Work Ethic

I started workin' when I was 12. Technically illegal in this country, but it was never like child labor. Dad thought the best way to keep me out of trouble and to teach me the value of a dollar was for me to work. It definitely helped. I never got in much trouble while my neighbors sold drugs and the like. I didn't fight much outside of the ring. And I knew that if I got paid 5 dollars an hour, which I was, and I wanted a bike that cost 100 dollars that bike was gonna cost me 20 hours of my life. I had to question whether that bike was worth half my work week. A body gets pretty tight with its money when things cost you your life instead of a simple, “Daddy, can I have it?” The country is in trouble because there are thousands of people that don't know the value of a dollar or how to live within their means. People get credit cards to pay for things they can't afford. They spend money they should put into savings. Some just have no idea what it means to not have money to pay for things.

A lot of our parents, or our grand parents, had it rough and in an attempt to make our lives better they worked hard and worried about money and sacrificed so we wouldn't have to. Unfortunately, a lot of us turned out to be spoiled brats that never went hungry and can't sympathize with people that have. Both my parents were poor. Dad grew up a farm boy in Iowa, Mom was a middle child among eight on a small ranch in Mexico. Dad left the sixth grade to work the fields and has been bustin' his ass ever since. Mom came to America with a second grade education to work her ass off and be mistreated. Whatever burden came upon them, it was only themselves they could rely on. Flat tire, new shoes, long-distance phone calls, and broken bones all had to be dealt with pay check to pay check. There was no callin' on their folks to lend a hand. Dad gave up his savings so his family could buy enough coal to survive the winter instead of buyin' a car. Mom got calls from Mexico with her parents lookin' for her help to keep the lights on or to clothes on her siblings. Growin' up we didn't have it made but it certainly wasn't that harsh. I had parents that could afford to pay me for a pitiful effort at actual work and encouraged me enough to build that weak try into a full blown workin' machine. I had parents that gave a damn enough not to give me everything I wanted and made sure I appreciated what I had.

My parents like a lot of others out there worked hard to make sure their kids wouldn't have to drop out of school. They pushed themselves so that their kids wouldn't have to work as hard as they did to make ends meet. They wanted their kids to grow up and become doctors or lawyers. We were supposed to grow up and at the very least do pretty well. But what happened to a lot of us was that we got lazy and greedy. There are some that grew up used to not havin' to push so damn hard that they just don't know how anymore. It's so easy to say you're tired and not push yourself. It's easy to take it easy. People want things to be easy. They want everything and don't want to put in all their effort for it. Then they wonder why it is that they can't seem to catch a break. This kid shows up to work at a job he hates and does what he's asked but doesn't get anywhere. Anybody can show up and do a half-assed job. You want a raise, you want a promotion, you better make sure you deserve it. Be the kid that shows up a few minutes early, the one that volunteers to take on new tasks. That kid is the one that'll impress a boss.

A lot of people think that because they have a lil money or because their parents are somebody that they're somebody too. They feel they're entitled to the best and the easiest. They think that trickle down economics works for more than pissin' on the poor. They feel like they should have all this money to do whatever they want and that by rich folks like them havin' cash in the bank, it creates jobs. It's as if them takin' a trip to Paris or opening up a department store somewhere that they've just brought our economy back to life. Sure, you give a few folks a job and maybe even build a few jobs around that store you opened but you still work those people to death and pay 'em shit. Holdin' money is about as good as holdin' a loaf of bread. It won't do anybody any good unless it's bein' used. Money needs to be shared. Scholarships need to be given. Charities have to be there to help, so should you if you get the chance and somebody else has the need. Me and my friends would go out to dinner or the movies or whatever and I'd catch one week and they'd catch the next. I have no clue if I spent more money or they did. I wasn't left broke from those times I helped them. I certainly didn't break them. If you thought of all the homeless, all the poor, all those in need as your friends I don't think anybody would hesitate to be more generous. When you bring in more than 200 grand a year whats a few hundred bucks to help a friend?

That's a double-edged sword too, being charitable. You only got a penny in your pocket you're better off collectin' the few you get in a pickle jar for that misfortune comin' your way. Better off keepin' 20 bucks in your savings than ordering a pizza. Better off saving 500 more than buying a new HD TV when your kid should be goin' to college next semester. When you don't have a lot of money you need to be smart with it. Credit cards aren't another source of income, they're another bill to pay. I hate credit cards with a passion. The concept is ridiculous: you don't have 50 bucks so they lend you that if you pay another 5 in interest and another 5 for a monthly fee but then you still don't have the full fifty so they add late fees and more interest so now you owe 75 you still don't have. It's a way for you to stay in debt. Instead of paying the 50 and being done you can only afford to pay 10 each month for the rest of the year and now they've made a huge profit off of money you could've saved.

