Mazatlan, Mexico

Recently the ship went to Mazatlan, Mexico for a liberty port. It was my first time in Mexico, and I must say that I was not impressed. I thought the port was supposed to be some sort of tourist spot, even though in my 24 years on this planet I had never heard of it. Upon first examination of Mexico, it's a true trash pit. Within five minutes of being on land I realized that it was a very indigent country/city and was not very well taken care of. However, I only seen about 3 active bums my whole time there. The city stinks and everything is dusty and worn down.
The significant factor about Mexico that I particularly didn't like was the fact that every where you went someone wanted to badger you into buying something or purchasing their services. I'm the type that is mature enough to make a conscious decision on my own whether or not to buy something. I guess that's part of the advertising age.
"If you are in advertising, kill yourself." - Bill Hicks
While I was in Mexico, I finally finished a book that I had wanted to finish for a while called Shit Magnet by Jim goad. I put it down somewhere near the middle where he had been ranting for a few trees about how the whole situation got very bad between him and his girlfriend and he eventually ended up hitting her because, apparently she had hit him first. There was a lot of relentless banter about how she provoked it and how they were both guilty in this case. He wasn't saying he didn't hit her, but he was saying that she should have been punished along with him. If you go by what Jim says, one begins to realize how screwed up the relationship really was between him and his girlfriend and his ex wife. Not that it was any one persons fault, but that all parties were guilty. The one thing that I do respect about Jim is that he doesn't whitewash anything and he doesn't try to make it seem like he wasn't guilty.
The latter half of the book goes into the prison system and how an intelligent person would probably go insane in such a place of chaos. I read that and actually it opened my eyes up to a lot of things about prison that I never knew about. It kind of makes you think, is a man who hits a woman a couple of times really deserving of 3 years in prison? Jim said that he had been hit before and beat up, and no matter how bad it was, it was nothing compared to living in prison and I honestly believe that. Before reading this book I had a rather harsh view on criminals, thinking they should actually have more punishment. But when one looks at the prison system and what one has to endure for little more than giving a girl a black eye that probably went away after a week, you begin to see how lopsided it all is and how it doesn't really make sense in the eye for an eye meaning. Not that I think people shouldn't be punished. I think there is a problem with the prison system, and any idiot can see that. Just like most human endeavors, it's not perfect and wasn't meant to be. See, to me, prison is a deterrent. It's not supposed to be a place to rehabilitate criminals; it's supposed to be that dark scary place that no one wants to go, thus reducing crime. The problem with that theory is that it's like most everything else in life; you don't know what the hell it is until you actually do it. I'm sure had Jim known what prison was like he wouldn't have done this at all. I know he doesn't think it was worth the time. I know the argument is still up in the air as to whether or not the prison system is effective, and I'd say that most of the time it's not really that rehabilitative, especially to people who go there for any length of time. The last chapter is about death, which I found to be particularly engaging. It's not exactly a depressing thing, although that topic tends to warrant some emotions from that realm. It was more a chapter about living life before you die. Today is a gift...

Decisions and the reenlistment scandal...

We chose orders to our next duty station today. Some others and I on the ship were doing some research trying to find out what was available to seethe our growing curiosity of where our future was going to be heading. As I walked into the career center I thought to myself that I have to stay strong and not be swayed by something that I knew wasn't in my best interests. If I wasn't getting exactly what I wanted, I was going to move along and possibly try to choose sometime later on to bargain for something better. Surprisingly, I got what I wanted. At the time I wanted to go to Seattle, but they didn't have any orders there. I chose Fleet Combat Training Center, Point Loma here in San Diego. The real question was whether or not to reenlist or just extend. If I had reenlisted, I would have had to reenlist for a minimum of 3 years. If I extended I would have to stay in the Navy for another 2 years. The reenlistment would have gotten me about $16, 000 minus taxes. Extending gets me nothing. Was it worth it to do three more years and get the money or do another two years and get nothing? No one really understood the fact that I'm extremely cautious about what I do these days in terms of my life and how things affect me. They all said that it was kind of stupid to pass up the chance to get that much money. Since I've been in the Navy, if there is one thing I've learned, it's that making wrong decisions about these types of things is an extremely stupid thing to do. The other thing I've learned is that I'd rather be happy and get by than to be miserable and have lots of money. So I chose to extend for two more years and not take the money. Money and the rich lifestyle is a lure, a trick played on people who fall in love with the green. Most of them feel as thought they have been hoodwinked. Bamboozled. Swindled. Well, as the song goes, take the money and run. They somehow think that money equates happiness and being content. As a wise man once said, everything that really matters you get without money at all: romance, devotion, friendships, wisdom, manners, culture, etc. I also learned something from another excellent book that I read a while back called Class by Paul Fussel. That book is about the class divisions and the American status system. I learned that having class isn't about having money, it's more about doing something with the money that you have. It's things like keeping your car clean and well maintained, keeping your house clean, and keeping your clothing neat. You don't have to spend a million dollars on a house and a car to have a fulfilling life. The bourgeoisie seem to think that making more money is going to make them better people or get them further. I admit, it sucks to be poor. I guess in a way I'm lucky that I came into the Navy because I have made decent money since I've been in and it's going to set me up well for when I get out. I didn't give in to the American Dream. Requiem for A Dream is a good movie where they illustrate what the lure of money and the American Dream will get you if you aren't careful. Real success takes real work. You can't get anything for free. Not in this life. So get out there and do something before you die.