Choices

               I’m sure there’s not a single one of us who couldn’t look back on our life and find something we would like to change.  Come on, you know there’s probably more than just one!  Just imagine, regardless of your age, you could, no doubt, think of many things you’d like to change, if you had an opportunity to do so.

                But, everything in your life, since you have been born, has been the results of choices.  They may have been choices that you made or they could have been choices made by others.  Sometimes we may not think exactly how often these choices actually affect our lives.  Let’s think back at a possibility that may have been your situation.  You may be able to see yourself in this situation or perhaps something similar.

                When you were a small child your Dad was in the military.  It seemed that you were constantly moving from one community to another.  You had to change schools so often you could barely remember what the name of your last school was.  These choices, made by your parents, certainly had a tremendous affect on YOUR life!  Every time you moved you had to address the new school rules, create a new framework of friends, also learn a new neighborhood, and many other things that would affect your day-to-day life.  For a moment imagine that these constant moves NEVER happened!  Your Dad received a permanent assignment at one base and you completed all your school years within the same school system.  Consider the experiences you would never have had!  And with those changed circumstances you would have made a considerable number of different choices.  The life you know NOW would have never happened!  You would be a completely different person.  And let’s consider some additional possible changes.

                Those wonderful friends you made from all those school changes --- NEVER happened!  Those connections and all the wonderful times you remember, the work friends, class reunions, and all the contacts you may have had from school would have never happened.  That special friend you met in school, who encouraged you to attend that college where you found that wonderful person who became your mate --- NEVER happened!  Your family life, your children, your neighbors, all the things that have happened in your life because of those crazy moves your family made when you were a child --- NEVER happened!  Of course, that being said, all the choices YOU had to make in your life would have changed depending upon the circumstances you would have then had to face.

                This short discussion only looked at ONE choice in ONE circumstance.  We all know that life is more complicated than that and we are continually making both small and large choices every day.  Some will probably have very little effect on our lives within the big picture.  But, others will have “life altering” effects.  We are the culmination of all the choices we make during our lives.  Any change in one choice may ultimately affect many other areas. And it’s not only OUR choices but the choices of all those people around us.  This is generally referred to as the butterfly affect.

                We have to remember that we are talking about choices.  So any time a situation calls for a decision, a choice must be made.  This choice can be a positive one or a negative one.  We can even procrastinate on our decisions, thinking that we will just let time pass and NOT make a decision.  But, postponing a decision, for whatever reason, is of itself a choice!  We cannot exist throughout ONE day without making choices and these will ALL have some effect, large or small, upon our lives.  So we owe it to ourselves and to all others around us to make the best choices we can.  The problem, of course, is that we’re only human and at times, although we want to make the best choices possible, what develops is the complete opposite.

QUOTE TO CONSIDER

THOUGHTFUL GEM

"If you can extend the hand of help,

DON'T hold it back."

TIME

               With each tick of the second hand on the clock it passes.  We’re told that time stands still for no man.  And that is certainly true.  It seems that in all things it is the one constant that never ends, but it is continually moving forward.  It is true that for us, as individuals time does end.  We spend each day of our lives, hopefully, spending our time doing the best that we can under the circumstances that exist.  However, who of us truly understands the concept of time?

               It seems that the longer in time we exist the more difficult it is to define.  When we are young children it seems that most often time is our worst enemy.  Waiting for something to happen in a week or two takes an eternity to arrive.  But, we know the older we get, time truly becomes our enemy because the days, months, and even years fly by as if they were nothing.

                I recall a high school history teacher I had.  Maybe you remember those 1950s and 1960s big round classroom clocks that they had hanging on the walls.  She had placed a sign which hung from the clock that read: “Time will pass.  Will you?”  I can’t actually remember how many times I starred at that clock (and that sign) and wondered the answer to that question in my case.  Now I’m at the age where I’ll start to discuss something that has happened.  I’m sure it was only a year or two ago, maybe three or four?  AT THE MOST! My wife will correct me and let me know that it had actually been more like TEN years ago!  You truly begin to understand the expression “time flies!”

