Sex Education for Young People

It's time for conservatives to face the facts. Abstinence-only sex education does not prevent teenagers from having sex. Availability of condoms does not make teenagers more likely to have sex. You are in your own little dream world if you think otherwise. Try and work with facts, instead of your own imagination.

Teaching teenagers the "facts of life" needs to include safety education. We need to teach teenagers how not to catch disease and possibly die! Hello??
"Do you understand the words that are coming out of my mouth???"

Parents, teach your children the moral code you would like to instill in them. But remember, if your children do not have the slightest idea about how to prevent themselves from a) getting pregnant, b) making someone pregnant, c) catching a sexually-transmitted disease, or d) giving a sexually-transmitted disease, you are an irresponsible parent!!

People: parents, teenagers, educators -- Listen Up! Oral sex is still sex. Anal sex is still sex. Either one of these can land you a sexually-transmitted disease. Either one of these can transmit a disease to another person. And if you are female, you have a greater chance to get a sexually-transmitted disease from your male partner, no matter if you have intercourse, oral, or anal sex, than your male partner has of getting one from you. This is the consequence of mechanics. The seminal fluid is a superior method of transmitting sexually-transmitted disease.

Back in the 70's, when I was in high school, I did not have sex. The reason was that my parents instilled in me a certain moral code, but the key is that I took to the code and made it my own. Not every child of such parents follows this code, however. But, it's important to note that had there been condoms available in the nurse's office, for example, it wouldn't have made me more likely to have sex. And, it's important to note that the lack of condoms did not prevent other students I knew from having sex. The kids who had sex, had sex, that's it. Those that got pregnant, dealt with it. Back then, AIDS was not publicly known as a risk, but there were other sexually-transmitted diseases to worry about, though none of them fatal.

The point I'm making is, be careful, be thorough, teach your children the whole story, and then give them respect and trust to do the right thing. If you don't, and your only sex education exists of telling them "don't!", you are being irresponsible, plain and simply.

Finding the Root Cause of Violence

Amid, among other things, school shootings and workplace violence, I feel it's important for us to try to figure out the root cause of these tragedies. It's time to stop relying on Band-Aids and punishments.

Don't you think that we ought to try and help people who are sad and angry before they end up doing something terrible? Don't you think we should spend more time nurturing our children and young adults? Don't you think it would be a good idea to intervene instead of saying "it's none of my business"?

Sure, you can take away all the guns, and that may decrease tragedies that include shootings, but if a person is sad and angry and feeling hopeless about things, he or she is going to find another way to act out, to make his or her feelings known, to say something on a grand scale.

Let's work to stop the violence by nurturing and helping people who are at risk. Let's care about one another. Let's practice compassion and empathy.
We have everything to gain and nothing to lose.