Babies

Babies has become a curse word in my lexicon.
Every time I hear it I still think of how innocent and cute they are, but I also remember how annoying and ugly their parents are. Babies are great, but everything that comes with it isn't. Young girls--12, 14 year olds--are inclined to think that they HAVE to have babies. If they're smart enough to keep their legs crossed until they're in their mid twenties, their thoughts shift to: "I gotta get married and start making babies!" Then, if they can keep their finger unbanded, they get to just the right age/maturity level and they think: "I hate babies, I don't want anything to do with babies, how could I raise a child in this cruel world?" And they forget about having babies or they  rebel the thought of it.

We can't have a society full of babies. The younger people are when they get married (Let's take West Virginia for example), the younger in maturity and therefore the more stupid the population gets. They don't have sufficient 'old age' in their midst to help them make decisions when they're young, and they go off track, off the deep end. --when I was little, I was raised by my grandmother more than my mother. She was wise. She taught me the basis of everything else I know simply because she taught me it first. I'm not sure what would have happened if my mother tried to teach me--she didn't have the experience--life experience--to teach me what grandmother did.
Now let's take Utah for example. I've lived in both places so I'm aware of the similarities and differences. In Utah, some girls get married at 18 (the "legal" age). These girls are usually the ones whose parents encourage marriage at such a young age (I.e. the poor, or those whose parents did it too, etc etc. ). So they get married and they think they've gotta have a baby. They pop out a baby at 19 20...21...22...23...24...25. and their grandparents have to raise them because they're too busy trying to pay the bills. If they're in college, and they have a baby, same thing only worse. Sure, you're getting an education, sure you're making the child's future "better". But in actually, you're just too immature to think about that child's future. By the time that child is your age, do you want them to go through the same things you have, or do you want them to go through an improved life?
I personally want improvement. I want my kids to have MORE opportunities than I have had--and I've had a lot, so it's gonna be hard. But I will have to work hard to do it--as I expect my kids to.

My point is, don't let babies be your motivation.
My motivation isn't to improve their lives, so much as it is to establish myself in the world. I run on the old adage they teach on airplanes: before you put your neighbors gas mask on, put your own on. Once I am on my way to accomplishing my own goals--once I've "established" myself in life...then, I'll take an interest in bringing someone else in the world.
The thing is, I'm still fighting to get over the things my parents didn't do for me.
My parents didn't get a college education. Sure, they made money, my dad gained connections and became quite successful. But neither of them had MAJOR ambitions. My dad's biggest dream was (I haven't asked him, so I'm just assuming things) to own a ranch, horses, cows, and be able to ride horses every day after work. He's got that. He seems pretty happy with it. But if you step outside of good old Slaterville, UT--where he is known and "big" (it's a very small town), that's the extent of his political sphere.
Me, I want to make an impact on mankind. But to do that--to look like anything significant in life, I need to get a piece of paper that says some big university will vouch for me. I need to create something of worth that the masses value and will vouch for me because of it. I need to accomplish some significant feat.

Right now, I can't really do any of those things. I have a hard enough time holding and getting a job because of school. It would be easier if my father or mother had gotten an education, made some close intellectual ties--had done anything. I'm very grateful for what they have done, but I was born a generation too early and am forced to do the things that the next generation will appreciate. I'm starting to see that before I can venture out of my charitable life (I've tried, don't think I haven't--I've been fairly vicarious for a person my age [whatever age you look at, it's been a little more vicarious than average--I'd say B or B+] ) Before I can  REALLY help mankind, before I can help my family--or start a family for that matter. Before I can make friends with people and present my skills before the world and my country. Before I can REALLY do those things, instead of half do them, as I am now...I will need to overcome my first real obstacle in life: surpass my parents in the basic fields.
Then, once I have surpassed my parents (with my education, with the kind of job I get, or etc. ) Once I have made the bare minimum of what they have done, then I can begin my campaign.
And by campaign I mean: get a family, find close friends, start accomplishing things.

--I know that sounds "futurist" (thinking too much for the future) but it isn't. The end is in sight. I'm still a young man and I have a plan. and part of that plan is to not regret my past decisions. If I get old and am not married, haven't done anything spectacular, don't have any close friends, that will not be okay, but the window of opportunity isn't even open right now. I need to get closer to it and open a few locks before the opportunity arises. There is no point in just jumping out the window and breaking glass!

