One Twelfth of the Way

The new Year is officially on a roll with the end of January serving as a milestone. This month has been a seriously action-packed fiasco-oriented chunk of time.
U.S.Politically:The shooting of a Congress woman in Arizona, The State of the Union by President Barack Obama. The lack of a true social network in the U.S. because we all think we know best.
Worldwide Politically: Bombings in Russia & Iraq, the revolutions in Tunisia/Egypt/Northern Sudan.
Environmental issues: Volcano eruption in Japan not long after the Icelandic Volcano, birds falling out of the sky, fish floating up to the surface & the numerous varieties of animals affected by some abstract force of the times.

For myself, how I'm effected, I've developed a new way of looking at the World-my silver eyes- to explain how I always see the silver lining in what happens.

Passion drives determination, discipline and dedication. Skill determines luck and ability to overcome adversity.

I will do everything in my power to improve the World. Even if that is simply improving who I am as an individual.
With 1/12th of the year behind us, I'm feeling pretty good no matter what this year may bring.
Never lose hope, never lose positivity.

Making Connections

In Psychology, there exist a conceptual ideology that people seek & obtain jobs that allow them to live out their secret obsessions.  *I know that it does not apply to everyone.*  

This ideology explains how I have come to study Psychology. My biggest obsession is my curiosity for how others see the World. Psychology is the Art & the Science that allows me to figure that out and express my thoughts on the topic.

I love people. Understanding people and their motivations can be an unbelievably tumultuous task. Ranging from improperly developed conceptualizations to ignorance to arrogance; people find and use the silliest rationalizations to justify the things that they do.

Who doesn't want to feel special? Who doesn't want to be taken seriously? 

Often in the pursuit of respect or love, vengeance becomes creative, consciences are awakened and modest fabrications are born. What am I saying? Acceptance is what drives our social interactions.

We repeat mantras to remind ourselves that we will overcome whatever we've been succumbing to. That this next time will not be like the last time. And this fear of the reproduction of a soured occurrence is a limitation on our potential future.

Learn from the past. I did. From the very beginning, I never needed to study Psychology because I was studying people before I stepped foot in a classroom. I knew what was true and what was not. However, my belief in the greatness of others led my adherence to their words. *I believe in you, even when you no longer do.*

Psychology cemented that belief. Psychology taught me a great deal about the World and how it works while looking through the eyes of another. Now that I'm finally making connections with my views of the people I've seen, there is more respect for the wilted and unloved child than there is for an adult over-intoxicated on their own inadequacies. Oddly enough, I will not write that part of this story. I led you to water.

Thank you for the love. 

The Effectiveness of Silence Pt.1

The normal state. Silence is what exist when nothing else does. Invoking a presence of being far more metaphysical than the peaks and valleys of chemical stimulation; whatever form it may take.
People use silence to share ineffable thoughts. Sometimes, silence is simply what allows the actions -that speak louder than words- to take place.
Often, a passive device for requesting or demanding adherence. Sometimes not saying anything at all is the most potent message you could say to someone.

Ducks in a Row

In life, the multitude of perspectives from which one may view purpose and goal for continuing to live is an infinite spectrum  of in groups and out groups that merely establish bias and preference based, nearly but not entirely, on the environments that serve as the primary territory of operations.

Yes, I'm saying that people only do what they perceive is possible in the set limitations of their social environments. That is absolutely a stance that supports the idea of conditioning and nurture as opposed to evolution and nature(though, it is admittedly difficult to confine evolution to the constraints of nature).

In a basic sense, an individual is born alone(yes, even twins), that individual will age at it's own rate independent of the arbitrary measurements of time and will ultimately die alone regardless of who dies in the same place at the same time(like a romantic noir or something).

The only real time that we spend together is when we form teams or networks of individuals. Like connect the dots, each is still independent but the dots "use" some common interest to connect them and hopefully permanently. 

As the World evolves however, there remains traditionalists that have determined any new ways are subsequently inferior to the old tried and true ways simply because of the slow uptake of initial implementation involved in this very complicated improvement of social etiquette in regards to everything emotional.

