Lately my days have been feeling pretty empty and meaningless. Can I just tell you how bad I hate being a stay-at-home-mother?
But then I stumbled across this blog via my newest addiction, pinterest.
In case you are too lazy to go to the link, it's a blog describing how to put together "blessing bags" to give to homeless people. I read a lot of the comments on this particular blog post (I know, I'm one of THOSE people), and I have to admit, I have mixed feelings about these "blessing bags."
For one thing, if you are going to truly help a homeless person, you shouldn't shove free deoderant in their face, you should give them a place to take a shower and sleep for the night. I wish I had the guts to offer every homeless person I saw my spare bedroom. Alas, there are far too many truly freaky people out there (most of which are not actually homeless), and I'm too poor to afford a hotel room for everyone I see holding cardboard signs next to Wal-Mart.
While all of the things in these goody bags are given as a nice gesture, I still feel that they are somewhat demeaning. I feel like the message they communicate is:
"I don't want to touch you with a 39 1/2 foot pole, but I still want to consider myself Christian so I'm going to give you a Bible and some things from the dollar store to improve the quality of your life. Of course I won't give you money, because everyone knows you will spend it on drugs or booze. I definitely won't take more than 30 seconds out of my day to help you any further, but throwing this bag at you from the window of my pimped out Escalade makes me a good person, right?"
I truly hate the stereotype that all homeless people are drunks and druggies who will spend any money given to them on booze and cocaine. In a lot of the comments on the blog, people talk about putting giftcards to Starbucks or sticking a mere quarter for a phone call in the "blessing bags." Don't actually give them money!!
What if the person hates coffee? What if they have no one to call? That quarter could maybe get them 5 M&Ms from a candy machine at the local Jiffy Lube.
Who are we to judge and say how they will spend money? I'm reminded of a scripture that was pointed out in one of my classes during the first semester of my masters program. I can't remember if it was from the Bible or BOM, (and I'm too lazy to try and find it so I actually look credible), but basically it said that you should just give the poor the money, and let them do with it what they will. That is how you get blessings, folks. Not by judging God's children and witholding because you think you know what is best for them.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to get after people for trying to help the homeless. I think it's just the BIG thinker in me that gets irritated when people try to do something so SMALL to solve a problem that deserves so much more attention than a trip to the dollar store and a family home evening putting together ziplock bags of goodness.
In fact, that's why I have mixed feelings about this idea. Because somehow, even though I really like the motto, "Go big or go home," I still know and believe that sometimes you have to start small, and that little things do add up to big and miraculous things.
And because I want my children to change the world, I want to start small with them when they are small; helping them create a little "blessing bag" for a homeless person while educating them about the issue of homelessness and showing them how to love and help everyone (in small and big ways) could be a great way to do that.
Gah. I just can't make up my mind. I told you I had mixed feelings about this.
On a more optimistic side note, stumbling across this idea did remind me of the few times I've found a glimmer of hope for humanity in the last few years...
...When the guest staying at the Abbey Inn (during my days at the front desk) gave me $100 bill in an envelope with a kind note telling me to "put this towards your big day"after overhearing me talking to my coworker about how stressed I was about paying for my own wedding cuz I didn't want my parents to worry about the money.
...When people driving by the lemonade/snowcone stand my sister and I manned every summer in front of our house growing up would stop and buy a glass to enjoy in their perfectly air conditioned vehicle and tell us to "keep the change" from the $5 bill they handed us. -Side note- A few days ago, Miles and I were walking home from the grocery store and a couple boys were selling bags of cherries on the corner. It felt so good to give them a $5 bill (the cherries were $1), and telling them to keep the change!
...When I lost my sister's camera in a mosh-pit at the Big Ass show, someone actually responded to the "missing" ad I posted on KSL about it and returned it.
...When the lady at the store bought my husband "Ernest Saves Christmas" because he was telling her how much he loved it while they were in the checkout line.
I guess "little" things really can be "big" things after all.
Saturday, June 23, 2012
Monday, June 18, 2012
The Best of Warped Tour.
Saturday I enjoyed what will probably be my last Warped Tour for awhile. Somehow frying in the hot sun for ten hours is losing its appeal. Either that or I'm just getting old.
Although I didn't make my way through the crowd to mosh with the best of them (as is my usual tradition), I still enjoyed the day, chillin' in the shade with my awesome bro, listening to some kick ass bands from a distance.
Since I am a sucker for nostalgia, I figured I would do a tribute post to highlight the best of Warped Tours past:
July 17, 2004 Year One.