Babies. Such a curse word. Don't speak to me about babies unless you want to be judged as either looking for sex, looking to get married--too early, or you're just completely dumb as rocks. Babies aren't a good thing unless you're over 25 and established in life.

The 99

Matt 7:12
There are more "just" and "good" causes than just when someone is sick. People need help all of the time, even though some of it might not be obvious.

These days there are those who are misguided and believe that the 1% of society who own everything ought to share their wealth with the rest of us. The root of the matter is that these "99" are hurt. They are hurt by a system that has allowed them to make foolish decisions. They are hurt by their own actions, and they know they are going to face hard times. Nations rise and fall depending on how fervant their citizens are. How unified they are. Wars are won when the front lines and the
home front are so unified in the cause that they simply cannot fail. The 99 aren't 99 at all, they are the 1. They're the 1% of society that have hurt themselves from poor choices. And they want so badly to get out, but they can't--and we can't save them. it is something they will have to face alone. but we CAN help them.

If our country is to succeed in these recessed times--if we are to get out of our recession, we need to band together as a country. We need to stand, shoulder to shoulder, with our fellow countrymen.

WE can fulfill their needs. That 1% of society, they hurt so bad that they are willing to vocalize it.-- there are many more individuals who are hurt. what these people need is someone to acknowledge them. What these people need is someone to give them a chance. Just one chance.

We the 99 need to be more unified. We need to provide these poor souls emotional support. Give them some slack, have pity on them. Sympathize with them. if that is all we can do, let us be unified as a country in our sympathy for those who have less than we do.

God's Disconnection

I think the biggest disconnection people have with God and life is that they don't understand that we are given trials for a reason: some are reactions to our own actions and will teach us not to do those things or to come closer to God for assistance, others are of no control on our part and also are meant to bring us closer to God. Not only that, they try us and make us stronger people.

The central observation I want to argue in this article is that no one has an excuse for any of life's handicaps. Whether a person is forced to live in a wheel chair or they struggle with a long line of family depression, those aren't excuses. Excuses are the thoughts we use to get out of achieving success. The truth of the matter is: if you are meant to have family depression, or if God sees fit to put you into a wheelchair, you're there for a reason. Using those things as an excuse to govern your life will get you  no where--God knows what he's doing and if you'll just turn your attention to him he'll let you see why he let those things happen to you.

Essentially, there are no excuses. Excuses are weaknesses that we need to make into strengths; and they are often the thing I focus on improving and getting out of for the week-month-year.

In my case, I sometimes use excuses to get out of having conflicts with people who probably aren't good for me anyway and I say things like "oh, I don't have time for a you to visit today" or "I would like to but I have to do ... sorry". If I'd just tell the person that I didn't want to talk to them or visit with them, or waste my time with them, then I'd probably be better off. I'm working on it...I'm working on a way to tell people that I have other preoccupations that are more interesting to me at the present time. --My communication is my weakness. I don't know how to tell people in a direct manner that I NEED to do things but that I don't want them to be offended. I do care about people, it's just that I'm a prioritizer and sometimes fulfilling other peoples' needs is less important to me than fulfilling my needs. --let's not even get into wants! I want a lot of things but the only times I get what I want are when what I want is what I need. I've found that that works out great: just want what you need and nothing more and then all you get in life is what you need plus a little extra to be thankful for.

Friends on a Lease

I nearly started this article the same way I usually start an article: "I was thinking lately..etc".  That's just poor writing really. It would be better if I just said: "today's topic is..."

Whatever.

Today's topic is rhetoric and friends. Is it ethical to use rhetoric to control your friends? to lead your friends along? Is it worth it? Should you use rhetoric to change your friends?

I would say yes. to all of these. It's an odd topic, but hear me out:
People are changing all of the time. They may not realize it because their personality stays the same--they approach problems the same way even though they've come to realizations and they've acted and "changed". Personality stays the same. That's what I like about friends--their personalities. --well, I also like their flaws and strengths, but that's another story. (flaws and strengths change but personalities do not)

In any case, if you are changing all the time, why not change in the direction that -I- want you to? Why not do what I say instead of someone else? Remember: rhetoric is only half of the equation (unless you're manipulating people by using fallacies). You still have to 'convince' them and it's a huge democratic process (see Socrates). So why not apply your own influence on someone you're interested in rather than let other people?

