My Manifesto
March 16th, 2000Its about time I used this page for something more then just evil. It’s time I came out and said what it’s all about. Or maybe I could just ramble some more.
The other day on the way to work I was listening to Howard Stern and realized a peculiar thing about myself. I was laughing hysterically at something that would have irked me in college. Years ago I found his deejay antics as repugnant as three-day-old underwear. I thought he was a mean jerk who hated women. For the most part, that’s still true, but now I listen to him almost everyday with bated ears. I think he’s outrageous, funny, and entertaining and even though his show usually ends around noon I could easily listen to him long into the day when I’m supposed to be doing work.
I guess at some point I lost something in the ideals I once held as sacred. Or I pulled a 180 and just changed completely.
Did I change? I don’t know. But I think I know a way I can find out. To see if I’m really evolving (or devolving) from the person I once was I decided to start a manifesto on this page, a statement of beliefs which will gauge my “progress” in the years to come, for better or worse. Like a diary in a time capsule only more boring.
Humor me. You’ve been an unwilling slave to my haphazard ramblings here before. You may as well know what I really believe in. Here goes…
- I believe in really hot showers
- I believe in learning from our elders
- I believe people are inherently trustworthy until they prove otherwise
- I believe the best decisions are made for the benefit of the self and for other people
- I believe the worst decisions are made for the self
- I believe that status quo thinking must be challenged
- I believe that a certain amount of hypocrisy needs to exist for status quo thinking to be challenged
- I believe in hope and that our children will find a way
- I believe in destiny
- I believe in mysteries
- I believe we could all be more empathetic towards each other
- I believe my cat misses me when I’m away at work
- I believe yesterday and today are intertwined
- I believe tomorrow is a clean slate (yeah, I know what I said about destiny)
- I believe my ideas always look worse in hindsight
- I believe in flawless execution
- I believe that nothing is impossible
- I believe we were born to grow from one another
- I believe technology is a tool and a tool only
- I believe the dominant days of Microsoft and Windows are numbered
- I believe that pro wrestling is homo erotic
- I believe artists hold the keys to our spirits
- I believe that we all live in denial of something
- I believe that Scully and Mulder will hook up and no one will give a damn (lost interest a long time ago)
- I believe that more power abusing less power is a time for less power to fight back
- I believe that a two party election system cannot accurately represent a society of 275 million
- I believe in free speech
- I believe watching someone win a million dollars is a joyous occasion
- I believe winning a million dollars would be even better
- I believe that greed is ugly
- I believe in laughter and going to the movies
- I believe I could listen much, much, much better
- I believe in intimacy
- I believe in sensory experiences
- I believe MTV’s Spring Break is more degrading to women than most porn
- I believe we have all contributed to the earth’s destruction
- I believe they should have made a sequel to “Running Scared”
- I believe in choice
- I believe in abstinence
- I believe in forgiveness
- I believe in dependency and coexistence in harmony
- I believe in independence and knowing when to challenge authority
- I believe in the freedom to make your own mistakes
- I believe Ponch and John left an indelible mark on my 80’s psyche
- I believe in a multitude of things that haven’t really changed from the time I began critically thinking about the world
- I believe that these things will all hold true until I’m a tired old fart.
Well, I guess we’ll see.