Positive People Make a Positive Difference!
Have you ever considered that problems are only insurmountable…if you allow them to be?
I was speaking with my friend and former colleague, Elizabeth, recently and noted, once again, her positive attitude.
Elizabeth and Tony have illustrated the most proactive leadership for the Civil Service Council…that I have had the pleasure of witnessing.
The Civil Service Council has been at the cutting edge of addressing the needs of civil service staff, and they have done so with a remarkable ‘can-do’ attitude.
I think of my good friends the Sheffer’s and their eternal sunny attitude. They are not only hard working people…but compassionate to all. Just being around them…is a morale boost for me!
And, then, of course, my friend Sarah. What a stellar example of how to live your life. Although she is facing a difficult challenge…her attitude and her Facebook postings are nothing but up-beat and positive…and inspiring!
My son, Jonathon, was handed a bag full of lemons…and he made lemonade for all to enjoy!
My son, Aaron, is such an up-beat, manager, that he is sought out by his leaders to help in other facilities…across the country!
My friend and former colleague, Bill V., was often an inspiration to me. His decisive attitude and positive outlook on all things were invaluable during our years together at Building Services.
I think of my friend, Cyndy, who never saw a cause that she did not want to aid. She is a jewel that is often under-appreciated by those around her. She is a lifter of spirits and a faithful friend.
Brad Dillard is one of the most gregarious and inspiring leaders that I have ever known. Brad, simply does not take no for an answer…but rather he finds a way to navigate around the mountain of a problem and take care of the people in Plant and Service Operations!
My friend and colleague of many years, Garrett, never saw a problem that he was not willing to tackle. Often I gave him some of the most difficult issue confronting our department…and he succeeded in solving the issues at hand…every time!
I grew up with my friend, Jeff, and witnessed his transformation from a homeless person to a millionaire. The key to Jeff’s success has always been his unflagging desire to help those that are less fortunate than him.
I admire chancellor Montemagno. Facing a significant health challenge he is unbowed and his course for SIU is true! His vision for positive academic change for SIUC…will succeed and our enrollment will increase!
I see my friend, Jerry C., walking his dog, when Mary Jane and I go to deliver Meals on Wheels from the Senior Center. I think of what wonderful and christian people that he and his wife, Marla, are. Though challenges beset them…nothing deters them from being outstanding and positive people.
Jonathon tells me that he saw, Ryan C., and that he asked about me. He goes on to say what a good guy Ryan is. He not only is a good guy but he is one hell of a hard worker. No matter what herculean task that he is given in Building Services…he does his dead level best to complete it!
Joan P. was one of the most extraordinary members of my staff during my 25 years as a manager of Building Services. When the rest of us were tired and ready to stop working…Joan was ready to double-down and get it done!
My brother Brock and my sister-in-law Marcy are inspirational to me! I have never seen more dedicated and loving parents…in my life!
Southern Illinois University does not have anything to worry about…if it will call upon people like the ones that I have mentioned in this writing.
63 Chinese Students Visit SIUC
’63 students and four chaperones from China are participating in a two week long summer program through a longtime partnership with Northeast Normal University in China.’ WSIL TV 3 ABC
‘It great, people here are very warm and welcome and they have all been polite,’ Wang said, adding she’s close to 100 percent committed to SIUC’ WSIL TV 3 ABC
SIUC is resplendent and ready for the upcoming Fall semester. Our international students are an exciting and vital part of the success of the university.
The best is yet to come for Southern Illinois University at Carbondale!
Searching for Reality?
‘If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face-for ever.’
‘Orthodoxy means not thinking-not needing to think. Orthodoxy is unconsciousness.’
‘Power is in tearing human minds to pieces and putting them together again.’
‘Doublethink means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one’s mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them.’
‘We are different from the oligarchies of the past in that we know what we are doing…The German Nazis and the Russian Communists came very close to us in their methods, but they never had the courage to recognize their own motives. They pretended, perhaps they even believed, that they had seized power unwillingly for a limited time, and that just around the corner there lay a paradise where human beings would be free and equal. We are not like that. We know that no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it. Power is not s means; it is an end.’
