Adapting to This Change

Alright everyone, I'm not gonna lie. My heart is being ripped out.

My son graduates on Sunday and will be going to the Marine Corps in July. Of all the things I am sure of, and of all the strength I have, I'm not sure how to handle this change and I had no idea how profoundly this event, which I've been preparing for throughout the last 18 years, would strike me to my core and break me down. Few things make me cry, but my eyes are welled up with tears while I write this.

I am proud of the man he has become, and of the things that he has, and he will, accomplish.

Now that our days together are numbered, I can't help but look back at all of the things that I wished I could have done. Little time, or little money, were usually the excuses. "We'll have time to do it tomorrow." Tomorrow has come and gone and now the tomorrow that we're facing will one day be the day we bring him to the recruiting station, say our farewells, and wait...

It is a grieving process similar to the loss of a loved one. 

It's a good thing that we only have one more child left at home, because my wife and I have discussed, and we don't know that we could handle this hurt, this heartache, over and over again. 

We also don't understand how parents can look forward to the day when their child(ren) move out.

It's not fair.

This child, who has had such a significant impact on our life, who has made me want to be a better version of myself for him, has given me the gift of being his father, is now leaving.

But, I am PROUD!

My wife and I raised him. Through all of our faults. Through all of our mistakes. Through all of those times where we wished we could do more. We raised him to be the amazing person that he is today.

And, despite our faults, ours mistakes, and our shortcomings, he loves us.

 

He is going after his dreams, just as we taught him to do. Just as he has learned from watching us.

 

I just wish it didn't hurt so damn bad.

But, I know you will change the world. Just like your mom always told you that you could do. Until then, we will carry on in your absence. We know that we would want you to carry on with the fulfillment of your dreams in our absence, so we will hold ourselves to that same standard.

I just wish it didn't hurt so damn bad.

Semper Fi, my son. You're going to be a great Marine.

Fearful of Trump and the Future

Another family member of mine has recently come out as a Trump supporter. I told them, "You're dead to me."

Seriously though, this is the first time that I am truly fearful of what will happen in November. I mean, in the past it usually wasn't a huge deal. To paraphrase Chris Rock, he said that if your guy doesn't win, it doesn't really affect you. If your guy loses, it doesn't mean that the L train stops running the next day.

I've seen memes that mention how, if you're thinking about going to Canada if Trump wins, you should just leave now because if you don't love your country, you're not going to help make it great again. You've got it all wrong. I do love my country, and America is still great.

That being said, I fear for the future should a fascist be elected to the White House. The system of Checks and Balances is supposed to limit the abuse of power...but how well did that work with George W. Bush and the Patriot Act? Trump has already proven that he doesn't understand the Constitution, and he's opened stated that he is willing to commit war crimes - and that those who he gives the orders to will do it because he said so. He's like a 3 year old who says whatever is on their mind. The only problem with that is, in the White House, there are consequences for such things and they won't just fall on his shoulders alone.

People spout off about how great Trump would be as a president because he's a successful business man. That being said, what ever happened to:

• Trump Airlines
• Trump University (aka Trump Entrepreneur Initiative)
• Trump Steaks
• GoTrump.com
• Trump Vodka
• Trump Mortgage
• Trump: The Game (and its reboot The Apprentice)
• Trump Magazine
• Trump Ice
• The New Jersey Generals (United States Football League)
• Tour de Trump
• The Trump Network
• Trumped! (Radio show)
• Trump New Media

If that's success in business, I'd hate to see failure. Furthermore, ask Michigan residents how electing a businessman into politics worked out for them. Ask Detroit. Ask Flint. Take a drive down Michigan roads. Governor Snyder is balls deep in shit and he has no idea what he's doing because he does not understand politics because he was never in politics. Picture this level of ineptitude at the federal level. Even if only 10% of the states were effected, that's still 5 states in America that would be impacted on some level.

Okay, failed business ventures aside, I am also fearful for threats from both within (KKK, domestic terrorists, and other such ignorant nonsense) and from abroad (China, N. Korea, and other areas Trump probably couldn't find on a map). I am fearful for the safety of me and my family being that I am one of those 'rapist' minorities that Trump hates. I consider fleeing the country for the safety of me and my family, because if white trash feels comfortable enough to sucker punch a minority being escorted out of a Trump rally, it only feeds fuel to the racist underbelly who are feeling more entitled to practice free speech, yet threaten anyone who speaks freely against Trump.

Politicians lie and it's something that Americans almost accept as a part of the landscape. But thanks to websites like Politifact you can check up on some of the statements your favorite candidate makes. For instance:

Statistics courtesy of Politifact - please don't sue me. I'm poor.

Statistics courtesy of Politifact - please don't sue me. I'm poor.

The top Republican candidate lies over 50% of the time. The second choice isn't much better either. As George Carlin said, "...that is what's known as being stunningly - and embarrassingly - full of shit."

But I don't want people to think that I'm only picking on Republicans either.

Statistics courtesy of Politifact - please don't sue me. I'm poor.

Statistics courtesy of Politifact - please don't sue me. I'm poor.

