Let me be clear, I'm not a basketball fan. I feel any game is only worth watching for the final 3 minutes, and then only if it's close. My ire rises each March as my favorite news radio shows are shelved in favor of the sound of squeaking rubber shoes and bouncing balls on a wooden floor.
So, I go into the NBA lockout debacle with at the least a disinterested demeanor.
I just finished reading an article stating that Americans are ticked off at the Billionaires squabbling with Millionaires over dinero. Really? In this economy, who would've thunk it? (That's called sarcasm.)
The jobs lost, the paychecks diminished and the businesses affected by this money showdown display just how self-centered these princesses can be. I'm personally disgusted that a vendor who relies on NBA games to earn his or her living has to now rely on foodstamps to get through the winter.
The players and owners only thought of themselves. They never once thought about that man or woman who would suffer great financial setbacks due to the lockout. They never once thought about that person making single digit percentages of what they make. They never once thought of anyone but themselves and increasing their own bank accounts.
Ego runs our world. Ego ruins our world.
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Seek First To Understand
Thanks, Dr. Covey, that's a good habit. Seek first to understand.
We need to understand, clearly and correctly, before we start bellowing into our own bullhorns.
I posted this excerpt from my last post on FB:
Sometimes it's easier just to use the old standbys. We all have them. An issue arises, say the death penalty, gay marriage, abortion, taxes, social programs, you name it, and we simply play the recorder in our heads. We are firm on the issue and we speak our written script, dismissing the ideas of others and blockading our own ability to reassess.
This can be good and it can be bad.
It can be good because when we've made a decision on a particular issue, we don't waffle based on the latest or loudest argument. We can stay firm in our most core beliefs.
However, it can be bad because what if we need to hear a new thought on the subject? What if we made up our minds on that subject in youth or before we had all the information we have today? We are continually learning, growing, maturing, regardless of our age. I keep telling my kids that learning is not just at school and it never ends; it's a lifelong process.
People thought this was akin to inviting them to get up on their own soapboxes and tell me either publicly or in a private message exactly why they are "against" or "for" gay marriage, death penalty, abortion, etc. you name it.
Let me be blunt: I don't care. My point was not to give my peeps an outlet for their preconceived ideas. My point was exactly the OPPOSITE! It was to make them THINK about the other side of the argument to which they so steadfastly adhere.
And, maybe, with a little THOUGHT and a lot less sputtering, we can all quietly examine our beliefs, core or otherwise. And maybe that will make our beliefs stronger. Or maybe that will open a door for us to join the other side that we've demonized for so long. Or maybe it will only (but importantly) give us an opportunity to think a bit, to examine clearly and carefully our beliefs and why we hold them dear.
I had a friend who was adamantly for a woman's right to choose. And, I was helping him become a Christian. And, I didn't fight him over it, but I asked him to think about it because I believe that you cannot be FOR abortion and FOR the death penalty when God was pretty clear about the 6th Commandment: "You shall not murder."
My friend thought about it and came to the realization that it was his mother's core belief, not his own. She believed in a woman's right to choose for very concrete reasons. He understood that he was carrying HER belief, not his own, as a flag of honor. In grasping that concept he was able to disown the belief and research his own views on the subject. He came up with his OWN belief.
I won't tell you what it is because it doesn't matter what side he chose, the important part is that he made up his own mind. He spent time talking to his mentor and others that he respected and looked into what information was available on both sides of the issues. Then, he came up with his own viewpoint.
And that's not to say that it won't change. Or it should. But it might. And, is that bad if we're continually growing, learning and developing as we should?
The 24/7 news channels and explosive talk shows don't allow for examination of our beliefs, changes in thought, or adapting to new information. The one who screams loudest wins! The one who gets the audience on their side wins! The one who has the most camera time wins!
We need less winners and more philosophers.
And, what we DESPERATELY need more of is quiet. We can't listen when our mouths are open and a dozen people are trying to shout us down. We need time to think, closed mouths to hear, and prayerful introspection of our core values to understand why we hold them.
Seek first to understand. Gather. Research. Listen. THEN, tell me exactly what you believe and why.
We need to understand, clearly and correctly, before we start bellowing into our own bullhorns.
