Amusement vs. Entertainment vs. Sadism-ent

So, I'm back after an extended hiatus and man it feels good. Interestingly, I have always been very resistant to any type of journaling but honestly maybe those head shrink folks have something here. Very therapeutic.  Today, I would like to throw out for your consideration our gradual slide back in the evolutionary cycle to real roman times gladiator mentalities. Ok, not that I ever left - so not throwing any stones here - but I have seen the trend in all forms of media go from mildly to extremely violent. Which in certain situations can make sense - a civil war movie or someone fending off an attacker who means them grievous bodily injury, etc. What strikes me as a newer and not so sensible reaction is that this slipping into the dark side seems to amuse and entertain rather than abhor. This trend is especially alarming in children. Where we should be extra careful to ensure peaceful and joyous environments, we now have previously innocuous venues like cartoons jumping on this bandwagon. Cartoons really have undergone amazing transformations, spiraling down from somewhat meaningful violence into completely nonsensical violence. Violence just for the sake of violence. Back in the day we watch the eternal chase of the coyote and the roadrunner  - why, well he wanted to eat of course. Straight up food chain violence that happens in nature every day. Now violence in cartoons is there just to be there. And this is happening everywhere. There is no venue that is untouched with this downward slide into sadism-ent.

Destiny - An Epic Lie of Biblical Proportions

Okay, so this is not the subject I was going to discuss tonight but it has been weighing on my mind. Destiny is a very heavy word. Or maybe more apropos - we have to decide if it's real, and if so, does it throw it's proverbial weight around? I would like to believe in destiny. It seems so easy. Whatever happens is meant to happen. If it's happy or completely tragic - find the lesson to be learned because it was meant to be. That level of ignorance is certainly bliss. How many people suffer under this delusion? The idea that everything that happens in your life and the lives of others, is destiny or aka inescapable fate. So if that is true, one must assume that there is absolutely no hope in trying to create your own? Sadly, I think a lot of folks end up here - they stop trying because everything is in the hands of those mysterious fates ladies. Well, it seems to me that this is nothing short of superstition and it is not so common sense.

Let's bring destiny into the petri dish shall we? I mean seriously - can you really wrap your head around 220 people boarding a plane and discovering that their destiny is to die that day on that plane? Who could orchestrate something on that scale? God? Well maybe if you believe that he or she is that powerful and vindictive. But I happen to think that that particular being gave us something called free will which completely overrides destiny. We are not automatons folks. We have freedom of choice. And I think it is the series of choices that lead us to a final outcome that we erroneously call fate or destiny. So, let's keep that in mind at every fork in the road - wherever we have a choice, think about it carefully and try to predict what the impact of any decision will be in the future.

Cheers!

If Only I Were So Rich

I'm starting off this blog with the mother lode of all topics. The power of speech of course. And not just the right to exercise but the right to exercise with care. I've often noticed that people say things they really cannot afford. Talk is cheap but the effects can be very costly. Key examples? There is no more racism. Women are faring so much better than the 60's... okay well definitely better than the 40's. Homeless people are all crazy or drunk or high - they did it to themselves.

The problem with all these statements is that they are so easy to say. Boy - they just roll right off the tongue right? And the reason we say them? Well most of us just want everything to be okay. Whether we hate suffering or just don't want to devote our time to a problem or due to a host of other reasons, we choose to say and therefor believe what is easy. But, by deluding ourselves into thinking problems are solved or non-existent, nothing will be done about them. This means that hundreds and thousand of folks every day are being wounded. Wounded by the lack of acknowledgement of the challenges they are facing every day.

The solution - take great care what you put out into the universe by speaking. It has great power to influence others - it feeds general consensus. Be open to the fact that pain and suffering does still exist and the notion that perhaps we haven't solved all the world's ills yet. And lastly, research, research, research subjects before A. You make a judgement about it and B. Before you proselytize.

Any thoughts out there? I would really love to hear them!

Cheers!

Dana

Wahoo

Well, this is pretty exciting. Call me pre-historic but setting up a blog was almost easier than breathing. Who knew it was so simple...