I wrote this post a long time ago - I still stand by my thoughts and beliefs in this post. I will say up front - you may not like what I have said, and you may completely disagree. This is America - we are supposed to share our thoughts, have rational discussions and sort out the answers. Since I wrote this, there has been so many shootings and hate crimes and other things, it is hard to believe that this is the America in which I grew up. We all need to do a better job of being human to each other. That means respecting each other - it also means we can disagree or not approve of things others do, but it certainly does not mean belittling, hurting, or flat out telling someone they are completely wrong. Funny - none of us really knows what happens when we die. Some of us like to think we do and believe that, I am one of those who does. I am also one of those who believes strongly that people have to find their own paths, and that forcing someone to believe something they don't or suggesting they are wrong because they don't is just as bad. Aretha Franklin said it best R-E-S-P-E-C-T - it is time to do that with each other as human beings.
I try desperately to keep my political thoughts to myself on Facebook because I really hate reading the nasty comments back and forth between people. I also think that people are entitled to their opinions - If I have a friend on Facebook whose political ideas really upset me - I unfriend them. We clearly have little in common. I will say that rarely happens.
First - the Confederate flag - I alway thought the flag was cool, but of course I never really understood what it meant. I learned - the hard and embarrassing way - how many viewed the flag. I was teaching Phoenixville's band. Color presentations had all but disappeared from band shows, so we popped up a 1776 flag at the end of our show - 1776 was safe to pop without a "guard" which means that an American flag must be guarded by at least one weapon at all times. Any other pseudo looking flag does not need to be guarded. At the very last football game of the season - I thought it would be cool to switch flags. Yes I had this romantic notion about the South and Gone With the Wind. I loved the Mobile Azalea festival. My favorite band was University of Southern Miss. I was excepted to the University of Southern Miss. and Alabama on twirling scholarships. What did I know - I was a dumb 20 something. Mike Solick - a man I still hold in highest regard, was the band director. The Confederate flag popped and he came after me. He firmly explained to me what this flag stood for to many people. That would be many people from Phoenixville - one of the most diverse towns in what was then, The Chestmont League. Without knowing it, I had inadvertently insulted many of the parents of the students I loved. I felt terrible, I was embarrassed, and wanted to hide. That day I learned there was nothing good in that flag. I still love the South - but they lost the war. I would like to think that we have moved on from that time. It is pretty clear that this is not the case. I am amazed at the number of those flags that I still see on vehicles in Lancaster. I mean we are not exactly in the south. Years ago a few students at Ephrata felt it necessary to hang a huge (I mean huge) flag off the top of the auditorium roof. Those students were suspended. Again - people need to move forward - not cling to the past.
Donald Trump - I used to love his show, until I started to see him for what he really was on that show - arrogant bully. He might be a teddy bear with his family and even his friends, but, and as much as I don't like Ted Cruz, I agree with him that this is not a person I want to have access to weapons that could begin a war. His attitudes set us back years and years and years. I am tired of people shitting all over O'bama - He was never really permitted to do the job he wanted because the congress and the senate tied his hands. You do not have to look far to see what has happened to the congress and senate since he became president. I have just had it with the implications that O'bama is worthless. I have just not heard one thing from Trump that would ever make me want to vote for him. His ideas and thoughts move us back hundreds of years. We can do all we want to try to stop attacks - but other countries have lived with this for years, we are soft and spoiled and to know that all you have to do is travel out of the country. We created the technology - it should not be surprising that we have to know really deal with it. Thanks Mr. Trump for attempting to turn the clock back to World War II behavior. MOVE ON!
The Citadel - all you have to do is look at the pictures to know what those cadets had in mind - Christmas past ghosts? Really? I am appalled at the behavior of these arrogant young men. These are men that I would not want serving my country - because I have been under the impression that this is the home of the "brave" and land of the "free." What is brave about hiding behind masks and robes? And how does this show that we (not that is a plural pronoun) are free. Free to do whatever the hell we want? Not free to be humane to others. "Do unto others?" I guess high school teachers no longer tell the stories of the past - so history does not repeat itself - that is moving backwards and not forward.
Radicalized is a now popular term. I read this a few days ago and as I was looking through my blog this morning before I typed all this - I saw a post where a year or so ago I said this very same thing. These people who kill people in the name of Christianity - smack very similarly to those that kill people in the name of Islam. I am not sure what the difference is hear. I don't know anywhere in the Bible where Christ tells us to go kill people with whom we do not agree. It is time we (and by we I mean the media since they have their nose in everything constantly stirring the pot!) call it what it is - These are radicalized Christians. If it walks like a dog, smells like a dog, and goes to the bathroom like a dog - it is probably a dog. All of this makes me think of "The Crusades" which had people killing in the name of Christianity - Hello - that is backwards progress - nothing forward about that.
I read a very disturbing article this morning from the Daily Beast. I don't know if this is a reputable source or not. What I do know is that what they printed as truth was very upsetting. This was about Marco Rubio - the moderate of the GOP - The article is way too long to cover in a blog post - but the gist was that he wants to reverse marriage equality and work place equality. I want to make this clear - I am not a fan of abortion, I believe there are so many other alternatives to abortion, but I am not a woman and it is not my body, therefore I have no right to make those decisions for someone else. Not my body not my choice. There are probably many valid reasons for having an abortion - reasons that I, in my life, will never understand, but it is still not my right to force my beliefs on others. When men start to make decisions for women's bodies - there is a serious problem. There was a court case that solved this issue. The issue was settled. You don't have to like it, but you need to respect the rights of others. Same-sex marriage was settled. It was voted on and settled. I have many gay friends who are now married - what would happen to these marriages if this law was reversed? Home of the free land of the brave? Why must people continue to turn back time - Even Cher only thought about turning back time, but she never did.
