THE PACK Message Boards

There are a few perceptions to perhaps pay attention to:

- History is written by the victor.
- - In this, I mean that we refer to America's 'beautiful past' unknowing the true horrors of what transpired behind closed doors. In the past there was less transparency than there is today (due to lack of technology). It has always been brutal.
- America is what you make it.
- - There is a HUGE percentage of the populace that has given up, because they look at the problem and decide that it is not something they can fix. The fact that many school teachers don't spend even a minute beyond contractual time at the school to mentor, even when the US is falling behind in education. When I was recruiting for the Army, 1 out of 3 high school graduates could pass the ASVAB well enough to join the active duty Army. Folks, that's pretty darned bad. I said that to say this: Divide and Conquer. Ok, the whole country is in dire straights (and has been for awhile now) , and there are 200 million (or so) adults pointing fingers.
(segue into the solution)

Do what you can in your area. If you were to start a local garden to let you and the neighbors grow fruit and stuff, let all who participate know why you're doing it, and find out what projects they're doing to make (and encourage them to start something. Age is a symptom of a long life, not a symptom of having lived life with honor. Anyone at any age can take a certain amount of initiative. Getting other friends involved and helping one another out so that all succeed is very important. Each one of you gather, let's say five friends. They can be online, here in the PACK, in real life, whatever. You let them know two things,
-You would like to do ______. Doing ______ may not save the ______ (world) in and of itself, but every person helping out will make the greatest difference of all.
- In addition to helping me, I would like you to find four friends who are also going to help you. Decide on what you would like to 'save', then let them know both of these things. Lastly, you will help your five friends (the four you found plus me) on their projects and get their help and assistance on yours. No one project can be all-consuming.

In and out of uniform, I have been called 'hero' quite a few times by peoples of a variety of nationalities. Being a hero is not as hard as it is made out on TV. Thank you, Anubis, for posting this thread, because it reminded me of why I am in the Army. My dayjob is to be that hero. All else comes second. Even my music. I let you all know what I do musically, because I want to show that those I am working on making a difference. Unfortunately, the minute the 'marketing expert' inside of me gets a hold of the information, by the time it comes out it reads more like an ad. Sorry about that.

The projects that I am working on right now with my five friends:
- Music (this is mine, for my sister, for reasons best not shared)
- A Solution for Iraq (for the father of a wounded vet, and for all)
- World peace and enlightenment. (for Ko Chira, who gave me the formula)
- A roleplaying system (for Greatimp, and all the others who don't like D&D anymore)
- A movie, 'A Matter of Time' (for Don Kirchner)
- The act of being a hero (US Army, and this one also happens to be my job too - ooh, and I get paid!)

EDIT: I noticed that I make a very poor example for this. I listed 'A Solution for Iraq' and 'World Peace and Enlightenment'. Whoops. Silly me, I should elaborate a little bit. I've met, in the course of my professional life, three billionaires, with whom I maintain contact with one (whoopee!). The depth and breadth of the people I know, or the people I know how to get introduced to, gives me a distinct ability: having a split-hairs' chance of pulling one, or both of these goals off. The message I bring to you about how you can make a huge difference in the outcome of history falls in line with working towards World Peace and Enlightenment. Everything I do is task-oriented. From donating 900 CDs to soldiers in Iraq without caring for the financial consequences I would suffer for it, to staying up until four thirty in the morning writing this. Maintaining my membership on this, and two other boards.

Why do I stay on the pack? Because I recognize that there are certain things in the world that require addressing, that we all have a moral, as well as a civic responsibility to addressing them, and that we are a pack. /EDIT

Every country on Earth has skeletons in their closet. NO ONE COUNTRY WILL EVEN BE PERFECT.

I say get over it.

MattSullivan wrote:Every country on Earth has skeletons in their closet. NO ONE COUNTRY WILL EVEN BE PERFECT.

I say get over it.

Do not live in the past but...
DON'T FORGET IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anubis wrote:Because there is nothing i can do about it, I can vote, but that wont do much.

Not necessarily. It's true that the Electoral College has the whole country over a barrel, but there are plenty of other ways to get involved in this country's political scene without running for office.

For instance...I've been to Washington DC twice, with LiveSTRONG. They flew one person from every Congressional district in the country to WDC, put us up in a NICE hotel, trained us, and turned us loose on Capitol Hill. I walked the marble halls of Rayburn and was shocked at how small a building the Supreme Court really was. Last year I shook John Kerry's hand and thought, "Why aren't you President?"

My experiences on The Hill gave me political courage. This year, my goal is to be an Oregon state delegate to the Democratic convention for Bill Richardson. I'm getting in on the ground floor of his campaign here.

I'm also fairly active with MoveOn.

Election Night here is the city's biggest social night and anyone can come. They rent out the county fairgrounds, put up a projection screen, live feed from CNN and set up a couple no-host bars and food vendors. Everyone comes and cheers for their ballot measures and candidates.

Twenty years ago...you couldn't pay me enough to get that deeply into politics. Lately I've been thinking, "Why didn't I do this earlier?!?" Seriously, when you're not in the trenches, it looks like hell on earth but once you're in it's a hell of a ride. And a fairly fun one, too.

Go to OnTheIssues.org, find a candidate whose platforms jibe up with yours most closely, and find out if they have a campaign and volunteer.

You can also volunteer with your local League of Women Voters to run the polling stations. Check with your state's Secretary of State to get on that.

Another thing you can do is pick a cause, and hook up with them as a volunteer. All I did to get selected by LiveSTRONG to go to the Hill, was tell them I wanted to go, and it cost me nothing.

MoveOn coordinates get-out-the-vote drives at every election. They make a difference, a big difference. Before MoveOn got on them, New Hampshire was going to give its electoral votes to Bush but MoveOn mobilized enough of their registered voters to tip the state for Kerry and turn New England into a blue bloc.

I HATE POLITICS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


WHA HU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

resurrecting dead topic again?

.....why? there really isn't a point to bring this back.....did you feel like being random?

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