Inclusion speech at local school board meeting

Hello. It's a pleasure to be here tonight. My name's Ivy Kennedy. I live here now but grew up in Williamsburg James-City County. I was included in class with my non-disabled peers Kindergarten through 12th grade. I had an assistant write for me and handle my books in class. I graduated with a regular diploma.

I believe if you're included in school, you will stay included throughout life. Inclusion is not impossible. I am proof.

Many of my friends with disabilities have told me they were not challenged in Special Ed. To quote they were given, “Busy work”. The bar of expectation needs to be raised for students with disabilities. All children in public schools deserve a quality education. I believe by including kids with disabilities it will benefit all kids.

Schools are mirrors of our community. By not including students with disabilities you are saying it's ok to segregate. This has to end. We as a society can do better.

The disability employment rate is horrible and will remain horrible until students with disabilities are included with their peers in school.

I had lots friends in school. I'm sure that I would not have had as nearly as many of them if I had been kept in a Special Ed classroom. Friends are the most important in life if you ask me and by keeping children in Special Ed you are depriving them of that gift. Young kids are so opened minded. If you start inclusion young bonds will develop. These bonds will protect kids from bullying and build a strong community.

I realize every child is different. I believe we have the brain power to be creative so every child can be included in the classroom. In the inclusion process adults will be challenged to give their best and that effort will positively benefit every child in the school.

People with disabilities have been around since the beginning of man. It's way pass time to stop segregating them. …..and it starts with our children.

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on 6/21/11 I went back to the school board.

I spoke at the last meeting on my experience with inclusion. I'll read a condensed version of what a few of my peers had to say about sharing the classroom with me. I have left their comments in their entirety with the clerk.

Joseph - If it wasn't for "Inclusion", I would not have had the chance to meet and work with such a wonderful person. Ivy was not the only person that had a disability or mental challenge that I attended classes with. It is amazing how well she got along with her fellow students, what she had learned and with her disability.

Joshua - I know having you in my life has affected the way I've treated disabled folks up to this point in life, and will for the rest of my life.

Danita - You showed and continue to show me a life full of friends, activities, education! Now as a parent of a child with a disability I look at (Ivy) as an example of how full my own disabled daughter's life can be.

Katie - Having you in class was beneficial to me, in that I did not look at you as being different from my other peers, which in turn, helped to mold my opinion of disabled people that I would meet later in life. You were part of the class, while you might have had different learning obstacles than I did, so did a lot of people in class.

Shannon - As I was growing up, I've always let what people say about my differences shadow my confidence. I am so glad that Ivy and I shared a couple of classes, lunch tables and graduated together. She has shown me that no matter what our differences, we can take the opportunities we've had and make them blossom in our own way.

Brandie – Others.... mainly adults viewed her as having a disability but not us! Being friends taught me life skills that not even the best college could have taught me … to have compassion and not turn a blind eye to those with a disability.

Stephanie - Just because people are in a wheelchair or are different doesn't mean they aren't awesome people. In fact most of these folks just as Ivy taught me are way cooler and more awesome than most other folks!

Christopher - No mater how bad of a day I had, seeing Ivy smile and the way she tackled life. Always made my day better.

Bertelle - (because of Ivy) I was inspired me to go into the career field of Rec. Therapy. My favorite part of that job is showing others with disabilities that they can do anything they want if they put their mind to it, just like (Ivy) showed me.

Billy - (Her disability) was no big deal to her...always positive. That positivity transcended through me and the rest of my classmates in ways immeasurable. She essentially provided me with the social gift of equality that I now use on a daily basis as an adult.

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Mock Testimony at the Virginia State Capitol

Hello. My name is Ivy Kennedy. I live in ***. I have lived in *** all my life. Although I've been told numerous times that I look like I'm in my 20's I graduated High School in 1997. (that was supposed to be a joke) I went to K thru 12 grade with my non disabled peers. So I feel I'm a living testimony for how positive inclusion can be in school. I would also like to say after a graduated I felt like I was basically forgotten about. I was lumped in with all the other disabled kids at a vocational school were there there was no hope of earning a regular degree. You need a degree to be able to be taken seriously. If kids with disabilities are included when they're young, they'll stay included all their lives which will ultimately lead to a change in the disability employment rate.

