Earth Day: Leaving a Large Footprint

It was April 22, 1970 when universities across America were the launching point for the first Earth Day. After forty years, it is clear that their message of building a sustainable society through environmental awareness has been heard and now affects almost all facets of America. Since the movement has been fueled by University scholars studying various subjects, I am going to take a brief look at how Earth Day impacts academia. To do this, I am going to address the issues through the various schools at the University of Southern California, a prestigious institution that prides itself on providing world-class education in an incredibly diverse variety of subjects.

• Accounting » USC Leventhal School of Accounting:

In a field that truly prides itself on planning for the future, making sound investments, and keeping detailed records, the theories of accounting provide the structural foundation behind going green. Meticulous records and research have indicated that current behavior trends of humans are unsustainable, and that behavioral changes are necessary to ensure future generations have the same opportunities as we do. This means that resources must be redistributed and statistical projections for the future must be used to influence our accountability to future generations. Things such as the carbon market and energy efficiency ratings are just the tips of the icebergs of how accounting will be influenced by the environmental movement, especially if a carbon capping bill can be pushed through the Senate.

• Architecture » USC School of Architecture

While many architects see what they do as an art form, they know their creativity must be in context to achieve any success. New Urbanism represents the movement to rethink the way architects design their structures in order to promote sustainable cities. This movement affects the type of structures being built, where they’re being built, the purpose or purposes of a structure and how they are built to efficiently use energy. With an emphasis on high-density living through multi-purpose structures that promote green transportation methods, architects are incentivized to go green. The amount of green innovation in architecture is constantly changing design techniques with the incorporation of green roofs, solar panels, vertical farms, geothermal heating, and on and on. This sort of innovation is rewarded by the US Green Building Council which rewards sustainable buildings with Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Certification.

• Business » USC Marshall School of Business:

The future of business is green, and I’m not just talking about money. President Obama emphasized in his first State of the Union address that regardless if someone denies the facts proving Global Climate Change, the world is moving towards cleaner and more efficient energy, and businesses will have to adapt to this change. If the customers demand green, organizations that want to make a profit are going to have to meet these needs. This results in green marketing (whether its legitimate or simply “greenwashing”) that tries to appease this change in customer preference for more sustainable products. This change will also be present in organizational cultures as companies incorporate green HR strategies to keep their workers happy. And with green-collar jobs being one of the fastest growing industries in America, business would be foolish to ignore it. Finally, businesses will have to adapt to the stricter EPA regulations to ensure that the externalities of their businesses are minimized or paid for.

• Cinematic Arts » USC School of Cinematic Arts:

One of the most universal ways to communicate information is through movies, and just like any other art form, the environment and setting play a huge part in telling a story. Even with the constant improvements is CGI, it will never be a perfect substitute for capturing the natural beauty of the earth on film (Planet Earth, anyone?). And I think it also goes without saying that the surrounding environment is also inspirational to any story teller. Speaking of telling stories, since so many people watch movies, it is often used as an educational tool for social commentary. Whether it’s fictional works like Avatar or Wall-E or excellent documentaries like Food, Inc., An Inconvenient Truth, or Crude, movies serve as powerful tools of enlightenment that stimulate public discourse on issues.

• Communication, Journalism » USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism:

Anytime there’s a problem, someone’s going to have to communicate about it in order for information to be distributed. We learn so much about ourselves and the world around us through discourse. The role of Journalism in communicating rule issues and informing the public cannot go unappreciated. Without the media relaying important environmental-related stories to individuals that reinforce the importance of the movement, people will lose interest. These truth-finders and watchdogs hold governments and businesses accountable for environmental injustice.


• Dentistry » Herman Ostrow School of Dentistry of USC:

Believe it or not, even dentistry is influenced by the green movement. What people eat effects their oral health, and part of the sustainability movement emphasizes local grown produce free of chemicals and other manufactured preservatives. When people purchase organic food from farmer’s markets or grocery stores or other vendors and avoid chemically manufactured sweets and sodas, they reap the health benefits, but if a fast food cultural continues to destroy the healthy eating habits, then we will be reliant on advances in Dentistry to keep our teeth clean and functional.

