The inevitability of progress (#1551)

No one with anything close to a sound mind can claim that progress is done. Progress affects every paradigm within our civilization. We are constantly improving on and discovering new ways to do things better and more efficiently. We are even making headway on doing things in a progressive way that reflects our enlightened reasoning. All signs and indicators suggest that we are moving forward into time and space with albeit a creeping forward progress but progress nonetheless. I am happy that our species has embraced the idea that we are just beginning our adventure into this existence and although haltingly, we are making preparations for our future generations to build upon our past and present understandings. As a human who will only live, historically, a short time in the overall progression of our species, I am satisfied that we are moving in the proper direction of learning more and pushing out boundaries that before had not even been considered. As an objective observer however, I am also a bit dismayed that we fight against our species' best interests for reasons that have more to do with arrogance and ego than it does with logic and the wisdom of a common purpose. Despite the struggle we are and have experienced in the past and present, our future can be very much an improvement. The more we expose the best of our human natures to the light of day the more we will come to know that we are destined to care, learn and know. It is who we are in an existence that is full of questions with very few answers. A perfect scenario for our species to bring out the hidden secrets of our Universe and the vast opportunities it holds for us.

A civilization without a vision (#1550)

We are this giant lumbering set of processes moving forward into time and space yet the direction we are going is as equally unclear as the processes we have come to utilize. Our society has adopted certain conceptual ideologies as sustainable without understanding the real life ramifications of moving toward a goal. The problem is, is that we have no clearly defined goal or end game for our structured society. We are just moving along with some hope of doing our part in the continually incomprehensible whirligig of outcomes. I can actually look back in time and see that despite all of our innovation and technological advances, we have not changed the general dynamic of how we understand a purpose for our civilization. I suppose there is some solace in the idea that the status quo of not destroying ourselves completely is a comfort. Yet we are no further away from that possibility than we were 60 years ago. Instead of addressing root problems of inequality, injustice and the lack of many who have little to no freedom, we choose to ignore those symptoms in lieu of our own personal well being. There is nothing wrong with caring about one's own well being, however that is foundational and everything from that is to what I am referring. Instead of stopping at collecting and harboring, we should remind ourselves that we enter this existence with nothing, and we leave this existence with nothing. Why should we spend our time here working against that dynamic? It seems to me that the best way to overhaul a broken society is to recognize where we are different and work to make those differences less harmful.

Our melting pot (#1549)

In our history books we learn that we Americans assimilated together here in America from all corners of the world to form our current formidable society. That 500 years ago our planet was mostly populated with intolerant cultures that segregated from each other due to nationality, ethnicity and cultural mores, is due in large part to the discovery of the Americas and the enlightened governmental structure we had formed for us through our forefathers/mothers. The constituting of our American experiment has allowed for all the Earth's cultures to blend together in a way that had not been reasonably allowed heretofore. We here in America were/are the beginning of the convergence of our human species from separate antagonistic societies to a more inclusive diverse one. Our country has been the staging ground for the maturation of the idea that all humans are of a single individual right to exist and that as humans we are all generally gifted with the same intriguing talents that make us worthy of enlightened thinking. Our cultures may vary to some degree but within our system of civilized behavior and laws we come to realize the value we each possess as members of the human species. We are not just members of our faiths, cultures or other alternative reasonings that group us apart from each other, we are more importantly Americans who are tied together through life and the web of connections that entails. We are not less human than any other human. What we have done here in America is expose the fact that we are the same in most ways and it isn't just about our differences. Our magical melting pot here in America is proof that this one world is inhabited by humans who are all worthy of respect and the dignity to live together without differentiation through fear and misunderstanding.

The Indefatigable advocate (#1548)

Virtuous principles and progressive ideals. I am so honored to be afflicted with a sense of duty to these noble concepts. That I recognize my internal motivations is remarkable since not too many years back I was floundering in a world of uncertainty and despair. It is quite a feat for me to have found clarity and motivational purpose to this objective degree. I no longer doubt the sincerity of my intentions nor do I question my desire to see the better and best come about. It is as if wisdom and patience have suddenly become clear to me. I still make common mistakes and no one knows that more than me but the focus of who I was just less than ten years ago to now is almost a complete reversal. There are so many metaphors I could draw upon to help me illustrate what I am trying to define but the best way is to forget the metaphors and speak about the real change within me. For one, I have quit the downward spiral of intoxicants and other methods of escaping reality. This had been the most important change I had made and for that I am fortunate since many cannot get past this fundamental shift in behavior. Instead I have chosen to look upon life for the positives it presents and in that I am attracted to reality. Reality is my new aphrodisiac, not some simulated inhibited alternative. I am the real me now, the one who as a child saw the wonder of life as remarkable and who couldn't wait to participate in it. Like I often say, I got off the path I originally started on but is one of the luckiest persons alive, in my mind, because I found my way back and that is the treasure of my life.

