Count Your Blessings

Under 100 #4: Don't wait until it's full of trash before you empty it

                                                               

       Years ago I watched a co-worker go around and empty the trashcans every day, even if they only had a few pieces of paper in them. Up until that time, I thought the trash container should be emptied only when it was full.

       We don't have to wait until our lives are full of trash before we try to empty them. What's even more amazing is that God doesn't expect us to empty our trash before we come to him. He says to humanity, "Come as you are."

       But then He loves us too much to leave us there.

What We Tell Our Children & What They Actually Learn

We tell our children to be wise with their money…

Until they grow up and see that

A lot of grownups aren’t,

A lot of businesses aren’t,

And a lot of government agencies aren’t,

So our children learn that once they’re grown up, they can get into as much debt as they want to.  

We tell our children to be respectful of others…

            Until they grow up and see that

                        A lot of grownups aren’t,

                                    A lot of organizations aren’t,

                                                And liberals and conservatives aren’t,

So our children learn that once they’re grown up, they can be ugly to anybody they want to.

We tell our children to share and compromise…

            Until they grow up and see that

                        A lot of grownups don’t want to,

                                    A lot of corporations don’t want to,

                                                And Congress doesn’t want to,

So our children learn that once they’re grown up, they don’t have to give and take on anything.  

We tell our children to be honest…

            Until they grow up and see that

                        A lot of grownups aren’t,

                                    A lot of businesses aren’t,

                                                And a lot of government entities aren’t,

So our children learn that once they’re grown up, it’s okay to lie and cheat.

We tell our children to not spread rumors and half-truths…

            Until they grow up and see that

                        A lot of grownups do, under the facade of ‘concern’,

                                    A lot of media do, under the pretext as ‘news’,

                                           And a lot of politicians do, as ‘weapons’ of mass manipulation,

So our children learn that once they’re grown up, rumors are given the same significance as truth.

We tell our children to be faithful to our friends, spouses and partners…

            Until they grow up and see that

                        A lot of grownups aren’t,

                                    A lot of story lines aren’t,

                                                And a lot of government officials aren’t,

So our children learn that once they’re grown up, loyalty is self-serving and disposable.

We tell our children to love one another

            Until they grow up and see that

                        A lot of grownups don’t know how,

                                    A lot confuse it with another four-letter word that starts with ‘L’,

                                                And a lot have never met the Source of love,

So our children learn that love is only what they can get out of it, not what they  can give. 

The Great Designer

Photo Credit: Liz Allen

I think God was smiling when He designed these.

Under 100 #3: Diversify Your News Sources

Illustration by Audrie Roeder

Please get your news from a variety of sources. Too many of us count on listening only to a liberal source or only a conservative source for news, and we're probably getting a biased or partial view of the truth. Take any news and its source with a grain of salt-- especially from the government-- and check multiple sources. We're all manipulated more than we realize.

The media could stand to learn that lesson, too. I'm finding more news stories from various news agencies on the same topic that used the same source for their information-- right, wrong, or biased. 

Under 100 #2: Jeff Bezos and the Meaning of Life

I'm currently reading 'The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon' by Brad Stone. I do like the convenience of shopping online and Amazon.com has set the standard for other online stores with their innovative ideas. But the whole time I'm reading the book I'm thinking, 'My goodness, how much is enough for this guy?' And his poor employees can't have healthy marriages and family lives and work for Bezos, too. Somebody needs to tell him that there is so much more to life than his Alexanderic domination of the online retail world.

Okay, I'll tell him.

Under 100 #1: Polls

My new job requires me to write descriptions of educational Websites, and I have to keep it over 75 words and under 100 words. I have a much harder time keeping it under 100 rather than trying to get it over 75. This is a good skill for me to learn, since I tend to get wordy. So I'm going to continue the exercise on my blog-- keeping my thoughts about certain topics under a hundred.

Under a Hundred #1: Polls

I think the media uses polls - not to see what the truth is out there, but to gauge how effectively they're influencing people to believe what they want them to believe. Most people base their opinion on what they hear from the media-- right, wrong or biased, so polls are pretty useless except for propaganda purposes. Until we learn how to check the sources to see information from multiple points of view, and especially in its full context, we're all subject to the manipulation of misinformation.