Money, Money, Money

“Money is the root of all evil (1 Timothy 6:10). I honestly agree! There is nothing in my life that causes more problems than money, whether it be earning it, spending it, or not having enough of it. Right now, the most frustrating part is trying to earn enough of it to pay all the bills that are coming up. Somehow, I need to find the money to pay for school in the fall, and so I’ve gotten myself two jobs, hoping to work 60 hours a week. Both jobs cut back my hours, so now I only work about 35 hours a week, which is not enough. So I applied for scholarships and grants, but nothing is working out there either. Now I have to get two different types of loans in order to get the money I need to pay for my last year of school. Until now, I have been debt free, but that won’t last beyond this summer, unfortunately.

Sometimes I wish I had more of it, but then I wonder what I would do with more money. First, of course, I would pay for school and finish that off, but after that, I would probably spend an excessive amount on expanding my already too large wardrobe. I love getting new clothes, and designing new outfits from the fun things in my closet. If I had more money, I’d get more shoes, and finally own that pair of red high heels that would complete so many of my favorite outfits. I’d get my nails done; French manicures every couple of weeks. I’d get a car, so that I no longer have to cruise around in my parents’ minivan. I’d go to Europe, and spend a summer there, seeing everything I could, learning all the history, taking a million pictures, and having the time of my life! Its fun to think of all the things I could do or buy, and all the places I could go, if only money wasn't an obstacle!...But money is an obstacle. A huge one.

Maybe, my current frustration with money is God’s way of teaching me to work hard to earn the money for the things I need and save money by leaving my vanity unsatisfied. Though it seems impossible to get ahead of the bills, maybe there is a lesson in it all. I have to save every penny so I can borrow less and pay off my student debt as quickly as possible, so I don’t have money to spend on nail polish, eyeliner, and red high heels (though I WOULD use them often, and make it worth the money I spend!). God knew all along that I wouldn’t get the number of hours of work that I wanted this summer, and that I would have to borrow money to pay for school, but I can only assume that he is trying to teach me something, through the frustrations. Somehow, some way, this fits into His plan for my life, as all things do. It doesn’t make sense to me now, but I have to learn to trust Him with my finances. Money is the most frustrating thing in my life, but it is really difficult to entrust it to someone else. As a young adult, I want to prove that I can do things by myself, even though I know that I can do nothing without God’s assistance. I have to learn to hand the little bit of money that I have over to Him, and to trust that He will take care of it, and help me to meet the deadlines and pay the bills, no matter how impossible that may seem. The only way to solve the problem is to give it to God, counter-intuitive as that may seem. “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Phillippians 4:13), but without Him, I am nothing (John 5:15).

