Beauty is Deep

We find beauty in the simplest things. We see it in the night sky, the sparkling new layer of snow on the ground, and the clear streams we pass ever day on our way to school. We tend to think of the hard things to make beautiful. We look at our selves and try to change it. Looking through a new magazine only to see impossibly thin models and other various things to make you feel like you should have skipped lunch today. You become self conscious, and forget about the beauty you used to hold. You paste expensive makeup on your face, and buy “fashionable” clothing apparel to make your self more beautiful. Sadly, you instantly lose the beauty we are all born with. Yes, I do agree that you should look somewhat put together and have some nice clothes, but you should never lose yourself in the thought of becoming better looking. I think the world has gone crazy over beauty to the extremes. People are forcing themselves to throw up, and get crazy amounts of unneeded (and uncomfortable) clothing articles. We need to stop caring about what other people will say. You should be you, and nothing but your honest self. The world is constantly changing, and that’s perfectly fine with me, but I feel as though we will no longer have the look you should love. Yourself.

I found inspiration from this link: Airbrush. What would you do in this situation? Would it be okay with you, or would you be angry if they had your photos airbrushed?

Daily Struggles - What it Means to be Poor in America

For the past few years, the economy in the United States (and around the world) has been challenging to say the least. You recently read an article about minimum wage in Australia and how some workers are underpaid. Even though the minimum wage in Australia is much higher than it is here, it still has an impact on the lifestyle of the people who live there.

Be sure to check Edmodo for the necessary videos to watch, articles to read , and games to play before responding here.

What does that mean in the US? Did you know that 1 in 3 working families are considered Low Income Families? So, what if you were stuck with a low paying job? How would that affect you and your family? Could you survive? How would you feel about that? What were the most surprising statistics that you read or stories that you heard? Why?

Standard of Living: What does that Mean to You?

When I was a kid, money equaled cool stuff and freedom to do what I wanted. I was lucky that I didn't have to worry about bills and wasn't really concerned about my ability to make money in the future. As an adult, I wish I had been better informed about finances and economics as I was growing up and moving into the world.

I had no idea how other countries handled their money. Why would I have needed to know? I was just a kid. Right? These days the average person has a better understanding of global economics and how the many countries of the world are all intertwined. It's true: our world is becoming flatter and with that comes knowledge and responsibility.

Ask yourself this: Do you have any idea what the minimum wage is in the United States? Does Kansas have a higher minimum wage than what is required by the federal government? Did you know that states have the option of increasing that minimum wage?

Recently, I discovered that in Australia there is a huge concern that foreign workers are being underpaid. Can you guess how little they're being paid? Would you be surprised to know that it's higher than the minimum wage in the United States? Would you be surprised to learn that the minimum wage in Australia for a full-time adult worker is nearly double our minimum wage? Check out this article, Raw Deal for Sushi Workers, to find out more.

Based on what you've read in the article, what are your impressions of the situation? Would that happen here? What if we increased our minimum wage? Would that have an effect on the economy? How does this affect your future? Knowing what you know now, would you be more likely to consider working abroad?

No Internet at Schools

The Article asks the question "Could your kids go without internet service at school?"

We all know our school: we could not survive and accomplish what we do without the internet. If USD253 decides to save money by taking the internet out of schools, then, what would we do? Sure maybe we don't rely completely on the district, but we will. What happens if they do?

I brought up this topic thanks to an article that Mr.P was talking to me about for an idea to blog. Texas Lawmakers might take away the technology fund from schools to help balance the state budget. That fund, that ONE fund pays for all of the internet in ALL of the Texas Schools, imagine having a fund like that for Kansas. Taking away that fund would cause the internet not to exist at Texas schools anymore.

Would kids be able to work as efficiently on projects that required more information than books can supply?

We've all had to use the internet one time or another to do research in elementary school. It's nearly impossible to gather the information you need without it. What about pictures to make a presentation more interesting?

So the questions are: Would you have survived doing projects in elementary school without the internet? What would you think life would be like if you didn't use the internet at school? Last but not least, oo you think the internet is useful for creating products?

Straight Forward Entreprenurship or Taking Advantage of Others?

As we become busy with our day-to-day lives, it's easy to take the little things for granted. Because we expect everything to run smoothly all of the time, when things do develop differently than we expect them to, it can certainly have a huge impact upon us.

This is certainly what happened in China last summer with the 60-mile traffic jam that lasted for two weeks. It didn't take the locals long to determine that a little bit of money could be made from the situation. When situations like these arise, what do they mean for the rest of us? Have we lost a little empathy for others? Are we prone to take advantage when the opportunity presents itself?