If You Think This Post Is Too Short...

... you may qualify for a diagnosis of ADD. And FYI, tweets, status updates, and blog entries – including this one – do not count as intensive reading. Try a novel once in a while. That'll give your brain plenty of food for thought. Or at the very least, a conversation starter longer than 140 (or 420) characters.

An 8 Point Plan to Curb Homelessness

If there is one thing I dread the most, more than I do failing grades, failing job expectations, and failing health, it's failing to have a stable roof over my head. Did you know that more than three-quarters of Americans live paycheck to paycheck, so any financial setback could cost them their home? I say the home above all else because it's practically the hub for everyday life. It's the place where people sleep, eat, get creative, pay bills, and be entertained. Without a home, you can't have a job nor a driver's license, two essential things to have in this day and age for there to be any forward progress. Some people don't know what this is like, either because they're financially successful or they have family nearby to shelter them when their money well dries up. But for most others, the threat of homelessness looms like a continuous black cloud over their head. It's a constant living with fear because the chances of planting a new life on hard ground are slim to none. Save a winning lottery ticket worth tens of millions of dollars, homeless people are stuck in a perpetual rut. But there is hope: you. The following are eight steps you can take to either treat or support the homeless with dignity and give them the resources they need to make something of their lives.

After the Death of Osama bin Laden, Now What?

It took two presidents, billions of taxpayer's dollars, and nearly ten years after a national tragedy, but citizens the world over can now sleep a little easier knowing this for a fact. Osama bin Laden, the mastermind terrorist who claimed responsibility for organizing the September 11 attacks on the United States and several other acts of mass violence, was shot and killed by U.S. forces in the early morning hours of May 2, 2011.

Wasting Food Stinks

Wasting food stinks. That's why it's important to pay attention to various food products and be smart with their value. Adhering to the following strategies can personally prevent as much food waste as possible, for its a global issue that will hurt us all in the long run if we don't take heed.

These Words Can Change Your Life Forever

Hi there. How are you doing?

Me? Well, I'm doing just fine, thanks for asking.

Say, I'd like to talk you about something, and it won't cost you a thing except a few minutes of your time. Care to listen?

Good!

So, what if I told you that you're missing out on your true calling in life? That a career, marriage, family, friends, and social status are no substitute for genuine happiness? That this life is nothing compared to the afterlife?

Would you call me jealous? Anti-American? Crazy?

Try none of the above.

Rock On... Florida Governor Rick Scott's Merit Pay Plan

As I near the end of yet another semester in college, I feel liberated that roughly four months of tedious work will finally be over and a much needed summer vacation is just around the corner. That last day of a school year is always a joyous occasion. Its a day where nothing ever really gets done, with the exception of throwing a class party, signing yearbooks, and bidding peers and teachers a lovely summer vacation, as well. I guess the finality of it all warrants good cheer in everyone.

Well, almost everyone.

In a way, teachers are our unsung heroes in society. Its their duty to properly educate tomorrow's leaders, and its a task that goes vastly unappreciated. I don't know how or why teachers are taken for granted, but they are. Not only that, but at least in one state, their careers will be primarily graded on the results of their students on statewide tests in the near future.

What kind of person would put forth such a preposterous measure? Governor Rick Scott of Florida, that's who.

Governor Scott's legislation ought to be given an "F" for futile. Standardized tests are only one measure of assessing a student's progress and a teacher's effectiveness. In fact, the best teachers I've ever had, and the ones I learned the most from, went out of their way to make learning a lifelong adventure beyond the classroom. That motivated me to figure out why things were a certain way in the world. That made me a modern-day philosopher. And that's the kind of instruction sorely missed in this day and age.

What will happen erelong, if not already, is that teachers are going to base their whole curriculum around test taking skills with no value in the real world. I understand that reading, 'riting, and 'rithmetic are still essential to any teacher's plan, but indoctrinating students on how to spot the right answer is no substitute for reasoning through the problem in the first place. That space in between the ears is there for a reason.

Furthermore, eliminating tenure at the elementary through high school levels will all but assure that teachers will come and go like employees in the fast food industry. The retention rate for new teachers after five years is barely over fifty percent, and that's just those who voluntarily stay. Deciding their fate at the end of every year will not make that number go up any time soon.

The teaching profession is simply too much work and too much stress for too little income. Yes, I agree they should be paid more, but tying down their earnings (and job security) to the performance of their overtaxed students is ludicrous. What if some of those students are poor test takers, but their grades and intelligence says otherwise? It's a scary proposition, and I fear for the future.

Rock On... Carl Rogers' "Journey Into Self"

Seeing Carl Rogers put his person-centered theory in motion on the documentary Journey Into Self has changed my perspective on his practice, to a degree. My main criticism with his theory is that an imperfect counselor trying to prod his or her imperfect client(s) into self-actualization is similar to the blind leading the blind. However, I saw a different method play out. Instead of guiding each client through this group therapy session, Rogers just sits there and allows the client to be their own therapist, while he interjects on a few occasions to make a quick point or suggest a thought to continue the discussion for as long as it does. By letting the clients make their own assessments, repressed feelings are unearthed for everyone to see in each other's quest to root themselves in their own form of closure while Rogers looks on as a spectator.

Based on everyone's confessions regarding their own faults and discouragements, I personally felt they were all, in some way, looking for acceptance by disclosing their apprehension. For instance, a woman named Beth said that she shows more love for her cats than her husband because she doesn't feel the love that she used to from him. Her subconscious technique perpetuates the isolation she feels in marriage, and only after acknowledging this does she begin to feel sorry for the pain she caused. The Eurasian lady also remarked that she felt less than human because her husband (who was actually Rogers' second wife) kept calling her a "lotus blossom." She broke down, not because the flower remark was derogatory, but because she wanted to be appreciated as a fallible individual. I found this human element very touching.

The main point I took from this film came at its conclusion when Rogers said, "Learning is irreversible." I think this is a crucial maxim based on his train of thought because it implies that any backward or forward progress one makes in their psychological development is built upon learned stimuli. Using this logic, no psychological disorder can appear or vanish overnight. Thus, the decision to control or be controlled is a conscious effort to give meaning in one's life.