Monday, September 24, 2012

Who To Believe And Who Not To Believe

Seems every day a new presidential poll comes out and always, not in  favor of my candidate.
Now I'm not sure if what they tell is truth or lies,but I do know its tough to make heads or tails out of what is fact or fiction.
In the past 4 years our television new groups have already decided whom they choose to be our president,kind of like the Soviet Union,we are just suppose to acknowledge whom they feel is the best choice.
In 2008 one media person spoke of how he had a "tingle run up his leg" related to the up and coming candidate,I'm not sure about you,but this is way more information then I choose to know about a television commentator,especially when he claims to want to "play hard ball".
I want facts,good,bad or ugly and really do not care whom the journalist and media feel is their logical slanted choice.
News should enlighten me not indoctrinate me.
This campaign season,I have vowed to not pay much attention to what our liberal press seems to think is good for me and this country.
I'm not concerned how much money a candidate has I'm really more concerned about how much money I have.
To me government is suppose to work for me I am not suppose to work for them.
The government is not my rich grandfather,whom money just spills from his fingers and no one is entitled to anything except what the Constitution says they are,which is namely life,liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
I give charitable contributions,on a weekly basis and am always ready to assist my fellow neighbor in times of need,but I am not willing to work and give my hard earned money over to people who are much younger then me,who choose to never work.
I have raised a child on my own meager earnings and  know how hard it is to bearly get by.
 I also understand that those feelings I had of wanting to do better put me in the position of pushing myself to not only become a nurse but find ways to pay for my own education.
No one is entitled to free college education at the best school,which they make a concouse effort to choose to go to,nor cry about how much in debt they are on graduation day.
If you go to school to be a doctor or a lawyer,then you in your life time will certainly be able to pay back  your investment ,which by the way is what an education is,your investment into your self,not my investment in you.
I believe in helping my fellow man by helping then help themselves.
Give a man a fish and you can feed him for a day,teach a man to fish and you can feed him for a lifetime.
So with the upcoming presidential season upon us,and media bias against us,it is now time to take the high road and ignore all the media hype and slantedness.
Personal I feel that if you are now into September and can not decide which person to vote for,then do us all a favor and stay home on election day,because you obviously have no clue how important this whole race is and what is at stake..
Choose traditional American values of work hard and make it to the top and maybe if your lucky you could become one of those wealthy one percenters,no shame in that, or choose Socialism where you feel the government owes you everything,the media tells you what to think and be a drain on society,then we can all go down broke and in flames,just like Greece.

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Hot Lunches

Several days ago,while at the hairdressers, I over heard two parents talking about how their children no longer will buy hot lunch,because the new healthier foods being offered,are thing foreign to their  taste buds.
For any one whose ever raised children,the understanding  of good nutrition and pallet ability,are one in the same,in other words if it looks funny,taste strange,or smells odd,you have just lost not only the health food battle but the entire war,making every meal from that day forward a drama of wills, you vs. them.
Most children are no longer raised with the attitude of if it sits on our family table you eat it or if you are served something you do not complain you just eat it.
Children now days are more pampered due to parents inability to listen to the complaints or their  tiredness from a hard day of work to fight the supper time fight.
The rule here seems to be maybe offering hummus as part of a school lunch is not going to fly with most children.
What this all boils down to is,most school lunch rooms that ran on the idea that if you can open a prepared can or package and heat it,no matter how bad the calorie count,sugar,fats and salts,the easier it was on them.
The time as come for these school dietitians to become more creative to appeal to not just little children but teenagers.
Trickery is always important,if you can hide the healthy stuff into the acceptable childhood food fare,you can win the daily  food war.
Most parents understand that there are all sorts of ways to sneak in the good unacceptable childhood food  into the meal,its all about presentation and taste.
Not all so called junk foods are totally bad.
Things like pizza,spaghetti,meat loaf,hamburgers and sandwiches can all be a gold mine of healthy foods wrapped up or hidden in ways making them a positive nutritional value,not only healthy but mouth watering and desirable..
When my son was a child he hated onions,peppers and celery but liked meat loaf,I learned quickly that if you blended the offensive veggies,in a blender, then poured the mixture into the meatloaf mixture,no one but me was the wiser.
Another trick was to cook potatoes and cauliflower then mash them together,with milk butter,or margarine,salt and pepper and we both had a happy stress free meal.
We as parents understand that you can make meals a trauma or a joy,it all depends on your level of creativity,which is something these school systems now have to learn and adopt.

