Shtick This! Last Half of 2017 -- You Sucked.

I haven't written a post here for six months now because I've been angry, busy, sad, bewildered and grief-stricken. I'll begin, though, on a positive note with an update concerning my friend, Amy, who was diagnosed with cancer in May. 


She's essentially cancer-free, and another reason I didn't do any writing here is because I decided to focus my attention on sending her words of wisdom, inspiration and comfort as she fought her battle against the evil fiend we call cancer. I wasn’t about to let her give up or ever feel like she was alone in the fight. I turned to words of wisdom and inspiration from famous people throughout history, and I sent her a daily letter with a saying on one side and my take on it in relation to her battle on the other side. I totally believe in the power of words, so I sought out the most pertinent and powerful sentences from philosophers, religious leaders, authors, musicians, politicians and many more types of people. In all, my friend said I sent her ninety-one of these letters. She told me this when she told me she was cancer-free, and she told me I could take a break from sending her those letters. They were probably the most important things I’ve ever written to-date, and I’d like to think they played a small part in her recovery. She still has a ways to go before she's back to how she was before cancer invaded her life, but she's getting there, and I'm so thankful for that.


If only I could say the same for another great person I know, though. Her husband has lost his battle with the same kind of cancer as Amy had. I've watched how his suffering has worn away at her, and I'm so angry about this. I also feel a little responsible because I turned the focus of my attention and energy on my one friend and not enough of it went to my other friend and her husband. Why didn't I send him inspirational messages every day as well? I don't really know, and the reasons I can think of sound more like excuses. Now, however, I am determined to help his wife, my dear friend, recover and find the strength she needs to move forward. 

Another friend lost her first and only grandchild mere days before he was due to be born. Who can explain such a thing? A totally healthy baby simply dies suddenly while still safely ensconced in his mother's womb because something goes wrong. This happened years ago to my cousin, too, and she still grieves for her little boy. I'm sure my friend and her daughter will forever grieve the loss of their precious grandson and son. It's wrong on so many levels, too, that a perfectly healthy baby -- who could actually survive outside of the womb at that point -- just suddenly dies, and the parents and grandparents are left to suffer the sorrow of his loss forever. There is no explaining it, and there is no getting over it.

The biggest tragedy to hit home with me in the last few months of 2017 was the loss of a former student. I've taught for over a quarter of a century now, so I've lost my share of students, unfortunately, but they've been to things like car accidents, cancer and even suicide. This one was to murder, or so it seems, and it's definitely the first murder of a former student I've ever had to deal with, and I hope I never have to go through anything like it again. It's the mystery and the tragedy surrounding her death, though, that have been the hardest to deal with, and since I work with her parents and I taught her siblings as well, it's been so hard to know how to behave and what to say when I see them. There is no getting around the fact that her death was especially tragic. It has hit the entire community very hard, and I imagine we will be reeling from it for a long  time to come. Even when (or if) the true details of her death actually come out, they won't change the fact that she is gone and that she was taken from her family in a horribly tragic way. 

I know I'm not alone in thinking that 2017 was an especially sad year because I've seen many comments on social media saying things to that effect. Personally, though, it was a year of a few really great things in my life -- my daughter graduated high school at the top of her class and started college where she has excelled, my son got his first teaching job at a great school where he also landed a head coaching position that he's handling really well, my kids and I along with my boyfriend went on a wonderful vacation to Washington D.C. and New York City this past summer, my best friend and her daughter were able to spend a few months with us, I've managed to write a lot more on some of the longer pieces I'm working on, and I got a new car. (Here is a photo of me with my new car because sometimes we have to celebrate the little good things in life so that the big bad things don't destroy us.)

On the flip side, though, I've had to watch a lot of people I care about go through some really horrible things, and I am praying that 2018 will be kinder to everybody out there. So, as the last few days of 2017 go by, please join me in telling 2017 to Shtick This! and also join me in reaching out to anyone negatively impacted by something sorrowful in 2017 to give them a much-needed hug and a few words of encouragement that 2018 will be better. 

