Casting The First Stone

What would you say if someone said, “Because of your sin, you have this disability.” I read a twitter message about this over the weekend and it shocked me that someone would say such a thing to another person. According to this person, who was making a judgment and casting the first stone, those...

Super Bowl Of Self-Esteem For Teens

So we have the spotlight on the big dance in Florida, the Super Bowl. People all around the world are watching. If you were on the field, could you imagine all eyes on you? That is what a lot of teens feel when they walk through the doors of their school. Guess what? When you feel good about yourself,...

Self Esteem Major Cause Of Teen Suicide

The heading actually says a lot. Growing up with a disability and being mainstreamed in 4th grade I found out first hand what happens when you mix a lot of different people in a building and forget to tell them about the many differences people have. Unfortunately, there is a big trend of not explaining...

By The Numbers-Teen Suicide

The following is just a quick glance at a few numbers. I myself am not big into stats. I like to look past them and find the solution to these troubling stats. Why these numbers are important is that they are rising. They are also important because many may not realize that a large number of these teens have...

Being In The Now, This Moment

A lot is made of the American holiday of Thanksgiving. But is it just one event, one day to really appreciate what we have? To really understand that choices we make have an impact on others as well? For 23 years, Ron Houben spent only talking to himself in his mind. The world around him thought he was in a...

Different, But The Same

Writer’s Note: Offering another perspective, Travis, 15, written in 1998. I was a lonely little kid. It seemed like my parents really didn’t care for me. My family wasn’t like yours. Mine was a bunch of little kids, me being the oldest. My Uncle Rick was just like my real older brother,...

Enabled

What if…it were that easy. Accommodations are not costly, nor hard to obtain, nor a bother. Enabling one, brings them in ten fold. Couldn’t your bottom line use a multiplication table like...

Depression: “Snap Out Of It”

We call them the “blues”, times when we feel down, get headaches or have trouble sleeping. These feelings probably come from some stress at work or at home. But these feelings and little aches and pains go away, and soon we feel good again. With a depressive illness those feelings will be much...

Everything Is Possible

On September 17, 1994, Miss America was crowned in Atlantic City. Heather Whitestone, a 21 year old Birmingham native, was the only contestant to win two preliminary competitions in the swimsuit and talent categories. She held the judges and audience in awe with her talent routine, a 2 1/2 minute ballet...