Selective Airline Dress Code

                A lawsuit has been filed by two young men against U.S. Airways this week over an incident that occurred last August. Brothers Miles and MacCraig Warren were returning to Los Angeles from Denver with first class tickets after a relative’s funeral when they were stopped at the gate by an employee. They were told that they would not be allowed into first class until they changed clothes. MacCraig was asked to remove his baseball cap and Miles was told to change into a button up shirt, nice shoes, and slacks because jeans and hoodies weren’t proper. Neither brother wanted to cause any trouble and decided to follow the dress code without complaint.

                However, once they got onboard, they were shocked to see Michael Heffernan and his friend Edward DeLeon, sitting right across from them, wearing jeans and hoodies, the exact clothing the brothers were told not to wear.

                Now this is surprising, as I am sure we all would agree. I mean, who would want to be made to follow a dress code of it only applies to you? Isn’t that a little unfair? The Warren brothers have our sympathies for being so inconvenienced by this I am sure…

                But wait! There’s more!

                Unfortunately there might be darker and… stinkier motives behind what went on last August. You see, the Warren brothers are both black, so you can imagine the shock they must have felt when they realized that these two other passengers, one white and one Filipino, were not asked to change clothes.

                The airline claims that the incident was “company policy.” Because the brothers were traveling first class via a discounted “buddy pass” and got their tickets through a family friend who’s a U.S. Airways employee, the airline was compelled to follow the policy, which set clothing requirements and prohibited items like baseball caps and tee shirts

                Neither brother had been informed of such regulations and expectations nor that there were different policies that applied to reduced fare passengers that didn’t to regular fare passengers until after they had reached the gate.

                So what is the problem here? Is it policy? Or is it discrimination? Or is it both?

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                To me it seems like this “company policy” is something that has the potential to be used as an excuse for discrimination. Seriously, what does this policy accomplish in the first place? Why do reduced fare passengers in first class need to wear dress clothes? It accomplishes nothing, and honestly, no one gives a crap about what you are wearing on an airplane! You’re good as long as you have clothes on! And even then, I’ve seen a guy wearing naught but a grass skirt and a coconut bra before, and even HE wasn’t asked to wear dress clothes instead (although they made him put a tee shirt on and take off the bra because it was freaking some people out).

                Maybe I’m wrong because I’ve never flown first class before, and I have no idea if it’s an entirely different culture of people up there who expect all people who got their tickets with reduced fare to dress up as if they’re going to a funeral (which ironically is the reason the Warrens were actually travelling in the first place). If that’s the case, then I am content as can be to never travel first class ever if doing so means I might have to subscribe to some stupid, elitist rule that seems like something from a different era decades ago.

                Or maybe racism and discrimination DID have something to do with it, and maybe the only reason the Warrens had to go through such an embarrassing and humiliating spectacle is bacause they are black.

                The sad thing is that either way, be it because of policy or because of discrimination, these two brothers had to feel what it was like to be singled out from amongst all others and forced to follow rules no one else had to follow. No matter the cause, the feeling of uncertainty of whether this entire ordeal was based off of the color of their skin or not will never truly or definitively be settled, and peace of heart and mind isn’t likely to come to easily to either of them.

                So the question remains: is this the work of policy… or discrimination?

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Here's the link to the original article. No, not there, HERE.

Grieving Mom Forgives Ex-Boyfriend for Killing Son

               After testifying this Wednesday at the sentencing hearing for her son’s killer, a North Carolina mother has begged the jury not to sentence him to death, forgiving her ex for taking her child’s life and stunning everyone with her surprising act of kindness

                In November of 2008, North Carolina mother Lashinna Burger’s two year old son Elijah was brutally bludgeoned to death by his father, Lashinna’s ex-boyfriend Andre Hampton. This horrific tragedy was unfortunately the culmination of a lifetime of abuse to the poor boy. Hampton evidently used to beat Elijah frequently, whipping him with belts and even dislocating his shoulder on one occasion. Eventually, on that fateful November day, Hampton beat the little boy to death with hairbrush, toothbrush, and belt for apparently not finishing his soup, according to his confession.

                After Hampton’s conviction in just the last couple of weeks (first degree murder, of course), Burger told reporters that she had made peace with the man who savagely beat her son to death, stating, “I want him to live. He needs to get himself together… He needs to seek God so when he passes away, maybe he’ll still reach others. That’s why I want him to live, to get himself together with God.” She later added that if she had asked them to sentencing him to death, then that would mean that she was judging him, something she said she has no right to do, no matter what he did.

