Close-Mind, Open Heart

Lately, I have been thinking about way too many things:

• Why are people generalized?
• Am I close-minded?
• Can you be categorized if you truly do not think like the people in your "category?"

These questions have been haunting me since last week Thursday when a co-worker decided to tell me I was close-minded.  Part of me believes he said it to get a rise out of me and the other part of me believes he meant it.  Asking him now, he gives no definitive answer... and it is bugging the heck out of me!

I say it often, and will continue to do so, I can hear what everyone has to say.  My best friend is the same.  The difference between us is she usually keeps her mouth shut on her own views.  She doesn't think it is worth the breath to start an argument.  I cannot do the same. I do not open my mouth and spew my beliefs out so I can convince you to think just like I do, but more so you can have more facts or be more educated. Maybe to give your belief some weight or some variety. I don't know everything and I very easily could be proven wrong, but I will always try.  I will always give my two cents.

Coming from an abnormally large family, where you cannot always get a word in edge-wise, I think it is engrained for me to say what I think. 
Structurally, it is a part of the Theriault DNA. 
When everyone in the room knows everything there is to know on the face of the planet, then there isn't always very much to say.  So listening became a pastime.  A hobby, almost.  And if the TV is off, then you have my full attention (I do not do well with distraction).  My childhood was spent with little-to-no opinion. I remember one of my old Greek aunts yelling at me that "children should learn to keep their mouths shut."  Maybe these things are the root of why I now have a hard time doing so.


To say the least, I love knowledge.  I take classes I do not necessarily need for my major and imagine going to school for the rest of my life, because the endless knowledge sounds wonderful.  I love to share the things I have learned, too.  I often come into work and tell my co-workers little snippets that I learned in class the night before.  What a nerd, right?


The close-minded thing has been weighing heavy.  I try so hard not to be someone who is quick to judge (we all have our moments), and try my best to see both sides of the coin (even if I don't agree).  Maybe the issue is that I speak up when I don't agree.  I don't nod and smile. I don't let you spout your views and sit back and chew on mine; you will hear mine. And maybe that is something not everyone is used to. 


I have a filter... most of the time.  People who claim they "have no filter" are looking for an excuse to be total assholes.  There is no need to be mean or hateful. There is no need to be nasty.  Bite your tongue when the time calls for it.  I do not, however, feel like offering your opinion is offensive.  Another reason our ability to freely think is beautiful.  I am glad for diversity.  I am glad for stirring conversation.

A work in progress.

Lately it is as if being tested has integrated itself into every waking moment of life.
And as I try and lead a more somber, peaceful, and enlightened life in my thirties, I have found that the universe is loving the challenge it dishing out.  I welcome the defiance, and I find the trial exhilarating.

I have found that no matter how hard I try to bring small rays of sunshine to my life and the life of those around me, people are always going to be there to cover my sun with their grey clouds.  I'm okay with it - most of the time.  Balance is necessary in all things. I remind myself that maybe not everyone is as blessed as I am to have a wonderful upbringing, a desire for never-ending education, and the ability to have an open-mind.  I feel much more grateful than I do conceited.

I didn't have the perfect childhood. Those who know me best know this quite well.  I didn't have wonderful teen years either. I made super poor choices and I was really bad at being... bad.
The difference with me is that I took everything from the two different worlds I was living out of and blended them into one amazing one.  It didn't happen over night. Hell, it is still "happening," but I am glad to be a work in progress!

But when I am tested, I am most gratified.  I am reminded of how simple things can become very major ones.  How one small breeze can become a monsoon.  How one tiny little grain of sand can turn the tide.  I am grateful for these moments every day.  When I can get so mad at what just happened and come right back to the place I was meant to be: one of calm.  Where anger doesn't matter anymore. Where nothing matters but what I have learned.

I deal with my biggest instigator every single day.  Via text or just inside my mind, I am at a constant turmoil with what my heart says over what my head tells me.  It's always challenging; however, I will say that I have tried so painstakingly hard to always let go of my past transgressions, my past irritations, my past bias, and start anew (and with love).

It doesn't matter that I was called an idiot this week or that my new book was ruined in a rainstorm.
It doesn't matter that my pond was eaten by a deer... or a beaver.
It doesn't matter that some people love to voice their opinions as loud as possible to get a rise out of others.
It doesn't matter my daughter disregarded my request and did her own thing.
It doesn't matter that I was eye-rolled by a mother at softball for the third week in a row.
None of it matters at the end of my day.

I am glad the annoying things happen because it makes the things I love so much sweeter.
So thank you for calling me an idiot. I know I am not stupid. My 3.8 proves that as much as my desire to continue learning.
Thank you for raining. I don't have to water my lawn or flowers, and I had already read the book anyway.
I am not glad my pond was half-eaten, but I am glad the deer/beaver isn't hungry.
Thank you to Alanna for always dancing to the beat of your own drummer.  Your free-spirited self is inspiring. Don't let it happen again! ;)
Thank you for eye-rolling me on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  You are exactly who I strive NOT to be.

