I was sitting with a group of men at my Wednesday night church dinner.
Across the table was an man in his 80's sitting with his son who is in his mid 50's. I had the feeling I had seen these two before, but I couldn't quite recall where. The conversation began with their latest travel venture to South America. Later it gravitated to the current Presidential primaries, the energy crisis: particularly gas prices and renewable energy.
"What has happened to Strong American Leadership?"I asked as we discussed the list of candidates. "It looks like we have a very dim list of prospects to select from"
"Nobody wants to get involved. " answered the older man. "Besides, what can one guy do?" he continued.
"Well," I replied," throughout our history, 'one man' as you say has done a lot. Look at FDR ; JFK , Lincoln, Jefferson and other strong leaders we have had in the past. Have we run out of those people in our times?"
The old guy gave me that sage, look as if to say, 'I have a lot more experience than you, so listen to me.'
Then he rhetorically he asked, "Is it the man who makes the times or the times who make the man?" He delivered this maxim with a great Cheshire Cat grin.
"I believe it is always the man." I replied.
"No, no. no...You talk about FDR." he bristled. " You weren't even alive when he was president. "But I tell you, he was stuck with the depression, and anyone in office had to do something about it. He just happened to be there." He was getting more excited with this last delivery.
"True, but then why didn't the country continue with Hoover? " I asked.
The old guy put up a hand and waved me off," Hoover couldn't get a thing right. He was for the rich, and knew nothing about the troubles the poor were having."
"Then it sounds like it was the man, and the woman [Eleanor]in this case." I wasn't out to trip him up, but he had just given the answer to his own maxim.
"Well, maybe in that case," he conceded.
"All I am saying," I hastened to add, " is that we are facing an energy crisis and a leadership crisis, and I'm looking at a bunch of candidates who severely lack the great qualities I have seen in our past presidents."
I continued when I noticed he and the son seemed to perk up. " Just think of 1960. JFK committed the US to put a man on the moon within a decade. It happened."
The old man's son jumped in with both feet at that point. " That had nothing to do with JFK. We already had rockets and scientists working on it. " He looked away as he spoke as if I had missed some major point, and he was helping me to understand the historical facts.
"Yes. We had knowledge of rockets, and science was working on the idea," I agreed," But this was a serious engineering problem. One with many details that had not been completely solved in 1960. And personally having had to fulfill promises that advertising and upper management make to the public about technology that will be available to the customer, I am here to tell you the phrase 'The Devil is in the details' is more accurate than most people can ever imagine. Think about the fact that computers [the few that did exist] were the size of a refrigerator in 1960. It was hardly something you could put in a small capsule that could barely hold three men. Most people don't understand the thousands of engineering developments that had to be perfected prior to that first trip to the moon, yet we made it"
I paused; then added," It took a lot of hard work to help JFK's words become an historical fact."
I continued," What made it all work was a vision which was created and kept alive by one man. A visionary who spoke and idea that inspired others to make it happen and have them say 'Yes this can be done. We can make it a physical reality." and bringing it back to the original point. ''I am saying that I believe if we had a leader among this lot who would stand up and say, 'America will go all solar or some other clean energy source to become independent of Oil within a decade' and that person was a strong leader like an FDR or JFK or a Lincoln, it would be done just like we did the moon shot."
The old guy waved me off again," You are dreaming. It can't be done. It is too expensive, the oil companies wont let it happen. It cant be done by one guy." Then in an attempt to throw in some semblance of logic, he asked, " Is anyone willing to pay double the cost of a gallon of gas to help the environment? No it would cost too much to do. I don't care how strong the leader, no one guy could make that happen." That was supposed to close the books on that idea.
I wasn't about to quit in the face of such closed minded thinking. "Sir, I now recall where I saw you. You were there just prior to the American Revolution. It was you who told Jefferson and Washington, 'It can't be done! It will cost too much. It has never been done before! One man can't make it happen.' " I continued. " I believe you were there before the Civil War telling Lincoln 'One man can't stop slavery. It cant be done. It will cost too much. This is the way it is and you can't change it.' "
"You were there at Kitty hawk giving your sage advice to the Wright Brothers, ' Don't try to fly that thing. It cant be done! It will cost too much. It is dangerous. You will put the Railroad out of business and they won't stand for it."
Since we were in this place to study scripture after the meal and our present discussion, I had to press one last point home by asking, "Gentlemen, ask yourselves if you would be the ones to tell Jesus ' One man cant make a difference? It can't be done. Your ideas about peace, freedom and all people loving each other can never happen. Would you tell Him his ideas were too radical and that He as one individual could not change things. "
"Now you are getting into something altogether different,"the old man said.
"I know it sounds different," I retorted. "The fact is that given the past 2000 years it is easy for us to look back now and see that one man did change the whole course of history, and the human nature of millions has altered to accept the beliefs of Jesus, although we know His work is not yet completed. But put yourselves in a time prior to His coming, and ask if you could be open to His radical thinking not having the knowledge of the past 2000 years history."
I asked " Is the idea of us having a leader propose a radical change in our energy resources something that is so impossible to you that it should not even be spoken? The word is a spoken idea. Ideas are invisible in the mind. You can't see or touch a thought. However, all things come into existence through thought. Do you know that the whole world was spoken into existence?"
"Don't try to kill an idea at its inception. Nurture it; believe in it; help it grow and like a miracle a thought will spring into existence before your very eyes."
The chapel bell rang, and we all left the dining hall for chapel or individual bible study groups with fresh thoughts for the evening.
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Important Relationships
Everyday there are distractions in our lives. Mostly it is our business, or professions or liesure activities that take time away from the really important focus of our lives--relationships and people.
Most of my adult life I always kept my TV in a room away from the "Living room or Den".
My concern is that when people come over to visit, or the family needs to meet there must be a place in a home that is conducive to conversation. Consider the Television: it is ubiquitous in today's society. It is a device focused on eye contact. People used to have eye contact, and they conversed with each other. However, the television now zaps all eye contact and conversation from humans.
Have you ever been a home where you walk in the front door, and are immediately in the "living room" with the TV on. Some of the residence may break eye contact with the TV just long enough to say "Hi". Other times, they act as if you are not there, or as if you are annoying them by being there. The ones who have had their souls sucked up by the 'Electronic talking Eye" may never turn away or even acknowledge you. Believe me, you are not in the "Living room" you are in the "Dead Zone" of human communication.
Humans, as I said require human interaction and eye contact conversation. It is what keeps us alive. Much of society is like the living dead today. They have lost this basic ability and need. They are living, but their souls are empty, and instead of sharing their lives and thoughts with others, they are watching movies and TV to try to fill the void. It does not work! It is a one way, street and nothing from within can get out to the TV or movie screen. Therefore, they are become what I call a jaundice soul. instead of having a bright, clean,white soul they have become yellow and faded and dull.
I need to tell you I have been very fortunate in my life. I found a person [just one] to whom I can share eye-to-eye all of my inner most thoughts. This person is the only one other than God who I can be fully honest with. She is like no other when it comes to listening and sharing ideas and feelings. And after, all, that is what this human need is all about.
Feelings!
Mostly we guard them, we disguise them, we hide them from others and sometimes even ourselves. In reality, this is the part of us that has to be expunged almost daily. It is like eating or bodily functions. Yet so many of us have no one to share our feelings and thoughts with, and that is the most important part of being human. Without this human ineteraction we become less and less human every day.
I used to sit in drinking establishments, and meet interesting people. They were fun to talk to, and many had a lot to say. The drinks always, it seemed, made it easier for people to open up. I learned a lot from those encounters. I learned that people really need people. They really want relationships. Some, for various reasons, ceased conversations with the really meaningful people in their lives, and they wound up in bars and pubs finding others to communicate with. Probably they found that the booze lowered their defensiveness and made them more vulnerable to exploring their inner thoughts. They became less inhibited in expressing their thoughts to an anonymous human randomly sitting next them on the next bar stool. At any rate they were communicating. A basic need of humans like eating or going to the john.
Then these places started installing TVs.
At first it was a little TV at the end of the bar which was mostly there for the bored bartender. See the bartender who used to listen to all your problems no longer wanted to play the role. He/she had their own issues, and did not want to deal with yours.
Next the Big Screen monster took over. It was like walking into the "Living room" of your neighbors home. You became a bother to all who were there watching the meaningless sport event, or latest world crisis. So now, where do people go to fulfill that basic human need of communicating eye-to-eye with each other. I believe it is a dying human function. Some lucky souls have found that God is a good listener, though since we can't see Him we don't get the same human contact need we require. Also, we are confused as to the two way interaction, because prayer seems to be very much one way.
I have tried, but I can't find in the Bible when God ceased visiting us here. I recall that He walked with ADAM in the Garden, and that He personally visited Abraham . Some of the Profits had conversations with God. He spoke to Moses and gave him the Commandments. The next major contact seems to be Jesus. Then He left, and promised the Holy Spirit. So that is our modern day connection. But we live in a physical world, and we see things with our eyes. We haven't strong enough imaginations to believe that Jesus or the Holy Spirit is sitting across the table making eye contact during our conversations. Therefore, we feel lost. Our friends, and the local drinking pal are all watching TV, and we are all losing the art of conversation and interaction. What can we do?
Find a friend or better yet, go back to communicating with a lover or your wife or husband.
Turn off the TV and pray like you never have before!!!
Most of my adult life I always kept my TV in a room away from the "Living room or Den".
My concern is that when people come over to visit, or the family needs to meet there must be a place in a home that is conducive to conversation. Consider the Television: it is ubiquitous in today's society. It is a device focused on eye contact. People used to have eye contact, and they conversed with each other. However, the television now zaps all eye contact and conversation from humans.
Have you ever been a home where you walk in the front door, and are immediately in the "living room" with the TV on. Some of the residence may break eye contact with the TV just long enough to say "Hi". Other times, they act as if you are not there, or as if you are annoying them by being there. The ones who have had their souls sucked up by the 'Electronic talking Eye" may never turn away or even acknowledge you. Believe me, you are not in the "Living room" you are in the "Dead Zone" of human communication.
Humans, as I said require human interaction and eye contact conversation. It is what keeps us alive. Much of society is like the living dead today. They have lost this basic ability and need. They are living, but their souls are empty, and instead of sharing their lives and thoughts with others, they are watching movies and TV to try to fill the void. It does not work! It is a one way, street and nothing from within can get out to the TV or movie screen. Therefore, they are become what I call a jaundice soul. instead of having a bright, clean,white soul they have become yellow and faded and dull.
