From the Author

Monday, August 22, 2016

Lack of trust

There is a significant lack of trust in our current society, politics and world. There are many who rely on scams to make their living.  Politicians find it extremely difficult to tell the truth because it becomes quickly misconstrued or because telling the truth is not politically acceptable.  We are conditioned to expect that everyone we meet wants something from us.

 I was speaking with a friend of mine about global warming.  We agreed to disagree because neither one of us were able to sort out the lies and discrepancies with the supposed scientific data.  Science reports data obtained with factual studies of the environment.  Individuals who report the data can skew the test results by "interpreting" in misleading ways to make their viewpoint believable.  Unfortunately this confusion  causes decision-making to be flawed.

 We are making decisions now for a world to become occupied by our children and grandchildren.  Are we making prudent choices or are we opting to take the easy way and maintain status quo?  Common sense can make some global warning issues seem eventful as we have more storms, flooding, and loss of life and livelihood.  We have the ability to think outside the box to find solutions before we destroy our world and way of life.  We are creative and intelligent.  We just have to learn to face life's challenges with honesty, integrity and ingenuity.  We can solve the problems of the world if we work together.  Maybe that will only happen when the whole world is collapsing and we are forced to unite.  That is sad and unfortunate as we should be able to do that before we have a huge crisis.  Let us get our heads out of the sand and into the light of reality.  Do we keep rebuilding in flooded areas over and over again because we are not facing the actual facts?  Do we keep doing nothing with the same results?  Or do we find a way to work together to create a safe, beautiful and functioning world where families can have sufficient and safe water and  food supplies, homes and meaningful jobs.  Let us use our combined, creative intelligence to think tank ourselves into a prosperous future!

2 important days in your life

The two most important days of your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.  Mark Twain

It is often difficult to figure out why we are here and what are we supposed to do or become?  I think most of us are called to do the ordinary but do it in an extraordinary way.  Life does not have the tendency to be exciting and significant every moment we are alive.  We do, however, have the opportunity to make a positive difference for those around us.  We share our love, talents, happiness, sadness, integrity, and encouragement every moment we are awake.  We are just not aware of how far-reaching our efforts can be just by being the best of ourselves.  What we are supposed to do and become will evolve as we open ourselves up to change, opportunities for education and training, taking risks, trying new things, thinking outside the box and just doing the best we can at that moment.  Donating our time, experience and encouragement doesn't cost us anything and can reap huge rewards.  Money doesn't solve our problems.  It can make life easier or harder.  Ask people who won the lottery if money creates happiness and contentment.  Giving to others can increase our own enjoyment for living and give us a purpose for our life. Walking in the shoes of another person may just involve taking time to listen and observe.  When we look back on our lives, we can often see the journey was long but was made with small steps each day.  Life is what we make of it and our joy grows as we begin making a positive difference in the lives of others. Money and things are only tools we use to make special things happen for others.  I hope you can discover why you are here and your wonderful purpose!

Sunday, August 14, 2016

Caregiving hero

Recently a family member died with hospice care at home.  He had been ill for many years but had the most wonderful caregiver.  His wife, Sandy, was with him for 50 years as his helpmate and lover. She was always willing to be available for encouragement, physical and emotional needs and supported him in his dreams, sometimes at the expense of her own.

As his illness progressed over 10 years, he required more and more care and eventually was unable to assist with any of his own care. Sandy unselfishly became his caregiver 24 hours a day, sometimes to the detriment of her own health.  She did all of this with a gentle, loving touch and with a deep faith.

When her husband died, Sandy was very sad because she was the only relative who was not crying. She felt relief that her husband was no longer suffering.  She could not understand why she had no tears, since she had been crying frequently in the last years and especially in the recent weeks.  She thought there was something wrong with her.  She was experiencing anticipatory grief with her grieving spaced out over the years as her husband's mind and body deteriorated.  Her worst sadness was the loss of the ability to converse with him. She lost the person she married years before the death of his body.  She had already grieved the death of his personality.

Sandy thought there was something wrong with her, that she didn't love her husband enough.  In fact, she did everything right and was the best wife, caregiver and friend her husband could have had.  She exemplified the beauty and dignity of a true marriage based on faith and love.  She just did her grieving slowly and steadily over the course of her husband's illness.  She was truly exhausted and could not have maintained her role as primary caregiver indefinitely.  She was relieved for him as well as for herself.  I have the greatest respect for the many caregiver heroes there are in this world. Thank you!

Thursday, August 4, 2016

Clean Energy

The article in the Dayton Daily News states,"Ohio one state that's still in the dark on clean energy." There is much controversy in Ohio about coal mining.  On the surface, it creates jobs; however it pollutes the air and water, it causes Black Lung Disease in workers, it is a dirty, dangerous job that makes a person work underground without sunlight, and it makes money for owners of the coal industry and poverty for the workers and their families.  If we get rid of coal as a source of energy, we will be forced to find other clean energy sources, find workers to train to meet the needs of wind, solar and other forms of clean energy, and provide education.  Creating incentives for the state to improve in these areas might depend on deregulating the electricity industry.

If coal mining is unsafe, unhealthy, pollutes the air and environment and is an inefficient source of unsustainable energy, then why should we continue to allow industry to continue to pollute our world simply for the sake of their own profit? We all need to work together to create safe and healthy jobs, keep our environment safe for our grandchildren, and provide wages to sustain families and workers.

We need to look to the future and realize that our world cannot continue to survive the current direction of destroying it by our own greediness and poor environmental choices.  Fertilizer, chemicals and poor farming practices are polluting our water.  All of the living elements of our world require water to live.  We have to make laws to protect our world before it is too late.  We are leaving huge environmental discord for our grandchildren and our descendants.  We need politicians who use common sense and think "outside the box."  Lawmakers with integrity, foresight, ingenuity, and courage to make the tough decisions for the good of the people. We need informed voters who will choose to keep our world beautiful, safe and clean.