I've got a dream Well, Mike, what is it? And there it is. I cannot define it exactly. I feel like if I quantify it, I will lose what it is- as if the dream is as substantial as a waking dream truly is. When you dream it, you swear that you are going to remember every detail but when you try to tell someone the details bleed away and all you have left over is that idea that led you to dare to dream this dream anyway. I want to write. I want to travel. I want to make money doing both. BUT I want to enjoy it too. And I want to do other stuff too. videos, internet, movies, games, cons, etc. I want to believe that I can take all that and turn it into a career, just don't ask me to condense it into a tidy one to two word title. I will freeze up and all that I was thinking and what I was about to say comes out like a high school boy asking the cute girl to dance for the first time. Do you have a dream? Do you feel the need to explain it to others? I do. So what to do about that dream? I am going to accept that I have one and act on the last part I remember. Although I suspect I won't be singing and dancing unless otherwise motivated.
“If this is going to be a Christian nation that doesn't help the poor, either we have to pretend that Jesus was just as selfish as we are, or we've got to acknowledge that He commanded us to love the poor and serve the needy without condition and then admit that we just don't want to do it.” ― Stephen Colbert
So these MEMEs are making their rounds on the Interwebs basically targeting Republicans who are firing back with their various definitions of Socialism as defined by the Nazis (a socialist party), the Russians (also got Socialist in the Titles), the Marxists (who are actually communists -which is similar but not the same), Darth Vader (because I threw it in) and Obama (who isn't a socialist although the Republicans insist he is...and muslim- because that makes sense somewhere)!
which has been copy pasted to several other blogs because.... well hell, obviously the opposition doesn't want to improve on this obviously well researched and carefully thought out essay which actually has no actual references except to some translation of the Bible and something some guy said- I say some guy because I have never heard of him (he's a preacher who wrote some book(s)).
Where does all this stem from you might ask?
Where did it all get started?
Who knows. I do know that back before Romney had the temerity to hatch a plan that would become the infamous "Obamacare" scenario, that Americans debated socialized medicine systems like what they have in Canada or other civilized countries and came up with countless reasons why America could never allow that to happen here.
Ironically many of those arguments ended with the very possibility as a Lie and being Immoral thing to force on our society.
Here is my laugh on all of this. Jesus is not a Socialist and neither is Obama.
let the screamers start screaming.
So to start this debate (or finish it) let's define socialism by its actual root rather than the Fox News (Glenn Beck/Bill O'Reilly) definition of tanks and red flags and obnoxious dictators.
Socialism is a social and economic system characterised by social ownership of the means of production and co-operative management of the economy, as well as a political theory and movement that aims at the establishment of such a system.
Socialism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Full Definition of SOCIALISM
1
: any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods
2
a : a system of society or group living in which there is no private property
b : a system or condition of society in which the means of production are owned and controlled by the state
3
: a stage of society in Marxist theory transitional between capitalism and communism and distinguished by unequal distribution of goods and pay according to work done
Ironically, Much of this stems from our Founding Father, Thomas Jefferson. Who was troubled by what he found in the translations of the Bible of his day and sought out the real Jesus as he believed him to be. In the end, he would conclude that his version of Jesus was authentic enough for himself after Jesus had been stripped of the "propaganda and aggrandizement from the Church." Yet, even Jefferson would be misunderstood and misquoted. Jefferson would be accused of stripping away the divinity of Jesus and reducing him to being a really good social worker. Thomas Jefferson and his Bible
Now take a look at the definition of Social Work. Social work is a professional and academic discipline that seeks to improve the quality of life and subjective well-being of individuals, families, couples, groups, and communities through research, policy, community organizing, direct practice, crisis intervention, and teaching for the benefit of those affected by social disadvantages such as poverty, mental and physical illness or disability, and social injustice, including violations of their civil liberties and human rights. The profession is dedicated to the pursuit of social justice and the well-being of oppressed and marginalized individuals and communities. The social work profession is broad.