                This sense of forgiving and acceptance is also surprising because for years, Burger had lived in hatred of Hampton. She said that it had killed something inside of her, but she has finally come to peace with it all and forgives him

***

                I am amazed that this lady has shown such an amazing act of forgiveness to a man who, frankly, deserves none at all. How could anyone be allowed to live if he beat a small boy (who wasn’t even two years old yet) to death, especially if that boy was his own son? Is there any crime worse than viciously murdering those whom you ought to have the strongest obligation to protect with your very life?

                I can now add Lashinna Burger to my list of heroes because she is truly an inspiration and a wonderful role model, a modern day saint in my book. She has shown some great moral strength by choosing new life and forgiveness over death and vengeance. It takes a lot more courage and strength to forgive a wrong (especially such a massive one too) than it does to act spitefully and hatefully on it, trying to right a wrong with another wrong.

                And really, who are we to judge one another? Who are we to say whether someone lives or dies? Is that really our job? I think Lashinna Burger has it pegged: our job is to forgive those who have wronged us because isn’t that what God would want us to do? And no matter what faith you practice or what God you do or do not believe in, I think we can all agree (or at least SHOULD agree) that the road of anger and hate can only lead to pain and suffering, whereas the road of love and forgiveness leads to happiness and harmony.

 

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Look at the original article here. If you want to, of course.

Pakistani Teen Activist Released from Hospital

                 Malala Yousafzai, a fifteen year old girl living in Pakistan who was shot in the head last October by the Taliban, has finally been released from the hospital in England where she was receiving treatment. The Taliban had targeted her because she had been openly speaking out for girls’ right to education. When she was twelve, the Taliban moved into the valley where she lived and closed down her school. She then became a highly outspoken critic of their opposition to girls’ education, claiming, “I have a right to education, I have the right to play, I have the right to sing, I have the right to talk, I have the right to speak up!”

                And for her public campaign for girls’ education, guess how she was rewarded? Well, one day on her way home from school, the Taliban sent gunmen into her van. They proceeded to shoot her at point blank range in the face. She was airlifted to England in critical condition for emergency treatment. Thankfully, it turns out that the bullet never entered her brain, only glancing off her skull, going through her cheek, and into her shoulder, leaving this teen activist alive and now ready to fight against the Taliban another day. She is very thankful for her health and attributed her miraculous recovery to God and the prayers of everyone. She claims to be getting better day by day and promises to continue her campaign, stating “I want to serve. I want to serve the people. I want every girl, every child, to be educated.”

 ***

                This girl truly inspires me. I mean, she’s younger than I am and already she has accomplished more than I probably ever will! While I sit at home and worry about how busy my life is and how I need a break, Malala has been risking her life for a cause so near and dear to her and in the process getting shot in the face for her efforts, forcing her to spend months in the hospital recovering. Wow. Now THAT takes some guts!

                And if you’re thinking that she would never have been so outspoken if she knew her life was so at risk, you’re dead wrong. Malala apparently has used her time in the hospital envisioning a future confrontation with the Taliban, saying, "I think of it often and imagine the scene clearly. Even if they come to kill me, I will tell them what they are trying to do is wrong, that education is our basic right."

                It’s clear that for her, there are some causes that need to be fought for at all costs, even if that cost is your own life. It makes me think about my own life. Would I ever fight for a cause that could very possibly get me killed? Would you? It’s hard for most of us to imagine because we are so blessed to live in a country where getting shot in the head for being a human rights activist isn’t too likely to happen. But what if we were? Call me pessimistic, but I’m not so sure that there would be many of us that would speak out against human rights abuses if doing so could be so dangerous. I sure hope I’m wrong about that.

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Here's the original article: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/teen-activist-malala-yousafzai-discharged-hospital-article-1.1258866

And here's a video. So you can watch it, you know?

Duped by Doctors

            A forty one year old single mom was told by her Brooklyn hospital that she has stage 4 lung cancer and was given about six months to live. But that’s not the saddest part of this tale. Two years prior to her diagnosis, Laverne Wilkinson had reported to the same very hospital complaining of intense chest pain, thinking she was having a heart attack. An X-ray showing a sketchy-looking two-inch nodule in her right lung was disregarded, and she was given a clean bill of health and sent home with some pain medication. The information about the nodule in her lung was neither mentioned to her then nor during the two years of follow up appointments where she complained of chronic coughing.

