School: It's a jungle out there

School is a cruel environment. It is the survival of the fittest, and the weak shall perish. The loud ones get all the attention of the teacher, as they make the most fuss. The quiet ones just sit by the side trying to make sense of the things that don’t. The popular ones are nearly always the people with the raging social life, who get C’s and don’t care one bit about it. The unpopular ones are the nerds and the geeks, who are shunned by the school social life for being smarter or just plain weirder than everybody else. I tried to explain this to somebody once, and was not doing well at it. Frustrated, I asked them a simple question:
“If you could have a person who gets along with everyone, or someone who gets every question right in classes as your friend, who would you choose?”
Their reply was simple.
“I would choose the smart person so I could get A’s, then I would say screw you and make friends with the social one.”

I can’t say I was surprised. People say that the teenage years are the best ones of someone’s life. I doubt it. I think I could find plenty of people who would disagree, myself included. If the rest of our lives are going to be worse than the years I am in, then I am definitely not looking forward to it. Not one bit. The halls of school are filled with the words of angsty teenagers. Some talk about how such and such won’t talk to so and so. Some talk about how their friends have ditched them. Some talk about how their boyfriend or girlfriend broke up with them the other day. Some make themselves heard by saying nothing at all. Are they saying that in the adult years, instead of words there will be action? Instead of being verbally abused I will be physically abused?

The councillors appointed to sort out the woes of the students walk about blissfully unaware of their cries, living in a dream world where all the students are smiling and everyone gets along. And yet it most certainly is a dream. They think that the students will go to them for help, like they did when they were little and somebody had called them names. But most people don’t want to. They can’t see how a councillor can help, when friends who know the people giving them a hard time cannot convince them to stop what is hurting them. The councillors and even the teachers are merely spectators in school. Spectators to the jungle it is.

School is vicious. School is nasty. School is just plain old mean, and it isn’t going to change. At least, not any time soon.

And yet…
There is hope, in a way. It isn’t a school wide reform. Nobody is releasing happy gas or something like it into the school environment. But it’s nice to know that someone out there cares, and they do. Someone like you knows how you feel, and how much people are hurting you. Someone, whether they are your mum or your best friend, is there for you. You just have to look, and be open to it. If you just tell somebody, it makes the pain a little more bearable. One less tear is shed. One less moment is sour. One more person is happy. One more life is changed, perhaps forever. But always for the best.

Gillard vs. Abbott: the Australian Election 2010

I really don't understand people sometimes. Everyone's going on about how Julia Gillard is the first female Prime Minister of Australia, and how if they could vote, they'd vote for her. When I ask if they would have voted for Kevin Rudd, they rave on about how bad he was and how his mining tax and all those things were the worst things that have ever happened to us. But when I ask them why they want to vote for Gillard, all they can talk about is how she's the first female Prime Minister. I don't understand why they don't realise it's still Labor, still the same policies. All they can think about is this ‘first female’ business. They don't stop and THINK. Gillard is going to do the same things that Rudd did, just with a few tweaks, to remove the unpopular parts and make them appear to be completely new ideas. 

But then, what choice do we have? This year's election is between Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott. Each has similar policies to the other, and neither stands for something the other doesn't. This election isn't going to be about policy. It's going to be about who people would rather have as Prime Minister. We're going to have one of them, and it seems people would rather have Gillard over Abbott - single lady over scantily clad man. People criticize Abbott for his infamous red 'budgie smugglers', but at least he's exercising. It's not as though he's going skinny dipping or anything like that. At least we know that if he becomes Prime Minister he isn't going to die suddenly of a condition caused by obesity or lack of exercise.

I then overheard some conversations between some of my friends’ parents. They don't want to vote Labor, and they don't want to vote Liberal either. That's fair enough. But who do they want to vote for? The Greens! I don't have a problem with that at all, it's their choice. But they don't realise that voting for the Greens is like voting for Labor, unless the member for the Greens wins your seat. With the way preferences work, if you vote for the Greens above the line in the senate, and they don't get in, then your vote goes to Labor. Effectively, a vote for the Greens is like a vote for Labor. You might as well vote for Labor if you want to vote for the Greens instead of the major parties. The outcome will be the same. My suggestion if you don't want to vote for a major party? Don't fill in the form. That way, neither major party will get your vote by preference. If you'd feel bad doing that? Then fill in the form below the line.

Where to begin?

I guess my reason for making this blog was completely and utterly selfish. I wanted somewhere that I could write about things that matter to me without any preconceptions from the person reading it. Of course, that's assuming that someone does actually read this. And to you looking at this post right now, I thank you. I don't care whether you stop reading this now because I'm boring you to death, or whether you start following everything I do on here. I really don't. I just want someone to read the things I put up here and think "hey, that actually makes some sense". I just want somebody to understand. So that's what this blog is really going to be about. Understanding.

Before starting, as with everything I do, I researched blogging a bit. There were all these sites telling me to stick to one topic to get more followers, and to have catchy titles and all those things to earn money from my blog. They even told me to post regularly and frequently, which I promise you now most likely won't happen. It didn't take me long to realise that I didn't care if people read this or not. I just wanted to write down my opinions on anything that I felt strongly about, whether it be politics or relationships. I don't want to post meaningless drivel once a week, but deep things that might get you thinking whenever they occur to me. So that is my pledge to you. I swear to never post rubbish on this blog just to be regular or popular. I will post whatever I have in my head that sounds interesting or important, whenever it pops in there. Of course, just because I think it’s good doesn’t mean you'll think so too. But that's the risk I take doing this, isn't it?