                But there are other expressions that really are not true.  “A watched pot never boils.”  In actuality a pot of water WILL always boil in the same amount of time under the same conditions whether you are watching it or not.  But, of course, it’s all a matter of perspective.  Yet, considering ALL things we really can’t wrap our heads around time!

                Some say that time is like a straight line.  There is a beginning at one end and the finish at the other end.  We can view our lives in this manner.  We have a beginning, our birth.  And we have an end, our death.  Every day of our life we are moving along the line, at a point called the present.  This concept postulates that the point, the present, is constantly moving forward.  Therefore, there could never be traveling from the present to the past or the future.  Others think our lives might be more like an old phonograph record that plays from beginning to end by means of a needle arm (the present).  You could therefore “pick up” the needle arm (the present) and place it at other points within the stream of time (the record).  However, if we follow this scenario we could see that, even then, the record would still play whatever was at the previous or future point as it had done every other time.  There could therefore be NO changing of the past or the future.  With quantum physics and other science theories being developed who knows what may be presented in the future postulation of time?

                As the old Jim Croce (1973) song used to state “If I could save time in a bottle.”  Yes, as we get older we perceive the diminishing quantity of that precious commodity of time.  Regardless of our age, our status in life, our economic standing, or any other measure of comparison we’d like to use, we all have ONLY twenty-four hours in a day and seven days in a week.  So, in the sense of looking at “the big picture”, it’s not the time we have, but what we do with that time.  Let’s not be foolish with our time, but make wise use of it!  We can only hope for the best, because we’re only human!

QUOTE TO CONSIDER

THOUGHTFUL GEM

"Why does it take some people so long

to tell you they're speechless!"

Part 4 - - - The Brain/The Mind

Consider “Mind Power”

Imagination, which can also be called inner vision, is a gift that has many positive applications, but more than often it is not well-developed or correctly used. Few people possess the ability to control what enters their minds. They let their minds and imaginations do as they please, and let any stray thought or mental image appear on the screen of their inner vision. This lack of control leads to lack of control over their lives.

Let your imagination run riot, and your life will be a mess. Control it and visualize only what you intentionally decide to visualize, and you change your life in accordance with your will.

What is the imagination - the inner vision?

It is the ability to see in one's mind mental images of something that exists, and also the ability to imagine objects, situations or circumstances that do not exist, at least now. Imagination is not only visualizing mental images. It is possible to visualize using all the five senses. You can visualize a sound, taste, smell or a sensation.

If you watch your mind, you will find out that you are constantly using your imagination in various ways. You use it while thinking about the past or future, planning, painting, writing, and describing something. You use it when you describe how to get to a certain street, when you read and when you daydream.

           Do you write, paint or engage in any creative activity? Do you cook, decorate or love to do new things? If you do, then you are using your imagination.

When you worry or feel fear you use it too. At such times you automatically visualize unhappy or unfortunate situations. If you keep visualizing these negative mental images you may eventually attract them into your life.

If you see in your inner vision how you want your life to be, and continue watching this mental scene every day with faith, concentration and love, one day your life will look exactly as you imagine.

There are some people who say they have no imagination. There is no such thing. It may be weak, but they certainly possess it. It might also happen that their visual imagination is not strong, but they can visualize using their other five senses, as mentioned earlier.

The ability to visualize clearly can be developed, and this can be fun. Exercises for developing this ability will at the same time also improve your ability to concentrate, and as a bonus, you might find that you gain a power which you can use to shape and improve your life.

Developing the imagination, the power of your inner vision:

1.    Find some fifteen minutes every day for the exercises.

2.    Visualize something simple that you can believe you can get done or accomplished, such as going to a movie with your girl/boy friend or with your husband/wife, eating at a certain restaurant, or doing something else you would like to do.

3.    Visualize your desire clearly, and include in the visualization all the five senses. If it is watching a movie together with another person, imagine the two of you entering the cinema and sitting down. Listen to the people around you, use your sense of smell and feel the coldness or warmth in the cinema hall. Visualize eating popcorn or drinking some soft drink, and enjoy the taste and smell.

4.    You might find out it is easier to imagine with some of the senses, and a little difficult to imagine with the others. Go on with the exercises and you will strengthen your ability to imagine with all the senses.