I need to tell you I have been very fortunate in my life. I found a person [just one] to whom I can share eye-to-eye all of my inner most thoughts. This person is the only one other than God who I can be fully honest with. She is like no other when it comes to listening and sharing ideas and feelings. And after, all, that is what this human need is all about.
Feelings!
Mostly we guard them, we disguise them, we hide them from others and sometimes even ourselves. In reality, this is the part of us that has to be expunged almost daily. It is like eating or bodily functions. Yet so many of us have no one to share our feelings and thoughts with, and that is the most important part of being human. Without this human ineteraction we become less and less human every day.
I used to sit in drinking establishments, and meet interesting people. They were fun to talk to, and many had a lot to say. The drinks always, it seemed, made it easier for people to open up. I learned a lot from those encounters. I learned that people really need people. They really want relationships. Some, for various reasons, ceased conversations with the really meaningful people in their lives, and they wound up in bars and pubs finding others to communicate with. Probably they found that the booze lowered their defensiveness and made them more vulnerable to exploring their inner thoughts. They became less inhibited in expressing their thoughts to an anonymous human randomly sitting next them on the next bar stool. At any rate they were communicating. A basic need of humans like eating or going to the john.
Then these places started installing TVs.
At first it was a little TV at the end of the bar which was mostly there for the bored bartender. See the bartender who used to listen to all your problems no longer wanted to play the role. He/she had their own issues, and did not want to deal with yours.
Next the Big Screen monster took over. It was like walking into the "Living room" of your neighbors home. You became a bother to all who were there watching the meaningless sport event, or latest world crisis. So now, where do people go to fulfill that basic human need of communicating eye-to-eye with each other. I believe it is a dying human function. Some lucky souls have found that God is a good listener, though since we can't see Him we don't get the same human contact need we require. Also, we are confused as to the two way interaction, because prayer seems to be very much one way.
I have tried, but I can't find in the Bible when God ceased visiting us here. I recall that He walked with ADAM in the Garden, and that He personally visited Abraham . Some of the Profits had conversations with God. He spoke to Moses and gave him the Commandments. The next major contact seems to be Jesus. Then He left, and promised the Holy Spirit. So that is our modern day connection. But we live in a physical world, and we see things with our eyes. We haven't strong enough imaginations to believe that Jesus or the Holy Spirit is sitting across the table making eye contact during our conversations. Therefore, we feel lost. Our friends, and the local drinking pal are all watching TV, and we are all losing the art of conversation and interaction. What can we do?
Find a friend or better yet, go back to communicating with a lover or your wife or husband.
Turn off the TV and pray like you never have before!!!
Monday, January 21, 2008
THE TUNA E-INDUSTRY
Attention!!
Calling all tuna fish.
Do you get the same e-mails I get with a promise to make you rich in just 4 days???
I have looked at hundreds of these web sites. They are all trying to sell each other ideas about how to become rich. Truth is that only the fools who contribute some level of money get taken, and the guy who nets them makes all the money. In fact, the average person cant figure out how to get in on this scam. The whole thing is just virtual crap of electrons bouncing from computer to computer with no actual physical product to use. I am sure the top scammers are making lots of money from the fools at the bottom. It is like the top scam guys are in a big boat throwing over a net, and the fish are jumping in by the tons. What happens to the fish, he gets eaten. The guy with the net [fake web site] makes money selling and eating the fish. I AINT NO FISH!!!
Calling all tuna fish.
Do you get the same e-mails I get with a promise to make you rich in just 4 days???
I have looked at hundreds of these web sites. They are all trying to sell each other ideas about how to become rich. Truth is that only the fools who contribute some level of money get taken, and the guy who nets them makes all the money. In fact, the average person cant figure out how to get in on this scam. The whole thing is just virtual crap of electrons bouncing from computer to computer with no actual physical product to use. I am sure the top scammers are making lots of money from the fools at the bottom. It is like the top scam guys are in a big boat throwing over a net, and the fish are jumping in by the tons. What happens to the fish, he gets eaten. The guy with the net [fake web site] makes money selling and eating the fish. I AINT NO FISH!!!
Monday, January 14, 2008
When your Brain Isn't Working
I suffered a severe stroke in June of 2006. As a result, I lost the of my memory of most of the things I did for a living in the past. I ran an electrical contracting business. I was a computer programmer. I was a Project manager of fiber optic Sonet systems. I used to design, plan and carry out the creation of these networks. Then one day in June of 2006 my brain got fried, and I lost all of the detail knowledge with which I had earned a living over many years. Why?
I do not know. The doctors told me it could have been worse. My rehabilitation therapist said I am lucky. I could be dead or may never have regained my speech or left side of my body physical strength. I guess I have to learn to live with that, but it is a tougher thing than the things I had to go through to speak and move again. Through it all I had the help of a wonderful woman unselfish woman.
Still, I struggle daily with the fact that I am not whole anymore. I was also a pilot, and I loved to fly. Since I was a young boy bicycling three miles from Somerdale, New Jersey to reach Echelon air field in Marlton I loved the thought that I could get up in the clouds and soar above the trees. I used to go there and spend hours looking over the old Piper Cubs and biplanes wondering just what made them fly. I dreamed of getting into one and taking off. However, I came from a poor family, and none of us had ever been in an airplane, let alone a private plane . I just had to dream, and spend a lot of time making model planes that flew. Even there, I could only make balsa planes covered with tissue paper. The cost of a little motor to power one of my models too was out of my limit. I was determined to correct that some day. How?
