1.18.2006 ||> Other signs he's not that into you
Gleaned from many conversations with many other girls. If a guy (or girl) says this to you, it's time to get out now.
"Sorry to fuck and run."
"Don't expect flowers too often."
"Maybe you're just not ready for an orgasm."
"Just in case you blacked out I wanted you to know that we had sex last night."
"Well, you're a little frigid."
"I'm only living with them because they're giving me drugs. I really love you."
And just to be clear: not all of these things were said to me. But they were said. I just figured it's time to start making a tally of stupid shit people say.
To two people that made the United States what it is today: Martin Luther King, Jr. and Ben Franklin. Walking around in Philadelphia yesterday, I was overcome with the sense of what America was intended to be, and how far we've strayed. Dr. King tried to get us back on track and his life was tragically cut short because of his work. Tomorrow Ben Franklin turns 300 years old and his legacy will never be forgotten for as long as we have our Constitution.
So, in honor of Dr. King
"There is a power in love that our world has not discovered yet. Jesus discovered it centuries ago. Mahatma Gandhi of India discovered it a few years ago, but most men and most women never discover it. For they believe in hitting for spare hitting; they believe in an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth; they believe in hating for hating; but Jesus comes to us and says, "This isn't the way"...
History unfortunately leaves some people oppressed and some people oppressors. And there are three ways that individuals who are oppressed can deal with their oppression. One of them is to rise up against their oppressors with physical violence and corroding hatred. But oh this isn't the way. For the danger and the weakness of this method is its futility. Violence creates many more social problems than it solves... Violence isn't the way.
Another way is to acquiesce and to give in, to resign yourself to the oppression. Some people do that. They discover the difficulties of the wilderness moving into the promised land, and they would rather go back to the despots of Egypt because it's difficult to get in the promised land. And so they resign themselves to the fate of oppression; they somehow acquiesce to this thing. But that too isn't the way because non-cooperation with evil is as much a moral obligation as is cooperation with good.
But there is another way... We must discover the power of love, the power, the redemptive power of love. And when we discover that we will be able to make of this old world a new world. We will be able to make men better. Love is the only way."
And in honor of Mr. Franklin:
"In these sentiments, Sir, I agree to this Constitution with all its faults, if they are such; because I think a general Government necessary for us, and there is no form of Government but what may be a blessing to the people if well administered, and believe farther that this is likely to be well administered for a course of years, and can only end in Despotism, as other forms have done before it, when the people shall become so corrupted as to need despotic Government, being incapable of any other.
I doubt too whether any other Convention we can obtain, may be able to make a better Constitution. For when you assemble a number of men to have the advantage of their joint wisdom, you inevitably assemble with those men, all their prejudices, their passions, their errors of opinion, their local interests, and their selfish views. From such an assembly can a perfect production be expected? It therefore astonishes me, Sir, to find this system approaching so near to perfection as it does; and I think it will astonish our enemies, who are waiting with confidence to hear that our councils are confounded like those of the Builders of Babel; and that our States are on the point of separation, only to meet hereafter for the purpose of cutting one another's throats."
When you read these today, please spare a thought for what you want for our country. Or if the US isn't your country, let us know how you would like us to be.
