Put down the first stone...(and pass the potato salad)

So here's a pet peeve:

I just saw another person use the term

"That's Stupid, why didn't they just give the money to a homeless shelter or the poor"

No I am not going to go into the sentiment, it is a good sentiment and I agree that more should be done for the disadvantaged.  I also wish that the world was much simpler and that a simple act like that could be thought to actually have a cumulative positive effect but it isn't and it doesn't.

I have heard this term used in conjunction with everything from the kickstarter projects to make potato salad to the space program. Now I like potato salad, a lot in fact, and contributing to something like that is pretty silly...but some might think it fun and then they are totally within their right to do it.

WITHOUT JUDGEMENT.

In fact until you can prove to me that you have NEVER gone to a movie, bought a record, painted a room in your house (materials cost you know) or made a meal that did more for you than just supply your daily nutrient requirements you should SHUT THE F**K UP.

We all live in a constant state of, well, simply living.  In that state we don't hurt but we aren't ecstatic either, we are just existing.  If that was all there was in the world we might all very well go mad, that is where "state changers" come in.  State changers are those little things that make us feel, even if ever for so transient a moment, better.

Now for the sake of my point I am not going to go into those in society for whom state changers involve hurting other people, no matter how much FOX NEWS or  THE INTERNET tells you children those people are in the minority. Trust me, the majority of people in this world are pretty good nice people.  They work hard and they raise their kids and yes, the on occasion give to charity when they can.  Those good people are ENTITLED to doing something silly every now and again...for fun.

Which brings me to the second part of this, the space program.  Too many times have I heard pundits attack programs or ideas that have purely scientific or intangible goals because "there are still hungry kids in South Philly".  Having recently driven through Philadelphia I can understand their concerns, if they were real, but usually they are not.

After the Apollo 1 tragedy George McGovern, a man I have to admit having voted for, attempted to use this argument as an excuse to shut down NASA and the space program.  He wasn't the first and he won't be the last to attempt that, but it must be understood that he did it for a specific a reason, a reason all too rampant today.  He did it to manipulate the public for PERSONAL GAIN.

I am not saying he didn't in some part of him believe that shutting down a program that had no direct benefit for his constituents in favor of a tawdry concept meant to tug at the American Puritanical hearts and thus possibly gain him votes from those directly OUTSIDE his constituency.  Then again maybe I am, hell it worked on me but then again I would have sooner chewed off my arm then vote for NIXON.

In that case it didn't work, we still went to the moon...but we never made it to Apollo 20.  There are still 3 surviving Saturn Vs languishing in the dust because there were "homeless people". The evil moon program got shut down, and guess what?

There are still homeless and hungry people.  It's just that they live in a world that hasn't actually learned to navigate the solar system yet, that still has yet to bring back resources from the asteroid belt or the outer planets to make our lives here on Earth a little better.

Is my view of what our race might have gained a bit "rose colored glasses" about the space program, perhaps.  We will never know though, because of lost time and opportunities, because the advancement of our culture has been cut short because of (unspecified) kids in (unspecified) cities.

It can also be said that making sure that no one goes hungry or homeless, not just in our country but anywhere else in the world, THAT would be real advancement of our culture.  That would mean the advancement of us all to a higher moral level and that would be TRUE advancement and I would agree.

The trouble is though until we actually stop listening to people who judge and people who manipulate for personal gain, until we actually all stop JUDGING and go back to giving a damn about other people and situations and their kids that is not going to happen.

So I will repeat myself, until you assume the mantle of a friar and give away all your worldly goods to the poor and forsake everything you enjoy in favor of tending to their wounds SHUT THE F**K UP.

...oh and pass the potato salad.