A lazy man's vote

We draw yet another year to a close, Father Time has come a courting again. The curtains on the battles of a long national campaign have long since been pulled. The pain of loss for some is subsiding, while the pleasure of victory for some has gone stale. The battle lines once again in Washington have blurred as the civilian leaders of this country flaunt and sometimes sell their vote to the highest bidder. The lobbyists have found their new champions and are once again filling their coffers with gold. As we the voters sit back and wonder what the heck is going on up there. Democrats and Republicans alike sit back and wonder where their voice went too. If I could count how many times I have been told that a voter has been disillusioned by the person he voted for, I would be a very rich man.

I spent several months trying to actively elect one side of a national campaign knowing full and well that I did not agree with many of his platform issues. However, the fact that was more surprising to me was the fact that 90% of the voters that I talked too were voting not from their own personal knowledge but from a general knowledge of what some media persona had told them. When they were cornered on a specific issue the normal answers was a very honest one “I don’t know.” This answer I can live with. It was the very next answer that both shamed me and infuriated me at the same time. “I don’t care.” These words in my opinion are both the most irresponsible words any self respecting American can utter. You might as well walk up to Mt. Vernon, VA and spit on the grave of George Washington, or burn the great written works of Jefferson, FDR and Reagan. With these three simple words you have discarded with disdain one of the fundamental rights that our fathers that have come before us lived, worked, bleed and died for.

John F. Kennedy once said, “The ignorance of one voter in a democracy impairs the security of all.” I echo these words with all my heart. “The future of this republic is in the hands of the American voter,” Dwight D. Eisenhower. These words make me want to cry. At the end of the day what happens in this nation’s capital is our fault. If you let the likes of Michael Moore, Rush Limbaugh, Chris Olbermann, Glenn Beck, or any of them fools from Hollywood decided your vote for you I say shame on you. While we share the burden of this country’s present and future endeavors, if you are not educated on what the issues are. Keep your mouth shut, your ears open and maybe you might be able to find a responsible answer that is not “I don’t care” next time you are asked.

My thoughts

The month is December and as we near the end of yet another year emotions and memories come flowing back. In a few weeks we will once again remember the birth of Jesus Christ. This will be a time were we should gather around those we love and spend the hours basking the warmth that is family. As this time nears I draw on the memories of nine Christmas spent alone. From the chilly coasts of Japan to the burning hot deserts of Iraq and Afghanistan, these memories come crashing in one me. I write this in tears and heart break for the current conditions that we find our country, families and our own lives in. We should be thankful people for what we have. I have stood in amongst the broken bodies of our own brothers and the bones of mass graves of people that have been forgotten. So often we spend the time and do not tell our family, friends and coworkers how we really feel about them. The reality of it all knocks me almost breathless, this will end people and how will those we deal with on a daily bases remember us. So to those I consider my family I love you. Mom and Dad I truly feel from the bottom of my heart that God could not have given me too two better people, thank you for all your love, help and sacrifice thru out the years. To my brothers, Julio we fight and it can get nasty at times but I love you and will always be here for you. Ben you are closer to me then any man has ever been, I love you and thank you for standing with me on a daily bases. Finally to the woman I love, Sarah during this time of the year I have many things to be thankful for but none greater then having you in my life. You have truly completed and made me into a person I can be proud of and have shown me a true reason to be happy and to live for tomorrow. I love you with every fiber of my being and I miss you so much sometimes I want to beat my head against a wall.

To my friends, Candy, Brandon and Amber way too much fun we have spent together I am truly thankful for your friendships. Tyler you have a good friend and a loyal one. I am grateful I got to know you, and looking forward to seeing this friendship grow over the next few years. Nathan we have not been able to spend as much time together as I would have liked but I hope to see that change man.

I am tired of pushing my self threw life always worried about how I am coming across to people. We push and we pull, we scheme and we plan and to what does it avail us. Should we stop doing these things no, and all you people out there might never get along with me or we might never see eye to eye on certain matters. However, there are people in this world that do not even have that. I am grateful for what I have and for what I don’t have. We live in the greatest country in the world, with the greatest families and friends in the world. I ask you, what do we have to complain about? I say we all, and yes that is me included, need to lift our head up high look the people we love in the face and tell them word for word how we feel about them. Let us not hope that that mother or wife, son or daughter, brother or sister, friend or enemy know how we feel. Take out the doubt and tell them to their face. They might know but it will do them a whole lot of good to hear the words. I post this now to FaceBook and to my blog hoping that we can all take this time to look inward and find the true meaning of life. Starting with Me.