What About This ---

      As I have mentioned in several of my past blogs, we are a strange bunch of creatures.  There are times when we want to spend our money and yet still have our money.  There are times when we want the best of services, but we are not willing to pay for those services.  There are times when we want things to be the way we think they should be when all the facts are telling us just the opposite!  Yes, we are a strange lot and yet that is how we are.  I thought we might consider today a couple of points that will highly the very fact that I am mentioning.

     What about this?  In most places people within a certain City of a certain State (or District) within a certain Country want to have the public services that are provided by such entities.  Consider: Most people want good schools for their children so they can learn to grow up and become responsible, law-abiding citizens.  They want better roads within their communities so that any travel they do will be one of pleasure and not a complete misery because of the poor degrading streets and highways they have because of a lack of maintenance. 

     Most people would want to live in a safe, secure neighborhood where they could count on having police and fire service when and if these became necessary.  Many enjoy the benefits of a local library (or branch) within their community so their children and themselves can have access to a wide variety of educational materials and programs.

     And, no doubt, there are many who enjoy the benefits of other programs that are provided by Local, State, and Federal governments.  However, where do most people think the money comes from to support all these various services that they are seeking to benefit from?

     Local government revenue comes from property taxes, and other taxes; charges and fees; and transfers from federal and state governments.  State and Federal governments get their revenues from income taxes, sales taxes, and other fees and tariffs.

     However, the vast majority of the people who want all the benefits and advantages that I first mentioned, DO NOT want to pay higher taxes and fees to get them!  How do people think the new, additional, or increases services are going to be provided if there is NO money to cover the cost of such things?  You’re always hearing those political ads where individuals are making great promises for improving this or that service or benefit and then they will add: “NO new taxes!”  How can a person truly believe statements like that?

     That is how many individuals get elected into public office, because people always want something for nothing!  And in today’s world they think they have a RIGHT to have them without the responsibility to pay for them.  In it’s simplest form it just doesn’t make sense.  If you wanted a new vehicle for your family household, do you think you could get it without payment?  Could you operate it (fuel, license, maintenance, etc.) without having to cover the cost?  I think most people could understand the logic of that type of thinking.

     Consider this:  There are more than 2.5 BILLION professed Christians in the world today.  However, what does it mean to be “Christian?”  This means to be “Christ-like.”  Or to follow the pattern of living and the teachings as taught by the Christ when he was here upon the earth.

     He instructed his followers to live their lives according to truth.  He also provided the answer as to what this meant.  At John 17:17 he informed people what should be our basis for truth.  “Your word is truth.”  So an individual should be learning what God’s word (the Bible) teaches and modify our life accordingly as did Jesus.  In accord with those criteria what about this?

      The vast majority of “Christians” have the belief that when they die, they will either go to “hell” if they have practiced “bad” during their life or they will go to “heaven” if they have lived a “good” life.  Let’s examine God’s word of truth in finding out what it really says about this.

     In the Genesis account of creation, only ONE stipulation was laid upon the man.  It is recorded in chapter 2, verses 16 and 17:  God laid this command upon him, that he could eat from every tree of the garden to satisfaction.  However, he was forbidden to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and bad.  It was plainly stated that if he should eat from it, he would die!  It is logical, therefore, to conclude that IF Adam HAD NOT eaten from that tree he would have continued to live and would still be living among us today, because there was no other stipulation for his existence to end.  Therefore there was never a condition where a human would have been allowed to exist in the heavenly realm.  But Adam had sinned and his actions resulted in his death and as the Apostle Paul later explained it (as recorded in the New International Version): “Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way, death came to all people, because all sinned.”  So, in fact, Adam is responsible for our dying today because of the sin he brought into the world.  Although he had been created perfect, he had now fallen short by his disobedience and “missed” the mark of perfection.  He could only pass on as an inheritance to his offspring that which he now possessed – sin and death!

     Now some will want to argue that yes, the body dies, but the soul lives on forever.  However, this is not what is stated in God’s word of truth.  In the English Standard Version (as well as many others), Ezekiel 18:20 states: “The soul who sins shall die.”  That’s a plain and very straight forward statement.  But we should not be surprised by that statement when we remember that in Genesis, we were told that Adam “became a living soul.”  Or a living being, or a living person.  A soul is therefore nothing but the living individual themselves and as such is susceptible to death or non-existence.

     Jesus himself better explained death to us.  As recorded in John 11:11 (New International Version), Jesus told his apostles, after he had learned that Lazarus was sick, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to wake him up.”    Then in verse 14 he plainly stated: “Lazarus is dead.”  Thus Jesus explained that death is like a very deep sleep from which a person may be awaken by the power of God.

     Consider this:  If you were applying for your license to be a lawyer, or a doctor, or a CPA, or any other controlled profession and you FAILED the exam for your license, would the testing board say, we’re going to reward him anyway and give him his license and let him practice his profession within our State?  I don’t think so!  You are not rewarded in any area for failing or “missing the mark” of the passing grade.  So why would God, although Adam had failed his test of obedience, reward him with life in heaven.  A condition that was never offered to him from the very beginning?

