Aleppo, Love, Uncategorized

What makes America great in the first place?

This is an actual honest question that I keep asking, and that I never get an answer to. I hear it all the time, “It’s time to make America great again”. First of all, I’m of the mindset that despite it’s flaws America is already pretty great, so what does it mean to make it great “again”.

If the average person was to talk about when America hit it’s prime. When America really blossomed into the great country that we know it to be, it wasn’t during the frontier time when people were dying in droves trying to cross the wild lands. It wasn’t during the time of the old west when gun slingers could mosey on in and shoot up the place. It wasn’t during the Civil War when brother was killing brother. It wasn’t during the roaring 20s when mobsters started bootlegging their booze and causing havoc in the streets. It wasn’t during the Great Depression when people were jumping off buildings so their families could have the life insurance.

The time when America seemed to really shine was about WWII. The amazing men and women who stood up against the evils of hate and destruction. The young people of that download (19)time are known as “The Greatest Generation”. They lived through the depression and came out the other side with a sense of pride and humanity. They fought and died to protect the lives of others. To protect the rights of others. They came home and everything changed. College grants were given. The housing market opened up in suburbs. They had babies who became the Hippies of the 60s and 70s who understood that ALL PEOPLE ARE CREATED EQUAL.

Ah, America was great. Americans understood that “With great power came great responsibility” and that it was important to fight for “Truth, Justice, and the American Way!”.

There is a young man who has taken on the thankless task of interviewing the Veterans that are left from WWII. He has created a documentary and believes that it is important for their legacy to be remembered. He believes that we will all be better people if we meet these incredible men and women who were part of saving the world from the Axis of Evil…. that’s what they were called. Because it was understood that they were in fact evil. That killing people by the millions for their religious belief or their disability was in fact evil. He wants to make sure that their stories live forever, and that they didn’t suffer and die for nothing.

Today there are millions more people who are suffering in other countries. Not just Syria or the nations that we hear about because they happen to do business with us, as in the case of ISIS have turned their attention globally. There are many countries in which people are dying everyday. Either through starvation, or raids, or bombings… millions ofdownload (18) innocent men, women, and children who are just as important as American men, women, and children but happen to have been born in a different geographical location.

What do you think makes America great? Do you think that we are great because we can all get the newest iPhone? Do you think that America is great because we have the fastest internet service? I believe America is so great, and has always been so great because we were founded on the notion that we are all equal. We were founded on the notion that we should all look out for each other.

If we want to keep America great we have to remember this. We have to remember the comradery that came out of WWII. We have to remember the hippies who said “make love not war”. We have to remember our founding fathers who said all people were, “endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”.  We have to remember our Presidents who said, “ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country”.

A lot of people take this last one to mean that no one should be given a free handout… but that’s a misinterpretation. What it means is that no one person should think that they are better than the whole. That in order for this country to succeed those who have need to take care of those who either do not have or can not have for themselves. That it is our job as Americans who have become strong and powerful to take care of the weak and needing.

You can use Christianity or just Humanity as your understanding of this statement. A images (17)good Christian, or a good person, helps those in need. They don’t hoard greedily while others suffer. They don’t judge others who may think or feel different from themselves… or look or love differently either.

People say that this country was founded on Christian ideals.. and that we need to keep God in our laws and our schools. Ok, well, God and Christ said to love thy neighbor. To not judge lest ye be judged. To give unto others.

What makes your America great?

 

Love, parenting, Uncategorized

Giving (up) for Lent

My son and I went to Mass the other day for our ashes… much to his protest, and the Priest of the day brought up an interesting take on the whole “Giving up something for Lent” thing.

Now I know that not all of you are Catholic, but I feel like it’s a good message in general. He spoke about how The Bible said to celebrate and worship privately, not to boast about what you are doing to get your accolades. This, to me, speaks to what the Pope said download-9recently about fake Christians who talk a big game about their Christian values and then treat the poor and other neighbors with complete disregard.

This country has been torn in half in the last year between the Conservative Christian party that wants to “take care of themselves”. They shouldn’t have to help the poor. They work for their money, why should they give it to someone who needs it? They are opposed to helping refugees who are running scared from extremely dangerous homelands. They spend all their time talking about making their “America Great Again” and to Hell with anyone who is different. Last time I checked this was not what Jesus preached… but they’re opposed to abortion… so they can check that box.

But as I mentioned, this priest spoke of Lent and of fasting and giving up something.. he said that it’s not just important to give something up, but to think of those who don’t have and maybe, just maybe, we could give to them. He brought up how when he was a child he was always made to give up candy, which is an understandable thing for a child, but he always felt it was superficial. The point of fasting is to grow closer to God and to truly give of yourself.

