Hello Steemit!
My name is Vincent Botto Jr, I'm currently in school for political science and hope to pursue a masters in political theory, I live in the United States of America on the eastern coast. I work weekends all over the state and sometimes the region for my family business that I hope to one day be a part of while utilizing my degree in other facets. In my spare time I do a lot for political activity in my community, I also read and research far and beyond the levels of where my degree process is at. My hobbies involve learning and reading on current events, video games, and work. For myself, I always felt it was necessary for me to start using the information I have learned through my research to translate it to other people, unfortunately I'm not somebody who likes being on camera and saw YouTube as something I wouldn't like. But Steemit has given me an opportunity to really enjoy writing about the research I'm doing because it gives so much incentive, plus it is a community that is more educated about current events then the zombie Facebook community. For myself, I see that I don't have the degrees to prove my education on political theory, but you will see through my writing I'm as informed as anyone and able to source the information for what I write. Now I will introduce myself in a formal way so you can get a perspective on my life.
2013, 2014 -
I was a student at Penn State University for undecided major and was just a typical privileged American student. My perspective on life was that school wasn't important, I was pretty smart and that D's got degree's. Sadly, I was wrong, I partied almost every night, did drugs and just cared about my social life while forgetting about enhancing my education and how it would benefit me in the long run. That winter break I was told to come work for my father's new business venture in the coast town on a boardwalk where on average 100,000 people were a night. So of course being the type of person I was, I did it. I was in it for the status and money opportunity, not thinking if I actually wanted to do it. I then worked 70 plus hours week over week from memorial day to labor day, then oddly enough it was like a switch when off and we barely had to work 40 hours with a short staff. But in this short time during the summer weeks, I developed a eating disorder, anorexia. I never thought twice about it at the time, I worked out, and never ate and all I wanted was to look good. Marijuana was how I survived, smoked all day, every day and it was the way I passed through the pain I was in, just being lost in myself and not knowing who I really was.
As the second year came, we improved the business vastly, our staff more trained, our food was better and fairly priced, we just ran an overall smoother operation and I found out I was pretty good at what I was doing. But the dark side of me was still there, the habits and destruction I was doing to myself was still there and not changing, if only getting more enhanced as it was being stapled into my mind that it was okay. In this time I met a girl who changed me fundamentally, but thankfully for myself she pushed me to get help even after not being together for a year, if it wasn't for that relationship I don't know where I would be today. At the end of the summer in 2014, we finally closed up show and moved back to where we were from, the damage was done though, and at this point I knew things were not okay or that I could keep living the way I was. Once the hours and life consumption into the business was gone, I needed help. And so begins the next chapter of my life into the journey of who I am today.
2015 -
Luckily, I was blessed with a friend who never shamed me for who I was, but was there when I needed him and was critical in the right moments. After moving back where I was from, I lived with him, and from there I went and got help full time. One to just figure out why I was so lethargic and depressed all the time with life, but also to help me battle the sickness of anorexia. This was the beginning of who I am today, in those moments I thought I was smart and understood how things worked. In my time battling my mind, and body I learned and read as much as I could about sociology, psychology, human behavior, and nutrition and how it effects you. From that moment forward I learned how enclosed in a bubble I called life I really was. Not only did I not understand how the world worked, I didn't understand why I would make the decisions I did. I started to get interested in every subject, anything and everything. In my time of healing myself, I gained an interest like I never understood in my life up to that point, knowledge is power, knowledge is enlightenment and understanding. I no longer looked at the world in a binary way and as I furthered my on enlightenment into myself, my knowledge expanded.
In my final year in Penn State, I wrote my final in English on the Syrian Civil War, and throughout this time I watched this war become something in the beginning just looked like a peaceful uprising. I watched people die from mortars and bombings on live feeds in the country, before the internet was cut. I watched ISIS rise and kill hundreds of people as they rose to power in the middle east. But most importantly my initial interest in politics was sparked, I felt an empathy for people I never met, like I never did before. From these days forward I started reading and becoming more engaged in politics, I still didn't understand politics that well, but I read as much as I could. I returned to school finally and pursued a degree in psychology and sociology, but soon after starting back up, another life crisis hit. I was back where I started with my mental health and life in general. This is when I found out I'm bipolar depressive and took time to learn to cope with my illness, and learned to love myself again after realizing it was a blessing in disguise. I learned that no matter how dark a day, week or month can be, there is always a brighter side at the end of a tunnel. I learned that suicide isn't a choice that I was willing to make, because I knew I was strong enough to handle anything, I learned how to see in the dark, and be aware of every feeling I felt. Something that most Americans, and most people can't say. I can cry if I want to cry, I can laugh and feel the joy of it, I can smile and know that I'm happy to be me even though some will see me as a flawed person.
2016, 2017 -
As the American Election started to take place, I was so far down the rabbit hole of politics. Reading every opinion and every argument possible on political ideologies in this country. There wasn't an ideology, or identity I didn't hear or see. Nationalist, Libertarian, Socialist, Democrat, Marxist, Leninist, Totalitarianism, Republican, Authoritarian and on. I seen and heard all of them, from people on the street to people on social media to debate groups to articles explaining their viewpoints, to the very people who built the theology of these ideologies. I keep reading, I keep informing myself, but now it's not from the history books my teachers give me, its the actual policies the history books talk about. I read books on constitutional law and the debate of why our constitution is built the way it is. The federalist papers, James Madison's documents of the Constitutional convention. Anything and everything I can get my hands on to understand the basic functioning of government and how our country is so corrupt without any consequences. I'm saying anybody can do what I have done to understand politics, because its research and reading that got me to the point I'm at, nothing more nothing less. In two years, I have read documents that are the basic outlines to what the ideology of the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) to the cornerstone of the policies being pushed under our current administration. No longer can America keep surviving on by destroying the wealth of many for those of a few. The more you read the more obvious it becomes that our system is not built for all of us, but for those of us who have real true power.
To this day, I have few goals in life, but some are to enlighten others on why politics is important, why to never loose hope in the system we and so many have, and why fighting for what you want out of your government is essential to this country and any country you live in. America is founded off rebellion, just like so many countries today that are founded through peaceful or violent revolutions of their politics. Just look at the examples in South Korea, Brazil, and looks like Venezuela. So many people think that the world has changed since Britain or Rome tried to conquer the world, but not much has. The same imperialist politics is played and will continue being played unless the many become educated enough to understand why this is wrong and will only lead to the destruction of our species as we become more technological advanced.
So that is who I am Steemit, I hope that you liked my little story about myself and I hope to hear more from the community on the things I write about Government and Current Events,
Love Vinchimedies