Elephants on Mini Coopers dancing with Barracudas

Today, I'm feeling a bit nostalgic, to be fairly honest with you. There have been countless things within the past three days that have made me truly and honestly miss my childhood, or even miss things that just wern't around for awhile. Angry Beavers, Dunka-roos, Oops all berries: Captain Crunch, math with real numbers, you know, the good stuff. I am a Teacher's Assistant for a fourth grade class at Gesu Elementary in Detroit, and being able to see a huge contrast between what I did when I was a kid compared to the things this new generation has to do... well flat out, it scares me. I have this fear that "kids these days", don't use their imagination nearly enough. Things are just handed to them and they follow along. I'm pretty sure that without sports, there thought of a leader would be completely flawed.

I know I'm getting "old", but seriously, when I was a kid, me and my sister could play for hours with absolutely nothing. No toys, no board games, nothing. We would just go outside and literally make up a game. I am speaking completely out of observation and truth when I say: I have not seen a child over the age of three make up a game with made up rules and  made up characters just to have fun. Either a kid has a video game controller in their hand, they're on the phone, or god knows what else they've got. When I nine years old, I didn't think about dirty lyrics in songs.. I can't believe how much things have changed. When you're a kid, you're supposed to be innocent, right? Have I lost my mind or has society lost every ounce of purity?

I miss the times when we'd run around and build snow forts in winter, and jump in piles of leaves in the fall. I miss the sound of when you cut construction paper with safety scissors. I miss playing tag, and telephone, and statues, and hide and seek, and ghost in the graveyard. Things are busier right now with school, and work, and whatever else, no one has time to be a kid anymore. Thankfully, I landed a couple good friends that still like to make-believe. Without them, I'd probably turn into a zombie.



Remember when:
Getting high, meant swinging in the playground.
The worst thing you can get from boys were cooties.
Your worst enemies were your siblings.
Ollie-ollie-oxen free meant something?
Race issues were who ran the fastest.
War was just a card game.
The only drug you knew of was cough medicine.
Wearing skirts didn't mean you were a slut.
The only things you smoked were the tires on your bike.
The only thing that hurt were skinned knees.
And the only things that can be broken were your toys?

Mr. Bubbles and Troublesome Poison Ivy

I've noticed a fairly constant variable within my posts: hypocrisy. So many are quick to condemn others for the same faults the accuser is guilty of. This morning was, well... one of those mornings where I get the pleasure of seeing hypocrisy at it's fullest. Simple concept, when someone yells at you or tears you down.. why is it okay? Why is it alright for someone to break you down, but as soon as you stand up for yourself or critique you back, it's wrong? I've always had a hard time swallowing my pride, so it's natural for me to stand up for myself. Even when I know an argument will be avoided by biting my tongue, I find it difficult.

People are so quick to condemn others. People tend to throw people on trial before they even give a second thought to their intentions or mindset. I've noticed that people often criticize others only to then be guilty of doing the same things but in a different situation or in a related way. For example: sluts hating other sluts for being sluts.

Hypocrisy is possibly the only thing that I hate more than ignorance and if it were up to me, it wouldn't even exist. Hypocritical people are often running from something, or in denial over something they are doing. I try to not give people advice that I wouldn't take myself, however if I do, I admit to it. I'll say "I'm just as at fault with this, but I think you should stop (dot dot dot)". I will admit, with certain things it is difficult for me to take my own advice, however I try not to condemn someone for their decisions, I merely try to understand them. I try to let them make me their student and try to get them to help me better fit into their shoes. I've always found this to be the best way to go about things when trying to deal with a person who has the same faults as yourself. You might learn more from them. For example, I'm friends with a person who is particularly overly analytic. I happen to be guilty of the same fault, so when I tell him that he should not worry so much and he shouldn't over analyze, I not only give him that advice, but I give that advice to myself. I try, as well, to let things slide more and I try to not spend too much time thinking about certain things.

The best thing that you can do is take your own advice. Who would want to go to a depressant for help overcoming depression? Who would want to go to a hoarder for advice on cleaning out for a yard sale? It's common sense, people, when the questions are there, the answers could be staring you right in the face. It might take a person suffering for you to wake up to your own faults. It wouldn't be crazy for someone to start eating healthier after their brother died of a heart attack. Don't sit around and wait for something bad to happen, for you to wake up and fix your flaws. The time is now, stop being hypocritical and get out and make a change. Then once you've turned your life around, then is the best time to help others who need to overcome the same obstacle that you have. If I was an alcoholic struggling to quit drinking, I would rather take the advice of a recovered alcoholic, than an alcoholic. I'd think you would too.


Every man alone is sincere.  At the entrance of a second person, hypocrisy begins.  We parry and fend the approach of our fellow-man by compliments, by gossip, by amusements, by affairs.  We cover up our thought from him under a hundred folds.  ~Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Friendship," Essays, 1841