persuasive-socialising

 life skills, learning from others

mental capability, confidence, team-work

become more popular and likeable, admirable

Introverts, extroverts, whatever your preference it's clear to us all that socialising is imperative for survival in this society. No one can learn important life skills from others, build teamwork skills and confidence or even make special memories when they are cooped up in their house all alone. With practice and in the right crowd even the most meek of people will see that socialising benefits them. So get out there-learn, talk, have fun! Turns out just spending time with others will teach you more about life than school or reading ever will. 

It's no surprise that socialising makes you subconsciously learn from others' morals or values, and you can indefinitely use this to your advantage. With everyone on Earth being raised by different parents with different experiences, you can learn more about life just by talking with others. What if you didn't know how to practice self defense against an assaulter? If you had a friend who could teach you the best way to defend yourself, and even gain some experience by practicing with them, you're all set and ready. Getting jobs, partners, achieving dreams-most people would have never accomplished these if it weren't for socialising with experienced people of the trade.

Not only can you utilise skills learnt from others in your daily life, but you can also obtain necessary traits from socialising that help you become a better person. When talking with others you practice becoming better at socialising, including others in the conversation, and learning how to work with them. Practice makes perfect, and by segregating yourself you'll never be able to gain progress. You could never be confident in yourself or your abilities. Socialising, in itself, is a way to make you improve, a way to make you be happier, instead of thinking it's doing a favour for others. 

And those with good interacting skills, from inclusion to understanding others, are always admired. After all, since they can make others feel validated and feel like they really being something to the group, others would want to be like them! The more you interact, the more skills you gain and the more people will look up to you for that. You'll be making friends in no time! Set a good example. If you can reach out to others the best thing you could do is help them become better people and role models following in your footsteps.

So next time you dread of catching up with somebody, think of all the good things that come out of it. You get to make someone's day. You get to learn from someone else, and even teach them some new things yourself. You'll practice the art of confidence and all those traits that will help daily life get easier, step by step. And best of all-when becoming experienced and admirable due to all this socialising, people will strive to become like you. A better person. 

narrative-new student

 murders new girl because delirious popular girl tells them to, new girl shows up again as a new student

Grunts of exasperation were muffled by the dense forest surrounding the schoolgirls. The night was serene-not a leaf stirred, leaving the clanging of shovels and heavy panting open for the desolate environment to absorb. 

Anna looked from girl to girl- neckties loose, braids astray, accumulated sweat gathered about the face of each girl. Almost all their faces were glazed over, refusing to believe that somehow the most popular girls at River School had found themselves in this position. They were too rich, too haughty to be guilty of something only desperate maniacs occupied themselves with. 

And yet Eve O'Brien, the only girl unscathed and not gripping a shovel, had the biggest smile on her face. Her dark eyes gleamed as they examined the frenzied, maddened expressions of her minions. Her gaze travelled towards the hole. 

"Oh, how sad to ruin your pretty face, new girl," a slight curl of her lip revealed sinister, pearly teeth in the dimness. "But it had to be done. Farewell, Maria!" 

And thus the queen bee tossed her head, the last thing the unblinking, pallid face of Maria Evangeline would have seen if her lifeless expression wasn't obscured by a pile of dirt flung on her.

God knows which one of the girls had a decent sleep that night. Of course, Eve would have slept like a baby knowing her reputation was intact. But as Anna tossed and turned in her satin sheets, all that plagued her were Maria's bloodied hand grasping at the air, and her goldfish-like face staring up at the girls from the hole as if she knew everything. 

It was safe to say the girls turned up at school the next day fresh as blooming flowers. They flanked their ever-so-effervescent leader Eve O'Brien, and strutted about the school as if they hadn't committed heinous crimes the night before. One might say, if they looked into one of the girls' eyes they would be met with nothing but their blackened souls, consumed by guilt and apathy. 

But as they chattered genially and carried about in their rich-school-girl manner, not one person noticed the change.

However, that all changed as the new girl walked in. 

Silky ponytail swaying, plump glossy lips smacking on piece of gum, the chattering class died down as soon as she entered. The boys were under a spell, compelled by this unfamiliar beauty. Even the unpopular girls couldn't help but steal glances, amazed by someone who they thought they had never seen before. 

The popular girls' smiles melted right from their faces, Eve's disposition changing entirely as she stared wide-eyed at the new girl.