Abortion

Abortion
Elizabeth Roelands
Three million deaths. One horror. One weapon of death. One word: abortion. Since it was legalized in Canada on May 14, 1969, abortion has taken the lives of so many in our nation. A portion of our doctors, lawyers, teachers, politicians, farmers, mothers, fathers, etc. are missing. They were not given the chance to live because their parents were not given the truth about abortion. Abortion is a monster, ruthlessly murdering millions upon millions of people through out our modern world of “great healthcare” and “great freedom.” We need to put an end to this atrocity’s legality in Canada; once and for all.
                  Our society tells us that we can do whatever we want; as long as we are not directly breaking the law, it doesn’t matter what we are doing. Teenagers are the most targeted age for this faulty philosophy. Teenagers are vulnerable because we are trying to figure out who we are and who we will become. Our culture of death takes advantage us at this crucial time in our lives, telling us to do whatever makes us feel good, even if it goes against our parents’ “old-fashioned” values.
We all need to feel loved, but no one tells us how much we are loved. Our parents love us, even when we break their rules to follow the “ways of the world.” Not everyone has parents, or parents that love them, but that does not mean that they are not loved. God loves them so much that He allowed His own Son to lessen Himself to the status of man, to die a horrifying death on the cross, in order to set us free from the chains of sin. But God has become another one of those “old-fashioned” values in our society, so people must look elsewhere for the love they need.
Many of the young people of this world turn to sex in their search for love. Sex is an expression of love; an act of union, specifically designed to procreate life, and to unite a married couple to each other in a free and complete gift of self. The act has become a toy in our world. It feels good, so it “must” be okay to use it for fun. Attractive young men and women use each other selfishly for the physical pleasure, without promising any commitment to love. There is no love in premarital sex, but the search for love is the reason the act is done.
Most of these young people in high school and university have no desire to have a child. They want to have sex for their own personal pleasure, but they are not at all interested in working with God to reproduce. When they do get pregnant, young women don’t know where to turn. The young men that got them pregnant are too selfish and afraid to stand up and be real men to love them and care for them. These women are hurt, and confused. This is where the culture of death gets them. They are told that they can just have an abortion. The “problem” will be “taken care of,” the woman can carry on with her life as though nothing had happened.
The “problem” is not the pregnancy, or the child. The problem is the idea that we can murder someone in the very place they should be most protected; their mother’s womb. Abortion does not take care of the problem neatly. There is a death, even though we are told that there is no baby, just a “blob of tissue.” There are after effects like depression, nightmares and sleepless nights, and feelings of guilt, not to mention later health problems such as infertility, haemorrhage, cervical lacerations, pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), and many others.
Today’s youth need to become the leaders in our society, rather than the ones who are vulnerable to the lies and targeted by the greed of those we have been told to trust. We must discover the lies ourselves, rather than rely on faulty information. Catholic teens have the added responsibility of not only sharing the beautiful gift of Faith that we are given, but also to live it fully. We must reveal the lies of abortion and the love of our Heavenly Father. We must stand our ground, to be the light of Christ shining in this darkened world.
                  

Religious Freedom

Elizabeth Roelands: Scholarship Writing Project

June 27, 2014

    In 1620, when the Pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock, they were seeking freedom from oppressors in their homeland. They wanted a specific type of freedom, which they would live, fight, and die to have. They wanted the freedom to practice their religion unhindered, because they believed that theirs was true Christianity, and that the Anglicanism forced upon them in England was not right. They sought a Puritan version of Christianity, and wanted the religious freedom to practice what they believed was true. Landing on Plymouth Rock, they founded one of the first colonies in North America, and freedom of religion was their basic principle. Today, North American society is still rooted in this freedom of religion, because we have always stood for religious freedom and tolerance, even when we do not agree with the faith of others, because of that original quest for freedom that brought some of the first people here. Even though many in our society have lost their faith in God now, even though most do not go to church every week like their ancestors, religious freedom should keep its status as a basic human right, simply because it was a pillar our society was founded on. Who are we to undermine a founding principle of a nation?

    While the story of the pilgrims is an American tale, simply because Plymouth Rock is on American soil, it is still applicable to Canadians. Canada’s foundation is slightly different, but still based on religious freedom. Our nation’s first colonists, like America’s, wanted the freedom to practice religion as they saw fit. Now, many in our nation defy that principle, claiming that God either does not exist, or that religion is confining. The number of people going to church weekly has declined significantly in recent years. Though some prefer apathy, the principle of religious freedom should remain unaltered. As human beings, we have the right to believe in something beyond ourselves, and while we all have different manifestations of that belief, we should be allowed to adhere to our interpretation of a higher power. A nation has no right to regulate the belief system of its citizens; to do so is to rebuild the Nazi Germany of the 1940s. Canada should maintain the right to religious freedom that Canadians have always enjoyed.

