When Life Stinks - Blame The Government

Whatever happened to flying "the friendly skies"? Between real terrorist threats, crazy acting people (who for all intents and purposes could be terrorists), and planes that suddenly develop "smells", the skies no longer seem friendly at all. Even though the acts that make the skies less friendly always originate from acts of individuals (or groups) or defective materials by which the planes are made (or carry), somehow there is always someone willing to blame the US government for the gray clouds that hover over the world and through which we now fly. To me, that really stinks.

"We will overcome" has taken on a new meaning for African-Americans. No longer is equal opportunity the reason to overcome when HIV/AIDS is hitting an all time high amongst the population. Between in-fighting, the rising prison numbers, the drug scene (which contributes to the rising prison numbers), and a lowering of healthy male babies that reach adulthood the number of males has declined to 85 for every 100 females. Recent CDC studies have shown that 54% of the new cases of HIV/AIDS are African-American. Activists are citing that intravenous drug users sharing needles, as well as the lack of using protection during sex has been the two leading contributors to new cases. They also are blaming the government for this by not providing needle exchange programs, cracking done on drugs which leads to arrest and imprisonment (prison studies indicate 1 in 4 male prisoners have sex with another male prisoner and prison statistics from 2004 indicate black men and women accounted for 20,965 AIDS cases, compared with 12,013 for whites and 8,672 for Hispanics.), and not providing condoms to the poor.

This also stinks. Since achieving "equal opportunity" status, the inability of individual African-Americans to become accountable for their own actions has left them blaming the government for the fix they find themselves in. They hint (Spike Lee may make a movie yet on it) that the government is purposely turning a blind eye to their dilemma, which as the activists put it is reaching epidemic proportions and they insinuate could decimate their race. Excuse me, but for a group of people who fought so hard to achieve independence to seem so dependent upon the government for their welfare is a little hard to swallow. The change (if it is going to happen) must come from within their own ranks to find a solution to these problems. Drum out rappers, take back their own communities from warring drug lords, take the initiative to become active in youth education and mentoring programs, and stop wasting time on the blame game.

Personally, I never had much and came from a poor rural area yet I was able to raise my kids up right by myself. Without a handout. Without government intervention. Without any help from my family even. It's not the color that makes a difference, it's what is inside of that skin that does. Self-motivation and self-determination makes the person, not the color of their skin. Over 40 years later (two generations worth of procreating time) the African-Americans are still using the race card as the reason their youth aren't living the American dream. Dreaming is fine, but it takes action to achieve it. Somewhere along the line, the ability to differentiate between a pipe dream and reality has never been taught to the younger generations. That stinks majorly.


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