Artificial, Um, Pets?!

I usually shutter a bit around Easter time every year. The news here will always do a piece on how people should not buy their kids bunnies in celebration because they are difficult pets to take care of and then there is an overload of rabbits that end up in a shelter and well, we all know what happens from there.

Now I am doing the same as the Christmas season is approaching. This is in no way to discredit the maker of this product, but I was watching the news last night and they were talking about the Christmas toy rush. In the process of this, they discussed what is known as a Zhu Zhu Pet. It is advertised as the pet without the mess. Now, I get the point of it. Though, I have yet to see a hamster drive a car, but that is neither here nor there. What concerns me is that there are a shortage of these toys, as there so often are around the holidays and one mother was quoted as saying that she would just buy a real hamster until the back-stock of the toy came in.

Doesn't that send sort of the wrong message to a kid?

Again, that is not to come down on the product. As someone who use to own hamsters when I was little, I am certain many parents are relieved not to have a hamster or the mess they leave.
But I am glad I grew up when I did. We had toys that were toys and pets that were actual living, breathing animals that we HAD to take care of because it was a responsibility to own one. Having a pet seemed to instill certain values when I was little. I couldn't discard it for the next fad. I had to take care of it in good and in bad. It made me appreciate animals. I have to wonder however, what buying a real hamster only to wait for a fake one to come into the toy store really teaches a child.

Meaning

On October 31, I happen to turn on the TV right around midnight and before most of the world could barely get out of their Halloween costumes, I heard it. That all too familiar sound. The sound of media rushing us onto the next holiday. They had skipped right over Thanksgiving went straight for the Christmas. Have we ever stopped to think that this is how we have lost sight of such traditions when it comes to the holidays we celebrate?

As a child, I could never understand why people gave everyone gifts at Christmas. It didn't add up to me. After all, I knew these people and I knew what the tradition and teaching behind the meaning of Christmas was as I was taught in a more Christian upbringing at that time. As a result, when I was younger and use to participate in holiday celebrations, I gave away one gift. I thought back at the year that had passed and considered the one person who I thought lived the true meaning of the Christian teaching that Christmas represents and I thanked them for doing so. maybe that was just my way at the time of trying to piece together faith with the society that I lived in.

Even though my childhood exposed me to it, I myself have not been baptized in the Christian faith. I do hold a great deal of respect for religious traditions that it tries to uphold. It still upsets me to this day to see it commercialized, as it does with any religious holiday for any faith. It seems to me that we lose something very valuable when we do this. Rather than teaching kindness, it is overshadowed by the concept of greed.

I see this a lot in the people that I have associated with over the years. Out for what they can get rather than what they can contribute to the society as whole. We tend to be suspicious or question why someone would be nice to us. "What is their ulterior motive in this?" Yet we never see the red flags when someone is trying to use us. We have become a nation accustom to this behavior.

Greed has become all too acceptable in today's society and it sends a horrible message to the generations that follow us. For if you ever have watched the news and wondered why children are the way they are today, can you just imagine what this type of teaching will do to kids born 20 years from now?

School Has Changed Since I Was A Kid

I am so dating myself here, but when I first started college, we never had online classes. It wasn't until my senior year as an undergrad that they came about. I remember taking one then and thinking that it was pretty convenient, but it really made me miss certain elements that can only be experienced in the classroom setting. Back then, online classes were created in an effort of obtain more students by reaching out beyond the campus borders. Today, it is much different.

In Michigan, at least at the university I attend, one of the main reasons I see many of my fellow students switch to online programs is because of a lack of funds to be able to pay for parking and gas expenses to get to and from school. Definitely a reflection of the economic times, especially since I live in a state with a 15.3% unemployment rate. But there is another growing concern among students that is becoming more and more evident these days. That concern is safety.

Don't get me wrong, there is always some level of concern for this issue regardless of the time period, but we have gotten to a point in our society where this is becoming an overwhelming topic anymore and is forcing students and faculty to be on guard like never before. In fact, today, even as an online student, we were asked to sign up for the following course:

Be Prepared: Surviving an Active Shooter Incident

Something I probably would have never conceived we would be asked to do when I first started my collegiate career. I makes me wonder where our education system will end up if this is the route we are already on. Where even children are not safe in the classroom and students across campuses fear interacting with each other based solely on surviving.

Things I Miss

We are seriously losing an important aspect in the way we live life these days. Something can make a difference in how we show respect to one another. Something I find myself missing more and more the older I get. I am speaking of manners.

A simple "Please," "Thank you," or "You're welcome." We seem to have lost such terms in our day to day vocabulary. Very easy to say to one another, but very rarely heard these days and it seems to be a shame that we have become this way. It only broadens a gap between people and the way that we look at each other.

I deal with the public quite a bit at my job. I have noticed how my demeanor becomes just when I see myself being polite to others and that not reciprocated. I also notice how shocked I have become when someone comes in my work and is actually very respectful. Asks how I am or says "Have a nice day." It makes a huge difference in the way that I feel about working with the public in general.

I think a lot of times we get caught up in ourselves so much that we forget about those around us. Take a moment to step back and say something kind to those around you. It could make their day.

Thanks for reading.

Lacking

Do you know what the problem with my generation is?

We lack drive.

I say this out of much consideration and thought. We are getting trampled over in this world because we seriously lack the drive to do anything about it and demand some answers. We have convinced ourselves that the progress has been made when in reality; our future is slowly being hindered by this very philosophy.

Take for instance Social Security. We have allowed this very system to fall through the cracks because we have accepted the fact that when we are the age of our parents, we will have nothing. And rather than trying to do something about this mess, we have "accepted it" for truth because after all, we will not be getting any of it." We are missing the fact that regardless if we have the money in the long run or not, this DOES affect us. It affects now just as much as it will in the future. Yet we are doing very little to have our voices heard in the matter.

But this issue, and that of health care, are blinding us from all of the other things going on in this country. We are a nation that is falling apart at the seams and we expected Obama to walk in the White House in January and wave a magic wand of change and make it all better for us. He is one person; one person who has had 8 months to try and correct 8 years of a previous Administration. This generation was eager to bring about change in the last election, but have since left it up to one person to do the rest.

One person can put the thought out there, but it truly takes the masses to stand behind the thought and create a difference.