‘Don’t you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought? In the end we shall make thoughtcrime literally impossible, because there will be no words in which to express it.’
‘For if leisure and security were enjoyed by all alike, the great mass of human beings who are normally stupefied by poverty would become literate and would learn to think for themselves; and when once they had done this, they would sooner or later realize that the privileged minority had no function, and they would sweep it away. In the long run, a hierarchical society was only possible on a basis of poverty and ignorance.’
‘There was truth and there was untruth, and if you clung to the truth even against the whole world, you were not mad.’ 1984 by George Orwell
Last evening president Trump extolled a group of veterans that he was speaking to at a VFW in Missouri, ‘What you’re seeing isn’t happening.’ Trump went on to inform the veterans that what they were reading, was not happening.
In reference to the Access Hollywood tape of October 7, 2016, ‘We don’t think that was my voice,’ Mr. Trump told the senator, according to a person familiar with the conversation. Since then, Mr. Trump has continued to suggest that the tape that nearly upended his campaign was no actually him, according to three people close to the president.’
The Helsinki Summit of a few days ago revealed clearly that president Trump not only has affection and obsequies deferral to Russian president Vladimir Putin, but also that he took Putin’s side against his own, Republican, intelligence agency officials. His changing of the word ‘would’ to ‘wouldn’t’ is an insult to rationale logic and intelligence.
Now, all of this would be somewhat humorous..if it was not so deadly to our republic. President Trump insists that Fox News be played on the television screens of Air Force I. Really, who cares, if it were not illustrative of a much much deeper problem for our nation.
For the psst several years we tend to receive our news from the television newscast or newspaper or Facebook…that suits our political and, often, religious affiliation.
Truth…is not governed by democrats or republicans or Baptist or Presbyterians or Pentecostals.
Truth is based on verifiable facts…not political obfuscation and rhetoric.
If we persist in allowing our ability to search for truth to be governed by our political persuasion…we are doomed to the anarchy of fascism and totalitarianism.
When we become so confused that black is white and up is down and that it is alright to separate children from their parents with no plan on reuniting them and that it is a wonderful suggestion to have the murderous dictator of Russia bring his intelligence officers to the United States to examine Special Counsel Robert Muller’s examination of possible Russian collusion in the 2016 presidential election…and that the president has the right to pull the security clearances of former intelligence officers, which is extended for the benefit of the United States…not for them, simply because those former intelligence officers disagreed with the president?
Journalist are being targeted and murdered by terrorist and others…while the president continues to refer them as the ‘fake media and the enemies of the people.’
Fox New journalist disagreed and criticized the president’s news conference in Helsinki…are they now fake news and the enemy of the people?
Tapes were made public, yesterday, that had been made by Michael Cohen, Trump’s former personal lawyer. On the tape can be heard the president and Mr. Cohen discussing creating a shell company to pay for hush money for former Playboy model Karen McDougal’s story of her and Mr. Trump’s affair…prior to the presidential election which would occur, only, a few weeks later. George F. Will, a well respected, former Republican, columnist and, frequent, analyst on television news programs, said that. ‘Trump-Cohen tape is just more evidence president Trump is a ‘seedy man’ and ‘low life from Queens.’
So, who should we believe…our president and those who lie for him daily…without compunction…or our lying eyes and our lying ears?
Friendship…Don’t Try So Hard
I have heard it said that to have friends you must show yourself friendly.
Also, friendships develop from a variety of associations.
There are friends from work related situations. Those who work on a team together often become great friends as they work toward a common goal. There are few, work related advantages, that are greater than having friends that you support and that support you.
Often churches produce close bonds with fellow parishioners. Gathering weekly in a faith community and praying for and helping your fellow members can create strong bonds of affection that is somewhat similar to family.
