Reply #50: sad to say, I pretty much have to agree with you . . .

[OneBlueSky]

image is everything in this country . . . most people don't think -- they just do/buy/become what the media tells them to . . .

spending their evenings watching the crime dramas that populate half of the prime time network schedules -- and listening to their "leaders" -- they live in a state of perpetual fear, sure that the world is a dangerous place, that people who are different from them are threats, that there are criminals everywhere looking to steal their property, rape their children, and/or kill their parents . . .

I spend most of my time these days in the company of my dogs rather than with people . . . as my spiritual advisors, they've taught me about living in the moment, about unconditional love, about forgiveness -- and they don't give a shit about their images . . . no one tells them what to do, or what to buy, or who to be . . . they are simply who they are, who they were meant to be . . . dogs . . .

I wish others could spend some time with my dogs -- or with any dogs, for that matter . . . if they paid attention, they might learn who THEY are, who THEY were meant to be . . . humans . . .