“Faith is believing in things when common sense tells you not to” George Seaton

Common Sense

     Isn’t it funny how when thinking of different people you think of them as smart in different ways? Have you even known someone who you would classify as a MacGyver type person? That person who can make anything out of nothing, who can fix anything broken with just a piece of gum and a hanger? Then there is that person who you know who is on the I.Q. scale of genius, but as the old saying goes “can’t walk and chew gum at the same time”.  When I think of my own children and their different personality’s common sense also comes to mind. I have one son who is probably one of the best when it comes to hand eye coordination and pushing buttons. Of course this comes from to many hours spent behind a controller on a video game. He can usually fix your broken computer or show you how to program the TiVo to record but don’t, I mean DON”T ask him to hammer a nail in the wall for you or paint his room.

     People are definitely wired differently and most of us are better in one area that another. I remember when my boys were ages 5 and 6. We were painting the trim around the windows of our house. Boys, of course wanting to be with their day helping were right by our sides begging for a job to perform. My husband handed the older one a paint scraper which had some type of a pick at the other end. I presume it was to pry a difficult piece of paint loose. The five year old patiently scraped the window ceil but when we glanced over at the six year old the window looked like termites had eaten thousands of holes in it. After further observation we discovered what he was doing was hammering the point into the wood because it was much more fun. He is 18 now but we still don’t ask him to help us much with those sorts of projects. The other son is a natural when it comes to fixing things. For years when he got up in the morning he had to run to me and tell me about all of his new ideas for inventions. After school he spent many years making his prototypes.

     It has always amazed me when you meet an adult with no common sense. It’s always good for a laugh when you are joking around and they turn to you and say “really”? It is usually in such a naive way that you almost feel guilty. I guess that God made each of us different to break up the monotony. It would be a pretty boring world if we were all the same. 

A modest man is usually admired, if people ever hear of him. ~ Edgar Watson Howe

 “I claim to be a simple individual liable to err like any other fellow mortal. I own, however, that I have humility enough to confess my errors and to retrace my steps.”

Mahatma Gandhi

     With our earlier discussion in class about who we think is or was a humble person Mahatma Gandhi would definitely be a person who comes to mind.  I even found this quote of his about humility. 

     What are some of the qualities that you look for in a friend or a mate? Is humility one of these qualities? What makes a person humble? I find that I am very attracted and in awe of humble people, possibly because it is one quality that I cannot seem to master.  It is definitely easer to be humble in some other cultures than our own. We as Americans (including myself) tend to puff out our chests and want to tell the world about the good we have done. You have to admit that it sure feels good to be honored or held in high esteem for something that you have done. Not that that is the only reason for doing a good deed.

     When I think of people that I personally know that stand out as humble people, I think of my pastor’s wife.  She is unlike any other pastors wife that I have ever known. She is not all about church business in fact unless you knew what she did you would wonder why she was even in the office. She runs an organization called the Guardian Foundation. This organization reaches out to children who are in groups such as foster homes for children with aids. She is currently working her magic with businesses in the community to get sponsors for a local elementary school in a very impoverished area where statistics tell us that 84% of the children who attend are below poverty level. Her plan so far is to find sponsors for 50 of the children so that they will receive a good Christmas. During back to school time she matched each family from the church up with a child with aids so that we could provide them with new clothes and backpacks to return to school. What makes her humble? She is always behind the scenes. She never takes credit for any of the great ideas or acts that she performs to make children’s lives so much better.

When I look at her I see the person that I would like to be more like.

Loose the ATTITUDE!

Loose the Attitude!

     I am the mother of children 26, 17, 18 and 11years old. Let me tell you about attitude. At my house attitude usually starts at about 6:30 a.m. and doesn’t end until the last eye closes at about 1:00 a.m. I started to think that I am finally approaching the age when there will be less of this in my life but last night I was reminded by a call from my eldest daughter and her husband that I now have walking, talking grandchildren and they are ready to just start on their attitude journey.  The good news is that they live in their house and I in mine and they are the parents and I am just a grandparent.  My daughter called me hysterical to tell me that they were watching a new television show where the TV father was being asked by the daughter for $20.00 to go buy coffee.  I guess most of us have heard this from one side of the fence or the other.  I know many of you in class are young and are probably on the asking side where I am on the wallet side which always seems to be empty partially since the opening of Starbucks. Anyway the father is telling the girl that she does not really need expensive coffee.  When hearing this my 2 year old granddaughter , knowing her mothers star bucks habit and always hearing her father say make coffee at home, approached her father and said “hey dad, sorry but mom and I need our FREEKIN coffee so please stop complaining”. Note, at 2 my granddaughter needs her vanilla star bucks milk in the morning also.

