Abortion [link]

Here is a story on the 'life' of a foetus. It is told from the perspective of a yet-to-be-born baby. Below are my thoughts after reading the article.

Link: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/note.php?note_id=423402927864&comments

"Critically analyzing this, you cant say that the mother is stupid or anything. You have to weigh the different factors that led up to the abortion and not just read a story of pre-existence and conclude that abortion can be helped and people who abort their children are stupid, irresponsible or whatever negative words you can come up with.

I would say this story appeals to all those who think abortion is unreasonable and bad. The mother cannot be directly blamed, although she DID directly cause the death of her possible child.

Do you think it is easy on the mother as well? Of course not, no matter how much a woman tries to take her mind off the fact that she aborted a baby, it is never possible for her to release herself of that emotional and psychological trauma.

Most of the time, it is not the woman herself who wants to abort the child but due to external factors, like her other half (partner) - he may not want a child, or they may not be ready to have one. Therefore, an abortion is applied for.

I am not against abortion, I am against engaging in sexual intercourse when you're not ready to; it leads up to these sort of situations where you throw away the life of a beautiful being.

Birth is a wonderful thing. It brings the life of yet another beautiful being into the world, be it a human or an animal. Don't take sex lightly, or you could end up in such a nasty situation; taking away one's chance to live."

These are just my opinions, I hope that nobody takes offence after reading the above-mentioned statements.

Firsts

Welcome back aboard Mr Lee.

The above is a short monologue that took place a few seconds ago.

Right now, to the main point: Firsts!

In life, there are many things to do. Many, many, the myriad of the many. There are so many things to do, so many countless things to do.

I mean, you could count one, two, three and... four and... (I get the point. Wait, I'm talking to myself again)

Okay, to the really real real main point about firsts.

For teenagers, especially the secondary school students, it is mostly all about firsts. There are things like first F9 (feels bad), first bully (feels bad), first crush (could feel bad), first laptop (feels good), first... Yes, there are many firsts for a teenager.

From the above, perhaps you can infer that I am implying that the nature of firsts for teenagers is bad.

I would say that the statement I just made, is mostly true. For most teenagers, especially those around Secondary One and Two, most of their time is spent exploring things they had never experienced before. By that, I do not necessarily mean dating and sex but they are some of them.

First relationships do not necessarily always end in a painful manner, i.e. the girl or boy finds that his/her partner is incompatible and decides to break up. Worst case scenario is the boy/girl tells the girl/boy 'I am breaking up with you because I am just not interested in you anymore'.

If the above seems incredulous, believe me, you have not seen one of the most horrible sides of human nature yet.

I have a friend who's girlfriend broke up with him because she felt uninterested in him, just after a mere month or two.

So much for commitment.

These are one of the reasons why adults/parents always tell their young ones not to get into relationships too early because they might be unable to handle the emotional strain and stress that may arise from such cases, as mentioned above.

I, for one, very strongly disagree with the majority of parents' type of thoughts. Age is not the biggest factor in the world of relationships; there is a whole lot more to it than just figures.

The strength, length and result of a relationship is heavily reliant on the couple itself, i.e. the degree of commitment they are willing to show in their relationship, the maturity factor (refers to teenagers) and much more.

The amount of maturity a teenager has, will most definitely affect the degree of commitment he/she is willing to show in a relationship. The ones with more maturity might even turn down the thought of getting into a relationship if they know that all they would get is a 'happily-never-after' at the end of it all.

Posted below will be a few firsts and what to expect (or what I think you should expect). Of course, the target audience is that of students between 13-15 years old (exploration phase [makes it sound like a scientific probe or deep-space journey]).

First relationships,

Never expect it to work out too well. It could work out very well if you choose the right person and do the right things.

In fact, you might actually want to consider not getting into a relationship at this age because... Things like breaking up with someone because you lose interest in that person could happen and you could end up extremely upset. It would then be followed by much self-reflection: 'Why did she break up with me? Is it because I'm not interesting enough? Am I that bad?'

I'm implying there's a lot more to breaking up then just leaving each other. There's heavy emotional strain on both parties (especially the one being broken up with) and you might end up so upset that you are unable to concentrate on anything else except the past.

First relationships could also open paths up to other things, temptations.

Relationships can make both parties open up to activities that involve much physical contact between the two parties, e.g. hugging, kissing and maybe, sex.

First... hugs???,

You can't really expect much from a hug I suppose. Seriously.

First kiss,

They describe it as the warm, fuzzy feeling that spreads through you as your lips press tenderly against your partner's for the first time.

