Resolutions: Please resolve not to live your life passively and/or vicariously

As we go through our daily lives, we face our daily annoyances and the obstacles that stand between us and the direction we would like our lives to take. Overtime, many of us are worn down by day to day grind combined with the frustration of not having the lives we aspire to.

All the energy that we expended trying to achieve those dreams seems wasted, as today our dreams seem no closer than they were a year or more ago.

To be sure, life is hard. There are no guarantees. And sometimes resigning ones self to “fate” seems the easiest and best option.

And so begins the habit of living ones life passively and/or vicariously.

Some of us Americans escape reality by playing games and measuring their self worth by how well they succeed in those games.

Some live vicariously through favorite TV Programs, Movies, Sports personalities, music videos and celebrities.

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Sadly, none of these passive/vicarious activities do anything to improve our lives in the reality we actually live and exist in.

And this shift to passive/vicarious living happens almost unconsciously.

We become passive and/or begin living life vicariously as a coping strategy. The body has a pain avoidance reflex built into it, whether that pain is physical or emotional.

Further, Not trying to make the team, make the cheerleading squad, get good grades, trying to marry the homecoming queen or star high school sports star, attempting to graduate from college, asking for a raise and working toward a promotion or starting your own business is much less difficult and stressful than trying to achieve those things. If you don’t make the effort to achieve those goals, you don’t have to deal with the disappointment of what you perceive to be likely failure.

It saddens this author to see so many pour themselves into passive and/or vicarious living after so few rejections and failures. And it saddens this author further to see so many substitute imaginary accomplishments and the viewing of other peoples live instead of pursuing their own real world happiness.

We live in America, Land of the Free, and Home of the Brave. We live under a Constitution and Bill of Rights that provides us far more liberty and opportunity than any other country in the world. Our Declaration of independence speaks to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness… Not a guarantee of happiness, but the freedom and opportunity to pursue our individual happiness.

It angers this author that, especially in this economy, our elected officials are so hell bent on personal gain that they are hell bent on pitting WE THE PEOPLE against each other, instead of comforting those that need comforting and inspiring the rest of WE THE PEOPLE to greatness. Instead of leading by example and acting as our moral compass, our political leaders now manage and manipulate and divide and conquer WE THE PEOPLE by leading us to believe that rank and file Americans that vote for a political the other political party are our enemies and either are responsible for us not achieving our dreams or want to take our dreams away.

It is this selfish strategy of our political leaders of both alleged major parties, which makes life so stressful and seemingly overwhelming that causes some rank and file Americans to retreat and adopt coping strategies. Coping strategies like passively living through celebrity and sports star worship, TV Shows, Music Videos and Movies or seek meaning and fulfillment through the fantasy of computer games. It saddens this author greatly to see so many people give up on living life with zeal and enthusiasm; to abandon their real world dreams and the real creature comforts of person to person interaction.

If there are no great political leaders like Washington, Jefferson, Madison and Kennedy to unite and inspire WE THE PEOPLE now, we must rely upon each other and ignore the childish behavior of our current politicians.

And so it is with great empathy and compassion that this author asks those who are suffering greatly in this economy, to take comfort and direction in these words:

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.” http://bit.ly/urCgCO

Excerpt from the USA President Theodore Roosevelt’s speech "Citizenship In A Republic" delivered at the Sorbonne, in Paris, France on 23 April, 1910

Take heart those so challenged. Do not give up on your dreams. Resolve to set forth this next year to pursue your real life goals in earnest.

This author asks you to resolve to turn off the TV and Stop playing the computer games. Stop living your life passively and/or vicariously. Endeavor to enjoy live social interaction with friends, family and neighbors. Resolve to not cower from awkward social situations, but rather to learn and grow from them. Live life as real men and real women were meant to live.

Each of us has a talent. Some have discovered theirs already and are thriving. And some of us have given up on making that quest to find their unique talent. Never end that quest to discover what talent you have been endowed with which will make possible for you to thrive. Never give up on your dreams.

Instead of playing computer football, Coach a little league team.

Instead of watching star dancing or Idle Americans, spend time with your children on their favorite hobby or share with them yours. If you have no children, join Big Brothers or Big Sisters, Be a boy or girls scout leader.

Instead of watching TV, volunteer at a hospital or retirement home.

Attend your city council and Country and School Board meetings, and make meaningful comments.

And if you are unemployed, volunteer at something you like or believe in at least 8 hours a day, a couple days a week.

While doing these things, if you need employment, inquire about employment and/or let others know you are out of work and seeking a job. People cannot reach to help you if they do not know that you and your hardship exists, if you sit in front of a computer or TV all day. To care about you, people have to know about you, you personally. And they need to know that you are a person that merits comfort and relief.