Bands:
Alkaline Trio, Anti-Flag, Bad Religion, Bouncing Souls, Coheed and Cambria*, Flogging Molly, Letter Kills, Motion City Soundtrack, My Chemical Romance, New Found Glory, NOFX, Senses Fail*, Story of the Year*, Taking Back Sunday, The Casualties, The Early November, The F-Ups*,Thursday, Yellowcard*.
After having some car troubles at Betos (and having to be jump started by some random guy), my best friend, Hillary and I finally got on the road. We got completely lost, but eventually made it to the fairgrounds. After waiting in the world's longest line to get in, we made it through the crowd to hear Story of the Year, who, may I say, SUCKED live. I was majorly disappointed, as they were one of my favorite bands at the time. Nevertheless, we still had an amazing day. We met up with my crazy friend Luis
who introduced us to Senses Fail,
who played an amazing set, for the record.
Highlights:
Meeting The F-Ups. After listening to them rock out on stage, we hung out with them back at their tent and giddily had them sign our Warped Tour programs. Ha.
July 16, 2005 Year Two.
Bands:
The All American Rejects*, Armor for Sleep, Big D and the Kid's Table*, Billy Idol*, A Change of Pace*, Drop Kick Murphys*, Fall Out Boy*, From First to Last, Gogol Bordello*, Greeley Estates, Halifax, Hawthorne Heights, Hidden in Plain View, Horrorpops*, Matchbook Romance*, The Matches*, Mest, Motion City Soundtrack, MXPX, My Chemical Romance, The Offspring, Relient K, Reggie and the Full Effect*, Rufio, Senses Fail*, Silverstein, Simple Plan*, The Starting Line*, The Transplants*, Underoath.
Highlights:
Meeting The Matches (pardon my poor editing out of the world's dumbest ex-boyfriend who hogged the photo ops all day)
Rocking out with A Change of Pace
July 22, 2006 Year Three.
Bands:
The Academy Is...*, Anti-Flag*, The Audition, Billy Talent, The Bouncing Souls*, From First to Last*, Greeley Estates*, Hellogoodbye*, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts*, Less Than Jake, The Living End*, Motion City Soundtrack*, NOFX*, The Pink Spiders, Rise Against*, Senses Fail*.
-side note- I swear we also saw Cartel.
Highlights:
It was my birthday!!!!! And my BFF Brent came with me this year.
Wearing this awesome shirt I made that was the hit of the day. SO many people talked to me, I felt so cool. Haha.
Immediately after arriving, rocking out to an amazing band (Greeley Estates) and passing out from exhaustion afterwards.
Meeting an amazing new band (The Sunstreak), who gave me a free shirt and signed CD because it was my birthday. We rocked out to them later at a small stage, which was sadly the only time I've ever been able to see them live!
Getting an Anti-Flag shirt for my BFF Hillary for her birthday, because she wasn't able to come to the show with me this year.
Rocking out to The Living End who were crazy mo-fos on stage.
Having the world's worst sunburn that hurt so bad I couldn't wear a real shirt for days afterwards!
July 7, 2007. Year Four.
Bands:
Anberlin*, Bad Religion*, Big D and the Kid's Table*, The Matches*, New Found Glory*, Pennywise*, The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus*, The Spill Canvas*, The Starting Line*, Yellowcard*.
Sadly, I could not find any picture evidence that we actually went to this year's show, although I do have a ticket stub to prove it.
Highlights:
It was Missy and my new (at the time) boyfriend Brett's very first time at Warped! (Although according to Brett, this was the first year I started being lame at Warped Tour and not getting into the crowds for every band.
June 28, 2008 Year Five.
Bands: The Academy Is...*, Anberlin*, Angels and Airwaves*, The Audition*, Greeley Estates*, Reel Big Fish*, Relient K*, Story of the Year*, 3OH!3*.
Again, no picture evidence that I could find, but we were there!
Highlights:
We had seen 3OH!3 in Vegas when they were on tour with Sum 41. They were ridiculously hilarious and crazy on stage during that show, which got us into them. This year at Warped Tour, we enjoyed seeing their theatrics again on one of the smaller stages.
Hearing "Wrong the Right," an F-Ups song blaring from a smaller stage and sticking around to catch a drumstick from the band who turned out to be Hang 'Em High. After the set, we went and talked to the lead singer, who turned out to be Travis, the lead singer of the F-Ups! He was telling us that after The F-Ups broke up, he and his brother and some of the former members of the band had reformed and became Hang 'Em High. It was crazy, awesome to run into him! Of course he signed the drumstick I had caught, and had all the band members sign it too.
