Commentary about Humanity (the worldwide community)

I’m not sure if this bothers anyone else, but the way we kill people that we dislike, even for good reasons, seems to be getting more barbaric. This occurrence seems to happening more frequently and spreading as though it were a global trend.

With our ability to broadcast things internationally, almost as they happen, there seem to have been a string of barbaric murders of highly unpopular people. We label these individuals as “public enemies” and list them by numbers according to how dangerous they may be to the public’s welfare.

America does not have clean hands in this matter. It is because of our covert actions that many of the more popular props were sat on the grand stage. They were the bad boys that we hoisted into their powerful positions that went rogue.

We secretly set up leaders who were supposed to be our allies until they become rich and powerful enough and turn their backs and cut of the hands they hoisted them into power. Once they turned rogue they become our most wanted criminals to be hunted down.

However since these individuals knew too many of our devious secrets we had to be discrete in the way we eradicated them. Anything short of killing them by any means necessary would let out too many of our dirty secrets if they were to be brought to highly exposed media trial. We would not look too good if the truth were exposed.

Are there any clean hands that operate on the grand stage of world’s most powerful nations? Even though many people have heard of such covert operations, no one steps up to the megaphone and complain about what they suspect. In a sense we sanction such things by allowing them to happen and not doing anything to stop what we suspect.

Just in the last few years several of these rogue operatives were killed in a heinous manner. Knowing them to be ruthless people, the manner in which they were killed seemed to have thrilled the international audience that watched it unfold in the media.

It was as though we were watching a movie where the villain was killed in a really horrific manner and everyone cheered in delight, hooray! In real life these human beings were killed in a horrific manner. Does anyone care? NAH!

Forget the fact that they were humans being killed in a manner that we usually sanction for ruthless wild animals, but no one cared that humans were being slaughtered. It was as though they lost the right to be treated as fellow human beings.

Without trying to defend such despicable characters we should take note of where we are heading as a worldwide community. What does that say about us when we publicly slaughter human beings that we don’t like to the delight of the worldwide community?

Have we crossed over a line where art, such as in the movies, is beginning to shape our moral values? Is it okay to kill villains in any manner possible without taking them through a system of justice by trial? If that indeed is the case then where do we draw the line and who gets to be the new judge and jury?

Rather than allowing ruthless criminals the use of a costly criminal justice systems or funding the cost of incarcerating them for life, would it not be more practical just to just kill them on site to the delight of the worldwide community?

How about the criminals who have three strikes against them? We pay for their incarceration. Couldn’t we just kill them and forgo the cost of supporting them for life?

Has morality come down to pragmatism? Do our moral values depend upon things being consequentially practical? Yes, it would be more practical to kill “lifers” rather than paying to keep them alive for an unspecified time period. Yes, it is easier to kill the rogue dictators rather than have them expose our secret alliances with them.

If pragmatism were the defining rule we wouldn’t need a criminal justice systems that allows people the right to a trial with the presumption of innocence until proven guilty.

Can people just form a collective alliance, which allows them to do as they did to the Libyan dictator? Can mighty governmental officials make such decisions behind closed doors at their discretion? How about victims getting even for what was egregiously done to them or a loved one? Where do we draw the line and who gets to make such decisions?

There’s something about these recent murders that is deeply troublesome, but I cannot seem to find the words to put it in its rightful prospective.

On one hand I’m happy that really bad people were erased from the planet before they could harm others, but the manner in which they were erased crossed a fragile line that could lead down a very slippery slop, one that would be much harder to harness, once unleashed.

Has humanity matured enough yet as a worldwide community that we might have intelligent conversations about this “slippery slope” we are endeavoring? Have we evolved enough as sentient beings that we could speak about things such as this on an international basis while functioning in the many cultural, linguistic, religious, or spiritual differences that define us? One would certainly hope, but it is very doubtful at this time.

If we are not there yet, then we had better find a way to get there soon, before we slide too far down the slope that brings out more of our animalistic nature rather than our inner spiritual core. We must define who we are as a species and how to operate as a collective body. After all, this world is getting far to small for us not to have a clear-cut human definition that we choose to live by.

Mean-spirited trend in the air

Have you noticed just how mean-spirited people can be against each other? It is as though the world belongs to them and others are merely interfering in “their living zone.”

You see this behavior quite frequently on the roadways. People are very rude and inconsiderate to their fellow travelers. Don’t let them be late going where they’re headed; you become just another casualty to them like a bug splashing on their windshield.

The way people interact with each other in general has gotten to be very inconsiderate. They appear to have very little compassion for each other.
  

Don’t happen to have an opinion about politics because if you fall on the wrong side of the political equation you are dog meat. Republicans hate Democrats and vice verso. The right hates the left. The moderates hate the liberals. They don’t just modestly disagree with them, but express really deed-seated hatred.

When George W. Bush was in office you had the Bush-Haters. Now that Obama is in office we have the Obama-haters. This hatred is not just about their character, at least not in all cases, but more about them representing “the enemy.”
 

As if that wasn’t unusual enough just take a look at the institutions that are suppose to teach us how to love one another, the religious community. Christians hate Muslims, Catholics hate Protestants, so many believers hate the Jews, some Buddhist think people who believe in a divine entity are off-base, and if you practice something other than the beholder, you become a heathen. So much about God and love!

Somehow it appears that we are drifting away from any reasonable sense of basic morality. No one wants to be told what or how to think. Even more importantly they demonize you if you think differently from them.

There is no respect for others who are different. There is no tolerance for disagreement. People feel entitled to be jerks (a-holes), even though they refuse to admit to being one. This sense of entitlement only covers the self and whatever cronies are sucked into their mindset, but everyone else is the enemy.
 

You would think that people who generate such mean-spirited demeanor would look into a mirror and actually see fumes and flames shooting out of their nostrils with horns extruding out of their skulls like a wild ferocious bull.

The truth is they cannot see themselves, even if they could see they still would feel justified in being what they are. A small percentage of them see exactly what they have become and don’t care what others may think about them.

Where is this dark spirit coming from?

Part of it is conditioning, indoctrination, poor or inadequate parenting, lack of moral boundaries, selfishness, false-pride, and just basically lack of respect for others.

When one has basic respect they could genuinely disagree with others and walk away in disagreement. You realize that people are free to have their opinions and/or beliefs even if they differ from yours. You also realize that your particular parameters from which you assess judgment are different from others.

