I am an English Teacher with short red hair and bangs.
My birthday is the 31st of February, and I was born in Neverland. I have seven brothers, and their names are Grumpy, Sleepy, Doc, Sneezy, Happy, Bashful, and Dopey. My favorite subject in school was recess, and my hobbies are driving taxis and drinking water. My favorite vacation was to the End of the Universe. While dining there, I met Darth Vader who was still alive and just chilling, Sith Lord style. One interesting fact about myself is that I have x-ray vision, and three words my friends would use to describe me are devious, uncanny, and bootylicious.
(my biography from an activity during Pre-Service Training last year)
And this part may turn into a bit of a rant. I'm aware that my audience is more on my side than not, but I have to get some of these thoughts out of my head, as they've been accumulating for some time.
Since I have internet, I have an incomplete-but-existent peephole into current affairs in the world outside of my town. There have definitely been positive notes- the first intimation I had of the bombing in Boston was the on how the immediate reaction of those in the vicinity was to come together and help. As time went on, I saw other people making references to the bile that one might expect after such an event, but nearly all that came to my attention was wonderfully heartening. Unfortunately, then I did start to see the filthy underbelly of knee-jerk anger, ranging from 'bomb the entire Middle East' to 'the Czech Republic is out to get is' (I mean, really?!?) to 'conspiracy by US government.' Anger is understandable, but wantonly lashing out at anything that bears a slight resemblance to a target (including personal grudges) isn't productive.
On lashing out, I also have gotten to see the a short film entitled "All You Need is Love?" which is set in a world in which homosexuality is the norm and heterosexuality is regarded as disgusting and unnatural and follows a girl who discovers her heterosexuality, and the reactions of her family and peers. It's quite well done, and creates a decently believable reality. Apart from the homo/heterosexuality point, it makes me wonder: Why on Earth are kids still learning that physical violence is still the best way to communicate disagreement? When has it actually addressed and solved a problem to the point of non-recurrence, and I do mean solved, not "ended" or "swept under the rug" or "eliminated the opposition"?
And the first time I saw this video was on Upworthy, I think, which seems to be a very interesting collection, although frustrating because much of the time, I don't have enough internet to watch their videos. But, I've appreciated those that I have been able to see, as well as the textual pages that I've seen. However, I have a complaint for them; they have an annoying habit of using misleading titles, which makes me watch the media with the mindset of finding out what their angle is, and not really paying attention to the actual point. It is an effective way to attract attention to their media, but gives the impression of their being liars, which is detrimental to the cause of winning the confidence of their audience.
Now, how to contrive a brilliant transition to my next point. Let's use 'the significance of maintaining the confidence of one's followers and supporters.' To the Government, specifically Congressmen, but really, it applies to all of you. Selflessness is hard. It requires that one puts the needs of others before one's own, to make decisions on that basis, not personal fulfillment of success. To our Representatives: please take into consideration the people whom you are representing. I know that job security is important to you, and well it should be, but I believe it would greatly benefit the country (aka, fulfill your job) if you put greater emphasis on the good of the country, and not on being re-elected. What good is being re-elected to a position if you put more emphasis on being re-elected than doing your job? I know that you're in office because you were elected, and perhaps I'm just too disconnected from Average American, but it seems like you're disappointing everyone on all sides. To my understanding, fighting for a lobby or single organization from your area is not necessarily doing the best thing for your constituency, although it may do great things for your job security (again: job security at the expense of doing your job?) Some of you are wonderful congressmen, I'm sure, but particularly those who haven't left Capitol Hill in decades- do you even know what's actually going on in the US (let alone the world) anymore? Reports are well and good, but will never convey a complete picture. And no, you can never have a complete picture, because the complete picture is enourmous, but you could help by at least getting a little closer to first person perspective. If you can't get a real-live first person view, try for a few different unedited perspectives (not from 3 different white upper-middle-class college-educated interns), and don't let them get edited before you have a chance to see them. Personally, I think that you should have mandated stints in something like Americorps, to get a taste of the effects of the policies you're setting. The US is a great country, and I am proud to be a citizen, but you're a part of making that a really hard position to defend.
I love the United States. I believe in the American Dream (the one that says that a person from whichever background can rise to whicher high position of power [limited by the rules like only natural-born citizens can be President]), and I fully intend to live in the US after I finish in Panama...unless I join the US Foreign Service, and still probably work on US soil ;-) But seriously, America, like I said, you make this pride unnessarily difficult to defend.
We have the potential to be a great and glorious world leader. We can guide other countries forward into peace and prosperity, with diversity and wildlife, and polar ice caps. Yes, there are those in the USA who disagree with these as goals, but in order to keep myself going from day to day, I have to hope dearly and desperately that they are a tiny minority with disproportionately large lungs. People, we have influence, if we want to use it!
