Translator

By N2H

Posts Tagged ‘War’

My Journey

All of us man or woman, are on an ambiguously  termed “journey” through life. Perhaps the term itself being ambiguous, is fitting when considering that is how the journey starts, in the ambiguity of dealing with the inside and outside self. As children we are dealing with and learning about our own selfishness versus the impact of our outside world. We learn that others don’t like us to be selfish so we adapt and become selfless and forget our own needs. At some point in life, we learn how to balance this out or we either stay selfish and we don’t get along with the outside world or we stay selfless and never nurture our own inside needs. I’ve personally jumped back and forth between selfish and selfless and would like to think that I have found the balance, but you never really know until you have the benefit of hindsight.

As I have made my “journey” I’ve put less stock in ideals or religion and I have put more worth in the immanence of the little things in life. While I’m an anti-religious person, I have found moments in my life that I felt were sacred. The best example I could think of happened while serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom. When I first arrived in country, I was having a tough time reconciling my personal dissatisfaction with where my “journey” had taken me, but while flying in a Black Hawk Helicopter, I had a sacred moment while flying above the sand between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. I saw a the most beautiful sunset on the dusty mountains hitting the green around the rivers. The view’s beauty can’t really be put into words but the experience somehow made this part of my “journey” all worth while. Simplistic? Yeah. It was like I was shown a painting created by nature and most people will never see it. That was my painting. Since then I feel that I share an interconnectedness with the things around me, even if I find all things religious generally inglorious.

While others say that part of our “journey” should be to claim our pain, I disagree. I find that claiming pain is actually dwelling. To claim pain is to acknowledge it, and acknowledging pain gives it power, power to influence you to not get hurt again or to avoid pain, just like a child that touches a hot stove won’t do it again or the women who never starts another relationship because the previous one was painful. I don’t avoid pain because it is inevitable and I attempt to not let it influence me in any unhealthy manner. Sometimes I even hold my hand above a flame to see how long I can overcome my physical pain, I find that the emotional kind is just as trying.

Along my “journey” I have found my voice. It took a lot. Now a days, we are constantly bombarded with how we should think and speak. The age of the television has made it increasingly difficult to think for ones self. The ironic this is, I found my voice by allowing others to do my thinking for me. I did everything I supposed to do, I even followed what the idiot box in the living room told me to do. Those voices sent me on a quest around the world and allowed me to experience different cultures and see how different people are. It sent me to college and opened my eyes to why or how things are the way they are. These were the things that shaped my unique prospective and have developed what some would call a warped view. My voice loves to scream hypocrisy and question the status quo, but only by following the status quo was I able to achieve it.

I’ve have always taken action and have never been a content person. I used to think something was wrong with my inability to become content, but I have since realized that I shouldn’t be. I used to take action by doing what I was “supposed: to do. Part of my “journey” was taken action by serving in the military, but I did that because I was supposed to do it. I don’t regret my service, but I find more meaning now in taken action in the changing of society. This is one of the reasons I now go to college, to give me the tool I need to facilitate change and perhaps contribute to a better society. Maybe even one that doesn’t need people to go to war someday.

For the first time in my live, I feel that I live in communion, not with society but with myself. I now know who I am, where I would like to go, and I have acknowledge my limits. I am a strong brave individual, who wants to influence the world, and I the only limit I have are the ones I put on myself. This is where I’m currently at in my “journey.” That really doesn’t mean anything when you consider that next week and the week after that, I will redefine my reality and change my path once again, but in the mean time, it is a fun ride.

Is the Right Planning a Revolution?

I’ve been noticing that the right wing in this county has been becoming very hostile. At first, I thought I was just hearing the wack jobs, who live in their mothers basement wearing tin foil hats that block out the liberal bias alien transmissions, but lately this is getting more mainstream with the people on the right. I mean just look at that billboard. People are spending money on this stuff. Unless the basement dwellers won the lottery, this is the mainstream right wing part of our country supporting this move toward a second American Revolution.

Of course we have all seen the Tea Party movement. A movement of people who protest taxes and I mean all taxes. I guess they don’t like the military, or having roads, or schools.  A movement to end the government’s taxes doesn’t necessarily mean revolt, it is only an ideal, but then you look at there website and see words like “Judgement Day.” As if the biblical ending of the world is going to happen on the day they protest.  I find such psychological use of ” end of the word” statements at least frightening if not the gears of war.

The Tea party has had signs at their protests that advertise the website End The Fed. I mean if that doesn’t sound ominous enough, check out their video I found on the World Wide Web.

I personally don’t think that most conservatives want to overthrow the government, but they need to make it clear that they do not follow or endorse a second revolutionary war. By not doing so they are actually encouraging these people and are encouraging an open revolt.

I’m curious if they can be held liable if something was to happen. I mean, if some tea party followers revolted against the United States, would their associates in the republican party or on Fox News be considered accomplices?

The VA is Giving Out Emergency GI Bill Checks

If you are a United States Veteran who applied for the New GI Bill, then you probably haven’t got a dime yet. You probably have called the VA and heard the Message “We are experiencing an unprecedented amount of claims.” You are probably eating “Ramen Noodles” and are worrying about keeping your lights on. If this sounds like you, then do not worry because there is hope.

On October 2^nd, The VA is giving out “Emergency Checks” To Veterans. All you need to do is bring a government issued ID and proof of your college enrollment to the VA. To find a location near you, follow this link http://www2.va.gov/directory/guide/division_flsh.asp?dnum=3

If you can’t go to them, they say you can take care of it on the GI Bill website. I haven’t had any luck with that poorly done website.  I will be standing in line with anyone else who was lucky enough to find this information.

Groups like “Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of American” have been advocating for us. I heard this info from them. If you are an Iraq or Afghanistan Veteran, you need to join the IAVA.  This is their website http://iava.org/index.php

Here is a message from the IAVA sent Via Email.

I still don’t understand how this happened in the first place. We had to wait a year after the new GI Bill passed the Congress, and now we still don’t get our benefits.

They are receiving an unprecedented amount of claims? Of course they are, they just started giving us enough money to actually pay for college. What did they think was going to happen? We have been fighting two wars for almost a decade. You mean to tell me they didn’t notice the large amount of people who were going over there? Never mind, now that I think about it, they probably didn’t notice us at all.

Good Luck Brothers.