I was thinking of myself.. and recently I thought about giving up coffee.. then I realized that was crazy and not going to help ANYONE… but I thought about other habits similar to that. I thought about the fake Christians and their inability to give up what is theirs for someone else. I was thinking how nice it would be if we all saved the money from whatever we gave up, coffee, cigarettes, alcohol, or even shopping at Target for the non-essentials, and taking whatever money we didn’t spend and giving it to a charity of our choice.

I thought what a great thing this could be if we kept it up even after Lent was over. We all images-12say that we would do more for others if we had more money, but we all have our expensive habits… and if we are really on a tight budget, maybe we could do something like give up TV for the 40 days and actually spend the time volunteering. There is always someone who is in more need than us, and if we are going to give something up, wouldn’t it be great if we could give back, like a real Christian… a real HUMAN BEING should do.

bullying, Love, parenting, Uncategorized

DON’T GIVE IN TO THE DARK SIDE

rogue-one-a-star-wars-story-1600x900-poster-hd-2757-1170x550I went to see Star Wars: Rogue One the other night and I can’t stop thinking about the plot of the whole series. The whole good vs evil, right from wrong and where the line is drawn. There were plenty of people who were living in the Empire that were just living their lives as usual, following the laws of the Emperor and Darth Vader because that’s the what was expected. Lucas even named the army “Storm-Troopers” after the Nazis. I can’t help but relating this to modern day society.

We are lucky. We live in a society where, to this point our freedoms are pretty much in tact. We can say what we want, believe what we want and not have to worry about being killed or retribution. There have been multiple generations, at this point, who have grown up to this movie… applauding the Rebels for doing their part to defeat the Empire.

As Americans we can relate to not only fighting the evils of the Storm-Troopers but of being brave enough and strong enough to stand up for our rights and free ourselves from images-4an imperial forces that used our resources for their own selfish means. Yet we are so quick to just accept the evils of the world today. We are so quick to blame victims and believe the powers that be. Here’s a hint, if anyone, anyone is preaching hate as a whole, then they are not the person to be listened to.

Are there bad people in the world? Sure. Do horrible things happen everyday? Sadly, but that is not the norm. That is not what humanity is all about. Some say that one religion or another preaches hate and violence, but if you actually learn about a religion then you will learn that is not true. People can skew their message to mean anything. At church the other day our priest discussed how Joseph had the option to have Mary killed for being pregnant… but he did not choose that. People are their choices.

I’m watching Star Wars: The Force Awakens now. I’m watching Han Solo square off with his son. (I’m not going to give this away to those who haven’t seen it) His son makes a choice in that moment. He is using this choice to grow stronger in the Force… the religionimages-5 of that world. But as anyone knows, the force is neither good, not evil, it’s how they use their power that matters.

It’s time we stopped accusing and blaming anyone for what we see on the outside, and start seeing people as their actions and what we see on the inside. That includes looking in the mirror.

 

Aleppo, bullying, Love, parenting, Uncategorized

Love begets love

I was watching some horrible videos on Aleppo the other day and my boyfriend asked me images-2why I bother to watch such horrible things. They are so depressing, why do I put myself through that? I feel like that is most people’s view of Aleppo and other horrible things that are happening around the world.

There was an election last month and the winner of that election had a firm stand that Muslims are terrorists and that we should not take one refugee from any Islamic Nation. That’s very easy to say for people speaking hypothetically. It’s easy to sit in your comfy house, in your safe city, eating all the food that you could need and knowing that your babies are tucked cozy in their beds.

But that’s not what the rest of the world is experiencing. “1st world problems” has become a tagline for many things. “My iPhone broke #1stworldproblems” is very common. Most Americans today think that they have it rough if they don’t have a new car, or a big screen TV. They believe that America is a land of special people who have somehow earned the right to be better than others. That what happens to people in other countries, especially people with darker skin of other countries, is not our problem. They never look these babies in the eye and say, “Nope, you can’t come here.. you have to stay and die, because you’re not as good as an American”.

I don’t want to be one of those people that looks the other way. I don’t want to choose a political side over a human life. I want to do as much as I can to help as many people as I can. During this last election the Republicans were saying that Obama and Hillary created ISIS by leaving a power vacuum after the wars, and maybe they did. But the point is not who created the situation. The point is how can we solve it. I have posted before that hatedownload-2 begets hate, and that is true. There are all these people, politicians, news casters, and just Joe Shmo on social media spewing hate about how bad Muslims are and how they deserve what they get and we shouldn’t help them after everything that they have done to us… but no one seems to take into account what we have done to them .

