I don't think the words Thank You are enough

The fact there is only a day for the Brave Men and Women who fight, have fought and paid the ultimate price for our freedoms, seems a shame to me. These brave soldiers give their entire lives, for many years at a time, so I can go buy groceries or be able to work and spend time with my family. Many of them will be working a 12 hour shift or longer, when we will be sitting at a table with our families on Thanksgiving. Or when we get to wake up to a tree full of presents underneath, they will be waking up on a cot and hoping they have enough water in a bottle to be able to brush their teeth. They don't just give their time, that time they spend would be unbearable to most, yet they do it with honor and bravely go out day-in-day-out knowing very well, they may not come home.

These men and women don’t just deserve a thank you or a facebook status update thanking them. We owe them our time and our appreciation. Even if all you can do is send a soldier a letter, or care package or if you can raise money to send troops items they need, anything helps. I think we all need to take the time to realize that someone else gave up his or her daily lives in comfort, so I can have mine. Please, find an organization; find a way to help them out. Because even if we can bring them just a glimmer of home while they are over seas or just a little happiness, we must.

(I actually became a Soldier's Angel: http://www.soldiersangels.org/ It is an organization that just gives you a soldier's address and you commit to writing them once a week and sending a care package once a month. It is more than worth the time and the effort is small. Please join and help a soldier's moral today)

Think outside the box

I was talking with a friend last night that categorizes himself as a Republican. Talking with him on Politics gives me new perspective on my own views. I don't think I am Republican. I would have considered myself a Republican when Reagan was president, yes, I do believe a lot of my views were in line with the Republicans in the 80's, but today… I am having a hard time associating with the party. Why?? Because I do not believe they are holding true to their values, but I believe they left me, not the other way around.

But in my conversation with my friend I realized that today’s Republicans actually have a hard time thinking "outside the box". My friend proceeded to tell me that Romney was going to be our ticket to a republican in office after Obama and we need to put our support behind him to get Obama out of office.

I was listening to Glenn Beck the other day and I heard him say something to the effect that for the last couple decades we have been voting for the lesser of two evils, that is more than true. I have never voted for a candidate for as long as I have been voting because I believed in him. I just believed that he was not as bad as the other guy. For so long we have been voting, I have been voting that way. I have heard the term, “lesser of the two evils” hundreds of times in the past elections and you know what, I am tired of it.

Why do we have to only pick the lesser of the two evils? Why can't we have a choice of 2 qualified candidates that actually believe the views and will vote the views of the country? Why can't we demand that our candidates be held responsible for their actions? Why can’t WE hold them accountable to what we want them to vote? The thing is we can, but we just expect other to do the dirty work. But how can we do it?

The first step is we need to squash the media that tears apart new candidates just because they are viewed as a threat to those in office. The Obama campaign was a great example as to why we need to stop watching these news stations, even if they are the only new stations left, we cannot let them have our money and lie to us at the same time. We need to start to do our own homework and be our own watchdogs for this country. We have to bury them or make them see we will no longer accept smear campaigns like those forged against Sarah Palin during the 2008 Presidential election.

We also need to take detailed notes on what is promised by candidates in the campaign and then hold them to it once they get into office. I have emailed my Senators and Representatives videos of them promising one thing and then doing another and telling them I will not vote for them or support them if they continue to lie to me and my fellow constituents. I then email as many people as I can find and post information to show they are not keeping their promises. It is hard to deny videos (although they can claim the are edited… right???)

Can you imagine if we all did that, what a difference it would make? Think about it. If you constantly catch a child doing something wrong and you call them on it every time; they begin to think you are watching every move they make. When in fact you can't watch every move, but they are always aware that you may catch them and the punishment isn't worth the risk. We must do that with our politicians; treat them as children, because quite frankly they act like children.

So that brings me back to Romney... I choose not to throw my support behind him because it looks like he could win; I choose to throw my support behind a candidate I believe in. When I told my friend that Romney was about as political and shady as Obama in my opinion. He would never give a straight answer in the debates or when questioned and he actual tried to say that his Mormon faith would have no bearing on any decision he would make as President. That statement alone pretty much ensures he would never receive my vote. Last time I checked I am a Christian before I am an American and if I were President, my faith would be involved in every decision that I make. When I had made that statement to my friend, he said, "Well of course his faith would play a role, he just says that to make the homosexual community and abortion community happy, but once he gets into office he will do what he wants, they all do."

