American Politics

A work associate of mines and myself, recently got into a heated argument over the coming-of-age question(s) over whether or not should America really be supporting the war(conflict)? and was going to war the best decision that President Bush made at the time?
My associate argued that the war was unnecessary because diminishes how the world views America and builds upon the negative stereotypes. Instead of the "Great Superpower" nation that helps people we are seen as a tyrant that bully others in order to get their way. This person also supported Congress decision awhile back to cut the military spending in order to speed up the process of returning our troops home bound. In addition to that, this person believes that Bush should have not gone to war without consulting the American public. In this person's mind yeah, September 11th was a disaster and probably would be the most tragic event to ever come in their(or even my) life time but it could have been prevented if not circumvented so that it would have never come in to play.
*sigh* Okay look buddy, America has never really had the perfect heavenly god-like power reputation that you make us out to have. We have always been hated from the Boston Tea Party to the War on Terror(just two random event, do not slice my throat over proper dates and time) and there is little to nothing that we can do about it. If you do not believe me travel outside of the safety net of America, American Embassies and American Military Bases to see what people honestly think about us. The whole military spending I can literally write a novel about how I feel over the matter. Listen regardless if you are Conservative, Liberal, Moderate, White, Black, Green, Yellow, Brown, Female or Male when it comes down to the matter at hand it is not about the whether the war is right or wrong but it is about our troops and their safety. When you cut spending you are not really doing anything more than taking away much needed armor, weapons and other essentials needed to provide protection to our forces aboard. It is in a similar manner that if you and your spouse both have decent paying jobs. However, one day you two get into the argument over bills because they happen to be extremely high. So being enraged at the other party you go outside and slice the tires to their car. What does that solve? Now your spouse does not have any means of transportation to get to and from work which in turn means there could be only one source of income for the week or if you had to fix the tire that is just more money that is being wasted. Where is the logic? Stop being short-sighted, it is not how you feel it is about the war overseas. Every soldier is someones brother, sister, son, daughter, wife, husband, mother or father and you want to destroy someone's life because you are being childish? Okay let me stop and move onto the next topic before I get upset. . . Could September 11th have been avoid? Maybe, but here is the thing there is no way to be absolutely sure. Hey we might have been able to stop the planes from taking off, but if someone really wanted to do harm to America what makes you think they would have not tired something else? And who knows it could have been even more disastrous than September 11th. I believe in three separate things and both do hold some evidence: Should have Bush gone to war? Yes, he should have for the sheer reason because if he did not then we would have been crucified in office for being unpatriotic. Regardless of the future implications, it was the best move that was half thought out plan of attack. Secondly, the FBI and the CIA really "drop the ball" on this one. I love the government, however I do believe that we have to many waste agencies in that they all seem to being each others work. Yeah maybe you are in charge of controlling Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearm and Explosive, Mr. ATF however your job seems look a lot like the CIA, Coast Guard, or even the neighborhood police. Also these agencies are always trying to claim the gold for themselves so when the budget rolls around they can say they did something which in turn gives them more money. It is no longer about THE PEOPLE it is about MY PEOPLE(my agency.) Last thing I want to state before end close at the end of the day maybe just maybe this want the enemy ( I know that word is a fluid concept) wanted us to do. By playing on the short-sightness and poor planning of our government then were able to in turn make us look like the bad guys (even more so that usual) which also in turn weakened the American dollar.

