Maybe this is the problem with America.
At the end of the day, Pepsi sponsors a deejay at the base of Vail. Along with said deejay, they provide Pepsi itself. The Pepsi is in these round barrels with plastic covers. You can see right into the vessel where all the cans are on ice.
Knowing this from previous experience, I strode to a barrel and...it was covered with someone's helmet and gloves. I looked this person in the eye, a middle-aged woman, not a teen punk, and she removed her wares and I reached in for a Pepsi and went inside to put on my SkiSkootys and when I looked outside, this same damn woman put her helmet and gloves back on the Pepsi barrel. Now everybody is not as experienced as me, they don't know there's free Pepsi, and as long as this woman keeps her stuff on top of the barrel, they'll go without.
But she doesn't mind.
No one minds.
Don't tell me entitlement is only about the left. It's everybody in America today. Everybody believes they can do whatever they want and the rules do not apply to them. On the right the excuse is FREEDOM! Freedom from society, freedom to do whatever you want whenever you want. How does that work?
And on the hill it's not much better.
There are the people who refuse to ride the lift with others. There's a big line, but they don't want any singles going with them. And the singles... They'll only go with people they determine acceptable. As for the order, alternating left to right, that's out the window.
Maybe it's not about political issues at all. Maybe it's about us, Americans.
Now if you're a youngster, you probably don't remember the sixties, when we were all supposed to get together and love one another.
Today I've got a gun and if you knock on my door, beware.
And if I've got more money than you I don't want anything to do with you. There's a whole slice of life that is only accessible to the rich. Private jets, hotels... I thought we were all one country, I guess not.
So do you let someone get in front of you?
Not if nobody else does, then you feel like a chump.
And we've got all these business wizards telling us that to get ahead we've got to be aggressive, use people (er, networking), as long as it pays no one can criticize.
As for the spending bill... Elon Musk came along and got rid of research for pediatric cancer, and legislation to attack the inequities of pharmacy benefit managers! You've got to cut, cut, cut, after all the government wastes money and they're taking your tax dollars.
What kind of bizarre world do we live in where people believe they don't have to pay their fair share of taxes, and they alone should be able to decide how the taxes they do pay are spent? Once again, if we're all in it together, we've got to take care of each other, pave the roads, provide disaster relief...BUT NOT IF I HAVE TO PAY FOR IT! And if it happens to me, I'm entitled to reimbursement, forget what I said previously.
CEOs are entitled to their fat salaries. Why? Because every other CEO is handsomely compensated. They're ENTITLED to that money.
And if you go to college, you're entitled to an A.
But if you're looking for welfare...you're not entitled to that, you're going to abuse the system, you lazy f*ck, go out and work!
No one really cares about anyone else, no one is compassionate. And when caught in bad behavior, they don't accept criticism, they just point to the other guy!
And if you're a member of the hoi polloi...why should you obey the rules, the rich don't, isn't that how they got rich, aren't they always jamming it in front of our face?
We don't need a political revolution, we need a cultural revolution. We need our leaders to be beacons of compassion, not rip-off artists who sell multiple versions of the same damn album to fans caught up in the excitement.
Giving back?
Maybe I'll write a check for this or that, it'll burnish my image. But on a regular basis? Screw that, I'm entitled to everything I've got and I want more.
What is end game here?
Well, we've gotten to the point where our country is divided politically when in truth people are people as Depeche Mode says, and in most ways we're similar.
And then there's income inequality, that's the UnitedHealthcare story. People are at their limit. You can only abuse them so much.
And everybody lies with impunity. Why not, our president-to-be does. And Fox News makes fun of the people on the other side... It's no longer about the issues, but character attack.
And, of course, the left believes it knows better. As if by going to college you learn everything about life. And if you have contempt for others, how fair and balanced are you really? All you Democrats excoriating the Trump voters... You've got no idea why most of them did, you're myopic, you can't comprehend how the other half lives.
When a society is rotten, people want a strongman.
We've got a rotten society, and we've ended up with Trump. Hell, the right adores Orban... And if that doesn't make your head spin....
We need a readjustment, a reset.
Then again, people don't want their kids to go to "government schools," what we used to call "public schools." As for home schooling...you go to school with others for the socialization, to learn how to make friends and get along with other people. But, from the get-go, there are parents who want to shield their progeny from the rest of society. You don't learn everything in books.
Instead of making fun and hating on everybody who is not on his side, maybe Elon Musk could show a little courtesy, tell his minions that you don't ultimately succeed by demonizing the other, but by embracing and understanding the other.
And I don't expect you to lay down your sword, because no one else is. But we sure are ready for some leaders to show the way. Ones who embrace all Americans, not just the chosen few.
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