Someone commented on a recent post I wrote on how much thought goes into what I write. Well really everything I do. When I sat down this morning, the 9th of November 2016 I intentionally did not turn on the TV or go to any of the news media's webpages to find out who the next President of the United States will be. I know it is one of two people neither of which I voted for. I thought about that very seriously. Here is what I decided:
The reason I did not vote for either of the main candidates was that I felt that neither of them were the best choice. No amount of commercials or phone calls to my house could make me choose. I would get the question, "if the election was today who would you choose." and my answer every time was I don't know.
I had considered the lesser of two evil approach which maybe that would have been better but I don't know who won so I don't know the answer to that. I could have helped one or the other out since I know as of last night Florida was a state that they were very close in the polls and returns. But that should not be the approach we take in electing our President. I also considered the fact that I always thought a woman would be a good President but I don't know that the woman running was the candidate I wanted to choose.
In my life I have voted in almost all the elections since I turned 18 and it got to the point where the percentage of people voting was so small that there were times that I thought why doesn't everyone take this seriously. Well... Now will the rest of this country take elections seriously. You have a right to vote being a citizen of this country but you also have an obligation to help select the next "Leader of the Free World". I don't want to be embarrassed by things that our President says and does. One of the candidates has already spent time in the White House and had embarrassing moments there already. Did we really want more of that? Or do we want a business person who's ethics were lost before Millennials were even born. One way or another one of them will be sworn into office in January.
People often say life was better when I was a kid. I had freedom to go outside and play til the street lights came on and my parents didn't worry that I had been abducted. Even people who have lived through times of war in this country saw the good in the times that people helped each other out. Women went to work to support the war effort. Everyone was doing their part. Victory gardens and tie a yellow ribbon round the old oak tree. Times were hard but life was simple.
I know we can't go back but kids today don't know any better. If I never again see an ad on TV talking bad about another candidate I will be happy. How did we get to this point? I tried this past week to look up information on a candidate for Sheriff here where I live and his entire webpage was dedicated to the wrong doings of the other candidate. I couldn't find any information on his webpage about him. Instead of spending money on talking bad about someone else please tell me the good that you can do or have already done.
So here is my idea for running for office. If every time someone offered money for your election campaign you said donate that money to a local charity instead of all the millions of dollars spent on negative ad campaigns we could have provided charities all across this country with money that maybe they could do some good with, instead of padding the TV and Print Ad companies pockets.
I think if $100,000 is donated in the name of your campaign word will get out that you are doing some good in the world and not bad talking the other candidates.
I know in this day and age that what ever bad you have done in your life is probably already on the internet and that is probably the reason people that could be excellent candidates for office decide not to run because maybe they have dirty laundry and don't want it strewn across their front yard for everyone to see. But I guess we have 4 more years to think about all of this and see if we can get collective heads off of the internet and back to real life and realize that this isn't reality TV this is for real and one of those two people will now become our next President.
Our children or grandchildren will study this election and ask how did it happen? And hopefully we will be able to show the good that comes from the error in our ways. God Bless America.
Wednesday, November 9, 2016
Friday, June 17, 2016
Another Tragedy in the World
So it is 5:30 in the morning and I cannot sleep. I can't turn off my brain and all I keep thinking is that I am avoiding the news and the stories and the drama on tv but my brain still knows it is going on.
I know the suffering the choices that people are making. I know that for some this is all more than they can take in and that somehow going out for a night on the town should never have turned to this tragedy. But it has. I always read a previous post before I start writing. Today I looked back to find what I had written after the Sandy Hook shooting. I first had a hard time finding the post. I didn't realize it was back in 2012, the same year as our own tragedy. After reading what I had written it came back. The feelings then were still fresh, the wounds still open and the anger was real. Part of me thought just re-post what you wrote back then. It is still true, my feelings have not changed and guess what neither has gun laws or the amount of suffering in the world. I do stop and check myself so I just looked up gun law changes in wake of Sandy Hook shooting as far as I could find nothing changed on a national level and only 3 states made changes to existing gun laws: Connecticut, New York and Maryland. So thank you to 3 out of 50 states for saying that a clip holding more than 10 rounds isn't necessary. I know some will think I am cruel but if Congress can't change laws after a shooting in an elementary school what makes anyone believe they will make a change after a shooting in a bar.
One thing that most don't realize when I write these thoughts I am so careful in what I say and have spent an hour writing and only written 2 paragraphs where normally my fingers are tired at this point from all the typing. I have erased more than I will probably share today. I think of the suffering and the sadness. I know that everyone deals with something like this in their own way. Some have to talk about it and get it out and others keep everything inside. I don't begrudge those that must talk about it just please don't talk to me about the details. If you want to talk about healing or getting through this that is fine but the details are not for me.
In the wake of this tragic event I will just remind the world that this is not over for all the families. Even though another week or so will pass and the news will start to wane. It will take months for some to be able to go out in public again and others may never. Family members will hold tight to a t-shirt or a teddy bear instead of their family member. Some will seek help and others will not. And for some years will pass in a blink of an eye and they will continue to live in these days. They hold on to the darkness and don't let in the light. They will be unable to move on. Unable to live their own lives. But they will not make the news. Their suffering will go unknown by most. This is where the terror lives. I think it is great that health care agencies are letting their patients know that they do have people that you can talk to on the phone and who may be able to help some deal with the tragedy.
