Hello... My name is Jeremy & I'm a News Addict... (all together: HI JEREMY!)
News Addict... Political Junkie... MSNBCrackhead...
None of those terms seem very endearing, but despite what most people may think, I embrace them.
"Jer... why do you like the news so much? Why do you follow politics so closely? Why are you always burying your nose in the front section of the NY Times?"
You might think the answer to those questions is an easy one: I'm a nerd. Well, that is partially true, but its not the answer I would give.
Let me put it to you this way... Do you have a young son or daughter? A little niece or nephew? A younger brother or sister? Do you ever look into their smiling faces and see a world of possibilities? Do you ever see hopes & dreams in their inquisitive, bright, gleaming eyes? And do you ever wonder, "Will they do great things? Will they have a loving, caring heart & selflessly help & care for others?"
I do. I have a amazingly beautiful, brilliant four year old niece & every time I look into her bright blue eyes I think of what she'll be like when she gets older & when she gets to be my age. And then I think of the kind of world she might be living in when she is. That thought frightens me sometimes... the thought of the kind of world that she may be living in, not the thought that someday she will be my age & I will probably be a wrinkly bag of bones on my way out the door. But it frightens me to think of those days that lie ahead for her, and I question:
Will people ever be treated equally with no deep-seeded or generationally-passed hints & tones of lingering racism present?
Will every American citizen be allowed to marry who they love regardless of their genders?
Will our country still be fighting foreign wars with countries that are devoted to religious law & not a system of political governance based on equality & liberty?
Will women have the right to choose what to do with their own bodies & be allowed to make their own decisions about their futures?
Will education have improved & moved to the forefront of our national priorities?
Will thousands of children still die each day due to poverty & hunger?
Will neighbors still battle one another over which "god" is "real" & best to "worship"?
Will the very rich ever chip in to help out the very poor?
Will all Americans be able to have a decent job & be able to support their families?
Will greed ever diminish?
Will people take environmental issues more seriously?
Will they begin to care more about each other?
Will nations ever join together in peace & respect for good of all mankind?
These are some of the thoughts that go through my mind on a regular basis when I look at my niece & other young children, wherever I may encounter them. I wonder if the world will be a better place for them than the one I currently watch on these network news channels.
I am a hopeful person by nature. I believe in the good of humanity... but not ALL of humanity. That is probably because I am also a "Realist". I know that for as many good people that are out there, there are probably an equal amount that are hell-bent on indulging in selfishness & greed, with no regards for others. Those people seem to have the numbers right now to tip the scales & turn this beautiful blue, life-filled planet of ours into a living hell for all those that choose not to be like them. That is one of the reasons I turn on the news everyday. I turn it on to get a gauge on exactly where our species is in regards to positive, peaceful, intellectual progress.
This world is a mess right now. You can verify that on just about any news channel you turn on. War, corruption, murder, fighting, finger-pointing, famine, natural disasters, economic disasters, civil rights violations, inequality, hate, fear, anger, sadness... the list goes on & on. But I would rather think of ways to remedy those things as opposed to just ignoring them or letting them bring me down. How could one just sit by, watching all these terrible things happen & not want to stop them, change them, or fix them??
That is what the news does for me. It reminds me, each and every day, that there are billions of awful things going on all around us, millions suffering, pleading for help, for change, yet I watch the majority of people I know just go about their daily business like nothing is happening, like they don't care. I don't understand how people cannot be affected by the travesties being reported day after day, week after week. I understand that they have lives to lead, a job to go to, a family to care for, bills to pay, dinner parties to attend, etc, etc, but that should not be an excuse to ignore the rest of your brothers & sister across the globe. We are all ONE! We are all of the same RACE... we are the HUMAN RACE, and until we start thinking like that, there is the possibility that there may not be a bright future for those young children whose eyes we look so hopefully into. We may not have to worry about getting to that dinner party on time because we may be worrying instead about where our next meal will come from.
"If you don't pay in the beginning, you will pay in the end..." That's a quote from a local Non-Profit Chairperson that works with impoverished & homeless children right here in Pittsburgh. She is trying to tell people that if we do not take action now to improve the conditions of so many "broken" things around us we will end up paying a much higher price in the end after it all falls to pieces & we are left standing among the ruins.
So, you can call me what you want while I read the headlines, brow furrowed, fingers clenched tightly around the first 20 pages of the Times, but I am doing it for one reason... to learn about the problems we as human beings are facing & find a solution to those problems.
