How exactly does one clear out the noise in their head?

I’ve asked this question since I started writing. I was 12 years old and wanted to write about baseball. I wasn’t a troubled kid but I had energy and a will to express myself that couldn’t work face to face. So I went to the page. I had terrible handwriting by the way. It was like reading coded letters from a guy with 2 fingers and floating in outer space. So I eventually found a keyboard and went to work. Life has never been the same since. I don’t just write to write because it’s fun starting at a computer screen. I write to clear the noise out of my head. There’s nothing more therapeutic for me than writing and drinking coffee. A hot cuppa joe and a way to exit the real world and just put something into words. But…it doesn’t always work.

Sometimes, the noise in your head is so loud that a physical activity is required. A run. A workout. A trip to the batting cages. Something to clear out the noise.  Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. Let’s give it a try today because my head is so full that it could heat up a bag of corn.

The Cards are done and I am back to that normal feeling of having free time in the evening. A baseball schedule is gone. The everyday thought of where the game is and who is pitching and what will happen. With no offense to hockey or football, baseball players go at it daily. Hockey takes 3-5 off days and football is once a week. Pardon my letdown but it isn’t the same.

This is where movies come in though, right? Those 2 hour escapist exercises where you climb onto a tank with Brad Pitt or you stand between Robert Downey Jr. and Robert Durvall in a courtroom? Maybe you stay at home and go back to the 1930’s and hit up Boardwalk Empire or climb a ladder with Chicago Fire. Something right? Man those people look so clean and sharp even though they are supposed to be fighting fire, avoid gunfire or just waking up in bed. That can’t be real….

I know. I should go outside. Go to the park. Feel the fresh air on your face. Pick a pumpkin or apple. Take some pictures. Run around. Be cool and free. Take the kids. Be a family. Put up decorations. That might work too.

The existential crisis of all people is finding worth in every single day you are here. Some attach that to God. Some attach it to what happens on Earth(haven’t checked out Mars yet so I am sorry Mars people or things). What are we doing here? Are we doing it right? Once you have found something, how hard is it to keep it or do right by it? That is the noise in my head. Am I doing enough and am I doing it right?

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It seems to me that the fight for equality in this world is a war that wages on throughout our lives. Long ago, African Americans simply wanted to live the same way as whites and other genders as one world and nation. There are incidents in Ferguson that have raised hands on the racial tension that still thrives today. No matter how hard a certain group of activists fought long ago, the war is still there, breathing. For me, it isn’t the only unfortunate fight. There is the same sex marriage debate that wages on. There is another terrible injustice being waged at this very moment. Equality among genders. A solidarity if you will. It is a fight that Emma Watson is taking upon herself to make right.

I know what you are thinking. Here is some actress trying to soak up some headlines and get some feel good time with the world. Hey, look at me, I am a good person. I call bullshit on those people. All this does is tighten the lens on Watson’s career. You see, she thrives on the attention of men in her movies, so this could be a risk. A lot of men won’t like her movement. Trust me, there are a lot of males still living in the Mad Men age, “Draping up” relationships and marriages. Hey, ladies, do this and do that or else I am gone. That still happens here in 2014.

I stand up in the name of feminism. I think women deserve equal rights, in the workplace or the home or wherever the setting needs to be laid out. I was raised by two great parents, but my mother is a saint. She lives for her kids and she takes care of sick kids at Children’s Hospital. She also cares for my brother. I grew up around strong women. My grandmother, Henrieta or “Meme” as I called her, was a strong voice in my life. She preached patience, goodness in the soul and made sure I was a nice and gentle person. She fought off the hate in people when she was around them. My wife, Rachel, works 60 hours a week and is also a great mother to my three year old son, Vincent.

There isn’t equality for women in the workplace. This is the tip of the iceberg for the campaign. Men still make more money. I don’t really have to break out the numbers and scales for you.  For a lot of men that I have been around, this seems to be the way they want it.  The men make the dough an the women stay home. Screw that. I don’t see it that way. My wife makes more money than me and there isn’t anything wrong with it. As long as my son is taken care of and a roof stands over our heads, I can keep breathing and walking. You don’t need to measure pride up against survival to get the point here.

I take a certain pride in knowing my wife can dominate a male driven market, and that is sales. Give it a name. Car sales. House sales. Computer sales. My wife sells tile and is making a name for herself in an industry dominated by men. I am proud of my wife. I don’t need to sleep comfy at night thinking my writing and warehouse work are just as strong. Why is it in life that men and women have to be measured in terms of who is better at something? Why not find the best person, male or female, for a job instead of judging it on gender? That’s still a problem.

Racism was a huge problem. Same sex marriage still has a problem winning over the religious folks because the invisible man they believe in told them it’s wrong. Gender Equality doesn’t seem too hard to understand but today, it is still an issue.

HeForShe doesn’t just speak about women in the workplace. It stands for all violence and abuse towards girls and women. There’s simply too much of it. You don’t have to know who Ray Rice is to know about domestic abuse towards women. It happens every hour of every day. What’s wrong here? Why is there still so much violence towards women? Don’t ask Stephen Smith about this.

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