Why I Yam What I Yam.
Yesterday I drove 509 miles in 11 hours, there was a rest in there, but pretty much constantly on the road for that time. I drove moms car and she drove her cousins so that we could drop it off at his shared lake cabin. Once it was delivered we drove to Bismarck so mom could visit her cousin in the hospital, hes a hell of a fighter, almost died a few weeks ago, but now hes breathing on his own and getting better and better in the ICU. So thats what sets up what I have rolling around in my head.
As I was driving across Eastern Montana to get to where we were headed, I started to see political signs dot the countryside. Unfortunately they are all Republican nominees, this is because I live in a red state. Never mind that our Governor is a Democrat and has done an excellent job keeping our state in the black throughout the economic downturn. Never mind that both our Senators are Democrats, and have done fine work in Washington D.C.. No these things dont matter to people around here, and a lot of it is because they do not educate themselves or question things. Thats my opinion anyways, because I know I blindly followed before I got educated and questioned things.
See, being brought up Catholic, and just following along like I was told wasnt so bad, as I learned things like compassion and empathy, but of course I was also told of the things that were wrong, that were not free of sin. I bought into it, I played along, and I didnt question much. Its interesting that I didnt question things there as I was learning to use creative thinking and problem solving in school and things like that, so why did it take so long to move the questioning over? Perhaps the all knowing entity had something to do with it, maybe it was the Catholic guilt, or maybe it was just having decently religious parents. Whatever it was, it took a long time to question things in that realm of my life.
So thats a basis for why I yam what I yam, cartoons factor in too apparently, and brings me to today. I went for a walk in town to get my new contacts, and when I saw a sign for the local state representative I thought about him walking through our neighborhood when he was up for election the first time. I thought of how I saw dad talk to him, but I didnt myself, and I thought of what I would say to him. I would start by saying I am a Democrat, and if he asked me why, I would go into the rant that built in my mind. I would not vote for a Republican because I see that they value money over people, they value possible people over women, and they have blinders on when it comes to the problems in this world. They want to not tax people, they want to not spend money on libraries and education so that they can justify not taxing, they do not help the lower and middle classes. I dont mind being taxed so that programs that help people can exist, I do not think that women should have a war waged against them because there is almost always a possibility of life beginning within them. I vote Democrat because they choose to educate people on their stances rather than use fear as a tactic to drum up support from those they are actually pushing down. I vote Democrat because I care.
I know neither party is perfect, and my arguments can be used against me, but I stand behind them regardless. I will enter into debate with someone that is willing to listen to my side of things, but if you argue and attack me, I will respect your point much less then I would have, even if you might be right. These are the things that I think of when I think of politics.
I love people, I love seeing their potential, I love trying to help them see what they have within them, I do this by listening and engaging them. I try to live as optimistically as possible, although it isnt always possible, and sometimes I forget that I am doing it, but I try. I think my upbringing brought this into my world, and I think my constant reading and expanding of my mind helped me hone it.
I fall in love with the quirks of personalities, I love it when I randomly find something in common with someone, or find someone as passionate about something as me. I love meeting people that are open to new things and gladly take my recommendations on books, movies, music, and the like. There is always something about life and people in it that will fascinate me.
On the flip side of that, there are the things that make me dislike a person, or that will raise my blood pressure when talking to them. Thats life though, and thats just another thing to love about it. I think that this also might be why serial killers fascinate me so much. The random spree killer isnt as hard to understand, because it might be a mental problem, a bit of rage, or something that just snaps and causes the person to go and do that, but a serial killer is completely different. A serial killer puts thought into what they are doing, they plan it. This fascinates me because it is so far outside my realm of understanding the world. There has never been anything that has made me think like a person that does that, and because it is opposite of me, it fascinates me.
That was a bit of a tangent perhaps, and my thoughts are kind of muddled as I have been watching a hockey game while typing this out, but it is slightly shaped like it was in my brain.
So basically I yam what I yam because of my raising, even though I have moved past some of the things of my youth, I am me because of them. I will always hold onto some of those lessons learned, and I have vowed to always learn as I go as well. I turned my critical thinking and problem solving onto my world instead of just the scholastic one, and that opened up many new avenues to me. I learned that the world will never be black and white, and so I should never act like it will be. I know not to look back as much as I look forward, something I finally learned after years of struggles.
I like how I started out with politics and my stance with that and turned it onto myself as I went. My words might be a little less organized then I thought they would be, but that is what I love about just going with these and seeing where I wind up, much like I do periodically with life. Hopefully you can now get a glance at why I yam what I yam.
