Mentorship - Portliness and 3.47 Miles of Gasping For Air

We all have the need for stress relief.  To me establishing a venue or means of escape from the world of mental bondage is critical for prevention of madness.  That term may sound extreme but isn't that what bondage creates?  My own paramount source of bliss is taking a long drive in my beat up old 1990 Mazda Miata convertible.  I always wanted a convertible and so a few years back I bought one off of an ad on Facebook.  It's a good little car that fits my shortness.  I love it and hopefully it has the same sentiments for me.  (Please.....laugh a little).  Mine is MUCH less in "mint" condition than the one pictured. 😢

However, that is for me.  This post deals in a little different direction but along the same lines of stress relief - running.  If you are one of those fitness nuts that enjoys running (repent all of you!) you may associate with these feelings.  I do my run/walk of about 3.47 miles "most" every day on the Wabash Trace in Southwest Iowa.  Sure, for me a good walk is my secondary reliever of stress.  Getting older fitness has taken a back seat.  It's not like when I was a little younger and had my Taekwondo school.  Anyhow, today being another drought-ridden sunny and hot day I did go for a "tiptoe through the tulips" out on the trace.

Though the complete Trace is 62 miles it is 3.47 round trip from our sports park to where it crosses a main highway.  I used to be able to jog the complete 3.47, but being just a tad be portly around the 'ol waist in my more seasoned years I do more brisk walking than running.  It is mostly paved and scenic with trees, vast areas of tall corn growing on each side and a bridge crossing the Nishnabotna River.

On this day, however, I was impressed by a older passerby on a bike ride on the Trace.  As I passed her she cheered me on and encouraged me to continue the jog though I was gasping for air with each step.  NOTE:  I'm not that tall so it takes me double the steps as others to get to where I'm going 😂.  This struck me at how important it is to encourage one another.  Being an individual person offering the praise it uplifted as a mentor.  I've mentioned before in other writings the need to address each other.  Perhaps it is time to take it a step further and take upon yourself the subconscious title as mentor to someone else.  

Also as I mentioned before, these writings are mostly for my own posterity sake and also because I love to write.  So, I address this topic as a reminder to me the need to mentor or take someone under your wing.  Yet, it is an outreach to others to do the same.  

I am reminded of a time in my youth when this young man was very shunned and often made fun of in school.  Dang!  Now I'm reach back 35 years or so.  Anyhow, being an extreme introvert I didn't do much to reach out.  Looking back, how could I have been a better friend?  How could I have uplifted his spirits just a little more?  We all fall short from time to time in making a positive difference in others people's lives.  Nevertheless, dwelling on the past is cancerous.  Applying it to the future is everything.

Take these words for what it is.  Apply it or crap it out.  Whatever.  My last words of wisdom for the day is to get your portly belly out of the house.  Find a trail or even your own road.  Take that long walk or run.  Give it several minutes, raise your arms and see the people behind you gasping for air from the pollution of your pits (please laugh at the graphic picture😁😂😁😂).  

As you can guess I love to laugh.  In the words of a great Mongolian I bid you "arrivederci!"  For those of you that know languages please laugh.........

Coronavirus and the Era of Unemployment and Hope in Peril

 In perilous financially troubled times of COVID-19, or Coronavirus, we are humbled to uncertainties of the future.  It has gripped our attention to the things we take for granted.  Things like our careers, our income, intrinsic wealth and even our lack of compassion is taken for granted.  All these things when regularly supplied dulls our senses to hope.  Many in this demographic have lost their work and livelihood during this pandemic.  Many have dropped so far as to lose all hope and have found themselves in the pit of desperation.

To all of those millions……………….I have no words of consolation.

If you are still reading this and find yourself in this category then you are clinging on to that thin string called hope.  This is not your garden variety “pep” talk or cliche words of encouragement.  Those are a dime a dozen out there.  This is my story and my journey.  Take it for what it is.

I remember back when I was eleven.  Up to that point my life was filled with pain and periodic medical treatment.  Both of my kidneys were blocked and was poisoning my system.  The proper nuclear medical procedures finally have developed enough to allow my surgical procedures.  You may ask what that has to do with COVID-19 or what’s dubbed the China Virus.  In my journey…..everything.

As a young child I was severely introverted both before and especially after those surgeries.  I was very protective of my kidney area and recoiled at every little situation.  These things took a lifetime it seemed to work through.  The point is that in those times - hope for me was trivial.  Before those procedures I had to cling to the hope of my mother.  That alone sustained me.  After - though recovering, I felt I had no reason to hope.  Especially for a young man commencing his confused adolescence.  

