Thoughts on guns

      I grew up in this little bubble two hours north of Los Angeles. I believed that nothing bad would ever happen in my town, I thought my family was perfect, and I felt safe. I was quite naive. As I grew older I learned that my family was not perfect, bad things do happen in town and my hometown isn't the safest of places. These are all things that some people figure out quite young, some people figure out around the same I did and some who figure it out even later.
      About twenty-four hours ago there was a shooting at Santa Fe High School in Santa Fe, Texas. Ten people died. This is the third school shooting in eight days. The shooting was done by a seventeen year old who got a hold of his fathers gun. It is far too easy for kids to get a hold of guns in the U.S. Just a little over a week ago there was a school shooting in my hometown a FOURTEEN year old got a hold of a gun and shot someone in the hand, luckily beyond that there were no other casualties.
     Guns are a big part of American culture, there is no denying that, but I believe that that culture is sacrificing the safety of the American people. There is an unacceptable amount of deaths caused by guns  in the  U.S. compared to the rest of the world. There is also the largest amount of private gun owners in the U.S than in the entire world. 48% of all guns in the entire world are owned by Americans. 89 out of every 100 Americans own guns. 96 people in the U.S are killed by a gun each day. There is 300 million guns available in the U.S today.  I think there is a direct correlation to the number of mass shootings and the number of guns in the U.S.
     There have been twenty-two school shootings in the U.S already in 2018. The one that happened at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida on Valentine's day is the largest school shooting in American history. Seventeen staff and students died, that is seventeen innocent people too many. Nobody should go to school and be afraid.
     I realize that it is within the rights of U.S citizens to own guns but they are too easily accessible. I realize that most people who own guns and advocate for owning guns have no intention of using guns for anything other than what they intended it for, but most school shootings in America happen by a misguided, angry or mentally ill youth who has gotten a hold of a gun. This is not supposed to be accusatory, it is correct to say that people kill people, but I think guns make it too easy for people to kill people. I don't think that going to school should make anyone feel unsafe and I dont think that it should affect the freedoms of youth. I believe that the laws should be stricter. The amount of casualties and deaths by guns in the U.S is extraordinarily and unacceptably high. This needs to change. The brave teenagers of the Parkland shooting have been widely criticized for standing up and voicing  their concerns on American gun laws. After all they're only teenagers what can they know? The Bible tells us that youth often times have great wisdom Paul even tells Timothy in 1 Timothy 4:12 Do not let anyone look down on you because you are young but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith, and in purity."  These brave teens may not be Christian, or if they were they may not have been thinking about this verse but, the fact that God talks of the wisdom of young leaders and often speaks through the youth means that if they are speaking wisdom we should listen, not dismiss their thoughts and ideas. 
     I see a few quite seemingly obvious laws that could be useful. It might be more complicated than I think to enforce these laws. I think raising the gun ownership from age eighteen to twenty-one would help quite a bit. Requiring people to put their guns in a gun locker when not in use is also a good idea. I think that a big problem with these school shootings is that the kids that do these terrible things are often mentally ill, so I think more awareness around depression, social anxiety and other mental illnesses would be great. More funding for more school counselors and psychologists so that each child can get free counseling, because right now it is so hard to get help from psychologists if you can't afford it.  Dear America, here's how other countries stop mass shootings .  
     Underneath this post I have included the link to quite a few Ted Talks and Youtube videos about gun control.

This is Miriam,
signing off


James Cordon on Gun Control in America

Generations React to Gun Control in America

Let's treat violence like a contagious disease

Why gun violence can't be our new normal

A parkland teachers homework for us all

My son was a Columbine Shooter. This is my story.

The Adventure of Being a Part of the World

     My inspiration for this blog post come from, believe it or not, Netflix. A lot of my posts are inspired by things I watch, I realize (and by a lot I mean two).

There is this great show called "My Next Guest Needs No Introduction." It is hosted by David Letterman and so far it only has two episodes, but both episodes are great. The two guests have been the former president of the United States (who needs no introduction), but I will tell you anyway, Barack Obama and the most recent episode was with George Clooney. Both guests are known worldwide and have a shared interest in the lives and well being of humans.

