Bullying an American Epidemic

It seems like every time I turn on the TV lately there is someone bullying someone else or being bullied by someone else.   It may be because we are in the middle of an election year like no other and tempers are flaring faster than politicians and fake politicians can pounce on the latest one liner for the headline.  Sadly, I look around and see a nation of bullies from the potential top down.

I realize, hope, pray there are more good, honest, loving Americans in this country than what we see on television but as time marches on, my faith in the people of this country is waning.  Somewhere in the advent of the social media age, it became okay to think whatever you want and say it to people you don't  know.   It became okay to advocate violence and punching people who don't agree with you.   Somehow, in the last decade or two, we have become so desensitized to other people's suffering that we flock to watch videos of people dying online or people being hurt or destroyed by catastrophes and war.  We just don't care.

It is interesting because I have tried to pinpoint when we became a country that was both overly sensitive to silliness and under sensitive to our fellow human beings and I can't come up with the exact cause. When exactly did we become a nation of pissed off asshats?  When did being the biggest jerk on 3 continents make someone the potential leader of the free world?

 America during 9-11 wasn't like this.  Oh, we were already on the ridiculous PC-bandwagon,  but we were not hateful toward our fellow Americans.  We knew that our neighbors, friends, co-workers, and the people we worshiped with, believe in and bought into the American dream.   Even when those towers came down and people were hurt, shocked, and angry, most of us didn't blamed the random Muslim in the streets.   That isn't to say there weren't violent outbreaks because there were.   A crazy person here or there did something horrible.   I like to believe the rest of America was like me and tried to reassure the people who were from the Middle East originally, as best we could that we didn't blame them. A friendly smile and a 'How is your day?' and a 'Thank You' went a long way to bringing us back from the brink of despair and relating to each other as humans.

But the bullying goes beyond a Middle East hate.  Suddenly, our TV is inundated with certain candidates who seem to dislike every culture imaginable including our own.   When did it become okay to bash China, Mexico, Canada, people of other faiths, people of another sex, and/or people of another sexual orientation in public, on TV, and all the while encouraging your supporters to punch people?  When did that become funny?  When did that become acceptable?  When did that become a symbol of leadership in this country?   When did we become so damn angry?   When did we start to hate everyone who wasn't exactly like us?

Worse than that, people from other countries are watching US and believe their opinions of American's as brash, superficial, boasting, arrogant, ignorant, and vulgar are being proven in this election year.   Thanks in large part to a certain candidate who preaches hate in every form and every chance he gets, we are becoming a nation known for lacking culture, civility, and sense.   Sadly, I just look around and feel blessed that I don't have more children to worry about learning the wrong moral compass from the people who should know better, our leaders.

Oh, and don't get me wrong, there aren't any leaders on the other side who are any better.   Our choice is rapidly becoming a choice between two people who lie and take advantage of other human beings for fun.   Believing that any politician and that is what they are, outsiders or not, actually cares about us....well, that is a false hope that died with me when the current president took office.  It just doesn't happen.  Every person in office has their own agenda and at the top of that agenda, is their own personal interests and gain.  

So, what can we do?  What can I do?   Well, the first thing I intend to do is teach every child I come in contact with that this behavior of bullying is unacceptable.   I intend to stress to those kids in my life that getting to know people is the only solution to the problems.  Really getting to know them.   I will do what I have tried to do since I was a teenager (way, way, way back in the horse and buggy days) and that is keep an open mind and heart and be willing to talk reasonably with people from all sides about how we fix things.   Until a time comes when we can all stop being so angry and start communicating, we are going to continue repeating the mistakes of the past and continue bullying one another.

Let me be clear on this, I have lost friends because I refused to listen to them hate on another race, gender, culture, or religion.   I have walked away from people spewing garbage in my presence.  I have been on the receiving end of the hate and I have never turned it back on people.   I have tried to treat everyone exactly the same irregardless of how they treated me.   Don't retaliate, rise above.  That is what I have tried to do my entire life.   Apparently, I am a blast from the past, a person that is becoming extinct, an anomaly.

Memorial Day: things I love about the USA Plus It's Okay Tuesday

There is no doubt in my mind that this is the greatest country in the world.  Is it perfect?  No, of course not.  Is it amazing and a LOT of Americans fail to not only appreciate our freedom but they fail to take advantage of the opportunities because they are taking advantage of the system.

So I put together list of some things I love  about this country. Ready?  

1.  Band of Brothers: 

I realize it is a Mini Series but it is based on real heroes some of whom did not return from Europe.  As the Grandaughter of a World War II veteran, a medic who was stationed in the Pacific Theater, I feel it is incredibly important to appreciate the Greatest Generation.  They built this country.   They saved freedom.   They never once asked "What's in it for me?"  We should be more like that generation and less selfish.  If we spent our time working and enjoying life the way our grandparents or great grandparents did and less time complaining about how life wasn't fair, we would all rise above. 

2. Baseball on National Holidays.   Okay, so baseball isn't there for Veterans Day, Presidents Day or MLK Day but is there any doubt that those days would be better if it was?  No sport does patriotism the way MLB does from the Red, White and Blue camo hats to the giant flags, to the National anthem and God Bless America. Memorial Day and July 4th were made for baseball. 

