Baseball: All Juiced Up
The steroid scandal has erupted in many sports but predominantly in our very own national pastime, the game of baseball. Steroid related deaths have created scandals and a whole lot of controversy lately. For example, just recently Yankee star Jason Giambi tested positive for steroids, for which he apologized very sincerely. Then, on the other hand there is the great slugger Barry Bonds, who thinks he has done nothing wrong for having taken steroids to enhance his performance. He claims that his trainer had given him the steroids without telling him what they were; something that is very hard to believe even for an ardent fan. Both as we know will be will be tried in court soon, where we as honest and responsible citizens will decide whether they are innocent and we will in a way decide the future ethics of the game. Although this problem with steroids has been with us since the early nineties, only now are MLB officials actually doing testing on players. For the last few years they have been saying that they will be testing players, but only now has it been made final. Even though they have promised for a testing this season, I highly doubt that it will happen based on past history. Even if it does, there will be so much controversy around it because we cannot bear to let go of our national pastime and the heroes who make it happen, even at the risk of jeopardizing the lives of our future athletes.
Famous sports players are known to use steroids, yet they are medically safe thanks to the medical team that accompanies them. Doctors tell you that it is very dangerous to take steroids as also to stop taking them. One can fall into depression and have other repercussions too. Sport players, the likes of Mark McGuire, are rich and can afford personalized medical care and rehabilitation. As a result withdrawal symptoms won't affect them. But not every sportsman is rich. When a teenager involved in a sport takes steroids, he is not thinking about the consequences it will have on his body. He is only focusing on how it's going to enhance his game. Then, if for some reason he decides to quit taking steroids, he can quickly fall into severe depression and other side affects that could be fatal for him. Efrain Marrero's suicide is one among many such deaths related to steroids.
America's great sport has been heavily tainted by this steroid scandal. Yet, we the people don't seem to care about who is taking steroids; we just want to see home runs being scored. As Barry Bonds stated that even if he is taking steroids, fans are still coming in hordes to catch his home runs!
The use of steroids in sport is fast growing primarily because it is being condoned by the baseball loving American public and is seemingly promoted by our role model sports stars and athletes; people who we idolize. Are our role models leading us down a path of destruction?
Mediocrity
Mediocrity has become rampant in our country. The reason it is so widespread is because of its appeal. Especially as a student, the motive to achieve greatness, or to go beyond one's perceived ability, is missing. It is missing because it is not wanted, and it is not wanted because there is a lot of effort involved, and who has the time for that. Besides, there are many other things that are wanted and do not need as much effort. That, in the US is so appealing and so attainable that it is soon going to lead our country into economic ruin which'll eventually affect our standard of living.
Putting in effort has become a sore point in the country's schools. Students rarely, if ever, give their all in anything as a result they never achieve to their potential. However this is something students do not understand; they feel they can get by without putting in any effort and choose to becoming mediocre. This trend in school children has made America drop in academic standing compared to other countries, especially Europe.
If doing well in school can assure one of getting into a respectable university why has mediocrity become a safe haven for teens? Many parents would do not have a clue, others would think their child has reached his/her limits in learning, or else just blame the child for not shaping up and getting better grades. However, many of the times this is not the case.
As many would assume, pressure plays a major role in slacking of as a student. Sadly it is not peer pressure alone. Parental pressure too seems to drive kids to become mediocre. They feel that it would be a way to get back at their parents for the heavy pressure they exert. Many others use mediocrity as a way to break away from the pressure of parents and of reality.
The US, in the past, has been known for its edge over other countries when it comes to thinking outside of the box and then applying that thinking to real life scenarios. However, that is not true anymore. America's advancement has also resulted in mediocrity becoming okay and sometimes even commendable. Being that America is such a great place to live and the status of living is so high, mediocrity doesn't pinch as much, in fact one can live comfortably being mediocre. One can see this by looking inwards. How many times have young boys and girls felt“...my parents life right now meets my standards; where's the need for extra effort?” However, if everyone thinks like this, America will soon lose its edge and be like any other country.
Finding mediocrity is simple, just look around. Suburbia is filled with it. Everyone here is average and that is fine. Nobody is complaining; decent food is provided, there is a roof over one's head, and most of all everyone around is average too. . With nothing to strive for why would anyone want to be better than they are already?
Although there are still some people or students who do have something to strive for the shoes they have to fill are many times too large. Having someone who overshadows one with his/her accomplishments easily causes students to give up in their pursuit of knowledge because of the huge gap and expectations that they have to meet. Sadly, parents do not make this much easier by always comparing you to another who has accomplished great things.
With mediocrity's appeal and its acceptability, many students put learning on the side to make room for other activities that take a greater importance in their current lives. What they do not know is that mediocrity is not okay, and it will not only lead to their lives being average and boring, but also to the fall of this country.
