Cry Me a River

I'm going to go out on a limb here (an admittedly short one) and warn you now about this post:

If you're seriously uber-liberal, or seriously die-hard conservative, stop reading here.
If you have issues with others exercising their freedom of expression, unless they happen to agree with you, stop reading here.
If you think social media sites like Facebook are a great place to Proselytize, whether Religiously or Politically, to get all your friends and acquaintances into the proper "Group Think" of political correctness, stop reading here.

In fact, don't just stop reading.  Go back to Facebook, delete me from your friends list, lose my phone number, and forget that we know each other.  Because what I'm about to say is going to raise your ire to the point where if you Don't forget that we even once knew each other, I'll no doubt have lynch mobs coming after me with pitchforks and torches.

I cannot begin to express just how tired I am of seeing political memes from both sides of the fence.   Don't ask how many people have been deleted from my online universe because of belligerently and aggressively attempting to sway the political landscape of their "friends" in this manner - you would honestly be shocked at the numbers. Wise up, assholes - you aren't going to change ANYONE ELSE'S MIND.  Ever.  You're certainly not going to change MY mind in either direction.  I'm almost 50, and my political views have been cemented over the years through personal study and watching the world - not because some casual acquaintance berates me for not being on their political bandwagon du jour.

The same can be said for Religious memes.  I lost count of the number of folks whom I've un-followed (and a few whom I flat out unfriended and/or blocked) due to constant bombardment with religious iconography, debates about how all the rest of us are going to hell (if I actually Believed in hell, I suppose I might be more concerned) and the whole "Share this and be BLESSED" thing.  Guess what?  Deity isn't some fairy godmother waiting for you to click Like and then pass along a Facebook post, and handing out an easier life based on how often you do so.  Trust me - my relationship with my gods is long standing, I'm happy with it, and there is less than a snowball's chance in your hell that I'm going to suddenly change my mind or my position.

Those two things having been said, I'm going to take a moment to address a few issues that are currently seriously polarizing hot topics right now.

A lion - albeit a famous one - got shot and killed by a hunter.  Wah?  The hunter has apologized, and you lot of slavering PC Army Social Justice Warriors have already managed to ruin his life, destroy his business, and send him death threats.  STOP already, and leave the man alone.  There are more important things in this universe than hounding someone to death for a hunt they were led to believe was legal.  If you simply Must Rant - then rant about the people who duped him into thinking that it was a legal hunt - not him for taking the shot.

For those who are hot on the Planned Parenthood scandal/debacle.... Come talk to me when you've Personally faced the agony of making the decision whether or not to terminate a pregnancy.  But if you happen to be Pro-Life prior to birth - and not give 2 shits what happens AFTER that point - you aren't pro-life.  If you're Pro-Life, but also Pro-Death Penalty, you aren't pro-life.  If you're pro-life, but want to do away with social Welfare programs - you aren't pro-life.  If you're pro-life, but consider those children you "save from death" to be someone else's problem as soon as they pop out of the womb, because there's no way You're going to step up to the plate and take responsibility for them - house them, feed them, cloth them, potty train them, raise them to an ethical standard, teach them to respect themselves and society, see them through doctors appointments and first heartbreaks..... you aren't pro-life, you're a hypocritical, anti-choice ass who needs to wake the fuck up.

Southern Cross Battle Flag - aka the Confederate Battle Flag:  Where was your outrage 3 years ago?  10 years ago?  30 years ago when Dukes first came on TV?  50 years ago?  How about 100 years ago?  Or even, for that matter, Last Year?  It was no where to be found, until the current media Told you that you should be outraged.  Racism is in hearts - not pieces of cloth - and without finding a way to get it out of hearts, taking down flags isn't going to make a single lick of difference.  All you effectively do is to say via your actions and attitudes, "You have a right to free speech, unless I happen to disagree with what you're saying.  If I disagree, then you have no right to say it."

Take those attitudes as you will.  Continue reading my occasional blog posts or don't.  Delete me from your friends list on Social Media sites or not.  Either way - these are my opinions, you aren't going to change them, and none of this is open to debate.

"If" or "When"

Life is the one thing that not one of us is going to make it out of alive.

No one.  Not one single solitary person.

People these days are so concerned with staying Alive.  They rant about staying in good health, so that they can live longer. 

Social pressure is brought to bear against those whose habits have been deemed to shorten the amount of time that they inhabit their current physical form.  Folks make it a point of giving up "bad" habits, of eating whatever the "experts" deem to be healthy (this week - just wait, it'll change with the next fad celebrity diet) of becoming more physically actively.  All with the intention of prolonging their time here on this crowded little mudball.

For what?

All of their habit changes, "healthy eating," exercise, stress relieving techniques..... all of it is pointless, in the end.  Its not going to save them.  Its not going to keep them from eventually dying.  If they are meant to die at a particular point, they're going to regardless of how careful they are, or how "healthy" their habits.

The point to all this?

Don't bother bragging on  yourself.  Stop trying to guilt people into giving up habits that have become socially unacceptable for "health" reasons.  Stop thinking that reverse peer pressure is somehow going to "save" them.

Its not.

Eventually, a grave waits for each of us, no matter how we try to fight it.