The cowardice of liars (#1490)

Yes, we all somewhat hate liars, well hate may be a bit strong but we do disdain them for their intent. But what I am talking about here is the hatred that motivates liars. Deep down inside them some smoldering fear has them by the grips and they know only one way to avoid their fear and that is to ignore it. So instead they see the world through their cowardice and in such have made what is good and right about life something dirty and sullied. They would rather destroy the best of what we are in order to creep away from their fear. They may use words of disambiguation to justify some nefarious effect in ideas they promote as a smoke screen but most of us move past the words of opinionated description and instead look at the result of their attempts. One surely would conclude that anything that comes from a dishonest evaluation is either being proposed by someone who is badly misinformed or the alternative, has adjusted their thinking to reflect their hatred for others transferred from their own hatred of themselves. Having honor comes with a price, one must be truthful about logic and truthful about it's effect. Which then leads to applying a positive solution that benefits all, not just some. Sadly, we are still a nation filled with souls who have not the courage to face their own fears despite the obvious reflection of it the rest of us see. So cowardice in their thinking is not cowardice at all, it is conviction that despite all relevant reason, must be forwarded at any cost. Watching how some leaders play with our lives like we are statistics instead of human beings is beyond regrettable and for such behavior cowards must be called out!

My good fortune (#1489)

The good things that happen around me in my little world are the priceless gifts I appreciate. The happy little face of my dog when he snuggles up to me, even the cat when he is of a mind to as well. lol. Getting my chores done around the house make me feel satisfied and grateful for having some sense of accomplishment. Reading up on the news of the day when it forwards the best of who we are as a species. Knowing my health is far better than I could have imagined for all the wild and crazy times I have experienced. My friends who are glad to hear from me and enjoy my occasional humor. Life is what you make of it and how you choose to see it. I don't hide from reality, I just choose to live it in the best of ways and not be a downer. I do somewhat enjoy calling out the rich and powerful for their stupidity but that is little reward for what they are actually doing in harming all of us with their callous misunderstandings. I feel like I make a difference in life and for that I am most happy since I am alive and I should make the most of what purpose I see for myself. I got some great advice once, "I could be walking down the street with nothing but my underwear and know that I am okay". Because life isn't about what "material things" you have, instead life is about the "do no harm" you have in your heart. It is my good fortune that I have an understanding that we are all created equal in spirit, regardless of circumstances or privileges bestowed. My life is a joy because that is what I most want from it. I expect myself to be happy and in doing so I spend most all my time looking for the happiness in it.

The thieves who steal our hope (#1488)

Whack-a-mole. That is what it seems like when some of us try to claim the natural right we are all born with. It seems that we have among us those who would deny nature it's due because they have different ideas about rights. Some perverted distorted concept has infected their reason and like the drones they appear to emulate, they go about their duty to secure for themselves that which they would deny to everyone else. As those of us who wish to see universal rights for all, on the same equitable scale, rise up and speak to the truth of it, we are subjectively dismissed or forced into positions of fear by those who would take no alternative than their own. Their mantra is survival of the fittest with a lie about equality. Simple but effective in this disinformation era we currently reside. The problem is that they, which is a bit of an uneasy alliance they have aligned toward, are continuing to consolidate their will and power over those left of us who would shout out at them for their brutish inhumanity. Long ago they sold their souls to the cynical non-attribute of not caring. They have only one altar they worship upon and it is not laden with benevolence. So those of us, large and small of voice and social/political stature continue to rail against them with as little or much might as we can. This existence is ours not just theirs and until the "arc of justice" bends completely back to all of us then the hope we still have for a better world will have to be enough fuel for us to fight with. They truly are thieves in that they have traded virtuous honor for the eventual shame of disgrace and dishonor.

The need to be right (#1487)

What is it that makes most of us feel like we need to be right? Is it a validation of our reasoning abilities? Is it our desire to one-up others as a form of proving our own individual enlightened being? It is always important to be right about anything we advocate for but when we do advocate we have to be able to logically explain our method for knowing we are right. Just saying we are right is not proof, it is opinion. This is why logic is so important. We can follow each premise of the given conclusion to find out if the premises are true. If one of the premises is not true then the whole conclusion is flawed. So when advocating an argument for a conclusion, the proof of it has to be valid. Otherwise we are not diligent in our advocacy. So much of this non-diligence is the normal for today's proponents of policy. The few who actually spell out their claims with correct premises are being drowned out by those who don't bother with the minutiae of the facts but instead play on the fears of those who wish no change to the fears they already understand. That logic has taken a back seat to demagoguery is disappointing at best. Our society has many problems that need solving yet the ones who are not interested in solving problems are the very same ones who use fear to prevent logic from ruling our decisions. They choose to instead dismiss rational thought in order to keep some form of power or wealth that would in their eyes change for them if logic ruled the day instead of the current success they have with utilizing fear. It is a sad state of affairs in our current history that the idea of proving oneself correct is not the principle ideal in establishing the truth of a thing.

