Hopes for a new year, by a friend of mine

A friend of mine posted this on facebook, and I completely agree with it. So I'm sharing it here. Think, please.

"I hear so many say they wish for world peace and say they know that is starts in their own back yard, but more than that is starts with every person you know and love or hate or are indifferent about, and i just wanted to share this with the people in my life for the new year. Something to think about that touched me deeply and speaks to my soul in a way that few things ever do these days. This is our world and these are our lives and only we can make the differences in them.

THE PARADOX OF OUR AGE
BY HIS HOLINESS THE XIVth DALAI LAMA

WE HAVE BIGGER HOUSES, BUT SMALLER FAMILES
MORE CONVENIENCES BUT LESS TIME
WE HAVE MORE DEGRESS, BUT LESS SENSE
MORE KNOWLDEGE, BUT LESS JUDGEMENTS
MORE EXPERTS BUT MORE PROBLEMS
MORE MEDICINES BUT LESS HEALTHINESS
WE'VE BEEN ALL THE WAY TO THE MOON AND BACK BUT
HAVE TROUBLE CROSSING THE STREET TO MEET THE NEW NEIGHBORS
WE BUILD MORE COMPUTER TO HOLD MORE INFORMATION
TO PRODUCE MORE COPIES THAN EVER BEFORE,
BUT HAVE LESS COMMUNICATION,
WE HAVE BECOME LONG ON QUANTITY AND SHORT ON QUALITY
THESE ARE THE TIMES OF FAST FOOD AND SLOW DIGESTION
TALL MEN, BUT SHORT ON CHARACTER
STEEP PROFITS, BUT SHALLOW RELATIONSHIPS.
IT IS A TIME WHERE THERE IS MUCH IN THE WINDOW BUT NOTHING IN THE ROOM.......


for me all this rings true, and to me all of it shouldnt. I may be an old soal or born in the wrong era or living on repeat of a past life, but whatever it is ive always wanted to live simpler, and i dont mean in every way i mean in the ways that count. I like to know my neighbors and to know the names of the people i pass in the streets the markets and in the woods. I want to live in a world where all the essentials that i cant make and have to buy , i know the people who made them, know their familys live in their neighborhoods. i know this is a pipe dream, a fantasy of a life from a world thats long gone by even though not even a hundred years ago thats the way things were. and i know that those hopes are big hopes and i will continue to hope them. But i am practical i know the little differences come from buying from your local sotres and not box stores and bringing bags to the market instead of recieving plastic is better. But to me these things arnt enough. and the little things we do really matter. In the new year my goal for myself is to get in touch, not just more with spirit or with nature or with the things that will save the environment, but with the people in my world because thats just how i am made and what im made for. And as silly as this may sound to all of you i had to share it anyways, because this last year for me was one of the hardest ones ive ever had and i know that without you in my life i wouldnt have made it through, and i mean that very literally. This year take time out to show the love and apprecaitaion you feel for your friends and aquantences, dont just feel it, because it isnt enough and without it our world suffers and everything in it and all of the people in it do to. when the resources are depleated and the fields are barren and all we have left is the commmunity we share i want to have real community left to share it in, to me thats what really counts and all that really matters, i think someday other people will realize it too, i hope its just not too late."

The mighty sexists and racists

If you've read anything else I've posted, you can probably figure out that I really don't like Fox News and Rush Limbaugh. Here's one of the biggest reasons why.
Here's Beck's latest about the idea of running for VP under Palin:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/26/beck-rules-out-2012-run-w_n_371728.html
He's saying she belongs in the kitchen. Maybe not in so many words, but he did say "I'm sorry, why am I hearing your voice? I'm not in the kitchen." To me, that's close enough to saying that she should only be in the kitchen.
Now, granted, I think Palin was the worst thing that happened to McCain. She's one of the dumbest women I know of. "Stupid is as stupid does." Africa's a country. "I read a lot of magazines and newspapers, different ones, all of them." But to make the comment that she should be in the kitchen is referencing an age old saying of women should only be in the kitchen. That women shouldn't have jobs. That they are lesser than men.

And oh way too many times did Rush Limbaugh made sexist comments about Hillary Clinton before Palin was nominated. Or made other comments about other women. And how many times he's made racist comments about Obama, or Al Sharpton (or whatever his spelling is), etc. Because of Limbaugh, so many people believe that Obama is a muslim, and believe that we should fear all muslims. Get a clue people. Just because his name is the same as some muslims doesn't make him a muslim terrorist. And doesn't mean he was born outside of the country. Yes, his father is from Kenya, but his mother is American, and Barack was born in Hawaii.

But let's take this further. Away from these hating people and look at music for a moment. Specifically current pop music (hip-hop, rap). Here are some quotes from pop music over the years: (WARNING: contains profanity!!!)
Shake it like a salt shaker
I wanna fuck you like an animal
Back that ass up
Let me see that thong
she says "this pussy's yours, Daddy"
Oh give me that ass
Shake that ass ho, make that cash ho
Pop that pussy ho
So take off all your clothes
I'm bare, boned, and crazy for you
Girl you know I like it when you climb on top
U make me wanna sweat
We've only just met and I'm undressing you with my eyes
Hit me baby one more time
I'm a slave 4 you
Girl you look like someone I done fucked before
Creepin' up and down now
I see you winding and grinding up on that pole
I wanna fuck you, you already know
Oh what we do when the pants are down
Down and dirty, hot and squirty
Only good for a fuck
You know you gotta back the fuck up
I know you want it, the thing that makes me
It's fuck and run, fuck and run, even when I was twelve.

This is the music we listen to. WFT? This is the music that parents let their teenage girls listen to? yes, it is. And what does this do to the kids? It puts a woman's worth into how well she can shake her @$$. But does anyone realize it? Nope. Kids say, "I don't listen to the music for the words, I just like it cause I can dance to the beat." But look at what kind of dancing you're doing. Grinding, @$$ shaking, b00b shaking, etc. It's not helping.
Our music encourages cheap sex with no commitment. And encourages girls to be sexy, and guys to expect girls to be sexy, and if they aren't, then they should be taken and raped. Yes, I said it, pop music is encouraging rape. Maybe not blatantly, but that becomes a result. As much as we like to think that music and video games and movies don't effect us, they do. They very much do.

We need to start thinking about it. Treat women with respect, treat minorities with respect, don't judge people because they are different. The Bible says the most important thing is love, but we don't know how to love everyone, so we should strive for respect. Self-respect, and respect for others. And sexual respect is something that is needed above all.
Think about what you listen to and watch, and what you do.