The biggest barrier facing people with disabilities is not something you can touch. Can you guess what it is? It's people's attitude towards disability. I hope we can all agree that kids are more open minded than adults. I feel that you can't necessarily teach someone how to feel towards one another, but by teaching about the history of a group, it will lead to compassion and understanding. Virginia has a resolution designating the month of October as disability history and awareness month. Now this was made in 2009... I don't know what or if any other schools are doing anything to promote this, but I tried to get the **** School Board interested a few years ago. There is curriculum publish online for teaching disability history and awareness. Teaching this important subject is the first step to breaking stereotypes about people with disabilities.

Lastly, I'd like to share with you about something I'm sure you've heard about before. It has to do with Virginia's budget and institutions for people with disabilities. It's a fact that is cheaper to care for someone in their home. It is a fact 13 states across the country have closed their institutions for people with disabilities. It is a fact that the Olmstead Decision by the Supreme Court declared people with disabilities have the right to live in their community.

On a personal note, it makes me angry that my personal aides pay is being shared with the institutions. If there were no institutions, my aides could be paid more. That would result in me having more freedom and being able to get a job (pause) AND giving back to Virginia's economy.... because better pay would mean less turn over and better quality aides.

Thank you for listening.

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A few of my favorite parts of Kathie Snow's book Disability is Natural

I met Kathie Snow at my last Partners in Policymaking class.
When I asked her to sign my copy of her book this is what I said to her:

"Your book was validating and infuriating at the same time."
She knew exactly what I meant.
"You had to live through that didn't you?"
"Yes, and I like to read books to escape what you wrote about, not the opposite!"
We both smiled.

Her book is basically what (by my mid 20's) I got tired of trying to tell/show/prove to people.
It's not me, it's you with the problem!
you=society
I'd recommend this book to anybody. I mean everybody. I also suggest you ask your public library to order a copy, so even more people can read it.
I'd like to share a few of my favorite passages. Actually there's many parts I love, but i'll just share a some.

Snow, Kathie. Disability Is Natural: Revolutionary Common Sense for Raising Successful Children With Disabilities. Woodland Park, CO:BraveHeart Press, 2005

http://www.amazon.com/Disability-Natural-Revolutionary-Successful-Disabilities/dp/0970763662

http://www.disabilityisnatural.com/



“There have always been people with disabilities in the world and there will always be. One of every five Americans is a person with a disability. People with disabilities make up the largest minority group in the United States, and it’s the only group that anyone can join at anytime—like in the split of the second of birth, in an accident or through an illness. It’s the most inclusive minority group; disability does not discriminate! People of both genders, and from any age group, ethnic background, socioeconomic level, religious faith, and sexual orientation may experience disability. And the incidence of disability is on the increase, because of advances of medical technology. Not too many years ago, premature babies often died shortly after birth. Today, they survive, but may have disabilities. Once upon a time, many children and adults died from accidental injuries or serious illness; today they live, but with a disability. And many of us will live to a ripe old age but with some type of disability. Contrary to Conventional Wisdom, it’s as natural or normal to have a disability as it is to not have one.”


“I found that there were only two categories of people that no one was willing to trade places with for a day: inmates and people with disabilities.

A brief discussion with participants reveals why they feel this way: it's not know you've committed a crime or the presence of a disability (having to use a wheelchair, for example) that makes people reluctant to trade places with those two groups of people. The overriding factor is the environment. Where and how these groups of people spend their time! So I wrap up that part of my presentation by asking conference participants to do whatever it takes – to create change – so they would be willing to trade places with an adult or a child with a disability for one day.”


“More progress has been made in disability issues in the Untied States in the last fifty years than in hundreds of previous years. We have more laws, programs, entitlements, and services than ever before. Yet individuals with disabilities are still excluded, segregated, marginalized, and devalued. How can this be? Because we can't legislate attitudes or ethical behavior.

There is no doubt that – as Ed Roberts believed – old attitudes and paternalistic authority constitute the greatest barriers facing people with disabilities, including your child and mine. Until attitudes and perceptions change, little progress will be made toward the inclusion of people with disabilities in all areas of society.”


Kathie Snow quotes Joyce Rebeta-Burditt:
“Do you know what it's like to feel wrong 24-hours a day? Do you know what it's like to be disapproved of, not only for what you do and say and think, but for who you are?