Yet, even in the midst of believing there is no reason to hope you have to keep breathing.  That is the foundation of the human design in this life.  In times of hardship like these we need to keep breathing if we find ourselves without hope.  Even if we take the hard pill and file for welfare state assistance to feed our families we need to keep breathing.  

So, I kept breathing.  I went into the military as a rebellious “ass” at the beginning of Desert Storm and came out with a medical discharge.  Another major setback seemingly without hope but I kept breathing.  No, I never went to college but chose to amass a vast wealth of knowledge that I relish to share with others.  I’ve learned from the ground up the precepts of manufacturing, shipping, logistics, territorial management, government and international work and management at all levels.

Sure, there have been many times (more than I can count on my fingers and toes) that I’ve felt without even hope.  Nevertheless, I’m here which means I still chose to keep breathing.  

Let’s bring it back to the Coronavirus.  Sure, we’ve suffered major economic and social turmoil.  However, unlike the Great Depression we now have the ability to quickly snap back from such societal ailments.  Even now most all sectors of the economy are on the “V” swing rise at an unprecedented rate.

In my final few words I turn my attention to those serving in talent acquisition, human resource or just plain those in charge of hiring new employees.  Learn to take that leap of faith on a person.  Don’t toil yourselves with digging through hundreds of applications for that “one” you feel will carry your company into the 25th century.  Reflect on your own lives.  Do any of the words above describe you or your family growing up?  

Please don’t dismiss the worth of those with age either.  We may not be millennials or even the most tech savvy.  Yet, we have a wealth of knowledge and discipline that only time and experience can supply.  The young are equally important.  Likewise, the well “seasoned” are equally as important as the young.

I’ve tried to keep this as focused as I could without straying or confusing people too much.  I believe I’ve failed at that one (lol).  Still, I can break down or condense down the entire subject matter into one little sentence.

You must keep breathing….even when you feel there’s no reason to hope.

Unemployment and Weight Loss in Times of Infectious Virus

2020 is a year that truly sucks for millions of Americans.  COVID-19 has gripped a nation and drove the economy down.  No, the economy does not have a gloomy outlook, but that has little healing remedy for the here and now among the unemployed.  How does one recover?  How does one cope when the job market is saturated with the destitute in the same situation?  This is not a post on overcoming the fear and anxiety.  It is not a post of self pity.  There are plenty of those out there.  Instead I'd like to visit what is it and the ramifications it has on the self and the family.

For many we have worked decades straight just to have 2020 happen.  A humbling experience hardly describes it.  Like it or not it is true that money makes the world go around.  Sure there's love among mankind and pursuing the activism of climate change or even war.  Still, let's be honest, the ability to support financially your family is what makes it all happen.  For most we ask not for handouts.  We do not ask for platitudes or sympathy.  We only ask for civility, friendship and yes even networking (of friendship).  There is nothing better to one under the bus than to have someone there comforting and talking you through it.  I believe that's why a vast throng of population are on social media whether it be Facebook, LinkedIn or some other platform.  Networking, yes.  Finding a job, yes.  But it is the undeniable desire to connect with a smile and friendly exchange that heals the heart in times like these.  I believe it is that desire for not only the unemployed but also those who are affluent and comfortable.

Few things are more discouraging in the job market than knowing that you are among possibly hundreds vying for the same job.  Hope and positive attitude become a scarce commodity in the chance casino of being the "one" out of hundreds marked for that job.  Faith wanes even though you may "feel" like you are meant for that job you applied for.  This leads to the next point I want to make.  This point, in many ways, is more deadly than the financial consequences.

Health.  There are no solid numbers to support it.  We are all different and react to different things in different ways.  However, I believe there is a measurable health risk that accompanies anyone who is unemployed.  I think we can go beyond the obvious.  There is the worrying of putting food on the table.  There is the worry about mounting medical bills and if you are even going to keep your mortgage.  No, I speak now of personal health.

Consider the saturation of the job applicants.  In times of economic success, like last year, there is a marginal ease of spirit that you may be chosen for work.  This I know because I experienced unemployment for the first time after 30 years of work.  During any job search there is that roller coaster of anxiety and hope.  Hope of when you send off that resume.  Hope as you await an answer that they'll be impressed with your resume.  And then to have yourself cut off at the knees when you get that email of "we regret to inform you" or "we've decided to go another direction."  That is a devastating repeated action for the internal and mental health for anyone unemployed.  If you've been there like me then you probably feel like going through the bubonic plague than that constant bounce.

It can and does mess with your diet.  Some may gorge themselves with food.  Others may be too sick to the stomach to eat and therefore start losing weight.  Great changes come with unemployment.