I posted this excerpt from my last post on FB:
Sometimes it's easier just to use the old standbys. We all have them. An issue arises, say the death penalty, gay marriage, abortion, taxes, social programs, you name it, and we simply play the recorder in our heads. We are firm on the issue and we speak our written script, dismissing the ideas of others and blockading our own ability to reassess.
This can be good and it can be bad.
It can be good because when we've made a decision on a particular issue, we don't waffle based on the latest or loudest argument. We can stay firm in our most core beliefs.
However, it can be bad because what if we need to hear a new thought on the subject? What if we made up our minds on that subject in youth or before we had all the information we have today? We are continually learning, growing, maturing, regardless of our age. I keep telling my kids that learning is not just at school and it never ends; it's a lifelong process.
People thought this was akin to inviting them to get up on their own soapboxes and tell me either publicly or in a private message exactly why they are "against" or "for" gay marriage, death penalty, abortion, etc. you name it.
Let me be blunt: I don't care. My point was not to give my peeps an outlet for their preconceived ideas. My point was exactly the OPPOSITE! It was to make them THINK about the other side of the argument to which they so steadfastly adhere.
And, maybe, with a little THOUGHT and a lot less sputtering, we can all quietly examine our beliefs, core or otherwise. And maybe that will make our beliefs stronger. Or maybe that will open a door for us to join the other side that we've demonized for so long. Or maybe it will only (but importantly) give us an opportunity to think a bit, to examine clearly and carefully our beliefs and why we hold them dear.
I had a friend who was adamantly for a woman's right to choose. And, I was helping him become a Christian. And, I didn't fight him over it, but I asked him to think about it because I believe that you cannot be FOR abortion and FOR the death penalty when God was pretty clear about the 6th Commandment: "You shall not murder."
My friend thought about it and came to the realization that it was his mother's core belief, not his own. She believed in a woman's right to choose for very concrete reasons. He understood that he was carrying HER belief, not his own, as a flag of honor. In grasping that concept he was able to disown the belief and research his own views on the subject. He came up with his OWN belief.
I won't tell you what it is because it doesn't matter what side he chose, the important part is that he made up his own mind. He spent time talking to his mentor and others that he respected and looked into what information was available on both sides of the issues. Then, he came up with his own viewpoint.
And that's not to say that it won't change. Or it should. But it might. And, is that bad if we're continually growing, learning and developing as we should?
The 24/7 news channels and explosive talk shows don't allow for examination of our beliefs, changes in thought, or adapting to new information. The one who screams loudest wins! The one who gets the audience on their side wins! The one who has the most camera time wins!
We need less winners and more philosophers.
And, what we DESPERATELY need more of is quiet. We can't listen when our mouths are open and a dozen people are trying to shout us down. We need time to think, closed mouths to hear, and prayerful introspection of our core values to understand why we hold them.
Seek first to understand. Gather. Research. Listen. THEN, tell me exactly what you believe and why.
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Struggling
Sometimes it's easier just to use the old standbys. We all have them. An issue arises, say the death penalty, gay marriage, abortion, taxes, social programs, you name it, and we simply play the recorder in our heads. We are firm on the issue and we speak our written script, dismissing the ideas of others and blockading our own ability to reassess.
This can be good and it can be bad.
It can be good because when we've made a decision on a particular issue, we don't waffle based on the latest or loudest argument. We can stay firm in our most core beliefs.
However, it can be bad because what if we need to hear a new thought on the subject? What if we made up our minds on that subject in youth or before we had all the information we have today? We are continually learning, growing, maturing, regardless of our age. I keep telling my kids that learning is not just at school and it never ends; it's a lifelong process.
So, again this morning I was confronted with an issue of mine I normally dismiss. I am against missionaries. I know, I'm a heathen. But, here's my reasoning. I believe so much in "teaching a man to fish" that I believe that we should have missionaries teaching natives in-country to proselytize. Not interlopers moving in and leading the band, but residents spearheading the process. To me, missionaries should engage in only temporary, end-in-sight duties.
I have this fringe friend who is a missionary in Haiti. Awesome barely begins to describe her and her family. They are amazingly cool people with such strength and faith that it makes me melt. And, they live in Haiti. And they've adopted Haitian kids. And they plan to stay there. Haiti is home.
A few weeks ago they were robbed. At gun point. In the middle of the night. Scary doesn't quite describe the terror they went through. I was like, get out! Get out! Get out! And, they stayed.
