Have You Reached Your Limit?

Few of us

I started this post on November 18, 2017 and the above is as far as I got.  I guess I had reached my limit that day.  And I am bound to reach my limit just as quickly today.  Today is Thursday.  It is trash day.  It is the day that the church people come with the weekly meal.  It is the day after Wednesday and the day before Friday.  It is Thursday.

When do you know you have reached your limit?  It varies, does it not?  When eating or drinking anything, your body should let you know when that limit is reached.  Running or any type of physical activity will let your body notify you when you have reached your limit.  It is the mental stress activities that we seem unable to read the signs that say, “Enough.”   It is only when some garbled version of “ENOUGH!” is shouting, no screaming at us to stop when we even slow down enough to think about what is going on.

Any event in our life can become consuming of our time and thought processes.  Only when those around say silly things like, “You look like you need a break!” do we even consider that really might be the case.  When friends, sometimes even acquaintances, start offering to help you take a break, you definitely NEED a break!

From October 2000 to April 2001 I helped out my Mom after she was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer.  I flew her home with me from the hospital.  At the time I was staying with my mother-in-law who did not want to go into a nursing home.  I took my Mom to Chemo treatments and days when she did not have one, I worked in the office.  I held a full time job and took care of both of them and thought nothing of it.  It was not stressful.  It all had to be done and it was all working.  It actually worked better with both of them there because they kept each other company.

It was not until after my Mom went back home that things kind of started falling apart.  My mother-in-law had no one to talk to while I was working and she did things she ought not do.  That is when the stress set in and she decided to leave her own home to get away from me.  I find that somewhat humorous now.  Back then it was just a relief.  Her companion was gone.  She was lonely.  And I, well, I was me.  I was the “wicked bitch of the south” constantly on her about her diet, about feeding my overweight dog, and a thousand other things I just had to bring up.  I had reached my limit and no one could see the signs well enough to tell me.  If they did, it was a case of “Not me! I’m not saying nothin’!”

Far too often, we have to be the one to say when it is time for a break.  We have to be an adult and admit that we do not have super powers.  We have to say “GOD, I need a break.  Please show me how to admit to myself that I do not have the responsibility of the World upon my shoulders.”

We are after all just human.  Man or woman, we can only do so much.  Sometimes we can do more, but this time we need a break.

Today is Wednesday

Some day I will die. That is just a fact of life. Fairy tales about people living forever or being immortal here on Earth do not ring true with me. No, I am not sick and suffering from some dread disease. What I am is an old realist. No matter how hard we try, we cannot outrun the inevitable.

Shortly after my son learned to walk we got a harness for him and used it when we took him out with us. He was able to run free for about four feet, but we still had control of him. There was not much he could do without us reining him in.

My relationship with GOD is much like that. Scripture tells us that HE will never leave us nor forsake us. I believe HIM, HIS Word, everything. There are things that I do not fully understand, some that totally elude my feeble mind. But like my son who believed me, I believe GOD. GOD has me tethered to HIM. I can stray, but not too far. If I pull against the tether long enough I can stretch it just a bit and wiggle my toes near the fire of disobedience. That is when the tug on the tether reminds me I have gone too far. If my toes get burned bad enough, HE will, like any good Father, take me to HIS home permanently. Earthly fathers cannot do anything permanent but GOD can and does. Fear not the one who can only kill the body but, definitely fear THE ONE who can kill both body and soul.

May 1-3, 1971 vs January 6, 2022

I worked in Washington District of Columbia in the United States of America for several years. The building I worked in was at the 1700 block of K Street. We were told that despite the anti-war demonstrations within DC we were required to report to work and on time. Calling in sick was not an option.

Riding into DC that Monday on my regular bus was not a problem. When the bus stopped is when the unthinkable happened. A police officer tossed a tear gas canister under the bus in order to slow down people exiting the bus. We were all in danger of being arrested. All for going to work. Detained from the bus, was any young man who had long hair. The rest of us simply stumbled away from the bus trying to see through the tears to get to our jobs. About 15 feet from the bus was a couple (obviously hippies) who had a table set up with literature about tear gas and how to take care of yourself. I took a leaflet and a damp tissue and made my way to the office.