Vacate the Premises, Cancer! Shtick it!!

Vacation -- 2. An act or instance of vacating

Vacate -- 2. To give up possession or occupancy of

Until recently, I thought of a vacation as a pleasant period of rest away from the stress of work, household chores, bill paying, etc. Now, though, I have come to look upon the word vacation as the noun dealing with vacating something, and there is one specific thing that I wish would take a long vacation and never return.

Nope, I’m not talking about my ex even though I would really love it if he took a long walk off a short pier. No, I want the cancer that has invaded so many people near and dear to me to take a permanent vacation from their bodies. Mary’s husband, Tim. Nate, the best band teacher in the world. Zoe, a good friend of a good friend. So many others I don't personally know who are too numerous and who are suffering.

But the need for this vacation has hit me hardest since May when one of my very best friends (we met freshman year at UNL) learned after months and months of doctor visits that she has stage four lung cancer which has now spread throughout her body. This is a 49 year old woman who has never smoked a day in her life, never put any sort of illegal substance into her body, and never done a mean thing to anyone ever. Why she chose to have me for a best friend these past thirty years is beyond my comprehension because she truly is the best and sweetest and most compassionate and most generous person I’ve ever met. And while nobody, NOBODY, deserves cancer, she doesn’t even deserve a hangnail as far as I’m concerned.

To say that I’m pissed is an understatement. Devastated? Doesn’t even come close to how I feel. Useless and inept? Definitely.

Since I'm powerless to really do anything to help her, I am planning to go to Dallas to care for her at least. That will be a vacation for me; not the kind I’d usually like to take in late July when I normally go to Mexico to lie on a beach with a book, but instead one where I will do anything and everything to help her have a vacation from her disease. Anything to vacate her mind of worry and her body of pain. Anything to make the cancer take a vacation.

Until then I will continue to hope that a miracle will find its way to her, that the cancer will take a permanent vacation -- or at least go into remission for a few years -- and that she will take solace from my friendship.

I humbly ask for your prayers as she is a devout Catholic; I am not religious, but I’ve been doing my own type of praying. Please ask whoever you talk to to help make the cancer in Amy Beran take a long, long (preferably permanent) vacation. I do believe in the power of words -- they are all I really have to offer from here. Thank you.

Tammy Marshall June 2017

Dear Mr. President,

I wrote the following for my writers' group. They enjoyed it, and I thought it would be a fitting post for this blog because it's mostly written from my sarcastic, sick-of-bullshit, side; however, there is also a lot of sincerity within it. Agree with me, don't agree with me. I really don't care. That, there, is actually the beauty of free expression as so many people want to harp about these days while then turning around and trying to tell others that if you don't agree with them, your freedom of expression should be quashed. I call B.S. Like I said, agree with me, disagree with me -- I truly do not care. This is my blog, these are my opinions, this is a place for my freedom of expression. 

Dear Mr. President,

        I still remember the day you threw your hat into the ring – how I laughed and laughed in disbelief and certainty that you’d be the first person kicked out of the ring. Guess the joke is on me; or, as I prefer to think of it, on every American citizen.

        Oh well, Qué será, será as they say in Spanish. Oh, that’s right, you don’t have any interest in learning Spanish, I’m sure, since you’re intent on building a wall between us and the great people in the land to the south of us.

        I didn’t vote for you, but don’t worry, I didn’t vote for your main opponent either. I think you both are lacking the qualities that make for a decent human being, let alone any of those that make for a decent leader. I voted for the underdog because I like to root for underdogs. Personally, I thought Hillary would win, and I believe that if the country hadn’t gone downhill so badly over the months leading up to the election, she would have won; but the people in the heartland of this giant country are sick of so many things, and they are looking to blame someone for those things. Who do we look to blame when things go into the shitter? Our leaders. Since that leadership was coming from the Democratic camp, the Republicans rallied to say “enough is enough; time for a change.”

