Whenever the President ends a speech with “God bless you and God bless the United States of America” I get a little choked up. It doesn’t matter the President. I think the reasons behind my emotions differ depending on the situation, but choking up is a given.
I love this country. I am extremely proud to be from the United States of America. I feel very fortunate to have been born and raised in the USA. I’ve had opportunities that my ancestors did not. I have rights and privileges that so many women around the world do not. I’ve driven across the US seven times and every time new beautiful places and people reveal themselves to me. Camping in the desert, climbing the Rocky Mountains, diving into the Atlantic Ocean, canoeing through the Everglades, jogging along the path that borders Lake Michigan...the beauty and diversity in this country is overwhelming. The diversity in music and food and people and humor and accents…I love it all.
I am proud of our President. I am proud of our soldiers. I am proud of the CIA. I am proud of all those who carried out the dangerous mission to kill Osama bin Laden.
I am not proud of the scenes of people celebrating Bin Laden’s death outside the White House like their team just won the Super Bowl. There is a big difference between recognizing that justice was served and celebrating violence and murder. I recognize that given the state of the world, it was necessary to kill Osama bin Laden. I accept that we need to invest in our military. But I don’t like it. I will never like it. I hope for a world where peace is a reality.
The celebrations seem to oversimplify a very complicated issue. May 1, 2011 was certainly a historic day. I hope that those who lost loved ones in 9/11 experience a sense of justice being served. But having to resort to murdering someone is never a good thing. This “war on terror” remains far from over. Young soldiers are still being deployed to Afghanistan on a regular basis. We are still at war in numerous countries- those that are publicized and those that never get mentioned.
Last night I stared at the TV in a stupor and didn’t know how I felt. It brought me back to the stupor I felt while watching the news on 9/11/01. This world is a beautiful place filled with beautiful people. What are we doing? How did we get to this? What can I do with my one precious life to contribute to the world being a better place?
Last night I lay in bed and thought about my day. It was a particularly great day. The weather was absolutely perfect. I ran a 5k with a group of friends which was followed up with a delicious brunch. Felt great and laughed a lot. Ran some errands. Took a really satisfying nap. Went to see a friend’s sketch comedy show. A perfect spring Sunday. I thought about how while I was going about my great day, there were people across the world carrying out a mission to kill Osama bin Laden. What were they thinking? How were they feeling? Will we support them when they come home or will they, like so many vets, live on the street suffering through PTSD, pushing a shopping cart of all their worldly belongings? I hope they went to sleep feeling proud. And safe.
I wondered what the family members of those lost in 9/11 were feeling. Did this make them feel happy? Satisfied? Relieved? What about the civilians in Pakistan? How do they feel when they see the celebrations? Are they celebrating with us? What about Muslim Americans? Are they scared for their safety?
Osama bin Laden was a human. Just like me. That absolutely terrifies me. I wish it were so simple to say that some people are just born evil but I don’t think it works like that. Evil thoughts and behaviors are learned. The majority of sexual predators were sexually abused at some point. The majority of serial killers have experienced extreme trauma. I’m not justifying these behaviors in ANY way. But, if we want terrorism to stop, for real, than we need to think about the root causes. Killing Osama bin Laden may have been necessary but we have so much further to go. Watching the cheers and hearing the fireworks makes it painfully obvious just how far.
I am disgusted by the things I hear said about Muslims. Absolutely disgusted. First of all, it’s ignorance at its finest. Second, it’s putting us in greater danger. Third, it’s another fine example of hate begetting hate.
It’s scary and exciting how we all come into this world equally clueless and given our family and friends and experiences, we figure out for ourselves what is right and wrong. As our country moves past the historic day of May 1, 2011, I pray that all American citizens, our leadership included, think seriously about what is right and what is wrong. I pray that we are proud to be Americans because we are living lives of honor and kindness and compassion. I pray that we are proud because we are doing what is right for all human beings from all countries regardless of religion or skin color or sexual orientation or gender.