The comprehensive picture please! (#1486)

What I find most disturbing is people who argue with me and others about what they want right now for themselves without looking at the overall, or comprehensive effect. Nothing we do today is just a singular action without consequences. Everything is connected and if we do not keep our minds focused on the purpose for shaping and bettering our society then we get caught up in the selfishness of personal need instead of the insightful growth of our civilization. It still frustrates and aggravates me to see some argue against the common sense approach to solving a problem because, well, I don't know. When did common sense become such a detriment to problem solving? Are we so much full of ourselves that we cannot accept logic in the face of truth? I still don't know why we have some in our society who think that logic has no legitimate standing in the realm of their understanding. Again, I say I don't know why problem solving has to be an unknown to me with some who cannot use logic to explain their rational/irrational conceptions. The idea that we should accept non-sequitur's as a form of explanation is beyond me. If we cannot base our society on rational, logical thought then how are we all going to understand each other? It is a failure of our society in the educational process that has allowed too many of our citizens to think they are aware of reality when in reality they are thinking in incomplete terms. There is a simpler way to think in this world if we are not educated to the limits we need to be. Just ask yourself if you think life should be fun and easy, if yes, then ask yourself if you can support policies that make it so. If we can get past our own fears just maybe we can all start to have the fun available if we would only strive for it.

Survival of the fittest does not value all life (#1485)

You can't have it both ways, like our conservative party here in America. They claim to be the party of family values, but upon closer inspection of what that means we find that they only mean values that put us in direct competition with each other even in the most basic ways. For food, clothing, shelter, health care and transportation. Valuing only a system that requires all to battle against one another for the few comforts in life is one of not family values but one of the concept of "thinning the herd". An oxymoron for sure when most of us equate family values with care, equality, justice, liberty and opportunity. Words do matter and as we hear those words come from the ones in power who are trying to establish our society's rules, we must know how those words are in effect coinciding with the outcome those words actually produce. When the outcome is for a small group of people to acquire and control our sources of economy and government then we are not on the track to improving our society in a democratic way, instead we are undermining all the hard fought rights and privileges we have already attained for a lesser and more authoritarian one. There is nothing new here in that some see themselves above all others and therefore feel it is their right to control and dictate existence as to how they see it and not leave that for a democratic process. All of us must decide if we are going to keep the democratic form of government and economy before we lose it to those who are plotting and implementing for more control. Common sense tells us that when we all have a say in what our future will be then we are truly bound together as a powerful force against everything else. However if we are not bound together surging toward our future together, then we are surging instead against each other toward something that looks a lot like our chaotic past. 

Fight for what you need (#1484)

I don't mean go pick fights to get what you want. I mean go after your goals with confidence and resolve. I need my own advice in so many areas of my life as I sit here pondering the direction this post is taking. I fail miserably in my personal life because apparently I don't value my own needs very highly. It appears that I am less courageous about attaining what could and would make my life more rewarding simply because I am not out fighting for what I need. It is shameful on my part to be such a loser when it comes to matters of my heart and mind. Yes, loser! lol. I am not negatively swayed though by my self critique and I do resolve to face my own limitations when it comes to what I would really like to see happen in my life. I hope you will do the same in yours. There is a laziness of spirit or energy in provoking my ambition with my forceful will and that is where I am lacking. I need to get the fire lit under my doable desires and put myself out there and take a chance. I am not so much weak minded but I am not aggressive enough for my own good. Life is about the gifts that we can enjoy with each other and when I am not participating in the opportunities life actually presents to me then I am a horrible steward of what could be great for me and others. The complexity of learning more about myself than I do is begrudging, but it is right. None of us has the keys to all the enlightened doors out there but to not cross the threshold of the doors that are open right in front of me is less than honorable. This is a light I shine on myself more than any other and it would behoove me to think and then proceed with the proper action. 

