I have long ago stopped caring whether people like me for who I am, for what I believe and what I stand for anymore. I have made it a point not to try to win others to MY way of thinking, but rather, to educate them so that they can know what it is THEY stand for. I present what I know and why I feel the way I do, and if they don't -- oh well. They can stay ignorant. I'm not. That's all that matters.
To thine own self be true...and if others come to know you, they will understand that if that is true about you, then to them you have no choice but to be true, also.
If they attack me, I shake the dust from my sandals and walk on. I don't have to listen to or put up with anyone ridiculing me, bullying me or chastising me for what I stand for and what I believe to be true. I just have to keep believing it, because I know WHY I believe it. If others don't believe it, and wish to stand on the other side of the issue, that is well and good. I will allow them to, so long as they are not attacking me, and so long as they STAY on their side of the line.
If we must communicate, I expect to be respected in spite of their beliefs, not because of mine, because I do my best to respect others who believe differently in spite of what I believe, not because they believe the way they do.
I thoroughly enjoyed seeing a lot of my classmates tonight. Not all of them were at the game, but a lot more will show their face tomorrow night at the Silver Star. I am looking forward to that.
I tell ya, though. Nothing makes you feel as old as seeing faces that you don't even recognize any more, and then hearing their names and remembering. Even when everyone was telling everyone else, "watch your step, don't break your hip!" LOL
To be honest, none of them look like it has been 30 years. Even my High School English Teacher that I was so sure would be retiring soon didn't look more than a year or two older, and she is still teaching! It was amazing to see her!
Am I really that old? or was I really ever that young? You be the judge.
Later after meeting at the Silver Star Saloon and Banquet Hall:
I had an AWESOME time at the class reunion. I talked to a LOT of people and hugged a LOT of people and played 1987 Trivia (I only got 8 out of 18 right...it's been too long) and ate chips, dip, cupcakes and pulled pork with au graten potatoes and armadillo eggs.
When I went to pay my ticket (which was about $30), the server gave me my money back and said, "Your ticket has already been paid." I said, "By WHO?" She said, "I'm not allowed to tell you that..." Soooo, whoever paid for my ticket, THANK YOU!
How many of you are mad about the disrespect the NFL players are showing to our country?
Like I told my co-worker who was bashing Trump tonight for what he said about the protesters, "It ain't about free speech. These guys are kneeling in protest of our national anthem and our flag. They are protesting the very country that afforded them the right to do what they are doing. If they don't appreciate their freedom enough to respect the country that has fought and died for it, they need to be fired. I certainly don't want my nieces and nephews being influenced so negatively by what they see ungrateful football "heroes" doing. I will not encourage the NFL by spending money on them or anyone who supports them. They have the right to speak out against injustice. They need to respect the country that paid for that right, or they lose my respect, and they should lose yours as well."
I went outside for awhile today and walked the streets. I haven't done that in a long time...
I talked to one homeless guy with a puppy, who says he is just in-between jobs. He sleeps under the awning at the Friendship Center at night, sometimes.
After about an hour of tramping through grass, woods, railroad tracks and streets, a friend called and wanted to come over. I told her I wasn't at home, but was on my way back. It took me about 30 minutes to get home.
I forgot how spoiled I was until I walked into the door of my apartment. Thank you, Jesus, that I have a home to come to!
"The white nationalist demonstration in Charlottesville, Virginia, is a reprehensible display of racism and hatred that has no place in our society. I am disgusted by the news, and my thoughts are with those in the Charlottesville community and around the country who have been targeted. While this incident is alarming, it is not surprising. Hate crimes and shows of hostility toward minorities have recently been surging. Now more than ever we must stand together against those who threaten our brothers and sisters."
Never mind that the Rally, which was not intended to be a "White Supremacist" Rally, did not invite the KKK, BLM or ANTIFA. They just decided to show up and get their name in the paper -- as usual.
BTW. We're all aware of who paid for the civil unrest during the Obama Administration with the Black Lives Matter riots, aren't we? Guess who decided to show his handiwork again? Click HERE My bet is that he had a lot to do with what happened in Charlottesville. As a matter of fact, I'd bet he had more to do with it than Bernie's nemesis, Trump, did.
This is an eyewitness account from a post on Facebook:
Michael Wyrick
"I was at the Unite the Right Free Speech Rally. It was simply a FREE SPEECH rally. Yes, some folks waved the Confederate Flag, and yep, a lot of folks were waving the American Flag as well. I did not see or meet any "White Supremacists". I did not see or meet any "White Nationalists". Most of the attendees were white, true. However black folks, Hispanic folks, and Asian folks were also represented. NO ONE ... again NO ONE advocated violence. Absolutely NO ONE was "protesting". We were there to hear the speakers. Close to noon (when the rally was scheduled to start) may have been about 11 or so, the park already packed, we were suddenly attacked by Antifa and BLM. They were spraying pepper spray, mace, spray paint, throwing paint, lighting spray cans and yes spraying fire at the rally attendees. Obviously several fights did then break out along the outside edges of the park. The clash really was over in just minutes. The lying media, even Fox News are spewing lies and it is sickening."
