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From the mind of critic: “If we now live in a time of alternative facts, is it ever possible to win an argument? If the press is called out as fake news whenever they cover something the president doesn’t want them to, or are quick to point out his lies, is it still possible to still have a free society? Can we still claim to be that free society, when the only time the press isnt shunned as a concept, is when they agree with the president, and back up his “alternative facts?” Or will we devolve even further into a tribal society, because our thinned skinned president has to respond to every slight, and generalize every non-white population, because one member is seen as representative of the entire group? There is a reason that the freedom of the press is not only enshrined in the constitution, but is in the very first ammendment. It is the duty of the press to be vigilant and courageous in holding those in power responsible. Our democracy only exists because we don’t take our elected officals word for it, let alone the president’s. Right and left wing dictatorships, along with communist, socialist and nationalistic regimes only function, because they have complete control over the media and messaging, thouroughly going through every bit to make sure that nothing gets disseminated to make the leaders look bad. Many of us wanted the system shaken up with this election. However, what ever side we’re on, I think we could all agree that our country, our system should be more democratic, not less. Arguing, compromising, negotiating or even talking to somebody who believes “alternative facts” are a thing, is like talking to a brick wall, we wont get anywhere. The only thing that will get through is a jackhammer, we must be that jackhammer of truth” 🙂

From the mind of critic: “If we long for yesterday, because we believe times were so much better, do we long for tomorrow for the same reason? Are we so upset, angry and hurt about how bad things currently are, that we want to turn back the clock to a time when we think those things didnt exist? Or is the anger we feel now so strong, that we see wanting to turn back the clock as why we’re at this moment, and the only rational thought we have is not how much worse are things going to get, but how much better are we going to make things because we’re all awake? We’re screwed, we’re doomed and there is no hope for the future, so why should we even pay attention? We should just turn off, and tune out. This may be the feeling of many of us, as we embark on the presidency of a man, that just thinking about him as president, or seeing him as such, kinda makes me vomit in my mouth. What prevents me from doing so is not an iron stomach, but the thought that the world of our dreams, and a country that represents all its people, is well within our grasp. You might ask, how can that be when it looks like the utmost extreme of every department is going to destroy all the safety nets, the environmental regulations and half the government itself, so they can give more money to the top 1/10th of 1%. I see a brighter future in all that, because it’s a chance to put down for good all the deep dark things that have been thought and done behind closed doors, that is now being done out in the open. This is a grand collective opportunity to make our lives better, and squash negativity. If we tune out even more than we did before or for the first time, we are playing right into their hands. This will cause them to put their plans into maximum overdrive, because it is exactly what they want. We musn’t long for yesterday or for tomorrow, but we must long for today. Taking action to better all of us will be our only thought, as giving up won’t be an option” 🙂

From the mind of critic: “Whether we want to say happy inauguration day or happy GDMF day, how can we come together? Whether we want to completely blow up the system, or simply want to make the system work better for all of us, how can we come together? When some of us don’t take the new president seriously most of the time, but cheer him on other times, and some of us know he has no public elected or military experience, hence no public record to analyze, hence we take his words and previous actions seriously because there is nothing else to analyze, how can we come together? When some of us whole heartedly support the new president because we either agree with what he’s trying to pull, or don’t understand, or care what he’s trying to pull because we’ve been stripped down to our core, so we think that everybody that looks or thinks different is out to get us, and those of us who either know what he’s trying to pull and will fight tooth and nail against it, or we know what he is trying to pull is nothing new, but has never been done this overtly, how can we come together? When something very few of us saw happening today, Janurary 20th, 2017, there is a huge colelctive “how did we get here” air floating around. I’m not going to list all the reasons we should have seen this coming, all the issues we never fully dealt with and continued to kick down the road for generations, would take a volume of books. However, once we see that we’re being controlled by the elite through the few crumbs they allow us to have, which cause us to divide into racial, religious and ethinc tribes, we’ll see we’re the same people with the same issues. We can come together, when we realize we’re all in the same boat” 🙂

