Let’s Hear it for the People Who Care too Much

   I’ve always been a home for a heart that simply cares too much. 

   I used to see this as a curse cause Lord knows I’ve been burned a fair amount of times.  

I’ve spent nights pining over issues that weren’t mine.

But, I somehow still felt guilty for them.

   I’ve tried to make people feel better by swallowing their pain inside me through heartfelt dialogue. 

   I’ve treated myself over and over again like a mental punching bag of sorts. 

I’ve been abused but still said,  it’s okay, I just need to be more understanding. 

I would put to much weight on others opinions of me and then cater to them by changing myself.

   In the past,  I’ve let the wrong people in because my heart bled for them. Some of them turned around and just left me with a larger wound. I would shrug it off with a, I understand, you’re forgiven. 

   forgiveness and understanding were my best and worst friends.

   I’m sure many more people have had these same things happen to them,  experienced these same feelings. I’m sure they’ve felt discouraged,  tired,  and broken even.  

   As a fellow person who cares too much I’m here to say after years and years of falling prey to my gifts of loving and caring too much I’ve learned my lesson.  

   I’m here to tell you this.

   Caring is not a curse. 

Like anything else it can be overdone and undisciplined. 

But, with time that can change. 

   If anything caring and loving too much is a gift. 

you are capable of seeing a person beyond their past sins. 

That is remarkable, especially since we are living in a world nowadays where all you are,  are your past sins. 

   People who care too much don’t read the books by their covers. 

They read them by their contents. 

people who care too much don’t see a person,  they see a heart, a soul, a past, and a present.

   So, why don’t we give a hand to the people who care too much. They help us become more than what other people see, more than what we see. 

What is a Mirror?

What is a mirror?

Some would say it is simply a piece of reflective glass.

Some would give me a more textbook definition like, a reflective surface, now typically of glass coated with a metal amalgam, that reflects a clear image.

My response to that definition would be, what the heck is an amalgam, that sounds like some precious stone some grouchy old dragon is hoarding.

Although, I do find it interesting that a piece of glass that has some reflective metal amalgam on it can hold so much over us.

I mean, a mirror is basically a tool, right?

Now I may be the odd one out, but I don’t find myself picking up a hammer and staring intensely into it looking for some unreadable approval.

I know that’s a weird metaphor, but doesn’t that make it hysterically clear.

Why do we base our days, weeks, months, or even lives off what some tool psychically tells us we look like?

Seriously, is that reflection we see in a mirror truly even us?

Does some metal amalgam have the ability to define us?

I seem to find myself believing that essentially our body, at least the part we see in the mirror is just a glorified meat sack.

I would still be me and you would still be you if we were to trade bodies.

So why let what appears in that mirror dictate your life?

I mean, I could see how a mirror would hold more power if an angry hairy goblin lived in it and its only job was to insult people all day.

But, the only angry goblin living in that mirror is one created by centuries of broken ideals our nations have held.

And, to think about it, is that even the mirrors fault, or is it ours?

So ultimately, this whole long-winded melodrama of an article is to say one thing and one thing only.

Don’t let a tool tell you how much you are worth.

The only tool that can even tell you that is a human one and we all know human tools are just like angry little weasels, weak fluffy balls full of unwarranted hate.

To wrap it all up, tools in general whether they be made of amalgam or flesh a bone, are not worth pining and wallowing over because climactically they don’t define you.

Only you can do that.

Love Words

Words, they are simple little fragments of a statement,

made by letters bound together that presumably mean something. No one pays much attention. They use them every day and throw them around like a dirty dish rag. Some could argue they receive the most abuse humankind could ever offer. We forget why words were made. To share ideas and values and give people the ability to know each other in a deeper manner than ever before. Words gave us the best gift anyone or anything ever could. They gave us the ability to be human. It sickens me today how we use and abuse words and sometimes even pull them into the battle they never wanted to belong in. We make words become a being they never wanted to be. We forge them to points to slice and murder each other with. Words were meant to bind people together. To create families and friends. Although nowadays they seem to do the opposite and not by their own accord. We have tainted words and these over-processed beings made by hot headed tongues have created monsters out of what was once human. We could never blame words for what we have become. Instead we can blame ourselves. Because we are the creatures nay the monsters that twisted the souls of words and made them into something that was more poison than palliate. We always blame words for our problems. But do we ever stop to notice who are using the words. Who are enslaving the words. Who are raping the words. No, because we are to afraid to look in the mirror. Learn to use words as a tool to bring us together as a human race rather than one altered to tear us apart and beget avoidable hate and chaos. Learn to love words again.

