The Royal (Hand) Job!!!

When I was a kid I used to love to watch the WWF wrestling. No seriously! It was the male soap opera and seemed WAY cooler than most of the sports my dad watched. And back then there was still the idea of the Face and the Heel. For those of you that don’t speak professional wrestling, a Face is the hero and the Heel is the villain. These days you have no idea who’s supposed to be who…but that’s a topic for another day.

But I still remember hearing a buddy tell a story where he hung around after the match that he went to down at the Gardens to try to catch an autograph and had his whole world rocked. After watching his hero and his hero’s arch nemesis go at it to near death, there the two of them were laughing and joking together and getting into a car. They were the best of pals. There was no epic struggle. There was no good versus evil. There was no battle for the cause of right versus wrong. The whole thing was for show.

Today I browse through the news and low and behold find that our former Prime Minister Jean Chretien has popped up in the news!!! In fact he AND his former rival, one Stephen Harper, have popped up in the news TOGETHER!!???!! Stephen Harper has appointed Jean Chretien the Canadian representative to the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Trust’ Commonwealth Advisory Group!!!! 

What the hell??? The little man from Shawinigan is taking a hand job out from the evil overlord of the Tories???  “Well butter my bread” you say. Aren’t those two supposed to be locked in mortal combat? Should Stephen Harper be praising Jeannie with a “Former Prime Minister Chrétien is uniquely qualified to serve as Canada’s representative to the Diamond Jubilee Trust. Mr. Chrétien is a member of the Queen’s prestigious Order of Merit. His relationship with Her Majesty, which spans over 40 years, includes six official Royal Tours he hosted during his time as Prime Minister”???

Well truth be told kids there’s no Face and there’s no Heel. Though the news and some lunk down at your local donut shop may make politicians out to be polarized and locked in epic battle of “What’s Best For The Country”, in reality they’re all buddies. In reality they (mostly) get along. There’s no battle. It’s made to seem that way for the cameras. In reality it’s a dance of negotiation that ends in a settlement of lowest common denominators that benefits no one but the special interests and big businesses.

Am I offending you or making myself sound cynical? Tell ya what – use this fine medium called the internet that you’re using to read my blog and look up what Stephen Harper has had to say about Mr. Chretien in the past. Bet it hasn’t been quite so flowery and complimentary. Bet it’s been about how he shames our country or how he’s been a bad influence on our country. Blah blah blah….

I believe in causes. I believe in democracy. I even believe in the political process. But I don’t believe a word that’s said by any party politician. The more self righteous they get, the more I think about the story about the wrestlers. You’ll scream and root for your guy to win and all that will change is the money from your hand to theirs for a ticket to the show.

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Well hello there, you big bad world!

So after much deliberation about whether or not the internet needs one more blow hard, half baked opinion I decided to start my own damn blog. So I throw Dave Matthews band on my iPod and begin….

First off, a tip of the hat to Arianna Huffington as someone who has inspired me to no end. She’s the reason I now write in fact. I realize I’m going to likely suck at it to begin with, but I do promise to get better at it! You should really check out the Huff Post and most especially the Living section. I’ve wasted more time on there, learning to drive more out of my life, than I can even say!!!

I’ve titled my site the Zen of Gripe. There’s something that I find cathartic in looking at the world around me and, when it’s complete and total horse crap, looking it directly in the eye and calling it on said horse crap. Feel every ounce of the frustration that comes with a bunch of your fellow human beings acting like a bunch of ass clowns. Seethe utterly for a moment if you have to. But then let it OUT and let it GO. Move on and feel cleansed. This is that process for me.

One of the loose translation of the word Zen is the state of absorption (from the Sanskrit word dhyāna).  We can’t help but absorb the world around us. We’re bathed in it. There’s no end to the stimulus and information that comes at us on a daily basis in the modern existence that we share. The unfortunate part is that the quality of that stimulus and information seems to be deteriorating. So the logical conclusion is then that we’re consistently immersed in, and absorbing, utter foolishness on a daily basis. I for one have had enough!!!

So there you have it. Dealers of half truths beware. Harbingers of BS, you are officially put on notice. Those whose stock and trade is the foolishness that seeks to baffle and lull the general population of our fine planet I now make you this promise: I will personally call you out.

And now I do a funky shuffle to some of my favorite DMB\

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