Blog 1 (1-30-12)

Completely Random!!!! Thoughts on article from Yahoo! News:

Today I read an article about a teenager who was suspended from school for growing out his hair. The Madison Academy in Burton has a policy that boys hair must be neat and clean, and the school claims to have suspended him for the style, and not the length. This seventeen year old boy, J.T, was growing out his hair for Lox of Love. Lox of Love is an organization that requires someone to have at least ten inches of hair, and that hair is then donated to people who have lost hair or don't have hair for various reasons. J.T has suffered with cancer since he was just one years old, and he has recently watched his best friend's sister be diagnosed with cancer. J.T. is only at two inches of hair right now, and despite his suspension and ignoring people who disagree with him, he is still growing his hair. He feels that he was lucky to survive cancer and now has the ability to grow hair, and he now wants to give back to others. Instead of fighting back against the schools rules, J.T. created a petition that requested for the school to be able to alter the policies and let kids grow their hair for Lox of Love. He was not suggesting to completely abolish the rules, rather he promoted an idea that would only have positive affects. J.T. goes on to say that, ""I'm fine with all of their rules," Gaskins said. "I just think that with this, they could try to make a compromise." With the support of his family, J.T. has continued to battle both physically and emotionally. While J.T. got suspended from school, the Lox of Love association told J.T. that they appreciate his efforts, but they think school is more important. So, J.T's instinct is to help the association and grow his hair despite what his school is telling him, meanwhile the association is telling him to go back to school. Luckily J.T. has a supporting and loving family, because J.T. is definitely going through some hardships and is being told several different things. I think we need more people like J.T. in the world; people who suffer from something so hard, and then are selfless and benevolent and work to give back to others. Many adolescents in J.T's situation would get suspended from school, their parents would make them cut their hair so they could immediately return to school, and then they would be back in school and do nothing further about it. On the other hand, J.T. kept his hair, had support and believers, proposed a compromise for his school and suggested a brilliant idea in order to make the change he wanted to see, and ultimately he voiced his opinion. We need more up-standers than bystanders, and we need more people who do good just for the sake of doing something good and not expecting anything in return. J.T. was doing what he was doing for himself and in order to help others, and he was not wanting money or attention in return. Like people say that when you do something bad, karma will happen, something bad will happen to you in return. Well, I believe that when you do something good, the positive affects the vibes you are giving off will spread/influence the world to do more good.