A person who practices social work is called a social worker. In the UK, the title "Social Worker" is protected by law (under s.61 Care Standards Act 2000) and only those who have undergone approved training at university either through a bachelor's or master's degree in Social Work and are registered with the appropriate professional regulatory body (the Health and Care Professions Council in England, the Scottish Social Services Council in Scotland, the Care Council for Wales, or the Northern Ireland Social Care Council) may practice social work and be called a social worker. To do so otherwise is a criminal offence. Student social workers typically undergo a systematic set of training and qualifications that are distinct from those of social care workers or care assistants, who may undertake a social work role but not necessarily have the qualifications or professional skills of a qualified social worker. Currently, there are no formal qualifications or training to practice as a social care assistant, care worker, or carer, but mostly ancillary staff are accountable to a qualified member of staff, such as a social worker. Jesus: The Great Social Worker
I can see a difference between Socialism and Social work and Socialized Medicine. What happens in this country is the moment the Syllable "Soc' escapes your mouth than all the rest of the US seems to hears in Socialism -the great failure because- of course, capitalism has been such a great success andis the very foundation of Democracy (which is worth writing another blog on why this is such an incredible lie) but I digress. Jesus is Jesus and what little we have of his words and actions has been translated and interpreted so many times that it really takes a leap of faith to find enough to believe in. However, what little has remained is golden in that regardless of translation and interpretation, what Jesus said and did and taught shines through the ages. A good way to live striving for a perfection that we as humans can only dream to achieve. (my definition) Yes, some of it is socialist in concept, some of it is socially minded, if you ask me, I am going to say it's Christian to be this way and the Socialists and the rest can stuff that in the definitions and limitations they want to place on Jesus. Why can't that be enough? And then there is Obama. The man's actions (those that this congress lets him own) speak for themselves. if you can take all the grime and gloss that the media and the political propaganda smear on him off, he is mostly a good man struggling to do the right thing as so many of us are. He is mortal and not Jesus. As to whether he is a good Christian (I will take him at his word on that)- that is between him and God and not anyone else. I would still vote for him again save that I believe a third term would kill him. This country is crazy. and that is Life (and Socialism) according to Mike.
So here we are on the Sunday the Episcopal church celebrates the 4th of July. Together we celebrate our freedoms- the ones so often taken for granted, so often disregarded when it comes down to our individual safety and the ones so often forgotten when they belong to someone or something that is not what we see as being American.
The Fanfare of the Common Man by Aaron Copeland is a piece of music written in 1942 inspired in part by a speech by then Vice President Henry A. Wallace proclaim the dawning of the "Century of the common man" and as a calling to the people of the USA as we entered into WWII. A war that was all about freedom from tyranny and oppression. (this may be debated, but I am going with this idea).
This past week, we Americans have seen an end to marriage inequality and a freedom granted to a different group of citizens who were in so many ways ignored and pushed out of sharing in the "Century of the Common Man." Now homosexuals or gays or LBGT can marry without someone denying them this basic human right. We saw that a transgender could be accepted by most people as being a normal human being and probably as her chosen sex.
This past week we have seen a new dawning of what might be the beginning of racial equality in this country as the slow however heartfelt rejection of a symbol (regardless of counter argument) of racism and hate is being removed from place of public display. It is just a piece of cloth but it is still a flag that carries much negative implications and themes (many of which stem from modern misrepresentations of it original purpose). The confederate "Battle" flag is going out of the public eye. I doubt that the products that also carry the flag will last much longer than it. It had a good run. The American thing to do here, is to recognize it's significance and honor its removal without assigning the negativity that is being assigned to it. We should let it retire, but it has not gone that well, as the war between those that would keep it and those who would destroy it rages on. The flag has come down, at least not to be burned but only because a few have some insight to what would happen if it went that far. We are, sadly, not acting like the Americans, I wanted us to be, but we are acting and progress is being made in finding a new world that might actually escape this ages long hate that plagues our sense of collective freedom.
We have seen that a good plan can survive the seemingly endless rampage and assault of those against it, despite the evidence that it will make life better for many, many Americans. I speak of the Affordable Care Act or Obamacare (ironically should have been called Romneycare but that's another story). The media and the far right cannot seem to remember that there are many of their own supporters who would benefit from having it, if only they would give them a chance to believe it will, instead of the constant barrage of propaganda that is spewed out that over it.
Which leaves us with the end of my original sentence. We are not living in the home of the Brave. It might have been once, it may have just been a hope or a dream that our forefathers or some composer like Copeland had about a better version of US. We are left in the terrible wake of yet another shooting in which the lines of FEAR reign supreme over this country. We should all be mourning the loss of these good people who live and died in the service of God. We should all be for stopping and asking what could have stopped this from happening?
My answers are thus:
1) We, as Americans, need to end the cycle of Fear. We could if we only would stop the media from capitalizing of every incident while giving it their own individual twist. We should stop giving the white supremacists any attention in the media.
2) We should remember that while this incident is a race crime against Blacks, it is also a hate/fear crime against anyone who does not fit into the world view of a select group of extremists who are only to willing to kill for what they believe in. I am not black but I am human and as a human and as an American, I know, I feel that this is more than just another massacre of black people, that this is going to become so much more that what we have ever anticipated as a fight for freedom.