The fire inside us (#1483)

What is it that keeps burning at my ambitions? What is it that keeps me focused and determined to see a better world? All I know is that I have seen enough misery for a lifetime and that has to stop. Our society is inching ahead in alleviating the worst kinds of suffering but we have so much further to go and we need to pick up the pace. I just cannot rest and relax in my own comforts when I know that others are not even close to having any decent comforts at all. Most are having trouble just meeting basic needs let alone a sufficiently comfortable life. This is why my inner fire burns so hotly. I cannot turn a blind eye to those who are punished by the mere fact of being born where they are born. The luck of the draw is not an acceptable strategy in an emerging enlightened society. Our values should always precede our actions as the rule, not the exception. How do I make you understand that life is not a competition for selfishness, instead it is a competition for selflessness. Through our competitive natures we need to be making life better for all, not just for some. The idea that cynicism, a general lack of faith and/or hope, has value as it relates to our human desires is a false conclusion. We are not greedy and ego-driven by our natures, that is a taught and learned behavior. It is not a positive behavior, instead it is a dividing tool used to keep us in line with the school of thought that most of us are chattel and/or property. There exists within our power structures of influence, weak minded souls who easily sway and allure, with the temptation of greed and grandeur, those who start out to fight the battle to improve our society with equality and fairness. Remembering that selfishness is the first step toward putting out the fire within us should make making that choice to be tempted by the weak minded souls that much easier to overcome.

Seeing beyond my wants (#1482)

Just another way to describe what sacrifice is. I don't sit around in a mash of emotions or regrets about how I don't have so many things it would be nice for me to have. That old saying of "it is the thought that counts" serves me well in that even though I don't have special or privileged things, I can imagine that I do and that is always a bit of a comfort. The reason I don't is simple, other priorities have to come first. My wants are not enough of a desire to hide the blemish of so much that is going wrong in our society. I am not the super altruistic soul I hope I can become, but I do a small part where I can without reservation. I know how sometimes just a little help to others is huge to the helped. It not only relieves some pressure point but it also restores a little bit of faith in the human condition about caring. What are the true values we have here in this existence? It is not just material and power. Those things are the goal for so many yet in their lives they miss the truth about accomplishment. Society is structured for us to be busy within it so that we do not have the idle time for things to go bad. We want all of us to live lives with purpose and dignity while we live in harmony with each other. So much of the time this concept escapes our thinking or is not even in our thoughts. Regardless of how some say that our institutions are more important than any or a group of lives, they would always be wrong. Institutions are built and maintained just so that we can have freedom with security, not as an idol to be worshiped or used to whip up some metaphorical conflagration. We are all the same, human beings with a passion for life and a caring curious nature. Let's never forget that.

If it is bad it isn't right (#1481)

I have yet to find anything that is bad that is right. Some things that are neither good nor bad can be right, but nothing that I know of that is bad is right. So, as I see the value of this statement, it unequivocally states that if anything has a bad element to it then it isn't right. it follows the rules of logic. By default bad is not right. We live with compromise in our lives from the beginning of life to the end, only because all of us are not in synchronicity with each other. Our values have been misplaced as to overall coordination. Many times I have heard the term "if only" and that simple phrase sums up our lack of principled civilized structure. We would rather hold customs and myths in higher regard than the reality of what is right in front of us. We have chosen to forego rational acceptance as the highest priority in order to placate existing demagoguery. Why we do this is for the simple reason that myths and customs placate our sense of belonging and as well helps to dispel fears that come from our own inadequacies. We would rather accept our compromised version of ourselves than actually become who we really are. In fact, we are so invested in how we sell ourselves short, we even fight against that which we know in our souls is good and right. A calculation has been made not to upset the existing irrational way we chose to morph our values to fit the most convenient and comfortable solution. Although we struggle against our compromises we eventually fall into the trap of acceptance as the price we pay for what we have, without acknowledging our internal truth meter. Because it exists does not make it right, that is left to our values and until we live totally within our values we will continue to accept and even defend the bad.