Anna started shrieking hysterically, stumbling back from her chair with a hideous squeak and waving her arms at the girl. This was the last straw-all the other popular girls howled and screamed in terror, scrambling backwards and flailing about, even Eve wailing at the top of her lungs like a banshee. Their stunned peers watched the most enviable girls of the school break down before them, merely at the sight of a pretty new girl which no one had seen before.

At least, that's what they think. The new girl thought, remaining as still and erect with the same radiant beam on her face. At last, she turned towards the blackboard, and swept up a piece of chalk. 

Maria Evangeline. The glamorous looping scrawl said, stretching across the frame of the blackboard. 

 

persuasive-tax on junk food

 Benefits the economy, what about the homeless?

Not obligatory to eat junk

childhoods, experiences, emotions, mental health

It's quite apparent in modern society that junk food is the bane of nutritionists and salad eaters. And many of them think that they should rid us from eating unhealthy foods by putting taxes on it-but this idea is pointless and only causes everyone more trouble. Junk addicted people will stop at nothing to eat their favourite food, even if a tax is in the way, and people who are already on the streets have to suffer even more financially and (can you believe it?) nutritionally. Not only is general health and income affected but mental health can suffer, ranging from young children to impressionable teenagers. Why should they switch to diet food just because adults want to lost weight? Why can't they be allowed to experience the joys of eating food they like? You may think it's for the best, however taxes on fast food can have detrimental effects.

Money is a precious thing, but doing things such as making civilians pay more for junk food treats it as meaningless. The economy is already at a point where already filthy rich businessmen wring what they can out of struggling families, but now they have to even make them pay more just for food-a basic necessity to survive. And with people like the homeless, survival is all they can think about. This is why junk food is ideal-calorie dense, filling and cheap. No one on the streets thinks of expensive diet food to lose weight, because for them this is life or death. Are you really going to selfishly take more out of what little money they have already?

Junk food may be important for financially struggling people, but if you are well sheltered and financially secure you can rest assured you have nothing to worry about. It's highly unlikely anyone is forced to eat unhealthy food. The solution is not to put taxes on fast food-it's to educate those who indulge in it, the diseases they might have and compromises instead of eating it daily. If you make people pay more for it they will still eat it just as much, because they haven't learnt that it's not good for them. The more addicted they are, the more willing they are to pay more!

Not only is it a pointless 'solution' that can affect one's wellbeing and income, but even childhoods can be ruined. Junk food on the occasion never hurts anyone, and becomes a special treat or celebration. Everyone should be rewarded for their accomplishments, and if fast food is a reward so be it. Almost no one eats lettuce or tomatoes for leisure. Emotional and nutritional needs of children and teenagers are different to that of their middle aged mothers. If having junk food has rewarding and sentimental connotations, we must let them experience a fulfilling childhood while they still can. They've only been on the Earth for a few years, why should we teach them that they should be punished for eating what they like?

Taxes on junk food fixes nothing. It might even exacerbate the problem. It only satisfies money hungry businessmen who need no helping, but in order to do that it also takes from those who need the help most and innocent people and children who have no need for the tax. Educate, instead of punish. Reward, instead of discipline. We cannot feed into the hunger of those that need it least.

narative-friendship

 30Min

Thank god Aubrey had a friend like Sam. No one would have ever guessed the genial girl who sent dappling rays of sunlight over every room she walked into would have ever make such a friendship. But Aubrey O'Brien didn't care. As long as the meek girl could clasp Sam's hand in hers, share icypoles from the corner store and kick stones off the footpaths with her she was satisfied as could be. 

Sam, after all, was a blanket. She muffled the wretched screams and crashes that floated through the walls. Her smile obscured the leers of the bullies. Insults and taunts lashed out at the frail girl would be stifled by Sam's toasty honey-sweet voice breathing sweet comforts into her ear. As Aubrey aged and weariness drooped into the folds of her eyelids, her waxy skin growing more and more pallid, she gave no heed to her own life if only she could feed off the joy that came with seeing her flowering, rosy-cheeked friend.

Even if she would have to pay the price.

So Aubrey would take on life's challenges if it meant the golden haired nymph could remain untainted. As she helplessly stared up at leather skinned Ruby Red as she had done so many times before, a niggling feeling within her urged her that this was for the best. Ruby's premature, sagging jowls loomed over the poor girl. Aubrey could already sense the redolence of cigarette smoke that lingered whenever Ruby was near, whenever her mother was near. She scrambled back, wincing as what was left of her skin and bones crushed against the wall as Ruby stepped forwards.