Dare to Dream of Somewhere Better

     Claira is sitting on her bed in the dark rolling a handful of miscellaneous pills through her fingertips. She watches them all topple and land on the mattress cover like lead hitting the ground.  She stares at those unopinionated bits of reality feeling comfort in their presence. She scoops them up in her hand and contemplates letting them, those lifeless things show her the way to a world where people don’t look at her differently because of a diagnosis.

     Joel walks on to the bus that takes him to his job every morning. He sits down in an empty seat and pulls out his newspaper unfolds it delicately and turns it to the comics, so he can start off his day with some cheer.  Another man comes aboard the bus and sees the seat left open next to Joel. A grimace begins to line his face and he scoffs at the empty seat. Joel looks up and smiles at the other man. “You can sit here, I’m not saving it for anyone.” The standing man looks Joel in the eyes and says, “I would never sit next to a black man.” and he walks off the bus.

     Melinda is sitting at her desk excitement coming to a boil inside her. She sees her coworker equal in job level and duties open the letter laid on his desk. He opens the letter and the words “a dollar raise” brings a smile to his face. He looks at Melinda as she receives her letter as well. She opens the letter and smiles. A smile brightens his face again, “Thank God for that dollar raise, maybe I can afford a few more drinks at the bar tonight.” He says to her. Melinda looks at him and nods in agreement, but the smile begins to fade from her face. She looks down at the now cold piece of paper. The fifty-cent raise beginning to leave a lump in her chest.

           Melinda packs up her things and heads home for the day. She gets a call from her husband who struggles to speak through tears. “Joel, what’s wrong I can’t understand you?” Melinda drops her phone tears brimming her eyes. She runs to her car and speeds her way to the hospital. She gets to the cold clean doors of the hospital and runs into the building, crash landing into her husband’s arms. They both walk into the room and see their cold lifeless daughter laying on the overly crisp clinical sheets. The doctor looks up at them with pain etched in his eyes. “I’m sorry Claira is gone.”

     As Melinda surrenders to the tears grasping tightly to the inside of her eyes, she collapses into her husband’s arms. An old woman passes their room and looks at the scene with hatred and disgust in her eyes “I can’t believe such a pretty white girl would find love in the arms of a black man.” She spits out as she walks by.

    

      No one is born hating another person because of the color of their skin, their background, or their religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.

-          Nelson Mandela

        Change begins with one person. Don’t be the person on the wrong side of history. Love your neighbor no matter their race, gender, diagnosis, or sexuality, they deserve love like anyone else. No one is better than anyone else. Teach our kids to love and maybe they can live in a world a bit kinder than this one.

Things I've Learned This Year

     We may not notice it, but within a years time we all learn new concepts regarding ourselves and or the world we live in. This new knowledge has helped make you the person you are today, so we should always appreciate what we learn. We can make the world a better place by sharing this knowledge with one another so we can each decide as an individual person how we want that knowledge to apply to our lives. So, here are some of the things I have learned this year.

1. Sometimes life can be hard. We grow from struggle, if we didn't have any struggle the world would be full of carbon copy people that had no unique quirks and insights.

2. To much tradition can equal stagnation. If you are always stuck in the flow and format of how life was in the past, YOU will be stuck in the past as well. Tradition is good in minority, but if you base your life off tradition you won't be able to see what your future may have in store.

3. Life isn't about fighting your way through the hard times. It's about what you take from those times and how you apply them to your life.

4. What is popular is not always what is right.

5. The best way to be beautiful is to be yourself. Accepting your inner beauty will make you the most beautiful person in the world, because no one will have the same beauty as you.

6. Wisdom is not academic. Wisdom is intellectual and philosophical. It will never be able to be properly given or defined by books or studies because it comes from you.

7. Find your passion. Without a passion or something to fight for your life can seem dull and empty. Find your passion because it fuels you.

8. Memories are seeds that grow rose colored trees. Memories are beautiful things, but if you base all your judgments off of them you won't be able to see past the positives. You could run the risk of making a judgment or action that could harm you deeply.

9. Don't be afraid to be unique. How can new concepts or insights come to be if you stick to the status quo of what society dictates as perfection.

10. Sometimes the invisible is the most beautiful thing you can know. If we base our entire knowledge off of only what we can see, feel, taste, and touch, things like love and faith wouldn't exist. Open you mind to what is the unseen, because it can hold the best life has to offer.

   To wrap this all up, I challenge you to look back at this year and recount all the minor or major life changing things you have learned. I believe this challenge is important because it forces you to go back and see how you've grown as a person and how certain events in your life may have assisted that growth. As well as, how some things that may have seemed minor created large changes or vice versa. So, look back into your year and recount everything you've learned and the ways in which it has made you a better person. Who knows maybe I'll write about it and we can all share our new knowledge. Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New year.