• Education » USC Rossier School of Education:

Early education is one of the most important predictors of behavior, and the current generation of kids are getting a healthy dose of eco-friendly teaching. Schools are creating an environmental consciousness in today’s youth who include the leaders of tomorrow, and the one’s who will be forced to clean up our mess. It will be important to continue this education trned to ensure that the future has the tools to deal with the mistakes of the past.

• Engineering » USC Viterbi School of Engineering:

Engineers will be tasked with designing and improving the output of alternative energies to decrease our demand on fossil fuels. Additionally, their innovation will be required to create more efficient products that use less energy. While the trend for electronics once focused exclusively on increasing utility, markets are shifting the supply by demanding smaller, more energy efficient versions of current products, especially in developing economies.

• Fine Arts » USC Roski School of Fine Arts:

You will be hard pressed to come across an artist who has not been influenced by the natural environment. As a source of inspiration and a variety of their materials, there’s nothing more pure than nature. Some artists have helped advance public awareness of the benefits of recycling one man's trash and creating a treasured work of art. An entire museum in Missouri is composed exclusively of recycled materials (check it out in the video above... its really brilliant).

• Gerontology » USC Davis School of Gerontology

Alright, so here’s a field of education I’m struggling to find applications for. Since Gerontology is focused on improving the quality of life for the elderly through education and research, an interesting study would be to understand the factors that might be impediments for older generations to adapt a green lifestyle. Additionally, many pollutants include extremely lengthy latency periods which may not trigger detrimental symptoms until the later stages of life. And gerontologist must sift through the plethora of confounding variables in order to solve some of these riddles, but the problem might be right in front of them. As people get older, they might find it becomes harder to breathe if they live in a city with a lot of pollution, so elderly migration patterns depend on the environment. They general prefer temperate weather with clean air and blue skies, something your night going to find in most of America's urban cities.

• Law » USC Gould School of Law:

Environmental Law is an already prevalent field of legal study, and as stricter policies are implemented and more people are aware of the existing injustices, more law suits will pop up. Manufacturing industries, the biggest culprits which release pollutants into both the water supply and the air, should find attorneys and consultants as soon as possible if they wish to protect themselves from the long arm of the law.

• Medicine » Keck School of Medicine of USC:

Speaking of the effects of pollution, the health consequences are extremely serious. Improper water treatment can result in bacterial, viral, parasitic, chemical, and other dangerous diseases. Epidemiologists have proven that living in an environment with high levels of air pollution is harmful to the lungs and is one of the primary predictors of asthma, especially in children. Even the father of medicine, Hippocrates, understood more than 2,000 years ago that the environment effects health.

• Music » USC Thornton School of Music:

One word should answer this one: Woodstock.

• Pharmacy » USC School of Pharmacy:

As mentioned in my section on medicine, environmental health issues are impossible to ignore. Pharmacology assists doctors in treating these ailments by distributing safe drugs to those who need it.

• Policy, Planning, and Development » USC School of Policy, Planning, and Development:

As producers of environmental policies, sustainable city planning, and the development of a green global society, the students from the school of PPD are trained to champion the causes of justice through the non-profit and public sectors. This interdisciplinary school focuses on providing a brighter future through sustainable means and broad, social changes through public participation.

• Social Work » USC School of Social Work:

Social workers are driven by the desire to spark social change and improve the quality of life for entire community, and sustainability is one of the ways to protect against social injustice. Whether in practice or just in their research, social workers solve global issues for the benefit of the individual.

• Theatre » USC School of Theatre:

The effects reflect those aforementioned in the cinema section...

• Letters, Arts and Sciences » USC College of Letters, Arts and Sciences: With so many majors falling under the college, I’m just going to list a few of those most impacted by the efforts of Earth Day: Biochemistry, Biology, Chemistry, Earth Sciences, Economics, Environmental Studies, Geography, Geology, Health and Humanity, International Relations, Philosophy, Political Science, Social Science...

