Welcome to my blog! So what exactly is My Franked Up Life? Well, it's my journey through life and all things that interest me. I have a wide array of interests and I hope to explore them in my blog. Hopefully some of you out there will relate to my content and become engaged in the topics of conversation. I am not always politically correct, or mainstream in my views/opinions. But you will never see me comprise my views just to be popular. So with that being said, let's kick it off with a doosey!
I have to state right up front that I am a veteran of the U.S. Navy, having served on active duty for 3 years. I am patriotic and on the conservative side for most things. While I agree that people have the right to protest, I sometimes wonder at the motives behind he protest. The latest movement really has me motivated to call out a segment that seems to want attention. Colin Kaepernick started his kneeling "movement" during the pre-season. I felt this was nothing more than a way for him to get attention since his football career was anything less than stellar lately. While I applaud his desire to effect change, I question the methods. I question the methods of anyone who uses a patriotic platform to try and drive a narrative.
A little back story on me. My parents divorced when I was about 4. My mom went on welfare for a while, and we lived in low income housing for several years until she remarried. I have lived the ghetto life. I know what it's like. Even though I may be white, I do remember having black friends growing up in the late 60's and early 70's so I know the struggles they endured. The America we live in today has no comparison to that of the civil rights era. I'm not going to get into what the catalyst for the new race hate movement is. But I am going to delve into what needs to be done to right this ship.
I will refer back to these sports players. You get paid millions of $$ to play with a ball for 3 hours a week. Yes, a lot of you grew up in the ghettos. You know the low income struggles. But I have to wonder, how many of these protesters have gone back into the inner cities and tried to effect change? Sure, you see them doing the publicity Christmas toy shopping sprees that give people the warm fuzzies. But what are you doing on a day to day basis to effect change? It's easy to kneel down and say "Oh, I am doing this to protest this or that". It's a lot harder to actually do something about it.
Instead of trampling on your countries patriots, how about you honor them by being a role model for the kids in your teams ghettos? Why not teach these kids that there is a better way. Teach them that hard work can and does pay off. It's not enough to just say these things to them, you have to reinforce it. You have to teach them that to be respected takes more than just walking around acting like you're all that so people are afraid of you. That's not respect. If you want respect you have to earn it. Dress respectful, act respectful. As the saying goes, the clothes make the man. If you walk around with your ass hanging out of your pants and your hat tilted to one side having thick, gold chains dangling around your neck, you are going to get treated like a gang banger. Pull your pants up, wear the hat the right way and act like a normal person and you'll be surprised how people treat you.
But therein lies the problem. And it's not isolated to inner city youth. It is occurring across all economic and social boundaries. Our liberal, indoctrinating school systems have introduced a breed of American that feels entitled. It used to be that people hated to have any sort of assistance. They were too proud. Now it's the reverse. People EXPECT it! And along with that entitlement attitude comes the "it's all about me" attitude. I will dress how I want, I will act how I want and people shouldn't judge me by that. They don't know me. Well, I have news for you. That isn't how the real world works! Take two men and have them walk down each side of the street. One wearing gang banger clothing and the other in a pair of correctly fitting jeans and a polo shirt. Send a taxi down and see which one gets picked up. I can tell the gang banger looking one is going to be walking!
I have heard every excuse in the book for why someone can't rise above their situation. Then I meet people who came to this country with nothing but a few dollars and now they are wealthy. So why is it these people can come here with all the barriers and obstacles in their way and make it, yet people born here cannot? And you can't use race because there are plenty of black, hispanic, asian and middle-eastern people who have accomplished this. But the big difference between them and the ghetto dwellers in America is these people expect to work hard to get what they want. American's have become lazy and entitled. They want everything handed to them. It's not going to happen.
So how about it Kaepernick? Are you going to affect change or are you going to continue to be a publicity hound? How about the rest of the NFL? You talk a good game, but how about putting your money where your mouth is? How about doing something without expecting the news cameras to be there capturing the feel good moment?
As they say in chess, check!
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