180 Whirlwind Clinton, TN Blog: Don't Hate the Player, Hate the Game

In yesterday's post I linked to the video I put together on the coal ash spill in Harriman. I linked to it because of the Butcher Mansion's proximity to Bull Run Steam Plant. Bull Run is a coal-fired electric generating plant. Coal by itself is not dangerous but the byproduct is. When you grow up in Oak Ridge and you're told not to eat the fish in the lakes because of the Mercury, you take it for granted. Oh, okay. Don't eat the fish? Mercury? Sure. What they don't hammer home is that Mercury is a known carcinogen and has shown to cause reduced levels of intelligence in children. And Mercury's merely one of the issues you have to worry about with a coal-fired plant.

The Oak Ridger reported that after a fire broke out at Bull Run in April of this year, TVA stated they were continuing to monitor the "hot spots." They're not talking about heat from the fire when they say 'hot spots', they're talking about levels of toxicity.

Immediately following the terrorist attacks on 9/11, employees at the plants were sent home and the plants went on high alert. Why? Because the plants are known targets for terrorists due to the dangerous materials they produce.

I'm fired up today because when I went to post that link, I read through some of the comments on the video. I know I shouldn't have. I told myself after the first year to stop. People are ignorant - they probably ate the fish.

People said it didn't happen, it's not toxic because TVA said it wasn't, we're making a big deal out of nothing, people are just trying to take advantage and get paid, the pictures were doctored, the before shots were not taken at the spill site, people are faking illness. It gets to me. Particularly because it's my family, my friends and it's real.

Another recurring comment that gets to me is when people attack the lifestyle that was lost. "Oh, the poor rich people lost their homes, boo-hoo." That's why I labeled this post "Don't Hate the Player, Hate the Game." I should have titled it, "Don't Hate the Player, Hate YOUR Game."

To these people I say: First of all, dummy, there were people of largely varying economic backgrounds in that area. They were all impacted.

And the bullshit victim mentality you display because you don't have any money is nauseating. If you don't like where you are in life, you have no one to blame but yourself.

Yes my parents had a very nice home on the water. But they started out barely scraping by, living paycheck to paycheck. If they ran out of food, it was gone. If they couldn't pay utilities, they got shut off. They sacrificed, they saved, they took low paying jobs in exchange for college reimbursement in order to make it happen. And in their spare time, which wasn't much, they took what they were good at and found a way to make additional money. They saved, they budgeted and they eventually built their dream home on the river. And two years later, it was lost.

My brother is adopted. He had a shitty childhood. He was taken from squalor, separated from his brothers and bounced around from foster home to foster home until he joined our family. He struggled. He got in with a bad crowd, got into things he shouldn't have, lived out of cheap motels. He used to say, "this is just who I am. I was born this way. It's in my DNA." To which I would reply, "Yeah, it's called the Camaro gene and you can overcome it." Eventually, Russ decided he had had enough of that life. In his thirties, he went back to school. He got a technical degree. He now has a great job, insurance, 401K, company car, company phone and he's going to be buying his first house. It took him a while, but he did it. He chose to make a better life for himself and his son.

My husband's parents were divorced and money was tight. Mike went to college on student loans, a music scholarship and a baseball scholarship. But then halfway through college, he dropped out. He dropped out to join the Air Force. The Air Force provided him a roof over his head, free meals at the chow hall, insurance, free college tuition and the opportunity to better himself. When we got married, even with the regular paycheck the Air Force provided, we were living below the poverty level. But we didn't stay there for long. Mike continued to go up in rank. The Air Force paid him to finish his Bachelors degree. Ten years into his enlistment, Mike chose to apply for the officer program and he made it. The Air Force then paid for Mike to get a Master's degree. Mike will be retiring in a few months as a Major. He's going from a six figure income into another six figure income and he'll have a $30,000 pension and insurance from the Air Force for the rest of his life. To this day, I clip coupons, I shop at Goodwill, I buy second-hand furniture and I run out the door for a Craigslist curb-alert. I will never buy a new car, my old Ford Windstar minivan is still running and it's paid off. I will drive it until duct-tape can no longer hold it together and keep it on the road. And then I will get another cheap-ass car.

Not enough hardship for you? Look at Oprah Winfrey. She came from poverty and abuse and was rejected time after time in her pursuit of bettering herself. She had doubts, insecurities, seemingly insurmountable odds but she made it. She made herself a legend and an inspiration to millions around the globe.

A movie was made about the story of Chris Gardner. He was struggling to get by, had a five year old son, his girlfriend left him, and he decided he had to come up with a plan to better himself. He took an unpaid internship that offered a better future. It was a hardship: he was homeless for a year. Homeless with a five year old. They slept on the streets, in homeless shelters and in locked metro station bathrooms. But he overcame his hardships and went on to become a millionaire.

If you didn't get a solid education, read! If you can't read well, ask for help. Ask anyone. Read biographies, read business books, read self-help books, read motivational books that inspire you and academic books that interest you. Read everything you can get your hands on. And I don't mean you have to buy these books. Borrow them. Beg for them. Whatever excuse you have, believe me, I can counter it with a solution.

If you're on disability and can't work, get on the computer. Don't have a computer? Ask. People are always upgrading and you can get one for free. But you have to ask. Can't afford an internet connection? Go to a library. Go to a friend's house. Barter in exchange for using someone's computer. Don't know how to use the computer and make money with it? Ask. There are teenagers barely out of middle school making more money online than their parents who work a steady 9 to 5.

I'm not a particularly religious person. Actually, I can't say I'm religious at all. But I do know the catch-phrase 'ask and ye shall receive.' The way I interpret that is not, 'pray and ye shall get'. I interpret it as, ask yourself what you need to do to better your situation. Ask how. Ask why. Ask what. Ask and you shall receive: an answer, a solution, an inspiration, an idea, or a hand to guide you to where you want to be. But you're not going to get anywhere unless you ask and take action.

If you like where you're at in life, rich or poor, congratulations. People can go their whole life without ever feeling happy or content - regardless of their financial situation. But if you're bitching and whining about how you have nothing, know this: you are both your problem and your solution.