When respect is not genuinely offered is it really deserved? In other words, if it does not come from you, perhaps it is not in you. So, neither do it belong to you… respect that is.

Another issue is entitlement. If different parties feel equally justified for their stands, in their mind’s eye, they feel entitled. However, if they don’t respect others, to them they are the only ones entitled so therefore others become intruders or otherwise “the enemy.”
 

There is no real justification for being mean-spirited. It pulls from the bottom of the list of human behaviors. It is like scrapping from the bottom of the barrel where only leftover settlements are gathered.

Such people either don’t know or don’t care about who they harm. Like a bug smashed on a windshield there is no feeling, no compassion, or no thought about others.

There is absolutely no justification for such human behavior. Of course, there are some that would totally disagree with this assessment. We have to learn to live with that fact! 

What's the world coming to?

 A person born in 1990 would be 21 years old at some point this year of 2011. They will be legally adults and capable of managing their lives within their limited capabilities.

During their brief lifespan they saw the recession of the early 1990s and a recovery during the late 1990s. They saw a modest prosperous environment from the late 1990s to the early 2000s, then it reverted back to stagnation and another recession from about 2006 forward until the present time.

Ironically, this generation has seen very little good economic news during their lifetime. They were born and grew up during questionable to poor economic times.

The world that they know is much different for them than for the preceding years. To them our country has always been in a war or two. They have never known a world without war.

They have never known a world without computers. This technological growth that many adults had to learn so painstakingly was what they grew up doing. It is just what they do and know.

Many, if not most, of them have been taught the value of getting a good education. However, what good is it to have a fancy degree with no job to utilize your hard-won skills? That’s like getting all dressed up with no place to go. Realistically, where are the majority of the jobs coming from these days?

Unlike in times prior when it was relatively easy for one to find a job if they really wanted to work, that is no longer the case. Every one that wants a job these days is not guaranteed to find one. In fact, there are not enough available jobs for every one in this country who wants and needs to work. 

Is it even profitable for this current generation to add tens of thousands of dollars toward student loans with no foreseeable jobs to pay off those loans? How long would it take to pay off such a debt? Without a decent job, forever!

It is not just the job markets along with technology that changed so drastically but it appears that the entire fabric of society has suffered a huge paradigm shift.

Where have our morals gone since the 1990s? Are we becoming more moralistic or are we declining in that area? There was a time when the notion of God and godliness was spoken about reverently, but in these days that notion is no longer highly respected.

A lot of this is attributed to a decline of faith in our clergy. Their public persona is definitely not good, according to public opinion, because of so many famed-but-fallen leaders. If our religious leadership is unreliable then how can the body of believers be expected to stay in line if and when the head has fallen?

What about the political arena of leadership? Perhaps this generation could look up to, and be inspired by them? Definitely not! What about the schoolteachers? Surely they were the reliable ones that taught each generation and prepared them for the future.

Have you seen the most recent statistics regarding public education?

I am still trying to find out where is the silver lining for a child born in 1990 and beyond? Surely there must be something for them look toward to that inspires greatness and/or achievement! 

Something has to inspire them to work hard in order to achieve the American dream. Without sufficient motivation why would any of them bother putting up a good fight? Still the question is begged... “What’s this world coming to?”

Do we really want to know the truth, or would we be better off not knowing? Most can’t handle the truth very well, especially when it seemingly is not good news. Most would prefer to stick their heads in a hole in the ground until things get better, but that could be a very long time just trying to remain in the darkness of ignorance!

Here is part of the truth:

Right now we are painting the future and we have been doing so all along. The things we are doing, or not doing, are carving the pathways of the future. Our future leaders are being trained right now as we live and breathe. The children that we are currently educating will become our presidents, senators, congressmen, judges, peace officers, commanders, clergymen, professors, parents, and teachers.

The future is already in their hands, but we are handing them the issues they will be forced to face up to. A good example of this is the trillions of dollars of debt that they will have to pay. Another example is a world of old people with no way to properly care for them. One more is also an increasingly- polluted atmosphere combined with a very rapid depletion of our ozone layer.

Again, what we are currently doing, or not doing, which is exactly the picture with which they will have to cope. This is how things have always happened. Each generation lays the bricks down for the next ones to follow. Somehow, humanity has managed to stay afloat.

During past history there have been several Dark Ages followed by ages of renaissance and growth. Though the future pictures will be quite different from previous ones, it will be the one designated for that generation to navigate.

One question to consider right now is, shouldn’t we already be doing things to ease their burdens? Can’t we effectively plant seeds that will sprout in the future and yield good fruit for them to consume? Funny how much less the average person thinks about what may be ahead for those who are forced to live in the mess that we have made.

Sometimes I wonder; what’s this world coming to? However, the more I think about it I’m inclined to agree with the Wisdom of Solomon. There is truly nothing new under the sun. What we are seeing and experiencing is just a reshuffling of the same old things that are now being seen under a new light. 

The question becomes, what is this new generation going to do with their time in the spotlight? How will they handle it?

Finding Your Core Self

The reason people can be so easily persuaded is because they don’t really know “who” they are. Until a person establishes clear-cut boundaries they are vulnerable to countless persuasions.

Although you find this to be true about children, most adults still have areas in their lives where their boundary lines aren’t clearly defined. There are still things that make them indecisive. This is primarily because they never had a chance to explore certain situations beforehand.

As situations and circumstances arise through our lives is when most people learn more about themselves. This is also when they possibly draw new boundary distinctions. As you go through more experiences you get more practice and thereby can set or re-set your boundaries.

Naturally this is why people become more matured and defined with age. This is usually attributed to the numerous experiences in dealing with things and exploring ways of handling them.

However, if older people never experience certain situations, they will be equally as ill-prepared in handling them. Their only advantage would be drawing from the experiences of  others who have dealt with similar things in the past.

Even though most of us learn to put on a false front, for the most part that is only a façade to convince others as to what we want them to see in us. For the majority the real self is hidden very deep below that façade.

Normally, people only expose their tender under-belly to very intimate friends and loved ones, the reason being is because they dare not let anyone outside their inner circle see their vulnerability. When they don’t truly know what to expect from themselves they most certainly don’t want others to see them in a state of confusion or ignorance.

