blame the poor for buying stuff they can’t afford

The top 100 advertisers spent more than $100 billion last year trying to convince us we need newer cell phones, faster cars, better makeup, and more credit card debt. They inundate us with billboards, banner ads, and TV spots telling us we’re not good enough unless we buy their stuff. Do we really think this relentless barrage of advertising has no impact on our behavior, our sense of worth, our understanding of what we really need?
http://benirwin.wordpress.com/2013/12/10/why-do-we-blame-the-poor/

War on Christmas

The real “war on Christmas” is not when a cashier says “Happy Holidays.”
The real “war on Christmas” is not when people refer to a Christmas tree as a “Holiday Tree.”
The real “war on Christmas” is when Christians support the overspending and mass consumption propagated by our “spend, spend, spend” culture.
The real “war on Christmas” is when we reduce this holiday to a feeling or a moment.
The real “war on Christmas” is when we equate our love for someone by how big the price tag of the gift is.
The real “war on Christmas” is when Christians only think about doing charity work in December.
The real “war on Christmas” is teaching our children or grandchildren the “reason for the season” but make more about toys and gifts under the tree.
The real “war on Christmas” is when we are more worried about saving a buck than we are about the millions of people in this world without access to clean water or medicine or that there are 22,000 homeless children in New York City alone.
The real “war on Christmas” is when Americans spend $450 billion on Christmas; however, it would take only $20 billion to ensure that all people in the world could have access to clean water for a year.
The real “war on Christmas” is when Americans buy products because they are cheap without thinking twice about the person who made it, their working conditions, their pay, or even their age. (Yes, that’s right their age. In some countries it is legal to employ children.)
This so-called “war” is something that Christians every year are participating in but point the judgmental fingers at others.
The real “war on Christmas” is something that can be stopped but it will not happen by making a “naughty or nice” list.  

:azspot

An Apology to my Mind

I am sorry I filled you with doubt, insecurities, and endless nights of trepidation over nothing.

You were not born physically in the most pristine condition, but that was no excuse to ruminate through and leave chards of glass in the form of unfulfilled dreams and habitual obsessions about my body, my unworthiness, and the plethora of reasons they leave.

I am sorry if the years of incessant negative harangue left you feeling dejected, lonely, and afraid to be who you are.  I apologize if I allowed the behavior of others to mold you into something that was less than magnificent. 

You are perfect.  You are beautiful.  You are unique.  I am truly sorry for making you think otherwise. 

@splintersandmilkshakes

MY RULES

1) Never forget your brightest moments. Write them down and return to them often. Watch the shadows grow and subside.

2) Live in travel mode.

2.1) Own little enough to relocate easily

2.2) Disposable and replaceable ownership mentality

2.3) Take/buy reliable, dependable things

3) The people in your life are there to be cherished, for as long as they are to be with you

4) Do not argue trivial points, and consider most points trivial.

5) Become better.

6) Listen deeply and live lightly.

From:  "aberminimal"

Simplicity is the highest goal, achievable when you have overcome all difficulties. After one has played a vast quantity of notes and more notes, it is simplicity that emerges as the crowning reward of art.

- Chopin

You can spend minutes, hours, days, weeks, or even months over-analyzing a situation; trying to put the pieces together, justifying what could’ve, would’ve happened…or you can just leave the pieces on the floor and move the fuck on.

- Tupac Shakur

You know, sometimes it’s worth it to lose a lot of something just to keep a little of it because a little of that something is worth a lot more than something else.

- Dr. Jack Hodgins, Bones S08E10