A Gift for You
During these times of war, confusion, economic chaos, world turmoil, there is hope found in a place you or I can go any time... It is the safety of our heart's most cherished beliefs. Beliefs root and ground us in a foundation that stays firm though the earth moves uncontrollably. Along with pleasant memories of innocence, an inner voice calls to us to "believe" in what Christ's Mass is all about.
I wish I could wave a magic wand for all my friends and family who suffer, or long for just the sweet peace of child-like dreams. If I could I would wave it and make the heartaches and frenetic pace accompanying life in a 21st century world; a world sometimes seeming out of our control, go away.
Amy Grant sings a song I have loved for many years. "My Grown Up Christmas List" which answers the question what I would "wish" for you. It really brings it all home; At the end of the day all I care about is what Amy Grant sings, "MY GROWN UP CHRISTMAS LIST."
ALONG WITH THAT WISH I want to offer you a book FOR SHIPPING COST ONLY. It needs to find homes and friends before publishers and distributors will take note, and I hope you may enjoy it along with the cost: FREE with shipping only.
FOR YOUR CHRISTMAS...and friends & family: I wrote a story 6 years ago that is only now in its first few months of birth in paperback form. THE CHRIST REPORT, a story of hope, redemption, love, and return to simple beliefs. Cynical New York television host Sam Robertson, ailing with a broken heart and deeply in love, must help a man from the past if he is to survive one more Christmas; an innkeeper from 2,000 years ago and similarly with a broken heart but for a different reason. Their message? The secrets found in The Christ Report. It isn't in stores yet. But it is available to you for FREE... a limited edition and autographed. All I require is the cost of shipping at the check out of my new website: www.powerthink.com/store. Click on The Christ Report and follow the instructions.
Enter the "Redemption Code" word: CHRISTMAS (in caps.) I'll ship it out immediately.
Please feel free to share with all your friends and family. Books with inspiration-filled messages in a box under the tree are better than in a box in storage...
I will be sharing the "silver lining" in the economic storm clouds all next year... Until then:
May this Christmas be simple, and filled with the warmth of hope, faith, and love!
James
www.jmpratt.com
www.powerthink.com
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Monday, December 1, 2008
PROCLAIM LIBERTY...For Christmas
“Proclaim liberty throughout all the land and unto all the inhabitants thereof.” Leviticus 25:10.
Inscribed upon THE LIBERTY BELL, at its permanent residence in Philadelphia, PA. are those words from Leviticus of the Old Testament. Wise and enduring words which would bring peace to everyone all year around. Speaking of "peace..."
“Christ’s Mass” is upon us. I love this time of year. It is more joy-filled, light-hearted, and giving. I believe the spirit of Christmas is literally a spiritual manifestation from God of how the world could be all the time if we proclaimed His liberty and freedom to all…
The Christmas season is a perfect occasion to rejoice and celebrate the words “freedom” and “liberty.” Most often associated in the average mind with country and independence, the words come from the God of Israel thousands of years before the United States was established as a free nation. When liberty was spoken of by God it had dual meanings:
Personal Liberty: One was the liberty and freedom from the effects of sin and breaking laws through an atoning Redeemer, thus giving us freedom from the burden, weight, and punishment that is a natural consequence of law-breaking. By simply offering “virtue” as a path, God offers “freedom” to any individual who is willing to try his experiment in "liberty."
National Liberty: The other meaning God had in mind is quite literal; that we should offer the same equality within God’s framework of laws to every man, woman and child. By “proclaiming liberty” to act, according to morals and virtue, God expected people to choose leaders of conscience and virtue to ensure personal freedoms were never trampled or denied.
This nation was established by men and women who believed it would take a high degree of individual morals and virtue to “self-govern;” an experiment seldom tried in past history. I will be sharing their written words upon this subject in coming months. Know this; most nations had always been governed by “rulers” who set the “policy,” created the laws, and expected compliance.
Our Founding Fathers offered, “We the People” the governing role through the vote, trusting us to pick wise and morally virtuous people who understood that “self-government” also meant “self-control.” A “balance of power” was also inspired so that no “single person” could be the total “policy” maker or “ruler.”
Without going into today's headlines, allow me to ask:“How much self-control as individuals and as governing parties are you seeing in our nation's leaders today? How much liberty is being established upon tried and true morals and virtue?” The list of national ills and dangers is long but has simple solutions and remedies. (Not simplistic but “simple” as in “reasonable and reliable.”)
US Constitution Coach and American Documents websites:I will be exploring thoughts on new websites being built with some very high powered associates who are fed up with the Constitution of the United States being walked on, disrespected, and generally disregarded as not relevant for today. Our aim is to “enlighten” and guide all, even those who may be sincere in their disagreement with the Founding Father’s vision, as to what “liberty” really means. We will link with other great websites, news sources, and original source documents to give the tools for anyone seeking clarity on what our rights as Americans are, and how to maintain them.
PROCLAIM LIBERTY for Christmas: I will offer you some FREE electronic downloads now and for the next several years as, “We the people” decide to collectively, “Proclaim liberty, throughout all the land and unto all the inhabitants thereof."
Please send this gift to all your friends, post comments on this site below, and watch for the new: www.usconstitutioncoach.com.
I will be inviting everyone I know to become a US Constitution Coach. Our country may be on the skids, and our Constitution hanging by a thread, but we have solutions and tools. The solution is “knowledge” rightly applied by "the people." It involves a revolution of virtue, morals, and sound judgement. The tool is the Internet and email connectivity with a willingness to have courage to share. It does not matter what political party or affiliation a person has. Not to me… and it shouldn't matter to you. Liberty from God invokes the sentiments of kindness and love, but it invokes courage too. We may debate issues with others but we must never debate the need for real and lasting LIBERTY.
Will you “Proclaim Liberty throughout all the land and unto all the inhabitants thereof,” with me? Let’s begin at Christmas and follow up all year long. It doesn't take money. I will give you all the tools needed to learn and share with the hundreds of friends and family members you communicate with. Freely give to them and encourage them to do likewise. We will build a fire that burns as bright as when the Founders first lit it if you accept... I promise.
At the end of the day, "Liberty" is God's call to all of us. What else matters if we can't breathe the exhilarating air of freedom?
Watch for www.usconstitutioncoach.com to go “live” in January. In the meantime, I have FREE offers for you to share with everyone. Offers are found in the “History and Freedom” collection at my website store found at www.powerthink.com. Go there create a “Login Account” and use the code: Constitution (with a capital “C.”) Three documents are FREE with this code:
"US Constitution,” “Federalist Papers,” and “Democracy in America.”
Freedom is a gift to protect. Don't wait to begin to learn and understand how blessed this land has been because of our founding principles. And don't wait to...
“Proclaim liberty throughout all the land and unto all the inhabitants thereof.” Leviticus 25:10.
James
www.powerthink.com
www.jmpratt.com
Inscribed upon THE LIBERTY BELL, at its permanent residence in Philadelphia, PA. are those words from Leviticus of the Old Testament. Wise and enduring words which would bring peace to everyone all year around. Speaking of "peace..."
“Christ’s Mass” is upon us. I love this time of year. It is more joy-filled, light-hearted, and giving. I believe the spirit of Christmas is literally a spiritual manifestation from God of how the world could be all the time if we proclaimed His liberty and freedom to all…
The Christmas season is a perfect occasion to rejoice and celebrate the words “freedom” and “liberty.” Most often associated in the average mind with country and independence, the words come from the God of Israel thousands of years before the United States was established as a free nation. When liberty was spoken of by God it had dual meanings:
Personal Liberty: One was the liberty and freedom from the effects of sin and breaking laws through an atoning Redeemer, thus giving us freedom from the burden, weight, and punishment that is a natural consequence of law-breaking. By simply offering “virtue” as a path, God offers “freedom” to any individual who is willing to try his experiment in "liberty."
National Liberty: The other meaning God had in mind is quite literal; that we should offer the same equality within God’s framework of laws to every man, woman and child. By “proclaiming liberty” to act, according to morals and virtue, God expected people to choose leaders of conscience and virtue to ensure personal freedoms were never trampled or denied.
This nation was established by men and women who believed it would take a high degree of individual morals and virtue to “self-govern;” an experiment seldom tried in past history. I will be sharing their written words upon this subject in coming months. Know this; most nations had always been governed by “rulers” who set the “policy,” created the laws, and expected compliance.
Our Founding Fathers offered, “We the People” the governing role through the vote, trusting us to pick wise and morally virtuous people who understood that “self-government” also meant “self-control.” A “balance of power” was also inspired so that no “single person” could be the total “policy” maker or “ruler.”
Without going into today's headlines, allow me to ask:“How much self-control as individuals and as governing parties are you seeing in our nation's leaders today? How much liberty is being established upon tried and true morals and virtue?” The list of national ills and dangers is long but has simple solutions and remedies. (Not simplistic but “simple” as in “reasonable and reliable.”)
US Constitution Coach and American Documents websites:I will be exploring thoughts on new websites being built with some very high powered associates who are fed up with the Constitution of the United States being walked on, disrespected, and generally disregarded as not relevant for today. Our aim is to “enlighten” and guide all, even those who may be sincere in their disagreement with the Founding Father’s vision, as to what “liberty” really means. We will link with other great websites, news sources, and original source documents to give the tools for anyone seeking clarity on what our rights as Americans are, and how to maintain them.
