obama urges us to cry over spilled milk...

Ok, I've sat through many a State of the Union. I'm sure the whole 'who claps and who doesn't' thing has been talked to death. But watching tonight, in this time of extreme partisanship, I couldn't help but look at this phenomenon once again. It makes me wonder if there's some memo that goes out the night before:

Hey Repubs,
This is your reminder to remain seated at all times. Please also keep your hands from colliding and producing any noise.
Love,
Your Fellow Right-ies

Or maybe they're wearing ear buds like on reality TV, so they can get approval to celebrate certain presidential points. For example, when Obama mentioned appreciating the "men and women in uniform," everyone stood up. Because, you'd be kind of an asshole if you didn't, right?
But the Right Wingers did remain seated for several issues that maaaybe they should have thought more about. I kept a little list tonight, and they stayed seated and pouting regarding:
--equal pay for women
--developing alternative energy
--preventing insider trading
--preventing the importing of dangerous goods to the US
--reducing the outsourcing of could-be American jobs

Do they actually want us to believe they are against the issues they aren't applauding? Because if we hadn't seen this over and over, it would seem to send that message loud and clear...
So, really, every woman in the room? You're against equal pay? I feel like any woman that intentionally didn't applaud for that should be ashamed.
I know, I know... It's politics. It just makes me sick to think people would rather stick to their side than remain on the side of equality and community that this country was built on.

When I went to South Africa in college, we were there on Human Rights Day. (I actually just found out this also exists worldwide.) But S.A. has their own Human Rights Day, and I remember thinking two things:
1) What a wonderful holiday.
2) Shouldn't EVERY day be human rights day?

I watched "The Help" last week, and it made me feel so... small. Moved, but small. It makes me sad that though the movie could be classified as historical, we maybe haven't come so far after all. And then I feel guilty. And then I feel helpless. So, the movie (and life) teaches us we should all do everything we can--like our heroin does (not gonna say more and spoil). But seeing the end of the movie and looking at the current state of the world seems to send the message that trying to take a stand is fruitless. Of course I'm way too much of an optimist to believe that. I just feel so stuck sometimes. I want so much to live in a different kind of world. I want so much to help.
Simultaneously, I feel like I'd need money and power to even make a dent and also like every smile and every meal can change a life.
If admitting you have a problem is the first step to recovery, maybe admitting you care is the first step to action? I'm not sure where I'm going here. I just feel like on the subject of partisanship, there's an even bigger divide in our country between people who care and people who don't. People are so quick to use the word socialist as a 'danger' word. But what if, just what if the main priority of everyone on this planet was to make sure that everyone had food, shelter, safety, and freedom.
What if everyone had a fighting chance?
What if everyone gave a damn?
I've had conversations with someone I know about the environment. He likes to interject our conversations on this subject I'm pretty passionate about with things like, "I won't be here a hundred years from now, so it's not my problem."
To each their own passion. Lately, I'm just really sick of apathy. And inaction. So I suppose I've gotta call myself to action here, too. On New Years, Badass asked me if I had any resolutions... I've been working on a separate post on that subject. But I guess I better add a plan for what I'll do to help this year. Because I just have to do something and believe that it has the potential strength of that old butterfly flapping away.

My favorite Barack line tonight was, "Tyranny is no match for liberty." I think he's said this before. Either way, I sure hope we can keep that ringing true, buddy Prez. I sure. hope. so.

Both sides now...

Perseverance. It's a trait that's easy to preach and sometimes difficult to follow. And I'm learning lately that while it is meant to be used steadily, it is sometimes also best used selectively.
Career perseverance I believe in more now than ever. Last month, after probably my fifteenth audition for the same company, I believe my exact words were, "There has never in history been a theatre company so uninterested in an actress as they are in me." Then last week, I went back... of course. And as I type this, my contract is floating through the mail. That's the thing about this business I'm in--no means, 'not this time.' We train ourselves never to hear an actual 'no.' And we continue on.
But then there is life. I'm so used to persevering, I tell myself 'no,' but I keep going. Then one day I wake up in a place I've only dreamed of. And when I look down at the over-sized t-shirt I'm wearing, I remember I'm just a paper doll. It's a very pretty picture, but it's just a painting on a wall of the house I wanted to bid on. What's that expression about putting lipstick on a pig? Life shouldn't be a bacony animal... We silly humans try to make things that just... aren't. We silly, silly humans push ahead instead of waiting for the right time... Then we force ourselves to look in the mirror, unfold the tabs of paper, and we realize... this is life... And life is about patience. And learning. And taking our own advice. And standing firmly in who we are. And sometimes growing.
All of these things take a whole lot of perseverance, but when business hours are over, we must remember to stir in some patience and let our lives flow. At least that's the advice I'm encouraging myself to follow these days...