We cannot stop time (#1480)

Maybe in the future we will have figured out some fantastic way to stop time or to even go back in time but for now such thinking is just wishful. As painful as it to realize that no matter what we do or how we live, time will continue to move forward with or without us. So there is no point in wringing our hands with frustration over how we see the world and our being in it. Accepting that we are alive for some short time and having as much of an impact and as many experiences in our lives before our time is up is the best course. We will not take what we do in this existence with us that we know of but if in some small hope that we do carry the intent of who we are into some unknown future after our death here, I would like to think that how I live my life as it is today is a reflection of how my values shape my life. The most important thing for me to continue to remember is that what I think and do, does matter. I am, like all of us, the turning point in the history of the human existence. We all shape the future for all of us and every decision we make is the next link in the chain that has survived us. The impetus that started when our species began to civilize this planet, through the dark and brutish days of our meager beginnings to the now more enlightened era we hope to continue, is in motion and nothing short of an ultimately ludicrous and hateful set of actions will ever stop it. Time will have it's continuum and we have the space in our existence to maximize it's allowable effect. Control it? maybe in the future but for now all we can do is recognize that we are just a unit of consciousness within time but within that unit, we have the power to make the time of our lives the best adventure and reflection of who we humans are. 

There may always be second chance (#1479)

We know this that there are second chances once things have settled down. I know that when someone has harmed me in some way I initially need time to reflect on as many factors involved before giving a second chance. However, second chances need to be carefully weighed in respect to why they are needed. Just because I give the benefit of the doubt on the first harm does not mean that I will automatically give a second chance, so when I say there may always be second chances does not mean that they are all given. I find that when some have disrespected me and placed my honorable good intentions into a bad light for no good reason, I am less likely at all to give them any more of my time. That is the one thing that is most dear to me, my time. When I think about myself as a value for others to know, then the one thing I can deny to those who are less deserving of me, is me. Usually I have nothing else of value to reciprocate a cost to them for their actions and/or behaviors. Once my good friendship or acquaintance has been intentionally harmed, there is little hope for a second chance although the one who does cause the harm has a way back to a second chance through remorse and changed behavior. I have also been guilty of harming persons for nothing more than disrespect and conscious deceit, but like those who have done the same to me, there is a way to rehabilitate. I am open enough and honest enough to know that we all change and change can bring with it new perspectives. I have sought to ameliorate my harms as best can be but I do this as a way to try to right any wrong I have done. Not just for me but for any to re-establish a chance to renew better where worse previously resided.

Expecting more from ourselves (#1478)

Are we the type of people who live off the laurels of others? Are we so incapable of having a vision for ourselves that includes a better world when we leave this one? These are some fundamental questions that need honest answers from each of us. I know that opportunities are difficult in the current unenlightened political morass, although some politicians are fighting hard for our human rights to exist in a safe and equal society, but are we the types of humans who think that we don't matter or that we cannot make a difference? Are the best days of humanity behind us? I don't think so and neither should you. There is a brilliance in being involved in the changing dynamics of our society when that dynamic is aimed at creating a smarter and more inclusive paradigm. Nothing that exists today that we have created is perfect, therefore much work needs to be done to make all things better. Every new generation must build from the top of our preceding generation's shoulders. We cannot stop and say this is fine enough for me and too bad about the rest of you. That is not who we are as a people. In our hearts we know this. I started this blog because I wanted all of existence to know that we are a caring species and a curious species. Everything else flows from that and if we stay who we are we will always continue to move forward within our natures. If we don't we will be outside our natures and only show the results of lesser activities. Each of us is great in our own existence and what we do with the greatest part of ourselves will write the story for those who come next to admire and build upon.

The hubris of youth (#1477)

The energy that is displayed by ones still young is admirable. As these young ones come to maturity it is as if they, like me when I was young, have most all the problems of our world figured out. They see what is before them and solutions are as obvious as the night is followed by the day. If we could all stay in that moment where life is not some chaotic puzzle with missing pieces, but instead is bountiful and opportune. I sometimes wonder if the hubris I felt as a youth is not still within me but mellowed some with the trials and tribulations life has otherwise brought to my feet. But I know that the world in essence is simple and the way we do things here on our planet need to be simplified in ways that can only bring us a better human society. The clarity of simple solutions that are correspondingly linked with the power and force of the well-intentioned hubristic mind can be an awesome process to behold. I have met a few in my younger life who had such will and determination to succeed at noble intentions that instead of rallying behind them I took the course of envy and obstruction. I suppose what I didn't know was how short time is for all of us and that there are few who are born into our world who have passionate visions of our lives and the willpower to try to change for the better our very same lives. I am older now and in some way I hope to be able to let you learn from what I didn't do. The hubris of youth is not a competitive behavior to be battled against, rather it is to be admired and encouraged as long as it's intent is as solid as the honorable principles it rises from.