PROCLAIM LIBERTY for Christmas: I will offer you some FREE electronic downloads now and for the next several years as, “We the people” decide to collectively, “Proclaim liberty, throughout all the land and unto all the inhabitants thereof."
Please send this gift to all your friends, post comments on this site below, and watch for the new: www.usconstitutioncoach.com.
I will be inviting everyone I know to become a US Constitution Coach. Our country may be on the skids, and our Constitution hanging by a thread, but we have solutions and tools. The solution is “knowledge” rightly applied by "the people." It involves a revolution of virtue, morals, and sound judgement. The tool is the Internet and email connectivity with a willingness to have courage to share. It does not matter what political party or affiliation a person has. Not to me… and it shouldn't matter to you. Liberty from God invokes the sentiments of kindness and love, but it invokes courage too. We may debate issues with others but we must never debate the need for real and lasting LIBERTY.
Will you “Proclaim Liberty throughout all the land and unto all the inhabitants thereof,” with me? Let’s begin at Christmas and follow up all year long. It doesn't take money. I will give you all the tools needed to learn and share with the hundreds of friends and family members you communicate with. Freely give to them and encourage them to do likewise. We will build a fire that burns as bright as when the Founders first lit it if you accept... I promise.
At the end of the day, "Liberty" is God's call to all of us. What else matters if we can't breathe the exhilarating air of freedom?
Watch for www.usconstitutioncoach.com to go “live” in January. In the meantime, I have FREE offers for you to share with everyone. Offers are found in the “History and Freedom” collection at my website store found at www.powerthink.com. Go there create a “Login Account” and use the code: Constitution (with a capital “C.”) Three documents are FREE with this code:
"US Constitution,” “Federalist Papers,” and “Democracy in America.”
Freedom is a gift to protect. Don't wait to begin to learn and understand how blessed this land has been because of our founding principles. And don't wait to...
“Proclaim liberty throughout all the land and unto all the inhabitants thereof.” Leviticus 25:10.
James
www.powerthink.com
www.jmpratt.com
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
100 YEARS TO LIVE
THANKS and GRATITUDE for Life & "The Battle for Everything"
Having Thanksgiving and Christmas within 30 days gives us all time to pause, take a breather and an inventory of our lives. It is a time for reflection, family, friends, God, and giving. We are allowed to relax, and just “be” whoever we are at this time of our life.
I miss a lot about friends and family gone on; gone at 16, 18, 20, 25, 30, 33, 40, 45, 50… and beyond. I find myself considering that I will join them in God’s time, and reflective of what everyone living and passed on have meant to me. I consider the smiling faces of the departed, the reunion and “abrazos” for my brothers and sisters, the sweetness of arms around parents, and my heart fills with love and gratitude.
I am looking over my shoulder and living with the end in mind in moments like these; considering all the years gone by. I have become my father, and am very aware how “time flies.” I believe living with “the end in mind” is healthy. It argues the necessity for being “grateful” and causes one to pause and consider his ways when making decisions that have meaning for self and others.
Suddenly “having it all” takes second place to “having you all” in my life; and being who I was born to be.
We are still breathing if reading this, we are probably eating enough, and have a warm place to sleep. There is a lot to be grateful for, (even in scary and tough times for so many) especially if you have lived abroad in a third world or under-developed nation for any time at all. I think about just what we have as Americans...too much here to list in the "gratitude" department but I am especially mindful of those who, in their youth, died in wars, and the living who fought for ideals and their American comrades... I can't tell you how deeply I am touched by heroism and love that men and women freely show in laying everything that matters to them at the altar of freedom.
The American experience is 221 years old since the Constitution had its first birthday. I am 55. That means I have lived 1/4th of our nation’s history. If you are reading this and half my age, I have some good advice. So write me... Or just keep reading my blogs. I promise to be clear and won’t let you down. With all the chaos going on right now, just know America is always well, and will rise above financial, moral, or political chaos, if the dream of goodness, honor, and freedom remains bright in the hearts of its citizens. I believe the dream still does...
The Battle for Everything: If you are over 25, you are getting on into serious life and seeing that life can seem, at times, a “battle for everything;” the trials, loses, and accompanying emotions you experience will make you reevaluate values and beliefs. But, during the struggle there are moments of clarity; exhilaration, friendships, love, is when the bitter past accentuates the “sweet” joys of the present. Gratitude, a smile on the face, and the knowledge that all is not lost is the result. Hard times do not last forever, and broken hearts get compensating relief along the way. Having survived means more, and so does life...
I write tearjerkers; so I am told. I am reminded by Emerson how that really works: “No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader.” Emotion, even hard times, allows us to grow and consider what matters most as time so blithely moves on in this modern world of life tugging at us at light speed.
Once in awhile a popular tune really grabs me and speaks of a common theme we all experience. One by the group “Five for Fighting” is filled with sweetness, reflection, and speaks a fundamental truth about how fleeting life is. I wanted to share the lyrics with you as I look back with gratitude for every blessing, for being American, for making it through the many life-struggles, and having hope to continue to make a difference with my, “100 Years to Live.”
“100 Years to Live” from the album, Battle For Everything
I'm 15 for a moment, caught in between 10 and 20 and I'm just dreaming… Counting the ways to where you are.
I'm 22 for a moment, she feels better than ever and we're on fire, making our way back from Mars.
15 there's still time for you, time to buy and time to lose. 15, there's never a wish better than this When you only got 100 years to live…
I'm 33 for a moment, still the man but you see I'm a “they…” a kid on the way, a family on my mind.
I'm 45 for a moment, the sea is high and I'm heading into a crisis, chasing the years of my life.
15 there's still time for you, time to buy and time to lose yourself within a morning star. 15 I'm all right with you. 15… there's never a wish better than this, when you only got 100 years to live.
Half time goes by, suddenly you’re wise, another blink of an eye, 67 is gone. The sun is getting high, we're moving on...
I'm 99 for a moment, dying for just another moment and I'm just dreaming… Counting the ways to where you are…
15, there's still time for you, 22 I feel her too, 33 you’re on your way… Every day's a new day... 15 there's still time for you…
Time to buy and time to choose, hey 15, there's never a wish better than this; when you only got 100 years to live.
Group -Five for Fighting
May you feel God's love and enjoy a HAPPY THANKSGIVING! JMP
FREE ebooks: Go to my website: create an account at my store. Don’t need to buy anything. Test drive the FREE ebook downloads for your computer found in the “History and Freedom” section. They are: US Constitution, Democracy in America, Federalist Papers.
REDEMPTION CODE: Constitution. (with upper case "C.") Go to www.powerthink.com/store
Having Thanksgiving and Christmas within 30 days gives us all time to pause, take a breather and an inventory of our lives. It is a time for reflection, family, friends, God, and giving. We are allowed to relax, and just “be” whoever we are at this time of our life.
I miss a lot about friends and family gone on; gone at 16, 18, 20, 25, 30, 33, 40, 45, 50… and beyond. I find myself considering that I will join them in God’s time, and reflective of what everyone living and passed on have meant to me. I consider the smiling faces of the departed, the reunion and “abrazos” for my brothers and sisters, the sweetness of arms around parents, and my heart fills with love and gratitude.
I am looking over my shoulder and living with the end in mind in moments like these; considering all the years gone by. I have become my father, and am very aware how “time flies.” I believe living with “the end in mind” is healthy. It argues the necessity for being “grateful” and causes one to pause and consider his ways when making decisions that have meaning for self and others.
Suddenly “having it all” takes second place to “having you all” in my life; and being who I was born to be.
We are still breathing if reading this, we are probably eating enough, and have a warm place to sleep. There is a lot to be grateful for, (even in scary and tough times for so many) especially if you have lived abroad in a third world or under-developed nation for any time at all. I think about just what we have as Americans...too much here to list in the "gratitude" department but I am especially mindful of those who, in their youth, died in wars, and the living who fought for ideals and their American comrades... I can't tell you how deeply I am touched by heroism and love that men and women freely show in laying everything that matters to them at the altar of freedom.
The American experience is 221 years old since the Constitution had its first birthday. I am 55. That means I have lived 1/4th of our nation’s history. If you are reading this and half my age, I have some good advice. So write me... Or just keep reading my blogs. I promise to be clear and won’t let you down. With all the chaos going on right now, just know America is always well, and will rise above financial, moral, or political chaos, if the dream of goodness, honor, and freedom remains bright in the hearts of its citizens. I believe the dream still does...
The Battle for Everything: If you are over 25, you are getting on into serious life and seeing that life can seem, at times, a “battle for everything;” the trials, loses, and accompanying emotions you experience will make you reevaluate values and beliefs. But, during the struggle there are moments of clarity; exhilaration, friendships, love, is when the bitter past accentuates the “sweet” joys of the present. Gratitude, a smile on the face, and the knowledge that all is not lost is the result. Hard times do not last forever, and broken hearts get compensating relief along the way. Having survived means more, and so does life...
