thoughts worth what you Paid
I may as well weigh in on the kneel during the national anthem. It's turning into "Alice's Restaurant". Not the place to eat, but the song. If you're not 50+ years old, there's a good chance you will never have heard it. It's clever, give it a listen. Anyway, there's a line in the song that if one person does it they may think he's sick, but if 50 people a day do it, then it'll be a movement or something to that effect. Bless Kapernick's little heart, he's created a bit of a movement.
Some people think they should be punished for disrespecting our flag and anthem in such a manner. My first response to it is certainly anger and I'd be good with them relocating the country of their choice never to return to the USA. Some people find it offensive to our military men and women, past and present. Since they mostly come off as a group of people with their feeling hurt, both sides should get over it. That's an Eagles song, "Get Over It". It doesn't matter what the kneeling intent is, the offended will find their own intent in it that fits their feelings. It appears to me that if the two parties don't see it the same way then they're both wrong. It's like knowing all your life things were one way and then finding out it's not that way. Your head hurts and you rail against it. So they have a complaint, what I'd like to see them do is respect and honor the traditions of our country, then people might want to have a conversation with them about their problem. Being a jerk because you can be is a sure way not to be taken seriously. As Stephen Covey said, "We are free to choose our actions, we are not free to choose the consequences". They're like monkey see, monkey do. It's yet to be adequately explained what's troubling them. Something about some injustice in this country, yes the one where everyone gets to succeed according to their drive and ability. I'm having trouble finding the problem, other than perhaps we are too tolerant. And the last thing, some people would like a law or rule prohibiting these offensive protesting actions. This is the only county I'm aware of where protesting, especially by disrespecting said symbol(s) of the country, is protected by the constitution not met with termination of your freedom or life. This isn't something that should or needs to be changed because someone offended you. This is one of the things that makes America great. Then again, some people seem to have missed the whole "melting pot" concept. Maybe if we turn up the heat they can figure it out or go to some better place of their choosing. This country doesn't need to change to suit them.
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No, not the medium that connects you to the deceased. I'm talking about that place in between extremes. Take how steak is cooked for example, raw or uncooked on one end and well on the other. Neither extreme is palatable to a majority, but medium in the middle is tolerable by most. I find this applies in other aspects of life as well. Dress, extremes will likely bring attention or at least impressions one probably doesn't need or want in their life. Motivation, extremes often result in failure of the desired outcome.
Medium however, now here is something that get's results. Food that's always edible, humans that look like you could associate with them, and work that gets accomplished. The results aren't always the greatest, but they're tolerable. One thing you're not going to get with medium is dismal failure. Yes, funny fail videos abound, but you don't want those for yourself, do you? I certainly don't. I had a semi-fail moment recently and my reward was pain, the physical kind, I don't need that in my life. At least it isn't in video for everyone to enjoy. If you're a "Hey, watch this" quickly followed by "ouch that hurt" kind of person. Don't share with me. Pain is a great teacher, as is history. Humans, for the most part, appear to be poor learners. If you don't believe that, stop paying attention to yourself and watch what's going on around you. If "insanity" is doing the same thing over and expecting different results, then clearly the insane are in charge. I know I took a sharp turn from the topic, but these things happen, and I find there's a connection. You may see the connection too, if you can find a medium. It's day three of my no soda challenge. Actually, cutting out sweets, period. Of course that didn't go so well on Monday night with the leftover package of double stuff Oreos. The Oreos are gone now and I'll have less temptation to buy more Oreos than I do to eat the Oreos that I already have on the table. The sugar craving is noticeable today. I've heard that day three is some magic time where one gets to fail or make it over the hump. My own experience confirms this notion.
Key for me this afternoon is to get busy doing something that will keep my busy and not focused on the desire to drink a delicious Coca-Cola of three. As noted by Poul Andersen, "ninety-nine percent of the human population, no matter how smart they are, will do the convenient thing instead of the wise thing, and kid themselves into thinking they can escape the consequences". In other words, too me at least, it's easy to rationalize your way back into old feel good behaviors. The conversation in my head goes something like, "Oh I'll just have one soda. It's only 240 calories, which will hardly hurt your weight loss goals. You can do better tomorrow." Then tomorrow becomes next week, which becomes next month, which becomes next year. Not too mention during all this time more insulation is being added to the midsection. We shall see if my good intentions become convictions. My new quote, "Change happens when good intentions become convictions." ~Randall Fuller Bill Winke said "the problem with young people is a lack of consistency in their efforts." When inconsistency is the only consistent, results will be less than their best. In order to get better at anything requires consistent effort. Getting better and then stopping what got you to that point will result in a return to a lower performance level. It doesn't matter if you're shooting free-throws or working calculus problems. If you fail to use it, you'll lose it.
Take my hard won improvements in bench press performance. In May of 2017 I had a personal best of 290 lbs. After a summer break from all resistance exercise of 10 weeks, in August 2017 the best I could muster was 240 lbs. That's a decrease of %17. If I had only done 1 day of resistant work on my bench press during this time I likely would've maintained my strength. There's no excuse, I was inconsistent in my efforts and this is the result. WEAKNESS! Mental weakness led to physical weakness. A Google search suggested that one may lose %10 for every 3 weeks of inactivity, up to about a total of %30. I don't know that this person has data to back up that claim, but my own results are similar. I'm relieved I didn't regress a full %30. In the past it's been easier to regain what lost and I hope that'll be the case this time as well. Regardless it's time I should've been spending improving on my personal best instead of trying to get it back. So whatever your endeavor, consistent effort is key to improvement and maintenance of that improvement. |
AuthorHigh School Science Teacher and Pessimistic Philosopher Archives
November 2017
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