The Bliss of Ignorance

Ignorance is bliss...
But only for the ignorant.
For every body else it is like the obligatory nails on a chalk board or chewing on tin foil.


For me it is a retracted jaw, questioning eyebrows, a suddenly sour taste in my mouth, fingertips rising to my temples, and my brain reminding my breath to slow down and cleanse the bad vibes.


It is almost as if I cannot even process what is happening.  My eyelids will usually shut and I will shake my head ever so slightly as the information attempts to seep into my brain; It only gets so far before it is rejected and the questioning look appears on my face again.


Conviction is wonderful.  Passion makes the sun a little brighter and the sky a little more blue; however, spewing daft remarks without regard for your surroundings or without knowledge of the company you keep, is disturbingly wrong.


Today I was approached with this super-awesome bombshell:
"Don't feel bad for the people in Nepal. They had it coming.  All those Eastern countries with their beliefs in many gods.  God said believe in none but me. God is jealous and God has punished them accordingly."


I was wishing it was April 1st instead of May 5th and the man would have winked and with two finger-guns said "April Fools." Even though that would have been a disgusting joke.  Instead, this man was dead set that I shouldn't feel any remorse for the several thousands people whose lives were lost when an earthquake destroyed a country.  Never mind that while many of those who were killed may have been Nepalese, many were also American, English, Thai, French, Indian, and any other number of ethnicities, races, and religions.
I immediately wished I was somewhere else. 
I immediately wished this conversation wasn't happening.


Instead of defending those of no belief or a different belief than this man before me, I sighed heavily and wished him farewell.  I could have fought back.  I could have let him know what my beliefs were - he was quite adamantly telling me about his.  I could have done a great number of things.  I could have become enraged and told him how angry I was with his ignorance, but I didn't.  I chose the high road and let him go.


I don't fault him for his belief - we were all a product of our upbringing.  Clearly his wasn't very broad.


All too often it doesn't work out the way I handled it, and believe me, I am still whining about how awful his comments were 5 hours later, but I am glad I handled it the way I did.


We are often tried with times of keeping our mouths shut when people around us say any number of things we disagree with.  With social media, we seem to get a clear view of exactly how people feel on any given topic, as well as their faith, which current events they are most passionate about, on top of what they may have eaten for dinner.  More often than not, people just retort. They have to let you know their two cents, they have to tell you exactly how they feel as if it matters to anyone except themselves.
I am known for speaking my mind, but never, have I ever, been glad people died because they thought differently or believed differently than me.
I am sickened that a person like that lives in the same society I do.


People like that guy don't even deserve for me to fight back.
They deserve for me to walk away, just like I did.
And next time I see him, a month from now, I will definitely not have the same smile on my face.

#baltimore

"I am so tired of hearing about it."
"I'm over it."
"Ugh! Quit giving attention to destructive morons."
"They probably didn't even know Freddie Gray."


Any combination of the above quotes has been said over the course of the last two days.  My overly privileged place of employment has made any number of comments about how stupid the rioting in Baltimore really is.


Some have even said "Why would you loot a CVS for toilet paper?" as if that was why it was done.


"The struggle," as it is so aptly named, isn't something most people understand. 
Living paycheck to paycheck isn't the struggle.
Having an iPhone 4 isn't the struggle.
Eating too much over the weekend at a friend's barbeque is not the struggle.
Wearing the same two pairs of pants to your work every week is not the struggle. 


Not knowing whether you will be able to feed your family dinner is the struggle.
Wondering if your kids will safely make it home from school is the struggle.
Living in a country where your fellow citizens rate you lower than the gum they just stepped in is the struggle.
Your voice not being heard for nearly all of civilization is the struggle.


People tend to make up a wide arrangement of excuses to make their situation worse than it really is.  I suppose knowing that it really isn't "that bad" does make you feel better when you go to sleep at night.
But it is really that bad. For a lot of people.


And as a country we are responsible (well, we should be responsible) for supporting every single aspect of our community. 


We weren't given the ability to speak so we could sit back and say nothing at all.
We were given a gift of voice; a gift of higher intelligence.  Yet we choose to tell people that think differently than us to shut up or to stop whining.
People were meant to be heard.


Do I agree that destroying a city is the way to be heard? A way to be seen? Absolutely not.  There are much better ways to get your point across.  Much more logical ways.  Usually those ways are harder and most of the time you get ignored.
But I will say this, you just destroyed a city because you were tired of being oppressed.  This will all get cleaned up and life will resume as it always does, and all of this will be forgotten.