When I made it home that evening, the news reports that as many as 23,000 people (supposed demonstrators) were arrested and detained at the Kennedy Stadium where the Redskins played football. People who worked in DC were detained simply because they “looked like they should be arrested”. The mail guy in our offices was detained for several days. He said they did not ask him any questions, they just grabbed him before he entered the building to go to work. He was just feet away from work when he was caught.

The estimated number of “protestors” was about 40,000. They said what they would do and did it. They drove junk cars onto the roads going into DC, parked them, took the keys out and jammed up every road coming into DC in basically that manner. They did not storm DC with guns blazing.

Non-participating citizens who were arrested and had need of insulin or other medications were denied access to even call someone much less obtain medical attention. The city was standing firm and not backing down. Those people were in DC so they must be GUILTY. No, most were just trying to go to work like they were told to do by their employers.

On January 6, 2022 I was watching TV while the million or so folks were marching down the street. And just like in 1971, it was no surprise that a large crowd of people would be there. It was, after all President Trump supporters who would be there. He always drew large numbers of supporters to his rallies as well as a few pinheads, protestors and other nitwits. So, instead of beefing up security and calling in the National Guard as President Trump suggested to Nancy Pelosi and the Mayor of DC it almost seemed like they had Law Enforcement take a holiday. Were they hoping something would happen that could be blamed on a certain someone?

The Mock Jan 6 Trial, the raid of Mar-a-Lago, political supporters being rounded up and put in jail all seems just a bit too familiar. I learned about it in World History Class as well as American History Class. I have also watched it unfold in Venezuela and other parts of the world in more recent history.

Politics suck. Especially when it runs rampant over the Constitution of the United States of America. It is extremely difficult to even say that the Justice system is equally applied as it should be when murderers, rapists and terrorists roam free while they spend billions of dollars desperately trying to convict one orange haired man and make his family’s and friends’ lives a living hell simply because they hate him. Donald J. Trump did something in two years that those pompous fools in Congress could not do in the past 50 years, he worked for and defended the people who put him in office.

And this is my opinion. You may believe something else.

Surveys and the Misrepresentation of Facts and Opinions

I took a survey yesterday. One that has been done for 50 years and they are quite proud of that. Since 1972 this survey has been gathering information regarding the Social inner workings of the United States of America and possibly the world. My curiosity overcame my better judgement and I sat through two hours of questions. Some were rather innocuous, like my race, gender, religious beliefs and my upbringing.

The questions, probably ninety percent, are ambiguous leading to answers that are greatly taken out of context.

For instance: If a man were to get up in public and say hateful things about black people and a bill came up to abolish that speach, would you; agree that it needed to be abolished, agree somewhat, disagree, or disagree somewhat. Now if you agree, you are ultimately saying that free speech is problematic. If you disagree then you are ultimately saying that hate speech is okay and you agree with it.

It asked the same about Muslims spewing hate speach – should they be allowed to say it. The same type of questions were asked about religion. They separated spirituality and religion which I thought was odd. There were a lot of questions about HIV, which I thought the Government was saying is under control. Now, I wonder what they are not saying about that and many other things.

I was reassured numerous times that this was not a government study and was in no way connected to the government. (Me thinks thou doth protest too much!) And that my answers were going to be totally anonymous. Another one of those “I’m from the government and I’m here to help” statements swept through my mind.

There were also the monetary spending questions. “Are we spending too much or not enough to …” I asked who “we” is supposed to represent. Is it the government or is it the people in general or is it both? The interviewer did not know. He was just asking the questions put forth in the survey on the tablet that was connected to the internet. Since the whole thing was supposedly recorded, I told him that I would be answering the questions as though it is the government only that is referenced by “we‘.

After two hours of questioning and a sore butt, I can understand why the media thinks there may be a group of radical, right wing, nut jobs out there just waiting to be activated. And it is far from the truth. And they did ask if I owned guns and how many. Since that information can be obtained anyway, I answered honestly.

After thinking about the way my answers could be misconstrued or purposely twisted to fit a particular narrative, I question the wisdom of my participation.

