Things That Piss Me Off Tuesday - the I know it's a day early edition

It's only Monday.  I'm well aware of that, but I'm in a mood, so this is happening a day early.

Maybe that means that I won't be pissed off tomorrow.  Maybe.

Let's do this thing.

Commercials and what they say about our society
I alluded to this on my Facebook page this morning, and promptly lost four fans.  I get the whole point of marketing, but I am not sure when commercials became such a ridiculous commentary on who we are as a people.  Let's see....parents lie to their kids, wives sabotage their husbands, cars can fix anything, models will make out with anyone for enough money and God made farmers so they could sell trucks.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed some of them.  The commercials that air during the Super Bowl, like most other things that day, are on steroids.  More shock value, more pilot testing, more time invested, more expensive. These companies have a lot riding on their 30 seconds, and want to be memorable.  All well and good, except that it doesn't take much to see the underlying messages behind whatever it is that they are trying to sell.

How about a commercial where parents are honest with their kids?  Where spouses work together?  Where a car is just a car and says nothing about who we are, but just helps us get from point a to point b?  Where sex isn't used to sell website domains?  Where commercials about farmers are used to actually advocate for the plight of the small farmers that built this country instead of a truck?

That would just be crazy.

The idolization of a murderer
Ray Lewis.  Just do us all a favor, and actually retire.  You sure made a scene of it all, couldn't just be like most of the other guys retiring this year and quietly call a press conference when it's all said and done.  You wanted, and got, the send-off of the century.

He's a great football player, no one will argue that point...but this man is no hero.  He killed people.  He rolled on his friends.  He paid settlements to the families of the victims. He claims he's retiring now to spend more time with his kids, six of them from four different women.  This man is no hero.  He is an athlete.

Here's your chance, Ray.  Drift into anonymity.  Do some charity work.  Actually spend that time with the kids you keep claiming you're leaving for.  Don't come out of retirement.  Learn how to be humble, really humble, not the showboating humble that seeps out of your pores now.  You managed to convince many people that you were a hero, it's time to start acting like one.

World Cancer Day
Today is World Cancer Day.

Cancer now kills more people worldwide than anything else does.  Some might say this is a sign of progress with the developing world and the fight against diseases like malaria.  I see it as a sign of progress in some ways, but a bittersweet one.   It's not just that these developing countries have better sanitation and disease prevention, it's that as they become more industrialized they are also exposed to more of the dangers and toxins we have known for decades.  Pollution, cigarettes, fast food, inactivity...all spreading to these nations, and bringing their diseases with them.

Two years ago, I was home, helping my father in his last days.  I've seen what this beast can do, up close and personal.  We need to focus on treatment, but also on the prevention of lifestyle cancers like lung cancer.  It killed him, and it shouldn't be allowed to kill anyone else.

The people who question what I do
I've just been reminded that this whole blogging endeavor doesn't make money.  Again.  Like I'm not aware of that.

Here's the thing.  My first priority is my children, who I am home for. I am a stay at home mom for a reason.  If someday I can make money from writing, that would be great, but it's not my motivation.

I write to stay sane, for therapeutic reasons, to exorcise my demons.  I write because I love it.  I write because I want to believe that I have some story to tell that someone else needs to hear.  I write because I get emails and messages from people who read what I write and they tell me that I helped them, that I encouraged them to change something, that I made them feel less alone in whatever it is they are going through.  I write because I have made genuine connections with good people.

I've been accused of a lot of things recently, I've been drug through the mud, I've been badmouthed.  I can honestly say that I don't know how or why, because I've never been less than authentic and real here or anywhere else.  I don't mislead people, I don't lie.  I don't have the energy for it.  I'm not here to make enemies, I'm not here to compete with anyone else.  I'm not here to try and take anything away from anyone else.  Yet, none of that matters to some people.

That's fine.  I'll walk the high road.  I've been doing it for a while now. I'm wearing the boots and my Wonder Woman costume, just trying to do a little bit of good at a time.  Superheroes don't do what they do for the fame or the fortune, they do it because it's the right thing to do.

Batgirl is pretty cute, huh?

So, do me a favor everyone...don't question my motives.

Question my logic and reasoning. Question my beliefs and my research.  Argue with me, disagree with me.  Challenge the points I make.  Debate with me.  Just don't question my motives.

I promise you I'm doing this for the right reasons.