What's It Worth?

With the continuous sense of entitlement that rushes through current American society with the might of a tidal wave, what happens to the little ones who have these people as parents? Rooms full of useless toys, but not concern for their actual well being or needs. Its keeping up with the Joneses to the level of abuse and neglect.

Case in point. The arts are completely out of the public school system. Anything that aids in the opening of the human mind such as literature, theatre and visual arts are all but gone. So with this reality in our soon to be third world nation, many teachers and concerned parents get together and form organizations that provide children with these foundations for free thought and creativity, in order to hold on to some vision of culture.

However, these after school programs are not free.

For a single mother these programs can be costly when doing the rest of the basic survival budget. Especially when child support is no where to be seen. What is she forced to do? Well things that a great deal of spoiled American adults would never be will to do. Go without. What a concept. Going without. who would have thought that would aid in the decency and proper education of a child. Now its not unheard of to have children not get everything they want, but a proper education should not be included in that sacrifice. In fact, it is the obligation of the parent to sacrifice their take out, new clothes, and un-necessaries in order to make sure that their children get the well rounded education that is so important in our nations tumultuous times.

Unfortunately a lot of parents don't feel this way. In fact, a great deal of non-custodial parents feel they don't have to provide anything at all in the way of support. Say a single mother gets $100 a week in child support. The parent paying the support may think that this $100 absolves him/her from ever having to provide any other kind of support for his/her child whether they see the child or not. It in fact doesn't. That support (as little as it is) is for basic necessities. That doesn't include education, health and socialization.

Why are brand new cars, gym memberships and flat screen televisions more important to parents these days than their children having the basic necessities and a proper education? This seems so monstrous to me. I cant even begin to understand it, even though I see it everyday. Parents that literally buy their kids clothing at Goodwill, but drive around in Audi's. These people should have a sense of shame for that, and are teaching their children lessons that are completely opposite from what should be taught. Selfishness, materialism and disregard for the things in life that really do matter.

Do we blame reality TV or do we blame the credit card companies? Because we know we are not going to blame ourselves. Living in poverty has been a awakening that I cannot compare to anything else I have ever known. I have found genuine people, coupons can help, and what is really important in life. The most important thing in life is in fact life. All the possessions, toys, big houses and crap that people fill their lives with instead of caring for their children is just tomorrows garbage. Do I feel privileged to be a mother? Absolutely. Do I wish I had a better support system? Without a doubt. Will I trade in my integrity in order to have the things in life that everyone else has? Well I haven't yet, but as the years go on I'm not sure how much longer I can hold out. I don't want a new car, big house or even a flat screen television, I just want the ability to provide my son with the best education available to us. Imagine that being a wish.

I have said to myself for years, "Someday it will get better." Well someday has taken 38 years and i think that someday is already here, and it hasn't gotten better. Should I replace acceptance with viciousness? Should I replace smiles with screams? Should I give up the hope of love for money? Everyone else does, so why shouldn't I? Because I'm an adult and not a prostitute by profession. I don't have a problem with women who choose prostitution as a profession, but I do in fact have a problem with women who do the same thing and call it marriage. At least a hooker is up front. They are providing pleasure for money. They do not perform under the guise that they actually care about the person in order to somehow gain a house and car. If your attraction to a person is contingent on how much money they make and what possessions they have, then you could be construed as a prostitute, well at least to someone with integrity.

Fur Your Happiness Only

Do not be mistaken, this isn't about the evils of fur coats, leather boots and feathered hats. It is the exposing of something much more sinister. Though I don't know how shocking it will be to anyone as this has become a common practice in the past few years. What do I speak of? Well the abandoning of pets once the novelty wears off. Sounds harmless enough, but is it?

The constant following of trends has led the moronic and pathetic to purchase and adopt the "coolest" dogs, only to pitch these puppies out once the "human" feels there is time for a change. The sort of person that does this is just cruel. When a person makes the conscious choice to add a pet to their lives, these furry friends invest all of their love and devotion to their new family members. This means, when you decided to abandon your pet friend, you are in fact breaking their heart and being completely selfish and narcissistic.

