Thanksgiving, The Walking Dead, and Standing Rock Sioux Tribe

By Monica Puig @monicapuig

I am so grateful!  In no way could I fit all my gratitude into one day out of the year. I'm thankful every day. I do believe that being grateful keeps us in a good vibration and closer to love.  Gratitude is also the gateway to creation.

One thing that I don’t celebrate is what the common Thanksgiving holiday represents and all its hypocrisy.  What person is going to be happy to be forced to embrace customs and traditions and beliefs that are not their own, or to be pushed out of their native land?

If we put things in perspective, we might admit that the colonization that led to the United States of America was similar to an episode of the Walking Dead minus the walkers.  Let’s take the case of John Smith.   By comparison, John Smith didn’t behave too differently from “villain” Negan in The Walking Dead.  Initially, Smith made the natives comfortable by trading metal tools for provisions. I imagine Negan might have started in a similar way. Eventually, Governor John Smith—just like Negan—sent out raiding parties demanding food from the natives. Smith’s raiding parties burned down Native American’s housings stealing their food supplies.  Our history books depicted Native Americans as ‘savages’ using examples such as the Powhatan tribes that fought back the exploitations by the settlers killing high numbers of the white population.  Funny how a little over a hundred years later, settlers fought and killed British soldiers.  This was their fight against the British Ruler's oppression and exploitation of the settlers, which ironically is what settlers continued to impose on Native Americans.

Among other wars, after Revolutionary War then came the Cherokee-American wars, the Northwest Indian War, Tecumseh, the Creek War, the War of 1812, the removal era wars (such as the Black Hawk War, the Creek War of 1836, and the Second Seminole War), Texas-Indian War, all the wars of the Pacific Northwest, I feel disrespectful not listing them all since so many lives were taken but more than a history lesson, this post is meant to be a humanity lesson.

Let us fast-forward to today, Native Americans lands are still being raided but now by corporations which hold the same disregard for our Native Americans as our ancestors held since Columbus first arrived in future Hispaniola—setting precedent with the eventually horrific treatment of the friendly, native Arawaks. 

Yes, in fast-forwarding to today, I’m referring to the treatment of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, who still today in 2016 are fighting to protect the little land they have left, their drinking water and Native American cultural sites.

I believe that every American should be apologizing to Native Americans and showing our gratitude for the land we stole from them by today standing by the Sioux Tribe and demanding that President Obama and future presidents protect the rights and lands of every Native American tribe.  The exploitation of the True indigenous people of our United States must stop today.  

This is my personal blog, read my business topics blog at:  blogmopu.blogspot.com

Democracy is an American Value Too

By Monica Puig

I completely understand the frustration and the fear of the unknown.  After all, what can we expect from President-elect Donald Trump?  I will be the first one to march to protest the results of an election if the count is in question and demand a vote recount or if there’s evidence of criminal behavior such as intimidation or fraud in the voting polls.  However, being an activist for about three decades, without being judgmental, I have to say that, I don’t understand what is to be accomplished from the protests that are taking place at the moment.  What message are we actually sending about democracy? How will we be taken seriously when the scary wolf actually comes if we are crying wolf at the election results?

I’m more than unhappy with the election results. I am disgusted, to say the least, with the impasse of these results. I was volunteering making calls all the way through election day reminding Democrats to get out there and vote. I never expected these results, as much as issues, I thought this presidential race was a true test of common decency and an opportunity for conservatives to truly step up to the plate and stand up for the religious values that they so often try to shove down our throats.  With the exception of many republicans who pleasantly surprised me by speaking up against Trump, the hypocrisy of the political party that now displayed many qualities of a cult shocked me.  In addition to the offensive bigotries that came out of Trump’s mouth, I cannot express my disappointment with the less than half of the American voters who chose a candidate who had the full support and endorsement of the KKK.  I cried in despair for the lack of values and humanity reflected in the choice for President and what he represents.  However, no matter how heartbroken I am, I also remember what I love about our country: Democracy. 

No matter how disappointed or angry I am about the election results, I am grateful for the fact that we live in a democracy that allows a shift of power from one political party to another, from one president to another.  I also understand that electing ‘twice’ an eloquent speaker, Harvard educated constitutional attorney who is also African American (even if it’s only half) as President of the United States was as offensive to many whites in America as it is offensive to us liberals and true Republicans to have an inexperienced in politics and public service charlatan, sexist, accused rapist, who has been part of over 3,500 lawsuits, sued by people who trusted him (and probably admired him at some point), is bragging self-admitted sexual predator, and who is an outspoken bigot, bully, and racist endorsed by the KKK. 