            Last spring, when she went to the ER due to breathing difficulties, another X-ray was taken, this time showing that the same nodule from two years earlier had more than doubled in size and spread to her other lung, liver, spine, and brain. Diagnosis, take 1: suspicious nodule = nothing to worry about. Diagnosis, take 2: suspicious nodule = cancerous, patient will die in six months. Oops. Well, sorry! Better luck next time!

            To make things worse, it turns out that if Laverne Wilkinson’s cancerous tumor had been correctly diagnosed two years earlier, she could have been easily cured. However, since it wasn’t and had time to spread, grow, her chances of living another year are slim to none.

            As she grows weaker, she and her fifteen year old daughter Micalia have been taken in by an aunt and members of her church. She is distraught at what will happen to her “little girl” Micalia, who has severe mental disability and autism.

            In an interview, Wilkinson stated, that "doctors need to be more careful and realize they have the lived of their patients in their hands. They are human and do make mistakes. [But] if it were a mistake where I was going to lose a lung and still live [for the sake of my daughter], then I could deal with that."

***

            I am quite shocked and disgusted by all of this. In a situation like this, there is no amount of monetary compensation that can right this grievous wrong. What good can money do when you know you haven’t much longer to live? And what will happen to her daughter? Wilkinson appointed a guardian for her when she dies, but many expect Micalia will be put in an institution due to her condition. And nothing can or will ever replace the endless devotion and extraordinary love that only a mother can provide.

            Now not only are my mom and dad both doctors, but practically all the adults in my family are involved in the medical career as well. I have had to sit through many a dinner where I have to listen to rants about how careless Doctor 1 is or how incompetent Doctor 2 is. And remember that time Doctor 3 forgot something and almost killed his patient? CLASSIC!

            So if recklessness and negligence are so common within the field of medicine, should we be concerned the next time we have a doctor’s appointment? Who can we trust if we can’t trust our doctors, the very people in whose hands we place our lives when we’re sick (and sometimes, even when we aren’t or at least don’t think we are yet)?

            Obviously, not all doctors are this shoddy, and most are in fact quite proficient at what they do. But because of times like these, I think it would be beneficial if there was a lot more instruction and warning given to med students during their residency (or whenever really, as long as it’s before they are unleashed upon the world on their own) on the dangers of medical malpractice. Not only will it ruin their careers, but more importantly it will ruin the lives of their patients and those who love them. Possibly creating more redundancies and fail safes into standard operating procedures at hospitals (in addition to the ones that already are in place) will eliminate or at least reduce the number of times these unfortunate incidents come up.

            What do you guys think should be done about this? Are any of you interested in medicine? If so, what do you think the best course of action is, if any at all?

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Read the original article here. Only if you really want to, of course. I mean, it's not like I'm going to make you read it or anything, but I thought it would be nice if I provided the link (or in this case, hypertext) for you guys if you wanted it. Even if just for kicks and giggles, you know?

Movie Madness! Teen Inspired to kill Mother, Sister!!!

                Jake Evans, a seventeen year old teenager in Texas, called 911 after he shot and killed both his mother and his fifteen year old sister last October. According to the four page confession he wrote for the police after the slaying, he was inspired to kill after watching the Rob Zombie’s “Halloween,” in which a twelve year old boy kills his stepfather, sister, and her boyfriend. The reason the movie inspired him so was because he empathized with the killer’s complete lack of empathy, amazed at how comfortable the young fictional murderer was during the killings and the absence of remorse he had after, relating it to the way he thought he would feel after killing people. Imagine that... empathy for a lack of empathy (#irony). The 2007 film was criticized for its sympathetic portrayal of the killer, and rightly so, seeing as how it led to this…

                Evans was extremely forthcoming about every little detail that happened (I mean, he turned himself in for Christ’s sake!) and admitted to watching the film three times in the week of the incident. He also claimed to have put it back in the case and threw it away so that no one would think that it was influencing him at all. He had contemplated killing them with a knife (like the killer in the film) but decided instead for a .22 revolver so that it wouldn’t cause them as much pain. Evidently, his plans did not achieve fruition because he intended to kill his other two sisters, who weren’t at home at the time, as well as his grandparents.

                Now, I really don’t want to go into the details of how he went about killing his mom and sister (if you are curious, I recommend that you check out the articles below and watch the news clip), but essentially the incident caused him to become distraught and he was even yelling apologies as he “finished off” his sister. In the confession, he worried about how he knew the incident, apparently the first violent thing he’s ever done in his life, is going to haunt him forever.

