Oh, to be bored...and cold.

To say I'm bored would be to point out that Albert Einstein had white hair...And now that I'm talking about Albert, I have a nice little quote for you: (actually, I have a couple ^^)

"Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result." -A. E.

"A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new." - A. E.

"A question that sometimes drives me hazy: am I or are the others crazy?" - A. E.

"Any man who can drive safely while kissing a pretty girl is simply not giving the kiss the attention it deserves." - A. E.

"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex... It takes a touch of genius - and a lot of courage- to move in the opposite direction." - A. E.

"Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school." - A. E.

"Everyone should be respected as an individual, but no one idolized." - A. E.

"Few are those who see with their own eyes and feel with their own hearts." - A. E.

"Few people are capable of expressing with equanimity opinions which differ from the prejudices of their social environment. Most people are even incapable of forming such opinions." - A. E.

"Heroism on command, senseless violence, and all the loathsome nonsense that goes by the name of patriotism - how passionately I hate them!" - A. E.

And there are my quotes. As you can see, the bold ones are more important, but the last is the most important. Because it's absolutely true.

Now, a rant on the war:

First of all, I have to say I don't understand it. Not in the 'I don't understand what killing more and more people and having people killed in return will bring us in the end' (I'll come to that later), but I don't understand why there is a war at all. I mean, I can understand that our nation was mad after 9/11, but that's no reason to start a full out war. I've heard it has somethign to do with oil and prices and whatnot, but I don't exactly know the story on that.

Aside from not understanding what broke this war out, I don't understand why people can't just talk things out. Are the world leaders really that hot-tempered and prone to outbreaks of violence and harsh words? Wouldn't it be easier if one man's pride was wounded in a battle of words instead of millions of men being killed in combat, turning into 'just another name on a plaque'? And what of the families of those brave soldiers? They lost sons and daughters...Do they count for nothing? Is it 'enough' to send them the personal effects of their late husbands, brothers, sons and friends? Don't they deserve more than a speech given by an indifferent person, someone who doesn't know the boys he talks about?

Does anyone ever think about how those soldiers must have felt the day they got their assignments? The day they got shipped out, being torn away from their families, knowing that they might not come back to see them? Or how it felt the moment before they died? Were they scared? Proud? Angry? Happy to finally be free of killing people, sometimes even innocent people, to be rid of the sound of mortar flying and bombs going off, of machine guns being fired and the screams of pain and anguish as they hear their 'enemy' being slowly destroyed?

How about what they feel when they're off duty? Do they resent being told they were to fight for their country? And what country is left for them to fight for? America has become nothing more than a sadistic place; the price of everythign is skyrocketing, it's becoming filled with immigrants from different countries, being thought of as 'the Land of Opportunity'. But what opportunities does America give those poor people in want of help? An opportunity to work illegally and be downtrodden by the government? The opportunity to work 17 hours a day in a thankless job with even more thankless pay? The opportunity to go home to a small shack that just barely fits their needs and purposes, to go home to their family, empty handed and sorry?

America is idolized as something close to riches and fame. America is like a promise of success and happiness, but once you get there, all you are is just another person who's in the unemployment line, waiting for the next check to come, so you can just barely scrape by. No one cares where you came from or what you need....it's a man-eat-man world in America and everyone has to fend for themself.

You might get lucky, if you have a special talent that just can't go unnoticed any longer...but only if you're in the right place at the right time, or if you have connections or really powerful ambition.

What happened to 'land of the brave' and 'home of the free'? We aren't free anymore, America. We're all trapped in our own country and we're suffering. Things are breaking apart. Civilizations are being destroyed. The dreams and hopes of little children are now completely different than they were around 10-15 years ago. Now, instead of wanting to be President or and astronaut, children want to be actresses and models, rock stars and multi-millionaires.

Girls minds have always been warped to think that whatever is in the media must be good. They try to conform, try to be like the people in the magazines or on TV. And when they don't achieve their goals, they break down and decide they aren't good enough to be anything. They turn to anorexia and bulemia, drugs and alcohol-anything to make them more desirable. They turn to the wrong people-people who don't help them, but harm them. And in the end where do they all end up? In a place they hate, somewhere they never wanted and they ask themselves, "Where did I go wrong?"

There used to be an American Dream. There used to be inspiration in the colors red, white and blue. There used to be a time when I would wake up and think, "I love America." A time where I could be patriotic as hell and have a good reason to be. Now the only reason I love America is becuase it's where I was born. It's where my family and friends are...and because of it's history. What happened in the past attracts me to America most of all, because I love the idea of how we got started: Breakign away from the British Government and forming our own, independent country. How we all united to form the 50 (then only 13) states of America. How we signed the treaty.

The Declaration of Independence. Once the foundation of our country, now just a piece of paper with a bunch of signatures on it. The Liberty Bell, once a symbol of freedom, now just an old noisemaker with a crack in it. The Statue of Liberty, once a symbol of hope and freedom for all who looked upon it, now a big green statue that's fun to use as a lookout on the ocean. And finally, the dollar. "In God We Trust". With each of it's individual presidents it once was a currency that we were proud of, but it was yet another sign of independence. Now? Now it's just something we need more and more of, something we never want to give up, because without it, our lives are meaningless, because without it, we can't live.

Is this really the rolemodel for a bunch of 'third world' countries? Is this really what they want to be? Or are they all living in the past that I love so much, the past where everything was really patriotic and we tried our hardest to be content with just what we had and nothing more?

It actually hurts to see what this world is turning into. What America is turning into.

What happened to freedom and justice for all? Why can't we be who we want to be, do what we want to do, say what we want to say? Why is it wrong for a woman to love a woman or a man to love a man? Why is it wrong to have two people of the same sex marry each other? Why does the government think it's right to ban the sanctity of marriage from the homosexual population? Are they harming anyone by getting married? Are they personally hurting George Bush by getting married? Is it right for the Government to actually try and ban love? Something no one can control? Is the Government actually trying to play God? Because if it is, it's doing a horrible job.

--Cassy [misses red, white and blue]