Terrorism is not fought only by men in uniform.
It is not fought in only one country, by one country; it has no boundaries.
It s fought by everyone-armed or not. It is fought with the words and actions of every person against bad things.
It is fought by every person who decides to be kind instead of mean, generous instead of selfish, open-minded instead of stubborn, knowledgeable instead of ignorant.
Most important: It is fought.

6 years ago, my high school english teacher had us write poems about how we were feeling. At the bottom of my poem, I included the famous quote by Ann Frank, "Despite everything, I still believe people really are good at heart."
Every time I remember that I once truly believed that, it makes me want to believe it again.

lolwut

So, we're playing on isketch. And one of the clues was "Not Over, but______" Clearly, the answer to this simple riddle is "under." But I went another direction and said "during."

fantastic.

Salem.

Today, a 4-year-old girl named Salem opened my eyes.
She sat down in front of me, promptly turned around and introduced herself.Hi I'm Salem! Who are you?
She asked me what I was doing Looking out the window
And then provided some commentary on the blurring scenery, Trees! People! Cheese!(lol,it was a Pizza Hut) Buildings! Cars! while asking questions about things she'd never seen before What's that?
I got off the bus and she bid me farewell Bye!.
All throughout the day, I've been hearing this little voice in my head as I walk by things Ants! Freshmen! Trees!

I am acutely aware of just how unaware of my surroundings I was.

Even the smallest person can change the course of the future.

"I wish none of this had ever happened."
"So do all who live to see such times. All you have to decide is what to do with the time that's given to you. There are other forces at work in the world besides the will of evil."


LOTR day &hearts

The end of every semester feels like the end of an era.

The Warmth.

I hate feeling like a hypocrite, but there's nothing I can do and that makes me hate it even more.
I hate not being able to feel ok, but I refuse to rely on pharmaceuticals.
And then I think about how all the hate is ridiculous. For some reason, all the bad things overshadow the good and that makes no sense. It makes no sense that there's a half hour show every night about all the crime that happened that day, and I have to search the corners of the internet to find news of people doing good.

I think I just might have to change that.

List.

I made a list.

Things that make everything better.

1)Underwear straight from the dryer
2)Seeing someone be nice to a stranger (holding the door open and whatnot)
3)Buying something on sale
4)Hearing a good song for the first time
5)Watching my cat curl up in a little ball and sleep
6)The smell of dryer sheets.
7)Burying yourself under your bed covers on a cold night.
8)Singing along with your friends to your favorite song(s)
9)Surprising people
10)Shaved legs on clean sheets
11)The inspiration you get after watching a really good movie
12)When song lyrics are printed inside your CD so you can sing along without feeling stupid.
13)Laughing so hard you cry
14)Being squished in the back of a car
15)Boys that smell good
16)Listening to a song I haven't heard in awhile
17)Having someone compliment you on something you're unsure about
18)Afternoon thunder
19)Looking back at old pictures that bring back good memories
20)Taking walks
21)Going to the library and checking out some new books
22)Playing frisbee
23)Watching the sun set
24)Running through sprinklers on hot days
25)Car washes
26)Making eye contact with random people in the street and smiling just because
27)Eating and talking at the table with family
28)Pete Wentz's real laugh-he sounds like Goofy.
29)Seeing elderly couples hold hands
30)Watching little kids playing around with bubbles.
31)Coloring.
32)Going up to a place to see the stars/city lights.
33)When I make obscure pop culture references and people understand them
34)Robots
35)Finding money in the pockets of old clothing
36)The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
37)Road trips.
38)The ride home after a good concert
39)Getting a letter through snail-mail.
40)The smell of a new cd booklet and listening to a cd for the first time, uninterrupted.
41)TAI TV.
42)Hand claps in songs
43)When my room is clean and I can find things
44)Listening to songs I used to love and still know all the words to
45)Making lists.