School. My parents and older siblings all told me that education was the key to getting ahead. They may not have been able to give much in the way of money, but they gave me something more important: hope and the belief that I could do it if I tried. That meant I could make the money I needed for the things I wanted by just using my brain. I wasn't the worlds best student, but I had this bulldog approach to things. I never let them go until I got achieved what was needed. The result was that I finished college, got a Masters Degree, and learned to be a managerial engineer. Eventually, I learned to fly. It was a long road [flight path], but I was in that cock pit and soaring above the trees and in the clouds. The first time in the air by myself, I could hardly believe it was me. I thought I was in a dream. The same dream I had as a young boy at Echlon Field.
Life is full of achievements and disappointments. A few years ago I went back to visit the dream field of my childhood. Echlon Field was now the site of a very large shopping mall. What a disappointment. Ever since 1974 when I had become an Air Traffic Controller I got an annual flight physical, I knew that I was in top shape for that job, and for my piloting skills.
Recently, I checked back with my Doctor, and was told there was no chance that I could ever again pass the flight physical. I am grounded for life, and the same goes for my work skills.
Life can turn on a dime. In my case the turn seems irreversible. It is a one way turn when your brain stops working.
I do not know. The doctors told me it could have been worse. My rehabilitation therapist said I am lucky. I could be dead or may never have regained my speech or left side of my body physical strength. I guess I have to learn to live with that, but it is a tougher thing than the things I had to go through to speak and move again. Through it all I had the help of a wonderful woman unselfish woman.
Still, I struggle daily with the fact that I am not whole anymore. I was also a pilot, and I loved to fly. Since I was a young boy bicycling three miles from Somerdale, New Jersey to reach Echelon air field in Marlton I loved the thought that I could get up in the clouds and soar above the trees. I used to go there and spend hours looking over the old Piper Cubs and biplanes wondering just what made them fly. I dreamed of getting into one and taking off. However, I came from a poor family, and none of us had ever been in an airplane, let alone a private plane . I just had to dream, and spend a lot of time making model planes that flew. Even there, I could only make balsa planes covered with tissue paper. The cost of a little motor to power one of my models too was out of my limit. I was determined to correct that some day. How?
School. My parents and older siblings all told me that education was the key to getting ahead. They may not have been able to give much in the way of money, but they gave me something more important: hope and the belief that I could do it if I tried. That meant I could make the money I needed for the things I wanted by just using my brain. I wasn't the worlds best student, but I had this bulldog approach to things. I never let them go until I got achieved what was needed. The result was that I finished college, got a Masters Degree, and learned to be a managerial engineer. Eventually, I learned to fly. It was a long road [flight path], but I was in that cock pit and soaring above the trees and in the clouds. The first time in the air by myself, I could hardly believe it was me. I thought I was in a dream. The same dream I had as a young boy at Echlon Field.
Life is full of achievements and disappointments. A few years ago I went back to visit the dream field of my childhood. Echlon Field was now the site of a very large shopping mall. What a disappointment. Ever since 1974 when I had become an Air Traffic Controller I got an annual flight physical, I knew that I was in top shape for that job, and for my piloting skills.
Recently, I checked back with my Doctor, and was told there was no chance that I could ever again pass the flight physical. I am grounded for life, and the same goes for my work skills.
Life can turn on a dime. In my case the turn seems irreversible. It is a one way turn when your brain stops working.
Friday, January 11, 2008
Missing Aminal Instincts
It is a little late in the game to be discovering this about myself: I am lacking in the necessary animal instincts that God instills in all living creatures.
Look at the animals when they see each other. Instantly there is rapid communication. Eyes dart back and forth; hairs stand up or lay down; backs arch or slump; noses get wet and dry. Animals smell each other and use the odor to form a mental picture of one another. They stretch, yawn, move their tongues. In short, they are sizing up each other and finding out all they can about the other animal.
Don't we do a lot of the same thing when we are thrown into a group. Almost every Friday night I go to the Aruba Beach Club Bar in Lauderdale by the Sea. It is located right on the beach at the very east end of Commercial Blvd. Once inside I observe men and women of all ages and types doing just what I described above. They are sniffing, moving and otherwise communicating with each other. It is all non-verbal, yet sometimes I find certain people who can tell me about the entire room of people just by walking through and purchasing one drink. Meanwhile I also find that everyone else in the room seems to know something about this person. Me. I am such an observer, and a non interactive type that I impress people about as much as the wall covering. Somehow, I do not pick up on the animal non-verbal communication thing, and it seems to work both ways. If anyone was sniffing me in this type situation, they act like it may have just as easily been a rock. I seem neither to get or give off animal vibes.
What can I do to improve this trait? Is is all born within, or something we learn from childhood? I mean, I used to get an OK on "Works and Plays well with others" Yet I meet people who can tell me the names of kids they went to first grade with and their traits . I can't remember hardly anything of anyone I knew that long ago. In fact, I have a difficult time remembering who I met this morning.