Everyone deserves freedom (#1547)

Such a simple concept yet difficult for our species to implement. We want our freedom to choose our path but we want to impose restrictions on other's freedom when we think it is against what we would do in a similar situation. Why do we think we should think for others? Truth be known we are barely able to think for ourselves with any consistent principled foundation. Yet we cannot stop ourselves from meddling in others' rights. It is as if we are operating our own decision making and choices on auto-pilot so that we can control what others are doing or can do. It baffles me that some of us are so blind to our own maintenance and advancement. I can only assume this unnatural phenomenon is birthed out of our culture and our inability to define a better nurturing system. Education can only get us so far and without a purposeful acknowledgement that we need to straighten out our own lives before attempting to tackle greater communal problems, we will remain with a shifting foundation that sways with the latest attraction. We live in a democracy, wisely established in order to allow for us to learn the issues of the day and then gives us voice as to determine which direction we should, as a whole, follow. The key here is to be informed and allow common sense and objective open-mindedness to dictate our future and not whims, myths or superstitions as an alternative to actually having logical understandings. We are data processors by nature and if we are not utilizing our capacities to focus, reason, analyze and conclude, then we are not living up to the potential we all possess, nor are we equating freedom fairly.

What are your values? (#1546)

Are we going to continue the cycle of metaphorically playing at "king of the hill"? Because here is a clue, there will always be someone willing and ready to knock us off the top, if we have ever gotten there. This idea that competing for some value that is measured by the lack of value from less fortunate ones is demeaning and petty at best. What it also does is keep us from forming a better method for our self expressions. Being in a fair and just competition within an overall framework that promotes the best of our ideals is my hope, not the current method of dog eat dog for what? I guess that being an efficient species is not something many of us clamor for but I do and for good reason. We have no overall plan for our species nor even our planet. We are just muddling along with old policy paradigms that still reflect unenlightened causes and effects. In other words, we are not all rowing in the same direction and the result is we are going nowhere. As time continues to move we are stuck. I say this because once enlightenment has come to be understood, every time we miss a chance to improve ourselves or make the changes necessary for us to move toward greater sustainability for our species and our planet, the lower the odds become for us to survive in a Universe that doesn't need to give us a "by your leave" to confront us with insurmountable obstacles. I suppose if you don't see us as all in this together and you don't care what happens in this existence after you are gone from it then nothing I say here will change your perspective. However if there is some little humanity in your soul that needs to feel fulfilled, then you have an opportunity to find a value for it through recognizing and advocating for higher ideals whose purpose is to bring all into a more equal and just functioning society.

Group joiners (#1545)

We all join groups in the course of our lives, especially when we are young. In school we are almost always formed into groups for one reason or another and through that experience we learn that shared interests can have a persuasive impact. Now back in my formative years the groups I joined or were placed into seemed logical in that I was trying to attain a goal or a desire and joining a group helped to make that happen. However, as I have gotten older and more mature, I find that joining groups for the most part, not always, has become rather binding and less reflective of my curious nature to understand. Today's generalized groups, whether religious, economical, political, yes even scientific, have less than a pure attraction to me. I am many things and none of these groups fully identify most of who I am. So my strategy in life is not to join any group and be used by that group to wield influence over others, instead I stay out of groups and either admonish or lambast a group for it's illogical, thus mostly nefarious ulterior motives, or I congratulate a group for it's honorable principled ideals. I am me and no group identity will ever replace me being me so that is how I view groups. I do identify with goals in life and if a group is on the right side of history, both logically and humanely, then I will celebrate their progress or achievement. But there is no group to which I want to be associated with through a pledge of unknowing utility. I am my own voice of reason with logic and common sense as my evidence. It works for me and I suggest we all take the approach that the only true group we have in existence is the group we call our own, our person.