One of the most exciting friendships is the bond and affinity developed between people of different races and religions and often different countries. This is, indeed, a friendship that pays remarkable dividends on several levels. You learn about someone who is different than you in culture and religion, as well as political systems and country.
Friends can come out of nowhere. I became friends with a former chancellor of SIU and we could not have come from more diverse backgrounds. However, our affection for SIU was the foundation of our affiliation.
I have witnessed…and been guilty of…trying to hard to have people like me and consider me their friend. This propensity for everyone to like me has carried over into extended family…as well.
Through trial and error I have discovered that you must not try to hard. If friendship or familial ties are to develop…it takes two…too make it work.
Have you ever been dropped?
Have you ever been dropped by a friend?
Have you ever been dropped by a member of your family?
It hurts!
Often you reflect…what could I have done differently or what could I have done better?
I have always believed that if friendship is a 50/50 proposition….I must give at least 75%.
For many years I worked hard to develop friendships with university leaders in order to be a advocate for my, large department, as well as the entire civil service community, during my years as council president.
I quickly learned that I either clicked with a new leader…or I did not. I was the same person with each of them….but ‘I was not all of their cup of tea.’
In one of our prayers, this past Sunday, we prayed to be a friend to others and not for the purpose of what they could do for us.
I discovered, many times, during my SIU years that university leaders seemed to warm up to me when they needed something from me.
So, worry not…if a friendship or a possible romantic hook has been placed in the water…and the prospective fish is not nibbling at the bait.
There are other people that are noticing you and thinking that they would like to be your friend…and perhaps more.
Camaraderie and friendship…and yes even romantic relationships should never have to be forced…they occur organically and with mutual interest from both parties.
Two, Vital, Groups That Must Be Listened To At SIU…If We Want to Regain Our Enrollment Glory
This year marks my 40th year of being affiliated with Southern Illinois University at Carbondale.
Two, glaring, failures that I noticed early in my career; was the caviler attitude towards students, as if the supply of them was as the, proverbial, horn of plenty and the, profound, silence of the civil service community…when it came to university policy and decision making.
The opinions of our students and their concerns and needs should be of paramount importance to university leadership.
Now, the university has created constituency groups that are a convenient political backing or ‘go to’ for leadership schemes and agendas…when in reality the appropriate constituency group, often, does not represent the overall feeling of their constituents.
Often I have observed on Board of Trustees agendas that Board matters that are to be voted on at the up-coming Board meeting have had either no constituency input or that the relevant constituencies were not consulted.
Representative government is important and the idea of elected representatives from various groups on campus, representing the groups wishes…but, in reality many of those who serve on these elected bodies do so for a variety of reasons and many sit silent on a plethora of important issues that affect their group significantly.
I have observed a model of communication with students that works…and that is to meet with small groups throughout campus and seek their, honest input, and take copious notes. I have observed the same, listening tour, model work in the civil service community.
When students identify with SIU…they identify with fellow humans…not brick and mortar buildings.
They identify with someone who values their opinion.
Civil Service staff are career SIU employees. I am one of these folks since the days of SIUC President Warren Brandt. I have witnessed every leadership change since…and knew many of the leaders.
If there is any group that students bond with…it is the civil service staff. They work with us on our crews and in our offices. We rejoice with them when they are happy and grieve with them when they are sad. We have direct knowledge of the deepest concerns that our student colleagues have…we know what works for them at our campus….and we know what does not.
I have served on numerous university committees and two of them were chancellor search committees. Of a typically 18 – 20 member committee, I was the only representative for the civil service community of over 2,000 people and there would be one representative for the undergraduate student body, which in those days was 18,000 students and one representative for the graduate students, which was thousands of students.
During my five years as the president of the civil service council I, somewhat embarrassingly, explained to chancellor and presidents and vice presidents, who comprised their civil service staff. Many thought that they were all located in the Physical Plant and that they were all union employees….while another contended that all civil service worked for one of the vice chancellors…and when I told the vice president that there were civil service staff in his office…he simply stared at me.