                He claimed that he wasn’t even angry at his mom or sister and that the whole incident just “kind of happened.” However, in both the 911 call and the confession he wrote, an underlying motive could have been his “disappointment” with humanity. He was frustrated with how qualities like bullying and racism were becoming more and more common, how mistreating others is becoming a “hobby,” and how he feared his family was turning into those people he despised. He had argued with his sister for making racist comments not too long before the incident, who apparently frequently made racist comments as well as mocking homeless people.

***

                Now I have two reasons for delving deeper into why Jake Evans did what he did. For one, I am a very empathetic person and was a little disappointed at how it took me three news articles to find his side of the story (not that I’m taking his side or anything, I just wanted to hear both sides of this macabre tale). But my second (and more pertinent to this assignment) reasoning for it is because I wanted to find what the root cause of all of this was.

                Initially, I was thinking that gun control was the issue, but it’s not. The gun in question was in fact stolen from Jake’s grandfather and was only done so because he didn’t want to use a knife. Then I got to thinking that the problem was with people with mental issues not being treated accordingly and “crazies” needing to be institutionalized, but it wasn’t. Jake Evans, as twisted as he may seem, had no outstanding mental or behavioral problems. The only thing that may cause some people alarm (disregarding the fact he killed his mom and sis of course) is his lack of empathy, but his lack or empathy, although it may have played some role in what happened, is not the reason why he did what he did. So I started thinking that maybe the cruelty and mistreatment humanity inflicts upon itself was to blame, after all that was the reason Jake gave for killing them, but it’s not, at least not entirely. He claimed that his family was beginning to turn into the type of people he hates and despises, and honestly? I find those people despicable as well. But, if we are to assume that that is the reason that pushed him to the edge, then what pushed him over it? What was that final factor that rose above all else and motivated this seventeen year old to kill those closest to him?

                Well, if you can’t tell by my title of this ridiculously long post (my apologies), I believe that the real culprit behind this abhorrent tragedy is the media, the all-pervasive mass media that one could easily claim controls our very existence. A film about a teenager killing his family influenced… guess what, a teenager into killing his family!! A teenager who had never before given anyone a lick of concern that he would ever hurt, much less kill, anyone else. Who says the media can’t kill?

                Have you ever been sucked into the media? I know that I sure as hell have been! Do you want me to quote the countless of movies, songs, and TV shows I have spent countless hours of my life listening to/watching to prove it? I almost flipped a table or two when I found out my favorite TV series was cancelled! I treated the midnight premiere of The Hobbit like a religious event! And don’t even ask me how many times I had to listen to a-certain-song-whose-name-I-don’t-feel-I-am-at-the-liberty-to-disclose before I had it memorized like my last name!

                Man, the media’s made me its… plaything, hasn’t it? But I know for certain that I am not alone. In the culture of today, the media has almost as much influence on how we act as familial values do, maybe more so. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing; after all, many of society’s values (I’m talking about the good ones, of course) are communicated via the media. But I don’t need to tell you that there are plenty of not so good things that the media can spread to us. Now I’m not saying that in order to “cure” society of things like the Jake Evans incident we have to ban or limit the media. Of course not; is that even possible? But I think that in order for things like that to never happen again, society as a whole needs to take a good, long look at how beliefs and values are passed down the generations. What takes priority, family tradition or the media? Should it be through familial upbringing, or through malicious, mindless media madness?

                So tell me, has the media made you its… plaything too?



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Here’s the recent news article I found.

And here are two other news sources you should take a look at (if you feel like wasting any more time with this post. Really, don’t you have better things to be doing?)

Supplementary Article 1

Supplementary Article 2 

And here’s a news clip of the incident:



Moral Fiber: Essential for a Healthy Colon (and Heart)

Last Wednesday, a Houston waiter at Laurenzo’s Prime Rib showed great bravery and moral character after he refused to serve a group of regular customers after they insulted a special needs child.

Milo Castillo, a five year old child with Down’s syndrome, has been a regular patron of the restaurant for most of his life. This little child has become quite the superstar among the staff over the years and is especially popular with the waiters. Since the family hadn’t been to the restraint for a few weeks, Milo was busy loudly recounting his recent birthday to, well, to anyone who would listen.

