How sad and lonely it must be when you have reached the end of your life finding yourself totally alone and feeling no one cares for you.
Once I was in a Rest Home visiting my mother who was very ill and dying of cancer. My heart was full of misery and I could barely reason with life itself. As I left her room and began walking the long hallway out of the building, I could not help but to hear a woman crying in a room that I was passing. As she sobbed, she was repeating over and over, “No body loves me.” “No body cares for me.” “I’m all alone.”
I stopped and looked into the room. There she lay on the bed, tears streaming from her eyes, looking very fragile. Her hair was thin and grey and she appeared very old from her apparent illness and loneliness. I walked into her room and placed my hand on her arm; she looked up at me and a flood of tears poured from her eyes. She began repeating the things that had caught my attention and grasped my hand.
She asked, “Who are you?” “What do you want, now?” I said, “My dear, I don’t want anything. I only want to tell you that I love you.” She went limp and softly wept. I stood there a few minutes longer and it appeared she was falling asleep. I pulled her sheet up over her shoulders and turned to leave with tears in my eyes.
As I turned towards the door, I noticed two nurses standing there who had been watching. I met their eyes, and they too, were filled with tears. I regained my composure and as I walked by them, one of them said, “Thank you son.”
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
THOSE 30 AND OVER
Those 30 and older were allowed to be kids growing up and were raised by parental guidance and training before media influence, lawyers and government regulating our lives for our own good.
Society has gone nuts today! Now there are those demanding that we take God out of the Pledge of Allegiance, out of our schools and off our money. It seems no one can say or do anything naturally without offending someone. Everything has to be "politically correct." Our constitution is being attacked and our school systems have turned into havens for many idiots who are teaching our children how to be idiots. (This is not to say all teachers are idiots. There are many great teachers who have devoted their lives to teach the best they can, but even most of them are struggling to get kids to learn.)
I had the opportunity to review and grade many high school level tests and was shocked to find that many kids who are about to graduate cannot even do the simplest of math and have no idea how to write. Many parents today seem to have no idea what parenting is about. It seems they would rather be friends or buddies with their children instead of teaching them to be independent and capable to support themselves.
Unlike most of us who are at least 30 years old, many kids are not being taught in the home to do much of anything today. How many kids know how to cook anymore? How many believe it’s something they should know? How many kids are being forced, or at least encouraged to go to Church? When I was growing up, our parents made us go to Church whether we wanted to or not. Girls were taught by their mothers how to cook and boys were taught to take on responsibility. We all had to do chores…and we were not paid to do them!
One of the worst things that have happened to ruin kids today is the explosive media influence on them. Kids are getting their values from the movies and TV programs they watch and the music they listen to. Parents cannot compete with the garbage that is being directed at their children. Many children have turned into selfish and narcissist fools; so absorbed with them selves, that they have no inclination to learn much of anything worthwhile to live by.
Look at the girls nowadays. Many of them dress and act like prostitutes. They wear their pants so tight that one has to wonder how they got them on. Not wearing underwear is the “in thing” today for many girls. If boys tried some of the things girls are getting away with today, they would be arrested for indecent exposure. Even the youngest little girls are trying hard to show “cleavage,” another girl fad today, instilled in them from the media. I am not a Pruitt, but how much different is cleavage that girls are showing from that of the top of a buttocks crack when someone, especially a large person, is bending over? I am sure everyone has seen this kind of exposure at some time. These cleavages seem to look very similar to me and are unimpressive and unattractive. Many girls act as though they are sex goddesses, very much like the picture perfect models and actresses they see on TV and in movies.
Our parents were allowed to raise their children without government regulation. When we disobeyed our parents, or mouthed off to them, we were punished, and I mean punished, not given a “time out,” and then babied. We had no inclination to tell our teachers that our parents punished us to get them into trouble. It was the parents right to punish their children.
Our parents did not allow us to sit in the house and eat anytime and anything we wanted. No way did we open and close the refrigerator all day long looking for snacks. We certainly did not drink out of the bottle of milk or juice and then put it back in the fridge. That kind of behavior was forbidden and punished. We were, however, allowed to drink from the water hose outdoors…OMG! (For those who are computer lingo challenged, OMG stands for OH MY GOD, and is very commonly used by children today.
We always spent our time outside! As long as we were back by the time it started getting dark, we could leave in the morning and play all day.
We were allowed to build and test things and if they failed, we learned from our failures and learned to solve problems. Getting a little scratched up or bruised was not a reason to be rushed to the emergency room.