     George Clooney, I didn't realize, is very engaged in helping refugees as much as he can, even before he met his wife Amal Clooney who is a lawyer specializing in international law and human rights. As a lawyer she has taken some very powerful organizations to court, such as, Isis. Interview with George and Amal Clooney.

     Okay, enough praise of the seemingly wonderful and caring people that are George and Amal Clooney.  This series just reminded me of something that I have been thinking about. As someone who is half Norwegian, and half USAian (as someone once told me I was). I was sort of wondering about the awareness that other USAians have of the world around them, because I get the impression that I am more aware of the fact that there is other countries that have other problems out there than the average young american adult. My Mom said to me one day that it might be because I grew up with half of my family on the other side of the world, so I knew that there were other places out there from a very young age. It is something I have noticed with not all but a lot of Young Americans that have one or more foreign parents. They always seem to understand and be aware that there are other countries that exist other than The United States. I know people are aware that other countries exist but we often act like The U.S is the only one that matters.  

     Enough rambling, let me get to the point of this post, I often feel as if Americans are often very absorbed in the politics and problems of the U.S. and often don't consider the fact that as a part of the USA, we are part of the world and there are a lot of problems in the world that may be bigger than some of ours. Now I am not saying that the U.S. does not have big problems, I am just saying that we should try and widen our scope a little bit. We as humans are part of the world and should have a little bit of empathy and consideration for the other humans out there. 

     Last time I checked people are not fleeing the U.S. because they fear for their lives (applying to live in Canada because Donald Trump became president doesn't count). Forced displacement is at an all

time high according to The UN Refugee Agency. The UNHCR Forced Displacement is at an All Time High. 65.6 million people fled their homes because of conflict and persecution in 2016. I think if more Americans considered this fact, the world would be a much better place. One of the things that David Letterman and George Clooney talk about is the fact that George Clooney can help refugees because he can afford to. If more people who could afford to help people in more than shitty situations, (I could not think of adjectives that fit the situation better than curse words so I apologize), we would have fewer people in refugee camps and happier people. I believe that people will be happier, because helping people makes the people helping people happy,(say that five times fast). It also makes the helpees, happy, because they have now come out of their more than shitty situation. 

   Now, it is expensive to help people in this way but if you look at the Canadian refugee policy, it is often that a group of families, communities and churches sponsor a family, with some help from the government of course. These sponsors do things like welcoming refugees at the airport, help find them a place to live and a place to work. This is not at all a bad solution and divides the cost. It also helps the refugee/refugees feel less isolated, I would imagine, I have no factual evidence of this. Canada's refugee policy. I believe that more than enough churches, and communities in the U.S have the ability and resources to sponsor a refugee/family of refugees a year. 

     I am not accusing Americans of not caring enough, I feel as though we (I  am including myself) are often selfish with our time, money and research, and don't often consider that as bad as we may or may not have it now, as Americans there is always someone out there who has it worse and could benefit from your help. You don't have to do much to help someone, there are non-profits where you can sponsor a child's education who would not normally receive an education because of where they live, for just ten bucks a month.  That is one not expensive step to helping other people have a better life. Compassion International is a great example of a non profit. Compassion International
     I realize that as a college aged girl there is probably a lot I have not considered. But I think that it is important to show that we care about our fellow humans. In an ideal world everyone would be happy and taken care of, but everyone is not, that is why we have Jesus. I leave you with this verse, 1 John 3:17 says "Whoever has the world's goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him?" Love God and Love Others.

If you interested in learning more about refugees there are a number of Ted Talks addressing this topic. I could link a lot but here are three.
Two Nameless Bodies Washed up on the Beach
Our Refugee System is Failing
A Boat Carrying 500 Refugees Sunk


