The "Missing" Holiday revisited

Well, I don't know what's going on, but the push for more and more merchandising has buried Thanksgiving YET AGAIN!

I'm lost.

I mean, before Halloween was over, there were TONS of stores in my area all decked out in Christmas lights, tinsel, and other decorations.

Before Halloween was over!!

I don't get it anymore. When did the "almighty" dollar mean more than personal values?

I mean, the dollar really isn't that valuable when you think about it. I'd much rather have Chinese or Indian currency right now.

I want there to be some kind of major grass-roots push to rekindle the love of Thanksgiving.

I mean, it's a perfect transition from "greed and gimme" Halloween to the spirit of giving with Christmas.

With Thanksgiving, you're thankful for all the blessings you have. Friends, family, food, life, love, happiness!

Without it.. What are the holidays all about if not to stuff the pockets of some nameless, faceless shopkeepers?

Who's with me? Who is willing to get folks to push back, and WANT to recognize Thanksgiving not just as a "free" paid holiday, but one that is worth some extra attention?

Happy Veteran's Day!

This time of year, I always get a bit nostalgic. I have friends and family that have served, and I have many others I have known who have gone out on duty to only return in a box. I count myself EXTREMELY fortunate that I am still among the walking, living folk, and not a memory. Time once was, I would have rushed head-long into a fight, and not given a second thought to what I might lose.

Even today, I have a difficult time thinking of my time as valuable. I consider myself a throw-away value, and it takes many people by surprise. How can I value myself so little?

Easy.

I'm a survivor.

I've lived through things I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy.

But that doesn't seem to explain it all, either.

I know plenty of other folks who have lived through what I did, and can easily think of themselves as worthwhile investments of time and effort. Why should I consider myself differently?

Because I don't know HOW I made it.

There were plenty of times when I wished it would end - permanently for me - and be done with it.

Because I was so willing to give up then, I've developed a lack of regard for myself, my time, and my actions.

What others would consider an extravagant sacrifice of time and energy, I see as just one more thing I can help with.

Why?

Because I consider each and every day that I am alive yet one more day on loan. I feel like I died quite a while back, and now I'm given - by grace - even more time on this earth.

This isn't _my_ time. This is _His_ time, and I'm just here getting to enjoy the side benefits.

This isn't to say that I'm a saint.

I'm not. I have some serious faults.

But by grace, I'm alive, and able to give what I can and what I am able to others.

This is what I struggle with, and I wish I were more appropriately appreciative of what I have.

 - Jorm

Post-Democalypse 2014!!!

Well elections are over, and I am still wondering if this country is going to wake up, or if we're going to still walk around in a kind of post-sleep haze.

I mean, yes, there have been changes made. However, I don't see any glaring differences between the folks we've voted into office and those of the folks leaving office.

We've put new plans into motion, and stopped some from being enacted. However, I don't see any REAL good coming out of the plans being put into motion, and I don't see any real value in stopping the ones that were denied.

What has happened to this nation of ours?

When did we stop being accountable for our actions, and instead use "the other guy" as an excuse why things didn't get done?

What is honestly stopping us from making the right decision?

Why can we not take affirmative action, and GET THINGS DONE without having some small extremist group whine, bitch, cry and moan about it, and get national media attention on the small group while the large group sits there, takes the beating, and then gives up on the project?

WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?

I'll tell you.

Me, in my infinite wisdom, will enlighten you as to what is happening with this country of ours.

We have become yet another Rome.

We are no longer a Democracy. We are a Republic.

I think we've been a Republic for much longer than we're willing to admit, but the truth is that those people with wealth and power are dictating policies in this country, NOT the people themselves. The rich and powerful are getting more rich and powerful with each day, while the working class and poor work harder, longer, and get even more poor.

How soon until like Rome, this nation collapses?

Not much longer, if our national debt has anything to say about it.

I mean, COME ON! 17 TRILLION dollars in debt??

And yet we keep authorizing 4-7 BILLION dollars in spending, and consider it "good spending".

How far would that get you in your own home budget?

If you owed $110,000 for your home, and you kept spending $300,000 annually instead of paying off your house, what would the bank do?

If you needed to pay $1200 a month for utilities and bills, but you kept spending your entire paycheck on guns, food and gas instead.. What would happen?

THIS.. This is what is happening to our country.

We spend on things, and we ignore the problem. We don't budget, we spend it. We don't plan, we react. We don't enforce, we just make more rules.

Let's outlaw everything! That way, our population that is law-abiding will be breaking the rules just like the criminals do, and it'll be easy for our police force to meet their arrest quotas!

I mean, if we make more laws, criminals will start being afraid that they're breaking a law.. right?

We need to wake up. We need to get vocal. We need to take action.

Our initial founding fathers and leaders didn't ascribe to just ONE political party. They stood for one thing.. Our Country.

Not an ideal, not a party, not a special interest group.

We need to get back to that way of thinking. We need to embrace that we have ONE thing our leaders need to be accountable to.

I could care less if a man (or woman) politician is some self-serving whore, as long as they're voting and doing what it takes to make and keep this nation healthy and viable.

I mean, Thomas Jefferson wasn't the biggest saint I've ever read about, but his planning and ideas were above reproach for this country.

Obama? He's just a good teleprompter reader.

Let's regain focus, and get back to what really matters.

I'll leave you with this video.

http://youtu.be/ZPHSXUS0_1c

Think..

Back in the day, I loved the group Information Society.

Why?

Because it was wanna-be techno music, and it also incorporated Star Trek samples into their music!

Win-win baby!

I really actually enjoyed the lyrics and message that they had for their earlier music. If you could get by the industrial electronic underground sound, there was a passionate and living lyric under that throbbing and beating pulse of sound.

Take this lyric from their song "think":

Imagine if I said I sometimes need you I need you to this day.Imagine if I said I sometimes hear you call my name.Imagine if I said I still could love you.Imagine what you'd say.Imagine if I said I sometimes still can see your face.Think about all the things we shared.Think about all the times we cared.When all of your hopes have come and gone,Think about me and I'll be there.There's something in the air that feels like winterThe kind we used to know.Yesterday can seem like such a long, long time ago.Who could ever count the miles between us?But now I know it's true.

That's a powerful message right there.. I mean, it's not STUNNING or anything, but it does effectively get the point across, doesn't it?

I wish I could get more folks to let me know what their favorite songs were, so I could listen to the messages that they enjoy listening to...

Little Things

You know, it never ceases to amaze me at the things that will make me return to things I'd left behind.

Take this blog, for example.

I haven't really posted much on this since I left my old job behind, and yet here I am, looking to turn a new page, and start my online "diary" again.

Why?

I don't know.

I'm not sure that I really want to go back to this.

However, I do know that I was making personal steps and milestones while ranting and raving about each and every little thing that jumped on my nerves.

Let's see how this does, and who knows? Maybe I'll be able to quit my day job and BLOG full-time!

Or maybe just worry about the small steps of writing things daily would be a good start.

*cracks knuckles*

Let's kick this pig!

 - Jorm, returned from the semi-dead