Politics and people.

Lately I've come to acknowledge something I've known for a long time. Something that most everyone knows, but very few seem willing to acknowledge themselves. 


What is this little bit of knowledge? If you mess up, if you're wrong or if you're just not right, if you go too far or not far enough, if something bad happens and it's your fault, things will get a lot better and work out much quicker if you are a good enough person to stand up in front of your peers and say "Hey, I was part of the problem, I messed up and I'm sorry for that. I hope you can forgive me and work towards helping me rectify the situation so as not to prolong the negative impact of my actions."


Bam. 


Someone could forget to look behind them while backing out of a driveway and subsequently crush my leg under their tire, but I'd be a lot more willing to forgive them, and a lot less likely to sue them for their first born if they were to say this rather than making excuses like "Uhh, my stupid mirror wasn't adjusted properly, it's your fault for walking into my blind spot, I'm driving a Toyota, the breaks must be faulty!"


Now the reason I decided to post about this isn't because I'm about to enter some injury lawsuit, but rather because I am becoming increasingly disgusted by politics and media throughout the world. Now before I get a bunch of angry "Don't discuss politics in public!" emails, let me just say, I don't care who you vote for, if you believe in democracy or monarchy or anarchy, I don't care, that's your prerogative and that is not what this is about, this is about what I view as an unprecedented unwillingness of politicians, media, and people in general to accept that they could possibly be part of the problem.


I have paid a great deal of attention to presidential elections since I was like 12, and as a voting member of society I cast my vote for issues that are important to me, but I do NOT vote on matters which I find myself unable to pick an obvious "Good Side" or that I am just unable to understand. This means that I am not actually all that politically active because like most Americans I generally accept the steryotype that Politicians are not usually upstanding and good people. I only say this to give the reader a grain of salt, I am no wonderfully politically active person, and I am often so upset with all the bickering on news stations that I change the channel. This being said I will try not to talk too much about things I know nothing about.


What I do know, however, is that there has been a whole lot of he said she said drama going on around the world. Everyone is blaming everyone else, and when that doesn't work they blame Obama. The problem with this is that politics are starting to look a hell of a lot like a kindergarden playground brawl. 


Shame is a huge motivator for people, it's a strong emotion and it is understandable that in times of pressure accepting the shame that comes with admitting you are wrong can be overwhelming thus causing you to point the finger at little Johnny because he "double dog dared you!" Wait what? you're not five? You've been instilled with a general set of morals, right and wrong, and the concept of being a bigger man? Well why didn't you say so?!


The world economy is tanking, and you are bat shit crazy if you think Obama, or Congress, or dictators, or famine in Africa, or the media, or banks, or whatever are solely responsible for what is happening.  That's like saying George Washington was solely responsible for America winning its independence, which he wasn't. Washington was the face of the country at the time, and a big part of the brains yes, but it takes a village to raise a child, fight a war, or destroy an economy. Washington had numerous soldiers, he had women at home making bullets from candlesticks and darning socks. He had nurses figuring out how to remove shrapnel with always killing the patient, he had horses that carried riders ridiculous distances to give warning of impeding invasions. Essentially he had a lot of help. Same goes for the world as a whole now, no one person or group is brining us down.


Truth of the matter is that essentially every person alive has probably contributed to the down fall of the economy in some miniscule way, shape, or form, so technically we are all to blame. But that's not the big point. The point is that the people in charge act like it's their right to be in charge, not their privilege. They no longer care about being the bigger person and accepting blame or even finding a real solution because no one is holding them accountable. 


Back to the playground scenario, the teacher isn't paying attention so while Johnny and the other kids know they could get in trouble, but haven't yet, so they are spending their time trying to peg the offense on someone else in hopes that when teacher comes to they won't be the one in time out. This results in back and forths, finger pointing, and lots of fear mongering "If you don't agree with me that Susie was the one who's at fault then you must be at fault too!" it's like Animal Farm, but with grown people who are too stubborn to admit that they could have been wrong.


News Flash: no person will EVER be 100% right 100% of the time, so why is it so unbelievably hard to admit that you are just human and made a mistake?


Once you stop acting like a five year old, take responsibility, and begin looking for a legitimate solution guess what? Things start to change! You might mess up again, you might make a mistake and it's very likely that you will have to apologize once more for messing up, but it will be worth it when you finally get it right. 


Someone, most likely my dad, once told me this cheesy quote that's been used so much that I can't find who supposedly said it first. I use this quote almost every day, and recently I've begun following it's advice and things are going great, the quote is "Don't just talk about it, be about." Don't just talk about whose to blame, be about accepting your share of the blame. Don't just talk about how to find a solution, be about implementing a possible solution. Be about using educated decisions to make change instead of just talking about how much you want to change.


What do you think? Please feel free to leave comments below. 


Thanks for reading,
Birdy (-: