Baby Alfie Updates and opinion

As I was on Facebook today, I noticed several posts I was tagged in regarding Baby Alfie. He is still alive, still breathing, and the court refuses to allow him to go to Italy for experimental treatment.

He is allowed to have water and oxygen again but is being starved by the hospital. They are "continuing the end of life plan".

I have a lot of opinions on this.

1. This is exactly what socialized healthcare looks like. People are no longer people but a burden on the government and resources. But the pride of the country doesn't allow them to have other countries intervene.

2. "Thou Shalt Not Murder"

3. "God Hates the Hands that Shed Innocent Blood."

4. What kind of pride does England have to not allow others to step in? What kind of sickness is this?

5. You want a Dystopian universe? Here it is, in England, right now.

England, you need to repent while you still can. Jesus is the judge of the living and the dead, what you do right now will be blood on your hands. The same day that the Queen has another grandson is the same day that you choose to take a baby off of the machine then starve him. If this were the Queen's grandson, you never would take him off the machine.

This baby has a chance at survival and you are purposefully killing him.

I pray this baby survives so he can be a living testament to the Glory of God like my baby sister was. If my baby sister was in your country you would have her dead.

England. Repent. 

Baby Alfie

I was recently informed of a tragedy that is about to happen. A baby in England named Alfie is sick, but not dying, and has been scheduled for death. This is supposed to happen tonight by 9:00PM.

Please pray for this baby and make it as public as possible. We want the media to pick up on this because right now they are distracted by the new Royal baby. Which is fine, the new baby is exciting, but we also need to take care of this baby that is having a terrible injustice done.

You can also help by signing this petition here.

If you know of a way to alert your local and national media sources, I would encourage that as well. I am not knowledgeable in this area, otherwise, I'd do it myself. I have posted it on the social media platforms I am on, but this needs bigger coverage.

England needs to be told to stop playing god. They have decided who lives and who dies for far too long, it's time to end this. 

Petitions and the Deaf

I am an Interpreting student. Recently, a petition was brought to my attention that had to do with a tutor I had last semester. What is the issue?

Well, he was forced to go to the School of Individualized Study to do the Interpreting program known as ASLIE. It is based on the fact that it isn't made for Deaf people. This is wrong. We have CDIs (Certified Deaf Interpreters) and Ronnie did the work.

But that's not what the petition is for. This petition is to support Ronnie because NTID (National Technical Institute for the Deaf) has refused to allow him to walk the stage with his hearing peers during graduation this year. That is a shame and is wrong.

If you can, please sign this petition so Ronnie can graduate with the team he worked with to get this far. He is the first Deaf person to complete this program or be in this program.

This is 2018. It's time for a change.

Sam

Friendships

I am aware I have posted about friendships before, but I want to be a little more specific, this time about healthy friendships.

My first friendships as a child were mostly fake. Forced friendships. However, I did have a few real friends. Most of them were guys, I found them more agreeable. Each name will either begin with the first letter of their name or will be assigned a fake name.

C and E: These two were brothers. One was my age and one was a year younger. We all got along pretty well and whenever we see each other again it feels like we pick up where we left off. They are really great guys. I was friends with them between the ages of 5 and 9.

T: She was a really sweet girl. They were not wealthy, but her family gave us hand-me-downs from her. Her mother also babysat us a few times and so we hung out with T a lot. She was older by a couple years, but we always had fun. Friends between 5 and 9. I am out of touch with her now.

S: She was an African-American girl that used to come to our church. She lived in a trailer park near our church. Myself and my sister loved her, she was very sweet. We are out of touch now. Between the ages of 6 and 9.

Then we moved to Texas where we were forced to deal with the reality of popular, unpopular, rich, and poor. This is where I made other friends.

AR: He was very nice, amusing, and we got along pretty well. He was my protector a lot from girls that were mean to me. He made sure that he was near me if he could be. Friends between 10 and 14. We are still in contact off and on.

A: She is my best friend currently. I met her when I was 11 or 12 and we are still friends. I am 22. This is one of the longest friendships I have had. She talked to me when I was waiting for my sister and the rest is history.

H: Her and I became friends when I was around 10 or 11. She had a lot of the same interests as me (sewing, music, etc) so we hit it off. We are still friends, but we aren't as close as we were.

K: When we started going to a new church we became friends with K. She was very nice and accepting of me even though I didn't speak. We became friends because we both liked horses. I met her when I was around 13. I am still in contact with her.

AD: AD was a great girl. She was a little scattered and we weren't really close friends. We were friends because herself and K were best friends. So...it was a "Friends just because...." type of relationship. Which we were both fine with. I am not in contact with her anymore.

EL: He was one of my best friends. We are no longer in contact. I met him when I was around 13 and we lost contact when we were around 16. I had a huge crush on him for a long time. I was heartbroken when we lost contact. (Long convoluted story that involves a church split)

B: We were friends for a few years but I also lost contact with him around the same time as EL.

Then we moved to NY again.

