As a major news story or headline appears on the TV, or as a notification pops up on our phones, we read the title of the story and… well, that is all we do. Most of us only read the title of the news story that appears and continue on believing that what is happening in the world is based solely what the title says. I challenge you this year to delve deeper, deeper into the story presented to you by that single click of a button, a slide of your finger, or the will power to not change the channel to find out what is actually happening.

As I have just returned from a week in Israel, something interesting happened to me. I felt safe; strangely safer than I have felt in a long time. I felt safe to walk around the outside malls, to take runs in my free time, and to interact with the public. There are soldiers of the IDF(Israel Defense Force) on most streets and there is a sense of trust you have that they will protect you. From Time, CNN, or Fox, all you are hearing is how hostile Israel is and how terrorists are running amuck with no state control. On the contrary, this is not necessarily the truth. When I was in Israel a terrorist attack did occur very close to where I was staying. On my phone, a report came in saying that two Israelis had killed two men. But what had actually happened was that two Palestinians carried out stabbings outside of the Old City in Jerusalem. I only found out these details when I strayed away from the world popular media monopolies such as CNN and Time and paid closer attention to news outlets like JPost.

With the global control media outlets that Time, Fox, and CNN have over people, shouldn’t they be delivering the real story to the public? When my mom called me to see if i was okay, I had to tell her the truth of the matter of the stabbings, not what she had been told. With so much hostility in our world today, any statement could set off an international problem, and the lies being told by these large media companies seem to be adding fuel to that fire.

It is now 2016. Many of us will be making out Instagram caption “New year, new me.” Well, if you really want to make a change to your life in this new year, make yourself globally aware of the issues happening around our world. Do not believe the first headline you read, and do not make your political or social opinions based off the one girl or guy’s rant you heard on the news. Make an opinion for yourself. It is a new year, so make a new change.