        I want to believe that despite your ignorant blustering, your idiotic racist and sexist commentary, your lack of political experience and your general petulant attitude toward everything that doesn’t go your way that you do, in fact, have our best interests as a country in mind. I want to believe that, and I’m willing to give you a chance even though I don’t like you.

        I ask that you don’t let us all down. I ask that you work to repair the horrible racial tensions that have erupted this past year or so; although I’m quite worried that you are simply going to shift them from black on white tension to brown on white instead. I ask that you support those who defend us on the home front and abroad. I ask that you play nice with other countries and not try to throw your weight around where it isn’t wanted. I ask that you make living affordable and get more people off the streets. I ask that you stop throwing out catch phrases and actually get something done. I ask that you represent this country in a way that makes us all look good.

        If you can do even one of these things, I will consider your Presidency a success and perhaps even vote for you in four years if you choose to run again. However, if you simply continue to bluster and carry on with idiotic tweets while doing nothing to further the good of Americans, then I will gladly join the millions four years from now to cast my vote elsewhere and hopefully be able to use your famous catch-phrase against you to tell you “You’re fired!”

        Time will tell. Use that time wisely, Mr. President. Use it wisely.

                                                                                                              Sincerely,

                                            A reluctant Republican

What I'm Thankful For!

As my favorite holiday approaches, and in light of recent personal events, I want to take a moment to compile a list of the things for which I'm eternally thankful. These are listed in no particular order.

1. That I grew up in the 1970's and 1980's. I'm so glad that I was a child before this age of cell phones and tablets and virtual reality. I'll take the actual reality, thank you very much.

2. That, when I watched television, there were only three channels from which to choose. It taught me to appreciate the simple fact that I had a TV to watch at all. I learned to patiently wait for whatever program I wanted to see to actually be on, and I learned to stick with something until it was finished instead of needing to flip ceaselessly through hundreds of channels trying to find something to watch while avoiding commercials.

3. That I developed a love of reading at an early age and continued to nurture it as I grew. Nothing satisfies the way a good book does. I'm never bored. I always have a great companion with me no matter where I go, and I've never stopped learning and expanding my horizons.

4. That I had, and still have, parents who instilled in me that right is right and wrong is wrong. Parents who simply expect their kids to do the right thing because it's the right thing no matter if it's what the kid wants to do are almost non-existent anymore it seems. I'm slowly -- oh, so slowly -- seeing a return to that way of thinking, but it's been a long time coming. If I had thrown myself on the ground and had a temper tantrum just because something didn't go my way at home or in public, my parents would have let me know, in no uncertain terms, that that wasn't acceptable. Now, the parents just cave to whatever idiotic demand their "precious" little baby wants because they seem to fear those tantrums more than the consequences of letting their baby grow into an adult who believes the world revolves around him. The "entitlement" craze has reached new levels of outlandishness, and I'm so damn tired of it.

5. That I grew up respecting my elders. Even though I'm pretty solidly one of those elders now, there are still a number of adults who are older than I am, and I extend to them the respect that is befitting of their experience and wisdom. Way too often now I witness young people sassing their elders, making fun of them, and simply ignoring them because, often to young people, the old people are seen as useless and even stupid because they are "out-of'the-loop." Any moment of disrespect to one of your elders is one moment too many in my opinion.

6. That I grew up appreciating the sacrifices of our military. My father served 20 years in the Air Force, so it was just a part of life for me to believe that the military was an important part of my world, but any American with even an ounce of common sense should be able to see that. I'm beyond tired of the people kneeling during the anthem, burning flags. protesting at the funerals of fallen servicemen and women, protesting about how they are mistreated, etc. We wouldn't have this country if people hadn't fought for it, we wouldn't have kept our freedom if people weren't willing to keep fighting for it, and a whole lot of other cultures owe a debt of gratitude to our military forces for stepping in when nobody else would. Are there flaws in our country and in our military even? Hell yes; because nobody and nothing is perfect. Deal with it. Put your damn hand over your damn heart, stand up, shut up, and show some respect. Consider yourself really fucking lucky to live in this country.

