“Quiet Riot”

Quiet Riot, no this isn't about the heavy metal band, but rather about what happens to the underlying  message when people, and I use that term loosely, decide to riot.

It becomes quiet and unfortunately lost within all the chaos and destruction caused by the masses who feel it necessary to act in this fashion.

I considered comparing these individuals to the beasts who most feel are beneath us, but in all honesty it would be an insult to our animal brethren to call them such; because they are nowhere close to being as civilized as the creatures we share this planet with.

It doesn’t matter what the reason is, there is never a justification to riot and carry on like a bunch of wild miscreants, and it is completely uncalled for and does more harm than good.

You’re hurting innocent people in the process, who had absolutely nothing to do with the unfortunate circumstances in which you felt the need to act out in such a repulsive manner.

One could even say that your actions are just as deplorable as the person(s) you are retaliating against, and in some cases even worse.

Liken it to a child throwing a temper tantrum because they didn’t get what they wanted or their way.

Was the child’s reasons justified, sadly that no longer matters because the actions of that said child eclipses the why and leaves the audience in attendance disgusted and appalled by what they have witnessed.

If you want to do something, help out the family who you feel were wronged, show them that they are not alone in their time off need and that there are good people out there who are willing to lend a hand to help them rebuild their lives for the better.

Trust me; I am certain that most people who just lost a loved one would rather have a shoulder to lean on for support over others vandalizing and destroying everything in sight all supposedly in the name of the deceased.

This type of behavior tarnishes the memory of those who you claim to be fighting for, leaves the masses angry and even more hate-filled than before, so all in all it is not the way to go.

To quote the great Martin Luther King, Jr., “Hate begets hate; violence begets violence; toughness begets a greater toughness. We must meet the forces of hate with the power of love”, truly words to live by.

I know some of you live by the old “eye for an eye” adage, but that leads to nothing positive, just a bunch of ignorant people too blind to see the repercussions of their actions and the effects it has on the world around them, including those they claim to love and care for.

With this piece, I am by no means saying that something shouldn’t be done when an injustice occurs, but rioting is by no means the answer and ultimately defeats the intended purpose.

We as a society should not permit this kind of behavior; we should not promote and/or endorse it in any way, because otherwise we are just as guilty as those who are actually out in the streets running amok.

Silence is not golden, not speaking up and voicing your disdain over how things are only allows it to continue as is.

Keeping the fires of hate burning brighter and hotter than ever, and regardless of our involvement or not, if something isn’t done soon we will eventually find ourselves burnt beyond recognition and our world in ash.

As a deterrent to this kind of behavior, I personally, and I’m sure this might not be received all that well by the masses, think that the “Stand-your-ground law” should be country wide and rewritten to include rioters and looters, because they would think twice if they knew there was a possibility their actions would have consequences.

Finally, to those of you who are sympathetic towards these savages and/or try to justify their behavior, this way of thought is like that of a battered spouse, one who believes they are not good enough for anything better and out of fear of retaliation makes excuses for why their abuser acts as they do.

Needless to say this isn’t healthy, you should desire to rise above the madness and establish yourself as something more than just a sheep who mindlessly follows the shepherd because that is all they know.

Use that thing on top of your shoulders for something else other than a hat rack and think before you act, you may just be pleasantly surprised by the results, and I truly believe you will get a whole lot more accomplished in the long run.

MJM

“Monsters”

There's an evil worse than zombies, werewolves and vampires combined, and it walks amongst us in plain sight, and even hides right in front of our eyes.

This isn't the plot for some big budget Hollywood Summer blockbuster, but rather the unfortunate truth about ourselves, you know us human beings.

The harsh reality is that we are in fact the evil in which I speak of; we are the things that go bump in the night, the monsters in which we feared when we were younger who occupied the spaces under our beds and in our closets.

It goes without saying that some of us are worse than others, but all things considered we're all capable of performing some of the most heinous acts that would even make the likes of Stephen King cringe in disgust, at a moment’s notice.

You don’t believe me, consider this, when an atrocity happened throughout the history of our world what species was front and center…I’ll give you a hint, it was us.

We make remarks about the so-called wild animals that roam the jungle, where things are fierce and unforgiving, but the truth of it is that we are the only wild creatures walking the face of this world of ours.

Animals live by instincts; they do what they must to survive, to manage this cruel planet of ours, not to ruthlessly attack their own all with the hopes of obtaining ultimate power and total domination, like some “people” we know.

With that said, I think it is only fair that the adjective wild be used only to describe us, and not our animal counterparts who we share this world with, which is unfortunately for them I might add.

I know this may sound cynical, and even pessimistic, but whether we like it or not it’s the truth and no matter how much we tell ourselves otherwise, it won’t change a thing.

We can fight it, we can keep our rage under control as if we were Bruce Banner attempting to tame the Incredible Hulk, but if the past has taught us anything it is that the rage will eventually win over and there will be nothing but a trail of destruction left in our path.

We the people are the problem, not the solution, regardless of how high and mighty we think we are, or how superior we feel towards other species, and once we learn to accept this the better off we’ll all be because the truth will set you free, as they say.

I don’t want you to think that all hope is lost, because it’s not, I just want you to be aware of our place in the grand scheme of things.

The pedestal on which we feel we stand upon is really nothing more than an empty grave, and if we allow it, it will consume us and bury us alive, and we will suffocate and choke on our own misguided beliefs.

Hopefully these words have humbled you, helped you see that we are not the almighty and that we are not worthy of passing judgment and/or condemning our fellow brothers and sisters.

We are equals, and not just with each other but with all that we share this life with, and we should focus on building things and each other up, and not tearing them apart.

