Throwing Their Weight Around

Power has been in the news lately. Lotta people out there are doing a lot of big things. 

Farmers in North Dakota are sitting on huge piles of soybeans because their number one buyer, China, won't purchase them due to a tariff on that commodity issued by you know who. Wow. 
Elon Musk is busy boring a tunnel under Los Angeles (you can get permission to do that?) and, oh, building a mega factory in the Nevada desert and um, launching rockets into space. Triple wow. 
A cryptocurrency multi-millionaire wants to build a utopian community in the desert pretty close to Elon's mega factory, the kind of a place where drone delivery will be commonplace and all sorts of other innovative technologies will be incorporated into the city at it's inception, the list of those innovations being very long. A lotta stuff to think about, plan, and do- and a huge budget to do it with. 
China's leader is placing images of himself all over the country, and kind of being in people's faces about it, but you can do that sort of thing when you're the absolute ruler. 
Strongmen here and there are having their way and it ain't too pretty, what they're up to, but who's gonna stop 'em? Anybody around them cowers even thinking that.

Get it? I’m the boss.

Lopez Robin- Unsplash.com

Governorships changed hands in a bunch of states last night, people are going to be moving into 'the governor's mansion' in those states. Imagine that, moving into 'the governor's mansion'.

Or being on the news five nights a week, bringin' it home to millions of viewers just how things ought to be done around here. Or sitting on The Board of Directors, at the head of the conference table, deciding which corporate tasks are going to be delegated down to your lieutenants.

There's more. 

People are deciding who gets who's project funded, how the budgetary pie is going to be sliced, spending time in closed door sessions, trying to open closed lands for mining, passing rulings on contentious issues with nationwide implications, and then eating at some restaurant where the commoners go at the end of an impactful day. 
They're flying in private jets, or in chartered government ones, around the country or the world, to survey the damage from the latest storm, shake hands with foreign leader(s) who may or may not be hostile to their views, or to consult with the managers that are heading overseas operations.

Powerful people are heading delegations to third world countries that might be the recipients of massive infrastructure loans, those loans to be granted in order to receive some of the precious natural resources that those countries possess in return. 
They're at the helm of data giants, where global internet traffic is probably displayed in some sort of Hollywood-sized, gleaming, high-tech, multi-screened command center.
They're strolling onstage at mega churches, to packed houses, to deliver to the faithful the word that God gave them to give this day.
They're dangling the prospect of moving the headquarters or production or fulfillment centers of their companies in front of drooling city council members and county and state representatives. 
They're heading media and gaming companies, making high dollar decisions about funding a multitude of creative endeavors that are going to be seen by millions of consumers.

All this and more has been in the news lately, which I think is pretty amazing, because it's just happening and physically, I didn't lift a finger to assist.

But energetically,

well…..

….I might have had some involvement.

Where's Home?

This is a question I have been asking myself since like forever. Because I don't know. I used to think Home was where I grew up but I left there long ago. Decades ago. 

When I first left the ol' home town, I didn't go far away or stay gone too long. I'd occasionally drift back in and do a lap around it and then through it and notice the things that had changed. Not too much. 
Gone a bit longer, I would roll back into town and notice that more had changed. The people that still lived there didn't notice it as much but I sure did. "Hey! That bar what usta be there is gone!" or "Lookit all these new houses!" or "What's that building over there they just put up?". Those were the big things. But I saw the little things too. Signs that had changed. Businesses that were under new ownership. Everything. Nothing escaped my eye because I had grown up with an innate interest in tracking cultural and societal things and clearly remembered the way the town had been before. 
Then I was away for almost a decade. If my occasionally coming back and seeing what had changed had been a bit of an eye opener, this time I hardly recognized my old stomping grounds. Lots had changed, so much so that it certainly didn't feel anything like the home town I had stored in my memory. That place was most definitely gone. 

“Carson- bring the Macanudos and cognac- and uhm, some dark man cave paint”

Michael Beckwith- Unsplash.com

The people that were living in 'my' home town I didn't recognize. And they didn't recognize me. Talk about culture shock! Didn't they know? No- they didn't. They didn't know anything about what had transpired at all the places where I had experienced seminal growing up events. To those they were oblivious. And on top of that, to add insult to injury, they sauntered around like they owned the place, which really ticked me off. Deep inside I wanted honor, homage, respect, and tribute from them but I got nothing. In their eyes I had relinquished my claim on the territory, and sacred ground or not, it was theirs now. They had clearly taken over. I was free to move back, of course, but the culture and vibe had shifted a great deal to match the newcomers. Whatever that hometown 'something' was that I had grown up in, and helped in my unique way to foster, was gone forever.
To experience that sort of thing really brings it home to you that you don't matter much. Whatever influences you have are temporary. It was almost as if I had died. There's a line in the movies: "You're dead to me, man!" which means you're 'invisible', 'gone', 'out of my consciousness', and I certainly felt dead to my ol' home town. 

But there are other towns that I have called 'home' since then, plenty of those. I inhabited them but they were more or less long term campsites than anything approaching Home. So I really don't know what Home is, or where it is. Or if it even exists. Maybe it does for some people, like Walton's Mountain was Home for The Waltons, or LA is Home for the 'homies' that live there, or New York City is Home for the people that can't possibly live anywhere else. I've heard those places called Home.

They say 'you can't go home again' and that's true, 'cuz things change, but in my case I wonder if I've ever been at Home so how would I even recognize Home were I to find it?
It's not in some other country. I've been to many of those and they felt less like Home. I'm an American, I know that. But where in America is Home?
Seeing as nothing specific comes to mind, or has ever come to mind, I lay claim on the whole damn country! That feels about right.

America is my Home and ‘sea to shining sea’ is my backyard!

OMG

Suffering a personal crisis that was peaking in intensity, I called the hotline. As always, they picked up on the very first ring. 
"Heaven Helper Hotline. How may heaven help you?" came the always-pleasant voice. 
"I need to talk to God"
I heard a sigh on the other end, something I had never heard before. 
"I'm soooo sorry. God is not in today"
"Not in?!" I almost yelled into the phone, but quickly remembering that it wouldn't be good to piss off God or his staff, I meekly struggled to say "Can you tell me when he will be?". My shock was so great that I could only manage to think to say this. 
"In 28 days. He's on vacation- his first one in ten thousand years"
"Okay, okay" I struggled to think. "Is Jesus in?"
"Yes- but...."
"But what?" I almost yelled into the phone again.. "He's not available?" I managed to say, then as soon as I said it, I almost kicked myself for saying something so stup.....
"That's right. He's struggling to fill God's shoes, but not even the number one son......"
"I get it. How about Moses? Or any other prophet? Apostles! I'll bet there's a few of those around! Any saints available? How about Joan Of Arc?"
"I think we can manage to get you through to somebody. There is a wait, however"
I pictured a massive heavenly call center, halos floating over cubicles as far as the eye could see, all of the hallowed ones within those glowing cubicles busy fielding calls.
"Would you mind holding?" came the ever-pleasant voice.
(What choice do I have?) "No, not at all"
There was a soft click and then the most wonderful Muzak came over the headset. I almost drifted off, as a matter of fact I must have, because when someone suddenly came on the other end of the line I was roused as if from dreamy sleep. 
"Yeah? Can I help you?" came a brusque voice over the headset. What was this?
"Yes, I'm here" I stuttered. "Who are you?”
"St. frickin' Anthony! What does it matter? Now- what's your problem?"
I was aghast that the Heaven Helper Hotline would have this kind of individual on their staff. "Is there anybody else I can talk to?" I queried this, this person. 
"Not unless you wanna wait"
"How long?"
"At our current rate of fielding questions, about two days"
I didn't want to wait that long. I needed answers right now. 
"Okay. Here's my problem. I got up this morning and figured that I didn't know the purpose of my existence”.

Which way?

Yeshi Kangrang- Unsplash.com

“So? Join the party, pal!"
I brushed off his curt 'answer' and continued. 
"It's something I've been wrestling with for years. And I've been able to deal with it for years. But sometimes...... .....I just can't get my mind off of it. Today I woke up and, with the midterms so close, I felt I had to find out. Because if things go the wrong way...."
"Speak no further, Bud. Whatever happens, it's all good"
"How can you say that? 'It's all good'? I don't think this country or my sanity is gonna make it another two years! That’s all you have to offer me?"
"Nobody here is gonna tell you anything different. We've been answering this question all day. People from the Left are about to jump off a bridge and people from the Right are stockpiling food and ammo. It ain't pretty what's happening out there, but it's all good"
“How is my undesired outcome gonna be good for me, or for the people I care about? God wouldn't tell me that!"         