7. That I've learned and mastered a second language. Being able to converse and read and understand Spanish has opened parts of the world to me that otherwise would have been shut. I've gained the very best friend in the whole wide world, and if I hadn't learned Spanish and then taught it, I never would have met her at all . I can't even imagine my life without her in it, and I can't imagine a boring mono-lingual life either. I wish I knew more languages actually, so even more experiences would be open to me. Thankfully, I still have the capacity to learn more if I want, or should I say, when I can find the time to work that in. I do know a little Italian, and I would like to master that language next because Italy is such a fascinating country, and I want to have an extended stay there someday.

8. That I learned to ride a motorcycle at a young age. I've been able to take up riding in my middle age because I never forgot how to ride even though I was without a motorcycle for over twenty years. My Harley has taken me places I couldn't have imagined, and it led me to a great guy who also has a passion for riding motorcycles.

9. That I have two great kids. I never thought I'd be a good mom, but I know I am, and I've raised two fine kids. One is a role model for young people, and he's showing them to work hard for what they want instead of just sitting back waiting for it to be handed to you. The other is an aspiring scientist who is good to animals, the creatures who often need our help the most.

10. That I'm self-motivated. You don't have to coerce me into doing my work by promising me things. I'm never bored because I can always find something productive or meaningful to do -- remember that I always have a book on me or a word puzzle I can solve if I'm caught with idle time. I've written a novel that I self-published, and I've written a couple others that will be out in the near future, and I'm working on others. I convinced an editor to let me write a bi-monthly column. I turn lesson plans in on time every week. I clean my house even though I hate doing housework. I create flag routines, direct plays, find scripts for speech students, start and finish cross-stitch pieces, write blog posts that few people read simply because I'm motivated to write something every day, read numerous books throughout the year, paint rooms in my house, do yoga every morning, and many other things for the sake of self-improvement. I've always been that way -- well, perhaps my mom had to yell at me a little to get me to clean my room, but she never had to yell at me to do my homework, to study for tests, to go to work, to finish what I started, etc. If only more young people today were self-motivated the world would be a better place.

I'm thankful I'm me and not a bratty little kid who screams and carries on because he didn't get his way. I'm thankful I'm me and not a starving or homeless person living on the streets or in a war-torn and ravaged country. I'm thankful I'm me now and not me a few years ago when I was still married to a very horrible person. I'm thankful I'm me and not a person who cannot or who will not learn and read everyday. I'm thankful I'm me with a good family to support me and not a person who doesn't have a family at all. I'm thankful I'm me and not a person who refuses to open her mind to learning and using a second language. I'm thankful I'm me living in the heartland and not a person living in the inner-city amid gang fights and the like. I could go on and on because there is just so much to be thankful for. One final thing is that I'm thankful I get to spend another Thanksgiving with the people I love, and I only wish that a few more could join us.

To those who won't stop and consider all they have because they are too fixated upon what they don't have, I say "Shtick this!"

Why I Stopped Doing Stand-Up

For a number of years, I tried my hand at stand-up comedy. I appeared on stages in Lincoln, Columbus, Fremont, Neligh, Norfolk and Omaha, mostly as an unpaid amateur learning the ropes. 

I loved doing stand-up, especially when I got to be the emcee or hostess for a show as well. It was both the most terrifying and the most exhilarating thing I'd ever done. I had plans to continue learning the business in the hopes of taking it on the road someday.

Then things changed. I changed. My life changed. And I haven't done a minute of stand-up since.

People who know I once did stand-up will sometimes ask me if I'm ever going to do it again. I may, but I doubt it. If I do, it will be firmly in the realm of amateur with no aspirations to rise above that. Perhaps someday I'll stumble across a local watering hole holding an open mic night, and I'll hop on stage for old time's sake, or maybe I'll get an opportunity to host some event and throw some humor into the mix. Who knows? For now, though, I'm not planning on doing any stand-up.

