A non-“Buddhist” rant

The one thing I am learning about social media is, 85% of the posts on the various platforms are nothing but negativity. Maybe the number I said isn’t right, but sometimes it actually feels like 100%.

What really burns my ass is the fact people complain so much about such trivial things. They complain about their lives, their jobs (or lack of jobs), their husbands, their wives, YET they refuse to do anything about it. Life sucks, change it. Have no job, get one. Husband or wife not working out, get a friggin divorce. For cripes sakes people!

My feed most of the time is this person or that complaining about a commercial they just saw and how it pigeonholes them as a group. For instance, what set me off was someone who posted a comment about a new commercial from Old Nay. In the commercials they say something like “Don’t jiggle it when you wiggle it”. They instantly took offense to it. They assume it is some sort of attack on them because maybe they don’t live the active lifestyle. I can guarantee that Old Navy has no idea who you are, so the commercial was not made about you.

Maybe, just maybe the folks at Old Navy are trying to tell us something. Something like we’ve become a nation of lazy sob’s. For instance, in 1985 in the state of Massachusetts (my home state) the obesity rate was under 10%. In 2010 that rate is nearly 24%.  In 1985, the state of Texas was under 10% yet in 2010 it was over 30%. In 1985 Oregon was under 10%, yet they were nearly 30% in 2010. There is a trend I’m sure you are seeing here, they are facts.

Old Navy probably did not spell all of this out for viewers of the commercial. They didn’t need to. What they were doing was marketing a product, one that encourages people to get off of the couch, unplug from the internet, drop the Wii remote, etc and get moving.

I remember growing up we actually did stuff. We didn’t sit in front of the the TV all day, we had Nintendo but we didn’t sit plugged into it at all times. We climbed trees. We walked through the woods, or ran through them if a noise scared us. We rode our bikes everywhere. We skateboarded. We built forts and played in them. We made lemonade stands. It was the error of break dancing, so we unfolded boxes and friggin tore it up.

I’ve had many jobs over the years. I’ve been a telemarketer. I’ve flipped burgers at Burger King an Wendy’s. I bagged groceries at the local supermarket. I worked at a pet store. I’ve sold cell phones for a national provider, and made my way up to management. I taught myself graphic design and have worked as a graphic designer, a giclee reproductionist (yeah I made that word up) and finisher for various printing jobs. I work at a cable company. What to they all have in common, they are all jobs. Sometimes that are not the one’s you want to do, but you get on because you need to have one. I hated more than half the jobs I worked at, but I had food in my belly, clothes on my back and a shelter over my head. Life is not that bad, get a job.

What I would love to see is some sort of filter on these friggin social media sites. One that does not allow this horseshit to be posted all the time. People should somehow be rewarded for telling us how they managed to change something that they were complaining about, something that might empower others to change. Bitching and moaning all the time begets more bitching and money. Grab the bull by the horns folks, make a change and the rest will follow.

There is nothing philosophical to see here people, and I know it’d been a while since I’ve posted something. To jump right back into it with this kind of a rant probably isn’t the best way, but I am done with the negative. I was dealing with some of it myself for a while and I made the changes. I was sick and tired of listening to that whining voice in my head. Boo hoo, poor me.

Not sure if this is the empowering moment here, but I made some difficult choices. I cut back on this blog, I love writing this blog. I cut down drastically on my internet time. These, along with a few other things, were causing major damage to my life. I changed them.

My health was suffering, my body was not happy with me. I started exercising. I feel better than I ever have in my life. I have no intention to stop. As a matter of fact, I am actively reaching out to others and letting them know just how good it feels. But it’s not just that, it’s reconnecting with everything as well.

While walking I am able to look at the trees, and to truly see the trees. I’m not worried about what John Doe just posted on his blog, did he break some sort of news before I did? Did they talk about the newest uprising in such and such Buddhist country, and now the government is repressing them? No! While I am concerned about the issues, like the uprisings etc, my intention when it comes to them is different.

When I run, I breathe in the air and for once, have truly learned how to connect with my breath. For years I struggled with this whole meditation thing, breathe in, breathe out. AHHH! I see it now, it just is what it is, do what you are doing. I’m not concerned about the guy across the zendo sitting in perfect lotus position while my knees ache in barely a decent Burmese position.

I’m wrapping it up here folks, I said it was a rant right? All I’m saying is, you can’t expect things to change if you are doing the same things over and over. Complaining about them will do nothing, do something about them.

One of the most important things I ever learned at one of my jobs was the phrase “Thank you, drive thru!”