Experimental Government Reformation

Mind Entered

Our government, once seen as the best in the world, a fusion of democracy and a republic, borrowed great governmental features from other governments throughout the centuries. Our House of Representatives and Senate is borrowed from Britain’s House of Commoners and House of Nobles. Our three tier government system is borrowed from France. And our democracy and republic is borrowed from ancient Athens and Rome. For nearly 240 years, our government has been a wondrous experiment that has been refined again and again. We started with the Bill of Rights, and now we have twenty-seven amendments to our Constitution that have been added over the years.

The twenty-seventh is one that should be erased however. A twenty-eight should counter that dreadful amendment.The twenty-seventh amendment essentially says that Congress can pass themselves a raise at any time, but the change will not take effect until after the next election. This is…

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Experimental Government Reformation

Our government, once seen as the best in the world, a fusion of democracy and a republic, borrowed great governmental features from other governments throughout the centuries. Our House of Representatives and Senate is borrowed from Britain’s House of Commoners and House of Nobles. Our three tier government system is borrowed from France. And our democracy and republic is borrowed from ancient Athens and Rome. For nearly 240 years, our government has been a wondrous experiment that has been refined again and again. We started with the Bill of Rights, and now we have twenty-seven amendments to our Constitution that have been added over the years.

The twenty-seventh is one that should be erased however. A twenty-eight should counter that dreadful amendment.The twenty-seventh amendment essentially says that Congress can pass themselves a raise at any time, but the change will not take effect until after the next election. This is an awful amendment that allows the Congress to constantly increase their wages while the rest of us must wait for their filibustering to sign even a simple document that allows other wages to be increased, decreased, taxes to be implemented or erased, or even laws to be implemented. Lawmaking, is that not what Congress is supposed to be doing? Not politicking against one another because over half the House and Senate despises the President. And this has not happened just recently, but time and time again. Even during the time of Lincoln, the Congress was controlled by the opposing party until the outbreak of the Civil War.

This bipartisan, two-party system that the government has perverted itself into has been a reason for decades of why this country continues to fall into decadence. This two-party system was not even implemented until after Washington left office when the Federalists, under John Adams, and the Antifederalists, or Jeffersonians, under Thomas Jefferson, came into existence. Now, the first problem the experimental government refined was that in the early elections, there were no vice presidential candidates. The candidate that won the most votes became president, John Adams in this case. And the candidate with the second most votes became vice president, Thomas Jefferson in this case. The two men constantly bickered over policy and how big the government should be. Adams was in favor of a looser interpretation of the Constitution as well as bigger government. While Jefferson was in favor of a stricter interpretation of the Constitution as well as a smaller government. You can imagine how many times the two men butted heads.

And this trend has continued ever since. The Democrats and The Republicans have flipped their views a few times over the decades, the Democrats now are the Republicans of yesteryear while the Republicans now are the Democrats. It is all very confusing, but even in the past, various third parties, such as the Whig party, sprang up to challenge the two-party system. The Whigs were evens successful in having presidential candidates win the presidency. But, inevitably, the Democrats and the Republicans came to dominate the two-party system yet again.

Now, the time to change the experiment has come again. The first variable that must be changed is this dreaded two-party system that only plops out candidates that forces us to choose the lesser of two evils. How can we progress if we do not trust either candidate enough to actually do anything besides argue with an opposing Congress and attempting to assuage the bitter feelings of the country. The votes could be very simply divided amongst the candidates that ran for any position. For instance, say there are three candidates, A, B, and C. A wins 37% of the vote, B wins 25% of the vote and C wins 38% of the vote. Obviously, no candidate outright won the election. However, as Maine and Nebraska, this election is based on the Congressional District Method in which each candidate receives the number of votes equal to the percentage the candidate wins. Therefore, let us imagine there were one hundred votes to receive in this particular district. So, A would have 37 votes to add to his/her total, B would receive 25 votes to add, and C would win 38 votes to add to the total. All these votes would add to the total of the votes in every district and then and only then would the candidate win with the greatest number of collective votes. This system can work for every position of office including Congress.

