Tag Archives: society

by

My Faith in Humanity…

Or lack thereof. The truth is, I have none. I haven’t had that incredible moment where I said “wow, we’re great people as a whole and I’m proud to be among them”. There were brief moments where I was proud of people, like when the Boston Bombing happened and people helped each other out in such an extreme situation. Those were brief moments, and immediately I get brought back to the reality of people are a group of selfish and disrespectful morons that go through every day without an ounce of remorse of anything stupid and horrible they do to each other. People are bullies, that bully people to get their way. People are inconsiderate. People care about things like race and nationality and not people as people. I know, it’s a sweeping generalization of close to 10 billion people, but I said it anyways.

Maybe this is all in my head, and the fault lies in a personality defect of my own. I wouldn’t doubt that. I have no patience for people, and less so in those that I’ve observed enough to know that I want nothing to do with them. I observe people a lot, I consider it a hazard of my writing. By watching behaviors of others, I can create realistic characters for my stories. I watch people interact. I’ve learned from my own experiences and observations all I need to know about particular people. I’ve learned a lot, and I don’t like anything I’ve learned. You find out eventually that you can read them from this. Then, you realize that they often read like a bad book where you wish you never read them. That’s when you find out who a person really is. I’m a cynical person, but I generally give someone the benefit of the doubt before I judge them. More often and not, I give a few opportunities for this. Usually my gut ends up right, and I learn to just trust it. And my gut tells me that my original statement holds more truth than I’m sure any of us care to admit.

My husband tests this theory. He is probably the best of humanity, and I’m fortunate my children will learn from him. He’s kind, generous, and helps when he can where he can. During a massive storm a few years ago, he was waiting in line to get gas for 3 hours. The person in front of him stalled out, and he got out of his car and helped them push their car to the pump, risking losing his spot in line. Another time, a woman locked her child in her car with the keys, and he called security and waited there until he was sure she was going to be safe enough. I stayed by our car with my phone out ready to call 911 in case she was a serial killer trying to take advantage of a kind person trying to help. I would’ve left that last part out, but it shows that he’s the best of humanity while I’m a mistrustful cynic that watches too many crime shows. The main point is, he is the evidence I have that there is some good in the world in my generation, and I see how people walk all over him constantly while he just sits back and takes it. People like him get eaten alive in this world, while people more crude and vile make successes beyond him whether they work hard for it or let others. I try to change my mind for him, I try because I see it in him. But for everyone one of him, there are 30 of ones not like him.

I’m not calling for a mass murder of humanity, only a re-awakening of it. People can change if they put their minds to it, if they really give a crap to change. You don’t need to be an ass. Too many people who lie, cheat, steal and abuse live out their lives like that because no one has the balls to fix it. We all let that happen. Until we put our foot down and make it so this isn’t acceptable. The way I’m going to change this is by making sure my children grow up so they have the strength to not be walked on, but the kindheartedness that the world needs more of. We can have both. It’s probably too late for us, but our children might be able to live in a world where superficial things like race and nationality are unimportant.

by

To Make a Change, You Need to Be the Change

A long while back I posted about how you need to be the change you want to make in the world. If nothing else, I’ve always stood by that statement. It wasn’t long after that where I started to worry about maybe it was too late for me to make a change in the world. What could I offer but words that I’m not even sure anyone reads or cares that I said them. What difference in the world could I possibly make? I think I’m nearing an early midlife crisis, or maybe it’s me nearing the end of my 20’s where I’m becoming increasingly aware and nostalgic all at once.

Maybe I’m right and it is too late for me to make a difference in this world. Maybe my generation and the ones before me are too far gone to change their stubborn ways. But I wonder how true that is. Gandhi was in his 70’s and he still fought for what he believed in to make his world a better place. Then again, he was assassinated so maybe that’s a warning to any of us who gets a silly idea like making a difference in the world. He had a cause he was willing to die for. Maybe my problem is that I don’t have any causes that make me say “yeah, I would take a bullet for that one”. Though get me on a good night, and I’d be willing to take a bullet for tacos or bacon. But I think eating either is enough of a hazard that I shouldn’t wish getting shot for it. Sometimes watching the news or hearing people talk make me also wish for a bullet, but I’m not sure if it’s for me or them. (It’s a joke, I don’t need the police on my doorstep. I’m a democrat, I don’t own a gun nor would I know what to do with one.)