If you want change to happen, you must be willing to make your own changes.
Hurting law enforcement isn't going to make that change.
Damaging public property isn't going to make that change.
Setting things on fire isn't going to make a change.


Your voice is what is heard.  Your actions are all for naught.

Brain

My brain doesn't work like yours.
It whirrs, and sputters, and smoke billows out.
My brain doesn't work like yours.
I find the words can't come out when I need them too.
I rationalize to the point of no longer having a valid reason.
I discover constantly that my initial thoughts are never my final ones.
I put myself in scenarios I will most likely never have to live in.
I make myself suffer at the hands of my thoughts and what it could do to someone else.
I am strong enough to suffer.
I can handle anything.

Every day of this life I live with a brain that doesn't work like every other human brain.

Maybe it explains my inability to love or my clearly defective relationship skills. 
I get to love from afar. I get to love and never truly be loved, or touched, or caressed in the ways I need every day.  Instead I climb inside my brain and pretend it is all there waiting for me; the kisses, the love, the home.

It's not.
It's not real.
It's not really there.

Eff you very much!

Every day I receive some sort of rude comment toward myself.

I am not sure if it is the day and age we are in, but people are blaming their rudeness for a "lack of a filter" and quite frankly it's a pathetic excuse.

I, too, speak my mind, but I am not rude to people. I do not offend them, and I certainly would never say half of the things that are said to me (out loud anyway).

The day's conversation went as so:

Them:   "Your boyfriend is coming in on Monday."

Me:       "Not my boyfriend. I don't have one of those."

Them:   "That's right. What kind of example are you setting for your daughter [being alone/not having a spouse]?"

And I replied,"I am setting an example that it is empowering her to be an independent woman who can support herself in every way possible rather than have a man do it for her.  I owned my own home at 26, have raised a child by myself while working and going to college. That's not such a bad example to me."

The distortion of this one person's view on how a woman should be frightens me.

As if having a partner defines me.

As if I need that relationship to lead a happy life.

To set the record straight for people who may be confused: I am happy.  Maybe happier than I have ever been.  I am a 4.0 student, I have a gorgeous, nerdy, and funny daughter, I get to coach softball two days a week, I have a home with a lovely yard (so much nature and flowers) that I love, I have a few close friends who care about me, I have some family members who I love unfailingly, and I have a job which (most of the time) I rather like.

Not everyone needs a partner.

Not everyone needs someone else to define them.

Not everyone needs constant reassurance.

Not everyone needs companionship.

I am not sure why everyone focuses the narrative on what I am lacking, when clearly I am not lacking anything.

Not everyone needs fixing. 

If we need things to worry about, I can give you a list to chose from:

a) a little boy who is in medically induced coma from hitting his head while sledding and trying to have some fun.

b) Islamic terrorists groups who make threats on people waaaaay too often.

c)  A sweet puppy named Hazel Grace who was held over a barbecue and roasted half to death, who has been recovering for months; Her perpetrator is walking away with a slap on his wrist. aka: a misdemeanor.

d) Children whose parents don't love them, leave them, abuse them, starve them, or any other horrific and unimaginable verb.

e) A mother who is focusing on her family and rebuilding her life after a horrific divorce.

f) The number of rape victims on college campuses each year - which is skyrocketing!

This list is endless... And we can discuss any of the topics on it at length.

But my name isn't going to be on it, because there is no mystery; there is no wondering to be had. And it sure has hell isn't a cause for any sort of concern.

If you have to meet your word quota for the day, then be my guest and say what you need to, but please keep your super rotten comments to yourself, thankyouverymuch!

A ban on leggings? I think not.

This is the lovely topic my afternoon got to consist of: people's ignorance.

"The way women dress nowadays; they are just asking for it."

As someone who dresses conservatively, I have never had to think about the effects my clothing has on people.  I do, however, know that a low-cut top can get me more attention and I know that certain people enjoy a tight pair of pants, but I do not assume that wearing such things is the green light for someone to have sex with me.

Today, the pant of choice for women is leggings/yoga pants/stretch pants. Women leave nothing to the imagination in these form-fitting, anatomy-showing pieces of fabric.  I am not saying that I want to do away with stretch pants.  Such words would surely exile me from planet Earth.  I just know that girls could physically show their asses with no leggings on and not be asking for rape.  Attention? Sure. The wrong kind of attention? Sure again.  Rape?  Never.

There is no excuse for rape. Whether you are drunk at a party or stark naked in the middle of Grand Central Station.  To insinuate that any woman does that with the clothes she wears or even the things she says is ludicrous. Rape is never warranted.  It is never welcomed and it is never okay.

I  would love to know how anyone could possibly think so.

I usually welcome a difference in opinion as it offers unique perspective and keeps us all from being total sheep; however, if you disagree with this, you can just delete me.

No means no.  No matter the situation and no matter what a person may be wearing.  You don't take things from people. Especially not innocence.