I write tearjerkers; so I am told. I am reminded by Emerson how that really works: “No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader.” Emotion, even hard times, allows us to grow and consider what matters most as time so blithely moves on in this modern world of life tugging at us at light speed.
Once in awhile a popular tune really grabs me and speaks of a common theme we all experience. One by the group “Five for Fighting” is filled with sweetness, reflection, and speaks a fundamental truth about how fleeting life is. I wanted to share the lyrics with you as I look back with gratitude for every blessing, for being American, for making it through the many life-struggles, and having hope to continue to make a difference with my, “100 Years to Live.”
“100 Years to Live” from the album, Battle For Everything
I'm 15 for a moment, caught in between 10 and 20 and I'm just dreaming… Counting the ways to where you are.
I'm 22 for a moment, she feels better than ever and we're on fire, making our way back from Mars.
15 there's still time for you, time to buy and time to lose. 15, there's never a wish better than this When you only got 100 years to live…
I'm 33 for a moment, still the man but you see I'm a “they…” a kid on the way, a family on my mind.
I'm 45 for a moment, the sea is high and I'm heading into a crisis, chasing the years of my life.
15 there's still time for you, time to buy and time to lose yourself within a morning star. 15 I'm all right with you. 15… there's never a wish better than this, when you only got 100 years to live.
Half time goes by, suddenly you’re wise, another blink of an eye, 67 is gone. The sun is getting high, we're moving on...
I'm 99 for a moment, dying for just another moment and I'm just dreaming… Counting the ways to where you are…
15, there's still time for you, 22 I feel her too, 33 you’re on your way… Every day's a new day... 15 there's still time for you…
Time to buy and time to choose, hey 15, there's never a wish better than this; when you only got 100 years to live.
Group -Five for Fighting
May you feel God's love and enjoy a HAPPY THANKSGIVING! JMP
FREE ebooks: Go to my website: create an account at my store. Don’t need to buy anything. Test drive the FREE ebook downloads for your computer found in the “History and Freedom” section. They are: US Constitution, Democracy in America, Federalist Papers.
REDEMPTION CODE: Constitution. (with upper case "C.") Go to www.powerthink.com/store
Sunday, November 16, 2008
HEART and MIND in TOUGH TIMES
AS A MAN THINKETH…In His Heart
Thoughts are things: For 37 years now I have kept a copy of James Allen’s 1902 opus, As a Man Thinketh upon my desk or near it to remind me, “thoughts are things.” The basic premise is this: “We become what we think about. Therefore cultivate thoughts carefully. You will get out what you put in and it will reveal itself in circumstance.” Who can argue that?
Yet argue we do: As “human beings” we are constantly in an argument with our “human becomings.” Passions, desires, worldly distractions often drown a natural child-like voice of the inner man and woman calling to us to “become” something greater than we find our self “being.” The tough part is discipline of the thoughts we allow to just "hang out" in our brain. We habituate thought patterns of worry, and so we naturally "worry" about things we may or may not have control over. We caress the dominant thoughts of unbridled passion, and naturally careless passion manifests itself bringing heartache after the pleasure. We focus upon what politicos have in the way of control over us, and we are dominated by the politicians, our anger, resentment and feelings of helplessness.
We must simply take control of thought so that thought's negative offspring; our actions and circumstance, do not control us. In times such as these, and which are sure to come, we can ill afford "lack of control" and be at the mercy of circumstances thrust upon us.
To simplify, I often tell my kids: "Think good, get good. Think bad, get bad." It is essential to understand that thought is the birthplace of all "action" or "inaction." I add, when giving the good-bye lecture: "Life is already hard enough. Make good choices. They begin here," I'll say as I point to my heart.
SO, what's the answer to control and "thinking good to get good?" Part of the answer lies with the heart, but first...
Back to Basics After a National Election filled with High Passion: I won't stop writing on my feelings for American freedoms I hold dear, just will do it at a different blog location, soon be announced. Politics really isn’t religion and politicians really do not wield God’s power. The faith we practice is one we discover along the way and determine to obey, even formalize with a religious membership in a church. Our church is not the “state” and our God is not a man living in the White House.
May I suggest? Let’s take a step back from all the raucousness of politics and economy to examine the inner man or woman. No one (but politicians) ever promised a smooth road to financial and other securities in life. Even God said to Adam, "By the sweat of thy brow, shalt thou eat thy bread all the days of thy life..." and "Thorns and thistles and noxious weeds shall I plant to afflict and torment man..."
We shall suffer some “equity” losses during life as we go through the storms. Thursday night last, thousands of Southern Californians from the area where I spent most of my life growing up and working, enjoyed sleep in homes that were suddenly and ruthlessly destroyed Friday night. To count, some 800 homes were totally and quickly destroyed from Santa Barbara to Los Angeles suburbs; rich to the poorest, just as certain as a fire-bombing experienced in World War Two European cities wiped out homes and thousands of lives in hours.
Lifestyles were changed immediately. Inner fortitude will carry the day with many, others will suffer almost fatal despair. There is no government "bailout" for the emotions, the losses of personal and cherished possessions (journals, heirlooms, photos, letters, other family history.) Life is filled with unwanted tragedy; often when we least expect it.
I know the sting of personal loss and tragedy is real from many tough experiences, and so I hope to suggest some ways to pick oneself back up after the hard blows; after uncontrollable events or controllable choices in life knock the wind out of us.
Economic firestorms: We are in for an interesting ride. Markets are collapsing to be propped up by "bailouts" from those in government boats full of their own holes. (No one talks much about this; government debtors bailing out the debt-ridden; another topic for another day.) I have experienced multiple financial firestorms in my adult life; unwanted, unexpected, and unforeseen wipe-outs. It has built something in me that I cannot give to others; only share and encourage. "It" is this…
As we think in our hearts, we indeed are. The control of mental thought begins with the planting of good ones in the heart. From the heart a man lives. It is from there life-blood flows to every cell of the body. The brain does not live, nor cause life but only upon the mercy and good-will of the beating heart. IF THE HEART WERE TO STOP, it may yet be transplanted to give life to another. Not so with the brain.
Here is what I am suggesting: Be strong at heart. Have a firm resolve what you will think about, how you will think, and what you will control. Plant it deep within your soul, where the heart resides. The brain will obey firm resolve. It seems a simple formula to change thought habits. Though simple, yet the brain won't give in without a fight. The brain habituates easily, never sleeps, constantly begging for attention, stimulation, and more information to process--it can become like a nagging child always wanting more...
The way to modify brain dominance is with core convictions, firmly planted and created like the ancient King of Israel stated: "As a man thinketh...in his heart, so is he."
Life is a journey and not the destination we think it is. Faith to get you through the tough times is something one must want. Along with faith one must desire change. It doesn’t matter which way the winds of life-circumstances outside our control blow; it matters what the heart believes. Having a deep inner-meaning gives purpose to life, desire to change, and credibility to a brain that really doesn't want its "flow" of thought interrupted by new instructions. The answer to credibility, where the brain is concerned, is the heart offering the instructions...
It matters what the mind accepts. It matters “what we want to become” no matter how hard an economy, how bad a relationship is, how tumultuous the experience in body or spirit is; whatever we "think in our heart" will either become our stumbling block or path to final victory.
So how can I share something very hard earned? This is a “book pitch” I guess. Might sound crass, but no margin = no mission. It is about the mission of this gift to me, written with no income and no resources to fall back upon. One of the greatest blessings of my life, and a journey of immense spiritual growth...came as a result of losing everything years before the present financial crisis; which will cause others to experience what I have just passed through. I needed to have the pain to offer some solutions and do my mission in writing. so I share it with you.
Visit my website www.powerthink.com and buy the “2 for 1” of my latest paperback; the advanced reader edition of AS A MAN THINKETH…In His Heart. I want you to go on a journey with me to Ilfracombe, England where I met James Allen, who died in 1912. Go with me to a cottage on “Lamp Hill Lane,” far away from all the noise going on in our world. Stay there for awhile with me and discover “Power Thinking.” Share the free copy with a family member or friend. Spread the word that real "change and hope" is but a "thought in the heart" away...
IF I had not had everything taken away one more time just recently: well, this book would not have been produced. Good can come out of a dark night IF it comes from the heart… Take courage and take heart!
James Michael Pratt
www.powerthink.com
Thoughts are things: For 37 years now I have kept a copy of James Allen’s 1902 opus, As a Man Thinketh upon my desk or near it to remind me, “thoughts are things.” The basic premise is this: “We become what we think about. Therefore cultivate thoughts carefully. You will get out what you put in and it will reveal itself in circumstance.” Who can argue that?
Yet argue we do: As “human beings” we are constantly in an argument with our “human becomings.” Passions, desires, worldly distractions often drown a natural child-like voice of the inner man and woman calling to us to “become” something greater than we find our self “being.” The tough part is discipline of the thoughts we allow to just "hang out" in our brain. We habituate thought patterns of worry, and so we naturally "worry" about things we may or may not have control over. We caress the dominant thoughts of unbridled passion, and naturally careless passion manifests itself bringing heartache after the pleasure. We focus upon what politicos have in the way of control over us, and we are dominated by the politicians, our anger, resentment and feelings of helplessness.