     Also consider this:  Why is it that all these “Christian” people who make the profession that when they die, they are going to heaven, try everything within their power to keep living any time a life-threatening situation comes upon them?  On many occasions, they are willing to try some extreme procedures or medications to extend their lives so they don’t die?  It’s quite simple to understand when we look at God’s word of truth.  As we are told in 1 Corinthians 15:26 in many translations: “The last enemy to be destroyed is death.”  Death is our enemy.  We were not supposed to experience death.  That’s why we try all that we can to “cheat” death from taking our lives every opportunity we can.

     What about this:  We must remember that because of the sin that Adam brought into the world, God’s purpose for mankind had to make a detour (so to speak).  A new arrangement had to be implemented so that humankind could be “reconciled to God through the death of his Son.” (Romans 5:10)  So it was arranged by God that “through his (Jesus) death he might bring to nothing the one having the means to cause death, that is, the Devil.” (Hebrews 2:14)  To accomplish a complete restoration of the situation, God “purposed for an administration at the full limit of the appointed times, to gather all things together in the Christ.” (Ephesians 1:10)  In Revelation 7:4 we are told that this administration will consist of Christ Jesus and 144,000 other individuals who have been selected by God to share in this arrangement in the heavens.

     As the apostle Paul mentions in his opening words of the bible book of Romans (1:7), he is writing “to all those who are in Rome as God’s beloved ones, called to be holy ones.”  This or a similar term is mentioned many times in the writings of the Greek Scriptures (New Testament).  So many of these writings are letters that were written with information to be share with those who had received that special invitation from God to be part of that administration with his Son in the heavens.

     Now, for just a moment, imagine that you found (or was given) a letter that had been written by the leaders of The United Brotherhood of Carpenters.  Within this letter it spoke of a future date when all the “brothers” of that organization would be meeting in a “special location” to oversee the future arrangements of the organization.  Would you immediately begin to make arrangements to travel to that location because you wanted to be part of that “administration?”  Or simply because you read the letter, would you immediately jump to the conclusion that all these things to occur applied to YOU?

     I don’t think you would.  But many “Christians” although feeling that they are to be rewarded with a gift of heavenly life, feel that everything they read in God’s word applies to them personally.  No, only a selected (by God) few will have that privilege of life in the heavens, but the vast majority of humankind will have the same prospects that were given to Adam when he was first created and place in the garden of Eden.  A prospect of a perfect life on a paradise earth.  Jesus told an evildoer on a stake alongside him shortly before his death, “… you will be with me in Paradise.” (Luke 23:42,43)  We now know that Jesus was not offering this evildoer a reward in heaven for his bad life.  But he was offering him the prospect of being resurrected to live in the new earth (or Paradise) that was to come.

     Two simple points for consideration have been highlighted within this blog post.  I certainly feel that they demonstrate that it is within our makeup to always want things our way or to take things for granted if we want them to be a certain way.  Sometimes even in the face of facts that demonstrate it is not going to happen.  That is the inclinations we have about so many situations, but then again, we’re only human!

QUOTE TO CONSIDER

THOUGHTFUL GEM

"Why do we long for the things 

for which we can not have 

and are never satisfied 

with what is given to us as a gift?"

Preparing for Old Age

      It is said that Socrates was once asked by a pupil, this question: "What kind of people shall we be when we reach Elysium?"   And the answer he was given was this: "We shall be the same kind of people that we were here."

     When I was younger my father, who I didn’t consider a well-educated man at the time, once told me: “Son, if you live long enough, you’ll be old!”  How true his words have turned out to be!

     Have you ever asked yourself, “What kind of a man shall I be tomorrow?”  “Oh, about the same kind of a man that I am now”, should be your answer.  The kind of a man (or woman) that I shall be next month depends upon the kind of a man (or woman) that I am preparing myself to be this month.

     If I am miserable today, it is not within the round of probabilities that I shall be supremely happy tomorrow. You have probably heard it said, “Practice makes perfect.”  However, you can “practice” something WRONG all day long and you will not be any closer to perfection than you were when you started.  You cannot do the same thing over and over again the same way and expect to get a different result!

     Everyday life is a preparation for the future; and the best preparation for the future is to live as if there were none!  This may sound strange, but consider: “If you want your life to improve and be better when you are older, you must begin NOW to make it that way in the future.  How many of us have looked back on our lives and wished that we had done things differently when we were younger?  There’s probably more of us than want to admit it.

     In this present world, we are preparing all the time for old age. From the moment of our birth, we begin to age.  That is a biological fact!  There are none of us who can escape it.  However, being older doesn’t have to the “down” side of our lives.  The two things that make old age beautiful are resignation and a just consideration for the rights of others.

     In the play of Ivan the Terrible, the interest centers around one man, the Czar Ivan.  If anybody but Richard Mansfield played the part, there would be nothing in it.  We simply get a glimpse into the life of a tyrant who has run the full gamut of grumpiness, selfishness and grouch.  Incidentally this man had the power to put other men to death, and this he does and has done as his whim and temper might dictate.  He has been vindictive, cruel, quarrelsome, tyrannical and terrible.  Now that he feels the approach of death, he would make his peace with God.  But he has delayed that matter too long.  He didn't realize in youth and middle life that he was then preparing for his old age and the consequences of his earlier actions.

