conscious that she is different, not only because she is not white, but because she is not exactly black either. The other black children at school used to tease her “ ‘bout livin’ in the white folks’ back-yard” (Hurston 9) and she becomes acquainted with the first racial issues.


“Her conscious life had commenced at Nanny’s gate” (Hurston 10) when Nanny had caught her being kissed by Johnny Taylor. Aware that her little girl is now a woman, Nanny is in a hurry to marry her off to someone other than Johnny Taylor. She wants to die in peace knowing that Janie was going to be taken care of. So, Nanny picks a husband for Janie and forces her to marry Logan Killicks, a man who in Janie’s opinion, “look like some ole skullhead in the grave yard”(Hurston 13) yet she marries him just because Nanny told her to. But the “vision of Logan Killicks was desecrating (her) pear tree” (Hurston 14) and after Nanny’s death, she waits a “bloom time” (Hurston 25) and when the “pollen again gilded the sun and sifted down on the world she began to stand around the gate and expect things” (Hurston 25) Not sure of what but she also “knew things that nobody else had ever told her…the words of the trees and the wind” (Hurston 25) and she knew “the world was a stallion rolling in the blue pasture of ether…that God tore down the old world and built a new one by sun-up”(Hurston 25). So nature was there again when she discovered that “marriage did not make love…(that her) first dream was dead…and when became a woman.”(Hurston 25).


When Logan leaves the house to buy another mule, so Janie can help him in the field, she goes to the barn to cut potatoes but “springtime (also) reached her in there” (Hurston 27) and she moves to “the yard where she could see the road.” That is how she meets Joe (Jody) Starks who is traveling on foot down that road. When she decides to follow him, again nature is there, holding her back because “he did not represent sun-up and pollen and blooming trees, but he spoke for far horizon…for change and chance”(Hurston 29) and she decides to take that chance and runs away with Jody. Nature was there again when she arrives at Joe’s side and says to herself: “from now on until death she was going to have flower dust and springtime sprinkled over everything” (Hurston 32) and she ventures out into the unknown to look for her pear tree.


Joe Starks is a bright and ambitious man who showers her with all the attention she has been lacking. They settle in Eatonville where Joe grows to be an important person with money to spare and becomes the town’s Mayor in no time. His ambitious and controlling nature makes her a submissive wife, just the way he wants her to be. Her beautiful long black hair must now be covered at all times at her husband’s demand, because he is jealous of the way other man look at it and long to touch it. She literally becomes something short of a slave under his rule and he doesn’t miss an opportunity to show her who is in charge by embarrassing her in public. He treats her like an object and Janie resents it but keeps quiet to avoid problems. Nevertheless, Joe slaps her whenever he feels like it and “reminds her about her brains.” (Hurston 72) On one of such occasions, Janie just stood where he left her “until something fell off the shelf inside her” (Hurston 72). What fell “was her image of Jody tumbled down and shattered” (Hurston 72). She realizes that Joe’s image was never “the flesh and blood figure of her dreams. Just something she had grabbed up to drape her dreams over” (Hurston 72).


As she learns that there were “no more blossomy openings dusting pollen over her man” Hurston 72), she also learns to keep her feelings and emotions to herself. “She was saving up (those) feelings for some man she had never seen. She had an outside and an inside now and suddenly she knew how not to mix them.” (Hurston 72) But then Janie stands up to him and crushes his ego by telling him among other things: “when you pull down yo’ britches you look lak the change uh life” (Hurston 79) and that was the end of their marriage and of Jody’s life. He dies shortly thereafter of kidney failure and Janie regains her freedom. She puts on her expensive garments and veil for the occasion and again nature is present to witness the event when she sends “her face to Joe’s funeral, and herself…rollicking with the springtime across the world” (Hurston 88). Her search for the pear tree was not over yet.


