Just don't -

Living in California for over nine horrible years, I've got to be an expert on Californians or Americans in general. What I mean by that is... Well, let's start with... 
Just don't tell me ice cream and gelato is the same. It's not. I'm from Europe, I'm part Italian, I know what my gelato is like and what ice cream is like. Two different things which happen to be in the same category of dessert. If you won't say frozen yogurt is the same as ice cream don't bother arguing with me about gelato. You will lose. 

Just don't show up half-naked at the bar to then complain how guys are real pigs. Have you heard of common sense? I don't think so since you can't even realize how provoking it is to be half naked in front of a guy or lady. If you don't want guys to look at you, don't dress like trash, they will treat you as such... 

Just don't try running in heels when you have a mini skirt on. I mean if I were a man or attracted to women I would have probably not minded it but it's not the case. It's actually embarrassing and quite uncomfortable. No one has to see your underwear or your butt. It doesn't make you beautiful, attractive. 

Just don't pretend you are a proud American. You've got a terrible puppet as president. If it was the movie IT, your president would be the clown. Plus if being American means ignoring your origins as well, then... I don't know what to tell you cause most of the population has some European blood, Mexican blood, African blood... If being proud American means acting like Nazis have acted in the past, then I've got nothing to you except to start having a heart cause your humanity has been lost. 

Just don't come up to me with a bloody idiotic speech about how I should be an American citizen. I don't feel like America is my home, I don't understand Americans, I don't have the same culture ( that's if they have one), and your president isn't helping me want to become a citizen. So please keep your speech to yourself. 

Just don't act like your friend. Friends aren't fake people who only talk to you when they need something. They talk to you because they feel like checking up on you or just need to talk, to vent, to hang out. I feel like most people are just acquaintances who are only curious about my life to gossip afterward. No need to pretend a friendship, I don't like fake people anyways. 

Just don't tell me how I should eat! Look at yourself first before attacking me. I'm not the one eating fast food every day. I'm not the one eating chips all hours of the day or drink soda whenever I have something to eat. I'm the one who should be attacking you, and tell you how you should be eating, healthy. Keep your comments to yourself, last time I check I was good with my weight. 

Just don't drive in the rain! I'm not going to be an evil person who tells you do not drive at all. Just in the rain for now. I understand how Californians aren't used to rain, we all see how dramatic they get after a fifteen-minute shower. It's not like Texas... So driving in the rain is tough, I shouldn't know since I don't drive and yet, being in the passenger seat, I can tell people panic when there's rain. For everyone's sake, just stay indoors and try not to drive anywhere. 

Just don't show us your big ring. Who cares how big the diamond is... It doesn't prove how much he loves you, or she loves you. It's  shiny, yes, some people love them, I don't, but I don't believe they want to constantly have to hear, " Look how big my diamond is. He loves me so much. We are going to grow old together." And then two years later... Divorce. That ring doesn't promise you a lifetime with that person so keep your ring to yourself and don't show it too much. 

Just don't tell me " You should smile more". As far as I'm concerned, life isn't all rainbows and smiles. Life isn't all pretty and pink. I'm from Europe, and there, it's more common to see someone look " normal", not a fixed smile who looks fake half the time. If you are not getting spit at or being mistreated, then there's no harm committed. Smiling nonstop doesn't make you trustworthy so maybe lay low on it or stop complaining about Europeans not smiling as much as you would like. On the other hand, if you love to show your pretty smile, go ahead, no one will stop you. 

Just don't think you're intelligent when you come up with, " pizza is American" or " you can't be African, you are not black". The ignorance is above average. If there was a prize for how dumb a country is, The United States would win without even fighting for it. If you are trying to convince yourself I'm wrong on the subject or you believe Americans are smart then explain to me how white people or Arabs cannot say they are African? I mean, in geography you should have learned that Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria, and others are African. These countries are in Africa! And you may have heard about a lot of white people in the south of Africa? They can't say they're African though cause the colour of their skin isn't black so it obviously means not African. Americans don't do enough geography if they can't even believe Africa is a continent just like Europe, Asia, North America... 

Just don't greet me with a "Yo" or a "Hey". I don't know you, we are not friends, and we certainly haven't gotten a drink together. Last time I checked I didn't pee in front of you as well. Why not be respectable and say "Hello". Does it hurt you to say such a respectful word? 