While walking around, we found a booth with a bunch of "Streaker" stuff, and realized it was one of the guys from The Sunstreak. We talked to him for awhile and found out they were trying to record new stuff but were having issues with various labels, so they were trying to make their own.
August 8, 2009 Year Six.
Bands:
A Day to Remember*, Bad Religion*, Big D and the Kid's Table*, Escape the Fate*, Less Than Jake*, Medina Lake*, NOFX*, Scary Kids Scaring Kids*, Senses Fail*, There for Tomorrow*, 3OH!3*.
--don't ask me what the eff I'm pointing at...
Highlights:
It was Jared's first year at Warped!
Rocking out to Medina Lake and then meeting them aftewards.
Being extremely disappointed in 3OH!3's performance. Now that they had gotten big, they no longer put on their fun, dorky show.
~We skipped 2010-2011's shows, because there weren't enough good bands going to make it worth our while.~
June 16, 2012 Year Seven.
Bands:
Anti-Flag*, I Fight Dragons*, New Found Glory*, Senses Fail*, Taking Back Sunday*, The Used*, We the Kings*, Yellowcard* You Me at Six.*
Highlights:
Leaving our own little rocker at home for the day was hard. One day we will bring him with us to shows.
Feeling like a celebrity when I got asked to write on the "Fears Vs. Dreams" board and get my picture taken at the TWLOHA tent (because I was wearing my old TWLOHA shirt).
Bringing my brother Ammon to his first Warped Tour and rocking out to one of his bands, I Fight Dragons.
Chilling in the shade as much as possible (while being dorks of course).
Seeing people walking around with these
on their bodies, and finally finding the tent they were getting them from which just so happened to be Streaker Records (I knew it!). We talked to Jason from the Sunstreak,and found out they successfully created their own label, and have put out another CD since their EP. Awesome! We also got to listen to one of their new songs which was sweet.
Spotting the drummer from Yellowcard walking around with his girlfriend towards the end of the day. I SWEAR I've seen him in the most random of places every time they come to town!
And of course I can't forget our famous Warped Tour traditions!!!:
-Picking up Texano burritos from Betos to eat on the drive up.
-Parking for free at the Chinese buffet across the street from the fairgrounds (although this was the first year they had people enforcing paid parking in that lot, so we parked down the street in front of someone's house instead...)
-Being so wiped out at the end of the day, that we almost die of exhaustion.
All in all, Warped Tour has been a huge part of my life. I have discovered new bands, and rocked out to some of my old favorites. Although we may not go back for a few more years, here's a toast to the memories!
*=bands I'm at least 99% positive we saw. Sadly in my old age, I'm losing my mind and can't guarantee that we actually made it to see the rest of the bands listed (although I'm pretty sure we saw most of them).
Although I didn't make my way through the crowd to mosh with the best of them (as is my usual tradition), I still enjoyed the day, chillin' in the shade with my awesome bro, listening to some kick ass bands from a distance.
July 17, 2004 Year One.
Bands:
Alkaline Trio, Anti-Flag, Bad Religion, Bouncing Souls, Coheed and Cambria*, Flogging Molly, Letter Kills, Motion City Soundtrack, My Chemical Romance, New Found Glory, NOFX, Senses Fail*, Story of the Year*, Taking Back Sunday, The Casualties, The Early November, The F-Ups*,Thursday, Yellowcard*.
Highlights:
Meeting The F-Ups. After listening to them rock out on stage, we hung out with them back at their tent and giddily had them sign our Warped Tour programs. Ha.
July 16, 2005 Year Two.
Bands:
The All American Rejects*, Armor for Sleep, Big D and the Kid's Table*, Billy Idol*, A Change of Pace*, Drop Kick Murphys*, Fall Out Boy*, From First to Last, Gogol Bordello*, Greeley Estates, Halifax, Hawthorne Heights, Hidden in Plain View, Horrorpops*, Matchbook Romance*, The Matches*, Mest, Motion City Soundtrack, MXPX, My Chemical Romance, The Offspring, Relient K, Reggie and the Full Effect*, Rufio, Senses Fail*, Silverstein, Simple Plan*, The Starting Line*, The Transplants*, Underoath.
Meeting The Matches (pardon my poor editing out of the world's dumbest ex-boyfriend who hogged the photo ops all day)
Rocking out with A Change of Pace
July 22, 2006 Year Three.
Bands:
The Academy Is...*, Anti-Flag*, The Audition, Billy Talent, The Bouncing Souls*, From First to Last*, Greeley Estates*, Hellogoodbye*, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts*, Less Than Jake, The Living End*, Motion City Soundtrack*, NOFX*, The Pink Spiders, Rise Against*, Senses Fail*.
