02 December 2008
We’ve made it through October with Halloween treats adding a little extra padding around our middle. November allowed us to stuff ourselves with “Thanksgiving” and enough leftovers found in most homes to feed a Third World village. December has arrived promoting Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa (I listed them in alphabetic order and if I have forgotten a particular group gift me with forgiveness, OK?). Many of us will attend our religious and secular social gatherings with gusto. By the time this month is over we will have eaten too much and/or partied too much, as well as, spent too much. Of course, we all intend to show some self disciple, don’t we?
Odd isn’t it that this most religious time of the year to promote thankfulness, cheer, renewed focus on important values and “good will to all men” we end up with clogged arteries, drained wallets, grated nerves and strained families. So, tell me, which group is promoting God the most during this time? I know, I know, you had good intentions.
Christians claim to celebrate the miraculous Virgin Birth of Jesus, the Son of God, born in a stable. Jews claim to celebrate the miracle of the oil that lasted for eight days during the rededication of the Temple during the Maccabeen Period. African culture is celebrated in Kwanzaa as a way to reaffirm and restore their community roots. And I can’t help but wonder if the majority of people in each group sings at least one song about either Santa Claus or Rudolf, the Red Nosed Rain Deer. That would put us all into the same group now wouldn’t it? At least, we intend to be good regardless of our group.
Of course, you’ll agree with me, I am sure, that everyone has a right to celebrate anyway and anything they want, it’s the American Way. Still, I can’t help wondering if it makes sense any more.
This time of year is so commercialized it just seems ridiculous – does anyone really NEED half the stuff we go in debt for buying presents? There is nothing wrong with gift giving but something is wrong.
Let’s re-summarize the month of December again: Christmas is a time to celebrate. Hanukkah is a time to remember. Kwanzaa is a time to renew/refocus. Santa Claus and Rudolf are sung about. We all intend to be good.
Pretty simple but I don’t think it’s enough to bring about “good will to men.” We’re all too preoccupied with our own issues and we have a long way to go to get “peace on earth.” But we intend to try harder, right?
So what’s the solution? I don’t know. That’s right, I DO NOT KNOW. You and me have allowed things to get so far out of hand that we drive like the devil, spend like there’s no tomorrow, eat like it’s our last meal, and wear ourselves out celebrating, remembering and renewing/refocusing. All the while we are rude shoppers, isolated worshippers, cantankerous guests and impatient citizens. I shudder to think what would happen if everyone decided that they all wanted the same bargain at the same time. Someone could get killed! But it’s the thought that counts….kinda like it isn’t what’s done but what’s intended.
Until we get things sorted out, how about all of us dropping a few extra dollars in the Salvation Army Kettle when we see one. Don’t dart your eyes away when you walk into the store. Prepare to have a dollar in your hand as you enter or exit the store to put in the kettle because you know they are there to help someone else. What a novel idea – everybody giving to help complete strangers. Wow, if this caught on, it would be a modern day miracle!
Well, one of these days The Reaper is going to hand in his final report to Someone higher. Between now and then I suggest you intend to celebrate, remember and renew/refocus with a little more emphasis on action because rumor has it that the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
THE GRIMM REAPER REPORT © 02 December 2008
http://www.the-grimm-reaper-report.blogspot.com/
http://the-grimm-reaper-report.com/
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Sunday, November 16, 2008
“Oh, You’ve Got Way Too Much There to Enjoy”
November 16, 2008
“Dad, will you keep this for us,” my oldest daughter said as she packed her kids up for their flight back to Los Angeles. I eyed the two gallon sized freezer bags filled with a large assortment of Halloween treats as the glee of forgotten youth surfaced from somewhere in my age-d psyche. “Sure will, “I said as if I was actually going to mail these ill-gotten gains. Oh, never mind that this candy was now two weeks old and was actually second hand treats from my other grandchildren. It was the simple pleasure of gaining a trove of candy, er, I mean, helping my daughter in her time of need. Yeah, OK, you can see through my ruse. I know, I am selfish but you can keep your “taking candy from a baby” judgmental thinking to yourself. It’s getting something for nothing that we’re talking about here.Well, my daughter and her family made their plane arriving home safely. Thank you for your concerns. They did make it back in time to breathe the latest wildfire winds lapping at the outskirts of greater Los Angeles.