One of the main reasons we don’t know ourselves is because very few go on a deep soul-searching mission until something affects them, thereby causing them to introspect deeply. This could be a tragedy, a catastrophe, or the loss of someone close. As things drive us deeper inside we learn more about who we truly are.

Even though life is a constant learning situation, we never fully grasp everything. So much is left unexplored when we depart. Because of this one should learn to expect the unexpected so it doesn’t completely devastate you. The more you are humbled by life itself the more you learn to roll with its flow.

You would think that a greater number of younger people would grasp this wisdom earlier and thereby add more peace to their youth, but that is why the statement, “Youth is wasted on the young.”

Apparently there is no urgency to gain wisdom until something forces one to go on a soul-searching mission. Most people seem to need ample inspiration or motivation before they make the decision to cross over into the vast ocean wisdom. Without it there is another very popular axiom of which we are also quite familiar, “There's no fool like an old fool!”

As I sit here today and gaze back over more than a half-century I think of all the things that the nearly 62 year-old version of myself would say to an 18 year-old version of the same person. Since it would be me talking to me perhaps I may be inclined to listening and perhaps believing, but would I actually apply any of the wisdom that my older self would share with the younger me?

For myself, getting to know my inner core has been very trying and in many ways difficult. Unfortunately I was the sort of chap that required the crash into a brick wall before I made the proper adjustments. I had to touch the hot fire before I accepted the fact that fire burns. I had to try my many foolish ideas or inclinations that were not thoroughly planned and failed several times before I did the prudent things.

I burned a few good relationships and friends before I learned to truly appreciate people in general. Today winning has a totally different result than it did several years back. I have learned even to appreciate small things today when I never truly appreciated things at least thrice their value back when I was young.

I’m not quite sure but perhaps there was a version of one's true self, way back in the beginning, but we somehow denied what was true in order to chase an image that was more popular and acceptable by society. We denied who we truly were in order to become what we thought would be more acceptable by others.

Perhaps in truth you don’t become someone new, but more like becoming who you truly were all along. Like a century-old oak true, even though it grows many more layers over the years the initial core remains the same, simply covered now by multiple layers.

Our initial core is still there, but it is likewise masked by the many layers we placed over it through the years. In order to find your core self you don’t need anything new, certainly not any more experiences, you only need to drop all the false pretenses you have been forcing the true self to accept as real.  Drop them all and tell yourself that it is okay to be you. After all, that is how you were born into this world.

Find your core self. And if you don’t like what you find, change it to one that you can live comfortably with through the remainder of the time you are here in this corporeal body. Older people would tell you that truth, but you have to find a way to convince yourself to recognize, acknowledge, and accept wisdom.

You never quite know where life leads

So many people adopt the “vibe” that is prevalent around them, which essentially turn their main power over to whatever may be prevailing at the time. If things are generally going bad or poor then that is the direction fro which they are attracted.

However there are others that seem to have a rosier-than-usual outlook about life and no matter what is happening around them they seem to at least put on a positive image of optimism.

Even though you never quite know where life may be headed or exactly what the future unfolds, you do have something to say about how you position your attitude.

Those who portray a happy outlook in spite of things around them make the choice to be optimistic rather than pessimistic. It doesn’t necessarily mean that they are happy about bad things, but that they intentionally choose to hold on to a positive attitude.

The really strange phenomenal is how our attitudes seem to paint our world and even attract the vibes that we send out into the world. Some call this the Law of Attraction, but it is not this mystical voodoo that some would like to sell you.

As you think you tend to create and manifest. As you hold a certain attitude it sends out vibrations into the universe that magnify the elements around you. Just as the earth, moon and other celestial bodies obey the laws of magnetism likewise do human beings.

There is an invisible element that you can’t see, but you are definitely the one that either consciously or unconsciously, sends out the signals that attract similar elements. This is simply one of the many laws of nature.

The more you learn to become conscious of the vibrations that you are sending, the more you should be able to control them. It is a matter of choice. People that are more optimistic choose to be so in spite of the conditions that are revealed around them.

Even though this us usually somewhat difficult to achieve at times, “hard” is something that you must accept as a personal challenge in order to successfully control your attitude.

Like many of you I have read many books about the law of attraction and the power of positive thinking. I read “The Secret” that was a book and a very popular DVD that became a craze for a while. When it was popular positive vibrations were floating wildly among the consciousness of many people.

Like many such crazes once they fade back into the sub-consciousness it is almost as though it doesn’t exist any more, but that indeed is not the case. “Out of site and out of mind” is a phrase that goes with this scenario. Once it is out of your conscious mind you cease to control the intensity of the vibrations that you are emitting.

You are no longer in a state of heightened alert. Since you are no longer intentionally sending out positive signals you no longer attract them, at least not by choice. You are left to attracting the low hum that you are subconsciously sending, which is not usually always positive unless by nature you are a positive-perky-person.

I’m not saying anything new here. Perhaps you have heard a message similar to this a thousand times, but apparently after a spell you have forgotten this message and thereby sending it back to that “low hum,” as usual.

Might I suggest that if you do not like how things are going at least check your mind-set? Check your attitude and see if the needle is stuck on low energy or on the negative energies that are all too prevalent in today’s society.

Do something! Do anything but continue to allow a less-than-positive signal to emit from you like a cold dud. Once you turn your attitude around you will notice a remarkable difference in the things around you. Your attitude is literally painting the world around you.

Become a person that intentionally emits positive vibrations. Do this as a lifestyle. When you forget this message use your smart phones, or you email message alert to chime you ever so often reminding you that you never quite know where life may be headed.

Though we might not know exactly what might be in store for the future, the least we could do to help the situation is to keep a positive mental attitude about it (life) as you go through it.

You never know where good things may come from, but you can do all that is possible to attract the finer things your way. –Word Up! -  

Political Correctness

 PC, as commonly abbreviated, denotes posturing language, ideas, policies, and behaviors that seek to minimize social and institutional offense to an excessive extent. It simply means choosing to operate in a manner that does not ruffle too many feathers. It is the aspect of trying to walk a thin line so as not to overly offend others, aiming for as few as possible.

In today’s society the term is really a pejorative expression. It has lost its punch because no one can say they are the orthodox or supreme authority in reference to what is unilaterally offensive. In today's highly politically-charged atmosphere it is sometimes hard to tell the good guys from the bad ones.