What am I talking about??? Should be clear enough to make a hypothesis. I'm talking about Love. And how, with technology, keeping it sacred and reliable has become so much more complicated because there is so much more that is possible.

Between cell phones and computers, twitter and text, emails and envelopes; the entire relationship quagmire only gets murkier, clouded ever more by the increasing ability to maintain constant contact despite the most ridiculous distances.

On the outside, vast increases in technology appear to be a good thing but when the overwhelming potential mates with an overwhelming lack, the results can be a bit debilitating.  Trust issues develop, insecurity develops, bitterness develops, unhappiness follows and discord creates a distance that no amount of land could ever be removed to make disappear.

What can be done? The older generation has no idea what it is like to operate with no limitations. No hindrance to unleashing a walking, talking, mobile social media mega-headquarters that fits in the palm of your hand. All that power is unchecked and will corrupt absolutely. Especially, when you have nothing better to do than notice all that you don't have. (I may be telling on myself here but we'll never know.) 

Real-Life Emoticons

This post may be fundamentally redundant as a thought because of the pervasive nature of computer science and the study of it but when people lose the natural responses to events and actions and simply respond in lol's and rofl's and garden-variety smiley faces, those not similarly afflicted may begin to wonder what exactly is the source of this interpersonal calamity. This shift in the paradigm of response is significant because of the symbolic disconnect that it represents.  The shift blurs the lines between binary code representations and the manifestation of human motivators in a physical sense.
Maybe, though, it is only about the isolationistic ideals of which the individual may be a willing harbinger. Either way, when you see a person that communicates in a slightly removed and lacking manner, maybe the best thing to do is...... I literally have no idea.

The Varying Weight of Emotions

This is not necessarily my opinion but a perspective that I've been brewing in the darker places in my thoughts.

I just wanted to say, that, though many in the Black community don't believe in Psychologist and Psychiatrics, or the idea of Psychotherapy in general. I believe that without even a flicker of doubt that each individual could benefit from the services these professionals provide.
I'm hardly even qualified to make curbside opinions but I have extensive familiarity with Psychological disorders and would direct people down more appropriate avenues.

There is a lot of crazy, especially with hair trigger assumptions and meager minded evaluations.

With that said, I feel that as Black people we have our wires crossed with some wanting that acclaim associated with vigilantism in regards to avoiding a system supposedly established for non-Black affluence; whereas others desire nothing more than to conform and avoid any type of suspicion; another is the typical lay about defeated into acquiescence ; I'm bored and lazy so I'll stop here but that doesn't mean there isn't much more just that for the most part, there are types and though it may appear to be hair brained to some, we fight these battles every day.
I personally, don't like the ideas set forth by most of our society, I detest arbitrary constructs for validity and it confuses me. There are more than enough reasons to implement constructs naturally into society and not attempt to force compliance by means of violating some fundamental necessities and that leads me back into my original statement: everybody has something and that we tend to demonize those that tell the truth because we don't know about those that are lying.
With that, even if you are caught lying thirty years in the future whereas you would have been punished in the past, most people just chalk it up to whimsy and move on. That is unbelievably ridiculous. I'm not saying that some sticklers don't try to be perpetual hard ons but I am saying that typically, the fear associated with crime is unreasonable and the punishments are unjustifiable.

Now, I cannot presume to speak for any black people besides myself. I can only tell you what I see from an "in-group" perspective and that is varying because I am often seen as an "outsider" for various reasonings. My keen taking to word usage and pronunciation, my personal view and worth, my respect of other peoples and consideration for their wants. The list of those minor differences could go on indefinitely because it is being measured against a stereotype, which will always be inaccurate of individuals because we all vary.
I make it a point to refer back to myself as a reference point for my opinion so that I'm not matter of fact speaking but people tend to get annoyed at the constant reminder.  It is all so deeply inwardly branching.
Suffice it to say, every thing we do tears at us but somethings much more than others and though this piece of writing is disconnected and almost holographic with the shifting thought, I refuse to not publish it because I wrote it and that means I should at least read it again in 30 days. Sorry :-)