What is Net Neutrality and Why is it Important?

What is net neutrality?

     Net Neutrality is a set of rules and regulations that prevent internet service providers (ISP’s) from showing favoritism to specific content on the internet. It enforces that ISP’s not discriminate based on user, content, application, website, or platform. Net neutrality prevents ISP’s from slowing down, blocking, or charging extra money to specific websites or internet content.

Now that net neutrality has been repealed, what does that mean?

     I am not saying I know what will happen by any means. Although, some of the things that could have the potential to happen include, bandwidth throttling, content discrimination/favoritism, net bias, and tiered internet.

     Bandwidth throttling is best defined as ISP’s slowing down or speeding up of internet for a user. An ISP could now hold the capability of either slowing down or speeding up your internet based on how much you pay them for said service.

     Content discrimination/favoritism is basically how it sounds. ISP’s could now technically carry the right to dictate to a user or content creator what they can and what they cannot upload onto the internet.

     Net bias is the opposite of what net neutrality mandates. With the repeal of net neutrality, net bias has the potential to flourish. Net bias is the discrimination of users and content creators utilizing items such as price, and quality of content.

     Finally, tiered internet is a spectrum of tiers which a user or content creator can choose from that vary in price. These tiers are basically packages that include differing amenities. Examples of these packages could include,

*Basic Internet

*Social network internet

*content creator internet

Basically, tiered internet separates the internet's current content into separate packages that increase in price with the more amenities they include.

     Overall, all these things listed and defined above have the potential to become a reality with the retraction of net neutrality.

Why is this potentially a negative change?

     The repeal of net neutrality affects content creator’s freedom of speech. It does this by posing the potential of ISP’s being able to dictate what or how much they put in their content. The content restricted has the potential to be ideas or concepts the ISP does not agree with.

     Retraction of net neutrality also holds the potential to inhibit equal employment opportunity. It does this by giving the ISP’s rights to inhibit internet users based upon how much they pay. In other words, people such as, Youtubers and online shopping providers may have to pay more to produce the content they need to maintain their jobs. If these people cannot afford these charges they lose their employment. This goes for people who post content online in hopes of being discovered as well. Musicians, actors, artists, and writers who post their work online in hopes of getting discovered also will have to pay more money they potentially do not have. This prevents these people from having the same chances as someone who is already in the field or has more money to pay an ISP.

     In conclusion, these are the problems the repulsion of net neutrality could pose and how it could be disadvantageous to many people around the United States.  

#SaveNetNeutrality

Odd Monsters and Such and the Like

     Throughout history there has been many myths and stories about odd and sometimes terrifying monsters or creatures. In this blog I’m gonna list some of these creatures that I myself and hopefully some others will find just as odd and interesting as I do.

1)      Arachne

This is one definitely not for the arachnophobes. This half woman half spider was widely known as the mother of all spiders. She bluffed her way to this condition by boastful lies to the wrong goddess. Let’s just say if you can’t weave don’t lie to Athena by boasting that you are the best. If you are a video game nerd like me you might recognize this character from being in the 1991  video game Final Fantasy IV. She has also appeared in many occult films over the years. Need less to say she is quite the famous one.

2)      Crocotta

This guy is a hot mess of a monster. This creature has the body of a stag, a lion's neck, cloven hooves, and a wide mouth with a sharp, bony ridge in place of teeth. This monster imitates human speech and  calls over unexpecting men and eats them. Quite charming isn’t it…..jk.

Crocotta’s have been seen in Jorge Luis Borges Novel “Book of Imaginary Beings”.The Crocotta is definitely an odd specimen.

3)      Gerana

Gerana was the queen of the pygmies that  was turned into a Crane by Hera. This creature I don’t find terrifying just a little bit odd. Out of all the things you could turn someone into why a crane. Who knows Hera might have had a thing against Cranes, maybe one pooped on her at one point or something.

4)      Pyrausta

The Pyrausta is another hot mess of a monster. This monster is a four legged insect with filmy wings and a dragons head. Brings a whole new light to Dragons flies. This little guy is also the size of an insect and lives in fire. If he leaves the fire he dies.

5)      Hanhau

Hanhau is quite an odd critter, he is the chief of the demons from South American mythology. He resides over the worst layer of the underworld. He wears jewelry made of bones and a necklace made of eye sockets. His body is completely skeletal except for his head, he has the head of an owl. This guy gave me quite an odd mental image.

     Hopefully you found this small list entertaining if not informing, Leave a comment  with something you'd like me to write about or anything at all. Hope ya have a great day.

Citations:
http://mythicalcreatureslist.com/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Greek_mythological_creatures