Wisdom is earned (#1476)

Age is not the precursor to being wise. Living wisely gives us the opportunity to become wise. What worked for me as a youth is not the same in most respects as an example of what the youth of today should employ. Many think that since some have attained a certain age that they are by default wise human beings. For some that is true but for most it is not. It is not the time you have spent on this planet that defines wisdom, on the contrary, it is how we have lived in honorable principles that does. That is the key, honorable principles. The more we are in them the more likely they will become a living part of who we are. I say that compassion and curiosity are the two main human traits of instinct, yet if we do not live these traits we are less than who we are at any age. Those that have manipulated time and space for themselves are far less likely to know the value of honorable principle and regardless of their age should not be the source for wisdom seekers. Unless of course taking their advice in the opposite is a challenge one assumes to trust. Wisdom is knowing how the simple situations in life affect the more complex scenarios we find ourselves surrounded with. A lot of wisdom comes from trial and error and those who have this experience are well on their way to become wise souls, but only if they have learned the lessons of their successes and failures. The objective mind is also a subset ingredient in the overall conception of wisdom. If we cannot allow ourselves to put beneath us all of our prejudices and biases then we will not be able to truly capture the meaning of the advice being sought. We will all be called upon to offer our thoughts on life's little gambits, how well we endure to conform to honorable principles as their baseline will be the final verdict in our knowing whether we are as wise as we hope we are.

Accepting my nature (#1475)

I am who I am and although I like to think of myself in theoretically greater terms, it still is not so. I do improve myself with great hopes and expectations of my own making, but as we all know what we may expect of ourselves is often short of the ideal. Regardless though, I am a good natured person always willing to see the bright side of life. It is how I have chosen to live in that I understand that we all need to have positive situations to keep up our spirits. There is always a darker side of life we will travel to from time to time because life does make us weary with unfortunate situations more often than not. However, the answer to those negative times is, for me, to lift my head above the happening and try to see the bigger picture. I can often as well keep myself from the negative in life by choosing to alter my behavior. I know where life is more than unhappy and I try to avoid being in those places. There are times when going to the places of trouble will allow me to do good and better things, and I appreciate the opportunities when I can spot them, but mostly the troubles that exist are self-made and no amount of help I would share would be welcome. There are those who choose to live in the worse or worst of their natures since it allows them at least a comforting illusion of not being embarrassed or ashamed in front of those who they admire or remind them of their guilt. There are few ways in our lives for us to conquer the demons of our pasts but I have and although my demons were more or less simple, actions and behaviors, to fix, they did require my values to come to the fore of who I am. My nature is now the lead in all my intentions and that is how I have been living and shall continue live.

The unenlightened mind (#1474)

I know this from my past. I was wandering through life with a cynical acceptance about everyone else and their motives until I allowed myself the opportunity to become more educated about the world around me. My initial mindset was that people were only out for themselves and those who proclaimed an honorable alliance with improving poverty conditions were only using poverty to improve themselves. Cynical being the operative word here. No one was altruistic. Everyone had an angle to take and not give. I turned to religion to find some new way of thinking about how we should be instead of how I was seeing us. That worked for a time and then I saw those within the church utilizing the same techniques of selfishness that I saw outside the church. Disillusionment was my ever close companion. Then I went back to finishing my higher education and I came to see that there actually were people on this planet who gave of themselves with no expectation of a return. I realized that just because I couldn't see it then, I was wrong to assume that everyone was selfish. I now apply the principle of selflessness as best I can since I am the only one who can make it happen from me. I cannot look at what you are doing and say that is the normal. I must instead do as I know is right and know that that is the normal. Those that continue to act out in selfishness and blame even those who do not of being false are fools doing a fools errand. It is sad to see but I keep reminding myself that I was one of them not that long ago. I need to be who I want everyone else to be. 

Do you see the future? (#1473)

I know I do and with me or without me it is still going to be one with smart technology and innovation. Those that battle to keep the status quo are only unsuccessfully striving to halt the inevitable. We are a species of change and that change comes in many forms. We do keep some basic principles like life, liberty and pursuit of happiness, but we also expand on freedom and access to equal opportunity. Our life blood not only circulates through our veins but it also is in how we think about our past knowledge and the everyday new information that continues to accumulate. Our boundaries are limitless when we continue to move forward with some wise caution. Such is how we are. We are not a sedate species, satisfied with just enough comfort for some and not much at all for many. We must and will do better because our intellect and our caring, compassionate natures guide us that way. We nurture as a fact and nothing less than nurturing is our fate. So off into the future we go, trying to make our path the most efficient while including all of us on it. the Universe is ours to discover and explore and the best way for us to do that is for all of us to be a part in the discovering of it. Our practicalities will eventually be our guiding principles since we have yet to fully implement anything that could or would counter it. We do not need the fallacies and manipulations that we use against each other to continue, what we need instead is our strengths; such as our logic, our innovations and our understanding that we are not just a single species in this existence. The future holds a species that has a caretaker mentality with an adventurers spirit.

