Today we are taking a slight detour, but I just need to get it out of my head to help my mind calm down a bit. We will return to our regularly schedule blog next week. Just a heads up, this is kind of a mind dump. If you are Facebook friends with me, you know what that means. For those that don’t, it just means that there is no real structure to this. It may jump around a bit, but it is something I need to do from time to time to clear my mind. Sort of a reboot.
This year has my anxiety and depression on such a roller coaster ride it’s unreal. My health, home life, and happiness are much better. My financial situation is somewhat stable and about twelve months from making a big turn to the good. But everything outside my control is going nuts.
This country seems to be at war with itself. Not so much a full-on Civil War, but a cold war for sure. Hate is at an all-time high. The politicians running this country (not just the President, EVERYONE) seem more concerned with cutting each other’s jugulars than actually doing something productive to help our nation. Sad thing is, I don’t feel this upcoming election is going to change anything regardless of the outcome. I only feel it will get worse. I have never been so close to throwing my hands up, selling everything I own, saying I quit, and moving to Costa Rica to become a bar tender in a beach tiki bar.
This America is not the country I grew up in, but I suppose every generation can say that. I guess change is inevitable, both good and bad. But for all the good strides we’ve made over the years, the bad seems to keep finding ways to be dominant. Racism is bad. Racial profiling is bad. Racial violence is bad. But damn, if half the effort and money put into “bringing awareness” to a problem we all know exists was actually put into helping prevent the situations from arising, I feel we’d make better strides.
I know, I know, “if you don’t have a valid alternative solution, don’t complain about what is being done currently.” How about we look into what’s causing the violence in these communities? How about we investigate why the police force is spending so much time in these areas to begin with? Maybe instead of spending millions of dollars on coach busses to bring people to protests, we take that money and donate it to struggling public schools to help improve education. Maybe we stick it into public transportation to make it easier for people to get to other areas of cities for work. Maybe we stick it into scholarships for adult education. I’m not talking four-year colleges; I’m talking trade and technical schools. I’m talking paid intern or apprenticeships. Something to help get people struggling back into the work force.
Will that fix racism. Of course not. But it might help get people struggling to improve their lives. Maybe allow them to help others. Maybe get some off the streets. Maybe quell some of the crime. If you earn money, you may be less likely to steal it. If you make your life better, you may be less likely to turn to drugs and violent behavior.
Right now, you may be saying, “he’s being racist by saying minorities are poor uneducated drug users who commit crimes.” I get it. That’s what it looks like. But I’m not talking about any race in particular. This covers all races. If you think the situations I mentioned above are exclusive to prominently minority filled neighborhoods, then you are sadly mistaken. “But Bart, you were talking about racism. How can you now be saying this helps all races?”
Let’s look at the definition of Racism. “Racism is the prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against a person or people on the basis of their membership of a particular racial or ethnic group.” Does the definition say anything about one specific race? Racism can be against anyone of any race.
Is Racism a problem? Of course it is, but it’s only one part of the bigger problem facing this Country. Hate. People in this country hate because of race, religion, sexual preference, political affiliation, gender, social class, and so much more. Hell, I once went to Philadelphia for work and couldn’t get served at a bar because I was wearing a Packer hat. I’m not even kidding here folks.
Hate is toxic. Hate tears apart communities. Hate snowballs. Just a small amount of hate can turn into something horrific. After Germany was defeated in World War I, Adolf Hitler blamed the Jewish community back home for undermining the war effort. Charles Manson wrote a song that the Beach Boys recorded, and he didn’t get credit for it. These two instances in particular led to hate that snowballed into horrific levels.
With the election looming, I’ve also been seeing a lot of abortion talk again. Everyone has their stance on this topic, and I’m no different. I don’t think the government should be the deciding factor on whether or not someone can legally have one. I feel there are far more important things our government should be focusing their time on. However, I don’t agree with late term abortion in any case. I do feel that abortion in the case of rape or molestation should be completely legal in early term for sure. I don’t agree with using it as birth control though. If you had consensual sex and produced a pregnancy, that’s on you. But that is also my feeling today. If you’d asked me in my late teens and early twenties, I know I would have had a different opinion on this.
That’s another point I’d like to make. Our opinions on just about everything changes as we get older change. Through our personal experiences and knowledge gained throughout the years, we tend to draw different conclusions. People my age look at the next generation and the one after that and say they don’t understand. They know what they are talking about. The generations before us said the same thing about you and me. And we are all right. When we were in our teens and twenties, we hadn’t had the experiences that taught us what we know now. If I went back in time with my current knowledge and mind set, I can bet my stance on many topics and political policies would be different. There’s a good chance I would have voted differently back then too.
This next one may be a very unpopular opinion, but I feel that religion has no place in politics. A majority of the people in this country owe their existence to people fleeing religious persecution. They fled England and other European countries that enforced laws of only one true religion. Yet here we are again, with people trying to force their religious beliefs as law. How many times have you heard the statement, “the Bible says….” I am not saying you can’t believe that way. I’m saying not everyone should be forced to believe that way. There are eight major religions practiced in the United States, and at least a dozen minor ones. Many of these do not believe the same thing, yet I continually hear people saying that laws need to be made because the Bible says so. And many of the people I hear saying those things I know for a fact do not follow all the rules of that bible they are thumping so proudly.
Every election, I hear the same rhetoric. If my guy gets elected, everything will change for the better. I got news for you. No, it won’t. Some stuff might, but only if they are allowed to. The only people who can fix hate are the people hating. The only people who can fix racism are the racists. The only ones that can stop the violence are the people committing violent acts.
Our country is going to hell and we’re responsible. All of us. I see it in Facebook every day. Hate. The anti-Trump versus the anti-Biden. The BLM and Antifa comments and arguments. The attempts to justify the hate with facts and figures both made up and actual. There is no justification for hate. If you feel your stance is the right one, then good for you. But if you go out there and spout hate toward those who feel differently than you, then you are part of the problem. If you don’t think so, go back and read your posts and comments over the last year or so. Pretend someone was saying those things to your child or your Mom. Would you get angry with them? Then you too are promoting hate.
Maybe it’s because we don’t have a common enemy anymore. We’re not talking about what’s happening in the Middle East anymore. Everyone seems to have forgotten all that. The Cold War with Russia is long since put to bed. When was the last time you heard something about North Korea? Maybe we need that outside foe to focus our anger on.
I don’t have the ultimate solution to hate. I don’t know how to get people to stop being so angry at each other. I don’t have the magic wand. I know running away to Costa Rica to be a bartender might help me, but it doesn’t help those I care about. Maybe I should run for office. Maybe I could make a change. Probably not. The extreme right and the extreme left will both hate me because I fall somewhere in the middle. I don’t want to leave my country, but it gets harder every year to be proud to be an American.
Thank you for letting me get this out. I hope to see you tune in next week for our regularly scheduled programming.
We’re all in this together. Luv Luv.