    However, religious freedom should not be an excuse for things that are utterly profane or violent towards others. For example, things like the ancient Aztec human sacrifices should not be permitted in civilized society, because they are an abomination and a defiance of the dignity of human beings, doing violence to the goodness of every life by ending one life before its time. As another example, we could look at Satanism. It is a form of self worship, not a belief in a higher power, claiming that all gods are fictional and we must only serve our own needs, to please the carnal beast inside each of us. On the outset, it may seem like a harmless belief system, which we as a society can tolerate. Reading a little further on the church of satan website however, we find this: “We Satanists are thus our own “Gods,” and as beneficent “deities” we can offer love to those who deserve it and deliver our wrath (within reasonable limits) upon those who seek to cause us—or that which we cherish—harm.” This is a little more alarming, even though it does include the qualifier “within reasonable limits”, because as a group of persons who are their own gods, how are “reasonable limits” defined? There is no basis for morality, except each person’s own good; so long as the individual’s needs and desires are being met, anything is permissible. This is hardly a universally good moral code, for what if one person’s desire is to be an ax murderer or a child molester? These things are not legal in our country, but if the church of satan is allowed to exist, under the umbrella of religious freedom, it would logically follow that such actions would have to be allowed so that we are not discriminating against someone on a religious basis.

    The majority of our citizens could say that they are Christian, part of one or another of the
Christian denominations, whether or not they maintain the faith they were given and practice the beliefs they were raised with. The common tendency to regard religion as something too confining for the average person’s life does not mean that our nation’s freedom of religion should become a part of our past. Our laws as a nation are based on Christian principles of ethics and morality; for example, stealing is illegal both because it is against the seventh commandment, and because taking another’s property denies them their right of ownership. Maybe our individual lives, generally speaking, are no longer based on the same Christian principles that our ancestors held, but there are still some who enjoy the little freedom of religion that still remains in Canada.

    Although Canada’s Christian value system claims to espouse religious freedom for all, there are still some Christian groups that are not allowed to follow their beliefs. For example, Catholics are persecuted, to a certain extent, when they attempt to follow the statutes of the faith as they should be followed. Catholics are called bigoted and intolerant for standing against homosexuality and abortion; authentic Catholicism is no longer permitted despite today’s campaigns against judgement and intolerance. For a society against religious persecutions, there are too many persecutions happening on the basis of disagreement in beliefs. Rather than agreeing to disagree and accepting that everyone believes different things, we get angry with those who believe different things, insisting that they must be wrong because they are different. This phenomenon may be related to the decline in the number of people going to church on a weekly basis. We as a society have lost our roots in the Christian moral code, and have more trouble loving our neighbors than we used to have. Others may be wrong, but they are still human beings made in the image of God that have inherent dignity based on their existence, not on the belief system they adhere to.

    Some have lost their faith due to the fact that religious groups have rules that members are asked to follow, and many would say that to be required to follow a rule is not to be free. However, freedom is not that which allows a person to do anything he chooses at any time; freedom is the right to do what is just. Freedom includes the freedom to do something, but also the freedom from coercion from outside sources. We are truly free when we fulfill our nature as human beings, choosing our proximate good, without being forced into anything by another. Each person’s conscience is formed through the lessons learned in childhood and early adulthood, and we must be given the freedom to follow our conscience in society; to do what we believe is right.

    While many of our citizens in Canada have lost their faith, or refuse to be part of a religious community because of the “rules”, religious freedom must still be a part of our nation’s law code. We have to correct the errors made in the name of religious freedom, and right the wrongs done by a lack of acceptance, but there is still a need for religious freedom in our society. To remove that freedom is to sentence those who do still believe in a higher power to the persecution of those who no longer believe. Having faith should not subject a person to pain or wrongdoing. Canada is a multicultural society, and as such, we have people of a vast number of different faiths as our citizens. All should be allowed to practice their religion as they see fit, even though they may be different from those around them, so long as they are not inflicting harm on others. Every religion in accordance with the just public order, serving the common good, should be allowed in Canada. We cannot undermine the freedom of religion that caused our ancestors to make the long and arduous journey across the ocean to the New World, though they left behind all they knew in the process. If religious freedom was important enough to make a difficult journey to a new land and start a whole new life, it should remain just as important in the society built by those who left home in search of that freedom.