3) This is NOT about the Second Amendment to the Constitution which has nothing to do with what was done (however it did make it easier for this white man to do it). This is not about the right to bear arms or as the modern interpretation goes guns (pistols mostly), it is not even about who should or should not have access to them (especially since it's basically open access anyway). This is not about the Government taking your guns away (even though the Weapon Industry will have another few hundred sales - if not thousands- because they will say it really is). This is not even about violence, it was violent, it was evil incarnate, it is about fear. Fear motivated this man as it motivates most (if not all) hate groups. yep, ironically hatred and violence needs that fear to feed it, impower it, inform it, forgive it, sustain it, etc.
4) This is about being responsible Americans who should know better. We could try to start being the Americans we have always claimed we are. You know the ones, the responsible, humans who look out for their neighbors, are hospitable to all men, that reach out a helping hand to anyone without judgement because most of our ancestors were from almost identical situations, oppression, walks of life as those who come to our shores now,
5) That Christians should stop and remember what it is to say and be and practice Christianity (as convoluted as it has become in some places) We do not forget the poor or grow impatient with them, we remember the downtrodden because Jesus remembered them, we forgive the sinners because we are forgiven, we love one another regardless of race, wealth (or lack thereof), sex, gender preference or pretty much anything else because we are all Children of God.
6) if you want to keep on believing that we are the best country on the planet Earth, we actually have to be the best country and that doesn't mean sports, or more nukes or more guns or more money. It means realizing that civilized people should practice what is in our declaration of independence, our constitution and ALL of our amendments not just some.
I am reminded at times like this of a poem by Rudyard Kipling.
If.
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;
If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!
(insert woman-daughter/human-child).
And that is Episcopal Independence Day according to Mike.
So, here I am, at the short end of another epic family fail where what seemed like a joke to me was taken as intimidation, bullying, and being judgemental on my part to them.
In short, another no win situation carefully engineered by yours truly.
So what can you do when you have screwed the pooch.
Well, this is definitely a viable option, but we are supposed be progressive about this and come up with a better solution. Or this, although I tend to feel like this when I realize how deep the hole is that I have just dug. So there you have it, Mike with a shovel at the bottom of the hole.
Well, since I lost you back at or, you might have to put out of the fire where your monitor burst into flame (figuratively) because I am trying to be wise and funny and probably not
really succeeding since as you might remember I am down at the bottom of the hole that I just dug for myself.
But I digress, anyway, I am sorry that I cannot be this one person everyone wants me to be. I mean, I want to be this loving, considerate person, but as much as I realize that I am two people, I am or rather have to one person, kind of the ying and the yang needs to be one concept, kind of two halves are just two halves incomplete or allow them to become one person even if it means I will probably be that brother that will still be at the bottom of the hole.
Shakespeare via Plutonius instructs his son to be a better man, he tells him among other things, "and this above all things, to your own self be true."
My response is: "Well that's all well and good and fine if you pops is going to kick it in the next act before your sister gets driven mad by the guy whom she thought she was in love with- who also killed your dear old dad." But I digress. Can I be my one self? Not as long as I look to other people to define me.
So how do I become the one I true am? Probably, I quit using Facebook. I stop talking to people who upset and judge me. except that pretty much covers my entire family save for one or two people I somehow seem to get along with regardless of how bad I have been or seem to be.
It's good to have people at your back, right now I have 2 nieces who love me regardless of how lousy or conflicted I am being or have been. What should you do when you can't win? Remember who you know (if you are lucky) or think (at least) you are, who you see staring back at you in the mirror. That person who you both love and hate. Also, remember that it's not everyone that judges you or tells you that you are this way or that. There are some people, like my nieces Lisa and Karen, who accept that you are what you are without requiring some contract that you are going to change to better suit what other people want you to become. You are, after all, your own sense of potential, not someone else's - no matter how well intentioned they are. I can't be that person. I guess that's what you find while you are holding the shovel at the bottom of the pit you dug while trying to deny who you are/were/want to be while someone else keeps telling you things like: "Why can't you be that nice person you were the last time you visited?' I am that person, but I am also that wisecracking smartass that has problems with intimacy and kindness, that is more afraid of himself than anyone really suspects. So, when you find yourself at the bottom of that slippery slope and you want my advice that it like this: Be who you think you are or want to be, not who someone else thinks or wants you to be. You will find that you are alone down in the hole, after all. Well, at least, I will be there with you with my trusty shovel.
How do you know where to begin this process of transformation?
how far do you go?
I mean do you pay for a template or stick to the safe predetermined themes that make it difficult to change anything about the site once you have it.
It sucks to have a vision of what you want but lack the means or know how to just make what you want.