Since the inaugural Earth Day, the movement has come a long way, affecting many people from all walk's of life. Cultural change is not something that happens over a single night, but over the course of prolonged periods of times fueled by the behaviors and ability to spread awareness one person at a time. Thanks for starting a movement to give the earth a fighting chance.

Rage Against the ‘Socialist’ Machine – Killing in the Name

Teenage angst is something every parent has to deal with. As adolescents struggle with identity and their initial exposures to the evils of the outside world, they have these feelings that something’s wrong, but they have trouble articulating these emotions. They tend to be filled with a paranoia that the world is out to get them, exacerbating their anxiety through exaggerations and misattributions. To the average 16 year old male, it’s a dark world with big brother watching your every move. When individuals grapple with their own identity, it is easier to cope with troubles and shortcomings by shifting the responsibility and blame to others since we don’t really know where we stand. It is easy to be fearful of the unknown, and we become quick to believe any expert claiming to have answers.

The current populist rage in America is a lot like teen angst, and the self-proclaimed savior with the solutions is Ms. Sarah Palin. We all were once rebels without a cause, but did the same Tea Partiers raised in the '60s ever grow up? Liberals had their chance to protest in the name of love and civil rights, now conservatives are protesting in the name of guns and individual rights.

Without a question, Health Care Reform exemplified the complexity of government, so when the leading conservatives both in Washington and in the media demonized the Bill and its supporters, no one should be surprised that a large portion of their constituents believed them. If the average politician struggled to fully comprehend health reform policy, how could the average American without objective information? It’s much easier to lead a clueless flock of sheep than an educated and informed group of enlightened Americans, so keeping the objective information to a minimum serves the GOP’s interest. Check out this abridged version of a pre-tax day rally by the nation’s best fundraiser to see how typical rally rhetoric works.

What started with a response to the health-care system, which closely emulates the one proposed by Republicans in 1993 in response to Clinton-care, has expanded into an anti-government movement. Instead of real applicable answers, Tea Party advocates like to talk about the principles and ideologies which perpetuate the previously-held sentiments of their constituents. Instead of being driven by information, these pep-rallies, just like the high school days, are meant to build party spirit, but instead of cheerleaders, band members, and student athletes driving the motivation, it’s Sarah Palin. Sometimes she sparks just passion, but other time it turns into rage and violence as discussed by Effective Response . A recent Harris Poll has shown how the name calling of the Glenn Beck’s of the world have affected public opinion.

“57 percent of Republicans (32 percent overall) believe that Obama is a Muslim 45 percent of Republicans (25 percent overall) agree with the Birthers in their belief that Obama was "not born in the United States and so is not eligible to be president" 38 percent of Republicans (20 percent overall) say that Obama is "doing many of the things that Hitler did" Scariest of all, 24 percent of Republicans (14 percent overall) say that Obama "may be the Antichrist." These numbers all come from a brand-new Louis Harris poll, inspired in part by my new book Wingnuts. It demonstrates the cost of the campaign of fear and hate that has been pumped up in the service of hyper-partisanship over the past 15 months. We are playing with dynamite by demonizing our president and dividing the United States in the process. What might be good for ratings is bad for the country.
The poll, which surveyed 2,230 people right at the height of the health-care reform debate, also clearly shows that education is a barrier to extremism. Respondents without a college education are vastly more likely to believe such claims, while Americans with college degrees or better are less easily duped. It's a reminder of what the 19th-century educator Horace Mann once too-loftily said: "Ignorance breeds monsters to fill up the vacancies of the soul that are unoccupied by the verities of knowledge."

The violence and threats that occurred to congressmen immediately following Health Care Reform’s passage may be just the tip of the iceberg. When the leader of a gun-toting mob says "Don't Retreat. Let's Reload!” and has targets on her website over the political battles she wants to hit hardest, one can, and should, be concerned. Republican leaders say they aren’t promoting violence, only advocating the rage against socialism. It’s like handing a teenager and their friends a plastic bottle of vodka and telling them not to drink it.

