Right or wrong? Who makes the rules?

The name of a movie once declared that "The world has gone mad!" Various reasons behind that statement are what made up the plot. Mostly it focused on how individual perspective determined opinions of right or wrong. Some perspective was based upon fact, some perspective was based upon limited observation. Everyone acted on what they deemed as truth with outcomes sometimes humorous, sometimes nothing short of disaster. The movie highlighted how ignorance can rule people and even entire societies.

Fact: Reality/truth exists regardless of what you say or believe.

Listening to news of changes in long held rules regarding morality and law lately reminds me very much of that movie. Hollywood once again predicted the future. Reality/truth no longer prevails. Life changing decisions are now based upon perspective. And, this is the really silly part, it is the perspective of a self-indulged few that rules the majority of those who view reality as, at the very least common sense. The weapon of choice to empower ignorance is guilt. It works, big time!

When I was a kid, the neighbor kids never got treats from their folks. The family had way more money than my family but for whatever reason the parents did not spend money on treats of any kind. No popsicles from the popsicle guy, no ice cream or cake on birthdays, no candy bars from the corner store bought with allowance money on Saturday afternoons like the rest of the kids in the neighborhood. However, whenever any of us other kids had treats the kids from that family would be right at our sides with the phrase: "Jesus says we must share!" To load us up with guilt if we didn't give them some of our treats. As kids we wanted to do what Jesus did so we shared. We couldn't hold up to the guilt. That is until us other kids realized that those kids weren't Jesus, they never shared anything with us. They just wanted some of our stuff and used the Jesus guilt trip because it worked.

Now I'm all growed up and I find that some of those kids are still around loading me an millions of other people up with guilt so we will give them what they want. There are no limits as to what they want either:

 "I broke the law but you only want me to be held accountable because you don't like me or anyone like me."
"I can do this, even though it disgusts you because I was born that way. Accept it or you are old fashioned."
"I am special and don't have to work. You have to do with less of your hard earned money and support me or you are selfish."
"I decoded, all by myself what God really says and wants. You are out of touch with the modern concept of God."

Guilt is a huge weapon against good minded people. Nobody wants to feel guilty do they? Maybe it's this unfounded guilt that has made the whole world go mad. Are you guilty of allowing guilt to overcome your better judgement? Perspective, ours or theirs?

Memorial Day/Veteran's Day

Growing up in my family meant a lot of things. This weekend marks one of those things. Working six, sometimes seven days a week left little time for my Dad to do socializing. My mom worked too so that further complicated the matter. However, come Memorial day/Veteran's  Day, my folks packed us kids up and made a trip to Wisconsin. My uncles in Wisconsin, my mom's brothers were veterans. We made the trip there and back in one day. Nine hours there and nine hours back. Do the math and that means six precious hours to visit and chat with four uncles living within the greater Appleton Wisconsin area. It was a whirlwind of activity: Laughing, hugging, joking, always some sort of food and then off to the next and finally back home to Michigan again. What did we do back home? We visited my uncles on my dad's side of course. They were veterans too. As I got older I felt the need to question my folks about that almost impossible feat regarding the trip to Wisconsin. "Did we have to go all that way? Wasn't it expensive? Didn't you get tired of driving? Really, why di we have to go instead of just going on a picnic and taking an afternoon nap?" Simple answer: "Because they needed it!" They went on a trip for us, we go on a trip for them!"

Thank You! To all those who were or are in the Armed forces. You are there for us, I hope I am there for you!............................Joe

Competative sports?

How do athletes exercise to maintain their competitive edge?

