Not my typical post

This is my first "blog" in a while, and it is not my typical topic. I generally don't talk about this kind of thing, but this week has been ANYTHING but typical. This will not take many words to give my opinion.

So here it is:

Cops who shoot people, when there are other ways to handle the situation, should face justice. Protesters, who become violent, should face justice.
Black people and white people (and any other races) should be able to live and work together with no problems.
If you're the leader of a "group", and someone commits murder in the name of the group, and you don't condemn it, then you should be charged with involuntary manslaughter.
The ONLY hope for the country to heal is to understand the need for the guidance and forgiveness of GOD.

Until next time,

Peace and prayers for all

Sometimes things happen that make you happy. Other times, sad things happen. The fact is, life is full of ups and downs, happy and sad. It's how you react to them that makes you the person you are. I've learned that I have to react to everything in a positive way. Whether I'm happy and enjoying life or things aren't going so great, I have to be thankful for what I have or what I am going through. Friends are a dime a dozen and come and go, depending on their mood. Family is, well, family is weird. But GOD, he is the same everyday and only wants to see you smile, even if it's through tears. Today, I am smiling through tears. Maybe not physical tears, (since I rarely cry due to my immeasurable manliness), but tears of the heart.  With my grandpa dying this afternoon, it makes me see how precious time is. Time with my wife and kids. Time changing diapers and holding hands. Time spent putting band aids on "boo boos". Time waiting out the meltdowns and tantrums that occur when children are upset. Time spent wondering how I'm going to pay for college. Time spent talking to my wife, late at night, until words no longer make sense and sleep interrupts me mid-sentence.  You see, time is the most valuable currency known to man. You can spend it on bitterness and regret, or you can spend it on gray hair, laugh lines and memories that will be passed down, through conversations, to your kids and grandkids. Stories that will bring smiles to your loved ones faces long after you're gone.   I choose to spend it on the memories.

Until next time

Peace

The Bernie Syndrome

It begins in public schools.  During registration, you're given a list of school supplies that your child needs, to have a successful school year. Typical items are pencils, paper, folders etc.  But, far too often, the list includes more than is necessary. Why?  So that there will be enough to share with other kids who may not have enough supplies.  What?  Why do parents have to buy extra stuff for other children?  If every parent is given the same list, doesn't that mean that every parent is buying extra?  Wouldn't that mean there is a surplus?  Where does all this extra go?  Do the schools save the extra for next year?  (Sounds like the surplus in SC. 900 million dollars left over but they're wanting to raise the gas tax. That's a whole different post...)

Fast forward 13 or so years and these children are voting in their first election.   They've spent their whole childhood being indoctrinated into thinking that everyone should give a little more to be sure everyone else has plenty.  They hear political candidates talking about the rich needing to pay more, so that college can be free,  healthcare is guaranteed to all, etc.  These kids buy into it because they've always been taught that if you have more, you should give more. Now, they're young adults with very little income and they figure that the rich owe it to society to pay more so.....you know, free stuff for all.

This sounds appealing, especially when you're living on ramen noodles and mayonnaise sandwiches while working your way through college. The problem is, that this doesn't solve anything. The rich people are the ones who run companies. Those companies create jobs. Those companies sell their goods or services based on cost vs profit. Raise taxes, they raise prices. Raise prices, working people can afford less.  When working  people can afford less, politicians begin to say "raise minimum wage". Raise minimum wage, cost of doing business goes up. This causes prices to go up, causing the higher minimum wage buying power to go down.  It's like reading the same page of a book over and over but never turning the page. No matter how many times you read it, the story never progresses.

But the sad thing is that the millennials will accept this as normal or necessary, because they've been conditioned to think that it is normal. But it's not. Normal is working for what you get and striving to do better today than you did yesterday. By doing that, you will eventually have the things that you need and more of the things that you want.  I'm not rich, but, if I ever am, I want to keep what is mine and I don't want government deciding how much I get to keep.

The Bernie syndrome is a dangerous thing for a free society.


Until next time....

Peace

Winning, Losing & the Super Bowl

Super Bowl 50.

