Wise Monkey News is here to provide young people an opportunity to discuss the issues that affect their lives. We hope that, through your participation, this website serves as a forum for the development, exchange, and expression of ideas that will prepare us to assume our positions as the leaders of tomorrow's world. Have something to say?
The Death Penalty is state sponsored murder
by: Kawai Washburn - printed on 03-06-2002
What is justice?
Stop and think about it for a second, because it's a difficult question to answer. Often, what may seem fair, right and just to one person is nothing of the sort to another person. What is the appropriate response to a crime? Indentured slave labor in barren wastelands has been tried. Solitary confinement in a sensory deprivation cell is another alternative. Then, of course, there is always the option of just killing the criminal.
Americans packin' heat
by: Jason Talbot - printed on 04-24-2002
Dear Uncle Sam: I am writing in regards to the war being fought against terrorism. My wish is for you, the federal government, to let me help protect our country from other acts of hatred. The protection I need may only be secured through armament. For this reason, each and every American citizen should be sent a gun through the mail as soon as possible. That's right, the American public needs to pack some heat.
Seeds of mass destruction in slow motion
by: Mono Vergara - printed on 11-07-2001
I was thinking about the hundred of miles that I have walked freely. I thought about people playing in the fields on a sunny evening. I thought about a Cambodian kid chasing his dog after they went fishing. But suddenly I heard an explosion; the innocent child?s life is over. As another seed of death explodes, another life is taken.
According to the Red Cross, 26,000 people are either killed or injured by Anti Personal [AP] land mines every year.
The “Good Life”
by: Heather Burns - printed on 01-31-2001
“Where are you from?” People often ask me.
“I’m from here, Oregon.” I answer. It’s part of the truth.
It’s too difficult, most of the time, to explain that part of me is from Africa. I’m white and don’t have any sort of “strange” accent so I can usually pass for a typical US American (if such a thing exists). But, the truth is that I spent six years of my life before the age of 18 in Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast), West Africa.
Snap-shot goes unnoticed
by: Megan Molenda - printed on 11-28-2001
While talking with an aspiring middle-aged photographer, I learned the secret to becoming successful within that field -- if one is indeed aspiring towards the kind of success in which he or she would receive genuine recognition from others.
If you are among the many who simply see something beautiful and capture it on film, then you may be complimented with a brief expresion of admiration from others, but chances are that the feeling will quickly pass and the work will soon be forgotten.
Living a life of nonviolence
by: Karen Shea - printed on 02-28-2001
Before he was brutally assassinated, Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador said: “Peace is not the product of terror or fear. Peace is not the silence of cemeteries. Peace is not the silent result of violent repression. Peace is the generous, tranquil contribution of all to the good of all. Peace is dynamism. Peace is generosity. It is right and it is duty.”
It is in this spirit that I have dedicated myself to living a life of nonviolence.