I'll paraphrase the rest:
Get your child the Assistive Technology he or she needs now.
If you think your child practices enough with a walker one day they'll walk, you're wrong. If they are struggling YOU need to get over it. Your kid needs a power chair.
If you child can't talk getting a communication device will not prolong them from talking. Every human being needs to communicate.
While i understand why parents hope for a healthy baby, the way it's expressed could be sending the wrong message from the start without even realizing it. "Oh, I just want my baby to be healthy!" Of course you do, but will you love your baby any less if it has a disability? (I hope the answer is No) I'm sure I was considered a sick baby, but I turned out wonderfully. Didn't I?
The chapter on education is my favorite in the book! To sum it up, if the disability employment rate hasn't improved after all these years then the way we are educating children with disabilities is wrong. Inclusion in schools, leads to inclusion throughout life!

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Invisible or on a pedestal?

Every young adult at one time or another is hit hard with reality. “Oh, this what the real word is like.” I believe my early twenties where painfully enlightening somewhat due to the pedestal people had put me on since the day I was born. In my twenties, all of a sudden, this pedestal became shaky and crumbled. Reality hit me extra hard.

While I understand why the pedestal existed, it had an adverse effect. The so-called professionals raved about my smarts. They told my parents that I could achieve anything. For a short time I was given the support to shoot for my dreams, so understandably I got a big ego. I was told and shown I could do anything. Soon I forgot I was disabled. Maybe I also tricked myself into thinking I wasn’t disabled in order to fit in better with my non-disabled classmates. Whatever the case when I grew up, the real world wasted no time letting me know I was disabled.

I didn’t notice this all as an adult, but everybody seemed to personally know me. Every teacher and every child in my school knew of me and knew my name. When I was motoring down the hallway in my first power chair, every kid i passed would wave and say, “ Hi.” There I was, on the Elementary School pedestal. I was the one mainstream kid in a chair, so of course they would know of me.

When I wasn’t in the power chair I was in my oversized stroller. I remember being aware that when a few years went by, the stroller (with me in it) wouldn’t be cute anymore. When I grew too large for the stroller people would really KNOW I was disabled for sure. Yikes.

This novelty of a cute kid with a disability got all sorts of attention but at a cost too. It pumped up the pedestal so high that it was a hell of a fall off of it in my early twenties.
I’m glad I wasn’t ignored as a kid but I’m trying to convey what it was like when I met the real word.

After twenty years of being on that bright comfy pedestal in a blink of in eye I was invisible. Sure all kids experience a version of that going out on their own. But do they ever feel totally invisible? I sure did. There were no more big happy entrances, no more automatic special accommodations, no more special anything. I didn’t ever expect things to be handed over easy; though you have to imagine this was a rude awakening for me. “Hello world!’ The world slams the door in my face. The pedestal is gone.

Secondly, because I had been raved about in school, I thought I was super smart. Also it seems when people do finally see past my disability and can tell I have a lick of sense, they get all excited about it. “ Oh, she IS smart,” they say. After years of receiving that reaction, I began to think I was some sort of genius. The pedestal strikes again! Truth is I’m just an average Jane. (Knowledge wise, because there’s nothing else average about me!)

These days, the pedestal is pretty much nonexistent, but it does reappear from time to time. For the most part I’m glad it’s gone because it did no favors for my self image. All it caused was confusion. One moment I was on the pedestal, next moment I was invisible.

Instead of telling children and children with disabilties that they are special, tell them they're different and it’s ok to be different. There is room in the world for different.



P.S. This blog was somewhat inspired after I saw Gavin Rossdale live. http://www.ivykennedy.com/concerts/gavin.htm


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Articles:
We're Not Here for Your Inspiration

We expected better from Oscar Pistorius because he’s disabled. We were wrong.

The Best Compliment Is No Compliment at All



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3.3.13


It's all or nothing. No happy medium. No true inclusion. Either you're in the spotlight or ignored.

When a video or picture of a person/kid with a disability becomes popular….

Parents are tricky when it comes to this subject. I think it's fine to be proud of our kid with a disability. when a picture or video gets out in cyberspace there's no telling how it's going to be used and how it's going to be perceived. So maybe it goes from a proud parent to some token kid with a disability being objectified. Not good.

When a video or picture of a person/kid with a disability becomes popular, and is everywhere it really bugs me. I can't explain why in one sentence.
One reason may be why is because people with disabilities still are so segregated and not seen (literally) and kids with disabilities still are fighting tooth and nail to be educated ..... then to see the same pic/vid pop up in my face again and again, and even if it's celebrating a good moment, the fact that it's so popular, is the public forgetting what barriers that person faces or just do they not know because all they are seeing is this ONE moment?
I'd hate the best moment of that persons life be that video or picture. "Oh wow, this is totally awesome. Look how many views I got!"

