Thursday, September 8, 2011

Politics are so political

I’m not into politics. I don’t pretend to be. I prefer to stay out of most conversations because politics are so political.

The one thing I remember most from American Heritage class in college was that George Washington himself thought political parties would be the downfall of this nation. That has always had a lasting impact on me. Sometimes I wish everyone would stop arguing and just get together for one big democratic-republican group hug.

But I do care about improving our nation and understanding the challenges that we face. I also understand my civil duty as a citizen and a taxpayer. So I did the American thing and watched the Republican presidential candidate debate.

I learned a lot. Almost too much. But mostly, I learned a few things about presidential candidates.

No one answers the questions they are asked. Ever. Instead, they answer the question they wish they were asked, no matter how far of a stretch the connection might be.

I noticed a fairly consistent pattern in most of their answers: First, they preface by saying they will answer the question at hand after they address a previous question they had been itching to talk about. Next, they give a round about transition away from the question toward something else they’d like to discuss. After doing so, they find some way to bring up when and where they were Governor/Senator/Representative before or currently and what they did in that position to solve a completely different problem. Last, they try and cram as many run-on sentences as possible in one final breath after the commentator tells them, “time.”

Other ‘political’ people might understand what they were doing from a strategic angle, but I was mostly confused by their answers and left wondering what on earth their response had to do with immigration. Or Health Care reform. Or Anything. Meanwhile, they would move on to the next question while I was still waiting for the answer to the last one.

I respect these men for the things they do for our country and our freedom. It was probably just me more than anything. I was never cut out for something like politics. I’ll stick to nerdy things on the internet.

Go America!

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Tuesday, September 6, 2011

According to Plan

Do you have a plan? Short term? Long term? 5-year? 10-year? Life plan?

So what is it? What's your plan?

But let me ask you this: How often has your plan changed? My guess is that you've been forced to readjust your plans several times along the way. If you hadn't, most of us would have ended up as firemen, scientists, and astronauts, or ballerinas for the girls. Isn't that what most children want to be at some point? Or something along those lines? At what point do you give up that plan and change it for a new one? 

When things don't go 'according to plan,' we are forced to abandon them and start over. But that's usually the first thing we do when something major changes or something deviates from its original course. We start to plan every detail. How things are supposed to go, or supposed to look, or supposed to happen. As if our happiness is somehow determined by the amount of life that happens according to plan.

What if you were so locked in on one plan that you missed the chance to make an even better plan? What if a door opened on plan B, but you never even bothered to stray from plan A? You never even bothered to look up and examine your surroundings.

I think it's a natural tendency for humans to try and plan everything. Whether you realize you are doing it or not. But why? Why can't we just let life take it's natural course? If you're so set on planning everything, why not just plan to let life happen? Plan for change.

Don't try and plan everything. You might miss something.

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Thursday, September 1, 2011

Natural Disaster Aplenty

The entire country tuned into the east coast for a riveting week of natural disasters. I had never experienced an earthquake before. I had been through a hurricane while living in Texas, but never prepared for one just days after another of Earth’s disasters.

Needless to say, it was a crazy week. I survived, unscathed. While most of the east coast dealt with emotional scars from the overhyped frenzy. I learned that people back east are much more dramatic. Which is probably why Californians and tropical residents said everyone was overreacting.

As far as the earthquake goes, it was kind of a cool experience. I felt like I was back in elementary school going through drills. Only this time for real, and with no teacher to report to once the building was evacuated. All the government employees got the rest of the day off, but people in my office decided they would go back to work within 15 minutes of standing outside.

The media blew Hurricane Irene out of proportion. I understand the risk was a lot higher because of the higher population in a dense area, but people were preparing for the nuclear holocaust.

It got me thinking about which natural disasters would the most terrifying to experience. For some reason, tornadoes are the ones that scare me the most. I used to have nightmares about getting caught in a tornado. And yet I loved the movie Twister still.

Volcanoes are another one of my bigger fears. Something about that lava freaks me out.

I’ve seen avalanches, but never been in one. I’ve been in floods, but never anything too extreme. Tsunamis would be pretty freaky. Blizzards happen in Utah (but can also be overhyped, e.g., storm of the century last year).

I think I've also always been scared of a 100-foot tidal wave coming right at me, like in the cartoons or something. Not sure when I'd ever be in that situation, but you can imagine how terrifying it would be.

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