Since America is, literally, a melting pot of nearly every nationality and cultural blend of people on the planet, where would any sort of gauge find its moral compass when it comes to offending the majority of the people? In some cultures cannibalism is right! 

In order to narrow this down we could use phrases such as “common decency” or “trying not to intentionally and knowingly offend others,” but that puts us back into trying to walk on eggshells because of not knowing where people keep their “offense button” hidden. You know… it’s a thin line between love and hate.

Since I have become somewhat unofficially a journalist, I understand the need to allow freedom of expression at least up to a point, because the only way to make changes in things that are institutionalized pejoratives is to allow those who are penalized to speak out in order to bring attention to whatever injustices have been made by their oppressors and thereby endeavor to correct that offense.

What seems to be of more concern to the general public is the fact that the compass once used to calculate correctness is all over the scale, therefore it is truly difficult to determine where social consciousness rests.

Things that were formerly politically correct, or as the case may be, incorrect, are no longer the same. Things that were morally offensive are no longer the same. Things that were thought to be common decency are no longer pinging the moral thermometer at the same mark.

In essence it appears that we have stirred up an ocean of sediment and it will take some time before all that “stuff” settles back down to its own bottom level again.

As each generation comes into dominance they usually usher in their own moral compass. Things that are common for me were not common for my parents. Things that are common for my children are not acceptable for me.

With this much constant fluctuation it is most difficult to set a deep enough anchor from which the masses can brace themselves. It is like riding on a small boat through very rough waters. One can only hold on to whatever in order to keep what small amount of balance possible.

What are the anchors that we still recognize as solid foundational bases? What are the pillars that have stood the test of time that the majority still respects? In truth many of those longstanding markers have faded into the past like the memory of a great sunset. Seemingly, they are no longer present. We only hope to keep some of their memories close enough that perhaps memories of them might make at least a slight difference.

One of the main issues here is that those who do not have or respect moral boundaries are learning how to set the slate. What’s popular or fashionable is becoming the new marker. The lines people draw in the sand are quickly disappearing.

Comedians poke fun at those who take a stand for righteousness sake. Our leaders and stars who bend or break the rules are raised to even higher stardom than they were before they committed their offenses.

Even being politically correct is a joke, because being politically incorrect is more fashionable. Why would our children want to be “good” when being “bad” gets them much more attention?

So where does this leave us? Are we willing to drop nearly all of our morality bars and go to a society where nearly anything goes? Do we really want to see a society of lawlessness? Is it even possible to put the cat back in the box now that we have let it out?

I’m not being cynical here! I’m only making observations of the pictures that have been so clearly painted. I have lost my desire to be politically correct because that bar has been set so low in the dungeons.

I’m no longer afraid to offend those who are being offensive. I will personally stand for what is right and decent regardless of popularity. I will not become a man that stands for nothing and thereby falls for anything.

For me, and my household, we still believe in godliness. And yes, that may be politically incorrect. My faith is not anchored upon being popular or being accepted by those who would gladly curse and spit on the very God that I believe in.

If being politically correct means that I should forego and forget about the God that I serve, or forego and forget about common sense principles of decency, then so be it. I can both live and die knowing that for me…I would have followed my heart to a place that is deeply hidden, where the spirit of God lives in me. Trust not in things that are seen, but instead those that are unseen. Selah!   

360 degrees of right and wrong

 Have you ever wondered why there are organizations such as the KKK, Skin Heads, Aryan Nation, National Alliance, National Socialist Movement, New Black Panther Party, White Order of Thule, Jewish Defense League, or even the Nation of Islam?

If you google the term “hate groups” you will see a list of groups considered supremacist, separatist, or racist. Many of these groups have extremely loyal and very dedicated members. They believe very deeply in their creed and mission, which is basically to separate themselves from others they consider either a threat or inferior.

Racism comes in all shades of colors and races. It has been a major issue ever since historical records were kept. In many cases nations and governments have legally sanctioned it. Why do you think one group of humans could conjure up so much hate against another group?

Since so many racist and anti-racist organizations believe very deeply and at times militantly right about their mission, there can be no way all of them can be right, or wrong. It simply means that there are different degrees of right and wrong according to the believer.

I sometimes try to understand where such hate comes from, but pure hate has no rationale. Revenge, different from hate, is what people use to fight against those they feel have perpetrated something against them.

When you are abused you want to fight back against those who hurt you. It is almost as though you want an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. “If you hurt me I want to hurt you back.” These human responses I understand, but still, in my mind two wrongs will never make a right.

However, when you look at racism in America you have to address the building blocks that formed this nation. Legally sanctioned racism was imposed upon Native Americans, Africans Americans, Asian Americans, Mexican Americans, Women, Gays and other groups that did not fit the Anglo majority at the time this nation was being formed.

This level of hate was not generated by an act of revenge or payback. It was hate for the sake of hating, with the sole intention of causing others to suffer. It was one race taking unfair and unearned advantages over another for the sake of personal gain. Still those who did these horrible acts felt justified in doing what they did, otherwise the United States of America would not have been formed, not as it was.

Even so, I still go back to the point of what is right, and what is wrong. When you see major corporations and top-level government leaders practice racism and even endorse it, are we to believe there are simply 360 degrees of right and wrong in the overall scheme of things?

Certainly the majority thinks they have a right to do what they do, as was the case of the slaughter of the Native American Indians or the enslavement of Africans. These people had something the Anglos wanted and were willing to take no matter what. The Native Americans had the land and the Africans provided a source of slave labor. Killing them and placing them in bondage was not even considered inhumane, it was merely considered a means to an end.  

Still, how do we justify right and wrong when culture is basically determined by a consensus of the people? If the majority gets what they consider to be right, what does morality have to do with the final results?

Although looking back on history I do believe that most people living in America today believe that the treatment of the Native American Indians and the slavery of the Africans was evil and in every classification, DEAD WRONG! Most believe that the slaughter of the Jews during the Holocaust was dead wrong. Rationally most know discrimination in any form is morally wrong.

However, what we’re currently facing is the terrible aftermath that hate imprint upon a society. It is indelibly etched in the soul of our nation. Although those actual days and accepted practices are long gone, in most cases, the habits and behaviors people learned will not easily go away.

