Henry Rollins - Young Person

 

 Young person, you'll find in your life that sometimes your great ambitions will be momentarily stymied, thwarted, marginalized, by those who were perhaps luckier, come from money, where more doors opened, where college was a given, it was not a student loan, it was something that dad paid for. To where an ease and confidence in life was almost a birthright, where for you it was a very hard climb and you will encounter people who never have to pay in full. They get to wreck the room and never have to clean it. They can get all the way through high school and never understand where a dollar comes from because they just get it given to them. 

Okay that happens all the time. Just because you come from nothing you must not let that be something that holds you back. It is easy to loose your moral compass, your decency, your sense of civility, and your sense of community. Very easy. People are getting a little desperate. They might not show their best elements to you. You must never lower yourself to being a person you don't like. There is no better time than now to have a moral and civic backbone. To have a moral and civic true north. This is a tremendous opportunity for you, a young person to be heroic. To be morally upstanding, to be helpful, almost boy-scout like, presidential, to be altruistic. Weakness is what brings ignorance, cheapness, racism, homophobia, desperation, cruelty, brutality, all these things that will keep a society chained to the ground. One foot nailed to the floor. 

It's by being strong in the face of all of that, not lowering yourself to it. You must really go for your own and realize how short life is. You got what you got so you got to make the most of it. You really can't spend a whole lot of time worrying about his, you really have to go for your own. If you have an idea of what you want to do in your future, you must go for it with almost monastic obsession, be it music, the ballet, or just a basic degree. You have to go at it single-mindedly and let nothing get in your way. And that's why your young, that's why you can survive on no sleep, Top Ramen noodles, and dental floss and still look good. And take advantage of that great energy you have and can take an all-nighter. 

All the people you admire from Muhammad Ali to any politician they work and work and work. Some of the greatest thinkers, artists, architects, politicians and other movers, shakers, and creaters, all over the world have come from very meager beginnings. If these people can do it, why not you? You got to keep picking yourself up and reaching for it. And that's the long and short of it.

Toastmasters

 James Madison said "History records that the money changers have used every form of abuse, intrigue, deceit, and violent means possible to maintain their control over governments by controlling money and its issuance."

Madam Toastmaster, Fellow toastmasters, Comrades  Lest we fall victim to the civilizations of old. Lest we pass into the dust of time, we are quickly nearing the knife edge of defeat when we could be at the apogee of victory. Why must we be brought to this point in time? Why must it be us today and this next generation of people who decide the fate of the future for so many years to come.  Indeed we always decide on our future, but this time, there is an urgency which will not wait for us.  We are facing problems on a scale unprecedented and our systems of governance make sure, that all remains the same to keep the gears working. Not a single system is untouched, some are merely damaged, others in total disrepair.

Often we look through history and exclaim on how backwards a past people were. The trick which we today, must accomplish is, avoiding future generations exclaiming how we were a nation that had everything, and squandered it all away in pettiness.  Our disputes are not beyond reproach but it is the people we have let come into our charge that are.  These people, our elected officials, have wrestled away control of our arguments from us.  They form the debate topics and they put sound bites over the air as truth.  They have taken a hold of us and it is time we recognize this so we may begin to push back.  So what do we do and how do we affect change in our government and within ourselves?

We can start with campaign finance reform.  Who here does not see the inherent conflict of interest, of having business' give money to our elected officials?  Does anyone here not recognize how our votes are diminished by dollars, dollars which then go into the pockets of the powers that be. Corporate controlled news agencies owned by these same money donators only discuss politics with two parties in mind and only their own interests at heart.   According to the Center for Responsive Politics on Mitt Romney's super-pac, the top 100 donors have totaled 80% of all contributions, with an average contribution from all donors at $83,000. They sure do keep the horse race alive.

We can start with American exceptionalism and rabid nationalism.  A new contentiousness is developing which sees the Earth as one living organism, that which what happens on one part of it has an impact on another, environmentally and in regards to our foreign policy.  We are not free from history and that of the rest of the world.  We may be unique in some ways and even better in others but we are not superior in all things.  In fact we lag behind in many areas.  For instance we are the number one jailer in the world . We imprison more than 2 million people compared to China's one million even though they have four times our population and they are a police state!

We can start with refusing to treat money as a commodity in and of itself.  Thomas Jefferson said quote; “I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies”, unquote.  Since when did the creation of an item out of nowhere, give that item an intrinsic value?  We need to look at our monetary policy with a critical eye and ask; Is this a system geared towards abuse and control or is it simply altruistic? In case you haven't noticed, the owners and architects of these financial institutions which set up our system to crash in 2008, have gone completely without legal notice.  How many people have they harmed and how much pain have they caused without a single summons being issued?  One can rob a bank for $100 and spend 20 years in jail and yet crash the western worlds markets and get away with record bonuses! They are protected by our so called elite who have no interest in us, beyond pushing our dollars up the pyramid.  Their greed is insatiable.

Lastly,  we can start with ourselves.  We have become entrenched in our ideologies in total disregard for the ideas of a new generation.  There are good ideas out there and there are bad.  We can engage in rational discourse, separating out the bad, and refrain from pure opposition, and embrace views and policy that benefits everyone. Up until  1900 it was said that the accumulation of knowledge doubled every century. At the end of World War 2 every 25 years. Now the doubling is every 2 years and the internet will continue to decrease this time.  With all this new knowledge gained I ask you to break free of your shackles that they have put us in, free you mind, free you choice, and don't listen to them, listen to your heart, your intuition, not their hate, not their propaganda, not that which will bind you servitude.