Competitive sports are as much a staple of our modern day society as they have been throughout history. Of course, what with the advantages of new fangled electronic media millions of viewers are able to watch a competitive sport 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Professional and amateur athletes alike are subjected to criticism from around the world. They have to stay in shape to be at the top of their game or face constant ridicule from armchair experts. Sports are big business! In my opinion, somewhere along the way, the term "sport" has been altered far from it's original intent. A couple of examples if I may:

#1- Competitive eating
#2- Competitive poker

Just how does one prepare themselves physically to endure the trials and tribulations in either one of those sports?
 Umm, let's see now. Eat so much as to stretch the stomach to capacities never before seen in the civilized world. Practice exercising the throat muscles holding down food so you don't puke.
When it comes to cards it's important to work your butt enough to build up protective callouses for hours of sitting. Facial muscles must be trained to maintain a constant "poker face".

Two "sports" I simply don't understand as being spectator friendly. Seeing someone puke or another person push a pile of tokens is not high on my agenda.

An entire channel of broadcasting can be dedicated to just about anything these days as long as it is deemed a sport. Where is the Chess channel? Where is the kite flying channel? Where is the crepitation channel? And, as long as we are at it: Where is the competitive sleeping channel? Oh wait, maybe it's already here.

Enjoy the day. If you need a good night's sleep there are a couple sports to watch that will help.

Easter Sunday, the easy part.

We've got the easy part of Easter don't we?! We don't have to hide our affiliation with this Jesus guy for fear of persecution or death. At least in this country for the most part anyway. We don't have to stand in a crowd of otherwise, good people, incited by a bunch of powerful religious leaders, yelling at the top of their lungs to hang him. "Free the murderer instead!" they said. Leaving the authorities no other choice than to humiliate and torture this innocent man and then hang him on a cross to die, slowly and painfully. What would it have been like to experience all that? Can we even imagine such horror? We'll never really know. It's done! We can meditate, we can pray, we can fast, we can give up things, but none of it compares with those three days over 2000 years ago. It had to be done to give us sinners a way back. There was nothing we could do to make up for our disappointing ways of life. It had to be someone who could handle it with faith, love and kindness. Of course that doesn't mean we will all follow that path but it is there for any of us that does.

During Lent we prepare, on Holy Thursday we remember the last supper and the washing of his feet. On Good Friday we read again of the last hours, the cruelty, the pain, and finally, death. On Holy Saturday we go about our mourning in every possible way. On Easter Sunday we bring ourselves together to celebrate the Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ. No matter how hard we try, I don't think it's possible to imagine how it all went down, hard as we try, we simply can't.

So, for our part, what is left is the acceptance and celebration of the door that was opened to us. That's the easy part. Have a wonderful Easter weekend!

I always start again in Spring

Spring time is such a time of hope and promise I can't help but get all giddy about what's coming next. The world comes into bloom all over again. Colors appear, popping up almost everywhere, even in the cracks of sidewalks. The smell of all this new growth fills the nostrils with a pouporie of goodness. Animals wake from a winter's slumber and run hither and yon across the roads. Some of them don't make it but that's the law of nature I guess. Then there are those pesky rabbits, multiplying like nobodies business almost to the point of overpopulation. I don't quite know exactly what happens to all of them. I'm guessing it's the predators though. Hawks, Falcons, Foxes and Coyotes as much as the neighbor's cat enjoy a good rabbit dinner. Some say it tastes like chicken. Flowering fruit trees and bushes make for a kaleidoscope through every window. I find it difficult to think bad thoughts in the Spring. It's my tradition to take a long walk in the park in March to collect my thoughts about where I am, what I have, what I've done so far and what I hope to do. Then I pick pussy-willows and go home to take on the day. One thing I've held on to since I can remember, every Spring, I always try to do my best.

