Attitude

Encarta Dictionary defines Attitude as a personal view of something, bodily posture, challenging manner, orientation of aircraft’s axes, and orientation of spacecraft. Of course, a positive attitude can take us to a higher altitude. Since this topic is not about aircraft, we can presume that I want to discuss personal views. It’s not easy being or staying positive. Our surroundings alone, not counting socio-economic conditions, can be the excuse we need not to be positive. That in itself implies that wanting to be positive requires discipline and commitment. In other words, having a positive attitude takes a lot of work. For the sake of not staying rhetorical, let’s keep this simple. The right attitude can make a major difference in your life even when those unforeseen obstacles pop up during our journey in life. We all have had our shares of ups and downs. It seems that the downs dominate. But there is nowhere written that we would be exempt from life’s problems. In fact, Adam and Eve had there share of problems and we all know that they had everything they wanted. But, they made their choice, just as we choose to be either positive or negative. We tend to choose the negative. We can’t help it. Misery, though depressing, makes us focus on the reality of life that bad things happen. And there is nothing that can be done about it. And because we expect the worse, we draw the negative to us. We are what we think. Mother Theresa called problems, gifts. Imagine waiting in line for a while and considering it a gift. Imagine being stuck in traffic for hours and saying it’s a gift. Imagine wondering how you’re going to pay bills with no money available as a gift. As hard as we try to develop our relationship with God and try to do right, when things go wrong, we choose the negative emotion because it’s comfortable and easy to deal with. How can we look at issues as gifts? Trying to be positive is hard enough but look at problems as gifts will take more than human effort. We really need to look for help from a higher being. Frankly, I don’t think it would hurt. What do we have to lose? One thing for sure, we can do something with the presents we have. We can at least try.

Semper Fidelis

In these times of political and national disagreements, let us take a moment to pay tribute to our fallen heroes. As I said before, men and women serve our country in the various capacities in the military, medical response, and law enforcement put their lives on the line everyday. They do it not just as an obligation of duty, but they as a need to make a difference. It is indeed regrettable regardless of age, race, or culture that their families and others will never see them again. It is bad enough that those same families worry day and night whether their loved one will return home safely. How ironic can it be that we lose a South Carolina State Trooper leading a memorial procession for a fallen fellow trooper, who also, was killed in the line of duty in 1992 on the same route? We may never know what was in the mind of the elderly lady that did it. I believe that she is experiencing a personal hell that only she can live with. But, now is the time to mourn a lost life. Both families, friends, community, and the department are mourning a person that was very dear to them. So in these times of frustrations and whatever you would like to add, let us for a moment say a pray for those heroes who take an oath to protect us everyday and lose their lives in doing so. Say a prayer for those people that are close to you that are being taken for granted. You have found a better peace, brother!

Family Love

This insert will be about peaceful, pleasant and positive talk. I’m tired of reading, hearing, and seeing so much negativity and evil done against each other in the news. So today, I’m going to devote this submission to focus on people helping each other. Of course, you know that this was labor intensive. It was hard to find something good that the media reports but I’m sure even the media can get tired of bad news. Here is a wonderful story about a father’s love. “Dad simply wanted a souvenir - not a national television appearance. Steve Monforto won over many hearts after his 3-year-old daughter tossed a foul ball he caught at a Phillies game back onto the field. Stunned by his toddler's toss, all Dad could do was hug her. "I didn't want her to think she did anything wrong," Monforto said on WIP-AM radio Wednesday." By the way, Philly beat the Washington Nationals 5-0. That’s what we need more of, real love for one another. I give the media some credit for this. Hopefully, they'll find more good things to talk about.