Thursday, September 6, 2012

Choose To Be Happy/Choose To Be Grateful

We spend our days feeling like we are always dogged by troubles.
People today are unemployed ,loosing homes,just scraping by.
Issues happen to us everyday with feelings of no recovery in sight.
Many young people do not understand that this is not something that just happens to them,but has been going on for many years through out history.
Back in the Jimmy Carter days,when I was a young adult I went through exactly what is going on in the world today.
No jobs,no gas,and food prices beyond what one could comfortably spend.
All in all this to will pass,just as the great depression did in the 1920's.
Money like jobs,are fleeting but family and friends,hopefully are not.
What to do?Start by understanding that you are as happy and grateful as you choose to be.
You can not change everything in the world around you,but you can change how you handle what is given to you.
Today you need to realize that no matter how bad things are,know many people out there have it much worse then you.
Today start a journal,every night write in what made you happy and why you are grateful.
Understand that bad things happen to everyone,everyday,but that does not make you a bad person or a failure.
Sometimes bad things happen for good reasons,we learn lessons and understand what in our lives are important.
Its not the car,the money or the McMansion that makes us who we are,its the peerson  who comes out the other side with an altered new attitude of just how important we are in this world and how we can encourage and pass on our new perspectives to others.

Sunday, September 2, 2012

Missions

I don't know much about Mormonism but one thing they have is called missions.
Now missions to them does not just mean going off to another country and doing religious work,it also means staying in your own church or community and helping.
To many people who belong to a religion or sit in a pew do not feel that what they have to offer is worth being used by their faith.
Most feel that all the action is about those who serve during the Sunday Service,but this should be farthest from the truth.
Church means world outreach and building in reach,if you want people to become more interest in your church make them more involved.
Many churches seem to think that only a certain few need to be involved in everything while the rest sit idly by.
Someone once told me that 20% of the people do  80% of the work,this tells me that 80% of the people do not feel challenged or comfortable enough to even try.
Why? Maybe because they have a fear of failure,or that they will not do the job to the highest standards of perfection held by others,or it could be  they were not asked.
At our church we have a community meal 2 to 3 times a months,one day while there a lady came into the kitchen to deliver a cake and offer her services.Since we have done this meal for almost three years now,our small group as become very comfortable with the fact that we know our jobs,working like a well oiled machine,so we thankfully declined her offer.
Later the thought came to mind of why we did not find,even something simple for her to do.
We tend to forget that most people want to be helpful and when we deny them that right, we cut them off from something that might spark a flame of interest.
Mission is important for peoples psyche,they feel connected and joined to a group.You have a bigger stake in things when you are invited to be a part of things,especially things you have a gift at.
Churches that don't allow everyone from the youngest to the oldest,to take on a job,lose that sense of family,which is crucial to a church.
At home a good family gives a choir to ever member,some set the table,some make the meal,some serve this food,some clear the tables and some,like it or not,wash and put the dishes away.
Why? Not just because it teaches good work ethic and how to get along with each person in the family but more important because what you contribute has worth and makes you a partner with each other member.
Many think church is about ceremony, big words and formal prayer but its really about all Gods children getting together to form one big family.
Today I went to a friend church's car wash.
Everyone doing their part to raise money to help fund their overseas missionaries .
They served me lunch and took my picture along with their own church family,why because I was a visiting friend to a family member and that is how you treat your children's friends,when they come to your home.
Mission means purpose and purpose means unity.

Saturday, September 1, 2012

Phrases And Racisim

Today there was a gentleman on TV.who feels certain phrases should be considered racist and offensive,since at there time of conception they were used in a very different manner.
For example to "hold down the fort" he says,originally meant,to keep the Indians out of the fort, even though we fought the revolutionary war,war of 1812 and civil war,trying to keep ahold of our forts,from the British,white European men and later northern and southern men dressed in blue and grey uniforms,which had nothing to do with Native Americans.
How about the phrase "rule of thumb"this started with how  deeply,by law you were allowed to bruise mark your wife,bet you though it just had to do with an assumed rule to be follow.
Many terms were made up hundreds of years ago in less friendly times,maybe they were considered to mean one thing in their day but have come to be understood in a totally different way.
Since we no longer walk into earthen forts and hold them down or beat women to certain measurements,we can not be considered racist or offensive if the terms we use no longer hold the original meanings.
Should "a bird in the hand is worth two in a bush"or "don't count your chickens til they hatch" be considered fowl abuse.
I have never in my life time caught a bird in my hand and since fowl and eggs can be bought in a grocery store,the future seems pretty safe for the bushes and the birds living in said places,near my residence.
We can be so politically correct that it becomes ridiculous.
Most of us know what a  real racist word or phrase consist of.
Not so long ago many,or maybe it just seemed like many,people felt that words in books like the Bible,should be sex neutral,meaning that the world man,woman,male and female should not be used,since someone might be offended and feel lesser,in some way.
No words like sons,daughters,mother or fathers should ever be put into print,these words did not allow for equality,as if a mother or father role was some how diminished,if it was understood that each had a different genitalia.
We live in a pretty neutral world,most men and women can,in this country anyways,interchange jobs as long as they are equal in knowledge and ability.
This was not so in the times of Jesus and to make the Bible gender neutral is to insult the spirit it was written in,back in it day.
Today we do not have this situation to contend with,a woman can be a doctor and a man a nurse,this was not so only 30 years ago.
Phrases made up long ago and books written in different times,do not put us in the position to feel that the way ideas were put together do not also have different but significant meanings.
believe it or not "turning a blind eye" does not mean we are insulting the sight impaired,but rather not noticing the imperfections of another,be it person or thing.
Some times we have to lighten up and not read things into every aspect of our lives