E. Coli in the Water and Ugly Politics

I haven’t posted in a while as I’m adjusting to my new work schedule, plus my freelance writing. The new job is fairly physical, and I have been extremely tired when I’m home. That makes it difficult to accomplish much of anything beyond what I absolutely have to do. Meanwhile, the world keeps moving along. Political positions are getting more extreme, and things are getting ugly again.

Nationally, we have the abortion stupidity of Akin. Unfortunately, this myth that he has just promoted is still believed by many people. A high school friend of my daughter once said this same thing. She was surprised when I educated her on the truth. How in the world can we be as advanced as we are, but still believe something like this? So in case there is any confusion: The body absolutely CAN function and a woman CAN become pregnant when raped. I know someone who went through this many years ago.

In Texas, there is talk of civil war if Obama gets re-elected. Of course, it’s Texas. It’s a state that has been known for its extreme political views. In this case, I believe that what happens happens. If people are upset enough to fight against a corrupt government, then more power to them. I don’t think the people promoting this idea have any idea how difficult it will be for people to survive the consequences, but nothing that changed the world in a drastic way was without pain and struggle. I’m not overly worried about a civil war at this time. Frankly, I think people are too selfish to take part. They’re talking out their frustrations, but I don’t really think any of it means anything in the long run.

In my own little town, we have E. Coli in the water, and the water company’s continued efforts to lie, hide the truth, and dip out of the spotlight. We have conflicting stories on what they know. On one hand, they say the samples were contaminated by the lab, and no contamination exists. On the other hand, they say the monsoon rains have caused contamination. It’s been a week since they discovered the first sample containing E. Coli. They have followed the law as loosely as they could in regards to notifying the public. Most of us found out via the school district’s messaging system. The water company itself didn’t do much once they notified the schools. The media is being ignored and shut out by the company as they refuse to talk about the issue for the most part. Statements given contradict each other. Sadly, this isn’t the first time there has been trouble with this company. To make matters more complicated, they are a privately owned utility. There is nothing else available in the area, and trying to take action against them as a citizen has proven to be difficult. The last group to protest the water company’s dangerous practices was sued for defamation. No one has attempted to stand up since.

The kettle is boiling, and it’s hard to say how hot things will get. Being able to find the blessings, the joy and the love in times when it seems the world is out of control is essential. My family, my friends and my new co-workers all make it possible to see just how much good there is out there. If we just take notice. It’s so much easier to see what’s wrong as opposed to what’s right, but that drags us into the depths of despair. Once down, it’s extremely difficult to believe that things will ever get better. When we vote, we do it with the attitude that it doesn’t matter. When we are in our communities, we begin to believe that we can’t make a difference; that we don’t count. That’s no place to be, and so I hope that despite some very ridiculous and frustrating things happening, each of us can find a way to find the positive things that are sometimes hard to see, but there all the same.

Second Thoughts

It’s funny that I call this blog I Have Something to Add because lately, I’ve had nothing to write about. I have turned my focus inward for the last couple of weeks, and there it has remained while the world around me continued to move along with barely any attention from me.

I have accepted a position with a company that I use to work for. I left for several reasons, but the biggest was that I was being pushed out of my position by a new crew member who was a master at manipulation. She knew the right things to say to the owners. She knew the right moves to make, and she knew how to lie like no one I’ve ever met before. Slowly, my responsibilities were given to her, and I felt she was doing my job without the benefit of the title and pay I was given. Maybe it was my ego that caused me to leave there, but I refused to stay when I could be home with my children who actually needed me. My oldest daughter was failing almost every class, and desperately needed an adult to get her on track. My son was tiring of being responsible for his younger sister, and was missing out on sports and school events that he wanted to join. At the time, my husband and I were both gone about 60 hours a week. It seemed reasonable to leave my job and tend to my family again. That was a year and a half ago.