Until others begin to act in the name of creating a better world for our sons and daughters, for our nieces and nephews, for our brothers and sisters, we will inevitably be forced down a path of selfishness, carelessness, solitude & destruction. Whether it is reading the paper & searching for solutions that you can apply to your own life & the lives of those around you, or flying halfway around the world to use your medical PhD to save the lives of children you have never met, the only thing that counts is the fact that you want to help and are willing to attempt to do so.
As the great & wise Bob Marley once said... "The people who were trying to make this world worse are not taking the day off. Why should I?"
Thx for reading!! --Jer--
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Reunited & It Feels.... Not So Good
This morning I woke up to a barrage of texts on my phone. One was from a co-worker (& fellow Union & Negotiation Committee Member) asking me if I knew there was a Committee Meeting going on AT THAT VERY MOMENT. That message came in at 9am & I received it at 11am... so I guess I was not aware of that meeting :)
Two more came in from out-of-state friends that were informing me of various, rather unimportant things... and the last message was from an old "friend" with whom I went to college with. His is the text that incited me to write this entry.
I'm sure that if he read this he would know immediately who I was talking about, but with no intentions to hurt any one's feelings, I will be vague about the details of our exchange & keep most of my disappointment with it to a minimum.
In fact, my disappointment isn't really even about him personally. He had already disappointed me in the past & I'm sure that he is aware of that. But I had hoped that, when I saw his text come in, there would be a reconciliation, some apologies from both sides & our reunion would be a joyful one. If that were the case you would not be reading this entry right now.
I guess the pleasant reunion went awry when he asked, "What have you been up to lately?". Seems like a harmless question, right? I thought so, too, until I answered his question, in part, by mentioning that I had been looking into joining an Obama 2012 Campaign Team that's near my home. His response to that caught me off guard. You see, he & I once attempted to start a Non-Profit Organization that aimed to assist young Sudanese men & women that had fled Africa and came to settle here in Pittsburgh. The idea was a beautiful one, but when it came to people dedicating the time & efforts they had promised, the idea had remained just that, an idea.
I guess there's more to it than that... this "friend" (who I will refer to as "Fox" from here on out... Not to be confused with my ADORABLE nephew Fox David Larkin, or the never "fair & balanced" Fox News, or the X-Files' spooky star, Fox Mulder) & I were Executives in this group, a group which consisted of: a Professor, several fellow students native to PGH & a few Sudanese gentlemen that now lived in PGH & were taking classes at the same college as the rest of us. It was a great mix of intelligent, caring & seemingly dedicated individuals & we all had high hopes for our organization. We enlisted the help of some very generous Duquesne Law School students to assist us in filing our Federal forms (that would grant us the NPO status needed to undertake our mission) & help with other important issues & consultations. We had a brilliant & progressive Professor on our side. Our Sudanese members were the perfect, living, breathing example of who we intended on helping through our mission. And I, as President & Co-Founder had constructed detailed Bylaws (voted through by our Board, unanimously) by which we would be governed & aid us in successfully carrying out our mission. Everything seemed to be right on track. Key word here: SEEMED.
Like I mentioned above, I was the President & Co-Founder. Fox was Treasurer & Co-Founder. At that time we had not elected a Vice President nor a Secretary, so I served as interim Secretary, taking Minutes of our meetings, leading correspondences w/other organizations & basically keeping records of all NPO-related necessities. Fox served as Treasurer & interim VP. We were pretty good friends at that time, considering the majority of the responsibilities were squarely placed on our shoulders. The success or failure of our organization would depend upon us; upon our dedication, our love for the cause, our ability to handle our elected responsibilities. To make a very long story short, our organization never got off of the ground. We had built the foundation & had even begun to built the road that we would soon travel on. But the dedication, the love & the responsibility of some didn't last. The loss of those things is why I am presently disappointed in Fox.
But let's get back to this mornings texts & the disappointing exchange I had with Fox...
Obviously, I had been disappointed with the way things had turned out with our NPO attempt & I obviously placed some of that blame on Fox & his actions (or lack of), which is why I hadn't talked to him for so long. The text I got from him today was the first communication we had had in a couple years. Don't get me wrong, he was a nice guy. He was even a descent friend & colleague at the time. But in the end he revealed his true colors. Today, after all these years, he revealed them even further.