"The hell he wouldn't! He's the one who gave us this morning's script! He may be on vacation, but he still has his finger on things.  “it's all gonna work out” he told us to say. “Love will prevail. It's the strongest force in The Universe. Everything comes back to the fold sooner or later. You'll see- or maybe not- but your kids will. Or maybe their kids...."
"No, no, no! It's all gonna end! The Left and the Right will never coexist in harmony! They're too far apart and are getting farther apart every day! They're gonna go to war on each other!"
"They already are”
"So- is God gonna send reinforcements, when one side or the other threatens to take over the whole country?”
  "Please, calm down....."
"I won’t calm down! I feel worse than ever!"
"Go watch Seinfeld or something. Take your mind off of it"       

If the light is green it doesn’t seem so bad

Braden Hopkins- Unsplash.com

"Are you kidding?!”
"Not at all! You guys have to learn to relax. You think God is gonna sit by and not intervene? When the time is right, well, actually before, because he's so far seeing, but from your perspective of 'when the time is right', he'll be there. Like Superman! Believe you me, were ordinary people able to turn the tide in their favor they would have long ago. Goes to show there's equal power here- sort of like a standoff. Doesn't take much to tip the scales, and God doesn't see the point in overworking any issue so he let's humans work on problems, sometimes for a long time, then he steps in and 'tink!' everything changes. He's a very good scale tipper"
"Which way?!"
"You'll find out. But remember- whichever way it goes...  ....it's all good"
  Before I could get another word of protest in, the 'saint' or whatever at the other end hung up. I tried to call back but got a busy signal. After about twenty nine more times I finally gave up. 
So I took the guy's advice. I turned on Seinfeld and found I just had to laugh. Jerry and George were in some kind of trouble that had to do with ridiculously tight streetfront parking and then damn if Kramer didn't show up and somehow exacerbate the situation. Elaine had some weird issue with returning a sweater at a high end store- a sweater she bought but never wore- and…. 
….what was I thinking about? About twenty minutes ago? 

Oh yeah- now I remember. I don't know what my existence means, and from the way things have gone- and are going- I might never will. Same for most everybody else. Maybe we're not supposed to know. We're not ready for it. In God's view, we’re Jerry, George, Kramer, and Elaine. Bumbling through life and overreacting to the twists and turns of it. It's just where we're at. 
  Things might seem dire to us, but they're not really, not yet, and there's a good chance they never will be. The maddening issues that vex us aren't going away. We've got to stay with them, in the present moment, and keep working the puzzle of life, meaning, and existence.

Old Man Winter

       Every year, about the middle of August, he shows up. Early in the morning, in the east, just before dawn. Ugh! Bad enough school is going to be starting soon and now this! Weatherman is calling for lows in the 40's on Tuesday night. Too soon!
Late summer is in full swing still. The landscape is lush and crops are ready to be harvested but his appearance acts as a reminder that the hot and languid summer days we've been experiencing won't be around much longer. Fall is right on our doorstep.
Talkin' about Orion, the constellation. Unmistakable. Like the Big Dipper. 

Old Man Winter

McKayla Crump- Unsplash.com

From the time you first spot Old Man Winter there's dread deep in your gut because he's relentlessly on the march, that's for damn sure, and by Christmas he'll have climbed well up into the nighttime sky and be looking down on you, you standing there looking up and probably shivering in your snorkel parka in some cold outdoor clime, like I usta live in, when I was growing up.
It was likely by then for it to have snowed many times and if it just had, nothing was more still- or chill- than a winter evening after a snowstorm hit when the clouds had departed and the sky, bereft of insulation or any moonlight, was at its darkest and lit only by shimmering stars. Off to Old Man Winter's right always were the Pleiades, the Seven Sisters, visible to the naked eye. Bluish, they are, and tightly clustered together. 
But they're small compared to even the belt of Orion, consisting of three stars lying in a crooked row. Scientists tell us that like the Pleiades, there's a nebula in there, a place of dust and gas where stars are born. "Maybe I oughta pull out a telescope and look at that" I many times thought, but it was always too damn cold. 
By the time my birthday arrived Old Man Winter was at his absolute zenith in the night sky. This was my annual reminder that it was only mid frickin' winter and there was much more to come. I used to look up and call out "Hey there, you old bugger! Happy Birthday to me! It's only ten below zero tonight! More snow, more slush, more ice to slip on, and more frost to scrape off my windshield! Thanks a lot!”.
  You'd think there woulda been a solemn holiday like the solstice or something to mark this yearly event, me and the old man squaring off, but no, it was always just us. He had the upper hand at the moment but I knew that after this night would come his slow and steady fall. Every night he'd set in the west earlier. That undeniable evidence would tell me that freezing cold or not, spring was coming. 

I won’t forget my hat and gloves again

whereslugo- Unsplash.com

Since those dark winter nights in the frosty northern lands, I have moved away and lived in many places. Old Man Winter has been seen from many different perspectives since then. 
I have seen him rise up out of the ocean, big and bad- and kind of haunting, too.
I have seen him from many cities in the U.S, and in different countries. In some places he's high in the sky, in others he's low on the horizon, but, wherever he is, it's winter. 
That is, unless you're south of the equator when he's around, like I was once. The sight of the old guy meant it was summertime to those folks, but I never quite trusted that Orion wouldn't throw a cold front my way, me and him having a history goin' way back. 
Because I could swear there were times when Betelgeuse, the red giant, on the shoulder of the old man, used to stare directly at me like a fiery red eye, and Sirius, the dog star, low and behind the old man, would nip at my pac boot heels no matter where I went trying to bring frostbite my way but I'm fairly safe from the old man now, living in the tropics like I do. Still, whene'r I see him I know people are shivering somewhere, and I feel for them, 'cuz I know what it's like. 

But, take heart, citizens of earth. By late March Orion will be setting with the evening sun, which is a good thing. A very good thing. Old Man Winter will go back to sleep for another year- and you'll be able to pull out your golf clubs, bicycles, and motorcycles again.

World Wind Map

A long time back I was searching for a website that featured the local weather. There were many to choose from and so I tried each one out. Because I live on an island, and can go to virtually any point on it, days out might have stormy, wet weather on one side, while on the other it could be nearly calm and dry. So it's good to know. 
The Weather Channel never really covers the weather on the island chain of Hawaii so you have to get local weather, and the best one I've found is one that I tell everybody about, and that is a simple site called Glenns Daily Weather Narrative. If you want to know what is going on weather wise 'roun here and why, this is the site to peruse. 
It's put out daily by a guy that knows his stuff and though I've tried for years to understand things he writes about called 'trough's and 'ridge's and other stuff I still don't quite get it because those things are invisible- plus they interact. I have seen evidence of them in cloud formations though, and can at least understand the basics of why it's raining and humid or partly cloudy and dry and all that. 

Trade wind direction

Jordan Ladikos- Unsplash.com

Anyway, what I discovered through this site is a thing called the World Wind Map. You can find it at earth.nullschool.net. Wind speeds and directions are shown in real time on a rotatable and zoomable map of the earth. This thing is fascinating to look at, you could hang it on the wall like it's moving art. Over the last few years I have tracked hurricanes, cold fronts, high pressure systems, and the like. I have also found out things about the earth that I didn't know existed: 
There are almost always thunderstorms just south of us in a belt that extends along the equator. 
The southern hemisphere's seas are windy. A series of storms continuously circumnavigate the south pole because there is no landmass to disrupt them. If I were a sailor, I would avoid the southern hemisphere's oceans. 
There's almost always a low pressure system in the Gulf of Alaska. 
It's at least twice as windy on the open ocean than it is on land. Rarely is the wind on land moving at 20 mph, but on the ocean it's common. 

The World Wind Map displays in real time, all the time. Scientists put this thing together, I’m sure, because the technology was there and they wanted to know. For them it must have been a real eye opener. And thanks to their (and Glenns’) scientific bent, I was able to discover something that I never knew existed. But scientists measure far more than just the wind. There are a few other maps to peruse on Glenns’ site, and I think with a little search engine work you could find numerous other real time maps on the internet. 
Climate data is at these scientists' fingertips so I know they are tracking any anomalies. If they say the earth is warmer than it was twenty years ago I would be inclined to believe them, because they are tracking and charting so many things, quite fastidiously. 

Just sayin'

Stepping Back

News item: 25% of young adults say that they are 'almost constantly' online. 
Guess you have to do something before you get a job and you spend what seems to be that same amount of time at work.