After a period of loneliness she meets Teat Cake “the son of the evening sun” (Hurston 189) as she calls him. When Tea Cake challenges her to play a game of checkers, she doesn’t know how and he sets up to show her. “Janie finds herself glowing inside…somebody thought it natural for her to play” (Hurston 96) That night “she sat on her porch and watched the moon rise” (Hurston 99). In the days that follow, Tea Cake takes her fishing and dancing; he borrows a car so he can teach Janie how to drive; he even teaches her how to shoot a riffle. He plays with her and brings her back to life. He fulfills her in every way and makes her happy. She finds in Tea Cake her beloved pear tree and is determined to follow him until the end of the world. When the town begins to notice and criticize her for it, she simply says to Phoebe “Ah done lived Grandma’s way, now Ah means tuh live mine” (Hurston 114). They move to Jacksonville to start a new life and get married on the way. They have their ups and downs, but more ups than downs and they are happy together. Janie’s long search for her own identity is finally over and she now lives in her garden with her pear tree (Tea Cake), her pollen and kissing bees, just like she had always dreamed. They go to the muck in the Everglades to work and Janie feels very proud of her overalls. When she recalls her life in the big old house, she would “laugh at herself” (Hurston 134) just thinking about what “Eatonville (would say) if they could see her now in her blue denim overalls and heavy shoes” (Hurston 134). Janie and Tea Cake become the life of the muck. He played the guitar and everyone would gather around them to laugh and have a good time. When Janie learns the pain of jealousy, because another woman was trying to attract her Tea Cake’s attention, nature is there again because a “little seed of fear was growing into a tree” Hurston 136).


Again racism comes into the picture when Mrs. Turner reveals “Negroes” to be her “disfavorite subject” (Hurston 140) and tries to instigate Janie to leave Tea Cake because he is so dark skinned. But Janie loves her man and tells her that Tea cake is her life, and she can never live without him; that “he kin take most any lil thing and make summertime out of it when times is dull. Then we lives offa dat happiness he made till some mo’happiness come along (Hurston 141). She finds a sad Tea Cake in the kitchen after Mrs. Turner leaves. He heard everything but is not worried about Janie ever leaving him. They trust each other and that’s what matters.


Then that dreadful storm came and had to ruin everything for her and Tea Cake. As everyone starts moving to higher ground, they decide to stay and face the storm together with their friend Motor Boat. But the strength of the thunder “woke up old Okechobee and the monster began to roll in his bed” (Hurston 158). As the storm strengthens and thunder becomes louder, they “huddled closer and stared at the door” (Hurston 159) not knowing what to expect. When the “wind came back with triple fury and put out the light” (Hurston 160), they sat together “staring at the dark but their eyes were watching God” (Hurston 159). Then they decide to venture out into the storm to get to a safer place. The river was following them and they find themselves swimming for their lives. Then the rabid dog appeared and on top of the cow Janie was holding onto. Tea Cake jumps in to her rescue and finds himself fighting the dog to save his Janie from its powerful jaws. But the dog’s teeth sink into his flesh before he manages to kill it. They survived the storm, but Tea Cake falls fatally ill from rabies and by the time the doctor comes it’s too late to save him from madness. Janie has to do the hardest thing she’d ever done in her life. Put Tea Cake out of his irreversible misery and save her own life in the process when in his madness he pointed the gun at her with firm intent to kill. She shots him before he shoots her and he dies. Janie is arrested and has a trial by Jury, but is acquitted of all charges. Before going back home, she holds a funeral for her Tea Cake. “Tea cake rode like a Pharaoh in his tomb” (Hurston 189) to his final resting place. “No expensive robes for Janie this time. She went on in her overalls. She was too busy feeling grief to dress like grief.” (Hurston 189) She goes back home to plant the little packet of seed Tea Cake left on the kitchen shelf intending to plant it sometime. Janie will plant it for him “for remembrance.” (Hurston 193) She tells Phoebe that she “done been tuh de horizon and back” (Hurston 191) and she is ready to settle back in her house. Now it won’t be as empty as it used to be before Tea Cake came along. It’s filled with his memories now and that’s enough for her to live with. “Love is lak the sea. It’s uh movin’ thing, but still and all, it takes its shape from the shore it meets, and its different with every shore.” (Hurston 191) She ends by telling Phoebe that there are “two things everybody’s got tuh do fuh theyselves. They got tuh go tuh God, and they got tuh find out about livin’ fuh theyselves.” (Hurston 192) She sat down by the window and thinks of

"Tea Cake with the Sun for a shawl…he could never be

dead until she herself had finished feeling and thinking.

The kiss of his memory made pictures of love and light

against the wall. Here was peace. She pulled in her

horizon like a great fish-net. Pulled it from around

the waist of the world and draped it over her shoulder." (Hurston 193)

And so nature was there until the end. Nature saw her through her journey and nature brings her back again to rejoice on what she has learned. She has lived enough beautiful horizons to last her a lifetime and she intends to live the rest of her life with those memories.


