Guilty Until Proven Innocent

Innocent until proven guilty sounds good on paper, however, it’s far from true.  The fact of the matter is in the eyes of the law you’re guilty until proven innocent.  That fact is especially true for the less fortunate in our society.  I have witnessed far too many good people be persecuted for often first time menial offenses for which they lack the means to properly defend themselves.  Obviously, there are people who are habitual law breakers that commit serious crimes and these are not the people I’m talking about.  I’m talking about the person that has never been in trouble with the law before who gets accused of something they didn’t do or the crime itself is misrepresented and blown out of proportion by the law.  If you find yourself in a jail accused of something you didn’t do and you have no money for bail or a lawyer for that matter your pretty much already screwed.  True you will get your day in court, in a month or two, and you’ll get the court appointed public defender.  Try building a defense from a jail cell if you’ve never been in that position before.  The reality is this, if you’re lucky you may get to speak with your public defender once before court or you’ll get to whisper to them in court for about five minutes.  Five minutes to decide your fate, five minutes to make what could be a life changing decision.  The public defender is also representing four hundred other defendants along with you so their stretched beyond their means before they even get to you.  What do you plead? That’s the million dollar question.  You may want to plead not guilty, but if you do that means more time behind bars. 

The Transformation of News Media

The transformation of news media from reliable source information to agenda driven propaganda paid for by the highest bidder.  It used to be that the media reported the news, now they create it in a right vs. left slug fest of ideals.  Now more than ever our new outlets have helped to divide the nation.  We are the puppets constantly told by competing forms of media what’s right and what’s wrong.  We are told what to buy, who to vote for, who to hate, who to love.

Family Bond

Understand the real meaning of family bonds.  A bond is something that should never be broken and a good supportive family knows this.  You don’t cut people off or forget they’re a member of your family, you don’t give up on someone because their going through a hard time, and most of all you never stop loving them no matter what.  Unconditional love is the glue that holds families together unfortunately too often that is not the case.  I learned about family values by observing other peoples families because my own was never really close or loving for that matter.  I would often become envious of the bond that these families had and yearn for it.  Fortunately for me my fiancé‘s family has filled a massive void in myself life by welcoming me into their family. 

The Greatest Enemy I've Ever Known

The greatest enemy I’ve ever known was depression.  Depression is something I didn’t believe in until my fall from grace a few years ago.  The feeling of complete hopelessness the lack of motivation the constant barrage of horrible thought it was a nightmare I couldn’t wake up from.  It was like a prison you create in your mind that manifests into physical form.  I went from being an active member in society to a living ghost.  I became a shell of my former self.  Where there was ambition and passion self-doubt and hopelessness took over.  Nothing and no one could reach me I was locked in what felt like a permanent prison of despair and self-loathing.  I would pray for the sun not to come up every morning because it meant that I would have to deal with the world I no longer felt a part of.  When I finally came out of that horrific mental state it wasn’t some wonder drug or counseling that brought me back from the brink it was an inner strength and faith I tapped into and didn’t even know I had.  It was like relearning how to live, step by step.  Instead of sleeping the morning away I would get up early and go for jog, and then I’d stop by my church and pray at chapel.  Next, I go home and set a goal for the day.  As time went on my goals became more ambitious and complex and for the first time in my life I became truly self-reliant not needing a pat on the back or encouragement from someone else.  The depression somehow made me stronger I felt like I had a second chance and since then this world has thrown me several curve balls but unlike before I was now able to cope with just about anything this life has to offer.  Sometimes you get lost in the dark but sooner or later you’ll find the light within your heart.

Salvation

When salvation arrives your soul becomes alive

Alive again to take on the world

The world you’ve survived

Now you lay down your arms and let yourself cry

You’re reborn into a world that left you for dead

Your soul is resurrected but your mind is still half dead

Reliving the pain of a life you could no longer bare

Little by little you let go of the fear and open your mind to the idea

Faith has replaced the fear

A Common Misconception

A common misconception about the poverty stricken and the homeless in our society is that many of them are lazy and don't want to work.  In actuality that couldn't be farther from the truth.  While it is true that some less fortunate lack the ability to work due to some physical or mental disability the vast majority of poverty stricken actually due work but barely earn enough money to support themselves or their families.  Many people living on or below the poverty line in America are struggling just for basic human needs; food, water, and shelter.  The recent economic downturn of the past few years has affected every industry in our economy leaving millions who were once considered middle class in a dire start of affairs struggling to keep a roof over their head and food on the table.  The ongoing erosion of our workforce and lack of good paying jobs has left many in complete despair.  Our political leaders and our governing system have been broken for long a time only now are the effects of it starting to come to the surface.  To put it bluntly the majority of people in this country are beyond pissed.  More people than ever before are aware of the complete imbalance of power and lack of economic opportunity in this country.  You see it doesn’t really matter which political party is in power because they’re both part of the problem.  I'm not callering for anarchy in the streets, or a revolution, and I'm not angry at the rich I just believe in the ability of the American people to reclaim their rightful place in the world as a proud hard working prosperous people.  You see, it’s not going to be the politicians or the corporations that get us out of this mess; it’s going to people with a dream, an idea, an invention, a business venture that they finally pursue. 

