Sunday, June 19, 2011

What’s a Dad For Dad?

There is a Man in my life who I love, that is my father. Today is Father’s Day, but I will not be talking about my own father. The man I have decided to give a shout out to is someone I met while I was living in California. There are many qualities that he has that I would like to develop. This man I am talking about is Paul Andrus. I lived near him for about 7 ½ months. I had dinner with him and his family a few times and I have a special place for them in my life. Paul is a single father of two great kids and he does everything he possibly can to care for those children.
                When life gives you lemons, make Lemonade. That is the best way I can describe Paul. The care of his kids is not a simple task when the younger of the two has had many surgeries and is in need of care most of the day. He has put off a lot of his passions and desires to care for his family. The best thing a father can give his family is his time. Paul is a man who gives of his time although he has no time to give. He is and will always remain a role model in my life.  
                I know this post is small, but elaborating on this would just ruin the simple truth. Paul, you are a wonderful father and will always have my respect and love.

Dr.K
(Song: Life of a Salesman, Artist: Yellowcard)

Friday, June 10, 2011

If you’re a Strong Female, You Don’t Need Permission

There is a problem in our society. The other day it drove me to get a little more vocal at my job. The place where I work there is a manager that likes to micro-manage the other managers under him; Mostly the female managers, and since the manager in my department is the only female over a specific department he likes to pick on her. Let’s call this tyrant Jake, now I will give you a little back ground on Jake; since my first day at this job I have noticed that he treats the female employees a little different, nothing too bad. He just acts like they are beneath him. Heaven forbid he actually takes advice from a woman either. I am surprised this guy ever got married, his poor wife.
                Since Jake likes to tell us what to do when my manager is not in the store I usually just ignore him and clear whatever he told us to do through the real manager. One day he came back to our department and told us to do something that was actually a very dumb idea, so the other employee and I looked at each other and rolled our eyes. After he left we just went back to our regular work and cleared it through our manager later. She told us to continue doing things the way we had been doing them. Later that day he apologized for undermining her and her department. The next day around 8 in the morning, I had been at work for about an hour and was eating breakfast; he came back and said, “The coffee is empty again. I talked to you about this nicely yesterday…” and I just looked at him and said, “I will take care of it. I am eating right now, I’ll do it when I am done.” I guess that bothered him that I did not do what he wanted me to do when he wanted me to do it. So he started getting mad. Not too many people know this about me, but when my adrenaline gets going it is hard for me to stop. But at this point my adrenaline did not hit me like a ton of bricks like normal. It just slowly leaked through my veins. And I started talking back, who is this guy telling me what to do? I was annoyed with the fact that although he apologized to my manager for undermining her now here he was the next day doing it again. I got heated in my conversation. I was not quiet. I am sick and tired of this guy treating a person I respect like trash. I got to say things I felt like needed to be said, unfortunately when my manager came in a few hours later, he yelled at her for me standing up to him. It made me a lot angrier and this got me thinking about how a lot of women in the world are treated this way more than I realize.
                I have laughed at sexist jokes before, and I have retold them too. But I don’t actually believe that a woman’s place is in the kitchen, unless she wants to be there. It bothers me that if a woman and a man have the same job, the woman gets paid less. She is probably just as good as or better than the guy at her job. But somehow society gets away with paying her less. This is all political, but what really gets underneath my skin is when a man treats his wife with disrespect; A man who subconsciously thinks that a woman is a lower race or a man who commands his wife like she is a slave.
I remember watching a television show once where a woman actually believed that because Eve partook of the forbidden fruit first and persuaded Adam to eat too, Eve was lower than Adam. This is 100% false. Any religion who teaches that the woman is to slave away for her husband is wrong. I have studied a lot about the role of men and women lately, and I want all women to know that God loves women just as much as he loves men. It is sick to me to know that men are brainwashing their wives and daughters to believe that they are the lower gender. Neither is lower, both are equal.
I think Jake climbed a tree and found something hidden under the leaves when he decided to undermine my manager again. All women in that work place have been treated like trash by this guy and I thought it was about time to say something. Later that day I had several people say “Thank You” or cheered for me in some way. One lady even gave me a high-five because I stood up to the tyrant. My intentions were not to be a pest, but I wanted him to know that he needed to respect all people there. It has been a few weeks since that day, and I have not heard him bother my manager in any way. But now I have quit, so we will see if he continues his degrading actions after I leave.

Dr.K
(Song: Sheiβe, Artist: Lady GaGa)