Have you ever heard of "inspiration porn"? It's stories/blogs/video about people with disabilities that the general public goes bezirk for. They eat it up, and want more, more, more. The media feeds it too. That token person with a disability, doing something totally ordinary that gives the public warm and fuzzies.

I think in a small way feeding frenzies like these only segregates people with disabilities even more. Points us out from the herd, put us on a pedestal that very uncomfortable.
Yes, I think in the long run the outcome of this type thing is negative.

Let's celebrate everybody's accomplishments, not just focus on the person that is "overcoming". Because disability is natural, there is no overcoming, there's only living with it. Not achieving in spite of disability, but BECAUSE of it.




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Employment and Disability

I feel a little silly writing about this subject. A line I heard at my few job interviews, applies to this. ‘I have little to no experience.’ I have no degree. I’ve only had a short internship which was many moons ago, yet I’m writing this blog.

There’re many factors that contribute to the continually low disability employment rate. I will list a few of them. This is my opinion. I may be wrong, I may be right. That’s what a blog is, an opinion.


Lack of access to higher education for people with disabilities

Some people with disabilities may need an aide to write etc for them in class. When I was in K-12 the public school system provided an aide. When I graduated, I had to find my own aides while programs like the VR Pas and the CD Pas paid them via the state. Hiring and keeping an aide even for home care is difficult. I can’t imagine managing an aide for college.
Click Here to read my experiences with personal aides.

Sure, you can earn degrees online. But if I were an employer I wouldn’t want to hire a person coming off as a recluse that has had no interaction with people and no set schedules.
Vocational schools for people with disabilities should offer degrees.
I went to one of these schools that provided me housing and personal care but all I earned for my drafting class was a certificate. This was a state run facility, so that somewhat explains it.
How about offering to the students that can and do want to go to college, work out a tuition program? Students can be housed there and receive the care they need, plus earn a college degree by either hiring accredited teachers onsite, or providing transportation to a nearby college. Vocational schools for people with disabilities may be already doing this I’m not sure.


Acceptance in the workplace

I’m going to make a bold assumption here: Most people are uncomfortable around people with disabilities. It’s one thing to have access to the outside world via the ADA, it’s a completely different thing to be chosen to come into a company to get a job done.

The invisible barriers of awkwardness towards people with disabilities need to come down. Now there’s an interview policy that prevents an interviewer to ask about a disability. Questions can only be asked that verify if the job can be executed in relation to a persons disability. You cannot ask questions about the disability outside of the needs of the job. While I understand that focuses the attention on the job itself and off the disability, I can’t help but wonder if that’s not enough to relieve the awkward feeling.

DRS (Dept of Rehabilitative Services) was in charge of my time in the vocational school and finding me job interviews. They also helped me find funding for Assistive Technology to use on computers. They did a great job until it was time to help find me a job. A few things stand out to me as I look back on it.
It was silly to be promoting somebody without a degree. They saw how smart I was, why not help me go to college to get that degree? When I say help, I mean point me in the right direction of other resources that can help. I don’t mean I expected them to do it for me.
I feel DRS wasted a lot of time job-hunting on my behalf. It was clear employers were less than thrilled when they heard about me. That being said, I think a large division of DRS should focus on Disability Awareness Training for businesses. DRS could come up with a workshop that alleviates the awkwardness the abled-bodied community has towards the disabled community. Knowledge is the antidote to fear of the unknown. I also believe Disabled History and Rights should be taught in schools so future generations can be more open-minded about hiring people with disabilities.


Getting the job done

I feel I’m the same as everybody else and should be given a fair chance. At the same time, I also know I am different. I may do things different than others, and I may take more time than others.
So is it really fair for employers to bend their expectations for me? No. Time is money, money is time.
But if I can do the job on time, then what is the fuss?
I believe employers have a hard time seeing pass people with disabilities transportation schedule, modified workplace, attendants, etc to gauge how well the job will get done. I don’t blame them, it’s a huge leap of faith on their part.
Businesses and for the most part people like their routine. Any change or disruption causes anxiety. Some people with disabilities need modified workplaces, modified work schedules, etc. At worse, some employers must feel hiring a person with a disability detrimental to the health of their company. A glitch in a well oiled machine.
Flexibility goes a long way with hiring people with disabilities. Often I would guess, these so-called glitches would work themselves out in a short period of time. Still the fear of the unknown is there for the employer on the interview.