Yeah, I get it now.  That’s democracy!  Although, one might argue that it doesn’t seem to reflect true democracy since Hillary Clinton had over 2 million more votes than Donald Trump. But since Donald Trump won the electoral vote, he is the President-Elect according to the system we have in place.  The people have voted and Trump will be president and I, for one, wish nothing more than to be wrong about Trump.

I want to be pleasantly surprised in hopefully finding out that Trump was genially marketing to the type of voter he needed to win with the message that would sell them. I want to believe that Trump will bring us together as a nation and succeed in policies that will benefit and protect the wellbeing of all Americans.

I believe above all that love of humanity and love of country always must go together.  I make humanity my business. I will never stay silent while any group in our country is being targeted. I truly pray that all those negative references Trump made towards Muslims, Hispanics, African-Americans, people with disabilities, and women, were just a marketing strategy. Lord, please let me be wrong about Trump and may he truly be a great president for all of us.

My eyes and ears will be now more attentive than ever. It's our duty as Americans and as human beings to ensure our government is one of the people for ALL the people and I vow to protest and march peacefully in the streets, and collect signatures as I have done dozens of times through the years for causes I believe in.  However, I will do so only to mark my disagreement with policy—that has been actually presented (not shouted out during an election), or that is up for a vote in Congress, or that ‘President’ Trump plans to veto.  That’s how I believe democracy works.  For now, I will direct my frustration with the election results towards creating positive change within my own Democratic party and focusing on 2018 midterm elections to get Democrats in office who can stop some of the damage that we expect to be done.  Get out and vote and get out and volunteer. Join the Democratic party and get involved or if you are a Republican who is also not happy with the election results, and want to state a republican, join your own party and volunteer during the elections. 

I wish I could say that I’m optimistic about the changes coming or that I trust that Trump will do the right thing.  I will support and even applaud Trump’s decisions when they are right; however, as a proud American and half decent human being, I  stand behind U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders in his statement that  “If Donald Trump takes people's anger and turns it against Muslims, Hispanics, African Americans and women, we will be his worst nightmare.”

Update.  As always, I did March at the Women's March on Washington when the time came to let our voices be heard.

This is my personal blog, read my business topics blog at:  blogmopu.blogspot.com

Twitter: @monicapuig

Are we doing away with common sense?

A while back, I stopped at a coffee shop and asked for a latte with warm milk instead of hot. The latte was a typical one consisting of milk and two shots of espresso coffee. The server informed me that I only had the choice of cold or hot milk. Puzzled, I asked “Why is that?”  She explained that the machine heated the milk at a specific temperature. “And?” I asked puzzled, still not understanding how that impeded her from providing me with a warm cup of milk. “We only have hot and cold milk,” she replied, “Do you want it hot or cold?”  To which I responded, “So, you have hot milk and you have cold milk, so why can’t you make a warm milk latte?” She ignored my question completely and said “So is it a hot latte then?” Compassionately and to turn this into a teaching moment, I replied, “Please cancel the latte and make it a double shot of espresso.” She complied, and with coffee at hand, I asked her for a cold milk and a some hot milk and Voila! I magically created right in front of her eyes a mini latte with warm milk.  I was so shocked by this experience that I called my best friend and said, “I just ordered a warm latte, but apparently, this place does everything with machines, so they only had hot or cold milk and could not make it for me…”  He quickly interrupted me and asked, “Why didn’t they just mix the milks?” to which I responded “Right? Thank you very much!”

This incident left me thinking, ‘Are we creating a generation of machine operators who no longer think for themselves?’ Yet, I filed it away under ‘Unique incidents.’  Recently, I stopped at a DK off I-75.  Again, I was in a hurry, but wanted to sit down in the restaurant and enjoy a cup of coffee instead of having it in the car, so I asked for a latte with warm milk. The conversation quickly turned into, “We only have hot milk or cold milk. Which one do you want?”  Saddened by the lack of simple problem solving displayed by the server, I proceeded with my questions and this time, the server working the drive-thru window also confirmed what my server said.  As I asked the common sense question “If you have cold milk and hot milk, why can’t you make warm milk?” someone else behind the counter explained that they only had two temperatures of milk.  A man was standing next to me in the next register and also didn’t have any suggestions.  You already know the rest of the story; except this time, I just stuck with an espresso.  This got me thinking about the incompetence we might be creating if the lights ever go out. 

