When I was younger, I always thought that world peace simply meant no more war, as though it was possible to put our differences aside and accept the fact that we’re all human. You know what? It is possible.

But how is it possible to prevent extreme human suffering such as war, genocide, and corruption when we can’t even make peace with each other on a personal level?

I feel some kind of stomach-churning guilt when I read the "hate" on websites such as Formspring, knowing that I’ve been guilty of the same sin in one way or another. **** talking or hating for no legit reason - we’ve all been there and done that.

But don’t you think the line is crossed when death is wished among people and their families? When our flaws and imperfections are pointed out, mocked, and made fun of? I don’t understand why we constantly feel the desire to hurt each other, especially because attempting to do so doesn’t make us any better. In fact, we degrade ourselves.

Nowadays, immature teenagers resort to Formspring as an opportunity to bash the peers whom they don’t know personally and say the rude things to which they would never have the courage to say without the anonymous option. These cruel statements are typically based on unjustified judgements.

"Never judge a book by it’s cover" is true. The cover only consists of the title, name of the author, illustration, and an meager summary pasted onto the back. All the meticulous details in the author’s story are excluded. How can we thoroughly judge a book without flipping through the inside, at the very least? That being said, we are the authors and our lives are our stories.

We can write it however we please. Obviously, these children on Formspring checked Sparknotes and received an inaccurate summary of mine.

Who, but ourselves, has the right to judge the decisions we choose to make?

It would be easy for me to lie and hide the controversial details that make me who I am, but I choose not to.

I am an open book - all you have to do is turn the page.