Now, before everyone gets all huffy, there are always extenuating circumstances that exist as well, but this post is for those who get dogs because everyone else has one, and then abandons them because they have better things to do with their time than honor their commitment.

A dog is not a novelty. He/she is a living creature that feels, loves, and who's heart breaks when they are cast aside and abandoned. The require nothing more than food and love; the very basic of necessities. When you cant even provide that, then what were you thinking even getting a pet friend? Do you feel guilty about being a self-centered, self-involved person? Or do you just chalk it up to, 'Its my life and Ill do what I want no matter who I hurt."?

It would be interesting to look into these peoples lives and see how they treat relationships that involve humans. Are they are cold blooded with people as they are with the animal they have made a commitment to and then abandoned? Do they always put themselves first when they shouldn't? Do they throw people away when they have gotten everything they need from them, without a second thought? Quite possibly. I would think you would have to be cruel all around to be able to look at a pet friend that has loved you for years and toss it aside so you don't have to be bothered being responsible for him/her.

The saddest part of scenarios like this one is that these people always get more pets. I will never understand it. They always manage go and adopt more pets once they abandon the ones they should have never thrown aside. Its like a sick mental illness for these people. It truly is a form of abuse. If a person were to do this to a child, it would be considered abuse, well unless your a high income white housewife who adopted a Russian baby and decided they didn't want him/her once they hit 5. This is happening all over the US and no one seems to care. True monsters walk among us everyday.

This society is getting more and more detached from what love, devotion and commitment really is. It is becoming a wasteland for the selfish and narcissistic with their therapist telling them, "Live for you, do what you want; take time for you."

Well what about taking time to be a responsible adult and honor the commitments you make to living creatures?

I heard a wonderful quote from a new favorite show on the BBC and I may be paraphrasing but it went something like this, "Every naughty child has some sort of syndrome now days. Its to make the parents feel better so they don't blame themselves."

It is far too true and I'm relieved that I'm not the only person who sees the world in this way. The lack of responsibility, commitment and decency in this country has become an epidemic, for which many persciptions are handed out daily. However, I think a good kick in the ass may achieve the desired result. Just because you decided you dont want to do something, or just because you dont care, doesnt make it ok to hurt someone else, whether pet or person. Be an adult, honor your responsibilites, and be as concerned about the feelings of another as you are about your own. Thats all it takes not to be a complete and total ass.

I'll always wonder...

What someone is thinking when they trade their integrity for what they think will be a financially rewarding opportunity, is sad and pathetic. To explain, integrity is not the same thing as pride. Leave pride behind, but never compromise on integrity. In fact, if one were to really think about it, pride is one of those horrible human traits that often times takes the place where integrity should be.
To use a prime pop culture example, take the HBO series Entourage. A series about a a hot hollywood star, his has been brother, their neighborhood friends and the experiences with wealth, stardom, disappointment and everything else the writers and producers can conjure up for these characters. The one character that stands out the most and in the opinion of many has the greatest depth and connectivity, is Johnny Drama Chase. The main character's big brother who had a brush with fame and now is a struggling actor. He has a complete absense of pride with what he is willing to do to stay in the industry and hopefully revive his paused career. However, he shows unwavering integrity at all times. It gives the character, well...character.
In this society it seems that pride is often time mistaken for integrity, but the two ideologies couldn't be further from each other.
Pride has lead to destroying lives, hurting feelings, and taking an otherwise decent adult and making them a spoiled, arrogant and unprofessional person. This is a plague infecting the current business climate in the USA. The desire to become an internet sensation, to make money on the backs of others without any true and fair compensation has created a bubbling pool that will eventually boil over. Simply because the people who are making this heat are full of pride, and the bubbling masses are being punished for their integrity, and something will have to give.
Put your money on integrity, because bravery, dilligence and heart comes along with integrity, where as pride's major attributes seem to be greed, cowardess, and fear. The latter makes monsters and bleeds is bile into society rapidly and only integrity's bandage can heal its wound. With hope pride will fade along with the ridiculous notions that it inspires and integrity will have it's turn.