Works cited

 Hurston, Zora Neale “Their Eyes were watching God”. (Philadelphia & London:

Lippincott, 1937. Perennial Classics. Harper Collins Publishers Inc.,1990 New York NY

Washigton, Mary Hellen “Foreword” Their Eyes were watching God. ”. (Philadelphia &

London: Lippincott, 1937. Perennial Classics. Harper Collins Publishers Inc.,1990 New York NY

IMMIGRANTS, NOT AMERICANS, MUST ADAPT...

Back in 2003 I received an email which I saved in my "interesting" folder.  The infamous email has surfaced again and  it goes something like this:  "The state of Florida changed its opinion and allowed a Muslim woman to have her picture on her driver's license with her face covered. This is an editorial written by an American citizen, published in a Tampa newspaper. "

The article quoted is a portion of something that was written by Air Force Veteran Barry Loudermilk in the aftermath of September 11 and originally published in a newspaper in Georgia. How and if it really ended up in a Tampa Fla newspaper, is irrelevant, and to tell you the truth, it doesn't really matter. However altered, I have to agree with it's contents, so I decided to share it here in my blog. This shall be my post for this week. Because  this politically correct society insists on catering and bending over  to every Tom, Dick and Harry, America is slowly losing its identity. Try moving to a foreign country and demand that they speak your language or provide you with a translator and PAY FOR IT TOO?? Would we actually expect to be catered to while on foreign soil. Good luck with that!!! Note that I am also an immigrant as well as my entire family.

 IMMIGRANTS, NOT AMERICANS, MUST ADAPT.

I am tired of this nation worrying about whether we are offending some individual or their culture. Since the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, we have experienced a surge in patriotism by the majority of Americans. However, the dust from the attacks had barely settled when the "politically correct" crowd began complaining about the possibility that our patriotism was offending others.

I am not against immigration, nor do I hold a grudge against anyone who is seeking a better life by coming to America. Our population is almost entirely made up of descendants of immigrants. However, there are a few things that those who have recently come to our country, and apparently some born here, need to understand. This idea of America being a multi cultural community has served only to dilute our sovereignty and our national identity. As Americans, we have our own culture, our own society, our own language and our own lifestyle. This culture has been developed over centuries of struggles, trials, and victories by millions of men and women who have sought freedom.

We speak ENGLISH, not Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, or any other language. Therefore, if you wish to become part of our society, learn the language! "In God We Trust" is our national motto. This is not some Christian, right wing, political slogan. We adopted this motto because Christian men and women, on Christian principles, founded this nation, and this is clearly documented. It is certainly appropriate to display it on the walls of our schools. If God offends you, then I suggest you consider another part of the world as your new home, because God is part of our culture.  If Stars and Stripes offend you, or you don't like Uncle Sam, then you should seriously consider a move to another part of this planet. We are happy with our culture and have no desire to change, and we really don't care how you did things where you came from. This is OUR COUNTRY, our land, and our lifestyle. Our First Amendment gives every! citizen the right to express his opinion and we will allow you every opportunity to do so. But once you are done complaining, whining, and griping about our flag, our pledge, our national motto, or our way of life, I highly encourage you take advantage of one other great American freedom, THE RIGHT TO LEAVE.
If you agree -- pass this along; if you don't agree -- delete it!

WELL!! I passed it along. :)

FAITH? 

We all seem to agree that bringing faith, especially religious faith, into any discussion can turn messy to say the least. But Faith itself doesn’t have to be linked to a religion unless you want it to be. Just because I have Faith in Nature, it doesn’t mean I’m going to turn it into a God and build a statue of some kind so I can pray to it. As I said before, Faith is subjective. Jesus Christ was a Great Prophet who lived to become the symbol of Christianity. By the same token, Nostradamus was a Great prophet as well, and although for years societies have argued that  most of his prophecies have become reality, nobody has crowned him a God nor has he become a symbol of any religious faith. Throughout history societies have encountered many great men of science for example. I have faith in science and scientific research, but I wouldn’t think of turning Einstein into a God or making science a brand new religion to add to the many already in existence.

