The Page Flippers

    I was fifteen, sitting on the cafeteria table during a summer camp I was working. Surrounded by other volunteers and a couple of the adult teachers. My best friend, who was working the camp with me, sat on a chair below. Somehow, we had switched subjects from the hilarity of the kids we were taking care of, to politics. One of the adult teachers was from Eastern Europe, with a heavy accent and a big smile. We had grown to like him pretty well. Yet he was the leader of a group of teenagers who were advocating for socialism in America, demeaning our government, and overall just spouting wrong information. I was floored, and my best friend made eye contact as if to ask ‘should we say something?’.     It can’t be lost on anyone that we’re faced with this sort of decision often in our country. A country of free speech, of opinions and change. I love living in a place where we can defend our opinions, speak up without fear. But sometimes, I find myself and others si...

       Hello, my name is *insert name here*. I am a *insert any number of labels about what causes you have taken up arms for*. That seems to be the introduction we must make in the world these days. Society demands you find something to fight for and defend it till your last breath. Everyone has to have a 'cause', an injustice, something with which you can stick it to the Man. We pick and drop social justice ideas as if they are a new jacket we bought and soon tired of.         There is nothing wrong with being passionate about something. Poverty, world hunger, disease, environmental issues, human rights, the list goes on. If you feel strongly for something, than that's great. Fight for it. There's nothing wrong with caring about the whales, or the treatment of your neighbors. We were put on this earth to be good stewards of it. Fighting for God's creation to be treated well is a worthy enough cause. But why have we...