M: She was a lot younger than us. But being home-schooled, age doesn't matter for friendship. She was around 11 year old and I was about 17. We are still in contact off and on. We used to knit and do crafts together. (Or trade)

Then I went to my first college where I met:

MI: MI was a really nice girl, we were in the same ASL class together. Now she moved to Texas, haha. We traded places. But she was my first friend at college.

L: She was my second friend at college and we had every single ASL class together. We also transferred to the same college.

A: She was in a few of the same classes as me and we also transferred together. We aren't close, but we are friends.

M: She was in a couple of my ASL classes but we became fast friends. She is still one of my favorite people to be around. We didn't transfer to the same college, but we're still in touch through facebook.

AL: She was in a few of the classes for our major. I became friends with her as well, again, we aren't close, but we are friends.

At my new college, I have made at least 3 new friends.

N: She is from Africa and was adopted. She was a fast friend and we actually met during Orientation. N is very friendly and is someone I hope to continue a friendship with.

AB: She is a very hyperactive girl who is a fandom person. She loves Doctor Who and Supernatural. She was also home-schooled, which is always fun for me. I love meeting other home-schooled people.

TE: TE is Hard of Hearing and is just learning ASL. I enjoy talking with her and comparing experiences growing up poor. Also listening to her experiences, since she is also an African American. Her experiences with racism and my experience with seeing racism is interesting to compare.

KE: KE is very nice as well, she is fun to be around. I am still getting to know her a little better, but I'm unsure of where our friendship stands at this point.

One of my best Memories

Today I started to think about one of my favorite memories. I was in ASL 3 and 4 (It was a 4 credit class that covered two subjects). ASL is an abbreviation for American Sign Language. It is a language used by the Deaf, hard of hearing, mute (unable to verbalize), Children of Deaf adults (CODAs), and Interpreters.

Anyway, I was in an Associates program for ASL. I struggled in 3&4 because it focused more on storytelling aspects, which isn't my strong suit. But I am learning how to do this still. At the end of the semester, our teacher gave us each a bag of cookies. Inside each bag was a handwritten note by my teacher.

She knew I beat myself up regularly. I was never very good at telling myself was I was good at but my feedback on what I was bad at was exceptional. I still have the note she gave me, it is beaten up and almost falling apart, but I still have it.

It told me to keep going, that I could do it, that I was a lot more skilled than I thought. I almost cried when I read the note. Positive feedback is sometimes harder for me to take than negative feedback. I am much harsher on myself than most people are towards me.

It is still one of my favorite memories to this day.

Just a Pastor's Kid. 

Youth Group

Today I am going to talk about Youth Group. First of all, is it biblical? It isn't forbidden or condoned in the bible, so...Do with that what you will.

Growing up I have had some pretty bad experiences with youth groups. Mostly bullying of some sort. Here are some examples:

Shoved to the ground
Picked on about my lisp, clothing choices, eating habits, father's job, etc.
Ignored
Bitten
Kicked

Youth group can either harm you or nurture you. Unfortunately, every experience I have had except one had to do with being bullied or mistreated in some way. Because of this, I am against youth groups.

Youth groups, if not properly watched, can turn into high-school. People have cliques and caste systems. There are the losers and the popular. It is a disservice to the people of God, the church, and the representation of the church.

Then you are sometimes labeled as weird for acting more mature than them. It seriously is not my fault if you can't act your age. I was taught not to throw fits when I was two, but if I see you kicking and screaming at 13 years old because your mom said no...Yeah, I will look at you like you're a lunatic.

Here is some advice for youth leaders as well:

I suffered at the hands of a youth leader. She was manipulative and cruel. She pretended like she sympathized with you but the moment the bullying started right in front of her, she would look the other way. She would make fun of me and other kids who also didn't fit in. Do not do this.

If you see a teenager is having a rough time with other teenagers or prefers the company of adults...maybe you should suggest that they start going to the adult classes. Or talk with them beforehand so that way they aren't tormented right before worship. Oh, and maybe set aside the economic status of the bullies and simply tell their parents.

Instead be like this youth leader: She was wonderful. I was friends with her son. If I was being tormented I would go to her for safety. She would tell the parents and she would tell off the kids. She refused to put up with it.

Don't make it out like teenagers are supposed to be cruel to each other. Don't make it out like this is normal behavior. All it does is scar the kids who are the targets of those people.

Now I have trouble:
Eating in front of people
Trusting people
Believing what other people say
Believing I am good at things.

Please, if you see a youth kid being bullied or mistreated, stand up for them. They probably didn't do anything to deserve it.

Just a Pastor's Kid

Gun Control

Okay, so the Texas shooting? I lied, I'm seeing my friends make fun of liberals. Listen. Really carefully. Wait until the bodies are at least cold. This makes me angry because of the fact that it looks like you don't actually care. Here is what I see from the same person,

"Grieve with those who grieve."
"Good guy with gun stops bad guy with gun."
Commentor, "Yeah, we need gun control. :p"

Listen. Now is not the time and facebook is not the place. Make your sick jokes inside your house. I don't care if you added a "silly face". This was a tragedy and you're making light of it. People died. Children died.

You are adults, start acting like it.

Love, a Millennial