Drugs, Sex and Rock & Roll

We live in the DRUGS, SEX and ROCK & ROLL era.Drugs-where people want to feel no more or escape to a fantasy world of numbness and false sense of security. Where addiction is running rampant and the occasional drug overdose has become an every day tragedy. Sex-where women sell their bodies on every media outlet for money and where men keep count of how many women they have shared themselves with. Where porn stars make more money than teachers, nurses and social workers. Where women's insecurities make them plastic. Rock & Roll-where people idolize rappers, singers and other celebrities instead of a the men and women who wake up every day, work 12 hours per day and still make time to spend quality time with their families. Where the new trend is whatever a reality TV star is doing.

A shallow life to live to recognize only the mask of what this era is. The materialism of our society defining a person's worth by what they have. Character only defined by the $$ in the bank and the winners point and laugh at the losers.

A SHALLOW LIFE TO LIVE!

Inside the lines

I have always been one to follow the rules. I was the kid who was disappointed in myself if I did not color perfectly inside the lines. Lately, I have done some self reflecting and have come to realize the tremendous pressure I put on myself. This can be from work, family, social life or even just with day to day activities. It is is feeling of "I am not doing enough"...even though I am completely exhausted and drained. It is a feeling of, "I have to do it myself because I don't want to be a burden on anyone"...even though asking for help may benefit the other party more than ourselves. It is a feeling of "I don't want to disappoint anyone"....even though I set my expectation very high of myself and others and sometimes it is best to accept things as they are. It is a feeling of "The lines are there for a reason, so I have to stay inside the lines because if I don't, there WILL be consequences"...even though I have stepped outside of the lines and those are the BEST memories I will forever carry with me.
I am trying to figure out what I have to prove to myself and others. Why do I push myself to the point of resentment and exhaustion trying to please everyone else? There is no satisfaction in accomplishing something when at the end of it, all you are asking yourself why you have put so much energy into it and actually resent the accomplishment. I have known too many people who have colored outside of the lines and are living their life the way they choose....I admire those people and tend to keep them closer to me than most...maybe hoping their courage will rub off on me. Is it courage though? Not sure if I chose the correct word here, but I would say it is a fearless way of living....and you can't really LIVE unless you are fearlessly doing so.

Complicated

We have nobody else to blame but ourselves for the complications we have created in our lives. We fill our lives with suffering, superficial drama and needless stress. Tunnel vision drapes our mentality and trains our brains to only activate a very small part of it.
We watch the news, read the papers and talk amongst neighbors allowing ourselves to get sucked in to a world of ideologies all the while being brainwashed to believe senseless things.
We have completely lost respect for one another, ourselves,nature and the higher power. We have labeled ourselves superior to it all; all the while, killing ourselves through wars, chemically enhanced foods and man made drugs. We have spit on the "dirt" that gives life and have abused the waters and air that sustain that life.
Why did we make this life so complicated? Why have we allowed greed to become the "higher power" of our world? When did it not become enough for us to just appreciate the world we live in and continue with the natural cycle of life?
I have no answers to any of my questions and my hope is not as great as it once was when I was a child. However, I do believe the higher power we have forgotten, wrongly labeled with close minded religion and disrespected with our own selfish desires, will prevail and will not fail to teach us our lessons in this life. For that, I AM NOT AFRAID.

Friends

Friends, how many of us have them? Well first, I would say you would have to define what a friend is according to your own definition (outside of family members). I am sure not everyone has the same definition of what one is though. Personally, a friend to me is one whom I consider family. One who I can be myself with and who does not judge me for not being pretty enough, rich enough, fashionable enough or smart enough. A friend is one who respects my opinions and who genuinely wishes the best for me and my life. There is no jealousy, there is no superiority and there is no competition. There is mutual respect and appreciation for the one another. That to me is a friend and I am happy to say, after thinking about it, I have 5 friends. They, whom I shall not name due to public blogging, are all that I have mentioned above.
You may say to yourself "only 5????" lol....I guess the revaluation of relationships make you realize that some people don't actually know you at all and vise versa. Of course I have people I associate with and who I genuinely care for, but I cannot say they KNOW me and KNOW about my life. Unfortunately, with each year that goes by and with each person that I meet, I have learned friends are not a common phenomenon. Of course we have the "friends" on facebook or whatever social network you may be a part of, but that of course is a friend by social networking definition.
I have a responsibility to myself and my family; I have to LIVE my life and surround myself with all the good things that will allow me to do so. With this said, I have chosen not to associate with many people over the years, not because I was upset with them or thought they were bad people, but because I felt they did not have a place in my life. Yes, that may sound cold and arrogant, but I don't believe in being an opportunist. I don't believe in taking advantage of people to advance in life or career nor do I believe in making myself feel better by hanging out with someone less fortunate. YES...people really DO that!!
I challenge you to define what a friend is to you, review the relationships you have and eliminate the negative, the draining and the opportunists. Think about the support group you would like to have and work on those relationships. Life is even more beautiful when you have wonderful people to take the journey with. To close, I want to thank those 5 friends of mine. Thank you for taking this journey with me and making all the crap worthwhile....looking forward to many more years of friendship.