Our self inflicted wounds (#1472)

We are hurting ourselves because we won't stop hurting ourselves. We allow the cause of the hurt to continue while not addressing the pain and damage that ensues. We have problems here in our country and we are not addressing them. Institutionally, we are broken and the will to change that is rebuffed by those who are obstructing change. There is no loyalty to pain and suffering quite like what we have here in America. Certainly, in other countries around the world pain and suffering are being administered on different scales worse in actual human suffering than ours, but we have already moved beyond where those other countries are still battling for human rights, yet we seem to have a class of individuals who want to fight the hard won victories of our past in order to lessen them. How is it we allow that class of people to get away with holding onto power? That class of people is stealing form our brave forefathers/mothers who died in the course of bringing us those rights. I am utterly, and I mean utterly disgusted with that class of people who for no other reason than bigotry and greed have infiltrated our power structure and are destroying with decay our foundational principles. They have conjured up a smokescreen of prejudices in order to mask their goal of unfettered wealth for only those who are willing to steal it from our hard fought American heritage. As a result of their ability to power and wealth grab, our schools are less able to prepare our citizens with individual critical thinking which is so desperately needed in the 21st century and instead creates an underclass of individuals who are lead by propagandists instead of being leaders themselves. This truly is a moment in time for that despicable class of illogically principled carpetbaggers be given the boot out of power they should never have held. 

The observation of my pets (#1471)

I am not some home scientist who conducts social experiments on his pets, but I do however observe them in their surroundings. They have pretty much free run of the house and backyard with the cat also having run of the front that has no boundaries to inhibit him. Although the dog is restricted by the house and the fencing in the backyard, the cat finds fencing just an annoyance to be overcome when he is in the mood. Both of them are learning to interact with each other in a more carefree way. I am on my third dog now with the cat have overlapped his time with all three. What I find most satisfying is that they tolerate each other and at times even express comfort with each other. The common denominator with them is me and I stay as consistent as possible with them. I enjoy having them both and they are a comfort to me most all the time but even more is that I get to observe them in situations where I am unsure as to their behaviors. What has been most instructive to me is that they teach me to be loyal and friendly in most every situation. How they react and act is something I admire since I seem to need some instruction as to how to be who I am. I am alone and have no other person living with me so sometimes I can get lost about how to react when I am with others. I am one of those types who has always felt a need to try to fit in, instead of just letting life happen with a measured coolness. What my animals have taught me is that just being me is my natural state, without having to react to my anxious impulse of trying whatever to make an impression, and that has been most helpful. 

Income inquality (#1470)

The sure sign of a broken or manipulated economy is an overwhelming disparage in income inequality. When the top 1 percent of the individuals in a society own 40 percent of the overall wealth in a society you can be sure that the gap in income for them and the other 99 percent is too much. The thing is that at the present rate it won't be too much longer before that 40 percent becomes 50 percent. The rules of our financial and labor dealings need to be brought back to a more reasonable compensatory schedule. I am all for the creative, hard working innovators in our society being rewarded for their efforts, but I also believe that the hard working family person trying to raise a family, and those who are just beginning to start their own lives, should be rewarded, although not as much as the innovator but far more than currently exists for them. A healthy economic society sees the value in all the motion required to achieve success. When those in a position of leadership are not satisfied with measured monetary compensation for their efforts along with the prestige of being a leader, then we get what we have now where being the leader is not a reward in itself, on the contrary, it is only a position from where those who have control are able to demand greater than deserved compensation. We are on a track where those who do the regular necessary efforts needed to make any enterprise a success are viewed more like chattel, and not respected human beings. Where the ideology of those who have risen to positions of power do not respect the fact that we all need to do something on this planet worthwhile to make our lives here more than just a drudgery. Income inequality is a bane on humanity and cannot continue without completely breaking what is left of a process that could be aimed at making all our lives better.