Recently it's gotten worse there, and finally they made the agonizing decision to break up the family. She left with the little ones, and he stayed behind with the kids who lacked travel papers. They are separated, and to them it will be temporary, until things calm down in Haiti. And, I'm thinking, yeah, things will never be calm in Haiti...
So, I struggle with thinking that they need to be out of Haiti, that they shouldn't live there, that they are foolish to put their children's lives and their own at risk, and yet simultaneously knowing they are making a concrete difference in God's children's lives. I struggle with wondering how much of their own ego is tied up in what they do, how much is tied into selfishness of elevated status in church circles, yet I know they live in a hell hole there compared to here, that their lives are sickeningly tough and most of us would fail.
I struggle with at once holding two thoughts in my head: they are fools and they are saints.
I do have to state clearly and emphatically that I do NOT struggle with praying for them, loving on them, giving them my good thoughts and highest hopes for safety and success. I do all that willingly and with an open heart because I can rise above my issues to love on people. We are all God's children.
I struggle with my own conceptions, whether correct or false, regarding missionaries and their divine calling. It comes to light with every crisis this family goes through. I wrestle with my own thoughts on the subject. And, please don't tell me to read a book about a missionary's account, because my problem with missionaries is not the people themselves. Or the people whose lives they touch. Or the wonderful work they do. Or the sharing of Christ. It's not the good they do, trust me, I can see the good works.
I struggle with trusting the ability of foreigners to make radical changes in countries where locals cannot or will not. I struggle with the process and definition. I struggle with thinking that missionaries are delusional in believing they can create a utopia in hell. I struggle with the parental directive to ensure the safety of one's own children. I struggle with Kum-ba-yah sung around a campfire and missionaries in Jehova Witness' skirts taking care of the "little black babies." I struggle with a lot of my own prejudice against rigid church standards and freakish adherence to literal Biblical verse.
I struggle with loving people and not understanding what they do, and thinking they could be doing harm but since everyone supports them, then how can they be doing harm, and if any action saves just one person is it worth it, even if you lose everything else?
Sigh.
I struggle. And, I pray. And, I try to rethink my "solid" beliefs.
This can be good and it can be bad.
It can be good because when we've made a decision on a particular issue, we don't waffle based on the latest or loudest argument. We can stay firm in our most core beliefs.
However, it can be bad because what if we need to hear a new thought on the subject? What if we made up our minds on that subject in youth or before we had all the information we have today? We are continually learning, growing, maturing, regardless of our age. I keep telling my kids that learning is not just at school and it never ends; it's a lifelong process.
So, again this morning I was confronted with an issue of mine I normally dismiss. I am against missionaries. I know, I'm a heathen. But, here's my reasoning. I believe so much in "teaching a man to fish" that I believe that we should have missionaries teaching natives in-country to proselytize. Not interlopers moving in and leading the band, but residents spearheading the process. To me, missionaries should engage in only temporary, end-in-sight duties.
I have this fringe friend who is a missionary in Haiti. Awesome barely begins to describe her and her family. They are amazingly cool people with such strength and faith that it makes me melt. And, they live in Haiti. And they've adopted Haitian kids. And they plan to stay there. Haiti is home.
A few weeks ago they were robbed. At gun point. In the middle of the night. Scary doesn't quite describe the terror they went through. I was like, get out! Get out! Get out! And, they stayed.
Recently it's gotten worse there, and finally they made the agonizing decision to break up the family. She left with the little ones, and he stayed behind with the kids who lacked travel papers. They are separated, and to them it will be temporary, until things calm down in Haiti. And, I'm thinking, yeah, things will never be calm in Haiti...
So, I struggle with thinking that they need to be out of Haiti, that they shouldn't live there, that they are foolish to put their children's lives and their own at risk, and yet simultaneously knowing they are making a concrete difference in God's children's lives. I struggle with wondering how much of their own ego is tied up in what they do, how much is tied into selfishness of elevated status in church circles, yet I know they live in a hell hole there compared to here, that their lives are sickeningly tough and most of us would fail.
I struggle with at once holding two thoughts in my head: they are fools and they are saints.
I do have to state clearly and emphatically that I do NOT struggle with praying for them, loving on them, giving them my good thoughts and highest hopes for safety and success. I do all that willingly and with an open heart because I can rise above my issues to love on people. We are all God's children.