This is Miriam, Signing off

Knowledge is power

      Knowledge is power, and that is precisely why I knew, when I came back from Norway, that I couldn't jump back into my old habits. I couldn't just keep on doing the same things I always did.
     Let's talk about plastic. Plastic never goes away; it isn't biodegradable, it doesn't just disappear when it gets thrown away. It is taking over our planet. It is in our oceans, on our freeways and on our sidewalks. I have made a commitment to use as little plastic as possible and live as waste free as possible. I have stopped drinking out of straws at restaurants, I take a backpack where ever I go, I don't use plastic spoons, and use a limited amount of Ziploc bags. The plastic bags I do receive I use until they are unusable.  Maybe one person not using plastic doesn't make that big of a difference but I used to use one plastic spoon a day, that is 365 spoons a year that I am not using. I used to use 3 - 5 plastic Ziploc bags a day. I still use them but I combine items when I can and I don't use them every day. I use a paper bag or a lunchbox for my food. One person doing this may not make a huge difference but I am writing this to bring awareness to this problem, and I am challenging my readers to be aware of the amount of plastic they are using and maybe it won't be just me making this commitment.

  Whale found dead off the coast of Norway

     Let's also talk about the clothing industry. The clothing industry is one of the biggest culprits of sweatshop labor. Big name brands such as Marc Jacobs, Calvin Klein, and Ralph Lauren, though expensive, are large culprits of this epidemic. People suffer because large companies would rather make a lot of money than pay people enough to feed their families. While I was in Norway I watched a documentary about sweatshops and one story really struck my heart . The girl in this story was about 15 years old and didn't have a mother. Her mother had died of starvation while she was just a baby, because she didn't make enough money from her job in a factory to feed both herself and her daughter. There is something wrong with this picture. People die so that we can have nice things and I think that is very wrong. I have made a commitment to only shop in places given a certain rating by this app I have called "Good on You" It ranks clothing companies from "We Avoid" to "Great" I have chosen to only shop from places that have been given at least an "It's a start" rating, or companies that are actively trying to make the quality of life of their employees better. There are very few mainstream stores that fit my qualifications. Target and H&M are the only stores in my area that I can buy new clothes from. ASOS has an ethical fashion line but it is quite pricey. If you are looking to join me in this commitment and are having trouble finding clothes, I would suggest finding a nonprofit thrift store near you, I would not recommend Goodwill, it is not a nonprofit organization. I would recommend thrift stores such as The Salvation Army. My hometown's local homeless shelter runs a thrift store that my family often donates to, so if there is a local thrift store that is nonprofit that might also work. Not only is the money you are spending going to a good cause, you are also saving money. That is what one might refer to as a "Win Win" situation. The documentary I watched was in Norwegian but I managed to find a subtitled version if you would like to know more.   

Sweatshop documentary

Here are few other sources including the "Good on You" website.

Facts about sweatshops

Good on You

Slave free companies

     If you are looking to make even more of a difference I would suggest researching the food industry and looking into a label called fairtrade. The coffee and cocoa industries are largely taken advantage of as well.  Fairtrade foods have a special logo on it

 

Fairtrade foods

     The reason I am writing this is not make you feel guilty for buying things from a not okay place. I am writing this to make people aware. I love people and I think it is so unfair that people suffer so much while we get nice things, food in our bellies and spend hundred of dollars on clothes that often see no return profit to the people who are suffering because of the clothes we like to wear or the convenience of the plastic we like to throw away. I think it is important to know what our money is going to. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle is an important motto to live by.

This is Miriam signing off 

The Adventure of feeling uninspired

   This next blog post was supposed to be about my trip to South Africa with my class, but the words just weren't coming and I realized today that, that's because I didn't want to write about it just yet. I started this blog to talk about my adventures in Norway, but my life here has settled down and has reached "normal" status. I was thinking about it and I realized that maybe I should talk more about the lessons I have learned than the adventures I have had. I was watching this movie called "Pass the Light" because I was bored. Pass the Light is a pretty cheesy movie about a boy who gets fed up with the noise of politicians who say they are Christians and talk about exiling people who are sinners, so he decides to run for congress and do things FOR people instead of just talk about them.

   While I was watching this movie I thought about the congressman in the movie and his similarities to Donald Trump. I don't consider myself to be a politically active person but I outright disagree with our President. I am a Christian and Romans 13:1 - 2A says Everyone must submit to governing authorities. For all authority comes from God, and those in positions of authority have been placed there by God.  So anyone who rebels against authority is rebelling against what God has instituted. So I have decided to respect President Trump as he is in a position of power because God put him there, but I think it's time to hear some good and do some good.  

