Middle East: Middling Uneasy

I find what is happening now in the Middle East Area absolutely fascinating. No, unlike many pundits and commentators, I do not expect anything truly grand to come of it besides replacing one totalitarian ruler with another. Nor do I expect some new grand threat to the US to arise from it besides an increase in oil prices. Which I think is a good thing since it will finally force us to start using new technologies or find a way to use old tech more efficiently. No I find the whole Middle East Uprising so darned interesting because it so clearly embodies one of humanities greatest character flaws.
To further expand on this, let me ask this question of my readers. What has changed in the Middle East to inspire so many ordinary people to rise up and protest, potentially over throwing regimes that have been in place for decades? The answer is, quite simply, nothing. Except for minor changes in the area that pretty much no one except a historian or global economist might have noticed, Libya, Bahrain and so many others are exactly the same now as 30 years ago. So why have so many people suddenly decided to rise up against their rulers and demand freedom?
Quite simply it is because one person/group did it first. Protesters, unhappy with their way of life in Egypt managed to force through relatively non-violent actions their ruler of 30 years to step down. Not to go all Biblical on you guys, but this was a "sign from above" to all of the other masses of people spread out across the Middle East that it was possible. So after decades of quietly living with their suffering and fear without so much as a peep, these groups of people followed the lead of Egypt and began demanding the freedoms and rights that they deserve.
People, as a whole, are too fearful and lazy to try and bring about change themselves. They want to wait until "someone" else does it for them. History is full of examples ranging from The Exodus where the Hebrew people suffered for generations while waiting for Moses to come along to WWII where most countries felt that "something should be done about Hitler" but most including America in the beginning felt that someone else should do it.
Revolution is almost always the work of one man or a small group of men. The Communist Revolution in Russia wouldn't have happened without Lenin leading the way. Our own American Revolution came about because a small group of individuals decided it was time. (At the time of the American Revolution most colonists were quite content with England's rule. They merely wanted the same rights as all of members of the Empire.)
So here we have a massive front of revolution sweeping across the Middle East where thousands of men and women are rushing into the streets demanding rights and freedoms that should have been theirs at birth. I am no expert on these situations so I have no real idea what is going to happen, but whatever does happen will be because one small group started it all.
Always remember, "We must always be willing to fight for our freedom or the freedoms we have will mean nothing."

bonds strong than steel

Okay this one may seem a little off my usual rant and maybe it is, but hey it is my blog so I can do what I want to. Nah!
How many friends do you have? Most people would probably list a dozen or so people they consider friends when you first ask that question. Now, let us refine that question a bit. How many friends do you have that you can depend on no matte what? How many friends do you have that you would kill for? How many friends do you have that if you called them in the middle of the night and said you just shot someone breaking into your house would simply drive up and help you hide the body? In short (too late) how many friends do you really have?
When I was growing up, I was the odd one in a family of "normal" people. I loved to read, write and be creative. I didn't dream of growing up to hold down a "good steady" job and raise a dozen kids. (Well maybe the kids part) I dreamed of being an author. I dreamed of crafting worlds where people could lose themselves in adventures. Needless to say this kind of put me apart from my blue collar family members and kept me from having a lot of childhood friends. Had a few and they were awesome, but not a lot of them.
When I hit High School, I had lots of "friends." Hells, I played Football and was in the Marching Band so I had lots of them. (And if you don't think half time shows were a pain, you aren't very imaginative.) Still, most of these "friends" were not what I described in the first paragraph. Sure we had good times, but only one or two would have been there in a pinch. (Mark, Brian, Tony and Jeff God Bless you)
College was a major event for me. I would go on to become the first member of my immediate family to ever graduate from College. (My Brother and Sister tried and didn't make it because of monetary reasons not because of lack of dedication and intelligence.) I made tons of buddies and discovered the world outside of my tiny hometown of Goshen. (Pop. 545 at the time I left, now even smaller) College was an amazing time.
Decades later, I can still remember most of the buddies I hung out with and I have come to realize that we were just that, buddies. I really don't miss most of them and prolly wouldn't connect with them very well if we did somehow meet again. They were a wonderful part of my college years but have since faded. This is not a bad thing, it is actually kind of normal.
But thanks to Facebook, I have reconnected with three people that truly fit the category of Friends! It has been at least 20+ years since we have had any sort of conversation, but we have picked up right where we left off. We still think alike, still believe in the same things and still understand each other. It is like the decades of seperation never existed.
One of these friends lives all the way across the country and two live right next door (Statewise), but I know to the core of my being that if I called one of them up and said, "I am in trouble!" they would drop what they are doing and find some way to help me. Hells one of them even offered to loan me a gun till I can afford to buy one. Now that is friendship.
I guess how this all ties into the general gist of this blog is that these three friends (And if God is willing) a couple of more if I can find them are like me. They are outspoken and unafraid to tell people exactly what they think. Hells, one of them has spent his entire life writing pieces exactly about that. (GO BENJY!) My attitude about always saying how you feel and trying to make things better has alienated a lot of people. It has chased off a bunch of people who might have been my "friends." But it has also forged friendships that are stronger than steel and tighter than blood. Because of this, I think I have come out ahead.
So in closing, let me ask you again. How many Friends do you have?