Don’t believe me? The Hutaree Christian Militia planned on murdering a police officer, and then bombing the funeral in order to provoke a Holy War against the government. If you really believe that Obama is the Anti-Christ, it makes a weird sort of sense to want to go to war against him albeit incredibly foolish and ignorant. As discussed by Nanashi, it would be wrong to condemn those who oppose Obama of treason, outliers do exist, and they are dangerous. And when public support is raised for their causes, they have more incentive to strike.

Yes, everyone is entitled to their free speech, and by no means would I want that right to be limited, but I would encourage these powerful public figures to consider the consequences of their actions. Indirectly inciting violence doesn’t benefit anyone, nor does it play out well politically. Are one’s personal aspirations worth more than a human life? Instead of invoking rage through your passionate rally cries, use this opportunity to promote meaningful civic engagement through objective education instead of sensationalization. The current Pep-rally strategy might increase the quantity of your supporters, but it’s hardly developing the quality of your movement.

I would hate to wake up one morning and read that America’s first African-American President became a martyr for social justice.

Killing in the Name of…

21st Century News: Media Watchdogs or Corporate Bitches?

Extra! Extra! Read all about it! Integrity in Journalism Suffering from Severe Depression!

Well, that depends whether you even consider the "Fair and Balanced" reporting at Fox News to be journalism. Although they are by and large the number one rated Cable News channel, it seems unfair to the institution of journalism to lump this Rupert Murdoch money-making machine in with legitimate news groups, but if they make the claim, shouldn't they be held responsible?

While the verdict is still out whether Fox's competitors are guilty of the same crime, it is undeniable that Fox News is the poster-child of sensationalized partisan punditry parading around as a credible source of news. As the GOP's soapbox for preachers of conservative talking points which reinforce corporate control of politics, Murdoch's minions are cashing in by substituting entertainment and indoctrination for a necessary component of any functional democracy - accessible, objective information that promotes civic participation and engagement.

The premise of their seemingly simple scheme is that people are more inclined to watch like-minded individuals speaking subjectively about relevant issues (aka Fox News) than a seemingly cold and heartless machine with a funky accent talking about some complex investigation about an unfamiliar and sometimes convoluted issue (aka BBC). To accomplish goal, Fox saturates its content with opinionated sensationalists that stir up interest by providing provocative programing.

Since there's nothing more provocative than a hustla and his ho receiving advice from an Obama-affiliated community advocacy group about how to smuggle twelve-year-old Mexican girls over the border and into the sex-trade, this juicy smear dominated Fox's headlines last September. The brain-child behind this piece, James O'Keefe, reportedly posed as a pimp accompanied by a prostitute and wore a hidden camera to record his conversations with ACORN employees. Despite the fact that these clips have been proven to be distortions of the truth (Rachel Maddow's critique is a must-see), it fit perfectly with the Fox News agenda and received weeks of coverage. By connecting hot-bed topics of prostitution and illegal immigration with an NGO that endorsed Obama through the lens of a young up-and-comer with the conservasphere, Fox vilified Obama, convinced enough congressmen to cut tax-payer funds for ACORN, spawned a new conservative personality, stimulated rage against socialism, and showed numerous, prolonged shots of O'Keefe's accomplice's exposed lower back. What a Home Run for the ratings! Too bad the story was a deceptive and fraudulent fabrication.

And in case you're wondering what O'Keefe is up to now, he's currently a hero of the Tea Party movement and facing charges for allegedly attempting to wiretap Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu's phone system.

This sort of biased, entertainment news promotes group think by reinforcing commonly held beliefs and failing to create any sort of balanced discourse needed for stimulating active citizen participation. When you also factor in that their stories need not pass any criteria for integrity, the American people are being cheated out of an essential public service. This destroys public trust of the news industry as a whole, impeding the potential progress of genuine journalistic watch dogs who provide American's with checks against corruption and other important information.

So why does this happen?



For the GOP - representatives of Corporate America, Fox News is their base of operations and connection to their constituents. Since they represent conservative values, Fox News has an incredible amount of influence of elections. If they are able to get higher ratings, it might be inferred that the Republican Party is strengthened and more likely to get better election results.

