pre occupied

Dear Occupy Wall Street People,


I have been thinking about some different things that you could occupy...besides private parks and protests around the country.  I'll start with simple ideas and then try to take suggestions to the next level.


1)  A job.  These are rewarding activities that pay you.  Apparently there is a shortage of these, so if you don't find one, try starting a business.  Occupy the end of a dog leash, lawnmower, snow plow (snow is coming soon), or just think up your own idea.  Steve Jobs started one and it worked out well for him.  Don't give up if the first one fails either.  Also, you can have more than one business if necessary.  If it freaks you out to work for a large corporation, stick with something small.  


2)  A volunteer position.  Take that energy used to protest and actively make the world a better place.  If you put that protest sign down and picked up a paint brush, gathered donations or sat with a family in a trauma center, then you would be making an immediate difference in the world around you.  Food pantries, hospitals, Habitat for Humanity, Red Cross, rescue missions, humane societies~they are all looking for help.  You would feel better about yourself, too.  Maybe then you wouldn't be so angry about your life...you would realize some people have it worse than you.


3)  The library.  Start reading.  It's been said you'll be the same person in 5 years except for the people you know and the books you read. Read the country's founding fathers, classic Greek literature or something about really successful people who started from nothing or a biography or two.  Libraries are free, too.  


4)  A shower.  Some of you need to clean up.  It's hard to respect people who don't appreciate the cleaning power shampoo.  Don't worry, people won't mistake you for a successful banker if you are clean.


5)  A music class.  Clearly you drummers were not members of any quality marching band nor were you the top of your percussion section in school.


6)  Etiquette class.  When you take over other individual private property, leave a mess behind you, shout at people, disrupt people's daily lives, you are perceived as rude.  If you can't afford a class (because you don't have #1), then go to #3. 


7)  Go on a retreat...by yourself.  Ask yourself the following question:  do I want to be remembered because I sat down and occupied or because I got up and did something that actively changed the lives of those in need around me?