Rest in Peace, Mr. Baby John

My baptismal godfather passed this weekend in silence. His name was Crayton but we called Mr. Baby John. Ever since we were children that was what we always called him. He owned a store in the neighborhood when we were kids. He had another brother who owned a store in another part of the neighborhood a little farther from where we lived. Those were the days when a nickel could go a long way. You could get push-ups, ice cream in a cup with a stick at the bottom to push it up. Ice cream cups, ginger snap cookies, and an assortment of candies. Even a penny could buy two for one cookies. As a child there were so much you could get with change. A quarter made you feel rich. After we'd look for loose change or earn our allowance, we would go to Mr. Baby John's and load up. He was a really nice guy, we couldn't be loud or disrespectful in the store but that was expected of us. He knew all of our parents and would tell if we were out of line. Back in those days, parents, teachers and neighbors didn't have a problem disciplining us kids. He wouldn't let us "hang out" in front of his store but we played football and baseball in the back of it. He and his wife had three children, two daughters and a son. All are very successful. Most of the guys back then had a crush on his oldest daughter. I could go about our childhood but I won't. This is a tribute for Mr. Baby John. As Mr. Baby John got older, he closed up his store, retired and did other things. He also owned a building next to the store where he stored things and let other people in the neighborhood use it. I'm much older now but back in those days no one thought of taking anything from his store. If you needed anything, he would give it to you. He knew us like that. This is just a small tribute to a good man. All of us have our ways and all of us have good and bad days. Whatever it might have been, Mr. Baby John treated us kids like human beings. Rest in peace, Mr. Baby John, we'll miss you old timers.

The Agony and Disrespect

The agonizing reality of Congressman’s Wilson absolute disrespect for the president of the United States and the total lack of respect for the office he holds implies that Mr. Wilson does not even respect the man as an equal. What Mr. Wilson has managed to do, whether it was his intent or others, was incite that part of society that will accept the fact that a black man was elected. His qualifications mean nothing to them. They still see the color of the man rather than his character. Mr. Wilson can accept the dishonor of making parts of that negative society now fashionable since it no longer has to hide behind sheets and pillowcases. Thank God not everyone feels the same way. There is good and bad in all races. What I hear is that “just because I disagree with Obama’s policies, doesn’t make me a racist.” You are right! But don’t use that phrase to distract me, either. I don’t see a problem when people disagree, but when not allowed to discuss their views by shouting over them and disrupting a peaceful setting for the sole purpose of distracting the truth, is disrespectful and rude. This is a clever ploy by special interest groups to pollute and distort the facts that can help fellow Americans. That’s right, I said subversive. These are dissident, rebellious folk who cannot accept a black president and want the country to return to good old days where minorities knew their place. The culture of the extreme ultra-right and left are not the only ones that carry guns. The use of fear and intimidation is still effective on the less fortunate. But, there is a new generation that will not carry on the divisive customs of years gone by. They can’t see that whatever we adults do will affect them in the future. I might sound negative to you but I’m not. I am disgusted and appalled that even now in 2009, prejudice and discrimination is alive and still accepted by some. All of this mess is on the heels of a major controversy about the president telling kids to stay in school and learn. Some folks were so concerned about him possibly feeding their minds on his political agenda that they kept their children out of school. How ironic, the president told them how important it is to stay in school. Our children need to be educated to compete in this world market. Let’s keep the jobs here rather than outsource them. At least, give the children a chance to compete. Education is the key and some people know this. It can take you to a different level in society. Uneducated people, unfortunately, do not have those chances for good jobs and pay, thus, remain in low income areas. Which case in turn becomes government dependent. This is what this president sees. He knows education can strengthen America. People would read more and get involved with the community. The more educated means you can make your own common sense decisions and not be led by others simply because they say so. This president has fought every day since he’s been in office and no one from the right has given him any credit at all. From my perspective, if they did, it would be an admission that the president is doing something right and they’d rather see America destroyed before they admit it. Our state (SC) has more than enough problems but our focus is on the governor and now the congressman. Why aren’t our elected officials looking out for the citizens of this state? They want the votes so bad they are willing to neglect the whole than the part? What is wrong with this? You might represent your constituents in your district but when you leave this state you are representing all of South Carolina. Will Joe Wilson’s son, a candidate for the State Adjutant General, feel the same way? Old folks used to say “an acorn doesn’t fall far from the tree.” This is 9/11, a day to pay tribute to the fallen but we have crashed websites blogging about Joe Wilson and his outburst. I personally feel that he didn’t give a real apology, he wanted to use the time to explain his argument. As his son defended him, which I do understand, he too, stumbled through an explanation of his frustration with the president. A real man would accept responsibility for his actions. This mess can setback race relations decades. That could be somebody’s intentions. We were all so proud when the first black president was elected because it took all of us Americans to do it. We elect these people to represent us, if they can’t do the job we can elect someone else. That’s what happens to us on our regular jobs. We can’t do the job our employer finds some one else that will. We must get past name recognition and do research on these people that are running. Otherwise, if we vote simply on the name, we might get continued mess from another generation. Granted our candidate might lose but by the grace of God, people running for office will know that we, the people, mean business.