However, in reference to the candy, it laid on the kitchen counter for the better part of the next week. For some reason I didn’t pay much attention to it until the other day as a Twix bar called to me from beneath its hiding. I felt compelled to freed it from its freezer bag prison, pealed it from its scrunched wrapper and as I bit into this squashed chocolate and cookie bar I instantly was presented with that unmistakable taste of staleness. It just wasn’t as delectable as I had hoped or imagined but something inside me reminded me to not disappoint my dearly departed mother. You see, growing up my mother often admonished me that somewhere children in some forgotten continent would appreciate eating vegetables I didn’t like and I figured I shouldn’t waste this candy bar either.
Of course, when it comes to justifying ill behavior it doesn’t take any of us very long to master our own deception. Oh, we’ll rationalize and moralize: “Oh, they have way too much there to enjoy.” “Only this once” or “It ain’t so bad” or maybe “Oh, they’ll understand.” Rationalize, justify, minimize one’s mental negotiating but down deep inside where the psyche battles against a stung conscious a person knows. Call it what you want but give it enough time to chew on a person and eat at their gut and the God’s honest truth is known. We were built to know deep down inside that it is just plain wrong to take something that isn’t ours or eat too much candy and so it is with giving what isn’t earned. Any of the three will make eventually make a person and a society sick. Even the Good Book says if a “person doesn’t work they shouldn’t eat.” (Hold on here, we’re talking about people who can work not those who actually need us to provide for them. That is our moral obligation!)
Now, there is a moral to this story. A person can justify just about anything when it comes to getting what they want even though it isn’t what they need. You may think that I am stretching to gain an illustration for a lesson but I don’t think so. Plainly and simply put: it smacks of corruption to gleefully gain something at someone else’s expense and things gained freely are not quite as scrumptious as when they are earned, no matter how sweetly the deal sounds. Of course, if you take what someone else has worked to secure without working yourself then it is just plain wrong.
It has been a few days since I swallowed what was given to me and every time I think about it I still get a bad taste in my throat. No, I am not mailing the candy to my grandchildren in L.A.…their Grandmother announced that we didn’t need it and threw it all away. She said it would make me sick.
Well, one of these days The Reaper is going to hand in his final report to Someone higher. Until then don’t make yourself sick ‘cause there’s a lot of sweet sounding junk being bagged up and handed out.
THE-GRIMM-REAPER-REPORT © 16 NOV 2008
http://the-grimm-reaper-report.blogspot.com/
http://the-grimm-reaper-report.com/
“Dad, will you keep this for us,” my oldest daughter said as she packed her kids up for their flight back to Los Angeles. I eyed the two gallon sized freezer bags filled with a large assortment of Halloween treats as the glee of forgotten youth surfaced from somewhere in my age-d psyche. “Sure will, “I said as if I was actually going to mail these ill-gotten gains. Oh, never mind that this candy was now two weeks old and was actually second hand treats from my other grandchildren. It was the simple pleasure of gaining a trove of candy, er, I mean, helping my daughter in her time of need. Yeah, OK, you can see through my ruse. I know, I am selfish but you can keep your “taking candy from a baby” judgmental thinking to yourself. It’s getting something for nothing that we’re talking about here.Well, my daughter and her family made their plane arriving home safely. Thank you for your concerns. They did make it back in time to breathe the latest wildfire winds lapping at the outskirts of greater Los Angeles.
However, in reference to the candy, it laid on the kitchen counter for the better part of the next week. For some reason I didn’t pay much attention to it until the other day as a Twix bar called to me from beneath its hiding. I felt compelled to freed it from its freezer bag prison, pealed it from its scrunched wrapper and as I bit into this squashed chocolate and cookie bar I instantly was presented with that unmistakable taste of staleness. It just wasn’t as delectable as I had hoped or imagined but something inside me reminded me to not disappoint my dearly departed mother. You see, growing up my mother often admonished me that somewhere children in some forgotten continent would appreciate eating vegetables I didn’t like and I figured I shouldn’t waste this candy bar either.
