Food For Thought... Vol IX

Hello world and good morning to you all.

Today is a day of rebirth for so many. I think about this from time to time to realize that I'm not so important after all. I can sit back, look at face book, play a bit of poker online, or sit here with my girlfriend, and though these things are important to me, I realize that not all things are really that significant. Please don't get me wrong, Its not that I don't feel that things are significant, Its really just there is so many things going on in this world that we just don't consider daily.

When I was living in the city, I realized a lot of things about the area that I now call home. I thought about the drama, the back stabbing, the non-information based decisions that a majority of us made. I realized that I was probably one of the biggest self-important, self loathing, pricks in all of Southern Maryland. Being in the city I realized that sometimes it was really nice to be the nameless face in the crowd. I liked buying a newspaper and sitting at a cafe while I read outside. I liked not being approached by people while i read and thought. Down here it seems that if one was to sit outside of a cafe and read the paper that the odds of being approached are substantially higher. I can assure you that I would never tell anyone to go away or leave me alone, as I have always been more welcoming than that, however I don't need to hear about the latest gossip. Random spoken gossip has been a detriment to several people I know, including myself. We have all spoken such words, and honestly I am ashamed to have been part of that.

Gossip by definition is idle talk or rumor about the personal or private affairs of others. Why would you or I deem it necessary to expose any ones demons, skeletons, or sexual affairs. It's funny that the further out of the city you go, the more prominent the affairs of others become. I am still curious as to the social benefit of the actual gossip itself. I am not saying that there is no gossip in the city. But what I am saying is that in an area that is considered dense in population versus an area that it completely rural. There is more unsubstantialized information passed in the rural area, at least per capita. There are roughly One million ppl that live in DC, Alexandria, and Arlington which means that with in fifteen miles you can touch well over a million people during the work week. During the week in St. Mary's and Calvert Counties in Maryland you could possibly touch Two Hundred Thousand, and please lets not forget that there are very few people within the fifteen mile radius. I suppose that in the city there is a bit more of a choice? Possibly...

In the less rural areas, there are obviously more people, which means you are able to gather culture based information that can be wonderful and stimulating. You have the ability to meet people from different backgrounds, life styles, and careers, while here there are less transients, and more folks that have been born and raised. Culture in the Southern Maryland Counties lack, and the acceptance of any new culture comes to a road block as soon as you are greeted with the welcoming committee. The welcoming committee of closed minded individuals that hate change or difference in opinion. In this lack of culture we are left to fend for ourselves. We are left to our own devices, and truthfully, with nothing to do either than Drink or Shop, the most frugal of decisions is to talk Gossip. We even have our own gossip Newspaper. The useless piece of printed fecal byproduct known as the Saint Mary's Today. Seriously whoever writes in that paper needs to shoot themselves. It is one of the worst written, worst edited, piece of crap I have ever read. I would rather read an article about the migration of snails than even attempt to open a page on that non-fact based Rag Mag. In a society where all of us should band together in an effort to help one another, they as well as multiple people in this community would rather make light of situations and families in despair. What good does that do?

I am not perfect, I have been arrested, done my time, and have been reformed. I do what I have to to get by, and have recently moved back in to this area in an attempt to move forward with my life. It's all somewhat funny though. As soon as I stroll back in to town, I am bombarded with stories about negative things that have happened to good people. Seriously?!?!?!? Why don't we see if they are capable of turning their lives around before we speaking about them. I refuse to persecute someone for the decisions that they have made. I just want to see that they can do better for themselves... Tell me that story... I don't need to hear that someone is a loser because they got hooked on a drug, or that they lost a job, or that they couldn't control themselves when they went out the other night. For all I know that person might be going through something that we couldn't even fathom, but yet someones always there to drive the stake deeper. Someone always want to make that persons business known. WHY??? I know, I have done it... I did it to divert my past and information on to someone else. Start talking about something that I have heard or otherwise, but truthfully... What right did I have. NONE!!! The same as you...

Seriously??? Seriously... If you like to talk about others misfortunes, do you realize that once what ever story has been said, gets back to that person, all you're doing is making them feel worse? What about if you made a mistake? Would you like all of the locals to know what happened, would you like the opportunity to tell the story yourself? There is no love in gossip or rumor. There is no love when people are left to their own devices with misinformation.

When it comes to personal lives down here, we need to remember to mind our own business. We need not spread third hand information. It's not out responsibility. It will cause others to be judgemental while not even knowing what the truth is. We don't need that in today's age. We are all struggling financially, we all have demons, and we all wish we could do a few things over... I don't need anyone telling me what I did wrong... I lived it, paid for it, and moved on... You don't need anyone bringing up anything from your past either... The only thing that matters is that we grow from the experiences that we have had in life...

I miss being a nameless face at times. I miss not having to know every ones family, I miss real politics. I hate the good ole' boy systems of the south. Nothing ever gets done. Kenny Dement has no reason to hold any office. He's an old, old man, with nothing more than a soft ball legacy, that only cares about old county and profiteering... Check me on that by the way... Its not a rumor, its truth. Look at his records. I did! I wish that there could be a real sociological study done down here. I wish that culture was more diverse here. I wish that we could be nameless faces from time to time.

I don't hate it here, I can be honest about that, but I don't have to like the way things are run nor do I have to like the gossip network that goes on. I think it's all a petty attempt to divert focus and make one feel better about them self. Let's start being real. Let's start confronting issues like adults, and lets be real with one another. Anything less than real is fake, and honestly is that what you are??? A Fake?!?! I hope not... I'm not any more, but I am man enough to say that I was at one time.

I hope this finds all of you well... God Bless, and be kind to each other... Ill be kind to you!!!