Kindness

“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.” Mohandas Gandhi.

Walking down Bliss Street the other night I passed by a white kitten that caught my eye. It was beautiful to be sure, but the thing that captivated me was its lack of tail, completely severed from the base, as well as its evident limp.  My heart broke a little as I wondered how this little kitten could have been so grievously injured. Surely no person could have done this? Yet the kitten was obviously domesticated.

I bring up this story to remind us all to treat the world and its creatures with kindness. Some people don’t like animals, and that’s fine, but it is beyond cruel to treat their innocence with malice. AUB is filled with animals, namely cats, and many of them have sadly endured their own cases of cruelty, at the hands of none other than our students. 

If we must judge a person, we should judge them based off of how they treat their inferiors, a truth that applies very much to our treatment of animals. Never forget that our world belongs to not just ourselves, but a diverse plethora of plants and animals alike. It’s the least we can do to treat them kindly.

Magic

“Those who don't believe in magic will never find it.” Roald Dahl. 

I believe in magic, wholeheartedly so. I think it’s magic when people smile, or when professors let us out ten minutes early. I think it’s magic when I find someone else as in love with Star Trek as I, or as obsessed with mermaids.  I think it’s magic when you believe it is. 

I’m not going to write about how thrilling it is to finally be in my senior year, or how wonderful it is to be Editor-in-Chief of Outlook, with such an amazing team behind me.  I don’t think I could find the words.

Instead I want to wish all of AUB a little bit of magic. I wish you a kind professor, a fluffy cat to pet, and someone to watch Star Trek with.  I wish you the courage to speak your mind and the wisdom to learn from your mistakes. I wish you a lovely autumn breeze, clear skies and a nice cold lemonade.  

I wish you magic.

Spring 2011 Schedule

Summer 2011 Schedule

Walking

Walking is such hard work sometimes,
To put one foot in front of the other,
requires motivation.
For what though?
Why am I walking?
Where am I going?

Can someone tell me why,
why am I still trying?
Where am I still going?
Long, endless, broken roads
continue, infinitely, and
sad, hopeless, broken people,
are everywhere.

To put one foot in front of the other,
requires motivation.
Give me some,
send me motivation.
Tell me why I should bother.
Though, the fact that I am asking,
Is hopeless enough.

Roadside grass was once so green,
it's a dull shade of olive now.
No life, no rhythm,
where is the beauty?
The sky, once so blue,
It's empty though, if you really think
about it. About everything.

I like to look up when I walk,
better than seeing my shadow.
Dim skies and blank heavens,
Thoughts don't exist upward.
Walking is such hard work sometimes,
when I could just lay down,
and stare.

Why am I still walking?

Tick, Tick...

Tick, tick, forever ticking,

How can you stop time?

How can I take back my life?

Leave some room to find?

It’s all been taken from me,

All that precious space,

All those years have flown away,

Wrinkles on my face.

She passed away so long ago,

And I, as well will go

Life flies by when you are still,

Rivers always flow.

Tick, tick, forever ticking,

Why can’t I stop and think?

Why have colors become a blur?

Perpetually, everything shrinks.

So You Smoke Arghile

Admit it, we’ve all tried it. It’s an integral part of our Arab culture. Yet I find that so many people are unaware of the adverse affects of arghile, believing it to be the healthier alternative to cigarettes. Ah, so amusing. Time to burst the smoke filled bubble of ignorant chain-smokers whose lungs will undoubtedly thank me.

Did you know that smoking arghile (also known as Hookah, Hubble-Bubble, Sheesha, and I-want-Lung-Cancer) for one hour is equivalent to smoking 40 cigarettes? Read it again. 40. 

Did you know that arghile smoke has no filter to prevent  toxins from entering your body? Yes, it may be a water pipe, but water-filtered smoke damages the lungs just as much as cigarette smoke, if not more. 

Did you know that arghile contains nicotine, so is in fact addictive? One hour of arghile is the same as smoking 100 to 200 times the amount of smoke from just one cigarette.

Did you know that the flavoring of arghile is even worse than the natural tobacco? Flavors make it much easier for harmful toxins to absorb into your bloodstream, as well as containing tar that sticks to the lungs and trachea.

Smoking cigarettes and cigars are terrible for your health. Smoking arghile is even worse. In fact, in comparison to cigarettes, arghile is known to contain 36 times more tar, 15 times more carbon monoxide, 70 times more nicotine, and high levels of arsenic, lead and nickel. 69 different carcinogens in total. Still not convinced about its detrimental affects? I continue. 

Sharing a mouthpiece without washing it, as is often done in Lebanon, increases the risk of catching flu, colds, infections, and oh yes! Oral herpes. Need I say more? 

Arghile has been linked to several types of cancer, namely lung, mouth and jaw cancer, as well as heart disease, dental disease, and even infertility and impotence. Arghile smokers are also seven times more likely than non-smokers to have symptoms of gym disease and mouth cancer.

Lastly, arghile smoke, as with all other types of smoke, is worsened through second-hand experience. So, by smoking your sex-on-the-beach-flavored-oral-herpes-infested-water-pipe you are basically imposing your unhealthy habits on other people. Which isn’t really nice now is it?

But hey, I bet you couldn’t see through all that smoke.

Silence

I hear it softly, deftly playing, silently, a sound

In my mind, in my head, it’s incessantly around.

I see her spinning, dancing lightly, on the vibrant grass

Eyes are closed, reminiscing, of a distant past.

He watches, humming absently, fingers tracing keys

The piano plays his rhythm, smiling with ease.

Music bends together and nature takes its course,

Notes all flow abundantly, teeming with remorse.

For the one who’s spinning, the one who’s long been dead

Is away in heaven, so far, but overhead.

I know she hears his playing, she listens everyday

He wonders what she thinks of him, he wonders what she’d say.

She twirls for him, forever, and his words through music sing,

She wonders if he thinks of her, whenever it is spring.

I know he sees her dancing, he watches all the time,

He sees her through the morning light, she lives in every chime.

In death he lost his dancer, his music stands alone,

Yet still she spins his melody, as if it were her own.

In death he found her spirit, so alluring, so profound

Death it took for him to hear, that silence is a beautiful sound.

Enjoy

Polar Bears Waltzing. 
What could be more awesome?!

I suck at Poetry (Huzzah!)

Once lived a lad dubbed Gafled
A name as hideous as an ass (as in donkey).
Gafled was hairy and warty
And oh! All the gas he would pass.
But Gafled was cunning and crafty
he fashioned a name out of air
He called himself Gafled the Gassy,
and sold all his farts for a fare.

Oh Once there was a Peruvian Needle,
A Peruvian Needle so soft.
And butter was her name,
So smooth was her game,
That she succesfully sewed microsoft.
(pun intended)

Once born a Prince of Thinelorford,
Larry was doomed to his death,
Of murder and treachery and horror
Because Larry's mom used Crystal Meth.
And thus Larry walked kind of funny,
He trilled and he jumbled his words
Yes, Larry was Prince of the dummies,
But Larry The Awesome he preferred.

Poems are so good when I'm tired,
I rhyme things that never could fit.
My head hurts but I was inspired,
to write down the things I could writ.

So now I continue my nonsense,
I subconsciously dream of my bed.
About hereto-s and whither-s and whence-s
so I think I'll just lay down and die.

(See what I did there?)

How much you miss them..

Perusing through my Facebook friends, I can't help but wonder, how many of these people are actually my friends? What is the difference between friends and acquaintances? Classmates? Coworkers? Is there a difference? I think so.

The difference, to me, isn't how often they talk to you or tag you in stupid group pictures. It's the feeling you get when you accidentally come across their picture, smile, and think about how much you miss them. Facebook is wonderful for keeping in touch - but if you truly want to be a sincere friend, it isn't going to make or break your friendship.

I miss some of my friends so much I feel torn when I see their pictures. Torn because, on one side I'm happy that they're happy, but on the other side, I'm sad for not being with them. I wish I could fly back for just a day or two and tell them all about my life in person. I wish I could go back and hug them when they need it, or have a random picnic with pb&j sandwiches in my backyard. I wish I could just talk to them and see their faces.

I've got skype, I know, but it isn't the same. But I know I'll see them again, if later rather than sooner. I just hope that whenever they see my picture pop up, they smile, and think about fond memories. I would really love that :)

So proud to be Arab.

I'll be the first to admit that this wasn't always the case, especially growing up in Chicago. However I found that the older I grew, the more appreciative I was of my amazing heritage and culture, and the more at home I felt with all things arabic.

