I’ve recently took a trip to visit my family in New Orleans,
stopped to see family in Georgia and I will stop again to see family in
Virginia. I love to see my family in New
Orleans because it is always so healing, even at the craziest of times, even at
the tumultuous of times it fuels my creative faculties. I love to visit with my Grandpa and his other
half Georgia because so many of our opinions are similar, and although we never
got the chance to know each other when I was a child I find we are so alike in
many ways you would swear we did.
I’m struck by how blessed I truly am, each time I visit with
my family, some might say it is perspective, that I look at the glass half
full, even if that is the case I am happy for it, besides wouldn’t you be
happier with a half full glass, after all it could have been empty. I’ve been adopted into a family in the deep
south surrounded by the exciting Big Easy city down in Louisiana, and they are
diverse and grand, and I love them so very much for never giving up on me. Still I have moments in time with them where
I get stories stuck in my head that would be befitting of an episode of Downton
Abbey.
These trips are always enlightening in ways that leave you exhausting
due to the overextension of the mind, the constant churning of the wheels and
cogs in the head, and because of this constant churning I am writing a blog
instead of an article. I want to capture
the informal, I want to be sure these thoughts and impressions are somewhere I
can return to and elaborate on, and I want to share them even in their infancy
with you, my supportive readers who I adore.
I wonder do all women feel some deficit if they cannot be
catty, is it in our nature to gossip, do we do so without realizing we do
it? I have witnessed friends swear they
do not gossip in one breath and trash talk someone in another, are we built
this way, or conditioned from society to be this way? I find myself using a great deal of self-control
as I navigate the minefields carefully crafting my words hoping to assuage and
calm and most of all stay a neutral party that does not take sides, and I find
it exhausting. I am naturally biased, so
staying neutral is an extra chore for me, biting my tongue and not screaming at
the insanity takes considerable effort, and there I sit with an idea for a
Television series that would be every bit as controversial as I can be, but I
bet it would effectively show how silly people can be, and hopefully it would show that life
is important, and the people you love are important. Maybe I will keep this idea in mind in case
anyone wants to fund it, or in case I come into money enough to do so, or get
the help from my many artistic friends. Still, I was reminded of this as I sat in a room of women who speak in suggestive tones and speak volumes with their looks and their tone, never actually coming out to say exactly what it is they have to say. I am reminded of this when I look to my family and my mother who passed and her relatives, and so many others who simply do not say things outright and it is frustrating. I was told once a long time ago that people are sometimes afraid to tell me things, I like to think this has changed as I've gotten older, but my response to that even now would be "I may react poorly, I may be hurt or mad, depending on what was said, but I will get over it, I will deal with it and ultimately we will be able to put it aside. However I would rather you say something is on your mind then wonder why your attitude has changed towards me, and if more people were to speak with integrity and compassion I feel the world would be a better place.
Switching gears I entered into a talks about religion and
politics and found myself chatting with someone that agreed with me, someone
that could enlighten me from the perspective of a Veteran. We discussed Obamacare and the hardship it is
adding to small businesses even mid-size businesses and I have it in my head
that I will take to the streets and interview businesses on the effects it has
had on employment and the business as a whole, stay tuned for that article, I
am sure it will be enlightening. Even an
article in Forbes acknowledges the bills shortcomings “Most supporters of Obamacare embraced it because
of a principled belief that everyone should have access to essential
healthcare. But even the establishment, still Democrat dominated, CBO
admits that after 10 years of implementation, Obamacare will still leave 30
million uninsured.” http://www.forbes.com/sites/peterferrara/2013/04/07/look-out-below-the-obamacare-chaos-is-coming/
Then we turned our attention to taxes and guns, and believe
me the tax conversation was nothing new so let me recap on the gun issue. If I am a law abiding citizen who has not committed
any violent crimes why am I being penalized, who are my liberties being
infringed upon. I like to shoot, I like
my liberty, and I am willing to fight for my liberty! I do not wish to trade my liberty in any
measure for a small amount of freedom. I
do not wish to treated like a criminal when I have done nothing wrong. Instead lets address the reality of the
situation, criminals will not turn in their weapons, crazy people will gain
access if they really mean to do so, and the rest of us will be left vulnerable. I say good for your Kennesaw Georgia, where officials
attribute a drop in crime in the city to a law requiring residents to have a
gun in the house! IT looks like others are following suit and Nelson Georgia
passed a similar law (http://cnsnews.com/blog/joe-schoffstall/city-only-one-police-officer-passes-law-requiring-gun-ownership)
Kudos to the Swiss who are very serious and proud gun owners who preach
responsibility! It’s astonishing when
you consider they are only slightly behind the U.S in the number of guns per
capita and yet the crime rate figures show about .05 gun related homicides per
100k inhabitants, staggeringly lower than the 5 per 100k the U.S saw in 2011! “Switzerland’s
gun ownership is deeply rooted in a sense of patriotic duty and national
identity. “Shouldn’t our gun ownership reflect the
same,shouldn’t we have this sense of
patriotic duty and national identity, shouldn’t we hold ourselves accountable? Read more: http://world.time.com/2012/12/20/the-swiss-difference-a-gun-culture-that-works/#ixzz2PqRWTJQP
(http://world.time.com/2012/12/20/the-swiss-difference-a-gun-culture-that-works/)
Why I waste my breath on this debate is unknown, for this
topic is political and the two things you get nowhere with are politics and
religion, and I believe that it is largely due to fear. Those who would see the guns taken away are
afraid of them, they are afraid of the people who are not afraid of them, they
are misguided in the belief that taking the guns away makes for safer streets,
they seem to thing that it means the criminals will not have guns, robbers and
drug dealers will not have guns, gang members will magically be disarmed, it is
foolish and naïve. So I do waste my breath
on some but others will find truth in what I say, and some will agree to
disagree, while others will cheer and say HERE HERE! The key as always is the
education in proper use of a weapon, the key is accountability, and I daresay,
the key is a good mental health care system, and on that I will stop, for that
topic is deserving of its own space and time.
So there you have it folks, catty
women, Obama care and guns, oh, My!
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