HOPE
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Today I feel hope for a new tomorrow. Today I feel a world with a little less hate, a little more acceptance. Today I feel a world where dreams can come true. Today I am proud to live in a country that believes in change. Today I feel proud to be an American - a feeling I've not felt in a really long time. Today I feel inspired. Today I feel a world filled with possibility.
Today I feel excited about the world we are bringing our child into.
But I am not blind to the irony that exists in a country that voted for change but is also voting to openly discriminate against same sex couples. In Florida, same sex couples can not marry. In Arizona, not only can they not marry, but they can no longer adopt children. And in California, Prop 8 passed by a narrow margin, overturning the decision that same sex couples have the same rights as heterosexual couples.
I can't help but feel I need an umbrella for my parade today. In the grand scheme of things, open-minded won. In the smaller scheme, discrimination was justified again and again. I supposed I simply need to look at it as the next hurdle in a country where we overcame a huge one. It's just hard to understand how any minority - be it women or blacks or any one else who had to fight for the right to anything - could sit back and deny someone else their rights. And these propositions didn't pass based solely on the votes of white men.
But. We did it. We looked forward to change, to something new, to hope. We did it once, we can do it again.
Yes we can.
Posted byMeesh-elle my Belle at 4:05 PM 1 comments
Labels: it's always dumb to talk politics, musings on life, on a soapbox, we're having a baby
It's true what they say about opinions...
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Not only are they like assholes, but often, the people giving them can sound like assholes. Notice I did not say ARE. They probably aren't. I know I've been an ass when stating my opinion. Or more accurately, I should say, I've been an ass when refusing to listen to other people's opinions, forgetting that I could possibly (gasp) LEARN something from what they have to say.
There is very little in this world that is right or wrong. Things aren't very black and white. There are more shades of gray than I'm even aware of. But lately, I've noticed people feeling the need more and more to PUSH opinion on one another. I've certainly experienced it myself given that I'm having a child. Somehow, every other person in the universe wants to tell you the "right" accessory, the "right" thing to do about working or not, about breastfeeding, about how to freaking give birth, forgetting along the way that many of those things are very personal choices that one has the right to make on their own. Even friends who start out by bitching about all the annoying opinions people will give you once they find out you're pregnant will end up giving you their unsolicited opinion about things when they disagree with the choice it sounds like you'll be making. I'm embarrassed (btw, do you think that word comes from being bare-assed? Because that's embarrassing. Every time I write embarrassed, I think about how, somehow, that word must have originated from someone who was mortified and running around with a naked rear end. End of tangent...) Ahem. I was saying that I'm embarrassed to admit that at the beginning of my pregnancy, when I was attempting to educate myself about things that I finally realized I have absolutely NO control over, I was spouting my opinion to people as well. Spouting in a way that made me sound like it wasn't opinion, but instead THE answer. The only answer. The only way. And dude - I haven't even done any part of it yet!!! A.S.S.H.O.L.E
As of late, the political atmosphere has led to tremendous opinion spouting of the above persuasion. No question I am passionate about the things I believe in. I know what I hope for our country, for our leaders, and while I know I would have tremendous stake in this election regardless, I do think that knowing I'm bringing a child into the world has made our next leader that much more important to me.
But I also understand that there are others who are also opinionated and have strong beliefs that are totally and completely different than mine. I understand that I can learn something from looking at the beliefs and ideas of others even if I don't necessarily agree. I understand that different beliefs may mean that I don't have anything in common with another person, but more often, just means that we have different points of view on some things. I can respect that. I can have conversations about it - usually in a civil manner - and understand that I may have my eyes opened or learn something new.
I have friends that are Jews, Catholics, Christians, Atheists. I have friends that are gay, straight and in between. I have friends that are Black, White, Asian, Hispanic and everything in between. I have friends that are Democrats and I have friends that are Republicans. More Democrats than Republicans...but that's not the point.
I respect the right to choose.
I have tried to steer fairly clear of politics here. I have posted a few videos that I thought were too funny and accurate to keep to myself. But all in all, I think I've kept my political mouth shut.
Political conversations can turn naaaaaaaaaaaasty with a capital N. All of a sudden parents are shouting at kids, brothers are shouting at sisters, people are calling each other names and getting really heated in ways you've never seen them get heated before. People aren't respecting other people's OPINIONS. They are being - in a word - assholes.
But I'm breaking the seal - I'm going to talk politics.
I, myself, am a huge Obama supporter. I am mostly a Democrat - although I truly believe in looking at the candidates rather than simply following a party. There have been great Democratic leaders and great Republican leaders and there have been terrible leaders that have emerged from both parties as well (present leadership included. On a side note, we went to see W. this weekend and I wanted to punch the screen because that man is such. a fucking. IDIOT.) I do not think that Obama is perfect. But personally, I believe that he represents more of what I want to see happen in this country than McCain does. I believed this before McCain chose Sarah Palin as his running mate, and once he made that ridiculous choice, I believed it with every ounce of my being.
However, I can respect that there are people who do not feel the same way as I do.
What I am struggling with is the number of people - people who seem to me to have liberal belief systems - who have friends that are gay, that believe in a woman's right to choose, that think it's time for this ridiculous waste of a war to end, who are committed to the environment and to CHANGE - that are considering voting for McCain. And there seems to be only one reason and one reason alone that these people are making this choice.
Money.
Money. Money. Money. I hear these people spouting their mishegas about not wanting to be taxed more harshly (because they land in the higher tax bracket) and all of a sudden their eyes morph into dollar signs and their words go into slow mo and it sounds like there's a devil behind them saying, "I don't care about the future of the world...I am greeeeeeeeedy and I will keep ALL my money no matter WHAT the cost to our country, to my children..." and then they shrivel up into green smokey dollar signs and melt away and then I return to Planet Earth.
