TENT CITY HALL

Crap, what's going on is what runs through my head. I just want to get to Staples and take care of my business. Rounding South Broad St. coming towards me appears a few bicycle policemen being followed by about 1,000 people with homemade signs with big smiles on their faces. My next thought was these people seem pretty happy for being so angry. I whip out my crappy phone and start taking pictures and a video. I get the universal hand gesture for "Come with us!". I told one person I was an amateur journalist here to document from an objective POV and that I would inform the people on my Blog of what I observe. Little do they know that my Blog consists of less followers than the people sitting in the Starbucks I'm in right now.

I digress. Ok, I know I'm wordy and get off topic. Here's the cliff notes...I go to Staples, I get business cards printed for my girlfriend (Surprise!). I finish with the business card business and saunter over to City Hall to find Tent City.

There wasn't a feeling of solidarity, revolution, indifference or even mild anger or sadness. It was a feeling that a lot of these people had nothing else to do. I was mildly disappointed in their lack of organization. Okay, a lot of these people have had a tough time. I've had a tough time. A lot of people I love and know and respect are having a tough time. It's called life. Right now, things aren't easy for just about everyone. I agree some things need to change. I disagree that camping in front of City Hall is going to do it. Why not the Philadelphia Financial Exchange? Why not the Bank of America branch in Center City? These people are organized enough to get a permit and march during a very disruptive time. Why aren't they organized enough to put together a plan of action? I may be getting old, or seasoned or have become much more conservative in my 30's, but sleeping on the street with a sign outside City Hall arguing with the other people sleeping on the street makes you look homeless, not like a Revolutionary.

True revolutionaries built this country. They never claimed to be revolutionaries. They were tired enough to pick up and move to the other side of the planet to a new world that is uncultivated and build a nation and take over the world's largest superpower of that time by utilizing military strategies that were unheard of. That's revolutionary. What happened in the 60's when DC was marched upon? Mostly lots of crappy drugs, new venereal diseases were spread and a few guys got their point across enough to be called poets.

Instead of fighting against a $5 charge from Bank of America and yelling to other angry people about different unstructured agendas, let's take a look at Iceland right now. Whuuuuuh? WTF does Iceland have to do with this? The citizens are re-writing their own Constitution. They are taking their country back and are showing true patriotism.

Or let's take a look at another part of the world where things are much worse than here. Greece. Whuuuuh? Yeah, shit's hitting the fan over there big time.

As Americans, we've had our heads up our own asses for a very long time. Not as individuals, but as a nation when it comes to finances and foreign policy. Stripping the US Federal Government to the core and building it from scratch isn't going to solve anything. Organizing ourselves as a nation of solidified people and standing together on policies that are researched and constructively deemed forward moving for the people as a whole and sticking by a finely structured plan of action, while being able to adjust and make decisions built on these policies is possibly the answer. Will it happen? No. There is too much at stake for too many people and fear and complacency are what rule these days. Free information hasn't made us smarter. It's made us lazier. It's sucked the life out of our economy because none of us want to pay for what anything is worth.

Complacency and a sense of entitlement are two of my biggest grudges with the current generations of people in this country. I see it every day. We are not entitled to shit. Our forefathers worked, killed and died for what we have today. Our fathers worked, killed and died for what we'll have tomorrow. Our generation doesn't work, isn't willing to kill or die for any belief or stigma. We're a bunch of pussies that need our asses wiped on a daily basis because our iLives aren't processing fast enough.

So get off your couch, out of your tent and put together a plan of action. Stop complaining to people that agree with you. Stop stopping traffic for an hour. Stop taking a week out of your life to join a cause. Start reading. Start believing in something instead of being part of a percentile. It doesn't take rocket science to build a business. It takes hard work and as little as a lawn mower and some determination.

So as I sit here in Starbucks finishing my delicious Pumpkin Spice Latte, typing on my HP Computer, listening to Youth of Today and Gorilla Biscuits coming from my Samsung phone on the Sprint Network using electricity from PECO wearing clothes I bought from mildly expensive stores, I say....man up. Get organized. Find balance in your life. Push forward. If you want it that bad, do something about it and get your fucking head out of your ass and for the love of God, go home, take a shower and stop acting homeless to get attention.

Thunderstick out. Oh yeah, here are the pictures I took from the "Protest".