And, by the dim classroom window she could feel the gaze of another person burn into her. However this one didn't pierce her skin as Ruby's did. No, this one felt like concerned waves attempting to break out out from the glass prison and caress Aubrey's figure. Sam's wide glassy eyes drifted from her friend to the beast looming over her in the dark classroom. Ruby's smirk dispersed, as her eyes mousily darted over to the window. However, she was met with nothing but the scenery of school flora obscuring any awful scenes a passerby might encounter. She turned back to her helpless victim, fully aware of the screams and cries that would follow that no one but she could revel in.

Aubrey started into the distance, unmoving save for her greasy locks swaying in the wind. She was searching for something in the corner store carpark, her eyes raking over the desolate gravel and the flickering lamps. Or perhaps she was too absorbed in her own thoughts. It was hard to discern, looking at her puffy face. A busted, swollen lip coloured horrendous shades of mauve and crimson. A dark bruise obscuring a puffy, half-lidded eye. A stream of dried blood that had made its path down the philtrum and stopped at the busted lip.

"Aubrey, our icypoles are going to melt."

No answer.

"Aubrey?"

The ghostlike girl turned her head at Sam beside her on the footpath. Sam, of course, was untouched as she should be. Her skin remained effervescent in the dim carpark lighting. Her blue gaze glittered as it cast worried glances over her beat up friend. Aubrey finally mustered the courage to meet her friends gaze through only one working eye. 

However, as Sam's figure once again flickered into empty air, Aubrey had no gaze to meet. She drearily watched the hallucination dissipate, and a defeated feeling settled in her stomach like a heavy rock. She looked back at the flickering lamp. Cold icypole juice began to trickle down either side of her arms, but Aubrey continued to stare.

persuasive-genetic engineering

natural life processes, tampering/faults

life will have no meaning or value

investments, costs and things that should be invested in instead

Genetic engineering, with its promises to lengthen life spans, sounds like a godsend to modern society. In reality this would end in worse than for the better. Experimenting with unnatural inventions will tamper with people's bodies and may even be detrimental to our health instead of a godsend. Without genetic engineering people can live life to the fullest and value what time they are naturally granted with. Worst of all, it's an awful investment that only the rich can utilise when instead we could be investing in cures for harmful illnesses or even resources for the less fortunate. If such an invention is so fruitless yet so wasteful, why should we even be interested in it?

Believe it or not genetic engineering will only interfere with our health and wellbeing. If we were born to have longer lifespans then we wouldn't need additional support from technology. It's better to have natural deaths instead of a new cause of deaths related to failures from genetic engineering. What if any problems are passed down onto future generations? Thanks to our selfish desires, we would force helpless children and grandchildren to live out potential diseases caused by genetic engineering. The human race has existed for so long without the help of any technology-so there's no reason for us to tamper with natural processes.

What's more, the power to extend our lifespans will surely make us ungrateful for what time we have already. Life is for us to achieve our greatest dreams, and achieve the most before we die. If we can extend life expectancy then it's no doubt we will start being vain with our time and taking it for granted. Look at great people in the past, who climbed mountains and created inventions without needing a longer lifespan to do it. They knew they had limited time to do something great, and so they made the most out of what they had. Those who laze around with extra time on their hands can always put off goals they need to achieve 'for later'-and that merely turns into wasted time. 

Not only time is wasted yet precious money is also thrown into such a fruitless product. Hundreds of homeless families could sustain themselves on the money used to implement genetic engineering onto only one rich businessman. It's one thing to be useless and harmful, but it's another thing to be waste millions of dollars. As you have seen the businessman would be genuinely better off without the genetic engineering-however people could even avoid death or starvation with that extra money. If you don't want future societies and generations to go to waste, it's imperative that we carefully consider how we use our resources for good.

Genetic engineering promises the slight chance of living longer-however it certainly promises a bleak future for our Earth, health and our moral standards. We need to invest precious resources into more urgent causes instead of satisfying the selfish desire to longer live out our luxuries, while billion of people continue to starve around the world. Are you going to succumb to a vain fancy? Or are you going to choose what's really best for everyone?

narrative-life in the jungle

The huddle of snakes loomed over the unconscious, writhing globule of flesh nested within the leaves. It seemed as if the jungle's world had stopped just for this baby-and all the jaguars, toucans and insects paused in their daily rush for survival to ogle at this grub-like being. Beneath the harsh, unforgiving burn of the tropical sun a few warbled cries emitted from the pile of leaves.