Look, I'm not thrilled about paying more taxes (although my other question in this whole thing is, given our current economic climate, does ANYONE TRULY THINK that there's any way in HELL that whoever lands up in office isn't going to raise taxes in some way or another? And if so, I'd love for them to explain to me how that person IS going to deal with things. Thanks...) WHO IN THEIR RIGHT MIND WANTS to give away more of their hard earned money? No one. But I just don't get it - if you don't really believe in the rest of the things that McCain stands for. If you don't believe in Sarah Palin and her ability to run our country. If on MOST other issues, you side with Obama, how do you check the box for McCain/Palin next Tuesday?
Because to me, that's not an opinion at all. That's just ASS.
Posted byMeesh-elle my Belle at 5:09 PM 3 comments
Labels: it's always dumb to talk politics, on a soapbox, things that get me riled up
43.4%
Thursday, February 7, 2008
I've started about 50 drafts on this subject before...and I never hit publish. They sounded trite, preachy, uninteresting. But I just read something that confirms my fears and I can't be quiet any longer and if I sound trite or preachy or uninteresting, well, so be it.
' "There was a survey done by the Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse U. that found that 43.4% of teen girls wanted to become celebrity personal assistants. They chose this option twice as often as being president of a college, three times more often than U.S. senator and four times more than chief executive of a major company," Gladstein said.'
-Fox Atomic pauses for a 'Moment', Variety
I am rendered speechless. And heartbroken. And...well...ummm...PISSED!!!
I'd feel about ten thousand times better if they had at LEAST said that they wanted to become a celebrity. And by the way, do not think for a moment that I'm dissing celebrity personal assistants because I'm not. It's a challenging job that requires very specific talents. Call me crazy, but I don't think that most of the girls answering this survey really care about the actual job of being a personal assistant. They care about being a part of what they read every week in Us Weekly. They care about getting into clubs and being in the know. They care about meeting famous people. They care about seeing and being seen. They care about being a part of a world that has become the obsession of this country.
I don't know any of this for a fact. I didn't talk to the teenage girls. I don't know what reasons they gave for having these aspirations. But I can't imagine that all 43.4% of them are sitting there saying, "When I grow up, I want to be a celebrity assistant!" because that's truly what they hope and dream of, because it's how they feel their talents will be used best. I am willing to bet large sums of money that if this was studied further, the answers as to why these girls want to be celebrity assistants when they grow up would look very similar to the list above.
So what. So what if that's what they want to do. It's their lives.
SERIOUSLY??? SO WHAT? If you're sitting here reading this saying that then please, PLEASE explain to me how it is that you view this situation differently than me because I REALLY want to understand how this is NOT the epidemic that I feel it is. That after years and years of women before us paving the way for us to be anything we want to be, what we want to be is a celebrity assistant??? This pierces me to the bottom of my soul. That the obsession with celebrity in this country has grown to such epic proportions that in order to be close to that world, 43.4% - THAT'S ALMOST HALF - of teen girls want to be celebrity assistants.
Celebrities are not the characters that we see them play. Their lives do not start with teasers and have a perfect ending after a well crafted 100 minutes filled with one major conflict that is almost always solved. They are human beings. I know...I know. They're really wealthy and they can get into whatever restaurant they want whenever they want and people send them free things. They hire stylists that allow them to be trend setters. Oh yeah...except for those moments when their stylists get it all wrong and they walk out of the house looking like bag ladies or like they're color blind and the ENTIRE WORLD comments on it. And then there's the fact that they often feel like animals in a zoo when they go out to eat because the rest of the restaurant is staring at them the whole time and there's a decent possibility that their food choices for the evening will end up on the pages of Star. They have to hear things on the news or see things in print about themselves that aren't true. They get chased by paparazzi at all hours of the day whether their going to the doctor or to their niece's 2nd birthday party. When they go to the grocery store, they inevitably end up in the "Stars...They're just like us!" section. WHAT THE HELL!!!!! OF COURSE THEY'RE JUST LIKE US. Sure there are many ways in which they lead charmed lives...but they are not exempt from being human. They feel deeply. They hurt. They have days where they feel ugly. They feel pressure. They have losses. The feel misunderstood. They need a moment to themselves. They cry and they ache and they want things that they don't have and they have moments where they wonder if everything will be ok. They have to work hard in their personal relationships. Sometimes they want to crawl under the covers and hide. Of course the world will never let them.
Meanwhile, why isn't anyone talking about the latest work that Angelina's doing in Africa instead of whether or not she's having a baby? Why isn't anyone focusing on the great humanitarians of the past 5 years rather than what and who Paris did last night? Oh please...don't get even get me STARTED down that road. That's another post entirely. Yes...the one about how posting a sex video online and having millions of dollars instantly makes you a household name and gives not only you, but the entirety of Hollywood delusions that you might be able to act or even -dare I say it - sing?? I can't. I can't right now...I'm just too upset about the 43.4%. This will have to wait for another day. But for now, someone, maybe the same person who's not upset about this whole phenomenon, please explain to me how it's possible that we live in a world that you don't have to do anything worthwhile to gain notoriety?
And people walk around saying, "Uch...kids these days..." But it's adults that are fostering this - adults are putting crap in the tabloids and paying for the pictures. The kids are just responding to the stimulus we're giving them. And now 43.4% of them just want en tree into this world, any way they can get it.
I'm telling you - it breaks my heart. And it makes me mad. And it should make you mad too.
Posted byMeesh-elle my Belle at 2:45 PM 2 comments
Labels: on a soapbox, things that get me riled up