Friends come and go. What I mean is: you go through phases with friends where they're top -of -mind, then they fade out for a while as you focus on other friends, then you return to your friends. --People change through their who life, so of course when you return to them you can't expect them to say the exact same when you return. So if you're fine with keeping your friends for life, why not be fine with changing them for life as well?

That leads me into a subject I would like to explore in the future: what is the bond that connects friends, relationships, etc? --because of the fact that you CAN leave and return to people who are different, what is it that prompts us to think: "They upset me, but they're my friend" "they changed, but they're still my friend" "things are different, but I still love him/her." What is that? Is it love? --Love is caring for someone's well being, so it could be that. Is it lust?--think you're gonna get lucky? what about people of the same sex or those who you aren't attracted to?--that's not lust. Is is the desire to make failed things work? --Things didn't work the first time, you separated after all, do you want to make them work again? Or is it as though you're meeting someone new?--not likely. More likely you're meeting someone new...who you are already familiar with their personality so it's easier. Is that it?


--I'm getting notorious for blowing micro examples into macro examples sooooooo:

What about people who, as spirits, knew and had many friends? --I believe I was a spirit before I was born, and that I had a [limited] life as a spirit, (think like a toddler or baby) and I knew other spirits.
So what if I could somehow remember people I was 'friends' with before I was born? Are there connections I could make in this life with people I knew back before passing through the veil (when your spirit and body are joined together, you go through a veil where you forget your existence with God and other spirits, that way you can learn and grow and be tested in this life to see if you'll follow God---if it's part of your personality/if you can make it part of your personality and behavior and if you can obtain mastery over your body and bodily lusts/desires, or something like that.)

I think it would make sense that every now and again we remember our previous life. People do it all the time. I do it sometimes where I feel "connected" to someone that I've never met before. And I can't explain it. So this is me attempting to explain it.

And with that, when I think that (another micro level again), I feel like its okay for me to put myself out there--put my point of view, my take, my opinion out there and try to convince them to come closer to what I want (and again...they have to the option to use their rhetoric to change me, to deny my advances, etc etc.)

Respect is key in Rhetoric. Remember that--I'm not sure if I've ever wrote an article on that or not. Mleh.

Swearing Off

I'm close to swearing off the whole genre.

The more I look at poetry, short stories, and short dramas, the more I think: What was I thinking? Maybe I wasn't thinking. Creative non-fiction makes sense. So does non-fiction anything--any length. And Journalism. But poetry, non-epic? That's just strupid
Let me explain what I am getting at:

Poetry is EASY to write...when compared to novels. You can spit out a poem or a song, or a rap in the amount of time it takes to read it. Then you can revise it heavily. Then you can find publishing for it and someone reads it. Then, if you have the pleasure of watching someone read it, you realize that the interpretation that they bring to the table is not what you intended.
Some of the best poetry in the history of mankind is cleaver. --Snooty, so-called 'intelligent' people acclaim poetry because of how few words such deep complex concepts can be conveyed. But just as Good ol' Robert Frost once said: "Sometimes a Cigar is just a Cigar."
I think my entire life in the english world (since the moment I fell in love with English) I think I've been fooled into believing that poetry is good and artful. As I learn more and more about "great" poets, I realize though that there is less magic in it than I thought--just as when I learned more about movie magic I realized how simple it is and how "unmagic" it is. The difference though is that I'm less impressed with poetry and more impressed with film.

