Greetings all!  I trust that you have had a wonderful 2017 thus far.  I know things are rough, the country’s future looks bleak but I’m optimistic that God will intervene because he has a marvelous way of showing us that he always is and always will be God.  No matter how public figures behave as they are the almighty.  With that being said, I’ve been giving myself more time to focus and reflect on the important things in life and what doesn’t truly deserve a lot of my time.  I’ve allowed myself to reflect on such in all areas of my life, my personal life, professional life, social life, spiritual life and so forth.  During all of my introspective reflections, I allowed myself to focus on the external aspects of things that surround me.  In doing so, I’ve come to a clear realization that as a nation, we focus on the wrong shit!  Our very culture isn’t geared to focus on what truly matters.

So I know what you’re probably thinking huh?  This is about to be a petty post…. Well actually it’s not, in a world of those who revel in being petty, I strive to be the antithesis of that, in all areas that matter, I want to be focused on the things that are major not miniscule.  In other words, if it’s petty and small, why waste my time with it?  Things that are petty and small tend to not withstand the test of time, so why occupy a great amount of time dwelling or focusing on it.

Let’s talk about a big piece of the American culture, Politics.

Petty Politics

Top 10 Major Petty American Political Violations

10. Dwelling on Barack Obama’s name—He has an ethnic name, I for one would never trust a MF named Strom Thurmond.

9. Allowing Al Gore to slip through our hands—-He could be petty and post memes about global warming daily and we’d all feel like jackasses. 

8. George W. Bush Jr.—No explanation needed.

7. Sarah Palin—Contraception, Abstinence, nuff said.

6. Allowing Rudy Giuliani any platform to speak publicly—Take a look at those dentures.

5. The Democratic Party not grooming Bernie Sanders for the oval office 20 years ago.

4. Allowing Bush to steal Florida back in 2004, who does that?

3. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan—-Now what now, how do we explain that?

2. Not questioning Dick Cheney’s competence, who in the hell mistakes a man for a freaking bird.

1. Giving a rat’s ass about Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky, who cares, if Hilary likes it, I love it…. We had 8 years of peace and prosperity, so what, I’m not married to him, I could care less, maybe if GW had been getting more action…. I won’t finish that statement.  LOL!

This past November, the apocalypse as over 33 million people believe it to be occurred, Hilary Clinton lost to the orange one as the leader of the free world.  Now mind you, he has no political experience what so ever, not even as a community organizer, no real knowledge of foreign affairs, no real reputation for doing what’s right in the areas of life that truly matter and the electoral college elected him as the Commander-in-Chief, a man who can be as narcissist as a Kardashian, as irrational as a cranky toddler and as inexperienced as a 13 year old virgin.  The man has no business in the oval office but nevertheless millions allowed themselves to get caught up on the notion that missing emails or whatever they may be warranted Hilary as being a bad fit.  But turn the dial to months later and many are seeing that their decision of voting in the other direction or not voting at all may not have been the best way to handle the situation.  The orange one has been relentless in a small amount of time with his decisions that are breaking up homes, killing innocent people and virtually pissing off every single trusted ally that the United States has had in the past, but God forbid Hilary deleted emails.  Because emails highlight so much that can be hidden!

Give me a break.

These petty politics have opened my eyes.  We focus so much on the small things that we miss the big picture.

They chose to focus on emails and what could have been hidden when what was in plain view the whole time is that the orange one could care less about anything but money.  This man doesn’t even care about his wife and I’m unsure if he cares for his youngest son, considering the fact that he made a mockery of a special needs reporter knowing full well that he had a son who suffered from a disorder as well.  Who does that? 

Emails or the lack thereof them made us question the integrity of a woman who is the very reason why so many children across the nation receive adequate health care and made us apathetic to what her very presence in the white house would mean to millions of women and young girls.  But instead we have a man who is the embodiment of sheer and utter disrespect of women, I mean we are only objects to him.  All of this is so, because we justify something so small as emails as being an implicit symbol for dishonesty and espionage while the person who now inhabits 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is a blatant representation of greed, privilege, unpreparedness, adultery, rudeness, bigotry, chauvinism, hate, exclusion and dishonesty.

What will the generations to come read about in history as to why we allowed in 2017 such a man who picked a Vice President who is the descendant of KKK leaders?  His opponent had questionable email etiquette in the workplace and that’s why he was deemed as a better leader.

Poor Petty Professionalism

Top 10 Petty Co-worker moves

10. Looking for you on social medial.

9. Trying to add you on social media.

8. Getting mad when you won’t accept their friend requests on social media.

7. Requesting you again when you won’t add them on social media.

6. Acting shady when you don’t see things eye to eye.

5. Trying to throw you under the bus in front of the boss.

4. Trying to throw you under the bus in front of the team to make themselves look better.

3. Asking you about your finances when you acquire something new.

2. Walking past your office and not telling you there’s free food available.

1. Seeing you outside of work and acting like you’re the best of friends, then attempting to add you on social media again.