I just watched "Food, Inc.", admittedly several years late. I confess, I feel no inclination to become a vegetarian because of it, but I do have a stronger commitment to being a more conscientious consumer. Hopefully it'll last until I get back to a world where I have options as to what to consume. Hopefully, there will still be conscientious options by the time I get back, giant-gmo-patenting-what-formerly-a-really-cool-element-of-life-on-Earth corporations. Honestly, how do you sleep at night? I'll concede you have a wonderful, personally sustainable model, because as you develop resistant crops, bacteria etc develop resistance to your resistance and you then develop an new resistance, so you'll never be out of a job, always chasing down the next version of resistance, but that just really helps you, you (pardon me, but I can't find this sentiment in my usual vocabulary) selfish pricks. Do you in the upper echelons eat the "food" that you produce? I'm not convinced that it's still actually food. Semi-animate abominations of science, perhaps, but that doesn't sound particularly appetizing to me. Maybe I have weird tastes, but they aren't unique to me, and more power to the people who work with nature instead of trying to conquer it. (Spoiler, nature wins.) I think that capitalism and competition are brilliant, and you are more than welcome to do the best for yourself that you can...but within the limits of not actively causing massive amounts harm. I do like a proposition from the "Food, Inc" which went something like, 'let's define success as having fewer people in the hospitals next year.' With great power comes great responsibility- and that responsibility extends beyond a responsibility to oneself.
I know that there are a great many honorable, worthy, admirable people. We hear about some of them, many go unsung. The reasons for this are various, but include, I suspect in no particular order, (a) that it isn't sensational (PCVs spend 2 years working to results that might be evidenced 10 years down the line when we've moved on to other parts of our lives, and there isn't a news station on earth that would find an average day at all newsworthy), (b) good-deed-doers are more concerned with their work than seeking adulation, and (c) are frustrated with the blowhards and so go about their business trying not to be hindered by them. And there are good people we hear about, important big names, and nobodies who see a need and work to fill it. They fuel my hope, and my belief in the possibility of Onward and Upward.
I believe that the United States, and humanity, as incredible potential for good. I believe that we can tap that potential. I don't believe that capitalism and a concern for humanity are mutually exclusive. I believe that we could approach each other with greater respect and an eye towards resolution instead of retaliation. I believe that there are Powers that Be who are willing to use their power for the greater good. (Yeah, it's hard, but that's KIND OF YOUR JOB.)
While I'm venting, on abortion: they already tried making it illegal, and it didn't work to stop it- how on earth are you going to stop it from happening? If you're so pro-life, what about the desperate mothers who will not disappear? Making something illegal doesn't make it go away, I'm sorry. If it is legal, it can be controlled and regulated. Also, homosexual marriage: what business is it of yours? Where do you get off informing anyone else with whom they can or cannot form responsible relationships? And I don't want to hear about the sanctity of marriage, because modern culture has already heartily defenestrated that one. Unless you're going to address the divorce rate and so many ill-considered marriages between males and females, shut up. Your church can decide whether or not to perform same-sex marriages, but that's not the government's lookout.
Moral courage, integrity, a sense of humanity, respect in agreement and dissent. Communication and connection.
On a personal note, I'm a single white female. This doesn't mean I'm a lesbian. This doesn't mean I'm out to steal your husbands, boyfriends, or wives or girlfriends. It doesn't mean I'm lonely. I'm a Christian, and very religious in my way. This doesn't mean that I will look down on you because you are homosexual, because you drink, do drugs, have an abortion, have premarital sex, hit on me, hit on someone else (though hitting me or someone or someone else will cause problems- prepositions are important!), or that I believe that all non-Christians are straight-up wrong. I am an individual and I consider and wear my attributes with my own style and flair, not blindly wearing them in the stereotypical fashion, whatever that may be. Please do me and whomever you encounter the respect of acknowledging that we are individuals and capable of making our own choices, even though an unfortunate quantity of people decline to do so.
I hope you, my actual audience now, made it through and that you understand that the vast majority of my usage of "you" doesn't actually address you. For better or worse, I'm not too closely connected with people who disagree with me on these points. Or they don't dare tell me that they disagree ;-). Naturally, I don't know for sure how you feel about any of this, but thank you for your time and indulgence. I hope I've expressed myself decently completely. I'll probably wake up at 3 am with some other point to include that will be added in an edit or comment, or forgotten about. We'll see, and I hope that in any event, you have a muy buen día!
***EDIT: So, it didn't take until 3AM for me to remember the other thing that I wanted to include. Guys (warning, I'm going to start using "you" again, but gentle readers, I don't mean you), why do you insist on demeaning yourselves? On a day-to-day business, it varies from laughably annoying to nerve-grating to walk around town and be greeted by whistles, confessions of love, "Hey baby", hisses, and a variety of other charming vocalizations. I respond with Kat Stratford's line in '10 Things I Hate About You,' "I need you, I want you, oh baby, oh baby." With all of her heartfelt sincerity. Granted some of those are regional, but similar things happen in the US and in waaaay too much of the world. Now, you may think it's flattering, and maybe you think that that is exactly what will make us jump into your pants. Alas for you, you are dead wrong. Yes, there are some females who will follow favorably, but not too many. One of the exciting parts about being homo sapiens is that "sapiens" part. We have self-awareness and self-control. We have developed fairly sophisticated language. USE IT AND LISTEN WHEN WOMEN DO. There are calls for women to cover up, and not go out alone at night. I'm all for not taking stupid risks, but we could greatly reduce the number of risks with your cooperation, fellas. Guys, regressing through millenia of evolution and acting like an instinct-ruled animal hurts your credibility more than it helps. Why do you cede so much control to women? Where is your integrity and self-respect as a human? We can't telepathically enter your mind. Surely you've encountered the idea that nobody else can make you angry, only you can; it isn't limited to anger. You have a choice in how to react to a given stimulus. Take control of yourself! (And leave the women in control of themselves. Everybody is in charge of themselves and interacting like evolved beings!) Embrace your humanity!***
Here's a pretty picture of Panama!
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| A day at un río in with mi familia panameña and friends |