I'm writing this article not to extol the virtues of Arab culture and lifestyle, but of Arab nationalism. We are a people criticized in so many aspects by Western culture that I believe that many arabs have begun to negatively internalize this perspective. The youth rebel against their heritage and declare themselves "modern," renouncing all ties to their homeland. This saddens me so much that I find myself emboldened to change their viewpoints. As a proud Egyptian-American I cannot but be astounded at the rich history that I have been born with, and the legacy that I must now uphold.

All this comes at a time of political and social turmoil, surmounting greatly in my home country of Egypt. With the nation's president ardently refusing to leave - a disgusting choice that leaves you questioning his humanity, indeed if he still has any - chaos ensues in the streets of Cairo and Alexandria. Egyptian people are forced to protect their families from looters, standing outside their buildings at night wielding any weapons they might possess. Building are burning and stores are being robbed, yet Egyptians everywhere still refuse to give up their right to democracy.

I am so proud to be Egyptian. I am so proud to be Arab. If it were not for the Tunisian people standing up for their own rights Egypt might have been silent for decades more. Even Yemen and Jordan have begun to see that they deserve more than dictatorship. They deserve humanity.

Regardless of what western television and film makes out an Arab to be, a true Arab is not defined by religion and social class or beards and funny accents. A true Arab knows where he comes from, and strives to achieve more for his people. A true Arab realizes that differences do not undo centuries worth of history. A true Arab supports the rise of democracy and the proclamation of Freedom, and rejects the rule of tyrants and dictators. A true Arab would support the revolution in Egypt.

Ta7ya Masr.

How Mermaids Reproduce.

Yep, this article is pure science my friends. Pure science.

Many of you have probably been wondering for years how mermaids reproduce. In this short article I shall briefly enlighten you with a whole world of knowledge of what really occurs "Under the Sea."

Firstly, we must classify Mermaids and Mermen (the male counterpart - you didn't think both genders were maids did you?) into their corresponding genus. Although they are half-fish, one can easily notice the existence of mammary glands in the form of breasts, which, along with the presence of hair, by default places them into a mammal category.

By this assumption we can deduce that mermaids give birth to live young, as do all mammals, with exception of the platypus and echinda. Mammary glands allow for mermaids to nurse their young, who are dependent on their caretakers from infancy.

Fertilization occurs much the same way as humans, except that both male and female merfolk reproductive organs are smaller, and thus less noticeable. Male genitals in particular are hidden beneath a sheath of scales, emerging only during the act of mating. Copulation allows for the transmission of genes from the merman to the mermaid, in effect impregnating the latter. Although the gestational period is under some debate, most researchers place the range of pregnancy from 9-11 months, similar to, if not a little longer, than the duration of a typical human pregnancy. Delivery is also the same process as humans, and typically takes place in more shallow waters, allowing for the greatest amount of oxygen to be available to offspring.

And there you have it.

Oh lordy, potatoes.

Sitting in the library, I can't but help crave potatoes. Like real potatoes. Oh my goodness how I love them.

Sadly, I have no cooking ability whatsoever, nor any desire to acquire any. I am too easily tempted by the fast and instant, a quality of mine that I (somewhat) jokingly blame on our generations reliance on high-speediness. But if I could cook, I would make potatoes.

Ah, potatoes. Boil 'em, mash 'em, stick 'em in a stew, as told by Samwise Gamgee, a wise hobbit indeed. I shall begin with my love of mashed potatoes, of which there is not a quantifiable number of expression. Creamy and luscious and scrumptious and amazingly smooth and wonderful, my mouth waters just thinking about them. A warm golden color, as soft as butter-filled clouds and as light as one of the Olsen twins, if mashed potatoes were real, I think I would marry them. But I would probably have an extra-marital affair with baked potatoes, topping our love off with a heavenly blanket of sour cream and parsley. Oh God.

Undaunted by unsupportive friends who make snide remarks like "It doesn't take a genius to make potatoes" (ehm-ehm DANIA), I persevere in my imaginary creation, settling for my dream potatoes than actually taking the time to make potatoes.

So I sit here, unsatisfied in a cold and potato-less library, thinking about potatoes. Where my skills may fail at cooking, my mind astounds even me with its colorful palate of potato dishes, ranging from one potato dish, to possibly even three whole dishes. A genius for serious Dania, I know.