And if one truly believes the government is not involved with this in some way here are some (taken from their own literature) of the organizations that sponsor and use the data:

American Cancer Society, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Education, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, The Rockerfeller Foundation, and Robert Woods Johnson Foundation.

The name behind the research is NORC and this is what the letters mean in their own words: “the nonpartisan and objective research organization NORC at the University of Chicago,”… I found very little that I would consider nonpartisan or objective about the questions asked or the answers one had to pick from. While on the surface it appears to be lollipops and rainbows, it is neither.

For it to be called valid research is tantamount to saying an ant equals an elephant. Neither are true. It defies logic that such generalized statements and equally bizarre answers that you must choose from can be called research.

This is my opinion and mine alone. No one paid me to say it. No one even knows I am saying it until now.

The Loss of Personal Responsibility

This started as a reprint of a post of what I learned from the failed crazed woman’s march on DC January, 2017. It was what I had learned from the outspoken lunatic women of that march that failed to actually speak coherently and bring a cohesive message to the attention of all who watched.

What I did not learn is essential. I did not learn the actual source of their fear and anger. The speakers were not articulate as much as they were angry and fearful and spewing garbage just for applause, screams of laughter and jeers for the object of their scorn who happened to be a man.

They appeared to do what many women have done throughout the ages. They blame a man for their misfortune. In this case they blame a man with whom they had absolutely no relationship. It appears that women have not been liberated at all. What we women need to learn is that liberation does not come from outside of ourselves. Liberation is not dependent upon our release from a physical location nor from our real or imagined physical bonds. Liberation, true liberation comes from within. We are only liberated when we are free within. Not free to do whatever we want, whenever we want, but free to learn, free to become our best.

It also appeared that, on that day, a woman’s freedom was dependent upon a woman acting like those women thought a woman should act. And that is not freedom either. Freedom has a boundary and that boundary means that we do not enslave another in our version of freedom. If we can change their mind through honest debate or by our own actions, fine. But we are not free to bully another into submission.

Personal responsibility applies to women just as it applies to men. Just as one cannot cry fire in a crowded room when there is no fire, how is it right for a man or woman to cry rape when they walk naked through a frat party? We have all kinds of excuses why it is right for one to do so and allow no room for personal responsibility.

Advertising, greed and power based news, ignorant laws favoring the accused, faulty teaching in the churches, Marxist agendas unleashed by professors in colleges on ignorant students, awkward and dysfunctional families, little or no parenting skills, no boundaries and ignorance have all played a part in reducing personal responsibility to nothing more than a phrase used by fringe groups bent on restricting freedom.

Women have such aberrant ways of trying to draw attention to their plight. They burned their bras publicly to announce their freedom. That would be equivalent with men burning their jock straps. And it would make about as much sense. They walked topless through subways just to show they could because men went shirtless. This was hailed as new found freedom. Is it? Or is it just a redo of the Roaring Twenties, a remake of the Can-Can girls of France and a copy of the brothels of old? Why do we feel that burning desire to lie to ourselves? I can understand lying to the public, but why must we try to tell ourselves that our freedom must rely upon being unashamedly stupid? It is stupidity. Ignorance can be mended with knowledge. Stupid is willful and totally denying there might just be a better way.

Mid Morning and Rainy

It is one of those days that fluctuates between sadness, hope and contemplation. Sadness beacuse it reminds us that all is not sunshine and cool breezes. Hope because water reminds us of washing away the dirt of the day and Baptism which shows the world that we belong to the Savior. Contemplation because it causes a slow down of activity giving us time to think about many things.

When you get past the sadness, missing home, missing loved ones who have either moved away or precede you in death, missing your youth, you may realize that none of that can be changed. At least the parts that are in the past cannot. Your perception of where you are and why you are there can and maybe should change.

Hope causes us to have, well, hope. Hope is the simple belief that things will be better. Maybe not what we expect, but better. Salvation gives us hope. Blessed Hope. Not a little hope but HOPE as big as Eternity.

Contemplation, thinking about what has transpired and what will. We can condition ourselves to deal with possible situations if we look at all possibilities.

