Look at the tag of anything you are wearing right now...go on..I will give you time. Mine says "Italy" but...point is I guarantee you find something that says "Made in China, Cambodia, Paris, Indonesia"...or made someplace other than here. This is usual and should not surprise you, since we have accepted and realize that..that is just "the way it is".
What may surprise you, and what you may not consciously be aware of, is the fact that even though most of everything you own and wear is foreign made, YOU are not. America has done a fantastic job in designing you and keeping you in line with most of the absurdities that they have created and pretty much trained you to believe.
I came to this conclusion in a discussion yesterday and by simply listening to music. I love music. It is one of my greatest loves. I love the way a singer touches me with their gift, to speak to the inner me and lift me up, transcend moods and allow me to be in a state of temporary bliss. I appreciate talent and I appreciate when someone uses their raw, god given talent towards humanity.
Then it happens. You hear something from what you love, in this case being music, and it just brings you an epiphany. I'm going through my email and I open this new song from Rhianna and it literally butchered my spirit, it rained on my expectations and it made me ask..."Why is she selling millions"? Then I answered my own question...because they told us to like her and so it will be. Who are they? The "suits" that be. The decision makers, the ones who run it all.
Ask yourself this..If you heard one of Rhianna songs one time...and that was it...would you run to hear it again...compared to hearing a real vocalist? I guess if you listen to the radio all day, then you are forced to believe that this song is great and she is fabulous and you love it because they play it every hour on the hour. WHY? because it is part of the program.
There are some of us who have always been smarter than to go for the "okie doke" and co-sign nonsense when it is presented to us (we can date back to Harriet Tubman) but....how many do fall for it? How many of us just go with the program...day in and day out...liking what they tell us to like, listening to what they tell us to listen to, reading the garbage (OK, PEOPLE, etc.) they tell us to read, and the worst one.. WATCHING what they tell us to watch.
Who would have known that Rhianna would provoke such serious thoughts and theories. Here is a young lady who is known as one of the USA's largest singers/pop stars, yet, she clearly cannot sing (I stand firm by that), she cannot dance (which has always been a huge disappointment since she is from Barbados, and I had high hopes for the "Pon de replay" video), and she has no stage presence. She is simply just... the chosen one. If I am wrong...please prove it. I always welcome healthy debate.
I have never even seen her do anything GREAT other than what someone else orchestrated her to do..hence her fashion and style...which I will be the first to say is through the roof. She has also, sung many hit songs that were very well written by others, but still demonstrated no vocal talent. She was chosen to be who she is..and that she has done...and done well.
My point and where I am going with this is....start to PAY ATTENTION to who you are and the things YOU like, not what THEY say is hot, good, or worthy. If you do not know yourself and take time to really get to know you OUTSIDE of the programs that have been running since the day you were born, i.e. Radio, TV, Politics, Bureaucracies, Music, Movies...every single one of these things have a subliminal message to keep you following the program. Eventually, you will just be a product manufactured, as so many of these youth are becoming. They are not being raised by their parents..they are being raised by this society and it's non-sense.
Can you imagine what it would be like for us to not to have had a Ella Fitzgerald, Don Hathaway, Patti La belle, ARETHA, Etta JAMES!, WHITNEY, Marvin..AL Greene..like...real live hard core sing to your bones get sore SINGERS! I can't imagine..but yet, my daughter is growing up in the generation of Rhianna...and this is supposed to be acceptable?
OK ...so bringing this back....
I am in no way saying that every single thing we see and hear is bad, that would be false...but the ratio of what is good to what is over the top is clearly outbalanced and it is your responsibility to know the difference and educate yourself. If not for yourself, then for your children, or future children.
I constantly push myself to read books of my own interest, and that can broaden my insight past what the media constantly chooses to tell me. I push myself to not watch TV all the time, I push myself to have a conversation with my daughter about whatever she wants to talk about, even when its been a looog day. I push myself to listen to other types of music and my own music library instead of the radio. I push myself to engage in stimulating, thought provoking conversations about issues that are prevalent in my world, and my friends and families lives. I push myself. How hard do you push?
If we don't push ourselves then who will? Not all of us are blessed to have a constant coach on us to try to stay consistent and focused. This country makes it HARD to live in sincerity, compassion, and to live authentic. It's a start to simply push yourself.
"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent....about things that matter"
Love...
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