Life's Little Tragedies #1

There's an awful lot of "Life's Little..." posts coming from me lately, isn't there? Well, that's what this blog was intended to be, observations of life and the world around me, us, everyone...the people that you meet, when you're walking down the street. (Sorry...had a Muppet moment there. Won't happen again.)

Anyway, this one is going to be fairly brief. Just a little observance I had after a phone conversation with someone close to me...an epiphany, if you will.

Quite simply, short of dealing with the death of someone close to you, I don't believe there's a worse tragedy we can experience in our lives than not being able to be with someone you love, especially when that person wants to be with you, too.

I call it a worse tragedy than death for the simple reason that in death, the person who has passed on is gone, and there's nothing you can do about it. You miss them, you deal with it, and you carry on with your life.

When someone you love is missing from your life, in that there are circumstances keeping two living people apart, you carry on as well, but knowing they're out there and that you can't do anything about it is nothing short of absolute torture. You have to live your everyday life, but you feel so trapped and helpless. There's probably something you can do about it, but what?!?

Well, like I said, we carry on. It's hard, but we do what we can. We do what we have to. We live our lives and hope that some kind of miracle will happen someday that will bring together two people who were meant to be.

"This Daily Observance was brought to you by AT&T...the company that's always there to remind you just how far apart you are from the ones you love. No matter where in the world you live, there's only one way to spell 'heartbreak': AT&T"

Life's Philosophical Quandaries #1

If you love most types of music without prejudice, but possess a considerable lack of religious faith...is it hypocritical to listen to Stryper?

Life's Little Rants #1: Missing Food! (first in a series of many)

One of life's guilty pleasures is one that ties in directly with something absolutely necessary for our survival: Food. We have to eat to live, and most people on earth, including myself, like to eat things that taste good. Some of us like to eat those things that taste good to an extent that our middle sections begin to give us away, showing the world "this guy really likes his (insert decadent food-vice here)". Modern-day advances in technology and science have given us all sorts of food items whose flavors defy verbal description, especially when trying to pronounce all the chemicals and preservatives that provide those enticing flavors. "Mono...gluten...poly...fibro-what?!?" Wouldn't it seem that if you want to make something lemon-flavored, you would simply put lemon in it? Wow! What a novel concept!

I digress. To the point of my rant...

Since we've obviously been trained like so many Dogs of Pavlov to go and buy these convenient, semi-readily-prepared treats for our breakfasts, lunches and dinners (and all snacks in between), wouldn't you think the food companies would continually provide us with the things we love to eat, and have come to purchase on a regular basis? Silly question. Of course not! When we find something we like, it's usually something that very few people buy because of widely-varying tastes, or it was only intended to be manufactured, and subsequently sold, on a limited test-time basis, and will probably never be seen on any grocery shelf anywhere, ever again. The food companies are in business to make a buck or two, and if it costs more to make something than they would make selling it, they will stop making it. Simple supply and demand economics. Unfortunately, just because we, as a minority consumer, may demand something, it doesn't mean Joe CEO is going to pay much attention and supply it to us, because it's most likely our voice is merely a drop in the bucket, already filled with the silent opinions of the mindless lemmings who buy the company's ordinary, everyday bland, crap products by the station wagon load every week...and as everyone knows, the company is always gonna stick with it's faithful cash cows. Heaven forbid they actually make a good product and stick with it for once, regardless of whether it sells millions of pieces a day or not! Maybe they could perhaps just manufacture less of the product, as demand suggests! Perhaps I think a little too simply. After all, I'm no business major, and certainly not the head of any company who decides what gets sold and what doesn't. If I were, I would quickly put back into circulation the following list of my favorite products, which rest here in peace as the basis of this frustrated rant:

Royal Crown Draft Premium Cola
Betty Crocker Suddenly Salad Pepperoni
Post S'mores Cereal
Betty Crocker Tuna Helper Pot Pie
Marquez Chili Dog Burrito
Marquez Pizza Burrito
Dean's Rewards Ice Cream - Orange Sherbet with Nerds Candy
Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream - Kaberry Kaboom
Uncle Ben's Broccoli Almondine Rice
Kool-Aid Orange-Pineapple
Creamsicle Oranges 'n Cream Twists
Pringles Salsa flavor
...and I'm finding more, seemingly every day!

Some companies even manufacture food items for sale in other countries, and apparently never even consider selling them here! While visiting Canada a couple years ago, I discovered two things I would love to see down here in the States:

Quaker Tomato & Basil Rice Cakes
Sprite Ice (if I recall the name correctly...it had a nice mint flavor!)

Fortunately, someone very close to me who is a Canadian resident keeps me supplied with a semi-regular shipment of the delicious rice cakes...I can live without the soda.

In conclusion, I say if we want something from these food companies, tell them about it, and don't let up!!! Everyone set up your emails to automatically send an email...no, 10 emails a day to each company that discontinued a food item you liked, and send the message that WE WILL NOT GO HUNGRY!!!