I believe people practice religion to look for inner peace. They also seem to find in religion an explanation for everything they themselves can’t explain: “It’s God’s will”, and whatever God imposes upon us it’s all right and we should accept it. He has His reasons. From where I stand,  religion has done absolutely nothing for me. More power to those who find happiness in religion and church. When I tried going to a prayer session with my mother, at her insistence, I found the experience very depressing and disturbing.Perhaps because the people in the group would cry a lot while praying. I did not see anyone happy in that prayer group.  I did however, sense that these were people with a lot of unresolved emotional issues. So before some of those issues rubbed off on me I walked out. 

Do I find any need to seek an explanation for my misfortunes? Nobody ever said life was perfect and we certainly can’t change the laws of nature. But we can learn to accept them and make the best of every situation. I chose to find alternatives around my problems rather than explanations, and I chose to look for it, not by seeking refuge in any religious faith but somewhere else. When faced with adversity most of us react out of fear, simple ignorance or both. If it’s unexplainable it’s either God’s fault or the devil’s? When nobody could explain Joan of Arc’s clairvoyance abilities, they blamed it on the devil and called her a witch, so they killed her. That’s insanity. Or should I venture ignorance? After all, nothing was known about psychic phenomena in medieval times.

 I respect everyone's faith practices regardless of crede, unless your faith turns you into a terrorist and leads you to commit such atrocities as those of 9/11. In this case I'll be first in the line of volunteers who will hunt you down so you can get what you deserve. I'll go for  "AN EYE FOR AN EYE" law of the arab world.  But that's an entirely different blog post altogether, one that I will pursue another time. However, if I am to continue respecting your faith, I must insist that you respect mine. Do not try to drag me into your church or preach to me about God and Jesus or Alah, Budah or the golden cow of Babilon. I promise you that if at anytime I feel the need to embrace religion again or go back to church I will do so, but on my own terms and of my own free will.

Ah! those identity thieves

The other day I received a call for the gazillionth time I might add. You know! One of those computerized voices saying: "The warranty on your vehicle is about to expire. Press one to speak to a representative". It might interest you to know that my vehicles are both old 1995 and 2002 Mazdas. Of course the warranty has long been deceased, burried and turned into enough ferrous fertilizer to feed the next generation of smart cars. These people don't give up either. They call at all hours, day and night and quite frankly I was so fed up with it that I decided to press the "one" this time hoping to put an end to it. "Can you confirm the make and model of your vehicle?" The lady on the other end asked. "Sure! Tell me what you got and I'll be happy to confirm it for you", I said. "CLICK" . That was the only sound I heard when she hung up. I smiled with a wicked grin, rubbed my fingernails against my chest and patted myself on the back (as far as I could reach). They won't call back! Or so I thought. But a few days later they were at it again. The guy went on to ask what was the make and model of my vehicle. I said:" If you don't have that information, then how do you know my warranty is about to expire?? CLICK!!! Tey hung up again. When they called again a few days later, it became obvious that I wasn't going to get rid of them that easy, so I had to think fast of a change in strategy. The phone rang just as I was about to leave the house for my weekly shopping trip. Again the computerized voice telling me that my vehicle warranty was about to expire. This time and after failing to halter their relentless assaults on my peace and quiet, I pressed the "1" and waited patiently for someone to ask me for my vehicle information. I asked:"Can you please hold on for a moment? The guy said YES of course. So I put the phone down on the table and went about my business. I left the house, did my shopping and returned home about 3 hours later. The phone was still on the table, so I returned it to its craddle. This was a little over a month ago and I'm happy to report that I haven't heard from those warranty guys since. I guess it worked! Hey, it might be worth trying it on the next telemarketer.

