Teenage Pregnancy & Me

I come home earlier and after going through my usual “home-from-work” routine, I settle in to read and maybe watch a little television.  After flipping through the guide, I find a 20/20 on “Kids having Kids.”  I guess it is time for me to voice my opinion on this issue as this episode has ruffled my feathers.

During this episode, the reporter and his crew visited two schools in two parts of the country to discuss and document their respective sexual education classes. 

In Massachusetts, students were taught a “comprehensive sexual education.”  This included everything.  Students were taught the proper way to put on, and take off, a condom.  The casual nature of the setting and conversations between teacher and student allowed for the students to let their guards down, asking questions and participating in a class which usually just returns blushed cheeks and giggles to a teachers question.  During the course, the students played a game in which they had to line up in the twelve steps of properly putting on and removing a condom. (Yes. 12. Right!) 

In Texas, we take a different, more 1950’s era approach.  Our teachers preach abstinence.  Yes.  Still.  They teach waiting to have sex until marriage.  With the national rate of 41.5 girls/1,000 girls (girls ages 15-19) becoming pregnant every year*, clearly this approach is not working.  Texas has a rate of 60 girls/1,000 girls*.  Six percent of girls ages 15-19 in the state of Texas will get pregnant.  That is 1.5 million girls, based on the 2010 Census population estimate for Texas.  So. 1.5 million girls get pregnant every year yet year in and year out, schools continue to teach abstinence.  How is this working for us?  Massachusetts on the other hand, only has 20% of their girls becoming pregnant.  That is roughly 131,000 girls.  It is time we took a different approach to this problem because the approach we have been using is not working. {*Statistics courtesy of the Center for Disease Control.}

With a reported nearly 40% of people studied saying marriage is becoming obsolete*, using marriage as a point of reference for when it is ok or acceptable to have sex is ludicrous.  Children are entering the strange, unforgiving world of puberty even earlier in life now, as compared to 20 years ago.  I hit puberty when I was 13, along with the majority of girls around me.  There are reports of girls now having their first period at the age of 9, 10, 11.  {Courtesy of USA Today article.}

With such a complex problem, and such an innocent and life changing result at stake, something must be done.  Now.  Look at what is on TV, in movies, in lyrics to songs, everywhere.  Sex sells.  Everyone knows it.  It is time to stop acting like the problem will go away if society wills it so.  We should be educating children about sex.  About everything about sex.  Mentally, physically, emotionally.  How to deal with it.  Birth control methods.  We should be assisting in them knowing and understanding their sexuality, not shunning them for having natural feelings.  We should be helping them to get birth control when they ask for it.  If (read: when) these young adults choose to have sex, they should be able to make a responsible decision. 

When I start to look back and get down about decisions I have made in my life, my parents remind me I make the best decisions I can with the information I have at the time (I make the decision).  We need to be giving these teens all the information we can, so when they make a decision, it can be an informed, educated, responsible decision.  

The Traffic Rant

Pretty self explanatory. I've got a bone to pick with the general masses of people I encounter on a daily basis in my travels of this beautiful state of ours.

*When did the left lane become the slow lane? I pass signs all the time that say "Slower traffic keep right". Why are you in the left lane doing 55? Huh? And why do I get a look when I pass you doing the speed limit? You are the one in the wrong place. Move. When like 15 cars pass you, and the old lady in the Buick gives you the bird, it's time to move to the right, a la derecha, of all other traffic.

*Moving to the right brings me to my next point. MERGE. If you look this up in the dictionary, it's listed as a verb. A verb is an ACTION word. This means there is something that has to be done. MERGE means to combine two things together... so here's the deal. Car A wants on the freeway, which is flowing nicely at 65.... Car B sees Car A... Car B accommodates a SPEED INCREASING Car A who nicely inserts themselves into traffic and everyone continues on down the freeway. Yay. What you DO NOT want to do, I repeat DO NOT DO THE FOLLOWING! DO NOT try and enter the freeway while hitting your brakes. If you are slowing down, you are already jacking the flow of traffic. DO NOT enter the freeway doing 45 and cut someone off. ESPECIALLY if they have their blinker on. That little blinky light implies they want in the lane you're in. See MERGE.

*YIELD SIGN ≠ STOP SIGN. See GEOMETRY 101. TRIANGLE v. OCTAGON.

**If aforementioned yield sign is present, and you are turning right, and the straight traffic has a green light, you don't have to stop. :)

***Another note about this Yield Sign/Stop Sign miscommunication. If you don't see a difference in the four letter word STOP, and the five letter word, YIELD, please also retake English 101 and Math 101 because a four letter word does not equal a five letter word.

*Finally, if you are on a side street and there is a lane that I'm not in, and I'm going fast, turn into that lane. Better yet, wait until I pass. Please don't turn in front of me, into my lane, and then give me the "Go to hell" look when I change lanes to avoid bump drafting your back bumper for pulling out into oncoming traffic.

Please take note, and implement changes immediately. Thx! :) CC

Post 1.2

So what do you do when you're in a "relationship" with someone and you're the only one trying? Personally, I want to yell at this person for being a total narcicist. Then again, that could just be my anger at not being important enough or high enough on the priority list. So what do you do when you're being shown you're not important enough? I'm choosing to be done. I'm choosing to end this relationship and stop worrying about it. They are obviously moving on and I'm obviously not important enough to them so why should I worry about it? I'm not going to anymore. Done. I am an amazing friend. Too bad this person should know it, and doesn't appear to. Oh well. I guess if you snooze you lose right?

Post 1.1

So I went home to Houston this past weekend.... It was so sad to see Rachel all laid out in her casket. It was a beautiful ceremony but so hard to watch. Her parents were so distraught, and rightfully, understandably, so. I held my composure until I saw her parents pushing her casket down the aisle of the church and then I couldn't take it anymore. Such a tragedy. Someone at 24 shouldn't be dead. We should be yelling at her for wrecking her car, not wiping away tears thinking of her smile and laughter. It was interesting to watch the funeral though. Although I do not believe in God, I respect others beliefs and their rights to those beliefs. The funeral left me reflecting on my life. It left me thinking about what if I wasn't here tomorrow? We (as people, as a whole) seem to always take life for granted. We are not guaranteed tomorrow, or tonight, or even today. We should be thankful and happy for what we have... Rejoice in ourselves and what we have accomplished, individually. But we should also be proud of the marks we leave on the world. I try to do one great thing for someone else every day, along with learning something new every day. Life is so precious and we only get one. I'm so happy mine is a great one.

Post 1.0

So I'm not really sure what to write here... I figure I'll just use it as kind of my therapy for what's going on in my world, as well as my soapbox to stand on... I look forward to hearing everyone's feedback.

So this morning I'm at the office, running home for lunch to start to get things together, then back to the office, back home, then leaving for Houston after I pack and get Cute Kitty all packed up and together. I have a funeral to attend in the morning for a friend who died tragically over the Memorial Day weekend. This is an entirely different post subject... Rachel's death has shaken me, and strengthened my foundations. I am looking forward to seeing my Girls at the funeral but wish we weren't coming together for something so sad.