Lately I have been noticing a common feeling in my daily life. Frustration! Over the last two days these feelings have really all come together. I need to vent it out and you will be my audience. This might be long and all over the place but I am seeing so much around me that I cannot understand and it becomes harder and harder to let it go as it is ruining the world for others. I might come across as judgemental and I guess I am. I just do not see how I can sit by accept that others have the right to damage the planet, cause harm to others, and be cruel to animals. Why do I have to turn the other cheek? I need to find some way to change this as I can no longer sit on the sidelines and accept this kind of wilful ignorance. I was also ignorant, but I let my mind question and be open to another way. I know that others can too if they just allow it! Without further adieu, these are at the top of my frustration list that I would love to open other people's eyes to.
Driving, or rather DRIVERS!
Yesterday I did one of the weekly shopping trips. Scott and I usually shop for what we need several times a week. This makes the most sense for us as most of the food we prepare is fresh and also this ensures that you can always get the best cost. I go to at least four different stores and keep a good grasp on the flyers and who has what on sale. I spent about three hours walking around yesterday to get what I wanted from where I wanted. That is my choice and I am not complaining about that. I actually could have got everything from stores that were less than a ten minute walk from my house. However, it was so sunny and I wanted to stop in and see Scott at work to brighten his day so I planned my errands on the other side of town. To get to Scott's work you have to walk down Harvey Ave which is also Highway 97. That is not a big deal, but it is definitely not relaxing in the least. It could be, but there are the DRIVERS!! Honking, shouting, showing off, disobeying laws that exist for safety, throwing cigarette butts and garbage out the windows, and just generally making life unpleasant. I am, of course, not saying all drivers are rude and obnoxious, I hope to be able to actually drive one day but I plan to be considerate. I will say though that driving seems to bring out some kind of primal response in people and encourage them to act like douche bags (that is the strongest language I have used in a very long time!). As I carried home my bags I had so many people staring at me and one person even shouted something very rude as they drove past. Why am I a slut for carrying my bread? Anyway, I was only doing what is the most natural thing: WALKING! However, in this culture it is considered strange and verbally punishable.
Drivers as a culture are encouraged to be selfish as they are marketed to with huge ARMY style vehicles to enhance their ego. The most popular driving music is aggressive and violent in lyrics. There is so much scientific evidence showing how different types of music affect the brain and what hormones are unleashed. Some of the physiological responses that music can evoke are elevated heart rate, blood pressure, brain waves, and muscle contractions. There is also evidence that music effects changes in various biochemicals such as endorphins! Hello! What happens to all of that in your system while you are in a huge metal death machine? You treat it as such! Terms like "Road Warrior" form a me against them attitude to other drivers and pedestrians. It is obscene! I have no solution to this or even some constructive criticism, just pure blind frustration. I hope that gas climbs so high this year that at least half of the moron drivers on the road cannot afford to drive any more and by necessity have to change their lifestyles. Yes, I am mean, cruel hearted, but very healthy from all the walking I do!
PS To drivers, besides the health benefits, walking would also do you some good so that you can see what all your litter looks like on the sides of the road. Tim Horton's coffee cups, cigarette butts, and bits of broken glass from collisions are an abomination in this amazingly beautiful city!
Cell Phones
If another person tells me to call them from outside or text them I am going to scream! I met up with someone lately who is the perfect example why I hate cell phone culture. We agreed to meet somewhere at a certain time. I actually saw them stop their vehicle and try calling or texting me that they were where there. I was right across the street and looking in their vehicle! For Pete's sake why are people so addicted to texting obvious crap instead of getting out of their car and either knocking on the door or being the first to arrive and waiting! I guess it started with courtesy, as a "I am five minutes away, get your jacket on" kind of thing and is now a full blown identity crisis. It is shameful to be so dependant on a phone! I am not saying that nobody should have them. I am just very tired of it being a necessity and expected for you to engage in the world with this piece of cancer causing garbage. I do not want a cell phone, but if I did get one, it would be turned off unless I actually had a real emergency and needed to contact someone. They are also a cost that most people cannot actually afford. We have a home phone with an answering machine for the both of us. Most weeks we have about 3 calls. One from each of our family members and maybe one friend. I like it that way. Why would we get our own phones to split those 3 calls? haha I have had a cell before and I was annoyed when it would ring as it usually caused me to be rude to the person I was with at the time (a friend, the person at the check out, or even the strangers on the bus around me). It is RUDE RUDE RUDE to use your phone inappropriately in public. Do not even get me started on having to listen to some garbage conversion while someone is shopping beside me! SHAME!
Blindly throwing money at whatever causes that ask for a donation.
Another thing that I noticed yesterday is a booth set up in from the liquor store collecting to CURE CANCER! Hello! Over 90% of the people giving to the cause were obese, going in to buy alcohol, throwing their cigarette butt on the ground beside their high emission gas guzzling tank of a vehicle. Money to CURE CANCER?!? What a joke, how about if we take care of ourselves and our planet so that people do not need those treatments which in many people's opinion are worse than the disease! Good grief!
My last rant is for the animals, mainly dogs and cats.
I will not start on the Vegan topic in this post even though it is tied in, but pets are mistreated by people so often and it is heartbreaking for me to see all these poor animals suffer from human selfishness. First dogs. Scott and I would like to get a second dog. Most people who have a pet do treat them well and I respect that. The average animal guardian is not the problem. The people who do bother me are the breeders who irresponsibly torture animals to create pups. The puppies are sold for very high prices and in some cases then resold very quickly after. Dogs cost less the older they get as they are no longer cute babies but an actual responsibility to be cared for. I have seen so many people trying to resell dogs or dump them to be put down that it makes me sick! How can people accept the responsibility for a living, feeling, caring LOVING animal and then treat it like garbage or abandon it?!? Scott and I are awesome animal guardians. No kids so our animals are our life, we care for them 100% and would move into a dump before I gave up my dog! I want to help another dog who needs a good family but so many people are choosing to keep their pets ( while abusing or neglecting them) to get their original investment on the animal, how can I financially support that? If for some unknown reason I could not have Rowan any more then I would never take money for her. Instead I would find her the best home I could and continue to provide for her care which is what I signed on for when she adopted me. PS She is sticking her tongue out at me in her sleep right now. She must know I am writing about her. haha
At the park I heard a dog crying and then I saw a man punch his dog twice and then kick it really hard. Quickly he got it in the car and sped away. I did not know what to do and am still not even sure what I witnessed. It broke my heart to look at Rowan beside me skipping (yes she actually skips when happy) and think that might have been her. What kind of selfishness allows a person to act like that and what kind of sickness has gripped our society that this is how we treat our loyal and loving companions? Cats do not have it much better as they get passed around a lot. Most don't go outside, go to the vet, or have one family their whole life. And sadly they are found tortured to death all the time. I feel sick even talking about it.
So I guess this post is kind of sad...most people today are spending time with their family, eating, drinking, and lying to children about a mythical rabbit. What a weird world we live in. Now, I am going to get dressed and take my pup to a field where we can be alone with each other in a perfect moment of mutual peace and love. Happy Easter!