I pray that God bless us and that God bless the United States of America.
Showing posts with label politics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label politics. Show all posts
Monday, May 2, 2011
Friday, April 8, 2011
Looks like it's time for another Rally for Sanity.
Is Crazy Eddie in charge of budget negotiations? Because this is IN-SANE.* This impending government shutdown and the rhetoric surrounding it is completely over the top.
I’m quite politically progressive. I’m all for government funding social services. But all this talk about the proposed cuts to Planned Parenthood as a “war against women” seems a wee bit hyperbolic. Planned Parenthood is NOT synonymous with women. It is one organization out of many that serves women. I get it that people are angry because it’s an organization that is important to them, and the services that it provides are important to them. But if Republicans are pushing to cut funding to that ONE ORGANIZATION it is not an entire WAR against women. Planned Parenthood is not a necessary institution that is required to ensure that women have rights in the United States of America.
How about we get a real healthcare system so that every man, woman and child can get basic medical care and screenings? The fact that one nonprofit organization potentially losing government funding is equated to war points to a much bigger issue. Speaking of which, I’m really sick of the war analogy in general. My ability to get a low-cost pap smear should not be compared to a situation in which an innocent Iraqi child gets obliterated by a missile or a soldier watches his entire battalion die and has to live with the consequences. Yes, health screenings are important and save lives but the repeated analogy to war, when we have multiple actual wars going on, seems very callous to me.
Not that it makes it right but there are worthy organizations going under every day. Good, necessary, programs are folding left and right. Last year Medicaid was slashed and many of the clients served at my job no longer received benefits. These are all people who have been diagnosed with a severe mental illness. Take a large group of people with severe mental illness, who are often either unemployable or unable to work full-time and earn a living wage, and take away their benefits, and now you have a large group of homeless individuals with severe mental illness. Crime increases. Incarcerations increase. And now we’re paying at least five times what we’ve paid to house the person and provide support services, just to keep him or her in jail. And instead of that person being a happy, contributing member of society, he or she is now sitting in jail. Add the cost on society and the crime victims, and the social service employees who lost their jobs and the whole thing is a HORRIBLE IDEA. I don’t know that this was a WAR on anyone. It was just really poor, short-sighted, decision-making.
As proposed cuts go…the proposed cut to the EPA really enrages me. The Environmental Protection Agency is a government agency that exists to protect human health and the environment. Slashing their budget? How does THAT make sense? Just look to the crisis in Japan to see how important air quality is.
The fact that the incessant talk of the importance of spending cuts NEVER seems to include even glancing at military spending- hoo boy…that makes my blood boil.
I don’t know the answers to this whole mess. I do know that it’s both more complicated yet simpler than the media continually makes it out to be. It’s not us/them. It’s us. None of us are beyond a health scare, or a natural disaster that would have environmental consequences, or a layoff. I really pray that everyone involved in these talks right now who are making these extremely important decisions are actually listening to each other, and make decisions out of concern for EVERY human being, and not just to stay true to party lines or to be right. This us/them crap isn’t working. Let’s try something new already.
*Was Crazy Eddie just a northeast thing?
I’m quite politically progressive. I’m all for government funding social services. But all this talk about the proposed cuts to Planned Parenthood as a “war against women” seems a wee bit hyperbolic. Planned Parenthood is NOT synonymous with women. It is one organization out of many that serves women. I get it that people are angry because it’s an organization that is important to them, and the services that it provides are important to them. But if Republicans are pushing to cut funding to that ONE ORGANIZATION it is not an entire WAR against women. Planned Parenthood is not a necessary institution that is required to ensure that women have rights in the United States of America.
