Sometimes
we must leave the well-beaten path and forge our own thoughts,
standings, and opinions on topics that swirl around us. While I admit
that I am a sheep-only in the sense of the sheep belonging to and
following the shepherd. I am not a sheep to social media, the news,
or any other information portal which portrays the views of the
world. I, in this situation am an open-minded, intelligent, naive,
independent thinking citizen. Luckily for me men and women have died
for me to have this privilege. It is not a right, it is not standard,
it is not universal. It is a privilege that American citizens are
given. We are afforded the opportunity to choose our religion-and
then participate in it, despite being under attack for being
religious at all. The simple act of getting up and going to church is
taken for granted so frequently that people often view it as a chore
or unwelcome commitment. I am guilty of grudgingly rolling out of bed
on Sunday morning (all mornings for that fact) slapping on my church
clothes and dragging my hiney to the car. I shouldn't be! I should be
incredibly thankful that I am allowed to do this without fear of
being killed for going. ((Sadly, this is not the direction I am
going... more on this later though!))
I
am not a sheep of this world. I am not a sheep to the news, the
media, the society, the culture, etc. I am me. I am free to be me.
And this is what I think...
Our
society as a whole are becoming brainwashed moguls who have very
little true concept of reality. Sure, I frequently look for the good
and positive in everything, but I understand that everything isn't
flowery and rosey. I fear that our society is, at least initially,
believing everything they see, read, and hear. It is sad but more-so,
it is terrifying! With all that goes on in the world, outside our
confines of comfort, we have to be alert to the liars, the sneaks,
the stirrers, and the infidels. Everything you read in a newspaper,
magazine, website, Facebook, etc.-be skeptical! None of these places
are required to tell you the truth about anything. They may
claim they provide researched topics and support for the information,
but how many people actually ask for it? My guess-zero!
With
this post, I am not saying there aren't terrible things happening in
the world-because there most definitely are. I am more questioning
the timing and references of said terrible things. For instance, (I'm
going political/religious here) the...happenings...in the middle
east. We are being flooded with horrible pictures and stories of
massacred families, women, children, and infants. We are being told
of the awful conditions in which one group of human beings are
attacking another group. I'm not saying these things aren't
happening-I am certain they are. What I want to point out is that
they have BEEN happening for a very long time now. There has only
been an idealogy of peace in the middle east, there has never been
peace the way we think of or see it. Men, women, and children have
been persecuted for their faith for a great, many, hundreds of years.
They have been made examples of for being Christian in a Muslim
world, Muslim in a Hindu world, Buddhist in an Atheist world. It
doesn't matter which religion is attacking the other-simply stated,
there has been turbulence in the area for centuries. My question is
why now? Why now is the mass media making it known? Why now are we
seeing and hearing the horror stories when it's happened for so long
with so little attention? I don't believe for a second that no one
noticed, no one alerted the media, no one shouted it from the
mountain top. If you dig, you can find it-but it was never made into
a “hot-spot” for the media, never made the headlines. So, why
now?
I,
as always, will search for ulterior motives. I don't believe that the
government (ours and others') has no part of the media. I believe as
with everything else, they have their hands in this honey pot too. So
again, why now? With just recently pulling troops out of a war-torn,
killing machine, oil rich country, why now are we back staring into
the faces of the middle east? It certainly isn't because there isn't
news elsewhere. It isn't because that's what we all want to see. So
why now, is the media presenting this to us on a silver platter over,
and over, and over?
And
as always, I have an opinion. I am blessed to live in a free country
where I may express my opinions. If yours do not align, you disagree,
or are otherwise differing, please, feel free to write about
(preferably on your own page, under your own name, and utilizing only
your own thoughts, feelings, and beliefs.) I believe that there is a
reason for the media now presenting the horrible situations there. We
recently pulled troops from Iraq, although I do not believe it was
ALL of them. With having no troops there, no connections inside, our
political leaders have essentially had their hand pulled from the
honey pot. While I don't believe that oil is the ONLY reason to be
involved, I believe it holds a very high key to it.
Our
American society is so advanced that we can cook a pie in under 2
minutes, we can grow vegetables in buildings, we can fly massive
cargo planes over continents and oceans. We can ((reportedly-:) ))
put a man on the moon! Yet through all of this, we cannot come up
with a sustainable resource to utilize for transportation?
Seriously!? Gasoline is practically the only thing that we have used
in the same ways over the last century. We have made some other uses
for it too, but it essentially has the same function-running motors.
For a century, we have become dependent on other countries' natural
resources. We have relied on friendly exchanges and sales. Frankly, I
think the political party is tired of relying on other nations for
something so vital to their own economy. The word economy is very
nearly always placed along side some reference to the price of
gasoline and oil. We are led to believe that the fallout of the
economy is due to the rising price of oil coming in from other
countries. So what better way (sarcasm to follow) to increase the
economy than to reach into the honeypot and take it for ourselves?
Again, sarcasm. I don't believe that the economy is tied to oil, not
entirely at least, as we've been led to believe by the wording and
order of articles and newscasts.
I
believe that the fall in the economy is due to exportation of jobs. I
don't mean closing down one plant in southern Virginia and moving it
to Louisiana. I don't mean relocation of plants, manufacturing,
warehouse, and other type employment throughout the states. What I
mean is the relocation of said facilities to outside the United
States, employing that countries population to make good strictly for
American citizens. I, for example, feel that Wal-Mart has the ability
to end the recession (yes, we are still in a recession-in my
opinion.)Currently, we are at the unemployment rate which we were in
when the current recession began in 2008. If large-chain stores like
Wal-Mart, Meijer, Target, etc. employed and purchased goods made
mainly in the United States, employment, wages, income, etc. would
increase. I also think the government could aid in this by
“encouraging” stores to buy, sell, and employ American made, or
at least North American made (to incorporate the NAFTA.) So many
items we buy now are made in China, Japan, Vietnam, Taiwan, etc. that
it is actually rare to find Mexican or Canadian made, and exceptional
to find American made. If you think about it, how are we expected to
thrive? We (as a nation) live off the goods, supplies, and textiles
from other countries but are the “ultimate” consumer. That trend
can only continue for a period of time at which point, it will
collapse. We produce hardly anything we consume, we manufacture very
little, yet we purchase and use all the things made elsewhere. Put in
simple terms it doesn't make sense. Sure there are other
professions-doctors, lawyers, etc. but even still-their books,
medicines, etc. are produced elsewhere and these are very limited
fields. They are strict and if there is a huge influx of people in
these professions, the “ideology” of them would decrease causing
them to become as routine as a city worker, teacher, etc.
Wow,
I don't know how this got so far away, but that's just how I roll.
Yes-I think for myself. Yes, I believe that the government has
ulterior motives for streaming media to us at a certain time
regarding a certain place. Otherwise we would have a stream of
information available throughout time and we wouldn't be “surprised”
at the turn of events. Stop taking everything said, written, or
expressed as fact. Think for yourselves and question that which goes
on around you. Be a sheep to the Lord, but an individual to
society... Whew.