And to those American’s who are more successfully weathering this economy, this author asks you to also Resolve to turn off the TV and stop indulging in the passive and vicarious past times that your talents and hard work have provided you. Please resolve to stop living your life passively and/or vicariously.

And further, resolve to get out of your comfort zone and use your special talents to improve a little bit more than your little piece of the world.

Your friends, neighbors and fellow citizens are hurting. This author leaves it to you to determine how you can best help turn our country around. How can you use your special talents to help someone less fortunate?

Further this author asks of you, the more successful rank and file Americans, the following: To resolve to Change your disposition towards others. Do not look to political leaders for moral guidance or as examples of acceptability. All of our politicians have failed to provide WE THE PEOPLE guidance, as a good parental figure would. And if you did not have a good parental figure in life, remember this:

“ALL I REALLY NEED TO KNOW I LEARNED IN KINDERGARTEN” http://bit.ly/vCLpF2

Our politicians have created an unnecessarily cruel reality for their own selfish purposes. Are you going to let them manipulate you into ignoring the teachings of your parents, your community, your culture and your church? Please Resolve to live up to the expectations of your parents, culture and faith. Please don’t forsake their sacred honor just because some selfish politician or political party tells you to or leads you to believe that acting otherwise is permissible.

Build people up, instead of tearing them down. A few kind and caring words of encouragement is often more effective to improving someone else’s life than anything else. Give People hope. Give the less fortunate a hand up. Don’t just talk the talk, Walk the Walk.

Henry Ford, in the early 1900’s doubled the wages of his assembly line workers. He reasoned that if they made more money, they might afford to by the cars his company was making. That philosophy seems to have worked out for the Ford family; perhaps a similar or dissimilar inspired departure from traditional business dogma will yield fame and fortune for you.

This is no ordinary economic down turn. The United States of America is on the brink if financial and moral collapse.

The path to recovery for this country will not be found by continuing to do what we have done for the last 50 years. It will not be found without profound systemic change.

The politicians have proven they are unable or unwilling to lead us back to unity and economic prosperity.

None of WE THE PEOPLE, we rank and file Americans can stand idly around and wait for the same old politicians with the same old ideas to fix our sinking ship. We owe an inextinguishable debt to those who have paid with their lives, limbs and mental health that WE THE PEOPLE might be free.

WE THE PEOPLE need to work together to right this ship of state. WE THE PEOPLE must do what the politicians refuse to do. WE THE PEOPLE must unite in solidarity to instill in all rank and file Americans, Hope, Enthusiasm and Prosperity.

TEAM WORK is a fundamental principal taught from the time we are very young. From debating clubs, to quiz bowls, to sports teams and finally once go to work for any company, TEAMWORK is drilled into our heads.

But somehow, the concept of TEAM WORK is kicked to the curb in making and maintaining our country as the number one country in the world.

And so it is, that this author requests all rank and file Americans, those suffering, those maintaining and those prospering to RESOLVE to stop living life passively and vicariously. Further to resolve to get out of their comfort zones and work to make improvement their neighborhoods. And still further, to resolve to treat each other with dignity and respect as instilled in them by their parents and church, instead of the nastiness towards others the alleged political leaders of both political have fostered in all of us.

With that, the author ends by wishing each of you good and better fortune for 2012.

Happy New Year.

In Closing,

Thank you, my fellow citizens, for taking your valuable time to read and reflect upon what is written here.

Please join with me in mutually pledging to each other and our fellow citizens our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor to our mutual endeavors of restoring liberty and economic opportunity to WE THE PEOPLE as our Founding Fathers envisioned and intended. [Last sentence, US Declaration of Independence ( http://bit.ly/ruPE7z )]

Next, it has came to this author's attention that many local papers will not run letters to the editor, Op Ed pieces and articles that do not conform to the perspective of the local "Powers that be". If you have a letter to the editor that relates to this article, feel free to post it as a comment, noting that the local news source refused to run it. As long as it conforms with general decorum and is plausible, very rarely will we refuse to publish it. If you have unrelated subject matter and/or video and/or audio that you believe we would be interested in based (based on our prior articles), email it here . Send video/audio in common Internet formats or with Youtube.com links. Do not send video in Public Access TV and/or Cable formats. Our philosophy is that more open public dialogue is better than less public dialogue.

This article is written with the same intentions as Thomas Paine http://ushistory.org/paine. I seek no leadership role. I seek only to help the American People find their own way using their own “Common Sense” http://amzn.to/kbRuar

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Keep Fighting the Good Fight!

Those were my thoughts.

In Liberty,

Don Mashak
The Cynical Patriot
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