We need to remember our youthful years (#1544)

I constantly remind myself of what things were like when I was young and saw all our problems as self-made ones. Occam's Razor, paraphrased, "the simplest answer is usually the correct one", has served me well. But the fact that I cannot look at the world as too complex to even tackle simple problems anymore is my point here. Just doing what is right is always the key to making positive change. When we try to assume we know more than we do is when we get ourselves into nonsense. There are many good words and there are many bad words, it is up to each of us to decide how we want our lives to be described. Personally, for me, I have great faith in each of us to be the objects of our natures when we are allowed to be ourselves. It isn't hard to understand that a society that respects life with real policies and opportunities is the way to structure civilization if we are to continue to evolve into a species that has a real chance of surviving in this massive unknown Universe. I don't look out into the future and just see us existing to just exist, if that were the case we would always be one short step from extinction. What I do see is a progressive unified culture of human beings devoted to boldly mastering everything around us without fear. We are fighters, evidenced by our irrevocable will to survive. It is in our natures to survive, I even give it one of the 3 natures we are born with, the others being curiosity and care. We are never more keen to knowing our potential than when we are young and full of life's vigor. With guidance we can deliver on the promise of our youth, even when we grow older, it behooves us to remember the clarity of the vision of our youth.

Keeping up my hope (#1543)

There is nothing more gratifying like having had hope for something and then having that hope fulfilled. Even in small and insignificant ways can a hope fulfilled bring about a heightened happy experience. I was not able to access my Internet and was looking at a repair bill I could not necessarily afford but was going to have to afford anyway. Just so happens that hours before I was expecting my service person to access my liability for any needed repairs, the Internet service has begun functioning properly again. Which leads me to think that the problem is not with my wiring but instead with the service provided buy the carrier. Such little conclusions by myself seem insignificant and indeed it this one is but to me is is quite a breakthrough toward me hoping the problem would fix itself. I have other things on my mind today and waiting around between noon and 4 pm for a depressing assessment was not needed. My mother, who turns 80 in less than two months is going to be operated on for a new hip sometime after noon and that is where I want to be. I will still have to wait for the repairman to show, but at least I can send him on his way without having to fret over a cost for fixing something that is not my problem. As to my mother I am going to keep good thoughts in my head for her and when the surgery is complete be where my father needs me to be. Anyway, all little hopes and even sometimes big hopes that come around to being realized make this old boy a happy person. 

The context of intent is where the value is (#1542)

Too often words and quotes from historical figures are used to make a point in today's political dynamic. However, just as often those words and quotes are not accurately qualified as to their meaning in the time they were given and instead are morphed into today's perspectives, by unethical souls, that are antithetical to their true intent. I have seen it enough to know the danger it poses as too many less articulate souls who are manipulated into positions that are actually contrary to their own principles and understandings. The sad thing is that there is a concerted effort by nefarious individuals to confuse and present chaos as a symptom in order to present their necessary harmful solutions. Greed and selfishness motivates these individuals and the freedoms we have that should be focused on doing good are irrevocably aimed to destroy safeguards we establish to protect us from their ulterior harm. Like the addict who cannot ever have enough of his magical elixir, good seeking souls are continually bombarded with tunnel vision of sick and demented souls. There is no easy solution to finding ones way through the minefield of manipulation, however with some hard work and research, the path does show itself. Particularly, like the addict, the confusion is only surface deep and once you peel that initial layer back, the jig is up for most every dealer of misinformation and harm. We are all capable of great things in our own particular ways and for that we are sufficiently protected from being just automatons to the whims of the master puppeteers. yet we must remain vigilant and protect ourselves and those around us with as much honorable principle and logical reasoning we can muster. Remember, it is our intent that drives us forward and if our intent is of value, it will take us far into the better and best.

The pot boiler in my soul (#1541)

Again today I am reminded of how I operate. Inside me is a passion for understanding and conveying that understanding, notwithstanding confusion offered by others. I know what my intent is and that damn well is what I am offering. When I get called out on some ancillary concept that is not part of my intent I do try to recognize the validity of the call out. As is usually the case I am being attacked for something that is not part of my overall point but rather some other understanding of my point. I know it usually is an honest mistake and I reconcile that even I do the same to others on occasion, but what this has shown me this time with perfect clarity is where my fire burns the hottest. I was about as fired up this morning as I have been in awhile. If the term "spitting nails mad" makes sense to you then you can understand how I was feeling. As is the case with me as I have matured though, I quickly passed through that urge and instead allowed myself to experience the fire that emotion stirred within me. It was like I was stoking a raging fire separate from myself but throughout me, a conundrum for sure. I am satisfied now that the stirrings to rage within me have an outlet that does not manifest itself in ways that reflect physical outcomes, rather the stirrings focus me on the intent of my offerings and whether or not they are legitimate. My passion for expression has to have boundaries and I work very hard to keep myself within acceptable boundaries that reflect professionalism and trustworthiness. When I get called out for something outside those boundaries that are not valid to my intent, I do get to experience a "boiling pot" moment that is all mine to express. Pausing for a moment to allow my expression to have a dignified response is my goal and for that I am grateful to have evolved toward.