This majoring in the minors philosophy has spilled over to our workplace as well.  Sad but true, we trade in the smallest things as to why or not we will vouch for another person in the boardroom as well as working as a team.  I once worked for a boss who if you didn’t agree with his method of getting a shared goal accomplished, you were not team-oriented.  Who cares that your method would’ve saved time and gotten the same goal accomplished, the fact of the matter is that you didn’t do it his way.  It was his way or the high way.  Nevermind the fact that you know just as much as he does about the work that you’re doing, it’s simply because he’s the boss he must know everything.  Well I and many others challenged that lunacy and we progressed, he unfortunately was left high and dry.  In my new educational career, I see the same thing occuring.  Teachers who know more than their principals and applying such in their classroom but because it isn’t dressed the way that they are used to seeing it, they make the workplace a hostile environment for the educator.  Or even with the students, who cares if the student knows what they are doing, but if they hadn’t composed it in a manner in which the teacher wants it, then it’s incorrect.  Really?  That type of petty behavior causes the students to have a negative perception of education.

This type of small thinking is the reason why the orange one has appointed only his friends, the ones who will not oppose his backwards way of thinking, never mind the work that needs to be done.

Pettiness in the workplace is a detrimental thing.  So what is Sofia is fifteen minutes late, she’s a hardworker and she’s always on time with deadlines, the things that matter.  The things that matter, what a novel idea.

Petty Personal Lives

Top Ten Petty Friendship and Relationship Behaviors

10. Feeling some type of way and not expressing it to your friend/loved one immediately.

9. Feeling some type of way and posting it to social media without expressing it to your friend/loved one immediately.

8. Feeling some type of way, posting it to social media without expressing it to your friend/loved one immediately and then dodging that person afterwards.

7. Feeling some type of way and then going to your friend/loved one’s favorite eatery and posting the picture of the cuisine online.

6. Deliberately not answering the phone because you feel some type of way.

5. Refusing to apologize just because you don’t want to when you know you’re wrong.

4. Acting like you forgot a special date or occassion.

3. Inviting others to events that you know will go back and tell the person you are avoiding.

2. Telling another person that that person was speaking ill of them just because you feel some type of way.

1. Spilling the private details that a once friend told you because you are mad.  

Now don’t get me wrong, there are some small things that matter, I want my guy to remember our anniversary, well if I had a guy, and I’d expect him to remember my birthday.  But whether or not he posts my face on Facebook, I could give not one damn about.  I care about that person being a guiding force in my life, not a miniscule minute because the people that you want to impress on social media will not contribute to my Chase Financial bill monthly.  We worry about the wrong things when it comes to relationships, matching Jordan’s and posting pictures on social media all the while that very person is still cheating on you with the girl who has the plug at the Nike store where he buys those Jordan’s.  Hey don’t shoot me, I’m just the messenger.

The things that matter with our friends and families are the things that show that we want to be present in each other’s lives, that means attending events together and not necessarily posting a picture.  If you have an argument with a friend and that person has the heart to apologize, forgive them, work it out and move on.  Because life is too short to be mad at someone who actually apologized.  Most people would rather not to save face now that’s petty and that’s a person that you shouldn’t want in your corner.  You need to have people around you who are human who mess up from time to time and who are big enough to apologize.  In addition, if it’s such a problem, don’t be the petty person who won’t say it to that person’s face but your petty behind will post about it to social media.  Yeah, that’s mature.  How often will a man do something and a woman post a meme reflecting such on instagram but won’t tell him.  Not only is that petty but it’s sad.

What are we saying to one another that we won’t focus on the major things.  You can be petty but you won’t be upfront.

It’s pure bull.

So what’s at stake here when we focus on the issues that don’t really matter?  Well there’s the fate of the free world at the hands of a world class idiot.  Working in a hostile work environment that maybe a direct factor of whether or not you’ll make a living and then potentially losing out on cultivating meaningful relationships with your loved ones simply because the minor things are magnified while the major things are being neglected.

The moral of this post is, be progressive, not petty.

SMOOCHES!

Last year, I lost a friend, a real friend.  A friend who was always there regardless of how much time had past or how circumstances turned out.  His name was EJ and I miss him dearly.  Being me isn’t easy because I’m not always understood, I have a different way of looking at things than most but nevertheless he never knocked me for that, he embraced it and provided me a way of looking at things as well.  If you all have the blessing of having a friend who is big enough to admit when they were wrong, embrace them.  Because he embraced me and I embraced him through the right and the wrong, I am a better person.  Rest in love and eternal peace, dear sweet friend.