Why My Birthday is Special
The right to write.

Once it hit December 1st on my calendar, I've been counting down the days until my 20th birthday on the 10th. Being a college student, this time of year is filled with projects and all night study hours for finals. So my incentive for myself to get through it is my birthday.

But this gets me thinking. What if I didn't have the option of going to school and get an education. What if I was never assigned a paper because my own opinions and words didn't matter?

While I was checking the days off on the calendar, I realized that December 10th isn't my day. Ok, yeah sometimes I may act like it is, but it's not just about me. It is international Human Rights day. I have decided that for my birthday I was going to some how give back, and what better way for me than through writing?

I am apart of Amnesty International through my campus chapter. We have weekly meetings where we discuss different human rights violations going on in the world and write action letters to world leaders and politicians on behalf of those being mistreated.

Today I am going to take part of Amnesty's global write-a-thon. We will be writing, as many letters as our hands will allow honestly, to send out before the year is over to help those be oppressed for speaking their mind.




It is important to fight for those that are being denied one of the most basic of human rights;The right to your own thoughts. The good thing about Amnesty is you can help, even in the comfort of your own home. We all may lead busy lives. But it is important to step back and realize others don't even have to option to do what they want or believe due to human rights violations. The power of the written word is stronger than any bomb or army.

"To hold a pen is to be at war."
Voltaire