Which leads to this: when your nose is pressed up against the display window of life, and you're staring at whatever is entrancing you, or if your 'nose is to the grindstone', which is the old saying about work, you're not looking around to see what else might be there and so time passes and next thing you know a day, a week, a month has gone by and "Whoa! It's November already!" you remark, as if you'd just realized something, which you have, and that is that other things have happened while you were away. 

It's at about this time that 'time out' needs to be called, but if you're not ready for it then by all means continue what you're doing but for the others there are things called weekends and vacations and even longer term things like sabbaticals and retreats. 
It's good to get away from it all for awhile because in doing so, you make room for your thoughts to come in again instead of being continuously awash in somebody else's. You actually spend some time with just yourself. Rediscovering what that is.

I've done this enough times to recognize that for the first couple of days I'm going to continue to run on momentum, and then that will cease. What comes next is restlessness and some boredom, which is hard to get through, but the payoff is some sort of extended vision quest period where I break through and enter a state of being that seems familiar, peaceful, and very comfortable. I call this breakthrough point 'arriving at yourself'. 
In this place, space, or state of mind, whatever it is, you get in touch with deeper aspects of yourself, reflect on where you've been, ask yourself what you want to do next, visualize your future, play with concepts and ideas, do research on subjects that interest you, explore possibilities, and fully rest for periods of time- which may be short or long- into states of non-thinking (which creates space for new thinking, interestingly enough). All sorts of treasure awaits. 

You're just not going to get this sort of thing after pulling a shift at work, or setting aside your 'smart' phone for an hour. You have to break the momentum of the mind, get off the fast track, pull off the information superhighway, unplug and unwind. It takes me days to do this, and all the reports I've heard from others say it takes about the same length of time for them. 
Perhaps we need this 'checking out' time more than ever now. The pace of life is so rapid these days that if you're not overworking yourself physically it's highly likely that you're overworking yourself mentally. 98% of the people in the U.S. have cellphones, and around 75% get on the internet at least once a day. We are online a lot, there's no doubt about that.

He’s got the idea

Unsplash.com

It's hard to stay offline entirely anymore so what I've done on my latest retreat is I have selectively gotten onto the internet during my retreat time. I have avoided 'busy' sites and have researched, shall I say, 'calmer' web pages. Pages with less animation, sidebars, flashy graphics, videos, etc. Just the facts, please. 
    Seems to be working very well. Insights and ideas are occurring. Good stuff is coming to mind, ideas that are invigorating, expansive, and different. I'm in control of the content, rather than the content being in control of me, and I'm liking that. 
Due to this, my attention can be fixated on rich subject matter for greater lengths of time. I have no tempting distractions in my peripheral vision that might break my concentration, and the volume on my computer is kept low or on mute. Likewise, potential home base ripples have been proactively neutralized, keeping me fully immersed in a contemplative state.

Sooner or later I will rejoin The World but until then I'm content to spend my retreat in this manner. Instead of it being Go time all the time, it's Chill time.

Does doing something like this sound good to you? If so, give a retreat a try. Customize your away time so it fits your preferences, and sink into some quiet time. It's bound to pay you dividends. 

Used To Think

When I was younger, I was in wonder a lot, and still am. The world was this big crazy machine and the older folks had it all figured out. I, too, would one day be like them, and have things all figured out, or enough things figured out to fit in. 
Well.....
Some of that figuring out has occurred, it most certainly has, but whoa- there's a lot left that I haven't figured out and at this point I strongly suspect that nobody my age has figured it all out either. Some contemporaries of mine are building airplanes, at the helm of huge corporations with tens of thousands of people under their command, and running countries.
Hope that doesn't break any young 'uns' bubbles! 
Truth is, the more we learn the more we find out that there's a lot more to learn. Yeah, we got the surface level stuff down, most if not all of us. That's the easy part. But beneath that level we start to see complexity and wonder how we could have ever been so bold or so brash as to proclaim with conviction that "I (or we) know how it works!" because while at some level that may be true, at another level it may be totally false. 
Take any big, complicated system. A modern car engine, tourism, or even preparing enchiladas. If you break it down to its component parts, simplify it in the extreme, you can say with total conviction that A plus B equals C because there are cars, tourists, and enchiladas. However, variables tend to exist inside those components so the equation becomes more like A plus B is likely to equal C. This is why every car runs differently, planes get overbooked, and there are ten thousand Mexican restaurants serving different tasting enchiladas.

Betcha every one of those jeeps runs differently

Kukuh Napaki- Unsplash.com

A lot of factors in life are hidden, not like in basic math or life, which starts out as fairly understandable but rapidly turns into theory the further into complexity you go. I think the internet runs on theory more than it does on structure anymore because of all the security patches and work-arounds that have been introduced. You could definitely say the same thing for that vague concept called 'The Economy'.
In the business world you get your rose-colored glasses taken off very quickly because there's more intrigue ('variables') going on in that environment than in Game Of Thrones. Even though you might try and figure that continuously shifting arena out you just might end up back at the beginning sometimes because things get introduced that shift loyalties, priorities, and processes drastically.

Kind of scary, how little you find you actually know when you get to be the age where you're supposed to know and people are turning to you for answers. "Hey- I don't know!" is not the response they're wanting to hear. "I can offer you some advice” you may compassionately say, "that might help you to work out the rest of the situation yourself" because you at your age know that unless you're in their exact situation you cannot accurately appraise it, nor can you take into account the many variables that exist, variables which of course they may be only partially aware of.

Which leads me to present some sage advice right now. If anybody tells you that they know it all, turn and run! Figuratively, not literally. Get a second opinion. Maybe even a third. Because everybody's take is going to be different due to the unique ways they wrestled with the universally complicated situations of raising kids, investing, running a business, dealing with coworkers, buying property, etc.. What they know might have worked exceedingly well for them but things have probably changed since then, somehow, in some way, and the same solution applied might not take this time around. 
So a bit of advice and a “Good luck!” is all I can give most people. Play the poker hand or the chess game best you can.

But for those that are interested, I would urge you to read and practice everything you can about something that is touted as ‘new’ but is actually very, very old. Manifestation is the key word. Learn everything you can about that. It just might be a game changer for you.

Day In The (waning) Life

"Ah yesss, yesss. Another fine day dawns. Hmm.... What shall I do this day? Ahh- sir! Sir! Could you bring me another jelly donut?"
"Right away". Waiter scurries over to the pastry rack. Coming back, he is met by another question.
"And could you refill my coffee, please?"
"Yes sir. More coffee"
Freddy Flounder looks out upon the street. He sees his pal Gabby Hayes strolling up to the gate, and entering the cafe’s entranceway. 
"Over here, over here, my good man" Freddy calls out. "Ahh. Yesss, yesss. Sit down. I saved a spot for you"
Gabby sits. "Howzit, Freddy?"
"Another glorious day of retirement. Ahh yesss"
Two more friends of Freddy's enter the cafe, Benny Dawson and Eddie Peters, making it now four at the table. 
"Waiter" Freddy yells. "Three cups of Joe for my friends here. And bring some creamer with you, please"
"Right away, sir"
Freddy turns to his pals. "Isn't this the greatest? The world turning without us having to lift a finger?"
Eddie Peters agrees. "You bet. I got all the time in the world now. Used to be I was pressed for time but no more. The wife and I are gonna take a road trip next week. Visit some friends over in Scranton"
"The beauty of retirement" Benny cuts in, "is that we don't have to do jack anymore. Everything is done for us! I feel like a frickin' king"
"You got that right" Gabby says, joining in. "For the rest of my days, lazy days! Lookit out on the street here at all the shmucks going to work! Not us anymore!"