If it is too late for me, it isn’t too late for my children. If nothing else, I can encourage this lesson for them. I always tell my oldest son never to settle for the lowest in life, that he should excel and do his best and aim for the sky. I want him to have a better life than me, and I’ve done everything in my life to encourage that. I went to school, I followed a dream. I didn’t settle for the life people expect of a teen mother: living in the slums while waiting at the welfare office for my money. I want my children to be successful meaningful people who change the world. I choose to lead them by example and show them that they are little specks in the grand scheme of the world, but even the smallest rock can make a ripple in the water. My oldest son is this shining example of this: he donated his time last year to several community service projects as part of his school’s student council. He walked proudly with his over-sized sandwich board advertising his school’s booth at the local Cancer Walk to raise money for the American Cancer Society. I walked proudly behind him, because I am proud. I take everything back, maybe this is the change I’m supposed to make.

by

The Overly Social Media

I sit on Facebook a lot. I do it a lot mostly because staying home all the time with the kids makes me feel a bit disconnected from people. Unfortunately Facebook mostly fills up a void, and I didn’t understand what that void was. Then I figured it out: as much as we all love to think we’ve grown out of high school mentalities, a lot of people haven’t. Facebook is like watching and being a part of all that drama you actually don’t miss being a part of in high school. You get to sit back and enjoy watching people think they’ve changed from high school. Most of the time, they’re right. Sadly, most of the time they are also very wrong.

You have people with fancy jobs, that still have their heads in the bickering high school games. You have people that just haven’t outgrown this child mentality that think the world is out to get them or that the world is there to be at their every whim. Some people don’t feel like growing up, so they just act like spoiled or rebellious teenagers, and we get to sit back and watch them do it where everyone can see. At least that’s the upside of Facebook, you can’t really hide what you are because we live in a world where people report back everything they eat, with pictures included. You can tell a lot about a person by their social media, and not just because of what they post. You can tell someone who doesn’t use their real name has something to hide or doesn’t want to be found. You can tell when people whine about asinine details of their life, they want the attention for it. You can tell the way people word things that they really just want to start the drama and watch it unfold. And you can tell when people just want to “troll” other people.

I enjoy the free entertainment. I enjoy watching people act on Facebook, not because they are particularly entertaining, but because of how they act. I enjoy watching people post things out of anger that really shouldn’t be posted because it doesn’t teach me that I don’t want to cross that person, it teaches me I’m not sure why I’m friends with them. I follow them anyways though, because I don’t want to be that person that deletes someone from their Facebook and have angry messages thrown at me about how I’m a little bitch. Don’t worry, I know I am.

I’ll still read Facebook obsessively, and check in on Twitter all the time. I enjoy the non-interaction because it satisfies that social need I have without actually having to socialize. I’ll enjoy posting pictures of my loved ones as I currently do because I have loved ones that I don’t see all the time that wants to see my family grow. I’d say “Stay Classy” in my best failed Ron Burgundy voice, but this is social media and that might be asking for too much. So, I’ll say “you go on goin’ on”.

by

It’s Coming!

I can hardly contain my excitement: the royal baby is coming! The news makes me so warm and fuzzy on the inside. This was amazing to wake up to.  I couldn’t think of better and more interesting news to see when I first opened up my lovely Firefox window and it was plastered everywhere! It’s not everyday someone gives birth you know, especially not a royal heir to the throne! Get on the celebration throne, kiddos. The Duchess is having, and this is solely my prediction, a royal Highness! Though I’m upset she only traveled to the hospital by car. Someone of this importance should have done something awesome like helicoptering in. That would’ve been awesome.