I struggle with my own conceptions, whether correct or false, regarding missionaries and their divine calling. It comes to light with every crisis this family goes through. I wrestle with my own thoughts on the subject. And, please don't tell me to read a book about a missionary's account, because my problem with missionaries is not the people themselves. Or the people whose lives they touch. Or the wonderful work they do. Or the sharing of Christ. It's not the good they do, trust me, I can see the good works.
I struggle with trusting the ability of foreigners to make radical changes in countries where locals cannot or will not. I struggle with the process and definition. I struggle with thinking that missionaries are delusional in believing they can create a utopia in hell. I struggle with the parental directive to ensure the safety of one's own children. I struggle with Kum-ba-yah sung around a campfire and missionaries in Jehova Witness' skirts taking care of the "little black babies." I struggle with a lot of my own prejudice against rigid church standards and freakish adherence to literal Biblical verse.
I struggle with loving people and not understanding what they do, and thinking they could be doing harm but since everyone supports them, then how can they be doing harm, and if any action saves just one person is it worth it, even if you lose everything else?
Sigh.
I struggle. And, I pray. And, I try to rethink my "solid" beliefs.
Monday, November 14, 2011
Occupy Wall Street Movement vs. Tea Party Events
The Mainstream Media is simply going Lady GaGa over Occupy Wall Street (OWS). FINALLY, they have their own Tea Party-ish movement to blather on about and gush overtly over! Talk about hormone-crazed teenagers running amok with few facts and misplaced bubbling excitement--oh, I'm talking about the press here, not OWS.
The title of this post is a conundrum, you can't really categorize OWS as an organized movement like the Tea Party.
Really, the Tea Party is a group of people coming together with a united goal of smaller government intervention. It's many people with a central idea using organized public events to make a point.
While, OWS is an organization, specifically an offshoot of ACORN, gathering a group of people to do their bidding. In other words, it's a few people with some central themes corralling the useful masses to their own end.
Tea Partiers have events, OWS'ers sleep on the street.
I can see where the Mainstream Media are so confused. They don't understand that Tea Party Events END. They have start and finish times. They have a central theme. They have organized speakers with stages and microphones. The audience leaves no trash.
OWS goes on and on. It has no end. There is no central theme, no focus. The only organization are buses provided (by an ACORN offshoot) to take them to another site when necessary. There is no stage, only the loudest bullhorn of the moment. The OWS'ers wallow in their own trash.
Yes, that is very confusing to the press that would prefer the two be equal, just different sides of the issue.
The Tea Party and OWS are not equal. They cannot be correlated. One is a political movement, and the other a media circus.
Monday, November 7, 2011
Herman Cain Sexual Harassment Scandal
If you were an adult in the business world 20+ years ago, then you remember the insanity of "Sexual Harassment." It was crazy. If you were a man you remember the fear. If you were a woman, you remember prickling at every whisper, picture and joke.
I remember what it was like all those years ago in the heady days of sexual harassment allegations against every deep pocket in America.
We trained staff, we held seminars, we assumed guilt before innocence, and so many top heads, eager to get their names out of the newspaper or off the water cooler radar paid off their "victims" replete with non-disclosure contracts rather than fight their innocence. All a man had to do was sneeze and a woman desiring a little more spending money could sue and earn her way to a better car, a nicer home or a new wardrobe.
I remember what it was like all those years ago in the heady days of sexual harassment allegations against every deep pocket in America.
We trained staff, we held seminars, we assumed guilt before innocence, and so many top heads, eager to get their names out of the newspaper or off the water cooler radar paid off their "victims" replete with non-disclosure contracts rather than fight their innocence. All a man had to do was sneeze and a woman desiring a little more spending money could sue and earn her way to a better car, a nicer home or a new wardrobe.
Don't get me wrong, I do appreciate that the girly calendars and off-color humor were eradicated from the workplace. However, I also personally know of numerous bogus cases that did damage and resulted in ill-gotten gains.
Herman Cain's "scandal" isn't so much a scandal as it is a time capsule. How can we continually judge people in the past based on current knowledge?
Herman Cain may be guilty or may not be guilty of something. It doesn't matter. The debate was settled decades ago to everyone's satisfaction, and unless THERE IS A CLEAR PATTERN of bad behavior since, then we need to put this issue to bed. Um, but not in THAT way...you know.