     Man is the result of cause and effect, and the causes are to a degree in our hands.  Life is a fluid, and well has it been called the stream of life we are going, flowing somewhere.  Strip Ivan of his robes and crown, and he might be an old farmer and live in Ebenezer.  Every town and village have its own Ivan counter-part.  To be an Ivan, just turn your temper loose and practice cruelty on any person or thing within your reach, and the result will be a sure preparation for a querulous, quarrelsome, pickety, snippety, fussy and foolish old age, accented with many outbursts of wrath that are terrible in their futility and ineffectiveness.

     Babyhood has no monopoly on the tantrum.  The characters of King Lear and Ivan the Terrible have much in common.  One might almost believe that the writer of Ivan had felt the incompleteness of Lear, and had seen the absurdity of making a melodramatic bid for sympathy in behalf of this old man thrust out by his daughters.  Lear, the troublesome, Lear to whose limber tongue there was constantly leaping words unprintable and names of tar, deserves no soft pity at our hands.  All his life he had been training his three daughters for exactly the treatment he was to receive.  All his life Lear had been lubricating the chute that was to give him a quick ride out into that black midnight storm.  "Oh, how sharper than a serpent's tooth it is to have a thankless child," he cries.  There is something quite as bad as a thankless child, and that is a thankless parent an irate, irascible parent who possesses an underground vocabulary and a disposition to use it.

     The false note in Lear lies in giving to him a daughter like Cordelia.  Tolstoy and Mansfield ring true, and Ivan the Terrible is what he is without apology, excuse or explanation.  Take it or leave it if you do not like plays of this kind, go to see Vaudeville or some other comedy.  Or perhaps you are the type to consider something from the Marvel Universe!

     Mansfield's Ivan is terrible.  The Czar is not old in years not over seventy but you can see that Death is sniffing close upon his track.  Ivan has lost the power of repose.  He cannot listen, weigh and decide he has no thought or consideration for any man or thing this is his habit of life.  His bony hands are never still the fingers open and shut, and pick at things eternally.  He fumbles the cross on his breast, adjusts his jewels, scratches his cosmos, plays the devil's tattoo, gets up nervously and looks behind the throne, holds his breath to listen.  When people address him, he damns them savagely if they kneel, and if they stand upright, he accuses them of lack of respect.  He asks that he be relieved from the cares of state, and then trembles for fear his people will take him at his word.  When asked to remain ruler of Russia he proceeds to curse his councilors and accuses them of loading him with burdens that they themselves would not endeavor to bear.

     He is a victim of amor senilis, and right here if Mansfield took one step more his realism would be appalling, but he stops in time and suggests what he dares not express.  This tottering, doddering, slobbering, sniffling old man is in love he is about to wed a young, beautiful girl.  He selects jewels for her he makes remarks about what would become her beauty, jeers and laughs in cracked falsetto.  In the animality of youth there is something pleasing it is natural but the vices of an old man, when they have become only mental, are most revolting.

     The people about Ivan are in mortal terror of him, for he is still the absolute monarch he has the power to promote or disgrace, to take their lives or let them go free.  They laugh when he laughs, cry when he does, and watch his fleeting moods with thumping hearts.  He is intensely religious and affects the robe and cowl of a priest.  Around his neck hangs the crucifix.  His fear is that he will die with no opportunity of confession and absolution.  He prays to High Heaven every moment, kisses the cross, and his toothless old mouth interjects prayers to God and curses on man in the same breath.

     If anyone is talking to him, he looks the other way, slips down until his shoulders occupy the throne, scratches his leg, and keeps up a running comment of insult "Aye," "Oh," "Of course," "Certainly," "Ugh," "Listen to him now!"  There is a comedy side to all this which relieves the tragedy and keeps the play from becoming disgusting.  Glimpses of Ivan's past are given in his jerky confessions he is the most miserable and unhappy of men, and you behold that he is reaping as he has sown.

     All his life he has been preparing for this.  Each day has been a preparation for the next.  Ivan dies in a fit of wrath, hurling curses on his family and court, dies in a fit of wrath into which he has been purposely taunted by a man who knows that the outburst is certain to kill the weakened monarch.  Where does Ivan the Terrible go when Death closes his eyes?

     According to scriptural fact, he now lies in death, the place of “sleep” for those who have finished their life course.  But this I believe and know to be true, that in the case of Ivan and all others, no confessional can absolve them, nor any priest can benefit them.  He has damned himself, and he began the work in youth.  He was getting ready all his life for this old age, and this old age was getting ready for the final scene of his life.

     The playwright does not say so, Mansfield does not say so, but this is the lesson:  Hate is a poison, wrath is a toxin, sensuality leads to death clutching selfishness is a lighting of the fires of being cursed.  It is all a preparation cause and effect.