     Well anyway there are also good types of attitude that we can discuss. Attitude can be one of the most important qualities that a person carries with them each day.  Your attitude can project a wealth of information about you to people you come in contact with. Most people who know me say that I have an overall good attitude.  I try to convey this as part of my persona.  I do not get angry or bent out of shape much.  I try to take everyday events with a grain of salt.  What is a bad attitude going to get you anyway? For example today I was talking with a neighbor who stopped me to ask a question. We live on a dirt road and there was plenty of room to pass since I had not even left my property yet.  A vehicle approached behind the person I was talking to.  The man passed very upset and totally turned his head to make sure that my neighbor saw that he was angry with him.  Now no matter how hard I try I cannot think of that man the same as I had previously passing each other on our road. What did this get him? Nothing as far as I know except two people who now will never respect him again.

     Here is a quote that we should all try to incorporate in our day to day lives.

“Whenever you’re in conflict with someone, there is one factor that can make the difference between damaging your relationship and deepening it. The factor is attitude.”

William James

Can I count on you???

Hi Bloggers,

Well here we go on the topic of dependability.  Over the last 50 years I have met a lot of people many dependable and some not so dependable.  When I was growing up all I knew was dependability.  My mother was the person who was always where she said she would be, when she said she would be.  I guess I had never really been let down.  I was kind of an only child.  I had a sister who was 20 when I was born.  She was getting married by the time I was 5 and my father had passed away so my mom and I just had each other.  My mother made sure that I was involved in many things.  She always had me to my activities on time and was there to pick me up when I was ready to leave.  You could always depend on dinner at 5:00p.m.  You could always depend on the fact that your laundry would be washed and ironed and that the house would be magically clean when I came home from school each day.  

I think that I carried many characteristics of dependability into adult life.  When I started to work I always found it easy to be on time and to finish any task at hand before leaving.  When I moved into management it was very difficult for me to understand how a person could want to have a job so bad or need one and not be dependable.  I have always picked up my kids on time, except when I forget about minimum days (lol) , yet when I was a foster parent I saw every form of undependability you can imagine.  Parents who profess that they miss their kids so much but cannot seem to make it to their visits.  I took care of children whose parents spend the grocery money on alcohol and drugs and leave their kids with cold cereal.

What I have learned from these scenarios is that much dependability is learned.  If you grow up in an environment where you have known nothing other than dependability most people then live their lives as dependable members of society.  Many of the kids that I had in foster care were very undependable.  They could not meet any type of a time line to prepare for school or any other events.  They saw no reason to turn in homework on time. They had no reason to meet friends when they said that they would.  

On the other hand my kids have done quite well.  My oldest daughter finished college on her own.  She married and had two children.  She has carried all of the dependability issues to her own family.  My oldest son gets to school on time and always to work and has been recognized for being a dependable employee. The younger ones are following in the footsteps of their older siblings.  

I also think that dependability can be somewhat learned.  Many children who lived with us and were taught how important these characteristics are changes somewhat over time.  They saw the importance of not letting others down especially when they knew how much they despised it happening to them.

Are you lying to me????

Hi Everyone,

Hope it’s been a good week for everyone.  I had a crazy hot 4 days at the route 66 car show selling my badge reels.  If any of you get time check out my new website at: monicasreelmadness.com.

Now for school work.  What does that old Billy Joel song say?

Honesty is such a lonely word, everyone is so untrue.  Honesty is hardly ever heard, but mostly what I hear from you.

I guess we are all looking for the person he is talking about.  I don’t know who he wrote the song for but if it was Christy Brinkley someone must have lied because they are divorced now.  

I actually am lucky because I have quite an honest family.  My husband and children will actually return things that they find that are not theirs.  (They do go back to see if anyone ask for the item so they can get the unclaimed stuff).  So many “honest” people think that small lies don’t count.  You can probably count me in on this level.  When my husband asks me did I go pay the water bill, I will say yes to avoid the old question why not? I just don’t feel like explaining for 10 minutes that the day was very busy and I will make sure that it gets done tomorrow.  I guess I don’t consider myself a liar because I don’t tell whoppers.  It has always amazed me when you watch court TV. how obviously one of the people is flat out lying because if both were telling the truth there would be no need for the judge.  How can that person stand face to face with the other person and swear that they are telling the truth when they are not.  I would just have to bust out laughing; I have never had a good poker face.  

