America the Ignorant

I made a mistake today. I looked up the news.

I don't mean I watched the lies and misdirection that mainstream media seems to pour out of its clogged and diseased mouth.

I mean I went to a news source that actually reported what the heck is going on in today's world.

We are seriously the stupidest nation on planet earth. And we are made so by ignorance and arrogance.

We chose, on a regular basis, to be ignorant of what is going on in our own back yards, in our own country. We chose. We give credence to BS like the whole Miley Cyrus debacle. Who cares! She's 20 years old and is going to do what every 20 year old with money does: screw around, screw up, and come back.

There are more important things happening in our world then what's going on in the entertainment industry.

And because we chose, as a country, to be ignorant of what is actually going on, we are arrogant. Our world is about to implode in on itself, and we are arrogant enough to believe that it won't effect us. But it will. So desperately.

This country's leader is about to declare an illegal war. A war that he will enter into without Congressional approval, because he knows he won't get it. This isn't necessarily illegal IF there is a direct threat on OUR OWN SOIL to this nation, or someone else declares war against us. He could be impeached for doing it....but will he?

He's been ripping the Constitution to shreds for the past five years, and no one has done anything yet. No, he won't. He will be allowed to continue on this path. An America will be so caught up in its entertainment, that we won't do anything.

Remember that nuclear power plant in Japan that was in full melt-down after the tidal wave two years ago? We thought they got it under control. Well, we didn't think, we just forgot about it. But guess what? It didn't go away. The Fukushima water plant is leaking hundreds of tons of radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean every day. They just now have asked for help. And no one seems to care!

We are about to ignite a powder keg, and no one seems to notice what's going on. Its not in any headline that I can see in the main stream media. Its an after thought. This. Is. NOT. Ok. Because, guess what? If we go to war with Syria, our entire existence changes. The young men of this country will go to die, fighting a country and a religion that has no remorse and no mercy for its opponents. We will be involved in a Jihad, and we won't even know it.

We will be fighting Russia and China if we fight Syria. We ignite Syria, we ignite the Middle East. We do that, then Europe gets involved. Europe gets involved, Asia gets involved. Welcome to World War Three.

And nobody cares! I don't see protests or anything. No one is talking about it!

At least when we got involved in WWI & WWII, we knew what we were doing. We had all the information at our disposal....well, at least it wasn't all covered up. People actually wanted to know what was going on in the world. They didn't bury their heads in the sand and pretend it wasn't happening.

I had a professor once say that when the media focuses on an inconsequential piece of news, then it was hiding something. This, my friends, is it. We are in for it.

And guess what? We chose it. Congratulations America. We win the prize for most Arrogant country on planet Earth. Miley Cyrus won't be at the top of the news for much longer. When this is, you'll wonder how you didn't see it coming. And this, my friends, is how.

The Future Free Thinkers of American

I often feel that in order to write a blog post, I have to have something I feel passionately about in order to spill it all out in black and white. Usually these topics include religion and politics.

So, today I thought I'd discuss something a little bit different. Freedoms.

I had an incident occur recently with a few friends of mine. They exercised their freedom of speech and posted something on Facebook that was beyond contrary to popular belief. I didn't agree with their view points at all. I thought it was cold and callus and over-all unfeeling. And I told them as much when we discussed it shortly after the status update.

And then the comments started rolling in.

Allow me to just say this: These two gentlemen, in no way, shape, or form, insulted or hurt anyone with the words they chose.

Among the myriad of comments, were things such as "GTFO of facebook" and "who the hell do you think you are" as well as "STFU" and "You need to not spew your opinion on blah-blah-blah-subject".

When my friends responded to said comments, respectfully, as it were, they were again reamed up one side and down the other for their opinions.

Now, while I don't necessarily agree with them, I have a small problem.

Under the First Amendment, my friends had every right to state their opinion. And every right to be respected for it. As does everyone else.

But here's the issue: These people on Facebook were so caught up in the emotion of the moment, that they failed to recognize that my friends had these rights, and instantly jumped to offense and the desire to see them string up from the nearest tree for their opinion. And in no way did they say so respectfully.