In order to rid a society of such ills, individuals will need to check their hearts and purge such unwanted things from their behaviors.  Human beings are unfortunately creatures of habit and a product of their indoctrination.

If you were taught to hate then more than likely hate is a part of your being. If you were taught to discriminate then that too shapes your personality. A person must look deeply into their soul and determine if traits of racism and discrimination are something they wish to continue. If not they must intentionally and purposefully purge such practices from their being. They must regurgitate what was fed to them and retained as a behavioral practice.

In the end I do not believe there are 360 degrees of right and wrong. There is only right and wrong. Yes, there is yin and yang, but they, too, are opposites. One is the light and the other darkness. The two are not any more compatible with each other than fire and water. Just because people make choices to practice things that are wrong does not make them right. Simply because the majority agrees about something does not make it right.

Now that we have reached this age of enlightenment there are a lot of things wrong that we have accepted. Part of that was because we accepted darkness as our mode of living. We can no longer hide behind such dark clouds in ignorance.

There are no 360 degrees of right and wrong. Right is right and wrong is dead wrong. You must search your heart and soul and make that determination. Should you decide to remain in darkness, then that is a horse of a different color. FYI!

Who is guarding the Political Henhouse?

 If you are like me you probably don’t have a clue about the election for the school board or certain measures and propositions that are proposed by our elected officials. This is not something that I’m personally happy about admitting because it is people like this (me) who are partially responsible for what is not right about the system.

The more we refuse to get involved the more the system takes its own political landscape. Politicians actually count on the majority of people not showing up and/or participating within the system. This is the primary reason why you can have an inoperable system year after year and nothing seems to change. People don’t ordinarily get involved until the system is close to sinking.

This is not just about the secondary elections, but almost just as true for most of our public elections. The majority of registered voters don’t usually get involved until or unless things are really going bad. That is just before the ship is almost ready to go under.

I would speculate that this entire economic downward spiral is because people were not guarding their own interest. We trust our elected officials to make the best choices for us and don’t want to be bothered with the details. It's "hands off" or "I don't have time to get involved in those details!"

After politicians do whatever it is they do, then later we complain vociferously about how badly things are operating. Who do you think is ultimately to blame for the problem? If this is a true democracy then the “will of the people” should be in control. BUZZZZZZZZZ…NOT!

How many of you know who is running for your school board? How many of you know the members of the judicial board that you elected? How many know about the various propositions such as gay marriage rights or measures to legalize marijuana? When is the next election and what is being proposed? Do you even know where your polling place is located?

If I weren’t writing this article I admit that I would most likely not know the answers to any one of these questions. Shame on me! And I am a councilperson! DOUBLE SHAME!!!

Well, folks, it is time for us to wake up and start participating in the system that is controlling so many aspects of our lives. If things aren’t going well it may be because we aren’t dictating the choices. If we have bad officials it may be because we are not using our voting power to keep them out of office or to remove them once they have proven themselves unworthy of public trust.

You are either part of the problem or part of the solution. Essentially that means that when looking at the situation from both sides, each side carries weight.

Each choice sways the balance, one way, or the other. In many cases a “no vote” is just as good as supporting the opposing side, and vice versa. In many cases the way the proposal is worded you really don’t understand how you may be voting.

In many cases if you don’t use your vote to oppose something you lend your permission to do otherwise. A "yes" vote opposes one for “no”, while a "no" vote cancels out one for “yes.”  Even the simple act of doing nothing means you will be affecting the ultimate outcome, albeit inadvertently. You must learn what the issues are and what our elected officials are doing, together and/or individually, to solve problems.  Only the informed will be on top of their game!

Use your children for an example. If you do not tell them not to do something, it is almost tantamount as allowing them to do it. However, when you tell them in definite terms NOT to do something, you are going on record as opposing their doing whatever it may be. If you are oblivious to the situations that arise in any family, your choice NOT to speak up may be the reason why you so often find the situation goes against your wishes.

Folks, I think it is about time for us to wake up as a society and start paying careful attention to exactly who is “guarding the political henhouse. If we are not watching the politicians they get a chance to do what they want to do, how they want, and when they want to, with our tax money. And we were the ones that give them that right.

If there is something wrong, for the most part we are to blame. If we want to see real change we are the ones who will have to make that happen. We can only do that if we start participating in how our system operates.

Our Ever-Increasing Senior Population

 In order to adequately cover this topic I will need to write a series of articles about it because just one long essay will not nearly cover enough, as is warranted.  

Perhaps it’s just me, but it appears that our senior population is increasing. People are living much longer than in the recent past, to the point that they are becoming a substantial percentage of the total population.

There was a time when you did not see as many older people out and about, but these days people in their mid-to-late seventies and upward, are out-and-about, driving back-and-forth, and doing many things that we’re not used to seeing.

Back when I was in my 20s I thought people over 60 were old people. But now that I am over 60 I don’t feel anywhere near a senior citizen, although technically I am. The point is that people are living longer lives and they are not yet ready to be put out to pasture.

My concern is having sufficient planning and financial resources available to compensate for the many years of extended lifespan. With so little pickings available overall, our elders are forced to compete for the best of things with other age groups.

In many cases the social security benefits do not adequately cover all your typical monthly expenses and obligations. If you carry heavy debts into retirement those bills still have to be paid. With a substantial reduction in income and an increase in expenses, plus having fewer chances to find decent paying jobs, I wonder what will happen to us all as we enter the later stages of our lives? Will we outlive our nest eggs?

As a person in my early 60s my Mom is in her mid-80s. She still drives herself to her favorite place to shop, Wal-Mart’s, on a regular basis. She not only goes to the gym 3 days a week but she still finds time to do things that keep her mind and body active and engaged. I know the things I am experiencing at 60+ but I can’t fully comprehend what it will feel like to add 20+ more years of wear and tear on this old body!

In my case, I was fortunate to start exercising while I was a young man, so to this day I make sure I keep my body in relatively decent condition. I also discovered that I had high blood pressure and now high cholesterol and diabetes as well. Most of this I inherited, but some of it was due to poor diets or bad habits.

One thing to be certain is that if you take decent care of your body it will last you longer and more efficiently. Unfortunately, our bodies were not meant to last forever; however, if you take decent care of it, it will take better care of you.