Where is the outrage? Where is the anger? Where are the angry mobs?

Sgt. James Hurley has had the unthinkable happen to him. While he was away serving his country, the bank came in foreclosed on his home and property because he had fallen behind on his payments due to the reduced income he receives while serving. The bank did this despite a law intended to protect active military personnel. Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA)which was modified from a previous Act protecting soldiers and sailors, protects active duty warriors both full time and reserve from foreclosure (among other things) during the time that they are serving in times of war.
"When the sergeant returned in December 2005, he drove past the densely wooded riverfront property outside Hartford, Mich. The peaceful little home was still there — winter birds still darted over the gazebo he had built near the water’s edge — but it almost certainly would never be his again. Less than two months before his return from the war, the bank’s agents sold the property to a buyer in Chicago for $76,000."
Now if that one quote doesn't break your heart nothing will. Now this travesty of justice would be bad enough if it was an isolated incident where one lone bank was snubbing its nose at the sacrifices made by our service men and women, but its not. Here's another quote from the article.
"By 2006, a Marine captain in South Carolina was doing battle with JPMorgan Chase to get the mortgage interest rate reductions the act requires. Chase eventually reviewed its policies and, earlier this month, acknowledged it had overcharged thousands of military families on their mortgages and improperly foreclosed on 14 of them. Before a public apology, Chase began mailing out about $2 million in refunds and working to reverse the foreclosures."
Improperly foreclosed on 14 and overcharged on 1000s. Essentially cheating the very people we depend on to fight for the freedoms we all enjoy. Studies show that people are becoming more and more reluctant to serve in our military and with this horror, I can't blame them. Why aren't out institutions doing more to protect the people that protect us?
You are probably wondering how all of this ties into my general Blog theme. Sure the news is horrible, but how does it connect to being an Ass? Simple, oh devoted readers.
We, as a people, just don't get honked off to much anymore and if we do, it's usually about something personal. We read these horror stories (maybe if we can find time past reading the sports section and the comics) and think "what a shame." Most people won't give it more than a second thought. Some good people might wish these people well, but that's about it.
Like the title of this post says, Where is the outrage? Where are the angry mobs? There was a time that we as an American people would have risen up in righteous wrath (Hey I like that) if we had heard of crimes like this. American Revolution, Civil War (Sure the causes in that one were not the most noble, but boy did both sides rise up.), WWII after Pearl Harbor are all excellent examples of what we can do when we feel injustice is being done.
Sure they are the extremes and I am not recommending staging an armed revolt against the big banks (or am I? Hmm), but why aren't we doing more? Where is the public outcry? Where are the powerful lawyers who represent powerful celebrities on drugs at the drop of a hat? Where are the petitions and protests that we have so often seen in the past? Why are we as a people just sitting on our collective butts without giving a damn?
The great Douglas Adams, brilliant comedic author of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, one described a phenomena he called an S.E.P. or Someone Else's Problem. Coined as an answer to the impossibility of invisibility, SEP's were effects placed on things that made the object so improbable that people ignored it because it was "someone else's problem." With this effect you could put a bull elephant in the mens toilet at Grand Central Station, slap an SEP on it and no one would notice because, well an elephant there is impossible and if it is there it is...
The whole world, not just the USA, is suffering under massive amounts of SEPs. We read horror stories in the paper and online, but it kind of rolls off us because it is "their" problem, not our "problem" Sure the crimes being committed against other Americans like Sgt. Hurley are horrible, but it is a problem to be solved by someone else.
Well, I have news for the millions of people out there walking blithely past the elephant. Everyone is "the other people" to someone. The day may come (given today's economy and crooked government probably sooner than later) when you are suddenly the one being screwed over. When that day comes (When not if), unless we change on a fundamental level as a people, you will suddenly become an SEP.
One reader noticed that I quote and mention my father a lot and I do. Johnny Rayford McLeod never finished school beyond the 6th grade. He never went to college or received any specialized training. Besides serving in the Pacific during WWI, he probably never traveled more than 300 miles way from our home town in his entire life, but he was also one of the wisest men I ever knew. We didn't always agree on everything, but I can promise you that my father and the men of his generation would have read that article about Sgt. Hurley and have mustered up for battle. All of these big banks would have found themselves surrounded by a whole bunch of angry Rednecks demanding something be done.
Like I said earlier, I am not recommending armed attacks or destructive mobs. Just take a moment and read the article. Pass it on to others and bring it to their attention. Write your Congressman or Senator whether you live in Sgt. Hurley's state or not. Hells, write the president. One letter, one petition might get ignored, but I promise you that if millions of people start writing, whinging and complaining out loud about these travesties of justice, someone will take notice.
Right or wrong and whether you agree with the attitudes or not, the recent elections prove that when enough Americans get angry about something than things change. I personally find much of the Tea Party Rhetoric unrealistic and mildly annoying, but this powerful grass roots movement is forcing some fundamental changes in our government. (We have Republicans honestly trying to cut the budget and talking about cutting Military spending. My God look for six other signs.)
Fire up some of that anger, that outrage against the crimes being committed against all of us. Don't just meekly sit there and assume someone else will fix the problem. It won't be easy, but in the words of my Father, "Bobby, if doing the right thing was easy, everyone would do it." These people fight for us everyday. Isn't it time we fight for them? God Bless America!
For those of you who are interested, the actual article I am talking about is here. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/27/business/27foreclose.htm

