A Christmas Wish Good All Year Long
May the sun bring you new energy by day
May the moon softly restore you by night
May the rain wash away your worries
May the breeze blow new strength into your being
May you walk gently through the world
And know its beauty all the days of your life
Apache Blessing
I Wish You Enough
I read what follows a few years ago. It has stuck with me and for some reason whenever this time of year rolls around, I get the urge to share it with all those I love. I wish I had the wisdom to have created this myself, but I didn’t. Credit is given the author.
This year, more than ever, I wish you all “Enough”! It is the best Christmas gift one can get, trust me!
“I wish you enough!”© (more…)
A Senior & Veteran Speaks His Truth to Mitt Romney
My brother-in-law, Anthony Almasin, posted this to his FaceBook. I am reposting here, with his permission, because I feel the same as he does about our “entitlements” and people like Romney’s perception of us as we struggle through what is suppose to be our retirement years. Retirement? Don’t make me laugh!
WTF!? According to Mitt Romney, I am dependent upon government, I believe that I am a victim, and I believe that the government has a responsibility to care for me – from health care, to food, to housing, to… you name it.
Aside from a monthly retirement benefit from a local bank where I worked for some 30-years, I have a social security entitlement as I have been contributing to social security since age 13. (more…)
A Shift of Attention
Once again Dr. Al Link provides a dose of reality. Please read on I received it from him today and am reprinting here with his permission:
Our long years of excessive debt, owed on borrowed money to finance poorly planned and even more poorly executed attempts to stem the flow of red ink, have put this nation in a position it has never had to deal with before. Quite literally, we are going broke and when we hit the bottom—read can’t find investors stupid enough to lend us more money to waste—we will cease to exist as a free and prosperous nation. We will not be in the same financial crises as Greece is today, however. No! We will be in a crisis many times worse than Greece.
This is to say, it really does not matter which Presidential hopeful wins the November elections. Neither man, alone, can “fix” our problem. So, while there is a lot of hoopla about the election of a president, the outcome will not have a lot of effect on our financial mess.
The “elections” we should be paying the most attention are the Congressional elections, NOT the presidential hoopla. (more…)
Welcome to “The Presidential Election Year Road Show”
I recently sent a political type joke to Dr. Al Link, a good friend in Travelers Rest, SC. Dr. Al is a very erudite, thoughtful, observant sort of guy and I highly respect his opinions. My little joke started an exchange on the subject of the current state of affairs here in the US. Al’s latest response to me is one of those things I just have to share. I believe his response, which I quote in full below, is a well stated version of what a lot of us are thinking but perhaps are unable to state as well.
Here is what Dr. Link had to say about the Party Conventions: I thought it a good (and humorous) sample of the many scripts of the current running play, which, for the lack of a better description, I call the “Presidential Election Year Road Show”.
I try not to get hung up by labels such as Democratic or Republican or Liberal or Conservative or Right or Left and just enjoy the show. The essence of these well known “Rally Flags”, is they generate more heat and light. Most might believe such are indicators of the real national problems. I do not. To me, they look to be no more than tools of mass propaganda designed to get the voters whipped up and concerned so they will go out and perform in a certain reprogrammed set of behaviors. (I am reminded of communities where a majority of voters will always vote a straight political ticket.) Gobbels would be proud. (more…)
Kahlil Gibran Wisdom Found
I found this poem on FaceBook today. I have no idea what the proper title of it is. Maybe someone out there can clue me in. Anyway, as often happens, when I found this it touched a heart string and gave me an inner thrill. I think too many parents have not considered this perspective. I’ve spoken before about how bad things have happened in my life but, when I was able to look back on them, they were the things that helped me grow and become a better, stronger person. I had parents who pushed really hard for me to go in a direction that they had chosen for me. It was a battle to be myself and do my own thing. I think that is a lot of why I have always encouraged my children to follow THEIR dreams! This poem speaks to that. (more…)
The Value of Elders
Hopi Elder Ms. Tressa
When I started thinking about this article it was in relation to cultural differences. But then I realized, through the ages all cultures have cherished their elders. My points of reference are from my own heritage, which is Native American on one side, and from the society in which I was raised. Hawai’i in those days was a very healthy mixture of predominantly Hawaiian, Japanese, Filipino, Portuguese and Chinese. All those cultures cherished their elders. Unless it was absolutely unavoidable, no one sent their old folks to nursing homes! That was an embarrassment!
So why did we cherish our elders? They couldn’t work, or at least, not as hard as everyone else. Their financial contribution was nil or minimal. They took up space. Often times they nagged and were cranky. What value did they give for the care and maintenance given them? (more…)
Common Sense in Danger
Not many days ago a friend and I were discussing common sense. In particular the obvious lack of it now days. At least from my perspective. I see some of the things people do and all I can think is, “What on earth were they thinking?! Or did they think at all?” There seems to be an inordinately high incidence of candidates for the Darwin Awards out there now days!
After our little talk I thought about it a bit more. What is different now from when I was young? (I can hear the groans. Here comes the old lady with her “when I was young…” stories. But give me a chance!)
For one thing, recent generations have lived much more protected lives than we did. Face it, our parents were working their tails off and we had to fend for ourselves a lot. As a result, we were able to make a lot of mistakes. Mistakes are good in that they give us an opportunity to learn from experience. What works? What doesn’t work? The consequences of our actions became very apparent very quickly… and the lessons hurt a lot of the time, so they stuck with us! Parents who are overly protective think they are doing their children a favor but they really aren’t. They are denying them the experience of learning the consequences of their actions. (more…)
