A Note of Inspiration
The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It's a very mean and nasty place, and I don't care how tough you are, it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain't about how hard you hit, it's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done!"
- Rocky Balboa
I've been thinking about that quote a lot lately, and while it may be from a fictional character in a fictional movie. It's nearly impossible to deny it's wisdom.
We live in a very difficult time, full of challenges and division. Political, educational, social, economical, religious and everything else. We see the discord in the world, we see things that don't occur the way we want it, have things taken from us. Or even worse, have people taken from us. What are we to do? Are we to curl up in a ball and cry "why me" or do we keep moving forward? Do we steel our faces, face our emotions, don't let them consume us and continue to advance? I certainly hope so, because we, whatever we're facing, cannot give up. We cannot simply say, "well that's enough" because then we've admitted we lost, we've admitted failure.
Not all failure is bad, from some failure we learn and grow. A project fails, you pick up and learn, company fails; move on. But to admit defeat and give up? That's the bad kind of failure, that's the kind of failure that defines one as a human being, and one that isn't strong enough. We are all born survivors, we are all born fighters, but many need to be reminded of that.
I've seen strength, seen it in returning veterans and ones fighting injury, I've seen it in doctors that won't give up, seen it in the eyes of a nine year old girl fighting leukemia or a young boy fighting brain cancer, and countless other places. That's strength, real strength, real perseverance and that is in all of us! Every single one of us. Don't depend on someone else to build your life for you, fight for it, fight for what you think is right. Do it the right way, do it with hard work and ideas, but do it.
We can never give up, because when we do we're doomed. Simple as that. Another quote comes to mind: "Limits, like fears, are often just an illusion"
Now, what are you going to do??
- Rocky Balboa
I've been thinking about that quote a lot lately, and while it may be from a fictional character in a fictional movie. It's nearly impossible to deny it's wisdom.
We live in a very difficult time, full of challenges and division. Political, educational, social, economical, religious and everything else. We see the discord in the world, we see things that don't occur the way we want it, have things taken from us. Or even worse, have people taken from us. What are we to do? Are we to curl up in a ball and cry "why me" or do we keep moving forward? Do we steel our faces, face our emotions, don't let them consume us and continue to advance? I certainly hope so, because we, whatever we're facing, cannot give up. We cannot simply say, "well that's enough" because then we've admitted we lost, we've admitted failure.
Not all failure is bad, from some failure we learn and grow. A project fails, you pick up and learn, company fails; move on. But to admit defeat and give up? That's the bad kind of failure, that's the kind of failure that defines one as a human being, and one that isn't strong enough. We are all born survivors, we are all born fighters, but many need to be reminded of that.
I've seen strength, seen it in returning veterans and ones fighting injury, I've seen it in doctors that won't give up, seen it in the eyes of a nine year old girl fighting leukemia or a young boy fighting brain cancer, and countless other places. That's strength, real strength, real perseverance and that is in all of us! Every single one of us. Don't depend on someone else to build your life for you, fight for it, fight for what you think is right. Do it the right way, do it with hard work and ideas, but do it.
We can never give up, because when we do we're doomed. Simple as that. Another quote comes to mind: "Limits, like fears, are often just an illusion"
Now, what are you going to do??
8 years ago
Yes there is, and I feel partly responsible for it. I should have been more active, I should have done more. James Comey is an absolute moron, I would make it a goal in my political career (if I ever had one) to destroy his, he was doing nothing but trying to curry favor in the chance that Drumpf was elected, it's (also) sickening. You're very right about liberals not voting for Clinton due to Sanders, that was incredibly dumb. Better to avoid adjectives, but I know what you mean. We really can't deny that there are a lot of people that were left behind by this economic recovery, and continue to be as the world changes. But we really need to get answers for these people, and it's going to be up to us Tal. They think offshoring is bad, that's just the beginning storm surge. Automation is going to be a tsunami, and we have to be prepared. Trust me on this one, it's going to be a massive change. Will there be jobs created like in the industrial revolution, I certainly hope so. But there's a dark part of my mind that say "this time, it really is different".
Thank you, I think it was a major component of the election, it was a major shortfall. But the important thing for us to do is learn.
Yes, nearly the same for me.
As for blame - there's plenty to go around. Dems and the Clinton campaign for not doing an adequate job in rust belt states; James Comey for re-opening the e-mail case right before the election then, too late, saying "Never mind"; the Republican party for allowing it to come to this and not picking a qualified candidate; liberals who wanted Sanders and failed to vote for Hillary; lots of people (I'll refrain from using any adjectives) who actually believe that Drumpf the billionaire, cares at all about them; the list goes on. The answer is, of course, all of them.
Good point you make, though, about Drumpf lying to the disenfranchised and Hillary ignoring them.
And, on that note, bed time for me.