We must simply take control of thought so that thought's negative offspring; our actions and circumstance, do not control us. In times such as these, and which are sure to come, we can ill afford "lack of control" and be at the mercy of circumstances thrust upon us.
To simplify, I often tell my kids: "Think good, get good. Think bad, get bad." It is essential to understand that thought is the birthplace of all "action" or "inaction." I add, when giving the good-bye lecture: "Life is already hard enough. Make good choices. They begin here," I'll say as I point to my heart.
SO, what's the answer to control and "thinking good to get good?" Part of the answer lies with the heart, but first...
Back to Basics After a National Election filled with High Passion: I won't stop writing on my feelings for American freedoms I hold dear, just will do it at a different blog location, soon be announced. Politics really isn’t religion and politicians really do not wield God’s power. The faith we practice is one we discover along the way and determine to obey, even formalize with a religious membership in a church. Our church is not the “state” and our God is not a man living in the White House.
May I suggest? Let’s take a step back from all the raucousness of politics and economy to examine the inner man or woman. No one (but politicians) ever promised a smooth road to financial and other securities in life. Even God said to Adam, "By the sweat of thy brow, shalt thou eat thy bread all the days of thy life..." and "Thorns and thistles and noxious weeds shall I plant to afflict and torment man..."
We shall suffer some “equity” losses during life as we go through the storms. Thursday night last, thousands of Southern Californians from the area where I spent most of my life growing up and working, enjoyed sleep in homes that were suddenly and ruthlessly destroyed Friday night. To count, some 800 homes were totally and quickly destroyed from Santa Barbara to Los Angeles suburbs; rich to the poorest, just as certain as a fire-bombing experienced in World War Two European cities wiped out homes and thousands of lives in hours.
Lifestyles were changed immediately. Inner fortitude will carry the day with many, others will suffer almost fatal despair. There is no government "bailout" for the emotions, the losses of personal and cherished possessions (journals, heirlooms, photos, letters, other family history.) Life is filled with unwanted tragedy; often when we least expect it.
I know the sting of personal loss and tragedy is real from many tough experiences, and so I hope to suggest some ways to pick oneself back up after the hard blows; after uncontrollable events or controllable choices in life knock the wind out of us.
Economic firestorms: We are in for an interesting ride. Markets are collapsing to be propped up by "bailouts" from those in government boats full of their own holes. (No one talks much about this; government debtors bailing out the debt-ridden; another topic for another day.) I have experienced multiple financial firestorms in my adult life; unwanted, unexpected, and unforeseen wipe-outs. It has built something in me that I cannot give to others; only share and encourage. "It" is this…
As we think in our hearts, we indeed are. The control of mental thought begins with the planting of good ones in the heart. From the heart a man lives. It is from there life-blood flows to every cell of the body. The brain does not live, nor cause life but only upon the mercy and good-will of the beating heart. IF THE HEART WERE TO STOP, it may yet be transplanted to give life to another. Not so with the brain.
Here is what I am suggesting: Be strong at heart. Have a firm resolve what you will think about, how you will think, and what you will control. Plant it deep within your soul, where the heart resides. The brain will obey firm resolve. It seems a simple formula to change thought habits. Though simple, yet the brain won't give in without a fight. The brain habituates easily, never sleeps, constantly begging for attention, stimulation, and more information to process--it can become like a nagging child always wanting more...
The way to modify brain dominance is with core convictions, firmly planted and created like the ancient King of Israel stated: "As a man thinketh...in his heart, so is he."
Life is a journey and not the destination we think it is. Faith to get you through the tough times is something one must want. Along with faith one must desire change. It doesn’t matter which way the winds of life-circumstances outside our control blow; it matters what the heart believes. Having a deep inner-meaning gives purpose to life, desire to change, and credibility to a brain that really doesn't want its "flow" of thought interrupted by new instructions. The answer to credibility, where the brain is concerned, is the heart offering the instructions...
It matters what the mind accepts. It matters “what we want to become” no matter how hard an economy, how bad a relationship is, how tumultuous the experience in body or spirit is; whatever we "think in our heart" will either become our stumbling block or path to final victory.
So how can I share something very hard earned? This is a “book pitch” I guess. Might sound crass, but no margin = no mission. It is about the mission of this gift to me, written with no income and no resources to fall back upon. One of the greatest blessings of my life, and a journey of immense spiritual growth...came as a result of losing everything years before the present financial crisis; which will cause others to experience what I have just passed through. I needed to have the pain to offer some solutions and do my mission in writing. so I share it with you.
Visit my website www.powerthink.com and buy the “2 for 1” of my latest paperback; the advanced reader edition of AS A MAN THINKETH…In His Heart. I want you to go on a journey with me to Ilfracombe, England where I met James Allen, who died in 1912. Go with me to a cottage on “Lamp Hill Lane,” far away from all the noise going on in our world. Stay there for awhile with me and discover “Power Thinking.” Share the free copy with a family member or friend. Spread the word that real "change and hope" is but a "thought in the heart" away...
IF I had not had everything taken away one more time just recently: well, this book would not have been produced. Good can come out of a dark night IF it comes from the heart… Take courage and take heart!
James Michael Pratt
www.powerthink.com
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
TRADITION, AMERICA, VALUES
ELECTION EXPECTATIONS & TRADITIONAL VALUES
My Vote: It’s been one week. I voted against the man who won, and voted for the VP on the ticket of the man who lost. Outside of that I confess to nothing. Goes to show when you can’t be passionate for the leader of your side on fundamentals, how hard it will become for voters to push him to the finish line in to first place.
I wasn’t passionate because I feel the conservative movement is dead. I have a hard time mingling my vote with those who want to “reach out across the aisle” to people who want to cut your hand off. (Not cynicism, just reality) I don’t vote for “compromise.” I, like the liberals who won the election, want to vote for the “win" and the "winner” because we believe in the values he/she stands for. I voted against the other side because I don't believe in their track record or rhetoric. So much for that.
Liberals and Conservatives in America. We need each other. It clarifies things and gives feeling of empowerment when we can state our views. Opposition can be forceful but doesn't need to be nasty. We are empowered through the vote. Some of us believe in "change" because we want to get back to fundamentals that have proven reliable, and some want "change" because of a new vision for an old recipe...in spite of the fact those recipes have poor records on rising to their promises.
“Change” has always been the “raison de vivre” for the left and liberals, and often because it is more exciting (less boring) than substance. I believe in action. I love action, but "action for action sake" may take one down a road with a predictable dead end.
Liberals experiment, Conservatives stick with values and virtues that have a proven track record. Liberal ideology seeks to re-invent failed social experiments as if experimenting enough will finally “fix it”; whatever “it” is. A mature person does not believe in “change” for change’s sake; "change” without definition of what that means.
PRESERVING VALUES: I have liberal friends. I have liberal family members. We debate. I just disagree on the direction that will be best for America based upon the past evidence, present circumstances, and probable future if we choose to obey principles that work versus experimentation.
“Conservative” comes from the word “conservation,” which means to “preserve.” I prefer to “preserve” American values, not ‘re-create.’
Not guessing: It really isn’t a guess on my part when I make these statements. History is in on socialism, for example. It hasn’t worked well. It stifles creativity, kills dreams, not to mention people. Tyrants and autocrats have failed somewhere near 100% when they employed it, and democracies have fared no better. The reason is simple. Government becoming the “Super Nanny” dehumanizes the individual; taking over personal responsibility, the traditional role of religion, and even family, to create utopia. And the kicker? It actually takes money to do this. You really want to invest? The cultural elites who back this stuff never feel the pain of the people who suffer from the stuff. They look out for each other. So...
Where does the money come from? Not a money tree. It comes from taxes which, deducts, takes away, robs, incentives from private business--the engine builders of economy, killing job growth, which jobs pay our bills until killed by over-regulation and high taxation, which puts the citizenry in a position of asking the government for a pay-check, which gives the socialist government the power they seek, until there is no more money and the people revolt...etc., etc. Let's list all the great socialist governments whose citizens controlled by fear and guns finally gave up on the Marxist dream and bolted to capitalism:
Former Soviet Union, Poland, East Germany, Hungary, Chechslovakia, Yugoslavia, Romania, Bulgaria, Albania,...to name a few. Let's ask those who remember the post WWII 45 years of socialist repression, "IF" we should adopt even 1 percent what they went through... You know what the answer will be. The Berlin Wall fell and the truth of socialist glory was exposed. Present day socialists long for that kind of lost power, believing it just wasn't done right.
Successful Socialism? Socialism can’t be invented to work successfully unless success is defined by some low-level economic equalizing of all incomes and living standards.
>Think “gray apartment buildings.”
>Think “trash heaps.”
>Think no heating, poor sanitation.
>Think long lines for doctor's visits, dying from illness unnecessarily.
>Think food, gasoline, medicine, water, "rationing."
>Think third world countries...
I'm not kidding. I’ve seen it, and I’ve lived in it. I am NOT guessing about the results. Should we just keep trying until it does work?
So until something else becomes clearly preferable to that which really has worked, I feel strongly about “traditional values” being the ongoing answer for America. That means “equal rights” for all to succeed, fail, have a voice, vote as they please, and live the ideal life they choose. The evidence is clear that it has worked. It has built a beacon of hope and prosperity unlike any country or empire that ever existed in human history. And all this in 230 years.