How about we get a real healthcare system so that every man, woman and child can get basic medical care and screenings? The fact that one nonprofit organization potentially losing government funding is equated to war points to a much bigger issue. Speaking of which, I’m really sick of the war analogy in general. My ability to get a low-cost pap smear should not be compared to a situation in which an innocent Iraqi child gets obliterated by a missile or a soldier watches his entire battalion die and has to live with the consequences. Yes, health screenings are important and save lives but the repeated analogy to war, when we have multiple actual wars going on, seems very callous to me.
Not that it makes it right but there are worthy organizations going under every day. Good, necessary, programs are folding left and right. Last year Medicaid was slashed and many of the clients served at my job no longer received benefits. These are all people who have been diagnosed with a severe mental illness. Take a large group of people with severe mental illness, who are often either unemployable or unable to work full-time and earn a living wage, and take away their benefits, and now you have a large group of homeless individuals with severe mental illness. Crime increases. Incarcerations increase. And now we’re paying at least five times what we’ve paid to house the person and provide support services, just to keep him or her in jail. And instead of that person being a happy, contributing member of society, he or she is now sitting in jail. Add the cost on society and the crime victims, and the social service employees who lost their jobs and the whole thing is a HORRIBLE IDEA. I don’t know that this was a WAR on anyone. It was just really poor, short-sighted, decision-making.
As proposed cuts go…the proposed cut to the EPA really enrages me. The Environmental Protection Agency is a government agency that exists to protect human health and the environment. Slashing their budget? How does THAT make sense? Just look to the crisis in Japan to see how important air quality is.
The fact that the incessant talk of the importance of spending cuts NEVER seems to include even glancing at military spending- hoo boy…that makes my blood boil.
I don’t know the answers to this whole mess. I do know that it’s both more complicated yet simpler than the media continually makes it out to be. It’s not us/them. It’s us. None of us are beyond a health scare, or a natural disaster that would have environmental consequences, or a layoff. I really pray that everyone involved in these talks right now who are making these extremely important decisions are actually listening to each other, and make decisions out of concern for EVERY human being, and not just to stay true to party lines or to be right. This us/them crap isn’t working. Let’s try something new already.
*Was Crazy Eddie just a northeast thing?
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
The proposed funding cut to the Arts ENRAGES me.
This proposal to cut arts funding infuriates me. It makes NO sense. First of all, we have the money. That’s totally not the issue. We all know those depressing stats about how the top tiny percent has as much money as the bottom ginormous percent. Our economy didn’t crash because money evaporated. The people at the top are living larger than ever. We know this. It’s a fact.
Ask anyone what they like to do in their free time or what makes them happiest and the large majority will mention things like seeing live music, listening to music, going to movies, reading, photography. Ask Chicagoans why they love Chicago and you’ll hear most mention things like theater, comedy, music and art. When we try to communicate with people who don’t speak our language, we immediately can share art. It’s the friggin UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE, people! Why on earth would we cut the universal language?
Arts programming for kids. These are the classes kids enjoy. These are the classes where kids are paying attention. And learning teamwork and discipline and building self-esteem and having healthy outlets for stress and developing creativity and thinking of new ways to see things and adding beauty to a freaking beautiful world. WHY THE MOTHER F WOULD WE CUT THESE PROGRAMS?!?
I’m pretty sure if you asked my Thursday night Guitar 4ever class at Old Town what the top 3 highlights of their week are- every single person would include that class. I can not stress enough how important that is. That one class is adding happiness to that group of 15 or so people. A healthy outlet for stress, a way to make friends, a way to develop a new skill, a way to create something new and lovely. I way to remember how awesome “Love My Way” by the Psychedelic Furs is. All that goodness adds to how that group of people will carry themselves out in the world. Multiply that by the thousands of students at that one school. Then multiply that by all the theaters and the dance studios and the writing workshops in every town across our country. That’s a lot of goodness going out into the world. Sure, it may not always be goodness in terms of quality but it’s still goodness.
