How Long?
Who are we and what do we stand for?
Until recently I thought we were all on the same side for the most part.
I have always thought of this city as one where, at the base, we all want what is best for us. We might not agree on all the topics, but we respect each other. With the constant protests every Saturday downtown I am beginning to see that there is a population that really doesn't care about anyone but themselves. Their liberty to march and throw smoke bombs at the citizens whose neighborhoods they force into lockdown matters more than the people who are just trying to get to work, or get groceries.
I will never doubt anyone's right to protest. I will however question the thought process that these groups are currently using. The mandates have been lifted and were that not what the protestors were on about in the first place?
Oh right, of course, it was never about that really. It was about a group of people who have never heard the word no. The people that have never had to suffer from consequences. The people who somehow have had their heads in the sand for so long that they have completely missed what has happened in the world around us.
They have put themselves into the vacuum of misinformation that they accused their children of being in at the start of social media and the internet.
The funny thing is that they are doing the same things their kids were doing, with one rather large difference. When I first discovered the internet I used it to find people like me. People who were into the same music, movies, and opinions. I used it to educate myself about things I didn't understand. I know many kids my age were also finding and building communities of people to who they could show the real themselves. And that reaching out and building safe havens continues.
Unfortunately, this discovery and sharing of ideas have gone the other way as well. This group has found each other online and they are building communities. They are missing the important piece that I mentioned above. They are not educating themselves, they are only reading and focused on what supports their ideas. There is no looking inward and wondering what the motivation is, there is just more hatred. They speak of the divide that "the government" has made. They can't look at themselves and realize that that fault belongs to them.
I can't see there being an end to the "end mandate" pageantry as long as these people are pandered to and allowed to continue holding parts of our city hostage. Or until the truth of what the motivation is acknowledged and the people who are fueling these fires are exposed. It's an embarrassment. One that could lead to tremendous impacts in the future. Most younger people who want to make a difference in this world see these actions and the people behind them and want to separate themselves from them entirely.
These people need to be reminded that they aren't the only people who live in this city. They aren't the ones who are really working to make a difference. I miss when we celebrated the health care workers and teachers. Instead, we celebrate the idiots who want to go back to the whitewashed past.
I use music to remind me to be hopeful and to tell me that we aren't going to be stuck here forever. I am struggling lately though to find that message as the news keeps getting worse. So instead of some super hopeful message that uplifts, I am going silly on this one. Eye of the Tiger by Survivor is one of those songs that everyone just seems to know.
Most people know it from the stair montage in the movie Rocky III. What you may not know is that the song Sylvester Stallone originally wanted was Another One Bites the Dust by Queen. When that was denied he went on the hunt for another rock anthem. The version released in the movie was not the finished version, just the demo. When it was released by the band itself, there was a noticeable lack of tiger growls.
The song was nominated for an Oscar that year but lost to Up Where We Belong from the soundtrack of An Officer and a Gentleman. Another weird fact, Republicans seem to love this as a campaign song. Newt Gingrich, Mike Huckabee, and Mitt Romney have all used it. And they all were sued by the band to stop them.
What's that? You would like to see what is catching my eye today? Sure!
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