Imagine there were five parties, a much broader spectrum of interpretations of the Constitution and also much more similar views for greater cooperation amongst the five parties. Say five candidates for a position ran. Candidate A received 25% of the vote, B 22% of the vote, C got 13% of the vote, D took 17% of the vote, and E received 23%. So, out of 100 total votes, A had 25, B 22, C 13, D 17, and E 23. Now, A won this vote, not in a landslide as the mainstream loves to portray in our actual elections, but in a fair, broad spectrum. A now has a position in congress, but based on this spectrum, it appears that party A, B, and E received most of the votes and so, three parties would dominate Congress as parties C and D provide the “Independent Slot” but on a much grander influence for 17% of the vote is 68% of A’s won percentage, proving that the five party system is a much broader spectrum that appeals to a great many more people than the two-party system we have now where we have fake politicians aiming to appeal both sides of radical liberals and conservatives. Yes, there are minor parties even amongst the parties, the most recent being the Tea Party, but because of the winner take all mindset we have in elections, the Tea Party will never truly have a strong voice.

Now for the second variable to be changed in the experiment, based on the election system at the very end, the Electoral College. This final voting should be obliterated for it now serves no purpose in the modern age. Yes, when the Electoral College was first established, current information was incredibly difficult to travel throughout the states. A month could pass before a letter from Maine could arrive in Georgia. So, the Electoral College was actually a necessary evil. Gather a group of prominent government officials or close great party supporters, and have them vote for the president supposedly based on their states that voted for the president. Nowadays, with our modern technology of constant mainstream media that is incredibly biased towards the highest bidder, the internet that has more false information that sends one on a treasure hunt for correct information, and even word of mouth based on the former two, information can be easily obtained. Now, I have just argued against myself for saying how biased and unreliable the information is in the media and on the internet, however, is it still ethical to round up people that have “donate” egregious sums of money to one party or the other to “vote” for the candidate that is assuredly not their friend? Or, should we scrub the Electoral College from our election system and allow the people’s vote to truly elect the president? I find it very surprising and somewhat ingraining that people know nothing of the Electoral College. Reminds me of a video I saw recently that showed young adults in college could not answer simple history questions such as who won the American Civil War. Yet, other questions such as who is Snooki, the young adults could answer without hesitation. Yes, I realized I argued against myself yet again, showing that even though the information that is actually critical to the future of this country, young adults would rather bother themselves with the knowledge of what is “trending” whatever that means. But again, I bring attention to the fact that those selected for the Electoral College are essentially rewarded for “donating” great sums of money to candidates that are assuredly not their friends to vote for the lesser of two evils that the people loathe to initially and only perceive their vote to truly count.

For the third and final variable that should be changed in this experiment of our government, is to grant the Supreme Court more power. Now, when a law is passed that is possibly unconstitutional, the Supreme Court can say nothing until a case is appealed over and over again until the case is brought to the attention of the Supreme Court where finally the Supreme Court can rule that the law that was passed is unconstitutional. Imagine the law that was passed stated that whosoever spoke out against the president elected, was cast into iron clamps and shown to the world on public television. Obviously, this law would be riled against quite quickly, easily making its way to the Supreme Court. But even then, it could take years to be appealed, and in that time, more and more people are being shackled. Obviously, the Supreme Court would strike this law down immediately but only after the case was appealed to them. If the Supreme Court could review the law passed as it was legislated, the law would never have even been enacted nor enforced. No American citizens would have their dignity shamed. No American would suffer for speaking his/her mind which is protected by our very first amendment in the Bill of Rights.

So, in our experimental government, only established for nearly 240 years, it is our responsibility to constantly refine our government to fit our modern needs. We have aged, archaic minds in all branches, in many offices, minds that think of the world in the past, not of the future. For our young, flexible minds, we see certain issues vastly different from our “elected officials.” We see medical marijuana as an okay idea (even though I personally do not because I feel our mind is the only drug we need; our mind is so powerful, why would I ever want to hinder its performance). We see marriage equality as an inevitability (which, honestly, we have much, much bigger concerns to debate over such as renewable resources and energy, foreign terrorists, and the future of our planet.) We see the old days, though romantic, glorious, whatever, as just that, old days filled with glorious, heroic stories. Stories. We look to the future, of living our lives, of adding life to our years, not years to our life, of working for our passions, not working for our next paycheck, of expanding our minds, not expanding our power, of aiding the world, not aiding the powers that destroy the world.

