Ranting and Raving

Four months have gone by since I was first hired at Harris Teeter, pretty much doing the same job I was doing at Publix.  I'll have to admit, I've gotten to the point where I love my job again.  Just about everywhere I worked in my life, I never really did have that feeling, at least not since my teenage years when I was teaching English in Japan.  In the Navy, I was treated absolutely horrible by my peers and superiors.  I always felt like the odd man out, and that doesn't really rest well on a person's mentality, especially since I never wanted to be IN the Navy in the first place.  Office politics and rank pulling was a big thing, and I always lost out, and I always got the short end of the stick, no matter how deserving of better treatment I was.  Post Navy it was Publix, and it had gotten to the point where I was the best worker in my department, sometimes doing the job of two or three other departments because other people couldn't handle it.  I busted my ass there for seven years, and it got me nowhere and it got me nothing.  More often than not, I felt like a day at work for me, was a complete and utter waste of time.  Like there was no purpose in what I was doing, and no matter how hard I worked.  I can honestly and truthfully say that I don't feel that way working for Harris Teeter.  I work with a good group of folks, they all pull their weight, and we work as a team for better or worse.  There has been no wasted movement, no waste of time, and everything we do every night served a purpose.  That is all I ever wanted in a job.  A good team of guys all working toward a goal.  I'm happy with what I'm doing, how I do things, and with how well I get along with my coworkers.  The stars have aligned finally, and I'm happy in life and profession because of it. 

Lately I've been outspoken about a lot of things.  I don't apologize for being so outspoken.  There are certain ways that I feel about certain things, and I'd like to think I'm the kind of person that will say things that no one else has the bravery to say.  I'll talk about how bullies are the lowest form of life on Earth, or how everyone should avoid going to Chuck E Cheese at any and all costs, to even saying that kids are evil little bastards these days because parents aren't allowed to whoop their kids' ass anymore (there are many exceptions to that, by the way).  Hey, I've had my ass whooped on occasion as a kid, and I've earned every one of them fair and square.  I'll talk about how if a fad is a fad, and it'll go away soon, because I've always been against fads or things that are deemed "cool."  I've always been against trying to be something that you're not, be it trying to be ghetto when you're the whitest person in the room, a person who follows fads and nothing but said fads, to trying to be a Barbie doll, to a bunch of various other things.  To those people I will say this:  Seek help, and lots of it.  There are a lot of things I don't like, and there's a lot of types of people that I don't like, and I don't feel bad for any of it.  I feel that most pop music is absolute garbage, no matter what era you're in.  Case in point, the only reason the Spice Girls were as big as they were in the 90's, was because some music producer in the UK wanted to prove that even the most talentless human beings on the planet can be a big hit.  And guess what?  All the teenyboppers of the time fell for it.  I don't fall for things.  I try to stick to things that have staying power, and not something that's gonna be here today, gone tomorrow.  

Bottom line:  Don't be a sheep, don't be a follower.  Be true to yourself and to others.  And have respect for yourself, and others.  It's not that hard.    

I'm a firm believer that if you ever do wrong to somebody, that you apologize to that person for doing so, and you do what you can to make amends with them.  I've done my best to do that with people I've wronged over the years, but I feel that I have not really had the same benefit from others.  From school, to the Navy, to Publix, it hasn't really happened.  I'd like for that day from MANY people to come.  Just to throw that out there. 

There are quite a few things that I am strongly for, against, or an advocate of.  For one, I am a strong advocate of our military and our veterans.  I may not agree with a few of the things they do, but I respect those who serve or have served, even if that kind of life wasn't my kind of life.  I feel that our veterans deserve a hell of a lot better treatment and job opportunities than they get these days, for I feel they're earned it by risking their asses for our freedom day in and day out.  I'm extremely against bullying, and it's something I have no tolerance for forgiveness for.  That's been well documented in my blogs so I won't divulge further into it here.  I don't feel that there is any situation that calls for a man to hit a woman, no matter what.  If you're an abuser of any kind, take a spot in the line to Hell right next to all the bullies, killers, and rapists.

I'm also a strong believer in having respect for one's religious beliefs.  Years ago, I was pining for a girl who one day I had this exact conversation with.  I said that no matter what a person's religious beliefs are, whether they're in line with yours or not, that you should respect that, and let them do their thing peacefully.  Her response?  That her religion does not believe in religious tolerance.  What was she?  Lutheran.

I'm a strong fan and advocate for professional wrestling.  People will say it's fake and this and that.  Here's some names to validate my stance though: Kurt Angle (1996 Olympic Gold Medalist)...Mark Henry (Olympic weightlifter)...Bobby Lashley (MMA fighter/pro wrestler and current TNA World Champion)...and Brock Lesnar (former UFC and current WWE World Champion).  Ask THEM how fake it is.  I'm not saying it's 100% real, cuz I know it ain't, but trust me, they're getting hurt out there. 

Of course it is inevitable that one day my wife and I will start having children, and when we do, there are some lessons that I would want to instill upon them...
   - Hard work pays off
   - Be thankful for any good deed anyone does for you
   - Have respect for others, no matter what.
   - No one is better than anybody.

I think I'll end my tirade(s) here.  Thanks for reading.
Miller