★ ★ ★ Happy ★ Fourth ★ of ★ July ★ ★ ★

I have a few topics to cover today, so this post will do some multitasking. WARNING! Some of the content may be offensive to Metal Heads and Nationalists (fanatical patriots).

Day 12 – A Song From a Band I Hate

Again, trying to choose one particular band I hate is worse than trying to pick a favorite. All I can really do is randomly pick a band from the type of music I dislike and randomly pick one of their songs. I came up with “A Touch of Evil” by Judas Priest.

If I have to explain the reasons for my not liking either the band or the song, you haven’t been reading my blog. Shame on you! You need to go back and catch up.

The Fourth and Patriotism

I haven’t really celebrated the Fourth in a long time. That is mostly due to my circumstances. In the future, I hope to be running shows or having BBQ’s or taking part in parades.

Personally, I am not as patriotic as I was as a child. Being patriotic is alright, but I see a lot of nationalism, which is worse. I don’t think nationalism is healthy. In many ways it is like religion – people take a lot on blind faith, they get fanatical.

It is nothing but chance that anyone is born in a particular country, and to think that your country is that much better than any other does nothing more than separate you from the rest of the world. It’s the same as thinking that your race, religion or looks make you better than someone else. It’s human nature, so it is understandable to feel that way, but acting on it is not the right thing to do.

I am proud of the United States for the good it does, and I think is could be a great country, but given the past decade politically, I do not feel as proud as I once did.

And yes, for those of you who get all offended and say silly things, I have thought about moving to another country. Not because you are offended by me, but because of the possible opportunities. Plus, to intimidate someone into leaving the country because of their opinion, to me, is un American. After all, we’re supposed to have the freedom to state our views no matter what.

There is as much opportunity and freedom in most of the developed world today as there is in the U.S. To deny that is the same as denying global warming or evolution. It’s just the way it is whether you want to see it or not.

I’ll stay in the U.S., but I’ll point out its problems and try to fix them, instead of just saying it’s the best country and waving a flag. If you complain about the Government remember this – you are the Government. The United States is ruled by the people. If it has problems – war, high taxes, a bad health care system, a broken educational system, etc. – it is our fault, because we are the rulers.

Our problems won’t be fixed until we unite and fix them. The more we divide ourselves into red vs blue, Texan vs New Jersey vs Hawaii, Christian vs Atheist vs Muslim, etc., native born vs immigrant… the worse it’s going to get. The people who believe they are in power will stay in power and you will just deal with it.

I’m a Published Playwright (Kinda)

I put my first play up for sale on the Theatre-for-Children.info website yesterday. I hope it’s the beginning of a new sourse of income and that it will be useful and fun for some non-profit theatre groups.

The script is titled “The Elf With the Weird Name” and is an audience participation one act. I actually wrote the original version just after I worked at Sesame Place. It was inspired by the Circle Players there.

Does this mean I’m a published playwright now? Or does that happen when the first person buys the script? Or does it count at all since I’m self publishing? Does it matter? I should write a play about it.