Over the top with the sarcasm? Probably. The media has been sitting outside of a hospital for weeks now for this event. I’m not sure if that’s great journalism or extreme obsession. I feel sorry for her having to worry about glorified paparazzi sitting outside of her hospital while she’s in labor. Though I stop feeling so bad when I remember that the baby will be born royalty and they are filthy rich.
But you do have to sympathize with her. We all worry about whether we should get an epidural or the breastfeeding debate. She has to worry about it and how the whole world watching will judge her decisions with the same level of critique as they discuss her wardrobe. Even worse, those crazy people who belittle people who dare feed their babies formula will expect her to use this as a platform for their agenda.

I do wish her luck and happiness, as children are always a blessing and she seems to be genuine and down to earth. I just feel bad that she can’t enjoy this moment without having to worry about press releases and over-zealous media hoping for their first shot of her and the baby. I hope that child gets a little more freedom away from cameras than American celebrity babies get. I also hope I can enjoy a “Royalty” free life for at least a little while. There was a reason for the Revolutionary War.

by

Yes I Graduated High School… Wait…

I remember skating through high school, doing barely enough to get by mostly to just get out of there. I had grand dreams that real life had to be better than that shallow existence we lived out inside those oppressively painted brick walls. I believed that in the real world, merits and hard work would get you far and having a decent enough personality to not be a sociopath was enough. I thought that people stopped judging you for silly things and fitting in would be so much easier. I told myself that being an individual and your own person wouldn’t matter; people didn’t want cookie cutter people in the real world. That was all high school worries that I didn’t need to concern myself with now. Soon, I realized how incredibly wrong and naive I was…

In my job, I worked hard and excelled. I was on good terms with the owners and the General Manager of the hotel, and I was well-liked by them. I always went above and beyond what was asked of me in hopes that I would climb up this ladder into a better position with better pay. I worked up from being a waitress to the front desk, which was a big leap for that establishment. After being promised my first promotion into head of the banquet wait staff, I was excited. I pulled extra hours doing my job while training for the promotion. Until I ended up not getting the promotion suspiciously around the same time I ended up finding out I was pregnant. Fear not, I was assured. Work hard, and you’ll work your way up in no time. Then the reality hit. It wasn’t how hard I worked, it was how friendly I was with the new Banquet head. And by “friendly”, I mean willing to be “more than friends”. I had witnessed the popular “pretty” girls flirt their way up, getting more hours and better pay. I realized that, much like in high school, who you associate with will benefit you.

When I went to college, I again hoped that college was different from high school. Again, I realized that since I didn’t have a fancy car or trust-fund or that I was there to actually learn something and get a degree, I was a little bit of a loner. Having a child meant I didn’t do the “party in the dorm” scene or that I wanted to be to class on-time with work done was something worthy of being laughed at. I found it to be karma though, I remember laughing and mocking those people too. Hard work didn’t pay off too much there, but I did get my degree and I was damned proud of myself. Screw you, high school. I’ve won.

Only, I haven’t won. Even as a stay at home mom, I still have to deal with these “high school” politics. The various parents cluster together, choosing their children’s friends based on how interesting the parents seem. I stood at the bus stop waiting for my son, as a circle of the “other” neighborhood moms sat around talking and laughing. At baseball practice, you see various “clusters” of the parents. You have the bullies sitting on the bleachers. The coaches’ wives sitting together laughing and talking. You have the one parent that floats around to all the groups to try to fit in someplace. I, like in high school, stayed on my own side of the world until approached. Luckily, my son is well liked by nearly everyone on the team, so some of the mom’s gravitate to me because my child is an “ideal choice” for their child’s friend.

There’s not much I can say other than high school really does prepare you for real life. The real world has the same social politics as the ones in high school. The cliques are the same, and if you don’t fit into a mold, you’re going to end up running around in circles. Whether you work, or stay at home, you’re still stuck in this world of popularity rules all. It’s dealing with it, and realizing that you’re grown up now that’s the hard part. And trying to get by, since there’s no summer school in the real world.

by

Let’s Rock This Joint

I hate benefit concerts. I want to watch, I really do, because it’s usually done for a great cause that needs help. But I can’t do it. I’d feel guilty about changing the channel off the acts that I find horrible just to see the maybe two or three bands that would interest me. Sometimes I DVR them and fast forward, sometimes I forget to even watch them after I DVR them because it’s not worth the effort of fast-forwarding through 5 and 1/2 hours of footage to watch maybe an hour of it. I like have the choice to do this. And it saddens me the on benefit I probably would’ve suffered through because “it’s my peeps”, didn’t give me the choice to.