Small Wonders

In the world today, we often think if we win the big war we win in life. Even though that can be true to an extent, the real thing that we overlook is the small battles and small victories that lead up to our success. You know, I was so excited that I received a B- on my first genetics test and received a probable A+ or B+ on my first Japanese test. ((In high school, I would have not accepted anything less than an A+ but now you can say I lowered my standards but in the grand scheme of things I go to Furman University which is probably the hardest college in the state of South Carolina and one of the best University in the Southeast of the United States where a C here is a B in most other colleges.)) I start to think to myself most people would overlook a B+ but for me this small victory means so much for me. Like I could do this(I have inattentive disorder and dsylexia) if I just pushed myself harder than I ever have before. In our society we demean the value of small victories, because they do not give us fame or satisfies us as much as winner the war. Small victories can make or destroy us as much as a big war could ever do to us.
Last year's Superbowl everyone praises the New York Giants for winning the Super Bowl can laugh at the New England Patriots for having a perfect record and blowing it at the end but nobody pays attention to the small victories that gave the Giants confidence to feel like they can do this or that all the small victories the Patriots had they became complacent with winning so they became overly relaxed.
Or how about Bill Gates, he is world renowned as the one that created Microsoft but everyone overlooks the small victories he had. The completion of the first line of his program, the success of Windows 1.0 and 2.0, the success of Windows XP, all these small victories made him want to continue and pull forward.
Or how about Stephen Hawkins who is known for his contributions to the fields of cosmology and quantum gravity, from his first experience with math, to the first time he was able to use a computer to speak all these small victories has allowed him to be great.
I ask everyone to take the time out of your day to think about all your small victories that either help or hindered you in life and think about how little you have looked at these things that have made you who you are in life.
I want everyone who reads this to take the time out of you busy day.

They ask me why I try so hard? I looked them in straight in their face and said "For the sheer reason that I am scared of last place."

Since this year as started(and the majority of my life) people have always been wondering as to why I try so hard in whatever it is I am doing. My answer to those who ask question is like that has remained the same that is "I am scared of last place." Unlike most people, I always tried twice as hard just to learn the simplest of things. Last year, I was diagnosed with dsylexia and inattentive disorder(tentatively). However the dsylexia diagnosis is right on the money.
My girlfriend of five years asked me the other day "For as long as I have known you, you have always broken your neck trying to be the best at something and if you could not do it you always placed top. What is the point? At the end of the day, when all is said and done what do you have to show for it?" This comes from the fact that I have dedicated my blood, sweat, tears and life to my major(biology with a pre-medical focus and Japanese when they make that a major) spending long night and sleepless nights and days trying to make sure that I understand what is being taught in class. I cannot sit in one session and absorb material like others, for every hour one person spends studying I have to study two hours. Getting back on topic with all these hours I have not really spent much time talking to her on the phone, so this is for me to say I am truly sorry. I could have easily just given up on everything and go lie in a ditch somewhere, but I could not do that. I do this not for myself but I do this for my family future and current, for those who need a hero, for every child who sees drug dealers as a superstars of their neighborhood(to let them know you can do something other than sell drugs to be successful.) After the whole fiasco (did not know I was dsylexia thus did not know how to properly handle it) that plagued last year, that almost lead me to drop out of college and return home for good, most people thought I would give up the medical career. The funny thing is I have not, and I am not off schedule towards my pre-medical school track at all. I want to be a doctor not for money or fame, I do it because I love people despite my negative outlook on most corporations and inhumane human beings, but I do it because I feel it right here in my heart ((points to heart)) As they say "Respect and success is all in the heart so that is where we will start." I graduated high school in the top ten percentile of my gradating class so I can handle the workload but now I know how to better handle my handicap. Since my girlfriend does not understand the plight I have to go through, I just pray that she is supportive.

Freaking Useless People Organization( I am BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACCCCCCCCCCCK!!!!!!!!!!)