American Us

For every action there is a reaction. The Party of Not Ever is starting another movement. They didn’t mean to do this. This is a positive reaction to their negative reaction. No birthers, no tea parties but a real American movement, a combination of all Americans who are tired of inequality and disrespect towards others. These are Americans who see that we can coexist with others. We’re not leaving this country so we might as well get along with each other and make the best of what we have. We are speaking out against foolishness and are tired of people thinking for us. We are Americans who realize that the only progress we’re going to have is to accept each other, listen to each others’ ideas, and work toward a better life for our family, community, and our country. So, for all of those negative people who want to see our country in chaos and civil disorder go find your own country of hate and discontent. We will always disagree about different things that affect us but we don’t need to humiliate, embarrass and disrespect each other to get our point across. We are disgusted.

The Truth Will Set You Free

I read a response from a blog in the local newspaper regarding Congressman Joe Wilson from South Carolina calling the President a liar on 9/9/09 on the immigration part of the Health Care Reform. This has never occurred in the history of the house protocol outburst like that in the house chambers toward a president. I wanted to respond to blogger but instead I’ll do it from here. Of course the blogger sided with Wilson; he was one of his constituents. He even felt that Wilson shouldn’t have apologized. I think that this person took the whole episode as a racial pick instead of a civil response. So many people don’t realize how set for life our representatives are. We don’t do any research but take their word on any subject. Politics are not absolute, but choices can be. At the end of this entry please look at the website about Joe Wilson. He has free governmental healthcare for the rest of his life. Yet, he is against it for others. The article also tells how two-faced Joe Wilson actually is. I hope this website keeps this article on file. My vote may not count but I will not be for him anymore. Here’s what I wanted to say.

“The Truth Shall Set You Free was first said by Jesus Christ in John 8:32. Yet, you preferred to reference “dident m.l. king say it to.” Yes, he did, but I do find it odd that you picked King. We will ignore the grammar and spelling. Obviously, education hasn’t been on Mr. Wilson’s agenda for our state. You definitely have deeper issues than education. I voted for Joe Wilson as long as I can remember but have never seen him behave in such an unprofessional manner. As a Colonel, you are expected military protocol to be observed. He knows that. Had he behaved in such a manner in front of his superiors he would have been severely reprimanded. He has not accepted responsibility for his outburst. In fact, I understand that the party leaders had him do so immediately. It was total disrespect unbecoming an officer and a representative of the state of South Carolina. I think the GOP is using him for a scapegoat. He is being thrown under the bus, but since he is receiving military retirement, he has nothing to worry about. Congressman Wilson is catering to a specific group that he feels he is representing. I hope that group has true Christian respect as Christ had for us.”

This is a good article.

http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/thegaggle/archive/2009/09/10/joe-wilson-s-dirty-health-care-secret.aspx

Free Speech

In the name of free speech, we are able to voice our concerns. We can voice our dislikes anywhere and at anytime we deem necessary. Even though there is a time and place for everything. Unfortunately, there is still a minority that has taken advantage of this privilege to disclose their true racial feelings. Some will hide behind politics as an excuse. It takes a true man to respect another even though they disagree. Before you accuse me of using the race card, let me finish. A zebra can not lose its stripes, even though it might look like a horse to some people (uninformed). Another zebra will not recognize a horse as zebra but can recognize a fellow zebra. Racists recognize each other and but now hide behind the privilege of free speech. They don’t like that label but are quick to label others as Nazis, commies, liberals, fascists, un-Americans and socialists. It is remarkable that it took a united America of all races, ethnicities, religions, cultures, political parties and ages to elect our President and yet realize how many people still hate others with such ferociousness, that they are willing to polarize and destroy this great country of so many resources rather than let it progress forward. So many people have sacrificed and gave their lives so that all of us are able to enjoy this freedom. We are losing men and women almost every day fighting wars to protect our interests that so many are avoiding. Look at our local law enforcement, fire fighters and EMS and other public service folk sacrificing their lives and families every day! Let’s not forget that there are still people experiencing inequality in so many forms. We still have Americans living in assigned areas and they were one of the first here! There are still families cultivating this hatred and now we find that there are pastors preaching hatred in the pulpit. Is this being pro-American to polarize our country? We still have states wanting to secede from this union. Since Cain and Abel, brothers have hated each other and killed. I don’t know why I think that things should be any different. I get so disgusted at how we behave toward each other. When we have National Prayer Service Day, we really need to pray sincerely for this country and elected representatives. We have one giant headache of problem that only God can heal.