I’m not the only one in Massachusetts wondering why they didn’t nationally televise the event. I’m not the only one in Massachusetts upset over it. I’m probably also not the only one in Massachusetts wondering what they were thinking with the promotion or anything else that was a huge “CF” as I would call it. (Adult language, if you don’t get it I won’t explain it. I’ll give you a hint: the “C” stands for “Cluster”.) I specifically mention Massachusetts and not New England because I wonder if anyone outside of Massachusetts even knew the event was going on. Great job raising $1 million, and awesome job not acknowledging a lot more would’ve been made to benefit the victims if it were nationally shown or at least regionally. How many people actually enjoy watching live streams on their computers?

Then you hear that Dane Cook blacked out his segment entirely to make sure his creative property was preserved for his next concert tour. There’s a joke in here about “what about the creative property he may or may not have stolen from other comedians?” but I won’t. But I do wonder if I knew he was still relevant. I don’t think I did, and I certainly was reminded that at least I wasn’t missing much when I did hear some jokes from the concert last night. Maybe he wasn’t so concerned about people seeing his routine before the concert as he was people realizing before they spent money  on his tour that he wasn’t really worth anything more than “free admission”. Maybe I’m bitter because I think that was in poor taste on his behalf, at least he admitted on Twitter he was being an ass. Maybe I’m just upset that the idea of the whole concert being a big secret may have affected how much money that might have been raised had it been more publicized.

I admit, I even forgot the concert was happening which I suppose just furthers the point of this being a poorly executed benefit. I wasn’t harmed by not seeing the concert, but imagine the help that people and businesses could have received from the benefit to rebuild their lives and property to get back to the everyday grind. They are the victims here, and that’s a horrible to say since that statement can be interpreted to say that they were victims twice in this. Maybe making a controversial comment like that could help light a fire under someone’s butt to get answers or something to remedy it. Maybe there needs to be a universal outrage to figure it out.

by

The Praises and the Woes

Monday was Memorial Day, the day that was meant to celebrate the troops for everything they do for us. Some have sacrificed their lives, and I felt that doing a blog post on that day would be a disservice, mostly because no words can truly be said for these men and women who are selflessly protecting America and their ideals even when it seems America doesn’t do enough to thank them. Remember every time you complain about “what a poop-hole America has become” because they allow you that freedom by fighting for us. Complain less, and thank more people. And don’t forget about the families that sit around worrying about their loved ones who are defending America, they will always remember their fallen more than we will and that’s absolutely horrible.

I didn’t intend for this post to be entirely dedicated to Memorial Day, especially considering it was 2 days ago. The nature of the beast while writing though, at least for me, is to go with what I feel like writing about. As I read that last sentence of that last paragraph, I felt compelled to continue anyways. We don’t have a death toll up that tells us how many people have died in Afghanistan and Iraq like we have the debt toll clock. Why would that be more important to us? There are people dying for us, and we should be reminded daily of it because they deserve not to be forgotten. The sad truth is I was right with the statement about how easily we forget. My friend’s brother died in Iraq, and while I know about it, it only pops in my head a few times a year when I sit and think about people who have fought for our country. My friend probably thinks about it more than once or twice a day. That makes me feel horrible to admit, but it doesn’t take away the truth of that statement.

They deserve better. I don’t know how many times I can say that, but it needs to be repeated often. Our troops lose pieces of themselves, physically and mentally, because they wanted to be a part of a bigger plan in life. They lose limbs, families, their lives, and in a lot of cases, their minds. And we support them once a year with an hour-long parade of high school bands that sound terrible and hideous floats and ditzy blonde local beauty pageant winners.  That doesn’t seem like a fair trade-off to me. I’ve had family serve our country, and thankfully returned safely. There are a lot of people who aren’t as lucky. They deserve better.

