I just realized with some chagrin that it has been months since I've posted. It doesn't seem like that long, or like long at all, but the older I get, the faster time seems to go. That sentiment was confirmed for me by my mom a couple of years ago, who told me that even when the kids are out of the house, time just goes faster and faster. Since that time, my mom has died.

Here's the thing. I have spent too much of my life being the peacemaker. Wanting everyone to get along. Wanting everyone to like me. It just isn't possible without giving myself permission to be a total hypocrite, which is something I've never wanted to be. So be prepared, because a blog that was never intended to be full of opinion or politics may begin to be full of it. And my whole audience of 1 and a half or so is bound to be shocked.

I get e-mail messages, like everyone probably does, which contain religious and political sentiments. Often, these don't agree with my beliefs. I find this interesting, because it means that the people sending them don't know me well enough to know whether I will agree with them, and so they either assume that I will agree or they don't care if they offend me. The fact is, that I am rarely offended by their mails, whether or not I agree, but it does occasionally piss me off that they assume I agree. They are all welcome to their opinions, but shouldn't assume that I share them, especially when their opinions fall into a range that I would hate to be associated with.

Here are some good tips for forwarding sentimental/religious/political emails to others, especially when you don't really know what they think about the topic in question.

1. Don't send anything to everyone in your address book, unless it's a notification of a change in your contact information. Instead, hand pick a few people that you are pretty sure will enjoy the sentiment.
2. Don't assume that because you live in the USA, and are sending your mails to other people in the USA, that they are necessarily Christian (or whatever) and will appreciate or share your religious beliefs. Some, like me, will read and think it's fine that you sent it, whether or not they share the beliefs. Others might genuinely be bothered that you are making such assumptions.
3. Don't assume that everyone will appreciate the "all of our soldiers are heroes and you are unpatriotic if you don't support every war our administration decides to wage". I fully appreciate what our young military men and women do for us, but I know that the entire country should be shocked and ashamed beyond belief when instances occur such as the gang rape, shooting and burning of a 15-year old Iraqi girl and the subsequent cover-up of the situation. If you are truly a patriot, you should be even more ashamed that unfortunately, there are a few soldiers out there who NO ONE should want to represent or "protect" our country in any way, shape or form. I'm not the only one who thinks that our current administration has made a record number of dunderheaded decisions (and believe me, I'm being very, very polite to use that wording) and I, for one, was pretty sure that there were no WMDs in Iraq before we ever invaded. (And yes, we INVADED - and anyone who thinks that there was a bit of truth in the label "Operation Iraqi Freedom" should be protected from all home shopping channels because they are clearly addicted to and unable to resist even the most blatant and idiotic of propaganda.)
4. Please remember that one of the things that makes our country great is that we DO have the right to express our dissent, supposedly and hopefully without threat of repercussion from the powers that be.
5. Don't send me any of your racist, "we poor white men are victims of this society which gives all them colored folks every advantage". It's bullsh*t and I don't want to hear it. White men are dominant in every high-wage profession, every country club, every major university and virtually every institution over 60 years old in our country. White men are the only people who had reasonable voting rights in our country before 1920. White men are not and have never been disadvantaged in this country. Get over yourself. And if you think all those Mexicans are taking your jobs, maybe you need to think about working a little harder for your paycheck, so your employer doesn't want to give those enviable jobs away to the Mexicans.

I don't believe in a suspension of anyone's civil rights. The erosion of civil rights is a scary thing and should worry any good patriot. Without the protections afforded by the constitution and Bill of Rights, we are in danger of repeating some of the worst events ever experienced in the history of the world. Do we really want to be a party to that? And for that matter, do we want to be the only nation in the world that calls itself civilized but won't rule out torture as an acceptable means of "acquiring information"? Can we possibly consider ourselves world leaders when we are not setting an example that we would want other countries to follow?

No one should consider it okay to invade a sovereign nation under the guise of "liberation", without the support of the populace.

No one should consider it okay to continue the occupation of another nation when that nation has shown, under vote, that the occupation is not desired, and when such occupation has resulted in reducing the country to civil war.

No one should consider it okay for people to be detained off-US soil for the purpose of not allowing them the rights that they would have if they were prisoners on US soil. i.e. they should have the same rights to sentencing, attorneys, speedy trial, decent treatment, etc.

Everyone should be considering the sort of things that are going on in their government, everyone should take it upon themselves to be informed, to question those things that don't add up, and to VOTE! Voting is a privilege, and SHAME on you if you have time to keep up on celebrity gossip, but not on issues or candidates that will affect the lives of people you actually know. Make it more of a priority to keep up on what's going on in the world than to keep up on who is in rehab or getting a divorce.

Question Authority. And keep questioning it until you are confident that everyone is doing their job to your satisfaction. And then question it again.