So, I'm finally getting my act together on the Americorps and the job things...

I don't even know if I want to do the Americorps bit, I just know that what I'm doing now is driving me fully insane, and if I don't do something different, I'll go nuts.

Anyway, to get into the Americorps program I'm interested in you have to write a "motivational statement" of up to 4000 characters. I've got about 2000, so I'm not too thrilled yet. Considering how long it took me, though... Honestly, this is the most honest load of crap I've ever written. I had no idea what to say, mind a complete and total blank, so I finally turned to the Member Profiles and looked for common themes.

Apparently, I need to be looking for a "challenge". This is an opportunity for "personal growth and fulfilment". I'm not at all interested in the "college money" (although I really am) but instead want to "make a difference" and "set an example" by "serving others". And all these people are "grateful". Gah. I want to help people, sure, but I also want college money and a chance to get away from my family for a while. But this doesn't sound very responsible, does it?

( My very preliminary statement )

I'm screwed. Completely and totally. And crazy, did I mention that? Can somebody please come here and smack some sense into me?

I completely and totally disagree...

http://www.livejournal.com/community/christianity/1280094.html

and man does that poem ever suck, but at least the poster remained levelheaded. Gotta respect that, even if I don't agree. Drama content wasn't as good as it might've been. *le sigh* Anyway, I've put it off long enough, soon as I wake up I'm finally finishing up my Pledge argument, at least until I get bored again. *insert clever catch-phrase here*

What the fuck?

The letter demands the judge jail eight defendants out of the sixteen, citing prior records of protest activity. However, none of cases cited involved criminal charges, and the vast majority were dismissed.

...

In response to something Xiggy posted

http://www.democraticunderground.com/plaidder/03/01.html

The whole issue reminds me of a (very) young friend I have, Elise. She's 10, and one day I met her friend... um... Let's call her Sara. Sara took the stand that lesbians are icky because "sometimes they kiss... with their tongues!" It was really all I could do to keep a straight face, because I was NOT going to be a sex-ed teacher for a pair of fifth-graders. Adults making anti-gay arguments, are the same way... those that aren't based on presumed Biblical injunctions (true or not, they do NOT have any basis in a secular government) are based on the ick-factor. You don't do this, so you think it's icky.

Without going into details, I have two replies. 1. All sex is really pretty icky. I mean think about it. NOT LIKE THAT. See what I mean? 2. Gay people really don't do anything in bed that straight people don't/can't do. Least, not as far as I know. If anybody knows different, please, enlighten me.

Revenge of the Pledge

I finally got back to it. This subject obsesses me, sorry about that. First, an interesting link and then the irritating essay.

On one thread about the Pledge of Allegience, somebody posted the neat little statement that "it's not a religious thing, it's about patriotism". Patriotism. Now, I may be strange, but I always thought that the best way to show pa... wait, better define what I mean. Ahem.

M-w.com defines it as love for or devotion to one's country. It is distinct from jingoism in that it doesn't have to involve other countries or "belligerant foreign policies", and nationalism in that it doesn't specify that you place your nation "above all others" and your interests above the interests of other nations. It should go without saying that much of contemporary "patriotism" seems to be one of the two latter feelings instead. To my mind, patriotism means caring about your country enough that you want to make it better. Some people apparently feel that patriotism is best taught and shown by what children learn by rote. (Side note, there's something interesting, adults are rarely called upon to recite the pledge, only children. Does that mean they are less patriotic than their kids?) I had thought that it was best shown by helping out your community, but apparently I was wrong. I am still uncertain as to whether or not the pledge should be recited when there are so many other options.

1. ( The Pledge )

2. ( Miranda Warning )

3. ( The American's Creed )

4. ( The First Amendment )

5. ( The beginning of the Declaration of Independance )

Hell, if I tried a bit harder I could come up with a list of good quotes that could just be added on to... a new quote every week or so.

Now, I suspect most people do not have half of these documents memorized. If the assertion that reciting a patriotic document makes one a patriotic person is correct, than by my reciting more important patriotic documents I should be seen as a more patriotic person, right? Riiiight?

Obviously not.

Well, possibly it was meant that meaning the pledge makes one patriotic. In order for a child to mean the pledge, they'd first have to understand it. It is generally well-accepted that children often misrecite the pledge because the words have no meaning to them. This is often seen as "funny" instead of "sad". For a five or six year old, what make the pledge more patriotic than: I bagged a genie in a bag...."? Older students do, I hope, understand the meaning behind the words, but by that time they recite out of habit instead of actual feeling. If that is patriotism, then I have been misinformed.

I do have a point here, and the point is that the pledge is just stupid. It shouldn't not be recited because it's religious, or because it infringes on the rights of others, or because it's a form of indoctrination (though those are all good reasons), but because it's the stupidest thing we could recite, and it has no meaning to those saying it, and it does nothing but waste a minute or two out of every day. Rather than recite a pledge, it would be better to spend that time analyzing relevant quotes, such as the one by Ben Franklin:

"Anyone who trades liberty for security deserves neither liberty nor security"....

I could start a whole 'nother rant on that, but I won't. I'm tired. And possibly tedious.

I need to warn everyone...

I'm really bad with compliments. I'm still getting used to the idea that I have 100+ people who like to read what I write up here, while my perfectionist brain is going "it could be better! Polish this! Strenghten that!" all the time. So, when my friends and people I generally like/admire tell me they trust me, or they think I'm intelligent, or that I'm funny, my normal reaction will be stunned disbelief. That's because I'm a perfectionist, not because I actually disbelieve you, because if you tell me something you don't mean, you will regret it.

Sorry about that. This is an open invitation to tell me what annoys you about me, by the way, or to tell me why you read/like me. I'll turn off IP logging in a bit. Yes, I'm greedy for attention, humor me please?

And another question, that last essay is long and I can't figure out where to put in cuts. Any ideas, tell me, it's bothersome to scroll down so much.

Stolen from emerlee

*dies giggling*