The Importance of Employee Evaluation

Elizabeth Roelands

Writing Project: Employee Evaluation

Scholarship Application: Grapevine Evaluations

June 25, 2014

The Importance of Employee Evaluation

    In any business, it is important that employers and employees both have confidence in the business they work for. The employer needs to know that his product is sound and the business is profitable and honest, and that he can trust the staff that work for him. The employee needs to know that the business is a good one that will pay him appropriately for his work, and value his time and effort. Through the process of employee evaluations, both of these needs can be met, and evaluations will contribute to a positive and healthy work environment for all. Employee evaluations have the potential to ruin a business relationship, by holding employees under intense scrutiny, but, if handled properly, they are an important aspect of the trusting relationships that should be built in the work place.

    Ideally, employers should have a good relationship with the people they hire, and choose wisely from applicants so that they can trust their staff. However, this trust needs to be earned. When beginning a new job, most of us are put on probation for a short period of time to test our skills and ensure reliability. During this time, it is important that the employer tells the employee his opinion of the work being done, so that the employee is not lost in uncertainty and nervousness about whether or not he will be able to keep his job. At the end of each week, the employer could take a few minutes to discuss the work the employee is doing, what is being done well, and what could be improved in the future. In this manner, new employees can find out the best ways to do their job well, accomplishing assigned tasks in a satisfactory manner. Doing this, the employer will establish good lines of communication with his employees from the inception of their service in his company.

   

    Even employees that have been with a business for a while, having successfully passed through the probationary period, should have evaluations to let them know if their work is satisfactory or if improvements need to be made. If the employer has been evaluating his staff from the start date of their employment, evaluations could be done less often later on in their term of employment. Knowing that his staff are trustworthy, the employer could do monthly evaluations with long term staff, just to keep them up to date on how they are doing, and continue the good communication between members of the team.

    In an effort to create good relationships between the employer and employees, there should also be opportunities for the employees to evaluate their boss. While rude behavior and excessive criticism are unnecessary and nearly intolerable, there should be allowance made for constructive criticism. Everyone makes mistakes, including employers, and an employer should be just as willing to make improvements to his own workplace behavior as he is eager to correct the errors of his employees.

   

    Evaluations give everyone an opportunity to contribute their suggestions and ideas, which will build a strong team. If we can offer our input, we feel more valued, and if others respond to our input, to put it into action, we feel as though we have made a difference. A workplace that allows input is a stronger one, uniting the members of the team to each other, and giving everyone a chance to serve the whole in a way that matters.

    We all spend half or more of every day at work. It is therefore of the utmost importance to have a positive work environment, because life is utterly depressing when spend in a negative place with people that are over critical or difficult to get along with. We all have to work together to improve the workplace for the benefit of all, and evaluations are an important part of that. Through periodic constructive criticism in the form of weekly, biweekly, or monthly employee or employer evaluations, we can build trust and positive communication in the workplace, for the benefit of all who spend time in that environment, whether it be members of the work team, or clients, patrons, or customers who use that service or product. A positive attitude, built upon good communication, constructive criticism, and good responses to that criticism, is important for the success of any business. Evaluation definitely has the potential to either make or break the workplace environment, but, if approached with a proper attitude of fraternal correction, evaluation becomes a great aid to the unity and strength of any organization.

Suzuki's View on Immigration?

Elizabeth Roelands

Writing Project: Suzuki Immigration
June 25, 2014

           David Suzuki recently commented on Canada’s immigration policies, saying that “Canada is full” and should no longer accept immigrants, except in refugee situations, where lives are in danger if people do not immigrate to Canada. While I agree that it is more important to accept immigrants if their lives are in danger in their current country, the idea that Canada is “full” is an almost comical perspective on the availability of resources and land in Canada. Immigration policies in Canada may not be perfect, but there is still plenty of space and resources to support more people in Canada, especially considering the amount of land in the northern half of the country, rich in resources, yet not being used. The majority of our population lives along the Canada-US border, and even along the more densely populated border, there is still land available for use.