We did not have MP3 players, Nintendo's, iPods, X-boxes, video games, play stations, 250 channels on cable, video movies, DVD's, surround-sound, CD's, cell phones, personal computers, Internet or chat rooms, but “WE HAD FRIENDS and we were outside finding them!” We had no problem walking or riding our bikes to a friend’s home and knocking on the door to visit them! Imagine walking!!
If we entered contests and failed or tried out for sports and could not make it, we learned to deal with the disappointment! And our parents did not try to sue someone. Imagine that?
If we broke the law, our parents did not bail us out. They made us face up and serve the punishment for our actions. If we landed in jail, we stayed there. Then, they also punished us!
We did not treat teachers, neighbors or older people disrespectfully. If we did, they could punish us and our parents approved.
We had freedom to fail or succeed. Some of the best problem solvers, risk-takers, and inventors ever, came from our time! We learned that life is pretty much what you make it, or I should say how our Parents guided and taught us without government meddling and media influence.
Society has gone nuts today! Now there are those demanding that we take God out of the Pledge of Allegiance, out of our schools and off our money. It seems no one can say or do anything naturally without offending someone. Everything has to be "politically correct." Our constitution is being attacked and our school systems have turned into havens for many idiots who are teaching our children how to be idiots. (This is not to say all teachers are idiots. There are many great teachers who have devoted their lives to teach the best they can, but even most of them are struggling to get kids to learn.)
I had the opportunity to review and grade many high school level tests and was shocked to find that many kids who are about to graduate cannot even do the simplest of math and have no idea how to write. Many parents today seem to have no idea what parenting is about. It seems they would rather be friends or buddies with their children instead of teaching them to be independent and capable to support themselves.
Unlike most of us who are at least 30 years old, many kids are not being taught in the home to do much of anything today. How many kids know how to cook anymore? How many believe it’s something they should know? How many kids are being forced, or at least encouraged to go to Church? When I was growing up, our parents made us go to Church whether we wanted to or not. Girls were taught by their mothers how to cook and boys were taught to take on responsibility. We all had to do chores…and we were not paid to do them!
One of the worst things that have happened to ruin kids today is the explosive media influence on them. Kids are getting their values from the movies and TV programs they watch and the music they listen to. Parents cannot compete with the garbage that is being directed at their children. Many children have turned into selfish and narcissist fools; so absorbed with them selves, that they have no inclination to learn much of anything worthwhile to live by.
Look at the girls nowadays. Many of them dress and act like prostitutes. They wear their pants so tight that one has to wonder how they got them on. Not wearing underwear is the “in thing” today for many girls. If boys tried some of the things girls are getting away with today, they would be arrested for indecent exposure. Even the youngest little girls are trying hard to show “cleavage,” another girl fad today, instilled in them from the media. I am not a Pruitt, but how much different is cleavage that girls are showing from that of the top of a buttocks crack when someone, especially a large person, is bending over? I am sure everyone has seen this kind of exposure at some time. These cleavages seem to look very similar to me and are unimpressive and unattractive. Many girls act as though they are sex goddesses, very much like the picture perfect models and actresses they see on TV and in movies.
Our parents were allowed to raise their children without government regulation. When we disobeyed our parents, or mouthed off to them, we were punished, and I mean punished, not given a “time out,” and then babied. We had no inclination to tell our teachers that our parents punished us to get them into trouble. It was the parents right to punish their children.
Our parents did not allow us to sit in the house and eat anytime and anything we wanted. No way did we open and close the refrigerator all day long looking for snacks. We certainly did not drink out of the bottle of milk or juice and then put it back in the fridge. That kind of behavior was forbidden and punished. We were, however, allowed to drink from the water hose outdoors…OMG! (For those who are computer lingo challenged, OMG stands for OH MY GOD, and is very commonly used by children today.
We always spent our time outside! As long as we were back by the time it started getting dark, we could leave in the morning and play all day.
We were allowed to build and test things and if they failed, we learned from our failures and learned to solve problems. Getting a little scratched up or bruised was not a reason to be rushed to the emergency room.
We did not have MP3 players, Nintendo's, iPods, X-boxes, video games, play stations, 250 channels on cable, video movies, DVD's, surround-sound, CD's, cell phones, personal computers, Internet or chat rooms, but “WE HAD FRIENDS and we were outside finding them!” We had no problem walking or riding our bikes to a friend’s home and knocking on the door to visit them! Imagine walking!!