Now, don't get me wrong.  Having been the one to hire and terminate during a few careers in the past I understand that it can be difficult to let someone down in a satisfactory and compassionate way.  In addition, management must be able to let it slide somewhat just to keep pace and sane in the world of business.  Again, no blame on either side of the table, but rather the desperate need for that friend.  

I write in generalities.  I write about the whole of a people and rarely of myself.  Yet, I will break tradition this once as it illustrates what I'm talking about.  In a couple of sentences I'll say that I had to have emergency treatment in the middle of the night.  I believed it was my heart but instead it was diagnosed as stress.  For all the despondent the struggle is real.  

I have been a writer and public speaker for the Constitution of the United States for decades.  I thoroughly believe that each American is endowed with the right to pursue happiness.  As a therapy to me as it is to everyone reading this that means utilizing faith and hope.  It is the hardest thing to hold on to but we must believe it to be real.  Our forefathers built a nation upon it.  So can we.

In conclusion, this is not a blame post or pity post.  It is a therapy post first and foremost to me AND to all people employed and unemployed.  Sure, an extended hand of employment is great for any of us.  BUT, the elixir that heals is the extension of the hand in friendship.  A kind word and a direct message (DM) of hope and a jovial joke is what allows us to sleep at night.

Well, enough of this long post.  However, I know it has done some good.  Not that I have the ego to believe it has helped anyone else or even that anyone is as bored as to read all of this.  No, it has helped me personally because I am putting it all down as record instead of bottling up inside.

Well......off to bed!

Cell Phones and the Panic of Loss

In the cellular industry it is easy to spot many simple follies that people fail to avoid.  It is the same with most any industry that you work in.  Each respectively reflects a "service" to the population in whatever need they perceive.  In cellular phones and connected devices the problems are centralized physically but affects most every aspect of a person's life in these modern tumultuous times.

I'll make this post short yet to the point.  Just one little point but probably the most important.  Your phone is your lifeline to your circle of civilization.  It is your connection to contacts, photos, notes and even all those dirty little secrets you may have.  Impact on business affairs may be the most devastating if vital information is lost.  Protecting and backing up that information can be a God-send.... or an albatross of epic proportion if neglected.

Whether in Apple, Samsung, Motorola or other there is an option to save your information via backup to the iCloud.  When activated it usually defaults to backup your information nightly.  It also gives you the vital apps to choose which you want backed up.  Many have an iCloud account if they possess a cellular phone.  However, with the popular Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo, Live, Me and other public and private emails most do not use their iCloud account.

When I see an individual come into one of my U.S. Cellular stores with a broken phone the first thing I think is "I hope they are backed up to the Cloud."  Yet, when a customer is asked most will say they do not know.

All of their (your) information, their life, now at the whim of "I don't know."

Do yourself a favor and back up your information.  It's quite simple.  It is located in most systems under Settings (that little gear icon).  Usually at the top is your personal information and tether to the Cloud.  In the next screen is your iCloud option in which to switch on or off your backup option.  It is also where you choose what apps to back up.  If I've really made you apprehensive you can either opt to "Back Up Now."  That is usually located at the bottom of that screen.

Backing up your information makes it very simple to migrate to a new device when you upgrade and replace your phone due to loss, stolen or damaged.  Once your new phone is set up on the network just log in to your Cloud and the information should download automatically.  If you do switch to a new device always ALWAYS remember your iCloud email (username) and password.  That's they keystone to everything! 😎

Do yourself a favor.  In order to save your friends from thinking you hate them because you've lost your contact information - back up that info.  In order to sway having your business go into default because you can't monitor transactions on-the-go - back up that info.

Happy back ups and may your thumbs do the walking. :)))))

  

Easter to Humble Modern Civilization

There are two highly emotional holidays among Christians and non-Christians alike.  Those are Christmas and Easter.  It is good that they are emotional.  Emotions are the means by which man expresses and marks his life moment by moment.  How can it not?  Jesus Christ according to doctrine is the author of our salvation.  Of course its highly emotional.  However, is it possible we miss vast amounts of knowledge and insight by strictly observing the emotional application of the holidays?

I just want to focus on Easter since that is the holiday for today.  The main picture people recall in their head of Easter (aside from bunnies and eggs) is the cross and Jesus affixed upon it in agony and death.  Yes, this is factually and historically correct.  He gave up his own spirit in order to save mankind from their sins.  This, in order to erect that bridge, once again from our feet back to the Father.  Yet, is there anything else we can glean from this scene?

There is a Christian hymn called "How Sweet the Joy That Easter Morn."  In it is the phrase,

"All nature groaned in deep distress, The sun and moon grew dim."