From the mind of critic: “If we’re afraid of putting ourselves out there, are we afraid of letting our voices be heard? Do we believe there are people way more educated, knowledgable, and experienced whose voices are the very foundation of the ether, so why would anybody listen to us? Or do we believe our voices do matter, but we’re so concerned with our message having a positive effect, that we spend all our time looking for the right in, instead of standing up and taking advantage of opportunities, however small their wiodows might be? Being judged is something nobody likes, because we’re honed down and put inside a little box. However, It’s not the act of being judged that guides our future, but how we react to it. If we’re afraid of what somebody might say or think about us, we might think a cocoon or a bubble is the safest place. Sometimes this fear is a bigger roadblock to our progress, than all judegmental people combined. Once we realize that standing up and speaking out might be scary, but freeing at the same time because we’re destroying our self-imposed roadblocks by being honest with ourselves, we’ll see there’s a reason that “we have nothing to fear but fear itself” is an old cliche. Putting ourselves out there might end in failure, but if we never put ourselves out there, success will never be a possibility. What do we have to lose bseides our self-imposed roadblocks?” 🙂

From the mind of critic: “If we get shaken to our core and start questioning our soul’s motivation, how do we protect ourselves from being shaken again? Do we put up such a hardened wall, that niether light, love nor positive energy can provide the jackhammer needed to bust through? Do we build a bridge big enough so all the darkness, hate and negative energy can provide the mac trucks needed to pour through and tear apart the last vestiges of our being? Or do we neither build a wall to block love from coming in nor a bridge to let hate come in, but a scale so we can decide everything on a case by case basis, which allows us to critically think and then decide what love and hate is, means and how it plays out collectively? Many of us have had traumatic experiences, broken hearted experiences and experiences that make us wonder if we’ll ever find what we’re looking for. Once we realize that by defining what love means to us and what hate means to us, not only will we know them when we see them, so we know what to hang on to and what to get rid of, but we’ll see that by consciously pursuing this balance, walls will only be erected to keep out the dark, and bridges only to bring in the light. Our world, our nation is entering a new time when we’ll be shaken so much, we will collectively ask as a nation what we stand for. Everything is so blatant because we ignored it for so long, making us unable to hide anymore. If we still choose to ignore or standby, we are no longer hiding from our issues, we are taking part in letting them happen. Positive change isn’t made with neutrality, but action. Do we want to control our actions, or others?” 🙂

From the mind of critic: “If we honestly belive in liberty and justice for all, that all men are created equal and that we all have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, how come some of us only support it when it pertains to us? Do we see all the violence, crime, wars, unrest and downright chaos, and believe all we can do is protect ourselves and people like us, because everyone else is out to get us? Or do we atleast attempt to live the old adage of being the change we want to see, by understanding that if we want equality, liberty, justice and happiness for the nation as a whole, we have to start with every interaction we have, so the people we interact with will spread it to everyone they interact with and so on? As Americans we can be a very arrogant, narcisstic, self-centered, obnoxious and intolerant people. We can also be a very loving, caring, understanding, peaceful and accepting people. In the next year, and more likely the next six months all of that will be put to the test. Everything will be out in the open, all our darkest secrets and desires will be spread out on the table for the nation and the world to see. This could be the downfall of everything we thought we were as amercians, with every creepy, underhanded, hateful racist and radical coming out of the woodworks, because they see every department and cabinet position as finnaly supporting them. However, this could finnaly be the fulfillment of the great american experiment to be finnaly and fully realized like it has never been before, and bring out every loving, courageous and die-hard peacemaker to come out of the woodworks, because they finnaly see an opportunity to put down the overt darkness in every department and cabinet position. Do we all want to be free, or do we want none of us to be free? Those are our only choices” 🙂

From the mind of critic: “If conflicts of interest are the very foundation of corruption, and we could agree corruption is a bad thing no matter what side of the political spectrum we’re on, will we stand up to stop it ,when it’s authenticity is undeniable? If somebody bounces back and forth between the political community and the business community, governing the same things they profited on and then goes back to profiting on them when they’re done with government, is that corruption? If somebody continues to proft off of business ventures when they’re in office, but does it through back channels because they don’t want the public to know, is that corruption? If sombody not only profits off of businesses but does so openly and unapologetically to the point that their name is on the sides of buildings, they’re charging the secret service to protect them and will personaly see money rolling in from foreign governments because of services rendered, is that corruption? Or will we be blinded by all the racism, sexism and lying meant to obscure that corruption? I would say we’re entering a whole new era on January 20th, but anybody who has been paying attention since the beginning of the great American experiment, would know that’s not true. All of this has happened before. Now, we’re winessing the natural evolution of everything that was swept under the rug to be dealt with at a later date. Well the rug has not only been pulled up, it has been burned, spreading it’s ashes all over the country because that later date is here. Will we finnaly admit that corruption exists in all people, and we will fight tooth and nail to stop it no matter where we find it? Or will we continue to support corruption, because we see our side as finnaly able to get away with it? Facts and truth do matter, and they do exist. Will we stop lying to ourselves in time to see that?” 🙂

