Smorgasbord

Let’s start with the fact that Bella is sitting on her perch, looking at with this board little look, as if to say “so what are you going to write tonight genius.” Maybe I am just deflecting.

Anyway, there were three different things that struck me today at one point or another and so you get a little bit of each:

Political Polarity

On Saturday mornings when I am in town I walk three and a half blocks from my downtown apartment to the farmer’s market. This is one of the things I have enjoyed about where I live since moving here. Unfortunately, in order to get to the farmer’s market I have to endure one of my least favorite parts of living here, Jesus loving, granola eating, sandal wearing (or barefoot), 1960’s hippies with their “honk if you love Jesus” signs, or “honk for peace,” or “healthcare not warfare."

Don’t get me wrong, I think “peace is a pretty darn good thing,” you get bonus points if you know the movie, scene, and character that utters those very words. I also happen to like the idea of being able to have quality healthcare for a reasonable price, and while I don’t know that I love Jesus, I would consider her a good friend. I also happen to have a number of friends, old and new, that are in some state or another of hippydom.

My objection is with the in your face, every weekend, same corner, take up the whole sidewalk, if you don’t agree with us there is something wrong with you approach. I believe there are much better ways to get the same point across, with much more significant results, but that wouldn’t be 60’s cool.

The other side of this is some crazy people, some of whom are also friends of mine, who still think that W was the best president ever, and that not only should we have gone to war, but that war should have consisted of making a crater out of any country made primarily out of sand.

Again, I too felt that way when 911 happened, especially since it took four days or so to find out which of my friends were in the city and ok, and which we had lost, as it did for many people. If someone had told me at that time exactly who it was that was responsible, where they were and given me the guys to a bomber I would definitely have dropped a bomb on his or her butt. However, without reliable information to that effect, that was not a viable option.

I have written both sides of this in as inflammatory and offensive a manner as possible because I was hoping to illustrate a point. If we are going to be a great nation again we need to start by not accusing each other, and by not being, f------ bleeding heart liberals, and Goddamn right wing conservatives. I cannot believe how far we have gone wrong in the past decade and it starts with all of us, not the president. It is ok to believe in the Democratic party, or platform, and it is ok to believe in the Republican party or platform, but it is not ok to take it to such an extreme as to damage our country, and it is not ok to condemn other peoples thoughts or beliefs or concerns simply because they are different than yours.

I believe that if we all take a step back; remember what made this country great in the first place. Starting by being kind and tolerant of other people, different people and different views,
then maybe we will have a chance.

Sorry I got on a roll. I will add to the smorgasbord tomorrow.

Thank you again for getting this far with me.