In my 20 years of experience in this world, I have been a witness to and victim of many different forms of disrespect. From children ignoring teachers, to men touching women without consent - it seems like general disrespect is a massive issue that has rocked virtually every corner of human existence.

This is something that hit me very hard this week, as I had to stand helplessly and watch one of my best friends suffer through exploitation and embarrassment.

I walked out of my 10 a.m. class on Wednesday morning, and unlocked my phone to find a snapchat and a text from one of my best friends. The text said "Please don't open that snap - I'm so sorry." So as natural impulse would have it, I opened the snapchat which turned out to be a female hand holding male genitals. This image, took over my iphone 6 size screen in all its glory and shocked me so much I vocalized my disgust with an "OH MY GOD UGH" and cleared the app immediately. I later found out that I was not the only one to receive the picture. Almost everyone on his snapchat got it.

I was furious.

The girl he was seeing, took a photo and sent it out without his permission. I was especially angry that I was one of the ones who was scarred by the image. I never in my life EVER wanted to see that part of my best friend. Ever.

The sick thing is - stories like this are a common occurrence.

On another note, my little sister started high school last week. She's going to a public school in a city with one of the highest teen pregnancy rates in the country (three cheers for Corpus). The other day she texted me and told me about a senior boy that went up to her and touched her butt without any warning. It made her uncomfortable but she told me "It wasn't a traumatizing experience - so I just laughed about it." I told her it may not have been a big deal, but that's how the bad stuff starts. I tried to empower her by telling her that she had a right to speak up for herself. That, letting the boy know it made her feel uncomfortable, could go a long way. A major part of the issue is that people aren't even aware that they are being disrespectful until you tell them. "Most of them will stop if you ask them to because they don't want to make you feel bad" I said, "It's the one's that keep going after you have told them no that are bad news."

Introducing Instant Gratification as the Antagonist

We (in America at the very least) are immersed in a culture built around self interest. We are an extremely self centered society based on the idea that things should be quick and easy. There's an app or an upgrade or a cheat for almost everything.

We are marketed to in ways that make us believe we can have anything we want, without regard of the cost and that we deserve it.

We are in a culture that doesn't allow us to think about the consequences.

The girl my friend was seeing was looking for a way to "claim" him, to make sure other girls knew that he was with her and not them. She was marking her territory.

The boy that touched my sister was acting to satisfy an impulse.

Neither of these people thinking about how their actions could affect someone else.

Introducing Objectification of Humans as the Effect

Objectifying a person is when someone ignores or even forgets that the other person is a person with a life, dreams, talents, achievements, pet peeves and so on. They forget that the other person has a story. They forget the other person is human.

Objectifying is when we only think of another person as a means to get something for ourselves. When we think of someone else as a method or a tool to use.

"Objectify" is also defined in the dictionary as "degrades the status of something."

We all have had a moment in time where we have wanted to use someone else to gain something for ourselves. The danger of thinking this way is that it causes a whole array of problems. Down the line, self centered and impulse driven behavior can turn into rape, sexual assault, theft/robbery, porn addiction and substance addiction.

These things create a vicious circle, and its victims turn to substances or people to suppress the embarrassment, or the shame or confusion or the numbness and consequently hurt someone else or themselves without meaning to. As the saying goes, "Hurt people, hurt people."

Introducing You as the Solution

The mindset we have as a culture is only there because we allow it to be. The cool thing about culture is that it can change. We have the power to shift the way people in which people see the world via our actions and beliefs and ultimately the way we treat others.

There are organizations and individuals alike fighting the same battle, to educate people on the and fill them up again.

One of these organizations is called Fight the New Drug, which is dedicated to educating people about the negative effects of porn. It has amazing facts and stories of real people, as well as many education and recovery resources. Their current campaign is #PornKillsLove.

Find them on: http://www.fightthenewdrug.org/ or on IG: @fightthenewdrug

Another organization I connect strongly to, and have even shared my story with, is a clothing store called So Worth Loving, based in Atlanta. This organization is dedicated to reminding people they are worthy of love.

You can find them here: http://shop.soworthloving.com/ or on IG/Twitter: @Soworthloving