So when the owners purchased another store closer to my house, they got in touch with me to ask if I would help them part time. As it turns out, they finally figured out the truth about the girl I tried to warn them about, and she is no longer employed by them. I felt a temporary moment of satisfaction, but also frustration. After all of the time I had spent working for them, they should have trusted me more to begin with. I know that it rarely happens that way. I’ve heard horror stories from enough people to know that it doesn’t matter how much you give, how much you care, or how hard you work. Too often, you simply don’t matter beyond filling a position. That bothers me. Call me idealistic, but I believe in treating people with love, and appreciation.

At any rate, I have agreed to work three days a week. It’s a decision I’m already second guessing, and I haven’t even started yet.  Several times, I’ve considered calling them back to tell them that I’ve changed my mind. My husband has been unemployed for almost eight months, and while I’m doing fairly well with my freelance writing business, it doesn’t provide a full time income yet. So I know that I need to take this opportunity, and that I need to be thankful that the offer came. The extra income is a blessing. I know that. It doesn’t make me eager to walk through those doors next week, though.

The Loss of the Moderate Voice

All Democrats are not Liberals and all Republicans are not Conservatives. We’ve become so divided that we fail to see that there are several aspects to each major political party. We’ve become so divided that we can no longer work together for the ‘Good of the People’ but sink down to childish name calling, and misrepresentation of each side so that we can bully people who don’t believe the same things we believe into feeling bad that they aren’t like us. Maybe this is why I am not tied to one party or another.

Neither major party has all the answers, but the majority of people can no longer see that, or refuse to admit that ‘their’ party has imperfections. I guess I get tired of seeing the same childish posts with name calling, lack of respect or event a hint integrity.

We complain about our chosen leaders, but WE chose them, and most of us don’t act any better than the people we complain about. That’s proven with each mean spirited post we put up on facebook, or the conversations we have that ridicule others. It’s proven in our inability to have a conversation about politics without slipping into hateful rhetoric, and generalizations about someone’s character based on their political affiliations.

If we want our leaders to respect the people they represent, then we need to respect each other. If we want the lies, corruption and negatives to be gone from our elected officials, then we should stop lying, being corrupt and fighting against each other at every turn.

The problem isn’t one sided. It’s not just the political leaders. It’s us, too. As a society. We get what we give, and political leaders give us only behavior that we continue to allow. We continue to allow it only because we take part in it on a smaller scale in our own lives.

You rarely see me taking part in political conversations. This blog is the exception, but political conversations have a way of sapping the energy out of me. They make me sad, and angry. The things I see leave me worried and afraid for where we are, and where we will go from here. If you don’t know me well, you would mistakenly call me a Liberal. That’s fine. Label it if you need to. I’m just me. And I’m weary.

For The Love of Money

I have a friend who often times seems distant, and I can’t figure out if she wants to be friends or if she comes to entertain herself at my expense. The thing is, I don’t believe she realizes at times the attitude she puts out. Our lives are different in many ways, but the one that I feel stands between us is money. She has it, and I don’t. I enjoy sitting and talking while having drinks on the patio, but she leans toward eating at a nice restaurant, drinking wine and talking. Her money, as I’ve come to understand, is her badge of honor.

She talks about people working for their money. She talks about not getting anything for nothing, but she didn’t work for the amount of money she has. She married into money. Don’t misunderstand. She loves her husband, and he loves her. The point is: She hasn’t always been where she is now, but she didn’t build anything or work a job to get the money she has. It came to her by right of marriage. So I guess I’m sometimes confused by her position.

After my husband lost his job, we decided that we wanted to build something ourselves. At this stage in our lives, we’ve worked hard and gotten little in return. We came to the realization that if we wanted anything more than what we’d had all these years, we were going to have to make it happen. That plan is in its infancy still. I began freelance writing in May, and he joined me soon after. We began working through the safety of a company, and I am just now feeling secure enough to branch out to find clients outside of the company. I’ve landed one so far, and we’ll see how that goes. I’ll continue to build, but the process is slow.