So I have learned this morning that I today am more about the healing of the victims and their family members than the changing of the world.
In closing I pray. I pray for the victims those both with visible scars and those without. I know the wounds are real for both. I pray for the mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers. The friends and acquaintances of the victims. I even pray for those who may have thought of going out that night but decided they were too tired they to have survivors remorse. You will heal and it will take time. Be open and share your feelings. Take one day at a time and each decision that you make or don't make is ok. Everyone heals at a different rate and your healing will come. Amen.
I know the suffering the choices that people are making. I know that for some this is all more than they can take in and that somehow going out for a night on the town should never have turned to this tragedy. But it has. I always read a previous post before I start writing. Today I looked back to find what I had written after the Sandy Hook shooting. I first had a hard time finding the post. I didn't realize it was back in 2012, the same year as our own tragedy. After reading what I had written it came back. The feelings then were still fresh, the wounds still open and the anger was real. Part of me thought just re-post what you wrote back then. It is still true, my feelings have not changed and guess what neither has gun laws or the amount of suffering in the world. I do stop and check myself so I just looked up gun law changes in wake of Sandy Hook shooting as far as I could find nothing changed on a national level and only 3 states made changes to existing gun laws: Connecticut, New York and Maryland. So thank you to 3 out of 50 states for saying that a clip holding more than 10 rounds isn't necessary. I know some will think I am cruel but if Congress can't change laws after a shooting in an elementary school what makes anyone believe they will make a change after a shooting in a bar.
One thing that most don't realize when I write these thoughts I am so careful in what I say and have spent an hour writing and only written 2 paragraphs where normally my fingers are tired at this point from all the typing. I have erased more than I will probably share today. I think of the suffering and the sadness. I know that everyone deals with something like this in their own way. Some have to talk about it and get it out and others keep everything inside. I don't begrudge those that must talk about it just please don't talk to me about the details. If you want to talk about healing or getting through this that is fine but the details are not for me.
In the wake of this tragic event I will just remind the world that this is not over for all the families. Even though another week or so will pass and the news will start to wane. It will take months for some to be able to go out in public again and others may never. Family members will hold tight to a t-shirt or a teddy bear instead of their family member. Some will seek help and others will not. And for some years will pass in a blink of an eye and they will continue to live in these days. They hold on to the darkness and don't let in the light. They will be unable to move on. Unable to live their own lives. But they will not make the news. Their suffering will go unknown by most. This is where the terror lives. I think it is great that health care agencies are letting their patients know that they do have people that you can talk to on the phone and who may be able to help some deal with the tragedy.
So I have learned this morning that I today am more about the healing of the victims and their family members than the changing of the world.
In closing I pray. I pray for the victims those both with visible scars and those without. I know the wounds are real for both. I pray for the mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers. The friends and acquaintances of the victims. I even pray for those who may have thought of going out that night but decided they were too tired they to have survivors remorse. You will heal and it will take time. Be open and share your feelings. Take one day at a time and each decision that you make or don't make is ok. Everyone heals at a different rate and your healing will come. Amen.
Saturday, February 27, 2016
Pete Rose for President
Usually I start and I am not sure what I am going to say today I know what I am going to say and I even had a title before I sat down. Now you are thinking why? There are two things that really annoy me with the world. People don't care who gets hurt for the sake of the sport and people have a very short memory for some things that should not be forgotten. Same goes for politics. People forget or don't care. Some might argue that was in the past. But most people don't truly change so if we were to forgive and forget how come people that have been convicted of a crime have to divulge that information on most job application. But not when you want to play a professional sport or run for office. If you want to find out the bad thing someone did they leave that up to the other people running for office to run their slander campaign. Which most of us were probably taught if you don't have something nice to say don't say anything at all. Yet in the next few months me being a resident of Florida will be bombarded with ads on the television and the radio and even the news will take their political agenda on the road and on the air.
As the football season ends it makes me think of players that have been convicted of some major crimes but for the sake of the game they continue to play. I would not be able to sleep at night knowing that I employ a person who has killed animals for the sake of betting or let them be killed in his yard. I can not condone the behavior of athletes that beat their wives and girlfriends. The NFL has their month they dedicate to domestic abuse and that may make some feel better and be able to sleep at night but I wonder if the wife of the player using steroids to improve his playing realizes that that is also contributing to his abusive behavior.
So we are currently a 9 months away from the next Presidential election and we already have more than 20 people that have thrown their hat in the ring so to speak. And of course some have already dropped out. I cannot watch the debates with the likes of Donald Trump spewing out of his mouth the things that he does. It used to be that a debate had rules and protocol but then again so did the dinner table and most of those have been thrown out the window as well.
Here comes Spring Training and where I work I will have to leave early for the next few weeks so that people from places up north can come to Florida and watch the pro players get ready for the regular season. Now I am not a baseball fan but I will take a Spring Training game any day over a regular season game. There is that atmosphere of the smaller stadium and outside in the Florida sun with the cool breeze of what we call winter on your face.