Of course, they know you're not gonna go hungry and will probably purchase something else they sell...but you don't have to tell them that.

The Crock of Christmas

What a holiday, Christmas. When we're kids, we really take it for granted, you know? We believe in Santa Claus, who Mommy and Daddy tell us brings all kinds of wonderful presents, and they even begin telling us, as far as our young minds can grasp, about some guy named Jesus who was born on this day. Those things and playing in the snow are all we needed to know about Christmas. In a few years, we pretty well know Santa is fiction and our parents are the benefactors of the bounty of that year's cool toys, games and such. By then, we're dragged to whichever church we happen to be attending with Mom and Dad at the time (if you're lucky enough to actually have both parents), and it's pounded into our heads even further what the "true meaning" of Christmas is. Several years later, we're probably in a position where we have some kind of income, and we begin giving presents of our own in return for what we receive. We also realize, since we now most likely drive cars, that the snow we used to frolic in offers us whole new adventures, and more times than not, it ain't a lot of fun anymore. It's at this point the real "true meaning" starts becoming clear, and becomes more and more evident as time goes on:

Christmas is a crock.

Religious meaning aside temporarily, Christmas is all about one thing: greed. It's about the almighty dollar, and it plays on our guilt by forcing us to go out and buy for those who we know are going to buy for us. It's a giant, commercialized marketing plan...perhaps the most brilliant ever devised. Toy companies, and in more recent years, electronics companies, have come to know that this is the time of year when everyone will be clammoring to buy presents for one another, and they know everybody has to have the newest, shiniest, most expensive thing. That's all this holiday is about...things. Never has a civilization been more materialistic as it is during the last two months of every year, for as long as anyone can remember. It's probably going to eventually come to a point where people will completely forget about the religious connotation of the holiday...which brings me to the next reason why Christmas is such a crock (and it pretty well ties into everything I just said, so just bear with me).

The real meaning of the Christmas holiday season is the two things that everyone has blown completely out of proportion over the decades: togetherness and giving. Sadly, it's the guilt I mentioned before that has caused these two things to become sullied and twisted in all the commercialism. Studying the traditions of the season, we learn that families thought absolutely nothing about getting together and giving each other gifts, in the way that gifts were originally given to Jesus after his birth. People never thought about what they were going to get in return, and they weren't "guilted" into buying something, thinking "well, they're going to get me something, so I pretty much have to." It was about genuine, warm feelings of family togetherness and sharing. Kids used to be satisfied with getting a little toy horse that their daddy or grandpa had made out of wood with their own bare hands. Enter the invention of plastic, and things went straight to hell soon after. Combine shiny metal with that plastic...forget it! And togetherness? Just try to not invite certain relatives for Christmas, or not go and visit them yourself, and you will hear about it all year. Guilt strikes again.

Face it, folks. The greed of corporation and the guilt instilled in us to satisfy our children and family have forever destroyed the one good thing we had to look forward to during the year. Why do you think everyone wishes they could stay kids forever? Because, as kids, we've been brainwashed to look forward to getting a shitload of gifts from our parents every...you guessed it, Christmas! It has nothing to do with seeing family, except to think to yourself when you saw old Aunt Fanny you only see that time of year, "what did you get me?" What did you get me, indeed. That's all life is about anymore, what are you going to do for me? Well, junior, you'll find out what Life has for you when you get a little older.

What, you ask, happened to the religious aspect I implied I would return to a couple paragraphs ago? Oh, it's here. It's always here. Religion in the biggest thing in this world that won't let you forget it's here. People of every race, for centuries, have been killing each other by the millions worldwide over conflicting religious beliefs. Trust me, it's here. In regard to Christmas, however, it's barely here. When we get older, experienced and educated, a lot of people are forced to question life and the universe, and the concepts of "Jesus" and divine birth and all that come under great scrutiny by those who have traded the faith from our upbringing for intelligence and learning. There's very few people in the world who have both vast intelligence and good Christian faith. One is a very good friend of mine from school, and I sort of envy him in his ability to form his life around both of those things. Myself...I'm one of the ones who have come to question many things in life, including God and creation. I'm still working on it, but I don't think any doubt I may have makes me a bad person at all. I say that because many of those of Christian faith say that unless I have faith and believe, that I will be condemned to Hell. Ok...whatever. You just keep passing judgement on people, and I'll be over here being what I can see is a better person.

Anyway...I didn't intend to allow this to get off into too great of a tangent about religion, but hey, when you're talking about Christmas, there's really no way to avoid it, is there?

I wish everyone a wonderful, happy, guilt-free Christmas. Remember, there's more to giving than with how much money you may have in your bank account. Give of yourself, from your heart, and the rewards you'll receive in return will mean so much more than the latest plastic thing. Cherish the people in your life, and don't regret too much because of the people you may no longer have in your life. You had them at one time, and if you loved them, and they loved you, the memories of them will be their presents to you for as long as you live...not just for Christmas, but all year through.

Christmas is indeed a crock. Put good things into it, keep it warm, and something even better will come out.

Get it?