A Little Over the Belt?

'Childhood obesity is best tackled at home through improved parental involvement, increased physical exercise, better diet and restraint from eating."
-Bob Filner

Obesity in today's generation is a prison that will trap us unless we take action. It causes diseases and lowers our self-confidence but  can be solved easily through education. Obesity is considered a medical condition due to the effect it has on health. Obesity occurs when excess body fat gathers in heaps causing you to become fatter. When people see the picture above they are repulsed at the size of the person. When people think of the word obese they think of a person overflowing with fat. They are inconsiderate of the victim's feelings. To the person suffering from obesity, obesity is a jail that they can't escape. We can change the face of obesity by reminding people that obesity is in fact a disease and they should treat the obese people as they would a cancer patient.  As stated in the quote childhood obesity can be best dealt with, "increased physical excersize and better diet" Increased physical excersize increases your metabolism rate and helps you lose more calories when you excersize compared to someone who doesn't excersize. A better diet will help control the amount of fat and calories that enter your body. Ignoring these health tips when you are young can come with many consequences other than weight gain.

Obesity can often lead to death due to the diseases that come as consequences. These diseases can include diabetes, cardiovascular disease, strokes and other chronic diseases. For example Reid Nuray is a teenager who ignored healthy eating and excersize. She now suffers from an illness called Insulin Resistance Syndrome. When food changes into sugars in the blood stream, a hormone named insulin (created by the pancreas) allows the sugars to enter the cells to use as energy. People who suffer from insulin resistance syndrome force the pancreas to produce more insulin, which exhausts the pancreas to the point where it stops creating insulin. Obesity can cause this because when you eat too much sugar and fat your body has to produce more insulin to turn all the sugar and fat into energy. When the pancreas stops producing enough insulin your blood sugar will rise ending with type 2 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes is a disease where the body doesn't use insulin appropriately causing glucose to build in the body to the point where your body cant take it. This then leads to heart disease, kidney failure or blindness. This is a way that obesity physically effects people but it can mentally affect someone as well.

Obesity lowers self-confidence in victims. For example in Miami, Florida there is a 600 pound mother named Dominique. She hasn't left her bed in 2 years. She eats in bed, sits on the bed all day and even has a shower on the bed. Dominique is 5 feet 5 inches tall and can't support her weight but even if she could she would not leave her house because she is afraid of the stigma attached to obesity. Dominique has hardly told anyone about her size due to these stigmas. People who are ignorant about the struggle obese people endure, say that they are lazy, self-indulgent and fully to blame for their weight. People who are obese are forced to see looks of shock and disgust targeted at them, rarely experience relationships and have difficulty to attain employment. Obese people are victim to both physical pain and mental abuse but it can be avoided.

Obesity is a lock that will only open with one key. That key is education. For example, the First Lady Michelle Obama has created a program called "Let's Move". "Let's Move" is a campaign based around the goal of stopping childhood obesity. It promotes a healthy life style by giving nutritious choices in food, ideas of how to be active and the benefits of it."Let's Move" was created to stop the today's generation from losing their life due to this fatal disease. For example in the video about the Dominique, it shows that she can't do anything due to her weight. "Let's Move" tries to stop this from happening to kids starting at an early age. Another campaign would be the "Feed Me Better" by Jamie Oliver. This campaign was focused on removing junk food from schools in the UK. Schools around the UK were selling sodas and chips and the dinner ladies (lunch ladies) were not motivated to cook healthy food due to the low amount of  money they were paid and the kitchen space. Jamie Oliver went around school in Greenwich and taught the lunch ladies how to cook healthy and nutritious food. He removed all of the junk food forcing the children to eat healthy. Jamie educated he children and parents about what they were eating and the consequences it was causing. Michelle Obama and Jamie Oliver both made a difference in the lowering of the amount of obese children today. They both created big campaigns that cost money but you can do the same by just spreading the word.


Obesity is a trap that anyone can fall into. It pulls and pushes you until you give up and accept that your life is over. That is why we should fight to stop obesity. Schools should ban junk food so that there is not an alternative to healthy food It will stop children and adults alike from going through the suffering of feeling helpless, being at the verge of death and not knowing it and discrimination. Its your life, have an active life, have a healthy life, have a free life.

Protect the Exposed

Cancer is a fatal disease that creates nightmares for everyone. It is a disease when your cells divide into uncontrollable rate. They can get into tissue in your body. They slowly spread through your body through the blood stream. Cancer a battle we are all fighting. Scientist are finding cures while patients and family endure pain and suffering. Thats all we know about the patients. Not their thoughts or fears. The song Skin (Sarabeth) by Rascal Flatts is a song that shows what goes on through a cancer patients mind. I believe we should fight for the cancer patients that go through terror and embarrasment. I think we should support them in every way we can.

