Youthful Life: X

" America is false to the past, false to the present, and solemnly binds  herself to be false to the future." Frederick Douglass The American Dream is dead. Rather it never existed. Maybe it did, but even then it was not made for everyone to be able to attain it. What's a dream if its within reach for everyone? No it was, is, and always will be reserved for a select few. And to those who don't fit the selection criteria but somehow, against all odds (*read systemic and interpersonal barriers) make it  - the narratives are co-opted to reify the propaganda that the dream is only deferred not denied. This country doesn't want us all the make it. Our society isn't built for everyone to thrive. Our perspective needs people to trounce upon, to use, to throw away as disposable. We need people to other. We need them to be different. We need there to be a distinction between us and them. That is what we are founded on - blood, the ideals of the rich white-ma...

Truth - Everything is political. Everything from what we do and what we say, to even our existences are political. The notion that people can be into or out of politics is moot. All that we are is based on beliefs, normalizations, and values that are inherently contestable. Whether we like it or not, we are consumed by politics - in fact, we are the embodiment of politics. The extent to which we show up in political ways can surge and wane but the bottom line is that to exist is to be political. How we navigate those personal politics makes all the difference. "Voters don't decide issues, they decide who will decide issues." George Will Being part of the American general public is an experience. That experience is greatly influenced by our identities and the ways in which we move through this world in addition to our actions, words, and ambitions. What we know to be true, and what has always been true is that each and every person is different. We experience the w...

Truth - Morality and ethics can both be clearly defined, stringent absolutes, and complicated ambiguous gray areas, depending on your ideological beliefs and personal contexts. In living in a society, there are some commonly agreed upon parameters and guidelines that we all accept, whether consciously or inadvertently. Those who operate beyond the bounds of what we deem legal, if caught, are supposed to deal with the established consequences laws, statutes, and orders that have been set in place. The challenge to that bureaucracy when that established system disadvantages certain people or may just very well be inherently corrupt itself. Are we for moral absolutism or are we more moral relativists? "Despite what they tell you, there are simply no moral absolutes in a complex world." Berkeley Breathed Last week  was an adventure and a half. At every junction I came to there were moral and ethical decisions to be made. How do I behave, what is best for not only m...