Monthly Archives: November 2013

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To The Most Important People in America

Normally, I don’t note holidays. Christmas is bleh. Thanksgiving was really a day we just gave small pox to Native Americans and plotted that we’d force some to live on reservations and feed the others a ton of cash by giving them casinos. Though, considering my oldest son’s birth, Thanksgiving is actually a dear holiday to me. (Also a note: this Thanksgiving is the first one where my son’s birthday actually falls on Thanksgiving since his birth.) However, every year there are two holidays I will always mention: Memorial Day and Veteran’s Day.

I come from a family of Veterans. Generations of my own family has served in various branches of the military, including my dear big brother, and my grandfather that is the namesake for my youngest son. My “married” family, brings me a father-in-law who has served, and a cousin who has made his family proud by graduating into the Marines. The people in the military hold a soft spot in my otherwise cold and sarcastic heart, as I know personally how it feels missing a family member who is abroad or somewhere else in the country. I’ve watched people who have known family members who gave their lives to protect us, and their sadness is beyond words.

These men and women are selfless and brave. They go into bad situations, knowing that they might not come home. And they go into it anyways, because it’s for the greater good. We should aspire to be as good as they are, because they are amazing. They are the heart of America. They are the reason we have what we have today. They fight evils so we don’t have to witness them for ourselves. They face things we couldn’t imagine seeing, so we don’t have to. They come home to families that wait for them with broken hearts hoping for the best but expecting the worst. Sometimes, they leave a piece of them in war. Sometimes they lose something of theirs, whether it’s their sanity or a body part. They go full force anyways, because that’s what they signed up for so we don’t have to. They deserve more than one day for what they do. Their families deserve more than a day for the sacrifices they also make. Our soldiers are the most important people in America because they make it safe for Americans.

They deserve more than that. They deserve everything we can give them, because they give us everything they have. They give up their families, they miss their children. Some miss the births of their babies, some miss graduations and school plays and big championship games their children play in. They give it all up because they feel there’s a bigger plan for them, and that is being America’s protectors. So I, for one, am eternally grateful to all those who has served in the past and currently serve now. You risk your lives for us and don’t expect anything in return. So thank you all.

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Halloween Costumes, and You

I know Halloween was last week, but I couldn’t ignore recent events. I enjoy offensive jokes. I enjoy edging that line that Paul and Storm mentioned about how comedy is staying on the right side of tasteful and wrong. I enjoy watching movies and laughing saying “oh my god, that was so wrong it was right”. Maybe my sense of humor is all sorts of wrong, but I’m okay with that. But I have lines and limits, and I’m not sure if it’s age or maturity or a sense of what’s morally right and wrong. Though, admittedly that knowing that I’m doing something wrong is different from ignoring that. “Jesus why did you give me a conscience if I can’t use it to influence my actions?” from The Minor Leagues, Good Boys.

It makes me wonder when people don’t understand a line. When you dress up as a Boston Marathon bomber, or you and a friend dress up as the Twin Towers on 9/11, what in your head says “hey, that’s a great idea!”. Then when people point out how this is in poor taste, they get attacked. They are being offended for the sake of other people. They have no right to be upset if you’re not personally touched by it. They have no right to feel that this is a wrong thing to do, and the world is just too sensitive these days. I admit the world is over sensitive. That I can agree with. But I don’t think this is the reason they are over sensitive. I think being upset about this is perfectly acceptable and understandable. I think that I wish those people that think it’s a hilarious idea have to deal with the tragedy in their own lives. I think I wish they had a friend running in a marathon and lose their limbs or life, so they can tell me if we’re being “over sensitive” about this. In fact, I think they would’ve had it coming, and I don’t think I would feel bad for them at all. Karma, sir, is a bitch.

My husband was on Reddit, when those exact arguments were made to his offense over the costumes. He was a nice person, he didn’t wish what I wished on the people defending this. He fed the trolls with his kindness and compassion, and since the internet is full of “tough guys” that are, in the real world, losers that may or may not be virgins that are bullied themselves. Penny Arcade came up with this internet law: http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2004/03/19 .  This is 100% true. I believe Reddit exemplifies this. Internet forums are the true underbelly of our society these days. And if you think your costume is witty or ironic, you’re probably a hipster or someone so desperate for attention that you don’t care how you get it. And I would feel sorry for you, if I didn’t think you deserved everything that comes next. I do lack empathy for stupidity as much as I lack empathy for laziness.

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When You Accomplish a Goal

To me, there’s nothing more satisfying then setting a goal and achieving it. It’s a high that I can honestly say is much more intense than anything else. I set a goal of weight loss, and right now I’m 100% on track to that loss. At a rate of 10 lbs a month, my goal of pregnancy weight by at least my birthday, if very much achievable if I keep at this goal. This is a minor goal, but it’s a goal that I’m on the patch of achieving. It’s quite rewarding working towards something. Maybe the fact I get such an incredible feeling of working hard towards goals makes it so I don’t understand how people can lazily slink by in life without goals or a sense of hard work or a sense of wanting to achieve something. I couldn’t imagine just getting a book deal without working for it. I couldn’t imagine being handed money and be told “don’t worry about a thing, I’ve got this”. I couldn’t imagine starving myself or popping some pill craze of the month to lose the weight. I don’t like the easy way out. I think I do have a habit of looking down on people I don’t think have goals or too lazy to achieve them. I admit this is a shortcoming. But, I just can’t imagine being like that. I can’t imagine handouts being worthy of bragging. I can’t imagine not trying to accomplish something.

It’s NaNoWriMo. So far, it’s day 4. On day 4, I am more than half way farther than I was the entire month when I attempted this last time. I only accomplished 10,000 words 2 years ago when I failed. Today, I’m at 6,095 words. I think this is doable, and I think I can do this. I think I will do this, though I’m afraid to jinx it. I feel good about it. I’m energized by the progress, and I think the quality of the product is going to be fantastic. This also makes me incredible. I’m excited to get back into this. Writing gives me a purpose in life. Parenting is fulfilling, but my writing gives me my purpose. I feel like a broken record saying this, but it’s more than just my love of words that makes writing my purpose. It stands for so much. It stands for my sacrifice of sanity by spending all that time on campus. It stands for my belief that you set goals and you go for them. Even more than that, it practices what I preach to my son. I told him, “you can be whatever you want in this world if you want it enough and work hard for it”. The only way to show hard work and how to set goals and achieve them is by showing your child how. Otherwise, you teach your child there’s an easy way and that’s the way to go. I refuse that for my children. They deserve the best in the world, and you have to work for the best. The best isn’t given to you, and people lie to you if they tell you otherwise.

The moral of the story? Dream it, and then do it. You deserve the chance to be whatever you want to be. Find your own NaNoWriMo. Prove to yourself that you are more than the circumstances you surround yourself with. You can’t expect other people to change, you need to be the change. You can’t tell your child the world is there’s to take if you aren’t willing to take it yourself. The best part of the dream is to live it. And if you can’t live it, the dream will always be there to move towards. It’s your choice whether or not you want stagnancy or achievement. But don’t blame anyone but yourself if you don’t want to work for anything and you stay in the same situation. You have the power to move or stand still. And if you stay still in a burning building, only you’re to blame for the burns you get.