I want you to want me

 As people we are all looking for the same basic thing in order to get by in life. We need to be needed, to be accepted, to be wanted so we tend to group with people who share a set of attitudes, values, goals, and practices. We become a cultivation of people all working and practicing to achieve them.

The difference? Location, Religion, and all those other things that politics finds important. 

I love Europe, it's beautiful. The food is just...*drools* and the people, the people are happy. They don't own as much stuff, they don't pile on excessive work loads, and they know how to relax how to have time for themselves. I was walking around the south of Italy one day, looking for a place to eat. and everything was closed. So I peer into a window, there on the floor people are napping. Siesta. Why? Because work is tiring, it drains you, it's stressful and if we let it, it will get the best of you. 

In France I walked into a house that was pretty empty, there was a couch, a couple bookshelves lining the walls (with beautiful antique books) and some paintings. No TV's, no electronics. When I asked why they simply smiled and walked me to their backyard. It was breathtaking. Lines of vegetables and fruits. Wooden swings and this beautiful brown fire pit. They told me that a home was for two things, sleeping and cooking, but the rest they did outside, they enjoyed the beauty of earth. 

And here I am sitting on my $2000 Mac, in my bedroom, my TV is right next to me, my iPhone is on my lap. I have a Nook piled up on top of my overfilled bookshelf and a camera is charging on my windowsill and this is just my bedroom.

When I travel I look at the smiling faces and I always wonder, am I ever that happy or am I just consumed by all the little things in my life. I am envious of their culture and yet we have so much in common. We are all looking for something to make us happy, someone to love us (whether it be a friend or a lover). We all smile and cry. Take away the skin, the eyes, the hair and you see bones, muscle, arteries, a beating heart. 

So we stick with the people that we were brought up to stick with by society and we form groups, cultures and yet we are all the same. Funny how that works isn't it?

Yes or No

Have you ever noticed that life is a series of questions? I know, that was deep, I felt the goosebumps too, don't worry you're not alone.
Seriously though, it seems everywhere you turn you're asked to sign something, agree to something, choose one thing over the other. Doctors ask you questions, teachers ask you questions. Your dates! Your dates basically consist of questions...and nudity...but mainly questions.
Sometime I wonder if anybody is even bothering to read what I'm taking the time to fill out. So here is a survey, a questionnaires if you will. And I promise I'll read it :)

On Grey's Anatomy I support
-Owen and Cristina
-Alex and Izzie
-Mark and Callie
-Callie and Arizona
-Mark and Lexie
-Meredith and Derek
-Other (Please put your favorite)
*Choose one and answer in the box below.

Now wasn't that fun? But did I learn anything about YOU as a person or did you just become a number in the survey.
Surveys are like that, they are after one basic thing, they don't care if you've been watching the show since 2005 and you've changed your favorite couples ten times. They want to know what you like now, they want to know quick and then they leave you alone.
Interviews on the other hand, interviews get to know the real you. People who care about really (and I mean really) getting to the heart of the topic, they'll ask to interview you, they'll ask why Cristina and Owen are you're favorite, they'll ask which couple is your least favorite; they might even bring up your parents relationships, and your relationships, that way they know every thought that went through your head when you decided that Mark and Callie were perfect for each other.
Telemarketers are pros at surveys, they ask you a simple question: Sir/Mam, could I interest you in a [insert useless product or service here]? Personally I usually pick up and hang up before they can say anything, or if I'm in a really cranky mood I'll yell...and I'll yell loud. If I'm feeling funny I'll pick up and answer in an accent, pretending to be my own housekeeper. I know it's "wrong" but I spend my day answering so many questions that I really don't need someone calling my house asking me if I am happy with my current television network. If I wasn't happy, I would do something about it. Would it be different if they started with 'Hi, my name is [Sarah/Beth/John/Bob] and I'm calling to get to know what you think about [Insert Television show], Oh you don't get the channel that plays that show? Well let me tell you about [insert Dish Network, Comcast, blah blah blah].'
I'd like to think I'd put my accent away and listen, but knowing me, I'd probably just end up slamming the phone in its stand.

Freaks and Geeks

Before I start, can I just say how cute he grew up? (Gotta have love for Dr. Sweets)

Hehe...Where was I?
Oh right, conflict perspective. The conflict perspective is a view of society that posits conflict as a normal feature of social life. According to its adherents, conflict influences the distribution of power and the direction and magnitude of social change.

So basically bullies bully to climb up the power chain. 

Bully

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Bullied

Freaks and geeks; the nerds (shown as upper class) get picked on by the seemingly lower class bullies, druggies, 'freaks'. Isn't that the way it's always been? The weak get picked on by the stronger, tougher, bigger kids; the ones that seem to have all the power?
Now which one are you? Don't say anything...close your eyes, picture a small and defenseless kid. Are you his friend? Or are you stuffing him into locker 213? Keep your eyes closed. There is a big kid standing in front of you, huge. They're snarling. Are you the weak and defenseless one getting shoved in a locker? Or are you even bigger than that kid? Can you take them on?
Are either of these positions you want to be in? Either the weak or the bully?
Don't sit their shaking your head at your computer screen, don't pretend you never said anything behind someone's back, or took a path that you knew would help put you on top. Being on top is where we all want to be. It's what we should be aiming for, but people do get hurt in the process. If you snicker at the girl with the mismatching socks, or avoid the hallways you know the guy with tattoos, who chain smokes takes then you are acknowledging that the way we see people, and the way we group them in society makes us links in the chain for power.
So are you a bully? a nerd? a jock? a freak? a geek? Are you just another link on the chain?