Freddy and Gabby

Shane Rounce-Unsplash.com

An obviously still-working guy enters the cafe and strides briskly up to the front counter.
"Looks like that guy is pressed for time" Freddy says, pointing him out. "I can tell by the way he's desperately searching for somebody to take his order that he's in a hurry. I used to be like that"
"Me too" Benny says. "But now I'm not in a hurry to get anywhere! Except maybe off the first tee!"
Chuckles all around. 
"Say Freddy" Benny says, jabbing him in the shoulder. "Poker's at your house this week, right?"
"Sure. Same time as usual. 6:00. I'll have the room set up with hard liquor, ashtrays, and... uh... what kind of chow you guys want? Mexican?"
"Sounds good'
"I'm okay with that"
"Me too"
"Alirght. 6:00 then, my place"
The impatient patron at the counter gets his coffee and pastry to go and hurries towards the exit. Waitress cries out "Sir- you left your phone!"
Freddy, seeing this, laughs. 
"Lookit workin' man over there! I used to be like that guy, always rushing, never any spare time, for 37 years! And for what?"
"So youse could play poker with us on Tuesday nights?" Gabby jokes.
"No" Freddy turns serious. "I wasn't thinking about playing poker with you louts on Tuesday nights. I was just praying that I'd survive my time in the shark tank. Every week was a struggle, every working day a pain"
Knowing nods to this all around. Freddy continues.
"You know, if I had to do it all over again...."
Benny groans. "You'd probably do it different!"
"You bet I would" Freddy growls, in response to Benny's 'heard it all before' jab. "What a waste of time working was! I never understood if I was making a profit for the company or not, how they calculated my worth to the company. I still don't know what my 'worth' is. Damn company brainwashed me....."
"Yeah, uh, me too" Eddie pipes up. "What exactly was my time worth? Not a heckuva lot, compared to some people"
"And that poor schumck headin' for the exit without his phone a minute ago probably doesn't know what he's worth either" says Freddy. “Nobody knows. Each company sets a value on your time compared with a bunch of factors- what other employees in the same line of work are paid, the availability of labor, whether they have to pay for general labor or skilled, the various and sundry costs of doing business like advertising, raw materials, maintenance, and packaging, the number of employees they have, the greed or generosity of upper management, the lease on the building, or on the fleet, the cost of equipment, the taxes they have to pay, you name it. It's pretty easy to be devalued when you're on the shop floor or out on the road, away from the office and the actual profit and loss statement. Accountants and managers- some of them- are privy to that information while the rest of us live by the old saying "Employees are like mushrooms. Kept in the dark and fed s___”.
     Put a pile of cash, physical or virtual, in front of a management team and how much of that do you think makes it past their outstretched bonus-and-perks hands? Not much. There's a massive lack of transparency in business, it's built into the system. I woulda like to have seen that change in my time working for The Man but true transparency is probably the last thing that's ever gonna happen"
"Why the hell didn't you start your own business then, like I did?" Gabby retorted. "I've heard sob stories like this all my life"
"I thought I had it good, compared to what people around me had" replied Freddy. "I didn't feel that changing jobs was a good idea, and starting a business seemed too risky"
"Serves you right then" Gabby smugly replied.
"I had bills to pay, there were things I wanted to buy" Freddy continued. "Unlike you, I wanted my weekends free so I could go out on dates and party"
"Ach, it's all water under the bridge" Eddie jumped in. "It don't matter anymore! You get old, you sit around, and you end up thinkin' too damn much. Who wants more coffee?"
"Not me" Benny says, rising from his chair. "I gotta get going. Gotta take the wife shopping today for gardening stuff"
"Uh, yeah, I gotta get goin' too" Gabby says, taking Benny's cue. "Gotta knock down about a week's worth of grass"
Eddie too decides it's a good time to push back. "Guess I'll see you all at six" he says, looking around. "I gotta go take a leak, then a walk"
Freddy says his goodbyes then watches his buddies go. "Sure woulda done it differently back then" he thinks. "If I only woulda had the gumption to do it! Coulda, woulda, shoulda! But, it don't matter now. Good or bad, it's all water under the bridge. At least I can make what's left of my life count by trying to drop all that unworthiness crap I was conditioned into believing about myself!"

Tension Model

Taut is the rope that the tightrope walker treads on. It bounces some, and sways a little, but the balance bar he carries counteracts those forces and stabilizes his slow gate from one end of the rope to the other. 
In my Tension Model, think of this taut rope as a sort of bridge that connects 'realities'. 
Uneasy standoffs between people are kind of like a taut rope bridge. In contentious matters, where belief systems are highly divergent, both sides hold onto their positions with a firm grip and the continuation of any matter between them is the tightrope walker moving back and forth between fixed poles. There is little give and take occurring. Neither position is surrendering or sacrificing much, and the tightrope walker can't carry much to either side anyway, so the bridge stays more or less the same. It's limited in capacity, narrow in scope.
But what if one end was loosened? Advantage may then seem to be gained for one of the parties as the bridge would disappear and a new way of reaching the other side could be be made, perhaps an easier way (or a more arduous and time consuming way). 

Might go all twelve rounds

neonbrand- Unsplash.com

Tension between positions is a 'fact' of life that most of us are born into. There is a distance between what we desire and how that desire can be fulfilled and usually acts of sacrifice are called for on the less powerful one's part, the expenditure of a great deal of time and effort, in order to reach the other end of the rope, the place where goals are realized. There is the 'where we are', and there is 'the other end of the rope', where our desire awaits us. 
But what if achieving our desires was as simple as letting go of any rope completely and trusting that what we desire will come about? We make no physical or mental effort to reach the goal other than that which is necessary at the time. Initially, the goal must be visualized as clearly as possible, and any contrarian thoughts about achieving the goal must be vanquished to the best of one's ability. After that, the goal begins to make it way towards you as you hold it persistently in mind, though you may not see any 'movement'. 
Action steps may be called for from time to time to bring that which is desired ever closer, but this involvement by you occurs only when prompted, and by 'prompted' it means you have the undeniable urge to perform the next action step. This urge to do can't be mistaken if you pay attention to the difference between feeling the need to perform an action step and restlessness. They are two very different things. 
Lastly, you stand by, ready to receive. That which you desire eventually lands on your doorstep, or you step into it, only because you wanted it and did the necessary at-the-time steps to realize it. 

In a tension free existence, there is never any real battling involved. The only battle you ever have is with yourself.

Who Dat?

Who dat thinking, judging, worried all time? Where he at? 
In body here. That's where. Somewhere inside. I go look, see if I can find him. 
I look. He not there. So where he at?
Maybe I look again. Closer. 
And still closer. He good hide. No can find. 
Me no educated, though. Maybe I read book. Book tell me. 
I read book. Still no can find. So more books I read.
Still he chatter. Like monkey. 
Maybe try process. Think outsmart him 'cuz I know he hiding in there.
Hmm.... he pretty smart. Maybe he outside, and I think he in!
I know- he here, but he invisible. 'Cuz he talk 'n I hear. 
So I no think! He go away! Ha ha!

Man of many disguises

Pierrick Van Troost- Unsplash.com

Oop. Now he back. And he be back strong. Maybe he mad. 
I go workshop, process with master. 
He go away much longer, but still come back. Now what I do?
More I meditate. Still he there.
Hmm..... I give him name, call him ego.
He want be my friend. I say I don't need no fren' like dat!
(Sigh) He still there. Maybe I make him friend, give him room in back of house.
He like back room. Come out not so much. Help me with math and stuff, then go away. 
Very quiet now, most of time. Seem like lot more space in house.

#@$!+!# Socialists!

Somewhere inside lies the salon d’elegance

David Svihovec- Unsplash.com

  Security Adjunct Cedrick Floom addressed He That Shall Not Be Named.
       "Sir?"
      An aide quickly jumped up and whispered in Cedrick's ear something about using the correct protocol, to which Cedrick nodded.
"Sire?”
"Yes?" Replied He That Shall Not Be Named
      "Faux News has alerted us to the presence of numerous Socialist camps within our borders!"
"Damn! As if we didn't have enough trouble with the Immigrant Caravan! Where is that disgrace, anyway?"
      "At present, just south of Guajalhara, a day's walk from the border checkpoint at Brownsville, Texas"
      "Keep 'em there until just before the election. Now, about these Socialists. Who are they led by, what are there intentions, and how in the hell do we either A. Get rid of them or B. Turn them into election worthy newsbites?"
"There is no per se 'leader' of the Socialists, Sire. But there are those that the Socialists look up to, and at the top of that list is a man named Dwendel Apfulshuk" 
"What do we know about him?"
"Well, Sire, in Socialist circles he's kind of like their hero, their legend. Living"
     "Can we make him not living?"
     "Is that a joke, Sire?"
"Of course it's a joke! Tell me more about Apfulshuk, his beliefs, and all that. Hurry though- I've got a 1:15 tee time"
"Mr. Apfulshuk refuses to adopt a mortgage, and urges his followers to do the same. He eschews traditional American home ownership in favor of a nomadic existence. He is at present camped on the outskirts of Fairville, Kentucky, and is surrounded there by many of his fervent followers. They appear to be the kind of people we should be very careful in handling. Most of them are white, and approaching retirement, but are not quite there yet"
      "Voters!"
"Precisely, Sire."
"Christian?"
     "Many are, some aren't. We have tried to plant agents in their camp to subvert and convert. It's just not taking. They seem to be very fired up by Aphulshuk's views"
      "They won't buy into the system? Real estate is my system! It's been very good to me. So many of my crony pals depend on their income properties, and the tax breaks those generate. Can the military be called in?"
      "To forceably move Apfulshuk and his followers? Super bad P.R., Sire. They are totally law abiding"
      "Isn't there a law somewhere about taking on a mortgage?"
"No, Sire. Mortgages are not yet a requirement"
      "Then let's get my people in the Senate to work on changing that. Meanwhile, isn't there something we can do? Hate to see the Democrats latch onto a rallying point. Can we starve them out?"
"No chance, Sire. They're living comfortably on Little Caesars $5 pizzas, 2 for $5 Burger King Whoppers, and $1.49 Costco hot dogs. Benefactors bring them food from these purveyors, and many others, from time to time"
     "Hate to piss off Costco.... ....hmm...  ...Okay, I've thought about it for a minute, time to Tweet something...."
     "Perhaps you should wait, Sire" 
     "I never wait. Give me my phone!"

