The Perfect Loom?

By MH, Age 17

The perfect loom would weave the perfect blanket.
But that is quite impossible.
When looking at a blanket that has been weaved you can see faults.
The tassels are never equal to the ones beside them.
The pattern is disturbing.
Many colors clash instead of flowing together as in a rainbow.
But most importantly, the blanket lacks the purpose of warmth that it should have.
The world we live in is unequal.
Unfortunately the world is filled with war and discord to a point where unity is almost unrecognizable.
There is a constant pattern of hate in a school or on a city street which is very recognizable.

The environment we live in is filled with selfishness and hate towards one another.
When looking at a rainbow you can see how the colors blend nicely together.
We look at the people around us and we want to be able to say the same.
How come we can’t associate our skin colors to be the same as a rainbow of colors?
We find that we want to live in a world of warmth.
We want to feel the love all around us.
To see people lending a hand to one another out of love, but that is not the world we live in.
Unfortunately, no matter what is done we can never change every fault in the world.
The tassels, the pattern, the color, and the warmth will never reach the outcome of perfect.

The Beauty of a Woman

By MH, Age 17

I have always agreed with the Gaelic Proverb that says, “Modesty is the beauty of a woman.”  The problem today is that everyday people and many celebrities show their beauty in a way that contradicts the Proverb.  The world today views true beauty as outward appearance.  By outward appearance, I don’t mean a girl’s face, but I mean the way she dresses and the cleavage she shows.  In a random 20 person survey, guys were asked what they would rather see a girl dressed in.  Five guys voted that they would rather see a girl wearing tight-fitting, revealing clothing.  Eight guys voted that it depends on the situation.  Seven guys voted on sweat pants and a comfortable look.  A lot of girls use their clothes to show exhibitionism.  Their clothes act as the extravagant behavior to attract attention to themselves. 

Many girls believe that in order for them to be beautiful they have to show off their body.  Many girls believe that showing skin is sexy.  Christina Mead once said, “Don’t let the crowd tell you that skin equals sexy, and that’s the only way to be beautiful.”  She shares a great point.  If you walk around a school you see many girls, more than you can count on your hands and toes, who reveal themselves.  Girls get it in their heads that if they have their boobs out then they will be sexy and beautiful.  What they don’t know is that scandalous is not a true beautiful way to look.  When they show off their bodies they also lose the sense of wonder.  Emma Watson said in an interview, “What’s sexy about saying ‘I’m here with my boobs out and a short skirt, have a look at everything I’ve got?’ My idea of sexy is that less is more.  The less you reveal the more people can wonder.”  Her statement about less is more, meaning the less you reveal is more, is a statement of respect.  When you show yourself off it is a statement of disrespect towards yourself.  An anonymous man said, "The girl who chooses to be modest chooses to be respected. 

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A Little Hard Work Is Good For Ya

By Sarah (Living Between the Lines)

If there was one thing that my Granddaddy really believed in, it was hard work.  If you don’t believe me, just ask my Dad.  My Dad spent his entire honeymoon (in mid-August 1972) helping his new father-in-law dig the footings for the little one-bedroom/one-bathroom house that my Grandparents lived in down at the coast.

When we seven grandkids came along, Granddaddy tried his hardest to pass that work ethic down to us.  Each trip to Grandmama and Granddaddy’s included some kind of project—cutting grass, raking leaves, planting flowers, painting my great-grandmother’s house, installing outdoor lights between the garage and the house….

We kids learned quickly to never make the mistake of saying that we were bored.  Granddaddy had a large pile of bricks that we used to climb and play on.  One day when one of us remarked that we were bored, Granddaddy made us move the entire pile of bricks to the opposite side of the yard, two bricks at a time.  When we’d gotten the entire pile moved, he looked at it and said, “No, I think I liked it better where it was.  Move it back.”  So huffing and puffing, we carried them all back, two at a time.

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Love Songs

By Sarah (Living Between the Lines)

In life, there are these rare but brilliant moments in time when you know that you have experienced something special and unspeakable…  Sitting on the porch of a cabin in the woods, listening to the raindrops slapping the leaves.  Watching snow fall during the quiet dark of the middle of the night.  Swinging in a hammock with your eyes closed, feeling the hot breeze move across your face while the crickets and frogs screech and scream at each other…

One day last August, I came home from work at the end of one of the hottest days of the year in Eastern North Carolina. It was the kind of heat that could almost melt your tractor tires, but the local farmers had spent the day harvesting and so I could see the dust lingering in the almost-breezeless air.  As I pulled into my driveway, the sun sank behind the trees, leaving behind only a faint puff of pink afterglow.  I sat behind my steering wheel, watching the pink fade to dark and I felt like a child who had been told a secret.  But what was the secret?  It was at the tip of my tongue, but I couldn’t quite reach it. 

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Disturbing Fashion

By Beth

OK, so I don't want to be known as one of "those moms" who want their children to be social rejects by not having the 'right' clothes. I'm all for my kids looking nice and fitting in to a certain extent. I do make sure my daughter especially dresses in clothes that cover her enough as to not be a walking advertisement for sex, I do know how boys' minds work. She shops at the 'rght' stores, Abercrombie, Holister, American Eagle and Aeropastle when we can afford it. I don't know who decided these were the stores you had to shop at, but that's besides the point.

Somehow, I ended up on the email list for most of these stores. Probably because I have ordered things online in the past. Most advertisements are fine, geared toward the teen crowd, "look good for your boyfriend/girlfriend" kinds of things. Some of the pictures are a bit provocative but there hasn't been much that has disturbed me so much that I need to write about it, to let other parents know what these stores are saying to our kids.

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