Speak Loudly and Clearly in Voice and Print so ALL may hear and know

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I used to love reading the Comics on Sunday mornings, you know back when comics were comics. The good old days of Charlie Brown and Snoopy, Blondie and Beetle Bailey. I know I might be dating myself but it's relevant.
So I think it was Snoopy that said "Speak softly and carry a BIG stick!"( OK so Teddy Roosevelt said it first but Snoopy def. looked cuter and got the message out). I used to like that one. I think it's because I liked the thought of the surprise. However as I get older I realize that speaking softly often means no-one hears you over the noise of everything and everyone else and carrying a big stick is considered threatening to many people (wusses!).

I have therefore changed my way of thinking to Speak Loudly and Clearly in Voice and Print so ALL may hear and know. Few key words there... Speak, Loudly, Clearly, Voice and Print.
No one has ever accused me of being quiet. In fact in elementary school the librarian kept trying to tell me Silence was Golden but that's not the kind of Gold I liked even back then.
Speak- Loudly so you might be heard over the constant din that is life.
Speak- Clearly so you might be understood once people can hear you. It does you no good to be heard if no-one can understand what you are saying.
Voice- Please use the language those around you will understand. If you don't speak the language it doesn't matter how loud or clear your voice is, it will simply be more noise for someone else to have to overcome. If needed, Find a translator.
Print- Ahhh Print. I also remember the day when you either had to take out an add showing your displeasure or you had to send a letter to the editor and hope yours got picked out of all the others. But, I digress. Now the world wide web is here and we can have our voice heard by everyone for free. With the advent of Blogs, and sites like FB and Twitter we can let hundreds even thousands hear us, in the time it takes us to whip out are phones or get to a keyboard.
"Shan", you might say, "What has caused sweet, quiet, demure you to become so upset?"
Ok- so if you knew me you would know I'm not sweet, I already said I wasn't quiet and I'm sure as hell not demure. "So what then", you say to the Goddess Bitch I can be. Thanks for asking!
When I got home to my HOA complex that is clearly marked at all entrances "NO posting of flyers, handbills. No Solicitation" What do I find but a man and two young ~ 12-13 y/o boys walking around the neighborhood sticking papers in doors. Now first off it made me angry enough that boy #1 wasn't smart enough to see that the door he was trying to stick a flyer in already had multiples in varying states of decomposition due to the fact that no-one lives there. Secondly, the man was trying to shove one in my door. When I asked what it was he said "We're having Bible School." Now I'm all for freedom of religion but not when it means you break the rules and leave trash for me and others to have to pick-up. So I told him "Don't leave that and by the way, this neighborhood is posted No flyers and No solicitation. SO as he comes down my steps he tries to show me his flyer and says "We're allowed to be here." I'm sorry but the last time I drove into my complex it didn't say "No" to everyone but Central Baptist Church of Woodbridge, Va. Y'all come right on in and litter up our neighborhood and harrass our citizens. I then proceeded to ask him "What kind of lesson does that teach your children? It's ok to break the rules because we're special." Sorry, but I didn't learn that one in Baptist Sunday School, Non-denominational Charismatic Church or in the Catholic Church. I'm pretty sure even Buddah would not say it's ok to teach your children to break the rules. Well guess what? He had no answer to that one. In the words of Gomer Pyle "Surprise, Surprise, Surpise!"

So thank you Central Baptist Church of Woodbridge Va., for allowing me to get my message across to far more people than your littering of my neighborhood did! Also please expect more to come via Twitter and FB. Maybe Snoopy had it wrong. I like to think he had it right for that time and now he would be speaking loudly and carrying a Big Pen or at the very least a smartphone or Netbook.
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