The game was the exact opposite of what everyone expected. Except for the Denver Broncos. They KNEW they were going to win. Faced with the reality that very few people believed in them, they decided to believe in themselves. There was a list of reasons that they were supposed to lose. The media pointed them out everyday for a week. But the only list that mattered, to them, was their list of reasons that they WOULD win. Game day finally arrived. Sixty minutes of football and two hours of empty commercials later, it was the Broncos who were the champions.  Why? Because they wanted to win and were prepared to handle losing, should it have happened. After a Broncos turnover, the team rallied on the sideline and made up their minds to fix it on the next possession. After a Panthers turnover, you saw pouting and disbelief in the eyes of key players. Major difference in the two teams ability to handle failure.

Here's where I get "political". For the next 24 plus hours, the story is focused not on Denver, but on Cam Newton. Apparently he didn't react gracefully enough to losing. He showed his disappointment by walking out of the post game press conference. For that, he's painted as a "sore loser" and "spoiled brat". But, is that not what society should expect?  Isn't that the way that we have set everything up to be?  Let me explain.

It all started with the political correctness movement that began some years ago. The notion that everyone has the right to not be offended. To not have their feelings hurt. Eventually, we were telling our kids that there shouldn't be any winners and losers. Everyone gets a trophy. That way, everyone feels good about themselves. To make an extremely long story short,  I'll sum it up like this; Cam Newton is doing exactly what our society has come to expect. Or, at least it SHOULD be expected.  The very same people who go out of their way to make sure that nobody is going to have hurt feelings are complaining about the fact that someone doesn't understand how to handle losing.  And it's going to get worse if we continue down this path.  Presidential candidates are running on a platform that everything should be free. Forget hard work, let government help you. Free college. Free healthcare. Free housing. Free puppies. You get the idea.  You can feel the Bern now, but when life slaps you in the face, you're going to feel a different burn. And it will hurt.

Back to Cam Newton. If he has such a hard time handling disappointment and failure with 100 million dollars to his name,  how can we expect the average person,with maybe 100 dollars to their name, to handle it any better? Unless society stops picking flowers for everyone and get back to preparing our kids to handle life, our country will go down in flames all for the sake of feelings.



Not going to be a popular opinion, I know. But truth is truth.


Until next time,

Peace

Family and the Bridge to Nowhere

So, you're on your way home from work, and you are thinking about how great it will feel to relax for the evening.  The closer you get to home, the more your bladder works. Suddenly you realize you have to pee, very badly. Your thinking shifts from relaxing your mind and body, to relaxing your bladder. You pull into the driveway, run in the house and the first thing you hear is the sound of little kids and a random mom arguing. Did you walk into the wrong house?  Are you dreaming? Did someone just "punk" you?  While relaxing your bladder, you begin to realize that those voices, that drown out the sound of urine hitting toilet, are the voices of YOUR wife and kids. Yes, they're arguing about something that makes no sense.

You find yourself thinking...thinking of running away to somewhere. To anywhere. To nowhere. You think of that famed "Bridge to Nowhere" and you start planning out how to find it and drive on it until you reach the end. You wonder if you can swim from there to Russia. You imagine yourself drowning in shark-infested waters, because that would be less painful than hearing the females of the house  having an estrogen shootout....

Yea, that seems to be a moment that makes you question yourself and the reason you're here. You wonder why the heck you are stuck here in this moment, having these thoughts. Suddenly, you hear the sound of a 6 year old girl talking to you. She's saying "Bye, I love you."  In that moment, you remember that the kids are going to a birthday party. The reason for the fuss, well, they're running late. Hey, they're female so it's expected.

Suddenly, that bridge to nowhere doesn't seem so appealing, and NOBODY wants to be eaten by sharks. These moments make a man. The moment that makes you want to run away, makes you stronger. But only if you stop, look at yourself, and decide that the bridge to nowhere is a lonely drive, and shark bites are painful.  Man is not meant to be alone. With the woman, comes love. With love, comes marriage. With marriage, comes family. No kids? You still get in-laws. That's a whole different level of crazy....save that for another post.