Well, let me tell you, you can only do it once. Why? Because it's called your first kiss, not your first kiss with [insert name].

Cherish it, don't give it away anyhow. Which brings me to another point: don't get into relationships for the sake of physical contact with a person of the opposite sex whom you find attractive.

Indeed, it is stupid, low and hurtful to do such things.

First erm, time engaging in sexual intercourse,

Erm, hoho, I am not very specialized in areas that people are meant to be specialized in before they talk about, so I shall not say much but elaborate on one major point.

The major point is the whole idea of sexual intercourse - to both parties. Males normally do it for the pleasure. Females normally do it because they love the man they are doing it with.

I would like males to think about the consequences of having sex too early; premarital sex.

Just think about it.

Task 2 (26th May 2010)

1. Point of view: By-stander, someone afflicted

Evidence: "toll on the innocent"

Elaboration: The point of view is that of an innocent person who was affected by the decision of America's government to send troops to fight in the Vietnamese War. Only someone who is innocent would write this out, only someone who is affected and afflicted with a medical problem due to the War would denounce the actions of the government

2. Situation and setting: Aftermath of war, some time later

Evidence: "generations untold WILL pay"

Elaboration: It shows that the by-stander knows what kind of effects are going to occur in the future because he has seen it himself/herself BECAUSE it was after the war, BECAUSE he already saw SOME of the effects taking place.

3. Language/Diction: The language is explicit, blatantly talking of the American government's mistakes. The explicit nature of the poem kind of tells you that you know, the war is over, the Government cannot hide the true nature and aftermath of war, it is what it is. Explicit.

Evidence: "reflective about all the illness, birth defects and prematurely dead"

Elaboration: This is obviously, explicitly talking about the prolonged effects of being infected with chemical substances from Agent Orange. About all the side-effects of taking in Agent Orange. In the end, Mr Wilson even pens down "execrable effects of agent orange spray!" The punctuation mark '!' somehow gives an emphasis on the exasperation and helplessness the voice feels.

4. Personal response: This poem really makes me think about the horrible effects of war, the ever-lasting effects and the innocent civilians have to bear the brunt and cost of fuelling the war when in fact, they do not want to.

Evidence: It's almost throughout the whole poem, in fact, it IS the whole poem.

Elaboration: "America did not foresee" shows that the country did not think in advance and that would probably lead to something terrible [foreshadow]. "expecting others to pay a high price" refers to the government officials slacking away in their offices, sending men out there like flowing water to lose their lives for something they don't want to put their heart into (it's not our war). "disregarding who will mourn" demonstrates the government's nonchalant attitude towards the civilians.

* Self-analysis

Task 1 (26th May)

The poem talks of two opposing factions, that is the American Government and Americans (as in, the citizens). The poem is talking about the American Government's war-related mistakes in the past, about how much pain and suffering it has and will cause. The poem talks of the Vietnam War.
Mr Wilson wrote the poem with one thought in his mind "wars aren't over even when they're over". This can be applied to the fact that the mutative effects of Agent Orange still occur in future generations of those previously infected in the war.

There are a few conflicts if you think about it. There is the one where the American soldiers are forced to go to war even though they did not want to, but as the Government tells them to do so, they just do it. Another conflict is the one between the psychology of the Americans and Vietnamese. They did not want to have mutated babies, they did not want to have grotesquely deformed children, but they had no choice, because of past generation leaders who misled their nations into chemical and biological warfare.

Strangely enough, Wikipedia.org didn't have anything on Mr Wilson. I wonder why...

What teens don't want to be told.

Here's a little bit about teens.

They don't like to be told what to do, or be bossed around. Heck, nobody does!

However, I mean teens in particular do not like being bossed around and told what to do.

So, in truth, the Government trying to lower the age of legalized sex and imposing restrictions and punishments on the issue...is actually just causing the teens to become more rebellious, which leads to the increase in the number of cases of premature sex. What I mean is, what the Government thinks they are doing to curb the rise of premature sex cases is in fact, back-firing.

Perhaps the Government is not doing enough in-depth analysis of why the number of premature sex cases are on the rise. I used to think that the number was rising because of the lack of sexuality education in Singapore. However, after reading a few newspaper articles and empathizing with the teens, I do think that other teens might think that defying the Government is something very tempting, daring and such. This would probably lead the teen to defying the law and committing an illegal act...all because he/she wanted to beat the Government; a higher order.

Thankfully, in -whichever school I'm in-, we have critical thinking lessons that teach us how to think well, critically. This helps us analyze things and prevent us from committing heinous acts against the law, unlike some people~

Overall, I think it's quite strange that someone would throw away their future in exchange for beating the Government. When the teen grows up or has faced the music, he/she'll probably realize what a stupid mistake he/she committed.