     We often hear of the beauties of old age, but the only old age that is beautiful is the one the man has long been preparing for by living a beautiful life.  Every one of us, regardless of our current age, are right now preparing for old age.

     Sadly, this is a reality that we often don’t realize until it is too late for us to make any necessary changes.  But we should still try to do so.  As part of our temperament, we try to stall off to the last minute the things that we should be working on constantly.  We tend to procrastinate on so many things within our lives.  However, preparing for our later years should not be one of them.  The biggest problem is we’re only human!

QUOTE TO CONSIDER

THOUGHTFUL GEM

"If only youth had the wisdom,

and old age had the strength!"

Fear and Reason

 

    "In civilized life it has at last become possible for large numbers of people to pass from the cradle to the grave without ever having had a pang of genuine fear.  Many of us need an attack of mental disease to teach us the meaning of the word."  William James.

     Within his first inauguration speech, Franklin D. Roosevelt, 32^nd President of the United States, said: “So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is...fear itself — nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.”

     We have all heard the seemingly discriminating remarks that fear is normal and abnormal, and that normal fear is to be regarded as a friend, while abnormal fear should be destroyed as an enemy.

     The fact is that no so-called normal fear can be named which has not been clearly absent in some people who have had every cause for fear.  If you will run over human history in your mind, or look about within the present life, you will find here and there persons who, in situations or before circumstances which should, as any fearful soul will insist, to inspire the feeling of at least normal self-protecting fear, are nevertheless wholly without the feeling.  They possess every feeling and thought demanded except fear.  The concept of self-preservation is as strongly present as with the most abjectly timid or terrified, but fear they do not know. This fearless awareness of fear suggesting conditions may be due to several causes.  It may result from constitutional make-up, or from long continued training or habituation, or from religious ecstasy, or from a perfectly calm sense of spiritual selfhood which is unhurtable, or from the action of very exalted reason.  Whatever the explanation, the fact remains: the very causes which excite fear in most of us, merely appeal, with such people, if at all. to the instinct of self-preservation and to reason, the thought-element of the soul which makes for personal peace and wholeness.

     It is on such considerations that I have come to hold that all real fear-feeling should and may be banished or removed from our life, and that what we call "normal fear" should be substituted in our language by "instinct" or by "reason," the element of fear being dropped altogether, knowing that whatever the situation, we are able to deal with it or, at least, successfully endure it until conditions change.

     "Everyone can testify that the psychical state called fear consists of mental representations of certain painful results" (William James).  The mental representations may be very faint as such, but the idea of hurt to self is surely present.  If, then, it can be profoundly believed that the real self cannot be hurt; if the reason can be brought to consider vividly and believingly all quieting considerations; and is surely within that self will suffer "no evil " while all the instincts of self-preservation may be perfectly active, fear itself must be removed "as far as the east is from the west."

     How is it that we are to view fear?  There are several ways that can be considered:

     As a warning and as a maker of panic.  But let me say that the warning should be understood as given to reason, that fear need not appear at all, and that the panic is perfectly useless pain. With these discriminations in mind, we may now go on to a preliminary study of fear.

     Fear is (a) an impulse, (b) a habit, (c) a disease.

     Fear, as it exists in man, is a make-believe of sanity, a creature of the imagination, a state of insanity as considered by many.

     Furthermore, fear is, now of the nerves, now of the mind, now of the moral consciousness.

     The division depends upon your point of view.  What is commonly called normal fear should give place to reason, using the word to cover instinct as well as thought.  From the correct point of view all fear is an evil so long as it is entertained.

     Whatever its manifestations, wherever its apparent location, fear is a psychic state, of course, reacting upon the individual in several ways: as, in the nerves, in mental moods, in a single impulse, in a chronic habit, in a totally unbalanced condition.  The reaction has always a good intention, meaning, in each case, "Take care! Danger!"  You will see that this is so if you will look for a moment at a couple of comprehensive kinds of fear:  fear of self and fear for others.  Fear of self is indirectly fear for self-danger.  Fear for others signifies fore-sensed or fore-pictured distress to self because of the anticipated misfortune to others.  I often wonder whether, when we fear for others, it is distress to self or hurt to them that is most emphatically in our thoughts?

     Fear, then, is usually regarded as the soul's danger signal.  But the true signal is instinctive and thoughtful reason.

     Even instinct and reason, acting as a warning, may perform their duty abnormally, or assume abnormal proportions.  And then we have the feeling of fear.  The normal warning is induced by actual danger apprehended by the mind in a state of balance and self-control.  A normal mind is always capable of such warnings.  

     Let it be understood, now, that by normal fear it is here meant normal reason, real fear being denied place and function altogether.  Then we may say that such an action of reason is a benefactor to man and thereby to ourselves.  It is, with pain and weariness, the philanthropy of the nature of things within us.