Am I cursed with a missing gene? Is there something that seems to isolate me from civilization. If I were a lion cub would I make it to adulthood, or would the missing sense of smell and that seeming sixth sense of knowing what is going around me with respect to interaction among others lead me to an early death?
I can remember this much. Early on, I seemed to miss who people were in the group, and I failed to place them in some social strata that is important when human interaction is needed to protect or define or other wise place oneself in a proper social situation.
I do remember a incident in High School where I was walking out of the Gym. Some other students were playing basketball. The ball went out of bounds and headed toward me as I was exiting the door to leave school for the day. I heard a strong voice tell me to throw the ball back. Nothing registered, I just was focused on leaving, and could not feel that all the eyes in the gym were upon me. I continued to move on, and left the ball bounce against the wall.
The next day I believe half the school was waiting outside when I left school. There in front of the crowd was the same rough voice that yesterday had demanded I toss his basketball back. What had I missed? Was I so devoid of this animal instinct that I did not know this guy was the top school bully? Was I so much of an inept social being? How was it that the whole school knew this, and I did not. My lesson soon started when he began to push and shove me to the ground letting me and the rest of the school know that when he demanded something; people were supposed to react in his favor. I did not have a right sense of smell to know that this guy was so much in command. My thoughts were more along the lines of what would I do if someone did not throw a ball back to me when asked[not that I would ask or demand such a thing]. I would just go and get it myself and be done with it. Why was this such a big deal to him? Yet there was something of the animal competition and aggression going on here that I did not understand. Why did this guy taking the time to even think of me to the point of having to show he could easily overpower me in front of my peers?
It was his animal instinct; in his nature! He had to show others like me who did not have the proper animal senses to know it already that he was the superior animal. I already knew that , and I didn't see the point in either of us demonstrating something we both knew.
Again I missed the point. Knowing it is not enough. Showing it is everything! I now saw his muscles in action. I could smell his sweat as he pushed and shoved. I could feel the tension in the crowd as they watched and were reaffirmed of the fact that this is how groups are selected and defined.
Yet, I still didn't learn to really put great stock in this animal selection process. I did not get the survival theory, and I just went on living my life ignorant or immune to what is probably the most important trait each of us must develop in order to survive.,
I may still not get it.
I stood in the Aruba Club watching others interact, and still I was missing the basics.
Help me to mingle and meet.
Someone, please bring out the animal in me!!
I'll be back next week ladies.
Look at the animals when they see each other. Instantly there is rapid communication. Eyes dart back and forth; hairs stand up or lay down; backs arch or slump; noses get wet and dry. Animals smell each other and use the odor to form a mental picture of one another. They stretch, yawn, move their tongues. In short, they are sizing up each other and finding out all they can about the other animal.
Don't we do a lot of the same thing when we are thrown into a group. Almost every Friday night I go to the Aruba Beach Club Bar in Lauderdale by the Sea. It is located right on the beach at the very east end of Commercial Blvd. Once inside I observe men and women of all ages and types doing just what I described above. They are sniffing, moving and otherwise communicating with each other. It is all non-verbal, yet sometimes I find certain people who can tell me about the entire room of people just by walking through and purchasing one drink. Meanwhile I also find that everyone else in the room seems to know something about this person. Me. I am such an observer, and a non interactive type that I impress people about as much as the wall covering. Somehow, I do not pick up on the animal non-verbal communication thing, and it seems to work both ways. If anyone was sniffing me in this type situation, they act like it may have just as easily been a rock. I seem neither to get or give off animal vibes.
What can I do to improve this trait? Is is all born within, or something we learn from childhood? I mean, I used to get an OK on "Works and Plays well with others" Yet I meet people who can tell me the names of kids they went to first grade with and their traits . I can't remember hardly anything of anyone I knew that long ago. In fact, I have a difficult time remembering who I met this morning.
Am I cursed with a missing gene? Is there something that seems to isolate me from civilization. If I were a lion cub would I make it to adulthood, or would the missing sense of smell and that seeming sixth sense of knowing what is going around me with respect to interaction among others lead me to an early death?
I can remember this much. Early on, I seemed to miss who people were in the group, and I failed to place them in some social strata that is important when human interaction is needed to protect or define or other wise place oneself in a proper social situation.
I do remember a incident in High School where I was walking out of the Gym. Some other students were playing basketball. The ball went out of bounds and headed toward me as I was exiting the door to leave school for the day. I heard a strong voice tell me to throw the ball back. Nothing registered, I just was focused on leaving, and could not feel that all the eyes in the gym were upon me. I continued to move on, and left the ball bounce against the wall.
The next day I believe half the school was waiting outside when I left school. There in front of the crowd was the same rough voice that yesterday had demanded I toss his basketball back. What had I missed? Was I so devoid of this animal instinct that I did not know this guy was the top school bully? Was I so much of an inept social being? How was it that the whole school knew this, and I did not. My lesson soon started when he began to push and shove me to the ground letting me and the rest of the school know that when he demanded something; people were supposed to react in his favor. I did not have a right sense of smell to know that this guy was so much in command. My thoughts were more along the lines of what would I do if someone did not throw a ball back to me when asked[not that I would ask or demand such a thing]. I would just go and get it myself and be done with it. Why was this such a big deal to him? Yet there was something of the animal competition and aggression going on here that I did not understand. Why did this guy taking the time to even think of me to the point of having to show he could easily overpower me in front of my peers?