Find a way (#1540)

Whatever it is in this world that you know you should be doing to help create a better future for all of us you should be striving to figure out how. How is tough since life is so complicated but the key is to keep taking forward steps even when you can't see where you are going. Eventually some light will appear and you will see that the distance you have already traveled has gotten you closer to your goal. When not knowing how to be effective is left to only thought, no progress in the meantime is achieved. I can't and don't know the best course for me to take but I do take what little course I know is right and that is how I, and we, can keep moving in the right direction until we can make a breakthrough in how to move forward in bigger and better ways. In other words never quit doing what is right because you and I don't know an overall strategy. I question my motives a lot when I am stuck not knowing what to do and it is in the questioning of my motives that I find my way, regardless of whether I know exactly where I am going. In life, like in principled thought, it is our journey toward our ideals that matter, not necessarily the leaps and bounds it takes to get there. I know this from learning that life is a journey and the path we are on is the one that describes us better than any words or thoughts we may try to project. I am in this for the long haul and even though for most of my time here in this existence it has been a slog of sorts, it is still forward movement into the honored principles and cherished ideals I most hold dear.

The human experiment (#1539)

When we were young we had such great ambitions for our species. It was as if we were born to accomplish great things. I suppose each generation of young people come into this existence with the vision to change what currently is into something resembling what should be. By the time we get to middle age though it seems that we have settled for what is and want no more to do with the vigor of our youthful ambitions. We have settled into a truce with our selves and our surroundings to just go with the flow and let what isn't right exist. A resignation of spirit on our part. We have decided that, through strategic calculations that promote our own self, we would rather just not try to change things that we have learned to manipulate and co-exist with. Our idealism is now a negative that must not be addressed. Through becoming immune to inequality and injustice, we have effectively abrogated our rights to fight for virtuous honors. We have settled for lesser though the knowledge of that is less recognized on purpose. We actually begin to construct arguments to justify our lack of care and concern for what is right. Although we may seem to have soothed our conscious, all we have done is expose it for having no more soul. It seems to me that those many who have taken to less as a way of life have left the arena of being human to those of us who will not settle for less, but instead want more from life. The human experiment is not a patterned map, it has so many variations to it but two things for sure it does have in common with all of us is our care and curiosity. Although our curiosity may wane at times, it just seems that our care needs to have a greater say in who we are and who we should be.

Keeping our minds clear (#1538)

There are so many distractions around us even including ourselves. Yes, we have a consistent way of putting confusion in front of ourselves. It is nothing unnatural, more the paradigm of of trial and error, but it does inhibit us at times from staying focused on what is clearly in front of us. Our emotions play a large role in confusing us as well as our expectation that honorable bonds will be kept. Unfortunately, our emotions are volatile and honorable bonds seem to be broken rather easily. However, such things are just expectations of some reality we hope to attain, they are not the real reality we are actually living in. Keeping our focus on the actual facts of our lives is more important than we normally give priority toward. With my own self I have often neglected my needs and wants in the present to attain some hoped for gain in the future. That has not worked out well for me since my expectations always involved what others would do. I should have known that while I have expectations so do others and their expectations usually outweighed mine. What I have come to know is that life is lived here in the present and for me to be awake and keen to that dynamic is my best opportunity for living a fulfilled life instead of one based on future expectations. I won't give up on planning future scenarios but I don't put all my efforts into them to the neglect of what I am doing in the present. As I keep my mind clear of those pesky desires that surely are more illusion than reality, I find that simply moving from one breath to the next is the most rewarding strategy.

Don't miss the good waiting for the perfect (#1537)

A common tale of missed opportunity. What is hard to know is the perspective to realize a significance of value when perspective is not gained until some maturity. Usually by then the opportunity for some significant happening has passed. While we dote on an ideal, a good situation or relationship has been ignored until it is no longer available. This is always a tough call but in hindsight for those of us who only have the lament and regret to show for our decisions, the idea of a tough call has no soothing powers. What is certain is that all things for each of us come to an end, or a new beginning, however one looks at it. Either way all things change so it would seem that having at least a good situation or relationship is better than not having those in lieu of waiting for something better. I am not suggesting settling for less as a strategy, but what I am suggesting is not using waiting for the perfect as the only means for having happiness. What we see today as not perfect may well find it's way to mostly perfect and that is much more than most can say. No one wants to miss out on something great because they gave in to something a little lesser too soon, however there is a clock running on our lives and choices need to be made within some time frame. For me it is mostly too late for many perfect things to come around and sadly that was my choice to wait. I would have been a happier man if some issues of great importance to me when I was younger had been resolved differently. I know that now but back then the world was still out in front of me and nothing seemed impossible. That was the trap set for me that I allowed myself to be caught in. It was my choice however, it wasn't the only one I had and for that I am kicking at the dirt.

