The Death Penalty: Is It Really Worth It?

I am a former believer of the death penalty. The way I saw it, that person deserved to die based off of the crime they committed and we could save money by not having to feed and house them for the next 60-something years of their lives. Now, I've changed my mind.

People think that it's only fair to kill the criminal, so they don't have to spend the rest of their lives in a prison. To me, that's taking the easy way out for the person. We think that there's nothing worse than death, but we're wrong. Dying is a lot easier than pondering over what you've done. If we're really bent on punishing the person, we should make them think about what they've done rather than killing them.

Something else that really bothers me about the death penalty is that a lot of the people that were found guilty didn't have a decent trial and/or the investigation done on the case was done horribly. Many people that commit a crime that's worthy of capital punishment, are from the working class and probably can't afford a decent criminal attorney. Chances are, they'll have to use one of the government's defense attorneys (who as we all know are overworked enough as it is) and go up against a kick-ass prosecutor hired by the opposing side. This shows a two-tiered justice system that isn't fair and just whatsoever. Also, the person who committed the crime probably didn't have a very fair investigation done on the crime. Take the Troy Davis Case: the person who was the main witness should have been treated like a suspect since he was there when the crime was committed. Now he's thought to be the one who committed the crime rather than just a witness. That means we killed the wrong person. We (obviously) can't revoke the punishment since Troy Davis is dead. If we had just given him life without parole, he could've had a retrial and maybe been found innocent. But sadly, all of this can't happen because of the death penalty.

The last thing that I previously liked about captial punishment, is the fact that we "saved" money by killing the person rather than pay for their hotel stay in prison. I'm a cheapskate by nature; it's just pure instinct, so whenever I read how much the government spends each year, I have a miniature heart-attack. I used to think a way to cut corners for the government was to use the death penalty. Boy, was I wrong. In Colorado, it's been found that cases that deal with the death penalty are in court six times more in days than cases that deal with life without parole. Another study in California found that when keeping a prisoner on death row, they spend $90,000 more each year than if they just had kept that prisoner in a maximum security prison on the sentence of life without parole. After reviewing the facts, my inner cheapskate prefers getting rid of the death penalty.

School Lunch Changes/Healthy Eating/Obesity in America's Youth

When I was younger, I was a pretty fat kid. If my parents had let me, I'm pretty sure I would've eaten McDonald's every day of the week. I was a sucker for those fries. (I still am too.) I had a weakness for any kind of pop too. Microwave popcorn was my go-to snack, and I'm talking about the whole entire bag. Plus, I thought fruit snacks counted as a fruit. (I mean, seriously, the more I think about all of this, the more I just want to go and munch on carrot sticks for the rest of my life.) In the end, I was an obese child just like a 1/3 of America's youth.

Sure kid, have another burger. Have fun fitting in your car seat later.

 

Now, unless you're home-schooled, live under a rock, or just are not in touch with society, you've probably heard of/experienced the school lunch changes. No more pizza every day of the week, cottage cheese, or salty, greasy fries. Now we have broccoli, chicken everything, and mashed sweet potatos. 

 

Most high-school students aren't impressed with it, especially since the calorie count has been cut a lot. Basically, they cut out some of the pizza's, fries, chicken nuggets, and soup from the school lunch calendar. (Notice I said some.) Personally, I don't mind it since I usually bring my own lunch. (Actually, the reason I started brown-bagging it was because that I used to think the school lunches were too greasy, but this was before the school-lunch change.) Plus the way I saw it, if I forgot to make a lunch, I could just buy one that was just as good and healthy as my own.

 

 "Now why did the schools change the lunches?" You may ask, "I was perfectly happy with my pizza everyday and I'm not morbidly obese." Well, yeah, you were probably fine, but there are tons of obese kids out there that ate pizza for lunch too. The difference is they ate pizza all day instead of just for one meal. I'm also guessing most of the veggies they saw were in pictures. Heck, they probably thought chicken always came in the McNugget form.