It goes without saying that the methods of communication and the subsequent levels of importance that has been placed on certain groups and not on others…has not worked.
‘A word of encouragement from a leader can inspire a person to reach their potential.’ John C. Maxwell
‘People may hear your words, but they feel your attitude.’ John C. Maxwell
‘I really do not care how much you know…until I know how much your care…about me.’ Zig Ziglar
If you want to know the qualities that would make a great leader for a department or a a college or a university ask your students and your civil service staff.
Their answer will be unvarnished and un-plained and contain the reality that only comes from experience.
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The False Contentment of Capitalism…and the Hollowness of Financial Success
Once again…a long title to a short blog.
When speaking of finance, I have been poor and now I am somewhere in the middle class.
When I was poor I worked 40 hours per week and more for charitable or non profit causes.
I attended church 4 times per week and I studied my Bible from cover to cover.
I wanted to be a minister.
I walked everywhere that I needed to go…because I did not have a car.
At times I was laughed at and held up for scorn and ridicule by the pomposity of ignorance…since I did not have a job, for several months, or, later, a good job that paid a nice salary…as many of my peers.
I moved out of my parents house when I was 17 years old…and during the remainder of my teenage years I experienced hunger and deprivation.
I recall what it felt like to attend church where the majority of the congregation were eating plenty…and I had not eaten for the past 24 hours.
At the age of 20 I secured a job at SIU. It was a janitor’s job and I doubled my income.
During the month of October, 1978 I was hired at SIU, on the 10th, and purchased my first new automobile on the 25th, which was a day after my 21st birthday.
While I was impoverished….I worked every day…and 8 hours would have been like a vacation.
To consider those who have less than we do or who are homeless or who are hungry….as not having the moxie or determination or intelligence that we have….is a hurtful misunderstanding that springs forth from a false construct that says that those who have money are successful and those who do not…are lazy.
The next time you attend a graveside funeral eulogy…look into the hole in the earth that the person is being placed in….it is the same size as the one that you will be placed in.
Rich or poor or in the middle…we all go to the same place.
All to often we obtain financial reward that is not commiserate with our work efforts, or by luck or inheritance or by being in the right place at the right time.
If our money has come from the pain and suffering of others….shall we expect similar living conditions in heaven?
Do your really believe that God who created the majesty of the countless galaxies that populate endless space….is impressed with your bank account or that he keeps score according to your financial prowess?
When I was poor and had nothing and walked everywhere and had little or nothing to eat….I was the same person that I am now…only younger and thinner.
The idea that the poor and the immigrant fleeing from torture is the root of the problems of our country strains credulity.
Perhaps the wealth of our nation being held by the top 5% of our citizens…is more germain to the issue of financial fairness.
‘For God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;’ I Corinthians 1:27 KJV
A Time For Healing at SIU
‘We can’t have a zero-sum game here,’ Dorsey said. ‘To have one win and one lose is a disaster for this region, and I think we can do well at working with each other.’ J. Kevin Dorsey, Southern Illinois University’s interim president.
‘Dorsey stepped down as dean of SIU School of Medicine in December 2015 after 14 years at the post. A rheumatologist, Dorsey returned to the faculty to teach medical students and was currently employed by SIU.’
‘Dorsey was known during his tenure as dean for his calm demeanor, emphasis on compassion in medicine and interest in expanding the medical school’s influence on Sangamon County’s quality of life.’ State Journal Register
I have met Dr. Dorsey, on more than one occasion, and he is a gentleman.
Indeed, we desperately require a leader that will cause us to bring our best selves forward.
The bickering between our campuses must cease.
We must realize that, ‘We are all in the same boat in a stormy sea, and we owe each other a terrible loyalty.’ G.K. Chesterton
When speaking of fomer Lesar Law School Dean, Hiram Lesar, ‘The first time, he did a nine-month between the administrations of Derge and Brandt, with the idea he would reassume his leadership role as law school dean once a permanent replacement was hired.’