Idea of the Perfect Body Image

I work in the Behavioral Medicine Unit of the Emergency Department. I interact with numerous patients on a daily basis with all kinds of backgrounds, childhoods, and problems. But the one problem that has most recently been shown before my eyes, and has gotten my blood to boil, is the problem of girls being told they are not looking as they should. I had a fourteen-year-old girl in the unit the other day. We offered her a meal, but she said she already had cake earlier that day and so that she could not have anything else because of the fattening desert. Later on, she told me her step-father would not allow her to have milk because it was too fattening, that she could only have almond milk.

The fact that she is fourteen-years-old is what boils my blood. And later that night, I read multiple articles and numerous ads all speaking the same thing to women in general: “You must look like a perfect representation of the woman body at all times or else you are filth.” This statement has caused much grief among the female population. Woman buy ungodly amounts of beauty products that they feel they must apply to look “beautiful.” They gussy themselves for a night but then wake up the next day to see the makeup smudged and smeared. When they take off the makeup, they see their natural selves and wonder why they cannot look like a perfectly painted doll all the time.

Society has ruined women’s self esteem with decades worth of advertising against them having any confidence at all. Legislation is constantly drafted to control women, their looks, their actions, their power, but men hardly have any piece of legislation that affects them directly. Hollywood continuously portrays the idea of a perfect body both male and female, but for the females it is even worse. Females are constantly comparing themselves to each other, to pictures of “beautiful” women, even to themselves of the day, week, year before.

Because of this constant scrutiny of their bodies, females are more likely to attempt suicide. Females are more likely to feel depressed. Females are more likely to constantly think about what they feel is the perfect body. They do not think about what their perfect body is however. This starts from the first time a little girl is told she is “fat.” This awful word glues to her to believe she is inadequate and always pushing to accomplish the ludicrous idea of “skinny” and “beautiful.”

Now, do not get me wrong, obesity is the leading cause of death in America, and we should push to maintain fitness in our “civilized,” “industrial,” “advanced,” world, but we should not punish those that cannot due to medical reasons or have not even entered the first stages of puberty!

Middle school is the time puberty first sets in, when children become adolescents, when bodies grow, and stress becomes a dominant hormone and factor in a person’s life. To punish those that are not the “ideal” body form before they even have a chance to grow out of their “baby fat” days is similar to saying a caterpillar is ugly before it comes out of its cocoon. Its just plain ridiculous.

The idea of a perfect body image itself is ridiculous. Everybody is different and so everybody will have a different idea of the perfect body. But, we should all move to see what our perfect body can be. For instance, the average lanky, six and a half foot guy will have a hard time becoming the muscles upon muscles bodybuilder unless he trains to become that with a fierce determination. And the average person with just a little more fat than he/she would prefer around his/her midsection/hips, well, with determination he/she can train to eliminate that extra fat, but sometimes, the perfect body may bot be achieved in the eyes of that person.

Perfection is a flaw in itself. If we continue to portray the ridiculous idea of the perfect body, only more and more depression will be spread amongst the masses. Especially pushing this idea onto a still-maturing adolescent. What we should train ourselves is to see the perfection we feel already lies in ourselves, whether physically or mentally. Unfortunately, in our somewhat reverse society with our “advanced” technology where we could advance our minds, instead, we turn more towards the physical, aesthetic forms of perfection as we perceive the world mainly through our eyes rather than any other sense. So, we should point out parts of our body that we love of ourselves before losing ourselves in the image of the “perfect” body. Then, we should remember that our minds are incredible, that we should strive to obtain perfection of our minds. We should leave our physical obstacles behind, develop our minds to the point we can manipulate all of our body’s cells to what we desire, to become what we most want. Then, we can take our existence to the next level. Technology will be a step below us “organics.” We will become perfect only after our minds are perfect.

Check out these two articles:

An article about petitioning the perfect body as proposed by society. https://www.yahoo.com/style/victorias-secret-is-sending-mixed-messages-the-101266136378.html

An article showing a slideshow of the “fit mom’s” calendar showing real fit moms. https://www.yahoo.com/parenting/meet-the-stars-of-maria-c1414514856293.html

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Mind Over Matter

We hear this phrase sporadically over the course of our lifetimes. In fact, we hear it just enough to make it relevant in our memory banks, but not enough that we ever actually think about this phrase. And that, this ignorance of this very powerful phrase, is very, very saddening.