I know who I am (#1536)

That metaphorical search for who I am is just that, nothing more than an illusion. I already know who I am and for that I am thankful. I am still the same little kid who wanted to be a superhero and right all the wrong in the world. Of course I cannot realistically be a superhero to all people wherever wrong is being perpetrated, but I am still with that very same intent. You see it is the intent of of who I am that defines for me who I am. I want the best for all of us, regardless of how contradictory that can be. As sometimes many of us want the best for ourselves that interrupts what is best for someone else. I understand that, but still I want that over any other lesser reality. I used to worry what other people would think about me and how I see the world but I don't do that anymore. It was a failing on my part to be assertive and confident that my intentions were the most honorable I could muster, even if it meant that I was thwarted from my own desires. Sacrifice is noble when the sacrifice is for a better ideal to come about. I was born into this existence with no illusion about anything I was to receive or deserve. I am however gifted with a mind, a heart and a soul that is focused upon living a great life despite having little to show for it in the conventional sense of today's marketplace. I have many rich moments in my life for which I am steely eyed proud to remember. The worst of my indiscretions are but miniscule in the big picture and that says much about how I have let my guiding principles counteract harmful impulses of the moment. That is part of who I am, wanting to be a better person and acting as my own demanding sovereign in order to allow for it.

The truth of a thing is liberating (#1535)

So much of what we have to do in life is centered on finessing or manipulating the truth so as to not create waves with people who are adamantly opposed to what the hard of a truth reveals. It is a survival mechanism of sorts for most of us, me included. However, when the dust settles on most of my situations, I find that if the truth of thing had been revealed at the beginning, much more confusion and cowardice would have been prevented. I say cowardice because many times for me it is easier sometimes to shirk the truth to avoid a confrontation I have imagined in  my own mind. What I find out later is that what I think will happen rarely does. In some cases the truth is uncomfortable and contentious but in order for me to find the best satisfactory outcome, the truth needs to be front and center. It is also a character building process telling the truth. I have come to rely on it as a source of my inspiration for living a good life with strengthening ambitions to advocate for better. A purposeful adjunct to why I exist. I make no mistakes in thinking I am something more than I am, but neither do I make mistakes about thinking I am less than I am as well. The truth keeps me even keeled and it provides me with a record of my own history that if applied to honorable principles more often than not is worthy of note. I suppose that truth telling is a tool for me that allows me to be me without having to doubt my intent. The me I want to be is always better in thought so I must continue to tell the truth so that my actions keep pace. I say truth telling is liberating and that is because in freeing myself to be honest, I share my truth with others so that they can then choose to do with my truth in a way that is at least honest from me. 

A life worth living (#1534)

The things we learn as time goes by. I remember when I was much younger, in my teens, and I felt like that if this is all that life is about then what's the point? What I didn't realize is that although my life back then offered me little in the way of happiness, it did offer me hope that things would change if I stuck around as best I could to find out. Many lives are ended well before they mature into adulthood and for that we need to be on guard to help prevent wherever we can. Because the thing is, what I know now was totally unknowable then about myself. What I realize now is that back then I didn't have all the angles figured out. What I didn't know then was that life can mature into a wonderful experience on a day by day basis simply by being a part of it. The measure of a good life is how happy one finds themselves in their soul. Granted, we have all done things in our past that wounds us with the remembering, however the past is gone now and amends can be made and a new direction for our lives can be achieved. Life is not something that should ever be taken for granted. The difficulty there is in today's world to maintain our lives is still much better for us now then it was for our grandparents during their time. What we must always grasp onto is not what life can bring for us, but what we can make out of life for ourselves and the ones we love. I find that living as simply as possible for me is the right antidote for me and my psyche. I don't need to impress anyone but myself and that is tougher than anyone else could be on me. So for me a life worth living begins with me learning that I am the master of my choices and as long as my choices reflect my adherence to virtue, through right and good, I will have lived well, regardless of how long it took me to get there.