     One person may say: "Tired? There is no such word in my house!"  Now this cannot be a sound and healthy attitude.  Weariness, at a certain stage of effort, is a signal to stop work. When one becomes so absorbed in his labor as to lose consciousness of the feeling of weariness, he has issued a "hurry up call" on death.  I do not deny that a person may cultivate a sublime sense of buoyancy and power; rather do I urge you to seek that beautiful condition; but I hold that when a belief or a hallucination refuses to permit you to hear the warning of nerves and muscles, nature will work disaster inevitably.  Let us stand for the larger liberty which is joyously free to take advantage of everything nature may offer for true well-being.  There is a partial liberty which tries to realize itself by denying various realities as real; there is a higher liberty which really realizes itself by conceding such realities as real and by using or not using them as occasion may require in the interest of the self at its best.  I hold this to be true wisdom: to take advantage of everything which evidently promises good to the self, without regard to this or that theory, and freely to use all things, material or immaterial, reasonable or spiritual.  I embrace your science or your method; but I beg to ignore your bondage to philosophy or to consistency.  So I say that to normal health the weary-sense is a rational command to replenish exhausted nerves and muscles.  A situation that should not go on ignored.

     It is not liberty, it is not healthful, it is not even rational, to declare, "There is no pain!"  Pain does exist, whatever you affirm, and your affirmation that it does not is proof that it does exist, for why (and how) declare the non-existence of something which actually is non-existent?  But if you say, "As a matter of fact I have pain, but I am earnestly striving to ignore it, and to cultivate thought-health so that the cause of pain may be removed," that is sane and beautiful. This is the commendable attitude of the Bible character who cried: "Lord, I have faith; help me where I need more faith.”  To undertake swamping pain with a cloud of psychological fog merely thinking that it does not exist, is lunacy!  By pain, nature, in fact, our whole body, informs an individual that he is somehow out of order and needs to give attention to this matter.  This warning is normal.  The feeling becomes abnormal in the mind when ones imagination pricks the nerves with reiterated irritation, and ones “will”, confused by the discord and the psychic chaos, cowers and shivers with fear.

     I do not say there is no such thing as fear.  Fear does exist.  But it exists in your life by your permission only, not because it is needful as a warning against "evil."

     Fear is induced by unduly magnifying actual danger, or by conjuring up fictitious dangers through excessive and misdirected psychical reactions.  This also may be taken as a signal of danger, but it is a falsely-intentioned witness, for it is not needed, is hostile to the individual because it threatens self-control, and it absorbs life's forces in useless and destructive work when they ought to be engaged in creating values.  However, this is the nature of our make-up because we’re only human!  

QUOTE TO CONSIDER

THOUGHTFUL GEM

"On the other side of fear,

can be great happiness!"
  

Home

      When I was younger, I heard a little story that went like this:  Watch the kids coming home from school on a day that there has been a rain.  Observe which kids are very careful to avoid stepping into mud puddles and which kids simple jump into them to see what kind of splash they are able to make.  The kids who avoid the puddles have (1) had to pay for their own shoes, or (2) appreciate what their parents had to pay for those shoes.

     I wonder if the same could apply today for housing?  Today in various areas of the country there are HUD housing programs, housing choice voucher programs, rural rental assistant programs, transitional living programs for homeless youth, continuum of care homeless assistance programs, adjustable-rate mortgage insurance, and probably many other types of programs.  First off, don’t get me wrong.  These programs serve a housing assistance need in many areas and are very much apricated by many people.  However, have you ever gone into areas of your community and noticed that some people who live in housing provided under these programs are very (I’ll say) lax about their care for the property.

     Many times you see lawns unkept, screens missing, windows broken out, doors broken or even missing, and many other things.  Does this show little appreciation what has been provided for them under these programs that are often financially supported by others who do not have the need or meet the qualifications to such housing?  What would be your opinion of such a person who would live under these conditions and not demonstrate a truly respectful attitude toward their home and the programs that made available to them what they are able to enjoy?

     Once you have gotten this mental image into your head think about the topic on a much larger scale.  Consider this beautiful planet Earth that we call home.  What is our attitude and how do we demonstrate your appreciation for it?

     In 2020 it was reported that over 237 million recreation visits were made to the national parks in the United States alone.  Sadly many of these visitors left the parks in worse condition than they found them.  You have probably heard of such situations even within your local community parks.  Some areas report that it costs millions in repairs and clean-up to parks for vandalism, graffiti, and trash that is left by individuals and families that visit.  This does not include the damage that can be done by “homeless communities” that are set-up in some park areas.

     Also consider the pollution that is done on a constant daily basis.  The air, rivers, and soil that become almost unbearable to live with.  And in our parks consider the damage and destruction that is done to the wildlife in the area because of our carelessness or even intentional abuse of the planet’s resources? 

     If you were the owner of such property where such damage and abuse was being done, what would you do to your tenants?  Would you simply “look the other way” or hope that they would do better someday?  Or would you take action to evict them from the premises and let a more appreciative tenant take care of your property? 

     We should not overlook the fact that we are mere temporary residents upon this planet and soon it’s owner (our Creator) is going to take the action necessary to protect and preserve his valuable property.  For those people who claim to believe that the bible is the Word of God, they should take heed to its warning at Revelation 11:18.  As many translations state that soon God will destroy those who destroy (or are ruining) the earth.