5.    Do the same exercise every day, and you will find that it gradually becomes easier.

6.    Sometimes you may find that your mind starts to verbalize about what you are imagining. Be careful not to replace the imagination with words. The aim is to use the imagination, not words.

           If you follow these suggestions you will develop your imagination, the power of the inner vision, which will be useful to you in many situations. You might also be surprised to discover that what you see in your mind, in your inner vision, comes true in real life.

            You may recall the old story of the little train who could!  “I think I can.”  “I think I can.”  And he got things done.  We can be the same way.  You younger folks may recall Jedi Master Yoda’s conversation with Luke Skywalker when he lifted his fighter plane from the swamp.

            Luke said: “I don’t believe it!”

            Yoda’s reply:  “And THAT is why you failed!”

            The fact of the matter is, whether you’re consciously aware of it or not, or ready to accept it or not, you’re already using your mind power every second of every minute of every day.

QUOTE TO CONSIDER

THOUGHTFUL GEM

"If you're getting up on the wrong side of the bed every day,

turn your bed around."

Part 3 - - - The Brain/The Mind

The Subconscious Mind               

                Beneath your awareness, neural drives remember and recognize patterns and act with logical precision.  Those drives support your speech.  They respond to your feelings, organize an idea, find the right words, arrange them in order, check grammar and operate your vocal chords.

                Most of the things you do are outputs of your subconscious drives.  Even the emotional turmoil you experience is caused by internal drives triggered by emotions.  Effective mind control depends on an understanding of the major neural drives within your subconscious mind.

                Your conscious actions eventually become subconscious habits.  The basal ganglia, a brain organ, is believed to “automate thinking and acting, turning focally conscious activities into quick, reliable, unthinking habit.”  Have you ever been driving somewhere and pulled into the wrong parking lot because you so often frequent that place and you were not “thinking” specifically about where you were going?

                Science has clearly shown that complex intelligent activities can be managed by your subconscious drives.  In their research using PET scans on subjects playing video games, scientist discovered that cortical activity increases significantly when you first begin to learn a skill.  Such activity decreases when you master the pursuit.  Your conscious thoughts are correlated to cortical activity.  The bulk of your activities are learned and converted into habitual drives.  Those drives subconsciously manage your motor systems without your awareness.

                Your motor control systems have a galactic store of preprogrammed habitual actions, finely tuned to meet specified objectives.  Everything you do has an objective.  Your will or your emotions, decide those objectives and your motor systems select appropriate actions to achieve those goals.  A television set recognizes the selected movie channel (the drive objective) and delivers a preprogrammed set of images, which enact your movie.  A drive is a set objective, which delivers the desired chain response.  When you travel on a transatlantic flight a single subconscious drive manages your trip. Your conscious actions are limited to reading a few airport signs to assist the current drive.

                When you decide to move a piece on a chess board, a specific drive takes over.  It controls the sequences of motor impulses, which persist from the instant your hand picks up the piece, till it is set down in its new position.  Muscle movements are sequences of contraction, which last just milliseconds.  Each signal invokes only a tiny contraction.  A myriad of muscles have to contract and relax over thousands of cycles till your chess piece reaches its desired position.  Interpreting the drive, motor codes continually issue precise instructions to meet its objective.  Your hand does not wander off on its own.  Drive systems within your subconscious mind persistently iterate the objective till it is achieved.

                It requires your undivided attention, when you first learn to drive a car.  A conscious learning process links your motor drives to sensory perceptions.  The system stores those memories.  Over the years, millions more contextual memories are added, shortcuts, early lane changes, responses to traffic snarls, etc.  With experience, your drive home requires little conscious thought.  Such drives remember and manager your myriad habitual subconscious activities.

                Human creativity is founded on search drives.  The memories of a lifetime of events are added to a galactic memory, storing knowledge.  Drives can superimpose one concept on another in memory to create a new image in any imagined combination.  Even a child can imagine a chair with an attitude, or a refrigerator with a toothache.  By interpolating millions of possibilities, your subconscious mind arrives at new and original solutions.  Creativity stands on the firm foundation of a search drive, which manipulates a gargantuan memory.

