i haven't blogged in a few months. it's, uh, wedding season. chaos. but i just wanted to take a few seconds and share a thought with you.
a few years ago, i was a political junkie. i was fresh out of college and thus, over-opinionated and always correct. i took every opportunity for a debate with politics at the very top of the list of topics. i read political blogs daily, i wrote political blogs, i followed it like it was my job.
how completely useless.
my political beliefs have changed in the 6+ years since i graduated college. not a 180, but, still a change. i wasn't a republican then. still not. i wasn't a democrat then. still not. i liked who i liked and hated anyone else. i would take anything remotely idiotic that a candidate said and run with it. much like a lot of you are doing now.
why do i feel like i'm the only person on the earth that thinks President Obama was right in his speech about american industry? was "you didn't build that" the best choice of words? no. but neither were THESE or THIS. the basic point of his speech was this: american industry helped you build your business. am i, a small business owner, offended by that?
no.
in fact, i am thankful for it.
i have a feeling...that if it were Mitt Romney that said it and the liberal community was appalled, the very same of you that are posting Facebook statuses and 'hilarious' memes about it {which by the way, is really world-changing}, would be at his defense. why? because very few of you actually care what President Obama said 'wrong', you're just glad he did.
it's ammunition. it's fuel.
have you taken the time to read what he said? that if you have a successful business, you're fortunate? that smart people start businesses every day, hard-working people start businesses every day? it's no secret to any of us that 50% of businesses fail in the FIRST year with 95% of businesses failing in the first 5 years. those businesses were started by smart people. they were weathered by hard-working people. and they failed. i've seen that first hand. why are you offended by him reiterating something we all already know? for ammunition's sake.
and for those of us with successful businesses - are we that unaware of how highly we do rely on american industry to sustain and increase our business's profitability? seriously? i realize, believe me i realize, that it is rachel spears that is running my company. i'm there all the time, just me, working at 3 in the morning, working all weekend, working all the time. it's me. i run this company. i am very proud of that. but i'm also very thankful for a country where i can do it freely, a financial industry that allowed me credit to start up my company {and maintain it}, yes - for technology that my specific business could not thrive without - i am thankful. and i think you are too.
but in front of that thankfulness for this country we boast about until it serves us not to, is the insatiable need for us to attack what we disagree with. the video above of the President Bush - many would say, "he just misspoke! Obama though, this is his ideology." the video above with the poor choice of words from Mitt Romney - many would say, "taken out of context, rachel!"
but THIS video??? hello sensationalism. and some of you? putty in their hands. you got excited when you read the articles about what he said. you got to your computer as fast as you could to tell everyone what you thought about him saying it. you were annoyed but you were enlivened.
THAT bothers me. that vicious cycle of one side attacking the other regardless of benefit to anyone bothers me. not only does it bother me, it makes me wonder the caliber of intelligence that i'm surrounding myself with. pause. i am NOT saying that if you don't like the President or if you don't like Mitt Romney that either opinion is stupid or wrong. i am saying that waiting for someone to say the wrong thing and manipulating it to feed your argument is.
i don't agree with the President all the time. but i agree with him here. i realize that's an unpopular opinion. i just don't care. i'm grateful for my opportunities and my successes and to continue growing that success, i don't have the time in the day for nonsense. {side note: it goes both ways. i know that. it irritates me both ways too, believe me.}
i probably irritated you. i get that. most of my blogs are inspirational, funny, uplifting - i know. i just had to say something. it's part of my charm. or it's a curse. jury's still out.
back to work.
gotta run this company that i have the amazing opportunity to run.
XO
