TIME TO MAKE A CHANGE PART II

It took me a few more days to digest the response from my previous post than I thought it might. All I can say is…WOW. It illustrated many things to me that I have, no doubt, reason to comment on further at a later date. This little rant is neither the right time nor format to address those things without more thought first so forgive me in advance for that. While I’m at it, thank-you in advance for the many private notes for and against what I said and a special thanks to the crazy few who actually posted their opinions publicly. Your opinions were well received and respected…I’m not so sure Part II will get the same treatment. On that note, let’s begin. Some of you got the revised posting which included the third philosopher that was also an integral part of the forming of this country and some didn’t. Regardless of that fact his input is a very important aspect of Part II and needs to be discussed further. His name was John Locke and his philosophical beliefs were either quoted verbatim or paraphrased throughout the Declaration of Independence. Phrases like “…life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness…” along with his beliefs on religion. Religion has been a sticking point in this country for as far back as anyone can remember. It has been incorrectly bandied about by the religious right that this is a “Christian country, founded by Christian principles”, a statement that only faintly rings true. Yes, the founding fathers were largely Christian, but they were also the offspring of people who came here in part to be free of being told how to practice their religion. The Colonies and townships were formed largely by what a person chose to believe religiously as much as economic considerations. Therefore the forefathers were very sensitive to religious diversity and embraced it and included it in the Declaration of Independence. It wasn’t intended to be “Christian Only” it just happened at the time they were the majority religion here but were smart enough to see far enough down the road and include EVERY RELIGION directly or indirectly. John Locke had taught them to be forward thinking in these issues nearly a hundred years before this country was formed. Locke believed a country was made stronger if it allowed for religious and intellectual diversity to freely flourish and interact in a “humanist” manner doing what’s best for everyone. History had repeatedly shown him (and us) that having one dominant religion was foolish and extremely short-sighted. Locke, writing his Letters Concerning Toleration (1689–92) in the aftermath of the European wars of religion, formulated a classic reasoning for religious tolerance. Three arguments are central: (1) Earthly judges, the state in particular, and human beings generally, cannot dependably evaluate the truth-claims of competing religious standpoints; (2) Even if they could, enforcing a single "true religion" would not have the desired effect, because belief cannot be compelled by violence; (3) Coercing religious uniformity would lead to more social disorder than allowing diversity. In spite of the best of intentions by those who came before us we have lost our way. Hate and dissent have given way to rational thought. We spend more time arguing over who’s “family values” are the correct ones, who’s religion should be taught in schools (if any) or whether or not we’d prefer a Mormon, a Muslim or a candidate of unknown religious affiliation for President or City Councilman. God help us all if they’re single, divorced, gay, lesbian or have purple polka dots. That’s a can of worms that may take generations to unravel. Never mind if they can actually do the job…they have to be like us. I’ve said before, I don’t care what religion you are. Believe what you want to believe…just don’t expect me to politely stand there and listen to you explain your beliefs to me or condone you wearing it on your sleeve. I really don’t give a shit. It that helps you sleep at night, good for you, there are meds for that these days. What’s really important to me is…if our neighbor is in need of help…will you stand next to me and have their back or are the differences to great to overcome?