                So in reality most of our actions are handled by our subconscious minds.  We really don’t have to “think” about these basic actions.  However, do we try to run our entire life with our subconscious minds on “cruise control?”  It seems that many people do!  Or they try to justify their actions by saying “That’s just the way I am.” Or “I can’t change.”  Many of our common everyday activities being handled without our conscious efforts, frees our minds for other activities.  So how powerful can your mind be?  That will be the final topic in our series - - - “Mind Power.”

QUOTE TO CONSIDER

THOUGHTFUL GEM

The Solution to Pollution - - -

Just STOP!

Part 2 - - - The Brain/The Mind

Being Smart or Being Tricked?

                In part two of our discussion, The Brain/The Mind, we are going to consider some additional points about our amazing brain.  The old adage of humans only using 10% of their brain is NOT TRUE!  Every part of the brain has a known function.  But, believe it or not, there are some things a person could do to help their brain function better.  A study of one million students in New York showed that students who ate lunches that DID NOT include artificial flavors, preservatives, and dyes did 14% better on IQ tests than students who ate lunches with these additives.

                Thinking, reading, and learning all add to the growth potential of our brains.  Every time you recall a memory or have a new thought, you are creating a new connection in your brain.  Memory is formed by associations, so if you want help remembering things, create associations for yourself.  But even with your best education and a constant effort to continually make new memory connections by creating associations, situations, either occurring normally or artificially created, can manipulate your mind.  This is being done on a daily basis by advertisers and others.

                A single descriptive word can manipulate how the mind remembers an event.  For example, in a 1974 experiment, 45 people watched a film of a car accident.  Different groups of people were asked how fast the cars were going using different trigger words, such as “hit,” “smashed,” “collided,” “bumped,” and “contacted.”  The group whose question included the word “smashed” estimated the cars were going 10 mph faster than the group whose word was “contacted.”  A week later, when participants were asked about broken glass, those who were asked more forceful trigger words reported that there was broken glass, even though there was NONE!

                Research has proven how easy it is to create false memories through the force of suggestion.  Psychologists found that if they repeated questions (e.g. about hugging Bugs Bunny at Disney World – an impossibility) and invited the mind to imagine sensory detail (do you remember stroking Bugs Bunny’s velvety ears), a person would begin to believe it was an actual event.  The mind’s power of expectation can blind people to facts and lure them into unwitting conjecture in virtually every way they perceive the world.  This is how “magicians” create their craft.  This is a tactic often used in the legal profession. And it is why we can sit in movies for hours believing we are visiting another planet or why we believe a man can fly!

                Your mind is an exceptional thing, but it has its shortcomings.  Let’s look at TWO situations that were previously discussed in an article by Kendra Cherry.  I will quote her report here:

1.        Your Brain Likes to Play the Blame Game

When something bad happens, it is only natural that we look for an underlying cause to blame.  The problem is that we often place the blame on the wrong person, event, or object and frequently distort reality in order to protect our own self-esteem.

 Imagine for a moment that you just bombed an important test in your “math” class.  Who’s responsible for your failure?  If you are like many people, you might explain away your poor performance by blaming situational factors (“The room was so hot I couldn’t concentrate!”) or on your instructor (“We didn’t learn any of this in class!"  "There were too many trick questions!”).  In psychology, this is what is known as the actor-observer bias.  When it comes to our own behavior, we are often too quick to place the blame on external forces rather than on personal choices or characteristics.

So why do we engage in this blame game?  Researchers believe that many of our attributional biases function as a way to protect our self-esteem and guard ourselves from the fear of failure.  According to this way of thinking, bad things happen to other people because they do things that you would never do, bad things happen to you because of things outside of your control, and your successes are the result of your traits, skills, efforts, and other internal characteristics.

2.        Your Memory Isn’t as Great as You Think

While we often believe that our memory works like a video camera, carefully preserving events exactly as they occurred, the reality is that our memory is much more fragile, inaccurate, and susceptible to influence than we would like to believe.

For example, experts have found that it is surprisingly easy to induce false memories of events that did not really occur.  In one study, researchers found watching a video of other people performing an action actually led participants to believe that they had performed the task themselves.  Your memory might be good, but it is worth remembering that it is not perfect and certainly not always dependable.