I have this vision of what I want my sites to look like but I just can't afford or create them the way I see them right now.
Welp gonna try to kill the website this week should be fun frustrating fraught with panic and frenzied undoings.
then you find the perfect template for your superhero site and get 404!
yay me,.
finally got into the builder and as per usual nothing works except the constant 404!
good news by following my usual website advice I have succeeded finally and maybe just maybe get my way
well nuts. pixelated hell
IT'S WORKING, ALBEIT VERY METHODICALLY
also wow CAPS
anyway, outside resource search partially successful!
also getting major website burnout
and I ain't saying it
just tell me I told you so.
Well, first things first. The travel blogs are not over, they have just traveled away to my website Mike Abroad and I even have a direct url now @ mikeabroad.net
So now I can do things there like combine instagram/twitter/pictures and video directly.
So please visit and enjoy the new site. I will officially resume travel blogging tomorrow.
Now back to the weekly Life According to Mike.
Life as I have discovered it is filled with two elements that affect how I feel about living on this Rock.
What are these two elements:
I will call one Good and the other Bad
One is love and the other is all those negative concepts like fear, hate, anger, cruelty.
Awesome Things is about Love.
The things that I love, that move me to hope for a better world, that will make a difference- at least to me- and since this is called Life according to Mike- well you get the point.
Awesome Things #1:
Young Feathers:
I found these guys a few years ago as they were just getting started, base jumping was starting to get video footage and glidesuits had been born out of that. Then some crazy person said: Why can't we put a jet engine on that?
(not a direct quote but probably close)
and then this happened.
To Fly like this, what I would give...well if I stick to the diet/excercise plan and talk them into building a 6'4 idiot proof version then...
#2 Meet Lily
Now most drone devices worry me, but one that flies itself with safety parameters is more likely to appeal to me.
I could see buying this to buzz I mean record the priests at St. John's.
#3 The Moped Diaries
I personally identify with this since, it's pretty much what I am going to do. Also I need something bigger than a moped, also don't hit me with the shovel please.
Today, we left Leesburg, where we had crash landed after getting off the plane and with the exception of a short trip up to my Dad's house for a light meal of Seared Tuna and Shrimp and productive conversation....I mean after I got the old folks to stop with medications, ailments and deaths. Geez, what is it with getting older? If I end up like my parent's comparing ailments and meds like middle school kids comparing scars and chipped teeth, I am going to die from embarrassment!
Anyway, I digress.
We tried to take Route 15 south to 66, pretty much a straight line, I must have blinked because I ended up on Route 7 instead running parallel to 66. Virginia roads are really weird.
We stopped for lunch and I talked a deli store to make Mother a butter sandwhich (which took some explaination) also no one had ever ordered on there so they had to make up a price for it! I had a simple and delicious homemade chicken salad sandwhich . The place is a gas station/mart/deli opposite (diagonally) the Skyline Drive entrance.
We finally found our way to Front Royal and the Skyline Drive, only to learn that part of it was closed due to fallen rocks near Mary's Tunnel (or at) So we drove the 32 miles of it before taking a detour down Highway 211/350 through the Shenandoah Valley before returning up to the Skyline on Route 33 to resume the last leg of the drive.
Funny fact about me, I always sing the Shenandoah song whenever I cross it (without fail) this means I get about the first 2 lines before I am across and repeat it several times as the Shenandoah is one wiggly river.
"I'm bound away!" and such....
It was spectacular with amazing views of the valleys on both sides plunging through the forested slopes and mountains/hills surrounding the drive. There is a real sense of peace which we accentuated by listening to Spoken Poetry as we drove along the emerald shrouded road.
I found cause to pause to watch the path of a eagle (probably gold - although I pretended it was the bald) circling, cutting through the sky. There are places in this country where you can forget the metropolises that so many of us live inside of.
We took a stab at the Blue Ridge Parkway but only ran as far as Route 60 before exhaustion and a thunderstorm/downpour drove us away down the valley back to the Lee Highway and a Best Western Hotel in Lexington (VA).
We ate our second regrettable meal of this trip at Applebees which was better than Wimpies. Seriously when did Americans start putting cheese on BLTs and still have the nerve to call them BLTs? Should be called BLT nasties. Yuck.
I had shrimp which was tolerable but instantly forgettable.
Also asked for a Beer Shanty and ended up with a full glass of Blue Moon beer and a half glass of sprite....should have known not to ask. The Bar woman did not want to rip me off of the $5 beer. Sheesh. I got it corrected only to get it with a quarter slice of Orange in it. It did not help. I miss Castle larger but it was blue Moon or lite beer. Ouch.
And that is why Mike is no longer eating at Applebees.