Traditional Values and America: In 230 years versus the previous 5,000 years of recorded history, we have gone from handcarts to space travel, from letters to email, from speed of oil lamp to “speed of light” in all areas of endeavors. The founders of our country believed in economy, no debt, progress, individual improvement, freedom of speech, freedom from state religion, freedom to explore, grow, live and breathe the exhilarating air of progress where men and women choose their leaders; where we govern the governors.
I am a “traditional All-American” who believes in the values of the Founding Fathers, the US Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and especially appreciate that we can have opposing views. Opposing views, like market-place competition vs. regulated commerce, clarifies things, helps us formulate opinion and action. Finally...
HIGH EXPECTATIONS. There are high expectations, set by the Presidential election. The winner has promoted “change we need” and “hope,” and promised in his victory speech “We will get there…” Wherever “there” is. I have chills up and down my spine, but not for the reason the immature who buy empty rhetoric as facts may be feeling.
One thing is sure. The higher the bar is set, the higher the expectation and the harder to satisfy those who buy-in to the dream. We are already half-way to full socialism. Will the promoters of "change" be able to fulfill the promises of "hope?" New national leadership can’t fall far for those of us who don't understand the rhetoric of non-defined change, and yet do understand dead-end hope-filled infatuation with a promised and coming socialized culture.
We accept his win though. We do not expect him to change things for the better unless he can formulate and articulate an actual reason and plan with substance, that departs from the present and past policies of failure. We hope he will govern with wisdom and intelligence and not as his chief strategist Ms. Jarrett said he would on a weekend talk-show; that he would,"...be ready to rule from day one."
For a FREE COPY of the US Constitution for your computer, go to my website www.powerthink.com/store and choose the History and Freedom category. Select US Constitution, Democracy in America, or The Federalist Papers (all three are available for free) and go through "check out." You will supply a "Redemption Code" when prompted. The code is: Constitution. (Be sure to upper-case 'C' - it is case sensitive.) Please feel free to share with others.
More coming on AMERICAN VALUES...
James Pratt
My Vote: It’s been one week. I voted against the man who won, and voted for the VP on the ticket of the man who lost. Outside of that I confess to nothing. Goes to show when you can’t be passionate for the leader of your side on fundamentals, how hard it will become for voters to push him to the finish line in to first place.
I wasn’t passionate because I feel the conservative movement is dead. I have a hard time mingling my vote with those who want to “reach out across the aisle” to people who want to cut your hand off. (Not cynicism, just reality) I don’t vote for “compromise.” I, like the liberals who won the election, want to vote for the “win" and the "winner” because we believe in the values he/she stands for. I voted against the other side because I don't believe in their track record or rhetoric. So much for that.
Liberals and Conservatives in America. We need each other. It clarifies things and gives feeling of empowerment when we can state our views. Opposition can be forceful but doesn't need to be nasty. We are empowered through the vote. Some of us believe in "change" because we want to get back to fundamentals that have proven reliable, and some want "change" because of a new vision for an old recipe...in spite of the fact those recipes have poor records on rising to their promises.
“Change” has always been the “raison de vivre” for the left and liberals, and often because it is more exciting (less boring) than substance. I believe in action. I love action, but "action for action sake" may take one down a road with a predictable dead end.
Liberals experiment, Conservatives stick with values and virtues that have a proven track record. Liberal ideology seeks to re-invent failed social experiments as if experimenting enough will finally “fix it”; whatever “it” is. A mature person does not believe in “change” for change’s sake; "change” without definition of what that means.
PRESERVING VALUES: I have liberal friends. I have liberal family members. We debate. I just disagree on the direction that will be best for America based upon the past evidence, present circumstances, and probable future if we choose to obey principles that work versus experimentation.
“Conservative” comes from the word “conservation,” which means to “preserve.” I prefer to “preserve” American values, not ‘re-create.’
Not guessing: It really isn’t a guess on my part when I make these statements. History is in on socialism, for example. It hasn’t worked well. It stifles creativity, kills dreams, not to mention people. Tyrants and autocrats have failed somewhere near 100% when they employed it, and democracies have fared no better. The reason is simple. Government becoming the “Super Nanny” dehumanizes the individual; taking over personal responsibility, the traditional role of religion, and even family, to create utopia. And the kicker? It actually takes money to do this. You really want to invest? The cultural elites who back this stuff never feel the pain of the people who suffer from the stuff. They look out for each other. So...
Where does the money come from? Not a money tree. It comes from taxes which, deducts, takes away, robs, incentives from private business--the engine builders of economy, killing job growth, which jobs pay our bills until killed by over-regulation and high taxation, which puts the citizenry in a position of asking the government for a pay-check, which gives the socialist government the power they seek, until there is no more money and the people revolt...etc., etc. Let's list all the great socialist governments whose citizens controlled by fear and guns finally gave up on the Marxist dream and bolted to capitalism:
Former Soviet Union, Poland, East Germany, Hungary, Chechslovakia, Yugoslavia, Romania, Bulgaria, Albania,...to name a few. Let's ask those who remember the post WWII 45 years of socialist repression, "IF" we should adopt even 1 percent what they went through... You know what the answer will be. The Berlin Wall fell and the truth of socialist glory was exposed. Present day socialists long for that kind of lost power, believing it just wasn't done right.
Successful Socialism? Socialism can’t be invented to work successfully unless success is defined by some low-level economic equalizing of all incomes and living standards.
>Think “gray apartment buildings.”
>Think “trash heaps.”
>Think no heating, poor sanitation.
>Think long lines for doctor's visits, dying from illness unnecessarily.
>Think food, gasoline, medicine, water, "rationing."
>Think third world countries...
I'm not kidding. I’ve seen it, and I’ve lived in it. I am NOT guessing about the results. Should we just keep trying until it does work?
So until something else becomes clearly preferable to that which really has worked, I feel strongly about “traditional values” being the ongoing answer for America. That means “equal rights” for all to succeed, fail, have a voice, vote as they please, and live the ideal life they choose. The evidence is clear that it has worked. It has built a beacon of hope and prosperity unlike any country or empire that ever existed in human history. And all this in 230 years.
Traditional Values and America: In 230 years versus the previous 5,000 years of recorded history, we have gone from handcarts to space travel, from letters to email, from speed of oil lamp to “speed of light” in all areas of endeavors. The founders of our country believed in economy, no debt, progress, individual improvement, freedom of speech, freedom from state religion, freedom to explore, grow, live and breathe the exhilarating air of progress where men and women choose their leaders; where we govern the governors.
I am a “traditional All-American” who believes in the values of the Founding Fathers, the US Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and especially appreciate that we can have opposing views. Opposing views, like market-place competition vs. regulated commerce, clarifies things, helps us formulate opinion and action. Finally...
HIGH EXPECTATIONS. There are high expectations, set by the Presidential election. The winner has promoted “change we need” and “hope,” and promised in his victory speech “We will get there…” Wherever “there” is. I have chills up and down my spine, but not for the reason the immature who buy empty rhetoric as facts may be feeling.
One thing is sure. The higher the bar is set, the higher the expectation and the harder to satisfy those who buy-in to the dream. We are already half-way to full socialism. Will the promoters of "change" be able to fulfill the promises of "hope?" New national leadership can’t fall far for those of us who don't understand the rhetoric of non-defined change, and yet do understand dead-end hope-filled infatuation with a promised and coming socialized culture.
We accept his win though. We do not expect him to change things for the better unless he can formulate and articulate an actual reason and plan with substance, that departs from the present and past policies of failure. We hope he will govern with wisdom and intelligence and not as his chief strategist Ms. Jarrett said he would on a weekend talk-show; that he would,"...be ready to rule from day one."
For a FREE COPY of the US Constitution for your computer, go to my website www.powerthink.com/store and choose the History and Freedom category. Select US Constitution, Democracy in America, or The Federalist Papers (all three are available for free) and go through "check out." You will supply a "Redemption Code" when prompted. The code is: Constitution. (Be sure to upper-case 'C' - it is case sensitive.) Please feel free to share with others.
More coming on AMERICAN VALUES...
James Pratt
Saturday, November 1, 2008
SUPER POWERs & WHO WE TRUST
SUPER POWERS, POLITICOS and ELECTIONS
The political machines of two dominate parties in high gear, we are days from electing our "future." The candidates are all making promises, thick enough if spread beneath their feet over the average lake in your neck of the woods, they could literally walk on water. Politicians are asking for power and would have you and I trust them. They offer “God bless America,” just enough to make you feel they really mean it. Some do, of course. But that’s not the point.
Much is made of the United States, Russia, and China as “Super Powers.” The difference lies in which country honors the real “Super Power.” Other countries such as Iran, North Korea, seek weapons in order to “join the club.” “Joining the club” of political Super Powers through political and military might isn’t the way it works. It's about people, their will, and what they grant in the way of power that makes a nation great.
The point is this. The people of a nation must govern their leaders and insure that those elected officials remember who is the REAL Super Power. When that check and balance of people governing elected officials, and God acknowledged in public and private freely, along with freedoms established by a Constitution guaranteeing such rights, the term “Super Power” begins to have real muscle.
