First blog on tribe....

Well, I've blogged before but this is my first one on tribe. Kind of cool. It is 5:45AM and I have had about 4 hours of sleep total since 9am saturday morning. Musing on life, situations and people. Amazing how tired the body can be but the mind still keeps it going.

I've had a couple of situations arise in the past couple of days that have brought me around to some enlightened views. Several months ago, I lost a friend that was very dear to me. He didn't die. He was simply removed due to poor decisions and the consequences that inevitably followed. No, he is not incarcerated if that is what you are thinking. It was a matter of trusting the wrong people and having negative influences brought into his life that wouldn't have been there otherwise. As a result, he had to sacrifice everything he knew and loved to move and start over. Not pleasant for any involved. Honestly, this is the first man I have ever probably truly loved and it has absolutely sucked the past few months. But I've slowly started coming back around...Old Leah is almost back.

But last evening I went out with some friends to a bar. And now I am a little older and a little wiser and so when I go out I am honestly going out to have a good time with my friends, not to hook up. But I am a people watcher and as I sat there I watched the girls around me. Young girls barely legal to drink. Pretty, talented and smart I am sure. But young. And I watched them as they did their thing trying to get boys to notice them. And in all honesty it saddened me. Here are these girls, full of promise, beautiful, dumbing themselves down all in an effort to get a man's approval. And it also angered me a bit.

It angered me because of what has been sacrificed so we, women as a whole, can stand where we do today. To have the opportunities we have today. Our great grandmothers would have given their eye teeth to have the educational and professional opportunities that we have today because of what they did. They fought to so that society would view us as the powerhouse we are. So that we could be noticed for our contributions and our strength as women. And my generation is throwing that all away. People often speak of our generation's lack of respect for others, but we also lack respect for ourselves and it is sad. And so often, we as women, are willing to sacrifice our strength so that others will like us and accept us. Why?? If someone can't accept you as you are, are they really worth keeping around? Do you want a relatonship with a man who will only love you if he sees you as being less smart or successful than he is? And this is where the first bit of the blog ties in. Negative influences. We allow ourselves to be influenced by forces outside ourselves instead of listening to our hearts. Instead of following our own path, we allow ourselves to be lead by those who do not have our best interest at heart. We need to stop listening to what others tell us is right. We need to stop degrading ourselves and allowing others to degrade us by allowing them to drag us down. A friend uplifts, they help you on your way to a higher plane. They don't make you think negatively of yourselves or drag you down. A person who watches you fall is not a friend, they are merely a rubber necker on the highway of life and are only making traffic move slower for the rest of us.