EdenLancer Stories

Okay, I’m going a little political this time because…well…I can, I’m not paid to do this so I can do whatever I want. Anyways, for those of you who like to talk about the deeper things in life, keep reading, if you’re not interested in politics or ethics or have a very small attention span (like myself), you can turn back if you wish.

Here we go. Obama bowing to a Japanese Emperor. Go ahead and leave a comment telling me whether it is acceptable for an American President to bow to a Foreign Leader? Go ahead, I’ll wait………done, good.

My answer, I think it’s acceptable. Before all you “patriots” come after me with your pitch-forks and torches, I want to say a little something about this. First of all, I’m a patriot, I love this country, yeah it’s a little tough, but seriously, what you put in is usually what you get out. Note the usually, yeah there are the cases where people give it all and get nothing back, but that’s going really deep and it takes solid information to talk about that. Information I don’t have time to gather right now.

Alright, for those of you who haven’t heard I’ll tell you the “outrage”. President Obama went to Japan to continue his Asian trip. While in Japan, President Obama took a bow while shaking the Emperor’s hand. Critics and nay-sayers have been outraged at this saying it’s a disgrace that an American President bowed to a foreign leader. Now I’m sure the first reaction to some would be “hell yeah, an American President should stand tall and proud.” Shut up for a minute, this is my note, not yours.

I understand the feelings toward some people in that an American President should be proud and strong. Yes, I fully agree, but in saying that, there is a limit in that pride becomes overdone. Being too proud makes you arrogant and having too little means your weak. Obama wasn’t disgracing America because he wasn’t proud of it, he was obeying the customs of an ancient land and culture. In Japan it’s right to bow when greeting people. That’s the way they do it in that country and since we are in that country we should obey their customs. Right? If you say no, I’ll explain why you need to be slapped.

I distinctly remember when Mexicans and other immigrants came into the nation, everyone was yelling at them saying to speak English, do it this way because this is our land, or telling them to conform to our ways. Don’t dare say I’m wrong either. Because it’s true, we expect people that come into this country to respect our customs and way of life. Why shouldn’t we do the same in a foreign nation? What makes America an exception to that rule? America is no exception. Here we are bitching and complaining about foreign nations being “bullies” and not giving us imports as much because honestly our foreign policy has be shit and chips. It’s true. We have made very little friends in the international world. Those countries that stick beside us are great allies.

Think, this is the kind of crap that made America have a bad name, because Americans were too proud to accept that there were other ways of life outside our own. Because of all the people saying we shouldn’t bow to an emperor shows how cultured we really are. That’s how they do things over there and if you expect people to obey our customs we better make damn sure we obey theirs. It’s true, we shouldn’t have any exception because we are an International Superpower. That doesn’t mean anything, but if anything at all, that should mean we have to be role models for all the other nations struggling out there. How to be respectful and mindful to other cultures.

But then again, I’m talking about people who stand up and protest about gays and lesbians outside a school! Outside a grade school at that! Who gave you the right to condemn!? No one! If you’re anything like a Christian, you’d know that you are NOT to condemn, if you do, you are claiming you have the same rights as God himself and therefore saying you take his place, which I believe breaks a few commandments. What a good Christian you are.

Okay, before I go any further, I want to make clear that “you” is a general “you” and not you in personal. I’m sorry if I offend anyone about these topics, but honestly if you’re offended by this, that means you’re closed minded and stubborn (not conservative, because conservative is a whole different area).

Anyways, back onto Obama. This is the kind of stuff that really upsets me because we think we’re better than everyone else. It’s not just like that internationally, but it’s like that within our own boarders. Don’t get me wrong, almost every country has this kind of problem, but I can’t speak about them because I don’t have experience with that culture.

But to put it bluntly, if I were the President, I would do the same thing. Maybe not as full of a bow because yeah okay, he did bow a little low. There are certain bows:

The Nod- This bow is just to say hey, I acknowledge your presence or to say yes. Very informal and very secretive. Maybe suspicious, watch where you do it, you never know who could be watching…like me…

The Gesture-This nod is really a half bow that only comes down a few degrees from a straight stance and this bow is mainly used to do the conservative gentleman stance where you hold back a curtain or open a door for a woman you are courting. Yes I used courting, so what? Want to fight about it?

Respect Bow- This bow is the bow Obama should have used which is a full bow to say I respect your authority and see you as an equal. This bow is brief and to the point and both people should participate. If any of you have been in martial arts, you see this all the time. Even in fencing this is used.

Subordinate Bow- This bow is what Obama did, see how he holds the Emperor’s hand and bows down holding the position? That’s the bow that shows you are inferior. Which might be why people are in outrage, which is understandable to a point. Okay, he did the bow wrong and should have bowed first then shook his hand, or bowed with a straight back showing respect instead of hunched over showing inferiority. But saying that an American President shouldn’t bow is wrong because the President must show respect, he should be a role model to what respect is and how to act when meeting with a foreign leader like the Emperor. This bow should be level with the other person’s bow, eye to eye.

Worship Bow- This bow is completely bowing down in which the angle between your stomach and legs should be 90 degrees or lower. This means you are a follower and worshiper of whatever God you may believe in.

There are several other types also, but in conclusion. Yes, Obama may have bowed too much which may have came off as inferiority, but not bowing at all would mean arrogance and superiority. Which at the place we are in right now, we don’t have much force behind the smack we talk. But I hope you enjoyed my little rant. Oh yeah, I want you to do me a favor. Press “Ctrl” and “W” at the same time. Go ahead do it.

Well, thanks for reading again!

Note: Cross posted from Tangos Lounge.

Permalink

My first look at WLW for Win7

Image via CrunchBase

I thought it would be nice to have access to all the blogs I help to run.

