Our country is headed in the wrong direction and it's time to stop placing blame exclusively on elected officials, Hollywood, the media and people with whom we disagree. It's time to stop pointing fingers and take a good, hard look in the mirror. It's time to take that first step and acknowledge our own culpability in the fact that our society, as a whole, is in the wrong paradigm. We wage war on everything we deem dangerous, immoral or generally disagreeable, yet rarely offer meaningful support for any actual solutions to the problems we're so passionately combating. While it's true Americans donate more money to charity than any other country, we less often show up and lend a hand, despite the fact that the majority of us think throwing money at problems rarely solve them, e.g. bailouts, stimulus, etc. It is scary to think we care more about Jersey Shore, what Meghan McCain wrote or Sarah Palin said than we do about the family down the street struggling to afford groceries. All the while we tell ourselves the country has come a long way since the intolerant eras before us. After all, most of us do not see color as vividly as we did 50 years ago- that is, unless it's red or blue. It's not uncommon for people driving cars with bumper stickers to become fair game for all sorts of mockery. A lot of us spend more time online than we do with our kids. As you very well know, this quasi list could go on for twenty pages. And what, we're seriously buying that this is all Hollywood's fault? The government, is it? The soulless corporations? Maybe the rich, the godless or the morally deficient whippersnappers? The right-wing wackos? The Islamic extremists? The birthers? The truthers? The libtard hippies? All of the above? Even though we can't agree on whose fault it is, we all seem to know whose fault it's not: our own. Goodness, the harmless mockery we spew is all in good fun, anyone who can't take a joke should just get thicker skin. Besides, a little good ole fashioned joking around never hurt anyone, right?

ENOUGH. Enough, enough, enough! Boy, that's a weird word once you read it three times, isn't it? Kind of like fork and sprawling. Fork sprawling fork sprawling...wait, where was I? ...oh!! ENOUGH!

It's NOT THEM. It's ME. It's YOU. Yes, you. Sitting right there in front of the screen, graciously reading this blog (thank you kindly) and likely rolling your eyes while moving your mouse closer and closer to that little red X. But isn't it true? Are we not fiercely driven by the negative catalyst to the negative conclusion all in hopes of achieving a positive end? Because that's just good sense if I've ever heard it.
Yes, it is time to realize we are in the wrong paradigm and we must end the cycle of hate, blame and war. If I haven't lost you already, here's where I lose most of the rest, if not all: The time has come to choose love. Not on a grand scale, but on an effective one-YOU. The family is the building block of the country. Our families are falling apart, therefore our country is falling apart. Take the family back, you'll take the country back. Take your family back with love. It starts with you.