I believe that statement is what is wrong with this country. How can we ever get back to the America that was founded when we allow politicians, right or left, act in this manner. They can lie to us to get in, but once they get in, I know they will do what they want.

Is it too much to ask that I demand a candidate that tells me what they are going to do and then do it when they are in office? Is it too much to ask of us to not criticize every little aspect of a candidate’s life, because as we all know we are not perfect, right? I just want honesty. I want a person who will own up to their mistakes. To me if someone has made a mistake, I do not judge them on the mistake, I tend to look at how they handle the mistake, what they learned from it and how they have moved on from it. To me that is a measure of a person's character, not the mistake it's self.

We need to come back to being human beings and we need to, as American Citizens, demand our leaders be those with integrity and with morals and with faith, otherwise this country we know, will be lost. It will not be lost because of what the Politicians have done to it, it will be lost because we did not hold them accountable and because we didn’t think outside the box they created. Think like our Founding Fathers; dream the dream of a better Nation. We need to draw from their strength, they were against all odds, but because they were a Nation Under God, they prevailed and as bleak as it may look, if we return to that thought, a Nation Under God, this country will be what it once was.

The entitlement generation

I am not a parent. Nor do I want to be. But, our family needed help and my boyfriend and I took in his niece and nephew to our home full-time until their Mom could get back on her feet. Boy have I learned a lot about the world of children. I give it to you parents, it is a bit over whelming at first. Trying to teach them right, making sure you keep up with what they being taught in school and that it is what you want them taught, etc, etc. Wow, it is more than another full-time job that is for sure. But also what I have learned is that the world of children is much different today then it was when I was a kid and I was a kid not too long ago.

I have noticed two things, kids thought process is the same... they still want the latest stuff, they still want to be the cool kid and they still want to use toys and clothes and material things to do it. I remember asking my Mom for stuff, wanting Guess jeans or Stussey t-Shirts, but there was a difference…My Mother told me no. Things like that were a luxury we couldn’t afford and the famous saying was, "You don’t need things to be happy. You'll learn that what you have even now is much more than you need." I remember that lesson and I have decided to heed that advice in my life. And I believe it is the key to my happiness.

The difference with today's children isn’t the children; it's the Parents. The parents don’t say no, they say yes. Even if the Parents can't afford it, they still give it to their children and what does that teach them; It's ok to be in debt to have the things you want. Which is the key to unhappiness. We are teaching our children that it is ok to be in debt, it is ok to be a slave to that debt and it is ok to live your life to acquire things. Which, user in the nanny state and that’s where you get the following of the socialist movement by young people that is disguising it’s self as democracy.

What happened to saving for something before you got it? Instead people put it on a credit card because they want it now. Then Parents act shocked that their kids want things now…well that would be because you are showing them that is the way to act. The single best parenting tool is to live the word you preach. If I don’t think my children should lie, then I shouldn’t lie. If I want my kids to be respectful of people then I need to show that respect and appreciation so they will learn it based on my actions. The "Do as I say not as I do" approach to Parenting will never work.

But parents just don't care, they want things, so both parents work out of the home so they can afford things, instead of living more modestly and having one parent stay at home. People have children out of wedlock and then separate and the broken home becomes the norm.

We, the adults, are to blame for this mess we are in and the entitlement generation. We have taught our children to expect things. No chores, no contributing, they just get money; they just get things when we feel like we want to buy their love. How about making them earn it, making time with them instead of giving them something to make up for our lack of time with them. Spending some time getting to know your children and creating that bond instead of handing over an Ipod or new Iphone would mean so much more.

I know one thing, I may not be a favorite Aunt by not giving the niece and nephew things, but they will grow up better kids because I would have given them something more valuable then any item, love and time. That is the best gift of all. If our country turned back to some old school values, we would be the country we once were, but until we take responsibility for what we have done to this generation it will never change.