‘During that period, he was credited with smoothing out controversy and ill will in the wake of 104 faculty firings, spurred by ‘financial exigency.’
‘The second time, then-67 year old Lesar – who faced mandatory retirement in 1980 – continued to oversee the law school and doubled as temporary chancellor while SIUC looked for a permanent replacement for Brandt, who resigned.’ SIU Southern Illinois University
I recall the healing affect that Dean Lesar had on the Carbondale campus. He was a soft spoken gentleman who cared about people.
Both times that he was the interim president and chancellor…all SIU employees were invited to the Stone Center for a Christmas brunch.
Dean Lesar was such a calm and caring leader that he convinced my supervisor that he had confidence in him and cared about him…all the while he was inspiring him to perform his custodial duties.
He was a leader that you wanted to follow.
I think that interim president Dorsey…is much in the mold of former SIU leader, Hiram Lesar. He is a soft spoken effective leader…that people are drawn to.
Our Board of Trustees have done an exemplary job in choosing Dr. Dorsey for this critical assignment. He will perform his healing task in the sunlight of collaboration and camaraderie.
A great future is in front of Southern Illinois University…as we once again all pull together…from all our campuses…for the same purpose of academic and humanitarian excellence.
‘The Warning Lights Are Blinking Red’
‘Dan Coats, the Director of National Intelligence who warned on Friday that the ‘warning lights are blinking red again,’ regarding cyber interference, defended the US intelligence community’s assessment about the 2016 election in a statement, Monday afternoon.’ CNN
‘Helsinki, Finland (CNN – US President Donald Trump, in a stunning rebuke of the US intelligence community, declined on Monday to endorse the US government’s assessment that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election, saying he doesn’t ‘see any reason why’ Russia would be responsible.’ CNN
‘Instead, Trump –standing alongside Russian President Vladimir Putin–touted Putin’s vigorous denial and pivoted to complaining about the Democratic National Committee’s server and missing emails from Hillary Clinton’s personal account.’ CNN
None of the United States 17 intelligence agencies have contended that Russian hacking into the Democratic National Committee’s computers, delegitimizes Trumps election to the presidency.
Yet, the president refuses the advice of his, chosen, intelligence leaders…who are republicans…all.’
‘Trump, finally asked whom he believes on Russia interference, give a vague and rambling non-answer, with renewed complaints about Hillary’s server. Says he trusts US intel but made clear he takes Putin’s denials seriously. Lame response to say the least.’ Brit Hume, Fox News
‘It’s not a right or left thing. It’s just wrong.’ Cavuto said, adding that Trump failed to offer ‘even a mild criticism.’ Fox Business Network’s Neil Cavuto
‘Neil Cavuto of Fox Business calls Trump’s press conference ‘disgusting’, ‘That sets us back a lot.’
‘Ari Fleischer, a former aide in the George W. Bush administration and a Fox News contributor, said Trump’s acceptance of Putin’s denials give him a better understanding for why Democrats ‘think Putin must have the goods on him.’ CNN
Chastisement, was freely and vociferously given, for all of our NATO allies on this diplomatic trip, by president Trump.
He singled out German Chancellor Angela Merkel and United Kingdom Prime Minister Theresa May for special insults and denigration.
President Trump referred to the European Union as our ‘foe’ prior to his Helsinki meeting with Russian president Vladimir Putin.
President Trump, according to the United Kingdom Prime Minister Theresa May, encouraged her to sue the European Union as a Brexit strategy.
Germany Chancellor, Angela Merkel, responded to president Trump’s criticism that Germany is controlled by Russia…saying she had grown up in East Germany and that she knew what it was to be controlled by Russia.
Where are the republican patriots?
Where are the republicans that will, stand up and say, that they support the FBI and the Justice Department…who are the backbone of our law enforcement at the federal level?
