Michael Jackson – Entertainment Genius

The fact that Michael was more talented than most of us became evident when he eclipsed his multi-talented family on stage.  At an age where most of us were still learning our ABC’s, Michael could walk on stage and take over the show. 

I’ve known only one such talented individual personally.   It seems those gifted in the genius category will struggle with the simple things that come easy to most of us.   Michael struggled with the ability to function in the common every day things  of life.  He made multiplied millions off the stage with lucrative entertainment assets.  But he badly mismanaged those millions once he made them. 

He made the girls swoon on stage, but couldn’t stay married or even maintain a steady significant other.  Unproven allegations aside,  he lived the life  of a recluse, a sad and  lonely man.  He was a household word and was known by nearly all, but struggled with his own identity.  Dancing, singing, choreography – he had no rivals.   I feel sad for Michael because the joy of life and the thrill of romance that he sang about seemed beyond the reach of him and his millions.

Political Ground Hog Day

In the comedy, Ground Hog Day, comedian Bill Murray portrays a local weather reporter who gets caught in an almost endless cycle of repeating the same day until he gets it right.  Many of the things our country is doing  strongly resembles the same futility found in the film.

It seems we went through the same frustrating dance on health care several years back, only now Hillary is the Secretary of State, and Bill is a full time play boy.   Obama’s poll numbers are slipping and the democrats are in a rush to pass a health care plan, any government health care plan.  The urgency is found in the number of  democrats who are jumping ship as they become aware that there is not a clear cut plan.

Sensing weakness,  radical leaders of rogue nations are pushing the envelope as they sense that our president is naively idealistic and militarily soft.  Iran, Afghanistan, Korea, and who is next in the lineup to “test” Obama’s resolve?  His own Vice President predicted a testing.  We’ve been down this road before.  Castro sensed weakness in John Kennedy and it almost resulted in a nuclear shootout. 

Obama is also reminiscent of Jimmy Carter, one of the worst presidents in known history.  Terrorists and dictators can smell weakness.  It is  no accident that minutes after Ronald Reagan was sworn in as President, the hostages were released.  Like Carter, Obama’s laid back style of reasoning with the unreasonable will result in a foreign policy fiasco that will set the stage for yet another strong conservative leader like Reagan to take the stage.   And let’s not forget that it was Reagan’s no-nonsense policies that brought down  the Iron Curtain and all but eliminated communism as we knew it.

If we are forced to re-live history, let’s hope and pray that we get it right this time.  Obama may just turn out to be the best thing that ever happened to the Republican party.

The Lonely Taxpayer

Corporate bailouts, bank bailouts, even inusrance company bailouts, and all the while the lonely American taxpayer gets shafted by banks, big business, and yes, even insurance companies.  Banks want understanding and will tell you why its good for the country to keep them solvent.   But try to get some understanding from them.  They’ll put a family in the street and not miss a moment’s sleep.

And the big corporations feel its their right to be propped up by the taxpayer.   But let someone who really needs a job put in an application for employment with a bad credit score and they’ll kick them to the curb in a New York minute. 

Presently, I’m in a legal battle with an insurance company on my homeowner’s insurance and they refuse to even investigate my claim …. and my taxes are being used to keep a big insurance company in business…. and why was that?

My question for all our so called representatives in Washington is this:  When do the taxpayers get their bailout?   And for those who have lost their jobs, income, and credit, why can’t the government at least make employment and housing accessible without a credit check?   If a person has a bad credit rating and because of that cannot access housing or employment,  what are his alternatives?    Must they live like a bum on the street and beg?   Or should they turn to a life of crime?  The reality is that both of these things are happening.   Homelessness is skyrocketing.   Local law enforcement will tell you that they are arresting people who would never have considered theft or burglary during normal economic times.  

Big business gets tax money.   Foreign countries that don’t even like us get tax money.  The same banks that are confiscating our homes are getting tax money.  The big corporations who won’t hire us because of our damaged credit are getting our tax money.  One day the lonely tax payer will have enough of it and a revolt will ensue.  That day may be soon upon us unless government policy changes toward the lonely and forgotten United States taxpayer.

The Destructive Power of Cigarettes

They came asking for help, they had children in need who might not get fed, but they had cigarettes.   They needed assistance for school supplies for their poor kids, but they had cigarettes.   They sleep under the stars with no home to call their own as they chain smoke cigarettes. 