Actively finding work for people with disabilities

Certainty everybody with a disability can contribute. But why are the Disabled Community continually held to the same standards as the abled-bodied population, when they’re different? Can an employee with a disability accomplish the same job as an abled-bodied employee? The answer is yes at times, but other times it’s no. So why can’t jobs be created for only people with disabilities? I suppose that is very similar to Affirmative Action, which has its good points and bad.

Why can’t the government take a more active role in the high disability unemployment rate? There’re people with disabilities that are using the government’s money to survive who would rather be working. So I would think the government would want to step in more forcibly to save money and see that businesses hire people with disabilities. Wouldn’t tax payers pay less if more people with disabilities worked?

Some hear that and think ‘oh no, a government takeover!’ I do agree the government is overwhelmed as it is and doesn’t need more burdens. I also believe, the high disability unemployment rate is very similar to the 60’s when government stepped in to see that African Americans were ingratiated into public schools. Do you still see the military escorting African American kids to school? No. Very quickly the public schools in the south caught on and obeyed the law.


I don’t like to end my blog like that, because I know some people will see the word ‘government’ and freak out.
The disability employment rate has never risen...as far as I know...so I ask people what ideas do they have?


Click Here to read more of my views on this topic. I've also posted useful employment links there.

Other factors that contribute to the disability unemployment rate are explored in a report by the UCP: The State of Disability in America (pg.36) HERE

Honesty and the Disabled Community

Meanness, tolerance, honesty and the reality show era.

I’ve been watching Britain’s Top Missing Model. It is a search for a fashion model with a disability. When my mom’s in the room, she can’t believe how mean they are to the women. My first response was this is a competition, the Disabled Community wants to be treated real. But as I watched week after week my stance was this was reality TV. Reality TV is mean across the board. These girls had to have known that, yet they signed up anyways.

I think TV got mean thanks to Seinfeld. I remember watching back then and being shocked. Now I’m so accustomed to it, I deny it when my mother points it out to me.

As far as the reality TV craze goes, I’ve only watched the first season of Survivor. I might watch bits and pieces of a reality show, but I’m never intrigued enough to watch the whole season. Maybe subconsciously all that meanness turns me off?

I have however really gotten into The Biggest Loser. I was surprised to find myself watching it every week. So I started thinking about why I liked it. I was far from being overweight, I knew nobody on the show. What was it? My guy Brian, a big Survivor fan pointed it out to me.
You like that show because they aren’t mean to each other.

I’ll be damn, he was right. The gym coaches may sound mean, but it’s because they want to see that person become healthy. When it comes down to voting people off, it seems people genuinely don’t want them to leave.

These reality shows pride themselves on being honest. Contestants will run their mouth off behind somebody’s back, or even more often, in their face.
Oh I’m just being honest!
Sure it makes for good TV but at this rate after years and years of reality shows, the behavior probably is sinking into all of us by now.

With no boundaries set, are people becoming meaner to one another?
I’m not saying this TVs fault. But how did we get from being kind to our neighbors to this?
Mom blames the Baby Boomer generation. They wanted freedom, no rules, don’t let the man tell you what to do. etc., so they raised their kids like that too.

So now present day: My disability advocacy group is trying to get disability rights and awareness taught in schools.

A few people I’ve come across on chat boards make it seem teaching tolerance is the same as teaching religion in schools.
I can teach my kid that at home.
Well obviously you’re not. Bullying has grown out of control. Teachers don’t want to step in. They're most likely scared of the kids getting physical. Or think think it's not their problem, they're there to teach.
The buck stops where? I want to know.

Where have the boundaries gone? Is there a correct way to treat a person anymore?
There is a difference between being honest and being mean isn’t there?