Rest Peacefully, Papa Williams

I wanted to write about something positive in this entry but as life would have it, the unexpected happened. One of my closest, best friend’s father passed away early September 2, 2009 morning. He had dealt with diabetes and kidney problems for years but always fought back with the will to live. God only knows what he went through. He battled pneumonia, flu and other health problems and overcame them all. I was under the belief that he would still outlive us all. Yet, death has a way of putting everything in perspective. My friend hung in there with me when my mom passed. We’re not as close as we used to be and my dilemma is how to show her, without causing complications, that I am there for her. I have written quite a bit a loss and emptiness and it is never enough words to explain the effects death can have on you emotionally. As we get older, we are reminded of our own mortality daily by observing those close to us move on to another life. I wonder if and when that time comes for some of us, do we welcome the end? That sounds very morbid but it is the reality that we face. In a matter of seconds or split-seconds our so called pathetic life can become a pitiful one. I used those words to show that we are not pathetic or pitiful but people capable of choosing what type of life we want to live. That is why we must appreciate every little moment that we have. We should always be grateful for the little blessings, they add up to something huge. It used to be painful emotionally to discuss this subject but not anymore. We shouldn’t be afraid but approach it whenever it occurs as an entry to an unfamiliar journey. A journey that we are reminded of only as we’ve gotten older. So, let us all learn to treat each other with respect and compassion, we might need each other. More importantly, let’s be examples for those who have a hard time finding the good in anything to finding the good in themselves. And, yes, I still pray daily for this world but more so for me, to live patiently and understanding with this world. Because, sometimes, people tend to piss you off and distract you from the common good.

An Open Letter to God

Our Father, Who art in Heaven,
You are God known by many names but
Who knows our strengths, weaknesses, needs and wants.

Hallowed be Thou Name.

You are all-knowing, all-powerful, all-healing, all-loving, all-merciful, all that is good and all that is kind.
The same mouth that we praise You, is also the same that uses profanity and obscenities. Teach me to remember that, O Lord.

Thy Kingdom Come, Thy Will be done on earth as in heaven.

Lord, I have committed my life to You, therefore, I must have total trust in You.

Give us this day our daily bread.
Teach me to lay all of my problems, my concerns, my hopes and my dreams at your feet. In that way, I won’t be distracted away from your love for me. We worry about everything beyond our control, instead of putting our worries in Your Hands.

Forgive us our sins as we forgive our debtors.
You are always merciful and loving towards us with our pathetic and pitiful ways. It seems a lot easier to be less forgiving towards our loved ones and enemies.

And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.
Father, we should be eternally grateful for Your patience with us. You have given us the choices to choose good over evil. But we fall by the wayside so much. Strengthen our spirit to recognize your voice to know the differences.

Excerpt from "A Part of Things"

Reflection

I always wondered what you saw in me.
What was our common attraction?
What did we see in each other?
What started this interaction?

Did I seem kind to you?
Did I treat you with respect?
Could you be yourself around me?
What did you expect?

Our children act like us.
they often fight and shout.
Is that how we treat each other,
whenever we open our mouths?

Have we become so selfish and uncaring
that we’d rather ignore these faults?
So mean and unloving
that our children live in doubt.

When I look at you,
I see the sparkles are gone.
This loveless feeling
has taken over our home.

You are not the one to blame,
its not yours to be,
I was drawn to you because
you’re just a reflection of me.
Now, I can see!
A reflection of me!

Excerpt from "A Part of Things"