How costly is it to an individual and his family to smoke?   Using a $2.50 per pack average figure, it would cost $75.00 per month,  and apporximately $900 per year.   Calculating the cost with 10% interest:   $56,952 in 20 years;  $169,536 in 30 years;  $1,299,329 in 50 years.   Hey smokers, your wealth and your future are going up in smoke!  Now triple all of the figures above for a 3 pack a day smoker and it really gets rediculous.

Perhaps you say, I’m doing good financially and I’ll do as I please and it is no one’s  business.  There are 100 million orphans in the world who desperately need our help.  What if you quit smoking and spent those millions you’ll spend on cigarettes over your lifetime on helping someone else rather than on destroying yourself? 

Then there are those who say you want to quit, but you just can’t quit.   If there was a 10 million dollar reward for quitting for good, you’d figure out how to quit even if you had to chain yourself to a tree until you kicked the habit.   So it’s not a lack of ability or opportunity, but a lack of desire that keeps people from quitting.  Or perhaps we should say it’s a love of self that keeps smokers smoking.

The financial burden on the U.S. economy is staggering :  over $92 billion is lost productivity from smoking related deaths and $100 billion in health care costs.  That amount of money would go a long way in helping our country recover from this recession (and possible depression).

I’ve worked a lot over the years helping the poor and it amazes me how people who are desperate and their family is doing without can come up with the cash for cartons of cigarettes, large cases of beer (that are hastily consumed), and costly tatoos and piercings.   Personally, if they can come up with the cash for all that stuff, they don’t need my money or time.   Once while visiting a man who was aggressively asking for my help,  I walked to his refrigerator and opened the door.  He became enraged.   I didn’t care.   I’m tired of seeing the donations of hard working people go to those who do not want a permanent solution or accountability.

On the other hand, we sometimes help those we really don’t want to help because of the children.   Who really gets hurt by the poverty that is worsened by cigarette addiction?   It is the weakest and most vulnerable of our society, the children.

Find Prosperity In Hard Times

They call it bad news, a nearly 10% national unemployment rate – but is it really?  People hear the news and feel like giving up, not even trying.  The 90% who are working and making money get scared and sit on their money.  There is even talk of an economic depression by experts who wouldn’t even say the “R – word” even a year ago.  I propose that a large part of the downturn has psychological roots.   I propose that it is possible not only to survive this economy, but to prosper.

There are in fact many who are prospering during these times.  To be successful in any economic period,  you must change your world view, how you think, and experience a paradigm shift.  This is not new age or magical.  It is simply getting rid of bad habits that hold us back and limit our achievements.   Are you ready to shift gears from survival to prosperity?

First, you must shift your thought patterns from negative to positive.   You are what you think.   Thoughts become actions which become habits  which become character which becomes your destiny.   If 10% are unemployed and 90% are employed, you have much greater odds of becoming part of the 90%.  And if you take into account that in the best of economies we average 4% unemployment, we’ve really only increased the rate by less than 6%.  So the question is whether  the cup is 10% empty or 90% full.  Find out what the 90% are doing, not doing, where they are located, what their education is, and focus your efforts on that.

Avoid people who love to make negative small talk.   The conpiracy theorists, the doomsdayers, the fear mongers, will destroy your thought life and hold you down.  Even in an all out depression there is a group of people getting rich.  I choose to be a part of that group.  Poverty is rooted in defective thinking, a crippling of the mind.  Some of the greatest achievers in the last century are those who though they took great risks, dreamed big dreams, and went bust multiple times, were consistent in their thinking and refused to think like a loser even when flat broke. 

Secondly, you must take a proactive approach to your problems.   Everyone has problems, but not everyone has solutions.  Positive thoughts produce positive decisions and plans.  When a problem comes up before you, make a decision to overcome it, be successful, and begin working on the next logical step.  When faced with a problem, ask yourself two questions -  What is the worst that could possibly happen?…. and what is the best thing that can be done?

When you choose a positive thought pattern and make a decision to succeed, both your concious and unconcious mind will begin creating possibilities and solutions.