In refining this speech I was distracted by a recent supreme court ruling that said prisons and jails now have authority, without cause, to strip search you for weapons, drugs, contraband, whatever.  People have been strip searched for minor offences such as too loud a muffler, not having a audible bell on their bicycle, walking their dog without a leash, and other minor offences which should not yield an arrest at all.  Police will use this to humiliate and harass and I advise you to research this further as it is quite infuriating.  We are in trouble in this nation and it is getting worse.  It is no wonder our society is becoming more violent for when a government treats its citizens like animals you get uncivilized behavior.

My friends I don't always know what to do, or what exactly to say but I do know that I can make an impassioned plea for your rationality. To unbind you and myself from fear and desperation.  I implore you don't let them decide for you. There is still hope yet and all is not lost. We can still pull out from this !IF! we pay very close attention.  We need to join hearts in unison and exclaim "If we are not free, the machine will be prevented from working at all!" We will throw ourselves onto the gears. We will revolt with our very existence. We will not go away quietly, we will not be ignored!

Hero

I have never had any heroes. No musicians, actors, artists. No politicians, neighbors, friends or family.  The closest thing I could call heroes were the characters of Star Trek. As corny as it sounds it is true. Although it wasn't necessarily the characters themselves, it was the ideals they had and shared. It was the ideals of what they did, what they accomplished.  They were explorers, diplomats, and scientists.  They often stood at the edge of human knowledge and wanted more. They looked death in the face and fought. They made the tiniest of hope reality. They made us examine ourselves for our own betterment, not for reward or gain but because it was righteous, it was good and correct for its own merit.

Our characters in our stories are always a mirror on us all.  What it means to act or behave in certain manners.  What it means to be human.  Surely our stories don't answer the question but they ask it.  It will never be answered but that does not mean the question is invalid. Only, truthful.  Star Trek is interesting because each alien our crew meets is a trait of our selves.  One species is devious, treacherous and smart. Another consists of the ultimate greedy capitalists. And another yet is violent and brutal, harsh and unpleasant, but they hold honor and integrity above all else.  All this is a mirror on humanity and all of us seem to exhibit these traits, among others, with uncanny single mindedness. There is far too much hatred when compassion should rule out. Far too much fear when understanding is in order.

What are the heroes of today and what do they say of our state of affairs.  Pick any problem out there and there are too few voices standing up to challenge them.  Our terrestrial heroes have failed us but our heroic ideals will live on.  It is often said that America is not a place but an idea.  To live the American idea of independence does not mean to hoard our money and close the world out.  It means to strive ahead with both hands open, ready to grab another and elevate all into a better world.  A place where people take care of other people, in person, in the community, in solidarity with one another.  But we have fallen short of this dream.

What must we do I ask?  How do we change our course for the better?  Our goals in essence are the same.  We need not be divided by politics or charlatans, hucksters who take your mind away from you, who turn you into wage slaves in competition with the man who will work longer harder and with more sacrifices.  They pay you for your time and tax your worth.  You no longer own your labor, we no longer own ourselves.

The revolution will never begin for just like the scabs who usurp the union, they will simply replace you and I.  What we need is a groundswell of the like that would make occupy look like the county fair.  Only when a super majority of people stand for the future will things change. Only when we as a nation no longer tolerate monetary greed, political corruption, the police state, can we begin to change the road we are on.  Our heroes may save the day yet but not the heroes of today, the heroic ideals that we hold most dear to our hearts and the men who follow the righteous path because it is good and for no other reason.

George Zimmerman

http://www.myfoxorlando.com/dpp/news/seminole_news/031612-911-calls-released-in-Sanford-shooting

The story between the shooter 28-year-old George Zimmerman and the deceased 17-year-old Trayvon Martin was first broken to me by 'The Young Turks'.  The above link will lead you to 911 calls made by the shooter and various residents in an apartment complex in Sanford, FL. According to various sources, Mr. Zimmerman who is a neighborhood watch leader initially observed a 'suspicious' person walking through the gated community.  While on the phone with 911 Zimmerman continued to follow Trayvon Martin even after the 911 operator told him the police are on the way and to stop following the 'suspect'.

What happened immediately before the shooting is unclear but from what I gather, Zimmerman caught up to Martin and confronted him in some fashion.  There was a total of two shots fired and during and after the first shot, some have said a warning shot, Martin can be heard yelling for help and for his life.
It is said that the second shot was the one to end Martins life.  There have been no eye witnesses so far but several reports have stated that Zimmerman had been on the ground at one point in time since his coat was wet and had grass on it. It must be stated that Martin had gone to a convenience store and had iced tea and skittles candy on him at the time.  Although Martin did not live in the complex he was staying with family there.

From all the reports this does not seem to be a case of self defense.  Here's why.  Zimmerman while on the phone with 911, was chasing or tailing Martin even though police were minutes away. Zimmerman called from either his home, clubhouse, or vehicle.  Once cannot claim self defense if you have identified a potential threat (Martin) and then proceed to chase the threat.  If Zimmerman then engaged the potential threat with deadly force, even if they began to fight when Zimmerman caught the threat, the very act of chasing down the threat while you have safe haven elsewhere prohibits self defense. Florida has a law called the 'castle doctrine' which most plainly states that you are awarded legal protection in bona-fide self defense cases where you have a legal right to be, say in your home, business, or even a store. This law will not protect Zimmerman.

http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/03/17/2700249/shooter-of-trayvon-martin-a-habitual.html