Blessed.

Well its never to late to tell people you feel blessed despite the fact that Thanksgiving just passed, but being blessed might not be quite the same as being thankful.

I read three newspapers today: 24 hours, Metro Edmonton and U of A's Gateway. Its become a daily routine when I get my hands on a newspaper and it makes me feel "in" with the world and don't have a "ah-ha" moment when I find out a news item that was way too long ago for my memory or just the fact that I didn't keep up with the world around me. But usually I just read the Metro.

So today I read 24Hrs and the news item that stuck out to me was about U of A's Frat and their hazing video aka their admission To Dos. I heard about it earlier this morning on the radio but didn't catch the University's name. Basically they force freshmans(or other potential males) who have no clue what they are getting themselves into except for the fact that joining a Fraternity is all fun and games (drinking parties included), to do a series of things over a weekend that is not plain Jane. A weekend of stuffing themselves so full that they puke and as a result having to eat their vomit while being high from the amount of alcohol they are "encouraged" to drink. Not only this but having to run on one half hour and five 15 minute intervals of sleep in 72HOURS all the while being forced to do extraneous workouts while being mentally tormented by "Frat brothers" whom they want to become. Once the Pledges started this weekend long mayhem, you HAVE TO finish the course of the weekend and expect this: everyone is told they didn't make it into the club (which is a lie they tell everyone at first to mess with their minds after all they had done to TRY to be accepted). Reading this and knowing that these male victims were not allowed to tell anyone of what happened because of some "Bro-code" makes me sick to the stomach. The only reason that I'm not about to puke myself is for the fact of those alumni Frats that finally spoke up AFTER this video was released to U of A's Gateway.

So what does this have to do with me feeling blessed? Blessed that I'm a girl and I didn't choose to join a Sorority? No, both Frats and Sororities in the past have had these hazing allegations and this is not why I feel blessed. As I read other news items in the newspapers, there are students rioting in the streets of Athens for their educational rights, and yet these boys have nothing better to do than repeat history done to them. Young protesters in Paris standing up for elderly rights, natural disasters, "intended bomb that killed nine", "life sentence for a military commander that sexually assaulted and murdered two innocent females as well as more than a handful of disturbing acts" and so on.

I feel blessed to be alive. I'm glad that what I read everyday in the newspaper doesn't have to do with me(but it does affect me) or is about me. There is so much going on everyday and I really like how they named themselves "24HR Newspapers". There is only so much you can do in a day and yet SO much CAN happen in 24hours. So much crime, so much disasters, or so many that take their life for granted and intentionally do such unfair and immoral acts to others when they could do so much more for the world.

I just have to Thank the Lord for giving me His blessings in the past 24hours and more.

So much more then 24 hours.