When I was leaving work today, there was a group of clients in the lobby waiting for their theater rehearsal to begin. They were giddy. They're always giddy on Wednesdays before rehearsal. Chatting and laughing and talking about the upcoming performances. This group of people, who suffer from severe mental illness and are often ignored by society, have a chance to express themselves and make friends and have a purpose. They're learning new, healthy ways, of living. They're developing skills. They're having fun. Having spent a large portion of the day pouring over sobering statistics of the number of mentally ill in prison, it's crystal clear to me that programs like this theater program or no small thing. From a purely economical perspective- we should pour a ton MORE money into the arts. Drama class is WAY cheaper than prison.
A few years ago a couple friends and I were volunteering at an orphanage in Cambodia. One of our jobs was to teach English classes to the kids. My one friend and I were assigned to a class. Neither of us are teachers. We were faced with a class of about 30 eager, smiling children, ready to learn. It was quickly clear to us that none of the kids spoke a lick of English. They smiled at us. We smiled at them. My friend and I looked at each other, not knowing what to do. The book we’d been given was WAY over their heads.
So we sang the "Itsy Bitsy Spider." Soon enough, they were singing the "Itsy Bitsy Spider." Throughout the few weeks we were there, we attempted lessons on colors and animals and basic phrases and directions, but the thing that stuck were the songs. Every day the highlight of the class was the run through of our set list. Soon kids were teaching us the Khmer words for animals and colors and basic phrases, but the thing that really stuck with me the most were the dances they showed us how to do.
It’s not really news that the arts are pretty much the best way we have to share stories and sharing stories is what builds relationships and energizes communities and helps us to understand each other and that is what is going to prevent war and allow every person to live the life of freedom and peace that he or she deserves to live. This is not hippy bullshit. It’s how it would motherfreaking work if we actually recognized it and valued it. Valued it with cold hard cash.
I better go write a song about this before I break something.
But before that, let me leave this on a happy note. Here's video of that class in Cambodia singing "Itsy Bitsy Spider."
Ask anyone what they like to do in their free time or what makes them happiest and the large majority will mention things like seeing live music, listening to music, going to movies, reading, photography. Ask Chicagoans why they love Chicago and you’ll hear most mention things like theater, comedy, music and art. When we try to communicate with people who don’t speak our language, we immediately can share art. It’s the friggin UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE, people! Why on earth would we cut the universal language?
Arts programming for kids. These are the classes kids enjoy. These are the classes where kids are paying attention. And learning teamwork and discipline and building self-esteem and having healthy outlets for stress and developing creativity and thinking of new ways to see things and adding beauty to a freaking beautiful world. WHY THE MOTHER F WOULD WE CUT THESE PROGRAMS?!?
I’m pretty sure if you asked my Thursday night Guitar 4ever class at Old Town what the top 3 highlights of their week are- every single person would include that class. I can not stress enough how important that is. That one class is adding happiness to that group of 15 or so people. A healthy outlet for stress, a way to make friends, a way to develop a new skill, a way to create something new and lovely. I way to remember how awesome “Love My Way” by the Psychedelic Furs is. All that goodness adds to how that group of people will carry themselves out in the world. Multiply that by the thousands of students at that one school. Then multiply that by all the theaters and the dance studios and the writing workshops in every town across our country. That’s a lot of goodness going out into the world. Sure, it may not always be goodness in terms of quality but it’s still goodness.
When I was leaving work today, there was a group of clients in the lobby waiting for their theater rehearsal to begin. They were giddy. They're always giddy on Wednesdays before rehearsal. Chatting and laughing and talking about the upcoming performances. This group of people, who suffer from severe mental illness and are often ignored by society, have a chance to express themselves and make friends and have a purpose. They're learning new, healthy ways, of living. They're developing skills. They're having fun. Having spent a large portion of the day pouring over sobering statistics of the number of mentally ill in prison, it's crystal clear to me that programs like this theater program or no small thing. From a purely economical perspective- we should pour a ton MORE money into the arts. Drama class is WAY cheaper than prison.