Due to advances in science and medicine, people are living longer and more productive lifestyles at much older ages. Although we might be able to live better physically what about financially? Do we have enough financial resources to cover twenty-plus years of retirement living? When many of our friends and acquaintances die, we are suddenly left in a lonesome place, possibly with very little intimate company to help sustain us through those waning years.

In bygone days extended families were available to help the elders of the family. During those days they were highly esteemed and treated with respect and honor. Some cultures still have this high regard for their elders, but for the most part there seems to be a breakdown of the nuclear family. People are spreading out, moving away, leaving the elders to cover themselves with very little to do it with.

It’s a shame that the people that gave you birth and cared for you until you learned how to nurture yourself are seemingly discarded like an old out-of-date wardrobe. This ought not be so. A society that dishonors their elders is a society that is headed toward doom and despair. This is unfortunate because if people live long enough they, too, will become the discarded and dishonored elders.

Folks, while there is still time, we need to do more things to honor our elders. We need to find ways to support them physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. Age is not a disease or condition that one may avoid. It is so unfortunate that when assistance is needed most, in too many cases it is the least thing offered.

For the record, I don’t have all the answers to the issues I just raised. I don’t have a lot of money or even enough resources to last me comfortably for another twenty-odd years. Apparently, what I seem to have more abundantly than I rightly know what to do with it is time, if I should live that long.

I am hoping over the coming years that my children and my grandchildren will have absorbed the lessons that I taught them, and teach their children to do the same. Instruct them on how to respect their elders, and treat them with the highest honor and regard, for they were the ones that gave you the gift of life. Return the favor and give them a decent quality of life when they need it the most.  As my late father-in-law often said, "If we all live long enough, we all get to be old!"

As a society we must find ways to take better care of our elders. This problem will continue to get worse until we do something to remedy the situation. Our aging population deserves much better treatment than what is currently unfolding.

The glass half-full

Believe it or not we are less than one month away from spring, my favorite season of the year. Time moves by so fast that we barely get settled in one season when the next one is right upon us. I suppose that is a good thing because when it is either too hot or too cold you usually don’t have all that long to wait before things change.

Perhaps it is only my imagination but does it seem like it is hotter for longer periods of time than it is warm and pleasant?

In Southern California we have longer periods when the weather is mild or average, but our memories seem to hold on to the hotter and unpleasant days longer than those that are average.

When you think about it our weather doesn’t often get hot around here until July and it cools back down right around Halloween. Our hot months are usually from July, August, September, and October. November can have a few warm days, but they are not sustained for the entire month.

Consequently we have about four hot months and the rest of them are rather average so why is it that we hold on to the memories of the hot unpleasant days that are in a minority instead of the average ones that comprise the majority?

Obviously there are different weather patterns around the globe that aren’t like those of Southern California but the point I was making was not as much about the climate as much as it was about the things we choose to store in our memory banks.

As far as our memories are concerned we tend to hold on to the bad ones perhaps longer than the great ones. We could have had just one bad day in a week but we were willing to classify that as a bad week when there were six other days that were routine. Why don’t the average days get as much recognition?

Are we being programmed to dwell upon negativity over things that are positive? When you think about the overall population, most people are decent and hard-working people, but only the really bad minority of citizens seem to capture the spotlight.  I suppose that's what is meant by "news", something different, otherwise every day would be a boring procession of sameness.

Millions of cars go back and forth daily all times of day and night, but only the few accidents are recorded in the news while the average days of calmness go unnoticed.

The majority of people experience routine days where not much happens out of the ordinary, but they only choose to remember the great days or the worse ones, mostly the worse. When things operate at a pretty even pace, they go by relatively unnoticed, but the bad ones seem to dominate our memory banks for years. Why is that?

I am just over sixty years of age. I would guess that if I totaled up all my normal days and strung them together they would make up about fifty eight continuous years, while maybe only a few total months would make up my bad days and perhaps just under a couple of years would be great times. With that many average days why do I seem only to remember the abnormal ones?

I’m reminded of the glass being either half-full or half-empty. When you see it as half-full you have great hope, but when you see it as half-empty you sense fear and despair. In truth it is the exact same amount, but how we experience it is totally different.   Someone once said that our consciousness is made up not only by 90% of what happens to us but, instead, 10% of our perception of what happens.

If I had a one-hundred-mile-trip to make and thought about where I was at the fifty-mile marker, it would be different if I thought, “Oh darn, I have fifty more miles to go,” rather than, “Wow, I only have fifty more miles to go.” It would be the same distance to cover, but a quite different attitude about doing so.

If I am living my life worried about how bad things are, yet refusing to acknowledge the great things that surround me, that would deeply impact my spirit as I go about my life.

If I attended a university to earn a degree in a certain subject and after two years thought; “Gosh, I have two more grueling years to go before I earn my degree;” as opposed to “Wow, look at how much I have gained in these first two years of studying.” It is the same person in the same position, yet a totally different attitude.

The difference between the glass being half-full or half-empty is huge, but it is the same physical thing. If we see our lives as this wonderful passage that we are experiencing rather than the sporadic highs and lows perhaps when things get low you can know in your mind, “This, too, shall pass.”

I have personally learned that no matter how hard I worry about things that are out of my control, I still can’t control them. When I wake up tomorrow, if I wake up, I will still be less than six foot tall. When I die I will be still be Black and under six-foot tall. No amount of worry will ever change these things, yet I still find myself worrying.

Although there are many things that we can’t control, there are also many that we can, yet we choose to spend more of our available time on the ones we can’t rather than those we can. Doesn’t it make more sense to spend more time doing things that you are capable of doing rather than those that only cause you to worry?

Both are virtually the same thing, but the difference is in your attitude about the thing. Do you see the glass as half-full most of the time, or half-empty? Even though they may be virtually the same thing, there’s a world of difference between the two experiences because of our attitude towards them! 

You are the artist drawing the picture of your life. Will you choose to paint is optimistically or pessimistically. Your choice!

Jumping into the Social-Media-Techno-Savvy Craze

 

First of all I must admit that even though I have been one to jump on the techno-savvy bandwagon early for years, I still have a mental block when it comes to actually applying this new medium of connecting with others socially through the Internet.

If you want to learn something about texting, facebooking, twittering, YouTubing, and the like just find a kid with a Smart/Phone. This generation is growing up with this technology, so to them, this is what they do, not what they become. On the other hand we are trying to become what they are doing naturally.