And in conclusion, your brain is capable of remarkable things, from remembering a conversation you had with a dear friend to solving complex mathematical problems.  But, it certainly isn’t perfect.  There’s no way to avoid all of these potential problems, but being aware of some of the biases, perceptual shortcomings, and memory tricks that your brain is susceptible to can help.  Remember, we’re only human!

                In part three we will consider “The Subconscious Mind.”

QUOTE TO CONSIDER

THOUGHTFUL GEM

"If you could change ONE thing in the world,

why not DO IT!

Part 1 - - - The Brain/The Mind

Fascinating Facts about the Human Brain - - -

                There’s probably no greater mystery that we can ponder than that of understanding our mind!  This is such an in depth subject and one that can be considered from so many various angles, I thought about writing a blog on the subject but it has become so involved that I decided to break it down into four parts.  This is part one.

                The human brain has amazed and baffled people for a very long time.  Some scientists and doctors have devoted their entire lives to learning how the brain works.  It is no wonder that people enjoy learning facts about this incredible organ in the human body.  We will (within the four parts of this blog) discuss initially the organ (the brain) and some astonishing facts about it and then the mind (typically defined as the organized totality or system of all mental processes or psychic activities of an individual) and what we can learn about them.

                So what do you know about the brain and the mind?  The human brain weighs about 3 pounds which is about ½ the weight of your skin.  You’ve probably heard the expression that you need to use your “gray matter.”  The brains gray matter is made up of neurons, which gather and transmit signals.  The white matter is made up of dendrites and axons, which create the network by which the neurons send their signals.  Many philosophers hold that the brain is a detector of the mind and that the mind is an inner, subjective state of consciousness.

                The brain is made up of about 75% water with about 100 billion neurons.  There are anywhere from 1,000 to 10,000 synapses for each neuron.  And one very interesting point to me is that, for many years, veterans returning from war and others who have missing limbs have been plagued by what is referred to as “phantom limb pain.”  Although the limb is no longer there, the nerve endings at the site of the amputation continue to send pain signals to the brain that make the brain think the limb is still there. Sometimes, the brains memory of pain is retained and is interpreted as pain, regardless of signals from injured nerves. But, science says there are no pain receptors in the brain, so the brain itself can feel no pain.  And there are other things about the mind that you might find interesting.

                Just because you don’t remember your dreams doesn’t mean you don’t dream.  Everyone dreams!  Usually about 1-2 hours each night with from to 4-7 dreams each night!  Dreams are more than just visual images, and even blind people dream.  And you are more likely to remember your dream if you wake up during the dream instead of sleeping through the entire night and then trying to remember the dream.

                One of the things we may want to consider is, when we are using our mind, our memory, our recall, are we really being smart.  Or is our mind only tricking us? These things will be considered in our next blog - - - Part Two: The Brain/The Mind - - - Being Smart or Being Tricked?

QUOTE TO CONSIDER

THOUGHTFUL GEM

"Dream about a better future,

then make it happen."

Education

            It’s been a long time since I set in a classroom for classes.  Elementary school, middle school, high school or college, it doesn’t make any difference.  It does seem that many things have changed and I don’t believe they’re all for the better.  I’m taking a few minutes in this blog post to express my opinion of some of these items.  Of course you can agree or disagree that’s your right.  But make sure you read the post closely.  Although I will mainly be expressing my disapproval of the changes I bring up, let me state right at the beginning that I am in favor of public schooling although I do think change is needed in some areas.  With all that being said let’s get started.

            Area ONE:  Parents!  Many parents use the school system as a “baby sitting” service.  They send their children off in the morning expecting the school to care for them during the day while they go to work (or do other things).  Hold on!  I know some will say that the law mandates that their kids go to school.  Or they will start shouting “I HAVE to work!”  And in many cases because of the uncertain economic conditions they really DO have to work!  Perhaps both parents need to be in the workplace to make ends meet.  But, in some situations, if families brought their WANTS into a true balance with their actual NEEDS it may not be necessary for both parents to work.

