Bite life.

Change

This tumblr hasn’t been used the way I want it to be used in a long time. I used to try and make this about things I am passionate about… things that get my gourd, if you catch my drift. Lately, if used at all, it has shown nothing but silly pictures (which is fine, I guess). 

But something kicked me in the proverbial balls tonight. I have been watching the “Occupy Wall Street” reports from the sidelines; spectating at a distance. I am usually never one to rattle the cage because frankly, it’s not my personality. I usually see protesting as something people do when they want change but want other people to do it. But this movement is different.

While it initially got press because of the negative aspects (police brutality, etc), this fight had some backbone to it. The people out there were there because everything they were fighting against was directly affecting them. They were fighting for health insurance, deduction in school costs, better/more jobs, lowered payments, reasonable policies involving the taxes and what they were being used for. The “other 99%”, which I am a member of, are sick of being poor, sick of not having the means to be healthy, sick of sacrificing education because of costs, sick of being so far in debt that they don’t see the light at the end of the tunnel.

I am an independent student with school loans in my name and my name alone.
I have no health insurance.
I have a ridiculously low paying job only narrowly in my field of study.
I have bad credit due to policies that have kept me in the red. 
I am the other 99%.

And that single fact right there, that 99% of the country is screaming out and they are all saying the same thing, is what kicked me on my ass tonight. Every single person I know, regardless of age, creed, country of origin, location… all of them have something similar to say.

“I have credit card debt up to my ears”.

“I have school loans that will take me years to get rid of”.

“I can’t find work in my field”.

“I can’t afford to get sick”.

“I’m working in a job that barely pays for my cost of living, let alone any of the debt I hold”. 

It’s disgusting that people, me included, are having to choose between medical care and eating. School or shelter. Food or gas.

I will not claim to have the solution, or even the most educated guess as where to start fixing this. I just want to start something, anything that gets the discussion going. What are the issues? Where are they stemming from? Why is it remaining this way? What can be done to fix the underlying problems?
I’m reaching out to my peers, my fellow Americans swimming in the sea of the Other 99%.

Where do we start?

I’m lost. I truly am.

I don’t want a hand out, I don’t want the school loan, credit card, or national debt erased (which would be a complete and utter disaster if done). I just want something to begin that leads towards a change in method, policy, and regulation on how people are taxed, how people are charged for their education and what is being done with the money that is being given to the government.

We as a people, a total collective of individuals; rich and poor alike, need to find some middle ground. We can fling the proverbial shit and create a smear campaign and name call all we want, but if we are going to get anywhere, 100% of the population is going to have to swallow their pride and think about what is going to be a good move for the whole country. 

Because I don’t know if you all have noticed, but this name-calling that has started the ball rolling? It isn’t the “fix—it-all” move that we need to start actual change. Consider it the spark in the powder keg. You can spark a flint all you want, but if you have no fuel to keep the fire going (aka like-minded individuals that want to think and work towards a better future), the spark is going to be gone in an instant with nothing to show for it.

I’m done just listening. I’m done spectating. 
Consider this my first outcry for change.