Modern Man

Below I have put up two photos.

The first, is a game, one of hundreds, that we market to our kids. I know, they have age limits, and ratings. I also know that kids as young as 5 years old play these games. We won’t get into parenting here. Let’s save that for another time.

All you have to do is watch the news to get all of this in living color. We glorify violence. We make hero’s of the bad guys. We think nothing of exposing our children to the most horrific things we can think of doing to one another. (and then turn them into video games for our entertainment)

I remember reading about parents that were outraged about one version of this game because the players could engage in “consensual sex”. The player could also club old ladies to death. Shoot cops and rob people, but it was the consensual sex that upset parents.

      *****

 This photo is deemed pornography by most. (not by me) Too much for our children to handle. Ban for museums at times. Prohibited from most advertising.

God forbid we let our kids see two people in love, doing what comes natural to all living creatures on this planet. (To be fair, killing comes naturally as well).

What amuses me most, is that it is almost always the Christian groups that don’t want things like this one shown. Two human beings, made in Gods own image, but for some reason we find this offensive.

Why is it alright to show our kids violence, and not show them love. It’s alright to show them death, but not sex. It’s alright to show them killing one another, but not show them nude.

Why do we teach our kids to be ashamed of our bodies and be supportive of war?

The Modern Man is confused.

I have spent a good deal of the last few weeks complaining about my in-laws. I ask myself why. Their being here is partly do to me saying, “Sure they can come stay for the winter”.

My biggest problem is that my father in-law is a very unhappy person. About everything. California is too crowded, too busy, too much traffic. Things aren’t the way the used to be…back in the day…and on and on.

I mentioned this to my wife last week and her response floored me. “You’re just like him.”

Upon seeing my expression of horror and disbelief, she quickly followed it with, “…but not to that extent.”

Too late…the arrow had been flung, and right on target.

I have always thought of myself as a happy person. I was terrified to even think that the world might see me the way I see my father in-law. It has made me spend almost all of the last few days, evaluating my behavior. Trying to see myself from the outside.

To my disdain, I have to admit that my wife was right. I have a terrible negative streak. I find fault with much of what’s around me. I swear at traffic. I point out peoples mistakes. I complain about the world and it’s failures.

What happened to the person I thought I was? Was I ever that person or is that just who I hoped I was? Why am I so unhappy after all?

It’s said that we have to pick our battles. It seems that I have been choosing to battle with the world that I have little to no control over. It’s those I’m closest to that take the brunt of my frustration.

I’ve been blind to what I’ve become. I have a beautiful wife and a wonderful child that see me much differently than I have been seeing myself.

This weekend I have opened my eyes. I can not, will not, allow myself to become be, the person that I see in my father in-law. I can not live my life being so unhappy with the world around me. I have too much to be happy about. Too much to be happy with. Too much love to share that has been missed, because I gave incorrectly.

A Modern Man should be happy with his life. No matter what his life may be, there is always something to be happy about, and I have been blessed with with more than most.

My new rule: Be Happy! Because I am, and I have things to be happy about.

Several months ago when the subject of my in-laws moving in with us was brought up, I thought, “How bad could it be?” They are after all my wife parents. I dig her. I have spent a little bit of time with them. Very little.

One of the things I liked about the idea was that our son would get to spend some quality time with his grand parents. I treasure the memories of my grand  parents. I would like my son to have similar memories. Besides, they could be free baby sitters.

Being a self proclaimed Modern Man, I like to believe that I’m open minded, liberal, patient, understanding, blah blah blah.

What I’m learning, now that we have live-in grand parents, is that everything I believe in and live by, is being put to the test.

Imagine, if you can, Bill O’Reilly, Rush Limbaugh, Pat Robertson, George W Bush, and McCain/Palin, all rolled into one couple.

Obama is an American hating, socialist, Muslim who’s the wrong color for the White House. The UN is for pussies. Everyone over the age of six should carry a gun. Gay is a choice. War is the answer to anyone that doesn’t agree with us. There is no telling us any different because we’re republicans and anyone that isn’t is wrong.

So far it’s been three weeks. It feels like a year. There is no talking about politics, race, religion, etc. If it comes up, I have to bite my tongue or it gets ugly, fast.

I really hope that as I age, I don’t get so set in my way of thinking that I am unwilling to even listen to anyone else. Even at 72 there is no way that I am going to know everything there is to know.

So, what is a Modern Man to do?

I may have to start drinking more. And get stitches in my tongue.

First,

No more bailouts.

This may sound harsh but, let the auto companies go tits up. They deserve it. Chrysler has already been bailed out by the tax payers once. What did they learn? Apparently not much. So why should we think they are going to do anything differently this time?

We shouldn’t. They show up to Washington the first day of hearings in private corporate jets. Because they were scolded they show up the next day in hybrid cars. Like that is supposed to make us think they’ve changed? Bullshit! It was grand standing, and our  brainless fearless leaders in Washington fell for it hook, line, and sinker.

They are preaching gloom and doom about what’s going to happen if they go under. All the lost jobs. The auto workers, the car dealers, the mechanics, the local restaurants, and on and on.

The CEO’s are all going to work for  $1.00 in 2009. How mighty white of them. Considering they each made about $200million apiece in 2008, I find that offer more than insulting to my intelligence. Let’s see some real sacrifice.

Well, what if we took all of that tax money and used it to actually do some good. Let the Big Three go under. Use all the bailout money and put it into our infrastructure. This country doesn’t need more cars on the road. We need to fix the roads we have. Let people drive a used car for awhile. Driving is not a God given right.

We could put all of the money into building more public transportation. Buses, trains, subways, and trolleys. Lets train all of the auto works to build buses, trains, subways, and trolleys, instead of gas guzzling cars and SUV’s. We could use the auto plants to build them all. Instead of building more roads or making roads bigger, lets take a lane or two out and put in train tracks, subway lines or bus lanes.

How about we spend that money on the country and on it’s workers instead of giving it to the dip-shits that pissed it away in the first place.

The definition of crazy is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. Welcome to the “United States Of  Bat Shit Crazy”.

Why can’t we learn from our mistakes? Why can’t we look at what Europe has been doing, has been doing, and make it our own. You can get any where in Europe by train, subway or bus. And it works great.

It wont make us any less important, or any less the “Super Power”, if we step up and say, “It’s time for Change.” We proved we could do it with our last election. Lets show the world that we can fix this mess that we made and make our country great again, instead of showing them all the same tricks over and over.