     It was right at the moment that Apfulshuk was adressing a crowd of ne'r do wells in the middle of the Fairville County campground. 
     "You, you band of beautiful ruffians and modern day Artful Dodgers! This is your time! Time to bust the system that has failed you! Decades of inaction by the States and Congress has created the unaffordable housing crisis that plagues our nation this day. Investors and home flippers have only aggravated this problem by taking the available supply of homes totally out of the reach of the working class. We're mad as hell and we're not going to take it anymore. We don't need to march on City Hall though- City Hall needs to march to us! They need us to buy houses, assume mortgages, pay our property taxes, and support their corrupt system. No more, say I! I would rather live in my RV! Are you with me?!"
    "Where shall we settle? cried a far thinker in the crowd.
"We shall summon our bretheren across the country and journey with them en masse to Mexico! Across the border of oppression we'll flee where we can live in a less expensive clime and once there, realize the fruits of our pensions and savings! No more shall we simply exist!"

     And so it was that now two caravans, great in number, approached the border.

     One wanting in, the other wanting out.

Dimentia

This is a word that describes the absence of acknowledgement that other realities exist, it is commonplace in mainstream thought. 
If one reads the news, dimentia is apparent in that everything that is presented comes from the "We're the only ones here" perspective. There is no history beyond that which was written in the Good Book, and as far as science is concerned, where they postulate that humans have been here far longer than that, the blanket answer is always that those humans were more apelike than man and don't really matter. 
      Outside of the earth doesn't matter either, all that space filled with all those orbs, some hot, many cool, and with so many cool ones so far discovered, the odds that some of them could be or actually are supporting life is huge yet that too is easily downplayed. "So what? If God had wanted us to know that he would have given us craft to go there" or something like that. Doesn't matter.
Near death experiences, widely reported, are dismissed as last-gasp chemical reactions going off in the brain. Telepathy is simply coincidence. Clairvoyance is seeing hallucinations, Mediumship is being possessed, blah, blah, blah. Whatever the skill or ability, it is derided by the dimented ones, whose position regarding these subjects is "If I’m not seeing it, hearing it, or feeling it, then it doesn't exist. What others are reporting or experiencing doesn't matter (unless they can help me win the lottery, get back my lover, or land me that job, etc.)".

A messenger this way comes

Ryoji Iwata- Unsplash.com

  Were it the other way 'round, if the mainstream media were to regularly report that all of these mysterious things were real and worth looking into, there would be a mad rush to find out but- finding out about these things comes with a price. No longer could people ignore the fact that we're all intimately connected. Oops! That kind of understanding would be very bad for egocentric people, it would be bad for business, which likes to sell people goods that only they or their family use, it would call for some tweaks to organized religion's version of what life is all about, and it would mean the end for despots. 
People (and organizations) would have to expand their worldviews and exhibit some different behaviors, for with the understanding comes the abilities- most times. There are those individuals that might have sudden, unexpected glimpses of that which exists outside of the state of dimentia, that might become aware that there are dimensions other than 3D, where time and space don't matter, and because we use fixed points like time and space to position ourselves things might get a little bit confusing for them but you tend to flicker back and forth until you get used to it. The timeframe for this adjustment process is highly variable and dependent on any individual's willingness to go further. 
    Awareness- the state other than dimentia- tends to vary in intensity. There are times when energies are strong and comprehension is clear, and times when awareness is still there but is more diffuse, less focused. It’s like being led along a path to who knows where, but at the same time being utterly compelled to continue walking. The movement away from dimentia and towards awareness is the epitome of mystery. 
    This irresistible pull towards awareness leads us to cognize that no news source, government official, or religious leader has a firm grip on ultimate reality. The world we're on is traveling through fathomless space and entering regions we haven't been in before. Who knows where we're going, or why?

So what about the economy, or politics? Something far bigger is at play outside of the state of dimentia.

She's Got Legs

Watched a show about the DCC last night, and everybody knows the DCC- the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders. 
Usually when they do football game promos, or live broadcasts of games, the DCC are shown, but only briefly and from a guy perspective that is never enough so “Kaboom!” along comes a show about the DCC where you get to watch 'em all you want. 
As you can imagine, it ain't easy to be one of the DCC. Tears are shed aplenty for only a few can make it to the squad of 36. Years of cheerleading practice beforehand is what you gotta do if you want to make it to the top. Long, wavy hair is a plus, and good looks definitely, but critical are the long shapely legs that you must be able to do high kicks with, and full extension level-with-the-ground squats, because as a member of the DCC, you gotta represent.
Represent what? Every guy football fan in the stands’ fantasy, I guess. Supermodels that can dance and smile and are there for ya, and whew boy one of these ladies on your arm would be like hittin' the lottery. 
I'm sure that for the ladies it's the same way. You're gonna date the best if you're on the squad, which may or may not be for very long because sooner or later you're gonna cash in and leave and then the next DCC cheerleader will show up to replace you. It's a lot like life. Fresh talent- and many still single!- appears every new season.

Cheerleaders dress like this

Bruce Mars- Unsplash.com

Along that line of thought, as if the early twenties dating scene wasn't hot enough already, why not make it incandescent? Those peak physicality cheerleaders decorating the field down there just might be available. They are packaged by the league as wholesome, down home young women so why not make your way down to see if any of them are interested in going out? Or, where are those nightclubs that they go to located and can I get past the ropes? 
The answer to those three questions is that fan access to the squad is probably made nigh impossible, those hidden nightclubs aren't open to the general public, and even if you came across one you wouldn't get past the ropes. There's a secret parallel world called the sports celebrity world where all of that Xanadu and Great Gatsby stuff the players partake in takes place and the entrance doors where those fat bankroll folks hang out are probably opened wide to any members of the cheerleading squad. 
Maybe that's why all the DCC members were giddy with happiness upon making the squad because they just got their golden ticket to the jet set ride of a lifetime which is so fast moving that ordinary people, upon seeing it, would only see a cloud of activity, those within the cloud moving at or near the speed of light.
But you can't say the cheerleaders didn't work and train for it for oh yes they did. They had to compete against each other for a spot on the squad, and every year they have to requalify. The two old hand cheerleading coaches overseeing things, I think they were former DCC members themselves, know what to look for, know what the right moves to make are, what the right qualities to beam out are, what the right attitude to proclaim to the world is, and some cheerleader candidates got it right off the bat but most of them only got some of 'it' and gain the rest by experience. 
Confidence, presence, and physicality to the Nth degree.  

Why, as a football game ticket buyer, if I came into Texas Stadium and saw a bunch of white hot pants wearing, white cowboy boots sporting, blue star-studded halter top jiggling, long hair waving, perfect teeth smiling, super athletic long legged women dancing and totally into it I would think that I had either A. Died and arrived in heaven or B. Had a chance because, hey, they're looking right at you, actually paying you attention, and that is every man's fantasy. it'd be hard as hell to take your eyes off of 'em and watch the game. 

While players dress for the elements

Jeremy Lin- Unsplash.com

I'm awfully glad that somebody had the idea to make this show because it gave me a behind the scenes look at the DCC world, which is the equivalent of a private tour of the Vatican or getting an invite to a series of parties after Oscars night. 

What just might be coming up next, since Netflix and Amazon and the others are hot to produce these expose shows, might be something like: 

'Private Clubs Of The Super Athletes' 

where a camera crew gives us an inside look at that hyper-exclusive world, full of athletes and rap stars and cheerleaders and tech guys and actors and the like. It would answer a burning question that has been on a lot of viewers minds, which is: "How do they spend their Saturday nights?"
And could we follow some of them as they went through the rest of their week? (but pul-eeze don't give us fake stuff where a bunch of B actors are hangin' around the pool at somebody's lush crib pretendin' that they are livin' the life 'cuz that is unreality TV).