Which got me thinking. In today's society, we are so caught up with being politically correct and not offending anyone, that we forget about our own rights. Not even as Americans. But as Human Beings endowed by our Creator. It doesn't matter if you agree or not. The mere fact that you disagree and can say so is a freedom and a right protected under our Constitution.

But suddenly, it has become unpopular to go against the masses of people. Why is that? When did political correctness replace freedom of speech? When did the desire to please every ethnicity and religion replace the free thinkers of our generation?

The whole incident really has me wondering what kind of world we live in, where you are not allowed to speak your mind if it goes against the majority. It was the still, small voices of this world that created and caused revolutions in Science and Mathematics and Politics and even ways of life and belief systems. Are we so busy pleasing everyone and being politically correct that we are stifling the next generation of greatness and change?

Later, as I discussed with my friends what exactly had happened online, they both just shrugged their shoulders and laughed it off. But I was so proud of them for standing up for what they thought, and not backing down and going with the masses. Even though I didn't necessarily agree with them, it didn't mean that I had to change their minds.

And as long as people like these two gentlemen exist, who don't back down and stand their ground on their opinions and beliefs, there will be hope for the future free thinkers and generations.

Maturity and the Parking Lot

I had a moment today in the Costco parking lot. And not a pretty one.

I was driving along, minding my own business, looking for a parking spot, when I found one. And oh, it was prime. Three spots in from the end of the row, right next to the cheap food court. Naturally, I stopped my car and waited for the little red sports vehicle to pass me bye....but they didn't. They just sat there. For like, five minutes. Mind you, I can't see into this car because they had tinted their front window, which, by the way, is ILLEGAL IN CALIFORNIA. I suddenly dawned on me that these people in that little red sports car wanted MY parking spot.

Now, I had a choice: A) Pull in anyway and start a fight. B) Wait for them to pass and be deadlocked for another five minutes. or C) Look for different parking spot.

I decided to be the mature one, and drive on looking for a parking spot. This wasn't so bad...I found one a little further down the row, and I happen to be wearing flats today, so no big deal.

But what got me seething? As I passed that little piece of shiny red machinery, the person who owns said vehicle had the nerve to honk his horn at me. As I am directly in front of the car. That's like the adult equivelant of sticking your tongue out at the kid who's just been forced to share his toy with you.

As you can probably imagine, my initial reaction went something like this:

"Swear to God, Imma key that car, see how much he likes it when there's a huge scratch down the side of his car, honking at me, that'll teach him, the entitled piece of...." And sprinkle in a few explatives, and that about covers it.

I had my keys in my hand. I could have done it.

But did I? No.

Sometimes, being mature has nothing to do with how we are feeling. Its about our actions. Its about what we do when no one is watching. I could have keyed that stupid little sports car. I wanted to....my fingers still itch a little at the thought of it.

But I decided not to because it would cause nothing but problems for both me, and the guy who's car was honking at me.

Maturity has nothing to do with anybody else. Its all about you and how you handle situations. Getting upset about something someone said and then facebook ranting about it? That's not maturity. Calling someone out on their stuff in a hurtful way when you know they are already dealing with more stuff then they can handle? That is definately not maturity. Pointing out flaws in someone else, the same flaws you have inside, just so you'll feel better? That is not handling things like an adult at all.

Maturity is about letting things go, even when you don't want to. I know that I am not there yet. But I'm working on it. And so is everyone else in this world. People hurt us in this world, and the truth is, the closer they get, the more damage they can do. The difference is, how you handle it. When someone hurts you, you can either let it go, deal with it and then move on, or get upset and hurt and hold a grudge rather then confront the issues.

Besides that, why would you want to let things sit inside you and fester like that?

But that's way off track.

So, after I finished my sample round, got my blood sugar back to normal, and came about outside, I just passed that little shiny red car, smiled, shook my head, and kept walking. Did it feel good? Nah. But was it the mature thing to do? Yup.

Lesson learned? I hope so.