ScottTheSeaDragon's blog: "Finding yourself..."

Did you ever notice. When it gets to be bad weather some people seem to forget what redlights and stop signs are, etc. I mean they have most likely lived in weather like this their whole lives, and they didn't just put that redlight in...come on! Slow down. Leave a little early. Be a little more patient......

So why is it that so many people have lost common manners? I think that is one sign of a bad trend. IN a store, on the road, everywhere. Let's start showing some "luv" for our fellow man!

There sure are a lot of want to be superstars on the internet these days. Everybody wants to be famous. I just love that if you are requesting to be someone’s friend on a particular website, they will act like they are doing you this huge favor, and behave as if they are “all that”. They aren’t. They are just like all the rest of us. Monkey’s with car keys. I enjoy sharing my art and ideas with other people, and like to see what they have to offer in return. Great conversation is a dying art. Let’s bring it back to life! You will find that most of these self important people suffer from low self esteem, and act as they do in a shallow attempt to elevate themselves. How sad for them. Some of them, I am sure, do a lot of their living on the internet, because they have no real life. Or they have a small group of friends as empty inside as they are, and side around cutting others into ribbons. Don’t worry though; when the change comes, they will be the first ones against the wall. The funniest thing about it is that they don’t even know who they are. We do though. We see them all the time. They are the minority. There are A LOT more of us less than perfect people, “the freaks”, than there ever will be of them.

I think that I should get a Nobel Peace Prize for my writings in this blog. After all, the Nobel Committee gave one to Al Gore, the “founder of the internet” (and hunter of the ManBearPig), for pointing out Global Warming to us! I mean he was just restating what we all already knew, and that is what I am doing. Getting my own thoughts straightened out by writing them down, and maybe enlightening others in some small way. Just like Al Gore… We all live in little cycles. Even the planet does. The seasons change. Run down areas of towns get built back up, and slowly decay again. We change how we dress, our hair styles, our taste in music, our jobs, and sometimes even our spouses. This is all natural. But when you do change try to change for the better. When you try to evolve as a person, evolve up. Don’t be one of these people who try to go back to their youth, it never works.

And another thing! I think that the media and other disseminators of information actually make a lot of bad things worse by publicizing them in such detail. There is the argument that the world is more evil than it ever was, but I think that this appears so simply because we are more aware of it now. Doesn’t that also mean that we are also more socially responsible for making sure these things don’t take place anymore? They happen because we let them happen. There seems to be more of a “hands off” approach to things. That could be because we all spend so much time with our various electronic devices (I am just as guilty of this as anyone). I have heard it said that it is because we are all so “busy” now, and this at a time when there are more labor saving devices than ever before in the history of man. It is more likely that people just don’t know how to manage their time. Kids today are much more tech savvy than past generations. This is only logically since they grew up with these devises. Their social skills and interactions with each other are also very different than the past ones. Every generation is different than the one before, of course, but the generations seen to be getting more introverted as well. They are more socially “hip”, but lack some of the respect and common sense that existed before. Education is the key to solving most of the world’s problems. An educated person is less prone to violence, and more suited to see the world picture rather than just looking out for number one. I guess the important thing to do if you are a parent is to give your kid your time, and just let them know that you are there for them no matter what. This sounds like common sense, but I see how some of my kid’s friends live. They are children being raised by children. People who are thinking only of themselves. Don’t forget the old saying “it takes a village to raise a child”. And how about this old chestnut, “don’t judge a man until you have walked a mile in his moccasins”. What? We all judge each other every day. Sometimes this may be a form of self preservation. For instance walking down that dark alley and seeing a looming shadowy silhouette lurking there. But what about the kid working at Hot Topic with the spiked hair and nose ring, who is working his butt off to put him self through college and better himself. Look before you leap, and think before you speak. Don’t be swayed by popular opinion, be your own person. “If your friends jump off a bridge would you?” Most people? Yes they would. Everyone is such an individual these days. Dressing, piercing, and inking up just like everybody else! It really is what’s on the inside that counts. There are so many fake people there. Be a True Friend. “A friend helps you move, a TRUE Friend helps you move bodies!” Watch out for your kids. Watch out for other people’s kids. Take care of each other, and you will see how the world will begin to heal itself.

