Tranquilized...

Did you catch Mr. Stephanopolous comparing General Patraeus to General Westmorland? Did you catch the new Carl's Jr. commercial portraying students glamming about their teacher's physique? Did you notice the person in the car next to you with the glazed look in their eyes and the frown on their face?

If you're like me, you did. If you're not like me, you didn't. But that goes without saying.

I believe that as a general public, we are tranquilized by so many things. Inundated by carefully crafted campaigns of disinformation, meticulously planned and articulated through carefully selected color schemes and well timed rifts of verbal and musical innoculants.

If you have quick thumbs, perhaps you can skip the drama with the clicker and you can change the station or look away. Keep doing that and we end up like communists, shut ins, afraid of and distrusting everyone/thing around us. Booooo!

What are your tranquilizers? Fear? What are we afraid of? Neighbor's are playing horribly loud and immoral music. Do you go over? Ask them to stop? Nicely? Rudely? Well, I don't want to cause and problems, I don't want to be disliked, or what if they cause me harm? And the tranquilization goes on until you just shut it out, ignore it, resent your neighbor and yourself for not taking action.

The alternative is to write that letter, make that call, go on over with a plate of cookies and a different CD, wave to the guy next to you in the car with the frown on his face. Take action! Do something that will make an impact for good. Choose to intensify your resolve to live fully and purposefully and to take a bunch of people with you.

The lull of mediocrity, the drone of mediocre vanilla is a dangerous trap. The alternatives are;

1. Excellence.
2. Awareness.
3. Choiceful ingestion of entertainment.
4. Meditation.
5. Thinking for yourself.
6. Originality.
7. Creativity.
8. Greatness.

Life is brilliant!

-Jarret