Selfish Is and Selfish Does

December 7, 2020Michael 4 Comments

I’ll start right up front apologizing to all my non-US readers. You’re too kind and don’t deserve to play the innocent bystander but you should know from the start that this is not going to be pretty.

Now for the rest of you, my fellow Americans, just how incredibly selfish is this country getting! Not the people in this country. The whole darn shooting match. It’s now a national pastime to do whatever you want regardless of consequences. Go to parties, get on planes, play football, go to happy hour. If you’re reading this you are more than likely among to ever shrinking quantity of intelligent, courteous individuals but you probably know more than a few handfuls of whiny, reckless, selfish bastar…er, jerks. I don’t know how it is where you are (which is the polite way of saying things are getting out of control everywhere) but around here, things are getting out of control. For example:

Every day for the past 8 days the morning paper headlines have been [State, County, City] Sets New Record for COVID [Infections, Hospitalizations, Deaths] (they rotate the where and the what so you don’t think they just re-ran the same story). Someone on that same front page is the other inevitable headline [Party, Candidate, Congressmen, Senator] [Claims New Voter Fraud, Decries Latest Fraud Claim], sometimes all the above! While the world is falling apart, these imbeciles are busy engaging in playground “did so, did not, did too, make me!” games. Children have more sense than these disgusting, miserable, adolescent excuses for human beings. (Too rough?)

It’s gotten to the point that now I personally know seven people who have been tested positive for CoViD-19 and one who died from the infection. Once removed (as in know someone who knows someone) the numbers are greater than 70 infections, over a dozen hospitalizations, and 2 deaths. There were all cautious, all held fast to safe prevention practices, only one was a nursing home resident (one of the deaths), 18 were health care workers or first responders (including the other death), and a handful of other essential workers. These aren’t great numbers when you consider my state is reporting over 424,000 cases and nearly 11,500 deaths but these “numbers” are people I know. They are people I have shared space and time with, who over the years have been to the same church or party or store or hospital as I have been. They are friends and neighbors. They are not Democrats or Republicans, they are not maskers or anti-maskers, they are not cowards or daredevils. They are people. People who relied on public servants to serve their public rather than serving their egos.

So, what can we do about this? I’m staying calm but taking names. Oh sure, today I’ll write a couple letters to my so-called representatives in between checking in on friends and relatives to see how everyone is doing and that my “numbers” aren’t going up. But some day those so-called representatives who today are busy representative themselves will surely run for office again. That’s when the real letter writing campaign begins. That’s when I will start reminding everybody that when they should have been meeting in chambers, representing us working on health initiatives, equipment and vaccine allocations, or financial assistance packages, our so-called leaders were instead meeting in courtrooms and TV studios representing themselves and working on undermining the security and confidence of the country – all in the name of “did so, did not, did too, make me.”

I’m sorry, it wasn’t a very pleasant post today. They made me do it.

Baseball, Hotdogs, Apple Pie, and “It’s a Shame.”

June 28, 2012Michael Leave a comment

We’ve been taking a post or two as we approach the Fourth of July holiday to see what’s out there that makes us uniquely Americans – including the bad things, while trying to find the good things about us.

In our last post we took our first look at how the country is doing and remarked on the bullying of the now famous bus monitor and the remarkable response people had to her plight. Much of that remarkable response might have been American, but since that time we found out that the instigator of the good is a Canadian. Thank you Mr. Norther American for showing us below the 49^th parallel how it is to be good.

Unfortunately there are still many bad examples. Sometimes, not only do we have a hard time admitting that the bad are the bad, we go the extra step to assume the bad is actually an example of good behavior, just gone wrong. One morning this week the local television news had a piece about three teenagers that were killed two years ago right after attending “an alcohol fueled graduation party.” The parents wanted to remember them so they created a memorial with plaques, benches, and pictures overlooking the site of the accident. Had we not done a little research it would have been just three kids who died. Other than that one phrase quoted above, the morning news story said nothing about the car’s occupants being drunk. And being drunk isn’t something one should be memorializing. It’s a shame.

