I Write The Things I Can't Say

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Currently, there are 196 nations on Earth and one of those 196 nations is the United States of America. Now, the United States of America has only been around, a bit over, 200 years and the U.S. is roughly 4% of the world’s population - but it happens to be the worlds largest arms dealer.

This one country, the United States of America, controls 31% of the global weapons market. In 2011, the U.S. Sold 66 billion dollars in weapons to other nations around the world. The U.S. supplies 94 other nations with the weapons that their militaries use.

The U.S. supplies almost half of the other nations in the world with their weapons.

The U.S. spends somewhere around 612 billion dollars a year on defense. The 2nd highest spending nation in the world is Russia, which spends 76 billion. The U.S. spends 612 billion a year. Russia, at #2, spends 76 billion.

The U.S. spends more than the next 10 countries combined.

One example: there are 31 aircraft carriers in the world. The U.S. has 19 of them. The other 12 aircraft carriers are operated and owned by the rest of the world combined.

Now, a number of nations that have militaries, have military bases in their nation to defend them, protect them, and keep them safe. There are few nations that have military bases not on their own soil but in other countries. Russia has 8 military bases in other countries. Great Britain has 7 military bases in other countries. France has 5 military bases in other countries.

Russia has 8. England has 7. France has 5.

The United States has 662 military bases in other countries.

In fact, that’s a conservative estimate. Others have said that the number is probably closer to 800 military bases in other countries (38 countries, in fact). 95% of foreign bases, owned and operated in the world, are owned and operated by the United States of America. That’s more bases than any other nation, country, or empire, in the history of the world.

The U.S. sells more weapons, makes more weapons, owns more weapons, brokers in more weapons, spends more money on its own defense than any nation has ever spent in the history of the world.

And there are people running right now for president, who when asked, if they were elected president, what their first priority would be, say, the first thing they’d do is strengthen the military.

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"Can I tell you a secret? You don’t have to be in a relationship. 
 
I mean it. I know they force it down your throat until you choke on it. Girls aren’t pretty unless they’re wanted. Boys aren’t men unless they’re having sex with someone. People aren’t lovable until they’re dating someone. 
 
But a relationship won’t always make you happy, and as wonderful as romance is, it isn’t the only love that exists. I have seen friendships that are deeper and more pure than couples who swear it’s forever - and yet the friendship is the one people ignore. 
 
I have heard so often “nobody loves me” out of the mouths of people who are single. And it kills me because if you ask them: where are your parents, your teachers, your classmates, your pets - they say, yes, okay, but it doesn’t count. Of course it counts, love doesn’t diminish just because someone doesn’t want to have sex with you. In fact, doesn’t it sort of make that love more real that they want nothing - not even a date - out of you?
 
It is pretty to be in love. It’s magical, I’m sure. But it’s also wonderful to stop for ice cream in your prom dress with six other girls. It’s also wonderful to go visit the world with nothing but a bunch of buddies who are really excited about learning. 
 
The problem is: we’ve made everything about “the one”. But maybe “the one” is just you, loving yourself, having fun, and being happy. Maybe instead of looking for our other halves, we should be piecing ourselves together.
 
Maybe I wasn’t born unfinished. Maybe I am the one who makes myself better."