From the mind of critic: “If all of us have varying degrees of recognizing and accepting truth, how long are we gonna have to wait for positive change? Are we gonna go so far down the rabbit hole, that by the time we see how corrupt, dishonest and facist our government has become, will it be to late? Or will slivers of light continue to flicker, until their frequency and illumination become such a big part of our daily life, we wonder how we even considered stepping down the rabbit hole in the first place? What most of us see as corruption, criminality and outright flauting of the constitution, others see as creating a whole new way of life. All of us will be tested in the next year to see if we care about our governments official’s personally profiting off of not only the offices they hold, but the desicions they make. Do we even wanna protect the environment, do we need to regulate taxes at all? Do we want to give people free education, or believe they are entitled to an education or health care as a fundamental right? What about supporting the poor, or do we only wanna support the rich because we believe in the pipe dream that we all can become rich? Or have we drank the kool-aid and think that billionaires will actually spend more money if we give them more money? It’s not about being left or right, democrat or republican, liberal or conservative. It’s about criminals, corruption, money and destruction. Do we wanna see the complete destrcution of the american experiment, where we no longer remember what it was like to be free? Or will we stand up and fight for what we believe, and make sure all the american usurpers about to take office are swept into the dustbin of history? We have until January 20th to figure it out” 🙂

From the mind of critic: “If we’re expressing ourselves and people feel like we’re attacking them, does it prevent us from being honest? Do we view our words, body language and tone differently than the person we’re directing it toward, making it seem like we’re being attacked because somebody views something differently? Or somewhere in our subconscious do we know we’re attacking the person, only because we feel they attacked us first? We hit somebody, they hit us back, then we hit them again, and on and on it goes. What may start out as one person calmly expressing how they feel or what they think, can quickly blow up into a continous tit for tat. Maybe we don’t have the capacity to step into the other person’s shoes, and can’t even fathom how language to us sounds normal, but to them it sounds like they’re being attacked. Then in an effort to defend themselves, they attack us. Then in an effort to defend ourselves, we attck them back. Then the whole thing gets blown completely blown out of proportion. When it should have stayed a judgment free zone, by having an honest back and forth. Many things in life can anger us from our family, to our politics to the world. Once we realize that we won’t be able to honestly express ourselves when we’re angry because we can’t think straight, we’ll see that to diffuse any situation we must stay cool, calm and collected. If we ever wanna get past our ingrained issues, we have to have honest discussion. To have honest discusssion, we can’t fly off the handle when that honesty is displayed. Honesty is the best policy in any relationship. However, unless we let the honesty flow without attacking it, we will never get to where we wanna go. We must let honesty in, not defend ourselves against it” 🙂

From the mind of critic: “If money is the root of all evil, does it make it so having all the money in the world is a better determining fcator of our inherent character, then if we had no money at all? Would we portray the most honest version of ourselves, if we could do whatever we wanted? Or would a more honest version be portrayed, if we had no means and could hardly do anything? Rethorical questions and exercises help us prepare for all sorts of life situations, especially when determining what kind of person we are, and what kind of person we’d like to be. Do we want to be honest and trustworthy, or do we wanna be liars and unreliable are things we all need to ask. Would we make the right desicions and do good for humanity and the planet, if we could buy and sell everybody and everything, therefore moving pieces around and creating new ones, so the system works better for everyone, no matter what we look like, what we believe or who we choose to love? Or would we make the right desicions for the good of humanity, if we had to rely on person to person interactions, and show people such a balance of tolerance, acceptance, love and kindness, along with the courage to power through to make our dreams come true, so the people we come into contact with wouldn’t be able to avoid spreading that to everybody they come into contact with? Once we realize that money or the lack there of isn’t a character determinant, we’ll see the only true measure is kindness to ourselves and others. We just have to ask ourselves how we’d like to be treated” 🙂