Michael Allen's Blog: Michael Allen Online, page 34
January 23, 2011
My Daughter and I
Going through some photos of us recently, I found that I almost have my life with my daughter documented completely. There certainly are enough photos to remind me of every year in her life.
December 15, 2010
Clay Duke Shoots at Board Members
I will never advocate such actions as Clay Duke took when he entered the Panama City Board of Education meeting and took fire at the members. But, it is a real eye opener that shows just how desperate some people are getting.
People in power are getting callous, or have been callous for some time. People in power often destroy other people's lives with their decisions and they act as if it's a part of life, no big deal. To that person whose life is being destroyed, it is a big deal.
When a company releases a harmful product, they calculate the damages before they issue a recall. That means that they actually calculate if their product could result in death, and if so how many deaths. But, they don't necessarily recall the product based on the fact that someone could die. They recall the product based on an unacceptable level of deaths, as if there is an acceptable level.
When a company lays people off, it's to save the company. They lay people off so that they can save their jobs and their bottom lines. Rather than find other ways to cut costs and save money, a certain amount of people lose their jobs. An entire family might depend on that one person's job and all of a sudden, one day it's gone. But, they're fat and happy at the top.
When a person is at a point where they need their insurance to pay what it promised in the policy, they get automatically denied. Insurance companies want to see if you'll just go away. Give up. Quit bothering them with your claims. Even when they know you need the money and that you deserve it, they automatically deny your claim. Sometimes, it takes years to get out of the insurance company what was due. People have died in that time.
Trying to sue someone for damages can take years for you to get your time. You might need it now or you'll lose your car, your house, your utilities…etc. But it can take years to get the damages due you, especially when the lawyer representing your opponent is playing games with the system and delaying by any means possible. You need your money because it's your life. But, it's a game to everyone else.
The government can reach into your pocket and take your money right now. But, you might have to wait a few years to recoup your losses when the government makes a mistake.
You can be falsely arrested and your bail can be set extremely high. But, it could take a few years for you to be free. Some cops make arrests without asking any questions and just let the court system straighten everything out. That's you getting arrested. That's your life getting wasted. By the time you finally go to court, the cop doesn't even remember you. He's had a good couple of years. He might have taken his family on vacation, or added a child, bought a house or a motorcycle, while you have been wasting away in a six by six concrete cell. You lost your job. Your wife left you. Your kids are growing.
The list goes on and on with what the common man is up against when it comes to facing walls of power. People in the powerful positions think all these things I've just listed are civil. The rules are set. Play by the rules. But, those same people in powerful positions refuse to live by those same rules.
People get hurt and the powerful call it civil. Lives get destroyed and the powerful call it civil. The world gets worse every time someone screws someone else over, but the powerful call it civil. Rules, laws, regulations are in place to keep the common man in line. But, those rules, laws and regulations have the ability to ruin our lives while those rules, laws and regulations don't apply to the people in charge. We are getting frustrated. We have no remedy.
Clay Duke walks into a Board of Education meeting and takes fire. Quite frankly, I'm surprised it doesn't happen more often.
Note: Start treating people like they're people OR invest in a bulletproof vest.
December 11, 2010
Happy Holidays Vs. Merry Christmas
Yet another political battle takes place in America's arena. Happy Holidays offends Christians and Merry Christmas offends everyone else. We should be enjoying the vast differences we have in this world. But at the very least, I don't know why we can't learn to relax and tolerate those differences we find in others.
In the business world, it makes perfect sense to use Happy Holidays. For one, the holidays seem to blend together this time of year. We have Thanksgiving, Hanukah, Christmas, Eid al-Adha, Islamic New Year, Rohatsu, Kwanzaa, Bodhi Day, Winter Solstice, Saturnalia, Yule, Fesivus, Omisoka and New Years in addition to the many other celebrations people have this time of year. In fact, it's getting so huge that the holiday season has extended to Halloween. Plenty of stores are decorating with trees, wreaths and paper snowflakes before the Halloween costumes are even off the shelves. This is the holiday season.
When watching television, it's perfectly normal to expect to see Happy Holidays this time of year. The television audience isn't just made up of Christians celebrating Christmas. There are also Jews, Muslims, Buddhists and Hindus in the audience as well as other cultures and peoples who do not necessarily fall under any specific religion. There are agnostics and atheists as well. They love to celebrate this time of year, but they don't hold the notion that Jesus Christ is the reason for the season. They see a wonderful time of year with family gatherings and great food. It's a gift giving season to them and they don't expect to have religion shoved down their throats when that's not the reason they celebrate the holidays with everyone else.