The disabled community wants to be treated fairly. This means being honest. People are afraid to be honest towards people with disabilities. One reason it makes it so hard to be honest towards people with disabilities, is the abled-bodied population knows NOTHING about the Disabled Community. This has to end if the disabled community wants to reach the goal of equality.
(although, I expect to be given my rights, with no understanding of my disability)

Spoiler alert...
Ex. In Britain’s Top Missing Model the girl that got voted of this week was displaying a bit too much sexual flirtation with one of the male judges. She had a brain injury. I’ve been in rehabs and have noticed that these people tend to have sexually inappropriate behavior. I’m no expert, so I couldn’t explain why that is but it’s definitely a characteristic.
Did the judge take this into consideration? No, because he did not know enough about her disability.
The girls are in the show BECAUSE of their disabilities, but when it’s time to vote it could be because of their disability that they get thrown off. (it’s interesting to me)

The judge was only being honest. That behavior isn’t professional, she couldn’t act like that if she was a real model. But it seemed to me her disability caused that behavior.
She was told plenty times to stop being so flirtatious during the series. She was warned. So I think the judge made the right decision.
A fight broke out between both male judges. The other thought he was being too hard on her. I felt he was only being honest.

It’s a strange phenomenon. How all of us can tackle the problem, I’m not sure.

Where how does the Disabled Community fit in, in today’s world of brutal honesty and low tolerance?
And
Why are the Disabled Community continually held to the same standards as the abled-bodied population, when we are different? Is there room for 'different' in Society?


UPDATE: 12/7/10
BBCamerica just finished airing the series. The girl that won was given the chance to be picked by a major modeling agency. During the decision to take her on, two things stuck out to me. (Her disability was that she was missing part of her arm) I heard a comment like; if she was abled-bodied and came off the street asking us to represent her I don’t think we would.
They ended up signing her.
Now why did they? According to that comment I thought for sure they wouldn’t pick her up.
I heard another comment; we’ll give her a chance.
Why don’t more employers have that attitude? Or was it because they were on TV and didn’t want to look bad?

If women ruled the world

I feel most women will stab another woman in the back in second. Women get in each other’s way before we’ll help each other. That’s the main reason I think women haven’t taken control of the modern world.

It’s a different atmosphere in a room full of women. I find myself on alert or uptight if I’m surrounded by other women. As if they might use anything I do and say against me at some point later down the road. (I feel like that because I’ve experienced or saw a ‘back stabbing’)
I find am able to be myself in a room full of guys though.
But maybe that’s just me.
I just feel like guys couldn’t careless and that takes the pressure off.

Yes, men can also betray but women will do it on a more personal level.
Some women are very critical of other women to the point of being counter productive to the women’s movement.

However, at times it seems like the women’s movement in the Sixties never happened at all.
There's still a stereotype that women need to be married with children to be fulfilled.
Can women have it all? Can she be wife, mother and have a career? Some women say yes and appear to be great at it. In my opinion, there are not enough hours in the day and one of the three will be neglected.
There's no pressure on men to be best at all three simultaneously. It's a double standard that I think will never change.

Another reason women may not rule is because men are physically stronger than women. It definitely started out that way in the caveman days and it was built upon throughout the years. But we've slowly seen a change in females/society in our modern world.

I think women do have some ‘softer’ qualities to mooze people in any environment. Or manipulate, whatever you want to call it.
Women’s problem solving skills are different than men. When making decisions, some men tend to live in the moment, whereas women think about the future. That’s one example of why I think women’s problem solving skills are better.

Men see things more black and white or cut and dry. When they have an argument it seems they really do put it behind them and move on. When the ladies argue it's all different shades of emotion being felt. Some ladies are grudge holders and let old issues color their judgment.

So, if women ruled the planet would it be better?
I dunno, given what I’ve said I’m not sure but it would definitely be different.

I do think if women ruled we would war just as much as we do now. The wars may be conducted differently or be about different issues than what we war about now.

I disagree with people who say men and women aren’t different. We are WAY different...the way we communicate, problem solve, grieve. But I believe men and women are different because we’re supposed to balance one another out. On the other hand, it’s aggravating as hell sometimes to live together because we’re so different. (I say from personal experience. Hehehe.) I don’t understand how anybody who has been in a long-term relationship can say the sexes are the same.

Would we have peace if women controlled the planet?
I think we all want peace, but when push comes to shove it’s extremely difficult to achieve and maintain. Every species wars, we just have guns and bombs. The warring gene or whatever you want to call it, is in every creature’s make up on the planet. We, the most evolved species has the will to fight the warring urge and problem solve in a non-violent way. Do we do overcome the urge? Yes, but not nearly enough.

ARTICLE: Think like a man -- and reap the rewards HERE

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