Our mind is the most powerful engine in the biomechanical universe. We consistently hear the phrase, “We only use 10% of our brains,” and that statement is utterly false. We only use 10% of our brains at a time yes, but that is because, like any effective engine, the brain knows instinctively when to cool itself, and when it needs to produce more stimulus. For example, at rest, the brain will only need to supply stimulus to involuntary body functions that say keep you alive. The cardiovascular system, the nervous system, the rise and fall of your chest, the nerve impulses it takes to move any muscle, the digestive system, all of this lies in involuntary muscle movements that we do not even consciously think about. If we had to literally think about every process it took to just move one finger, from initial stimulation from the brain, down the nervous system sending the electrical impulse into each and every nerve cluster, to the finger’s muscles, telling the muscles to contract, and then telling it to stop with the correct amount of pressure, our brains would be on overload from this now voluntary muscle action. Also, we would be dead, because, if we only use 10% of our brain and we had to voluntarily move every aspect of the involuntary muscle system, we would be worn out and not able to compute the action it takes to breathe while operating another muscle action.

Now, imagine if we took our brain and used all 100% of it at one time. Different parts of the brain our recruited when performing different actions. How the phrase, “We only use 10%,” came to be is wildly maddening because it drops off the other half of the true phrase. If we were able to divulge fully into our 100%, we would ultimately receive headaches at first. Our brains are not programmed to operate efficiently at that level, but would soon quickly adapt because at 100% there is not much our brains could not overcome. If we divulged into our full 100%, we would be beings of incredible mental power and let’s face it, mental power and prowess is lacking considerably in this “modern” era.

In this modern era, we are told what to think, what to wear, what to learn, what to believe, what to educate, everything that we could be thinking for ourselves for, we are told before we have a chance. This creates a society of lethargy and oblivious people sitting around waiting for the next big instruction to tell them when to act. A commercial referring to how one goes back to college with a pack of other students demonstrates this perfectly portraying a line of floating people  going about a predetermined path of lecture halls and then cubicles. But, at the very end, a brave individual breaks from the known path and steps out on his own. Interestingly enough, this individual finds others with a similar attitude.

Now, these brave individuals are only shown in a commercial for an institution of higher learning that contributes to another problem in our society, student loan debt, but the act of breaking away from the established method the commercial shows should be what our society should strive toward. No more of being told what to think, eat, sleep, breathe mindless gossip, but breaking away, using our brains so that we truly think of how, why, do I believe, do I think, do I operate?

We need to break away from the conforming, constricting establishment that has become society. Our mind is a powerful engine that we must tap ourselves here and now. A simple example of mind over matter is the Hindus that can walk over hot coals, or lie on a bed of spikes, or charm a snake, or breathe fire, or eat swords, all of it, though perverted into cheap carnival tricks, has its origins in mind over matter. Someone in the past learning to open his/her mind must have learned that the mind is the true power over the body, not the other way around. This stemmed from deep meditation that led to these various acts in an attempt to show the world how powerful the mind truly is, and how submissive the body actually is.

But, these brief examples are a mere introduction to how powerful the mind is over matter. For instance, if you never felt sick, felt nothing of ill-will happen to you at all for your entire life, but suddenly a doctor with a fancy degrees tells you otherwise, would you truly allow your strong mind of peace and health to be shattered by a simple statement? And as soon as you accept your fate your body collapses not to the supposed medical illness brewing inside of you, but to the negative thoughts that you allowed to poison your entire being. You become consumed by the thought that something negative will occur to you, and so, ultimately it does. However, if you constantly upheld your positive, healthy thoughts, your body would have responded accordingly with positive energy, and you would perceive yourself still as the perfect image of healthy you had seen yourself as always during your lifetime.

Medicine is not the only time you allow your mind to become subdued. Think about the first time you ever felt you needed a cigarette or drink. Why would you place that negative association in your mind to feel good when you know the blatant horrid effects of these drugs. Yes, cigarettes and alcohol are drugs though many do not see it that way. And unfortunately, the most abused drug, caffeine is merely seen as a physical stimulant. However, your body produces all chemicals you could ever need for energy, which is exactly what chemicals are. Your body has multiple processes to produce energy from the production of phosphocreatine to glycolysis to the oxidative system, all provide all the energy you could ever need. Our minds can actually enhance this energy production by meditation and study of these mechanical processes.