Of course, when it comes to justifying ill behavior it doesn’t take any of us very long to master our own deception. Oh, we’ll rationalize and moralize: “Oh, they have way too much there to enjoy.” “Only this once” or “It ain’t so bad” or maybe “Oh, they’ll understand.” Rationalize, justify, minimize one’s mental negotiating but down deep inside where the psyche battles against a stung conscious a person knows. Call it what you want but give it enough time to chew on a person and eat at their gut and the God’s honest truth is known. We were built to know deep down inside that it is just plain wrong to take something that isn’t ours or eat too much candy and so it is with giving what isn’t earned. Any of the three will make eventually make a person and a society sick. Even the Good Book says if a “person doesn’t work they shouldn’t eat.” (Hold on here, we’re talking about people who can work not those who actually need us to provide for them. That is our moral obligation!)
Now, there is a moral to this story. A person can justify just about anything when it comes to getting what they want even though it isn’t what they need. You may think that I am stretching to gain an illustration for a lesson but I don’t think so. Plainly and simply put: it smacks of corruption to gleefully gain something at someone else’s expense and things gained freely are not quite as scrumptious as when they are earned, no matter how sweetly the deal sounds. Of course, if you take what someone else has worked to secure without working yourself then it is just plain wrong.
It has been a few days since I swallowed what was given to me and every time I think about it I still get a bad taste in my throat. No, I am not mailing the candy to my grandchildren in L.A.…their Grandmother announced that we didn’t need it and threw it all away. She said it would make me sick.
Well, one of these days The Reaper is going to hand in his final report to Someone higher. Until then don’t make yourself sick ‘cause there’s a lot of sweet sounding junk being bagged up and handed out.
THE-GRIMM-REAPER-REPORT © 16 NOV 2008
http://the-grimm-reaper-report.blogspot.com/
http://the-grimm-reaper-report.com/
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
“Your Ticket to Survival”
November 11, 2008
Few of us who are reading this blog entry are probably living in the survival mode. Oh, we talk about our lack of finances but the truth of the matter is we probably have more than enough things to liquidate before we actually get into merely surviving. In fact, we are probably living in more comfort than any generation before us. Consider that the apartment or house we live in probably has an air conditioner and furnace. We have cable TV, cell phones and an internet link to the rest of the world. We probably have more than enough to eat in our refrigerator and if we didn’t feel like making something we’d order a pizza. Like I said there are few of us who are probably living in the survival mode.
However, there are many of us who have experienced a crisis in our life. Some of us have thought that they were going to die or possibly prayed that they would. There are those who are reading this article who will admit that they have had times that possessions, full cupboards or even having a large bank account wasn’t their number one thought. For all practical purposes they were living in a basic survival.
Unless you are from another planet you have experienced a time in life when finances were the furthest thing from your mind and the thought of gazing into one’s fridge or ordering a pizza is repugnant.
Welcome to the flu season.
As I write this article there are hordes of people across this nation learning to multitask in ways that has humbled even the mightiest. Put bluntly there is no dignified manner in which to experience attack on one’s digestive system. Once you are within its grasp social standing no longer matters, nor does prestige, pedigree, race, religion, gender, economic status or political party.
We can put humanity on the moon, we can develop instantaneous communication; we can build monuments to the sky all in the boast of our accomplishments. Yet, one small flu bug as uninvited as a common fly and all our social plans, all our world conquests and all our financial gains are of little comfort.
As the calendar tells us that winter is not far away and just as the leaves on the trees have changed color and fallen so too the flu bug will do to each of us.
Some day The Reaper will hand in his final report to Someone higher. Until then be forewarned – prepare thyself – get a flu shot before it’s too late...it's your ticket to survival.
* title taken from article by Tom Martin “Leadership isn’t a commodity It’s your ticket to Survival” on 10.23.08 for Advertising Age http://adage.com/smallagency/post?article_id=131967
THE GRIMM REAPER REPORT © 11 Nov 2008
http://the-grimm-reaper-report.blogspot.com/
http://www.the-grimm-reaper-report.com/
Few of us who are reading this blog entry are probably living in the survival mode. Oh, we talk about our lack of finances but the truth of the matter is we probably have more than enough things to liquidate before we actually get into merely surviving. In fact, we are probably living in more comfort than any generation before us. Consider that the apartment or house we live in probably has an air conditioner and furnace. We have cable TV, cell phones and an internet link to the rest of the world. We probably have more than enough to eat in our refrigerator and if we didn’t feel like making something we’d order a pizza. Like I said there are few of us who are probably living in the survival mode.
However, there are many of us who have experienced a crisis in our life. Some of us have thought that they were going to die or possibly prayed that they would. There are those who are reading this article who will admit that they have had times that possessions, full cupboards or even having a large bank account wasn’t their number one thought. For all practical purposes they were living in a basic survival.