A life full of good memories (#1469)

I count myself fortunate to have a good memory and one that is also full of times and places from my past that make me realize that I have attempted to fulfill the best of who I am and who I want to be. Not all good but mostly good. Certainly memories can sustain us in difficult times through the comfort of having known or been with special people and places, but they also are a record of how we have lived our lives. I, like most I presume, tend to keep the best of memories at the forefront of my mind and let the less more unpleasant ones slip into the back void of my "mental filing cabinet". However, with me, the memories that are at the forefront are indicative of my general attitude about life. I appreciate and cherish the laughter and happiness that has been a part of me since my earliest memories. Life was difficult for my family, especially my parents, which most of us recognize, yet the sacrifices they made on our behalf, made life seem wonderful and full of exciting adventures. I figured out long ago that I wanted to be a good guy who would be the hero in every situation where I was needed to be. That of course has been tempered with time and various confusing scenarios but the initial instinct of my willingness to be of help has never left me. I am not so much about material and self-satisfying pleasures as my goal in life but I am about feeling good about myself and my actions and how they are interpreted among those around me. Yes, I do want approval from my peers. Not as an end game but just as a reminder of how I live and who I have become. None of us is an island in total, we are all part of this planet and it's boundaries. How we remember who we were, and are, is all about how we want to live.

Doing things right brings about confidence (#1468)

This has been my experience. I am most confident when I have accomplished a good thing. I am least confident when I have done something wrong. For me, these are almost universally true. Now that I am a member of the human species and like King Solomon is quoted as saying, "there is nothing new under the sun", I can generally assume that others have the same reaction about confidence as I. Why is confidence important? Well let me say this, when I am confident about what I am doing or about to do, it is because I have an expectation of something good happening. I know that expectations are usually troublesome, but when my intent and vision for a better tomorrow is coupled with common sense and an open mind, expectation can be uplifting. As a general rule though, expectation is better when not considered. However, I have strayed from my subject matter somewhat but that is quickly remedied. Confidence is also a subject matter that can have dire results when the confidence is illogical. Seeking to do a false good thing, is just the same as doing harm and that cannot nor should not be allowed to happen. Confidence in doing something right has to be acceptable to most who can evaluate the merits of the subject being improved upon. Confidence in doing a thing should not be utilized when the facts of the thing are not clear. Guessing is more like what that is and confusing the two and claiming absolutism about it is a lie. Confidence is a sense of an earned understanding and should never be improperly measured. We should build our confidence from the many little things in life that are of a positive nature and then allow ourselves the privilege to task to larger, more influential issues.  

From the outside looking in (#1467)

I know this post may seem a bit strange but bear with me will you? Imagine that you are this intellectually compassionate alien being looking down upon our planet. At first observation, the blues, whites and greens from afar look appealing. Upon further and closer inspection more colors appear, which serve to tantalize the eyes of the viewer. It is then that the alien will see the life forms that exist here. Many varied and unique. But when the alien sees the way we treat each other, the alien must then realize that we are a chaotic lot on Earth. We try to treat each other with respect and dignity but as the alien will see, we have a ruthlessness to us that has not been abolished. The evolution of the human species is still occurring at a slow rate given our human intellect to reason and conclude. We are on a path to abolishing the crude elementary traits we exhibit at this date in our human progression but the distance we must travel to truly become an enlightened species is far off. The alien must then pull back from our planet and wonder how it is that a beautiful world with lush and bountiful resources could be so chaotically mismanaged. The alien must wonder how it is that we treat each other so differently based upon rules and dogmas that are not evenly distributed. the alien must wonder how it is that we would rather deny each other basic necessities for life while telling us that it is good for us. I am sure the alien will either shake what he has for a head and wonder how we have survived our own tormenting of each other. Our planet is not at fault for this, it is on we humans to fix the ridiculous way we treat each other and until then we will only be a sad chapter in a Universe full of wonderful possibilities.

Thinking out ahead (#1466)

Thinking out ahead is how we can pleasantly surprise people. When we take into consideration the plight of other people and see how we can help them with their difficulties we find good honest interaction that is usually very rewarding. Not in any normal monetary sense but in a spiritual sense where we make ourselves glad by making others glad for knowing us. It is difficult sometimes to consider others when we are under the strain of our own considerable problematic weights, but I find that when I help others with their problems somehow my problems are not as big or through the interactions, my problems find solutions for themselves. The old give it away to receive formula. Now I am not saying the formula is fool proof as there are those out there who would gladly take and take without giving back, but generally, when we think out ahead about how we can help others the return on that is at least a great feeling of making a positive difference. I don't give to get, but when it does happen it is like Karma of some such inverse proportionality law. Every action has an equally inverse proportional action type thing. However, again, that is not why I give. I give or think out ahead about others because I can see my humanity in action. I am living who I am and not just saying who I am. Most of us have little to offer in our present society that rewards the wealthy far more than those who work for them, but once again, it is not about the wealth we give it is about the caring thought to do something without even being asked for it. When someone knows of my problems and offers in some way to be of help, I feel like I am not all alone and that life really can be about us all helping each other when help is needed.