This week has been the first face to face encounter with the Furman University Police Officers also known as FUPO around campus. I also realized that FUPO stands for “Freaking Useless People Organization” except I would use another word besides “freaking.” I am dyslexic and have been written and documented to have what is known as Inattentive Disorder, so according the a clinical psychologist I have dealt with over the summer it would make sense that I would take classes in the morning and spend my afternoons studying, thus is the reason why I purposely scheduled all my classes before one-thirty in the afternoon. In addition to scheduled morning classes, I am required to volunteer through The Campbell Scholars Program ( a program/scholarship funded through Furman University) which I also decided to schedule in the morning because I wanted the afternoon in order to study more. So allow doing the math of “If two different things coincide during the morning time slots there has to be a little or no break in between the ending and starting times of two things.” If you think that then you are correct my friend. So as soon as I end my volunteer time, I have just about ten to twenty minutes to come back to campus and prepare for my first class of the day. Upon coming back to class for the first two weeks of school, I park in Lot C across from my first class of the day. Usually I am out of the parking lot one-thirty but this particular Monday I had a classroom study session for my first genetics exam (which I received a B on) that started at two. So I did not have time to return to my car to North Village (the name of the complex I live in on campus.) Nevertheless, officer number twenty-one decided to ticket me for improper zoning. So I go to complain, the office attendant responded to my request is that you have to go the proper channels. Fine, I respect that. Then I spoke with one of the officers who were basically told me I had no grounds, I was stupid for trying to take the law into own hands, I should have read my packet and that I should pay the ticket before I get a boot on my car or something to that nature. So I went home and got online and tried to find the laws of Furman University, funny thing was that paper that I was suppose to have received I did not receive from Furman upon receiving my car-tag. Nevertheless I went online and it confirmed what I believed in. Lot C is designed for commuters, faculty and staff E permits, visitors, guest, P.A.C members and program participants. Program participants and commuters, hey wait, I fall into those two categories because Campbell Scholars is a program funded by Furman and the only reason I park there is because of Furman. Also the commuters root word is commute and the act of commute is called commuting so a commuter is someone who is commuting and the definition of commuting is defined by the follow as to travel back and forth regularly (Merriam-Webster), an act or instance of commuting, especially the trip made by a commuter (American Heritage), commuting is the process of travelling between one's place of residence and regular place of work (Wikipedia.) So by definition, I fall in both categories and should be in the clear zone. Wrong. “Apparently Lot C is enforced twenty-four hours of the day, and designed for Commuters, faculty and staff E permits, visitors, guest, P.A.C members and program participants. Which means that being a commuter, I am able to use that spot because I travel to and from campus to do a job that was assigned to me by the school. Also I am a program participant in a way because Campbell Scholars is a program that is ran by Furman University and I am participating in it. Regardless that I fall into those two categories I was still ticketed, so if I was a visitors, guest, or a P.A.C member would I have still been ticketed (apparently on the back of a ticket it states that one should go to the Furman University Police Office to have a ticket removed, despite that method no one really gave me a direct it was all a system of run around answers.”(Excerpt from my letter to the head of the Furman Police.) After obtaining said information, I waited till the next day and allow my frustration to be heard by my friends (whom the majority are pacifists) and they were basically like just pay the ticket and stop parking there. What I told them is I will pay the ticket but I want answers and not this humming and looking to the sky like the answer is suppose to magically fall from there. As if God- Almighty would shine down a light that would give them the tools to be rid of me once and for all. I do not play when it comes to dealing with me, when I was little the teacher used to say “Donny, go outside because it is recess time” I told her “ No, because I do not play” and almost eleven years later I still do not play. So the following day, I went back to the office with all my documentation (rules, my class schedule, conversations held between me and the director of where I work stating that I go to work on the following times that I stated, conversations between the director and myself stating that I am a Campbell Scholar and documentation stating that Campbell Scholar is a Furman Program. The desk clerk of the day told me that she had no answer and that her boss was swamped with work and had left to go take a breather and does not know what time she would return. So instead of leaving, I sat down in a nearby chair and waited until her boss came in much to the clerk’s chagrin. Her boss, came in and did not want to talk to me after I flashed that I had documentation in my hand. She basically told me there was nothing she could do and that I should go talk to someone else. Which lead me to turn to the clerk and say who should I speak to first, the President of Furman University David Shi or is there someone here who knows what they are doing? This led me to write a letter to Bob Miller who is head of the Furman Police ending the letter in “Also, online it states that there is a way to get a special parking pass, if need be to stop me from coming to you every time something like this should if it possible to get a pass from you? Also if need be, I would be more than likely to send you any paperwork that verifies my Campbell Scholar membership, my John I Smith Learning Center hours, Portable Data Files in which I found information about parking. All that I am asking for is a direct answer from somebody in your branch that knows something.” Three days later, I get a reply from Mr. Miller saying that “The issues, as you stated, are complex. . .” and that “. . . I will be in the office until 5:30 pm today. . .” so at three that same afternoon, I made my way down there to go see Mr. Miller to discuss things. The first time, I was turned away due to him being busy. I understand that much, so I returned forty-five minutes later. As soon as the desk clerk saw me for the second time he ran to the backroom to do whatever it is that they have been doing for the past five days(Yes, this issue took a week to resolve.) So I sat down and was waved to the back after ten minutes. During my talk with Bob Miller and I was very impressed by him and we resolved my problem by getting me a permanent temporary tag for the time of my classes and later voiding my ticket. This issue raised my respect for the Furman Police. If respect was a number let just say that FUPO would have an impressive batting average. Bob Miller instead gets my whole-hearted thank you because he seems to be the only one really doing anything and has the answer. So I hate FUPO but love him kind of how people hate Congress because they are ineffective but love their Congressperson.