Unless you are from another planet you have experienced a time in life when finances were the furthest thing from your mind and the thought of gazing into one’s fridge or ordering a pizza is repugnant.
Welcome to the flu season.
As I write this article there are hordes of people across this nation learning to multitask in ways that has humbled even the mightiest. Put bluntly there is no dignified manner in which to experience attack on one’s digestive system. Once you are within its grasp social standing no longer matters, nor does prestige, pedigree, race, religion, gender, economic status or political party.
We can put humanity on the moon, we can develop instantaneous communication; we can build monuments to the sky all in the boast of our accomplishments. Yet, one small flu bug as uninvited as a common fly and all our social plans, all our world conquests and all our financial gains are of little comfort.
As the calendar tells us that winter is not far away and just as the leaves on the trees have changed color and fallen so too the flu bug will do to each of us.
Some day The Reaper will hand in his final report to Someone higher. Until then be forewarned – prepare thyself – get a flu shot before it’s too late...it's your ticket to survival.
* title taken from article by Tom Martin “Leadership isn’t a commodity It’s your ticket to Survival” on 10.23.08 for Advertising Age http://adage.com/smallagency/post?article_id=131967
THE GRIMM REAPER REPORT © 11 Nov 2008
http://the-grimm-reaper-report.blogspot.com/
http://www.the-grimm-reaper-report.com/
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
“Somebody’s Gotta Do Something”
05 November 2008
You know what I am talking about: You’re standing in the checkout line at the grocery store, through the front window you see some clown cut a little old lady off from a parking spot close to the door. Maybe you are driving down the road and three lanes over you witness the male driver smacking a woman in the passenger seat. It could be that you see a middle aged man reading a newspaper while he’s driving his BMW down the freeway in rush hour traffic oblivious that he’s crowding the next lane where two Hell’s Angels are riding. Regardless of your opinion of justified mob violence there is something down deep inside you that cries, “Somebody’s gotta do something!”
Now, I must confess I am not always the most finessed public speaker when idiocy takes up dwelling in a person. I don’t have a lot of patience with myself so there isn’t a lot to draw from for others. In my youth I dreamed of being like John Chrysostom (“Saint John, The Golden Mouth” 347 – 407 AD) who could speak with such pathos that he swayed masses to Christianity. However, time has since passed my youth into a distant memory and while colleges have attempted to train me as a public orator, I have yet to be called “golden.” In fact, there have been times when I have sounded neither golden nor saintly. Maybe this is the reason I found writing “The Grimm Reaper Report” to be more compatible with my basic demeanor. Oh, trust me, I can get my point across and leave very little to the imagination. One of the reasons I probably developed this trait was because I have heard enough talk when action was needed and truth demands that, “Somebody’s gotta do something.”
Once I was speaking with a fellow professional who just happened to be in the process of writing a book about communication. Our particular discussion was over resolving a partnership conflict needing serious restructuring and honest readjustments for fairness to all personnel involved. As I addressed the situation as it stood at that moment he waxed eloquent. He delved into quoting himself as he espoused vocal tone techniques, citing proper stance, emotional sensitivity and “seeking to be understood not merely attempting to be heard.” I listened respectfully for a matter of minutes as he was a learned individual for whom I had respect. Yet, as I listened I became painfully aware that he was lost in his theoretical approach to the problem and not the practics to solving the problem. He finally paused or maybe I had merely tuned him out as a basic survival instinct. I looked him straight in the eye and said, “And sometimes someone just needs to get up off their butt and do something.” Of course, this was not the polished articulate dialogue that he expected or evidently wanted to hear because the whole partnership dissolved pretty much after that.
My point is simply that we need leaders who have some God given backbone to make a decision. Now I don’t mean someone who is merely egotistical demanding their way or the highway. The last thing this old world needs is another person filling a leadership role who is half nuts, half baked, half informed or half egotistical. We need someone who will articulate the problem, provide a solution and take charge to fix a problem. To quote a gospel song by Bill Gaither, “When the house is burning to the ground there’s just no time to stand around arranging all the pictures on the wall.” The fact is, “Somebody’s gotta do something.”