Remember how I told you he ask what I had been up to lately & I had told him I was intending to join the Obama campaign? Well, I expected him to be like, "Oh wow man! That's cool! Good to see that your still fighting for those in need, those less fortunate. Even after all these years you are still sticking true to what your heart tells you is the right thing to do! I'm glad to hear that!" ...or something of that nature. That was not the case. Actually, that was nearly the COMPLETE OPPOSITE of what he had said in reply to my answer. Instead he said something along the line of, "You won't find me in the Obama camp", which in one sense didn't surprise me knowing that as much as he talked about being for "a cause", he never really followed through with any actions, i.e., our NPO attempt. And in another sense it DID surprise me because, despite all of his inaction's & lack of dedication, he still seemed to have a soft-spot in him somewhere that felt for people in need, which in my opinion would entice a person to join the "Hope & Change" campaign that Obama has & is running on.
I dug deeper into his statement, asking, "What do you mean by that? Aren't you a Democrat?". "I am very much a conservative, but not really a Republican", he replied. "...the choices (of Republican candidates) aren't too good in my eyes. But I like Herman Cain! Do you know him?", he concluded. Do I know Herman Cain? Do I know the joke of a candidate that is referred to as HERMAN CAIN??? Does the Pope shit in the woods??? Anyone who follows politics, and I mean FOLLOWS politics, LEGITIMATELY, knows who Herman Cain is & what a total bigoted, know-nothing, pizza-tossing ASS Herman Cain is! He is the same guy that said he would NEVER, under any circumstance (except the denouncing of their Islamic faith), allow any of the 1.5 billion Muslims, worldwide, to ever serve in his administration in any respect, period, point-blank. I believe that is considered "Islamophobia", or more simply put, small-minded, ignorant & EXTREMELY BIGOTED!
He is also the man that claims: “The objective of the liberals is to destroy this country. The objective of the liberals is to make America mediocre." That sounds to me, as journalist Jay Bookman put it, like "it is not the rhetoric of a man capable of becoming president. It is the rhetoric of a talk-radio host, armed with the one-liners, pat answers and applause lines honed by sitting night after night at the microphone." Even hate-monger Rush Limbaugh said after the South Carolina GOP 'debate': "Herman Cain made me think I was listening to me in every answer.” On this very rarest of occurrences I will have to agree with The Pill Man... Cain DOES sound a lot like him!
He thinks communities have the right to ban the construction of places of worship on the basis of religion... just like Rush does. Um, hello... 1st Amendment... ever hear of it?? Freedom of religion FOR ALL AMERICANS, Herman... not just those who worship like YOU do! He even went as far as saying the Willard Mitt Romney could never be elected President because of his Mormon religion. Talk about idiocy, self-righteousness & embarrassing ignorance of the Constitution! Jesus, Herman... is there a religion that you DON'T hate or feel the need to bash?
He also sided briefly, until proven WRONG, with the bat-shit crazy Birthers... just like Rush did & surely will continue to do despite the facts.
So, do I know Herman Cain...?? You bet I do!! And I also know that bigots can come in ALL COLORS, Herman!
That was just the beginning of my continued disappointment with Fox that I woke up to today.
Like I said before, I won't go into all the details of the exchange Fox & I had, I think I have made a point: Even when you think you know someone but deep inside your heart/mind is telling you that something is "off" about them, that they are not fully honest or true to themselves, or when they even go as far as proving to you that they are not really who they claim to be... you should probably believe it. You are probably right. and there should be no doubt after they PROVE it to you!
I knew after the fallout with Fox that he was not really the devoted, bleeding-heart hero of the less fortunate that he claimed to be. His view on Herman Cain supports that. So does the rest of the currently undisclosed conversation we had this morning. Its sad but what can one do?
Not everyone you meet in life is honest with you (& themselves) & have the best intentions in mind. It is difficult to find someone that cares about others as passionately as they do about themselves. If you encounter a person who DOES... value them! If you encounter a person who DOESN'T... politely pass on them and move on.
It is my opinion, based on experience, that life is too short, too precious & too valuable to waste on people who are greedy, selfish, disingenuous & unempathetic.
Thanks for reading!! --Jer--
Two more came in from out-of-state friends that were informing me of various, rather unimportant things... and the last message was from an old "friend" with whom I went to college with. His is the text that incited me to write this entry.
I'm sure that if he read this he would know immediately who I was talking about, but with no intentions to hurt any one's feelings, I will be vague about the details of our exchange & keep most of my disappointment with it to a minimum.
