The truth about confusion with our father figures:

The truth about confusion with our father figures:

Soon people will not be able to blame George Bush for their problems.  Who else are they blaming?  Who should they be blaming?  When do people 'grow up' and take responsibility for their own lack of planning and poor choices.  Yes, we are always making choices, but what happens when they are not wise?

I am 38, but I do not recall a time like the past eight year where a president has been blamed for so much.  As soon as George Bush was inaugurated, it seemed like the world began to unravel, or did it?  No one could have imagined the 9/11 disaster, Hurricane Katrina, the tsunami, the hurricanes in Florida or the financial crisis.  Aside from natural disasters, people made choices or did not, which impacted these outcomes.  There are some events we have learned from and some we should learn from, but if an individual buys a house that he or she cannot afford or accumulated too much debt, I can assure you that has nothing to do with George Bush.  In fact, I think George Bush did a fine job, especially with regard to the global climate.  Maybe some of his choices were not popular and maybe he was not a hypnotic communicator, but he did help remove a horrible dictator from absolute power, and there have been no other attacks and American soil.  Thank you God--and thank you, George Bush.

Where do we get this notion that we can blame the leader of our country for our shortcomings?  I think we are living in "a never-neverland" which some call the modern world.  Now, we have stretched adolescence into our late twenties and some, early thirties.  Thirty is the new twenty, and so on.  People blame their parents for their lack of maturity and any given set of issues. Often 'psycho-therapy' even supports this idea.  I have seen so many stupid television shows in the past ten years that treat the modern American dad like a buffoon, rather than a hard working man worthy of honor and respect.   The moms on these shows are concerned with acting sassy and wearing tight jeans, meanwhile, the kids are the sarcastic 'know it alls'.  It is repulsive.  This is not a true modern American family--it is really just a pitiful farce.  Most American parents are doing the very best they can for their families in a modern world where family values are constantly coming under attack.  The irony is superb.  Like David Bowie said in his song "Modern Love"--"modern Love gets me to the church on time."

Finally, two hundred years ago, nobody would have dared blamed George Washington or Abraham Lincoln for their own personal problems or disappointments.  They were just happy to live in freedom and have a strong leader.  So why is it acceptable now?  And what about fathers?  Only fifty years ago, people were married almost out of high school or college and they worked hard to build families and lives that produced responsible citizens.  Now, we have thirty-somethings who can or cannot commit and want it all, now?  Ultimately, it is not our president or our biological fathers that we contend with the most.  It is our Father, God we should aspire to please and respect--maybe then things will turn around.

The Truth about Media Pollution

Do you ever wonder where people like Michelangelo, Beethoven or Benjamin Franklin went?  The truth is creative visionaries of this caliber really do not exist anymore.   Unlike the dinosaurs, the cause of their extinction can be directly identified as media pollution.  We have created and are living in a day and age that is bombarded and suffocated by the constant onslaught of information and influence.  Worse, the majority of this information could be interpreted as means to manipulate public opinion and/or to sell something.  Furthermore, other news is just not relevant--Do I really need to know what Brad Pitt is doing?  Many people are addicted to Hollywood gossip and are avoiding the reality of their own lives by immersing their brains in tabloids.  Here, we are ignoring the possibilities of expanding our own lives, because we prefer to be fixated on someone else.  The truth is that media pollution is dangerous and pervasive.

It seems like whenever we turn on our tv's or read a paper, it is always 'bad news.'  Though there is nothing wrong with weighing the facts and being informed, one has to know where to draw the line.  We cannot fill our heads with constant negativity all day and expect to have peaceful productive days.   We need to have faith that things will work out, that 'we' will be okay.  People have endured so much worse throughout history than we currently face.

Information, information, information.  It is funny, only 16 years ago when I graduated from college, information was something one had to pursue.  There was no prolific internet available to me at that time and I went to a place called the 'library' where it was quiet and I could focus on facts and draw my own conclusions.

In addition, I really get disgusted when on the rare occasion that I want to watch one of the hundreds of news channels available, I am confronted with the embarrassing behavior of some Hilton-spears-lohan, etc.  I'll go one step further and say that most of these 'so-called' entertainers and entertaining people more as parodies and bad role models.  And yes this includes our esteemed athletes too.

In conclusion, media pollution is stealing from us.  It steals our time and our peace.  Everyday, the average person is bombarded by thousands of images that are damaging to one's self-image and self-esteem.  Further, by constantly being informed of news events doesn't increase our control over life, it just feeds neurosis and starves our spirit.  Fight for quiet--shut down, turn on the spirit, the heart and the brain and watch the spark of creativity flare again.