H.O.P.E

"Taliban Leaders Join ISIS"

"Shock Claim: 36 Million Living as Slaves"

"State of Emergency Declared in Ferguson"

"Doctor Dies in Nebraska After Ebola Illness in Sierra Leone"

"Two Girls Arrested on Bullying Charges After Suicide"

These and countless other headlines are plaguing our country's television networks, magazines, news websites, and newspapers. It doesn't take much for one to see that the world is a place that is consumed by evil and ill will. One look at the headlines and I want to just recede into my happy little ignorant world where all I have to concern myself with is my horse and school and food and my friends. After all, isn't that what the teen years are for? Surely they're not for things as radical as terrorism or rioting in the streets or constantly wondering if there will even be an United States or American dream for me in the future. In the darkness that has contaminated our lives, how do we still manage to see a light? Are there still such things as goodness and truth, faith and love? Is there a way to keep up our strength when everything weighs us down? In short, yes. We can H.O.P.E.

We can:

~keep our Heads up, even when those opposing us try to drag us to down,
~keep an Open mind, even when the world frantically clings to desperation and single ideas,
~keep a personality of Perserverence, even though the evils try to cause despair,
~and finally, we can Endeavor to excel; don't give up a fight because of those who mock or because of personal failures.

Through H.O.P.E., we can see the light,  dim as it may be, in this dark, dark world; we can stand against those who oppose Truth, Justice, and the American dream. So I beg of you, do not blow off current events because they're depressing. Do not continue as an unintentional activist of apathy. This is the world, the culture, the lives we were placed in. Let's take advantage of these disasters. Maintain faith. Maintain courage. Maintain H.O.P.E.

~ODVAHA~