Such as this one you are reading now and as well as these:

• Edenlancer Stories
• TJ’s Books …

Note: Cross posted from Tangos Lounge.

Permalink

*sigh* what a busy few weeks it’s been. Working, school, and everything else in between, I was happy that I got a 4 day vacation from work. I left Friday at around 5 or so to go home with my beautiful fiance. It was the first time she saw the apartment, I think she liked it besides my bed and the creaky floors. I mean in all seriousness, this apartment is a great deal. My average bill with everything put together is about $330. That’s pretty incredible if you ask me. Spacious room, nice living room, good bathroom (kind of old, but still functioning well), large kitchen (although old also). But anyways, where should I start?

Oh I know! Let’s bring back an old favorite of mine. The good ‘ole phrase “shit happens”. You guys really don’t realize how aggravating that phrase really is. You’re probably saying “Why Austen, shit does just happen sometimes”. No, my friend, you are wrong. Something doesn’t just appear in the blue. It got there some way, some how. There were events that led up to the event that made you say that forbidden and awful phrase. Now let’s analyze this just for a moment. Lets say that you were walking down the sidewalk and you tripped. That just didn’t happen, you failed to pay attention to something, you could have been dragging your feet or not anticipating the ground shifts as you walk. You weren’t observant, simple as that. “Why Austen, that’s ridiculous, you can’t pay attention to all that!” Really? That’s your come-back? Sure you can, it’s called watch where you’re going. All you have to do is:
Step 1: Pick up foot
Step 2: Put foot forward
Step 3: Land foot
Step 4: Repeat with other foot

I recall that being something my mother and father had taught me when I was, I don’t know, 1? It’s bad when we learn how to walk, we perfect it, and then muck it up. Anyways, getting off topic. Oh wait, another person? “Why Austen, it’s not like you’ve never tripped! I’ve seen you!” Okay…one, why are you watching me and two yes, I’ve tripped. Why? Because I wasn’t paying attention, probably because I spotted you and was deciding whether I should run or call the cops.

Alright, alright, so that wasn’t very serious and that’s not something you usually say it to. Let’s say that a girl broke up with a guy and the guy said that over-used and damned phrase. Obviously something happened here. It just didn’t happen. Want to know what I think when someone says that after such an event? You obviously didn’t care enough. If you’re willing to just say “shit happens” after that, apparently you didn’t care. “Why Austen, that’s not very nice and that can be wrong!” Okay, okay, I mean no harm to anyone understand me. I’m using philosophical principal’s to draw my conclusions and two, I realize that it’s a type of coping method now. Why, I have no idea. I guess it just helps you move on, but you have to look at it from my stand-point. I’m in a healthy relationship with Michele for 4 years. We get into fight, a lot sometimes. But I never say after a fight “shit happens”, no, something went wrong and I want to figure it out. Obviously I said something wrong or we had some kind of communication or she did her famous “Brain Ninja” (Courtesy of Dane Cook) to switch the entire conversation around to make me the bad guy (Love ya baby!). It didn’t just happen.

“Why Austen, if what you’re saying is true, life is one big problem!” Aha! We have come to a conclusion, life is just on big problem that we try to solve. I guess you could say that people who use that phrase are rebellious and choose not to. BWAHAHA! Not, they’re the ones conforming to society, letting themselves me man-handled by life. I say no! If you want the most out of life, you can’t just say “shit happens”, you have to stand up and reclaim what life has taken from you. Or at least take back something of equal value. You can’t just sit on the sidelines in life. You have to be active, you have to dream, you have to believe in something (not going towards religion, something as in yourself, someone else, a mentor, a hero, something, anything). Without it, you’re just an empty shell waiting for life to pass you by. You won’t get a slice of what you want if you don’t take it.

“Why Austen, what does this have to do with anything?” What? Really? It has EVERYTHING to do with it! Why do I hate the phrase!? Because it makes people sound lesser than what they can be. It makes them sound submissive to life’s mean grasp. It makes them sound like they’re nothing. It’s time to break from this emo look and come to a brighter future. Which brings me to something? When did emo become cool? Yeah, yeah okay, it’s your style, but I have better things to do than be sad all day or make people think I’m a deep thinker. Wait, off topic, sorry. Shit just doesn’t happen, it happens because you let it happen. You let life push you around.

“Why Austen, what about a death?” Ah, good one finally. Death is a natural thing in life. Yeah the timing seems all to random and I admit that it does happen at the worse times. But the event itself isn’t random. Something happened unfortunately to cause it. Like my late friend said though “The end is here, but the beginning is near” (R.I.P. Chris Reamey). This has so much context, but it’s true in this. Although, someone has passed, it brings new light. Either from people getting together to pain finally ending. I’ve seen my fair share of death and I haven’t been in war. It doesn’t just happen, believe me.

So my conclusion you ask? Wait you didn’t? Okay well, I’ll tell you anyways. “Shit just happens” is wrong. The event that caused that phrase wasn’t random, but was a build up from events that accumulated from short or long-term scenarios. Therefore, the fact that the statement suggests a random event is wrong because if random events controlled our lives, we would have no control and that is false by itself. Simply because you have the opportunity of change, it’s the fact if you grab it or not and if you work up to it or not. Not because a sequence of random events led you there. If that’s the case, we’d have idiots for politicians and dumbies for CEO’s…wait that doesn’t help my case any does it? But then again, the argument can be made here as well, it’s not random, but really bad choices and the fact that we tend to lean towards legacies in this nation.

But I have stretched this far beyond what I was aiming, but I still have more I think. If anyone wants to argue this topic, go ahead, I’m always up for debate. Look forward to these topics: Emo Culture and Death/War to come up. Thanks again everyone!