Thirdly,  once you develop positive thoughts and a proactive approach,  you must take persistent action.  Your first attempt to implement your positive thinking and proactive plans may not be successful.  Success come through persistence in our actions, not just through positve thoughts and plans.  Thomas Edison made thousands of attempts to locate a substance that would work well in the light bulb.  Eventually, through persistence, he succeeded.  His positive attitude and decision  to succeed fueled his persistence.

Anyone can succeed in this economy.  Once you make a decision to  be positive, proactive, and persistent, your success is only a matter of time.  Success is just around the corner.

My Visit To Mayberry

My friend, Vick, bought a farm in rural Eastern Tennessee, and then another one and before long he was buying and selling property in the mountains for a living.   He is presently living near a little town called Sneedville, a modern day Mayberry.   It is the county seat of  Hancock County with 6000 residents according to the local motel owner.   The town itself has about 1200 people.  Research of 2000 and 2005 census information gernerally supports these figures.

For several years Vick had his wife, Dianne, had invited me to come and visit.  I found some discount airline tickets and made plans.  A few weeks later I was in some of the most beautiful mountains I  have ever seen.  The local farmers, they are almost all farmers, cannot figure out why anyone would want to build a house on a mountain top.  They value the bottom land, rich and fertile, to grow things on.   The 20 mile views from the tops of the mountains are a common thing to them.  It’s just where they live.

Everyone I spoke with in Sneedville prided themselves in being from a place that doesn’t change.   They distrust the outside world.   Many of the locals are convinced my friend, Vick, is from the Mafia.   Vick has a strong New England accent that could almost be mistaken for a New York accent.  One day, while re-fueling the truck in town, I asked the clerk if she could break a one hundred dollar bill.   She replied it would be no problem and then she sighted Vick.   She took the bill, looked at it and handed it back to me and said, “This is stolen money, I can’t take it.”   She tried to make up a story about an ink mark on the bill and then with her mind obviously made up, she said, “All I can tell you is this is stolen, and just get it out of this county.” 

The local churches take tradition to a whole new level.   One kind pastor I met requires that long dresses be worn by the ladies and the men must wear long sleeve shirts with white tee shirts underneath.   Why?   So the men’s nipples won’t show through the shirt.   As they cling tightly to strict holiness tradition, their teens and young adults are becoming meth addicts and dying.   One local told me, “We don’t go for that new-fangled religion around here.”  In the same breath he went on to share the problem of teen drug addiction in their county.  He just couldn’t connect the dots.  If you attend church in Hancock County, you’d better bring some conservative clothing and a King James Bible.

We had breakfast at Hardee’s with Junior, the local constable and Sneedville equivilant to Andy Taylor.   Twelve to twenty farmers gather there each morning for biscuits and gravy and to talk.  Things whispered in the ear can travel with lightening speed through the rural community.    

Many of the farms go back multiple generations in the same family.   One man described the impact of the recession on the locals like this, “No one told the milk cow that the economy was slow, no one told the chickens that the economy was slow, no one told the garden that the economy was slow.”   They barely notice the recession because they live independently as they always have and as their fathers and grandfathers did.   We can learn something from the farmers about focusing on the tasks at hand and not letting the media and circumstances dictate our world view.

It takes time to win the trust of mountain people.   They don’t warm up right away.   In years past, peddlers would come through the mountains and many of them were swindlers and con artists.   Over time, they learned to keep outsiders at arms length.  It’s not that they are unfriendly.  They are very friendly and welcoming, but there is a huge difference between friendliness and being a trusted friend.  But, if you have the time, they will open the door a little at a time to  let you in.

My week in “Mayberry”  was relaxing and a step back in time to a place where people still wave at the other vehicles going by and are never too busy to stop and talk.  There are things I learned from the mountain people (positive and negative) that will enrich my future.  But, there are also things that they can learn from me.   In a strange kind of way I realized that as citizens of this world, we all need one another and we are never independent of one another.   Here are 7 things I learned during my time with the mountain people:

1.  Do what you know and do it well.

2.  Don’t allow fear and distrust of the unknown rob you of your future.

3.  Tradition makes a great conversation piece but a cruel taskmaster.

4.  Don’t allow the media and economic conditions to dictate your world view.

5.  Never get too busy to stop and talk to people.  People are more important than our schedules.

6.  Stay connected with your community.

7.  Never lose the ability to dream and to change.  Never allow the beauty of the mountain top to become a common thing.