Finally - if you are not happy with what I had to say - I seriously don't care and honestly - I don't really care if you agree with me. What I care about is that maybe there is something in this post that makes you think again about antiquated ideas that have us continually not being the home of the brave and land of the free. Ladies and Gentlemen - it is time to let go of the past and move on.
I try desperately to keep my political thoughts to myself on Facebook because I really hate reading the nasty comments back and forth between people. I also think that people are entitled to their opinions - If I have a friend on Facebook whose political ideas really upset me - I unfriend them. We clearly have little in common. I will say that rarely happens.
First - the Confederate flag - I alway thought the flag was cool, but of course I never really understood what it meant. I learned - the hard and embarrassing way - how many viewed the flag. I was teaching Phoenixville's band. Color presentations had all but disappeared from band shows, so we popped up a 1776 flag at the end of our show - 1776 was safe to pop without a "guard" which means that an American flag must be guarded by at least one weapon at all times. Any other pseudo looking flag does not need to be guarded. At the very last football game of the season - I thought it would be cool to switch flags. Yes I had this romantic notion about the South and Gone With the Wind. I loved the Mobile Azalea festival. My favorite band was University of Southern Miss. I was excepted to the University of Southern Miss. and Alabama on twirling scholarships. What did I know - I was a dumb 20 something. Mike Solick - a man I still hold in highest regard, was the band director. The Confederate flag popped and he came after me. He firmly explained to me what this flag stood for to many people. That would be many people from Phoenixville - one of the most diverse towns in what was then, The Chestmont League. Without knowing it, I had inadvertently insulted many of the parents of the students I loved. I felt terrible, I was embarrassed, and wanted to hide. That day I learned there was nothing good in that flag. I still love the South - but they lost the war. I would like to think that we have moved on from that time. It is pretty clear that this is not the case. I am amazed at the number of those flags that I still see on vehicles in Lancaster. I mean we are not exactly in the south. Years ago a few students at Ephrata felt it necessary to hang a huge (I mean huge) flag off the top of the auditorium roof. Those students were suspended. Again - people need to move forward - not cling to the past.
Donald Trump - I used to love his show, until I started to see him for what he really was on that show - arrogant bully. He might be a teddy bear with his family and even his friends, but, and as much as I don't like Ted Cruz, I agree with him that this is not a person I want to have access to weapons that could begin a war. His attitudes set us back years and years and years. I am tired of people shitting all over O'bama - He was never really permitted to do the job he wanted because the congress and the senate tied his hands. You do not have to look far to see what has happened to the congress and senate since he became president. I have just had it with the implications that O'bama is worthless. I have just not heard one thing from Trump that would ever make me want to vote for him. His ideas and thoughts move us back hundreds of years. We can do all we want to try to stop attacks - but other countries have lived with this for years, we are soft and spoiled and to know that all you have to do is travel out of the country. We created the technology - it should not be surprising that we have to know really deal with it. Thanks Mr. Trump for attempting to turn the clock back to World War II behavior. MOVE ON!
The Citadel - all you have to do is look at the pictures to know what those cadets had in mind - Christmas past ghosts? Really? I am appalled at the behavior of these arrogant young men. These are men that I would not want serving my country - because I have been under the impression that this is the home of the "brave" and land of the "free." What is brave about hiding behind masks and robes? And how does this show that we (not that is a plural pronoun) are free. Free to do whatever the hell we want? Not free to be humane to others. "Do unto others?" I guess high school teachers no longer tell the stories of the past - so history does not repeat itself - that is moving backwards and not forward.
Radicalized is a now popular term. I read this a few days ago and as I was looking through my blog this morning before I typed all this - I saw a post where a year or so ago I said this very same thing. These people who kill people in the name of Christianity - smack very similarly to those that kill people in the name of Islam. I am not sure what the difference is hear. I don't know anywhere in the Bible where Christ tells us to go kill people with whom we do not agree. It is time we (and by we I mean the media since they have their nose in everything constantly stirring the pot!) call it what it is - These are radicalized Christians. If it walks like a dog, smells like a dog, and goes to the bathroom like a dog - it is probably a dog. All of this makes me think of "The Crusades" which had people killing in the name of Christianity - Hello - that is backwards progress - nothing forward about that.
I read a very disturbing article this morning from the Daily Beast. I don't know if this is a reputable source or not. What I do know is that what they printed as truth was very upsetting. This was about Marco Rubio - the moderate of the GOP - The article is way too long to cover in a blog post - but the gist was that he wants to reverse marriage equality and work place equality. I want to make this clear - I am not a fan of abortion, I believe there are so many other alternatives to abortion, but I am not a woman and it is not my body, therefore I have no right to make those decisions for someone else. Not my body not my choice. There are probably many valid reasons for having an abortion - reasons that I, in my life, will never understand, but it is still not my right to force my beliefs on others. When men start to make decisions for women's bodies - there is a serious problem. There was a court case that solved this issue. The issue was settled. You don't have to like it, but you need to respect the rights of others. Same-sex marriage was settled. It was voted on and settled. I have many gay friends who are now married - what would happen to these marriages if this law was reversed? Home of the free land of the brave? Why must people continue to turn back time - Even Cher only thought about turning back time, but she never did.
Finally - if you are not happy with what I had to say - I seriously don't care and honestly - I don't really care if you agree with me. What I care about is that maybe there is something in this post that makes you think again about antiquated ideas that have us continually not being the home of the brave and land of the free. Ladies and Gentlemen - it is time to let go of the past and move on.
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