Lessons on People

1. When you write anything ambiguous, each person who knows you and reads it - will think it's about them.

2. They will always assume the worst and most of the time get it wrong and be way off.

3. They will give you advice about their mistaken assumption, putting their feet in their mouths further and further as they make more and more assumptions based on their first erroneous one.

4. These days there are anti-etiquette's in the technological world. (ie: if you send an invitation email/text to more than one friend and ask for a response, it is treated as a rhetorical question or else you would've asked them individually.) *this makes no sense to me, but what do I know?*

5. It really is all about them and if you can't be simple and outwardly positive then most people don't want to have anything to do with you. This equates to "Dude you're being real, stop it or I'll unfriend you."

6. If you don't have the money or the inclination to drink, you aren't as fun to have around.

7. It really is All about the sex.

8. People love it when you throw parties, but hate it when you try to find a ride to theirs.

9. Opinions are like assholes, everyone has one.

I am learning and what I'm learning doesn't make me feel any better about Americans in general. There are always excepts to the rule, but those are few and far between. We are selfish, lazy and rude; it's all about how much income you have, hiding your emotions and putting up a front, how you look, what you believe.

I keep getting the advice "Be yourself and fuck those who can't take it." But even those who say this don't seem to mean it. Being oneself at all times is being open and honest about both the good and the bad times. I can't be myself and then hide my bad days because it makes people uncomfortable at the same time.

Someone said to me recently that strong women rock and I shouldn't hide away just because people try me poorly. I have been strong, facing the shit people throw at me and throwing it back my whole life - there comes a time when one just gets sick of doing it. People do not respect those who do this, they call them "bitchy and opinionated" and give you hell even more.

I'm tired of being treated poorly. Not everyone does, then again - these people are few and far between. In my life I have only a handful of friends who do not. I am thankful for them and I try to treat them wonderfully, with respect and gratitude. I try to say thank you as often as possible because this is a rare characteristic these days.

There are those who go out of their way to be overly nice and helpful, 9 times out of 10 every time they help you, it is to rack up paybacks and they feel it entitles them to treat you anyway they like the rest of the time.

People, if you help someone - do it because you want to without expecting anything in return.

And the whole "I'd help you but I have my own problems" is asinine. If we all help each other out, then we get solutions faster; if we try to do it all on our own, we end up floundering and bitter. I've seen this proven again and again. How about," sure I can help you with that, I was wondering if you might be able to help me with this." It's not an expectation for paybacks, it's participating as a community to better everyone's lives. If we're upfront about it, then there's no reason to hold the help we give over other people's heads.

It's not "I helped you, now you better help me."
It's "Sure I can help you, I was wondering if you can help me."
Sometimes the help equates to "I can't personally help you with this, it's beyond me - but I know someone who can. Let me introduce you."
If we all stopped just expecting someone else to take care of it, without even checking to see if this is the case or giving moral support - less people would be floundering and more happiness would be a result.

Maybe I'm wrong or just an idealist, I just know that there was once a time (and it's still happening with much success in other parts of the world) when Community and helping others out without expecting anything back was the status quo.

We are a corporate nation, we treat people the way the big corporations treat us. If you help me I'll fuck you, if you don't I'll fuck you even harder and if you need help well fuck you too.

I'm embarrassed to be an American, I have been most of my life. We aren't worth the phony money we call currency. (Phony money lesson = our currency is not backed by anything but the people's belief in it. Without our belief that it is worth anything, even a $100 bill isn't worth a penny. This means most currency is backed by it's stated worth in precious metal, like gold, ours isn't backed by anything at all. Monopoly money has the same amount of worth as the US dollar in all reality.)

I believe in a revolution, in people standing up and saying "this isn't ok, there has to be a better way." It doesn't have to be a hostile take over or a civil war, but we have to grow backbones and stop believing in the illusions we are being fed. I know that this way of thinking can be/is considered dangerous by our current government, if I haven't been flagged by my thoughts on our current state of affairs by now this isn't going to do a damned this.

I believe in pulling down the blinds and letting the light shine in, it won't be pretty but it'll definitely be a wake up call. Do you know how close we've become to being secured behind our own Iron Curtain? Think on that and yet we're apathetic, ready to take down those who are real about everything in their lives, scrambling to get more toys and support our numbing addictions. Bowing to the corporate overlords, because they pay the most.

It's sad and the everyday behaviors of the masses echo how bad it's really become.
Don't be a drone, stand up and look around you, look at how you treat people.
I'm no exception, I fall into some of these bad habits myself from time to time - but I always snap out of it, apologize (which really confuses people) and try to face the music once more.

If there's ever a cleaning of revolutionary thinkers in this country, I would be extremely surprised if I wasn't caught in it.

**If you think I went down a rabbit hole, please see the subtitle to this page one more time. ;)