"The "N" Word"

Photo from Elev8.com

During a recent conversation I had with some friends, I decided that it would be a good idea to make the next topic of my new blog about launching a social campaign to break a powerful addiction that has plagued us as Americans for far too long.

When I speak of breaking an “addiction” I’m not referring to any typical drug or alcohol addictions, no, I’m talking about loosening the grasp of a word which despite it's past has somehow managed to gain a substantial foothold in the vernacular of open-minded and progressive young people the world over.

The word I suggest be discontinued is, of course, the “N Word”. The price? The time and effort necessary in breaking a bad habit. The payoff? The promise that a generation, our children, won't be straddled to an addiction with a terrible past and to assure that, with work, it will become an addiction with a non-existent future.

As stated, I believe our attachment to this word is an addiction, simply, a bad habit, such as smoking cigarettes or biting one’s fingernails, that we are more than capable of putting an end to.

Now for those of us whom routinely use this word who are reading this and thinking: “you want me to quit using it? Just like that?” My response would to them would be, simply, “no“.

Just as the smoker applies nicotine patches to his skin to wane himself off of smoking, I too would suggest a substitute, a verbal painkiller of sorts to cool our tongues when we’re overcome by the desire to set civil reform in America back generations of progress.

Again, I’m sure there are those of you out there reading this and once more thinking to yourself: “Bull****.” “Every time I use the “N word” I’m not causing anyone harm. I am absolutely certain that saying the word “n*****” has no impact whatsoever on the progress we‘ve made as a nation .”

To that I say: let us consider those who died trying to abolish this word that has historically be a symbol of civil unrest and racial inequality.

Why after decades of work and countless lives lost would we decide to take any course of action that may endanger a most precious sacrifice made in the hopes that future generations would never be forced to endure such indignities?

Perhaps my desire to revive a once failed campaign can be written of as a mere over reaction in a time when America appears to have made leaps and bounds in changing it’s once shameful stance on racial issues.

After all, our president is half-black. I mean, thats got to count for something, Right? But I must again implore us to consider if those whom gave up everything for this very same cause ever, for even one second, felt that they were over-reacting

Photo from Facebook.com

"O, 99%"

This video is dedicated to the determined and dedicated people of the occupy wall street movement.

Both young and old, thank you for standing up for the rights of the common men and women of this country, and attempting to wrestle legislative control from the hands of the wealthy special interest groups and return it to it's rightful place: the hands of the people.

Stand firm, O, 99% and allow the words of another brave american Dr. King to motivate us in times of political repression from the establisment.

"Change the World"

Photo from stayfitbug.com

How do you change the world? That’s an easy one: from the top down.

You do so by increasing the level of accountability and demanding social responsibility on the most influential levels of our society.

From the parents to the children, to the teachers, to the type of media we consume as a nation on a daily basis, and even all the way up to the top, government jobs and the men (or women) we decide to put our white house.

You have to fundamentally change the way people think. You have to intrinsically change the messages on the banners and flags we display as a nation so that they read like John Lennon lyrics next to tyrannical religiosity and hateful, brutish banter we now hear from those of considerable influence on both sides of the political spectrum.

Now you may have heard the word “change” being thrown around a lot three years ago by a campaign that had us all swept up in the current of history.

And though our presidential incumbent has done much to aide our crestfallen nation, such as staving off the collapse of the American auto industry and putting forth a seemingly honest effort to reform healthcare in this country, I would go so far as to postulate that he did not go far enough.

In all honesty folks, I’m a huge Barrack Obama fan, but you cannot have real change by continually operating within the parameters of flawed system that does not have a real desire to reform itself.

The truth of the matter, and the point that I’m getting at is that as long as the decision makers in this country continue to hold as paradigm for success a set of standards that may hold true as traditionally popular, but continues to set forth ideas and sensibilities that can generally be viewed as ethically irresponsible, things will never change.

This being the case, it is up to those of us in society, with the necessary moral safeguards, to act in the best interest of our general collective, even if our leaders chose not to.

We must begin to propagate a standard of living that seeks to bear accountability for its own and strives to promote real change; not just as a slogan for it’s campaign, but as it's very reason for being.

"The Tea Party Left"

Sometimes I feel as if a large number of the so-called "lost generation", my self especially, have neglected our civil duty in this country.

Sure we got out, voted and subsequently elected our first minority president in the history of the United States, but our job, I feel, does not and must not end there.

Now is the time to cast aside the constricting chains of obsolete political parties and antiquated traditions, and work toward engendering a society which can be viewed by all, both foreign and domestic, as more conducive to the human condition.

As a fledgling humanist, I have recently been made aware of just HOW inhumane global conditions are. In this country especially, I feel as if we have become so enthralled with capital and hypnotized by vanity, whether that be the newest cell phone or laptop, that we have forgotten our responsibility to one another, our responsibility to following in the footsteps of the brave men whom founded our country and their righteous desire to "create a more perfect union".

As can now be witnessed in too many cities across this nation there are thousands if not millions of us whom have suffered at the hands of irresponsible leaders whose sole purpose has been and astonishingly continues to be catering to the whims of only the super rich even in the face of mass protest.

Those now known as the "99%" serve as a warning sign of how disaffection and virtual disenfranchisement can divide us as Americans at a time when cooperation is needed in solving some of the greatest national obstacles (unemployment, poverty & foreign conflicts) seen in generations.

So, as we are the future of this world, and are now self-realized masters of our capacity to change that which we deem as deplorable, we the youth must take it upon ourselves to right the perceivable wrong and ensure that the phrase that made us great in the past century: "for the people and by the people" will never indeed perish from this nation, and this earth...

"Pilot Blog"

animation from edupic.com

It seems fitting that the pilot to my new blog should come on this day, October 13th, my 25th birthday, for today is the day that I, Lee A. David, hath finally realized that the magnitude of my existence, or at least the extent to which I am capable of making a difference, rests solely in my own hands.

As a result, I have decided to create this blog to serve as not only a record of my thoughts on personally relevant topics such as politics, social responsibility and community activism, but to serve perhaps as an inspirational spark plug for those of my fellow "20 something's" whom have yet to find their own voice.