What I have come to learn is that poetry brings out emotions and truths from inside of the reader. You almost have to add your own lines in order to make sense of some poetry. When you listen to a country song you put yourself in the singer's shoes and you feel sorry for yourself. When you listen to the blues you imagine all the horrible pain and misery the singer went through to compose that song.--When you deal with poetry, the reader brings more to the table than the writer does.
"but what about how loaded a poem is?" you ask. --Sure, you can use EVERY trick in the book to prove your point--and you SHOULD--but if your reader doesn't know how to recognize those things then what good does it? If your poem only touches 10 people who will go on to force thousands of English students to understand and value your work, then what's the point? I'm all for things that the common people understand. Sure, poetry has it's place, but I say that that place is in spy newspapers, love letters, and hidden in daily conversation. I say we leave poetry to artists (visual and dramatic), as well as songwriters. Poetry on its own is utterly useless, much like painted titles are in silent films.
Movie magic still surprises me because of how simple it is to convince MOST people. It's much different than poetry.

You can't TEACH anyone anything in a poem because they have to have it inside of them already--you're merely digging it up and reminding them of it. Everyone knows that it's inhumane to be cruel to slaves because it's inhumane to be cruel to anyone--does it take a poet to teach them that or does it take a parent or God, the ultimate parent? Poetry doesn't bring up the new, it digs up the past. And any truth that the author brings to the world through their poetry is so riddled that it's not truth, it's riddles.

Essays are good. But even they have their limits. They can teach a lot and yet still be boring. And when you can't keep people excited, how will they learn?

Fiction...long form fiction. You know, with the 50,000 words or whatever. That type of fiction is not easy to write. Once you get a first draft you have to revise it, and without seeing it all one one or two pages before you it can be REALLY challenging to ensure that all the write stuff is in there. Making sure that the logic flows. Making sure that it's emotionally appealing. Ensuring that your narrator or your characters have the proper ethos to convince you for or against something. I think fiction can really change your life--better than essays or poetry.

What is drama?
Drama is the combination of novel stories--long form fiction--and poetry. I have a lot of respect for drama because it's meant to be the simplest form of a story while still retaining EVERYTHING the story contains. It's meant for brevity. 90 minutes to tell a story that would be written out into a 1,000 page novel, and then making it marketable to a mass audience (well...blockbuster films anyway). It would take me a few days to read a novel on my spare time. It would take me 90 minutes to watch a movie and gain the same information.--possibly more, because drama can't be vague. It HAS to be specific otherwise it's riddled and ends up more like poetry.


I'm thinking of swearing off poetry for a while--what am I saying, I never swore in poetry, I just wrote poetry on my spare time because it was easy and gave me something to spit out my mind, spit out my emotions, and let go of them. Let someone else interpret them--but remember, reading poetry comes more from inside of you than it does me...even if you think you've figured out what one of my poems means you can't be too sure that you aren't mixing a little bit of yourself and your own humanity (the experiences in your life that help you understand others and yourself). This is how we communicate after all, and I think poets are taking the cop-out method of sharing what they see as truth by allowing others to realize they had the truth all along.

Don't be clever, be upfront and speak in plain terms so we can all understand. Then, when everoyne understands, we can have a real discussion--real argument-- and we can come to real truth rather than individual truth.

Our Time

We live in a time where ALL truth is out there, staring us in the face, really; and we just need to do the research to expose it.
There's a lot of --for lack of a better word--garbage out there. We're almost living in our own feces, it's disgusting. And yet we're living in heaven--underneath all that garbage is pure gold. If we can find a way to dig through it--really dig through it, we might have discover the truth all along.

Again

All that we as humans are going to discover is out there right now. Everything you could ever learn about humanity has already been discovered. Everyhting you could ever learn about science--someone thought it up a long time ago. Everything you could ever learn about life, God, and religion too is out there. You just need to accept that fact, quit making up your own methods for your own glory, and realize that +- 7000 years of human existence has dug up everything you could ever need to know. Now that we're in the digital age--in a time when there is a free flow of information...globally. And access to information, data, statistics, all of that is getting more and more simple. We are going to quickly realize that it has all been staring us in the face the whole time. "It's so obvious," people will say.

And once you settle on the fact that the Knowledge is out there. You'll realize it's all a matter of doing and applying..  Don't let not knowing and being uncertain hold you back.

Cynical Warrior Launch

There. I launched it:

http://cynicalwarrior.wordpress.com/2011/11/04/chapter-1-the-game/

First chapter of my online reader/book/story/thing.

I hope you like it. Let me know what you think about it by leaving comments on wordpress.