More Republicans = Less Regulation + Lower Taxes = Bigger CEO Compensation packages. Its easy to see why Corporate America wants Fox News to be successful.

And obviously in the spirit of Capitalism, since Fox News is a part of the publicly traded News Corp., they must pursue the bottom line at all cost. Even if that entails jeopardizing the quality of the product, they will continue to sell it since the consumer is buying it and will continue to do so in the predictable future. News Corp. is not held responsible for the destructive consequences of its action in the same way that MTV is not accountable for the commercialization of music or the ramifications of popularizing reality TV. Since these externalities are costs that are silently passed on to someone else, they can largely get away with it.

Even if someone like Rachel Maddow routinely discredits the organization, Fox News has created such strong brand loyalties that some short-hair, tree-hugging, socialist, liberal lady spewing her filthy message of equality or justice won't really affect Fox's ratings.

The last group, but certainly not the least, to get a piece of the news-for-profit pie are the pundits themselves. Arguably Fox's best entertainer, Glenn Beck truly has a comprehensive grasp of Fox's formula for success. Despite little substance, Beck has earned the trust of his loyal followers through emotional pleas and a chalk board. This reverence returns serious dividends in the range of $32 million a year for Beck. Not a bad paycheck for a former top40 radio disk jockey, making Beck the Ryan Seacrest of politics.



All of this would be perfectly acceptable if being a news organization did not imply a certain level of integrity and accountability. I have no problem with Fox as a source of entertainment. If people tune into Beck for the same reasons I watch Stephen Colbert's nightly news satires, his antics wouldn't bother me, but by posing as a source for "fair and balanced" reporting, it must accept the increased expectations of integrity and ethics that come with being a news group. But when comedians on fake news channels have more journalistic integrity through their spoofs than the actual providers of news, America suffers. Just like in business, when ethics becomes an afterthought, corruption takes control and the American people are the victims.



P.S. I wonder if Murdoch would be willing to put Colbert on Fox News...

Shame on Us: Why Serious Financial Reform is Necessary

Fool me once, shame on you…

During a global economic recession when unemployment rates soared into the double digits, optimistic news arrived Friday as the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that “Nonfarm payroll employment increased by 162,000 in March.” President Obama considered this accomplishment a promising indication of economic recovery and said that “today is an encouraging day.”

While this may be a political victory for the President, this progress represents only a diversion from the underlying issues that induced our economic downtown. The invisible hand has proven itself as an inadequate defender of the consumer and the market against the Corporate Elite’s greed, and strict regulation legislation must be passed with immediate urgency to prevent history from repeating itself.

Fool me twice, shame on me.

With Health Care Reform complete, Obama could have leveraged his success and pushed for Congress to take immediate action on financial overhaul, but it appears that the Special Interests have once again succeeding in delaying necessary policy. This week’s announcement permitting off-shore drilling may have appeased the needs of oil conglomerates and various other industries too complacent to adapt to greener energy, but it also served the Wall-street Lobbyist by redirecting the public discourse away from the financial sector. Like any other piece of reform, the longer regulation legislation takes to pass provides extra opportunities for corporations to abuse the current system. Hence the Tea Party slogan “kill the bill!”

Politics and lobbyist aside, why is financial reform necessary? In the world of business without ethics, money talks much louder than the consumers. The customer is simply a commodity and business executives want to deplete these resources as fast as possible, just like with the environment. From a corporation’s perspective, the only reason to incentive behind quality control is to ensure high marketability through a trusted brand name. As long as the legal costs of damage settlements are offset by successful sales, corporations will focus on achieving a profitable bottom line and ignore the burden of externalities for as long as possible, regardless of the severity. Capitalism 101: serve your own self-interest.

Big Tobacco epitomizes the quintessential culprit of ignoring consumer consequences, but Toyota’s recent transgressions exemplify this behavior in today’s global market. For more than three years, Toyota has suspected that their computer systems in many of their most popular models occasionally cause uncontrolled accelerations, but in 2007, they were able to shift the blame onto malfunctioning floor mats and gas pedals. Their accountants predicted that by avoiding a large scale recall, they would save $100 million even after calculating in the settle costs of potential lawsuits.