Yesterday I drove 509 miles in 11 hours, there was a rest in there, but pretty much constantly on the road for that time. I drove moms car and she drove her cousins so that we could drop it off at his shared lake cabin. Once it was delivered we drove to Bismarck so mom could visit her cousin in the hospital, hes a hell of a fighter, almost died a few weeks ago, but now hes breathing on his own and getting better and better in the ICU. So thats what sets up what I have rolling around in my head.
As I was driving across Eastern Montana to get to where we were headed, I started to see political signs dot the countryside. Unfortunately they are all Republican nominees, this is because I live in a red state. Never mind that our Governor is a Democrat and has done an excellent job keeping our state in the black throughout the economic downturn. Never mind that both our Senators are Democrats, and have done fine work in Washington D.C.. No these things dont matter to people around here, and a lot of it is because they do not educate themselves or question things. Thats my opinion anyways, because I know I blindly followed before I got educated and questioned things.
See, being brought up Catholic, and just following along like I was told wasnt so bad, as I learned things like compassion and empathy, but of course I was also told of the things that were wrong, that were not free of sin. I bought into it, I played along, and I didnt question much. Its interesting that I didnt question things there as I was learning to use creative thinking and problem solving in school and things like that, so why did it take so long to move the questioning over? Perhaps the all knowing entity had something to do with it, maybe it was the Catholic guilt, or maybe it was just having decently religious parents. Whatever it was, it took a long time to question things in that realm of my life.
So thats a basis for why I yam what I yam, cartoons factor in too apparently, and brings me to today. I went for a walk in town to get my new contacts, and when I saw a sign for the local state representative I thought about him walking through our neighborhood when he was up for election the first time. I thought of how I saw dad talk to him, but I didnt myself, and I thought of what I would say to him. I would start by saying I am a Democrat, and if he asked me why, I would go into the rant that built in my mind. I would not vote for a Republican because I see that they value money over people, they value possible people over women, and they have blinders on when it comes to the problems in this world. They want to not tax people, they want to not spend money on libraries and education so that they can justify not taxing, they do not help the lower and middle classes. I dont mind being taxed so that programs that help people can exist, I do not think that women should have a war waged against them because there is almost always a possibility of life beginning within them. I vote Democrat because they choose to educate people on their stances rather than use fear as a tactic to drum up support from those they are actually pushing down. I vote Democrat because I care.
I know neither party is perfect, and my arguments can be used against me, but I stand behind them regardless. I will enter into debate with someone that is willing to listen to my side of things, but if you argue and attack me, I will respect your point much less then I would have, even if you might be right. These are the things that I think of when I think of politics.
I love people, I love seeing their potential, I love trying to help them see what they have within them, I do this by listening and engaging them. I try to live as optimistically as possible, although it isnt always possible, and sometimes I forget that I am doing it, but I try. I think my upbringing brought this into my world, and I think my constant reading and expanding of my mind helped me hone it.
I fall in love with the quirks of personalities, I love it when I randomly find something in common with someone, or find someone as passionate about something as me. I love meeting people that are open to new things and gladly take my recommendations on books, movies, music, and the like. There is always something about life and people in it that will fascinate me.
On the flip side of that, there are the things that make me dislike a person, or that will raise my blood pressure when talking to them. Thats life though, and thats just another thing to love about it. I think that this also might be why serial killers fascinate me so much. The random spree killer isnt as hard to understand, because it might be a mental problem, a bit of rage, or something that just snaps and causes the person to go and do that, but a serial killer is completely different. A serial killer puts thought into what they are doing, they plan it. This fascinates me because it is so far outside my realm of understanding the world. There has never been anything that has made me think like a person that does that, and because it is opposite of me, it fascinates me.
That was a bit of a tangent perhaps, and my thoughts are kind of muddled as I have been watching a hockey game while typing this out, but it is slightly shaped like it was in my brain.
So basically I yam what I yam because of my raising, even though I have moved past some of the things of my youth, I am me because of them. I will always hold onto some of those lessons learned, and I have vowed to always learn as I go as well. I turned my critical thinking and problem solving onto my world instead of just the scholastic one, and that opened up many new avenues to me. I learned that the world will never be black and white, and so I should never act like it will be. I know not to look back as much as I look forward, something I finally learned after years of struggles.
I like how I started out with politics and my stance with that and turned it onto myself as I went. My words might be a little less organized then I thought they would be, but that is what I love about just going with these and seeing where I wind up, much like I do periodically with life. Hopefully you can now get a glance at why I yam what I yam.
Of course,
I'm a Democrat