Valuable Values

There I was, writing a relatively mundane post when I started to get emotional. Really emotional. And little by little the post changed from a blog, to a speech, and finally to a rant. So… I scrapped it, and decided to go full rant. As per ush, this post will NOT be for everyone. Also, as per use (yep, I used them both, “ush” and “use” because Google said that either was ok. My eyes still say that neither one is), I really do not care.

We live in a world where you can be charged more harshly for breaking a law that only involves yourself than you could for an action taken against another person (certain laws, certain states, blah blah, you get the point). We live in a world where you can be unofficially turned away from a job that you are overqualified for based on you race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, and gender identification just the same as you can be hired for a job which you are unqualified for because of those same titles.

We live in a world where we are more concerned with wages than we are with the cost of living. We live in a world where we are unwilling to payback what we owe let alone pay it forward. We live in a world where “change”, “help”, “respect”, “love”, (and many many others) are nouns instead of verbs. We live in a world where you are valued more for what you have done than what you will do. Think about it. Let it sink in. And let it marinade

We live in a world (are you sick of hearing that saying yet? Tough cookies) where you are idolized more for what you have done for yourself than what you have done for others. Hmm… Name an A-List celebrity that does not volunteer their time and/or donate to charities. Don’t worry, I’ll wait.

It’s hard, I know. But now, name an A-List celebrity who is famous for volunteering and/or donating. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to take anything away from those that became famous and decided to give back. But where are the philanthropist magazine covers, news stories, paparazzi, tabloids, and red carpets?

If you were to tell me about a close friend of yours, how would you describe them? And what order would you list their traits? How long would it take before you told me about what they do for a living? How about their education? Race? Hobbies? How you met? Gender? Sexual orientation? Height? Weight? I could go on. How important are these things to you really? Are the “important” things the first ones that come out of your mouth?

Now the last random piece to this rant… I don’t know why this just popped in my head, but a conversation that a friend of mine and I had a while back is nagging at me. We were talking about abortion. Hold on to your seats, I’m actually going to take a stance on a polarizing issue, here it comes. We have the same view, but still ended up in a semi heated discussion about it.

My stance is that although I have an opinion on abortion, I do not believe that men should have a vote. We live in a world (you didn’t think that I was actually done with using this line, did you!?) where everyone wants their opinions to be heard. We need to learn to just sit back, shut up, and deal. Sorry, fell back into the rant, back to the story. At first, my friend disagreed, and said that it affects everyone. Which is true. However, just because it effects you does not mean that you are qualified to make a decision on it. If I got my imaginary girlfriend, fiance, wife, one night stand, or whatever pregnant and she wanted to have an abortion but I didn’t what right do I have then? I could probably take her to court… What then?

What rights should I have? Am I legally able to make her go through the pregnancy, give birth, and sign away her parental rights to me? Should I be? Would it be morally right for me to talk her into doing this? Should it be? It may effect me, but that does not give me power or control over the situation, nor should it. So, whether you like it or not, it’s not a men’s issue. I just realized that I didn’t actually tell you my stance on that polarizing issue… And conveniently, I’ve also just realized that I have gone way over my word count limit.

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Until next time, take care of yourselves, and each other.

P.S. Ok, full disclosure, there aren’t a whole lot of opportunities for a picture like this in my blog. So, why not add it to a rant? The crazy hair is fitting, no? Alright, the short story is that some of the guys convinced me to try to grow a flat top during my second tour. I spent the majority of that tour away from a barber. I didn’t trust anyone around to cut it for me and whenever I had the chance to see a barber they didn’t know how to do a flat top. So… THIS is the hair that I came home with. Never again!

P.P.S. Did you assume my friends’ gender? Which one, and why?

P.S.S. So the Birds just became NFC Champs! And this is what I put out? I really didn’t think about this when I wrote/scheduled this post. Mistakes were made, I’ll make it up to you guys.