My passion and my acceptance (#1533)

I have learned that accepting things for what they are (acceptance) and changing them where I can (my passion) are exclusive to each other. I can differentiate between the two with just a little bit of thought almost every time. lol. I say almost since I will always be an obsessive, even about things I cannot change. However, with some maturity I have come to realize that despite being able to change a thing to the better, I can still accept it for what it is and use an overall longer strategy to try to find a way to change that something to the better, not my better but accepted better through societal objectivity. My passion stirs beneath the surface with me more now than at any time in my life. It used to be my passion was on my sleeve for all to see. I have channeled that zealotry to more tangible methods and left behind the emotional outbursts I previously employed. The closer I get to being a metaphorical smooth running noiseless machine the far more effective I become. That I have found acceptance as more a tool than a resignation is also significant. I know myself to be a forward moving entity and for that there is no substitute so it is important for me to find solutions to impossibilities, even when the solution requires me to do nothing at the moment. Guys and gals like me are the ones who struggle mightily with irrationality as an outcome and we often fight against the wisdom of convention to no avail. What I have eventually learned is that my passion and vigor for just and good is a long game and not a short one, to use a sporting term. In time with the proper flow of my energy toward the better and best outcomes, the chances increase for that to happen. Steady is my course but do not be fooled into thinking my passion is not there, it is simmering and boiling just below the detectable surface of my skin. 

Our past is gone (#1532)

I am not what I used to be, like my past that is gone as well. I say this because sometimes I have dreams that reflect how I used to act in the past in today's scenarios. I am sure some psychoanalyst could have a field day with the dream I had last night but for me it was as disjointed a dream I have had in some years. But it reminded me thoroughly of how we change each time a new experience runs it's course with us. We are an ever-changing species and individually, when we try to halt change we are only becoming something different than that we should have naturally progressed toward. Again, it is always fear that holds us back, fear of some duty, custom or myth that has other values wrapped up in it making it seem like an indispensable iron-clad unchangeable principle. Wrong. Values are themselves unchangeable not the superstition attached to it. We don't need a package deal to be able to accept reality for what it is. I don't need some mixture or concoction of magic to be able to rationalize what value is and what value means as a entity of just itself. There is no moral justification for wrong, even when it is shrouded in the appearance of good. Like my callous and disjointed dream last night, I don't have to accept it's premise, that I am still what it represents, I am not! I am further along the evolutionary trail toward enlightenment, just as we all travel despite some of our obstinance to it's factual being. None of us start out with the wisdom needed to having "arrived", we earn that wisdom by changing from the little known we have as fact to the little more known we have as fact. 

Tackling the subject of free speech (#1531)

This is one subject that has many of us with differing opinions. However many different opinions there are we still need some boundaries for what is allowable in a progressively civilized society. The days of grunts and groans as communication are far behind us and we show that with our present oral languages and the written words. In my view, we need to address the purpose for life to be able to establish what of any confines of speech we should construct. Certainly in a civilized society the manner we address and communicate with each other must reflect our principles. Are we an honorable species? Do we have the correct intent to our thoughts and actions? If we are to expect more and greater things from ourselves how can we imagine it without a positive outlook? It has been my conclusion that survival, curiosity and compassion make up our natural instincts. Everything else beyond those are learned behaviors we have accepted as part of our rationality. I choose to not accept anything else beyond my natural instincts and instead choose to grow and highlight them instead. If that is the case then my allowable speech should reflect my virtuous desire. Not one of us can keep a perfect paradigm over time, we all fail. However to strive to do a thing is more important than whether we fail in our attempts. If I am to truly reflect the persona I am I must find a way to communicate that through my writings and my speech as an example of how I want to be and how I hope others will be around me. The freedom to say anything at any time is ideal in an ideal world. We do not live in an ideal world so some self-restraint and legal restraint must be devised to help us to properly construct our world within the frame of the world we all share.

Still guilty of assumptions (#1530)

I suppose I must resign myself to the fact that I will continue to assume things when I know I should never do that unless it is the only option. I still catch myself making assumptions and then finding out I was wrong to do so, regardless of my good intention. By the way, I do not assume when my intent is bad because first, I avoid any bad intent and second, assuming would only be adding to a bad intent. However, my good intent assumptions are just as likely to disassemble a good intent. When I jump out into a situation or circumstance without being fully apprised of it then I am setting myself up for some type of lucky guess or failure. I can do better than lucky guess if I would only put more effort into being informed. Making something worse is even less attractive when that is not my intent, so realizing that I need to know and not assume is not a trial and error equation, it is a foundational principle. I know this but sometimes my exuberance to help or add to a worthy ideal gets confounded when I do not prepare myself with facts. All I can do is continue to strive to do better and in that effort I need to create a process by which I cannot engage a good intent effort without first crossing a threshold of appropriateness. I will work on that and hopefully my efforts will allow me to be a better advocate for principles that need all of us to defend and grow. We are human and will make mistakes but that does not excuse us from fixing the mistakes we make when we can. The learning never stops and for that I am grateful. 

