Sharkbait, Oh Ah Ah

( Name From "Finding Nemo")

Alright, so this post will be a little bit interesting. It is my responce to an e-mail "petition" that is being circulated. I received it from a member in the family. At the end is supposed to be the list of people signing the petition. But that is being left out of this blog, but in the e-mail itself. Keep in mind that this is copied from what I had sent in the e-mail and I have not edited it.

SIGN the PETITION, SAY NO and Send it around. On the island of Réunion it has been recently found that dogs are being used as live shark bait. The Fishermen (Fishermen My ASS) round up the dogs and tie its legs up with wire then put i hook through its nose. If you have a heart you'll pass this on... these little guys need your help!! how can u say no?

(This is not part of the original e-mail that is being sent around.)

You probably don't know me. I, just about guarunteed, don't know you. Listen to me for a second and then you can make your opinion.

Let me ask you a question. How many of you actually looked this up on the internet to see if it was true or not? Hm? Not too many, I would presume. E-mails like this spread like viruses and few people will take the time to read up on the information contained. Some of you, are not at the age where you can even understand what the situation itself is. Some of you have said that it is selfish to hurt the cats and dogs in this way. But what you don't realise is that is YOUR opinion! Did you know that there are so many cats and dogs on this island that they are treated like vermin, for the most part? Having a dog on this island is comparable to having a Degu (a breed of rat that is a "specialty" pet here in Canada) in Italy or rabbits in Australia. People in those places do NOT have the same views that you do! Please, take that into consideration. Who are YOU to tell someone how THEY should THINK and BELIEVE. You have absolutely no right to do that. And if I were a mean person, I would shame all who wrote comments condeming those peoples' behaviors.

Now, to finish with my last point. For those of you who, by random chance, actually looked this story up on the internet (on reliable sources that is), the people who have been using cats and dogs for sharkbait are the "rogue" fishermen. The ones that don't give a d**n what they do, they just want to catch the sharks anyway they can. For those men, an easy way is to use what is redily available and there is an abundant supply of. Dun, da dada! Which just happens to be, cats and dogs. Wonderful how that works isn't it? This practise is also NOT widely used and NOT a common practice.

Finally, condemn this practice as much as you want. Sign this little e-mail "petitions." You won't make any significant impact. You merely show others that you are...condemning the practice. Many people do and many people don't. But this is NOT the proper way to speak out for animal rights. This is the lazy, almost, cover my ass way. Someone can ask you, "Do you support animal rights and if so, how have you stood up for those rights?" And you would say something along the lines of, "Oh yes! There was this one time that I signed an online petition to save the little dogs and cats." Wow, great to know you care, but that does NOTHING to help the cats and dogs. Go to the Animal Rescue League (my prefered between the League and the SPCA, because the League is bigger here and I work with cats from there) or the SPCA and donate your time. Money is always needed, but someone needs to be there to give the dogs a little bit of hope that someone will love them.

Next time, something like this is presented to you. The FIRST thing you should do, is research! Make sure what is being said is true. Secondly, look at the geographical issues that are surrounding that information. (The political (power), environmental (nature), economic (money) and social (people)aspects. As well as location, location, LOCATION.) Then, make the decision to sign or not to sign.

If you would like to read more about dogs and cats being used as sharkbait and the ideas and issues surrounding it, check out National Geographic. They have a really good article on it. But, make sure to read both pages.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/10/1019_051019_dogs_sharks.html

Good Vs. Bad And the L-o-s-e-r Is Winning?

For this post, feel free to agree, disagree, change opinions, decide one way or the other, hate me, love me. This piece is going to be a completely personal and opinionated piece. This is my take on what I think is going on with the world. I don't expect that every word I say is going to be true. I'm only human after all. But, whatever you take on this one, I do hope you enjoy reading it.

How often is it that you think, "O-M-G[osh]! The world is going to Hell." Have you noticed how much has happened to humans in the past few years. Drugs are very easy for teens to get. And my school even has breaks that are long enough for the "smokers" to go to the top of the hill [and the entrance to the school] and smoke. It's illegal for them to even have the cigarettes and the school is letting them go smoke. [Which I think makes our school look bad.] Something smells fishy [and I'm not talking about the smokers.] Alcohol is another big one for teens. I over-hear so many people at school talk about going out an getting drunk or drinking. People are even into drinking enough that they drink before school dances. Drinking so close to going in that the effects don't hit them until they are in the dance and the cops can't really see them. And once again, another biggy: sex. Hundreds of years ago if two people had sex before they were married [depending on the area] the man had to be killed and the woman was sentenced to never be married or go to a nunnery. It caused great disgrace on the family and normally the rath of the father would be enough to cause the people to die a little inside. How have we gone from that to sex being alright with some parents, as long as the guys wore condoms and girls are on the pill? Does that make it right to commit adultery as long as no one gets pregnant?

It's simple, "My friends do it and they're having fun. Why shouldn't I?" , "So-and-so does it and they're really popular... should I do it too?" , and sometimes, "So-and-so told me I should try it and I couldn't say no." Most times, the opporunity is presented and teens just don't have it in them to say no. But really, everyone has equal opportunity to say yes or no. In most cases, there's more reason to than not to. It's something new, something exciting, it's not right and it's dangerous. There's something slightly addictive and intriguing about things that are like that. [As one reason.] But there's also that voice in your head. You know in movies where there's a miniature version of God and the Devil on your shoulders and they're arguing about whether you should or shouldn't. For the most part, what the Devil says is always just so much more relevant to you. It makes more sense. Plus, he also lies. God simply tells you that you shouldn't. [It's like one of those situations. If you pray for patience, God doesn't give you patience, he gives you the opportunity to be patient.] If you catch my drift.

S-O, God and the Devil are fighting for everyone's soul. What does that have to do with ME? The answer....EVERYTHING!

In my opinion, the world is very much going to Hell. To put it simply, not kindly. Alot of people live only for themselves. They want this and that and are going to go out with so and so or else. They stab someone in the back because "they did this to me, so it's only f-a-i-r!" or "it was coming to them." There is wars being waged because this country thinks that country has nuclear weapons! [Why even have a weapon that even though it will nearly annihilate a country in one hit it will kill the entire planet in time?] There's other wars that have no reason; they serve no purpose at all. The worldy enviroment is being destroyed. Forests are being flattened for subdivisions. Icebergs are melting and slowly flooding places because the globe is being heated. Animals are quickly growing extinct and they're only chance of survival is zoos and captive breeding. And half of the planet doesn't even care that we're killing the only place we have to live!

There's small groups of people that actually care about kids and teens. There's small groups that try to preserve what peace means and try to work things out. There's small groups that care about the planet and the animals in it.

In it's few thousand years of life, our day and time is where Christianity is at it's lowest. And the world is at it lowest. Does that ring a bell anywhere? Someone? Anyone?

Through God is the only way to succeed in life. Let's call God the winner. And through Satan is oh, the losing way. Hence, Satan is a loser. With so few Christians [even though there's thousands] in the world, the loser is winning. To all Christians, that doesn't seem right at all. We need to do something to help this. But what?

Simply, talking to friends about their views on Christianity. Talk some friends out of having sex or using drugs or alcohol. It may not be much, but it can still be a victory. Heck, you don't even have to be Christian to do something like that. But none-the-less it still angers the Devil. So, how many times have you angered or helped the Devil? Hmm?