Funny smell in the garage… looked everywhere, there must be spilled mineral spirits or paint… did the girls spill nail polish cleaner, or throw it in the garbage? Why does it smell… search and search, and I hear a slight hiss, its in the corner, its on a shelf, but what can?  Something under pressure, so must be a spray can.  Process of elimination, take one can off after another…. its the Rust-o-leum!  How does a Rust-o-leum can rust?  Rust through and then start leaking.  Can’t say much for this product’s purported and intended use 🙂

Our country discusses immigration in terms of security and numbers and yet what is it for those that are poor, that live to work because they must?  I fortunate of education and opportunity enjoy the time of leisure, time of contemplation, even when I struggled to find success, there was always time for being one with myself.  Can I imagine the honor, the duty to family, to a life as an immigrant itinerant worker, and yet how as intelligent soulful beings they must struggle with the ‘todays’ existence and defer those thoughts of being one in body, mind and soul. 

Body Mind and Soul

 My body and mind is thrown into this toil

Tied by duty, honor and life to this soil

I’ve been here before a thousand times

My body works to a certain rhythm and rhyme

I know the field, I know the tools, and soil so well

My hands, my head are one at work with no tell

It bends, it aches, life poured into todays existence

Yet the soul and heart knows life at a distance

Let my mind, my heart, my soul drift free

Let them not interfere with what I must do and be

Hold on through this day, hold on to all small victories won

Hold on for the time when heart, mind and soul are one

Feel the rain, hear the thunder, its part of a plan

Fight on, toil on, this is a must, because we can

Heart and soul are where they must be

Because these things are born to be free

Hold on to me Lord, hold on till kingdom come

Where once again heart, mind, body and soul are one

Mike 

Christmas Morning

Christmas morning quiet and slow

The clock ticks softly on the mantel

Santa’s work in stockings hang just below

In this hour of quiet solitude of thought

About meanings of His promised peace

So more important than what we bought

In a world of turmoil, strife and pain

He was born to bring us joy and peace

Its time we seek His miracle once again

Be like children in heart, faith and yearn

He taught with a smile not long ago

See the children’s smiles today and learn

I hope to be like a child and see

A world with faith in message of peace

And see how beautiful this world can be

Mike 

Christmas Beautiful

Christmas tree is up, decorated sparkle and bright

It cops a lean to the left, but shh its still beautiful

Decorations everywhere red, green and bright

The third light from left is out, shhh its still beautiful

Its just turning dark outside, lights timed for night bright

Porch timer ugh, lets synchronize our times for beautiful

Ready for church dressed nice, everyone looks so right

My tie is not great, but I’ll fix it late, so I too seem beautiful

Presents and gifts, wrapping paper and bows make season bright

Now a mess of paper, boxes, children and child-like smiling faces beautiful

Dinner finally served, everyone helped to make this spread so right

All in joy and happiness, a toast or two or three, and all is beautiful

Evening, quiet seasons music, another toast under tree alight

It leans a little left, and so do I, as we match its Christmas beautiful

Mike

Is there a place for someone like me in the Republican or Democratic party?    What I believe in, I cannot associate with the candidates that are leading the poles, I’m not sure someone I can relate to is even on the stage.  Where are the adults that should be able to help teach the American public about historical perspective, sound judgment, be able to weave defense, security, diplomatic, financial and social responsibility into coherent strategies?  

I believe that government’s responsibility is to provide protection for a populace that cannot protect itself from both external and internal threats.  I believe our government should not tell us who we can love, who we can marry, these are not internal threats no matter how much some would like to believe they are.   I believe we are a nation of immigrants and who are we to deny all the help and support we can give to those that followed after us?  I believe our government should be compassionate to those fleeing oppression, terror and economic strife.  I believe our government should be tough on security, we need to enforce the rule of law, we need to use our technology to ensure those threats that exist can be discovered and rooted out, I for one, am OK if they want to sample data about who I call to see if it might be calls to terrorist organizations… the greater safety and good of all is important in these times.  

I believe we are the world’s superpower, and we should act like it.  I believe we are in a world war against radical Islamic terrorists and we should use our military might, our diplomatic capabilities and our financial resources to lead a fight for civilization.  I believe we should be thinking about a conflict that may last one, two or three generations.  We will have to convert our thinking from 6, 12, 18 month missions to decades of commitment.  We should spend just as much on educating the next generations that will be recovering civilization in the areas of conflicts in Syria, Iraq, Somalia, Yemen, Nigeria for when we eventually defeat the anarchist that are grabbing power.  We should get behind the so called Arab spring and bring true secular democracy teaching, training and compassion to these people. Heck there are so many in refuge camps as it is with little to do.   I believe we live in a world where due to technology, weaponry, social media and communications that we cannot be the neighbors on the block that sit by and say its sad their house is burning.  Its crazy to think the conflagration can be contained.  