If we entered contests and failed or tried out for sports and could not make it, we learned to deal with the disappointment! And our parents did not try to sue someone. Imagine that?
If we broke the law, our parents did not bail us out. They made us face up and serve the punishment for our actions. If we landed in jail, we stayed there. Then, they also punished us!
We did not treat teachers, neighbors or older people disrespectfully. If we did, they could punish us and our parents approved.
We had freedom to fail or succeed. Some of the best problem solvers, risk-takers, and inventors ever, came from our time! We learned that life is pretty much what you make it, or I should say how our Parents guided and taught us without government meddling and media influence.
Monday, July 14, 2008
WATERBOARDING
SOME SAY CIA’s TACTIC OR HARCH INTEROGATION TECHNIQUE OF “WATERBOARDING LEADS TO QUESTIONABLE CONFESSIONS.
There is a lot of buzz today about “Waterboarding,” a torture tactic used by our Military, or specifically by the CIA, to try and get information from the enemy. The process involves tying down a person on his or her back and tilting that person downward, and then pouring water over the face and breathing nostrils. It causes a feeling of drowning and imminent death.
Generally, to the lay person, or non-military citizen, any form of torture is barbaric and should not be exercised. This has to be due to the lack of knowledge of its usefulness in wartime. Granted, torture seems to be excessive and cruel, but take a moment and think about it.
I was an infantry soldier in the U.S. Army and fought in the Vietnam War. I witnessed much suffering and many deaths on both sides during heavy battles, and after repeated attacks on us by the enemy, I soon realized that if we could use some form of torture to obtain useful information to survive and to be one step ahead of the enemy, it would be worth it.
There were times when we captured enemy combatants, who we believed had information that could help us prevent a lot of bloodshed, but because we had to conduct ourselves by the code of conduct set out by the Geneva Conference, forbidding torture, we could not force it out of them.
On occasion, the enemy entered a village and killed most of its able bodied men, then waited for us to arrive and walk into an ambush. Had we been able to force information from our captives, in advance, we may have had a chance to prevent some of these atrocities.
Torturing anyone is not for the faint of heart, but after spending some time fighting, one begins to harden and realize that if torture is the only way to gain valuable information to prevent suffering and death, then it has to be considered a necessary tactic in wartime.
Occasionally, when we suspected that our captives knew something we needed, but we could not get it out of them, we turned them over to the South Vietnamese soldiers, who often fought along with us.
These fighters sometimes used tactics that we could not exercise to make the enemy talk. For example, they would take the enemy combatants up in a helicopter and push them out, or drag them alive through the jungle behind a PC (personnel carrier). You would be surprised at how much useful information was gained that could be used to prevent suffering of a larger scale. (Of course a lot of this may not be admitted or discussed today.)
When the subject of torture is discussed, it would be wise to not condemn it without knowing how necessary and useful it is during wartime. In other words don't argue and rant and rave over something you know nothing about.
There is a lot of buzz today about “Waterboarding,” a torture tactic used by our Military, or specifically by the CIA, to try and get information from the enemy. The process involves tying down a person on his or her back and tilting that person downward, and then pouring water over the face and breathing nostrils. It causes a feeling of drowning and imminent death.
Generally, to the lay person, or non-military citizen, any form of torture is barbaric and should not be exercised. This has to be due to the lack of knowledge of its usefulness in wartime. Granted, torture seems to be excessive and cruel, but take a moment and think about it.
I was an infantry soldier in the U.S. Army and fought in the Vietnam War. I witnessed much suffering and many deaths on both sides during heavy battles, and after repeated attacks on us by the enemy, I soon realized that if we could use some form of torture to obtain useful information to survive and to be one step ahead of the enemy, it would be worth it.
There were times when we captured enemy combatants, who we believed had information that could help us prevent a lot of bloodshed, but because we had to conduct ourselves by the code of conduct set out by the Geneva Conference, forbidding torture, we could not force it out of them.
On occasion, the enemy entered a village and killed most of its able bodied men, then waited for us to arrive and walk into an ambush. Had we been able to force information from our captives, in advance, we may have had a chance to prevent some of these atrocities.
Torturing anyone is not for the faint of heart, but after spending some time fighting, one begins to harden and realize that if torture is the only way to gain valuable information to prevent suffering and death, then it has to be considered a necessary tactic in wartime.