A few years ago a couple friends and I were volunteering at an orphanage in Cambodia. One of our jobs was to teach English classes to the kids. My one friend and I were assigned to a class. Neither of us are teachers. We were faced with a class of about 30 eager, smiling children, ready to learn. It was quickly clear to us that none of the kids spoke a lick of English. They smiled at us. We smiled at them. My friend and I looked at each other, not knowing what to do. The book we’d been given was WAY over their heads.
So we sang the "Itsy Bitsy Spider." Soon enough, they were singing the "Itsy Bitsy Spider." Throughout the few weeks we were there, we attempted lessons on colors and animals and basic phrases and directions, but the thing that stuck were the songs. Every day the highlight of the class was the run through of our set list. Soon kids were teaching us the Khmer words for animals and colors and basic phrases, but the thing that really stuck with me the most were the dances they showed us how to do.
It’s not really news that the arts are pretty much the best way we have to share stories and sharing stories is what builds relationships and energizes communities and helps us to understand each other and that is what is going to prevent war and allow every person to live the life of freedom and peace that he or she deserves to live. This is not hippy bullshit. It’s how it would motherfreaking work if we actually recognized it and valued it. Valued it with cold hard cash.
I better go write a song about this before I break something.
But before that, let me leave this on a happy note. Here's video of that class in Cambodia singing "Itsy Bitsy Spider."
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Election Day
I’m a real sucker for Election Day. Politics very often frustrate the hell out of me, and politicians very often sicken me, but I’m a huge fan of democracy and this day where we all take a stand for what we believe. I get a little choked up EVERY TIME I vote.
There are a few things in this world that absolutely drive me insane. Among them: Homophobia, movies in which live animals have human voices, corporate catch phrases like “let’s take a 30,000 view” and apathy. Voter apathy really gets my goat.
I’m not saying everyone should go out and run for office, or volunteer for a candidate- it’s VOTING. It’s making a choice. I think most people agree that the system is nuts and politics is full of a lot of bullshit, but so what. There are very few things in this world that aren’t at least partially nuts and full of bullshit.
And that brings me to my family.
I come from a family in which we are all passionate about politics. Our actual voting choices span the entire political spectrum which certainly leads to some frustrating conversations and headaches, but (I think) I’m thankful for it. This mixed bag of political opinions forces me to see things from many sides. I often feel a bit defensive when my fellow progressive/liberal types immediately demonize conservatives and do that stereotyping thing we all love to do. This us/them thing is the easy cop-out. It would be so simple if every issue just had one of two very clear answers.
One of the main reasons I’m politically progressive is because my Republican parents raised me to be that way. They hammered home the point that voting is important. I grew up watching them discuss politics with each other, attend rallies for things in which they believed, and write strongly worded letters when they deemed it necessary. I learned from their example that volunteering is a way of life and it’s important to give- whether it be political campaigns or your church or your favorite charity- financially and with your time. I read from their boring selection of conservative magazines and learned the ways of political rhetoric. I did go through a conservative phase in high school, but ironically I think the Christian youth group of which I was a part, led me to be more liberal. (That’s another story entirely). When it came time for me to vote, I read and researched and talked to people and, as it turned out, those decisions led me in a much more liberal direction than my parents.
Thinking back, my parents never told me how I should vote or what I should believe. I’m pretty sure we’ve never voted the same in any election but whenever I get involved in any political event, my Mom tells me that she’s proud that I take a stand. When Bush was elected, my Mom called and said, “I’m sorry. You must be very disappointed.” I cracked up. She was so sincere.
I do recall a heated discussion with my Dad about public education in which I said, “I’m the product of public education.” He yelled, while laughing, “You’ve just proven my point!!” Touché, mon pere. Touché.
