A dark society

I've always been a little too sensitive and emotional. Especially for a man. Men are taught to be strong and don't cry. When a little girl falls and skins her knee everyone drops everything to run to her. You hear things like "oh you poor baby", "are you ok princess", and "want me to kiss it and make it better". A boy does the same thing and they're told "boys don't cry", "it's just a scratch", and "man up". So when men and women grow up and try to get married and settle down they have a completely opposite way of thinking. Women want a man who's sensitive but also strong. To succeed in the American society you have to be willing to capitalize which is to take advantage. People admire those that are willing to take advantage of an opportunity even if it's not best for everyone. Now, that mentality has become a way of life. For someone like me, I would love nothing more than peace, unity, and love among everyone. But like Johnny Cash once said, "till times are brighter I'm the man in black". That is exactly how I feel in my life. Yes, on a daily basis I smile and look at the positives. I'm giddy and feel blessed just to be where I am today. Every day people reassure me that there is still hope for our civilization. I'm reassured by their actions, not their words. But I'm also discouraged by all of the hate, judgement, violence, poverty, and confusion.

I was upset that my baseball team lost and then I hear a fan was beaten in the parking lot of Dodger stadium, again! I don't understand how people can go from being competitive about a sport to be willing to kill someone because of it. Then I read this story today that brought everything into perspective for me.

I read this article on the Daily mail which is like any other online news agency, biased and controlled by a biased entity. But today let's ignore that and just read it as if it's just objective facts. This 12 year old boy in Guatemala was ambushed by gangland thugs who attempt to order him to shoot a bus driver or be killed himself. His father is a bus driver and so he refused to shoot the bus driver. The thugs give him the option to be killed by machetes or thrown off a bridge. He chose to be thrown off a bridge. His father and rescuers found him 3 days later still alive but dying. The picture of his father cradling him as he lay there dying makes me realize I'm a little whiny spoiled brat for even feeling my life is ever tough. This child showed so much courage and self sacrifice. He laid alone for 3 days and lived for 15 more days in the hospital.

The realization that people could be so cold and heartless as to give a 12 year old such an ultimatum is the reason I will never be completely satisfied with our society. I have a responsibility as a father to help my kids become responsible and healthy adults so I continue on. I have a mentality of trying to see the bright side and be happy. I do tend to be pessimistically optimistic or hope for the best and expect the worst. But more than a lot of others I just see the positive side of things. But even with that I struggle to know that at this very moment someone is suffering and I'm not doing anything about it. Yeah I know what a lot of you are thinking. You little bitch danny. Quit your crying. Yeah, I've told myself the same thing. I just don't understand how as a society with such beauty at our fingertips we can spend so much time fighting and clawing for things that don't matter. None of it matters. The most financially successful people in history still were not satisfied. Guys like JP Morgan, Rockefeller, and Andrew Carnegie amassed fortunes that would compare to the ending of a game of Monopoly. Each of them though eventually realized that money cannot by happiness and they started giving their money away. That's because we all realize at some pointing that giving gives us the most joy. We have our hearts, minds, and our guts to help us make decisions with the help of our conscience. Eventually I hope that we as a people will realize that we were all put here to achieve peace and harmony not to capitalize on each other. I just believe that we're past the point of being able to accomplish that and that's where my disparity of our dark society comes in.

Rest in Peace Angel Ariel Escalante Perez. May the positive forces of the universe bless you in a way fit for a real soldier. A soldier that refused to commit murder even in the face of death. Would you have the courage to say no if you were in his shoes? I can't say that I would but I'll always respect and have love for this 12 year old who died a bigger man than many who have died with large fortunes. 

Here is a link to the story. 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3274165/Tragic-moment-father-finds-dying-son-12-three-days-thrown-450ft-bridge-refusing-murder-random-bus-driver-job-parent-years.html