Gomen

今晩は　みなさん　ごめん。　今週に　私は　書きませんでした。 ((Good evening everyone, I want to apologize because I have not wrote anything this week.))


I would normally take the time to complain however, most of my energy is going into the ongoing saga that I have with the Furman Police so until that issue is totally resolved my post will be pretty light. Do not worry it is over a ticket that they gave me when I was clearly in the right and no, it was not for speeding.

They sit right next to Peter Pan.

Today, a friend of mines and I got into a heated debate over the fact that he does not wish to grow up and take responsible for his life and do something about it. The background to the storyline is for the past two weeks leading up to his birthday he has been incredibly mopey and very ill-mannered but I was unable to figure out the exact reason as to why he was that way until today the day of his nineteenth birthday. Nevertheless, he raises the question that he wishes that he was in Never Never Land with Peter Pan because he does not want to grow old and that he wishes that he was young and have nothing but naivety because in his mind "ignorance is bliss." First of all there is nothing wrong whatsoever about aging, the American culture puts such a negative spin on the issue of growing old that it's denizens dislike the thought and will try to prolong aging as much as possible through methods such as Botox, older women with breast implants, etc. In other countries those who are older than the average age of the current population are normally held in such a high regard because of their age and maturity level they are also loved for their wisdom. Whereas in American, we rather put our old people in a home as soon as possible regardless if they are able-bodied and of sound mind. Old people are viewed as mental slow, physically slow, very forgetful and/or crippled. However, most of these problems derived not really from the fact that they are getting old but from the fact that we as Americans do not really take care of ourselves when compared to that of other countries so with that poor health it then becomes issues for us when we age but that is another story in its entirety. Getting off the subject of the negative spin, he wishes to go to Never Never Land because he does not want to take responsibility for anything that happens in his life. Which is another problem that occurs all to often in today's society. He is nineteen, with no job, no girlfriend, took basic classes in high school, did sports only because his younger sister is the athletic one(and current has one of the highest grade point averages in her class), did not go to college, did not go to a technical college, did not go into the military (his father is a Marine), does not have a car, does not have a license nor a permit, lives with his parents(who want him out the house.) Somewhere along the way you have to understand that you have to stop sucking on the baby bottle and step up to become somebody worth something or at least start to make an effort to change your life in some fashion. Like I said earlier this happens way to often in today's society, "Working is so hard, so I am going to apply for Welfare or have children so the government will take care of me." Seriously, I understand that there are legit people on Welfare however for every legit person on Welfare there exist four to five who should not be there. I was so glad when they put a limit on Welfare(once again another topic.) The reason, I go to Furman University is because I understand that in order to become a doctor and help people, I have to take responsibility, it is one thing fold but to step away from the table altogether is something totally different. Lastly, I as I try to hurry up and round of this rant he stated that "ignorance is bliss" is such a ridiculous statement because it ignorance is not bliss, it is dangerous. Two countries go to war because they believe that the another country is ignorant so they must be wipe from the face of the planet. Innocent women, children and men are dead because one country calls the other one ignorant but in all actuality they are both ignorant because diplomacy should be used. So can you tell the survivors of the war that ignorance is bliss? An ignorant man(or women) goes out and rapes little boys and girls at the local middle and elementary school and you honest can sit there and tell them that that ignorance is bliss? Timothy McVeigh blows up a federal building that results in twenty people confirmed dead, six of those dead included children, and with over a hundred more injured. It is okay because ignorance is bliss, your son, daughter, wife, husband, mother, father and grandparents are dead because ignorance is bliss. Are you really willing to tell those people that? My friend, please start taking responsibility for you life and do something with it. You know who you are.