Christmas has long become a dual holiday anyway. Santa Clause and Rudolph have long been staples of Christmas and non-religious families have the right to enjoy Christmas with those unique traditions in mind. Saint Nick climbs down the chimney and puts gifts under the tree. Then, he eats the cookies and drinks the milk before going to the next house. Regardless if you have a chimney or not, he brings gifts to every home throughout the world in one night.
Of course, our kids are growing up on us quicker than we ever thought. One year when my daughter was much younger, I put the gifts under the tree the night before and my daughter watched me. She couldn't go to sleep later that night so I brought her in my room to go to sleep. She kept getting up and looking out the window because she thought she could hear Santa. The next morning, she said that Santa didn't come. When I asked her why she thought that, she said that the gifts under the tree were the same ones as the night before. I learned my lesson and she learned something too.
But regardless of what you think, Santa Claus is part of the season. Not only that, but so are Dreidals and Menorahs, fig trees and feasts, drums and jewelry, prayerstick making and rabbit hunts. Christians don't own the holiday season. They have a day that they celebrate as the birth of Jesus. That's there's. But, it's not the only thing going on this time of year. Christians need to be more understanding of the fact that they aren't the only people in this world, even though they can't seem to get past the notion that they are the only ones who know any truth.
Merry Christmas is a greeting Christians should use to greet others who celebrate the same holiday. But, they would do themselves a great service by learning more about the world around them. What they call secular, I call our world. It's a better place when you learn to enjoy it.
September 10, 2010
Burning the Koran on September 11 is Exactly the Opposite of Christian Behavior
At first, I had no idea where Pastor Jones was coming from when he decided to burn the Koran on September 11. He said he was protesting radical Islam. But, it seems his motivations were actually connected to the plans to put a Mosque near Ground Zero.
What's wrong with this picture? First of all, the Mosque near Ground Zero has nothing to do with radical Islam. Muslims who would worship there would most likely be American for one. And two, Muslims lost their lives when the World Trade Center was attacked. So, how does burning a Koran have anything to do with placing a Mosque at Ground Zero?
It's actually a hateful act that doesn't have an ounce of Christianity in it. It would incite violence all over the world and put innocent people's lives in danger. Of course, as Americans we are worried about our troops. But, even civilian lives would be threatened. How in the world is that Christian? Pastor Jones has a serious learning disorder that needs to be checked immediately because he is not clearly thinking this through.
But, the Muslims responded. In negotiations that seemed to be going good, the Muslims agreed to locate their Mosque elsewhere and Pastor Jones agreed to put a halt to burning the Koran. I thought the negotiations had worked. Pastor Jones wasn't even going to be in Florida on September 11. He made plans to take a trip to New York.
But then, it seems he changed his mind again. What does he want? Did the Muslims change their minds to make him change his? Or is Pastor Jones just literally brain dead? I cannot wrap my brain around what is going on in Gainesville. But, Pastor Jones needs to get off of this trip he's on, slow down on the heroine and get his head back into his church.
If he insists on burning a Koran, he will have blood on his hands. What will happen will be his fault and he has no idea of the scope of problems we would all face. In the midst of a fuel drenched world, Pastor Jones would literally be lighting the match. I believe he should be arrested and brought up on charges equal to those of Saddam Hussein.
He might just be burning a religious book, but that is literally like pulling the trigger. Harming the lives of innocent people is worthy of criminal charges. Endangering people who only want to live peaceful lives is worthy of prison time. We don't hang. But for Pastor Jones, I wish we did.
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
By the way, we see Koran and Quran splashed all over the media. Can we get a consistent spelling on it? I don't care which. Just pick one.
Michael Allen Online
Born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa in 1970, Michael Allen went on to graduate high school from James Monroe in Fredericksburg, Virginia in 1988. He went into the Marine Corps four days later and put himself through college after being Honorably Discharged in 1993. After earning his B.S. in English in 1999 from Frostburg State University, he went on to write A River in the Ocean first as well as the children's book connected to it entitled When You Miss Me. He has also written the psychological thriller The Deeper Dark. ...more
- Michael Allen's profile
- 9 followers
