It would seem counter intuitive for me to declare the my new-found perspective this semester has made me less tolerant, and less patient. Sadly at this moment it seems to be the case. What do I do? A good friend of mine, her mom has stage 4 cancer, her boyfriend (who refused to take that title...so really "guy she was dating") cheated on her. Not once but twice. Her dog was just put to sleep, oh yeah and her grandmother died too. And she is going to hold her head up high. She is having a rough time, and honestly I think "rough time" is an understatement. but now more than ever she is keeping her eyes on what is important. Is that just life experience or are younger generations becoming incapable? Did I baby her too much? Did we?
I know my sister is a strong woman. She is my sister so that goes without saying and I love her until the end of the earth. But I do not understand what the hell she sees in this d-bag. Pardon my French. She's gorgeous and he's a scruff. She's educating herself. He's wallowing at home in his ignorance. He's controlling, jealous, manipulative, and she can't see it. Ughhhhhhhh. Was it this painful for my mom and older sister to watch me make the mistakes a while back? Double Ugh. Once the break up cycle starts, I've learned... there's no going back. It doesn't work.
What I want to say:
Don't be a bitch for no reason. Really. Don't be.
Don't be petty or childish. I know that it seems like we lost a lot of our childhood but it doesn't mean you get it back now.
Don't be a bitch for no reason. Really, it's almost never necessary.
If you're not being heard, it's part your fault because you're allowing it.
Standing up for yourself is easy. Standing up for yourself while keeping cool, calm and collected and respectful is one of THE hardest things.
Don't settle for jealousy
Don't settle for insecurity.
Don't settle for someone you can't even 100% be true to yourself about.
Trust your family. Trust in them.
Don't waste your education. Or the money you're spending on it. Especially not over a boy.
Don't wait around. Life is too short.
Do always be true to yourself.
Do love. Everyone. Always.
Do have faith that this is the path you're meant to be on. So start enjoying the ride.
Do hope. For anything and everything.
Do dream for all that awaits you.
Do trust that it will get easier.
Do Believe that you are never, ever, alone.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dx7sLNyIeQk
Friday, April 22, 2011
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Even Though
So it's been a while since I wrote, and a lot has changed. I found a new major, and my eyes have been opened to incredible realities within the world and our nation in particular. Because of this I didn't want to stay *as* quiet anymore and to share some of my musings, thoughts etc. from my classes with ya'll. So, here goes.
I’m starting to not understand how these problems don’t get addressed. Because it all circles back to the same thing. And instead of helping we blame them, and design a system for them to fail. Tell them to get off their asses, get a job, exercise, stop selling drugs, be members of society. I need to be more specific. I’m talking about the hood, the projects, minorities, etc. now I’ve never lived there or amongst them but I’m hearing a lot about it. And I don’t understand how these problems are not being addressed. Projects are built downtown. Near poor schools, well really the schools are poor because they’re near the projects. Public schools get a lot of their funding from the local neighborhoods from taxes etc. People in the projects are on welfare. What do you expect when you give them a crappy education, therefore limiting their job opportunities. This is presuming they even HAVE job opportunities near where they live. Because heaven knows that they don’t have a car, or wouldn’t be able to afford drivers ed. And in case you haven’t heard the public transportation isn’t very efficient or good from what I can tell in these areas either. And this is if businesses or factories are even around for them to work in. with all the outsourcing for cheap labor or need for space, last time I checked, factories aren’t being built downtown in cities where people need work. And we’re going to talk about how they are overweight. And white people want to tell them to exercise, eat healthier-fruits and veggies. Well that’s well and great but have you seen how expensive produce is these days? Much less how many times you need to frequent the grocery store to have a regular influx of it. This is presuming AGAIN that there are even good grocery stores in these neighborhoods. Which according to the article there aren’t. and why? Because people can’t shop there, because it’s too expensive for all of the previously aforementioned reasons. Great. Just Great. And yet! We aren’t going to tax the rich. We’re going to continue to better other nations because it is our duty as a privileged nation, and love them because their leaders are mean. Even though not everyone can get a good education in this country. Even though minorities especially blacks are being incarcerated at alarming rates. Even though we are racist and prejudiced against our own people. Even though we as “white Americans” question every person of color we pass on the street. (I’m going to ignore for the time being how inappropriate the term American is for us that live in the US.) And yet these issues aren’t being addressed.
I’m starting to not understand how these problems don’t get addressed. Because it all circles back to the same thing. And instead of helping we blame them, and design a system for them to fail. Tell them to get off their asses, get a job, exercise, stop selling drugs, be members of society. I need to be more specific. I’m talking about the hood, the projects, minorities, etc. now I’ve never lived there or amongst them but I’m hearing a lot about it. And I don’t understand how these problems are not being addressed. Projects are built downtown. Near poor schools, well really the schools are poor because they’re near the projects. Public schools get a lot of their funding from the local neighborhoods from taxes etc. People in the projects are on welfare. What do you expect when you give them a crappy education, therefore limiting their job opportunities. This is presuming they even HAVE job opportunities near where they live. Because heaven knows that they don’t have a car, or wouldn’t be able to afford drivers ed. And in case you haven’t heard the public transportation isn’t very efficient or good from what I can tell in these areas either. And this is if businesses or factories are even around for them to work in. with all the outsourcing for cheap labor or need for space, last time I checked, factories aren’t being built downtown in cities where people need work. And we’re going to talk about how they are overweight. And white people want to tell them to exercise, eat healthier-fruits and veggies. Well that’s well and great but have you seen how expensive produce is these days? Much less how many times you need to frequent the grocery store to have a regular influx of it. This is presuming AGAIN that there are even good grocery stores in these neighborhoods. Which according to the article there aren’t. and why? Because people can’t shop there, because it’s too expensive for all of the previously aforementioned reasons. Great. Just Great. And yet! We aren’t going to tax the rich. We’re going to continue to better other nations because it is our duty as a privileged nation, and love them because their leaders are mean. Even though not everyone can get a good education in this country. Even though minorities especially blacks are being incarcerated at alarming rates. Even though we are racist and prejudiced against our own people. Even though we as “white Americans” question every person of color we pass on the street. (I’m going to ignore for the time being how inappropriate the term American is for us that live in the US.) And yet these issues aren’t being addressed.
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