Alas, To Muse And Ponder

By Denise

Time for the soapbox, folks

These are things that just really make me angry and just something for you to think about. I just can't stand things that don't make sense.

I think these are some of the unfair practices in our country. Some of the most heinous would have to be the money laws and the way people with money get deals that the people without can't. Just all seems to work backwards from what it should. Doesn't make sense. If you have money you can buy large ticket items for a fraction of what people who don't have those kinds of resources can. When you don't have money you pay three times as much for items than someone that has an abundance of resources. Now who do you think should in all actuality be getting the deals? One thing that really gets me, is during the Christmas season when they run the ads on television (and I won't mention the actual name of the car but it does start with an "L") that this car would be the perfect present for the one you love. Makes it sound like you just aren't a good person if you can't give one for a present. How many of you got one of these cars for Christmas? My philosophy is that if a car costs that much I should be able to live in it. There should be a kitchen, living room, bedrooms, and a bathroom for those prices. You could buy a house for the money people spend on these cars. True meaning of Christmas right?

Another practice that seems truly evil to me is to say on a utility bill (you know one of life's essentials) that if you can't pay your bill on time, you get hit with a late charge. Then if your utility is disconnected they charge you an exorbitant reconnect charge. And the real rub is that the utility companies have a monopoly and to get your power, water, gas, telephone back you are going to have to pay exactly what they want before you get them back. Not like you can actually just go shopping around and find a better deal so you don't have to do business with them. They have got you and they know it. Do they actually think we just don't want to pay our bills and like having our utilities cut off? Just all fun and games to us! We all like sitting in the dark with no heat and no way to call and get help if we need it, right? If we can't pay our bill on the due date, where do they think we are going to come up with their fees?

Money laws just really kill me. In our state it is illegal to drive without a basic amount of insurance on your car. It does make sense and is a good thing to have coverage but, if you can't afford the insurance and get caught without it, guess where you go? To jail. We all want to have insurance on our vehicles, but if you can't afford it, what are you supposed to do? How are you going to get to work to make the money to get it? Then putting people in jail and fining them for not having coverage really adds insult to injury. Yes, there is a reason for automobile insurance but you shouldn't be put in jail if you can't afford it. How is that going to help you get insurance, or out of jail? I can't stand things that don't make sense. Should be a better way to work the system out.

There should be no law that requires putting a person in jail because they have no money. There are a lot of us that don't. The rich are getting richer and the poor getting poorer. Wonder why?

Another subject that has always just made my skin crawl, and makes me jump up on my soapbox and give a sermon, is censorship. Even though you might find something objectionable or offensive does not mean that someone else should not be able to see, listen to, or read it. Does not mean you have to. See something on Television that offends you just turn the channel, or turn it off. Same goes for the Radio. At the library you're browsing through a book and you find it obscene, put it down. You don't have to read it. Different strokes for different folks.

If you are worried about what your children are reading, listening to, and watching on Television, monitor what media they are being exposed to. You are their censors. It is your job. Not the television networks or the public libraries. Spend more time with your children and see what they are ingesting. Go to the library with your children and help them pick out books. But that does not mean to ban books that other people may want to read. We are all individuals and have different tastes. Believe it or not we are all not the same. Nor do we think the same. There are some people that would like this to be so, but, folks, it's not going to happen. As long as you are harming no one you should be left alone to your own taste. I just know that the "Moral Majority" does not represent me. I am not in the majority and I do not want to be. These people must not have personal lives because they have too much time to spend in everyone else's business. My message, "Get your own house in order."

From my personal experience, if I were told not to read a certain book, I would go right out and find that book and read it. What I read, listen to, and watch, is my business. When it comes to children, tell them not to do something and they will find a way to do it. It is best not to mention it to them or draw more attention to it by prohibiting them from the media because that causes the rebound and rebel effect. Just try to calmly explain to them why you think it is inappropriate. The more you forbid a child in that manner only gives them a stronger motivation to find this material. That is a child's job -- to rebel. As long as my child is reading, I am happy. You learn something from everything you read. It has been proven that people who read are more intelligent and well-rounded people. Books take you away from yourself and your problems, and transport you to another world in which you can immerse yourself.

I have seen so many forms of media get the blame for terrible things that people do. The person was probably already disturbed in the first place. If not for the book, music or something on television, they would have found another way to express their anger. Must not be very imaginative in the first place if they have to imitate something they read, hear, or see. I told you, I jump right up on my soapbox.

In the past, I worked for a local Library system and I saw quickly that it was just a convenient place to drop off children and leave them there sometimes for the whole day. We would be closing and children of all ages would still be there. Someone had to stay until we could look up the parents, call them, and then wait for them to pick up their children, and then we could leave. Free babysitting, and one of the saddest state of affairs that I have ever witnessed. These were also the people that were complaining and trying to have books taken off of the shelves because they didn't want their children reading them. Pretty ironic. They were really paying close attention to their children if they didn't even remember to come back and pick them up at the Library, right? Sure the children felt safe, secure and loved.

Censorship, to me, infringes on one of our basic human rights. There are a lot of ways that special interest groups and the government infringe on these rights, too, but I will save that for later. Time to get down off the soapbox.

Just some ideas to ponder.

"Those who want the Government to regulate matters of the mind and spirit are like men who are so afraid of being murdered that they commit suicide to avoid assassination."
Harry S. Truman 1884-1972

Until next time,
Denise