But research it we did and that research uncovered a longer piece that was run during the evening newscast the day before. In that version one of the mothers told those who attended the memorial to do whatever it takes to not drive after drinking. It also mentioned that the alcohol was provided by a parent. As we continued to dig we uncovered another article and video of the sentencing of the woman who bought a half-keg of beer for the graduation party from two years ago (one year of house arrest, 3 years on probation). But we didn’t uncover scores of articles addressing the core problem. There are people out there, sometimes children, who drink to impairment and then try to pilot a speeding vehicle. We found no organized outrage at public drunkenness or at children drinking, no support of underage drinking laws, and no response from MADD, SADD, or the District Attorney. Perhaps nobody wanted to hurt the survivors more than they were, and still are. It’s a shame.

A day later the same television station ran a story about the arraignment of a man who during a drunken driving rampage injured 10 people in what police described as a “bumper bowl game.” This young man hit at least six cars, one head on, before running into a guard rail that stopped his onslaught. His blood alcohol was three times the legal limit.

He probably missed the story from the day before and didn’t get a chance to do whatever it took to not drive after drinking. What a shame.

Now, that’s what we think. Really. How ‘bout you?

Baseball, Hotdogs, Apple Pie, and “Aren’t they cute?”

June 25, 2012June 25, 2012Michael Leave a comment

Summer is a great time to be thinking about how the country is doing. We’re getting close to the 240^th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence and we should be checking up on how we’re doing keeping a country free and a government of, by, and for the people. (For anybody checking, that anniversary isn’t coming up this July. It’s still 4 years away but thinking stuff like this can take a while.) Those few weeks between Flag Day and Independence Day are good days to look about at what’s good, what’s bad, and what’s uniquely American.

Last week we got to see the best and worst of Americans all wrapped up in one convenient incident. Although it happened earlier, by mid-week it hit the national news. Four middle schoolers, 11 and12 year olds, decided it was going to be not only a good day to taunt their bus monitor but to record and post it to the Internet for all the world to see. So they hurled insult after insult, poked and pointed, swore at and about a 68 year old grandmother, former bus driver, and guardian of the good children on the bus. It wasn’t the first time that they aimed their low sights at her, and it wasn’t the first time that she sat stoically taking it. It was a horrible example of how miserably some American youth are raised and how much of their disgusting behavior is tolerated.

And then in an amazingly disgusting example of wretched behavior, one of the feeble four decided they should share their offensive conduct with the rest of the world and thus the recording was posted to the Web. But instead of thousands of viewers sending them accolades for a bullying job well done, hundreds of thousands instead sent sympathy to the abused woman. Tangible sympathy. Five hundred thousand dollars worth of sympathy. A half million ways to say we’re sorry for the incredibly stupid behavior of incredibly stupid children.

Perhaps it was the world’s way of providing one of those auto corrections that our planet does without our knowledge to keep us from hurling into space away from the safety of our solar orbit. Maybe it’s the first step in the world’s recognition that not all children are cute and impulsive and they don’t mean anything by it. Maybe somebody is finally realizing that if the parent’s aren’t going to handle their children, if the schools aren’t going to discipline the children, and if the police aren’t going to punish the children, that at least someone is going to see that the victims will be compensated for being a bully’s target.

Maybe the most disturbing part of the week’s news was that now that the children have been exposed and have even attempted too little too late apologies there are some who are upset that others are expressing their dismay at the miscreants’ behavior. Again, in a remarkable worldly auto correction, the bullies have become the targets. Even targets of death threats. Don’t worry kids. Those old people saying you should be expelled, fined, imprisoned, or maybe even executed are just so cute, but a little impulsive, and they don’t really mean it. Maybe.

Now, that’s what we think. Really. How ‘bout you?