It was his animal instinct; in his nature! He had to show others like me who did not have the proper animal senses to know it already that he was the superior animal. I already knew that , and I didn't see the point in either of us demonstrating something we both knew.
Again I missed the point. Knowing it is not enough. Showing it is everything! I now saw his muscles in action. I could smell his sweat as he pushed and shoved. I could feel the tension in the crowd as they watched and were reaffirmed of the fact that this is how groups are selected and defined.
Yet, I still didn't learn to really put great stock in this animal selection process. I did not get the survival theory, and I just went on living my life ignorant or immune to what is probably the most important trait each of us must develop in order to survive.,
I may still not get it.
I stood in the Aruba Club watching others interact, and still I was missing the basics.
Help me to mingle and meet.
Someone, please bring out the animal in me!!
I'll be back next week ladies.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Tough Day at the Flea Market
Yes Folks. It's true! When I'm not making millions on the Internet, I sometmes spend the day at the Flea Market trying to make a buck. Or at least my friend Daniela makes all the money.
Have you ever noticed how when a guy has a buck in his wallet or hand his woman wants to grab it like an octopus.
I mean the sucking sound pops your ears as she grabs your money.
Well we baked 4 hours in the sun at the Sunrise Flea Market today.
What a collection of odd people, and junk. I mean the county should just have a thousand dump trucks filled with tons of fill dirt surround the place and at about 9 AM they could create an instant land-fill.
What really gets me is the people there [ my woman included] think this stuff is really worth something. Just walking past the vendors gives me a big laugh...
"Well, this painting is an original done by my uncle in 1920." says the one leg vendor to the prospective stooge.
"I mean, just look at the quality. Had I remained living in Brooklyn this piece would be hanging in Guggenheim Museum."
The stooge holds it in her wrinkled brown hands, and shifts her false teeth back and fourth in her mouth. ' I likes the colors, and the frame will go in my garage. 5 Bucks."
"OK"
Another piece of junk shifted from one dump to another. Perhaps this is a real community service. It may actually be reducing the size of the Broward County landfill.
Walking about you see some of the most low life people on earth. They are the dregs, and they certainly match the merchandise.
Old tires; non working electronics; faded and ragged clothes and a host of mixed stuff that people clean out of their garages; the place is a wash with waste; human and otherwise.
One stand is filled with old food that was taken off the shelves of stores that are required by law to discontinue selling the stuff after the shelf life date has expired. Yet here it's OK to sell. Then there is the stench filled fruit stands. I really wonder where all those old brown bananas and over ripe avocados come from.
For the upscale shopper, there is an indoor ripoff joint where some of the most useless stuff is sold. I saw one filled with ceramic figurines that were covered with dust. Of course they paint lots of gold on these useless nick knacks and then glaze them up. I guess it helps glaze the eyes of the idiot who will buy this junk. Presumably the buyer can dust them off and take them home to gather dust from their home and not have to use the stores dust. In this same shop there were mirror moving pictures: ocean and park scenes of birds and fish moving on a celluloid sheet across a poorly painted beach or park scene painted on a mirror. As if that assault on the aesthetic visual senses wasn't enough the thing played some horrible music as the birds and fish jerkily inched across the grotesque images. The horror of the whole mess could only be properly described in its ugliness by a Fraser Crane type.
I have told my friend that if she wants to remain friends she will never again drag me into the Flea Market .
Her retort was:''OK then give me back the $40.00 we made selling our useless junk"
The wretched phrase" One man's trash is another man's cash." rang in my ears as we packed up and headed to the beach.
Have you ever noticed how when a guy has a buck in his wallet or hand his woman wants to grab it like an octopus.
I mean the sucking sound pops your ears as she grabs your money.
Well we baked 4 hours in the sun at the Sunrise Flea Market today.
What a collection of odd people, and junk. I mean the county should just have a thousand dump trucks filled with tons of fill dirt surround the place and at about 9 AM they could create an instant land-fill.
What really gets me is the people there [ my woman included] think this stuff is really worth something. Just walking past the vendors gives me a big laugh...
"Well, this painting is an original done by my uncle in 1920." says the one leg vendor to the prospective stooge.
"I mean, just look at the quality. Had I remained living in Brooklyn this piece would be hanging in Guggenheim Museum."
The stooge holds it in her wrinkled brown hands, and shifts her false teeth back and fourth in her mouth. ' I likes the colors, and the frame will go in my garage. 5 Bucks."
"OK"
Another piece of junk shifted from one dump to another. Perhaps this is a real community service. It may actually be reducing the size of the Broward County landfill.
Walking about you see some of the most low life people on earth. They are the dregs, and they certainly match the merchandise.
Old tires; non working electronics; faded and ragged clothes and a host of mixed stuff that people clean out of their garages; the place is a wash with waste; human and otherwise.
One stand is filled with old food that was taken off the shelves of stores that are required by law to discontinue selling the stuff after the shelf life date has expired. Yet here it's OK to sell. Then there is the stench filled fruit stands. I really wonder where all those old brown bananas and over ripe avocados come from.