I believe that we owe people a chance to make a living, to earn their way out of poverty.  Government’s role is to provide a safety net, and temporary support, not take from the successful and give to the poor, so that the successful are no longer incentivized to invest in growth.  I believe our government should invest in infrastructure, this will spur economic growth, a strong middle class is our path to economic security and debt reduction.   I believe we are foolish to ignore science.  Our home is this planet, if we fail to take prudent care of it then where will we go?

I believe that there are no one-sided, one answer, one policy, silver bullet type political solutions… Solutions to complex issues are complicated too.  We need a balance approach to issues, looking at how best to use resources, how best to deploy talent, money, and the attention of our people.  We are not able to fix issues like climate change, poverty, and terrorism over night, we need strategic thinking and tactical action.  We need education and communication not bluster and sound-bites.  I’m confident in the American people and our capacity to understand complex issues if there is honest dialog and discussion and compromise.  Our country was built on the premise that no one group, no one majority should be able to completely overwhelm all others. Compromise and discussion, even if it is heated at times is good.  However, we must arrive at solutions that are based on pragmatic and not dogmatic thinking. Just once it would be great to hear one of the candidates agree with a candidate from the other party, without it being a backhanded compliment.   I hope and pray that 2016 will bring us new thinking, improved understanding and will move our country into the future that is brighter and more forward thinking and more balanced than we’ve known for the last decade. I have hope!
Mike

Roller Coaster 

My body reluctant pushed high

See in front of me the cloudy sky

Pitched forward like a rock off a cliff

Falling faster, smooth breeze, scared stiff

Involuntary screams escape each of us

The thrill of journeys high within us

More ups and faster downs

New twists and even faster turns

Thrills and jostles

Struggle and wrestles

Up, down, and around to where we started

Wobbly, stomach uncertain with this ride we’ve departed

The line is short

Shall we go again?

Mike

Its been some time since I posted.  This last week was very busy, and I was sick with fever for a couple of days.  I’m well now and thankful for antibiotics 🙂

Anyway I’m quite sure most of you will understand then this poem.

Fever’s Hold on Me

Shiver, shake, sweat clothes, bedding bundle

Back and forth tossing, turning and tumble

Every muscle, even bones seem to ache

Sweat, shiver, how many hours will this take

Mind race, to and from decisions made

Back again, no order so decisions unmade

Think of everyone and no-one I know

Think of everything to do, when and how

Turn and toss sweat and ache even more

Moments lucid, then lost behind fevers door

Round and round a wrap of clothes bind

Round and round a wrap of confused mind

Hours of torture over, body finally tamed

Oh this cold this fever finally named

Coming back down to earth in this puddle

But my mind no longer lost and befuddled

Feverish night is like insanity in view

I hope it is a long time before anther flu

 Mike

As I had previously written, I believe we are in a war to save and protect civilization. Eventually there will be a global understanding of the need for military force to be deployed in a long drawn out battle to overcome radical and militant Islamic terrorists.  But what replaces the failed ideologies and brutal rule of radical Islam?  I think that we have to help civilized peoples repopulate these terrorist areas.  However, what will be the alternative culture for these peoples?  The culture that is prevalent today has promoted an us-versus-them mentality that has been nurtured into a rule of fear and hatred.  An apocalyptic view of the world and bringing about the end of times has been instilled in people that then are willing to fight and sacrifice themselves for a belief in a God they cannot possibly correctly understand.  What is the anti-thesis ideology that is needed?  Military force, and political outcomes are not enough, there must also be a culture/ideology transformation that occurs in vast parts of societies pressured today by these anti-civilization forces.  Christianity too has gone thru its militant phases, where those that wanted to hang onto power created an us-vs-them fervor that resulted in the slaughter of millions, but that was a thousand years ago.  Christianity survived its madness to eventually rewrite its history, and present an improving face to the world.  Still there is room for improvement as we continue to evolve to be culturally accepting of all peoples as was Christ’s message.   We need to evolve to a theology and ideology that embraces the loving and inclusive message that the major religions spiritual texts espouse without the; our faith, our methods, our god is better than yours complexions that we allow others to tell us about.

Secular democratic principals that call for the separation of religion and state are the traditions of western philosophers and thinkers that resulted in the rise of our country and many other western nations.   The principals and thoughts that drove us to navigate away from dictatorships and monarchies apply here as well.  However, we did not arrive at the principals of governance and culture without much pain, warfare, and repeated failure to see the humanity in others along the way.  Look at our on-going struggle to overcome an appalling history of slave trade, ownership and then the incipient racism that persists in our culture a hundred and fifty years after we fought a civil war to address this issue.  So what can we learn from this history?  What makes sense as an alternative to the ultimately failed culture of religious militant zealotry that is radical Islam?