My son always salutes a person he sees in uniform. He said it shows them respect and that we are thankful to them. That’s what they need. They need us to show gratitude when we can, not because of a holiday people get off of work. They don’t get the day off to have BBQ with their families or to get insanely drunk with friends. Maybe more people need to be like my son and show them respect whenever they see them or help the ones that are home that need our help since they dedicated so much to help us. Remember that next time you complain about paying taxes or how terrible things are going with the government. We have troops that are fighting for our right to complain and to be free. /endsoapboxrant

by

The Generation of Apathy

The Generation of Apathy, those are the now twenty-somethings and increasingly getting older. We’re the ones who don’t believe in our politicians or political process enough to vote, and the ones that believe that the only real news reporters on television are Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. We’re the generation in between the ones that believe in partisanship… wait, I meant bi-partisanship. Now people are growing into a world where different news channels only focus on whatever political agenda they want, completely disregarding that so many people are fed up with being told what to think that they don’t trust anyone in politics or news.

All I ever hear are talking points. During the election, all I had to hear was how Ronald Reagan was the greatest president who had ever lived, and Romney was going to be our nation’s next Ronald Reagan. I don’t dispute whether or not he was a great president, though I believe he was as good as presidents can be. What I wonder is, if he was so great how come he wasn’t mentioned at all during the previous administrations during their crises. I didn’t hear about how he was Clinton’s moral opposite, or how he would’ve handled the start of the downfall of the economy at the end of Bush’s terms when bailouts started happening. I didn’t even hear about how awesome he was during Obama’s first term, until the election time came and it was “Reagan Time”. I wonder how many of those Hollywood Communists he nabbed we actually Communists. Do I mean this? Not really sure I don’t have the proper information on the validity of this point.

Now, it’s all about Nixon. Richard Nixon was a horrible person with scandals up the wazoo and Obama is the new Nixon. Every time they bring up any of the scandals, all you hear is Nixon. It’s now “Nixon Time”. Nixon was a smart man, but a corrupt and paranoid one. He is the Republican Obama. Or is Obama the Democratic Nixon? I don’t quite think they have that part of it worked out, but I’ll be sure to pay attention to see.  Obama is almost as bad as Nixon, they say. Worse then, Nixon never let people die. Nixon… Reagan… Nixon. They need to slow down, the way that people don’t know the difference between Chenya and the Czech Republic, I’d be concerned they’d mix up the two.

My point is I’m tired of it. I’m tired of being told what to think, and there should be more people upset by this. It isn’t a Republican or Democratic issue, it’s an American one. We need to actually be informed by our journalists, not made a part of a grand agenda saying one party is more corrupt than another. We need to be able to trust our politicians to do what’s right for us, their constituents, the ones who voted for them not filled their pockets with an obscene amount of money to push through whatever the highest bidder wants. They are the reason the Apathy Generation exists.

by

Random Thoughts That Might Make You Hate Me

I can’t help but to sit and let my mind wander. And it definitely wanders all over the place. Elections, current events, whether I have pity for people, and people and their opinions. Then, while my mind ran away from me when I sat down to make my post, I realized I had no idea what to post about. Rather than admit defeat though, I decided to share my wandering thoughts with you. Then I thought, “I’ll probably upset a lot of people with them”. Then I considered that and realized I would probably upset those people in real life anyways. What do I have to lose? So here are my random musings of the day.

To start with, I was watching a morning show I tend to watch and they were discussing about how a ESPN commentator was discussing Jason Collins and his announcing his sexual orientation. He said about how sex outside of marriage was a sin, and so was being gay. I didn’t care, he’s a guy saying his opinion. Everyone who didn’t agree with him about homosexuality being a sin became nasty, spiteful people. Do I agree with him? Absolutely not. But I didn’t see people who disagreed about sex outside of being married was a sin also feverishly defending their views. Last I checked, he was a “commentator” and that means he is paid to give his opinion. Not everyone is going to agree with everyone. If you someone based solely on their opinions, what makes you really better than they are? I don’t agree with him, but he’s not on a soap box, calling for homosexuals to be tossed into a fiery pit. He stated an opinion. Now, if they force their opinion on other people and it affects their business life, then you can get aboard the “fight for your freedom” train. Until then, let a guy who’s paid to give his opinion have his opinion, it’s his right to have it whether you agree or not. Welcome to America, the land where you can tell other people how to think by bullying them. Besides, people shouldn’t think too much into it, I never even heard of either guy until this whole thing happened and I’ll probably forget the commentators name tomorrow.(I did need to look it up, and kept forgetting it so I felt that it wasn’t actually important to the point.)