Not one of us is better than anyone else; remember that next time you decide to play king of the mountain and try to tell who you believe are your followers what is and isn’t righteous and/or holy.

If we don’t change things now, there may be no time or chance to do so later, so smarten up people and make this world of ours a better place for everyone involved.

MJM

“Drugs”

As if what we had wasn’t already bad enough, over time they have dangerously evolved from what they once were; on top of the more recognizable ones such as crack, heroine and LSD (just to name a few), we now have synthetic drugs (cannabinoids/cathinones), alcoholic drinks laced with such things as caffeine and prescription pills.

From the shady street corners in the worst neighborhoods to the office of your doctor in the beautiful building in the suburbs, drugs are being dispensed and lives are being ruined at an alarming rate, and unfortunately little is being done to rectify this problem.

The stereotypical drug dealer has been replaced by a man in a white coat armed with a pen and a prescription pad, the crack house has been replaced by the pharmacy, and due to the fact that good old Uncle Sam is getting a piece of his/her action, the authorities are willing to turn a blind eye to the goings-on.

I know that not all doctors are irresponsibly writing prescriptions and/or consciously contributing to the demise of our civilization, however, there are a good percentage of them who are and it needs to be stopped immediately.

We all know that there are many legitimate cases of people needing certain medication(s) to maintain a normal, or as close to normal as possible lifestyle, and obviously those are not the cases I’m speaking about in this piece.

Thanks to the MDs people are being handed prescriptions to their downfall, to their dismay and even in some cases their death.

Next we have the synthetic drugs and the over-the-top alcoholic drinks (when is too much, too much?), which most of can be purchased at your local convenient store, as easily as say buying a piece of candy or your favorite fountain drink would be.

All of this garbage should be pulled from store shelves and destroyed, and people caught selling it should face a penalty equally as harsh as someone who is selling any illegal drug, no exceptions.

Some may say that this is too harsh, or that these things aren’t a real problem, and my response to them would be to seek out a family and/or person(s) whose lives have been damaged as a result of these drugs and ask them how they feel about it; you may just be surprised by what you find out.

Joe Camel wasn’t acceptable, it was said that he enticed kids to smoke, made it look cool with him being a cartoon character and all, but now with that said have you seen the packaging that some of these synthetic drugs and/or alcoholic beverages come in?  

This stuff is toxic, hazardous to our health and our mental well-being, there is no need for it in our society and it does no one any good, even a blind man can clearly see that.

We cannot only go after the users and expect everything to get better; we must start at the top and focus on the real issue at hand, we must cut off the head of the snake if we ever hope to rid our world of these poisons, which means choosing good health and mental stability over profit.

We can’t stand by idly and allow this stuff to happen, we must speak up and make our voices heard, or else things will only get worse and a good portion of our society will continue to walk around in a comatose state and good for absolutely nothing.

Saying, “No” just doesn’t cut it anymore, we must say, “Enough” and do everything in our power to stop the madness and move forward in a positive and productive manner, or otherwise our species will become extinct.

Call me a killjoy if you so choose, but unfortunately I have witnessed the destruction these drugs can cause firsthand, and needless to say it is not something I am too pleased about and/or willing to accept as just what is.

We are playing with fire here people, and if we are not careful we won’t just get burnt, we will be engulfed by the flames, leaving nothing behind but a pile of ashes.

Use your head for something else other than a hat rack!

MJM

“The War Within”

I believe in God, and I have no doubt that He is looking down on us with despair in his heart, especially when it comes to things like the “Religious Freedom Bill”, which is basically just a license to hate in His name.

When I hear of such things it makes me ashamed to call myself a Christian, and that should not be the case.

We should be prideful in the fact that we follow a loving God, a forgiving God and a God who accepts everyone and anyone who choose to follow him without any conditions.

I honestly think that He is embarrassed of us, that we are letting Him down on both fronts, meaning those of us who claim to be His followers who hate, condemn and judge others while flying his banner, to those of us who just sit back while all this is going on and don’t say or do anything about it.

Not all people of faith are hate-filled; most of us are loving and caring people who use our faith as a way to manage this harsh world of ours, and to make the overall journey much easier and more tolerable.

The problem is that we also allow those who falsely wear the shroud of our particular faith only as a means to spread hate and destruction to act as the mouthpiece for our chosen faith and on our behalf, and that we should not do.

We cannot allow these people to represent us, we must speak up and voice our opinions, otherwise the world is going to believe that we all feel the same way, and with that said make our God look bad and He doesn’t deserve that.

We need to take a stand; we need to show those on the outside looking in that the individuals who are spewing all that venom are doing so without our support and our blessing and that we are not accepting of their actions.

And don’t get it twisted, this is not just about whether you agree or disagree with homosexuality, it goes much deeper than that.

This is about us letting people legalize hate and discrimination in our name and in the name of the faith, which we hold near and dear to our hearts, while we don’t do anything to change things.

Ultimately this kind of behavior leaves a bitter taste in people’s mouth about us and our God, and we should not be okay with that.

This also opens the door for similar bills to come down the pipeline in the future, and sooner or later these people will find something about you they don't like and will have no problem following the same path to make it acceptable to hate and discriminate against you because of it, just imagine how you would feel then.

The hateful come in all different shapes and sizes; they are not just Christians, Muslims and/or any other religion for that matter, so be alert and regardless of where it’s coming from, stand up against it.

When we allow hate, condemnation and judgment to be slung around in His name and we don’t do anything about it, we are just as sinful as the ones doing it, think about that the nest time you come across something of this nature.

Remember, God wants you on your knees to pray, not to allow others to walk all over you and trample your good name and reputation in the process, so get up and do something about it.

MJM