The Arab Spring was thought to be the sowing of secular democracy principals that would eventually lead to a bountiful harvest for civilization.  However, it has failed, or we let it fail in so many places. Instead the evil twin of ISIS born about the same time appears to be thriving.  Is there any life left in the Arab Spring, or can it be brought back to life?   I doubt that there is a religious alternative that has the moral foundation to be an effective solution.  Islam, Christianity and Judaism have all failed the Middle-East, and for that matter Africa.   Well that brings us back to secular democracy, to the Arab Spring… but this time we need to embrace it, support it with a vehemence that will shake the foundations of the dictatorships and monarchies, just as we did when the USA was young.  Our liberty and freedoms threatened the monarchies of Europe, and its right and good that they did.  Our system of laws and democracy may not be perfect, and is still evolving, but it was a basis that eventually allowed us to become a nation of many races, many heritages and many religions, living as a prosperous and civilized society.

We have an opportunity to turn refuge camps in Lebanon and Jordan into education centers.  Let us help refuges return to their countries with a sense of self-government, with an understanding and belief that civilized countries like the USA will protect and encourage the advancement of an Arab Spring and they will one day harvest a culture, ideology, and prosperity of secular democracy, while being inclusive of the many types of moderate Islam, Christianity, Judaism and other religions.  We should not squander an opportunity to encourage Arab Spring revitalization.

Each year at this time, its good to give thought to how blessed we are to live in this great country, to have the benefit of history, of freedom, and liberty from tyranny.  Thankful for all those that protect these freedoms and the institutions that assure we are a culture of laws and security.  Thankful for all the science, technology advancements that make our lives easier.  Thankful for education and experience and the benefits derived from those that came before us that we so often take for granted.  Thankful for the nourishment and blessings of bountiful resources.  And most of all thankful for all our friends and family that make our lives full and blessed.

Thanksgiving Prayer

Family, friends, food and football

Thanks is to be given for these all

Tremendous is the table spread,

But better yet this breaking of bread,

Cause most of all the Love we share

Is a perfect compliment to this fare

Our Lord’s blessings are great

Celebrate, lest we give thanks to late

In this moment let us our heads bow

And pray to our Lord hear and now

Thank you Lord for all here today,

And thank you for each blessed and precious day

And thank you for all those not here

For in our hearts we still hold them dear

Amen

Do what you love… When I talk to successful people, and consider my own career path, I realized that success is not a destination, it’s a journey.  Success is doing what you love and making a living at it.  Success is doing the right thing for yourself, your family and for others along a long journey.  When we are very young and think about what we will do for a career or an occupation we sometimes have fantasies about who we are and what we can be. Some of those fantasy can become real, but only if we are honest and know ourselves.  Know not just what you are good at, but what you love.  If you love what you are doing, if you are passionate about what you will spend as much as 80,000 hours thinking about and doing over a 40 plus year career then you will be happy.  Sure money is a factor, who doesn’t want to make money!  But its my experience that sometimes making the shorter term decision to forgo money, to make sure others are paid before you even, that it will pay off in the long run.  Imagine that your career decision, is like planning then embarking on a long trek instead of short sprint.  Enjoy the scenery along the way, it’s the joy of the journey and the friends you make along the way that matter.  Money will come to people that are good at what they do; people that are good at what they do are that way because they enjoy all of it.   The journey will not always be easy, in fact it will be rocky and difficult along the way, but if it’s a labor, a toil of love then you can persevere, you may change route along the way.  That is not to be viewed as a failure, its to be understood, learned from, and maybe it was just part of the journey all along but you couldn’t see far enough up the trail.  When it does get hard, and there are difficult summits (decisions) to be reached, then its your journey partner that matters, it’s the person that will encourage you when no one else will, when you have to make a particularly difficult climb then you will look to the people around you, and I hope you have a life journey partner like I have had to make those decisions with.  My wife and family have supported some very risky decisions along this journey, many others may have lost faith in me, but I was fortunate to have someone that never stopped rooting for me to make it up the next hill, or kick me in the behind if I needed it :-), thank you Yvonne!

Along the way the friends and co-hikers also made a great difference in providing a multiplier of effort and productivity.  Taking care of each other along the way makes for camaraderie of a sort, that only those that have been in a fight can know.  When you are on your journey, and you look back at the progress you’ve made, you’ll find yourself counting the people you’ve helped, and the ones that helped you.  You’ll find yourself thinking of the monstrous hills you’ve climbed, you’ll find that you enjoy the greener pastures and the sunshine a little more, because of the desert and storms that you’ve overcome.  And yes, financial rewards will come, but they are only there because of all the help of so many others as you’ve enjoyed your journey.  Do what you love, all the rest will work out.

Mike