Anyway, my point is that family is everything. Nothing makes you stronger. Nothing makes you feel more happy. Nothing makes you love more deeply. Nothing makes you a better person.  And nothing makes you want to find that bridge to nowhere, and drive to the end.



Just ONE of my many thoughts.

STILL more to come...

Peace

Men, beards and a lack of manliness.

There was once a commercial for Dr. Pepper 10, showing a man  with a long beard, catching fish with his bare hands and eating tree bark, among other "manly" tasks.  It proclaimed that Dr. Pepper 10 was the "manliest low calorie soda in the history of mankind".  It was a portrayal of what is commonly thought of as a "manly man". 

The other day, I saw a guy with a long beard, slick hair and the frame of a lumberjack.  He must have been 6' 2'' and about 220 pounds.  Manly, right?  Well, he was wearing a shirt with pink flowers and had a "man purse".  Something wrong with that picture?

Well, that got me to thinking;  "What happened to men?".  Men were, once, men.  Men were the ones who made sure that the family was taken care of.   The ones who worked for a living and were proud of the fact that they were self-reliant.  Men were men.

Well, in today's world, with the outcry from spineless males who refuse to take responsibility for anything, there is, apparently, a new definition of "man".  It seems today that men are encouraged to explore their "feminine side" as if there is something wrong with their "masculine side".  They are told that if they believe in the traditional family model, that it makes them a bigot.  They are told that if someone is offended by their beliefs, that they should change their beliefs to spare the feelings of the offended.  They are told that there should not be a distinction between MEN and WOMEN.
The media, politicians and the so called "Civil rights activists" are blurring the lines between the XY chromosomes and the XX chromosomes.  Men's restroom?  Bigotry. Women's restroom?  Bigotry.  Men's clothing store?  You get what I'm saying...
If God is real, then he creates us as either male or female, without mistake.  If evolution is the correct theory, then we have to trust that nature gets it right.  Otherwise, we wouldn't exist and the dinosaurs would still rule.  Either way, no matter what belief you have, it is foolish to think that someone can be born in the wrong body.  Tell a young girl she's a boy long enough, she will believe it.  Tell a child he's stupid long enough, and he/she will believe it.  There's power in suggestion.  Tell a man that he shouldn't act manly long enough, he will raise boys to be women. 

But, back to my original point.  Today's man has a whole host of obstacles to overcome if he wants to live a life that includes "traditional values". Sure, it is easier to just go with the flow and be "sensitive" and "aware of your feminine side", but it is natural to be a man.  Nature didn't make it easy.  It isn't easy to support a wife and kids.  It isn't easy to settle down and be faithful.  It isn't easy to set an alarm for 6:00 a.m.  But that's what makes us men.   The fact that we do what is not easy, because it is the right thing to do.  Just as our ancestors hunted animals, with sticks and rocks, to feed their family.  Not easy, but the right thing to do.

My hope is that today's man will get past the politically correct mumbo jumbo that oozes from today's society.  That he will quit drinking Caramel Toffee Mocha Lattes and get back to basics. Get back to being fathers.  Get back to being honest.  Get back to being MEN.