What about people who steel from where they work? You were hired because someone trusted you to care for their place of business. They are keeping your families income coming but you don’t think that is enough and want more.  You take from them in place of that raise that you thought you deserved or the fact that you think they owe you lunch.

Some people find it necessary to lie about something small, but find that they need to keep lying because they have created a tangled web and can find a way to exit it without everyone finding out about their lie.

I guess the best saying to keep in mind from the start is that honesty is the best policy.  The saying has obviously been around for a long time for a good reason.

“It pays to plan ahead. It wasn't raining when Noah built the ark.”

“It pays to plan ahead. It wasn't raining when Noah built the ark.”

                                                                                 Unknown

Hi Bloggers,

Hope you are all staying a little cooler this week.  Well I am not at all thrilled about the topic of planning.  I am more of a spontaneous type of person who likes to fly by the seat of their pants when at all possible.  I guess there are different types of planning, some of which I should be more concerned about than I am.  

For example when our family decided we were going to be missionaries in Panama our friends all thought we were crazy.  My husband had a great job with Metro Transit in Los Angles.  We had a three story house in Lake Arrowhead that all of our friends would have died for.  We were paying into a retirement fund and had some money in the bank.  Our plans were for my husband to stick to the same job until retirement and R.V. off into the sunset when we retired.  Well so much for that plan.  We left everything, packed up and left.  Four years later we are back and trying to start our lives over like teenagers before we had our kids.  My husband is finally back to a good job with retirement but we took what we had before out to live on in Panama.  Now we are 49 and starting retirement over.  Plans???   Oh well that one did not work out the best it could.  We had planned on living in Panama for the rest of our lives but then our kids started to miss being Americans and I started to miss my lifestyle.  

Planning vacations????  I have the best time on vacation when we know what direction we are going to point the R.V. in and go from there.  Why stay on schedule when there is good fishing at the last stop.  

I guess some things we should plan like what is going to be done with our bodies and our stuff when God decides we should move in with him.  I guess as long as I have my family’s names on everything and insurance to plant myself I’m good.  

I have some good friends who are planning on the Denir hitting soon. The Denir being the Iraqi currency that is supposed to jump to $300 American dollars to 1 Denir .  I hear them every day tell me what they are planning if this does in fact occur.  House, car, boat, vacations ect……

Being a Christian I know that the bible says my life will occur in his time and not mine so I kind of have the philosophy that if my plans come about, they come about.  If they do not, I know that all I can do is live the best life that I can and it will all work out in the end.

         

“If you can find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn't lead anywhere.”

Hi Friends,

Hope everyone enjoyed their 3 day weekend and found a cultural event to write about.  Well here we go with the new blog post on the topic of goals.  I think that goals should be divided into two categories to include short term goals and long term goals.  For example my short term goal was to attend some type of cultural event this weekend so that I would have material for my first essay.  Goals definitely are met in steps.  The goal of my essay includes steps like attending a function, writing a free write on my experience, then an outline and finally the finished product.  What is the old expression “Rome wasn’t built in a day”.  Well either are my essays.

Well let’s talk about some of the goals I have had throughout my life.  I have a few years on most of you all in the class so I have had many goals so far lots of which I have accomplished and some that I have lost interest in along the way and some for the future.

The first real goal I had growing up was probably not much different than many young girls.  I wanted to get married to my handsome prince, live in a castle and have many children.  Well out of that goal I did marry, have 4 wonderful children and acquire a 3 story home (my castle) in Lake Arrowhead.  I always wanted to be a business owner and over the years I have owned 4 of my own businesses (2 winners, 2 losers) oh well can’t win them all. For years I had dreamed of moving to a foreign country and living with the natives.  That goal was finally reached about 4 years ago when I moved to Boquete, Panama in Central America.  There I worked in the medical field treating the indigenous tribes of the region.  Last year when I returned to the states my new goal was to go back to school and get my R.N. license so that I could continue with that type of work in the states.   Well I am almost half way there (God willing and the creek don’t rise) as my mother would say, I will finish.  My long term goal after that is to work for 10 years and then retire back in some third world country with my experience.

I think that something important to remember about goals is that we will not always achieve all of the ones we plan on.  I believe that it is this quest that makes our lives interesting and even though we may not end up with exactly what we had planned on, we still have learned along the way and perhaps sometime in our lives we will use that knowledge.