Waiter Michael Garcia was in charge of the Castillo’s and another group of customer’s tables, which were located just across from each other. About ten minutes in to what was appearing to be just another regular dinner service, the family across from the Castillos got up and switched to a table far, far away.

Initially, Garcia thought nothing of the action; however, soon their motives became clear to him. He overheard one of the customers, most likely the father, state that “special needs children need to be ‘special’ somewhere else.” Shocked that anyone would say that in front of his own kids, Garcia briefly considered the safely of his job before declaring to the group that he could no longer continue to serve them. After threatening to leave, the rude family left the restaurant (but not before they could give the Castillos some icy stares on their way out).

Thankfully, Garcia did NOT lose his job for “standing up for others who can’t stand up for themselves,” and was in fact given much praise and support from other customers, staff members, and the Laurenzo’s, who own the restaurant, for his noble deed. The Castillos were unaware of what had taken place and only much later were they informed by someone else how Garcia had stood up for Milo. Kim, Milo’s mother, was extremely impressed and grateful towards Garcia, glad “that somebody would stand up for another human being.”

 ***

I think this story has extra special significance, being it so close to MLK Day. Michael Garcia is truly living Dr. King’s great dream, a dream we all ought to share, a dream where social discrimination and prejudices no longer exists. It’s just a little sad that not everyone believes in this dream too, and for now, his dream will remain unrealized.

This story is also significant to me personally. I have an aunt who has Down’s and she is one of my favorite people in the world. Since my family is not only very close but also very religious, whenever we all are together, we go to mass together. And that means that we all have to listen to her sing. Her singing is like the sound of a dying sheep with a red hot poker being shoved up its buttocks, only worse. Much worse. But in a way, it’s the most beautiful sound of all, because it is the sound of pure innocence and of pure love of God. She is the most holy person I know and she doesn’t even know it!!

Inevitably, there are people who get mad or upset whenever she sings, and I have grown accustomed to the stares, the rude comments, and the people desperately trying to flee to the opposite side of the Church.  And the thing is, I could almost understand it and condone it if IT WASN’T HAPPENING IN A FREAKING CHURCH for goodness’s sake.

As for the incident in Houston, I could almost understand it if it was all done because some five year old child was being loud about his birthday. I mean, that would bug the hell outta anyone! But it wasn’t. The complaints were made because some child had a mental condition and ought to be put somewhere else. And that is totally unacceptable.

And do you know the worst part? I guarantee that there are people at Prep who would have made similar degrading comments too, based solely on that other person being “different,” in any sense of the word.

Do you know how I know? BECAUSE IT’S ALREADY HAPPENED. Unless you would like to tell the mentally challenged customer at Buffalo Wild Wing’s who was mocked past his breaking point by Prep students just last December that it was “just a joke” or “just a little tease.”

Are we really all that different? Because it doesn’t look like we are.

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Take a look at the original news article here:

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/waiter-refuses-serve-customers-insulted-special-needs-child-article-1.1243239

And take a look at this news report of the incident:

#sippin'_a_coke_and_havin'_a_good_time

            Hi, I’m Paul. I live with my parents and an older brother in Papillion out in the country, a thirty minute drive from Prep. I am also a night person and feel most comfortable and most myself in the evenings. Because I like to stay up late and because I have to wake up early to get to school on time, I never get enough sleep and am ALWAYS tired. I love rainy weather and especially love thunderstorms and storm season. I enjoy eating and cooking with a passion (eating a bit more passionately than cooking, hehe). My favorite foods are pozole, medium-rare to rare steak, falafel, gulab jamun, pecan pie, avocado salsa, mango lassis, my mom’s enchiladas, sopa (which means something completely different in my family), kadhai gosht, and pretty much anything that’s made with lamb. Things that pique my interest include reading a good book somewhere quiet and comfy, astronomy, and languages. I am currently take an online Arabic class (because Prep doesn’t offer it) and might be doing a Russian Rosetta Stone with my brother (because he is planning on applying to be an astronaut). I appreciate all types of music and have a catholic taste in the music I listen to. Also, as a musician, I play the saxophone and the tuba (and have a decent singing voice, if I say so myself). I have a widowed salamander, a homicidal bird, three cats (one of which is evil came from inside our car), and a dog. I like to wear pajama pants all the time and am a chronic procrastinator (not that the two are at all related). Family is extremely important to me and I always look forward to spending time with them during the holidays. Sloths are my favorite animals and blues and grays are my favorite colors.

And that is essentially everything you will ever need to know about me.