Contradictory Contracting

When a person is contracted to perform a particular function for any company or business, often times the contractor will go the extra mile. Allowing for some light consultation, a little help here and there, but can this be the wrong way to perform.
A contracted individual is hired for a specific job or task. The plus for the company is they do not have to pay benefit fees, or regular salary, still some business people haven't any real understanding of the appropriate business ethics when dealing with a contractor. Far too often, middle management will treat contractors as personal assistants, when in fact that is not their function. It is important for the freelancer to put their foot down immediately and make it perfectly clear that if the contact isn't under negotiation for an increase in payment due to performing another function, that it important to perform only the tasks contracted for.
Unfortunately, the contractor can get left out in the cold after devoting unrelated hours to a company, and the business benefits without any regard to the fact they have required free labor in order to keep the contract running.
A contract is a contract and should not be confused or used as a leverage chip in order to threaten someones receipt of compensation for their contribution. So freelancers, contractors, and all other non-traditional artists, creators and writers, make sure you stand your ground, because be sure that some people have no shame in removing it out from under you.

A Bit on the Narcissistic Side

The recent floods in marriages and remarriages amongst people of the 30-40 age group can border the astounding when I really put my mind to it. The stench of desperation in the air as people who are unsuited for each other marry in order not to be alone and spend their evenings and weekends under the influence of alcohol to make life less painful. Wouldn't that be more depressing then being alone? Couldn't there be something better then settling for less in order to have someone to bring to the mundane parties thrown by others who share the same, pathetic fate?
Perhaps the most interesting of these marriages are the women who define themselves by it. As if marriage validates the mistreatment of their husbands and the husbands that have come before them. I have found, that a great deal of the married women I know (with some exceptions) use married as an accomplishment. Which by definition is not. A great deal of unaccomplished, uninteresting and unintelligent women seem to think that marriage is their claim to fame. As if the marriage ceremony immediately gives license to their advice and unsolicited opinion, and makes it in anyway viable. A particular member of The View should be proof enough of that.
The truth to the matter is that marriage is a choice and it in no way adds to or depreciates the value of the individual in anyway. However, is it so sad if the title of "Wife" or "Husband" makes someone feel as if they are part of something important. A non-exclusive group of individuals that share similar stories and few changes among them. Bloody Mary, Cape Codder, and gin and tonic mark the times of day as they become the only welcome companion to the drudgery that is the married life. Is it still better than having a close knit group of friends you actually find interesting?
That may be the worst part of the pathetic scaredy marriages, is the way that friends are completely dropped. Why is that? I must admit I have a couple of married friends, very accomplished, incredibly interesting to whom I still speak to on a relatively frequent basis, where as the mundane nine to fivers somehow never have time to even return a phone call. Knowing a proud divorce' who has sworn off marriage forever after having been in one which was devoid of passion but financially convenient, I was told that they hate being around their single friends because the spouse gets jealous or they don't want to hear about life that exists outside the marriage. Depressing? I find it again, pathetic and a terrible and selfish excuse when not being a good friend.
In the end, friends are what is really important, because they love their friends for nothing more then their company, where as with spouses their is always sex and money and both lead to the most heinous of crimes and the worst of intentions. All this being nothing more than a reactionary rant prompted by watching a friend ruin his life in order to make someone Else's more comfortable. Someone who isn't at all worth it, and when he learns that lesson, it will alter the person he is forever. All this to not be alone. How can any word other than pathetic be used? Not to be mistaken for an insult, pathetic describes the reasoning for the union and the existing body of it while a piece of the soul decays with every passing year untill all that is left is a couple of ill company only interesting around their drunked kindred spirits couples who their their fate.
This is of course just an observation of a thirty something person who finds time around married couples suffocating and false. As mentioned earlier their are the obvious exceptions, but observation can be an extremely powerful tool.

