Friday, December 27, 2013

FedEx couldn't make it?

So Christmas came and went and yet some people did not get the Christmas gifts promised by companies like Amazon.
How tragic,the world must now stop because some spoiled child could not get that perfect gift on that perfect day.
I'm sure this child will be scared for life.
I work in health and can tell you many people now days are self centered and arrogant.
Most believe their needs are the only ones to be met and no sympathy paid to the FedEx and Ups works who have worked 60 hour plus weeks to make your life acceptable.
There is no longer any such thing as empathy for others and the fact that everyone does not drop everything,the minute you walk into a room,is a clear indicator of this.
I can not tell you the number of times while at work,while on the phone with a doctor or writing an important message down,that people become indignant that i have not dropped the phone or looked up to acknowledge them.
Selfish self centered people,that is what this country has become and the fact that you feel your entire Christmas was ruined because certain,last minute gifts, did not make it to your doorstep,just goes to prove that people do not understand the true meaning of Christmas.
May be you should be glad you did not receive the gifts your precious child must have, because now,they can learn the lessons of patience and endurance.
Afluenza,that's what this whole country is turning into.
Recently a wealthy 17 year old, who has never had to answer for anything,took his car and ran over 4 people ,killing them and got let off because of this new thing called afluenza,or what used to be call spoiled rotten brat.
Political correctness does not allow us to say what we mean and call a shovel a shovel,I would say a spade a spade,but some one might be offended,even though a spade and shovel are both digging instruments.
This country is going into the toilet because people just think its all about them and their needs,just like the Cesar's of Rome.
To much opulence is never enough.
From cradle to grave everyone,including the government,has to protect and take care of people who are to spoiled to realize that maybe if you ordered your gift early and not two days before the holiday,this whole problem would not had affected you.

Saturday, December 21, 2013

Understand Where You Stand

St.James talks about how we need to not only pray but love our neighbor and live our faith.
Many people talk about a war on Christ and Christians.
True in the middle east,the Christan population out there are being imprisoned and killed for their beliefs.
80% of all  religious persecution today, is happening to Christians.
We are lucky to live in this country,because at least we are free to practice our faith.
Recently in a GQ magazine,the patriarch of the duck dynasty show, gave an interview in which he espoused his religious,biblical beliefs of homosexuality, bestiality, casual and multiple partners sex and adultery.
As always the media spun it out of context and a gay rights group felt they were offended by what was said in the article.
We as Christians need to come to terms with the fact that we are "in the world,not of the world."
What does that mean?
Basically,don't expect the world to live by your christian standards because it is a fallen place,in which you morals and values will be ripped apart so as to make evil seem good and good seem evil.
If you as a christian speak out on the beliefs in the Bible,your words will be twisted and you will be considered crazy.
My priest Fr.Preble says "you are free to say what ever you want,but understand you will face consequences for you words and  actions."
With that said know that taking a stand always means resistance and you must weigh out if you are willing to lose everything for you point of view.
We Christians know that the heat will be on but no matter if we have to lose it all our gain is greater then our earthly loss.
Just because critics want to silence you,does not mean you are wrong,this is where faith in God comes in.
Jesus said "the world will hate you,just as it hated me."
We are lucky to live in a country where its o.k. to speak out and if we feel we are losing our christian rights and values,9 time out of 10,it because we choose to remain silent.
In the end most people who believe as you do will band with you,just as they are trying to do with this duck dynasty patriarch.
If you feel you are being wronged then make it right,but know this saying you are  christian means non violence and clearly understand that in the end you may lose all you have built up in this world.
But then again it was never about this world its about the next.