Is there a higher median income with Drumpf supporters, probably, that typical trends with republican supporters. But I for one get tired of my social class getting blamed for everything in this country, regardless of what side of the political aisle. There were plenty of economically broken people voting Drumpf because they bought his line of crap. Believe me, I saw the t-shirts his campaign GAVE AWAY (brilliant move, btw, hello democrats) when volunteering at place that served the less fortunate. These aren't all homeless either, they were single mothers, people who lost jobs for various reason and all the rest. Plenty of them saw a man that promised to "bring jobs back from China and Mexico" and that's all they heard, all they could hear.
No, we can blame racism and the patriarchy all we want, and that's a party of it, yes, but the fact OUR party didn't get the job done Tal. It's time to stop blaming the other side and start picking up the pieces and figuring out how to fight. Because it's going to be a long hard fight.
Trust me Tal, I do too. But those reasonable people that have to do the convincing. Man, that has to be someone, in my case it has to be me. I'm not going to stand back and let things go along undaunted and unchallenged, and I certainly don't need a safe space to run to when I feel slighted. No, now is the call to action, not tears. People who are willing to be leaders lead, the rest call those people "visionary". Well these times are going to call many many people to lead, and there needs to be the willingness to stand and fight. Fight the hard fight, the one without violence, because this fight will be one of ideas, rhetoric and discovery. It's going to be HARD, but damn, what worth it isn't? Like the quote says, life isn't all sunshine and rainbows. Now, we have to work for a life that is, but that's not going to be our reality now. But if we do it right, we can hand a much easier world to later generations.
I feel for "Maddie", I really do, that's not right at all, it's immature, rude and base. But I fall short of calling it "assault". A couple weeks ago I paused at an intersection to let someone in, the person behind me didn't like that. When he drove around me, he flipped me off and yelled; "get off the road cocksucking rich boy!!". Was I assaulted? No, I wasn't. Was I sexually harassed because I'm not gay? No, I wasn't. The guy was an asshole, simple as that. Move. On.
Can words hurt, of course they can, but there is a degree of toughness that I don't think a lot of people have, and they need to. Because it us that have to work to make the world the kind of place that can be sensitive and kind. The response is to move on undaunted, learn from the ignorance being shown, and redouble efforts.
"White patriarchy", uh-huh, that's cute. Lots of women voted for Drumpf too, misinformed, but they did. No, that's passing the blame, and passing it completely. Hillary didn't strategize correctly and it cost her, I don't know how many times I can say this, as uncomfortable as it is. The democrats lost that election, the republicans didn't win it. We have to accept it and move on, learn, remember that rural areas do matter, and evolve our tactics. Popular vote because of urban centers and centers of education (big surprise there) but destroyed in rural areas that are economically challenged. Because it didn't appear that we cared at all for those people. Does Drumpf care, FUCK NO!! But at least he lied about caring, Hillary ignored them.
Do you know why Bernie clobbered her in states that she went on to lose to Drumpf? Because he did what democrats are supposed to do: he went to northern and rust belt blue color areas, connected with the disenfranchised and promised to
"ON THE morning of Election Day I went to Newton Centre to do some typical “visibility campaigning” for Hillary Clinton and US Representative Joseph Kennedy III. I was joined on the traffic island by a hopeful college freshman — I’ll call her “Maddie” — carrying a Clinton-Kaine sign. As traffic moved slowly through the intersection, a man wearing a jacket and tie and driving a luxury sedan pulled alongside us. He mouthed an expletive and thrust his middle finger at “Maddie.” He may have been old enough to be her father.
Estimates derived from polls during the election cycle and Census Bureau
data pegged the median household income of a Donald Drumpf supporter at about $72,000, well above the national median household income of about $56,000 and higher than the median incomes of supporters of Clinton and Bernie Sanders. The outcome of this election, where our first black president has been succeeded by a man endorsed by the Ku Klux Klan, arose, I think, from a surge of white patriarchy, the demonization of Clinton, and a desire to “shake things up” with the indecent simplicity of a drive-by assault — in “Maddie’s” case, almost literally."
As the media and a weary public now move to “normalize” President-elect Drumpf, we also normalize the toxic image of the man in the luxury sedan thrusting his middle finger into that young woman’s face. I cannot."
And another:
"THERE IS a connection between how I felt on 9/11 and how I felt on the morning of 11/9. These two ironically similar dates marked separate travesties for America. Both invoked a strong sense of fear. The first was fear of an evil
external ideology determined through violence to destroy democracy and civil rights. The second travesty invoked in many the fear of an evil internal ideology, driven by irrational conspiracy theories and ignorance, that I’m afraid will seek the same ends by different means. Have we finally met the real enemy? Is it us?"
Johns Grannie
did the People of Malta give up when they where bomded every single day for years by the Nazis, no they dug deep withing themselfs and found that inner steel deep within every man woman and child who loves freedom and equality.
did Martin Luther King give up when the Klan burned his church, thretened his live and children? no he went out there and confronted the deep dark hatered within people and he and his followers overcame them all in the end.
Liberty, freedom, civilisation and our society are worth fighting for and it is the duty off every man woman and child to defend the rights we where given and pass them onto the next generation