  I'd really like to see something like that. I know it would cause me and many other viewers some serious pain and might even trigger moments of outrage because the subjects would be fully flaunting their insanely large incomes but you know the old saying: "If it don't kill ya, it'll only make ya stronger". Also, seasoned producers would know to occasionally throw in shots of the featured person hanging with family and friends so as to make it the old 'the one lucky member of the family' scenario and bring things down to a level that viewers could actually relate to. It could be your brother or sister!

So lay it on me, content providers. Surviving 'Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders'- Making The Cut' was tough, but I think after seeing this that I'm game for anything else you might want to throw my way.

Hostile Territory

I left my hideout wearing the appropriate uniform and carrying an attitude to match it, which would hopefully fool everybody for I was to be an infiltrator this day. Deep within enemy lines I was going to go. 
Dressed as a member of the Operation Center's motor pool, I drove away from my hideout but was tailed near immediately. I was not used to operating during daylight hours and maybe I had already blown my cover so I accelerated coolly but briefly, then pulled over slightly and waved my (now two) tailgaters to pass. They passed me by and kept going- while I breathed a sigh of relief.
Driving towards my objective, the stream of traffic I found myself in was heavier than I had anticipated and it was moving fast so I blended into the pack and matched their speed to remain unnoticed until abruptly peeling off, like they often did, indicating that their (and now my) objective was in sight. I pulled silently into the Operations Center's vast parking lot, and made my way towards the facility.

Just one of the gang

Gabriel Amaral- Unsplash.com

A few officers and some enlisted personnel eyeballed me curiously, or gave me hard stares, as I entered the Operations Center. It was not normal to see ones of my rank checking out equipment at this hour but it occasionally occurred, due to some ranking member being Away On Leave or even AWOL, so even though I was a curiosity, I wasn't challenged. Were I to be, I knew the appropriate lingo to use for I had been studying my target for quite some time. 
Leaving the Operations Center two minutes later, I climbed into a transport, started it, and began to drive. Personnel at the Operations Center Exit Gate eyeballed me for second, then waved me through. I or someone like me had been seen driving a transport before, it was nothing new, though it was unusual to see a motor pool member other than one of the usual few. 
Whew. I was in. Making my rounds between the airport landing site (Adam 17), base (Charlie 16), and a few others, I called in the appropriate radio codes. My voice was unfamiliar to the long-term personnel at the Ops Center but my delivery was flawless for I had practiced calling these radio codes back in my hideout, and due to that, I was not challenged in any way. 
A few hours in, I knew I was likely to ace it because so far, my mission had been a success. I actually found myself getting bored. Infiltrating the OPs Center motor pool had been easy, but I knew I had to stay sharp. Eyes were occasionally on me, studying me, perhaps thinking that I would attempt to return again (should I be so bold) on the morrow. These watching eyes I could not trust for I sensed malice in them and they made me very nervous. I told myself to remain aloof and act natural, but it was difficult. I could feel them scanning me, puzzled as to why I was there, and maybe going so far as to approach me and ask questions, or check the duty roster. I had my alibi at the ready and was prepared at any moment to use it but this game of cat and mouse continued in a tense, unspoken way, neither I nor they giving any clue as to what the next move would be. 
It was in this way that the remainder of my time behind enemy lines passed, until I had gathered up all the resources I had infiltrated the base for. Exiting much the same way I came in, I saw ones of my rank walking my way. I dodged them until I was safely again in the parking lot, lest they accidentally identify me through hailing me in greeting and break my cover. 
Soon I was racing away from the Operations Center, my mission a smashing success! I had achieved my objective-

  Pulling a shift on DAYSHIFT.

It's All Made Up

All of it is. The whole damn thing. There is no right way or wrong way there is just what was decided upon by whoever was calling the shots at the time, and then that guy or faction died, was overrun, was deposed, died out, was succeeded by _____ and then he/she built on what was already created or tore it all down or burned it or an earthquake took it or whatever and it was rebuilt and so on. 
Three hundred years ago, give or take, there was nothing here in the ol' U.S.of A. 'cept bands of Native Americans but they weren't called 'Americans', they had other names they called themselves and they had their thing own going. 
In Europe things were different. There were more permanent structures built by people who had lived and ruled there from before, but now were only ruins, as the shifting fortunes of various wannabe rulers had expanded and lost empires and such many times, so much so that the mapmakers of the time had been kept busy drawing the currently agreed-upon borders. This river, that range of mountains, that strategic valley or pass was 'ours', or maybe it was 'their's, but not for long- or for forever- by any means. 
In Asia it was the same way pretty much 'cept for Japan, protected by the sea from invaders and marauders. India had been protected too, with the Himalayas along their Northern border. 
Vast Africa had been hostile to invasion and empire building due to desert, disease, jungle, and no real network of transportation. It was hard to conquer, and even harder to rule, so why bother?    
Few did. 
Australia! So isolated that nobody went there for centuries, and when they got there, they had to build everything from scratch. 
And who knows if any civilizations preceded the ones historians have evidence of, those lost civilizations buried under sand, ice, and sea.
As of this writing, the only thing agreed upon worldwide that I can readily think of is time. What time is it? Other than that, nothing else is as universally accepted or kept exactly, precisely, the same. Cars are cars but each country has different makes and models. Food is food but each country, and region therein, cooks it or throws it together differently. Electrical voltages, systems of measuring volume, temperature, and speed vary from place to place. What the exact same item is even named.
Nothing is static, all is evolving (or de-volving, sad to say, in some areas) and the show goes on 24/7, 365.

Nice to look at but no street parking

Aldric Rivat- Unsplash.com

It would be interesting to see the entirety of this in time lapse, which is what historians try and do for us, documentarians try and visually present to us, they try and distill this lengthy process into comprehensible bites that we can take in. They bring us the short version, the salient points, the synopsis of events. Not the 'How It's Made' but "How It Was Made' for enquiring minds want to know those kinds of things. 
Take the gentrification of a city. If we know how that occurs, we can prevent it from happening, nip it in the bud, stop the process, reverse it, and keep the city vibrant and alive. 
How did San Francisco, a favorite city of mine and a good example, become overrun with homeless? Why are rents spiraling out of control there? 
City planners didn't have the analytical tools to alert them to such potentially undesirable outcomes in real time before but they have them now. They can collect data and track trends. They don't have to let systems devolve in order to understand them later, which was sort of the old, slow way of doing things.
  Case studies of neighborhoods becoming overtaken by wealthier residents go back to Roman times. Crowded working class neighborhoods became neighborhoods containing only villas there, thus the term 'Gentry' as in 'having the dough to buy you bums out and renovate' which was turned into the term 'Landed Gentry' of Olde England and has become the 'tech giants/Airbnb passive investor phenomenon' going on in San Francisco today. 'Gentrification' is the catch-all term which covers this seemingly non-understandable, highly complex, and politically volatile issue, yet it, like everything else, is totally malleable. Causes and their resulting effects can be pinpointed more easily these days and solutions can be proposed, enacted, or at least tried out.
Delving into the fine details of the process of gentrification as it applies to each unique city ain't exacly my forte, I'm more of a theoretical kind of guy, but there are people of such bent who can show you on the internet the reasons they think San Francisco has devolved into the city it has become today. (New York too. And many others). 
If there was ever a maxim that applies to how society functions, that simplifies the seemingly complicated, it is this:
"Remember- It’s All Made Up!” 
(And in real estate's case, cause and effect is not shifting around like in three card monte, that game where you try and guess what's under one of the cups when the street hustler stops moving them around. Real estate is a stationary target) 

Road To Perdition

Saw a bizzare political ad on of all things Sportscenter last night, in which the left was near comically demonized. The ad screamed that voting for any democratic candidate was an act that would lead the country down the road to ruin. Really? There's no compromise anymore? 
Yeah, the left represents (in my opinion) to the right the one thing that they fear the most, dread the most, willl do anything to defend, will fight tooth and claw to their bitter end about, and that is relinquishing profits. 
  And to that end, they will try and foster support for their cause by saying that they represent anything other than that. 
It's easy for the right to rally the religious, just mention the A word and you got 'em, but as one astute person recently tweeted, "There are ten commandments, not one”.
And those 'crazed hordes' approaching the border might be cause for alarm in lesser minds but hey, I've been around immigrants- a lot- and they bring good food into this country. Couldn't they be allowed to come in and make tamales, falafel, spanakopita, Tom Yum soup, and open up Parrillas (Argentine barbeque joints)? That would keep 'em out of the profitmongers hair, they'd be self supporting. How about imagining that option? One of perhaps many?