Where are the republican patriots that will say that Russia is our enemy and has been so for many years and that the president is wrong to embrace Putin and disparage and belittle and demonize…his own intelligence agencies in an attempt to apply a balm to his bruised and gigantic ego?
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Do we want and do we approve of the vilifying of our NATO allies…who have been our friends and the bulwark of freedom for over 70 years…in order to hold close and embrace and love a brutal murderous dictator….who’s goal is our destruction?
It is not about tax cuts or a conservative agenda or another Supreme Court nominee…it is about freedom or treason!
‘No prior president has ever abased himself more abjectly before a tyrant.’ Senator John McCain
‘The damage inflicted by president Trump’s naïveté, egotism, false equivalence, and sympathy for autocrats is difficult to calculate. But is is clear that the summit in Helsinki was a tragic mistake,’ McCain said in a statement. ‘President Trump proved not only unable, but unwilling to stand up to Putin. He and Putin seemed to be speaking from the same script as the president made a conscious choice to defend a tyrant against the fair question of a free press, and to grant Putin an uncontested platform to spew propaganda and lies to the world.’ Senator John McCain
When and if our country ever falls to a tyrant and a dictator…there will be no questions as to your political affiliation…or if you were a Trump voter…but rather, history is clear, the rich and well to do financially will be the first to relinquish their possessions.
Academics and professors and teachers will be sought out for elimination.
Professionals, such as doctors and lawyers and business owners…will be pillaged and silenced and disappear.
Christian churches will be shuttered and their ministers silenced.
Freedom of religion will be what the tyrant and the dictator say that it is.
Freedom of speech will be…no more…and those engaging in it will either disappear or die mysteriously.
It, really, is not a republican or democrat problem…it is an american problem…it is a national security problem…
What does Vladimir know about Donald…that we do not?
A Slow Train Wreck
‘The president’s three-country European tour has been NATO’s worst nightmare, weakening the alliance and empowering Russia. ‘This meeting confirmed that Trump barely knows the politics, if even the geography, of Europe,’ one foreign diplomat said, ‘Diplomacy has become a sadly hilarious affair with him.’ Vanity Fair
‘This was a very Trumpian summit. I have been to every summit since 1999-never have I seen something like this….He turned this NATO summit into a reality-TV show, Damon Wilson, the executive vice president of the Atlantic Council who was in attendance, told me. ‘He helped to sort of elevate and, to some degree, fabricate a sense of crisis. He created a sense of friction between characters and used it to create a situation in which he could basically solve the problem, come in, and declare victory.’ Vanity Fair
President Trump accused our fellow NATO members of not paying their share…when in fact…. most of them are on schedule for their payments to the organization, that ends in a 2% commitment by each member nation by 2024.
He then declared that the new financial commitment for each NATO nation should be 4% of GDP…or in other words…he will never be happy or satisfied.
A grand jury has returned indictments for 12 Russian intelligence officers in the Muller investigation. These individuals were members of Russia’s intelligence department the GRU. The investigation shows that the hacking of the Democratic National Committee’s computers began on the the same day the republican presidential candidate, Donald Trump, called for Wikileaks to find Hillary Clinton’s lost emails.
President Trump was briefed by Assistant Attorney General, Rod Rosenstein, regrading the 12 GRU operatives who were about to be indicted before he left the United States for the NATO meeting and yet, while in England and after the indictments,…refereed to the Muller investigation as a witch hunt and proceeded with his plan to meet with Russian president Vladimir Putin on Monday in a closed door meeting with no witnesses.
‘Reporter: Why are you so comfortable calling Kim Jong Un ‘very talented?’
‘President Trump: ‘Well, he is very talented. Anybody that takes over a situation like he did at 26 years of age and is able to run it and run it tough.’ CBS News
‘President Trump heaped praise on North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Tuesday, calling him ‘a very worthy negotiator,’ and vowing to meet with him ‘many times.’ The Hill
President Trump, after leaving the NATO meeting in tatters preceded to the United Kingdom and subsequently gave an interview to the Sun newspaper, a Rupert Murdoch publication, where he ruminated that the British Prime Minister, Theresa May, had not taken his advice on how to negotiate Brexit and that he felt Boris Johnson, a rival of May’s, would be an excellent Prime Minister.