Who Says its OK?

Reading through some comments made on a recent article about feeling controlled by organizations that do drug testing has left me with an interesting query. I don't believe the person who had posted the blog/article meant that he promoted drug use or substance abuse in any way. He simply stated in layman's terms that he felt the constant monitoring of peoples private lives, when there is absolutely no basis for it, is like being falsely imprisoned. Although, I may be over complicating it a bit, but it got me thinking.

I don't believe in drug testing in the workplace in order to become employed by that establishment. For many reasons I assure you, but one in particular, it is arrogant and classist. If the employer expects the employee to submit to a test that will determine his employment based solely on that test, it is as if that employer is saying, "Well we don't trust people at your pay grade because the majority of you are drug users and your not mature enough to stay off drugs." Maybe that is a little to harsh or clear, whichever works.

It is as if rights that were once slowly slipping away have taken a quite a quick tailspin. The worst part is that a great deal of Americans believe that this sort of elite type of monitoring is just fine and if you oppose it you are a drug addict. So closed minded, so controlled by the media and their own fear, so so, dare I say Nazi?

Have you ever sat there and watched a WWII documentary and wondered how nearly and entire nation was in support of the torture and murder of other human being? Well if you have wondered that take a look at your own life and ask yourself what you have just accepted out of exhaustion. How many times you have agreed with an opinion you knew was wrong, just because it served your purpose. As yourself, how we got to where we are now in this country. A rather sad place I think. The sort of place that makes Ancient Rome seem like a fair and just society.

What's The Point? The Writers Dont Even Know.

I wasn't quite sure what to write about today, but as fate would have it an idea jumped right into my lap. While calling the newly name changed Fitchburg State University for some very basic and uncomplicated information, the response was amusing and yet somehow sad.

My goal was to propose a story idea concerning an event taking place in Fitchburg for my former paper The Point, and to inquire about some basic business advertising within it. Seems simple, but the students whom were answering the phones became horribly confused with the question; "Could you tell me who I would speak to about The Point student paper?"

First response; "Um, huh, ahhhhhh, we don't have a student paper." pause pause pause, "Oh but we have an online new site called The Point."

My eyes rolling I said, "OK, well could you give me the contact information for the people who deal with the line version of The Point?"

This reply was in fact my favorite. "Um, like, I'm not sure, oh wait..." Unnamed girl on the phone yells to other unnamed girl in the room giggling away...,"Hey (girl's name), you work on The Point right?"

Girl answers, "Um yea, the online news thing right?"

Girl on the phone says, "Yea. Do you know the contact info or url to get to it?"

Girls answers, "No, I'm like, well they like changed it. But um I don't know. She can do a search for The Point online maybe?"

Girl on the phone says to me, "Maybe contacting the head of the English department would help?"

I was pretty sure I wasn't getting any help from anyone who was on the phone or within earshot of the person I was talking to, so I asked for the contact info for the professor, which luckily I was able to get without too much trouble. What I really couldn't grasp was how a contributor to a publication whether print or online, wouldn't have any idea how to access the publication to which they contribute to. Is this the future of journalism? Not that much journalism these days is worth reading unless you want to help support the government paid media and their whore like practices with their words as opposed to their bodies.

I did manage to find the link to the online version of The Point by going to Fitchburg State University's (still cant get used to that) site and doing some clicking around until I found the link. I learned these sort of research skills from some wonderful professors that worked for Fitchburg State College, back when it was a school for learning and not promoting agendas and producing people who hardly know the name of the publications that they contribute to.

The online publication is mundane and tolerable at best. It lacks the voice of the students and the passion of writers. I would challenge that any high school news paper in the Central, MA region could trump The Point in content and skill, and as previously mentioned, awareness. However, those who contribute and work for The Point shouldn't worry too much (and I would assume they don't from their robotic writing) because the Fitchburg Sentinel and Enterprise is always looking for new and uninspired staff members to continue to write agenda based dribble.