My take on Occupy Wall St.

The one thing I thought I'd never write on is this crazy little thing known as Occupy Wall Street. After these past few months, I felt that it couldn't be better than to address the subject, given its inevitable (or it seems that way) demise. I remember when it began, how it was picking up momentum and sending little ripples elsewhere in the nation and have witnessed it falling apart.

When it started off, I couldn't help but wonder what was the agenda, what was the bedrock of this protest. At first, it seemed simple. It was a protest against corporate greed, specifically at Wall Street, as well as against greedy beasts like AIG, Wells Fargo, Bank of America and others like Goldman Sachs and Lehman Brothers. In seeing this, I found it to be a good cause, given that these big companies and corporations got bailout money from the government at the expense of our tax money.

Then things got a little weird, so to speak. Starting with the "99%" tagline. I would've understood if this were geared towards corporate greed that resulted at the expense of a good 13% of the unemployed. To say that they represented 99%, in my opinion, was a dramatic error. Sure, we're all going through some pre-Depression crisis times but most of us still have jobs and are making ends meet. Even then, out of the 13%, we need to consider which of the 13% are unemployed and unable to get a job and which are just laying around doing nothing.

Then things got even stranger. Zucotti Park began to look like hobo central. On top of that, you had people that really didn't care about the cause and just went in to hook up with girls or guys in tents, let alone going in there and shoot up drugs like heroin, as evidenced by findings of used condoms, syringes and needles when they cleaned out the park. They complained about the threats to be kicked out but what can you expect when not only do you have this stupidity going on but also people living in the park. People there getting shot up, hooking up and due to them staying and practically living there, causing a disturbing smell around the district that affected businesses nearby. While they are complaining about corporate greed and inability to get a job, they cost other businesses money and jobs in the process.

Their complaints about the threat of being evicted from Zucotti, while on the surface it made sense, had very little merit to consider. Yes, it is a private property however they were causing disturbances to public property around them. Then also consider this -- there is a grand difference between protesting and living in a park. You want to talk about being considerate about the 99%? Consider this -- our NYPD, God bless them, are forced to go into overtime, costing our city millions of more dollars to upkeep. Consider the people that due to your raucous stench, cost businesses and people jobs and money. Were you to be in the park and protest the cause throughout sunrise to sundown and go back to your homes overnight, we'd most likely not have too many problems with O.W.S. but that isn't the case here.

Occupy Wall Street has also lacked something that every protest or movement is historically known for having -- a figurehead. A man or woman among them who can speak for their plights and struggle. Women had a champion in Susan B. Anthony. The Civil Rights movement had their share of champions in Harriet Tubman, Malcolm X, Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King. Even for gay rights, you had someone like Harvey Milk. Occupy Wall Street has no champion, leader or one to rise among them as their mouthpiece, as their vessel and as their fearless leader.

Then the whole "peaceful protest" element. Someone better explain to me how there were knives, guns and lead pipes in tents! Not only that, as they were ordered to leave the premises, they went off to get ugly, using barricades as weapons against the NYPD. To everyone that took violent action towards the NYPD, you deserved every beating you got from their night sticks!

It doesn't end there either. They decide to invade Union and Foley Squares and when they got removed, they decided to take it into the MTA. I'm sorry but now this "cause" has no steam. Now they are risking to cause further job loss by getting in the way of many New York commuters from getting to their jobs throughout the day.

In conclusion, I find that this is what could've been a revolutionary cause gone wrong, misdirected and sent into shambles. From misrepresentation, lack of true organization, a leader to speak for them in order to take political action, Occupy Wall Street is well on its way to extinction. It will continue this route until they not only get their facts straight but also get their cause united not only in body and spirit but also in one man or woman. 86% are getting by, even if they're struggling but it's those 13% that are either going through hell in totality or they're just putting themselves through it through sloth. I'm part of the 86% so don't try and put us all in 99% when in fact the ones you seem to represent most are the 13% -- the same 13% that got laid off after working for 20+ years and struggle to find jobs that will make use of them. 13% of the population whom had just got started on their dream jobs yet their dream's realization was short-lived. 13% who may be college graduates with Bachelor's or Master's degrees yet experience job freezes or unemployment in their field. 13% who may also have among them people who use cheap excuses to say they can't get a job, rely on government handouts totally just to live. Were this movement to feast their eyes on being an army of justice for those who got screwed over by corporate greed alone (and get themselves well-organized as our founding fathers did during the American Revolution), then perhaps this cause can have an unquenchable fire set ablaze but until then, it will continue to look like a hippy's hungover cousin...and even the hippies of the '60s had better organization and actually took action necessary to make their causes more believable.

Turning the Page: Recovering from a Hangover

This week has been a week of new beginnings of sorts. I've never been one to burn bridges but hey, if it has to be done, be it in a good or bad way, it has to be done. Any regrets? None whatsoever. Why? It's because it is time to shed it all away and start anew. If I'm to enjoy my life from here on out, I need to purge myself of the filth I've contaminated myself with. I feel as though I've woken up from a hangover, except in a spiritual sense.

I woke up, seeing that I had become a man with a very short fuse, unable to cope with my emotions, let alone being absent of all optimism, hope and a genuine sense of love, let alone having become a begrudging human being. As of now, like someone hanging over, I'm trying to replenish and rehydrate after having woken up with my place in shambles of a mess, let alone having my head in the toilet. One of my exs, namely Naila, told me the following, "you must return to your first love". She was on the money. Truly, God, in his mercy and love, has a way of giving a human being another chance after having screwed up many times and I'm no exception. I ended up hearing the song Unchanging One by Todd Agnew and even after less than a decade, the song still resonates strongly within. When romance proves itself an epic fail, family are unable to understand you entirely and friends distance themselves, Christ is truly unconditional in being willing to extend His hand of love so that we can latch onto His very essence. It isn't a feeling thing, it's a certain thing.

Years ago, I probably would've stooped down to continue responding to God knows how many indirect comments, tweets, statuses that involve bashing me.However, being the grown adult I am, I understood that you are an immature person when you choose to participate in an indirect back and forth. The bigger person simply walks away -- no taunting, insults or slander. Just walk away because you'll save yourself a lot of trouble. If they have done you wrong, forgive them as God forgives us every time we've screwed up. That isn't to say that you should reconnect but rather to forgive, let go, live and let live.

I've done and said things that I'm not exactly proud about, whether they were done properly or otherwise. Yet as it is, I move forward, throw away those things which are meaningless or pointless in hanging on to and just live and live in peace. Right now, nothing makes me more happy than to reconnect with the Lord and to start over and remembering the things that matter in my life.