Every one of us matters (#1529)

No one is too insignificant to matter. We all have the same value as human beings living in a world where we do not know from whence it came. Some may think they are of greater worth by their ego but they would be living in an illusion. Some may be smarter in our society and value that understanding as greater than others but then they would miss the point of being alive. Smart is good but not a differentiation factor in who is greater than another. Some who are magically gifted as athletes think they are better than others who are not but they also don't realize that better motor and physical presence doesn't change the basic chemistry we all share. We are all the same in the sense that we all deserve respect for being live human beings. Culture and environment have allowed for segregating us from each other and that in itself has masked the individual gifts we all bring to life. We spend more time highlighting our differences from others when those differences gain us an advantage, instead of trying to open up society for all to participate. When those of us who are gifted with strengths that rise to the top of our species, do not use those gifts to better society and instead only use them for the cynical approach of self reward, we are doomed to fall apart in areas of equality and the old master/servant form of society continues in it's antiquity. I am fortunate to have some qualities that allow me to be insightful and agile in my daily life and for that humility is my reward. How can I make others' lives better is my vision for me, how about you?

Our purpose in existence (#1528)

No one knows for sure. We have many who don't even question what we are doing here, let alone question the purpose for it. It seems to me that given the fact that we are a sense based organism, that we would be about gathering understanding. It is the "Occam's Razor" approach, being that the simplest answer is usually the correct one. We are sensory beings, that which is defined most understandably as seeing, hearing, touching, smelling and tasting. We are on a planet that allows us to survive on it since it has the necessary elements for us to do so. So although we are not limitless in our time here we can record and pass along our findings in such a way that a history of our time here is being recorded. These are facts and cannot be disputed. From this base I can assume and even more than assume that we have a purpose that is defined by our information gathering. On this blog site, one of the two complex and one simple natures I prescribe to we humans is our curiosity. It is natural to admit this as true since all the facts of our essence shows that we are gatherers of information. What goes against our natures to gather information is the idea that our limits are defined by unknown forces that cannot be shown to exist. We are in a mattered material world. Not an illusionary one. We are made of matter that is real and tangible as well as our existence is made of matter that is real and tangible. Our task here in this existence is stretch our boundaries of knowledge to new limits without ever stopping. We are a relentless entity, survival is another natural instinct within us that craves it's allowance. Although we are emotional and funnel that into our nurture, we are primarily the curious beings we are meant to be.

We're talking coffee today (#1527)

It has been a week since I had my last cup of coffee. Last early Saturday morning I made a small pot of coffee and while it had it's usual satisfying flavor to it, it also made me aware that something wasn't right in my stomach area. Little did I know that the next two days would be so uncomfortable for me. Anyway, to cut to the chase I spent two days suffering with Diverticulitis, an intestinal distress, without knowing what was wrong. I quit drinking my coffee that early Saturday morning and until early Monday afternoon, I didn't know if I would ever have another cup of coffee. Early Monday morning I finally concluded that whatever was afflicting me was not going to go away with home remedies or of it's own accord so I went to a hospital to get checked out. After a battery of tests, they discovered my problem and gave me a solution and sent me home. Since then, I have been on the mend in a good way and until this morning the thought of a cup of coffee didn't sit right with my gut feelings. Well, happily my gut was eager for some coffee this morning and although I am still on the tail end of my antibiotic treatment, I decided to get back into my regular routine of making a small pot and even did my dishes which had been piling up for days as I convalesced, while I waited for the magical coffee elixir to brew. I can tell you now that the first taste of coffee this morning was invigorating. I am back to myself again after a very strange week which had me questioning whether I would ever have another cup of coffee again to now just finishing my second cup. :)

They just can't find their happy (#1526)

Their are too many examples of people who are determined as ever to remain unhappy. It is a lifestyle choice they make to keep bottled up inside themselves only enough happiness so as not to go insane. I say this about those who would rather live to continue ugliness for most while for themselves they consider only themselves. Long ago I figured out that accepting reality as it is and then trying to make that reality better is where the happy in my life has the best opportunity to exist. Many in our world choose to forego reality and only wish to exist in an illusion of what they think is real. A vision that lacks a panoramic view and instead chooses only  to focus on an obtuse or acute angle of the overall. Their mantra seems to be if I ignore this thing that I dislike or don't believe the facts of then it will no longer exist. I suppose living like that can be accomplished if one has enough resources to buy the illusion but most don't so why do they continue to do it anyway? They are unable to find their happy. They cannot accept what is in front of them because they refuse to believe reality. It is as if their minds won't allow them to expand beyond the illusion to the rational. Until they are able to understand that they do control how they feel about things that bother them and learn to accept the solutions right in front of them then the status quo of being unhappy and making those around them unhappy will continue. The worst part of it is that the ugliness they allow to exist has consequences on those who have no way of changing that ugliness without their help. 