However, if we take mind over matter one step further, we can see that we ourselves are merely energy. After all, everything in the universe is made of energy and energy cannot be created nor destroyed. But, energy can be transferred and transformed. Water turns turbines in a dam to create electrical energy which follows lines to your home where it can then be transferred into heat from a stove, water heater, or simple hair dryer. If we realize that our bodies are nothing more than energy, no malignant force can affect us for we can instantly barrage this force with positive thoughts and heal ourselves. Once we see that positive forces can heal our body, the very next step of our existence is to leave this corporeal body that has drastic limitations. When we become purely spiritual, energetic beings, we will see the true meaning of life and realize it is not contained in a carbon based life-form capable of nothing but seemingly destruction.

Goodness Shamed

Everyone has seen goodness in their lives. Everyone has seen badness in their lives. Everyone has even seen neutral acts done before them in their lives that has them question their own morality and ethics. But, why is it that in this age we praise acts of disobedience but shun acts of good fortune.

For example, Johnny Manziel and Jameis Winston both won the Heisman Trophy as Freshmen, yet as soon as they excelled at something some see as a religion, football, they were immediately targets to be slandered. Tim Tebow won the Heisman in his Sophomore year, but had equal parts support as well as detestation due to his constant roller coaster emotions of crying at a loss one week, and then over celebrating the very next week.

Soldiers are praised for their deeds and actions overseas, yet are condemned for those very same actions by their millenial peers. The government often spits on these Soldiers even though all these Soldiers did was follow orders.

Even the celebrities that for some infuriating reason the “common” people follow in an obsessive fashion, achieve something great through their entertainment actions, winning awards, donating their “well-earned” money to “reputable” causes, yet as soon as these celebrities are caught performing any certain act deemed bad, they are instantly showcased as abominations.

All this is showing the new generations is that even if they achieve greatness, they will be demonized, dehumanized, and destroyed by society. The new generation will not wish to see themselves achieve greatness for fear of being hated for doing something good. Countless times during history someone has created an idea that was spit upon and cast into oblivion. Nikola Tesla had an ingenious idea for electricity, a better idea than Thomas Edison, but was constantly undermined by Edison himself. Tesla then became bankrupt and all his plans were confiscated and have not been seen since. Martin Luther King Jr. had a perfect dream, fighting for equal right among the races, but because of this, he was assassinated. John F. Kennedy and his brother had great ideas for the country, and were assassinated. Why do you think Obama has not even had an attempted assassination upon his life? He has no great ideas. Great ideas inspire people and inspire change which scares those in power, forcing them to take action against these great ideas.

Greater powers at be even demonize symbols that initially stood for goodness. Any symbol that was originally seen as good and portraying the light, the pentagram, the cross, the all-seeing eye, the peace symbol, the many paths to righteousness (the eight-fold path for example, the paths in Hinduism), the statue of Buddha, the Illuminati, and even the swastika, have all been perverted through centuries in order to control and scare the masses.

The pentagram is now associated with demons and darkness, however, it is often incorrectly portrayed with its star pointing upward, which symbolizes goodness, man’s rise. The cross has always been good, but when it is upside down, it symbolizes man’s fall. The all-seeing eye, once believed in ancient Egyptian culture to represent the third eye of the brain, to see into the after life and spiritual world, is now seen as a symbol of the government always keeping its eye on the general public.

The peace symbol, the one the hippies in the 60’s used, has a bad reputation because of these hippies, but is not seen as the goodness it truly represents for when it is shown upside down, the three bars at the top of the circle, it represents evil and demons. Any symbol that is shown to represent light, shown upside down it represents evil, darkness, and demons because darkness in an invert of light.

The many paths to righteousness is not a feasible option for anyone under the delusion of the “Christian” world. Hinduism teaches that no matter what path you choose, you can and will find enlightenment. Buddhism teaches one to look toward your inner self, the goal we should all strive to achieve, inner peace, but most of us are distracted by outside idols, even the Bible counts as an outside idol. The “Christian” world however, does not sympathize with any other religious view and unless you are following the “Christian” way, you are not going to heaven in which case two-thirds of the world does not believe in the “Christian” heaven anyway.