General Nonsen....err...I meant to say Political Correctness

• Ok, so I'm sitting in my recliner watching tv, when something on it makes me say "what?".  As I said in my previous post, I have been finding myself lost in thoughts lately.  Well, the tv show that I was watching started my thoughts again.  Got me thinking about political correctness, also known as (at least to me), as General Nonsense.  The show,  that got me thinking, was dealing with "bullying".  The only thing was, the "bullying" was calling someone a name.  No punching, no wedgie, no getting squirted with a water gun full of urine...simply called a name.  So, I got to thinking.  When did our society become so sensitive that they can't even survive a word made of bad breath and hot air?  It seems, to me, that our younger people, or "millenials", have been conditioned to believe that they have a right not to be offended, laughed at, waved at, spoken to, or looked at in any way that makes them uncomfortable.  But in reality, in the real, or "corporate world", they will be offended, laughed at, waved to, spoken to and looked at by people that they may not be friends with.  They may have to shake hands with a boss that they don't like.  They may have to speak to customers that look at them with hate in their eyes.  They may have to get up earlier than they are "comfortable" with.  It's called being an adult.  I feel that our society has shifted to the point that nobody is prepared to handle life once they hit the age of 21.  The kids are conditioned to get their way for the sake of their feelings.  When did we get so offended and hurt by words??  "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me" was, once, a saying that made sense.  Now days, these hipsters would rather be pelted with stones and beaten with sticks, than be called "loser" or "fatso" or "Slim Pickens".  These politicians running around reinforcing these ideas aren't helping.  They paint a picture of everyone sitting around a fire singing "Kum Ba Yah" while sipping on a Mocha that one of their friends served them while getting paid $15 an hour to ring up sales. How long before those Mochas are made, served and sold by robots? This is the beginning of the avalanche.  Just as an avalanche can be triggered by loud noise, so will a political and economic avalanche be triggered by the loud cries of the hipsters who are offended by general nonsense.

Life, Love and General Nonsense

This is my first post on my blog.  What is a blog?  I don't know, but I figure it is probably something that I won't be able to do properly and nobody will read this.  Oh, well.  I will do it anyway.  I'm about a month away from turning 35 and lately, my mind is so busy running from thought to thought, question to question, I find myself longing for the days when I was 15 and life was the least of my worries.  You know, where the biggest thing I had to worry about was whether or not my shoes were cool enough to keep the big guys from tormenting me...Ahhhh, those were the days.  When I flash back to that time in my life, I can relive those moments with more happiness than I remember having at the time.  I see the year 1996.  The Atlanta Braves were three months removed from finally winning a world series title, I was a freshman with a scrawny body, big feet and a huge head, and my family was still intact.  My Dad was alive and still married to my mom, my Grandmother (Nanny) was living next door, as well as many members of my Dad's family living on the same block.  Those days were awesome.  I flash back to the summer of 1993 where my days were spent riding bikes, playing baseball until dusk and having fistfights with the rowdy kids who lived around the corner.  I can remember the smell of the honeysuckles that grew at the back of the yard.  I can remember having mosquito bites that I scratched until they bled.  I remember getting in trouble with the cops for shooting squirrels with a bb gun. (I never did figure out who called them)  After I find myself lost in these thoughts, I shake myself back to reality.  A reality of a wife, 4 kids and BILLS that have to be paid.  A reality that makes me ask "What am I doing here?", "Where am I going?", and "Where did I go?".  At first, these questions bothered me.  They made me feel as if I somehow regretted the life that I have built for myself.  Even though I knew that I was happy, I still wondered if I could have somehow been happier.  Could I have been smarter with my money?  Could I have been smarter with my time?  The answers are not so simple, but the best I came up with is "probably so". But, knowing that I can't change anything now, I have to go from here and be smarter.  Be better.  I have to take the moment I am in and make it count for now, and work toward a better future.  A future where my kids won't have to worry about the things I worried about, or have to eat their hot dogs on sliced store-brand loaf bread.  I say future, but it is now.  It is, both,  future and present.  It is present for us, but future for that big headed kid that I was.   I feel as if somehow I exist in both places at once.  I'm here now, but I'm also there in the 1990's.  At this moment, I am living out the future of my former self.  Maybe it isn't the future I thought it would be at that time, but it is a present that I would not change for the world.  I feel that it is the right future for my teenage self.  That version of me cannot imagine the life I am living.  A beautiful wife, great kids and 20 plus years of experience at living, since that time, that made my young self what he is today.  The experience of love, loss, divorced parents, death of family and friends, friends becoming strangers, strangers becoming friends, birth of children, changes in jobs, etc.  In this moment, it is clear;  every single thing that I have experienced up to this point has prepared me for the next step.  Maybe I'm just reacting to being in my mid-thirties and approaching half-time of life, or maybe this is just another experience to help me move to the next step on my journey.  I don't know.  But one thing I DO know is that I am enjoying this ride of Life, Love and General Nonsense.

More to come.....

Peace