Toyota’s CEOs endorsed this plan, and if it was not for an increase in the frequency of the defects combined with efforts by the Obama administration, they might have gotten away with it. After an 8 million car recall, multiples lawsuits, congressional investigations, and a 9% decrease in sales during February, the $100 million savings their accountants promised has quickly become a $2 billion loss as the safety concerns, like their vehicles, pile up.

Fifty-six deaths have been attributed to Toyota’s neglect.

While Toyota’s future is in question because of the very public nature of the problem, most of our financial institutions received impunity from equally grotesque crimes that have crippled not only America, but the entire world. When America’s economy collapsed as a result of high risk business maneuvers that emphasized short-term gains, it triggered a global recession. Financial foresight either didn’t exist or was conveniently ignored.

Decisions were made by the upper-echelon elitist in Corporate America seeking immediate fortunate at anyone expense. After managing to convince the government that these institutions were too big to fail, many of these individuals retained their jobs and reaped the rewards of keeping their money afloat by taking huge bonus. The average CEO compensation dropped a miniscule 8.6% to $9.81 million, but this was because CEOs elected to cut their stock options and dividend reinvestments since they knew their decisions were driving their companies into the ground. Instead, they felt they needed to reward themselves by increasing their cash earnings increased by 8.3% during a global recession. They are rewarding themselves with tax-payer dollars for being too big to fail, and now they are only bigger. Capitalism 101: serve your own self-interest.

To protect the public’s interest, financial reform must ensure that true capitalism – based on hard work, honest investments, and innovation – trumps the fraudulent practices that jumpstarted our economic avalanche. Any sort of legislation passed through our government must provide transparency and reveal the corrupt corporations for the culprits of chaos that they are. This will allow the watchdogs of our culture to perform their responsibilities and allow the American people to be the jury and executioner of all deceitful practices

In order to perform this sort of legislations, regulators must have the independence and freedom to perform their duties without being influenced by the interest of the corporations. Leader of the Senate Harry Reid’s current proposal places the suggested Consumer Protection Agency under the thumb of the vary agencies it is meant to protect against. The department would receive its funds from the financial industry, so it would be subject to the whims of the Corporate Elite. This will jeopardize their role as protectors of the public’s interest and make their role futile.

Finally, a bill must ensure that the financial industry be a tool of the people to promote progress, not vice versa. In the past, banks have taken the money of the people and invested them into high-risk ventures without informing the people of these backdoor deals. It was the people’s money without their consent that was abused by the will of the greedy, and American’s had no idea of the risks they were embarking in.

Current proposals may stop the bleeding and provide superficial reform, but without these measures, the people will be subject to suffer the same pains of second recession. Meaningful reform, however, will mandate serious regulation that serve the will of the public’s interests, and not just the CEO’s of Wall Street.

Barack Obama on Offshore Drilling

"When I'm President, I INTEND to keep in place the moratorium... that prevents oil companies from drilling off the Florida coastline..."

To be fair, an intention isn't a promise. I intend to pick up some ice cream from the supermarket, but if something else more important comes up along the way, I might get that instead...

Granted I don't agree with the decision, but if this is the only way he is going to get an energy bill in place, and if we will inevitably start drilling when the republicans resume power, I can at least assume that the construction of oil wells under Barack will be higher regulated and prevent further damage to the environment.

If in order to fix a pipe you have to turn the water off, I'm ok with turning the water off. But if your plan is just to turn the water off, you're just postponing the problem and not dealing with it.

I'm hoping that this was a necessary means to fix the problem and not just a necessary means to make some money.

Ultimately, I am not a mind reader, and only in the future will we see if Obama is a fool or a chess master. He tried to change the culture of Washington and gave up after it didn't work overnight. Now, we'll have to see how his strategies pan out.

Context, context, context...