The statue of Buddha, the one seen most often in Hollywood movies and in souvenir shops, the one with a fat belly, is not the real life Siddhartha Gautama, the real name of the Buddha. Siddhartha Gautama was, in reality, a very skinny Indian that once lived an entire year on nothing but a grain of rice a day. The fact that we have perverse this statue into one of lavish lethargy, symbolizes that to be happy, you must be rich and have everything done for you. Do not work, that would make sense.

The Illuminati has an incredibly bad reputation as the secret society that has now taken over the entire world and is systematically destroying the world. However, during the Renaissance, the Illuminati was a hidden society of intelligent people collaborating in secret to expand their minds. They had to meet in secret because the Catholic church found the Illuminati’s practices to be blasphemy. Interesting how the two’s roles have been seemingly reversed.  The Catholic church is seen as can do no wrong while the Illuminati is seen as an omnipresent, omnipotent force in the world unseen.

The swastika, made infamous by the Nazis during World War II, actually has cosmic iterations. The symbol is actually representative of the Earth’s motion through space. Similar to that of Venus making a Pentagram every eight years in relation to the earth, making the pentagram a cosmic and good symbol, the swastika was seen as a cosmic and good symbol.

All this perverted symbolism and demonization of good deeds in this age is doing nothing but causing more and more war and conflict for the world. In only fourteen years into the new millenia, the United States has seen nothing but war and conflict, always playing super cop, always trying to force democracy upon a country that cannot be ruled logically, only by a religious zealot or maddened dictator. When will the world get it “right” and realize that though war and conflict can progress our society, establish a hierarchy of dominant countries (which may or may not be the best form of society), when we come together and combine our intelligences and ideals, we can progress tenfold further. After all, we went to the moon after collaborating with Nazi scientists we “rescued” and utilizing their ideas and technological advances.

If It Makes Sense

Those that are in the military, especially the Army, will hear this phrase quite often during their service years, “If it makes sense, we ain’t doing it.”

I have said this phrase myself countless times. I cannot say how many times I have been performing a task with some less than perfect instructions. Most of the time I have been in a group to complete this task. However, more often than not, during the task, I or another soldier has said, “Why are we doing it like this? Why not do it like this instead?” Where the soldier would then go on to describe a much, much better process. Of course, I respond with, “Well, because that would make sense, and since we are in the Army, if it makes sense…” And the phrase would be completed by either myself or another soldier, “Right, we don’t do it.”

But, unfortunately, this phrase does not limit itself to the military. I have found myself utilizing this phrase even in civilian life. For instance, at the occupation I have now, I work in the Behavioral Medicine Unit (Psyche Ward) of an emergency department at a hospital. Numerous times I and my colleague have thought why must we do something that has been established by a manager that no longer even works in the unit. We know much better ways to deal with the patients, paperwork, and even other staff. However, all of these ideas make sense and so of course, we don’t do it.

But, why is it that if something makes sense, we don’t do it? Why is it that we must make it astoundingly more difficult to accomplish a task utilizing a technique established by “superiors”? Why is it that this country has turned its back on the ways that made this county great? I have had this conversation numerous times with people and they have always agreed with me in how disturbingly confusing and frustrating it is to must always be forced to conform and comply with ways of doing something that just doesn’t make sense.

Are we scared to do something that makes sense because then, god forbid, we actually become productive and accomplish something? Have we become such a lazy society that we actually look for ways to prevent us from being productive? Is this why other countries hate America? Because we are so lazy we have become jaded to our own lethargy?

It is despicable that this occurs everyday.

Think about it. How many times have you done something that you know does not make sense, but you do it anyway because someone “superior” to you said to and that that is the way you are supposed to do it? Let me say that if humankind decided to always act according to “superior” wishes, then we never would have left the Fertile Crescent. We never would have become sapient enough to develop fire.

It is maddening that this concept has even infiltrated the education system. in America, we go to school for fifteen years, from Pre-K to 12th grade. This is supposed to be the prerequisite for post secondary schooling, however, what have we actually learned throughout this lengthy time of being “educated”? We learn basic to moderate arithmetic. We learn varying degrees of mastery of grammar and vocabulary. We learn highly disputed and sometimes controversial sciences. And we even learn that we are able to go into space because we landed on the moon in 1969.