Thursday, December 19, 2013

Responsiblity

Are you a responsible person?
Do you feel everyone around you just gets to slide by and wonder why you are so concerned about follow through with projects?
I work at a job where responsibility is job one.
Being a nurse puts me in the position of never being able to drop the ball,though those around me choose to.
When my son was small,and I was a single parent,the responsibility of raising him laid on my shoulders,my saying back them was "its tough to be the responsible party."
So is there something wrong with the attitude of it has to be done and done right.
Few people see the need of being responsible,most people will do what they need to just to get by and if they know they should do more,they choose not to.
Leaders are people who are willing to take on the tough stuff and go to the end of the line trying to keep the train on the track,til it makes it safe to the station.
In other words follow through right to the bitter end,no matter how long or how hard.
The world spins around and life goes on,but some people need to get it right,or figure out why and finish it.
Is it a gift or curse?
Solomon in the Old Testament,was considered wise,everyone expected him to make those hard decisions and follow through.
What about Moses?
Talk about taking on a job and seeing it through to almost the end.
It can be a tiring position to always have to be the  follow through person.
Now days most people are quick to blame others and feels they are victims,many young people do not understand what real responsibility is,and are to easy to blame circumstances for the out comes,rather then themselves.
Fewer and fewer people are ready to take on leadership unless they are willing to take blame.
Our current president is a person ,who feels fault is always for someone else to take,not him,to the detriment of our own country.




Friday, December 13, 2013

Christmas And Charity..How Tiring

With the Christmas Season comes the Christmas giving,not just our list of friends and family members,but also charitable giving.
Today while going through one of my friends' face book posting,I came across a picture he put up,about giving to an animal shelter or adopting a pet.
Someone posting under the comment section,took offense to the fact that people would ask for donations for animal shelters,but not children's orphanages,which this person thought a more worthwhile endeavor.
Every day that I choose to shop at the nearby grocery or retail stores,I am bombarded by check out people asking me if I would like to round up my tally,or donate a dollar to their favorite charity.
Now don't get me wrong,most charities are in need,but when it comes to shopping,like most people,by the time I get to the check out,I am not only tired but done with spending money.
We as a nation are a most charitable group,but I do not appreciate being asked to fund a favorite charity,when all I want to do is go home.
Money may make the world go round,but at this point I am done feeling charitable.
Now I am no scrooge,but then again I am also no Rockefeller,with money falling out of my pockets.
Not only do I deal with world interest,but also my work place and church.
Everyone seems to feel at this holiday season,that money somehow grows on trees.
I don't know about you but come January,I have payments to make on house and property taxes,car and house insurances,my son birthday and our anniversary.
Its not that I am trying to be cheap,its just that in 4 years I would like to have enough saved to retire,or semi retire.
Money,money,money is just making me tired and unable to fully enjoy the holidays.
At present my house is in need of cleaning,decorating and gifts bought and wrapped.
The reason for the season is Jesus birth,which is what I would not mind centering on.
The best part of this holiday season is preparing my special cupcakes for our church community meal,this Thursday, and going out to spend a nice Saturday evening at sturbridge village and night out for new years eve at our favorite new years tavern.
The rest just seems to be a mess,with no time to deal with it all.

Saturday, December 7, 2013

Keep It Simple

Today while banking I decided to stop at the Family Dollar store and then the new General Dollar store,in Webster mass.
While there I picked up some toys to put in the "toys for tot" box at work and my present for the patients Secret Santa Party.
My theme this year is "keep it simple stupid" or kiss.
To many years I run my self ragged trying to do all the things people who don't have a time crunch do.
This year while at the general dollar store I bought a pretty box with a ribbon on top and filled it up with lotion,soaps,powder and body spray,for my patient .
This was the simplest gift idea yet.
This year I will also try to buy gifts that will in some way help my small town businesses and charities,cause if your going to give to your friends and family why not help others at the same time.
Once I returned home,I picked up all my fall decorations outside and plan to work slowly on Christmas decorations,with no intentions of over doing it.
Christmas should be a time of family and friends,doing for others and keeping an eye on what is important.
So this year keeping it simple will be my goal.
No anxiety,no stress and no depression cause  nothing in our lives is perfect.
I'm glad this year that I have Christmas off and plan on making it a nice quiet day with my family and maybe we will do pot luck this year instead of a whole formal meal.
Being a laid back kind of person I can appreciate a laid back kind of celebration.