I don't know...like I said, I'm fearful of what the future holds. The GOP seems to be imploding and remains focused on maintaining their conservative agenda. I've held jobs before where, if I showed up and didn't do anything, I'd be out on my ass. The same doesn't hold true in American government.

Just ask this guy.

An Open Letter

AN OPEN LETTER TO THOSE ON MY FACEBOOK FRIENDS LIST

Dear family, friends, and acquaintances:

This morning I came to a crossroads that required me to make a decision. This decision was brought about by the culmination of feelings about posts made by two separate people. One of them posted about the Baltimore protests/riots which occurred on 4/27/15, and the other was Bruce Jenner’s recent interview from 4/24/15.

That decision is this: If you have not heard from me in a while, it is because I have either un-followed or unfriended you.

I do not take this decision lightly as, if you are on my friends list, I have found value in our relationship, and in you as a person. Enough so that I wish to remain in contact with you as you have impacted my life in such a way that I view you as worth having in it.

That being said, you can post what you want on your page. It’s your page.

But please, keep in mind that while it is your page, it is also a public forum. And this may come as a surprise to you, but not everyone in the world shares your viewpoint; and not everyone in the world is going to side with you when you post dramaticized, fear-driven, ignorance based, media fed photographs and videos.

Just because you took an Into to Social Problems class as an elective and you remember a Karl Marx or Malcolm X quote that fits the situation, you are not an expert on what is going on in Baltimore.

Same goes for that Into to Gender Problems class you took.

You are an expert in nothing except your own life

Telling me that sometimes you have to be violent in order to be heard does not make me believe you understand what #AllLivesMatter is really about. It makes me believe you are ignorant and socially near sighted.

Telling me that Bruce is “sick” and that there is no need to change what God has already made perfect does not make me believe you are a Christian. It makes me believe you are a hypocrite with your dyed hair, painted nails, pierced ears, and tattoos.

So again, I have un-followed or unfriended you. Not because I don’t love you, but because it upsets me to see that someone that I have allowed to be so close to me has values that are so far from me that it hurts.

It upsets me a great deal.

And I refuse to give someone else that much control over my life and my happiness.

Name Thy Weapon

I've never been keen on the idea of naming my penis. Some men have names for their penis. Names like Princess Sophia, Spike, or Butch, or Krull the Warrior King. Not me.

But this morning I woke up with, what I feel, would be the name that I would choose if I were to name my penis.

Daddy Warfucks.

Obvious inspiration is drawn from the Daddy Warbucks character from Little Orphan Annie, but I felt this would be fitting for many reasons.

1. Daddy Warbucks has a bald head. So does my penis.

2. Daddy Warbucks has an inflated sense of importance. So does my penis.

3. Daddy Warbucks character was knighted by the Queen of England. So was my penis.

4. Daddy Warbucks was accompanied by bodyguards. So is my penis.

5. Daddy Warbucks earned his wealth following World War I. So did my penis.

The similarities are obvious and honestly, I'm ashamed of myself for not coming up with this name sooner.

Don't You Have Something More Important You Should Be Doing?

I've seen some pretty crazy stuff. I don't know what it is - I think I'm a weird shit magnet. I get to see things, and these things typically defy human imagination. And as luck would have it, I'm typically the only who sees these things when they happen so I have no one to talk to about it. I have no one to rationalize with. "Maybe they were dropped as a child" is usually the first, and typically best, answer that I come up with.

All this being said...this is a new one to me.

This gem of a screenshot comes from a fan. This was on her news feed and was posted back in late September by someone she went to high school with.

Comedian Lewis Black said during a commencement speech which he delivered to UC San Diego
Thurgood Marshall College, "If you're doing two things at once, guess what, you aren't doing either!"(by the way, if you're interested in watching that speech, you can check it out by clicking here).

I'm not all that impressed with people who post every little action they're up to on Facebook in the first place. I don't care that you're eating at a restaurant that is in your home town because I know you've eaten there 100 times already. Additionally, I don't care to see what it is that you're eating while you're there. I don't care if it's the best steak that you've ever had. I don't care if you've never had flounder like that before. Unless you're dining with the British Royal Family while in Tibet, accompanied by Dalai Lama, and the meal was prepared by a nude Giada De Laurentiis...I'm not interested.

But doesn't this take over sharing to the ultimate level? Do we really need to know that she is questioning whether or not she is in labor. Furthermore, once she had the definitive answer, do we really need to know that she is in actual labor and that she is on her way (Google Map provided for your navigation convenience) to the hospital?

What happened to living in the now? In the aforementioned commencement speech, Lewis Black also said, "You can only be in one now at a time." Be in the now, whatever that now may be. If your now is a shitty 9 to 5 job, at least be there if it's the only way to support your family. If your now is a shitty prerequisite class for your major, get your ass to class. If your now is childbirth, give birth to your child. Hopefully she doesn't turn out to be the mom who is so attached to electronics that she neglects her actual child in order to play The Sims on Facebook to take care of her virtual child, thus inflicting upon her birth child reactive attachment disorder.

I can only hope that one of the 30+ comments on these status posts went something like this...

"GET OFF YOUR FUCKING PHONE AND DELIVER YOUR CHILD, YOU TWIT!"