the state of our country summed up in 43 seconds.

So, as you know, I have failed to keep up with actually writing in my blog (isn't that the whole point?), except for every once in a blue moon. At this point, I'm about 100% sure no one even looks at it anymore, and for good reason (only so much hipster art one can take, right?). Anyways, with all of this election crap, and yes, it is crap, going on, I felt it was time to write.

While on Facebook, I took a look at George Stephanopolous' latest poll. The question asked about whether or not Biden was "too smiley" during the debate. I, regretfully, clicked to view the responses. Within 12 minutes, almost 20+ people began attacking each other and bitterly arguing their stance. I realize this country was founded on our freedom of speech, but it was never founded on ignorance (well, kinda...I guess this is debatable...just ask the Indians...but I digress...sorry.)

So, people begin saying things to each other like, "Obama needs to pack his toys and go back home!" Or, "Oh GOP go cry somewhere else..."

As I was reading all of this, I literally became nauseous and was reminded of a scene from my favorite movie, "Labyrinth."

In the movie, a girl's (Jennifer Connelly) little brother is stolen by David Bowie, King of the Goblins (gotta love the 80's), and the girl has to go through a complex labyrinth to save her brother. At one point, she reaches a part of the labyrinth that closely resembles her home. In fact, it so much resembles her home, that she thinks the whole thing was a bad dream. But as the minutes pass, she begins to realize that this isn't home, and begins to remember why she's really there and what she needs to do. She remembers the real problem- she must save her brother. Suddenly, this extremely creepy (thanks Jim Henson) puppet lady appears, and tries to convince (quite well, actually) Jennifer Connelly that she really is home and attempts to manipulate Jennifer with all of her favorite childhood toys and stuffed animals. The more that Jennifer Connelly realizes that this faux home is actually a trap, the more the puppet lady tries to distract her and keep her in this trap. Thankfully, Jennifer Connelly is strong enough to ignore all of the distractions and focus on her mission. She pushes the woman aside and continues her journey.

As I re-watched this clip, I realized how similar the media and politicans are to the eerie and manipulative puppet woman, who wants nothing more than to deter Jennifer Connelly from the real issue at hand. The woman used everything she could to distract Jennifer and try to keep her appeased with all of her old toys and other meaningless objects. After reading the comments on Facebook and seeing the shallow issues we, as a country, are focused on with this election, it makes me wish that we, like Jennifer Connelly, could wake up and see the big picture. This is a game to the media. It's a game to the politicians. And we are all doing exactly what they hoped for. Arguing each other, fighting, and even dumping friends or family members over two men, who are frankly, beyond sub-par as far as I am concerned.

There is fighting every single day in Darfur. Egypt has openly admitted to being hostile towards Israel. We invite Mr. Iran himself to dine here whenever he so chooses. The European economy is slowly crumbling. And meanwhile, our school systems are failing, crime is increasing, and we care more about arguing over gun control than addressing the fact that teachers went on strike, for weeks, simply because they wanted more money, while students begged to go back to school.

I wish we would open our eyes to what's really going on. The real issues. The real problems. I wish we would stop fighting each other and learn to fight for what is right and good. But we cannot do any of this until we remember why we are here and what our purpose is. And I can tell you now, it's not spending a Sunday evening bitching about politics.

Oops.

Here is the clip: