General

Pride in workmanship………..


That title to me is a misnomer. Why? Because that is something that is no longer present for the most part in the United States. Pride in workmanship is not something that just happens. It is something that is instilled into a person.
Pride, which is the key to the statement. Actual pride in what you do. The ability to do something that no one else can do. The ability to do something better then someone else; to make something that will endure; to me those are the hallmarks of pride.
Where someone gets the desire to seek this type of pride does not just appear when you are an adult though. That is why I stated it is something that is instilled into a person.
It is something that happens as someone grows into adulthood. It happens not only in the home, but also at school and even church (synagogue, mosque, temple, etc. etc.)
When I was in high school, I helped put together my schools literary magazine that we published once a year. I am a technical artist to a degree. I made a pen and ink drawing and used many techniques that are used in drafting. The picture was good enough to be voted to be the centerfold for the magazine. That instilled a lot of pride into me. That is just one example of how taking pride in the things I do was instilled into me.
It is event and other things that equal to this that happen in those impressionable years that help to make people take pride in what they do.
I mentioned in church one time that I knew how to make a house to a degree. The person I talked to asked when did work for a construction company. I told them I did not. I learned it on Junior High School. He was younger than I was, so I asked him did they not teach you stuff like that in school. His reply was no.
It is hearing statements like that, and hearing on the news on how they are no longer teaching our youth to succeed in the world. I then understand why products made in the United States fall apart. I stopped buying American autos in the early eighties because they literally fell apart in just over a year of purchasing them. The same can be said for electronic products made in the states as well. I went from praising General Motor and RCA to being a loyal buyer of Nissan and Samsung.
One of the best educational systems in the world is in Japan by the way. One of the worst is the United States, and it is getting worse since the implantation of Common Core. They are no longer teaching our child how to survive in the adult world, instead they really are not teaching them anything at all. Yet they are spending more money even with inflation’s adjustments. So for more money to teach our children we get less from it to the point of them going into the adult world unprepared or even filled with any type of pride within themselves?
In all actuality, it is schools that are destroying our children and not instilling pride any longer, but parents are at fault as well, but schools are worse.
In the past, one of the major strengths that marked this nation as great was the desire to educate all. Now we are witnessing the effects of not having this demand. One of the main issues is the teachers we have as this time. Not all of them as a point of fact, but still more then there should be. This is due, in a major part, to unions. Not only for teachers, but also for many major industries in this nation.
Within them, the need for pride has been pushed out the door, literally. So an attitude of none caring has saturated into those that have taught for many years within the system. When new teachers enter into the system, they still have pride and wish to pass this self-respect to their students. Unfortunately, due to how the system is setup these teachers in many cases find themselves pushed out the door and are no longer teachers. Why? Because they did not have enough seniority and those that need to be forced out are left within the schools to pass on their complacency instead of the pride the younger teachers wish to have past on to their pupils.
When an organization supports the destruction of a society it is something that should not be allowed to continue. If reforming these organizations is the fix then it needs to be done. If totally removing them needs to be done then it should be.
When a system supports the destruction of pride from our children it should be reformed into something that will restore bringing pride back into the minds and hearts of our children.
Without pride which gives someone self-worth, self-confidence, self-assurance and the desire in anything they do to be the best they can make of it. Then this nation will continue to diminish and become another Rome Empire. Another nation destroyed due to a corrupt system of government and education.

A comment on attempting to date in your 50’s


The wonders of having to start dating again in your mid-fifties. What I find the most amazing is how many people live in a fantasy world. Guys want a skinny woman with a hard body (Not me by the way). Women want men with six packs. Over fifty percent of men over fifty are overweight. From my own personal observation, a good deal of men that are not overweight have other issues that make them skinny. Me I am overweight. Am I proud of it? No, but it is fact.
Another thing is I am brutally honest, and a lot of ladies can’t seem to handle honesty.
Again this is all subjective, personal experiences.
I look forward to my retirement as it looms ahead of me. I know exactly how I wish to spend that retirement. I will see a lot of the nation again. That is something I really miss. I love to travel on the road. I thoroughly enjoy going into national parks and see bear, moose, elf, and bison roaming about within them. It is something that needs to be shared.
I try to impress this upon those I talk to and some get it, but known have gotten to the point of wishing to join me in these adventures.
Well I still have time. There is someone out there, and I look forward to meeting them.

Trip to Grandma’s


There are things that just stick with you throughout a life. You can forget friends you once cherished. You can forget some places you have been. There are times though when something just glues itself to your memories. Something that is minor to other that are with you, but to you it becomes a building block on your personality.

One of these blocks for me was on a trip to grandma’s. Many of us had trips to a grand parent or parents. Then many of us have not had that opportunity, or their grandparents live close enough that within a few minutes your are there.

That was not how it was for me. Mine meant traveling for a couple of days. Traveling form the high plains of Montana to the lowlands of the Missouri River. Traveling through Montana, Wyoming, Nebraska and Kansas.

On one of these trips is when my memory was set, and the building block was formed. It is funny I do not remember how old I was exactly, but I must have been about six. It was a cloudy grey day that I am certain. The grasses of the prairie were yellow upon the rolling hills that surround the interstate we were traveling on. Back then seventy-five was the speed limit. For all I know it may have returned to the limit, since several states have ended the need to go fifty-five.

I was looking out the window setting behind my father who was driving, and as I did, I saw them. A herd of Pronghorn Antelope, they crested a hill and curved in over it and then started to run parallel with the highway. I do not know how long they did, but it felt like forever that they did this. To be honest it was most likely nearly two minutes. To watch these animals running has fast as our car and at the same time running up and then down the hills mesmerized me. Then they arced away from the road cresting one more hill and they were gone. I remember looking back trying to still see them, but they were gone.

Yet here I am writing this, and sharing it. They are here, and yet it has been a life time since they were here. It had made it where I love to travel upon the road. A goal I plan to pursue once I retire. A clock I am watching nearly weekly. In time, it will be daily that I watch this clock. Then I will be free to wonder the highways once again and look upon the beauties this nation has to offer. It is something I cannot wait to share.

Dreams


Are dreams just dreams?
Or are they something more?
I have had many dreams in my over fifty years. Many I remember.
I have watched a city I have never been to grow and change throughout my five decades of life. So how can I see the same place, know it is the same place, and yet see it change?
Could it be real somewhere else?
It is thoughts like this and many others that I will be posting.
Some will be like this. Some will be about my believes and faith since I am a Christian. Some may even be about politics. Depends on my mood at the time. Let us just see where it goes together.