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How a Grudge Changed Two Lives<\/p>\n\n\n\n
By Jason Illa<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I was a Jackass back in ninth grade. I had an ego the size of the moon and felt unstoppable. I had just started playing football as an edge rusher, and I was leading my rec league in sacks. When it came to school, I did whatever I needed to do to fit in. Normally, it was picking on kids as a group of my \u201cfriends\u201d. There was this one kid in particular named Khannor. We never got off to a good start. The first words he said to me were calling me a racial slur. I may appear white, but I’m mixed with Hispanic and white.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A little bit of background, my dad’s side of the family is from El Salvador and peurto rico. My grandma immigrated here by hitchhiking and swimming. Back to the story, one random day, Khannor sat next to me at lunch with me and my \u201cfriends\u201d and was talking, and then randomly called me a racial slur. I had done nothing to this kid, and he harshly offended me because of how much pride I take in my heritage and the respect I have for my grandmother, who immigrated here to start a new and better life. I was so offended, I had him say it again so I could record it and post it on Snapchat to show the school how racist Khannor was. To my surprise, he said it again, and I posted it, and immediately, Khannor was getting bullied. I bullied him so hard that I even told this girl he liked what he said to me, and she was also Hispanic and took great offense to it. Knowing that he was heartbroken, I took advantage of this and created a fake girl named Tori, starting a catfishing scheme with him. I had him so fooled that even when I confessed I was a boy on the phone, he texted back saying, \u201cHey Tori, I think your brother answered the phone.\u201d I would continue to post about this kid and ruin his reputation. I didn’t stop until I was called into the principal’s office and was told to stop or face a possible suspension. So I stopped until next year, where I continued to bully him until he transferred schools. In 11th grade, false rape accusations were made about him, and I helped spread these accusations; not once did I think to go to the police. All I cared about was ruining his reputation further for what he said to me two years prior. Eventually, he would continue to get into fights at school, ultimately leading to his expulsion. He kept getting into fights because he was defending himself from these accusations, which I helped spread. Khannor joined the military academy and lived quietly away from all the bullshit I created. I was finally happy and done with the situation. I felt a huge sense of relief that I wouldn’t see him again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As I got older, I started to hope that he was doing well, staying out of trouble, getting straight A\u2019s on his report card. But for whatever reason, even after all this time, I held a huge grudge; he even apologized many times. On July 12th, 2025, an article would appear in the news about an 18-year-old who drowned in the Swift Creek Reservoir, and his name was Khannor. He was wrestling with friends from the academy in the reservoir, where he lost the strength to swim and sank to the bottom in a freak accident. Guilt poured in heavily. If I hadn’t bullied him and spread these accusations, he\u2019d never have met these guys and wouldn’t have drowned that day. If I had stopped holding a grudge and just become his friend, he wouldn’t have been remembered as a rapist and a racist. I realized after his death that life is too short to hold grudges and to always treat people the way you want to be treated. I would never like what I did to Khannor happen to me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Overprescription of ADHD medication<\/p>\n\n\n\n
by Jason Illa<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Imagine being a young child and unable to sit still in class. So, you’re told to take a magical pill that will make you \u201cnormal\u201d and be able to sit still and pay attention. That doesn’t need to be imagined; that is a reality. Adderall is a highly addictive drug that is commonly prescribed to kids to manage their ADHD or ADD. Doctors normally just give kids adderall like it’s candy, and most kids won’t even have to go through any type of counseling. It is a band-aid solution that most families go with, but never think about the long-term effects. I researched this topic using information from the CDC and the National Institute of Drug Abuse, and found out that the average age of kids being prescribed is getting younger and younger. Today, I am going to explain how this happened and what you can do as future parents to prevent this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Over the last 2 decades, ADHD diagnoses have skyrocketed in children. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention(2019), the percentage of U.S. children diagnosed with adhd jumped from 6% in 1997 to 10% in 2016. That is millions of kids being told they have a disorder that requires daily medication. Most of these diagnoses happen after a brief doctor’s visit; most of the time, they get diagnosed and prescribed within 30 minutes, with no actual long-term evaluation. Parents often feel pressure from the school and the doctors, and use medication as a first resort instead of a last resort. King Of The Hill shows a great example of this in season 2 episode 22 titled \u201dPeggy\u2019s Turtle Song.\u201d Bobby, who is a 12-year-old, is diagnosed with ADHD and given medication within minutes. He ends up having a horrible reaction and gets addicted to the meds because there was no real evaluation. When we use medication as a quick fix, we forget about the possible damage it can do to a child with a developing brain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Adderall and other stimulants can alter brain chemistry. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (2021), misuse of unnecessary use of prescription stimulants can cause dependence and even heart problems. Also, kids who use these drugs daily can grow up believing they cannot function without these drugs. Long-term effects can lead to anxiety, depression, and substance misuse. Harvard Health (2020) reported that children who take stimulants without ongoing monitoring are very likely to misuse them later on in life. So, while short-term effects seem positive, the long-term effects can be serious. So, what can we do instead of just writing prescriptions?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
First, parents and doctors need to make sure the child gets a full psychological evaluation before medication is even considered as a possibility. Behavioral therapy and mindfulness programs can help kids focus without altering their brain chemistry, and this should be used as a first option. Finally, we need doctors and policymakers to push for stricter guidelines, making sure medication is used as a last step. Because, believe it or not, there is not a single guideline in place for the prescribing of stimulants to children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, we looked at how prescriptions for children have increased, the serious risk of overprescribing, and what we can do to prevent it. Children in the future deserve something better than quick fixes; they deserve our patience, understanding, and time to grow naturally without stimulants. So when you have kids of your own and a teacher suggests they have ADHD, do not ask, \u201cWhat’s wrong with them?\u201d Instead, ask them, \u201cWhat is happening around them?\u201d Because often, the child isn\u2019t the problem; it’s the system that we have in place, where kids are expected to have immediate academic success and pay full attention all the time, with a classroom full of 35 other kids who have lots of energy and are often distracting to other students making it damn near impossible for anyone to focus in that room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Protecting Our DNA<\/p>\n\n\n\n
By Jason Illa<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There is considerable ethical tension surrounding our DNA, and if the government does not act swiftly, this could lead to numerous issues. The selling of any DNA should not be allowed, because your DNA is permanent, and if it is used with malicious intent, you cannot get a new one. There is also a risk that it can be stolen online. If it gets stolen online, the government can’t just issue you a new set of DNAS, like they can with Social Security numbers. There needs to be laws as well in place to protect people from their own DNA, because hypothetically, what if companies start only hiring people with certain types of DNA? You could be the smartest and most qualified person for a role but get denied because you have type 1 DNA instead of type 2. It would be discrimination in broad daylight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another concern is privacy. It is more dangerous to lose your DNA than your social security because it can have a ripple effect. If they have access to your DNA, they can trace it back to your grandparents and steal their DNA, unlike social security numbers. This can have a long-term effect on pretty much every aspect of life for the rest of your life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Since online DNA testing has been blowing up in the last decade, it has gotten to a point where there needs to be government regulations. If the company goes bankrupt, it should not be allowed to sell the DNA of its customers using their online testing. When 23andMe went bankrupt, they started selling users’ DNA without permission, and all the data they collected from their DNA. All biotech companies have a responsibility to keep our DNA secured and safe. They need to be able to have security measures in place for cyber-attacks to keep all this information secured. To my knowledge, I have no Idea whether or not they do this. The lawsuits that would come from unsecured DNA would be unimaginable.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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