            Also, many parents have very little real interest in what their children are studying in school, how they are doing in school, what they plan to do after school, or pretty much anything else that has to do with their child’s standing in their various classes!  When was the last time you had a talk with one of your child’s teachers?  Not at the parent-teach conference.  But, arranged a special meeting with the teacher to discuss your child’s problems or needs for assistance in their classes?  Do you even know if your child is REALLY attending their classes?  You may be surprised by what you would find out if you checked?  I recall when one of my sons was in High School and we had the opportunity one evening to attend an abbreviated class schedule at the school.  We would sit in with the teacher on each class for approximately 15 minutes.  My son had six classes with approximately 25-30 kids in each class.  For EVERY class (except 1) my wife and I were the ONLY parents that showed up.  The one exception had another couple show up.  That was it!  Parents, you must be interested in your child’s schooling.  If you’re not interested they won’t be either.  And don’t think that all the education and training needed by your children will be taught them in school.  You have to do your part too.

            Area TWO: Children!  Some of your young people go to school each day. Congratulations!  Thinking that showing up is your entire obligation and that is it, you’re missing the key point of your schooling.  Have you ever heard the expression: “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink”! That statement can apply to YOU as a student! You sit in the classrooms for 6 to 8 hours each day for 4 to 5 days per week.  But you have to WANT to learn if it is going to benefit you.  Sadly, some of the students don’t want to learn and they make the classroom difficult (if not impossible) for others to learn either.  Unfortunately, the comments have been made, by some after they have reached adulthood, if I knew then what I know now!  Students should take their education very seriously.  Yes, your youth is a time to enjoy life.  But, you can enjoy life and gain a valuable education without getting involved in “foolish actions”, unwanted pregnancies, and making YOUR life and others miserable.  Another problem with many young people in school is they have a very low degree of respect for people in authority.  This they need to learn at home and most of the time many parents don’t teach this to them because they have very little respect for authority.  And although parents used to be children and know the really dumb things they used to do, they think their children are perfect saints When the authorities at school try to explain to them about something their child has done, they say “Not MY child!”  Things have gotten so out of hand, that video cameras are used in school buses in many areas because of the things children do when on the bus.  And there are times when parents have to review the tapes and they STILL don’t believe THEIR child would do what they saw.  I don’t know if they have cameras in classrooms, but some parents would be surprised at what happens there at times also.

            My last comment.  Area THREE: School Personnel!  Under paid, short staffed, often ill supplied!  Yet the school personnel, especially the teachers, continue to apply themselves to the task of educating your children.  Some of them are paying for supplies out of their own pockets so the kids can do various projects.  However, there are some within the educational system who abuse their positions and take advantage of the students.  These should be reported and dealt with appropriately.

            I’ve only voiced my opinion on three general areas.  Imagine the discussion that could continue if we got deeply into disciplinary actions, severe acts of improper conduct by an adult in authority, standardized testing for schools, the added burdens of continuous increases in taxes for schools, the subject of public or private schools, and many other topics.  And with the new appointment of Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Education many more debates are likely to develop.

            Let me add this comment.  The V-22 Osprey is a tilrotor aircraft, which takes off and lands like a helicopter, but can fly faster and farther like a fixed-wing plane.  Although the craft claimed the lives of at least 30 Marines and civilians during its development alone and former Vice President Dick Cheney tried to ground the plane, because of its range the Marine Corps plans to deploy a squadron of them to Afghanistan by the end of the year.  The cost?  $118 million PER plane!  And a squadron is typically 12 to 24 aircraft.  You do the math!  Think about this also, couldn’t we do with ONE or TWO less V-22 Osprey aircraft to fund some of our education needs?

QUOTE TO CONSIDER

THOUGHTFUL GEM

"Why does it seem that so many smart people

do so many dumb things?"

Enjoy the Travel

            “See the USA in your Chevrolet.”  Many of you may have never heard this 1949 jingle used on various television programs throughout the 50s and into the 60s.  It still gropes up from time to time in revised promotions.  But the very basic gist of the tune was to sell automobiles to the returned military personnel who were now settling into a family life and could use these calmer times to explore the wealth of progress being felt in the post-war United States.  All types of expansion was being accomplished by the creative public that had returned from service during wartime and now wanted to be part of “the great American dream.”          

