A debate topic..

I can only assume how much crap I am going to get for this, but you know, I want to express my views on it.. its something near and dear to me and I really want there to be more awareness on this subject.

That topic: Embryonic Stem Cell research.

I know many people are against this type of research for many reasons... but why?

Those of you who claim that this research is robbing the possibility of a human life need to look a little closer. These cells that are used are not even anywhere near the stage where they can be come a life. Stem cells are in fact harvested from an egg after 5 days of division. 5 days. I can see why people have issues with abortion, but for something that isn't even half of a human, I don't really get it. Another amazing fact about Stem cell research is that it can be performed on embryos that are going to be tossed into an incinerator anyhow.. These cells would be destroyed in a short manner of time, causing them to be "wasted" anyhow. If it is so wrong to destroy these cells, then shouldn't you be against their incineration as well?

Another counter-argument that I have heard about Stem Cells is the issue of cloning. Stem cell research and cloning human beings are not the same thing. In cloning, the nucleus of a cell is removed and is replaced by a nucleus from a cell that carries all genetic information for a being that is exactly identical to the former being. True, while stem cell research does aim in vaguely the same direction, claims that this process is cloning simply do not hold water. After said nucleus is transplanted, the cell is then implanted into a host parent where it develops into a being that is exactly the same as its "parent". However, with Stem Cell research, a specific type of tissue is developed, not an entire being. Question 2, proposed in the upcoming election, includes a strict no-cloning ban that insures that there will be no chance of human cloning via this bill.

It is much different to think of this in a perspective where someone that you loved was lost because these types of treatments had not been developed yet. As many of you may or may not know, I lost a nephew who was just three years old due to a complex form of Muscular Dystrophy. A potential cure for MD is proposed by stem cell treatment and I think it is vital that people should have these options available to them. As well as MD, possible cures for Cancer, Diabetes, Alzheimers, Heart disease and many other diseases may be possible within the first 10 years of research into embryonic stem cells.

Another argument is that we have Adult Stem Cells. This should be good enough, you say? Well, look at it this way: If you take a carpenter and put him in a room full of electrical wires, what good will he do? The same is true for adult stem cells. With these cells, their ability to produce tissue is limited to only the tissue that they were gotten from. This means that skeletal muscle cells can produce only skeletal muscle cells. This is useful in some fields, but it won't be as effective as having Embryonic stem cells, which can be developed into virtually all tissue that is found throughout the human body.

Now, I know there will be those of you out there who are still against Embryonic Stem cell treatments. Well, all I have to say to you is: Don't use them. There are some religions today who believe that the use of Antibiotics is bad. Antibiotics save lives every day, and these people do not choose to use them. That is their choice, after all, and I stand by that completely.

I do not believe that it is right to deny people the right to live. Those of you who are pro-life out there claim much the same thing about abortion cases, look at this in a different light: Is it right for you to sentence someone to death over something that is not even close to a fraction of a person? Be pro-life: Vote yes on Question 2.

Thinking...

Well, its 1:40 am and sleep has seemingly evaded me yet again, leaving me wide awake with miles of road to travel deep within my head.

I've realized that childhood has already screamed by with the force of a fighter jet leaving the runway. It really is now or never.. we don't get another chance at making memories or changing what we do. The past is the past and it cannot be undone. That fact, though sad in some instances, is something everyone has to realize sometime. But that doesn't mean it totally has to screw up your future either.

If you really think about it.. our lives are about to become way more serious. If you look at the world, the conflict with Isreal and Lebanon is the tip of the iceburg on many more serious situations that our generation will be called upon to deal with. Don't forget there Iran and North Korea are lining up right along with those issues, because if we forget that, then there will be major problems on our hands. Everyone always says 'There are more capable people out there, people that know how to deal with that stuff... Let them handle that' Well, they are wrong.  Ignorance is not an excuse and it sure as hell isn't bliss... its pathetic. There is a difference between not knowing and not caring to know and many people toe the line between the two every day of their lives.. It needs to be us that deals with these situations and the world around us. By us, I don't mean our parents. I mean us, as in people our age. This is the world that we live in and we need to be prepared to handle it in every way.

