An Article..

on a very serious note, i read an article in a christianity magazine that my mom had. im not sure how i can write this to make sense. but i'll try.
1.) in Uganda, there is a man who is trying to overthrow the government. im not sure what his name is. so he started this army called the LRA. Lord's royal army or something. he mixes islam, christianity and mostly witchcraft in his religion, and says its a christian army. read on, it gets worse.
2.) this army, at night, abducts kids, from the ages of 7-14 because at that age, their minds are influenced the easiest. then the generals or whatever make the kids march for days, and the kids dont have proper shoes or water. the generals drink the good water. so guess what they kids drink? gross dirty water, or, well, urine. OK, GROSS! AND THESE KIDS ARE MY AGE! AND YOUNGER.
3.) if the kids cant keep up with the pace at which they are forced to march, they are killed. but not by the generals. nope, another child has to kill them. or be killed. within a week, new "recruits" are expected to have killed another child.
4.) when the LRA comes to like a town and they raid it or something, the children are expected to kill the victims. one boy was forced to beat two women to death, i think it was beat. with a machete, i think. and he was so afraid that they would kill him. so he had to. he said he kept beating them, even thought they were screaming. he was scared of being killed.
5.) when killing someone, or beating them, the children are told that if the blood of the victim doesnt spatter on their clothes, they didnt do a proper job. gory.
6.) the goal of all this is to ultimately make these children when they are older ruthless killers who have no conscience. and it works. they are forced to kill at a young age. some boys are forced to rape women. or mutilate peoples faces by cutting off their noses, or their lips.
7.) the children who do escape need serious help. mentally, and often physically. many times, their faces are beyond recongition. they are afraid of going to jail because of what they were forced to do. their families often dont accept them back, especially if it was a girl who was raped or something. some families dont get help for the children right away. one family had to bring their son in who escaped, because he had broken his hands by beating on a wall repeatedly. and none of the kids talk to the people at this clinic that is there to help them. its hard to get them to talk about what happened to them. this is a christian clinic, BTW. also, the kids dont understand what christianity is all about. no wonder.

thinking about all this shamed me. i complain when the smallest thing goes wrong for me. all my "problems" are so petty and small. nothing that happens to me compares to this, not even close. and the first thing that entered into my head after i read this article was "why?" why does the Lord let all this happen? it seems like He doesnt care. like somehow God isnt looking. and i know He sees everything that happens to these kids. but i dont understand why. maybe to show us what people are really like.
i know that i cant rush off to Uganda to stop all this. i know not everyone can go work in a clinic there. but i know what i can and will do. im gonna pray. if i dont, im not doing anything about this problem ive learned about. and i wont sit around and do nothing. praying is everything i can do.
what are YOU gonna do? will you pray ? or not?
ta

SKIIING!

ok, guys, i went skiing last night... and IT WAS SOOOO MUCH FUN! seriously, i didnt die, i got to hang out with people i really like and i got to embarass myself by trying to ski. i was also having fun hurling my meanest insult of the day at people ( people that i knew, of course) . namely: BUTTHEAD! that was fun too. but my hat didnt really work for me, so i wore jess's hat. and i hung out with jess, derek blok and andrew schipper for a while. i even went down the sweet express hill. and jess was mean and said i look like an old granny when i ski. i believe it too. o well. there were people that were insanely good... namely: chris blok, bryan denhollander, er, derek blok, and other people i didnt even know. and there were some people who were oblivious to the cold... wearing no hat and at times, even no jacket (it is prudent, i suppose, at this point, to mention no names). but if they like it like that, good for them, quothe i. so yeah. and i also saw mr. bloks other son... who looks so much like him, i almost fainted. seriously, it creeped me out. i was like "i didnt know mr. blok snowboards!" (i didnt really say that, just stressing my point here). my food was sabotaged by my philistine friends... jess! but i got her back by putting pieces of my mutilated brownie in her drink. i sound so childish. i am so childish. sick. i laughed alot, but thats me i spoze. ohoh, and the last thing i did that night was FOR THE FIRST TIME, i sat by the fire. with my good friend courtney kampus. and by other people i know. and i had fun doing that too. life is fun. and i dont have long left, so i gotta tell y'all this, since its chrismas and all:
i love you guys!! and will miss you like crazy!!
phew, got that over with.
i meant that, btw, for everyone i know who reads this blog.
ta!

Injustice.

you know, one thing that drives me insane are the guys on my bus. they never ever do anything wrong, they claim, but they get in trouble any way, becaues mr. bazen supposedly hates them. also, there are some people (no names) in my history class who get in trouble, and there first response EVERY TIME, is "I DIDNT DO IT!" i want to say to them "isnt life unfair? poor baby. always in trouble for nothing." i cant stand it. its not like they dont do what they are accused of doing. and they always say they didnt do it. they make their lives at school miserable.
but the stinky part in all this injustice is, these guys are bullies. and they think its funny to pick on the little people, who are nerdy. or different. i hate it. and they pick on the small guys. who have no one to stick up for them. and who cant beat them up. i hate unfairness. i despise bullies. i dislike injustice. life is so unfair sometimes. makes me wonder what it would be like to be unpopular. and i think, those who are popular should stick up for the unpopular nerdier kids, especially if they're younger. and ive got four weeks left (or less) to make my stand. i think i will. sigh.
injustice... tis a sad thing.

hi guys! quick note of hi-ness... im in canada right now.. and will be till tuesday. do you miss me? i miss you guys. i think i said goodbye to all my friends, if not, remind me to punch myself for you, or punch me yourself.
will update lata!

Revelation!

i finally got it all figured out. if you know me, you know i laugh ALOT and im very cheerful. but i think i laugh to cover up a major deficiency in my character. and im cheerful, because deep down, im not really happy. ive only got four weeks left in America. theres alot i still want to do. theres alot i wish i could do again, or take back. theres so many things ive done wrong. i dont want to leave, but i know i have to, so i CAN start again and leave the hurt i have and have probably caused behind me.
" laugh. if you dont laugh, you will cry." ( my motto.) and THATS why i laugh so much.