            Think about many of the great American icons of the restaurant phenomenon that began during the 50s.  In the 1940s brothers, Dick and Mac McDonald ran a small but successful restaurant in San Bernardino, California.  Ray Kroc visited them in 1954 and in 1955 he founded McDonald’s System, Inc. (a predecessor of the McDonald’s Corp.).  You will probably learn more about that story by watching the movie “The Founder” with Michael Keaton.  Founded in 1954, Burger King has become the second largest fast food hamburger chain in the world.

            The founders of the Dairy Queen system were men and women who introduced a new kind of dessert treat and, in the process, developed the foundation of the franchising industry.  With only 100 stores in 1947, it grew to 1,446 in 1950 and then to 2,600 in 1955.

            Sonics’ history can be traced back to 1953 and a small root beer stand called Top Hat in Shawnee, Oklahoma.  In 1959, Troy Smith and partner Charles Pappe christened the existing locations Sonic.  And you may be able to think of other such operations.  But WHY did these businesses become so popular and so profitable?  It was because the American population had hit the open road for adventure and travel!

            Then with the support of President Dwight D. Eisenhower the first “national” implementation of modern Germany’s Autobahn network as a necessary component of a national defense system was deemed necessary.  So the Interstate Highway System was authorized on June 29, 1956 and construction began.  Now we certainly appreciate this more convenient means of transporting across the countryside.  Although it seems in every major location there is constant construction being done on these roadways to keep them as up-to-date as possible.

            However, we must also admit that by making the highways available, they were also meant to be expedient in getting from one point to the next by by-passing many of our wonderful smaller communities in the country.  Truly this is sad, but understandably a “modern” progression in our unending desire for faster and more improved roadways.  But what have we deprived ourselves of?  Unfortunately I can’t consider every possibility and small community, but consider a few examples of places you miss if you only drive on the Interstate highways.

(1)    Walnut Grove is a city in Redwood County, Minnesota.  The population was 871 at the time of the 2010 census.  It was plated in 1874 and named for a grove of black walnut trees near the original town site on the Plum Creek.  Many of you may know this small community from the Laura Ingalls Wilder books and the TV production “Little House on the Prairie”.  You may be surprised to know that at one time Charles Ingalls was justice of the peace!  Check out the community at www.walnutgrove.org.

(2)   Greenville is a small city and the county seat of Washington County, Mississippi.  The population was 34,400 at the 2010 census.  It is located in the area of historic cotton plantations and culture known as the Mississippi Delta.  Greenville is located on the eastern bank of Lake Ferguson, an oxbow lake left from an old channel of the Mississippi River.  Check out the possibilities at www.visitgreenville.org.

(3)   Farmington is a city in San Juan County in New Mexico.  As of the 2013 population estimate there was a population of 45,426 people.  It is located at the junction of the San Juan River, the Animas River, and the La Plata River and is located in the Colorado Plateau.  You won't believe the list of family-friendly events held every year.  Check out this wonderful vacation spot at www.farmingtonnm.org.

(4)   San Angelo is a city in and the county seat of Tom Green County.  It’s located in the Concho Valley, a region of West Texas between the Permian Basin to the northwest, Chihuahuan Desert to the southwest, Osage Plains to the northeast, and Central Texas to the southeast.  According to the 2014 census estimate the population was 100,450.  Get more details by visiting www.sanangelo.org.

(5)   Albany is the county seat of Dougherty County.  Located in the southwest portion of the State of Georgia.  In the 2010 US census the population was recorded at 77,434, making it (at that time) the eighth largest city in the state.  Many adventures and activities are available in this southern-hospitality city.  Visit www.visitalbanyga.com.

            I continue by adding in this blog I have not received compensation of any kind (and don’t plan on receiving any) for mentioning the above communities during this writing.  I have only used them as a small example of the great vacation and adventure spots we could miss if we only limited ourselves to taking the faster routes as we commute across the country.  Why not consider looking in your own neck of the woods for a future outing.  You may be truly amazed at what is available to you.

            Life moves fast enough on its’ own.  Slow down.  Enjoy the view as you pass along the road of life.  You may find a more enjoyable life style by doing so.  But, then again, we’re only human!

QUOTE TO CONSIDER

THOUGHTFUL GEM

"When no one wants to hire you for lack of experience,

why do they make you retire when you get it?"