The Best Thing in the World

Sleep.

Away from you, I dream of you.
My heart pounds just to think of you.
Pillows and beds and nice comfy nests
All speak of you, and reek of you.

Sleep, why do you evade me so?
I just want you now, so please bestow
Time and comfort and lovely long rests
Such things that I have yet to know.

My clock it rings, so noisily,
Oh God, it hurts my eyes to see
You said that you would heal all wounds,
Sleep you lie, away from me...

The sun shines bright and so clear,
So far away, you were once near,
Sleep come back to bed!
Please, just hold me dear.

I hate you sleep, you make me cry,
You tease me so, you're just too sly,
For me to grasp you in my head
My tears fall softly, I'm so deprived..

Sleep, why are you so unkind??
Just two hours please, to refresh my mind!
My heart is breaking, burning fire,
My head is screaming, time unwind!

Come back now! Can't you see?
I just want to have you for me.
Night is coming, and I am tired
Sleep can't you move more slowly?

I feel you here, right in my arms,
And in my head, you work your charms,
I love you now, forever more
Sleep, you are so... so...so.....ZZzZzzzzzzzz

Disease of the Heart

Love is an infectious disease that insists on growing and festering in random areas of your body. Your heart for example, an essential organ for the transport of oxygen through your bloodstream, is poisoned with love. It's primary function becomes secondary. Your brain, which once relied on cognitive processes and evaluations, now believes in love - and consequently obsesses itself with romantic trivialities, instead of practical applications. Your hands even, your stupid, selfish hands, begin to crave the hands of another, rather than using themselves for grip and so forth.

Once you are poisoned - that is once you are helpless to the whims of this disease - your scientific observation skills deteriorate. Your main area of focus shifts to one being in particular, with all the rest either resembling or differing from said individual to some degree. You become inadequate, feeling the incessant urge to wear silly clothing and act in culturally-deemed-appropriate norms that fit within your category of mate selection and maintenance.


Addiction, perhaps the worst aspect of your condition, is inevitable. You will want to experiences the highs of love to such an extent that it will begin to consume your thoughts, and regulate your corresponding actions. A regular day will be planned around ridiculousl love activities, in which you and your object of desire attract each other with vibrant exteriors and excessive mating calls.

You will forget all external parties outside of your relationship. Yes, you may have loved friends in the way E.Coli had loved the small intestine, but it cannot compare to the love affair of leukemia and erythrocytes. Your love festers and invades every single component of your life, so that no organ remains uninfected.

The end of love is the beginning of realization of just how sick you were to begin with, meriting a diagnosis of terminal proportions. You will experience severe withdrawal symptoms, ending with significant intangible pressure on your most diseased organ, the heart. Of course, your above symptoms will continue to be prevalent, but now that the disease has been cut off from its main provider you will be on your way to a very slow recovery. Your cognitive functioning will slowly be restored, unless of course the very realization of your stupidity requires you to save whatever minute amount of dignity you have left, and commit suicide.

A disease, my friends. I bloodthirsty, unforgiving disease.

The Art of Listening

"Analyze me." Haha, right. 

No doubt most psychology majors, myself included, have been hearing this statement since the very moment we declared ourselves into the major. Having been a psych student for two years now, I have some sense of personalities and disorders, but I am certainly not qualified to "analyze" anyone. 

I am, however, good at listening, a trait which I believe is the very foundation of being a good psychologist, family member and friend. People who listen are required to naturally exercise a certain level of tolerance, for often times the things you hear may challenge or even directly counter your own viewpoints. 

So, I practice listening. I sit at home and listen to family issues, or at AUB, where I listen to friends' issues.  I bite my tongue and control my facial emotions, because I know only the slightest unwanted reaction might hurt someone's feelings. I listen and listen, sometimes for hours in a day, until said persons are done talking. 

And then? I give. Except giving requires listening, a fact that is too often forgotten. When you give your advice or your opinions to a person, regardless of whether you believe you are right or not, you must always listen, but not just to their voice. Pay attention to body language, facial expression, even the structure of the wording. For often what is unsaid is louder than that which is said. 

How many times have you come up with a snide or ignorant remark simply because you wanted to speak? Spoken out of turn only to leave the quiet ones in your path forever quiet? Too often it is the silent ones who should be speaking. You might be surprised at what they have to say.