Funny that tying sports and politics together does not seem to be much of a reach. There is a hierarchy among both sports teams and leagues as well as state and national governments. Since the rules are now getting thrown out during debates will we soon have no rules for baseball. Will it no longer be considered wrong to bet on the game you play or the team you play for. Really what difference does it make if you are buying your way into the White House or a baseball player just trying to make a better life for himself. Same difference.
So in 1989 when Pete Rose was getting thrown out of baseball, Ronald Reagan was still a President in the White House with all of his charm, wit and integrity. There was still a standard to be upheld. He himself had played sports. He was a man that people respected. I cannot name one person running for the office of President right now that I respect.
Now in the early 1990's Pete Rose paid for his crimes that he was convicted of and released. This is really when the problem begins for Pete. He tries to get back to life but the only life he ever knew was baseball and he is standing outside the fence watching the game and can't get back in ever. Now unfortunately he did probably know there were rules and he probably thought he wouldn't get caught but he did. He now signs autographs for die hard Cincinnati fans but he knows how different his life would have been if he would not have ever bet on baseball. But what is done is done and he has truly been paying for his crime for 25 years. Was Pete Rose a great player? Yes. Did he beat records that will never be beat, probably. Did he break the rules? Yes. Has he paid for his crimes? I say yes. Do you think that letting him in now is still not going to be difficult. People will still ridicule him for decisions he made 25 years ago. But today in the political arena we don't hold politicians responsible for the things they said yesterday. Do politicians receive votes and money illegally? Yes. But they have lawyers and speech writers that will spin the truth into a pretty sweater with your initials on it and you still vote for them. So I say why not Pete Rose. He has admitted what he did was wrong. I don't think he is going to bet on China vs US and since we teach kids to forgive and forget isn't it time we acknowledge what he did well and leave the rest of the small print for people 100 years from now to read about online while they read about the first woman president who has already had her way in the White House or have people already forgotten that people thought she was running the country anyway?
As the football season ends it makes me think of players that have been convicted of some major crimes but for the sake of the game they continue to play. I would not be able to sleep at night knowing that I employ a person who has killed animals for the sake of betting or let them be killed in his yard. I can not condone the behavior of athletes that beat their wives and girlfriends. The NFL has their month they dedicate to domestic abuse and that may make some feel better and be able to sleep at night but I wonder if the wife of the player using steroids to improve his playing realizes that that is also contributing to his abusive behavior.
So we are currently a 9 months away from the next Presidential election and we already have more than 20 people that have thrown their hat in the ring so to speak. And of course some have already dropped out. I cannot watch the debates with the likes of Donald Trump spewing out of his mouth the things that he does. It used to be that a debate had rules and protocol but then again so did the dinner table and most of those have been thrown out the window as well.
Here comes Spring Training and where I work I will have to leave early for the next few weeks so that people from places up north can come to Florida and watch the pro players get ready for the regular season. Now I am not a baseball fan but I will take a Spring Training game any day over a regular season game. There is that atmosphere of the smaller stadium and outside in the Florida sun with the cool breeze of what we call winter on your face.
Funny that tying sports and politics together does not seem to be much of a reach. There is a hierarchy among both sports teams and leagues as well as state and national governments. Since the rules are now getting thrown out during debates will we soon have no rules for baseball. Will it no longer be considered wrong to bet on the game you play or the team you play for. Really what difference does it make if you are buying your way into the White House or a baseball player just trying to make a better life for himself. Same difference.
So in 1989 when Pete Rose was getting thrown out of baseball, Ronald Reagan was still a President in the White House with all of his charm, wit and integrity. There was still a standard to be upheld. He himself had played sports. He was a man that people respected. I cannot name one person running for the office of President right now that I respect.
Now in the early 1990's Pete Rose paid for his crimes that he was convicted of and released. This is really when the problem begins for Pete. He tries to get back to life but the only life he ever knew was baseball and he is standing outside the fence watching the game and can't get back in ever. Now unfortunately he did probably know there were rules and he probably thought he wouldn't get caught but he did. He now signs autographs for die hard Cincinnati fans but he knows how different his life would have been if he would not have ever bet on baseball. But what is done is done and he has truly been paying for his crime for 25 years. Was Pete Rose a great player? Yes. Did he beat records that will never be beat, probably. Did he break the rules? Yes. Has he paid for his crimes? I say yes. Do you think that letting him in now is still not going to be difficult. People will still ridicule him for decisions he made 25 years ago. But today in the political arena we don't hold politicians responsible for the things they said yesterday. Do politicians receive votes and money illegally? Yes. But they have lawyers and speech writers that will spin the truth into a pretty sweater with your initials on it and you still vote for them. So I say why not Pete Rose. He has admitted what he did was wrong. I don't think he is going to bet on China vs US and since we teach kids to forgive and forget isn't it time we acknowledge what he did well and leave the rest of the small print for people 100 years from now to read about online while they read about the first woman president who has already had her way in the White House or have people already forgotten that people thought she was running the country anyway?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)