Annoyance

Let me argue with you.
Let me be the voice of those who are just like me. Too intelligent for the world around them. Let me argue so that I can wrap my head around this, as Aristotle taught us that argument brings out the truth and gives us greater understanding.

If I could place the most annoying thing that I do, it's that I argue. No, not fighting, arguing. And no, not arguing even, just stating my opinions. No, not biased opinions, just my point of view: if that is biased, so be it. I can't help that the only thing I know to be true is not the absolute truth. --NO ONE knows the absolute truth. That's why we argue...to come closer to the truth, to come to common consent where we can agree on the truth. This is not sophistry: I do not wish to get you to agree, I wish to change as much as you change.

So again: If there is one annoying thing about me, it is that I state my opinion. I state my beliefs. I state what I know. I tell the Truth. I am very honest. And truth often hurts.

So my voice then is that of the Honest (non-sophist) and Truthful (based on as much root-knowledge as possible). To be comfortable with people who are honest and truthful, you have to be as equally invested in the truth and equally as honest.--We respect one another. We can handle one another. We can deal with one another. We can rightly disagree when necessary. But we CAN'T deal with anyone who isn't honest (or goes around trying to persuade people into false things just to be right) or the untruthful (those who don't have the experience necessary to argue effectively).

Experience is an interesting topic.
I don't necessarily refer to 'life experience', I refer to 'argumentative experience'--experience gained by arguing, changing, correcting one's self, becoming better, picking sides and risking being wrong only to discover that with only a little changing one can be closer to the truth. To lack experience is as much to be untruthful as it is to say something that isn't true.
For to be untruthful is to say something that isn't true. --If you say something that isn't true, but you believe is true, is it true? --NO. No, no it is not true. You need to HAVE the Truth in order to be truthful.

To be honest is to speak what you know to be true, regardless of what your personal biases are. It takes integrity. It takes turning yourself in at times when you are guilty. Honesty means not trying to gain things from the untruth. Honesty means without guile.

Truth and Honesty are similar, but they are not the same.

When you are finally Truthful AND Honest to a high degree, you are forced to have another character trait: you are the opposite of a hypocrite. That means you are upright: you are standing tall, you are vertical. When you are both truthful and honest, you don't let the truth hurt you. You let it cut you. You, bleeding, grow in the correct direction. The only way you grow is up, is straight. You don't veer. When you are not a hypocrite, you side with the truth, even when it harms you. You seek after the truth, even when you fear it. You speak the truth and you do not fear what the consequence is.
To be upright makes you tall and stable enough that others will no doubt recognize you.

Does this fear you? You, who are not truthful, who are not honest. Does this fear you? Does stating the truth scare you? Would you rather be crooked? Would you rather live in a fantasy world where you can get away with being dishonest? Where you can get away with cheating?



Everything is connected. Commandments, rules, organization, regulation, order--they are all connected to truth. And truth is connected to honesty. If you can agree that it is good to be truthful (if for no other reason than to continue learning and fulfill your natural thirst for knowledge) and that it is good to be honest (if for no other reason than to ethically apply the knowledge that you gain), then you must also agree that you have an obligation to argue. You have an obligation to tell people what you know is true. You have an obligation to state your beliefs. You have an obligation to SPEAK UP.

We are a small group. Not everyone is honest and truthful. Why? I do not know. Possibly the fear of upsetting others. Possibly the fear of being annoying. Possibly the lack of motivation to do something hard. But those of us who HAVE become Truthful and Honest, we understand that it is harder to be a fence sitter. It is harder to pick and choose when to be honest. It is harder to live life under false inclinations. It is harder to believe one thing and be faced with conflicts that stem from our beliefs in them. Because when you have the truth, you know that you are standing on solid ground. No one can refute you. Not even God can stray from you when you have the truth. You fear nothing when you have the truth, and you know where you came from, how you got to where you are, and where you can go if you choose.
Being Honest and being Truthful is Easier.





[Let others argue the ethics behind discovering Truth (should we all devote our lives to being truthful?) and being Honest (should we really be honest if being dishonest can help us?); I shall argue that if you choose to say you are Truthful or you say you are Honest, that you should BE them or risk being a hypocrite. Hypocrisy is the opposite of the marriage between Truth and Honesty.]