You know what I really love? And, by the way, when I say love I mean love – I mean love. I don’t just toss the world around like a hotcake without a meaning like so many people do. I love when people have excuses for their actions before they even do something. It seems to me like if there is an action you want to do or path you want to venture down, you should have one-hundred percent of your energy minded towards your goal or don’t do it. Not to say we won’t have pieces of our routine that we just have to do – like it or not, I’m just trying to put an emphasis on the lack of responsibility our culture has grown to love.
Look at Dante Stallworth. Put aside the comparison between him and Michael Vick – I don’t have the time or energy to talk about dogfighting, animal rights, or anything “green” people talk about. It’s not that I don’t care, well no, that is the reason. Anyway, Dante Stallworth is a NFL wide receiver who is now out of a job. I don’t remember what team he’s under contract because, quite frankly, it doesn’t matter. He killed a person, while driving drunk, and served 24 days in prison for it. The press release said he settled with the family, but I wasn’t aware a money settlement could be used in light of jail time. Apparently, and don’t feel bad folks I never got the memo either, but the law books in our country don’t apply to people with celebrity status, athletes, musicians, and people while too much money. Sure – He can never drive a car again in his life, he is probably finished in the NFL [Well, not probably – the NFL should be ashamed of how their players have no respect for the law] and worst of all his reputation is forever tarnished. Now this is his struggle and I know that, but why he gets off a little easier off a bylaw in Florida and because he was intoxicated is beyond me. I feel like being drunk should make the penalty worse but I dont get a vote. [Well I do get a vote but the voting system in this country is a waste of time but I’ll talk about that another time]
Don’t confuse my problems with our lack of responsibility with the banking crisis though. The people responsible should all lose their jobs and we should move forward. We have a stockpile of young minds coming out of college that would love a chance to change the world for the better. We should let them take over all the jobs that failed executives botched up. There is a new theory in our country: if you just make a company that is so big the government will make sure you never fail – you’ll get a free pass so to speak. It’s terrible that we’ve wrapped ourselves into a system that reacts to issues this way. That does not mean the bailout was a bad idea and we should’ve just let the banks die out. Anyone who in their right mind thinks we should have let all the banks go out of business because of the responsibilities of the men in charge are morons. If you do some research, and very little mind you, you’ll see that this entire country would collapse if the banking system failed. If the United States falls the amount of international back last would be near enough to ruin civilization. It’s a little bit of an exaggeration of course but it’s not too far-fetched. The important thing is that I’m not trying to analyze the big picture. [Again I don’t want to go into a whole tirade about tha banking system I’ll do that later] What I’m most interested in is our own personal convictions and how quickly we toss them to the wind.
We’ve all done it and we’re obviously not proud of ourselves for compromising our values. I’m also not saying we’re not going to make mistakes because I’m sure you’re aware we will – embrace that. We will all slip and fall, we will all misjudge situations and we will all find ourselves in trouble. We just have to keep our head on our shoulders and at least try to make the right decisions. Innocence is an art of the past and I’m hardly recommending that we shelter ourselves away from the world and act like angels in a pure world. I’d be a total hypocrite if i did. The point I’m trying to make is when you are out there trying new things and making those mistakes that turn into life lessons, all you have to do is take responsibility for your actions and not put the weight of your decisions on other factors or other people.
Think about it. When you went out last night even though you had no money was it really your friends fault for peer pressuring you and buying the first few rounds? no, of course not. Are in an unhappy marriage or relationship because your significant other isn’t in a good mood very often or is because you’re not giving it one-hundred percent? Is your boyfriend or girlfriend really a jealous person or are you the one who has something to feel guilty about? Are you still unemployed because the economy is rattled and unemployment is high or are you just not marketing yourself properly? I can’t answer these questions for you but what’s important is you realize now how you analyze your decisions. If you are using mostly “you” statements when thinking about the whys and hows in life you need to stop. It’s all about thinking with “I”. Learn to take matters into your own hands and you’ll find your life to be much more gratifying.
We’re all going to have our backs against the wall from time to time and how we manage to escape with our lives is completely up to us. No one is interested in you, and we all need to accept that. The more you let excuses hold you back the more they will. If you really do want to start making things better for yourself and you want that extra force to help drive you in life – embrace the situations that present you now. If you live your life how you want it – before you know it you’ll be in places far higher than you’ve even dreamed of. And, if you’re like me, those dreams are pretty high up. Let’s go higher.
State of My Union 