All of this is so familiar to me, because when I was the president of America's Media Alliance, I remember attending the rallies of our members that were not KKK rallies, in which the KKK showed up. I've seen this before when I was president of America's Media Alliance. We would have a rally and the opposition would try to paint us as racist white trash. Never mind there were a lot of different races involved who want the same thing.
Loving the Confederate Flag does not make you racist, by the way, and getting rid of historical monuments is not going to change history.
After working with the AMA, I no longer trust our "leaders" when it comes to how they perceive these kinds of events. Before the election, I was a "Cruz-er". Cruz made these comments in his statement:
"The Nazis, the KKK, and white supremacists are repulsive and evil, and all of us have a moral obligation to speak out against the lies, bigotry, anti-Semitism, and hatred that they propagate. Having watched the horrifying video of the car deliberately crashing into a crowd of protesters, I urge the Department of Justice to immediately investigate and prosecute this grotesque act of domestic terrorism."
While I don't dispute what he has to say about Nazis, KKK and white supremacists, he failed to include Black Lives Matter and ANTIFA in his tongue-lashing of what was evil about the protesters. After all, they started all of the commotion. This is disappointing to me. It is also disappointing to me that the President did the same thing, and the main stream media is having a hay-day with the misconception.
Remember, the media thrives on mob rule...and trying to create it. Only in protecting free speech can we fight the propaganda that is obviously driving the lies about what is happening in Charlottesville.
Finally, I find it all a nightmare; not just because it happened, but because some of my best friends are now focused on how evil White Supremacists are, and are making the mistake of lumping them together with the original rally attendees. They have allowed the whole "Freedom of Speech" argument to burn red. Some are even going so far as to cry for the removal of the monuments that represent our history, because they are "a reminder of the evil in our past," while at the same time, failing to acknowledge the black supremacists who also attended the rally.
We don't need to get rid of White Supremacists and what they stand for. We need to hold accountable those Supremacists, WHITE AND BLACK, who do harm to other people and their property in the name of Free Speech. There are better ways to make your point known...more peaceful ways.
I cry inside because the evil in our past is what we NEED to remember. A popular quote from George Santayana, who said, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it" is applicable here. None of us have owned slaves, and none of us have been slaves -- at least in the sense that they were during the Civil War -- but we are still fighting with each other over the ideals that led to it's riddance.
Only by remembering and vowing "Never again" can we rid our nation of the hate that permeates this present war.
Yesterday, I went to Flower Acres to get produce. I was near the end of the line, so a lot of the stuff had been given away by the time I got there. But, I got a watermelon, a big bag of white potatoes and a bag of sweet potatoes.
Guess what I did for supper tonight? Yep. Meat and tators. LOL
Tuesday night at work, a truck driver came in with a box. There were two trays of dippable veggie trays in it, with ranch dressing in the middle. He said his truck had been loaded with too much and he was trying to get rid of the excess. I grabbed both of them and he was happy to be rid of them.
I gave one to a co-worker, and put the other in the fridge to take home with me. Then, I forgot it. I messaged my manager later and told her she could have it, as I wouldn't be returning to work until Friday night and I didn't want them to go to waste. She gladly accepted them.
God is always giving me small gifts. Then, He gives me opportunities to give small gifts to others. My cup runneth over.
My son just posted a quote on his timeline that hit the point dead on:
"To realize that liars do not fear the truth if there are enough liars.. The devil is just one man with a plan. But evil, true evil, is a collaboration of men."
Quoted from Mulder of The X Files (Season 9, episode 19, "The Truth")
When God created the Angels, He did not want mindless robots. The Angels, according to Biblical Lore, became complacent in their existence, until ONE Angel, Lucifer (AKA Satan) challenged the status quo and caused chaos to erupt in Heaven, thus forcing God to remind His children that He was not only God, but their Creator, and that He loved them enough not to let them destroy all He had created for them.
Thus, the earth was born, and man was created. It was to prove to the Angels how much, and with what determination that God loved. It was with the premise that the Angels were to "get right" or "get left". He didn't just snap His fingers and say, "enough, go to hell, devil!" and leave it at that. He wanted the Angels to understand WHY He was making that decision, so He would not have to take their free will from them.
And, He wanted Lucifer to understand as well -- but Lucifer was too rebellious and too proud to admit any wrong-doing. He had power (given to him by God), and he knew how to use it. Why did he need God? Why did any of them need God?
God laid out a plan, in which mankind was the creation, He was the Creator, and free will was in effect. In his quest for knowledge, man set about making the same mistakes Lucifer had made.
And Satan is heard daily, laughing in the background, while God patiently waits for his children to realize the error of their ways and call on Him to deliver them -- because they choose to.
God knew that one day this lesson would have to have a point. He knew that this lesson would have to be learned in order for free will to survive. So, He sent Jesus to show all of creation how much He was willing to give them. His only son. His greatest Creation.
