Learn From My Mistake: Stay Awake! (poem included)

Purrraoowwww! Good day to you, my human readers! I sincerely hope you've enjoyed what you've read so far. Maybe you even learned something! Times are tough, but finally we are waking up. I wouldn't be doing this if I didn't believe.

For too long, my human dad was, like many humans, afraid. We all knew something was wrong with how America was being run. Slowly but surely, government kept getting more bloated and intrusive. It was during the end of the "GW Bush" Presidency when my human dad came to realize he couldn't remain silent any longer. Do you know what he did?

In the summer of 2008, he stood outside of a few local strip malls, alone, and held up various signs with messages like: "When will America say, 'Enough is Enough'"; "In case you forgot, politicians are supposed to serve US"; and "God Bless Our Military, but I am SICK of dishonest politicians". He did this for about three weeks in the summer.

So, how was he received? What did he find out? Here was his one rule: never speak to anyone unless they spoke to him first. It was all very peaceful. He was only asked to leave where he was on a couple of occasions. About 85% simply passed him by, about 9% would either say a nice sentence to him or a "thumbs up" style of gesture, and about 5% would even stop and converse with him. The conversations ranged from one minute to two hours! Only 1% gave a negative reaction to him. The few that did were all over the age of 70. It was certainly a learning experience -- but his fuzzy master, yours truly, wasn't born yet. I wasn't there to give him encouragement. Mr. Dad just wanted to get an idea of how aware America was. It made him sad that it simply wasn't a priority to most. He got down on himself. 'Who would listen to a disgruntled, visually impaired guy anyways', he thought.

The real shame is that he wrote 70 pages of a book entitled, "Signs of Life" that he wanted to publish. Giving into pressure ended that project. That book will never see the light of day, as he deleted everything. 2008 was three years before the Occupies did their protests, and it seemed humans were just not ready yet.

Eventually, he woke up again. He protested with the Occupies despite not agreeing with them on everything. Rocky 2016 is something he swore he'd never quit on. The human will not go back to sleep. Never again.

He is different now; less afraid, a LOT more wise, more determined, and less self-conscious. He is what he is.

My human Dad won't have the opportunity to share that book he wrote six years ago. It fills him with regret. I guess it just wasn't his time. He did write something else in 2008 that I get to share with you! It reads like a Dr. Seuss poem! Does this poem ring true today, in a country that is finally waking up a little bit? You be the judge:

Sick Of It (Summer 2008)

I'm sick of their wars,

I'm sick of their lies,

I'm sick of their suits and tight neckties,

I'm sick of their ways,

I'm sick of their laws,

I'm sick of companies helping their cause

I wish I had the power

To make you realize

There's no more time to cower

For freedom we must rise!

I might be just a stranger

With too big of a heart

But our great land's in danger

And I must do my part

Let us stand, let us fight

Against this evil group

That turned a House of White

Into a house of Poop.

They'll hide what they need to,

They'll guide evermore,

The votes that will lead to

A never-ending War.

A war just on terror? It won't stop there,

They want much more war than you are aware,

A War in Iraq, a war in Iran,

A War to grab all the oil they can.

A War on Amendments 1 and 2,

A War to ensure that they can find you.

A War on the middle class, War on the poor,

A War on our wallets like never before.

A War on plants that grow in the ground,

A War on the best stress reliever around.

A War on music, A war on art,

A War on spirit, A war on the smart.

The War Pigs have campaigned and won,

You have seen the damage done

You know they're pushin', give 'em a shove!

Demand that we be led by love!

The tyrants of now could guarantee

Tomorrow's will end the land of the free.

For the record, the human is not anti-war, but anti-stupid war.

Until tomorrow, my good humans!