Chapter #54,363,818 of Our Story – Our City

Dear journal ("it's not a diary"),

LA has always been there whenever I need her
And to reciprocate the love, I’m starting with the man in the mirror.
I’m looking at myself, just a pixel of her picture.
Alone, it’s just a single dot of insignificance,
But in context of the whole, by fulfilling my role
I am a piece of the Painter’s masterpiece.
But to be this piece I must master inner peace.
To close my gaze to the world around,
I might open my third eye and see the sounds inside to find that voice – my voice
And join the choir of Our voice.

I have always had everything, but never valued anything.
I have everything I need, but nothing I want,
For my wants becomes needs, so my needs are just greed
And I fail to perceive what’s (real)ly there.
I never learned to appreciate my bountiful blessings,
But instead bemoaned it all
Since it did serve my needs.
I never know what happiness means, so I survey the world to squelch this ever-engulfing thirst.
Turning to temporal satisfactions and pleasures in an effort discover my calling, my lover,
I drown myself in the earthly answers, yet still I thirst.
I never identify with myself, but let social circumstances dictate my existence.
I am a product of the world and consumed by it as well,
Only to thrown out when my services were no longer needed.

The world has a strange recycling program that molds me into something new at its convenience
Only to, again, be thrown out when I became an inconvenience.
I only thought of I, yet I am not I since I am what I think the world wants I to be.
Ai yi yi! I serve the world to be a part of it,
but really, this is just the world serving itself.
And I’m the fool who perpetuates it.

I am clearly convoluted, contradictory, and confusing,
But, for just one moment, to be concise,
I am alone.
Alone, I am but one boy searching for his place;
One is the loneliest number.
I try so hard to fit into a world I feel no connection with.
In front of me lays a whole web of networks,
Yet the firewalls I set up keep me from plugging in.
My protective barriers put Norton to shame,
And no matter how long friends and family hack away at this wall,
I am safe to wallow in my own shame.
I quarantine myself to prevent the spread of my virus.
Anyone who gets too close WILL, WITHOUT QUESTION, BE INFECTED
AND NO ONE SHOULD SUFFER MY PAIN.
My loneliness.
I am a cancer who infects the healthy cells when searching for a cure.
Despite constantly being alone, I never look to myself for happiness.
How could anything therapeutic be extracted from a plague?
I am a broken, bleeding heart, destined for solitude.
I have accepted my fate.
I am content with my wretchedness.

Fortunately, I am wrong.
With my walls lowered, I am vulnerable.
It takes just one person to fuse that connection and establish a dialogue.
Through discourse I discover my true feelings and the inner explanations forming my foundation.
Wishing to understand the world, which reciprocates a similar tendency of curiousity,
I must openly oblige its wishes to know about me.
Yet it is impossible to explain oneself without knowing your own identity,
Thus it takes an outsider to help me look in;
It takes another’s life to encourage me to own my own story;
It takes gazing into caring eyes of an open soul
To see your reflection
And that man in the mirror.
Another’s love has unlocked the treasure buried inside,
An area of myself I knew existed, but never tapped into.

I am still content,
But now I prefer the substance of my soul over worldly substances.
No longer is my self-conscience tainted by the world, but I can love myself.
I am still contagious, but now I aspire to bestow my services to anyone willing to open their mind.
I can love another now that I learned to love myself.
No longer am I a product of the world,
But a producer of positive change to the inequities of society
Providing a service to the world by giving a voice to the mute.

One solitary voice, however, cannot carry itself across the globe,
But as we listen to the cries of our neighbors, and tune our own pitch with one another’s songs,
We can join together in a harmonious chorus that can stretch beyond our imagination.
My story may have taken place in the past,
but it is a part of my identity.
It is a part of my present,
And with it I have developed myself into more than just a single, dull, pixel.
I am just one vibrant part of LA’s picture,
Whose diversity and people are microcosms of our global culture.
As one, we can control our own fate and that of all future generations,
So with the burden of our planet resting on our shoulders,
Let’s carry it together.

This story is our story,
My neighbor’s development is our development,
And my foe’s future is our future.
By giving each other a voice, let’s ensure our future serves our interest.

We are the world.

-One