Say what you mean, mean what you say...

Well, yesterday I published my first blog hoping it would spark people to think and provoke meaningful conversation. Well it sparked one person to think and definitely provoked some conversation. Whether it is actually meaningful is up for debate. Never got hate “mail” before so it is a new experience for me.
This person, who choose remain anonymous, informed me that my attitude was rude and disrespectful towards others. He/she even went on to imply that it is beliefs like mine that cause people to go on killing sprees. Apparently dissatisfaction with service and complaining about it can be very unhealthy for other peoples' health.
Even though I tend to ignore stupidity since that only encourages it, I feel the need to answer to this one person just on the off chance that other people are misunderstanding what I mean. So here we go. Everyone ready because this might get a little bumpy.
Let's address the “rude” accusation first. My father, God rest his soul, was old school when it came to manners. He held doors open for ladies and he always tipped his hat to them. He taught all of us kids from day one to always be polite even when others aren't. I can never remember my father raising his voice to anyone more than 10 times in my entire life. (Heck probably half of those times were aimed at me.) My father pounded into us that manners matter.
Most of that stuck with me. I greet people when I pass them on the street. I shake hands and meet a person's eyes when I see them. I try to hold doors open for the ladies, but hey you guys are getting a lot faster than me and usually get there before me. In other words, I try and do like my father taught me all those years ago. I don't always succeed but I do try.
Demanding good service and complaining when the service is bad isn't about being rude. It is about getting what you deserve. It is about holding the people who provide our services accountable for the mistakes they made. It is about getting back in the truck and driving back to Wendy's when they put onions and pickles on your burger and not simply scraping it off. Unless the service people are being complete and utter jerks about it, this should always be done with civility. 9 times out of 10, the mistake was an honest one and is easily fixed.
Besides being bad manners, Rudeness and Anger are, more often than not, counter productive in this situations. You start yelling and screaming at the Manager/Server and they start getting defensive. They start justifying to themselves that what has happened isn't their fault and is in fact your fault. Any creature will fight when backed into a corner. However, when you approach even the most timid and frightened animal calmly while speaking reassuringly they will react well.
The S.I.O.T.B.A.A. Movement isn't about being rude or belligerent even though the situation may call for it occasionally. Remember that the world is a dangerous and violent place that could use all the politeness it can get.
Which neatly segues us into the second of Anonymous' complaints. He/she claims that complaining when things are bad and trying to fix them is what leads people to pick up guns and go on killing sprees. In this person's odd little world (Wonder what color the sky is), standing up for your rights leads to everything from fist fights to road rage. Anon feels that if we all just keep quiet and not get noticed, the world will be a better place.