    The thing I dislike most about President Trump is that he claims to be a Christian yet he clearly has no respect for the people of the world. I am not saying that he isn't one, I just believe that he is representing Christ in the wrong way. Galatians 3:28 says There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus. Jesus teaches us a message of acceptance not exile. The people that Jesus reached out to the most in The Bible were the outcasts of society, for example, Zaccheus who was a tax collector who made it a regular habit to steal money from people, the samaritan women at the well who was an outcast because she was considered an adulteress, and the thief on the cross next to Jesus who wanted to be forgiven.

  My point is that, just because someone wears a hijab, identifies as a homosexual, is a democrat, or a republican doesn't mean we should spew christian hate garbage at them, because no matter what The Bible says about right and wrong it also says in 1 Peter 4:8 Above all love each other deeply, because love covers a multitude of sin. In my life experience (which is not considerable, but considerable enough to know a few things) never has anyone responded positively to hate and negativity, but everyone responds positively to love and positivity. If you want to spread the word of God, love, accept and positively embrace the world around you despite the negativity and sin around you. I sincerely believe it is the best way to go. Do something for somebody, tell somebody you love them, write somebody an encouraging note, make people feel good and they can feel free to be whoever they want to be, instead of making people feel bad and left out. I sincerely believe that actions speak louder than words and I believe that it also includes spreading the word of God. I guarantee you that doing something can only make the world a better place. Even if you aren't a Christian I would like to encourage you to do this, like I said it can only make the world a better place.

This is Miriam who just has things to say, signing off

The adventure of Norwegian Holidays

The Norwegians take Christmas and New Years very seriously. There are many traditions associated with Christmas. In Oslo there is a lot of Christmas spirit particularly downtown. On the first Sunday in December a large event is planned for the lighting of the Christmas tree. There are children's choirs, speeches, and singing. It is a very good start to the Christmas season. As well as the tree lighting there is a little carnival type street there for the month of December, there is lots of vendors selling candy apples and candied almonds as well as jewelry, and clothing. There is also a skating rink set up right in the middle of the street. It is an experience to go there in and of itself.

Downtown Oslo's pretty lights 

Carnival street

The actual event of Christmas lasts, what feels like weeks. ALL the shops are closed for two days. Good luck finding something you forgot! Christmas starts on Christmas Eve. It begin at lunch time with a rice porridge that has a peeled almond in one bowl, whoever finds the almond, usually gets a marsipan pig (don't ask why it's a pig I don't know and neither do any of the Norwegians I have asked). Then it's usually relax time until about 5 0'clock when a lot of people go to church, if you're not going to church you're probably watching the live broadcast of the well known boy choir. After church you eat Christmas dinner which is some traditional Norwegian meat most people have either stick meat (direct translation no idea what it's English name is) which is meat that has been boiled on top of sticks, or ribs. After dinner it's time to open presents. After presents have been opened and oohed and awed over, there is a wonderful dessert table with a lot of cookies and candy. The cookies have been homemade by the children of the house and the diligent hands that have made them usually have usually spent a couple days spent on making them. 

A "Ring cake" is usually found at one of these tables

Christmas porridge 

Christmas day is usually a chill day and is often used to go to the movies or play in the snow. The 26th of December is also considered a holiday so the stores don't open back up until the 27th.

New Years eve is an experience one has to experience for yourself all throughout the evening there are fireworks going off that people have bought to set off themselves. Then at midnight most of the houses around you set off fireworks. There are fireworks all around you 360 degrees, it is quite an experience and very different from the way I am used to celebrating New Years Eve.

Norwegians really do know how to party! 

This is Miriam signing off!

The Adventure of Feeling Like an Ignorant American

   Since coming to Norway I have become aware of how lacking the American education system can sometimes be.  I have learned so much more about the Refugee Crisis and Apartheid and that hasn't even been main focus of my learning here in Norway. There are so many things that American students are missing out on.