I've tried to:
Keep my sense of humor
Raise my own kids
Treat others like I would like to be treated
Tell the truth
Be honest
Maintain a moral standard
Be thankful
Pray every day
Read the newspaper comic section every day
Keep my language clean
Not to embarrass my family name
Help others when I could
Take personal responsibility for my actions
Not to blame others
To look after the environment
Not to accept unnecessarily from the government
Pay my fair share of taxes
Just plain do the right thing
Not back down from a good argument
To learn from someone I disagree with
Maintain reasonable health
Read good books
Listen to good music
Not talk too much
Remind people of just how bad carbon monoxide poisoning can be.
Wake up early

This is, of course a not so complete list but I think you get the idea. Every Spring I am reminded that it may indeed be true that Happiness is a choice. Happy Spring you all....................Joe

Being poor

In my childhood I experienced many wonderful things. Living in a two room Quonset house with one electrical outlet at the base of a light fixture, an outside toilet and heated by a combination wood cooking stove and furnace. The two rooms were separated by a blanket. When we moved to an apartment in town with a real flush toilet I was really impressed. Shopping for shoes and most of our clothes was done at a variety of used clothing stores and there was more than a few trips to the warehouse where the government gave us some surplus food: powdered milk, flour, rice and cheese. On rare occasions there was a can of peaches for an added treat. Travel to just about anywhere in town was by bus. My folks worked hard at low paying jobs, spent money frugally and eventually we got our own home just outside of town. Back to being heated by a kerosene space heater and flushing the toilet with a pail. Hot water for a bath was heated on the stove. We knew we were poor but it was our life and we embraced it. Being poor was nothing to be ashamed of because it gave us motivation to do better. My folks did everything they could to avoid any help from the government unless it was absolutely necessary because they figured the government should take care of those that couldn't take care of them selves. It wasn't easy but we eventually became a bit better than poor. All the while we enjoyed what we could with what we had, where we were at and I don't recall feeling sorry for ourselves, blaming our situation on anyone else or expecting someone else to take care of us. We knew we were poor and knew what we had to do to better ourselves. We weren't saints but just plain, hard working people. Being poor was no picnic but we made it and improved in the ways that we could.

I listen to a lot of people my age that say when they were growing up they didn't have any money but they enjoyed life and really didn't realize they were poor. I knew it. It made me better instead of relying on others.

Cop slugs woman

Bear with me here for a minute so I can make my point.
I apparently don't quite understand this whole new equality of the sexes thing. On one page I read all about how pleased equal rights advocates are because women can now be up on the front lines in war zones shooting at the enemy, and also being shot at by the enemy. Equal treatment. Next page explains how a woman is granted a large sum of money because she was discriminated against and paid less than her male counterparts at work. Same work, same pay. It's all about equal treatment for all. The courts back it up every day. The legislative branches pass laws to clarify it and make it enforceable. That's the way it is. Then I turn the page and read a completely different approach to this equality between the sexes. "Cop slugs woman" the headline read. It seems this woman grabbed the cop while he was attempting to do his job and interfered with is ability to do what he needs to do. In order to continue without being interfered with he felt the need to slug the woman so she'd leave him alone. Police officers have a job to do and it is difficult enough even without anyone getting in the way and holding them back. If I understand the wording correctly, it is against the law for anyone to interfere with a police officer during the completion of his appointed duty of enforcing the law. The law in this case does not discriminate in any way, at least in my opinion. So that brings us full circle to the equality issue. Why did the headline read, "Cop slugs woman."? And infer that it was way more traumatic or unacceptable because a woman was involved. If a woman is in fact equal, then the woman gets to participate in the consequences of their behavior from both sides of the spectrum, right? equality means that no longer is special treatment given to someone just because they are the "fair sex". Equality means no more "fair sex"! What would the headline read if the cop was also a woman? I believe it would not have even been a news story.

I don't know the right or wrong of this particular incident. That will be played out and taken care of in the proper, lawful way that is laid out. That is not my concern. Nor is it my concern about the equality concept. Women are getting the rights they have long fought for. It is simply my opinion that everyone across the board should face the fact that if one wants equality, the whole idea of "special treatment" goes out the window. No one has the right to grab a cop and not expect to get slugged for it if need be because they are 'special." I don't particularly like that, but I guess that's what it's become. I just hope I don't have to slug some woman. Nope, don't like that idea at all. Coming from a time when women were regarded with respect because they were fair, gentle and special and often were considered to be peacemakers, it's hard to shake those concepts.