Well, the election is over, we voted and the next President of these United States of America has been elected. Some are crying, some are rejoicing and some will do what they have always done – they’ll complain, complain, complain.... These are the people who are more part of the problem than part of the solution. I say either we are part of the fix or part of that which needs fixed. If you need more money – get a job. If you have a job and you are not happy, then get retrained or increase your education so you can get a better paying job. If anything in life isn’t to your liking stop your belly aching and DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. Stop looking for someone else to bail you out, YOU DO SOMETHING.
When The Reaper hands in his final report to Someone higher it will be too late to do what you needed to do but you can bet your soul, Someone higher is gonna do something!
THE GRIMM REAPER REPORT © 05OCT 2008
http://the-grimm-reaper-report.blogspot.com/
http://www.the-grimm-reaper-report.com/
Friday, October 31, 2008
"Trick or treat"
31 October 2008
Tonight the young at heart will embark on making their way to every home they can in the hopes that they will receive a scrumptious treat while enthusiastically proclaiming “Trick or treat!” Of course, those residences that are on watch will greet each guest with smiles, opened doors and willingly treats.
There is something about all this that reminds me of someone’s threatened economic “equality.”
No matter how you word it, taking from the rich and giving it to the poor sounds good in fairy tales, to communistic regimes and some to Democratic ideologies. However, to the rest of us it smacks of a Halloween threat. I don’t know about you but when some politician proposes that Washington or any other government agency plans on showing up at my work, residence and/or pocketbook I find it more of a trick than a treat.
Now, if you voted in favor of someone who proposes this type of “distributing” of YOUR wealth then YOU shouldn’t be surprised when YOU have to give more “treats” than YOU want. I admit that I don’t mind a few treat-seekers showing up on a pre-announced, no-harm visit. I don’t mind the tramping across the lawn really that much either (why they can’t use the sidewalk is another study in human behavior). What I do mind are those who arrive and demand more than I want to give. A little candy once a year isn’t going to break my budget but that is because I don’t plan on feeding, housing, insuring, educating, and raising everybody else’s family who shows up. Common sense tells us that unless I, (yes, I do mean “I”, me, myself, my work-and-earn-it-self) maintain a budget that I chose then it will not be long before my desire to maintain my welcome-ability decreases significantly. In fact, show up at my home demanding more than I want to give and I will stop wanting to give anything to anybody all together. Let me be perfectly honest, I will become defensive against handing out treats at all. Eventually, you’ll hear me yell, “Hey, get off my lawn!”
OK, I feel better now.
So tonight the “Trick or treat” will be heard across this land and most of us will smile. Yet, Tuesday night after everybody votes unless people use common sense we are all going to be paying a lot more than any home owner can afford.
Eventually, The Reaper is going to hand in his final report to Someone higher. Until then I can’t help but wonder if God Almighty doesn’t just sadly shake his head as some people trick others into calling this a treat.
The Grimm Reaper Report © 31 Oct 2008
http://www.the-grimm-reaper-report.blogspot.com/
http://www.the-grimm-reaper-report.com/
You are invited to leave an appropriate comment by clicking on the small envelope at the end of each article
Tonight the young at heart will embark on making their way to every home they can in the hopes that they will receive a scrumptious treat while enthusiastically proclaiming “Trick or treat!” Of course, those residences that are on watch will greet each guest with smiles, opened doors and willingly treats.
There is something about all this that reminds me of someone’s threatened economic “equality.”
No matter how you word it, taking from the rich and giving it to the poor sounds good in fairy tales, to communistic regimes and some to Democratic ideologies. However, to the rest of us it smacks of a Halloween threat. I don’t know about you but when some politician proposes that Washington or any other government agency plans on showing up at my work, residence and/or pocketbook I find it more of a trick than a treat.
Now, if you voted in favor of someone who proposes this type of “distributing” of YOUR wealth then YOU shouldn’t be surprised when YOU have to give more “treats” than YOU want. I admit that I don’t mind a few treat-seekers showing up on a pre-announced, no-harm visit. I don’t mind the tramping across the lawn really that much either (why they can’t use the sidewalk is another study in human behavior). What I do mind are those who arrive and demand more than I want to give. A little candy once a year isn’t going to break my budget but that is because I don’t plan on feeding, housing, insuring, educating, and raising everybody else’s family who shows up. Common sense tells us that unless I, (yes, I do mean “I”, me, myself, my work-and-earn-it-self) maintain a budget that I chose then it will not be long before my desire to maintain my welcome-ability decreases significantly. In fact, show up at my home demanding more than I want to give and I will stop wanting to give anything to anybody all together. Let me be perfectly honest, I will become defensive against handing out treats at all. Eventually, you’ll hear me yell, “Hey, get off my lawn!”