Interpretation

Every day I hear someone quote the bible. People go to a worship place to hear GOD's "word" from the bible or other sacred books (ie. Q'uran) and are quick to refer to it when advice is needed or when something "bad" is going on in the world (usually found in the bible in the book of revelations).The bible is a book of many religions;
It is defined as "comes from the Greek word biblia, meaning books. When the early sacred Judeo-Christian writings were bound together, they were called "bibles." and Religion is defined as "a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, esp. when considered as the creation of a superhuman agency or agencies, usually involving devotional and ritual observances, and often containing a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs." Based on the definition of the bible, all it means is that it is a sacred book; of course Christians define it as something a lot more important than that, but that is exactly what I have a problem with. How can ONE book be made up of the word of God, written by man and be interpreted in so many different ways....this is very evident in how many different religions use the bible as their sacred book. How can ONE book fuel so much anger and egocentric feelings toward other religions (Islam, Buddhism, etc.) and this still be GOD's "word"? How can ONE book, written over 2000 years ago by men who lived in desert like condition be the center of a large mass of people's beliefs today? Do we really need to look into a book to know how to live a selfless life? Or to understand that the world is alive, evolving and will change? Or that there are those that know the light of life and those that are lost in the darkness?
Imagine if your neighbor told you that they had a vision of an angel who told them GOD's "word" and they wrote it down. Would you believe them or would you make sure your children never played in their yard again? What is so different about your crazy neighbor and the men that sat and wrote the stories for the bible 2000 years ago?
I would not say those stories are not true, however, I would say it is a great way to keep order in the world. Ironically, it is also a great way to cause unnecessary suffering as well....look back into history and realize how many wars, genocides and death have been cause of religious wars.
I do not believe reading the bible or attending regular church makes anyone a good person. Anyone can go to a worship place, read a book, interpret it the way they choose and live their lives accordingly. God is not in books, God is in everything that is alive....realize this, admire this, respect this and you will be a good person....no need for interpretation.

Sheep

Most humans need a sense of belonging to something. A family, a group, a religion, a political party. We make them a part of ourselves and associate ourselves with them as if without them we are nothing. We lack the ability to make up our own mind unless we have the influence of the ones we belong to and we create a loyalty only Armageddon can destroy, and even then....is it really destroyed? We are sheep following each other around, reciting each others words and recruiting more to the herd...because the group with the bigger herd has more credibility. After a while though, it is all baaa baa baa, the same baa baa baa and we have groups who baaa baaa baa at each other baa baa baaing because they believe they are right and the other herd is wrong. My question is, somewhere in there must be a sheep who questions their own group no? There must be a sheep who decides that it is best to learn both sides, to learn what all the baaing is about and to decide to do something else than baaaing. KNOWLEDGE IS POWER. EDUCATE YOURSELF!

Pity

How do we allow ourselves to become so self centered that we miss the messages life gives us about living. We swim in our misery and depression, feeling sorry for ourselves; looking back at the past, regretting the things we did and regretting the things we did not. We victimize ourselves and believe we have it harder than anyone else, until life smacks us in the face with the reality of it all. The reality that there are people in this world that are fighting to live, people who have been diagnosed with terminal illnesses, or people who were not given the ability to hear, see,speak or walk.
The reward in life is not the things we have, it is the courage to LIVE. Are we living it to it's fullest potential, are we feeling rewarded (not in the monetary aspect), are we treating others the way we want to be treated? No man is an island, all that we do impacts one another and that includes shutting ourselves out from the world and locking ourselves in that room wallowing in self-pity.

“Each day is a special gift from God, and while life may not always be fair, you must never allow the pains, hurdles, and handicaps of the moment to poison your attitude and plans for yourself and your future. You can never win when you wear the ugly cloak of self-pity, and the sour sound of whining will certainly frighten away any opportunity for success. There is a better way.” Og Mandino