It’s simple really. The United States of America was the only place on earth, when first established, where the RIGHT to worship God according to the individual dictates of the conscious was a primary protection. The founders, including my ancestor Lt. William Pratt who settled in Massachusetts and then Connecticut in the 1640's, came to this land for religious and economic reasons; in a word "Freedom."
Every other country on the planet was either secular in nature or ruled by a strong central figure coupled with a “State” authorized religion. Belief in “super powers” was often highly controlled. Not much has changed unless…
You consider the great debates resulting in the Constitutional Convention (1787) and the resulting document deemed sacred to Americans for over 200 years. Every time I look at a US minted coin and see, “In God we trust…” I hear a prophetic Isaiah of Israel (Isa. 42:1-3) who must have foreseen our day. We know what happens when faith is persecuted and prosecuted. My paternal ancestors fled England in search of “Freedom of Faith” – to be who they wanted to be, worship as they wanted to worship, build a society in the fashion of their ideals based upon individual effort in collaboration with others of the same desire.
More moral freedom always encourages personal and community growth and greatness. Openness to faith and the promotion of the moral compass inherently found in faith creates not only individual character, but the character of an entire nation; resulting in “Super Power” status.
Mantras of Change: Beware of those who find it necessary to change a successful formula, or tweak it with ideals and social experimenting that has a track record of failure and oppression. All one needs to know is found in the reading of history, and where failure is concerned, a study of political change in the 20th Century.
Take God out of the ‘Super Power” and you have a hollow inside with an outer shell of bellicose rhetoric, some angry men and women guiding a nation on their own, mixed with intercontinental ballistic missiles, and self-worshipping ego-centric “follow me” attitudes the size of the title “Super Power.”
The Autocrats: Chairman Maos, the Castros, the Stalins, Hitlers, Pol Pots, dictators small and large come and go. While tens of millions have died under their power faith lives, and their memory is one of contempt. Heaven forbid we ever elect one...
China, Russia, and other supposed “Super Powers” will never rise to the level of greatness that their people as individuals aspire to until they learn the lesson of faith in a power beyond themselves, and power beyond theirs to control. As long as the human spirit yearns for faith, the bands of political control may never contain it.
To remain a SUPER POWER we in the United States must rule the leaders. We grant them the “power” to manage the greatest nation ever conceived in mortal history. The sacred document organizing our United States was agonized over by a group of wise men who began their deliberations with prayer each day during the summer of 1787. The Founding Fathers looking beyond their day and into ours, knew that absolute power corrupts absolutely. If we get back to the genius inspired principles of balance of power, free market economics, (Adam Smith, author Wealth of Nations, was the Founder's hero...available at my website www.powerthink.com)along with freedoms of faith and others guaranteed by their concensus in the US Constitution, our position as a people and a country will remain blessed and secure.
“In God We Trust” and “God Bless America” are located on coinage and through the written and spoken word. To the degree they are genuine and heartfelt we will remain a free nation and Super Power.
James Michael Pratt
www.jmpratt.com
The political machines of two dominate parties in high gear, we are days from electing our "future." The candidates are all making promises, thick enough if spread beneath their feet over the average lake in your neck of the woods, they could literally walk on water. Politicians are asking for power and would have you and I trust them. They offer “God bless America,” just enough to make you feel they really mean it. Some do, of course. But that’s not the point.
Much is made of the United States, Russia, and China as “Super Powers.” The difference lies in which country honors the real “Super Power.” Other countries such as Iran, North Korea, seek weapons in order to “join the club.” “Joining the club” of political Super Powers through political and military might isn’t the way it works. It's about people, their will, and what they grant in the way of power that makes a nation great.
The point is this. The people of a nation must govern their leaders and insure that those elected officials remember who is the REAL Super Power. When that check and balance of people governing elected officials, and God acknowledged in public and private freely, along with freedoms established by a Constitution guaranteeing such rights, the term “Super Power” begins to have real muscle.
It’s simple really. The United States of America was the only place on earth, when first established, where the RIGHT to worship God according to the individual dictates of the conscious was a primary protection. The founders, including my ancestor Lt. William Pratt who settled in Massachusetts and then Connecticut in the 1640's, came to this land for religious and economic reasons; in a word "Freedom."
Every other country on the planet was either secular in nature or ruled by a strong central figure coupled with a “State” authorized religion. Belief in “super powers” was often highly controlled. Not much has changed unless…
You consider the great debates resulting in the Constitutional Convention (1787) and the resulting document deemed sacred to Americans for over 200 years. Every time I look at a US minted coin and see, “In God we trust…” I hear a prophetic Isaiah of Israel (Isa. 42:1-3) who must have foreseen our day. We know what happens when faith is persecuted and prosecuted. My paternal ancestors fled England in search of “Freedom of Faith” – to be who they wanted to be, worship as they wanted to worship, build a society in the fashion of their ideals based upon individual effort in collaboration with others of the same desire.
More moral freedom always encourages personal and community growth and greatness. Openness to faith and the promotion of the moral compass inherently found in faith creates not only individual character, but the character of an entire nation; resulting in “Super Power” status.
Mantras of Change: Beware of those who find it necessary to change a successful formula, or tweak it with ideals and social experimenting that has a track record of failure and oppression. All one needs to know is found in the reading of history, and where failure is concerned, a study of political change in the 20th Century.
Take God out of the ‘Super Power” and you have a hollow inside with an outer shell of bellicose rhetoric, some angry men and women guiding a nation on their own, mixed with intercontinental ballistic missiles, and self-worshipping ego-centric “follow me” attitudes the size of the title “Super Power.”
The Autocrats: Chairman Maos, the Castros, the Stalins, Hitlers, Pol Pots, dictators small and large come and go. While tens of millions have died under their power faith lives, and their memory is one of contempt. Heaven forbid we ever elect one...
China, Russia, and other supposed “Super Powers” will never rise to the level of greatness that their people as individuals aspire to until they learn the lesson of faith in a power beyond themselves, and power beyond theirs to control. As long as the human spirit yearns for faith, the bands of political control may never contain it.
To remain a SUPER POWER we in the United States must rule the leaders. We grant them the “power” to manage the greatest nation ever conceived in mortal history. The sacred document organizing our United States was agonized over by a group of wise men who began their deliberations with prayer each day during the summer of 1787. The Founding Fathers looking beyond their day and into ours, knew that absolute power corrupts absolutely. If we get back to the genius inspired principles of balance of power, free market economics, (Adam Smith, author Wealth of Nations, was the Founder's hero...available at my website www.powerthink.com)along with freedoms of faith and others guaranteed by their concensus in the US Constitution, our position as a people and a country will remain blessed and secure.
“In God We Trust” and “God Bless America” are located on coinage and through the written and spoken word. To the degree they are genuine and heartfelt we will remain a free nation and Super Power.
James Michael Pratt
www.jmpratt.com
Friday, October 24, 2008
SOCIALISM 101 Eyewitness to Failure
2 Years in a South American Socialist Utopia and Why Socialism Cannot Create a Thriving Economy out of the Best Economy Ever Built
Socialism 101 Preface: I was an eye witness who lived among the poor. I saw first-hand the Russian allied Peruvian dictator Juan Velasco ruin his country, turning it into a trash heap of despair and squalor. Living in Peru for two years during the volatile swings from free market to socialism, and now back left me with little doubt as to the absurdity that any new comer with a "remake" of the modern European style, Leninist, Marxist, or Maoist ideas of social utopia can succeed.
Life in General Velasco's Peru 1972-1974 As a wide-eyed young American eager to do my spiritual/humanitarian best for the people I went to serve among I learned several things. The list goes something like this:
1. I learned Americans were'nt poor under our worst conditions.*
2. People really do die from preventable sickness and disease.
3. People really do starve, and struggle on $1.00 a day under hyper-inflation.
4. Capitalists offer a "hand up" not merely a "hand out" but lose their hands.
5. Socialists take the capitalists businesses and re-distribute the property.
6. Re-distributed "rich" man's companies fail when nationalized due to stupidity and lack of incentive.
7. Educated businessmen leave the country they love because of economic bias. People they once employed go jobless.
8. Joblessness soars. Life is one big "black market" of selling anything to survive.
9. Cops carry machine guns. Easier to hit rioters that way.
10. People who get arrested often dissapear.
11. 15 days a month without meat or protein except for the last chicken egg, sucks.
12. Hot showers are a modern marvel enjoyed far far away.
13. Shaving cream @ $12.00 a can (1974) stinks. So does shaving w/soapy cold water.
14. Running for your life from thugs, thieves, and desperate people stinks.
15. When the government can't tax more people they simply blame evil capitalists.
16. People live in fear and wish the socialists would go back where they came from.
17. Right wing dictators eventually kill or jail the left wing dictators.
* Poverty comparison to millions I witnessed living "dirt poor" without sewers, running water, with thatched or mud walls, no roofs, food and clothing, emergency care, dirt floors, and so on.
A WHOLE LOT MORE I never wrote home to Mom about... Coming soon.