OK, I feel better now.
So tonight the “Trick or treat” will be heard across this land and most of us will smile. Yet, Tuesday night after everybody votes unless people use common sense we are all going to be paying a lot more than any home owner can afford.
Eventually, The Reaper is going to hand in his final report to Someone higher. Until then I can’t help but wonder if God Almighty doesn’t just sadly shake his head as some people trick others into calling this a treat.
The Grimm Reaper Report © 31 Oct 2008
http://www.the-grimm-reaper-report.blogspot.com/
http://www.the-grimm-reaper-report.com/
You are invited to leave an appropriate comment by clicking on the small envelope at the end of each article
Saturday, October 25, 2008
“Heroes and Role Models”
25 October 2008
If you are reading my blog with any regularity then you know that I pretty much reject entertaining the notion of returning to our younger days. My rationale is that not only is it actually impossible but in the final analysis we would know way too much to really have any fun. I had written negatively about returning to our youth in response to the often overly heard remark, “If I only knew then what I know now.” My honest assessment is that nothing takes the joy out of youth like knowing too much or being around someone who knows too much. Either way we are at the mercy of their input. So, let’s use the lessons gleaned through age and experience to keeping today’s world safe. Hopefully, if we do that then the next generation can enjoy living and become creative enough to clean up some of the messes we’ve left them. But let me get to the reason for this entry into my blog.
While we cannot return to our youth we can reminisce about the true innocence of our youth. We have to admit that we didn’t have the world picture that we have now. We didn’t worry about terrorism invading our borders or having a “For Sale” sign on our American soil. Life didn’t have all the complex problems that adulthood brings. As you think about our youth you should be able to recognize that we were growing up toward something and that there was a possibility that seemed to bloom within us. Even amid the most troubling times of our youth we possessed a sense that potential waited for us to make something of our lives. We believed that things would change. We would change. Situations would change. When we became 13…16…18. When we turned 21 or 30. Once we got out of the house. When we got our first job or graduated. We lived and worked for something. There were people who inspired us and there were ideals that called us to think beyond the immaturity of those around us. The future was bright and at the right time it was going to be ours. And if I remember correctly, we had heroes.
In that magical time and place called “our youth” there were those who we placed in the confining restraints called “role model.” Even if we didn’t know it, these became our heroes.
John Wayne comes to mind my mind first as he always played the rough-on-the-edges fair minded good guy. As kids we’d slow the rate of our speech as we’d say, “Well, Pilgrim…”
Jimmie Stewart also comes to mind with his clean cut image from “It’s a Wonderful Life.” It was later in life that I learned that he retired from the Air Force Reserves as a one star General.
Hank Aaron, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle and other greats, whose athletic talent and self discipline, made baseball worth watching. We imitated them and spoke of them with youthful reverence.
But there were others who caught our attention. Their names didn’t always appear on the marquee nor were they recognize by the masses. They were a teacher or a neighbor who lived each day by who they were independently of what was going on in the world around them. They didn’t need recognition or the limelight. Their lives were modest but consistent. At the right time they encouraged us to catch the vision of possibilities and yearn for reaching our potential. We know now that it only takes each person doing what they know is ethical and fair to make an impact in someone younger.
Some would say that there are no heroes and role models for this current generation. I beg to differ with that notion. Heroes and role models are all around us today and these will be what a future generation remembers as the greatest.
Of course, today we are too well educated and culturally enlightened to think that one should live in direct responsibility to his/her neighbor. And besides, we are too individualistic to want to limit ourselves for the sake of others. We have become too broad minded to think about those antiquated concepts of right and wrong or the sense of absolutes of heaven or hell. The whole notion of hell is considered by some to be an outdated concept for scaring children and impressionable minds. Still, I can’t help but wonder what would happen to this current world if people started living like they still believed it both?
One of these days The Reaper is going to hand in his final report to Someone higher. I hope we begin to live differently as a society and a culture because right now it appears things are going to hell in a hand basket!