We all know that when people first find out they have cancer they are filled with the fear of dying. What we dont know is it isnt because of the pain they will face but the life they will miss out on. In the song there is a line where the band sings "And Sara Beth closes her eyes. She dreams she's dancing Around and around without any cares And her very first love is holding her close And a soft wind is blowing her hair." This line is sung after she finds out that she has cancer. I think because of the key word dreaming she is seeing the life she could have had if it wasnt for the cancer.

Another factor that makes patients "scared to death" because of cancer is the embarrasment they feel they will face due to the fatal disease. In the song it says "Sara Beth is scared to death As she sits holding her mom Cause it would be a mistake for someone to take A girls with no hair to prom." When you get cancer you take a medication called chemotherapy(chemo). This medication cause you to lose your hair.  The line shows that she (Sara Beth)  thinks that she  is abnormal since she has no hair. She also feels embarrassed about having cancer. She could have hidden the fact from everyone by not telling her friends but now everyone can see the effect of chemo.

These are only a few of the suffering that cancer patients endures but there is a way to ease their misery. I think that everyone should support cancer patients in any possible way they can. For example in the song the Sara Beth's first true love shaves his head to make her feel better. "It's quarter to seven, that boy's at the door And her daddy ushers him in And when he takes off his cap They all start to cry Cause this moring where his hair has not all been Softly she touches just skin." This shows that the boy understood that she was going through a lot and yet he wanted her to feel no different than anybody else and therfore shaved his head.

I believe that you dont have to shave your head to show your support. You can do various things. For example you can take part in the Terry Fox run for cancer or just donate money for cancer reasearch. But the important thing is you have helped. I think cancer is a battle we should all fight because of the patients that cry about the life they cant have and they scream from the embarrasment. Help the patients get through this by supporting them.

Appreciate difference

"...I discovered that I could take a risk and survive. I could march in Philadelphia. I could go out in the street and be gay even in a dress or a skirt without getting shot. Each victory gave me courage for the next one." (Martha Shelley)

In 2005 the UK established "civil partnerships" of gay couples.This may have been an improvement to some but that doesn't mean the discrimination has stopped. I believe everyone should lend a hand in the fight discrimination towards gay people. When discrimination is stopped there will be less violence and less amount of teens dying due to suicide. Small things can go a long way. If we only excepted each other for who we are then discrimination would not be a problem.

One story that shows the violence that not excepting each other brings is about an 30 year old man in New York. The man was invited to a party, or so he thought. Once inside he realized it wasn't a party but a night full of pain and misery for him. Nine teens and young adults tortured him by burning his private places with a cigarette and whipped him with a chain. This was just because the man was gay. I don't think this is fair. He is a still human. He deserves to be treated the same as everyone else. If discrimination stops then we wont have problems like this.

Being tortured physically is one thing but being mentally tortured and being driven to commit suicide is another problem. Jamey Rodemeyer is a teen that has been through this. Jamey was an open about the fact that he was gay. He wasn't ashamed of it and didn't hide it either. This led to him being bullied through middle school. He had a blog and bullies constantly posted telling Jamey to die because the world would be better without him. 'JAMIE IS STUPID, GAY, FAT ANND UGLY. HE MUST DIE!'
'I wouldn't care if you died. No one would. So just do it :) It would make everyone WAY more happier!' Soon he couldn't take the torture anymore and gave his life up. I think the bullies are as good as murderers because they are what cause Jamie's death. If they had excepted the fact that he was gay then he would still be on this world with his friends and family.

Marriage is something that brings two lovers together for as long as they live. Even if you are gay you should have the right to marry. One country that has accepted gay marriages is the UK. Around 15,000 marriages were scheduled nine months after the law was passed. The only problem would be the fact that they haven't called it marriage but "civil partnership." I think it is wrong to call it "civil partnership" but it is a step forward because now gay couples have the right to be together and love one another. I think everyone should follow the example UK and other places like New York, Sweden, Netherlands, Norway and many more, have set.

Discrimination is something that has to stop. It is a flaw that is creating murderers out of people. Teens and adults are physically and mentally torturing gays. It has to stop. We have to be able to look at gays the way we look at are friends and family. We need to be able to accept who they are and respect them. They shouldn't be treated as if they are inhumane monsters. The end of discrimination begins with everyday people accepting gays.

Open your mouth

It has become uncool

In society to challenge authority

I believe I must implore you

Declare your opinions

Let your wisdom be heard

Speak with passion

Display your conviction

Uncertainty is a tragedy

But nothing to stop for

Exhort society

Speak with determination

Speak with conviction

Speak with authority

Romeo and Juliet's battle

Affection is responsible for nine-tenths of whatever solid and durable happiness there is in our lives.
C. S. Lewis