     The problem is that many do not feel they are obligated to show proper appreciation for what they have been given to enjoy and they don’t mind ruining it for others who would deeply appreciate it.  That seems to be the problem for many because we’re only human!

QUOTE TO CONSIDER

THOUGHTFUL GEM

"Leave your footprint

unnoticed in the soil."

Yesterday

      If we think back in our lives there are probably many times and moments that we wish we could have a “do over.”  But we know that is not possible.  When I was growing up, I had a great interest in music.  I’m sure many of you did.  I enjoyed listening to the songs that were popular at that time and I played in a rock ‘n roll band.  One of my favorite groups at the time (and their music is still enjoyable to hear) was the Beatles.

     One of their songs (although it was done by Paul only) that I particularly enjoyed was “Yesterday.”  It was released in the United States as a single in 1965.  It was considered a melancholy ballad about the break-up of a relationship.  I never realized at the time how much truth there was in the lyrics.  That was a time when songs were written and performed to have some type of meaning behind them.  Today I don’t keep up with the songwriters particularly, but it seems that most of the music no longer makes sense to me.  Perhaps it has to do with my getting older.  I’m not sure.

     However, getting back to the song “Yesterday.”  The chorus of the song helps us to understand that this song has to do with a personal break-up and it’s the theme that is repeated by the lines of the chorus. 

     “Why she had to go, I don’t know, she wouldn’t say.

     I said something wrong, now I long for yesterday.”

     This desire to return to a time when the couples situation was in better condition can be understood by many of us.  We long to return to days that have passed and have things the way they were before we made some type of mistake or changes came that we no longer are happy with.  However, knowing that we cannot do that, we at times “long for yesterday.”

     However, to me it is the other lines of the song that have come to resonate with the sounds of truth within a persons life.  Consider the first opening words of verse one of the tune:  “All my troubles seemed so far away.  Now it looks as though they’re here to stay.”  When we were younger it’s as though we had no problems at all.  As our lives continued to advance the problems of living began to grow upon us, until within our later years it seems that these problems cannot be avoided or in many cases improved.  Yesterday was the time we should have enjoyed the lives we had and now we realized that things were going to become much more difficult to deal with.

     The song continues in verse two to tell us:  “I’m not half the man I used to be.  There’s a shadow hanging over me.”  Because of pains and afflictions our lives change.  We are no longer able to do the things we once did without even giving thought to our actions.  At times circumstances beyond our control are at work and at other times it is due to the circumstances that we bring upon ourselves.  Whatever the case my be for us, we come to recognize that we’re “not half the man (or woman) we used to be.”  And as we continue to travel down the road of life, barring any unforeseen occurrence, all we really have to look forward to is death.  Yes, that “shadow’s hanging over” us. 

     The last bit of information shared with us in the song in verse three tells us that yesterday, “love was such an easy game to play.  Now I need a place to hide away.”    In most circumstances when younger we never truly considered the feels of others.  We were only concerned with our own gratification.  Love, indeed, was some type of “game” we could play and if we were not satisfied with the results of our “game,” we would simply move on to another player and see if we could get a better outcome.  Now, however, we often have to find a “place to hide away” our love because we very often become the “prey” of the careless and loveless actions of others.  We become the “victim” of the “games” consequences and our hearts become more pained than we could have ever imagined.

     If you would like to recall this precious song, give it a listen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrgmdOz227I

     It was a simply written song when I first heard it.  The lyrics flow so smoothly that you do not imagine that there could be such power behind the words.  But when you take the time to look back on that simple tune you will see how well it describes the lives of many of us.  Could things have been different?  Would we have been better if we could have remained in that pleasant realm of “yesterday”?  There’s no way for us to know for certain.  However, we know that we can look back on our lives, at times, with regrets for things we have done.  Or perhaps for the things we didn’t do.  Being able to do that simply reminds us that we’re only human!

QUOTE TO CONSIDER

THOUGHTFUL GEM

"Learn from your prior mistakes, 

but keep your eyes on the goals of tomorrow,

yesterday is gone!"

Thoughts

      There is an old saying “It is the thought that counts.”  Well, the “old saying” may not be as old as you think it is.  The proverb is credited to Henry van Dyke Jr, a Presbyterian clergyman.  He was also a writer and poet, and is said to have coined the phrase about 1906: “It is not the gift, but the thought that counts.”  As with many proverbs and idioms, only the latter half of the phrase is generally quoted, the listener is expected to supply the beginning of the phrase for himself.

     There is also another saying: “You can’t have it both ways.”  When someone tells you this they are trying to tell you that you have to choose between two things and cannot do or have them both.  Yet, that is often the very thing we want as humans.  At least when it comes to having “our thoughts count.”  What could I possibly mean by that?

