We step foot outside of our homes, every day, thinking we are returning back to our comfortable ambiances and sheltered atmospheres. Our homes and our interpretation of what makes them, differ from each person living atop of this planet, but many of us can collectively agree on the common denominator that we leave these solid safe-places in anticipation to return back to them at the end of a stagnant day. What if, one day, you leave your home and return back to it only to discover that your own...

Jason never felt safe in school. For all the years he spent reading, writing and learning, not for a second he felt safe. Every day he saw what kids were going through because of the Bulls. The Bulls, the most terrifying gang of bullies around, guided by the one and only, Gabo McCoy, the son of the two most known mobsters in town. Gabo had failed the 12th grade twice this year, but he has never really cared. Gabo has never bothered Jason, in fact, he actually respects him because he is a good ki...

Some paths you must walk alone. We all know that. We come to this world alone and alone we must go, or something like that. And the love you give, sometimes you might never get it back. And let’s not forget the world is full of injustice and anger and plastic that just won´t go away. I could write for days about the darkness there is out there or the hopeless void I sometimes feel I’m a part of. But in all honesty, who needs that? Did you notice how easy it is to just sink in it? Do you get wha...

Today, environmental awareness is not an option, but a necessity and its presence needs to make itself known in all areas of everyday life. The duties and responsibilities of parents and educators should be intertwined with those of global citizens so that the generation born after the year 2010 can live, work, and thrive on a sustainable planet.According to the Center for Science Education, the measures we take today do not guarantee a friendlier environment, partly because it may take years fo...

2018 was a rough year for everyone around the world - from government officials and ministers who were pressed with threats from foreign powers, to solving burning issues on security policy and budgeting in order to open new chapters on the journey to the European Union, to citizens who organized protest walks in order to get their rights back. Amidst all this, it is no surprise that the Balkan countries are still well known for "brain drain", when the requests from youth to make realistic chang...

The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that American households on an average, spend $1,700 a year on apparel, footwear and related products and services accounting for 3.5 percent of their average annual expenditures.This is not the problem with just American households, but almost every other household around the world. WE not only buy clothes too often, but also throw away so much more that it contributes to a great deal of clutter. Moreover, we wash the clothes in warm water and most of t...

"Human rights law declare 18 as the minimum legal age of recruitment and use of children in hostilities", yet in conflict societies children as young as age 9 are manipulated, tricked, and forced to combat like soldiers in conflicts. Many children are forced to become child soldiers because they have no option or choice to take in order to survive, in order to get their daily bread, in order to live. It is very sad to see children armed and ready for combat when they are supposed to be free, hav...

Wish I could go out in this moonless night and take a walk to my grandmother's house...The distance is so far but with these thoughts that are eating me it would feel like a 15 minute walk...The weather is cold out there, but the anger and rage inside of me will warm me for sure...Streets are empty and scary but voices that live inside my mind won't leave me alone as usual...I may feel hungry and crave for food...I may lose all of my energy, but I won't allow myself to stop...not even for taking...

"What this place offers is more than astonishing, a piece of heaven with good hospitality", said a German tourist about Labuan Bajo, Indonesia. Recently, I just had an opportunity to go to Labuan Bajo. I went there with the purpose of being a speaker for the Indonesia National Library Roadshow. The roadshow consists of two events which is a literacy competition for kindergarten-high school students and a talk show with Vice Regent of West Manggarai, a humanist, a journalist, book writer, and me....