I Still Wish Some Of You Would Just Shut Up

Editor’s Note: We first ran this 2.5 years ago but much if not most is still applicable. I spent a large part of Saturday night trying not to throttle some people. I listened to idiots with money talk about Ebola and tried not to slap them for spreading ignorance. I listened to them talk about politics and asked them to tell me why anything they said was significant and or important.

When they asked why I looked at one of them and told them they were good at regurgitating what they read but wanted to know if they thought about it or if they questioned anything they heard. That led to the usual party rhetoric and I just walked away because they reminded me of the walking dead. I haven’t any patience to listen to people complain about things they don’t understand and less for those who won’t lift a finger to try to change it.

In my world the shit is bad right now, most days life isn’t much fun because there is too much stress and too much rough crap for fun. Every day is a freaking struggle to keep the Titanic from sinking a second time. The aristocrats can while away their time fighting over which party is better but not me.

I have a bucket I am using to bail water, a hose to put out fires and my freaking fists to beat off the hordes that are trying to take my life boat away because they don’t recognize if we worked together there would be room for all.

But they aren’t listening because they are the kind of people who say ‘how are you” because it is routine and not because they want to know. They aren’t listening because their minds are closed and they think they know what I am going to say before I say it.

And they aren’t listening because they have been lucky enough not to face real adversity so when they talk about spending less it means they won’t take a second vacation not that they are giving up their health insurance so their kids still have it or they won’t buy new clothes so there is food on the table.

So the hell with them. If they won’t help find a solution they are part of the problem.

I wish that some of you would just shut up. I am not kidding because I really do wish you would just stop blogging. No, I am not being nice and yes I know what your mother said about not speaking if you don’t have anything nice to say.

You can tell mom to just shut up too. Do me a favor tell her twice and say that Jack sends his love. Tell her that I use two spaces after periods because I don’t give a fuck if some typographers get upset about it.

They mean well but I have too many other things that are chafing my hide. I am too busy trying to figure out why our public school system is broken and wondering if I can afford to go see the dentist.

I have health insurance but I don’t have dental insurance. I gave it up so that I could pay for private school for my kids. I couldn’t afford to pay for everyone in the family anyway but I make sure that the kids see the dentist for their regular teeth cleaning.

When mom asks you why I am being rude tell her that I am not really being rude. Tell her that it is rude not to be angry about the homeless guys who are sleeping on the street because they have no other place to go. Tell her that people who are unemployed aren’t all lazy and that lots of them want jobs.

Tell her to be thankful that she has a roof over her head and food on the table. Let her know that there are educated people on the street because shit happens. Let her know that some of them got hit my medical bills that overwhelmed them and that when their companies laid them off they didn’t get severance and that no one wants to hire middle management because they have too much experience.

Let her know that it is time to stop blaming god for why things are good or bad. Tell her that we waste copious amounts of money fighting to stop gay marriage because we need to fight the moral decline here and that the decline of infrastructure isn’t important.

We don’t need to retrofit bridges, repair broken water mains or worry about keeping public libraries open. Tell mom that her dear friend Jack can’t be pigeonholed as a Republican or a Democrat because he has learned to hate both parties.

That is because it has become more important to make the other side look bad than to fix common problems. Tell mom that I will continue to tell people to shut up because they haven’t bothered to learn enough about the issues to explain why supporting or fighting them are important.

Tell mom that I can’t be bothered to listen to another tale about how Bush stole the election or how Obama isn’t really a citizen. Tell her that I can’t listen to Democrats blame every bad thing on Republicans and that I can take listening to Republicans blame the Democrats either.

Just Shut up

Tell mom that in the blogosphere I am sick and tired of blogs where the authors consistently take the easy road because their readers don’t hold them accountable. Not every post is great. Not everyone is a winner. Some posts suck. Sometimes we fall down and we fail.

I say ‘we’ because I include myself in that group. And when mom asks if I have an ego and think I am better than some bloggers you can tell her that I do and I am. Tell her that I don’t claim to have all the answers but that I am trying.

Let her know that the primary reason I am so damn angry is because I don’t see changes. I don’t hear coherent plans for improving things for all of us. Tell her that when I suggest that it is better to have an educated and healthy populace it doesn’t make me a socialist and that if you are going to call me names you need to understand what you are saying and why.

And then tell mom that this isn’t a rah rah speech. It is not me trying to be inspirational. It is just me venting because sometimes people really suck.

• Saved: Life