A Solemn Moment - Political Thoughts

I don't like to put my political ideas on my blogs, but I wanted to make one small comment. I have heard many people say they will vote (or have voted) for Hillary Clinton because "her husband did such a good job when he was in office."

First of all, when he was in office, people were bitching and moaning about his decisions as much as we complain about the current president (maybe less, but I do recall a good amount of complaint and I was only a kid).

Second of all, Hillary Clinton is not Bill Clinton. They are not clones and she had little to nothing to do with his decisions. We saw how much he paid attention to his wife with the Monica Lewinsky fiasco.

I just don't want people to forget how the past was, and then say it was better or worse than it is now. I was thinking about George Orwell's Animal Farm and this quote is so applicable to right now that it's scary:

"As for the others, their life, so far as they knew, was as it had always been. They were generally hungry, they slept on straw, they drank from the pool, they laboured in the fields; in the winter they were troubled by the cold, and in the summer by the flies. Sometimes the older ones among them racked their dim memories and tried to determine whether in the early days of the Rebellion, when Jones's expulsion was still recent, things had been better or worse than now. They could not remember. There was nothing with which to compare their present lives: they had nothing to go upon except Squealer's lists of figures, which invariably demonstrated that everything was getting better and better."

If you haven't read the book, Squealer is the PR man (in this case, pig) for the politicians (can I say pigaticians, or is that too punny?). Anyway, the point is that we mustn't forget history and we must always strive to improve life now, as compared to what actually was - not as compared to what some double-talking politician or even our dim memory says it was.

Let me know your opinions on this. Are the American people becoming like the animals in Mr. Orwell's brilliant book?

Cow Eating Trees?

Can someone tell me if there is really such a thing as a carnivorous tree?

Generation Jerk

I just saw the Sixty Minutes episode on my generation - the Millennial Generation. It makes us out to be a bunch of self-centered a-holes. I can't say I'm offended, since I have met people of my generation and know that some of them are in fact self-centered jerks, however I hate being grouped into some category that a bunch of people who aren't like me are in. It's like being flipped off on the freeway for not letting someone cut you off.
Anyway, here's some info on what people say the difference between Gen X and Gen Y are in the workplace. It's interesting, less insulting and says (basically) that Gen Y has good workers, but are self centered. I suppose that I do agree with that - but the article also says that Gen Y both works well in groups and is individualistic. Not sure how that makes sense. I'd love to see something that doesn't contradict itself - but so far not so much. The closest I've gotten to a non-contradicting piece is this link to opinions from high school students on their generation. A lot of the in sites here are sad, but true. Families are farther apart, work has become more important then family. Organized religion doesn't appear as important as spirituality, though what spirituality is seems confused. Also, belief in the political system is down. There is a need for change, but no definite direction to change in.
I suppose (and this is from me) that it's because it seems as if our parents and grandparents have done everything already - people rallied for peace in the Sixties and there's still war, people fought the "war to end all wars" in WWI and WWII and there's still war. The government still lies, people still try to make a buck, even if it means the destruction of an entire planet. However, there is a sense of optimism. Maybe we can band together and make it better. The planet isn't the same as it was 40 years ago, there's technology now and maybe that can help us. Things ARE changing in this world.
I can say that personally, I feel that family is incredibly important. I count myself as having amazing parents that, while divorced, still always put aside time to do things with me and help me along in life without coddling me. I never felt they were hanging out with me because they felt it was a duty - I always felt they wanted to spend time with me.
This is a world of change. I hope that my generation can stop looking at their own wants and desires for a just a moment and look at what we can do to change the world.