TIME TO MAKE A CHANGE PART I

A few months ago I received an e-mail from a friend who happened to also be the owner of the company I had my real estate license with at that time. It was entitled “Time to make a change” and it spelled out some rather significant changes the company would very soon be making and how they would impact everyone’s business (and clearly mine). I wasn’t shocked, surprised, angry, sad or disappointed. In fact I felt nothing at all…except perhaps a small amount of relief. I was fighting a battle (not as quietly or privately as I had thought) to regain my life and a more meaningful sense of normalcy to it all (I still don’t have a clue what “normal” is but it’s been interesting trying to find it out to be sure). So I did what most people do in similar situations… acted like everything was fine and kept looking for answers to unknown questions I hadn’t thought of yet. It should have been a mental train wreck but, oddly enough, it turned out not to be entirely. It was more like a demolition derby where a car gets sideswiped and ends up balanced on two wheels as it scoots around the track looking for a place to land on all four wheels again for a moment. You discover you can do things you didn’t know you could do and probably weren’t supposed to do in situations like that. Even worse…there are rules and laws of some form that say you shouldn’t have done those things without serious consequences. So what did this have to do with that e-mail? Everything and nothing really it just opened a door to move in a different direction I hadn’t entirely considered before that. Because of that e-mail I gave my real estate license up because after enduring every test known to man during that time and over the past few months since it was determined I shouldn’t be working, driving, standing for extended periods of time or lifting a whole lot of stuff so that pretty much ruled real estate out, Wal-Mart greeter…pretty much the same thing and to make matters worse, I don’t look good in blue. So today June 12, 2012, exactly sixteen years to the day my real estate career has officially come to and end, it probably should have happened sooner. Am I even a little sad or disappointed? Not really. I found myself slowly moving towards a career and lifestyle I probably should have never abandoned…even a little bit, and I find myself becoming more and more at peace with ME each and every day. The interesting thing about my particular predicament is that I’ve had the opportunity to observe a great many things up close which has caused me at times to look deeper into a variety of issues that seem to have many people’s panties in a bunch. I can’t honestly say I’ve found solutions for many of these issues…but I do see glimmers of hope that have been hiding right in front of us all but we’ve all been too busy or caught up in our own lives to notice. Here are a few examples: DISCLAIMER: First and foremost I’m going to disappoint some of you and piss a few of you off…get over it. I’m going to talk about issues like politics and religion and not take sides. Even though many of you would like to believe otherwise there are no right or wrongs when it comes to these subjects and as you all follow along with the bouncing ball I think you’ll understand where I’m coming from when everything is said and done. It’s an election year. This means that a large number of politicians from the President on down to Street Sweeper is re-applying for their jobs or trying to replace someone else for whatever job is open. It’s part of what makes this country great and seemingly different from other political models. That may have been true once upon a time but, I suspect, isn’t so much anymore. When this country was formed our forefathers were big fans of two very prominent philosophers who proposed that government belonged to the people and they were intelligent enough and rational enough to have a say in how government operated without the dictatorial musings of monarchs and/or people of supposed better lineage and educational superiority. The two philosophers were Thomas Pain and Adam Smith who gave us strong foundations to our country like laws should be created with the “highest and best use for the most people” and the economic model we still use today. Anyone who isn’t deaf, blind and stupid (or in a coma) knows that laws today are created for the fewest, the noisiest and the most well funded regardless of what side of the isle the bill’s sponsor sits on or what impact such a law would have on the public at large. In this day and age politicians come into office with a pocket full of IOU’s none of which are made out to their constituency. To make the issues worse today’s politicians are groomed to be there. They aren’t there because they feel a genuine responsibility to the community and country they live in. It’s because they’re the child of or went to school with so and so or are strategically planted by some special interest group… that and all the “bennies” they’ll get during plus if and when they ever retire at the taxpayer’s expense. Our economic model is almost two-hundred and forty years old. One would think we should be working on a new one that actually factors in the current global economy instead trying to use band-aids and quick fixes on the old ones. We should stop bailing industries out run by inept and greedy people who take the money and give themselves bonuses and pay raises out of it while cutting salaries and healthcare for employees below a certain pay scale and then try and make it mandatory for people to have healthcare and pay for it out of their own pockets. We should make budget cuts that make sense for everyone not an “I’ll give you this if you give me that” cut, there’s already enough pork in the country’s system to give us all heart attacks. Do two-hundred and eighty-nine people need to handle and generate paperwork for the purchase of one hammer? I think not. Do we need the hammer? I would hope so. Should it take less than six people to get it from point A to point B, probably but will that likely happen, probably not, it makes too much sense. Government is obscenely bloated at all levels and it’s not because of fast food or pork products. Other than Greece we have more government employees doing absolutely nothing all day than most other countries in the world. Many that actually do something generally do it wrong so the few that do have a brain and are trying to make a difference are overworked and by private sector standards…underpaid. We can’t seemingly afford to hire qualified people to do the jobs quickly and efficiently and pay them what they’re worth…but we can hire a dozen “fog a mirror” people and Uncle Bert’s illegitimate moron twins and use up what budget we do have. Believe me I have experienced this and more of late first hand to the point I can’t sleep at night anymore. We should do away with the Republican and Democratic Parties. Neither says anything that makes sense anymore. There’s no contrasting political opinion exchanged these days just playground name calling. They all say the same things and just use different words to sound clever. The voting ballots shouldn’t have names or political affiliations on them anymore. Under each political office we should simply have “Dumb” and “Dumber” and let the public vote on those names. Then the candidates would draw a name from a hat to see which one they were. It would have the same importance and impact when everything is said and done. Many people believe change is good…and I’m one of them but change for the sake of change may not necessarily be so and just because you see something as an injustice it doesn’t mean everyone agrees with you or that you’ve thought it completely out. Arizona has been a breeding ground for such things the past few years. Such an example is SB1070. I’m not going to divulge my personal opinion of this bill other than to say there are some really good points to it and some really stupid points to it as well. It also has been one of the funniest political drama’s I’ve witnessed in a long time that, sadly, illustrates how our political system has decayed. We can blame the press and news media in general for this. When all of this stuff hit the fan people divided themselves quickly into two main camps…those for it and those against it. The media swarmed all over them like mosquito’s on exposed bodies getting reaction from the crowds. Now there must be a class all journalism students must take on how to find the dumbest person in any group to interview. So after the quick sound bite speeches from the politician sponsoring the bill and those against it the journalists sought out “public opinion”. For the “pro” side they found a fuzzy vet obviously between visits to the Happy Hour at the local VFW hall who couldn’t say anything without being offensive. For the opposition they found a diminutive middle aged woman who could barely speak English and only seemed to know how to say “But WE were here first!” at the top of her lungs. Unfortunately they were both horribly wrong. The Hispanic community is very much an integral part of Arizona and has been from day one. They don’t deserve backhanded bigotry. That being said…they weren’t the first. The Native American Indian was. The Spanish/Mexican’s and the Whites showed up in a tour bus years later. With that the battle lines were drawn and the political positioning started and before long disruptions spilled out of the Capital complex. Politicians proved how stupid they could really be on a nightly news show and the intrepid reporters would always find someone in a rundown trailer park in what’s left of a house dress and hair styled by a weed whacker, holding a cigarette in one hand and a half full bottle of Thunderbird in the other saying “I saw the whoooole thing and it was just awful…just awful” … and now back to you Steve while I prepare my Emmy acceptance speech. Tomorrow…Religion! Won’t that be fun? Time for a change yet…maybe…kinda…sorta?