I find this the case in daily interactions between friends and family. We are intolerant if we cannot bend, but too liberal with our flexibility. Is there a medium? Perhaps, perhaps not. Everything is subjective. Nevertheless, there is such a thing as giving too much, or taking too much. The passive listener versus the over-active speaker. You can’t be both, but you can be an in-betweener. 

It takes effort to speak up for what you believe in, but it takes even more to listen to something you don’t.  But to truly be a good friend you must sometimes brace yourself for the things you dislike, while trying your best to do what you think is right. This thought rings true in a passage by Winston Churchill, who once said “Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.”

Pick it up.

Now AUB isn’t exactly a dirty campus, but then again we have a maintenance staff for that. What would happen if for just one day Sukleen didn’t exist? Beirut, and AUB for that matter, would turn into a pigsty. All because of litterers and lazy people who just can’t take five minutes out of their extraordinarily busy lives to walk all the way over to a garbage can. 

Lebanon is well known for its beautiful scenery - in fact most of its income comes from tourism. So why are so many Lebanese people ruining the best national treasure that they posses? Why is it so impossibly difficult to reuse, reduce and recycle? I’ll tell you why. It’s because people just don’t care. Global warming is merely a whisper to be inflicted on future generations, pollution, an inevitable concept that’s everyone else’s problem. Second-hand smoke is a myth, and those who complain are being just plain inconsiderate to the social aura of AUB. And recycling? Well, that’s for environmental freaks. One or two plastic bottles aren’t going to harm anything! 

That’s what you think. Did you know that it takes nearly 500 years for plastic to decompose? That it takes 24 trees to make only 1 ton of newspaper? That just one recycled glass bottle would save enough energy to power a computer for 25 minutes? Read people. Learn. This is our earth we’re polluting. OUR earth. So when you throw away that glass bottle you just finished, try and remember that glass that ends up in landfills NEVER decomposes. You are only ruining our greenery and polluting our land. 

Then what happens? Well firstly, our landfills would overflow. Our water sources would eventually become contaminated. Natural resources would be wasted creating new plastic and aluminum that could have easily been generated from recycled materials. Litter would diffuse everywhere, making streets and highways trash dumps. And then? Water would become scarce, which would in turn cause massive food shortages, which would then create huge amounts of starvation and even possible wars. 

But wait! Just because YOU don’t recycle doesn’t mean the world will end. Right? WRONG! You are one person in a chain of people thinking along the same line – that what they do won’t matter in the long run- a fact which is completely and utterly untrue. Millions of people choose not to recycle when they are perfectly capable of doing so. Imagine what would happen if just half of those people began to. And they encouraged their friends to, who encouraged their friends, who encouraged their friends. A chain reaction, all to promote global welfare. All for our environment.

So I ask you, students of AUB, to really, seriously, listen. Don’t just throw things on the ground because you can’t find a garbage can, because in the long run, you will only be hurting yourself. Let’s treasure the beauty of Beirut and maintain it for future generations. Let’s not be those people who think recycling is a waste of time. Let’s just listen. Please.

Homosexuality and Religion

The century old feud between homosexuality and religion has propelled countless wars and debates in a world teeming with ethical diversity. Yet Tuesday night’s lecture, entitled ‘Homosexuality and Religion,’ aimed for the contrary; a harmonious link between the two entities - a position which to many seemed a paradox in and of itself. 

Debuted by the Free Thought Society, the lecture featured SBS student Rita El-Haddad, Professor Joshua Anderson, Professor Michael Khoury, and Human Rights Activist Sam, who preferred her to leave her surname a mystery in order to keep her religious affiliation a surprise. The lecture started off by a brief introduction by philosophy student Kareem Zreik, who emphasized that the atmosphere was to be academic and professional, a reminder repeated more than once during the conference.

Rita El-Haddad then continued by stressing the very key point of the lecture, that religion and homosexuality were not necessarily contradicting, and that regardless of your religious viewpoint and affiliation, you should not discriminate toward others just because they differ from you. “What I’m asking of you is to be open-minded.” she said, “It is fine to think that homosexuality is acceptable. It is fine to think that it is unacceptable. You need to have a point of view of understanding and tolerance.”

