IS YOUR HEART COLD? CHANGING YOUR LIFE WITH WORDS - DAY 174

The world has changed.  The United States of America has changed.  The people of our cities and towns have changed.  More and more I notice that good manners are disappearing from the landscape of our neighborhoods.  Now I am aware when I smile and greet a stranger they may not return the smile or the greeting, and their eyes are cold.  The homeless population continues to increase, and for many it is through no fault of their own.

Too many people are unemployed.  Too many people are one paycheck or serious illness away from being out on the streets. There is insufficient help for those who are homeless and especially for the mentally ill. There is more assistance for those addicted to drugs and/or alcohol than for the most vulnerable who have mental and emotional problems.  Even for those who are normal before being forced to live on the streets, the ravages of time and hardship can cause them to become mentally unstable.

We seem to have our priorities backwards.  Athletes, actors, singers, politicians, and CEO's command and receive extraordinary incomes, but our military personnel, policemen, firemen, nurses, teachers and  others who serve us have to make do with so much less.  When was the last time an athlete, actor, singer, CEO or politician saved a life?  Which children other than their own received a good education courtesy of an athlete, actor, singer, politician or CEO?  We willingly give our money to support the athletes, actors, singers, politicians, and companies headed by CEO's...........but what do we do for those who truly serve the more important purposes?  What do we do for those who are the least among us?

Do you know how many homeless people there are in your city, town or community?  Do you know how many homeless children are enrolled in your public schools?  Do you know how many resources or facilities there are in your area for people in need?  If your answer to any of these questions is "no" then make it a point to obtain that information.  If the resources are insufficient what can you and your neighbors do to change that?  The mental hospitals and sanitariums are no more.  For some homeless drugs and alcohol are not addictions but rather self-numbing devices against the pain of having no where to go and no one to help.

If your heart is cold or has grown cold ask God to

IGNITE YOUR HEART!

DO YOU TOO HAVE A PROBLEM? CHANGING YOUR LIFE WITH WORDS - DAY 169

We are currently living in a society where approximately half of the population is dependent on the other half of the population for financial support.  The government tries to make us think they are supporting these people, but remember the government does not generate money.  They take money from the half of the population who pay taxes,  and they are stealing the future from our children and grandchildren who will inherit the massive debt being incurred.

Make no mistake, I have absolutely no problem helping people who genuinely cannot help themselves.  I grew up in a family, in towns and churches where we always reached out to help anyone who was truly in need.  I still reach out to those who need help and will continue to do so as long as I live.

However, I have a real problem with the fraud and deceit that seem to prevail in all of the government assistance programs.   I have a problem with people who make no effort to help themselves.  I have a problem with people who bring more children into the world in order to increase their welfare income.  I have a problem with any man who fathers a child but does not stay around to help raise the child or provide financial support.  I have a problem with any man who fathers children with multiple women but takes no responsibility for them or for those single mothers.  I have a problem with women who give no thought to how they are going to care for the children they have with these ne'er-do-well men.

I have a problem with a one-term politician who disgraces the office but can collect his pension for the rest of his life.  I have a problem when men and women who put their lives on the line in military service get treated less well than the do-nothing politicians. They are not paid enough for their service, and if maimed, injured or killed they certainly are not fairly compensated.

I have a problem with litigious people who take no responsibility for their own actions or behavior but feel they are entitled to compensation when they do something stupid.  I have a problem with jurors who award obscene amounts of money to people because they too have the entitlement mentality and think businesses have deep pockets which they are so willing to pick.  Comparing these people to the military men and women who genuinely take responsibility is enough to make my head explode.

I have a problem with elected officials being able to decide to give themselves a raise with our tax dollars especially when they resolve no problems, lie to us continually, and care more about their personal agendas than the will of the people.  I have a problem with career politicians.  They become complacent and care more about being re-elected than about really serving their constituents.

Except for the truly disabled, the very elderly, or the very young everyone else needs to get a grip, grow up, and

TAKE RESPONSIBILITY!

CAN YOU BE TRUSTED? CHANGING YOUR LIFE WITH WORDS - DAY 159

In the current political mess there appear to be many untruthful people running our country, and they are not limited to one party.  It makes me sick at heart to realize that we the people no longer know whom to trust or whom to follow.  In the celebrity world there is a well-publicized lack of trust and fidelity between couples; and this is too often also true in the lives of non-celebrities.  Men parent children and then feel no obligation to support, love and care for those children.  Women trust men to mean what they say and end up as single parents struggling for years to raise their children.

In business there are lifetime guarantees given for products and services that may not last five years.  Who in their right mind believes there is any longer such a thing as a lifetime guarantee?  Companies start up and go out of business without so much as a word to the customers who trusted them.  Bernie Maidoff was not the only swindler; there are more scam artists, identity thieves and felons than we can count.  Hit and run accidents have reached an all-time high because the people behind the wheels cannot be trusted to do the right thing.  They think nothing of leaving their victims on the streets to die.  People in positions of authority who should be trustworthy molest the most innocent among us.  Lies and money protect parents, priests, pastors, teachers, athletic coaches, scout leaders and other volunteers who work with children.

People make promises and lie when they do not keep them.  Children are taught to lie because if they tell the truth too often they receive such harsh punishment that they are afraid to speak the truth.  Fraud and cheating are rampant in every facet of our lives and at every age.  There are politicians, doctors, nurses, lawyers, judges, mayors, city council members, military personnel, ceo's, presidents, managers, supervisors, employees, co-workers, colleagues, school board members, school superintendents, professors, deans, teachers, students, nannies, babysitters, housekeepers, neighbors, and friends who lie.  How did we get to be such a society?  Is it just greed?  Is it not a failure to be held responsible or accountable for our own behavior?