Socialism 101 Preface: I was an eye witness who lived among the poor. I saw first-hand the Russian allied Peruvian dictator Juan Velasco ruin his country, turning it into a trash heap of despair and squalor. Living in Peru for two years during the volatile swings from free market to socialism, and now back left me with little doubt as to the absurdity that any new comer with a "remake" of the modern European style, Leninist, Marxist, or Maoist ideas of social utopia can succeed.
Life in General Velasco's Peru 1972-1974 As a wide-eyed young American eager to do my spiritual/humanitarian best for the people I went to serve among I learned several things. The list goes something like this:
1. I learned Americans were'nt poor under our worst conditions.*
2. People really do die from preventable sickness and disease.
3. People really do starve, and struggle on $1.00 a day under hyper-inflation.
4. Capitalists offer a "hand up" not merely a "hand out" but lose their hands.
5. Socialists take the capitalists businesses and re-distribute the property.
6. Re-distributed "rich" man's companies fail when nationalized due to stupidity and lack of incentive.
7. Educated businessmen leave the country they love because of economic bias. People they once employed go jobless.
8. Joblessness soars. Life is one big "black market" of selling anything to survive.
9. Cops carry machine guns. Easier to hit rioters that way.
10. People who get arrested often dissapear.
11. 15 days a month without meat or protein except for the last chicken egg, sucks.
12. Hot showers are a modern marvel enjoyed far far away.
13. Shaving cream @ $12.00 a can (1974) stinks. So does shaving w/soapy cold water.
14. Running for your life from thugs, thieves, and desperate people stinks.
15. When the government can't tax more people they simply blame evil capitalists.
16. People live in fear and wish the socialists would go back where they came from.
17. Right wing dictators eventually kill or jail the left wing dictators.
* Poverty comparison to millions I witnessed living "dirt poor" without sewers, running water, with thatched or mud walls, no roofs, food and clothing, emergency care, dirt floors, and so on.
A WHOLE LOT MORE I never wrote home to Mom about... Coming soon.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
TRUE CAPITAL, CHARACTER & Joe the Plumber
“I've never been able to understand why a Republican contributor is a 'fat cat' and a Democratic contributor of the same amount of money is a 'public-spirited philanthropist'.” --President Ronald Reagan
The Final 2008 Presidential Debate: Last night I stayed awake for most the Presidential debate. I was wide awake during all comments about “Joe the plumber.” I have to say that Joe the aspiring business owner from Ohio stole the show and, of course I connected with it, because I have been an “average Joe.”
Obama’s blunder: Senator Obama may have lost the election because of just an average Joe, and now must regret talking to the plumber from Ohio. Answering a question that he was interested in “spreading” Joe’s “wealth around” if he made over $250,000 a year was like revealing he was going to play "Robbing" Hood on the middle class job creator. Days ago paying higher taxes was called “…time to be patriotic” by another “Joe;” Senator Biden, Obama running mate.
America’s Joe from Ohio uncovered the hidden truth about Obama and Biden’s redistribution of wealth plan and showed how out of touch they are with small business owners, and what constitutes wealth in middle America. He asked a simple question about taxes and found out that his “dreams of wealth” could not be achieved unless he “spread” his gains around; courtesy of the Obama Administration hopefuls. With all the costs of doing business, including payroll contributions, worker’s comp insurance premiums, liability insurance premiums, expansion capital, etc. $250,000 is HARD EARNED, and can be lost overnight without extreme business oversight and diligence.
I KNOW JOES' DREAM: I was a small builder that started a construction business with $900 dollars severance from a Police Dept. in May 1984 with a need to care for a young family, and a desire to make something of myself. I was constantly struggling to do all the work I could physically do to keep control of quality and dollars in our pocket. It was extremely difficult. If I had known what I was in for, especially with regards to six day work weeks, 12 hours a day for twelve years, and then losing nearly one million in California real estate and other business value during a deep real estate recession of 1991-1995, I wouldn’t have had the heart.
But it was MY dream... AND we had a great life. Hard work didn’t hurt me at all, and we enjoyed the “fruit of our labors” during the Reagan tax-cut years. I had proved I could start with under $1,000, and simply started over once again in 1994.
A NEW DREAM: There were no handouts, welfare payments, or government interventions when I was in a hospital bed, just back from near-death after the second life-saving blood transfusion in as many years. It was May 1997. I got a call from a literary agent. We had no income, no health insurance, and no job. I had chosen to “start over” in spite of it all. I had a “dream” to write. That dream then and now included making a fine income, and building wealth from my new self-employed risk taking. I had three tubes coming out of my body when I was told I would make a $250,000 “Advance” for The Last Valentine, my first of seven novels. It was hard work and risky to get from bankrupt “bad news” to the hospital bed “good news” where I recieved the welcome phone call. But I had a dream, and have once again benefited from a land that didn’t “spread my wealth around” but allowed me to dream big enough to grow a new business.
THE POINT: “Spreading wealth around” needs to be a private choice and not a “social” experiment run by a government. The character it takes to be self-employed, take no paydays for sometimes months at a time, and build something from just an idea can’t be appreciated by the non-participating “receiver” of my hard earned “wealth.” In fact without hard work the “welfare” recipients put on my payroll by a government mandating my charity expect to not be asked to contribute to my dream and business vitality. Class envy is enevitable when the government decides who should prosper and how and it cannot produce wealth. Such socialism cannot solve budget deficits, cannot provide new value or help someone develop the personal characteristic that fosters profit for a truly wealthy economy and personal life. Taxing wealth cannot produce more of it.
WHAT WORKS: Work works. Hard work, freedom to earn and work at whatever we chose without the fetters of government will solve the present economic crisis.
Capital, Values and CHARACTER: At the end of the day, it’s all about the essence of capital: value and character. The greatest “capital” created in any economy is the personal capital of the American man or woman with a dream. Incentives to better ourselves and personal lifestyles contribute to wealth. The dream begins it, hard work continues it, and the realization of profit takes it to a new level.
THANKS JOE! Your question clarified what America is all about in spite of our politicians inability to do so.
James www.jmpratt.com & www.powerthink.com
The Final 2008 Presidential Debate: Last night I stayed awake for most the Presidential debate. I was wide awake during all comments about “Joe the plumber.” I have to say that Joe the aspiring business owner from Ohio stole the show and, of course I connected with it, because I have been an “average Joe.”
Obama’s blunder: Senator Obama may have lost the election because of just an average Joe, and now must regret talking to the plumber from Ohio. Answering a question that he was interested in “spreading” Joe’s “wealth around” if he made over $250,000 a year was like revealing he was going to play "Robbing" Hood on the middle class job creator. Days ago paying higher taxes was called “…time to be patriotic” by another “Joe;” Senator Biden, Obama running mate.
America’s Joe from Ohio uncovered the hidden truth about Obama and Biden’s redistribution of wealth plan and showed how out of touch they are with small business owners, and what constitutes wealth in middle America. He asked a simple question about taxes and found out that his “dreams of wealth” could not be achieved unless he “spread” his gains around; courtesy of the Obama Administration hopefuls. With all the costs of doing business, including payroll contributions, worker’s comp insurance premiums, liability insurance premiums, expansion capital, etc. $250,000 is HARD EARNED, and can be lost overnight without extreme business oversight and diligence.
I KNOW JOES' DREAM: I was a small builder that started a construction business with $900 dollars severance from a Police Dept. in May 1984 with a need to care for a young family, and a desire to make something of myself. I was constantly struggling to do all the work I could physically do to keep control of quality and dollars in our pocket. It was extremely difficult. If I had known what I was in for, especially with regards to six day work weeks, 12 hours a day for twelve years, and then losing nearly one million in California real estate and other business value during a deep real estate recession of 1991-1995, I wouldn’t have had the heart.
But it was MY dream... AND we had a great life. Hard work didn’t hurt me at all, and we enjoyed the “fruit of our labors” during the Reagan tax-cut years. I had proved I could start with under $1,000, and simply started over once again in 1994.
A NEW DREAM: There were no handouts, welfare payments, or government interventions when I was in a hospital bed, just back from near-death after the second life-saving blood transfusion in as many years. It was May 1997. I got a call from a literary agent. We had no income, no health insurance, and no job. I had chosen to “start over” in spite of it all. I had a “dream” to write. That dream then and now included making a fine income, and building wealth from my new self-employed risk taking. I had three tubes coming out of my body when I was told I would make a $250,000 “Advance” for The Last Valentine, my first of seven novels. It was hard work and risky to get from bankrupt “bad news” to the hospital bed “good news” where I recieved the welcome phone call. But I had a dream, and have once again benefited from a land that didn’t “spread my wealth around” but allowed me to dream big enough to grow a new business.
THE POINT: “Spreading wealth around” needs to be a private choice and not a “social” experiment run by a government. The character it takes to be self-employed, take no paydays for sometimes months at a time, and build something from just an idea can’t be appreciated by the non-participating “receiver” of my hard earned “wealth.” In fact without hard work the “welfare” recipients put on my payroll by a government mandating my charity expect to not be asked to contribute to my dream and business vitality. Class envy is enevitable when the government decides who should prosper and how and it cannot produce wealth. Such socialism cannot solve budget deficits, cannot provide new value or help someone develop the personal characteristic that fosters profit for a truly wealthy economy and personal life. Taxing wealth cannot produce more of it.