Parrilla

Christian Koepke- Unsplash.com

Frankly, I'm a little disgusted by the lack of rational thought, the unwillingness to negotiate, to debate, to explore options because it's never gonna be a one way street. This here is a democracy, not a 'demon'cracy, if some people haven't noticed, read the constitution, or understand that in a two party system there's such a thing as actual deliberation needing to be employed in order for the thing to work. 
Were this built-in need to negotiate not so, we'd be living in something resembling an authoritarian regime, where somebody at the top would decree that something is so, and it would be so. Like God. Is your party, which claims to be so tight with God, trying to actually play God?
I hope not because I actually talked to God the other day and he's not happy about your party's considering pushing him aside. But, being God, he's also forgiving. In addition to that, he'd like to come by and visit, talk a little sense into those that think they're capable of doing his job, give a few pointers, because when God does his job, he takes input from everybody and then works out a soulution.  
Some would argue with that, they would say that when God calls the shots he does whatever he damn well pleases but if that was so we'd all be mindless robots but we aren't, we are allowed to think and act independently. After all, who would want to live in a world where they have to take orders all the time by people......
....that think they know best and/or want everything to be their way? Kings used to speak and whoever stood in front of them, their knees shook. Anybody want to go back to those loose bowel days? Not me! 
    So God's a' comin', he said he'll be here Thursday. No, wait, I heard that incorrectly. God isn't coming, he's sending some emissaries. He's way too busy. 
These emissaries have been around, they know how to curtail the wall building impulses that come when certain factions don't want to negotiate anymore and start to throw tantrums, adamant as hell that they won't budge an inch on their positions and wanting every vesitge of power simply turned over to them without ever presenting a rational argument to the governed as to why that should be allowed, who died and made you the boss, and all that other messy democratic hashing things out stuff. These emissaries are skilled with handling the kind of folks that act like they're the new, self-appointed schoolteachers and the citizenry is just a bunch of wide-eyed third graders taking it all in. The emissaries simply posit a few questions to the self-appointed know-it-alls:
"Why should adults grant you any authority?" "On what grounds do you base your assessments of any situation, much less upon reality itself?" Present We The People actual, authentic reasons for any of your proposed decisions that the citizenry may then choose to follow. Soundbites, pieces of audio/video taken out of context, flashing comical images, and baseless outright lies do nothing to sway the learned. 
Situations are complicated. Governing is hard. This is the internet age. People are way smarter than before. 

And Jesus, whoever dreamed up that ad, stop interrupting Sportscenter!

Up your game or leave the court!

The Great Immigrant Caravan

They came from all over, looking for a place with manicured neighborhoods, nice cribs that would handsomely shelter them from the elements, jobs that would give them spending money far above just necessities, and uber-security from rank criminal elements. Their goal was to reach Fat City.
     By boat they came, by land, and by air. Catching sight of the Statue of Mr. Moneybags in the harbor they felt like they were almost there and then those in the halls of power closed the door. "Not In Our Backyard" said they.
"Where shall we go?" said the leader of the caravan, for they had by then assembled and elected a leader to represent them. 
      "Back to wherever you came from" said those representing Fat City.
"But...."
"No buts. Go"
     And so they went, back to where they came from. They blended back into the countries that they had tried to emigrate from, and things were all good and well for the people in Fat City, for they were safe. No gang thugs, anchor babies, stealing of jobs, contrarian political views, clamoring for unearned benefits, or being burdens on the existing system in any way.
        Life went on. 
        And then one day, not long afterward, the people in Fat City started noticing a decline in vitality. Necessary services weren't being provided in a timely manner. Even though those service jobs were heavily advertised almost nobody in Fat City wanted them. Of any actual candidates to fill those positions there were very few, and then to further the malaise, Fat City and other cities needing people to man their many and varied open positions got into bidding wars with each other, and the bidding was intense. Yet still the shortage of available labor was great. A.I. was supposed to have prevented this but A.I. could only fill so many slots, and it was expensive. What to do, what to do?

“I’m not seeing a welcome sign. You said there’d be a welcome sign”

Scott Dukette- Unsplash.com

     Perhaps the door should be opened somewhat, said some, the door to immigration again, but those few brave ones risked censure for uttering such heresy. Their reputations could be attacked, now that they had spoken. 
     "No" said the ones in positions of opening the door. "We cannot. Our standard of living is threatened by any change in the social order (and balance of power) that we have established. We would rather struggle with the labor shortfall than allow residency. Our solution is we will offer temporary residency. For a time, they can live here, then they must leave"
         "Who wants that?" said the concerned. 
          "They that want to live here do. We will offer them jobs that don't pay very well, but.... ...compared to the wages in their home countries, they will feel like kings. We will rotate them in, then rotate them out. Don't worry- they'll be 'rich' when they get sent back, they’ll take their savings with them. While they're here they will live in zones that we will establish, contract labor zones, though they won’t be mentioned as such"
          "Sounds totally impractical and frightfully expensive. Are you talking labor camps? Who would ever want to live in a place like that?"
         "Our way or the highway"
         "I think they'd rather keep going on their caravan. They don't want temporary anything".

And that's the crux of it, isn't it? Whether it be neighborhoods as welcoming as labor camps, or tent cities, or homeless shelters, or 'outpatient mental health treatment', dealing with the problem of human affairs in a half-assed manner only keeps people on the road (or living next to it).
      As to the mobile ones, on the road they will be, heading for whichever country will take them in, until they can get to a place where they can actually have a decent sort of life. No place like Fat City or any other wants to deal with the problem, but people keep being born and the problem only gets bigger. The current immigrant caravan story that’s playing out now won't stay on the front page very long but it, and others like it, show no sign of going away.

Mudder

About seven years ago I had a job where I drove several times a day past a dirt Motocross track built into the side of a hill. There were the usual Moto track rutted turns, low spots, steep banks, and abrupt mounds where the riders could catch air, and this track was built alongside a freeway. Every weekend in the summer riders would converge on this rural location and compete, which was entertainment for the bored freeway drivers, you bet. 
But then early on one summer weekend day I saw something else. A horde of dirt-covered people were running along the motocross track! WTF? So I checked it out, later, on the internet. They were doing a thing called a 'Mudder'. 
What a Mudder is is basically like signing up for a day of hardcore boot camp. With a bunch of other contestants you run an obstacle course and yes, some of the obstacles are the sort of thing you have to get through that will get you very muddy in the process. This is apparently great fun, becoming physically and mentally tormented for a day.
Right off I could see that this was only something that people that worked in offices would do, because believe me, the average Joe what holds a day job ain't no way gonna exert himself in no mud pit on the weekend. He'll be on the sofa watching the game(s) with a bowl of high calorie, high fat feed close by. In his hand will be a bottle of suds, and many more of those will be in the coolerator. 
Gotta rest up for the week ahead! 
But no, such is not the case for those that hold office jobs. These are the ones that you see getting in their early morning jogs, bicycling to work, hitting the gym after work, and competing in Mudders and marathons on weekends. 
I've never ever held an office job, my constitution is totally incompatible with being confined in a building throughout the week, but there are plenty of people that gravitate to such environs so there is a huge market for these Mudder-type events. 

“What are these people doing on my track?!”

Koen Van Ginkel- Unsplash.com

"Rah!" goes the Mudder cry, and they're off! Bounding up the muddy track, climbing up and over the rope/wall, dunking themselves in the ice pond, dodging their way through the maze of hanging wires that give them electric shocks, traversing the monkey bar obstacle, the bars slicked with butter and grease, trying to get up and over the similarly greased half pipe obstacle, etc., etc., all of this an improvement on boot camp!
Competing in a Mudder is also a teamwork event. The participants are encouraged to help each other along the way and so yes, doing that sort of thing is always boss-approved and so doing a Mudder may even be a company sponsored activity. A perk! (Just alla you come back to work on Monday in one piece, okay?)

  Well, seems this Mudder idea has taken off and of course with that has emerged sponsorship, prize money, TV, and the inevitable stars of the 'sport', strapping lads and sinewy lasses making money by working the circuit. 

Surviving a Mudder course is touted as being invigorating in the extreme. You really haven't lived until you've crossed this off your 'must do' list. 
Okay. All right. Say what you will you ain't getting this hombre far away from the sofa on a Saturday (or on a Sunday). That's what weekends used to be about, before two guys, one a former counter-terrorism expert, the other a former corporate lawyer (think 'office job') came up with this crazy 'Let's sell agony (boot camp) as fun’ idea. 
But I can't say it doesn’t look like extreme fun, I can't deny that. Running wild in the woods like a ten year old kind of fun. Were I in my twenties with energy to burn, and there were some hot babes around as fellow competitors, I might give participating in a Mudder a go one weekend- maybe. 