Philosophy professor Joshua Anderson followed with his take on the subject, which was that sexuality as a whole was not the predominant aspect of religion, and therefore should not be the only thing focused on. “Who has the authority of judgement?” he asked, “especially the condemnation of others.” Professor Anderson then explained the concept of pluralism  - a condition in which there are multiple aspects of a whole, such as different religions, cultures, ethnicities, etc. Pluralism, he argued, is in every society, and in order to flourish we need to set aside our differences and tolerate other forms of beliefs and values. After all, he stated “The fundamental principles of religion are tolerance and love of others.”

Professor Michael Khoury was third to speak, and did so from a psychological viewpoint. Having worked for three years in therapy with homosexuals and bisexuals, Khoury described his experience with individuals struggling to answer one question “How can I be gay and religious?” According to Khoury many homosexual people strive for both family acceptance and religious acceptance, but often don’t end up with a so-called ‘happy ending.’

Human right’s activist Sam, exemplified Khoury’s point of view, and spoke of her struggle to admit her homosexuality both on a personal and religious level: “I went through a hard time just trying to fill my life with anything – but there was always emptiness” she said.  As a devout Christian Sam was conflicted for years till she finally reconciled her religion and sexuality, after researching Christianity and its position on homosexuality. Sam discovered that there were in fact several sects of Christianity that accepted homosexuality, and according to her, no references in the bible that clearly condemned it. “The God I knew could not hate,” she said,”He was a God of mercy and kindness.” 

The panel’s comments fueled nearly and hour’s worth of questions, composed of an audience that was apparently divided. Many of the listeners agreed with their position, and spoke of their individual struggles or their willingness to promote gay rights. Others were not as appeased. The lecture did not truly explore the boundaries of other religions, including Islam, of which many of the audience members felt was equally important. In fact there were several comments from Muslims in the audience who voiced that Islam made clear that homosexuality was forbidden, although one audience member spoke of a sect in Sufism that accepted it. In the end the lecture seemed to promote tolerance more than anything else, an important notion too often forgotten amongst religious prejudices. Rita El-Haddad particularly emphasized this, rounding off the lecture with a point that finally had the whole audience concurring: “Let’s just agree to disagree.”

The Issue with Sex

Tough topic, I know. But it’s also one that shouln’t be ignored, or excessively focused on  for that matter. I’m writing this article not to condone or judge, but to explain my point of view. 

Nowadays sex is everywhere you look – on T.V, in music,literature and possibly in almost every movie that has come out in the last 20 years. Sex has become a trivial affair, where only half a century ago it was something personal and private. 

I personally feel that today’s generation has become so overexposed to sexuality that it has lost all meaning. We have been subject to sex since elementry school, when certain words or phrases that were once taboo have now become everyday jargin.  College students, especially, are in their ‘experimental’ phase, one that often leads to unprotected sex and dissapointed one-night stands. I find abstinence to be the best course, a position often met with ‘You’re going to wait till marriage?! Didn’t you live in america for 18 years? How is that possible?!’ among other outraged exclamations.  But hey, if I’m not here to judge, why should they? It makes no difference to me whether or not people choose to have pre-marital sex – it’s their decision, not mine. Whereas my decision doesn’t affect anyone but myself, yet I am still viewed as ‘old-fashioned’ and ‘closed-minded.’ 

Why should I bend to the whims of our ‘let it all hang loose’ society? Just because sex  has become the norm doesn’t make it acceptable to those who choose to wait. Nor does it make it okay to judge those who don’t have sex, or lie about doing it just to seem ‘in.’  The opposite is true for pre-marital sex, if that is indeed your position. Individual values are different for everyone, and it is no one’s right to judge or look down upon another person’s wishes. 

On one hand, having that kind of freedom in many societies today may be a good sign of overcoming our shyness about such private matters. Nonetheless, this particular topic is a sensitive one, and people, especially with the help of the media today, are taking it too far when it comes to viewing inappropriate sexual scenes. Imagine how traumatizing this  could be for a six year old child who happens to stumble on such a scene on tv.

Although there is no hope of a modesty resurrection in the media(have you watched a Lady Gaga video lately?) it doesn’t mean that we should accept all their ideals as true. Don’t forget your morals and submit to the sex craze just because its become commonplace. 

For those of you who are undecided about whether to wait or not, don’t let peer pressure influence you. Easier said than done, I know, but this is an important issue. Choose for yourself, not to impress your friends, appease your significant other or even to fit in.