Love is a powerful emotion which can drive you to do almost anything, including killing yourself. Romeo and Juliet is a heartbreaking story about two lovers, Romeo and Juliet. They come from two families that detest each other so much that they would kill the other on the spot. Romeo meets Juliet at a dance hosted by her family. It is love at first sight for both of them. They are then devastated to find they are both in love with their enemies. Romeo is then confronted by Juliet's cousin in a duel. Romeo wins the battle but gets sent to prison for the murder of Juliet's cousin. During this time Juliet creates a plan to be together with her lover. She will take a potion that will give the impression that she is dead and when she is announced to be dead she will go find Romeo and run away with him. Just in case Romeo doesn't kill himself after hearing the death of Juliet, Juliet sends one of her servants to tell Romeo the plan. The servant is unable to deliver the message in time and therfore Romeo is forced to believe that his reason to live is dead. He visits Juliets grave and kills himself by taking poison. Juliet is soon awakened to find her lover dead. She can't live without Romeo therfore stabs herself. The death of Romeo and Juliet brought peace to the two families fueding. The main idea of this love story is that love isn't always easy to attain but you must be willing to fight for it.


Love is something that can bring misery while searching for it but can bring happiness when found. Romeo and Juliet both experienced obstacles along the way in the fight for love. For example Romeo was challenged by Juliet's cousin to duel. He knew he would either die or be sent to jail for murder, yet he fought. Juliet knew she would have to give up her family and the comfort of her home to run away with Juliet, yet she came up with the plan to run away. I think they fought because they believed their lives would be nothing without the other one. They were both strong fighters that would have given anything to be together. Including their lives.


At the end of the story both Romeo and Juliet die. I think the death was not caused by the late messenger but the parents of Romeo and Juliet. If they hadn't hated each other to the point that their children weren't allowed to see each other, then Romeo and Juliet would not have had to run away to be with the one that their heart desires.I think marriage should be for love and nothing less. For example to this day there are still arranged marriages in India. I think every human has a right to freedom. They shouldn't be trapped by their parents. Romeo and Juliet are inspiring role models that tell us love is worth fighting for.


Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy with a moral. They both gave up everything for love because they believed it was worth it. Their fight was ended by their deaths but that doesn't mean they failed. They gave their lives up for each other without a blink of an eye because they couldn't have lived without each other. I think everyone should follow their example by believing in love and fighting for it. Without love there is only misery. Fight for love. Its worth it.

Education is key

"A human being is not attaining his full heights until he is educated." (Horace Mann)

If I were to create a "new world" I would hope all classes high, middle or poor, to recieve enough education to get a decent job. I believe education will help the world because it will teach humans to protect the natural world, respect and understand other cultures and impoverished countries will aquire what they have been striving towards, a life without poverty. When everyone is educated our world will have a better chance of surviving.

Education can teach people the importance of the natural world around us. We would be able to understand the evnvironment and its many wonders and create a sustainable life. A great example of this claim is ecofield trips(EFT). EFT is a company that takes different schools on trips around the world. Their goal is to educate the next generation about the great outdoors. They help children understand the importance of conserving the environment. For example they do Malaysia week trips to Tioman, where we learn about the reef and rainforest and how to protect these two ecosystems. It will help create a sustainable life because we would get to know what hurts the world versus what would protect it. We could use that information to live without hurting mother earth. Education is key. It will not only help us create stronger bonds with nature but with the people around us as well.

In our world today there are people who know one country, one culture, one religion. With education we can show people how others in the world live, pray and hope. Education is not just to read text books, memorize and write information. Education is communicating with our peers. This will help us learn about each others cultures and to respect them. For example ISKL being an international school, it has a diverse community. Throughout my time in ISKL I have learnt about different religions like Judaism and Islam, languages like French and the cultures from France and Malaysia. If everyone were to go through this experience I believe there wont be any discrimination between different races or religions. This will help our world because it would bring peace to its people since we would understand, appreciate and respect each other. Education is the key. It will not only help us overcome racial discrimination but it will help us overcome poverty too.

Education is what countries need to escape poverty. For example Japan has an education rate of 100% and they are the 3rd richest country in the world. "Owing to this educational system, the literacy rate in Japan become 100% and Japan had sudden economic growth" Japan education. In poverty stricken countries the literacy rate is much lower. For example Ethiopia's literacy rate is 35.9%. They are the 13th poorest country the world. The people of Ethiopia earn around $1000 per capita. This is one of the lowest GDPs per capita in the world. Japan had a GDP of 34,000 per capita. If Ethiopia was well educated its economy would rise because there will be a higher employment rate. To get jobs people need education. Without education this world will not have jobs and will not earn money to buy basic needs therfore will die of poverty. Education is the key

The new world will die without sutstainability. The people will never attain peace without solving cultural dicrimination. The people will die if we do not overcome poverty. In the new world I would hope for education because it will acheive protection of our world, peace and poverty will no longer be an obstactle to overcome. As Horace Mann once said, "A human being is not attaining his full heights until he is educated." He is someone that understands without education our world will never go higher than it already has. Education is key.

Hunger Games

LETTER:
On the 14th of march I provided a letter from Katniss's father to the board. It signifyes the times that her father was there for her in the book. For example he was there when she realized the berries that Peeta had found were poisonus.