For the upscale shopper, there is an indoor ripoff joint where some of the most useless stuff is sold. I saw one filled with ceramic figurines that were covered with dust. Of course they paint lots of gold on these useless nick knacks and then glaze them up. I guess it helps glaze the eyes of the idiot who will buy this junk. Presumably the buyer can dust them off and take them home to gather dust from their home and not have to use the stores dust. In this same shop there were mirror moving pictures: ocean and park scenes of birds and fish moving on a celluloid sheet across a poorly painted beach or park scene painted on a mirror. As if that assault on the aesthetic visual senses wasn't enough the thing played some horrible music as the birds and fish jerkily inched across the grotesque images. The horror of the whole mess could only be properly described in its ugliness by a Fraser Crane type.
I have told my friend that if she wants to remain friends she will never again drag me into the Flea Market .
Her retort was:''OK then give me back the $40.00 we made selling our useless junk"
The wretched phrase" One man's trash is another man's cash." rang in my ears as we packed up and headed to the beach.
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Played Any Good Games Lately?
I miss being away from my grandson.
He loves to play games, and every time I visit him he always gets me involved in a game.
At first, I am like most adults. Do I really want to sit down and play a game with a 7 year old??
Then he gets the game set up, and I find myself listening to his instructions. We start to play, and I ask a lot of questions about the rules. He knows all the answers, but I sometimes suspect he makes a few of them up as we play.
The most important thing for me is that when I am playing, I forget everything else. That sore toe; the arthritis in my shoulder; my tired and old bones. Heck! I'm playing a game and competing against a 7 year old boy who has the energy of an A-bomb locked inside him. He is releasing that energy on me in the game, and I am getting some of it transferred to me like radioactivity.
Yes it is contagious. I am becoming younger, and more alive. We are having genuine fun.
Often I find that adults make up things to have fun with, but in reality the are just extensions of our serious competitive side, and they usually cost us money. Also, we must win to save face, and to show others we are smarter; stronger; more witty; in better physical shape; or just have more of something our opponent does not have. We golf and bet on the outcome. We go to casinos and lose our money. Who in their right mind thinks they can win at a casino. We marvel at the beautiful surroundings and the elaborate buildings. Adults talk about how beautiful the decorations are and how stunning the settings. Do they ever say." I paid for all this with the savings I lost here." ? No, somehow they think the casino provided the wonderful surroundings. However, they don't stop to think of all the families who sacrificed so much so a husband or wife could sit at a slot machine or card table and lose all of the family earnings.
It is so wonderful that children's games are not like that. They generally cost little, and the real games, not the ones adults try to make up for them are fun and rewarding.
Remember the Tom Hanks movie" Big" here was a kid trying to tell adults what kids like, and here were adults trying to tell a kid what he should like based on adult perceptions. Thank goodness in the movie the kid won out.
Not always so in our daily life.
More and more I see adults buy their kids what they think will be fun for their child. Then after Christmas I see both disappointed adults and children. Piles of toys and games sit idle, and the kids play with the empty boxes and discarded wrappings. The parents are upset that the $100.00 toy or game is not being played with. Worst yet, this sometimes brings on scolding or hard feelings between the parent and child. If more parents would think like their child and listen to what the child really needs, they would go back to simpler times when games did not come in a box [or Xbox]. Games are about interactions, and as a society we have all but lost that God given talent.
Not so with children. They play for fun. They have no inhabitations about the other player. The children who are not yet jaded by the adult world are open and want to communicate with their opponent. They are not out to prove anything. Games are genuine fun for them.
Adults often forget what fun is all about. We try to have fun.
Kids have fun. There's a big difference!
Next time I see my grandson I will welcome a game of "Monkeys in a Tree" with greater joy than any present he could give me.
Monday, January 7, 2008
New Day Dawning
Sure it is the start of a new year, and we all think it is going to be different. Well if we keep doing the dame thing we did last year and think something new is going to happen just because the date changed, Well, friends, that's the definition of being a "crazy" person.
OK so let's do something this year that we've never done before. Strengthen the backbone, and tell everyone you know, "This is the year I do it the way it pleases me."
I get tired of always pleasing the other person just so I am perceived a s s nice guy. I've had a career of being the nice guy, and all the people I thought were pricks are way out ahead of me. They took the tougher path, and looked the other way when people gave them grief for making the tough decisions.
Time to change and become tough.
Look out world I'm a new me in 08 and I think I'll like it, tough for you if you get in the way. No more Mr Nice Guy.
OK so let's do something this year that we've never done before. Strengthen the backbone, and tell everyone you know, "This is the year I do it the way it pleases me."
I get tired of always pleasing the other person just so I am perceived a s s nice guy. I've had a career of being the nice guy, and all the people I thought were pricks are way out ahead of me. They took the tougher path, and looked the other way when people gave them grief for making the tough decisions.
Time to change and become tough.
Look out world I'm a new me in 08 and I think I'll like it, tough for you if you get in the way. No more Mr Nice Guy.
Sunday, January 6, 2008
Me and my Lady Friend Driving in the Car
What a crazy story! I called Abe to tell him I could not go with him to the casino boat to play poker. I did not have the money because I just bought my woman, Danila, a mini skirt, shoes, and a purse and shampoo at Victoria Secrets.
Also, I was driving over to pick her up. She is such a nut. She got in the car, and I asked me to put the top down. She was wearing the outfit I just bought for her. Next she pulled up her top " You like this nice bra?" Her hair was blowing in the breeze, and her breasts were perfect in the new bra.