I thought about pity and the type of person I pity. I realized I don’t actually “pity” anyone, that seems like such a negative term.  I feel bad for people who are forced into a life they can’t seem to get out of because of bad luck after bad luck. I don’t feel bad for ones that don’t try. I feel as bad for people like that as I do a drunk driver that kills himself in an accident. You knew better than getting into that car after drinking, and you died a horrible death. No, I don’t feel sorry for you for causing your own misery. People don’t realize consequences and actions, and these days no one ever makes people face them. Life can be crappy, but are you going to sit around crying about it or are you going to stand up and do what you need to in order to make the situation better? If the answer is “sit on your butt and feel sorry for yourself”, then why should I feel bad for you? The answer is “I shouldn’t”. We were given free will, and no one commands our lives but us. You want that job, work your butt off and get your dream. Eventually it’ll happen, with enough will and effort.

I know, these two paragraphs have probably upset some readers. But I write to put my opinion out there, and if you don’t agree then you don’t agree. I don’t think I should have to change what I think to make people like me, I’m only me. I don’t ask you to agree with my opinions anymore than I ask you to agree with opinions of people I don’t agree with at all. (See above.) Overall, my main point is that everyone should have the right to say what they believe without a fear of people egging their house or stalking them into the streets assaulting them. I don’t want to have people accuse me of being anti-gay because I said someone who believes homosexuality is a sin should be allowed his opinion. The great thing about people talking about their opinions, is if you don’t agree with it you can ignore it. That doesn’t mean they don’t have the right to say it.

by

Guns Kill Immigrants? No Wait… Immigrants Kill Guns?

How I feel personally about immigration and gun control are irrelevant here. This isn’t a debated of “why I think guns should be legal/illegal/assault rifles banned” because I honestly think the politicians rooting for gun control are just appeasing masses that are traumatized by events like the Aurora movie theater shooting or the Newtown school shooting. Maybe they think “trying” to pass reform will make people feel better. News flash: it doesn’t. If politicians really wanted to make a change, they would do it and not spend 10 years talking about doing it.

Maybe I’m cynical. No, I take that back. I know I’m cynical. I don’t trust politicians, I repeat that every time I bring up politics but it never becomes less true. They sit and talk about a topic of relevance until they are blue in the face, and share how they are going to wave a magical wand and fix everything. They’re not fixing anything, unless by fixing it  you mean “further ruining”. Then, when the smoke clears away from that topic of relevance they move onto another “we need to fix this” discussion. With that said, a lot of talk about gun control and immigration confuse me. Maybe you can help explain this to me logically? (Not really, I already know the answer.)

In arguments about gun control, people anti-gun control argue about “what good is background checks? Bad guys are going to do bad things anyways. Why check out good guys?” I would have argued back “do you really need a gun that exact second you go into the store that you can’t wait until they make sure you’re not a psychopath?” I agree, if people want guns enough they are going to get them. But people are still going to get their hands on bombs, so should we legalize that? (That line came from something I watched, don’t ask what because I forgot. Point is, that wasn’t an original idea.) Now, follow me for a minute. In the immigration bill coming out, they are asking for people to have background checks before entering into this country. Because people won’t just come here anyways without people knowing because that’s never happened before. Right? So… why background check immigrants and not people with guns? Are you trying to tell me that an immigrant needs a background check to come here, but can get a gun no problem?

Logically, it doesn’t make sense to me. To me, if you background check one maybe you should check the other. That makes sense to me. I don’t think you can take guns off the street, I also don’t think you can keep people from illegally coming here. People are going to get guns and murder other people. People are going to still do drugs, so shouldn’t we just legalize them too? Actually, if you tax them maybe that wouldn’t be a bad idea. The point is simple though, what makes background checks amazingly intelligent in one scenario, but an incredibly stupid one in another. Maybe registries aren’t a bad idea in both cases. Maybe you can think about this topic and let me know.