Speaking of my father, I’ve instructed him that should a gentleman ever ask for his blessing to marry me, that he is not allowed to express an opinion because whenever he is given two choices of people to vote for, he has never picked one that I agree with, so I am certainly not leaving it up to him to decide who I should spend my entire life with. (I would, however, agree with his inevitable disdain for the number of ending prepositions in that sentence).
That said, I am very thankful for my conservative parents and the part they’ve played in making me the hippy liberal that I am today.
Happy Election Day, everyone. Go vote.
P.S. Speaking of the election: My politically obsessed friend Chad and I once wrote (just in our heads) a bunch of awesome scenes for a rom com loosely (totally) based on his life about a guy trying to find love on the campaign trail. It’s called “Hanging Chad” and had a tagline along the lines of “Counting votes…for love.” (The sequel will obviously be “Pregnant Chad.”) But I just realized, it wouldn’t be a rom com- it’d be a Rahm Com. Buh dump bump.
There are a few things in this world that absolutely drive me insane. Among them: Homophobia, movies in which live animals have human voices, corporate catch phrases like “let’s take a 30,000 view” and apathy. Voter apathy really gets my goat.
I’m not saying everyone should go out and run for office, or volunteer for a candidate- it’s VOTING. It’s making a choice. I think most people agree that the system is nuts and politics is full of a lot of bullshit, but so what. There are very few things in this world that aren’t at least partially nuts and full of bullshit.
And that brings me to my family.
I come from a family in which we are all passionate about politics. Our actual voting choices span the entire political spectrum which certainly leads to some frustrating conversations and headaches, but (I think) I’m thankful for it. This mixed bag of political opinions forces me to see things from many sides. I often feel a bit defensive when my fellow progressive/liberal types immediately demonize conservatives and do that stereotyping thing we all love to do. This us/them thing is the easy cop-out. It would be so simple if every issue just had one of two very clear answers.
One of the main reasons I’m politically progressive is because my Republican parents raised me to be that way. They hammered home the point that voting is important. I grew up watching them discuss politics with each other, attend rallies for things in which they believed, and write strongly worded letters when they deemed it necessary. I learned from their example that volunteering is a way of life and it’s important to give- whether it be political campaigns or your church or your favorite charity- financially and with your time. I read from their boring selection of conservative magazines and learned the ways of political rhetoric. I did go through a conservative phase in high school, but ironically I think the Christian youth group of which I was a part, led me to be more liberal. (That’s another story entirely). When it came time for me to vote, I read and researched and talked to people and, as it turned out, those decisions led me in a much more liberal direction than my parents.
Thinking back, my parents never told me how I should vote or what I should believe. I’m pretty sure we’ve never voted the same in any election but whenever I get involved in any political event, my Mom tells me that she’s proud that I take a stand. When Bush was elected, my Mom called and said, “I’m sorry. You must be very disappointed.” I cracked up. She was so sincere.
I do recall a heated discussion with my Dad about public education in which I said, “I’m the product of public education.” He yelled, while laughing, “You’ve just proven my point!!” Touché, mon pere. Touché.
Speaking of my father, I’ve instructed him that should a gentleman ever ask for his blessing to marry me, that he is not allowed to express an opinion because whenever he is given two choices of people to vote for, he has never picked one that I agree with, so I am certainly not leaving it up to him to decide who I should spend my entire life with. (I would, however, agree with his inevitable disdain for the number of ending prepositions in that sentence).
That said, I am very thankful for my conservative parents and the part they’ve played in making me the hippy liberal that I am today.
Happy Election Day, everyone. Go vote.
P.S. Speaking of the election: My politically obsessed friend Chad and I once wrote (just in our heads) a bunch of awesome scenes for a rom com loosely (totally) based on his life about a guy trying to find love on the campaign trail. It’s called “Hanging Chad” and had a tagline along the lines of “Counting votes…for love.” (The sequel will obviously be “Pregnant Chad.”) But I just realized, it wouldn’t be a rom com- it’d be a Rahm Com. Buh dump bump.
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