If Jesus Christ was and is a God then is it possible that the very elements of all nature became distressed at such a profound climax as the physical death of that God?  I dare say yes!  Now, look at the picture again of Him upon the cross.  Imagine the epic shock of his very body cells at the absence of His spirit.  Here we have flesh, from the beginning conceived only by the Spirit, in distress.  Flesh out of their element for thirty years housing the Spirit of God.  Now, like a lamb without her mother or a parent at the loss of their child the elements are surely in a state of "groan." 

This thought kind of magnifies the depth and humility of the significance the Atonement of Jesus Christ truly has on each of our individual spirit salvation.  If his elements hang helpless without its God upon the cross then surely it is real for all of us.  If the skies and the moon darkened in repose of the state of man then surely it is real for all of us.  If tombs cracked at that moment and many dead truly rose then surely it is real for all of us. 

Imagine kneeling at his lifeless feet upon the cross.  You know He is dead and you reach down and gently raise a handful of sand.  Slowly if flows from the hand back to the ground.  Would there have been a different emotional response than before his death?  Would the elements in shock fail to produce joy in the simple pleasures of dropping sand from the hand?

The soldiers and guards who hold dear their spears and swords.  Did their weapons suddenly grow cold at the absence of the One literally holding all creation in their form?  Other records prove out that great world tumults occurred even upon the Americas at the moment of the crucifixion and death of Jesus Christ.  Even though they must have had sheer fear of the physical events taking place do you think those people had that cold loss in their hearts?  Perhaps they did and were utterly bewildered at the loss of all hope in that moment that we were all born with.  Hope is the product of God within each of us.

Of course, as Christians we know that hope and salvation soon rang through the earth as the Atonement had been completed.  Man, no longer subject to the Fall, can now worthily enjoy rest and renewed work with loved ones and family in the presence of God.

The purpose of this post was not to bring a "lull" to anyone's spirits or a sense of dismay or shame.  It was meant to inspire and bring a sense of awe to the Atonement of Jesus Christ.  Look at the picture of the Savior upon the cross again.  After these thoughts to ponder does it magnify your part in all of this.  This great design is exquisite in nature, brilliant in order and epic in binding all elements and all of us as one.....in Him.

Yes, Mary mourned.  Yes, the disciples mourned, Yes, the thousands touched by Jesus mourned.  YET, all elements on earth and all in the vastness of space groaned at the transformation to a more exalted state of a God.

We are so small yet so big.  We bicker over petty things.  We even kill each other over petty and ill-guided things.  We puff ourselves up and claim our knowledge over our brother.  We lament when we cannot pay the rent.  We rightfully grieve at the loss of a child or a parent.  Especially in modern times we find offense over the smallest insignificant things and demand recompense for it.

All this mud has been paid for 2,000 years ago.  Even your physical makeup, the dust that forms you, existed at the time and groaned.  All matter is connected through all generations of time.  His appearance to thousands three days after and many days beyond bear testament of his divinity.  The Alpha and Omega has bridged the gap between us and the Eternal Father. 

Yes, there is much more to ponder than the mere emotional observance of Easter.  Let us ponder with curiosity.  Let us be humbled by it and let us finally treat one another with common civility.

Nebraska and Iowa Flood 2019 and the Electoral College

Those living in Eastern Nebraska and Western Iowa tend to be at the mercy of the Missouri River basin and points north.  The potential of flooding often degrees according to the outflow of the albatross Gavin's Point Dam in Yankton, South Dakota.  This year of 2019 has seen epic flooding for us living in this area.  This post of thought extends beyond the scope of a flood.  This post extends clear to Washington D.C.  Every geographic location of the United States has risks for its inhabitants.  Given that, equally considered for assistance are those living near the Missouri River. 

First, the current political rhetoric attempted to take hold.  With more and more states passing laws which clearly violate or go against laws enacted by Congress there is a frenzied "fad" going on.  This fad has taken on the image of striking the Electoral College as a sacred edict of the Constitution of the United States.  In spite (and TO spite) the 2016 Election many want to observe the Popular Vote as the only litmus of who the next President of the United States should be.  To not understand why this function was included in the Constitution is a shame for every American.  For an elected official to lobby against it is downright an act against the United States.

The Electoral College is put in place to ensure that every vote carries an "equal weight."  That being an objective viable vote regardless of political affiliation and agenda.  This "equal weight" shrined in the Electoral College carries infinitely more validity to every vote than the Popular Vote ever could.  To plunder the College would be to silence the voices of millions living in states where the populations are less than that of others.  Especially others with exceptionally high populations.  The College gathers the concerns of all Americans via the vote and feeds the People the will of said people. 