Sixteen is a dangerous age.. its the time when we formulate our opinions and decide who we are going to be throughout the rest of our lives. It is a very serious reality to me, becaue I know that within three years if we are at war that I could very well be in danger of being drafted. The way it looks, this could be a definate possibility for my future. I don't want to go into that future knowing that I've wasted time. I have two years of highschool left, where a lot of my friends and those of you reading this only have one. I cannot imagine how you guys must feel at this moment, knowing that the world is looming right over the edge of that next drop, waiting to get its teeth on you. 

So what is my point in saying all of this, you ask? My point is simply this: Don't take it for granted. We only have so much time before we have to become serious adults, so why rush it? Apreciate every moment we have before that big clock ticks off one more year.. Because real life doesn't have a rewind button. Sure, we all do things that are wrong, many of which we regret at a later time and if we could magically go back and erase those instances, you'd bet we would. But we can't do that.

All of you seniors out there know exactly what I mean by this.. Many of you wish you could crawl back into those years of childhood and be care free and not give so much as a thought to where life is taking you, what you want to do or where you want to go to college. Hell, I bet most of you want to be at the age again where you couldn't even spell college. But things always seemed so terrible back then.. it was a rush to be older, grown up and able to drive and be in high school.

Now, I'm not saying life is terrible, by all means, we have all found people that we've grown to love as though they are our family, because in many ways they are our family. The only difference between being family or not lies in the fact that we have different parents. I know my very closest friends are not even friends at all: I have another brother and another sister and there are many who are not far behind them.  Its people like them, the ones that you care about most that are the most important. Don't take them for granted, because they won't always be around. High school only happens once, as does our childhood. I believe it should be spent with the people that you enjoy spending time with doing the things that you love to do.

But, who am I to say all of this? I'm just some sixteen year old kid.. I don't have the experience to know if anything that I am saying is true. But the funny thing is, I know that the world is held in the palm of our collective hand. We are the ones who are going to shape the outcome of our future and how life will be for everyone that comes after us. That fact really seems to put some more value behind our opinions, doesn't it? 

Well, enough out of me... this is all the result of a night void of sleep and a lot on my mind.

Leave some comments, let me know what you think.

Later,

Curt

Long time...

Hey

I haven't updated in a long time and I'm assuming that it is somewhat overdue. Things have been rolling along at a break-neck pace and I haven't really stopped to recap things, afraid that I might miss something important that is happening in the here and now.

The last few months have been filled with quitting a job (Worlds of Fun), working on the paper route and spending as much time as possible with that ever-special someone. Things have been semi-decent, so I can't really complain about it.

But anyhow, I'm sure things will continue the way that they have, or at least I hope they will... But thats besides the point, I'm outta here because I do need some sleep.

Later,

Curtis

Currently Listening The Adventure By Angels and Airwaves see related

I felt it appropriate to update Curtis's xanga for a number of reasons..

1.) We are all familiar with the fact that he is a lazy*, juice-guzzling boy whose hair is easily messed up and has an eerie potential to inflict injury upon himself at any given moment. For these reasons, it is highly improbable that Curtis will be updating his xanga anytime in the near future. (*For the reader's enjoyment: describing Curtis as lazy is not always accurate and is also an entirely hypocritical statement.)

2.) We are also familiar with the fact that he just might be the most honest, caring teenage boy I know.

3.) He has opened me up as a person and beared with me through my insecurities. I do not think there are more than a handful of people out there who are mature enough to handle those cycles of fear and uncertainty over and over again, but Curtis is certainly one of them, which demonstrates an incredible amount of selflessness.

4.) I care about him a lot (refer to # 2 and # 3) and due to various factors, the most significant being that I tend to shy away from PDA of any form and am easily embarrassed, I do not make this fact apparent to Curtis as often as I should.

That's all I got.

                -- Heather