Premature sex and its effects (oh my!!)

In the previous post, I talked about the causes of premature sex (and of course, you are very welcome to post any comments and discuss this topic). In this post, I will talk about the effects of premature sex.

Well, well! There is the very obvious one (and the one that happens a lot too): That is, teen pregnancy. From then on, the fights start, the anger escalates, the relationship is torn into tatters...
Or does it?
Well, most likely, from reports, such relationships do eventually plunge into the abyss. However, with the right amount and kind of help, the teen couple can actually blossom and their child eventually grows up into a success.
Not many of such things happen though and all the sob stories start sprouting.

Well that's not the point. The point is that no matter what, premature sex will always bring about consequences, good or bad. Mostly bad, according to statistics.

Now, there are different kinds of consequences to every thing that happens. When a teen couple has premature sex, the consequence could be an unwanted pregnancy, which might lead to abortion, which would result in the psychological scarring (trauma) of the female partner. The male might be traumatized too, however, most likely, it will not happen due to the motives he harboured for having premature sex.

I'm implying that the males are pigs who just want sex for the pleasure. Nothing but pleasure. I think males are more reckless in terms of decision-making when it comes to sex, because they really don't need to worry about the pregnancy since the baby's not in their stomach. He can just run away when he's done with it.

Then there's the problem of what happens when the baby is born. Who's responsible for the child? Naturally, it's the responsibility of who had given the egg and sperm to form the foetus which is now a baby. The mother and father. TEENAGE mother and father. Who don't even have jobs of their own, who don't even have their own source of income, who don't even have their own means of surviving. Let alone take care of a baby.

The other consequences that could arise are quite minor to me in terms of psychological damage. However, if you were to talk about damage done to the teen's future...
Things like getting expelled from school, attaining criminal records and such after getting found out that one had premature sex would ruin the teen's future in many ways.

Thus, this concludes my effects section for premature sex.

Remember, do not have sex unless you're really sure you know what you're doing.

Anything could happen.

Premature sex and its causes

Dear people,

Today, I am going to write about the causes of (drumroll), yea, you guessed it! Premature sex.
There are a few reasons as to why teenagers have sex at such an early, illegal age.

There are some who do it under peer pressure, who think it's cool to do such things. Especially in the case of males, as they often view sex as a sort of entertainment, not something you do out of love. Sometimes teenagers do it as they feel unloved; they feel as if their parents, people who are meant to be close to them, do not care about them, thus they think that the people they have sex with are giving them love, when in fact, it might just be out of the yearn for sexual pleasure. Though, I am definitely not ruling out the possibility of teenagers having sex because they love each other.

Normally, teenagers who are closer to their families, get cared for more, do not engage in premature sex. Why? Studies say and show that teens are more likely to have sex IF they are not closely involved with their family, this is due to the feeling of lack of love; the gigantic void in their heart where it's supposed to be filled up with love; family love.
It's sad. I know.
That's why there are so many helplines to call, to look for help. But I doubt that ever single teen with such family problems would call a helpline. I mean, when I imagine myself in the shoes of those troubled teens and think about how I can alleviate the problem, the few solutions that come to my mind have nothing to do with calling helplines.

There are many more causes like the lack of adult supervision, premature maturity (as in, err...premature puberty), family structure, environment, background and much more.

Premature puberty (early adolescence) could bring about thoughts of having sex earlier than one should and that makes up a portion of the teenage pregnancy cases and premature sex cases. Plus, sob stories.

Family structure. Well, it's quite similar to the above, where one is not close to his/her family and feels unloved...and then, all sorts of things start happening, i.e. premature sex.

Environment. I think, of all the factors, this is quite the most major one. If one is living in an area where sexual activity, drug-smuggling, drug consumption, all the vices in society are happening, only a saint or Jesus would not be affected by such vices or happenings. I'm implying that, if you're in a bad dirty environment, you would most probably end up as bad and dirty as the environment is. The environment also includes the schools and people nearby, these elements attribute to the peer pressure factor of teens succumbing to engaging in sexual activity.

Background is also very important! Background is a very significant and prominent factor. Let's imagine: your mom was 15 when she gave birth to you. What do you think such a birth and history might imply? What would you be thinking if you knew your mom had sex at an illegal age and an unwanted pregnancy? Worse is, the result of the unwanted pregnancy is you.

So, here are some of the causes of premature sex, whcih might result in teenage pregnancy.