Love in the flesh.
Lucifer/Satan had succeeded in turning the hearts of many angels and many men by his logical and seemingly rational questions against God's judgment and will for their existence. He is still working toward that today.
Soon, He will be stopped, because God has already announced that this is only temporary. Soon, He will clean up the mess Lucifer made, and expect those who are left to trust Him alone as God, rather than themselves.
After all, they were created for HIS glory, not their own.
He wants to show us love, but we have to want it. We have to reach for it, we have to practice it with as much patience and charity and joy as He gives us to do it with, in the face of those who would fight us tooth and nail to be more than God has made or allowed them to be.
And, when many rebellious men work together, there is chaos, eventually, on a scale that only God can fix.
Sure, He could have just created Lucifer and not given him free will. He could have sat him on a shelf until He needed the beautiful angel to do something for Him. It would have been empty and boring -- and God didn't want empty and boring. Have you ever played with a robot? Have you ever tried to tell a computer how you feel and felt the love that a computer can give you back? Has a computer ever stood up for you, or been willing to die for you? A computer only has what information is given it by it's creator, or programmer. It doesn't learn on it's own. It doesn't exist where it is not wanted or needed. It is a tool.
God wanted friends, not tools.
John 15
13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
14 Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.
How would you feel if you had no choice? Strike that, you wouldn't. One would do good to realize that without free will is non-existence as an original individual. One might as well be part of Star Trek's "Borg" without free will.
Everyone has that one friend. You know, the one who is negative about everything, every day. Nothing good ever happens to them. All they do is complain, and then wonder why no one wants to be around them. They wonder why they are so lonely, or why no one seems to care, or why bad things always seem to happen to them, and no one is there to help pick them up.
The truth is that no one CAN help them. Any attempt to help them will probably get them into the same quicksand. No one likes drama. And, any word of encouragement is met with more negativity and expectation that exceeds anyone's ability.
Many times, the one who claims to hate drama on a regular basis is the one who is most dramatic, in that they refuse to change who they are in order to be who God wants them to be. There will always be drama when you are outside of God's Will for your life.
There is really only one way out of the dilemma that "friend" is facing: Jesus. If they could but put their focus on Him, start doing what He has commanded us to do, then things would get better. They complain that God doesn't care about them, or has never done anything for them. When they do, I am reminded of what Jesus said:
Matthew 13:15:
" For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them."
A person who claims that God has never done anything for them is one who refuses to let God work in their life. God can't do anything with an unwilling soul. But, if God didn't care, Jesus would have never existed.
In plain English: Some people don't want to hear. They don't want help. They are comfortable in their lifestyle, even though it makes them miserable. After all, if they would only listen to those who have found the joy and peace and love and friendship that they want so badly, they might actually see change in their lives. They might actually look forward to tomorrow with gladness. They might actually acknowledge the Power of God in their lives and be successful, happy, at peace, and realize that nothing makes you feel more loved than learning to love right.
We can talk until our lips turn blue, but most of us stop at a certain point and just sit back and watch...because we feel helpless to help anyone who won't help themselves. The best help comes from the One who gave His life for you.
Watching Star Trek has inspired me to ask my computer questions and expect an answer.
Last night, a man who represented the Convention of the States came into the restaurant. He first talked to some customers who were already eating who had noticed his T-shirt (If my flag offends you I will help you pack).
Then, two other gentlemen came in. He wandered over to their table and spoke with them. I heard him telling one of them about how we need to act in order to preserve our heritage and what we stand for as a nation. The man in front of him said, "But, isn't that why we elected Donald Trump?"
I couldn't help myself. I exclaimed, "Donald Trump is not the end all be all. I mean what is going to happen in 8 years when he is no longer president? We need to stay vigilant."
The man in the flag T-shirt then said, "I TOTALLY Agree with you. That is why..." and he went on to explain things to the man and his friend...
Anyway, I was sitting here thinking about all this as I was watching Star Trek. Somehow I began to think about Social Security and how we are in danger of losing that. What is going to happen to us when there are is no more money in Social Security for our retirement.
Then, I found myself saying, "Computer: who was the first person ever to receive a social security check?"
I checked myself, then went to google and typed the same question:
According to SSA historians, Ernest Ackerman was the first recipient of Social Security benefits -- 17 cents, paid to him in January 1937. The first person to receive monthly benefits was Ida May Fuller from Vermont, who retired in November 1939 and started collecting benefits in January 1940 at age 65.
This was the answer I got.
Star Trek...
I was talking to a customer the other night. He asked the question: "Do you realize all the stuff that was in those shows that are reality now?"
I said yeah.
He said, "It makes you wonder..."
I said, "You mean, is all that stuff here because of the inspiration of the shows, or because it was already here and they used the shows to help us get used to the idea?"
He said, "Yeah, exactly."
Computer: How much further, technologically, can we advance and still remain "human"?
"The real danger is not that computers will begin to think like men, but that men will begin to think like computers" -- Sydney J. Harris
