Breed Specific Legislation = Discrimination

When has discrimination and genocide been right, regardless of the species?  It wasn’t right when Hitler declared Jews to be a sub-species of the human race and sought to exterminate them.  It wasn’t right when, in one of our less than shining moments as a nation, we sent American citizens of Japanese descent to Interment camps.  It wasn’t right when we had Jim Crow laws on the books and allowed people to be segregated by the color of their skin.  Is banning a breed of dog any different?  Especially, since most people can not actually point out a pit bull to save their life.  They can only identify what they think a pit bull looks like. 

Until the 1950’s, the American Pit Bull Terrier was THE family dog.  It was the dog in the Coppertone advertisement and other wholesome images.  In the last 30 years there has been a smear campaign against this breed. 

You only hear about dog attacks if there is a pit bull involved, because that is the dog that the media wants to victimize.  Nobody wants to hear about the Labrador Retriever that attacked or bit its owners children.  The reality is that if a dog is in a bad environment and mistreated, it will act accordingly.  When that happens, we automatically give the dog a death sentence and never look at the true perpetrators of the problems, the owners.  

Very seldom are the dogs given a second chance to be rehabilitated.  Fear is what drives the uneducated in animal ownership to kill the dogs.  One of the most visible examples has been the Michael Vick case.  If PETA had their way everyone of those dogs would had been euthanized.  But dedicated organizations and individuals showed us what mercy, compassion and a positive environment can do to rehabilitate a traumatized dog.  These dogs have gone on to homes, they have become therapy dogs, and those too tramatized by events are in a safe environment where they are learning to trust humans.

The very acts of compassion and mercy give us a glimpse of hope.  If these simple principles can work on dogs, what wonders could they work on mankind.  What would happen if we looked at the world through the eyes of compassion and mercy, if we treated everyone and everything with kindness?

The more we try to legislate behavior, the less we expect people to do the right thing naturally.  When we do not expect people to step up and do right, bad things happen and our children have to clean up the mess.

Do not let discrimination or genocide of any sort take root in our communities. 

Alcohol, the Legal Drug

So college presidents don’t want to be held responsible for upholding the law.  Well, they can get in line with rest of the people who don’t want to be law abiding citizens.  Alcohol as a legalized drug, that has a social acceptance, is unfathomable to me.  The legal drinking age does not need to be lowered; the penalty for under-age drinking and providing a minor with alcohol needs to be enforced.  More importantly, there needs to be a visible and severe impact on those who choose to not drink responsibly.  

Before people start labeling me as a rabid teetotaler, let me disclose a few things.  While it is true that I do not partake in any form of alcoholic beverage, I do not necessarily hold my friends to those same standards.  I do, however, expect those around me to drink responsibly and not put myself or anyone around me in peril.  I have seen the results of irresponsible drinking in the form of tragic accidents, fatal alcohol poisoning, alcohol related sexual assaults, and other common-sense inhibiting behaviors. 

Families that have an alcohol-centric cultures make drinking a coming of age behavior and build a mystic around it that fosters the need to imbibe as soon as they can.  When tragedy strikes, it is never their fault or the culture of drinking, rather always something else.

Let us also point out the romanticizing of alcohol in the media.  The popularity of the spring break programming where everyone is expected to travel to some beach destination and be inebriated for the entire stay.  The search for the perfect cocktail to unwind; as if that is the only way to blow off stress.  My personal favorite, suffer a personal tragedy?  Get drunk.

Look, whether or not the legal drinking age is lowered I can’t control.  I can insist that the penalties be enforced for under-aged drinkers, for people who provide alcohol to under-age drinkers, and to those who choose to drink and drive.  

People are dying by means of a legal substance and no one seems to see that a problem exists.

 

 

 

 

 

Human vs. Cat - Who Wins?

In case you didn’t know, cats have apparently taken over the world and we were a willing participant.  Case in point, meet Charlie. 

 

Charlie came to our household a stressed out rescue cat with very few manners and even fewer communication skills.  He had a dislike of people, dogs and everything, except for his food, in that order.  Once he got over the shock of moving to our home, he quickly went about training my mother by biting her to get her attention, quickly earning the nickname of Fang. We figured out quickly why the shelter never followed up on Charlie, they were just grateful we never came back with him. 

 

When the cat tried to sink his diminuative teeth into me, I would pick him up and corporally cuddle him.  Telling him how much I loved him and how if he sank his little sharp teeth into me, I’d give him to the dog.  Somehow the cat understood the very real threat.  Of course, the dog would only slobber him to death, being a pro-feline canine. 

 

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After a six month human/cat/dog training program, we all came to an understanding.  The cat rules the roost.  The dog loves the cat and will do anything for his acceptance.  The dog and cat are best friends and the humans clean, care for and feed both animals.

 

Who said animals weren’t smarter than humans.

The Human Cost of Business

           I understand that there is a cost to doing business, resources must be used to produce what is being sold or manufactured or pitched.  But I’m bothered that human beings are reduced to being referred to as capital or resources.  Humans are just another dot, another cog by which the larger machine moves.  But without the human component, there would be no machine to operate, no business to run, no materials to produce, no consumers to buy. 

I am offended that the human capital resources have so little value in the minds of business owners.  To quote Pink Floyd, “All in all it’s just another brick in the wall. All in all you’re just another brick in the wall.”