Ignoring many calls for the president to not proceed in his, private, summit, with Putin, Trump continues to curry the Russian President’s favor and refuses to say anything bad or critical regarding him.
All 17 of our intelligence agencies agree that Russia hacked our presidential election and that their purpose was to diminish Hillary Clinton’s chances of winning the presidency and enhance Donald Trumps possibilities of winning.
President Trump won by 70,000 votes in three key democratic states.
Facebook was a key target of the Russian hackers fake news about Clinton…designed to influence votes for Trump.
In less than four months we will have our mid-term elections…nothing has been done to secure the integrity of our election from the Russians.
Fox News correspondent, John Roberts, who was a correspondent, at one time for both CBS News and CNN responded to president Trump, when he called on him immediately after, once again, labeling, CNN as fake news and then telling MSNBC correspondent, Kristen Welker that MSNBC is probably worse than CNN in the fake news arena…that. ‘CNN and MSNBC were not fake news.’
Mr. Roberts went on to say, later in an interview, that he was a friend of Ms. Welker and that he knew that she would never mis-represent the news and that he had been an employee of CNN and that they were not fake news.
It is, now, commonly believed that Russia worked to influence the United Kingdom’s Brexit vote.
I have known more than one person that trafficked in lies. In fact, if you did not listen closely…it was extremely difficult to ascertain when they were lying and when they were telling the truth.
I have many acquaintances that are excellent at talking. If you did not take the time to analytically examine what they were saying you would come away from being with them and sitting at their feet and feeling that you were in the presence of greatness!
‘We will bury you,’ said Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev while addressing Western ambassadors at a reception at the Polish embassy in Moscow on November 18, 1956.’
Wikipedia
‘A lie told often enough becomes the truth.’ Vladimir Lenin
‘I am the wealthiest man, not just in Europe, but in the whole world. I collect emotions.’ Vladimir Putin
After 9/11 our NATO allies rushed to our aid to fight terrorism in Afghanistan.
Do we really want to go it alone….or rely on the tender mercies of Russian and North Korea?
‘When Trouble Comes Knocking At Your Door’
My new lawn mowing service mowed my grass, yesterday. They came when they said that they would and they did what they said that they would do…and my lawn has never looked so good!
Green Living Yard Works is the name of the service and they replaced my former service, or lack thereof, and I was inspired by their beginnings with me.
So often we hear, in our great nation, that there are simply no jobs. I would beg to disagree as there are many labor jobs…if you do not think yourself too good for the assignment.
Often, the best way to shake off and ward off trouble away from knocking at your door, is action.
I have known several people that worked at SIU during the evening hours and mowed lawns all day prior to coming to work.
Of late, our local McDonalds restaurants have more seniors working in them that ever before. Many times the senior employees are the best!
One of the, short list Jurist, that was being considered for the Supreme Court had driven a cab…at one time.
When I was a youngster, it was common to see man and women make careers working in department stores and dime stores and factories.
The philosophy of starting out at the bottom or working your way up from the ground floor, was predominate in our culture…just a few short years ago.
Now, we attempt to plug everyone into a college education…but everyone does not fit this template or mold.
There is a spirit of entrepreneurship
in taking the low level job and proving yourself to be self motivated and reliable and a producer of an excellent work product whether you are the janitor or the CEO of the corporation.
A diligent worker who produces an excellent work product will not go unnoticed by a keen eyed manager or administrator.
Our nation was built by hardscrabble pioneers that worked from dawn to dusk and who did not know the meaning of sitting idle…
Our nation has many troubles knocking at our door…but one, stellar, solution of scaring trouble away is a ‘can do’ spirit that simply will not take no for an answer.
The Happy Traveler 