 

 
In my opinion, society is leaving all that nutrition knowledge up to schools to teach us. I mean, you learn stuff in schools, so why don't learn how to eat healthy in schools? It can't possibly be the parents' fault that a third of our nation's kids are overweight and/or obese. (Are you kidding me, society?)

 

No, in many cases (but not all of them), I believe it is the parent's fault that their child is obese. It's even been proven by these guys! Parents should take responsibility for their children and teach them about healthy living.

Schools can teach kids about healthy eating all they want, but in the end the parents need to apply it to the child's life. How can we expect kids to eat healthy if all they have at home are Dorito's and microwave pizza? It just bamboozles me.

Granted, teenagers are an exception to this. Not only are they more aware of what they're eating, but they're almost adults too. Plus, it doesn't help that some have really busy schedules and tons of homework. Trust me, it would be extremely hard to pull an all-nighter with just apple juice and graham crackers.

Instead of having schools solely teach kids about healthy eating, they should try to educate parents too. Sending kids home with a healthy, easy recipe could help. Instead of pizza coupons for those student awards, they could get a coupon for Subway. (Who doesn't love free Subway?) If worse comes to worse, the school could have a sit-down with parents about the importance of a healthy diet. It sounds kind of unnecessary and cruel, I know, but it might be one of the only ways to educate parents about healthy eating.

Self-Image vs. Society

When I was younger, I loved Barbies. They were perfect from the tip of their artificial hair to their beautiful, small feet. Basically, they were the perfect woman and I wanted to be just like them.

Unfortunately, my dream was shattered when I hit puberty. Nature didn't seem to understand that I wanted to be perfect just like Barbie. (Barbie was probably replaced by some minor celebrity on the Disney Channel by the time I hit puberty, but we'll just use Barbie anyways.) Nope, nature decided that I would be 5'5", have size eight feet, and weigh a whole lot more than Barbie would ever be.


But here's the thing, being Barbie in real life would kind of suck. First off, I'd have to walk on all fours since my feet wouldn't be able to support me. Secondly, I'd never be able to eat since my BMI would have to be 16.24. (And if there's one thing I love to do, it's eating.) Oh, and did I mention I'd have to grow another four inches to finally reach the perfect height of 5'9"? Yeah, this whole Barbie thing isn't cutting it out for me. (http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504763_162-20055694-10391704.html)

     That's  what could be me as Barbie on the left. Yeah, not happening in a jillion years.

So maybe the whole Barbie thing is a little extreme and atypical, but there are tons of girls who are affected by the media in a way similar to this. They think, "If only I could lose ten pounds," or, "If only my acne went away." All this wishing leads to low self-esteem, anorexia, bulimia, binge-eating, depression - all that good stuff. All that crap that these girls put themselves through puts a toll on not only their physical health, but their emotional health too. Instead of improving their lives, they're only ruining themselves and the sad part is, they don't even realize it.

In a survey of girls 9 and 10 years old, 40% have tried to lose weight, according to an ongoing study funded by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. How sad is that? Kids are supposed to have fun and be carefree. They shouldn't have to worry about their waistline.

Now try applying this to your life. When was the last time that you looked in a magazine and didn't get jealous of a model's body? When was the last time that you looked in a mirror and thought you looked awesome? When was the last time you thought you looked cute in a picture? 

Be honest. It's not just girls with eating disorders that get pressure from society. Sure, you may not have an eating disorder, but it's not like you don't feel the need to be perfect. 

In the end, I think we all need to realize that we're not perfect. As much as we try to reach perfection with our bodies, it just can't happen. Going against nature's blue-print for you will only create a huge mess that people will be having to clean up for years to come. 

Instead of picking away at yourself, try making a positive comment. The more a person makes bad comments about themselves, the more they'll believe it.

Also, think before you go and buy something. Just because the advertisement says that it will improve your appearance, doesn't mean that it will do any better than the next brand.

In the end, people need to realize that our bodies aren't perfect. The more that we push for perfection in society, the more that girls are going to push themselves to destruction. Once everyone understands that the way that we are made is pretty great, there'll be less problems with girls' self-image.