The word for the day is Tolerance. We are taught in kindergarten to share, to play well with others, and to respect other people’s space. I’ll go one step further. Pretty much everything we ever needed to know we learned in kindergarten. That Mom, Home, cookies and milk, are all good things. What is really important is to be warm, dry, and well fed. When you get right down to it, as human beings, we need very little to be happy, but end up wanting so much. All anyone really desires, deep down, is to be happy. What happens when someone is not happy? They end up, sometimes unconsciously, taking it out on other people. We find ourselves angry because the car in front of us is going to slow, or that they forgot their turn signal on. We hate the fact that the stores are so packed at the holidays, and that we have to buy all these gifts for people who we don’t see the rest of the year. That these kids dressed all in black with their hair down over their eyes are hanging out smoking in front of the food court. Do any of things sound familiar? No? Well maybe not. Maybe you are one of the special perfect people. Well stop reading here than. But if you aren’t perfect I bet there are some things that really tick you off. I know there are for me. I am working on them though, trying to evolve, and see that bigger picture. Instead of saying, “WTF!” why is the US dollar worth less than the Canadian dollar? Why aren’t we supposed to put Christmas trees in public places? Or complaining about any of the four million other things that are suddenly different in the world than when we were kids. I am trying to figure out the WHY. Optimistically, and maybe naively, I believe that the world is approaching a “change”. Not an end, but a change. There is only so much decent people can take. Perhaps turning into a simpler, more peaceful world, where people can truly live how they want, and without bothering others. The technology that we have has made the world smaller than ever, but doesn’t seem to have made it any better. I think that people are basically good, regardless of what the media would have us believe. The problem right now is that the world is being run by assholes, and which is why you have to VOTE! Not just here, but everywhere. We have our sons and daughters, brothers and sisters fighting battles and dying all over this planet, and I don’t see an end in sight. These noble, selfless people, who are doing the right thing, serving their country, are being used in the worst way. I am still pissed off over the attack on the United States on September 11th, but after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor there was eventually an end to it, a time of healing, where is the end to the situation we are in now? I am not a liberal or a conservative. I am me. I am the “walrus”. I was raised by good people, and know right from wrong. I know the Law (VERY well). This is the GREATEST nation on earth, perhaps in the history of the world. We have it all here. Every race, creed, color, music, food, art, movies, literature, everything that is good about the rest of the world is super concentrated into one place called The United States Of America. We just have to stop letting people F***if up! These things happen because we let them happen! Just say No, to “isms”! Stop judging people because they have piercings, or tattoos, or are walking holding hands with someone of the same gender, or are dressed like a pirate (if that is their thing). Be more tolerant. In a hundred years the races will be so intermingled that the haters will have to find something new to pick on. Just live your life, let them live theirs, and maybe help a brother out every once in a while. At the very least share your milk and cookies.

As human beings we are constantly evolving. Changing the way we look at the world, and interact with it. “When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things” (1 Corinthians 13:11). This used to be true. Men were Men (and this is not a sexual orientation issue!). Now however, things are different. A man used to concern himself with taking care of his loved ones, providing for them, and leaving the world a better place than he found it. Now a days, there is a lot of “ME” ideology. I know people who are adults, living in their parent’s basements, and party every night as if they were still in high school or college. They don’t own anything substantial, they don’t contribute anything, and they just exist. I know that there are going to be people who say live and let live…to each their own…just so long as they are happy. Those are cop-out remarks. There should be a purpose to being, to living. I think that is why there are so many unhappy people walking around out there, and so many people on medication. They are directionless; don’t feel there is a point to anything that they do. They are just going through the motions. That doesn’t mean you have to be married (or in a committed relationship, whatever), or have this awesome carrier, or climb Mount Everest. Just have some clue, a plan. Don’t just wander through life living for the moment. How about people who say “live why you can, you could die tomorrow”. Well here is an idea…you might be alive tomorrow too…and you might want a nice place to hang your hat, or something else that has value for you as an individual. People should WANT other people in their life. They shouldn’t NEED them. Everything you need to survive is in you. If YOU don’t know YOU how can anybody else every hope to? There is a line in the movie “Shawshank Redemption” that I like, “Get busy living, or get busy dying.” That just about says it all… Of course that is just my opinion.