My Agenda

I'm not some bleeding heart liberal or an ultra-conservative right wing wacko.  I'm simply an American who's been on both sides of the fence.  I lived the American Dream and survived the American Nightmare of homelessiness.  When I was out there alone on the streets I can remember asking god for help and promising him that if he'd help me out of this nightmare I would let people now what's really going on out there in the streets.  Let them know that homeless people are still people and that it could happen to anyone regardless of their status in society.

The Video Speaks for Itself

THESE ARE THE FACES OF THE FORGOTTEN.  THE AMERICAN PEOPLE

Think Twice

Prison for Profit

Words of Wisdom from Rocky Balboa

Seasons Greetings

The Holiday Season filled with decorations, big meals, greeting cards, traveling, and of course family gatherings.  Nothing says seasons greetings like the uncle who loves to bring up embarrassing stories from your childhood, or your cousins you cant stand, and the aunts that tell you how handsome you are.

PTSD

(PTSD) Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is something that we often associate with soldiers coming back from Iraq or Afghanistan.  However, this disorder can affect anybody. For example, what if your battlefield is not thousands of miles across the globe and your enemy is not an opposing army.  What if your battlefield is the streets, and your enemy is hunger, and lack of shelter?  Then what, say for a moment you've arrived at a point in your life that you are now homeless, and hungry.  I can tell you from first hand experience that the streets are very similar to a war zone.  I was out there once; alone, scared, hungry, and broke.  Like a war zone, death and destruction are always close by on the streets.  Like a war zone you often sleep very little, and are on guard most of the time.  Like a war zone the enemy takes on many forms.  Hunger, fear, anger, sadness all of these things become your enemy.  When I was out there alone in the dark searching I can remember that there was one thing I wanted more then anything.  That one thing I wanted so desperately was a friend. 

Imagine For a Moment

You have a nice life you feel secure and your working towards something better everyday.  Your living the American Dream good job, great relationship, lots of friends, loving family, money in the bank, and of course lets not forget credit cards, lots of them.  You have spent your entire adult life working and continuing your education in college.  You've developed a great reputation and have lots of connections.  Things look pretty good on the surface, but underneath your carefully groomed facade you secretly hate you life and everything about.  You hate the endless mundane routine that has become your life.  It starts Monday morning 6:00a.m. when your alarm goes off and you hit the snooze button about 15times then you drag yourself out of bed in a zombie like state programed to start the coffee, take a shower, get dressed and pack you lunch.  You begin to agonize over the upcoming traffic, the stress of the office, the class you have to go to immediately after work because you want a better life.  You think about how you and girlfriend barely get to see each other anymore, and how much you cant wait for this day to end only to start it all over again tomorrow.  The weekend becomes your fantasy world Friday night out drinking with friends. Saturday morning catch up on studying, Saturday afternoon mall to buy more crap you don't really need but it makes you feel better at the time, Saturday night dinner with your girlfriend.  Then Sunday morning rolls around and you start to feel the work week creeping back into your mind so try to avoid thinking about and get caught up in Sunday morning chores that seem to eat up most of your day.  All the while your secretly fantasying about any life that doesn't resemble your own.  So how did you get to this place in your mind that success was measured by how much you can buy, or how big your house?  You let society tell you what makes a successful person, not your heart.  You see, I like to believe that how you live is more important then what you can buy.  

Enter the New World Economy

Today more then ever people are looking for new and creative ways to make money.  The real economy that we all live in has been dealt a great blow and the effects will probably be felt for years to come.  However, amidst the ashes of the once thriving economy there are glimmers of hope for our society.  Hope comes in many forms and the form I am referring is the hope in the people who pull themselves back together after losing everything.  Sure, we here all about the high unemployment rate, inflation, down sizing, and out sourcing to other countries.  On the other hand we tend to hear very little about the people who lost everything and rebuilt there life's from the ground up.  Maybe if we heard more encouraging stories about rebuilt lives we could be inspired to rebuild or improve our own lives in some way.  I'm going to try to give a voice to the people who sometimes go unrecognized.