Anything worth having requires struggle (#1465)

Thomas Paine was right when he said; "What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: 'tis dearness only that gives everything its value." In the larger context rarely does anything we place value on come to us without our struggle to achieve or win it. Whether it be virtue or even vain glory, we must put ourselves into a state of focus and effort in order to reach it's possible attainment.  Such is how we operate as humans. In my youth I had been given a few objects of desire as gifts but I treated them with the mindset of, oh well, they were gifts not earned. Even at my young age I knew that something I fought hard and long for was far more valuable than something I was given. I had less regard for things if I did  nothing or little for them. I am not of the same mindset now as much since I realize that when I have been given something, there is the giving of it from another which displays value and that should be honored. Yet in my mind a gift will seem to be a bonus and not a reflection of of my value of it compared to me having put myself out for it. What has even come into clearer focus for me is that the normal expectations of past hard fought rights as absolute is unraveling. My understanding that civilized human rights and many natural rights that were decided in the preceding decades were foundationally established yet we are again fighting some of those same already concluded battles again. It is as if nothing from our progress forward is to be taken for granted at any time and that there are human forces out there who see the world as a truly dark place where they can do their mischief. Anything worth having requires struggle, not only to attain, but to keep as well.

Take nothing for granted (#1464)

I know I take a lot for granted and then something happens that reminds me that nothing is safe and secure. Everything is at risk in life, such is the nature of life in this existence. Maybe that is my problem, I don't realize all the time just how vulnerable and fragile life is in this reality. I take for granted that I will draw my next breath or that a logical next step will ensue. Nothing is given as a deserve or promise in absolute. Instead everything is only as it is by some form of grace from the chaos of life we exist within. With that extreme knowledge now firmly embedded in my head I hope to keep it there as a filter for all the things that I will do next. Even now I feel it's tempering effect on me. I am now less hurried in my thoughts and actions because I have given myself the chance to see our world through the eyes of perfectly rational innocence. There is no braggadocio to my senses. I am complete in that I have no expectation or assumption of what comes next. I often refer to the "whirligig" of life, as an admirer of William Shakespeare, to relate how our world operates. There is no control over all things for any of us here in this existence and the sooner we realize that the sooner we get closer to the truth of things. I don't need to believe in things that make no logical sense even though my understanding of logic could always be improved upon. But I do need to respect that I am not, nor ever will be, the master of anything short of knowing how little I do really know. Of that I am becoming even more a master of knowing how little I do know. Yet here we are in our existence, surviving as we have been taught by those before us. What does come to me out of this little self-dialogue is that I am happy to be learning new ways to think about how I exist in this imperfect world.  

With a glad heart (#1463)

Everything that is happening to me outside my control is what it is and although I do try to subtly influence whatever happenings are taking place, I know that there really is little that I can do to shape them. So what I am always trying to do is accept my place in reality and instead make the best of it. Certainly some things that happen are hard and require me to go through some stages before I can get to acceptance but it is what I must do in order to have some gladness in my life. I don't want to miss out on what is good in life by stewing in the proverbial pot of anguish. So what I try to do is approach all that is happening with a glad heart and let the next step in whatever is happening dictate my next response. I cannot afford to be grumpy or discouraged as a default position. My default position should be a happiness from the last previous moment's conclusion. Even in great sorrow and anguish, there does next come a time for healing and then appreciation for the life and the things in life that are heartwarming. It is what makes our lives so bearable in that we can see beyond the present circumstance of any one given situation to the greater or bigger picture of who we are and how our lives could be. There are some out there who have lost hope because they think that previous decisions have now excluded them from humanity in a good way. They would be wrong! We all have or will make decisions that in retrospect will show us that we have caused harm to others and as well pummel our own psyche's into an unforgivable delusion. What we must always remember, as long as we draw breath, is that no amount of past shame or guilt can ever keep us from finding happiness, if we would only try, in the present and future by letting ourselves seek out everything through a glad heart.