Just don't tell everyone how rude Europeans are when you can't even be polite yourself. Europeans are blunt compared to Americans, I think we all can agree on that, but usually the "Hello", " please", "thank you", and " bye" is common to us, Europeans. While it seems like Americans are too lazy to even reply to a simple "Hello". Who's ruder? 

It seems like I can go on and on about the just don't... But I'll stop there cause I don't believe everyone will be open to criticism. After all, the truth is known to hurt and be the one subject Americans will try hard to not hear. Despite the fact that I'm having really difficult times with Americans, I live there and I'm started to also see the good in America unless it's political, health, education, food... But other than that, America has lots to offer if the president and people would calm down with their beliefs which are destroying the country and everyone in it.

" Great countries are those that produce great people." - Benjamin Disraeli 

~Bella 

The Book Of Symbol 12...

IRIS

A low bridge zigzags through a stand of blue irises with fresh green stalks. On a golden Japanese screen, the irises are are perpetually alive, a vivid reminder of both springtime's renewal and absent love. In the painting, the artist alludes to an episode in the tenth-century litterary classics, the Tales of Ise. After a failed love affair, the story's hero, accompanied by a group of friends, leaves the capital for the east in order to start life anew. At a bridge that passes through blooming irises, they compose a poem about nostalgia, love and loss (ARAS, 1:367).

Irises and Zigzag Bridges, by Ogata Korin, painted 

screen, ca. 18th century, Japan.

The iris is a genus of about 300 species of flowering plants that for millennia have been prized for their daxxling colors. The number of the iris' stunning natural varieties has been augmented by the extensive use of selective breeding. The flower ranges in color from near black to blue and violet through vermilion, orange, yellow and white, and is often variegated with strongly contrasting hues (Westrich,17). It is this multicolor display of the iris that is responsible for its appellation. Iris, meaning "reainbow" in classical Greek, was the messenger of the Olympian gods. Her emblem was the rainbow of many colors, the bridge by which she traveled between heaven and earth with her divine messages. Analogously, the "iris" is what gives the eye its color.

Lusty mysterious, this iris reflects the deep 

reproductive patterns underlying romance and life.

Black Iris, by Georgia O'Keeffe, oil on canvas, 1926.

United States.

Striking not only for its colors, however, but also for its sensual nature, the iris has phallic, sword-shaped leaves surrounding distinctive blossoms consisting of three erect petals and three larger outer petallike sepals. The latter suggest, as in Georgia O'Keeffe's Black Iris, the form and enticement of the feminine genitalia, even if the artist denied that she had such imagery in mind (Wright, 65). While the flower of the iris is not noted for its scent, "essence of violet" perfume is made from orrisroot, derived from the varieties of iris that grow, not from a bulb, but a rhizome, a creeping underground stem (Enc.Brit. 6:384).

Medicinal properties accompany the sensual pleasures of iris. On an Egyptian hieroglyph of an iris carved in stone 3,500 years ago was a list of medicinal plants. The ancient Greeks documented the flower's internal and external uses (Westrich, 9, 12). Traditionally, Japancelebrates an Iris Festival in May, when the flower is publicly displayed and men and women wear bulbs and take baths in which irises have been floating, in order to insure good health and virility (ARAS, 1:367). The iris is also believed to protect against disease and evil spirits (Baird, 85).

The goddess Iris was a messenger of the gods, and 

traveled on a rainbow between Olympus and the earth.

Iris was honored by the planting of her flower on the 

gravees of women, since it was she who led their souls to 

the Elysian Fields (Lehner, 64). The Niobides Painter,

5th century B.C.E., Greece.

The diverse, exquisite hues of "iris," reflected in flower, rainbow and eye, correspond, in the alchemical fantasy, to the "peacock's tail," the brilliant omnes colores that represent the integration of all qualities in the Stone. Just as Iris heralded the approach of the gods, so, psychologically, the show of "many colors" heralds the transcendent self in which the many facets of the personality, once opposing each other, are brought into a unity (CW 14:388ff).

Baird, Merrily C. Symbols of Japan. NY, 2001.

Lehner, Ernst and Johanna Lehner. Folklore and 

Symbolism of Flowers, Plants and Trees. NY, 1960.

Westrich, Josh and Ben R. Hager. The Iris:

The Rainbow Flower. NY, 1989.

Wright, Susan. Georgia O'Keeffe: An Eternal Spirit.

NY, 2009.

~Bella