SHOW AND TELL

I hated “Show and Tell” when I was a kid. I wasn’t sure I wanted the whole world to know what interested me. I wasn’t embarrassed or even remotely ashamed of any of it…I just didn’t think it was anybody’s damned business but mine. The older I got the more I hated the whole concept. Over the past several months I have been asked fairly often why I don’t talk about sex more (especially considering where my musings get posted a lot of the time). So I sat down and gave some serious thought to those questions over the past several days. Interestingly enough I came up with a reasonably simple answer and here it is…because it’s easier to show you than tell you about it. As much as I hate to make that statement (if I had hair it would be standing up right now) it’s quite true. The old saying “Actions speak louder than words” couldn’t possibly ring truer than when it comes to the subject of sex. Anyone can talk a good game…few can actually play it. I can talk (or write) all day to the point of exhaustion about how and where I would touch my lover and the heat, smells and moisture it would create. I can describe the surroundings, the atmosphere and possibly the sounds created by both the environment and the mechanics that would be generated by such an opportunity but they would only ignite the imagination. To be physically present and involved would be the “proof in the pudding” so to speak. Sadly we’ve brought the need for this upon ourselves. People have been seduced by words since language was invented. Unfortunately as we have evolved (or de-evolved in some cases) language has become an afterthought. “UR so HOT” or U make me…whatever appearing on your phones text box seldom arouses anyone over the age of ten (I hope). Forum pages on many of the sites my wife and I subscribe to are filled with posting from “Hey look at ME” members asking questions they really don’t want a serious answer to like “What’s your favorite position?” or “What kind of lube do you use?” and so on. What they really want is for someone to tell them they’re hot and flirt with them and possibly even make a date with them…only for people to discover the posters are sexually inept fools (but they do look good). Another reason why seeing, touching and experiencing…is believing. You’re not going to get graphic descriptions of my latest experiences or conquests from me. My ego is healthy enough without bragging about such things for personal fulfillment. I may use excerpts of those things to illustrate a point but it’s hardly a conscious effort to seduce you I have other places I can do that in if the need arises. If you want to know something I will honestly answer your question but be prepared for an answer you may not like or a response of “I can’t tell you, I can only show you.” It’s not a “come-on” it’s merely a simple fact. To this day I still don’t like to talk about what interests me…I’d rather show you so you can better understand it for real.