When those who have seen me do comedy before ask me why I haven't done it for a while, I usually just shrug and say something about how I lack the time for it or that I don't feel like driving hours just to go on stage for five minutes or other such excuses. Until recently I didn't really understand why I'd suddenly lost the drive to do comedy, and then one day it hit me like a load of bricks.

    I'm not married anymore.

That's the real reason. Because I'm not married, I'm no longer angry and looking for outlets where I can express that anger in socially accepted and psychologically beneficial ways. I no longer need to tell others, in only slightly veiled and humorously twisted ways, about the misery of marriage. O.K., the misery of MY marriage.

At the time, though, you wouldn't have been able to convince me that anyone could be both happy and married. You wouldn't have been able to make me believe that love wasn't the gateway to eternal misery.

Instead, I spent numerous evenings with other bitter and angry people who used comedy also as an outlet to vent their frustrations about society, politics, sports, relationships, etc. upon often raucously drunken crowds of people who would laugh at about anything short of an actual punch in the face. While there are many happy-go-lucky people who do stand-up, most harbor some level of cynicism about something, and those are the things they choose to poke fun at.

I made fun of teaching because I am a teacher, so making jokes about it was a way to deal with my daily frustrations in that field. I made fun of parenting because I am a mother, but most of what I said concerning that topic dealt with amusing things my kids did -- no cynicism or anger involved there.

I made fun of marriage because I was married, and I hated it. Mostly, I hated the person I had married and the person I'd become as a result of our bad marriage.

I recall doing stand-up in a bar one night on my birthday and telling the crowd that it was my birthday and that my gift to myself was being there doing stand-up for them. A few people after the show approached me to ask me if it really was my birthday, and they couldn't believe that I'd rather be there with them, a bunch of strangers, than home with my own husband. In retrospect, it really was a horrible birthday gift to myself, but at the time, it was one of my best birthdays because I was away from the one who made me miserable.

Four years ago, though, I filed for divorce, and he moved out, and in a matter of seconds (I am not exaggerating in the least here), my life of complete and total cynicism melted away. Oh, I'm still a cynic about many things, but not to the level I had been. I was wallowing and drowning in cynicism, unable to see how life could ever be worth smiling about, so I'd put myself on a stage and get people to laugh with me and at me in a feeble attempt to put some humor in my life.

You could say that for a while stand-up was like a drug for me. It gave me a temporary high in a life full of low points. Don't be mistaken -- my kids brought me joy; without them, my life would have been completely hopeless. However, it was also because of them that I stayed with a man I hated for far too long in the misguided hope that somehow things would get better someday.

They did get better, but only when I removed him from my life. And it was an instantaneous improvement to my psyche and to every single aspect of my life.

I think initially I told myself that I was refraining from stand-up because it took too much work, and I was focused on the divorce, and then when that was finally over after more than a year, I told myself that I'd been away too long. I just kept finding excuses for not going back on stage until one day the truth of the matter hit me. I didn't need stand-up anymore.

I'd rather write, anyway. Things like my blogs, where I can interject humor amidst more serious subjects.

However, I have found myself thinking about stand-up again. Not because I want to bash love and marriage. No, I want to bash the sad state of our society and the jokes for candidates running for President and the violence that seems to be out of control everywhere. Those currently are the topics about which my inner cynic is most disgruntled, but I think there are enough stand-up comics tackling those very issues right now.

I'll wait a bit. The itch is there, but for now it's just an itch. Maybe I'll scratch it again someday, and maybe I won't. Whatever I do, though, I won't be making fun of divorce because it's the best damn decision I ever made, and these four years away from my shitty marriage have brought me nothing but joy.

Don't misuse "don't!" A letter to the Music Industry.

Dear Music Industry,


Stop miseducating people, especially our youth, with your blatant and conscious grammatical misuse of the word "don't." My ears are bleeding, my brain is reeling, and my nerves are grating from the constant abuse of what, for any person educated past the second grade, should be a very simple subject-verb agreement choice.