There are several rules that come with money. A certain strategy that comes with bein' broke or havin' plenty. Only by playin' it smart can everyone hope to get a lil further in life. Maybe I'm kinda Commie in in the way I treat money. I'm okay with that. I want to share what I have. If you came to my door step hungry, I'll feed you what I can give. I can't starve in order to feed you but I'll do my damnedest to make sure you don't go hungry. If we'd been playin' it smart instead of tryin' to screw each other or thinkin' somebody’s better than anybody else, maybe this country wouldn't be as broke as it's about to be. Spread the wealth, spread the love.

Godless

Anders Behring Breivik lit up a political camp for kids in Norway with what he believed was righteous gun fire. No such thing as righteous gun fire, you know. Never will be. 77 dead. Guy did it because of his extremist right wing and Christian beliefs. Some on the right feel like his “Christianity” is being thrown around to bash all Christians. Jon Stewart had a short segment about how the right threw the “Godlessness” of the left around to bash them.

I'll tell you this: I have no God. As a child I never questioned God because it was just so certain back then. Magic was real. Good and Evil existed and there was a clear division between the two. People were destined for great things. If you worked hard people would appreciate you and help you get to the top. You could be anything you wanted no matter how much money you didn't have. I didn't know enough of anything to see the strings and seams of the universe. I couldn't explain how life showed up on this planet, so it must've been God right?

The first problem I noticed with my religion was that it said God has a plan for everyone. I'd see people livin' under bridges, kids gettin' killed, lives bein' ruined by accidents and no matter how I looked at these things I couldn't see a just God writin' out destinies for people to live this way. If God could do anything, why not give us infinite resources? Or resources that didn't destroy this world? Or do away with people that want to destroy the world? Why include evil in the design of the universe at all? Why not save us with a single wink to right all wrongs?

As I got a bit older, I found my own beliefs differin' from the beliefs laid out in many religions. I can not tolerate the ideas that females are inferior or that homosexuals are evil. I love movies, reading, and music, so I couldn't live without entertainment. I enjoy shrimp and pork. I can't love a God that asks people to do crazy things, like nearly killing Isaac, to prove their devotion to Him. I can't believe that this wonderful, creator of everything would allow a devil to ruin Job's life, even if he got everything back and then some, Job's children died and Job suffered unnecessarily. Jesus turned water into wine but I'm not supposed to drink? I figure the Catholic church seems to have an awful lot of fancy robes and buildings for a bunch of people that have surrendered all of their worldly possessions in the service of their Lord. I could go on for a while findin' what's wrong with all kinds of religions accordin' to me. It's easier for me to explain again: I have no God.

As an atheist I have an advantage over anyone followin' any doctrine: I decide for myself what is right and what is wrong. This may make life difficult sometimes because I have to consider what my best and most righteous option is. But my advantage is that consideration though, I have no book to look to for generic answers to all of life's problems. Abortion, cheating on a math test, drug addiction, music and film piracy are not moral quandaries specifically addressed in any religious text. I do my best to make the best decisions I can without the instructions of God or any person with their own ambiguous intentions. Clearly, I get it wrong sometimes. Just like anybody else I make a bad choice, I fall into temptation, but I do my best to do right. I don't hide behind any book or use it to lift myself above others. I'm no better than anyone. I just make my own choices. I weigh my options. I think for myself.

I first told my friends that I did not believe in God while we were swimming in a pool, you'd have thought I peed in it the way they all backed away from me. It was as though I had told them I had a plague. It was a little shockin' to me that these intelligent people that I'd known for years would be fearful of me for my lack of faith. It comes with the territory of any belief. Even my belief that there is no god whatsoever comes with this fear from some believers that don't understand my thinking. My thinking put simply is that a god doesn't make sense to me. I've seen some weird things and I believe there are things that we can't explain yet but I'm pretty sure that one day we will. When we do I do not believe “God” will be the answer.

I believe in bein' as kind to people as a person can be. I believe in gainin' as much knowledge as a person can. I don't believe that not believin' in a god makes me evil. If your God is opposed to me or people that believe what I do, well, me and Him weren't gonna work out anyway.