Although compelled by its pitiful, bulging figure, not a creature stirred for fear that the snakes might lash out at them. There was no doubt the human youngling would have to face its own morose fate. 

Za, the fearsome leader, stared unblinkingly at the bulky package. A globule of saliva glistened on his right fang. Snapping his neck back, he shot up. Leaves shot up from his path. He hovered in the air, dancing menacingly. The trembling youngling gave him a blank look. His scarlet eyes gleaming with gustatory glee, he was perfectly poised to sink those fangs into such plump, juicy meat. 

"Za, wait." a voice croaked from behind. 

As heads turned, the circle of snakes quickly dispersed as they gave way to the figure crouched behind their leader. 

Za whipped his head around. His eyes pierced the figure behind him, but as he identified the snake he relaxed his posture. 

"Boong."

"Give me the child."

Za tilted his head menacingly, tongue flicking in and out as he boasted those razor-sharp fangs. 

"I respect you as an elder, however king gets the first bite." Boong shook his weathered, wrinkly head dismissively. 

"I don't aim to satisfy my hunger, little Za," he slithered leisurely over to the child and stared into its glassy gaze. "I ask that you let me care for it."

Za's croons stiffened. Za's own blood froze, as he cocked his neck at his own advisor. Even the burrow animals had emerged to dolefully observe, fearing for the wise snake. The air felt thick. Had a pin dropped in that very forest, you would have heard it hit the ground. 

"Alright."

If any of the snakes had shoulders, you would have seen them immediately sink in relief. "And how do you plan to care for... it?"

Boong smiled, his weathered, chipped fangs coming into view. 

"The same way I took care of you all these years."

And with that the baby clambered onto Boong's back. No one questioned how it had been inclined to do so, but as Boong feebly slunk away it was certain that he would already raise another formidable, powerful creature.

persuasive-fairytales are misleading

 stereotypes between boys and girls

expectations of life

future in jeopardy

30MIN

Fairytales have most often been one of the most popular forms of entertainment, but they are just as misleading as they are enjoyed. Don't believe me? Think of young generations, baited at a young age to believe all sorts of stereotypes and have unrealistic expectations of themselves and others that they will have to one day tearfully realise aren't true. This does horrific things to young minds and futures. We cannot lead impressionable children into what feels like a real-life horror story. After all, why build up all these dreams just to crush them mercilessly?

The first thing one might think of pertaining to fairytales and fables would be the stereotypes automatically ingrained into brains as soon as those messages and themes are repeated. Think of Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, or Cinderella, white princesses who waited all day for white men to save them. How would young girls or boys of colour feel like they could be capable of doing great things if traditionally white characters where the heroes? How would a young girl be able to save herself from danger if she's taught to wait around until someone comes to help? If these ideologies aren't reversed, then there's no one to teach them otherwise and these insecurities and illusions of incapability are carried straight into adulthood. 

Not only do these made-up stories destruct open-mindedness, they also build a false 'storyline' and expectations that mere school-age children already expect themselves to follow. If every admirable, pretty, thin waisted princess always has to meet her prince, wear dresses or never do sports then young girls already expect that of themselves before their real lives have even started and they've even any time to figure out their sexuality or personality. If every young boy believes he must never show emotion and only be strong for others then there's no doubt they'll grow into young men who feel as if they cannot confide in anyone. These are not ideals they personally aimed for-they are the ideals that society forces them into. 

With fairytales plaguing young mindsets and expectations, it's no doubt that their futures are in jeopardy as well. Adult life is far from your average fable, but of course coddled and fondled offspring have never been prepared for such a brutal reality. Kidnapping, jobs, colleagues that are wolves in sheep's clothing and all sorts of other issues pose a risk to any and every child. But if the child was raised and prepared properly then they would deal with such problems effortlessly. They would know that life requires problem-solving skills, wit and skill from them and not a skinny body or big muscles. However those raised on fables would never know this-so who is going to have to painfully expose them to reality apart from life itself?

Fairytales always end in happy endings, but reading them can end in a nightmare for the fragile and impressionable minds of the young generation. Children need to believe in diversity, to rejoice in all the joys our society offers and believe in themselves and their capability. Recycled fairy stories with the same plots and the same characters only twists young minds and ruins futures before they've even started. Don't make real life feel like a unfair, brutal awakening. Let children live out their own stories.