But Seriously, Folks

I am reading the Sunday paper.  Yes, I know it's Monday, but I had imortant movie-watching and relaxing going on yesterday.

 

 

Anyway...

 

In the Sunday paper, I am learning about how I should be worried about....EVERYTHING.  Most notably that I'm going to get arrested for something I didn't do, and I'm gonna be soooooo screwed trying to sort that out.  Also, that all of the water in the state is turning to scum and that my boss (the guy who runs the company, not my manager) makes way too much money.

 

 

And now, I'm a wreck, thank you Star Tribune.

 

 

Perhaps I wasn't in the correct emotional state to read that this morning.  Just thinking about debt collectors who can have me arrested for no reason is enough to freak me the hell out.  I would say that it's like when you were a kid and you thought there was a monster under the bed, but, this is not like that--this is, "Hey, we don't have to prove that you're a loser to call you one and have you arrested and publicly embarrassed."

 

Awesome.  Freaking awesome.  Forget being a nice or decent person--it just doesn't matter.  Do I feel better knowing this?  No, not one bit.  If it were to happen to me, I guess I'd rather that it be a surprise than to spend even one minute of my life worrying about it.

 

Having said that, I am glad someone told their story--obviously that is some messed up stuff and I sure hope the series of stories goes a long way in helping people just be decent to one another.  Crossing fingers!  What else can I do--sit around and wait to be arrested?  If ever a news story could affect change, I hope it's this one.

 

 

Moving on to the "You'll never enjoy a lake again" scary thing--see how we are?  See how we are when we say things like, "Yeah, I know it's a rule, but it's just MY thing that I need the exception for!  Can't you bend that rule just this one time?" and then we ALL do that, cuz this is AMERICA, and pretty soon, we've exception-ed ourselves right into a pile of poo.  Literally.  Nice going!  Good job!

 

I was talking to a friend last night about what we've done to ourselves, this wonderful nation--we've said "Yes" to way too many things.  Nobody wants to be the bad guy and say, "No, Mr. Extremely Rich Person, I'm sorry, but you can't drain your sewage into Lake Minnetonka." and stand firm on that.  Have a backbone for crying out loud!  At the same time, the reason why nobody wants to have a backbone is that if they do, they'll probably just get sued by someone who has a much more expensive lawyer than they do, who will find the exception within the rule, completely destroy the spirit in which a law and/or rule was enacted, and then it's off to the races. 

 

We're Spoiled Brat-ing ourselves right out of 10,000 damn fine swimming holes.

 

 

I don't know if my CEO has a lake place.  Probably, he could afford one.  Or two.  Or Six.  No matter.  Honestly, I get tired of people saying that someone is making "too much" money.  Sure there are abuses in all systems, but the bottom line is this:  Somebody OFFERED them that salary.  If somebody offered YOU that salary, what would you say?  "No"?  Really?  Bullshit.  If you were offered 3M money, you'd say "Nah, I'm good!" in your 6 year old car and 800 square foot apartment?  Not me.

 

Of course, I am most fond of our CEO (I do not work for 3M) because he created a situation in which I might obtain employment, and for that I say, You kick ass, mister!  Give that man anything he wants!

 

 

 

All three of these news blurbs are nothing more than demonstrations of our intolerance and refusal to be forgiving--as a society.  Somehow, we think we've earned every right.  We haven't.  To assume that so-and-so is a bad person and should be arrested because they may or may not have had some debt at one time in their lives?  Really?  To assume that your sewage doesn't stink?  Really?  To assume someone doesn't deserve something, having never walked a mile in their shoes?  Really? (The CEO's in question are always hustling, people--if you like your evenings and weekends off and aren't prepared for the scrutiny of being one of the people out there changing the world, you wouldn't last long in any of those jobs...) 

 

When did it become our job to shame others while insisting that we have no flaws of our own?  Disgusting.  Shoulda never read the paper...