-side note- I swear we also saw Cartel.
Highlights:
It was my birthday!!!!! And my BFF Brent came with me this year.
Wearing this awesome shirt I made that was the hit of the day. SO many people talked to me, I felt so cool. Haha.
Immediately after arriving, rocking out to an amazing band (Greeley Estates) and passing out from exhaustion afterwards.
Meeting an amazing new band (The Sunstreak), who gave me a free shirt and signed CD because it was my birthday. We rocked out to them later at a small stage, which was sadly the only time I've ever been able to see them live!
Getting an Anti-Flag shirt for my BFF Hillary for her birthday, because she wasn't able to come to the show with me this year.
Rocking out to The Living End who were crazy mo-fos on stage.
Having the world's worst sunburn that hurt so bad I couldn't wear a real shirt for days afterwards!
July 7, 2007. Year Four.
Bands:
Anberlin*, Bad Religion*, Big D and the Kid's Table*, The Matches*, New Found Glory*, Pennywise*, The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus*, The Spill Canvas*, The Starting Line*, Yellowcard*.
Sadly, I could not find any picture evidence that we actually went to this year's show, although I do have a ticket stub to prove it.
It was Missy and my new (at the time) boyfriend Brett's very first time at Warped! (Although according to Brett, this was the first year I started being lame at Warped Tour and not getting into the crowds for every band.
June 28, 2008 Year Five.
Bands: The Academy Is...*, Anberlin*, Angels and Airwaves*, The Audition*, Greeley Estates*, Reel Big Fish*, Relient K*, Story of the Year*, 3OH!3*.
Again, no picture evidence that I could find, but we were there!
We had seen 3OH!3 in Vegas when they were on tour with Sum 41. They were ridiculously hilarious and crazy on stage during that show, which got us into them. This year at Warped Tour, we enjoyed seeing their theatrics again on one of the smaller stages.
Hearing "Wrong the Right," an F-Ups song blaring from a smaller stage and sticking around to catch a drumstick from the band who turned out to be Hang 'Em High. After the set, we went and talked to the lead singer, who turned out to be Travis, the lead singer of the F-Ups! He was telling us that after The F-Ups broke up, he and his brother and some of the former members of the band had reformed and became Hang 'Em High. It was crazy, awesome to run into him! Of course he signed the drumstick I had caught, and had all the band members sign it too.
While walking around, we found a booth with a bunch of "Streaker" stuff, and realized it was one of the guys from The Sunstreak. We talked to him for awhile and found out they were trying to record new stuff but were having issues with various labels, so they were trying to make their own.
August 8, 2009 Year Six.
Bands:
A Day to Remember*, Bad Religion*, Big D and the Kid's Table*, Escape the Fate*, Less Than Jake*, Medina Lake*, NOFX*, Scary Kids Scaring Kids*, Senses Fail*, There for Tomorrow*, 3OH!3*.
It was Jared's first year at Warped!
Rocking out to Medina Lake and then meeting them aftewards.
Being extremely disappointed in 3OH!3's performance. Now that they had gotten big, they no longer put on their fun, dorky show.
~We skipped 2010-2011's shows, because there weren't enough good bands going to make it worth our while.~
June 16, 2012 Year Seven.
Bands:
Anti-Flag*, I Fight Dragons*, New Found Glory*, Senses Fail*, Taking Back Sunday*, The Used*, We the Kings*, Yellowcard* You Me at Six.*
Leaving our own little rocker at home for the day was hard. One day we will bring him with us to shows.
Bringing my brother Ammon to his first Warped Tour and rocking out to one of his bands, I Fight Dragons.
Chilling in the shade as much as possible (while being dorks of course).
Spotting the drummer from Yellowcard walking around with his girlfriend towards the end of the day. I SWEAR I've seen him in the most random of places every time they come to town!
And of course I can't forget our famous Warped Tour traditions!!!:
-Picking up Texano burritos from Betos to eat on the drive up.
-Parking for free at the Chinese buffet across the street from the fairgrounds (although this was the first year they had people enforcing paid parking in that lot, so we parked down the street in front of someone's house instead...)
-Being so wiped out at the end of the day, that we almost die of exhaustion.
All in all, Warped Tour has been a huge part of my life. I have discovered new bands, and rocked out to some of my old favorites. Although we may not go back for a few more years, here's a toast to the memories!
*=bands I'm at least 99% positive we saw. Sadly in my old age, I'm losing my mind and can't guarantee that we actually made it to see the rest of the bands listed (although I'm pretty sure we saw most of them).
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