Occasionally, when we suspected that our captives knew something we needed, but we could not get it out of them, we turned them over to the South Vietnamese soldiers, who often fought along with us.
These fighters sometimes used tactics that we could not exercise to make the enemy talk. For example, they would take the enemy combatants up in a helicopter and push them out, or drag them alive through the jungle behind a PC (personnel carrier). You would be surprised at how much useful information was gained that could be used to prevent suffering of a larger scale. (Of course a lot of this may not be admitted or discussed today.)
When the subject of torture is discussed, it would be wise to not condemn it without knowing how necessary and useful it is during wartime. In other words don't argue and rant and rave over something you know nothing about.
Sunday, July 6, 2008
BAG LADY
My mind has been wondering lately and I found myself thinking about different things that have happened in my life. I was thinking about my mother who lost her battle with cancer several years ago. Up to that time, losing her was the most difficult thing I had ever dealt with...the hurt was brutal! A year after her death, I saw an old lady sitting on a bus stop bench. It was a very cold night. The snow was coming down heavily and the wind was blowing ferociously. I was still mourning the loss of my mother and couldn't help but to think she had to be someone's mother. The streets were very slippery and it was difficult to drive. She sat alone on the bench wearing only a thin, torn and ragged coat. Her collar was tucked up over her neck and her head was covered with a scarf. Her legs were bare from her knees down to her feet. As I looked a little closer, I could see she was only wearing a pair of summer shoes. Arising from her shoes and going above her ankles was newspaper which she had stuffed in them in an apparent effort to keep her feet warm. Her legs were red from the cold and I could see the strain and pain in her face. She sat there under the street lights and stared at the cars passing by. Near her on the bench was a large shopping bag, which I assumed contained her earthly possessions. I could not help but to sense the agony she must have been experiencing. I was not sure why this little, grey-haired lady would be sitting on a bus stop bench in a storm dressed as she was.
I drove around the block a few times and observed others as they passed by her. Only a very few glanced at her. Some laughed and pointed at her, but most people just simply ignored her or pretended not to see her. I thought to myself: “Why are so many people so heartless and uncaring.” I drove by her one more time and as I looked at her closer, I could see tears on her face. I pulled around the corner, parked my car, got out and walked back, and by her to get a closer look. I became convinced that she was in deep trouble, so I walked up to her and started a conversation.
She told me she did not have a place to go and had no relatives. I suggested the Salvation Army. She did not know where it was. I did some checking and to my disbelief, it was closed, besides it was too far away and beyond her ability to get there without help. I reached into my pocket and pulled out all the money that I had and handed it to her. She did not want to take it and began to cry. I insisted and shoved it into her frail and very cold hand. It was enough for some food and a room in an inexpensive hotel. Fortunately, there was such a hotel a couple blocks away. I got her up from the bench and walked her to it.
I was now without money for food and gas but I felt so complete and satisfied, knowing this little old lady would be out of the cold winds and snow...at least for the night...and enjoying some temporary relief from her misery.
I drove around the block a few times and observed others as they passed by her. Only a very few glanced at her. Some laughed and pointed at her, but most people just simply ignored her or pretended not to see her. I thought to myself: “Why are so many people so heartless and uncaring.” I drove by her one more time and as I looked at her closer, I could see tears on her face. I pulled around the corner, parked my car, got out and walked back, and by her to get a closer look. I became convinced that she was in deep trouble, so I walked up to her and started a conversation.
She told me she did not have a place to go and had no relatives. I suggested the Salvation Army. She did not know where it was. I did some checking and to my disbelief, it was closed, besides it was too far away and beyond her ability to get there without help. I reached into my pocket and pulled out all the money that I had and handed it to her. She did not want to take it and began to cry. I insisted and shoved it into her frail and very cold hand. It was enough for some food and a room in an inexpensive hotel. Fortunately, there was such a hotel a couple blocks away. I got her up from the bench and walked her to it.
I was now without money for food and gas but I felt so complete and satisfied, knowing this little old lady would be out of the cold winds and snow...at least for the night...and enjoying some temporary relief from her misery.
Friday, July 4, 2008
STOCK MARKET
The stock market is a good place to either create wealth or lose all your money. No matter how you play it, no matter how confident you are with your positions, the market can suddenly turn in ways that were unexpected. One of the biggest problems is when the market closes each day, your positions may look well, but because of news around the world overnight, your positions may tank and by the time the market opens, it may be too late to avoid tremendous potential loses.
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