THE GRIMM REAPER REPORT ©25OCT08http://the-grimm-reaper-report.blogspot.com/
If you are reading my blog with any regularity then you know that I pretty much reject entertaining the notion of returning to our younger days. My rationale is that not only is it actually impossible but in the final analysis we would know way too much to really have any fun. I had written negatively about returning to our youth in response to the often overly heard remark, “If I only knew then what I know now.” My honest assessment is that nothing takes the joy out of youth like knowing too much or being around someone who knows too much. Either way we are at the mercy of their input. So, let’s use the lessons gleaned through age and experience to keeping today’s world safe. Hopefully, if we do that then the next generation can enjoy living and become creative enough to clean up some of the messes we’ve left them. But let me get to the reason for this entry into my blog.
While we cannot return to our youth we can reminisce about the true innocence of our youth. We have to admit that we didn’t have the world picture that we have now. We didn’t worry about terrorism invading our borders or having a “For Sale” sign on our American soil. Life didn’t have all the complex problems that adulthood brings. As you think about our youth you should be able to recognize that we were growing up toward something and that there was a possibility that seemed to bloom within us. Even amid the most troubling times of our youth we possessed a sense that potential waited for us to make something of our lives. We believed that things would change. We would change. Situations would change. When we became 13…16…18. When we turned 21 or 30. Once we got out of the house. When we got our first job or graduated. We lived and worked for something. There were people who inspired us and there were ideals that called us to think beyond the immaturity of those around us. The future was bright and at the right time it was going to be ours. And if I remember correctly, we had heroes.
In that magical time and place called “our youth” there were those who we placed in the confining restraints called “role model.” Even if we didn’t know it, these became our heroes.
John Wayne comes to mind my mind first as he always played the rough-on-the-edges fair minded good guy. As kids we’d slow the rate of our speech as we’d say, “Well, Pilgrim…”
Jimmie Stewart also comes to mind with his clean cut image from “It’s a Wonderful Life.” It was later in life that I learned that he retired from the Air Force Reserves as a one star General.
Hank Aaron, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle and other greats, whose athletic talent and self discipline, made baseball worth watching. We imitated them and spoke of them with youthful reverence.
But there were others who caught our attention. Their names didn’t always appear on the marquee nor were they recognize by the masses. They were a teacher or a neighbor who lived each day by who they were independently of what was going on in the world around them. They didn’t need recognition or the limelight. Their lives were modest but consistent. At the right time they encouraged us to catch the vision of possibilities and yearn for reaching our potential. We know now that it only takes each person doing what they know is ethical and fair to make an impact in someone younger.
Some would say that there are no heroes and role models for this current generation. I beg to differ with that notion. Heroes and role models are all around us today and these will be what a future generation remembers as the greatest.
Of course, today we are too well educated and culturally enlightened to think that one should live in direct responsibility to his/her neighbor. And besides, we are too individualistic to want to limit ourselves for the sake of others. We have become too broad minded to think about those antiquated concepts of right and wrong or the sense of absolutes of heaven or hell. The whole notion of hell is considered by some to be an outdated concept for scaring children and impressionable minds. Still, I can’t help but wonder what would happen to this current world if people started living like they still believed it both?
One of these days The Reaper is going to hand in his final report to Someone higher. I hope we begin to live differently as a society and a culture because right now it appears things are going to hell in a hand basket!
THE GRIMM REAPER REPORT ©25OCT08http://the-grimm-reaper-report.blogspot.com/
(clicking on the envelope at the end of each article will allow you to leave a comment)
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
USING WHAT WE ALREADY KNOW
21OCT 2008
Every once in a while someone will remark, “Oh, to be young again.” Of course, this sentence is usually followed with, “If I’d known then what I know now…” Don’t kid yourself, if you were back then with what you know now, they’d lock you up because you’d mess things up worse than you can imagine.
Well, let’s take a brief walk down memory lane.
Do you remember the awkwardness that seemed to envelope most of us in our Junior High years? Let me just remind you of entering puberty and living through the teenage years. There was the chaotic raging of hormones within us and our clashing interaction with the world around us. There was an awkwardness that seemed to curse our every move; our voice changed in mid-sentence, our parents didn’t understand us – we didn’t understand ourselves! One minute we’d be a loving half-way rational person and then the next minute we’d be screaming that no one understands us. We either had a growth spurt that made us seem to outgrow our clothes over night or we gained weight which added to our fragile self-esteem. Hopefully, now you are remembering what was like to be young.