Perhaps I'm mistaken in my assumption that song writers and singers have been educated past the second grade. Allow me to "teach" you all the correct verb conjugation forms of the infinitive "to do."

Ready? Pay attention. It's pretty damn simple, but I've been known to assume that people are more intelligent than I should really give them credit for being.

Here goes:
                             infinitive: to do

                subject: I             verb form: do     example: I do care about grammar!
                subject: You        verb form: do    example: You do us an injustice with your lackadaisical approach to subject-verb agreement.
               subject: He, She, or It      verb form: does   (Oh, did you notice the change, or do I need to show it to you again?)        examples:  It does matter. . He does love me.   She does want to learn.
               subject: We        verb form: do       example: We do want to improve the world one word at a time.
              subject: They      verb form: do       example: They do, too.

Now, here's the tricky part -- when you make these sentences negative, you insert the word "not" after the form of "to do." Thus, you get "I do not care about grammar!" -- which isn't remotely true, by the way.

Here it gets even trickier -- you can then form a "contraction" of the form of "to do" and the word "not." How clever is that? Thus, we get the words "don't" and "doesn't."

Now, since it is only with the third person singular subjects (It, He, She or any single thing or person's name) where we use the word "does," I can see where somebody under the age of six could get confused. However, since I'll assume that toddlers are not the ones writing these offensive song lyrics, let's appreciate that adults are capable of great intelligence, so they can also easily remember that the verb changes to "does" when the subject is a third person singular entity.

I realize that some of the earlier offenders may have been playing around with their poetic licenses for the sake of rhyme or syllabification purposes, but enough is enough. I believe that far too many people now think that "it don't," "he don't," and "she don't"  are grammatically correct, and I think they've come to that conclusion through the overuse (the over-misuse) of these pairings in music lyrics.

You know the influence music and song lyrics have upon people. Of course you know this! That's why music and lyrics are a part of everything from our daily drives to work to the opening sequence of our favorite TV shows to our extensive wait time when put on hold while waiting to speak to a representative!

Yet, you choose to continually assail our ears with "it don't" and "he don't" and "she don't" when you know damn well that those should be "it doesn't" and "he doesn't" and "she doesn't."

Our nation's youth listen to a LOT of music. These same kids regularly say things like "It don't matter," "He don't know what he's talking about," and "She don't understand." Aaaaarrrrggghhhh!

I, as a teacher amidst these misguided young people, spend a good portion of every single day attempting to correct their usage. I'm often met with blank stares and comments such as "It don't matter." Yes! Yes, it does! See that? I said "it does," not "it do!"

When I turn their negatives into affirmatives and ask them if they'd say "It do matter," or "He do know . . . ," or "She do understand," they laugh at me like I'm an idiot because they know better than to say those things. Why do they know better? Can it be that the music industry actually knows to use the affirmative forms of "to do" correctly, so these students are not bombarded daily with misusages like they are with the negative third person singular of "to do?"

So, to those of you in the Country Music sector and the Pop Music arena and the Rap industry and every other part of the culture of music who are choosing to misrepresent our wonderful language to the extent that it is seeping into the daily language of Americans, I ask that you please, for the love of all that is sacred, stop the insanity!

And for those of you reading this who think you sound just fine saying "He don't appreciate me," or "She don't know where it is," you are dead wrong. You sound like a fucking idiot!

Sincerely,

Every fed-up conscientious English speaker in America

p.s. If you don't like what I wrote, you can "shtick this" where the sun doesn't shine!



               (Maybe that's because you DON'T know how to speak correctly!!!!)

Dear Idiot, . . .

                                                                                                                       Sept. 22, 2015
Dear Idiot,

First of all, if the title of this post caught your attention simply because it gave you a chuckle and made you wonder, then, by all means, read on. If, on the other hand, it caught your attention because you thought it was directed at you, then, by all means, read on as well because maybe you really are one of the idiots to whom I'm directing this letter.

I have some things to tell you that apparently you really need to hear.

