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.

There Ought To Be A Law

Have you ever thought about what laws you would want to put in effect if you ever had the power to do so?

I think about this a lot, especially when I have traveled through and around the Detroit area and become completely frustrated by the amount of abandoned buildings within the city's borders. If we require businesses to have certain of insurance policies, why then do we not require part of that to include demolition of old buildings that cannot be sold? If an old building cannot be sold within a certain time frame, then it should be required that it be removed so that the streets can remain safe and instead of clearing new land elsewhere, old land can be rebuilt up.

Abandoned buildings are an all around hazard. They harm kids who might wander in them when playing not knowing any better. They harm the community as being places in which crimes become more accessible. They hinder the environment by taking up unnecessary space that could be properly utilized. They affect the economy and the way in which we think the neighborhoods they reside in. So why is it again that we still have them?

I understand that all of this costs a large sum of money, but the money lost because the buildings are still standing must outweigh the cost of demolition. Not to mention, the money lost by the people who end up fleeing the communities because they are tired of looking at them. It just never made much sense to me why this was not a bigger priority.

So if you could make a law, what would you do?