     Let’s consider two different examples and try to understand.  First, when the thought is to our advantage.  Here we may be in a situation, perhaps as parents with our children, perhaps as co-workers at our jobs, or whatever the case may be.  We have given a gift to someone and it is not exactly what we had hoped to be able to give them.  Maybe we waited too long in procuring the gift and the item we had truly wanted was no longer available or perhaps we simply did not have enough money to purchase the item we had wanted to get, so we were obliged to get something less expensive.  However matters had worked out, we probably gave them the gift and upon their opening it, we said: “Remember, it’s the thought that counts.”  Thus implying to them that although the gift may not be up to the caliber or price tag that we had desired (or also perhaps them) we did think of getting them something!  That is the situation where we want to be looked at in a better light than perhaps the gift puts us in.

     The other scenario is that of not wanting our thoughts to condemn us or put us in the suspicious circumstance of appearing guilty.   We might say something like: “Don’t hold my thoughts against me.”  There are times we do this to ourselves saying that we have been having some disturbing, awful thoughts that make us feel hopeless, unloved or even unlovable and we don’t want such thoughts held against us.

    Probably the worst situation would be one that involves the police.  You have probably seen those television crime shows in which the police have apprehended a suspect and began reading them their Miranda Rights: “You have the right to remain silent.  Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law…”  That is probably not the time to start letting your “thoughts” spill out of your mouth into words that you will probably regret later.  It could well be that your “thoughts” put into speech could be very damaging to you at a future time.

     But recall that we can’t have it both ways.  We cannot have our thoughts as an excuse for what we don’t do and yet have our thoughts as an ally for what we do!  One way or the other we are going to have to face the situation and deal with it the best we can.  It would always be our desire that we can “pick and choose” the way we want things to be done and many times that is exactly what we can do.  But most of the times we must make a choice and that seems to be the problem because we’re only human!    

QUOTE TO CONSIDER

THOUGHTFUL GEM

"Your thoughts may not be conceivable.

Your intentions are!"

Missing

      It is reported by the National Missing and Unidentified Persons database that more than 600,00 people of all ages go missing every year!  While the vast majority of these cases are resolved relatively quickly, there still remains more than 17,000 missing person cases and 13,000 unidentified body cases open in the United States.  If we assumed that the 13,000 unidentified bodies are part of those 17,000 missing persons that still leaves some 4,000 people who are GONE!  What has happened to these people?  Where did they go?  Have their bodies simply just not been found?  Or is there a more sinister underlying condition in play here?  And I am only considering figures from the United States.  Although reports can be a bit sketchy what would this figure be if we considered the entire world?

     However, some of those missing individuals are never found and no real explanation for their disappearance is given.  If you’d like to consider a list of some of these cases go to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_who_disappeared_mysteriously:_post-1990 .  I’d like to take a few moments and consider a few of them more in detail and offer my opinion.  The reason I will consider these particular cases is that the information provided on them indicate that perhaps there was some “strange” implications along with the investigations.  I am not here trying to provide an explanation to the solving of these cases, just my opinion.

     Paige Renkoski:  Paige went missing on May 24, 1990.  She was last seen talking to a man on the shoulder of Interstate 96 near Fowlerville, Michigan.  This is one of Michigan’s longest running cold cases.  According to witnesses, she had seemed upset when seen talking to two African American men on the shoulder of Interstate 96.  Hours later the 1986 Oldsmobile Cutlass Calais she had been driving was found still idling, with her shoes and purse inside.  There was no sign of Paige.

     Fowlerville is about 30 miles southeast of Lansing, Michigan and about 75 miles northwest of Detroit.  According to Michigan MUFON State Director, there are hundreds of UFO sightings reported each year in the state of Michigan.  True, the vast majority are resolved as something of clearly human origin and simply a visual misconception of what was seen.  However, there are many that remain unexplained in this state as is the case in many other areas.  Greater Lansing itself has had no shortage of strange sights: floating orbs, illuminated discs, silver teardrops and hovering objects.  And Detroit has not been left out of the limelight.  Over the course of 2021, there have been 12 reported UFO sightings in Michigan, several of which occurred in the metro Detroit area, according to the National UFO Reporting Center.  Actually, Michigan ranks 11^th in the Center’s ranking of overall sightings within the United States.  We also have to remember that we are dealing with REPORTED cases.  How many sightings and/or contacts may go unreported by individuals?  Could it even be possible that individuals who might have a sighting or contact have been “programmed” to forget the incident or in some other manner had the memory of the sighting or contact “removed” from their minds? 

     You may also be familiar with the Michigan Triangle.  This is an area on lake Michigan were planes and boats disappear.  It is scarier than the Bermuda Triangle because it is not located in the middle of the ocean but it’s much closer to land.  Is it possible that such an area COULD exist in various locations ON the land and perhaps it is a “moveable” climatic effect that appears and disappears from locations at various times? 

     Could Paige have been caught in such an event?  Or could she be the victim of “alien abduction”?  Perhaps there is another explanation that we have yet to even consider?

     Joe Keller:  The 18-year-old who vanished from a dude ranch in Colorado’s Rio Grande National Forest in July, 2015.  The summer between his freshman and sophomore years at Cleveland State Community College he had gone on a road trip with his buddies Collin Gwaltney and Christian Fetzner traveling to Las Vegas, San Francisco, and the Grand Canyon before heading to his aunt and uncle’s dude ranch in the San Juan Mountains in southwestern Colorado.