Teen Pregnancy and the Poverty dilemma

Over the centuries, scholars and politicians alike have not only struggled with the issue of poverty itself, but also, with the idea that poverty can be abolished altogether. Poverty is perhaps better explained by individual circumstances and/or characteristics, such as disabilities, and the weakening foundations of family structure. While efforts to change the sociopolitical causes of poverty may produce some results, there is something that no social system in the world will ever be able to change, and that is the individual causes of poverty. Aggregate poverty is the sum of individual poverty caused by human behavior, and if the individual can’t be changed, how can poverty be abolished altogether? In 2002 the Institute for Research on Poverty (IRP) reported that poverty was highest among families headed by single woman, 26.5% against 5.3% among married couples. This seems to suggest that teenage pregnancy may be one of the major causes of poverty. Let us consider, for a moment, the consequences of adolescent pregnancy and childbearing, which are serious and numerous. For example: Teen mothers are less likely to graduate from high school and more likely than their peers, who delay childbearing, to live in poverty and to rely on welfare. Children born to teenage mothers, often experience health and developmental problems and are frequently abused and/or neglected. Her partner in sexual adventure often abandons a teenage mother, who is unemployable and has no means for gathering the resources necessary to raise children. Ultimately, the support of the child and the mother is left to the government, grandparents and others. A staggering 63 % of teen parents depend on public programs for medical needs and daily living expenses. Teenage pregnancy poses a substantial financial burden to society, estimated at $ 7 billion annually in lost tax revenues, public assistance, child healthcare, foster care and involvement with the criminal justice system. To make matters worse, the sexual behavior of our teenagers has become one of the most important health issues of our time. Not only does society dwell with unwanted pregnancies and poverty, but also with HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases. Each year, about 1 out of every 4 sexually active teens acquires some form of STD (Sexually Transmitted Disease). The burden is so great for these young mothers, that some of them fall victim to deep depression and either become suicidal or end up killing their own babies. This is a very high price to pay for a moment of pleasure. Unfortunately, perhaps because human nature has a difficult time accepting responsibility for it’s poor decisions, poverty arising out of such individual inadequacy is usually blamed on society. I have to agree with Galbraith: society is not at fault. Poverty itself is not the cause of teenage pregnancy or any other social malady, but individual behavior is. I grew up poor and I don’t have many happy childhood memories to share, but I didn’t get pregnant and the word sex was not part of my vocabulary until I got married. My father abandoned us before my fifth birthday and my mother was left alone to raise three children by herself. Most of my memories revolve around being hungry and having to care for my two younger siblings, while my mother worked three jobs just to feed us. If a boy got a girl pregnant, he was forced by law to marry her, get a job and support the family. As for the girl who became pregnant, the community usually shunned her. While this may account for the fact that teenage pregnancy was something almost unheard of when I was growing up, it was ultimately my mother’s iron fist rules that prevented me from becoming a statistic in later years. It’s safe to assume that, a reasonable amount of discipline when warranted is worthy of some credit as an effective tool in child rearing. Learning to become a productive member of society starts at home, and the family is the example. Children tend to copycat their parents, so, what happens when the family falls apart? One of the cited reasons girls in poor rural communities are having children is the lack of role models. They see other young mothers getting by without a job and give it no thought beyond that. Furthermore, teens with a weak family structure seem to be more apt to succumb to peer pressure. “It’s not cool to be a virgin.” Where did this come from? What’s even more frightening is that teen pregnancy rates are much higher in the United States than in many other developed countries. What have we done wrong? Have we gone to far with the freedom afforded to children? Perhaps our society should consider returning parental rights to the parents. Things started going down hill when our overly zealous government decided to exaggerate its interference with child rearing. If a parent or a teacher disciplines a child, the state decides it’s child abuse and the parent or teacher may end up facing criminal charges. Reversing the damage may prove difficult, so the government attempts to make amends by implementing a variety of programs to help these young mothers. While the programs are good to those who desperately need them, there seems to be very little provision against chronic abusers of the system. The teen whose parents abuse the welfare system, tend to follow the same patterns, per the old adage, the apples never fall far from the tree. This vicious cycle can go on for generations. We should also consider changing the sex education curriculum in schools. Instead of teaching the youth about the birds and the bees and about the reproductive system, which they have time to learn about in biology class, why can’t we design the curriculum to include the horrors of poverty caused by teen pregnancy? Show them the sacrifices a teen mother has to endure, such as giving up her friends, giving up school and becoming an adult even before she has a chance to be a teen. Teach them about money management for example, the luxuries and commodities they must give up to survive on a tight budget, like the movies, hair and nail salon, eating out; managing household bills, like the telephone, and keeping them to a minimum; Include the horrors of dying from AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases; Take them on a tour of the real world such as poor neighborhoods, shelters, hospitals and welfare offices, where these young mothers sit and wait for hours for their food stamps and are often treated like second class citizens. This alone should discourage any teen from becoming pregnant. Taking on an adult role as a mother does not necessarily qualify teenagers to make adult decisions. Yet, they are raising children and often neglecting them as a result of poor judgment. These are the role models for children who will, in all likelihood, grow up only to become another poverty statistic. Sources: Annie E. Casey Foundation US Census Institute for Research on Poverty