1. It is NOT all about you. Surprised? I figured you must be since you piss and moan about every little thing that any other person does, and you even go so far as to pursue legal action against other people for daring to live their lives on their own terms. I don't give a rat's ass about what political party you join, who you screw, who (or what) you worship, the kind of car you drive, who your favorite team is, what beer you drink, your predilection for porn or any other thing that you idiotically believe the world should care about just because you care about it. Live your life, and let others live their lives. It's a very simple concept.

2. People are entitled to their opinions EVEN IF THEY DIFFER FROM YOURS! You don't need to resort to bashing them verbally online or via texts or even face-to face, and you certainly don't need to go so far as to attempt to physically hurt them just because they dared to think in ways that you can't fathom or accept. Last time I checked, despite the workings of some of our political idiots, this was still a free country, and with that freedom comes the freedom to think and believe whatever we want to think and believe. I don't care about sports. Repeat I, as in me, the person writing this, don't care about sports. That in no way means that you can't or shouldn't care about sports, so shut up and stop trying to convince me that I should. I'm not going to. End of story. I love to read. When I share that particular tidbit, don't go off on me about how boring it is and how you can't stand it and how it's the most worthless waste of time, blah, blah, blah, blah. blah. Maybe if you read more, you'd actually have an opinion I was interested in hearing. Until such a time, shut up, live your life, and let me live mine in peace.

3. If you can't take care of kids, THEN DON'T HAVE ANY!!!! Simple fucking concept. We live in a magical world that has this special power called birth control. Use it, or stop screwing. Seriously.

4. Put on some goddamn clothes when you go shopping. Or anywhere in public that isn't clearly marked either NUDISTS ONLY or IDIOTS WHO CAN'T DRESS THEMSELVES ONLY. I don't want to see cleavage to your nipples or the crack or your hairy ass, or, worse, the crack of your hairy vulva. You are disgusting. If you can't afford proper clothing, then you can't afford that stash of beer and cigarettes either, so put them back and go find a shirt and pants that actually fit you.

5. Drive with your eyes actually fixed on the road and your surroundings, or get the hell off the streets. Pay attention! I will report your ass if I see you texting and driving, drinking and driving, or even arguing with your spouse while driving.

6. Respect the flag, asshole.

7. Respect every single person who defends your rights and protects your well-being. This means the current soldiers, the former soldiers, and the future soldiers. This means the cops, the firefighters, the EMTs, the nurses, the doctors, the dispatchers, the detectives, etc. This even means the politicians whether you like them or not. If you can't respect these people for the great things they do, then don't ever call the cops when your home has been invaded, don't call the fire department when your home is on fire, don't go to the hospital when your arm is broken, and don't take advantage of any of the rights sets forth in our Bill of Rights or Constitution because you wouldn't fight for those things and you don't respect those who have.

8. Do your own work. Have some pride and dignity, and do the work yourself even if it's difficult. Learn this lesson at an early age. If so, then you'll become a productive member of our society instead of another mouth to feed in our overcrowded jails, another person living off the system because you never learned a skill, or another barfly drunk moaning about how the world owes him instead of the other way around.

9. Learn to spell and use basic grammar. If not, then stay off social media and online sites where you can publish your thoughts without the benefit of editors who actually know how to spell and use the language that you, clearly, do not. You're only embarrassing yourself, but you're so stupid you don't even know it. It's quite sad, actually.

10. Respect your parents. Even if you don't agree with their religion, political beliefs, sexuality, fashion sense, or marital status. If they've done everything they could to raise you right, then they deserve your everlasting dedication, love and respect. Without them, you wouldn't even be here to have the idiotic opinions that you so adamantly cling to and try to defend, so never ever ever ever be mean to a mother who has sat up all night with you while you were ill or a father who has attended all of your games even though you sat the bench for four years. If your parents beat you or emotionally abused you, then that's a different story, and they are the idiots who should be reading this post instead of you.

One final thought, and it's a biggie -- don't blame others for your own faults and mistakes. Own up to them, learn from them and move on.

Sincerely,

Those of us who are tired of all the bullshit.