"Helloo! I just got this i-pod, and I have so much good music on it. Do you like Snoop Dog?" She said pulling down her top and inching up her mini skirt.
"No, I hate Rap Crap, and Snoop Dog is always with the sexy ladies, but I heard he's gay."
I squealed my tires and we took off.
"Well, I got this free music, and I'm going to listen to it even if I have to nurse the sound out of this crap CD player"
Rap blasted over the rush of the wind as we sped down I-95 to Miami.
"How do you like the clothes?"
"OK!, but I still want roses and candy ." What a bitch!
She continued, " A man is supposed to Shower his lady with flowers and plants and money to travel."
"Listen babe, I just spent a wad on you, and we went on a cruise last month."
"Oh sure, some cheap flight airline tickets, and an old cruise boat ticket you bought from a guy in a chat room, along with those free samples of bath soap that dissolved in seconds in the shower."
I can't please this broad with anything.
More nagging..."Then you get this cheap used car, and I catch you going to a personals site trying to date some mature woman who looks like an old dried hag when you have a beautiful young woman like me to take care of and you don't."
"Listen, I have to work at home because I can't get on the job list, and I have a bad credit report to boot. I think I can get a job with the Dish Network. I'll look up my old buddy Dennis on People Finder."
We were near the Bay, and I pulled in to Paul's place so we could go to his dock. I liked his house plan, and we always enjoyed the day there. I decided to turn a deaf ear to Danila and enjoy the bay and the water and warm sun.
Also, I was driving over to pick her up. She is such a nut. She got in the car, and I asked me to put the top down. She was wearing the outfit I just bought for her. Next she pulled up her top " You like this nice bra?" Her hair was blowing in the breeze, and her breasts were perfect in the new bra.
"Helloo! I just got this i-pod, and I have so much good music on it. Do you like Snoop Dog?" She said pulling down her top and inching up her mini skirt.
"No, I hate Rap Crap, and Snoop Dog is always with the sexy ladies, but I heard he's gay."
I squealed my tires and we took off.
"Well, I got this free music, and I'm going to listen to it even if I have to nurse the sound out of this crap CD player"
Rap blasted over the rush of the wind as we sped down I-95 to Miami.
"How do you like the clothes?"
"OK!, but I still want roses and candy ." What a bitch!
She continued, " A man is supposed to Shower his lady with flowers and plants and money to travel."
"Listen babe, I just spent a wad on you, and we went on a cruise last month."
"Oh sure, some cheap flight airline tickets, and an old cruise boat ticket you bought from a guy in a chat room, along with those free samples of bath soap that dissolved in seconds in the shower."
I can't please this broad with anything.
More nagging..."Then you get this cheap used car, and I catch you going to a personals site trying to date some mature woman who looks like an old dried hag when you have a beautiful young woman like me to take care of and you don't."
"Listen, I have to work at home because I can't get on the job list, and I have a bad credit report to boot. I think I can get a job with the Dish Network. I'll look up my old buddy Dennis on People Finder."
We were near the Bay, and I pulled in to Paul's place so we could go to his dock. I liked his house plan, and we always enjoyed the day there. I decided to turn a deaf ear to Danila and enjoy the bay and the water and warm sun.
Lemon Squeze
Lemon Squeeze
Oh, the feel of our youthful squeeze.
My main squeeze held me tight,
In the car;
In the night;
On the beach;
Her hands and lips delight.
Later years a squeeze dared not go soft,
Held tight abed;
Held by child’s hands;
Held by duty;
Squeezed by obligation,
And more the bitter juice
Squeezed, oozing through my pours.
Late, the lemon squeeze
Is such a bitter feel,
And less a pleasure of
Hands on hearts
I’m Squeezed now more the peel.
Will Rodgers
Oh, the feel of our youthful squeeze.
My main squeeze held me tight,
In the car;
In the night;
On the beach;
Her hands and lips delight.
Later years a squeeze dared not go soft,
Held tight abed;
Held by child’s hands;
Held by duty;
Squeezed by obligation,
And more the bitter juice
Squeezed, oozing through my pours.
Late, the lemon squeeze
Is such a bitter feel,
And less a pleasure of
Hands on hearts
I’m Squeezed now more the peel.
Will Rodgers
Saturday, January 5, 2008
On Death after New Year
I may not ever become a writer.
We are all mortal, and we all believe we will never die. That thought is put in our spirit by the Holy Spirit. It is the key for all mankind to seek after God.
However, since we are all human and flawed with sin; we usually seek after the wrong god, and not the True God. The thought that we will live forever is confusing to us, and we think it is our bodies that will live forever. Because of this we have no fear of God and our own physical mortality.
People who are blessed by God are made to see our mortality, and it makes us both fear and love God. I think you are OK, and will live a long time. God needs you to do something, like all of us. Some people never find out what it is, but it happens anyway because most often our existence has something to do with others, and we don’t know it.
We are always looking at ourselves, and missing what is around us. They say that writers sometimes have the insight to look out into the world, and come close to what it is each of is here to achieve. Surely the writers of the Bible had that gift, but then they were writing for God.
I don’t think I am a writer because I cant sort out what is happening around me, but I do try hard to figure out why we are here, and what purpose each person serves.
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