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Occupy Wall Street Scam
So, you're mad at the bank that loaned you the money to overspend on education loans to get a worthless degree?
Seriously?
Let's remember who's at fault. There are two bodies at which to be mad, but neither is a Big Bank or Financial Institution.
#1 YOU! You signed the documents. You initiated the loan. You assumed the debt. You are to blame.
#2 UNIVERSITIES! They came up with worthless degrees that do not correspond with actual workplace jobs. If your degree comprises the studying of social issues then your chances for working at a competitive wage are not only diminished but may be non-existent. Companies want real degrees with real purpose. They want laser beam focus of curriculum related to job duties. Universities hand out pieces of graduation paper but do not give direction for acquiring post-degree employment.
Let's put the blame where it firmly belongs, with the people doing the most damage: Students taking on enormous debt without thought to how they will pay it off, and Universities designing curriculum with little regard to the actual needs of employers.
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Back After Summer Break, and Scared for the USA!
Well, here I am back after a lovely summer break...
And, I'm scared.
I'm scared for our country. I see the protests in Greece and the rioting in London and I wonder when we'll sink to that level. We're on our way there, you know.
Here's the problem: government cannot support people, only people can support people. Programs can't be the answer, people have to be the answer.
We have trained a generation of workers here, and for a longer time in more Socialized Europe, that you don't need to strive, or work hard or worry about falling through the cracks because the government will support you. They will "come along side" you and offer a hand up. Only problem is that "hand up" turns into a "hand out" and pretty soon a temporary safety net turns into a permanent benefit. And that permanent benefit morphs into a "right" and then, near the end of it all, when people feel their "rights" are being taken away from them, they fight back.
That's what's going on in Europe. That's what's going to happen here.
There is no way to prepare for it. Our politicians are useless. Both sides of the aisle proved that when they threw the needs the United States as a whole into the trash bin and got us a AA+ credit rating, the first time in history the USA hasn't been a AAA+.
The Dow is falling. Again. Any gains yesterday were lost today. Minutes to the bell and it's down 500 pts. Your IRA and 401K and stocks are worth less and may soon be worthless.
I have friends hoarding food. I have friends burying ammunition on their property. I have other friends screaming for union rights and socialized medicine. I think the grocery stashers and arsenal diggers may be more sane than my Liberal friends who can't seem to see reality no matter how clearly it's spelled out for them. I am ceasing to feel sorry for my Liberal friends, whom I truly love, I really do (!!) but they are beyond misguided...they are blind.
Even an agenda-pushing press can't sugarcoat what's happening. Liberal Socialist policies cannot work. People have to work!
So, I'm scared and waiting. Waiting to see where it hits here first.
And, I'm scared.
I'm scared for our country. I see the protests in Greece and the rioting in London and I wonder when we'll sink to that level. We're on our way there, you know.
Here's the problem: government cannot support people, only people can support people. Programs can't be the answer, people have to be the answer.
We have trained a generation of workers here, and for a longer time in more Socialized Europe, that you don't need to strive, or work hard or worry about falling through the cracks because the government will support you. They will "come along side" you and offer a hand up. Only problem is that "hand up" turns into a "hand out" and pretty soon a temporary safety net turns into a permanent benefit. And that permanent benefit morphs into a "right" and then, near the end of it all, when people feel their "rights" are being taken away from them, they fight back.
That's what's going on in Europe. That's what's going to happen here.
There is no way to prepare for it. Our politicians are useless. Both sides of the aisle proved that when they threw the needs the United States as a whole into the trash bin and got us a AA+ credit rating, the first time in history the USA hasn't been a AAA+.
The Dow is falling. Again. Any gains yesterday were lost today. Minutes to the bell and it's down 500 pts. Your IRA and 401K and stocks are worth less and may soon be worthless.
I have friends hoarding food. I have friends burying ammunition on their property. I have other friends screaming for union rights and socialized medicine. I think the grocery stashers and arsenal diggers may be more sane than my Liberal friends who can't seem to see reality no matter how clearly it's spelled out for them. I am ceasing to feel sorry for my Liberal friends, whom I truly love, I really do (!!) but they are beyond misguided...they are blind.
Even an agenda-pushing press can't sugarcoat what's happening. Liberal Socialist policies cannot work. People have to work!
So, I'm scared and waiting. Waiting to see where it hits here first.
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