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5 Sympathies For The Devil

May 10, 2007

I’ve been meaning to branch out a little with my writing. When I found out about Problogger’s group writing contest, I saw this as an opportunity to do just that.

As I grow older, I continue to wonder how things have gotten so out of hand in our American society. I’m not talking about the war on terror or how the world has come to view this country. I’m talking about the absence of justice within its borders. Where are the values we once held so dear?

As children we had youth to blame for our ignorance. Even though we may have been vaguely aware of the issues of the day, we did so on the sidelines and left it to mom and dad to handle. Fast forward to today, some adults still hold tight to that ignorance and blame others for their shortcomings, and leave it to the courts to handle.

Many factors come into play that cause “ripples” to flow through our society. As they collide with one another, they compound the problem and turn into waves. I equate these waves to sympathies for the devil because if people weren’t so sympathetic to his wishes, the world would be a better place. Oh, they don’t see that they’re being sympathetic, but their actions have the same affect, nonetheless.

These are five things I think give him reason to look up to us and smile: :twisted:

1. Illegal immigration

That’s illegal, not immigration in general.

You want to live in my country? Okay, just…do it…legally, thanks.

It’s the soft approach (if you can call it an approach at all) that the American government has taken with illegal immigration that has encouraged a feeling of security with said immigrants. Millions of illegals and their sympathizers are marching saying they’re not criminals, why they have rights too, how they’re so mistreated.

Stop, you’re making me cry. :sad:

You are criminals (you broke the law getting here), you have no rights in our country (save for the basic human rights everyone deserves), and you have definitely not been mistreated with all the freebies you’ve been leeching off of hard-working Americans who have to pay more still to get what you get for free.

Show a little respect for yourself, for your children, and just do the right thing by going to the back of the line.

And stop expecting to have everything translated. We speak English here.

2. Unjustified justice

A woman in Florida is facing two years in prison because she had her young child stand up to a bully in school. No one was harmed, but come on! Two years? A man steals a woman’s purse and gets a lengthy sentence, but another one sells drugs to kids and gets a lesser sentence. Good grief!

The justice system has been turned upside down. Outrageous sentences for minor offenses. Mild sentences for horrendous crimes. Make the punishment fit the crime. Why is that so difficult?

3. Political correctness

Another notch in the devil’s belt is this little gem. Everyone has gotten so wound up about offending others that not only are they willing to bend over backwards and then some to accommodate them, but people are willing to jump down someone’s throat if you so much as look at them cross-eyed.

Come on! No one has a right not to be offended. It will happen and while I agree it may be painful/embarrassing/difficult at times, I can assure you it will pass and you won’t need someone to sue to see you through to the next day. Get a little tougher, please.

4. Lack of accountability

When kids get hurt, they run to their mommies. When adults get hurt, they run to their lawyers. It doesn’t matter if the adult is the one to blame in the first place. They’ve been hurt, darnit, and by golly someone’s going to pay for that!

Why? Whatever happened to just standing up and saying, “I screwed up! I shouldn’t have been blow-drying my hair while taking a shower, I know, but I was running late to work and it seemed like a good idea at the time.”

The gene that’s responsible for making us feel responsible has somehow been given a shot of novacaine. Instead of taking responsibility, we’ve chosen to pay lawyers large sums of money to distract us from doing the right thing because hey: it’s all about winning, right? I take that back. It’s about winning and making sure others lose.

5. Selfishness

Did I miss a memo somewhere along my life? You know the one that everyone else seems to be referring to. I think it goes something like this:

I, [state your name] hereby promise to follow this code of conduct. I’m going to:

  1. be the winner (and make sure you know you’re the loser)
  2. be right (even though I’m not)
  3. prove that you’re wrong (even though you may be right)
  4. gloat (your pain is my gain)
  5. ignore your needs (because if I don’t, then that means time away from me paying attention to my needs)
  6. scream the loudest (because even though I may be wrong, the squeakiest wheel gets the grease)
  7. make sure to pull you down with me (because taking blame is a heavy load to bear and I need your help carrying it)
  8. call you names and make you look bad (which will somehow make me look good)
  9. count my money and count/spend yours for you
  10. I’m tired of waiting for what I want so I’ve decided I’m entitled to it, therefore you should give it to me because it now sounds more important

Seriously, does any of this sound familiar? Surely it must be obvious to even the most casual observer that something’s not right with the way things are today.

It has been said that “the devil is in the details.” Well, there are a lot of details he’s been in lately. And as long as people continue to give in to his interests, continue to take the easy way or runaway from responsibility instead of facing the challenge head-on, we’re only encouraging him and things won’t get any better.

I welcome your comments.

[tags]politics,illegal immigration,justice,injustice,entitlement,politically correct,selfishness,accountability[/tags]

Popularity: 56% [?]

Written by Mark Sierra · Filed Under Blogging, Enough Already, Tips 

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51 Responses to “5 Sympathies For The Devil”

  1. Blog About Your Blog on November 30th, 1999 12:00 am

    m going to add to that: posts that I was hoping for more comments based on my hope that they would generate more discussion. One such post was a recent one I made for ProBlogger’s writing contest: 5 Sympathies For The Devil. It did receive a few comments from some of my regulars (cool, I can actually say that I have regulars on my blog!), it was actually more successful with the trackbacks — very successful. The reason for that kind of popularity is because quite a few

  2. Rajaram Sethuraman's Home Page on May 10th, 2007 3:59 am

    by LaymanSc 624. Alguns títulos longos by Alexandre 625. Top 5 Ways To Get Your Baby To Fall Asleep by Moxie (of Ask Moxie) 626. How I look at life now that I am half a century old by Christina Kong 627. 5 Sympathies For The Devil by msierra 628. 5 Great Sites for Landscaping How To Videos by Paul Sayer 629. Five things to remember when you adopt an older child. by Joanne 630. The Top 5 List of Top 5 Lists on Blogging by Cristian

  3. Mike on May 10th, 2007 8:28 am

    Where were you with this article earlier this morning, Mark? :lol: This surely would have been the link I’d have chosen for the Link Love :P

    BTW, a big Amen to number one.

  4. Bloggst - Community and Resources for Bloggers on May 10th, 2007 1:30 pm

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  8. alicia on May 11th, 2007 10:07 am

    Amen for #3. And, thanks to my not really putting too much stock into political correctness, I feel so free to say “amen.” Heh. :cool:

  9. Mark on May 11th, 2007 10:20 am

    Hehe…Hi Alicia,

    And though it may be early in the year, let me be the first to wish you a Merry Christmas! :lol:

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  41. mary Ann on May 19th, 2007 5:13 pm

    :roll: You must have amazing parents to have imparted such wisdom. I find your views very straightforward and blunt( must be from your mom) :lol:

  42. Mark on May 19th, 2007 7:28 pm

    Hi Mary Ann, thanks so much for your kind words. Yes, my mom wasn’t one to sit back and let others walk over her.

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