Only the Brave Love

---If you are expecting my normal slightly/mostly bitter blog post, you can just skip this one.---

As stated in the opening of this blog, this is a blog of “experimental proportions.” I don’t claim to be a cynic nor a romantic nor an optimist nor a aspiring political commentator—I am just a guy with opinions. I don’t have a set day where I write posts, I just…write them. I preface this because this post will seem a little off from the rest.

Right around elections, I had a lot to say, followed by a lull; but as it is with most lulls in life, it was one of self-comprehension and experiences that changed my life, in one way or another. In short,

I went to a wedding (of Kirk and Kinsey). I cried.
I saw two plays (Aida and Dancing at Lughnasa). I cried.
I remembered that we have a new president. I cried.

In all of this crying I realized something—I still feel emotions. (For a while there I thought that perhaps I had forgotten how; but nothing that a touching wedding, a moving play and a depressing realization can’t help.) And I got to thinking about love and how I don’t know if I have ever truly been in love. Then a question came to my mind:

Am I brave enough to love?

I mean think about it…to love is one of the bravest decisions that a human can make in life with (apparently) the biggest pay-off that a human can receive. But really though, anyone can take a bullet and die for someone; but to truly love and live for someone is entirely different. To love is to give someone full permission, accessibility and even ownership to your heart. That takes courage. You are basically giving someone else a piece of you and telling him or her, respectively (and I do mean RESPECTively as in Y8), that you entirely trust them to do with it what they will. Would you give someone your left arm? Your foot? Your head? It seems ridiculous—yet, the giving of one's heart is nothing short of divinely natural.
And while there is much risk involved and fear inherent in the quest of love, in the words of George Sand, a French feminist and author, “There is only one happiness in life, to love and be loved” (Letter to Lina Calamata). From the opening lines of Twelfth-Nights comes the acclimation, “If music be the food of love, play on.” So on we play, with the hope that all will end on a good note, with the hope that the sting of love won't be too sharp and that the thrill of love won't be too flat.

But now I open this topic up to you…what do you think love is? How does one know if it is love?

In my opinion, love is the bridging (or at least jumping) the largest chasm known to man: the 17-inch gap between the brain and the heart. It is serving and giving for the sake of the other’s joy. Or, in the words of John Milton in Paradise Lost, “Freely we serve,/ Because we freely love, as in our will/ To love or not; in this we stand or fall” (V. line 538).

So let me know your thoughts…who knows—maybe I’ve been in love before and just didn't know it—but then again, I’ve never been one for heroics.

No Prop 8...the BIG LIE

A man once said, "The great masses of the people...will more easily fall victims to a big lie than to a small one."

Interesting conundrum in which most of California and the whole of the United States finds herself. This lie that a family can be more than a husband and a wife. Well let me ask you something, do you believe marriage to be a matter of personal choice and that the government should have no part in it?

Fact: This is not true. Take the Mormons for example. A law was passed (even though it was against he constitution to pass this kind of a law for discriminating against a specific religion) forbidding polygamy. So you do you have a problem with polygamy? Why? Shouldn't they have a right? I don't believe it is ok, nor do i believe gay marriage is ok. If we can define marriage, let us: Man, Woman, Kid(s), THE END.

Fact: If this were to pass nation-wide, there would be an upheaval, leading many to falsely believe that this is the same thing as women's rights and civil rights--it's not! This is about families and defining them not about deserved rights.

Fact: Laws on marriage affect the whole of America and NOT just you. You will kick and scream and fight and sue until you feel like you can do whatever you want and get married wherever you want. I understand that you want your rights, but we deserve ours too--our right to have a Godly society.

And, oh yeah, stop harassing us. Spray painting houses, throwing rocks, barricading buildings--and you want to be...a parent!? Hmmm, let's first work on our social skills, shall we?

And this "big lie" you are believing about how prop 8 is evil--you're thinking just as smart as the man who I quoted in the beginning.

Who was it, you ask?

Hitler. (Mein Kampf, I, 10)

True on so many levels

Just so that everyone knows...i "borrowed" this cartoon from another blog of someone who wants credit for it (although she actually STOLE it from another source...so i don't see the big deal, but for further info (that stands for "information" to all of you Utah people who don't abrev. your words (abbreviate, excuse me) see her blog at www.theageofkristy.blogspot.com)

The Future Is...

1. "Yes We Can!" 'yes we can'
2. "Yes We Did!" 'yes we did'
3. "Yes We [insert other inspirational yet hollow word]" '....'

America...or lack thereof

Let me be the first to welcome you to a new regime, to an onset of "change!", to a country where "yes we can's" are chanted in unison (reminiscent of a Brave New World...anyone?) and to a backwards country where the king is cast to the woods and Robin Hood sits in the castle. A country where our flag will soon become RED (white and blue). A country where the philosophical enemy of but a few short years ago becomes the backbone of our economic principles. A country where i hope you don't think about having children because by the time they grow up, the country will be so socialistic that they will have jobs chosen for them. A country where you can either let yourself get pick-pocketed in a large crowd by a thug or just pay taxes--for the money is going to the same place anyways. A country where if, hell permit, any one of the founding fathers would still be alive to see it, they would rather die a thousand deaths before calling themselves Americans. A country where every day even Canada is looking better and better. A country where murder is ok, ask long as the victim is too young to talk. A country where original intent has been bastardized so much so that the fundamental principles of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness is earned off of someone else's dime. A country where there is no red and blue parties, but finally where we put the purple in those majestic mountains. A country where we can only sit and wait and pray that 2012 will prove the rise of a new political party: the Romneyites.

Welcome.

I hope you enjoy your stay.

If you have any concerns, please address it to the staff and we'll try to make your stay as comfortable as possible--that is of course unless you've worked really hard to make something of yourself and further the American dream; then we could care less about what you think.

Top 10 Reasons People Didn't Vote...

(This picture was taken in Utah. We do the purple finger thing here. And guess who she voted for? Barry...maybe?)

10. My absentee ballet came in today
9. I thought I lived in a different state
8. The lines have too many fat people in them
7. It's wet outside
6. I hate stickers and don't get any purple ink on my finger. No ink, no vote.
5. I got a text telling me that I'm supposed to wait until tomorrow to vote
4. I'm neither a Joe-six pack, a soccer mom, or someone making less than $28,000
3. No hablos…
2. I couldn't sleep with myself at night knowing I voted for either canidate.
1. I'm "No" on prop 8

So remember...it is your right, nay privilege, naynay obligation to VOTE! There have been too many people that have suffered and bled for your vote to not matter. Yes, if you haven't figured it out, your vote does not mater--unless you are voting "No" on Prop 8; then not only does your vote not matter, but no one cares about your vote.

Y8.
Go Bob.

Amen.