It appears that I have been on this learning curve for about twenty years or so now. When home computers just started getting popular I purchased one and began to use it for my real estate business. At that time there were a few seminars that assisted us in learning the basics of computer usage.

Next we had the digital cameras that allowed us to upload our own photos or videos of homes into the MLS (Multiple Listing Service). And then we were able to have our own websites and pages to totally manage what we were promoting. This was all before Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and even MySpace were invented.

Let us not forget about how the new smart digital book-readers are changing the entire publishing industry. Rather than purchasing printed books and material people can just upload the digital files without even leaving the comfort of their homes.

The problem with this constantly growing and ever-changing technology is that by the time you learn one thing you are already behind for the next big “new” thing.

I remember a friend of mine who is a videographer telling me about how we would have the ability to upload and watch videos on our phones soon. That was about ten years ago and I thought he was a little “too far out there” at the time. In essence things that we could only imagine ten years ago are already ancient history today.

I suppose I’ve owned more than twenty cell phones to date. Each time I purchase one it becomes old in about six weeks, to the point that I feel the urge to buy a new one. Perhaps we should just start leasing smart phones so we can simply turn them back in when the new ones come out.

As we watched the movie about the creation of Facebook I wonder whatever happened to the person that created MySpace? Certainly this company was around doing what Facebook does before Facebook took over that marketing position in the industry.

You never know what will take off and become the next booming sensation. Because of this perhaps we should stop trying to be “hip” and try instead to be more functional.

There are many things we may use that will enhance our lives today, but if we spend too much time trying to “keep up with the Joneses,” we will have very little time left over to enjoy the simple pleasures that life still offers.

Perhaps those of us who are over fifty-plus years of age may take this advice more to heart because those of you under fifty have a much longer expected lifespan to get off the bandwagon. With another possible thirty-plus years to live you need to stay in the learning curve or face becoming a dinosaur in the years only too soon to come.

As a baby boomer just over the age of sixty I am happy I jumped on the bandwagon years ago, but trying to keep up with the kids is a never-ending job. Although I have several websites, blog sites, email addresses, smart phones, Kindle, video posting capabilities, and I know the basics about how to navigate in this new arena, I’m getting tired of chasing new technology.

Since I may have a limited time to sit back and smell the roses I don’t want to spend too many of my remaining days and nights in a class to learn something that will become old before I learn how to apply it to my daily life.

I think I am savvy enough to communicate with the majority of the public so either I will need to become friends with a few young people, such as my grand kids, who will keep me in their loop, or I will need to become content with the fact that this new world belongs to the youth. At this stage I am just an elder statesman passing through enjoying things that are still “real” and not just techno savvy.

I know how to sit on a bench and just watch people pass by. I love to sit in the woods and listen to the sound of all the critters. I love to watch the sunset and sunrise. I love to witness the coming of the fresh new seasons each year, especially the spring. I love to smell the roses and other sweet fragrances of nature. I love to be face-to-face with people and have a decent heart-to-heart conversation with even strangers.

If you get too trapped in this new cyberspace you become less human and more of an avatar to all these smart gadgets. There is nothing wrong with technological growth, but we shouldn’t lose what makes us human beings in the process.

We still need to nurture our ordinary senses, which are seeing each other, feeling each other, hearing each other, tasting the good life, and taking the time to smell the occasional flowers as we step out into this feely-touchy world in which we live. I’m not quite ready to give up what makes us human yet in exchange for this new social-media-techno-savvy craze.      

LA'S BEST GOURMET FOOD TRUCKS IN ALTADENA

 What do you do on a Friday evening in Altadena? I received a Facebook invitation from Webster’s Liquor about an event featuring LA’s gourmet food trucks. I had heard of this trend on the local news about how popular these gatherings were becoming.

On the same Friday that the Egyptian people had just won their freedom from a 30-year reign of dictatorship we were participating in an event that was spearheaded by social media. When people connect through this channel big things are happening. It is as though we are gaining people-power and this power is becoming stronger.

If you build it, they will come. If you create something that people like and put it on Twitter or Facebook or any of a number of techno-event-blasting resources; people are finding it and following it. Apparently there is no single head to this trend, but instead something that is being driven by the desires of the people.

If this first Friday evening’s event is any indication of what’s to come this could become a smashing success. People were standing in line for over an hour just to order from the “Shrimp Pimp” food truck.

Even though this truck was late getting started, it was the most popular of the four present that evening. Apparently those who follow Twitter have already heard about this craze and are willing to travel to where these gourmet trucks set up shop.

What was so obvious was the hunger and thirst people have up here in Altadena for interesting things to do. The good news is that this event was not driven by fancy marketing ads or a long-term pre-planned attraction, it is being driven by the ability of people to spread the word down in the trenches from the ground level upward through this new social-media phenomenon.

This craze is what started a revolution in Egypt and peacefully overthrew a dictatorship in just 18 days. It was the ability of the public to start a ground swell from the desires of the people. We are so used to being told what to do, how to believe, and what is good for us by the establishment, but that day seems to be long gone, or at least quickly fading into the past.

There must have been several hundred people gathered at this event over the evening. There were families with small kids and people of all ages present. Being in that atmosphere you get a chance to meet your community. Everyone there seemed to have been equally as amazed to be there and meet each other.

I struck up a conversation with so many strangers that were just as eager to chat and show their friendliness and desire to mingle. This is the real Altadena that everyone wants, not the one that you read about in the blogs or news services. When people are face-to-face they show their real colors, which seems to be quite friendly.

Unfortunately we most often get this sense that there is too much animosity among people, but perhaps that is more media-hype rather than reality-driven. If you notice when you are out in public people are generally friendly, even strangers.

Could it be more our perception to assume the worst in people than is warranted? Even though there are some serious jerks and really weird people in society, they are only a small percentage of the general public, yet we generally put up our defensive walls blocking everyone out just to protect ourselves from the few.

You can meet people for the first time in a grocery line or at other public events such as this one and have a great conversation with them without even realizing your differences. When people that you would not ordinarily meet come into your pathway usually you are rewarded by their presence rather than threatened.

This is what is possible for Altadena or most communities, but rather than opening ourselves to receive its rewards we tend to be more skeptical.

