Nov 16, 2012

Day 25 Paine

30 Day Letter Challenge

Day 25 — The person you know that is going through the worst of times

File:Washington Crossing the Delaware by Emanuel Leutze, MMA-NYC, 1851.jpg
Washington Crossing the Delaware
I can't read that without hearing, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times," which then brings me to Thomas Paine's famous quote, "These are the times that try men's souls."  Here comes the rant.

Look, there are millions, if not billions, of people who are going through the worst of times. People on the east coast are trying to recover from Sandy, as well as the people in Haiti. Gaza and Israel are attacking each other again. Winter is setting in and freezing the far north. People around the world are homeless, people are sick, people are without clean water, without ample food.

So, I'm not going to talk about my aunt's weird emotional breakdown or my grandma facing my grandfather's birthday and the anniversary of her daughter's death all in one month, or my best friend trying to recover from surgery and feeling isolated from the world. Instead I want us to think about the world and what we're doing to help or hurt. A whole bunch of idiots are signing petitions to try and secede their states from the US. Our country is divided and we need to bridge the gap. This is not the time to rub noses in the dirt, or to withdraw and lick wounds and find a way to avoid those who "won." There was no winning or losing. There were two paths as to how the US was going to travel into the future, and the residents of our nation picked the trail we will traverse, together. Step up and find a way to make it all work. Bipartisanship.

Also from Thomas Paine's The Crisis, "America did not, nor does not want force; but she wanted a proper application of that force. Wisdom is not the purchase of a day, and it is no wonder that we should err at the first setting off."  It's been over two hundred years since those words were penned, and while our country is still in its infancy compared to the ancient nations of the world, we should have learned more than this. This is pride and humiliation sabotaging the efforts to build a greater country. Our nation made a choice. You've had your tantrums, now stand up and be productive.

2 comments:

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  2. [You just way to read "A Tale Of Two Cities" which is fine, tis the season for Dickens.

    Good rant! You feel better now? Always helps me. I'm not even going to start but one thing. It may be overly cynical, on second thought it's not, but the problem is a lot of productive people just want to be productive for themselves and not the whole. Look at twinkiegate, can't afford to pay the worker's healthcare but can afford to pay themselves $2.25 dollars.

    Hopefully you got the secession out of your system too, I mean that's just a farce. Prob all the same people that think our President was born in Kenya. You just can't argue with that so you just have to laugh.

    Now I prob made you worse. But than I'm always told I'm good at that :) ]


    Fuck my phone! I tried to read your comment and accidentally deleted it! So sorry! Yes, the rant had to be done; there was so much whining going on and I just couldn't handle it all without exploding just once. It feels like people don't see the big picture most of the time (like "twinkiegate," and that name makes me laugh). I know that the petitions aren't going to come to anything, but it's the attitude behind them that gets to me.

    I'm going to get all philosophical, but I've always thought people were born inherently good, and so when people do selfish things they are working against their inherently good nature, choosing to do wrong. I want people to work toward a greater good and solution for all. But, now I've said my piece and I feel better :)

    Want to know a secret? I haven't read Dickens since high school, and I think back then I found him a little too wordy :D

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