What I do know for sure is this- if I had to sit at a desk all day and take my breaks near some coffee setup/water cooler, I'd be praying for Saturday's Mudder to come so I could burn off the calories I'd been accruing from eating all those doughnuts in the breakroom. 

It'd also give me something to talk about around the water cooler come Monday.

The Great British Bake Off

Is a TV show about baking and thank God it’s set in Britain, the land of impeccable standards. Maybe not in everything, but they do know how to set an example. This show is tailor-made for furthering the education of unpolished wannabe bakers and I've seen many episodes by now.
Apprentice bakers vie for the title of 'Best Baker' in this show. They are tasked with creating all manner of baked goods, many of which I didn't even know existed. They're given the ingredients, the tools, and a set amount of time in which to do this, and none of these apprentice bakers are ordinary people off the street. They are vetted somewhat, I don't know how extensively, but enough so that they can compete with others at a high level of baking skill.

In the spirit of Fall and upcoming Halloween, pumpkin scones.

Priscilla Du Perez- Unsplash.com

Every measurement they make is foreign to me, they measure in millimeters and liters, grams instead of ounces, they use scales instead of measuring cups a lot of the time, the vernacular is different and the ingredients are mainly the same though in the ingredient department there exist variations of what Americans might know of as 'flour' and 'yeast'  and fillings and icings, etc. But hey, close enough. 
  The camera follows them all through their 'bake' and records their wrestling with and fretting over their creations and then 'Ding!' the timer signals them to stop doing any more work on their bake and for the judges to appear.
One by one the bakers come forward and hand off their bakes to the two judges, or all the bakes are lined up on a table to be blindly tested by the judges. One judge is a guy named Paul who knows how to bake so well he is considered a master baker, and the other is an elderly but spry and witty woman named Mary, who knows what a properly baked item should look like, taste like, crumble like, etc.
Again, thank you Brits for doing this because I too know what a proper scone should taste like and crumble like and the variation I experience in store-bought baked goods is huge. Cornbread should be dry-ish and crumbly, not sweet with bits of orange (?) in it, scones should be super dry and crisp on the outside, never should they be soft inside or out, and biscuits should be hefty, with a crunchy crust and a flaky, buttery interior. Everything should be baked thoroughly- never any “Hello, what’s this?!” undercooked interior portions (or the putting of lemon zest in Almond Poppyseed Muffin batter!).
Same with donuts, pies, cookies, cake, the list goes on. There's a lot to be said for experimentation, it is necessary to expand the boundaries of possible creations that flour, eggs, sugar, butter, salt, yeast, fillings, and toppings can produce. Yea for that. What a happy accident donuts must have been! But- standards are necessary too because without those donuts become scones become biscuits and nary should those definitive lines be crossed. Not on my watch! (or Paul & Mary's either!)
So go ahead, Brits. More episodes please. Show the semi-civilized bakers out there what passes for acceptable. I want to see Mary inspecting the interior of those cinnamon loaves for flaws, and I want Paul giving feedback on crunch. 
Proper good this is, and well done!

This Just In

  Word has reached us here at The Daily Dose that people lie. Let's go to our correspondent on the street, Darren Philberts, for some insight into this phenomenon. 
"Darren! Is it true that people lie?"
"Apparently so, Janelle. And not only do they lie, but they do it all the time"
  "Give us an example"
"Easy" (Darren hails a passerby on the street) "Sir, can I ask you a question?"
  "Certainly" (first lie).
  "We're doing a story here about lying. Do people around you ever lie?"
  "Yeah! They do it a lot!"
    "Recently?"
    "Yeah, like five minutes ago. I got a text from my boss 'asking' (second lie) if I wanted to work on Saturday. He said somebody at work called in sick. But I know that person is not sick. I know that she is lying"
  "So this lying has an effect on you" 
    "Big time! I was going to spend an afternoon at Dodger stadium with my bros watching the NLCS!"
“Why don't you just tell your boss no?"
"Are you kidding? And threaten my future promotion chances? If I don't show up on Saturday I'll be viewed as Not A Team Player. Sayonara end of year bonus!"
"Uh, thank you" (Passerby walks off muttering. Another one is hailed)
"Ma'am? Can I ask you a question?"
"Uhm... Okay" (third lie. This suit better not be asking me for no personal information!)
"We're doing a story about lying....."
"I'm out of here!" Passerby walks hurriedly away.
Darren looks at the camera. "This seems to be a touchy subject for people!"
A man approaches, carrying a briefcase.
"Sir! Can I ask you a question?"
"Certainly" (fourth lie).
Darren goes into his story spiel and the guy listens. 
"Yeah, I lie. So what? I'm a lawyer. It's my business to s t r e t c h the truth. We don't consider it 'lying' though. We're simply offering a different perspective"
  "Interesting. Thank you, sir" 
"You're welcome" (fifth lie).
A local ruffian is hailed.
"Young man- can I ask you a question?"
"Wow! I'm gonna be on TV!"
"Do you ever lie?"
"Hell yeah! Think I'm stupid or something? How else am I gonna relate?"
"So you're saying that lying happens a lot, as a matter of course"
"Dude, where your brain at? You think I'd be survivin' out here streetwise tellin' the truth? Ain't nobody out here givin' you the facts straight up. It's all twisted. You gotta interpret everything"
"And you're good at that?"
"I'm okay. Some's better than me"
"Thank you for your input" 
"No problem, man" (sixth lie)
Elderly gentleman approaches.
  "Sir, can I have a minute of your time?"
“No!”
"Okay, sorry to bother you! How about you, miss?"
A young girl pauses. Darren gives his spiel, asks her if she ever lies. 
"Yeah. I tell guys I like them"
"Do you?"
"Not all of them. But if I do, they do things for me"
  "You don't see anything wrong with that?"
"Use it before you lose it, my sistahs tell me. We all do it"
"Uh, thank you, miss"
A couple approaches. Darren stops them. 
"No" they say, looking at each other intently. "We never lie about our relationship (seventh lie). We are totally honest with each other. It's what makes a relationship work!"
  "Thanks for your input"
Off they go, to get ice cream or something. Darren stops a policeman. 
"Good morning, officer. Do you or any of your fellow officers ever lie?"
"Never! (eighth lie). "We are sworn to uphold the law. It is our solemn duty. We might joke with each other, and with citizens, but we never lie"
"Sounds good to me. Have a nice day (ninth lie) officer"
"You too. Obey the law!"
  "I will, sir!" (tenth lie)

“No way!”

Mpumelelo Macu- Unsplash.com

"Whew" Darren turns back towards the camera. "It seems that lying is rather commonplace here in society. I just caught myself in a falsehood! After a few minutes on the street it must be clear to our viewers that lying is so prevalent that encountering the truth is rare. Perhaps our next story will be on that topic. 
    But what would be the point in presenting that? Employing white lies or blatant deception is relative to the scenarios people are presented with. Depending on the circumstances, some people gravitate towards one end of the spectrum, some to the other. Maybe the deeper question that should be asked is why do people feel that they have to lie at all? Would it be so harmful, or detrimental to their ambitions, to honestly articulate their needs to others? 
    Yes, it would, telling the truth being diametrically opposed to telling a lie. Truth stands alone, bright, shiny, naked, and unafraid. (Well, maybe not bright and shiny but definitely the other two). People are used to having to get what they want through roundabout ways, these being deception and/or manipulation. They veil their intentions, mislead their opponents in order to gain trust, then ferret their way towards their personal goals, or in business's case, shared goals.

Lying is rampant in our society and due to that, there is rampant distrust. Nothing and no one can be taken at face value. We have lost our innocence and become predators upon each other, predators that search to satisfy personal needs in a jungle environment. It doesn't have to be this way but man thinks he needs to be a wily and perpetually strategizing creature. He prides himself on skillfully playing the game of human life and studies the moves of other astute players with rapacious appetite. He seeks power over the outer above all else. 

Those that seek to control the without have not yet discovered the ability to create within. That which lies within the mind, the attention, is always perfectly reflected in the without. The without acts as a learning tool in that way. 
Attempting to control the without is a cumbersome, karma-intensive, awkward way of bulldozing the personal will through obstacles to achieve one's objectives. Why not harmonize with the outer- The World- to get what you want? It's a far more elegant way. It might call for great patience and trust but The Universe has a way of giving you more than you could have ever imagined”.