If we refuse to lower our guards, at least long enough to realize that people are often genuinely warm and friendly, we stand to lose more than we gain. It is our loss when we don’t open our hearts to receive the gift that people could offer to us: that is the gift of love; loving one another, and just expressing human kindness.

We need more opportunities such as this to show who we are. We need more chances to practice letting down our guard so we can express our human kindness and display our best.

It appears that we are headed in the right direction, but we can get there much faster with more practice. We need more such events so we can show each other just how warm and friendly we can be as a community.

Whoever organized this event, please do so again: I think it will be a great success here in Altadena.

Shoe on the other foot

I find it interesting how I boldly state my own opinions and yet become so easily agitated when others state theirs. In a similar way I pull so hard for my team to win that I almost blindly refuse to see that the other team also has supporters. Are we becoming so competitive that we refuse to see the other point of view?

I find myself writing about this subject quite often. It is because I really need to hold myself back a bit from taking such strong stands about certain things, so much so that it has gotten to the point that I refuse to even look at another's point of view.

Many wars are started for this very reason. People become so blinded by their personal view of things that they refuse to even consider the views of others. Family feuds often begin just like this.  Siblings or even best friends will break up, at times for life, because of this blindness. If we aren’t careful we will find ourselves so rigid that no one can penetrate through our thick shells of selfishness.

As a sport’s fan living in the LA area I had to almost stop watching the Lakers because it seems that just when I watched a game they would lose to a team that they were supposed to blow away. I would become furious at them!

When you stop to think about it they are the current two-time champions of the NBA and personally each one of them are financially doing well. Why should I become so stressed out about them losing some games when at the end of the day they will go home to their mansions (or wherever) and I end up seething in my stress and sorrow in my little house. Stress can kill, so I am told!

When my neighbors do things differently than what I am accustomed to seeing it irritates me no end.  It is not that they are bad people, just the fact that they are different. Why should that irritate me? In truth there is nothing about their behavior that is wrong except for the fact that they are acting differently from the way I am used to seeing things done. I really have no right to be upset, but this eruption seems to come from somewhere deep in my gut.

In spousal or long-term partnerships inevitably one party will do something that is different from the other and it irritates them no end. In truth there is nothing wrong with how others do things except for the fact that they are different from another's expectations. Why should that be so upsetting?

Since this tension seem to rise out of our guts so often and they concern so many different situations and circumstances then perhaps each of us needs to back ourselves up a bit and see if we are able to determine from where this gut feeling is emanating.

Competition can become a healthy motivation, but once we become so blinded by our own immutable point of view that we refuse to accept the views of others we need to check something in our personalities. We need to make sure the person that we see in the mirror each day is not primary one causing the problems.

Understanding this to be true of me I decided to take a deeper look at how I judge things. Lately I purposefully take the need to be right or to win out of the equation for a while so I could see just how blind I had become to my own selfish attitude.

When being right or winning was not the only goal the results did not stress me out as much. I actually learned that the point of view of others was even quite interesting at times, and I broadened my own horizons by trying to understand the other's viewpoint.

Obviously we can’t always practice this exercise but when possible give it a try and you will be amazed at how the shoe fits and or feels when it is on the other foot. The only requirement is that you will have to reduce the size of your ego, at least momentarily, in order for this practice to work in all sincerity.

Give it a try, it might show you something about yourself where you had become partially or totally blinded. – Pearls of Wisdom. 

Sometimes I Wonder

There are times when I wonder why God made me into the person I am. But when I carefully analyze the truth to the matter God did not make me into all the things that I have become. Sure He gave me the breath of life and the right to live it as I chose, but some of the choices that I made were not godly, therefore I cannot blame God for my wicked inclinations.

My habits are likewise not God’s fault. Even though I developed according to the many factors that were present in and around my environment, blaming God for how I reacted to them is not accurate, nor relevant. Rather than blaming anyone or anything perhaps the real learning-moment is to see the golden opportunities that came my way. These many things were chances to grow and mature in the ways of godliness.

There are times when I look at my predicament and think, “Why is this happening to me?” In my lower carnal mind it is natural to seek meaning to things I don’t fully understand. However, in my more matured spiritual mind I realize that God’s thoughts and ways are in no way similar to mine.

Where we are limited, God is not. Where we are finite, God is infinite. Where we are reduced to speculations, God knows the complete truth. Where we are mortal, God is immortal. In other words as high as the heavens are from the earth so are God’s thoughts and ways even much higher than ours. The fact that we constantly try to compare the two could even be rather humorous, at various points.

It is said that if you want to hear God laugh tell Him about your plans. Obviously what we would hope to achieve and what actually happens are most often two different things. Since God is omnipotent He already knew what would happen even before it actually did, therefore our plans and aspirations should always include and invoke His will. “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven,” as stated in the Lord’s Prayer.

Where so many of us tend to fall short is in our total surrender to the fact that God’s will is and shall always be superior to anything we may wish, pray, hope, dream, or even imagine. Once we totally grasp that truth it still may not cause us to live in peace, but it should give you a way to let off the stress that comes with worrying about things that are completely out of one's own control, yet they are fully within God’s almighty and divine will.

Do you ever talk to yourself? Do you ever argue with yourself? Do you personally talk with God? Do you ever argue with God? May I suggest that when you are arguing or even discussing things with yourself what you are really doing is bringing things to God’s attention? Since the innermost part of our beings is that of the breath of life that God put in us it is to that deepest part of us that we attempt to reach in order to find meaning.

From our outer beings, which are the flesh and the mind, we attempt to reach the inner parts that are the soul and the spirit. For most people this is a very complicated task. Until you begin to know yourself it is that much harder to go even deeper in an effort to know God who exists at the very core of your being. Ironically, most people who seek God, do so from outside inwardly, when the exact opposite would get them there much faster and far deeper.

Christ said that if a person really wants to find God they should go into a dark closet, close the door behind them and speak with God in secret. It is from that secret place where God actually communicates back to the soul that belongs exclusively to Him. It is from this sacred chamber that God communicates. Yet, too few can hear Him because they are seeking answers from the wrong places.

Some times I wonder why God gave me the kind of mind that realizes such things yet not the ability to really grasp what I know to be true. Oh, what a wretched man I am…so fragile…so finite…and so confused!  To the Most High God I surrender my soul and spirit…Selah!