In fact, my disappointment isn't really even about him personally. He had already disappointed me in the past & I'm sure that he is aware of that. But I had hoped that, when I saw his text come in, there would be a reconciliation, some apologies from both sides & our reunion would be a joyful one. If that were the case you would not be reading this entry right now.
I guess the pleasant reunion went awry when he asked, "What have you been up to lately?". Seems like a harmless question, right? I thought so, too, until I answered his question, in part, by mentioning that I had been looking into joining an Obama 2012 Campaign Team that's near my home. His response to that caught me off guard. You see, he & I once attempted to start a Non-Profit Organization that aimed to assist young Sudanese men & women that had fled Africa and came to settle here in Pittsburgh. The idea was a beautiful one, but when it came to people dedicating the time & efforts they had promised, the idea had remained just that, an idea.
I guess there's more to it than that... this "friend" (who I will refer to as "Fox" from here on out... Not to be confused with my ADORABLE nephew Fox David Larkin, or the never "fair & balanced" Fox News, or the X-Files' spooky star, Fox Mulder) & I were Executives in this group, a group which consisted of: a Professor, several fellow students native to PGH & a few Sudanese gentlemen that now lived in PGH & were taking classes at the same college as the rest of us. It was a great mix of intelligent, caring & seemingly dedicated individuals & we all had high hopes for our organization. We enlisted the help of some very generous Duquesne Law School students to assist us in filing our Federal forms (that would grant us the NPO status needed to undertake our mission) & help with other important issues & consultations. We had a brilliant & progressive Professor on our side. Our Sudanese members were the perfect, living, breathing example of who we intended on helping through our mission. And I, as President & Co-Founder had constructed detailed Bylaws (voted through by our Board, unanimously) by which we would be governed & aid us in successfully carrying out our mission. Everything seemed to be right on track. Key word here: SEEMED.
Like I mentioned above, I was the President & Co-Founder. Fox was Treasurer & Co-Founder. At that time we had not elected a Vice President nor a Secretary, so I served as interim Secretary, taking Minutes of our meetings, leading correspondences w/other organizations & basically keeping records of all NPO-related necessities. Fox served as Treasurer & interim VP. We were pretty good friends at that time, considering the majority of the responsibilities were squarely placed on our shoulders. The success or failure of our organization would depend upon us; upon our dedication, our love for the cause, our ability to handle our elected responsibilities. To make a very long story short, our organization never got off of the ground. We had built the foundation & had even begun to built the road that we would soon travel on. But the dedication, the love & the responsibility of some didn't last. The loss of those things is why I am presently disappointed in Fox.
But let's get back to this mornings texts & the disappointing exchange I had with Fox...
Obviously, I had been disappointed with the way things had turned out with our NPO attempt & I obviously placed some of that blame on Fox & his actions (or lack of), which is why I hadn't talked to him for so long. The text I got from him today was the first communication we had had in a couple years. Don't get me wrong, he was a nice guy. He was even a descent friend & colleague at the time. But in the end he revealed his true colors. Today, after all these years, he revealed them even further.
Remember how I told you he ask what I had been up to lately & I had told him I was intending to join the Obama campaign? Well, I expected him to be like, "Oh wow man! That's cool! Good to see that your still fighting for those in need, those less fortunate. Even after all these years you are still sticking true to what your heart tells you is the right thing to do! I'm glad to hear that!" ...or something of that nature. That was not the case. Actually, that was nearly the COMPLETE OPPOSITE of what he had said in reply to my answer. Instead he said something along the line of, "You won't find me in the Obama camp", which in one sense didn't surprise me knowing that as much as he talked about being for "a cause", he never really followed through with any actions, i.e., our NPO attempt. And in another sense it DID surprise me because, despite all of his inaction's & lack of dedication, he still seemed to have a soft-spot in him somewhere that felt for people in need, which in my opinion would entice a person to join the "Hope & Change" campaign that Obama has & is running on.