I would be wrong to say there are NO trustworthy people, but when I was growing up the majority of the people were honest, hardworking, and knew if they lied there would be consequences.  Now perhaps the majority are liars, and they experience few if any consequences.

The world would be a better place and life easier to live if all people were truthful.  If people had been created like the storybook character Pinocchio there would be a world full of long noses, and we would be certain of who is lying and who is not.  Integrity is a wonderful trait to have because the truth does not change.  You do not have to worry about remembering because facts don't change.

The solution is an easy one, and it starts when you make the decision for yourself and your children to always

TELL THE TRUTH!

WILL YOU BE THE NEXT VICTIM? CHANGING YOUR LIFE WITH WORDS - DAY 152

There was a time in this country when a murder was a rarity in most cities and towns, and killing seemed to be confined to wars.  When a murder occurred it was on the front page of every newspaper, and before TV it would also be on the radio news.  Today it is no longer a rarity but rather an epidemic. Gang members are killing other gang members.  Children are being abused, assaulted and killed.  College students are being killed, spouses are being killed by spouses, significant others are killed by significant others, neighbors killing neighbors, and now young children are killing parents, teachers, and students.  This is not about owning guns. This is about parenting, education, mental health, accountability, and responsibility.

We have arrived at a time when too many people no longer respect or value life ..........not their own nor the life of anyone else.  If you are a parent have you taught your children to respect life, to value life, to love life? What about you?  Do you respect and value life?  Are you participating in their education?  Do you give them responsibility and hold them accountable?  Do you hold yourself accountable?  If your answer to any of these questions is negative, then it is time you started to do the right things..  If you have grandchildren are they being taught to appreciate life and to know how fragile it is?  If you do not teach them who will?

I am saddened to say this, but we have become a nation of pigs.  Greed and self-absorption abound at all ages and in all occupations and professions.  Lies have become the coin of the realm.  The anger and rage which are rampant, and the total lack of respect for anyone or anything exhibited by far too many people today will become the downfall of all of us.  Think about our children and grandchildren.  What kind of life can they expect to have?  Between the pigs and the ridiculous politicians we are paying to treat us less well than they treat themselves, I fear their lives will be a living hell.

Only we can change things, and the first thing we must believe and share with others is that

LIFE MATTERS! 

IS THERE LOVE IN YOUR LIFE? CHANGING YOUR LIFE WITH WORDS - DAY 130

These things are casting a pall over our everyday lives:

• The political childishness and incompetence in our government, 
• the racial and financial divisiveness being fueled by politicians,
• the rage of many citizens resulting in harm to others and even murder,
• the abdication of responsibility by many parents,
• their children seeking to belong to a family joining gangs,
• the horrific gang violence, the youth mobs attacking people,
• the outrageous lies being told by politicians and the main stream media,
• the lack of resolution to any of the huge problems we have faced for 5+ years,
• the ill-informed or uninformed people having no clue about what is really happening,
• the sweeping under the rug of scandal after scandal,
• the financial problems and unemployment millions are facing,
• the dreadful dumbing down of our schools,
• the poor academic performance of our children,
• and the fear of what our children and grandchildren will face in their lifetimes.

We receive daily doses of bad news relating to all of these things, and sometimes we must wonder if there is still anything good left in our country or the world.  The answer is there are millions of good people and many wonderful things still happening despite the ugliness of the daily news.

Love abounds if we give it and if we accept it.  So many kinds of love are available to us......parental love; love between siblings, friends, colleagues; puppy love, first love, love of your life, marital love, physical love; spiritual love, love of family, love of country, and love of pets.  

Be sure you are open to love, and it will make life so enjoyable despite all the trouble in the world.  If you give love, you will get love.  It's out there.  Go get it!

LOVE ABOUNDS!

What To Think OR How To Think?

It seems to me that many young adults are graduating college without a clue about how to think for themselves.  They can be very opinionated, but those opinions are not necessarily their own.  From kindergarten until under graduate degrees are distributed our children should be taught how to think for themselves.  They need to know how to take the information available to them and make the best possible decisions or reach the best conclusions. They should be able to explain why they make the decisions they make or form the opinions they hold.   When was that type of teaching replaced with teaching our children and grandchildren what to think, what opinions to hold, and to have little or no regard for civil discourse when differences of opinion are voiced?  Our children and grandchildren are just "short people" who early on are able to make decisions as to whether or not they want to eat, whether or not they want to be held, by whom they want to be held, with which toy they wish to play, etc.  As soon as they have language skills we should give them choices so they learn to make decisions for themselves while we still can protect them from making bad choices. Do we know our children's teachers in grade school or high school well enough to think that we want our children to adopt their beliefs or parrot their opinions?  Do our children have enough self-confidence in college to not just automatically accept a professor's personal opinions or bias as their own?  Have we taught our children how to think for themselves or how to challenge other people's opinions in a civil, respectful manner?  If not, why not?  Debate classes should be offered to all students in order for them to learn how to research points of view which may or may not be their own, defend points of view, and prove their stances on different topics.  When I see the way journalists, politicians, talk show hosts and their guests behave rudely to each other, talk over each other, disrespect each other's right to have different opinions, etc. I wonder how we expect our children to behave differently?  We must watch what comes into our homes from our television sets and ask ourselves if that is how we hope our children will behave when they are adults. If the answer is no then we must do our part not only in teaching them how to think and behave, but we must also be role models for them when they witness our interaction with others with whom we may or may not agree.