This makes every state important.  This makes personal interaction between the people and a candidate important.  Relinquishing that blanket protection and assurance would render the governance of the people at the blessing of the few states benefiting most from a Popular Vote.

Case in point the 2016 Presidential Election.  In the final days of the campaign season Hillary Clinton exerted all her efforts appeasing to the mega cities.  True this gained her overwhelming votes.  However, by ignoring all other states she had lost all those electoral votes.  If she had won the Presidency by way of the Popular Vote it would have been won according to the sole concerns and desires of the mega city populations.  This disfranchises the farmer in Nebraska.  This silences the proud citizens of dying small communities in North Dakota.  The best common good of the people is what the Electoral College strives for.

Now, what does this have to do with the 2019 Nebraska and Iowa flood?  In politics it is infinitely less about serving the will of the people as it is about strategy and holding on to power at all costs.  In a Popular Vote the power would converge with those states who have such population.  This often also carries common political affiliation.  Every election campaign year would be centered on those states.  That is where the voting power is.  In extension, those states would see the personal attendance of candidates.  Be damned the other states with little voting power.

Take Nebraska for instance.  If Nebraska was deemed of little political influence in the wake of a Popular Vote how do you think assistance would unveil in a natural disaster....say a flood??  New York, Virginia and California would gain a fuller and swifter assistance than an unimportant state.  This is where the flood ties in to Washington.  This is living proof of why the Electoral College was instituted into the Constitution of the United States.  This is why to vanquish the College would be to erase America as it was and should be.

No longer would the United States be of, by and for the people.

Illegal Immigration to United States vs Mom Coming Home

First off, I am vehemently opposed to illegal immigration.  The current political climate has totally disenfranchised the American taxpaying citizen the privilege of pride, security and sovereignty.  We have been abandoned by lawmakers focused only on voters and not their Constitutional duty to serve the American people.  To see endless videos of illegal aliens jumping the southern wall and dredging the rivers is a sickening display of milking the broken American system.  This has recently hit home to me, but first let me rant some more.

Many use the cliche that America is built on immigration.  From a certain perspective, yes, but in reality no.  Historically and in the proper spirit, America has been built by men and women wanting to embrace the American citizenship.  It is built by those who wanted to build pride for themselves and not live off the charity of others.  They left their native lands in the longing desire to touch the hem of the flag.  Their thirst for prosperity was emboldened by true arduous journeys to this land of promise.  THAT is what America is made of - to not replace the culture of America but to assimilate into the culture of America.

Due to illness my mother went to live in Virginia.  She hasn't driven for several years.  My siblings and I have been trying for the past couple months to get her a plane ticket to visit my family here in Iowa.  To this date there is still no plane ticket because of no valid identification.  Because her Driver License is expired that photo ID cannot be used.  The DMV will not issue without a Birth Certificate.  Gee, we get a copy of the Birth Certificate weeks later and take that and SS card and all other things to the DMV.  NOPE!  The Birth Certificate  has her maiden name and the other paperwork and SS has her married name.  Now they need a Marriage Certificate AND a forwarded sticker from her former address verifying a bonafide residence.  So, to speed things up we contacted the airline and inquired if a Birth Certificate and an SS card would be adequate to secure a ticket.
"Well......maybe, but I don't know if TSA will accept it."

So, not having an old Marriage License available we must send off for a copy which will take a turn around of five weeks.

What grinds me to the core is that illegal aliens can jump the fence.  Once their feet lands on our once sanctified soil they are automatically endowed with all essential services and privileges of an American citizen (even voting as it turns out).  So, without a shred of identification, a non-citizen can freely travel and obtain hundreds of thousands of dollars without even working.  In retrospect my mother, who has paid into the system for well over seventy years, can't even easily obtain a plane ticket.  An American citizen is put through an oppressive process that wouldn't even be thought of for an illegal alien.

Have you seen the footage of immigrants taking the oath and pledge of the United States at their legal naturalization??  They - have the true spirit of America.  They - have properly answered the call to claim this soil.  It is almost divine and gives all of us pride. 

Why have we been abandoned by our leaders?  "Straight and narrow is the way" to heaven.  Even for heaven there is a qualifying and vetting process.  Is not the human experience a test to see if we can live by higher laws??

We MUST secure our borders and treat immigrants as they should be treated - those humbly wanting to become Americans.  If they have not that desire and reject the legal process and proudly trek holding their native flags, that is nothing more than invasion against our land and against the work put into the system by citizens to pay for services FOR citizens. 

Treating our own as second rate to those who have NO business being here is reprehensible and unforgivable.  This must stop or we shame the very flag that shades us.