You Just Have To Wonder...
It seems like almost every day I wake up, I'm seeing or reading or hearing something that would be relatively UNHEARD OF when I was growing up.
And it's at times like this we have all those wonderful "WTF?" moments.
So many things that USED to be as easy a concept to comprehend, or simple a task to perform have become SO damn complex, SO entangled with regulations, and SO befuddling, that you're finding yourself long overdue for a trip to a chiropractor to straighten out that neck of yours where that head you've been shaking so often and for so long resides.
And much of this appears to be BY DESIGN...as if someone or something wants to "urge" us into a specific direction.
Sorry, I'm not buying into all this "control" crap.
I think I can make pretty much all my OWN decisions...ON MY OWN, thank you very much.
And I'm sure all of you feel likewise.
It's like we're not allowed to live our own lives or do things for ourselves without some kind of crap coming along to spoil our gig.
*** Here's a story about something as basic as child immunization:
http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20110609/LOCAL/306099969/0/FRONTPAGE Now, when I went to school the responsibility of immunizing a child was left TO THE PARENTS (and that's PLURAL, as in BOTH of them, because we did tend to do things the old-fashioned way back then).
You needed a set of shots or the boosters...so you went to YOUR doctor's office and you PAID for the shots and made sure little Johnny or Jane got 'em.
End of subject.
I know I dreaded needles (still do, just not as much) when school time rolled around.
But Mom trucked me off to the Doc's for what I needed to get into school the next year...simple, huh?
Today, people don't seem to want to have that responsibility, and the "government" takes over THAT job (so it would seem).
And please don't lecture me on the "poverty angle"....that'll get you nowhere fast.
We would be considered "poor" when I was young, 'cause we sure as hell weren't anywhere close to being well-off. We had NO car and a second-hand B&W TV.
When you have homemade SOUP for dinner several nights a week, that ain't livin' large, people. But it IS living well enough to appreciate what you have.
I guess we defined "being poor" differently in those days.
We didn't consider ourselves POOR then, or by today's standards; none of us did.
We were just "less fortunate" than those living in those nice, big single houses.
Given the fact that poverty was reserved for those in 3rd world nations and the Appalachia area, we were doing pretty damn well.
Today, you can be "in poverty" and STILL be making well OVER $10,000 a year...!
That would be a remarkable feat to pull off in the late 50s.
But that's only part of the wonderment for me.
*** Take those police in uniform.
In MY day, they were RESPECTED, JUST because of who they were and what they did. There was almost a reverence in regards to them.
And that respect obviously made THEM feel good enough to want to KEEP that respect by policing THEMSELVES.
Today, it's a different ballgame for a few...like the detective I mentioned yesterday as well as the officer in THIS story:
http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20110609/LOCAL/306099915/1002/LOCAL Officer William "Kelly" Thomas, 45, of the 800 block of Runnion Avenue faces felony charges of theft, check fraud, and attempted check fraud.
Even though he resigned back in 2007, the fraud was committed as recently as last year.
It's like I say about taking on the mantle of "holding oneself to higher standards" when you put on the SHIELD.
You have a responsibility to YOURSELF to protect the public, but how the hell can that happen when you cannot effectively protect YOURSELF?
Being a LEO doesn't give you the keys to the "Whatever the hell I feel like doing" store.
It's not about being selfish, but rather SELFLESS.
That is what I remember about officers of old.
Fortunately, we have such officers TODAY, and it's up to them to be even MORE steadfast in their devotion to their calling.
THEY have to be the ones to overshadow such bad behavior by their fellow officers...be the pillars of light, as it were.
And I think they do pretty well in that regard.
The really hard part comes in having the public believe the same.
It does in fact come down to being a GOOD role model...and not a poser like THIS:
*** (( Gun case yields 2 years in prison for Ja Rule
NEW YORK – Ja Rule is headed to a New York prison for up to two years in a gun case.
The platinum-selling rapper and actor was sentenced Wednesday. He pleaded guilty in December to attempted criminal weapon possession.
Authorities said he had a loaded gun in his sports car when it was stopped as he left a Manhattan concert in July 2007.
Ja Rule was nominated for a 2002 best rap album Grammy Award for "Pain Is Love." His movie credits include 2001’s "The Fast and the Furious" and 2003’s "Scary Movie 3."
He has been wrapping up a forthcoming album, "Pain Is Love 2." ))
(( *ROLLS EYES* ))
Yeah...helluva role model this one is.
Looks Ja-Rule is going to Ja-il...LMAO!
Oh, he's gonna find out ALL about "love and pain" in the big house.
(like many of his brethren)
Don'cha miss the days when the BIGGEST news about a really GOOD black performer was when Sammy Davis Jr. turned to JUDAISM?
I know I sure as hell do...(and Sammy was one of the BEST overall performers around - he could do it ALL, and proved it)
I do miss the days when living meant just that, and none of this looking over one's shoulder for some regulatory minions from the government telling me what I could or could not do, and wondering if I was compliant.
I've know I've had enough of that BS for several lifetimes, and I'm sure you're having YOUR fill of it by now, too.
--I want to take what I have left of my life and live it.
--I want to continue to use incandescent bulbs.
--I want to drink coffee and eat sugary treats .
--I want to run my air conditioner or furnace at a temperature I prefer, because WE pay the electric bill.
--I want to drive a car that I like, and not what some government wants.
--I want to eat red meat...and drink beer.
--I want to watch TV and not have all my electronic devices funneled into the all-powerful Internet.
--I want to say the word GOD and not be raked over the coals.
--I want to call things & people for what they are, and not be labelled in any way, other than being a TRUTHFUL person.
Yeah, I know I want a LOT...don't I?
Well, that IS only my "short-list"...LOL!
At this point in time, we've wandered SO far from those halcyon days of yesteryear, that it WOULD take a paradigm shift to get BACK to anything resembling it now.
But at least, in those days, I wasn't wondering about everything all the damn time.
I was too busy living my life, as were my parents.
I didn't need to see 3-D at the movies or on TV...LIFE was "3-D" enough for us.
We flew kites, we hiked the woods, we drove no place in particular on Sundays.
We wore handmade clothes, ate home-cooked meals, and espoused home-grown values. And the funny thing was...we not only SURVIVED it...we actually LIKED IT.
And our government stayed the hell out of it all...back then. If, to return to those days, we decide on a bit more "isolationism" on our part, then fine by me.
If, in order to become what we once were, we need to renounce what we have become...all the better.
This nation needs change, but NOT (as I like to say) FOR CHANGE SAKE.
We really do need to look to our past, in order to secure our future.
*** Lastly today, if you think the recent heat is getting to you, think long and hard about those in AZ, suffering the WILDFIRES.
We thought those in TX had it bad recently with their fires...not hardly.
We're talking a wildfire front as big as all of MANHATTAN, NYC! (that's a BIG chunk of real estate, folks)
I can't imagine all of NYC on fire, but there it is...in Arizona.
Floods, tornadoes, earthquakes, fires...all of this coming NOW...at this time.
Must be for a REASON...'ya think?
Maybe, it's to wise us all the hell up.
Perhaps it's all meant to bring us TOGETHER...Lord knows it has in MANY communities in the devastated areas.
But it should never have to take situations such as these extremes to unite real Americans.
Life is too precious to waste. And it's too important to have the government poking it's nose into it constantly.
Life is meant to be lived...and enjoyed...and shared.
We do that by WORKING at it, because it's part of the whole FREEDOM thing.
And THAT, as we already know, is NEVER free.
Just a few things to get you thinking today.
Be well, make a difference to someone, and...
Stay safe out there, America.