The Last Drops of Oil
As a teenager, looking at gas prices at the $3 mark made my future as a driver rather bleak. Only a couple of years away from getting a drivers license, the thought of not being able to have my own car because of the soaring gas prices is depressing to say the least. I may never be a car-driving senior in high school. At the current rate of events one can only imagine what will become of cars, people who drive them, and of course those already over-pumped oil wells of Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia does have the most petroleum reserves in the world; with 260 billion barrels, about 24 percent of the world's total. It also ranks as the largest exporter of oil, mostly to the U.S. The leaders of the Saudi Kingdom are claiming that there is no lack of oil and that they have enough oil to last a "very long time." However, if this is true, that there is such abundance of oil, why are the gas prices still escalating? Saudi Arabia may not be lying, they really may have enough oil to last a while, but will not be enough for everyone.
Given the present consumption rate of oil around the world, and given that the Saudi oil wells may not be able to produce at the same capacity for very long, we have to face the reality which stares us right in the eye; no longer will there be enough oil for everyone to share. That is the start of the post-oil age.
At present, the world needs 84 million barrels a day, and this necessity is barely being met. With the recent rise in prices, and the predictions for little improvement on the current conditions, there is every reason for gasoline prices to exceed $5 a gallon or even more. Peter Maass, ajournalist in the New York Times Magazine makes you think about how close this post-oil age is, "The start of the post-oil age does not begin when the last drop of oil is sucked from under the Arabian desert. It begins when producers are unable to continue increasing their output to meet rising demand. Crunch time comes long before the last drop."
America's War In Iraq
I often wondered why the intervention in Iraq was such a largely debated issue in the recent U.S. presidential elections. However, with the political atmosphere around me, I begin to realize how much “The War in Iraq”, and the pertaining discussions mean to others that I know, and why it should also interest me. The war in Iraq is one of those “hot topics” debated incessantly these couple of years. Many people close to me are affected by this predicament that our country is in. Due to this I too have started to be affected by it. After thinking a lot about this war I wondered what the reasons were for sending our soldiers there, and why we are in Iraq now. In my mind there seems to be no real justification.
Our countries’ policy on Iraq can not be justified. Firstly, we had no reason for attacking Iraq, and the reasons we stated for it weren’t valid enough. Secondly, everyday in Iraq more American soldiers are dying trying to protect themselves and other fellow soldiers in a country that has done no harm to us. Lastly, as many can see there are basically only two major countries that have troops fighting in Iraq. The others do not want to be a part of this war. We as a country have lost some old and tested allies and we have put a great and nearly impossible burden upon our own shoulders.
To this day there still appears to be no valid enough reason for attacking a country with no “Weapons of Mass Destruction”, and no 9/11 terrorist connections. Then my next question is, “Why are we at war?” Being that Iraq has done us no harm, why are we the aggressor in this war? All claims made by the United States of America about Iraq having “Weapons of Mass Destruction” have proven to be false, by the UN Inspectors. During the war we found a “chemical lab truck” for making “Weapons of Mass Destruction”, but it turned out to be a hoax. Another reason given by the Bush Administration for waging a war on Iraq was that they believed Saddam Hussein had connections with Osama Bin Laden, or with his terrorist organization, Al-quaeda. After some research this was also found to be untrue. Yet, our country pushes forth, forgetting about being rational, and prolongs this unnecessary war.
As Senator Kerry said at one of the election debates, instead of bringing our allies with us to help in this war, President Bush has in fact alienated our allies. He has pushed our friends farther than they have ever been. This war is like a killing field where soldiers die; to our allies this scene is a great reason not to help America in this war which they were strongly opposed to, anyways. Without allies our efforts to “help” the Iraqis are proving futile. Our allies never backed us on our reasons for going into Iraq in the first place. They now see us as an occupying force and not as liberators wanting to bring freedom to the people of Iraq.
Not having anyone to help us, we are suffering great casualties. Having watched innumerable clips on news channels about American soldiers in Iraq I have begun to notice that local Iraqis are neither scared nor happy to see our soldiers on their soil. Instead they seem to be somewhat angry and agitated in our presence. Their demeanor makes me feel that our soldiers are not welcome in Iraq in which case why are they sacrificing their lives for people for a cause that does no exist. Shouldn’t the Iraqis be happy to see “liberating forces”? This anger we see on the Iraqi faces is not far from becoming hatred. President Bush announced almost a year ago that major military operations in Iraq were over and that we had won, but even after that we have lost more soldiers than ever. Due to the terrorists guerrilla warfare we are sometimes having more casualties than them. Our presence in Iraq boils a cauldron of hatred for the Iraqis, no wonder we are having so many soldiers coming home in body bags.
Soon everyone will understand that this war was unjustified and a foolish act. Our reasons were not reasonable, our soldiers are dying in vain, and our allies smartly decided to leave us stranded. Is this the war Americans want to fight, I highly doubt that.