3. Hamburgers, Hot Dogs, potato salad, brownies, and our grills.   

We had friends over Sunday and it was amazing because the 35 days of rain in the last 50 or whatever it is stopped about 1 and we were able to spend our entire night outside on the deck. 

This is just peaceful brilliance.

4. Freedom:

Our freedom was won by those amazing men and women who served and sacrificed for all of us. We are all free to choose who we are and how we will survive, or not survive.   We all have the gift of education and we all have the chance to take advantage of that education to better ourselves and our children.  Most importantly we are free to live how we want, where we want, with whom we want and worship as we wish.   Only when our individual freedom effects someone else's freedom does the debate start about who's freedom is more important. Usually, as is the case with prayer, the freedom of the majority is put aside for the freedom of the minority.   Is it right?   Probably not but freedom isn't perfect and it isn't free.  

5. Coffee. 

If we were British we would drink tea but thanks to the amazing people in Boston we threw tea in the harbor and never looked back.   Coffee became a way of life and thank GOD for that.  I will only ever drink my tea iced and sweet but you  give me coffee hot, cold, strong, creamy, full of lucious flavors or just plain.   Anyway you slice it, coffee is genius. 

6. Apple Pie.  What I did baseball and hot dogs.  Apple pie had to be there.   Actually I love Cherry best but Apple is good too.  Pie is brilliant and I almost convince myself there are some health benefits to fruit, sugar, and buttery crust.  

7. Outdoor sports

Fishing, swimming, hiking, biking,  softball, baseball,  and anything that gets you outside in beautiful weather is a win. 

8. Moments of peace. 

Have you ever stopped to think there are places in this world where there is no peace?   There is no quiet. Can you imagine living in Israel where having a bomb shelter in your home is a necessity?   Can you imagine being a Christian in a Muslim country where Isis or any other radical group is terrorizing people? Can you imagine the reality of explosions going on day or night?  Probably not.  Thank God for that.

9. The vote. 

We take it for granted.  We hate politicians.  We argue with our friends.  We mute our friends during election season on Social Media but,  we have the right to vote our conscious and that earns us the right to complain about the idiots in office. 

10. The American Soldier and the American Spirit: 

It has been there for almost 240 years.   Sacrificing comforts,  missing family, dying so we could live, laugh,  love, act on and express our beliefs, and sleep easy.   God Bless the American Troops, past, present, and future.  Without them, the USA would have failed a long, long time ago.  Without them, we would be drinking tea or speaking German.  Without them, we would have reason to fear terrorists could prevail.   We have the best trained and strongest military in the world.  Nobody, not crazy terrorists outside this country or in, will prevail.  This country knows how to come together and fight when outsiders attack and deep down, this country is full of men, women, and children who will grab a pitch fork or a shovel and fight, if need be.  We do not give up.  We are the sons and daughters of the United States of America and if you push us, the great eagle will swoop down on the little field mice and tear them limb from crazy limb.  

Can't forget It's Okay Tuesday:

It's okay:

*Sometimes I just don't feel like I am a good enough Step-mom.  I suspect that every parent goes through this.  I feel like when my kid acts up I am suppose to have some special insight into why and know how to fix it and that isn't the way the world works.  Shoot, I don't know how to fix it sometimes when I act up. 

*I haven't picked up a paint brush to paint furniture in weeks.  I want to but right now I am feeling like a total failure because I haven't sold either of the pieces that I had for sale and I look at the 3 pieces in the garage and think to myself  "If I refinish these and I do them the way someone else should want them, I won't want them in my house.  If I make them the way I want them, they may not sell."   I haven't figured out where I am going with this side business and can it even be called a business if you haven't done anything but paint some pieces that haven't sold?

*I am in desperate need of a haircut and can't seem to find the time to get it done.   My split ends have split ends. 

*Lately, everyone at work is more use to seeing me without makeup than with it.  I am suffering from a big time case of "I just don't care".  The problem is, I look like I have no eyes when I don't wear eye makeup.  I have big eyes but without mascara, you can't see my lashes.  

*I really want to go to Broken Bow, Oklahoma for our 1st anniversary but we can't plan anything yet.  I have been looking at cottage rentals and I am in complete love with this place.  So much so that I am actually ready to move there, forever.  It is perfect.  There are hills and a lake.  It is the place I always wanted to live in my dreams.  We didn't take a true honeymoon.  We spent a couple of days in a hotel then moved into our new house.   I would say in the 8 months of marriage the 2 nights in the hotel have been the least stressed and most relaxed nights of our marriage.  

*I am trying really hard not to complain about rain after years of drought but I really need to see the sun for a consistent two week period before the next rain shower.  I realize what I am asking.  I realize this is Texas and the minute it stops raining it is going to hit 100 degrees.  I am getting cabin fever and to be honest, we are all getting a little depressed being stuck indoors all weekend long every weekend.  

*I have failed completely so far this year at making a commitment to getting back into a exercise routine.