Yes, 9-11 was tragic, every moment of that day has been seared into my brain. Being from Boston, I knew people who died on the plane. I understand why we needed to get justice for that act. I don’t see how starting a war with entire countries and bombing civilians that weren’t involved is getting justice. We managed to take Osama Bin Laden through intelligence, not brute force.

Recently there was a young man from Ohio State who lost his mind and went on a rampage with a knife and his car and killed his fellow classmates. He said that he was doing it because he was so “sick and tired” of the hate directed at him. Many people have used this as yet another example of how all Muslims are about hate and want to kill everyone… but that’s not the story.. the story is that he was sick and tired of the hate. That there are plenty of normal loving Muslims, Jews, Christians, Native Americans, Blacks, Gays… and any other culture out there that just want to be left alone, but hate is thrown in their face everyday.

I am lucky. I am white. I was raised and continue to live in upper-middle towns. I am images-3straight. I have a wonderful amazing son, who is also white. We are Catholic, and he goes to Catholic school. We are not rich, but we have what we need. But I understand that I am lucky. A few hundred years ago my Irish ancestors were not so lucky, and we have to remember what we are doing to everyone else in the world, because in a few hundred years who will be left and how will they be treated.

We watched Hitler try to kill off the Jews. We watched Stalin try to kill off his own. African nations and tribes have been killing each other for years. Every time we hear the stories we claim to be horrified, but we never step in till it’s on our own doorstep. Well, with society as it is, Social Media, the Global economy… everything is our door step. We need to stop treating people who happen to live in other places as the enemy. We have to start taking care of our own… Love begets love as well.

bullying, parenting, Uncategorized

Hate begets hate!

_a35076d2-a33d-11e5-8ae7-bdc8d919d82aHas anyone else noticed how negative the world has become? Social media is no longer a place to connect and share ideas and stories and make friends. It has become a battle ground for every issue one can think of. It has become a place where everyone is the perfect parent, spouse, worker … and they feel the need to point out everyone else’s imperfections.

When I first became pregnant with my son I signed up for all of the mommy blogs. I loved the idea of reading about new products and getting great advice about all the topics that I didn’t know were actual things till him. I loved expert advice, other mom advice and just a way to get support.

Unfortunately, that is not what I got. Instead all of the articles are “20 things your are doing wrong”, “10 reasons you’re a shitty parent” or some variation of here are things you shouldn’t do, but we know that you’re doing. All of the comments are… “if you’re not a super-mom you should be sterilized”. I am amazed at how many women, never sleep, shower or pee as they have made it clear that they NEVER leave a child unattended for any reason, and if you are one of those horrible moms who has to work, well.. you just shouldn’t have had kids then if you can’t spend 24/7 with them.

I think about all the articles about the horrible things that happen to babies and young children. Articles that are reported on in order to raise awareness for the dangers. Dangers like babies being forgotten in hot cars, being hung by window blinds, drowning in a bathtub. These mother’s who lost their children do not get empathy. They do not get a heartfelt understanding from fellow mother’s who also adore their children and can only imagine the pain they are feeling. They get blamed, bullied and told that it’s their fault for not being perfect at all times.

Cyber-bullying has become a huge topic, even the future first lady plans to make it a priority.. I am assuming by taking away her husband’s phone, but people only think of it as a teenage problem. In reality everyone is a target. Anyone who disagrees with you or has never shared your experience feels the needs to tell you that you’re an idiot, and that you have no right to your opinion. I have seen white men tell black women that they have no right to be fearful of society. That they have no right to call people out on rape. That if they don’t get the job it’s because they’re lazy and stupid because, as a white male, they never had this problem.

This country has gone from “All men are created equal” and “everyone has the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” to “no one has any rights except me, and if youdownload-1 don’t agree with me then you’re a moron and are not entitled to an opinion”.

Everyone talks about how heart disease and cancer is on the rise, but no one wants to discuss that anger, hatred, and down-right evil tendencies are taking over everyone’s brainwaves. Road rage, cyber-bullying, back stabbing and manipulation are just national pastimes. You are the energy that you put out. You attract the energy that you create. This country has spent the last decade creating and expelling anger, hate and vile.. and you wonder how Trump became our leader?

parenting, Uncategorized

Pope says we’re turning to shit!