   

    To say that Canada is full is to imply that the land and resources we have can support no more human life than it already does. This may seem to hold some truth when one takes a look at the cities on the southern borders of our country, but outside of the cities, and farther north, the theory fails. We are not even using half of the resources available, which is a fact that becomes ever more apparent the more one sees of this nation. Travelling a little would tell any observer that we have resources in abundance that are not being used to their full potential. The land that we have easily produces enough food for the entire population, and the diversity in climate across the country gives us diversity in food products. We can get fish and seaside products from our maritime provinces, meat, poultry, and grain from the inland provinces, and fruit and vegetables from almost anywhere in the country, especially through greenhouse farming. There are people all over the nation with the skills to produce anything we need, though they often lack the means necessary to create a business that uses their skills.

    In terms of physical space, Suzuki is also mistaken to say that Canada is full. Canada consists of 9,984,670 square kilometers, or 2,467,211,957 acres, of land. Stats Canada estimated that Canada’s population was 35,427,524 in April of 2014. That gives each man, woman, and child 0.28 square kilometers or 69.2 acres; in 2011, our population density was measured at 3.79 people per square kilometer. Even though we all love having space to ourselves, few of us actually use that much land on an individual basis; having enough land for each of us to own 70 acres hardly puts Canada on the map as a nation out of space. Canadian farmers use that amount of space and more, growing food for the rest of the nation, but throughout the rest of Canada, we could find entire towns of people living on that amount of land. In cities and towns, many families call a half acre lot home, and are happy with that amount of space. If Canadians were to spread out, and if each person used their own 69.2 acre piece of the country, it would be quite easy to see that Canada is not “full” as Suzuki would have us believe. In fact, there is plenty of room to have newcomers in the country, though I agree that we should not merely admit whoever expresses a desire to enter the country. There should be distinctions made, but we should not shut the doors to immigration except in refugee situations. However, to stop immigration on the claim that we are out of space is simply childish and selfish, easily disproven by a little math.

    Jason Kenny, Canada’s minister of citizenship and immigration at the time of Suzuki’s comments, said that “Suzuki’s views [on immigration] are toxic and irresponsible.” Kenny was frustrated that people simply take Suzuki’s word at face value, without checking into the facts, which will give Canadians the wrong attitude towards immigrants, thinking that immigrants use up our resources and take up land that should belong to people born on Canadian soil. This attitude is both damaging and based on a falsehood. To look at our resources, we can see that we have resources in abundance, yet our Canadian goods are shipped out to other countries, and we import from other countries. The Canadian lifestyle can be supported by Canadian farming and industry, yet a visit to the supermarket proves that most of our products come from outside Canada. If Canadians are truly concerned about Canada’s resources and products, we should buy Canadian goods, contributing to the economy in a way that supports our fellow countrymen. There are many who would love to set up a business in Canada, but cannot do so due to circumstances beyond their control (for example, Ontario’s exorbitant hydro costs).

Immigrants will not exhaust the nation of resources, and, as shown above, we have the space for them. When considering an immigrant’s admittance to the country, we should consider whether they will contribute to the strength of the nation, or if they will add an unnecessary burden to working Canadians. Our nation is one built on the back of immigration; few among us can say that our family has lived in Canada since the beginning of time. We have a multicultural society, built of people that have come from somewhere else, whether they immigrated 500 years ago or 50 years ago. If immigration had been stopped by comments like Suzuki’s at some other point in history, which of our citizens would we not have? Human life should be cherished, regardless of its place of origin, and if people want to immigrate to Canada in search of a life better than what their home nation has to offer, they should be allowed to pursue that goal and enter the country, provided that they will make an effort to contribute to society. 

SOURCES:
http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/countries/canada-facts/.
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/start-debut-eng.html  
http://www.tradingeconomics.com/canada/population-density-people-per-sq-km-wb-data.html 
http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/07/11/jason-kenney-slams-david-suzukis-immigration-views-as-toxic-and-irresponsible-after-environmentalist-says-canada-full/