Written on January 7, 2011 by Kaila Cauthorn
Filed Under: General Talk
This post wasn’t written by me, but by another member. It’s a little outdated but I’ll post it anyway because it’s still pretty useful insight.
About a month or so ago, I heard something that mad me quite angry as well as disturbed. A Christian pastor in Florida said that he was going to have a Qu’ran book burning. For those of you who don’t know what the Qu’ran is, it is the holy book for Muslims. In this pastor’s opinion, Islam is a violent religion. Even though I am a hardcore Atheist, I believe that what this pastor wanted to do was so hateful and embarrassing that I didn’t know what to say at first. Not only was it an insensitive decision but it is also completely impractical. For one thing, it would incite rage and hatred in the Middle East and endanger American military troops in that area. Why he would do something like this is beyond my comprehension.
How could somebody be so insensitive toward another religion like that? It really boggles my mind; isn’t this country supposed to have freedom of religion, a right that is supposed to be protected under the Constitution? It’s infuriating that people hate Islam when the majority of them hardly know anything about the religion in the first place. There is this mindset that Islam is anti-American, but in fact it is just our ignorance that makes us think this way. Most likely, the September 11th attack on America has skewed many people’s view of the Islamic religion and those who follow it. Islam, however, is no more violent than any other religion out there. Even this pastor’s own religion, Christianity, has a past tarnished by the violent Crusades and every instance thereafter of Christians trying to force their beliefs on “heathens.” Moreover, both of these religions only became as violent as they did because people interpreted and practiced them in ways that they were most likely not originally intended to be, so that those people might reap the benefit themselves.
Written on May 17, 2010 by moe2love
Filed Under: General Talk
As the safety checkers made sure we were strapped in, my feet tingled with anticipation as if it knew the stress and pain it was about to go through again. As it was my third time riding Flight Deck (previously known as Top Gun), I had lost
This ride was even better at night
all notions of fear and instead was preparing to have adrenaline course through my veins, bolstered even more so by the fact that I was sitting in the very front seat.
The “flight attendant” (really just the guy handling the controls) counted down… and as soon as he reached one the roller coaster jerked forward and began climbing, making the scary rickety noise that tends to scare people into thinking it’s weakly constructed. This, of course, prompted everyone to make the same jokes about Final Destination that we’ve heard all day. The coaster slowly travelled to the top, and once we travelled beyond the platform our legs were dangling above a wide open space of at least 100 feet. Then the coaster reached the top, and it stayed there for just a moment. Then all of a sudden, it dropped! The acceleration of the roller coaster felt like it was going at superhuman speed, and I was travelling with it. As I went through the loop de loop and a nicely made Zero G Roll, the blood rushed to and away from my feet, repeatedly making it seem as if my feet were going to explode off my legs (brutal description, I know, but it really wasn’t a very good experience for my feet. The adrenaline that had finally reached my brain, however, made it a very good experience for me).
But then all of a sudden, the coaster headed toward the water. Panic entered me. I didn’t remember this part of the ride, and I was sure that I was going to make painful high speed contact with the water. My heart skipped a beat as I was about to touch the water when all of a sudden the ride yanked me away from the death throes into another insane loop-de-loop. I would’ve sighed with relief if I didn’t have the involuntary reaction of yelling for the rest of the ride. No wonder I was forgetting things about the ride so easily. I didn’t have time to concentrate on any one portion of the ride. Even on the third time of riding fight deck, the thrilling ride still managed to surprise me and instill within me with a strong dose of adrenaline (although the ride finally began to follow a pattern of lethargy by the seventh ride).
That was just one of the numerous enjoyable moments I had a couple nights ago during senior trip at California’s Great Adventure. We also went on many other exciting attractions, and after dinner even played an intense game of volleyball for 2 hours. The great thing about this trip was that we were given a great number of side perks that were well worth the money we paid. We were given free drinks all day, ten bucks for lunch (courtesy of the Senior class), dancing after dinner, and we got to ride all the attractions as much as we wanted after 6, the normal park closing time. This way we basically didn’t even have to wait in line any more.
Deciding to go on senior trip was probably one of the best decisions I’ve made this year, and I’m glad I got the money together to go. The experience was well worth it, and I truly enjoyed spending time with the other seniors only three weeks before graduation. If you ever have the choice between choosing to go to Senior Trip and not, I hope you choose yes.