Think back to those who endured the cruel taunting of others. If you were part of the “in” crowd you taunted others to make yourself feel good. If you were not part of the “in” crowd you formed social groups to talk about those who you felt were out to get you. If you didn’t have a few close friends then each day you went to school you were on your own. Teenagers can be some of the cruelest people and some people have never gotten over the ugliness they experienced. And you want to be young again?
Of course, there was beginning to look like we were older than we were and people began expecting more out of us. People would just expect us to know. We would go to school and we studied to pass tests that few adults around us could pass. We had mathematical questions that our parents didn’t have a clue even how to find the answer. We were expected to be calm, moral, health conscience, rational, thoughtful, punctual, ethical, obedient, law abiding, perfect drivers, babysitters, lawn caretakers, free house laborers, athletes, scholars, theologians, philosophers, all the while we were supposed to hold down a job and, oh, yes, lest we forget the parental send-off “Have fun.” And what was the family word used around your house that you were threatened for using …and you want to be young again?
Our friends expected us to join them in whatever dumb stunt they were attempting. Our families expected us to join them in all their activities.
And there were those immature show-downs between kids. After school fights, parking lot confrontations, verbal assaults and teacher consultations. There were also those who just had fun taunting you because that was the only power tool they had – the power of intimidation.
Of course, we are older now. We work until we retire. We pay bills. And we vote. Kind of sad if you ask me that listening to the politicians reminds me so much of listening to a bunch of immature kids. Guess some people never learn … and these are the best we have to offer to send to Washington?
One of these days “The Reaper” is going to hand in his final report to Someone higher. Let’s hope that we used enough of what we already knew.
THE GRIMM REAPER REPORT © 21OCT2008
http://the-grimm-reaper-report.blogspot.com/
Every once in a while someone will remark, “Oh, to be young again.” Of course, this sentence is usually followed with, “If I’d known then what I know now…” Don’t kid yourself, if you were back then with what you know now, they’d lock you up because you’d mess things up worse than you can imagine.
Well, let’s take a brief walk down memory lane.
Do you remember the awkwardness that seemed to envelope most of us in our Junior High years? Let me just remind you of entering puberty and living through the teenage years. There was the chaotic raging of hormones within us and our clashing interaction with the world around us. There was an awkwardness that seemed to curse our every move; our voice changed in mid-sentence, our parents didn’t understand us – we didn’t understand ourselves! One minute we’d be a loving half-way rational person and then the next minute we’d be screaming that no one understands us. We either had a growth spurt that made us seem to outgrow our clothes over night or we gained weight which added to our fragile self-esteem. Hopefully, now you are remembering what was like to be young.
Think back to those who endured the cruel taunting of others. If you were part of the “in” crowd you taunted others to make yourself feel good. If you were not part of the “in” crowd you formed social groups to talk about those who you felt were out to get you. If you didn’t have a few close friends then each day you went to school you were on your own. Teenagers can be some of the cruelest people and some people have never gotten over the ugliness they experienced. And you want to be young again?
Of course, there was beginning to look like we were older than we were and people began expecting more out of us. People would just expect us to know. We would go to school and we studied to pass tests that few adults around us could pass. We had mathematical questions that our parents didn’t have a clue even how to find the answer. We were expected to be calm, moral, health conscience, rational, thoughtful, punctual, ethical, obedient, law abiding, perfect drivers, babysitters, lawn caretakers, free house laborers, athletes, scholars, theologians, philosophers, all the while we were supposed to hold down a job and, oh, yes, lest we forget the parental send-off “Have fun.” And what was the family word used around your house that you were threatened for using …and you want to be young again?
Our friends expected us to join them in whatever dumb stunt they were attempting. Our families expected us to join them in all their activities.
And there were those immature show-downs between kids. After school fights, parking lot confrontations, verbal assaults and teacher consultations. There were also those who just had fun taunting you because that was the only power tool they had – the power of intimidation.
Of course, we are older now. We work until we retire. We pay bills. And we vote. Kind of sad if you ask me that listening to the politicians reminds me so much of listening to a bunch of immature kids. Guess some people never learn … and these are the best we have to offer to send to Washington?
One of these days “The Reaper” is going to hand in his final report to Someone higher. Let’s hope that we used enough of what we already knew.
THE GRIMM REAPER REPORT © 21OCT2008
http://the-grimm-reaper-report.blogspot.com/
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