I dug deeper into his statement, asking, "What do you mean by that? Aren't you a Democrat?". "I am very much a conservative, but not really a Republican", he replied. "...the choices (of Republican candidates) aren't too good in my eyes. But I like Herman Cain! Do you know him?", he concluded. Do I know Herman Cain? Do I know the joke of a candidate that is referred to as HERMAN CAIN??? Does the Pope shit in the woods??? Anyone who follows politics, and I mean FOLLOWS politics, LEGITIMATELY, knows who Herman Cain is & what a total bigoted, know-nothing, pizza-tossing ASS Herman Cain is! He is the same guy that said he would NEVER, under any circumstance (except the denouncing of their Islamic faith), allow any of the 1.5 billion Muslims, worldwide, to ever serve in his administration in any respect, period, point-blank. I believe that is considered "Islamophobia", or more simply put, small-minded, ignorant & EXTREMELY BIGOTED!
He is also the man that claims: “The objective of the liberals is to destroy this country. The objective of the liberals is to make America mediocre." That sounds to me, as journalist Jay Bookman put it, like "it is not the rhetoric of a man capable of becoming president. It is the rhetoric of a talk-radio host, armed with the one-liners, pat answers and applause lines honed by sitting night after night at the microphone." Even hate-monger Rush Limbaugh said after the South Carolina GOP 'debate': "Herman Cain made me think I was listening to me in every answer.” On this very rarest of occurrences I will have to agree with The Pill Man... Cain DOES sound a lot like him!
He thinks communities have the right to ban the construction of places of worship on the basis of religion... just like Rush does. Um, hello... 1st Amendment... ever hear of it?? Freedom of religion FOR ALL AMERICANS, Herman... not just those who worship like YOU do! He even went as far as saying the Willard Mitt Romney could never be elected President because of his Mormon religion. Talk about idiocy, self-righteousness & embarrassing ignorance of the Constitution! Jesus, Herman... is there a religion that you DON'T hate or feel the need to bash?
He also sided briefly, until proven WRONG, with the bat-shit crazy Birthers... just like Rush did & surely will continue to do despite the facts.
So, do I know Herman Cain...?? You bet I do!! And I also know that bigots can come in ALL COLORS, Herman!
That was just the beginning of my continued disappointment with Fox that I woke up to today.
Like I said before, I won't go into all the details of the exchange Fox & I had, I think I have made a point: Even when you think you know someone but deep inside your heart/mind is telling you that something is "off" about them, that they are not fully honest or true to themselves, or when they even go as far as proving to you that they are not really who they claim to be... you should probably believe it. You are probably right. and there should be no doubt after they PROVE it to you!
I knew after the fallout with Fox that he was not really the devoted, bleeding-heart hero of the less fortunate that he claimed to be. His view on Herman Cain supports that. So does the rest of the currently undisclosed conversation we had this morning. Its sad but what can one do?
Not everyone you meet in life is honest with you (& themselves) & have the best intentions in mind. It is difficult to find someone that cares about others as passionately as they do about themselves. If you encounter a person who DOES... value them! If you encounter a person who DOESN'T... politely pass on them and move on.
It is my opinion, based on experience, that life is too short, too precious & too valuable to waste on people who are greedy, selfish, disingenuous & unempathetic.
Thanks for reading!! --Jer--
Sunday, August 7, 2011
The Start of Something New
Hello Everyone!
I've decided to start a blog where I can write about/discuss all different kinds of topics that will most likely include some of these things: politics, social interactions, current events (local/national/international/universal) & news, Pittsburgh sports (only hockey & football...no baseball, sorry), relationships, friendships & family, religions, day-to-day experiences & reactions, basic human interactions, societal trends, psychological trends, many varying theories dealing with "outer space" & our Universe, my city, my thoughts, aspirations (of myself & others), other deep thinkers & a wide variety of other topics.
I am posting this as an intro to my blog, so it will be brief. I need to make sure I am doing this correctly, since it is the very first time I've tried blogging.
I hope you all enjoy it & I look forward to hearing your feedback & ideas!
--Jaayz--
I've decided to start a blog where I can write about/discuss all different kinds of topics that will most likely include some of these things: politics, social interactions, current events (local/national/international/universal) & news, Pittsburgh sports (only hockey & football...no baseball, sorry), relationships, friendships & family, religions, day-to-day experiences & reactions, basic human interactions, societal trends, psychological trends, many varying theories dealing with "outer space" & our Universe, my city, my thoughts, aspirations (of myself & others), other deep thinkers & a wide variety of other topics.
I am posting this as an intro to my blog, so it will be brief. I need to make sure I am doing this correctly, since it is the very first time I've tried blogging.
I hope you all enjoy it & I look forward to hearing your feedback & ideas!
--Jaayz--
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)