     The full details of this incident can be read at https://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/exploration-survival/leave-no-trace/ but here I will simply consider a few brief details.

     Joe and his buddies went on a run likely along Forest Road 250 which was to be about an hourlong run.  Afterwards several people related how they had seen Joe on various locations during the run; however, after the others had completed the run and waited for Joe they returned to the ranch.  Hours passed and NO Joe!

     A small patrol of ranch hands went looking for him and eventually the search engaged about 15 dogs and 200 people on foot, horseback, and ATVs.  But with these and other efforts Joe was not found.  Robert Koester, a.k.a. Professor Rescue, commented: “I’m a scientist.  I’m fond of Occam’s razor.” That’s the principle that the simplest explanation usually holds true.  He continued: “You could have a band of terrorists tie him to a tree and interrogate him.  Is it possible?  Yes.  Is it likely?  No.”

     After some time had passed John Rienstra, a search and rescue hobbyist, discovered Joe’s body in a boulder field below the cliff band, less than two miles, as the crow flies, from the ranch.  The preliminary cause of death was “blunt force trauma to the head.”  It seems that Koester and his Occam’s razor theory was the correct way to go.  But there were still many unexplained details about the situation according to Joe’s mother.

     Knowing the reputation of the Colorado mountain areas as I do, perhaps another theory would be that Joe had an encounter with a Bigfoot that wasn’t very interested in sharing his habitat with Joe.  Or could it fall back on simply being the outcome of an unexpected falling accident after all?  We may never really know the truth.

     But as humans we are often so highly emotional that the wild and fantastical explanation is the one, we want to believe.  We want to think that there are things of fantasy that we will never understand or explain and therefore will never be able to realize the truth about the physical world in which we live.  At times it may only be a coping mechanism so that we can deal with various tragedies in our lives.  Whatever the case may be, the simple fact remains that we’re only human!  

QUOTE TO CONSIDER

THOUGHTFUL GEM

"Of all the things I've ever lost,

I miss my mind the most!"

Travel

      With many people having been isolated within their homes for so long due to the Covid pandemic recently, now that some restrictions are being lifting it seems that one thing everyone wants to do is travel!  Some want to get away to the mountains, some will prefer to be at the ocean, others just want to get away to somewhere new!  One consideration might be to do your “Google” search and come up with some ideas that you probably haven’t thought about.  One such site (https://www.travelandleisure.com/trip-ideas/best-places-to-travel-in-2021 ) gives you a list of “the 50 best places to travel in 2021.”  Now maybe one of those places listed will be just the location you have been thinking about, but weren’t exactly sure the spot that it might be?

     However, there are many serious considerations that must be given before you simply pack up the family and “take off.”  Especially is this true if you are wanting to visit somewhere outside the continental United States.  There are health factors, to be sure, but these are not the only considerations that you will need to think about.  Is the place you are wanting to go to a safe place?  Now it seems that areas that at one time were considered a “family” location may not be viewed in that perspective today.  You must also consider the time factor.  Some years ago it was simple to make a plane reservation, show up at the airport, fly for a few hours (or less) and enjoy your destination until it was time to return.  Now you might show up at the airport (especially upon your return flight) and find out that the flight has been cancelled and now you and your family are stranded for who knows how long?

     This also brings into the play another factor that must be considered: money!  Not only will you need to have enough money for the trip itself, but your spending considerations while you are enjoying your vacation will need to calculated very carefully and then you may need to have access to additional money in the event that unforeseen circumstances develop and you are having to spend more than you anticipated on delays or lay-overs.

     And I haven’t begun to mention other circumstances that might arise during such a vacation venture, such as, locations shut down that you will not be able to visit, the arise of unpredicted weather conditions that hamper your vacation, civil unrest in the location where you will be travelling to, and any number of other things that might develop in today’s political and civil climate.

     Now what I am about to suggest as an alternative will not appeal to all, probably not to the majority.  Believe me I understand the desire to physically be at a specific location and enjoy the feeling of soaking up the local flavor.  But as an alternative and a way to save money, time, and other headaches, have you considered purchasing a book on the location you might like to visit or even a travel video about the location?

     It wouldn’t truly be the same and I understand that, but it would give you an idea about the anticipated location and maybe at another time you would be able to arrange a personal visit and would find the visit much more enjoyable since you now know more about it than you previously did?

     The 50 places mentioned in the above referenced website all deal with locations within the Untied States.  However, with travelling by means of books and/or videos you are not limited by expensive costs or time constraints about where you might like to visit.  You would be amazed about the fascinating locations where you will enjoy learning about the culture, climate and opportunities from many parts of the world.

     Yet, I know that the inner desire will be to travel to these locations yourself regardless of some of the risks that might be involved or the costs or the time constraints because we are always wanting to have “first-hand” experiences for ourselves within our lives and with our families.  And that is only natural because, we’re only human!

QUOTE TO CONSIDER

THOUGHTFUL GEM

"No two people will experience

a vacation in the same way."