I was thinking...

It's been a long time since this was first brought up, but I can't stop myself from bubbling it back up to the frothy surface of my resolve: you truly do mean to say, "I could care less." First of all, when you say you couldn't care less, you're a lying liar. If you couldn't care less, you wouldn't bring the thing up in the first place. And, if you're merely responding to a topic in a conversation, then you needn't waste so many words! If you "...couldn't care less," then just say, "I don't care." It means the same thing, and is so much more effective in the throes of a conversation. If you could care less, however, then perhaps you deserve to pat yourself on the back. Seriously. Some people are so apathetic, but you--you, who could care less--still manage to find it deep within your humanity to care. Your sympathy/empathy isn't a dead, lifeless string of once caring. So, congratulations are in order! ...

Fat Camp Dear Mom and Dad, Camp is fun. They don’t make me swim or run. They tell me I can walk if I’m not ready to swim or run, so that’s pretty cool. They don’t always let us eat candy and stuff, but when we work really hard we get candy from the counselor that’s in charge. They call it cheat food. It’s way funny when one of the other guys gets to cheat, because they always throw up after the next activity! We always laugh because it’s hilarious. And they don’t usually give us chocolate or anything because it melts too fast. They do give us a lot of granola bars and pop tarts and stuff, though, so it’s still worth it. Sorry if you’ve been waiting for a letter all summer. I guess they don’t want us to use too much paper or talk to anyone outside of camp very much. It’s not that we can’t talk to anyone, they just don’t like it. They’re nice about it, but you can tell they aren’t okay with it. We had a couple of bands come up and play some live music for us so for ou...

One of the greatest secrets about social media is this: you don't have to care. There are plenty of people who post things which are, at best, divisive. There are plenty of news organizations which will sensationalize any and everything to get your attention. There's a slew of spam spreading misinformation, using colorful language to draw the eye from boring details like legitimate references . Some of what is posted is true, some of it isn't.  Is all of this painfully obvious enough? It should be, if you've been using social media for more than 72 hours. When you see something on your news feed which conflicts with your views, then why would you let it own you? Why allow it to creep into your emotions, spreading like ink spilled into a water-balloon? Remember, always, that you don't have to care. With the droves of issues surrounding your immediate community, possibly even in your own family, why pay so much attention to everything over which you ...

I know I'm certainly at fault for doing this: you're around a group of people and you all start talking and sharing life experiences. Then, the conversation slowly eases into a competition of who has transgressed the most against the common moral standards of the entire group. This is not a terrible thing. If you consider that someone who has lived through various experiences knows the pitfalls of certain behavior, then this person's anecdotes of worldly dealings can help the group, at large, agree that damaging behavior has too many drawbacks. However, there are those who try to one-up everyone, wearing their "sins" like badges, as though that gives them the edge over everyone else in the group. This is where the two camps, regardless of moral standards, begin to fork on the conversational path. The people who have actually learned from damaging behavior and have become wise through those experiences tend to be quiet and reflective. Those who believe their acti...

Love is a broad concept. Don't get me wrong, it's great to know that there are couples in our nation who can finally get a marriage license and qualify for the financial benefits of marriage. And I don't question the validity or sincerity of the feelings of each couple who enters the bonds of marriage. However, calling attention to a single, relatively minor issue and claiming that "Love wins" is not only untrue, but intensely insensitive. If love truly had won, then where are the children and teachers who were gunned down by the neglected mentally-ill, with uninhibited access to firearms? Where are black young men and police officers who have paid the ultimate price because of racial bias and unfair retaliation? Where is the peace between religious sects, their opponents and their dissenters? Where are the fair wages for those who need them and those who work hard enough to earn them? Where is the financial equality for women, and where is t...