But, does any, ANY, of this matter at all in the “real world”? Of course not because why else do we have post secondary education system. I spoke of this with my father and he asked, “Going through school, why do we not already learn something that we can go on to and receive employment in this training we got in high school? Why can’t we get specialized training in high school so that if we wanted to, post secondary education would just merely be a refreshment course and beyond advanced education opportunity.” I just looked at him with an amused smile and said, “Because that would make sense. And if it makes sense, we ain’t gonna do it.” We both laughed loudly.

It is sad that this has come to be the norm in society. We are destroying this planet, yet we do not recycle because it makes sense. We have another option of leaving this planet through aerospace means, but we don’t have the funding because if we funded something that could progress our society astronomically, even past our mundane lives on this tiny planet, it would make sense. We smoke even though we know how terrible it is for our bodies, but don’t quit cause that would make sense. We watch football religiously and get into fights and debates over teams, but don’t turn off the television or stop attending the events to prevent this very unnecessary anarchy because it would make sense. We complain about professional athletes being paid far, far more than they deserve, but continuously pay to attend their events, where they actually earn their money, rather than stop paying to see them play because that would make sense. We even preach constantly about the Bible, Jesus, God, the Quran, Mohammed, and other outside idols to achieve inner peace, rather than focusing on ourselves and looking inward to achieve inner peace because that would make sense.

I realize I may have offended quite a few people and insulted nearly every person in the world, including myself, but should I apologize for my actions because I may have offended someone, which in this day and age is nearly reason for death? Of course not, because that would make sense, and if it makes sense, we don’t do it.

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If It Makes Sense

911

This number, ‘911,’ has come to mean a variety of things in America, especially depending on how one pronounces this number. Pronounced as separate digits, nine-one-one, can mean simply digits, simply meaningless unless used in a mathematical equation or measurements for a project. Nine-one-one can also mean a number to call for an emergency, connecting a person to a dispatcher that then will dispatch the appropriate authorities to the scene. However, pronouncing the number as nine and then eleven can mean two other entities entirely. The first is movie entitled ‘Fahrenheit 9/11,’ which follows George W. Bush and the war on terror. But what I would desire to focus on with this number, pronounced as nine-eleven, is how this number has come to signify one of the most recent attacks on American soil by a terrorist sect.

This terrorist sect, as we all know now, was Al-Qaeda, a vicious sect of radical Islam that views Jihad as the only means to achieve peace in their minds. But the debate among religions is for a different day. Now, I want to discuss how nine-eleven has become significant in American culture and has become known as Patriot Day.

America has always been viewed as the symbol of freedom for the world everywhere, and because of this, because of our wealth, our acceptance, and our peace, countries are jealous of us and have attempted to collapse our society. The Oklahoma City bombings and the first attack on the World Trade Center were merely minor annoyances in our eyes. Yes, these attacks were tragic, but on some level, they were not necessarily traumatizing to warrant a grand enough response from the nation as a whole. But, when the World Trade Center towers were torn down from the New York skyline, when two majestic pieces of architecture were ripped apart before our very eyes on one of the only times the media actually reported on something worthwhile, the nation came together as they had not done since the World Wars, especially in the times of the Nazis.

This coming together propelled us into a war with Afghanistan and Iraq, prompting our war-dependent society to crave more war yet again. Thankfully, with the collapsing of the World Trade Centers, the nation has become unified again, if even for only a day as we remember nine-eleven on Patriot Day. This day we entered the war on terrorism fully, an entire generation decided to volunteer into service for their country into a ten year long conflict that is up for debate of worthiness and triumph. But again, a debate for a different day.

I was in fourth grade on nine-eleven and I remember my teacher forming us into a circle as she turned on the television and we watched for a few hours as the towers fell. I remember multiple classmates being pulled out of school by their parents. I remember not comprehending fully what was occurring that I was witnessing. Now, though, after having matured and entered into the military myself, I understand somewhat better the ideas and views that caused this vicious sect of Islam to attack us.

I am just thankful I live in a country where we support our military and first responders, even though are not given the monetary value they deserve, but do not fear our military and first responders for our freedom is defined by those that gave their lives in the Revolution. Fathers, sons, and brothers since the birth of our country allows our freedom to persevere. And a true Patriot is not one that fights because he hates what is in front of him, but loves what is behind him.