So the Pope thinks Americans are obsessed with shit… not in the literal sense, but he uses Pope Francis Holds Weekly Audienceit as a metaphor. He said that America’s preoccupation with all the useless, garbage, and down right fake news is the same as people with a fetish for poop.

I can’t say that I disagree. The Kardashians are more popular than Neil Degrasse Tyson. The most popular book in the last decade was about a rich man’s S&M compulsion, we have a reality show host who’s about to be our next president.. and when asked why people didn’t vote for Hilary, they spout off lunacy conspiracies about her killing people, running a sex ring out of a pizza shop.. and so on.  They truly feel that you if you don’t believe the garbage that their favorite nut job has spouted that you are the ignorant one.

This country has become so mind dead that everyone believes anything that makes them feel better about themselves. They watch people like the Kardashian’s because it makesmembers-of-the-kardashian-family-u1 them feel better to know that even though they are rich, they are way more screwed up than the average watcher.

I am a huge fan of Doctor Who, and the show has done a few different episodes, one in the first series of the new chapter in which the Doctor and company end up on Satellite 9, a space station that makes the news, they do not report it, they decide what the world should know and think and tells them. The Doctor of course stops this disaster, only to go back 100 years later and find that satellite 9 has been replaced by a giant game show/reality show world. The humans don’t even get a say in whether or not they get picked for the show, and if they lose they die.. but people keep watching… it doesn’t even cross their minds to stop.

Then there is another 2 parter, in which people are obsessed with new ear buds. The company that makes the ear buds happen to also be in charge of the media and download information directly into the wearers head at different intervals. The Doctor comments cybermen_formation_doomsdaythat “You lot, you’re obsessed. You’d do anything for the latest upgrade” which his human companion is offended by, but the fact remains. Humans, and especially Americans are looking for anyone to tell us what to think, what to buy, and how we should act… of course if anyone knows the Doctor, they know that the next step in the upgrade is removing the human brain and putting it into a robot body.

I feel like these are extreme representations of where our world is going. We no longer want to use our own brains.We are incapable of being bored for even a few minutes. We are constantly hooked into our devices and looking for anything that supports our feelings. We gave up critical thinking for an upgraded app that will make us feel better about ourselves without having to do or create anything ourselves. Basically our lives are turning to shit and we just melt our brains away to keep ourselves from noticing.

bullying, parenting

The next step in bullying

I have stayed away from politics this whole time, because I don’t feel like my political opinion is either right or wrong, however, I do feel that there is a right or wrong to bullying!

trump_protest_0_1478881698Now I don’t care which side it is, or who is getting bullied. It is not right. When Trump was running he was very bad at his Tweeting and many people called for his Twitter account to be suspended. He went after women, minorities, war vets… it didn’t matter. It is the reason why so many people are so upset about his presidency.. and I get that. He even said that had he lost he wasn’t going to go away quietly.

Everyone couldn’t wait for the election to be over. Most people just felt like he would disappear into the ether and that would be the end of it. (I say most people because technically Hillary won the popular vote.. so more people voted for her, and there were other’s who either wrote in or voted for another option). But with the results as is.. he did not go away, and will not for at least 4 year.

That being said, he won, and we have to learn to except this arraignment. I’ve read many people saying that it’s white privilege that allows me and others to say this and that people of color have more to fear. That may be true, but it doesn’t change the fact that he is the President. Now, personally, I’m terrified of some of the changes that may happen. I’m terrified of the precedent that has been set that it’s OK to “grab them by the pussy”, but what mostly scares me is that the bullying is spreading. On both sides.

Hillary said that Trump not excepting the results of the election was horrifying, but now, the results are in and the same people that were supporting her comment are protesting said results. This is not actually helping anything. It’s just adding fuel to the fire. Twitter is actually declaring that it has to start cracking down on hate speech and bullying! Twitter, the site designed to share 180 characters of “what I had for lunch”.

I get that people are angry. I get that people are scared. But as Michelle Obama said, “when they go low, we go high”. Bullying others only gives their side more credibility. Trump made many promises, some of them good, some of them disgusting, m7912564-16x9-2150x1210ost of which have to pass though congress before it can be accomplished.. what’s important now is that the WORST of his campaign, the hate, the bullying, and the anger needs to stop. If you want to
make a change… if you want to Make America Great Again.. that starts with you. Get involved in local politics. Help out at local shelters or other charities… donate your time and money to helping the next generation be less hateful… You’re not going to change Trump’s mind. You’re not going to change the minds of his supporters. You can only change your own actions. And I for one would rather talk about the good in the world, than focus on the HATE!