The numbing of our senses (#1525)

It has occurred to me that when I see people who have the leadership positions in our society take no stance on helping our society improve when the need is greatest, it must be that they are somehow immured to ignoring the problem through a deactivation process. Some will just say something illogical to defend their inaction, while others will just dismiss action as necessary. it occurs to me that when our citizens are truly in need of leadership and the leadership isn't there, then the leaders must not care to help. How can one who has run and been elected to a leadership position not care? At first I chalked much of it up as a rational problem with a rational solution, you know, they just needed to be informed. But as time has gone on and the logic of the problem and a good solution has been produced the continued inaction leaves me with only one other reasonable conclusion, the leaders don't care about the necessary needs of their fellow citizens. I am not putting all our leaders in the same category, some of our leaders are tireless and sentinel in their convictions to help our citizens wherever and whenever possible, but there are enough of others that don't care by my reckoning. These are the ones who I am thinking find it more useful to numb themselves from being human and actually caring for their countrymen so that they may keep what they have or not have regressive forces come against them. It takes courage to be a leader, that is implicit in the job description, however we have lost that fine quality with so many who choose to not display courage when their courage is most needed. 

An insight at the hospital yesterday (#1524)

I was lying down in a room in the emergency section of the hospital yesterday when I overheard one of the technicians talking about how they work at a hospital and don't have any medical benefits. This struck me as odd since I would think that the hospital would want healthy employees treating their patients. I guess the administrators don't think that way. I would be curious to know why specialty technicians are not receiving medical benefits as part of their compensation. This whole idea of putting profits before health, in an occupation that delivers health care is even more absurd to me. What is even more troubling is that this hospital is a Catholic hospital. I wouldn't think that profits would be the greatest motivator in how it sees it's mission. Leaders lead by example and when those leaders are not the example we expect within some minimums I know for sure that our society has gotten it's morality confused with it's pocketbook. Many good things happened for me yesterday overall and for that I am grateful, however these fine people who dispensed their knowledge, kindness, care and professionalism to me should not have to be treated any less by those who employ them. For them to not have medical care established from the very health care institution they serve is demeaning. I am proud of the Americans I meet and for them to be treated like they are less human and more as a resource for profit is very disturbing to me. For those who brought me to a successful resolution to my ailment, thank you. For those administrators responsible for not having a health care plan for those same employees, you need to do better!

Back in the saddle (#1523)

Although I am weak and light-headed, you shouldn't notice any significant change in my writing ability. lol. It is good to be sitting here in my normal spot, albeit a little later than usual, putting together my daily blog post. As to the subject I am just free-wheeling it this morning. I actually got some sleep last night, not much but more than the last two nights so I do feel more comfortable this morning. That is the one thing that I can talk to concerning this little bout of illness I just experienced, nausea. I haven't felt this captive to a weakening and lethargic state as I am in for a longer period of time that I can remember. It is like I am have withdrawn, like a turtle into it's shell. My very movements are now calculated with an analysis of whether I can actually pull off getting up out of a chair or out of the bed just to do anything at all. No strength for any of the myriad little things I would do in a day's time. I have to muster the will to just eat or drink. The bare necessities have all my attention whereas before this bout of physical duress, I hadn't given necessary actions one moment of thought. For me, this serves as a reminder of just how fragile and defenseless I am to forces beyond my control and how imperative it is for us to have wellness care. Something that just comes out of nowhere to afflict us the danger we all face when we are not focused on keeping ourselves healthy. Good food, exercise and healthcare should all be among our highest priorities. Once I get back to full strength I will get back on the subject of healthcare but for now suffice it to say, I am thankful for the limited healthcare that was available for me to have since it did serve me well in this particular instance. 

Not feeling well (#1522)

This morning I am getting ready to go to the hospital to try to get myself better. I have been feeling ill for a couple of days and common sense remedies for my conditions do not seem to help. Short post today but in this case it is unexpected. More tomorrow. Check that, things went well enough today that I am back home with a cure for my ailment. Diverticulitis.