Within the society of today, life can be considered dangerous, or at the least hazardous. A walk in the park, a jog in the neighborhood, a simple trip to the store for a loaf of bread or pack of diapers can turn deadly. Regardless or inspite of the desire for some to create imagined “safe spaces” for some but not for all, we now have no “safe spaces” for anyone.

Fear has become a replacement for Hope. GOD is being denied HIS rightful place in the World. Without even a modicum of belief in GOD and all HE is, life has no meaning. If life has no meaning, then all things no matter how evil are allowed with no eternal repercussions.

As Christians it is our belief and Hope in GOD and the Ultimate Salvation freely given to us by HIS SON’S sacrifice on the Cross of Calvary. HE died so we could truly live.

Although we are not removed from all of the storms of life, HE will walk with us through the storm. It is an odd concept for those who are not believers or those who have never had a tsunami of a snot-storm in their life. Life is filled with unexpected joy and despair sometimes from the same event. The Earthly death of a loved one brings despair as we miss them terribly and cannot seem to find our way. Tears flow as there is a seeming unending pit filled with nothing. The joy comes from hope. The knowledge that the one we lost professed Salvation and lived their life as a true follower of THE MESSIAH, THE LORD JESUS CHRIST, means that the Blessed Hope is simply that they are with our LORD AND SAVIOR and we will see them again.

Until tomorrow.

And Again, It’s Been Awhile…

As life moves forward despite our best efforts to slow it down, one begins to wonder, “exactly where has time gone?” It certainly does seem to slip away. One day you are 6, laying on the grass staring into the evening sky wondering where your real parents are and when are they coming back for you. A week later there you are 76 and wondering what the grandchildren are doing and, “could I lay upon that soft carpet of grass again? And if I do, can I get back up?”

Queen Elizabeth II has passed away at 96. Charles is now King. Another event in the life of the planet.

Anyway, back to my meanderings. In spite of my missteps, grandiose disobedience, total disregard for the natural order of things (on occasion), minor brushes with the wrong side of the law, at least 3 life and death situations and a mega host of open-mouth-insert-foot instances, I have survived. Only by the GRACE OF GOD have I survived.

At 16 the year 2000 was never a thought in my mind as a possibility for my life on this planet. And yet here it is 2022. It is actually a bit of a disappointment. The world is in turmoil and mostly due to ignorance in governance. When Star Trek was popular, I wanted to believe that we too would become better and use our scientific discoveries for the benefit of all mankind. We would overcome our differences, be accepting of others for their abilities and not be… well, be what we are. Human. We would be better humans or better than human. Neither wish came true.

That is what we are. We are not Vulcan, nor Klingon, nor Andorian, nor Trill, just human. Our planet is not androgynous. We are male or female with some anomalies. We are not humanoid. We are not human-like. We are human. And it still brings us back to, “What ARE we supposed to do while we are HERE?”

While there are many differing opinions, some based upon Spiritual values, some not so much, we could all agree on one thing. This is not Star Trek and there can be only one true answer. So, maybe that is two things or just two parts of one truth.

Full disclosure: I am a Christian. I believe in the HOLY BIBLE as GOD handed it down to the human hand to write in words that mere humans could understand – eventually. I believe that it is all true, in spite of my lack of understanding of many parts. Scripture is the only thing that gives me peace and a sense of well-being. Scripture is the only thing that lets me know there is a plan in place and there is an Ultimate Winner. There are rules to live by that humans did not write which means humans may not revoke nor change the rules to suit their whims and whimsies. And just because they try does not make it true. Truth is true whether you believe it or not. Try not believing in gravity and walk off a cliff. Unless you have a jet pack or a parachute, that abrupt stop at the bottom, will prove gravity exists. Even if you have a parachute or jet pack, you still come down but with a softer landing.

There is a Heaven and a Hell as well as a Judgement Day. We will all be judged. There is only one way to stay out of Hell and go to Heaven and that is through the shed blood of THE MESSIAH on the Cross of Calvary about two thousand years ago.

And that is all I have for today. Thank you for reading.