The human component in business models is now considered expendable.  Someone can always be hired for cheaper when the overhead of a seasoned experienced employee starts to cost a company too much.  Obvious tolls of this are corporate history, the experience that people have gained through an extended job history, and, to be frank, morale.  When a company develops a reputation for getting rid of long-term employees for less experienced and less expensive employees, word gets out and they lose credibility in the job market.

In the working world of our grandparents, people could count on being with a company for years.  Nowadays, longevity at a job is wanted yet at the same time questioned.  Employees have found that, in order to take care of themselves, they have to go to another company in order to get a reasonable job increase.  They have found that staying at their current company is a dead-end, new hires are being paid far more than they are to do the same job with less experience, so they choose move on.

This wouldn’t have been possible in the days of our grandparents, but we are a far more fluid society.  We are a global society.  However, there is a cost to this movement.  Staying as long as we can in one job to create a stable work history is like playing the most intense game of poker.  You have to have an amazing poker face and not let anyone know your hand, but you also have to know when to fold. 

With company CEO’s and President’s making bonuses that are so inflated, it is little wonder that the average employee is nothing but a pawn on their chessboard.  Ultimately they have nothing to lose and we are completely expendable.

Playing with My Inner-Child

I truly believe that one of the worst things that a person can do is lose sight of their inner-child in the maze of their mind.  Even worse is never finding them again.  To never be able to embrace the joyful kinetic energy that only a child can have, leads to stultified people walking the earth with no hope and no creativity. 

I believe that it is absolutely essential to break out in uncontrollable laughter at the least provocation, see wonder in everything, and when a dog gives you slobbery kisses, know that you have been cured of the doldrums and given a precious gift.  A smile is a necessary weapon in my arsenal against aging and being a grown-up and taking lessons from babies in giggling is vital in my war against conformity and depression.

When I find myself weighed down by my very real responsibilities, I look for my inner-child.  That’s when I find that I’ve lost sight of her in my mental labyrinth.  Instead of rushing willy-nilly looking for her, losing myself further in my daze of duties, sit myself down quietly.  Clearing my mind of all things and I let my inner-child find me.  She might sneak up on me from behind and pounce on me or she might approach me in plain sight, but no matter the approach she wants to be a part of my life.

I’m the one who loses her.  I get too caught up in the details of life to enjoy the things that free me, that’s when my inner-child comes and gooses me good and gets my attention.  But when I’m too stressed out, she has to go away until I’m ready to listen to her again.  

Embracing my inner-child has nothing to do with never growing up or never taking responsibility in my life.  Instead, it keeps me open to the miracles in my life.  Flexible when the gale-force winds of change buffet me.  Grateful for each day I’ve been given here with my family and friends.  My inner-child allows me to live in the present, hope for the future and leave the past where it belongs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Politics & Dead Men

I hate nothing more that hearing the media cry of “Obama is the new Kennedy!”,  then having the same people who propped the man on the highly mystical pedestal then work on knocking the man back down.  How rude! 

Why is it so important that we compare our modern politicians to the politicians of days gone by?  Politicians that have been mythologized into larger than life characters of the men they once were.  Not real, yet held up as the gold standard.

            Usually they are dead men, who have powerfully connected families that have rested and profited on the accomplishments of these men.  They have built cottage industries of mourning that have become state and national holidays.  Now before the death threats and the angry diatribes start, no where have I diminished the works of these men.  But all men and women must stand on and by their own works. 

            So, why am I irritated by the comparison of modern day politicians to those of days gone by?  Because the men Obama and McCain are being compared to would not be able to withstand the public scrutiny that a politician must be able to stand today.  They were men and women, who were as imperfect as the men and women of today, just with the really good PR that comes with hindsight. 

I’m not interested in the next “I Have A Dream” speech or “Ich bin ein Berliner” of Kennedy fame. I want true and sincere words from the men and women who are running for office.  I want to know what they are thinking without the spit and polish of a media spin doctor.

I don’t want a new Kennedy, Roosevelt, Lincoln, or Regan.  I want the best person for the job. I want someone who is honest and ethical in their dealings, someone who will do the right thing.  I need someone who lives in the present to lead me into the future.

We Thank Thee O God For A Prophet

On the evening of January 27, 2008, the world lost one of its truly great men. His greatness did not come from vast monetary wealth, nor from the accumulation of things; instead, it came from humility, wisdom, kindness, steadfastness, compassion, charity, and a vast love of his fellow man. This man, this humble man, was Gordon B. Hinckley, President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

In his long life, he held fast to his compass. That compass was the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Through the turbulent seas of life, he always saw the clearest path to go because he never let loose of that compass.
He had a way of seeing clearly to the heart of a matter, whether it was popular or not, because the Lord’s way is not always the popular way. Then he would get his point across firmly without raising his voice, but always you knew that a point had been made.

Gordon B. Hinckley was also a man who had a grand sense of humor, never belittling or vile, but truly enjoyed a good and honest laugh and was often seen with a smile on his face.

The world is left bereft without this great light. I am a simple sister in this world, who knew this man from a distance, and I feel the poignant sting of his loss. Though I feel the sting, I take comfort in knowing the Gospel Plan that Families Are Forever. That this man is not truly gone from us, he has simply gone on to greater calling.