I thought about the setting of NBC’s Revolution, a television show about survival and chaos that emanated from a permanent worldwide blackout. I thought of how blessed I am to have grown up with less technology because if I ever had to do without it, I would feel the terrible inconvenience, but I would like to think that I could still figure things out—like add cold milk to hot milk to make it warm.  Going back inside my head, I thought, If the lights went out, would people in third world countries be more likely to continue happily with their lives and would not feel the chaos?  Are we creating a generation so hooked on technology that we would be incompetent without it?  Don’t get me wrong, I have much hope for this new generation. I have a son in college and I truly admire his ideals and those of his friends. I believe his generation might actually bring us peace; that is, if my generation doesn’t blow us off the map first. There’s much to admire about the new generation, the future leaders, like their sense of equality and acceptance of others and respect for others’ lifestyle choices. Their economy of words in speaking is an art learned from their right-to-the-point texting.  They say only what needs to be said. I know sometimes, I wish I was more like that.  My generation loves to communicate. We love to share what’s on our mind, we love a dialogue as much as a good debate.  We often say more than we should, but that stops us none. Now, we are given blogs. So grateful for blogs. I think there’s much to be said about “I’m not just blabbing on, I’m blogging.”  

While, we have much to learn from the new generation. We also have much we could be teaching them.  I wonder if we are doing them a disfavor by not training them on alternatives to just pushing a button.

9.11: The lessons it carried.

Today we remember those who were senselessly murdered, those who died rescuing others, and the families they left behind whose lives will never be the same.  Let’s honor them by remembering the power of unity that brought us healing, strength and the flood of love that poured following the horrific attacks of 9-11-01.

What I felt during 9-11 was as if I were in a dream. Everything felt so surreal. I was going through the motions in disbelief of what I was seeing and hearing.  What truly impressed me was the love and unity that arose from the ashes of that gruesome day.   
It was through comforting and healing others that we found comfort and healing ourselves. It was through our hearts being broken that we expanded our love.  The greatest lesson from 9-11 was the danger of separation; of teaching any religion that does not promulgate love, unity and acceptance; of seeing others as less than ourselves; of failing to realize that we are one.  It is by dehumanizing another person that someone can commit a hideous crime without empathy such as murdering one person or in the case of 9-11, thousands of human beings.  This is the danger when any human being feels  superior to another, feels entitled to more than another, feels that their way is better than any other and the only way to live by.  

Let's truly honor those who died by continuing to spread that love and unity that we felt after 9-11 and by remembering that WE ARE ONE.  

In unity
Monica Puig
www.monicapuig.com

LOVE IS ALL THERE IS

 by Monica Puig

Today is my favorite holiday of the year! The official day to celebrate and declare love.  We should celebrate love every single day because at the end of our journey, love is all there is.  

What elevates and help us vibrate to a higher state is always love. The beauty about love is that it is priceless, and it is something that the more you give of, the more it grows universally, so the more you get in return.  Love brings the beauty out on everyone. It is excellent for our bodies, mind and spirit.

Our bodies glow from love and can even heal themselves and others. Our mind opens up to so many possibilities, as love connects us to other beings and even to the beauty of the moon, the stars, the sun, the oceans, making our creativity flow. Our spirit raises to higher levels, as love is the language of the soul, the soul’s ultimate expression. The soul doesn’t care about how much money you have in the bank or what degrees you have on your wall. The soul only cares about sharing and experiencing love; for love is what brings it to its highest vibration. At the end of our lives, the soul collects all the memories of love.

Today is my favorite holiday because it reminds us of the precious commodity that is love;  although, we should celebrate and declare love each day of our lives.  Love is given and shared in many forms and in all forms. We can spread love any moment by sharing: a kiss, a car ride, a wink, a sandwich, a smile, advice, a touch, a blanket, a listening ear. We can share love with: people, animals, plants, the universe!  Love is so powerful that simply by feeling love, we send the one receiving it good vibrations. We can also send waves of loving thoughts, and share love with our bodies through physical expressions, such as a hug, a kiss, or a smile.  Love is always there for us to share.

Everyone will wake up one day to the realization that our whole purpose in life is to share love for love is all there is. Meanwhile, every little drop of love we share truly does make the world a better place.  Happy Valentine’s Day to every single one of you. I love you.  Now go love yourself, love others, feel love and loved… share love. Thank you.