So I don’t have money to go do things right now. I struggle to make enough to pay the monthly bills, and that frustrates me. Yet, I realize that I’m building a better future despite the present hardships. I understand that I’m not going to make a ton of money starting out. My goal is simple: To pay the rent, the utilities, buy food, and purchase necessities for my family. In six months, I’ll reach further. In six months, I will be able to give my friend what she wants by going out to dinner. I do understand that she means no insult when she talks about money, or mentions how much she has in relation to how little I have. I don’t begrudge her that happiness. I just hope that she understands that friendship is based on mutual respect and love. If it’s only about money, then it’s better to end it and move on to others who are a better fit.

My Not-So-Positive View on Politics

I loved Facebook until all of the political back and forth started. It’s not conversation, which is what bothers me the most. I have watched friendships implode over different political opinions. I have watched people spew hate against another person because they support a different political party. I find it ironic that we expect our politicians to behave in a way that we can’t even manage. We want our politicians to be good, upstanding people. Yet we often fail to follow the very model that we expect others to.

I don’t believe that politics is a job you get into without being burned while serving. The temptation, the corruption already present, and the stress of the job all combine for one nasty bit of drama. I hate being told that if I don’t like the person in office, vote someone else in. If it were only that simple, there would never be political problems. The real problem is: There is no one better to vote in. Even those who go into politics hoping to create change, sincere in their desire to help their community or their nation, end up falling off the pedestal.

It’s unfortunate, but politics is the job to take if you want to completely change as person. It’s the place to go if you want to be beaten down until you’re willing to step just a little over the line to get what you want. Then step further over again. It’s the way the system has been abused in the past. It’s the way corporations and their money control small and big things, and the politicians get locked into giving them what they want or losing the money they need. It’s a clusterfuck. The entire damn thing. No one goes into politics and remains a good, loyal person who makes serving the people their top priority. It’s not possible.

Losing friendships, marriages breaking apart and family stress over the political environment seems insane to me. I guess that’s because I believe we can agree to disagree. I believe that we each have the right to our own opinion, and I believe the respectful debate about the issues are necessary and good. Except respect seems to have been lost. It’s been replaced by greed and anger. So many are crying out for change, but no one knows how to create the change. No one can agree on the best course of action. The change they want is the change that is right because they said so. There is no middle ground. The moderate voice has been lost completely as the extremists shout across the road at one another. It’s friend against friend. Family against family. It’s heart breaking. The only change is more of the same. More hate. More division. When will it end?

 

Introduction

Life is a funny thing. We all want relationships of value. We want to be heard, respected, loved, admired, enjoyed and seen as people who make a difference in the lives of others. Even those who claim not to care what others think do care. Maybe they care what their spouse thinks. Maybe it’s their parents, siblings or friends. Everyone has someone they want to please. My problem is: I want to please everyone. I avoid those conversations that might make someone else feel uncomfortable, but allow myself to feel uncomfortable while listening to their thoughts.

The truth is, I’ve lived long enough to have gained some wisdom. Maybe I don’t think like everyone else, but that’s not a bad thing. Where topics of politics, religion and life are concerned, what I think may be vastly different than the majority. Yet, I believe that these thoughts are just as valid. I think the problem with the world today is that too many are afraid to voice thoughts that aren’t just like the others. We’ve become stagnant. We’ve become intolerant. We’ve become jaded and divided. People are afraid to be themselves.

Recently, I had a conversation with someone I love about politics. I had gotten an email thanking me for supporting a political candidate. The email stated that I had signed a petition, and was asking for volunteers to put up signs, raise funds and spread the word. The problem was that I hadn’t signed a petition. I was upset. The more I looked into things, the more I realized that something funny was going on. The more I understood that my name and information had been used illegally to put someone’s name on the ballot, the angrier I got. I put the puzzle pieces together, and the finished piece did not make me happy. I went to someone I trusted for advice.