Thursday, December 5, 2013

Let The Preparations Begin

Well its that time of year,cleaning the house and decorating,not to mention food preparations and gift buying,then wrapping each and every item.
But before we get to any of those things decisions need to be made and time,short though it may seem,must be spent in how best to tackle each project.
With Thanksgiving arriving two days before the end of the month of November,an entire week of planning has just vanished leaving most of us with only 27 days til Christmas.
Being a good Christian,I try to remain focused on the fact that Jesus is the reason for the season,but then, so is my family and friends.
With age comes the understanding that not all things need to be done in the same fashion they where when my son was a child and Santa made that special day of December the 25th magical.
Now I tend to make my decorating last for more then just the Christmas Holiday,hanging things like snow men,snow flakes or other winter type themes,so when New Years Day arrives less Christmas things need to be taken down and stored for another year.
Today I will plan to start working on my hall and bathroom,putting away the more fall colored items and adding reds and golds to the bath and shower area.
It all seems like a big amount of time and effort to make the house festive,but I do it slowly and Christmas just seems to fall in place.
Some people in my neighborhood,started setting up their lights and trees the day of Thanksgiving,and some even before.
Seems rather out of place since Advent is in full swing and we should be focusing on Mary,her pregnancy and birth of Jesus.
Of course back in her day having a child,did not require all the things we present day parents think so necessary.
No strollers or car seats,no mountain of baby clothes,or boxes of disposable diapers,no doctor appointments or lab test and no, definitely no, sona grams to find out what the baby sex is and if it's healthy
Back then mother nature took care of the baby in the womb and mom the preparations of the home.
In all honesty, we should not be  putting up our Christmas tree until,December 24th.
But like the birth of any new baby who can not be excited and want to spruce things up for that special little someone who will be visiting us soon.
Today will be my lets try and get this house into what will become a special day,on December the 25th.
A day to enjoy my family and friends and hopefully spread a little love and happiness to those in need this holiday season.
The nice thing about the birth of a new baby is the joy it brings to not only the immediate family,but all those who come in contact with it.
Lets face it babies just have that special something that can make even the crabbiest person smile,no matter how hard they try not to.
O.K lets let the preparations begin.

Tuesday, December 3, 2013

World News ?

This morning,I got into a discussion on face book,with a friend,about world news and our media.
A story was printed about some nuns who where kidnapped in another country.
He said it was on fox news,npr and the bbc.
Since I had not watched any of those stations last night,it was inevitable that I had missed the story.
Back in the the 1960's and 70's, world news came on every evening from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. and contained what seemed to be,a large amount of  real news  information,going on around the globe.
In the 1980's I recall watching,a once a week  morning news station,aired from Russia,which contained world news not being shown on my local channels.
Today the bbc shows more current around the world  news events, then the American news media does.
It makes me feel a bit cheated when my own country has news organizations around the globe,yet little real information is aired, making one assume they are either  lazy or complacent.
Since I, like most people,work long hours, it's not in my time span to be able to sit and flip through all the channels to find news going on outside this country.
My friend claims that most people don't want to hear this sort of news,so its not brought to the regular main stream medias like abc,cbs or nbc.
Folks I have spoken to feel the news is slanted and we are being lead by a liberal media with an agenda to support our president at all cost,even to our own ignorance.
Maybe its a little of both,but I feel slighted by the fact that we are now an enclosed society, being fed what our incompetent,lazy,self serving media may feel we need to know or not know.
Ignorance is not bliss,nor is it smart.
We live in a world that is making us complacent to the activities around us,causing us to wonder why things like 9/11 happen and why we are so unaware.
True there are stations like fox news,cnn,msnbc and multiple talk radio stations,but those I fear,tend to leave us living with slanted view points,becoming bad consumers of the world and current events.
There is only so much time in a persons day for both media and our daily living.
Unfortunately allot people,below the age of 35,really have no concept or interest,in up to date world information,related to their time spent with social media,gaming and movie watching.
Leaving me wonder if news is an older person sport.
Ignorance of world events, puts us in the position of not understanding our  global friends or enemies,allowing them to take advantage of  our slowness to act and stupidity of events.