Below are the 3 most recent journal entries recorded in charleneoc's LiveJournal:

Friday, April 7th, 2006
12:47 am	Life is hard I had a very long conversation this evening with some politically minded people. Intelligent, definitely, but not on the same page I am. But I'm used to it now. No one seems to be on my page. The underlying ideas behind this conversation was that there is so much pressure to do what everyone else does that it's just too hard to do something unique or different for fear of getting so much flack over it. So many people are afraid of confrontation that they'd rather just not do something that will invoke flack than to just tell people to fuck off and mind their own damn business. For instance, a friend of mine, who is white, is marrying an Indian man. His family and community are all against him, warning him that it's a terrible mistake for him to marry a western woman, especially one who is divorced. Western people are all bad news. Instead of telling people he loves her and that he doesn't care what they think, he's letting it get to him. What's more important? Love, or pleasing your community? I'd much rather have love, but then I might be able to say that because I've never had a community. The bottom line is that, sometimes we have to do hard things. And the more we do them, the easier it gets. Just suck it up and do it. (Comment on this)
Sunday, March 19th, 2006
12:59 pm	Why are we so blind? Why have we lost the ability to think for ourselves? I think it's because it has become a social faux pas to do so. I have been shunned often for speaking my mind, for having a unique thought, for saying something that no one has, or has dared, to say. I know others have dared to say it, but I have never dared. Religion is bunk. I have met few people who are not blinded by their religion to other thoughts and ideas, thoughts and ideas that may disagree with the directives in their respective holy book. I find that as soon as they are on board with those directives, they lose all ability to analyze other possibilities. They have to stick close to them or they will lose their faith. It's like competing in the Olympics and to win, they have to stay positive and stay focused on winning. People have to stay focused on getting to Nirvana, and that means ignoring other things in the world, other cultures, other ways of thinking. When are people going to see how inconsistent the bible is? When are people going to accept that the stories are told by humans, imperfect humans who put their own slant on things and tell their own details? Even if each gospel was translated perfectly from the original text, it still could be interpreted a number of different ways. Next time you talk to a friend, a client, whoever, think about the words that are coming out of their mouth and that they could mean something different than what you think. The bible is NOT timeless. I have been reading it and there are many words already that are cultural, applicable to the time. For instance, look up the word "hypocrite" in the dictionary. Jesus criticizes hypocrites, but doesn't mean what we think hypocrite means. To him, it means the godless, not just someone who says one thing and does another. Words change and meanings change. Thinking changes, and so should we. (3 Comments |Comment on this)
12:41 pm	The book I was going to write You know how people always complain about things and don't do anything about it? I want to do something about it, but my thoughts went to writing a book. I started writing it, but then found I didn't have more than a couple of pages, not right now. I find I can't expound as much as other authors. Maybe because I'm impatient and I want to finish the book, like, now, but I can't sit down and write 40 pages now. Anyway, this book is about consumer choice. Now, this journal will be about consumer choice. I am sick of people saying they have no choice but to buy what companies churn out. I think people have completely forgotten that it was never like this. Back in the time of the Forum, in the time of small vendors selling their wares, vendors knew then that they had to convince a buyer that what they were selling was what they wanted. The vendors weren't convinced that they could tell a buyer what they needed and they would buy it. Now companies are so big that they think they are in control. Get this through your heads. YOU are in control, not Microsoft, not Walmart, not Esso, not Ford. If you don't want their product, they die. It's as simple as that. And you may think that you can't do anything by yourself, that's right, you can't. But you can tell everyone you know what products you like and to try them. You can choose simpler things. You can choose less bells and whistles. Just think about it. (Comment on this)