Today we think little about how electricity gets into our homes, how food on such massive scale is grown and processed to feed billions of us, or how much discretionary time we enjoy as we are entertained.   We live in a time of scientific and technical marvels.  We live as we do because of the passion and dedication of creators.  Science, technology and the business environment and structures, especially the laws and regulations that govern capitalism, to incentivize the industrialization of creations that make our lives so much better.  My friend Parker, caused me to think quite a bit about this, he said that creation is a form of worship.  That is an interesting thought.

As an example he mentioned Norman Borlaug, and his invention of hybrid wheat that helps ensures that the human population has no reason to experience famine as we had witnessed in the 1960’s.  A very good article I was reading this morning addresses the history of wheat, https://www.economist.com/special-report/2005/12/20/ears-of-plenty.

I have more to say on this, but today’s post is being interrupted by a very exciting British Open.

Enjoy!

The Sun Forgot to Go Down

It’s summer for little boy’s

The sun forgot to go down

So, let us play with our toys

The fireflies not glowing yet

The birds are still singing

There’s another boy we just met

Down the grassy hill we run

Kicking a ball swinging a stick

It doesn’t matter we’re having fun

Can we play while the sun still sees!

Summer sun forgot to go down

We’re having fun, so, mommy please!

When the Ground Gives Way

Pops hit his ball badly

…into the cabbage patch and sighed

I saw it all happen

… so I went in, confident I had it eyed

But it’s not so easy

… the vegetation hiding all

So, a bit of searching

… then I find that errant ball

Next, I find no ground

… after just a step on my way out

In a flash I’m on my side

… certain I’ll be broken, I give a shout

Then I realize, I’m OK

… just embarrassed I had shouted “aye”

But, geez it’s scary to fall

… when the ground gives way!

Seeing with Eyes Closed

I close my eyes just to see what I’ll see

Random or real, or ghosts around me

Does light find a way through lids so thin

Does blood, veins impart patterns within

I breathe easier, soothing, at rest

Eyes closed is when I see the best

Maybe its practice that makes it right

But I see with eyes closed each day and night

And I come to know comfort herein

Eyes closed to see and remember again

Today we should really spend just a moment remembering how incredibly brave the patriot founders of our country were when they signed the Declaration of Independence.  It was an act of treason against the greatest superpower of the world at that time.  This superpower, put treasonous acts down with the heavy boot of its large Navy and Army. Oh and the penalty for the signers and instigators of rebellion if caught was death by hanging.  Everyone knew it, so to rebel was extremely risky and highly likely to fail.  Many of he signers hoped for a negotiated settlement with their mother country, but knew this to be unlikely.  Within 20 days or so, the speed of ships at that time, the King would know of this treason, and a response was surely to come within another month or so.  In the meantime, the colonists, had no standing Army, just local militia, as well as no Navy, just a commercial maritime fleet.  Much to do in a short time to find a way to defend their declared independence, and to do so without a central government, as each of the colonies were used to managing their own affairs.  The Continental Congress also was without a clear president or leader.  We think of George Washington as the president at that time, he was being elected leader of the Continental Army, but he wouldn’t be President until 1789, another 13 years.

An analogy today would be if Puerto Rico, declared and decided to defend by force independence from the USA.   It would be laughable, no matter how justifiable their grievances were and their leaders determined.

The patriot founders, had extensive debts held by banks in England.  I’m sure they felt that might be the only saving grace for negotiation instead of being crushed by the British military and being hanged for treason… but that was a long shot.  They were incredibly brave, and they built a basis for a new country based on democracy and personal freedoms that the world had not previously known.  We should remember and value the risks these patriots took at this time, as well as all that came later to defend the right for this wonderful United States of America to exist and be a beacon for freedom, justice and peace!

I was once asked, how I could manage myself so effectively during a stressful meeting.  How did I come up with a way to move an idea, or a process forward?  Two things always came to mind as an answer, one was preparation (I had an outline of key points that I wrote, usually the day before), and a quiet, calm confidence, and focus, relying on the preparation.  I actually would say a little pray before a meeting, to ask that I be at my best, and I almost never looked at the notes during the meeting.  For me being at my best was not a focus on all that was going to happen, but a focus on relaxing and letting my mind flow easy.  Anxiety not allowed!

I have found in sports too, there is a place, a zone, that I’ve too rarely found where you perform so well for short periods of time, then it goes away.   For me it always went away before I could get in 18 holes of golf, that’s for sure.  But what intrigued me is that the feeling was very much the same as a successful business meeting.  A strange calmness with an exhilaration of positive feedback that the preparations and the control (or calm thinking) was working.

When I read this article, it occurred to me, that there is scientific evidence that calming the mind enables critical “in-the-zone” performance.

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20180627-is-quiet-eye-the-secret-to-success-for-athletes

Hope you can take this idea and thought to the golf course, tennis, or your next business meeting!

Zero Tolerance

Zero Tolerance is the demand

Heroic demonstrative, enforcement

Divide them, force them from our land

In vacuum of righteous think

Regardless the cost or loss

Compassion was the missing link

Righteous, law demanded thought

Meets the searing cry of children

Hearts turned, alternatives sought

How to undo, horrors we wrought

The terrible mess we’ve made

Reconnecting was never a thought

In the moment of action taken

Satisfied, to force an issue

In zero tolerance, our soul forsaken

The children will continue cry

For years until they stop

Broken lives we must not deny

Yes, zero tolerance, was our call

Incentive to stay away

Incentive to negotiate for a wall

What will we get?

A generation failed

Our soul’s regret

Food Fight with Wes

He says hi, pancake pup

Hi there, hamburger boy

Do you want syrup in dipping cup

Would you like happy meal toy

Would you like berries sweet

Or ketchup and Frenchy fries

At the table lettuce meet

And mustard corn flies

Mickey Mouse pancake

Giggles at dinner or breakfast

Give it a spin and a shake

Just make food fun at last!

Repeating Dreams

Dreams often do repeat

Seeming never to miss a beat

Coming around again and again

Searching for a way to win

They argue and plead

And never quite succeed

In defining truth or lie

Inexplicitly they still try

So try to find meaning

In images we are seeing

Finding our way to a happy end

Or forever repeat and contend