• Apartheid
• Apartheid was the system of racial segregation in 1948 through 1991 in South Africa
• Apartheid is something big that I think American students can benefit from learning about, because, there are so many striking similarities between apartheid and the american civil rights movement in the 60's especially. In both instances the colored people were severely oppressed and decided to rise up against the government to express their opinion
• In both movements there were prominent black leaders such as; Nelson Mandela and his wife Winnie Mandela in South Africa and Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcom X in the civil rights movement.
• Unlike the U.S racial segregation is still very prominent in South Africa, while some may argue the fact that there is still racial segregation in the U.S it is way less prominent than in South Africa.  You can fact check me here. http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/craig-and-marc-kielburger/post-apartheid-south-africa_b_4460819.html
• Refugee Crisis
• A Refugee is someone who is forced to leave their home due to persecution or environmental changes.
• According to UNHCR or The UN Refugee Agency there are 65.3 million forcibly displaced people in the world today.  http://www.unhcr.org/figures-at-a-glance.html
• A large number of those people are fleeing to Europe in the hopes of a better life for them and their family. An even larger number still are stuck in refugee camps.
• There are also a large number of environmental refugees, these refugees leave their home because the environment has changed so much to where they can not live in their home any longer because the weather has become too extreme. These people usually do not achieve refugee status because they were not forced to leave there because of conflict.

Why am I telling you all this? It is important to be updated on current events and the state of the world. While Apartheid may not be a current event, it did happen and it is an important thing to learn about not only because of the parallels that can be drawn to the U.S but also because The U.S is a part of the world. I have often felt like The U.S has chosen to become withdrawn from the world. I have never really known too much about what has been happening in the world. I have often only heard about the things that happen to directly affect The U.S. Well guess what, the world does not revolve around The U.S! The U.S is in the world and it is important to realize that and learn about other conflicts.

I would strongly recommend my readers to explore and learn about things on your own. It is fun to learn and you guys can benefit greatly from that. I have felt like an ignorant American for too long so I have decided to learn about the world through reliable youtube videos, my own research and documentaries. I have also made a pledge with amnesty international to speak  out for refugees and the atrocities they have faced. It is not easy to move to another country when you CAN speak the language and CAN speak English and have family in the country. I can only imagine how hard it must be to be forcibly displaced from a country, very possibly move away from your whole family, come to a country, where you don’t know the language and can’t speak English and be expected to function in an entirely new world. One of my roommates is a refugee from Eritrea, Eritrea is one of the most violent countries in the world. She is at my school to learn Norwegian, that is her primary concern. She has been in Norway for two years and she speaks very little Norwegian. I knitted her a scarf for Christmas and she was so happy!

I would challenge you guys this Christmas to pray for these refugees and if you know anybody who may not be a refugee but didn’t get to go home for Christmas give them an extra long hug, because they are probably not looking forward to Christmas as much as they usually might. If you are feeling the call to pledge to speak out for refugee rights you can sign that pledge here: https://www.amnesty.org/en/get-involved/take-action/speak-out-for-refugees-rights/

This is Miriam signing off

The Adventure of Internship

    Part of the learning experience of my class is to have a short internship period. We got to choose all from working with drug abusers, to working with the elderly, to working with preschoolers. I chose to work at a preschool along with two other girls. I chose this because I like kids and I thought it would be interesting to see the parallels between American preschools and Norwegian ones.

     I worked at a private preschool which has an interesting philosophy. This philosophy is called the Reggio Emilia approach. The Reggio Emilia approach is based on the fact that children should be independent and decide on their own what activities they would like to do. So everything from finger paints to blocks are on low shelves where all the children can reach and almost nothing is off limits.
     I chose to work with the one year olds. This was an interesting experience because I got to see the different personalities of all the different children, even through they are small and can't speak there are still certain things that stand out about their personalities. For example, one little girl loved clothes, another little boy was obsessed with cows, and yet another little boy was quite angsty and didn't really like much of anything
     I have made a few comparisons between Norwegian and American preschools. Norwegian preschools spend hours outside everyday rain or shine. American preschoolers don't spend nearly as much time outside especially if it is raining outside. Also in Norway nap time is outside in strollers. In America it is seen as child abuse to allow your child to sleep outside on the porch. In Norway it is seen as very healthy and is part of the culture.
     This has been a a useful experience I have reestablished the fact that, though I love kids I couldn't work in a preschool long term. I have also learned a lot about how children are treated differently in different cultures even if there are not very many noticeable cultural differences to the outside eye.
This is Miriam signing off!