Hello friends. Its been almost a week and I'm letting things sink in. My last blog really was a lash out of anger and I spoke out of despair. In some ways I'm ashamed of some of what I said, but I will not delete it. It was my initial reaction and I think it needed a place to be stated. But I've had time to think about things and I got some conclusions of clarity:
1-As of for the moment, Trump to me remains an unstable, unqualified, inexperienced, impulsive, shady, deceptive person and I honestly am concerned. Not for myself, but for my friends who are dealing with the fallout of everything and everyone. Some small portion of his supporters are using his election as a rallying cry to push forth their own hate speech and even some agendas. I have zero problem with Trump wanting to try something new and make these "great deals" he says he can make. I welcome him to try if he thinks he can do better. What I don't agree with are the social issues and the hate speech he's welcomed. And make no mistake, he has welcomed it. He openly mocked a reporter with a crippling disease. That is just one example. That is why I am extremely hesitant on supporting him and why I spoke out of anger in my last blog post.
2-I know why he won. First of all, the Republicans just mobilized their voters out better. Also, we feel disenfranchised by what we perceive (or somehow expect) that we've "lost our way." To some this means simple things like a nice job, nuclear family, the "American way," etc. To others it means other things, but I am not speaking for those idiots. They I feel are a minority in the overall label of the RIGHT. That is another thing: I detest labels. They divide us. Sometimes we don't even know the definition of them and just use them as buzz words. We use them because we like to categorize and box things up. But we cannot categorize either the right or the left according to their extremes. Let's not label each other, but we cannot stop talking.
3-Its funny how people are "annoyed" about this event. They just want a return to the beautiful distractions and stick their head in the sand. (Amusing themselves to death) But I think its been good because we are talking and having the conversations we have needed to have for way too long. But we don't need to be dragging people out of cars and beating the shit out of them. We also don't need to give hate a voice. But I think it does us well to shine a spotlight on who is saying and doing these awful, racist, sexist things. Its out in the open now and we can educate and deal with it... in others and ourselves. We must evolve and let those who stand in the way know that this is not who we are and who we want to be.
Lastly,
4-We need focus, compassion and unity. We cannot simply abandon all hope. We cannot just move somewhere else and ignore the problem. We cannot let the terrorists within OURSELVES, win. We also must keep our representative, Mr. Trump, accountable. We want him to lead us and keep the promises he keeps because we hope he respects the office of the president. We cannot support when he tweets at celebs at 3am. He's 70 years old. He must be beyond these type of things. It is also up to us to take care of each other locally. Do not let racism, sexism reign. Shut it down. Stand tall. Use our voice. Keep going, because we will prevail.
The one main thing that is coming from this event: GOOD ART. I know there will be great comedy written about this and what is to come. There will be good music. Paintings. Movies. Books. Comics... everything will be a reaction to this. It will make us think. There are many examples of pieces of art throughout history that has helped usher in a change of mind on things. Its our job to keep making good art. Whatever it is that we do, make it art and do it well.
For my part, I want to be a part of this unity. We all need to join the movement. To better ourselves and the environment around us. I am a peaceful man at heart and I just want to be on the side of evolving the concepts and ourselves in the process. I hope you all will join me in this unity. Join me in this compassion. Join me in focusing on what we need to do to better ourselves. Or else our history, and future, is doomed.
__________________________________
There, I got that out. Some other stuff:
My dad came to visit last week. When he did I drove up north to my old town of Mt. Pleasant to meet him and my brothers, niece and-sister in-law for lunch. It was nice seeing them. However I got to drive Kitty D around my old home town and show her things around there for the first time. Most of my sentences were: "This used to be right there, but now its gone." It became disheartening. The town is a shell of what I remember. It saddened me. We have such a romanticized vision of our childhoods and old homes and what used to be. I miss how that place felt. So it goes.
We lost Leonard Cohen this week. And Robert Vaughn. Everyday I wake up, something I dig is slowly going away. It makes me think of my friend Caleb who I lost this year. I'm sure you remember me talking about it. Its been a few months but every day that goes by I think about him. I keep telling the same stories. I didn't know him longer than a year. But I hear other people tell stories and I think, "Yeah, that sounds like him!" I drink shots to him every time I open a bottle. He's joined the people who have left this world behind and its always on my mind.
I don't Facebook as much anymore. 95% of my activity is surrounded on my twitter, blog and podcast now. Its been a good thing to quiet some of the noise. It hasn't brought me any sort of newfound spark in productivity, but it is a start.
The trailer for Trainspotting 2 was released and it was awesome! The new Neal Morse album is out. I ordered it but it hasn't arrived yet. Soon I hope. The NES Classic was released but everywhere was sold out. I'm not bowing to scalpers on ebay for it, so I will wait my turn.Newest buys are STAR TREK: ORIGINAL SERIES on Blu-ray ($70 box set, found for $20! Score!!) A few random Blu-rays and DVDs. A couple books on the NES as well. I got some good finds to keep me occupied for the winter.
Okay, I promised pics of my new couch and kitten, so here we go:
Yes, I bought a new couch... FINALLY! We needed one badly. Its red to match my future house plans. Its comfy as fuck and I love it!
But I guess the biggest change in my house is we got this girl:
As of this writing, she doesn't have a name yet. She's VERY lovable, playful and purrs constantly around us. Of course she's adjusting to living in a new place, but she is getting there. We adopted her today from a pet adoption event.
Since I moved to this new place, I've wanted to get a cat. I've been hesitant on getting a new feline pet because some of the ones I've had in the past were so memorable, I just didn't want to try anymore. Like it wasn't fair to their memories or something. But in the end, its what I wanted and I'm glad I made the choice. Its only been a day but she's been a very positive addition to our lives. We love her so much.
Anyway, life rolls on and so do we. If we all keep our small corner of the world clean and keep working hard on ourselves and our works, that is all that matters.
Cheers, T
No comments:
Post a Comment