WHAT WORKS: Work works. Hard work, freedom to earn and work at whatever we chose without the fetters of government will solve the present economic crisis.
Capital, Values and CHARACTER: At the end of the day, it’s all about the essence of capital: value and character. The greatest “capital” created in any economy is the personal capital of the American man or woman with a dream. Incentives to better ourselves and personal lifestyles contribute to wealth. The dream begins it, hard work continues it, and the realization of profit takes it to a new level.
THANKS JOE! Your question clarified what America is all about in spite of our politicians inability to do so.
James www.jmpratt.com & www.powerthink.com
Sunday, October 12, 2008
NOTHING COMES FROM NOTHING; The Universal Bankruptcy
The Latin axiom: "Ex Nilhilo Nihil Fit" applies to our current crisis. I'll explain:
CONSUMPTION: All my contacts and friends linked to the financial community agree; we are in for a long cleanup after the meal, because the meal has been a fifty year gorging on credit unlike any period known in human history.
THE MEAL: It's been a long and enjoyable ride since the post WWII families showed us the way of the future; the prosperity and suburban middle class homes, new cars, backyard swimming pools, and entitlements to a higher level of living never enjoyed by the "average American."
I'm not knocking it. My memories of the blue-collar neighborhood I grew up in are wonderful. People worked hard. Few had credit cards in those days; the 1950's and 1960's. They remembered the effects of the Great Depression, debt, and vowed to "own things" when they bought them. All of us worked, mowed lawns, got paper routes, did something to train us in the American work ethic; that "nothing comes from nothing."
Where I'm going, you already are: Wally and the "Beave" demonstrated to the world the ideal American life with June and Ward Cleaver offering us a window into a family world where values counted. No one forgot values, even though the families in Father Knows Best, Dennis the Menace, Leave it to Beaver, The Nelsons, seemed to have it pretty good.
VALUES in a nutshell: Morality was the rule that guided having something of value. If you could afford it, and you could own it (no encumbrances) then you deserved it. It would have been thought immoral (social responsible sort of way) to offer the "Beave" a credit card at 17 or 18 years old when he graduated from High School. It would have been, socially speaking, "bankrupt" for banks to offer strings of credit cards to just about anyone who asked, because the "ability to pay" for things you can't "own" outright was still fresh in the minds of the American, and indeed the world psyche.
"Value" is defined as something of worth and implies clear possession; clear ownership and "title."
EN-TITLE-MENT: Splurging on the desert of credit card consuming, Americans have mortgaged everything. Few "own" anything they use. Even groceries are often purchased on "credit." And the government, banks, stores, and industry have encouraged "ownership" - having possession of "value" - without traditional definitions being applied. "Debt" and "Credit Scores" became our God in whom we trusted. ALL Americans, we have been sold, deserved more "stuff." "Entitled" mentality took fifty years to become "normal," yet having clear "title" always meant REAL VALUE to prior generations. We became a people drunken with "entitlement" to "have" and "get" and strangely believing we "owned" stuff without owning it.
FIFTY YEARS: I've lived long enough to know the difference between "Father Knows Best" values and "government will provide" entitlement values. We are bankrupt as a society, wanting, and crying, and whining that we never have "enough." That we don't have "what the other guy has" therefore it isn't "fair."
I could go on...but you have seen the movie, because you are part of it. My wife and I own very little. We do not live in it, drive it, eat it, wear it, or show it off unless we "paid" for it.
"Goodnight" to desert. Hello basic values of hard work, true value, and real ownership. It will be a tough road ahead as credit card living, and bankruptcy is the next "default" wave to hit the economic shores. But then "Ex Nihilo Nihil Fit, applies: Truely "nothing comes from nothing."
James Michael Pratt
www.jmpratt.com
CONSUMPTION: All my contacts and friends linked to the financial community agree; we are in for a long cleanup after the meal, because the meal has been a fifty year gorging on credit unlike any period known in human history.
THE MEAL: It's been a long and enjoyable ride since the post WWII families showed us the way of the future; the prosperity and suburban middle class homes, new cars, backyard swimming pools, and entitlements to a higher level of living never enjoyed by the "average American."
I'm not knocking it. My memories of the blue-collar neighborhood I grew up in are wonderful. People worked hard. Few had credit cards in those days; the 1950's and 1960's. They remembered the effects of the Great Depression, debt, and vowed to "own things" when they bought them. All of us worked, mowed lawns, got paper routes, did something to train us in the American work ethic; that "nothing comes from nothing."
Where I'm going, you already are: Wally and the "Beave" demonstrated to the world the ideal American life with June and Ward Cleaver offering us a window into a family world where values counted. No one forgot values, even though the families in Father Knows Best, Dennis the Menace, Leave it to Beaver, The Nelsons, seemed to have it pretty good.
VALUES in a nutshell: Morality was the rule that guided having something of value. If you could afford it, and you could own it (no encumbrances) then you deserved it. It would have been thought immoral (social responsible sort of way) to offer the "Beave" a credit card at 17 or 18 years old when he graduated from High School. It would have been, socially speaking, "bankrupt" for banks to offer strings of credit cards to just about anyone who asked, because the "ability to pay" for things you can't "own" outright was still fresh in the minds of the American, and indeed the world psyche.
"Value" is defined as something of worth and implies clear possession; clear ownership and "title."
EN-TITLE-MENT: Splurging on the desert of credit card consuming, Americans have mortgaged everything. Few "own" anything they use. Even groceries are often purchased on "credit." And the government, banks, stores, and industry have encouraged "ownership" - having possession of "value" - without traditional definitions being applied. "Debt" and "Credit Scores" became our God in whom we trusted. ALL Americans, we have been sold, deserved more "stuff." "Entitled" mentality took fifty years to become "normal," yet having clear "title" always meant REAL VALUE to prior generations. We became a people drunken with "entitlement" to "have" and "get" and strangely believing we "owned" stuff without owning it.
FIFTY YEARS: I've lived long enough to know the difference between "Father Knows Best" values and "government will provide" entitlement values. We are bankrupt as a society, wanting, and crying, and whining that we never have "enough." That we don't have "what the other guy has" therefore it isn't "fair."
I could go on...but you have seen the movie, because you are part of it. My wife and I own very little. We do not live in it, drive it, eat it, wear it, or show it off unless we "paid" for it.
"Goodnight" to desert. Hello basic values of hard work, true value, and real ownership. It will be a tough road ahead as credit card living, and bankruptcy is the next "default" wave to hit the economic shores. But then "Ex Nihilo Nihil Fit, applies: Truely "nothing comes from nothing."
James Michael Pratt
www.jmpratt.com
Friday, October 3, 2008
YOUR VOTE, 30 DAYS & CONGRESSIONAL "TRICK OR TREAT"
Halloween, Bailout, and the "October Surprise"
I gave up on Halloween costumes and "trick or treating" when my 1965 12 year-old brain told me it was "childish" to hit up homeowners on Christine Ave, Simi Valley, CA. for treats in exchange for playing no "tricks." Yet that is exactly what many supposed leaders of our country and financial institutions have done to stake-holders in the Amercian dream of home ownership for decades... dressed up and played the Halloween games with our future.
How appropriate: Given the momentous "Bailout" (they like the term "Rescue") actions of the present politicos I thought I would share the Wikipedia definition of the Halloween mantra used by children. Here it is:
The "trick" part of "trick or treat" is a threat to play a trick on the "homeowner or his property" if no treat is given. Trick-or-treating is one of the main traditions of Halloween.
It isn't difficult to understand how we got into an economic mess...
"Trick on the homeowner:" Congressional Democrats and Republicans have allowed the mortgage industry to create "entitlement" mentality to "home ownership" for nearly a generation. Documentation, and traditional qualifying requirements have been virtually suspended compared to past generations of borrowers. Mortgages; the "easy money," became "candy" or treats for "votes."
THE CANDY MAN: Both political parties are to blame; creating a sweet tooth public mentality that all people were "entitled" to home ownership regardless of classic and real ability to pay. Now we are on the verge of economic collapse. Banks sit on non-liquid assets. Banks require liquidity to run, lend, keep the engine of commerce alive. Congress created the problem, and now pat themselves on the back for fixing it? (See Sept. 27th Blog - Saving the Economy.)
New Candy Men with October Surprises? In thirty days we can choose between a war-hero seasoned Senator who claims to be a "maverick" or a freshman "community organizer" Senator who hopes we buy into an emotion filled platitude as a substitute to substance; "change we can believe in." Is this your average election year "October Surprise?" or just a coincidental convergence of justice finally catching up to theft, incompetence, and greed 30 days away from America's national election?
Under the Political Rug: When you need to "clean up in a hurry" you sweep the dirt under a rug. You suggest by doing so that you maintain a "clean house." The house isn't clean in Washington. And all parties running are pointing to fellow "House Members." Kind of comforting, huh?...
Not sure there are many "treats" out there, but I'm sure there are plenty of "tricks." Be careful. Be thoughtful. Judge character. Shed emotion and toss out reliance on empty "platitudes" of change. Look under the political rug for what has been swept and hidden there. These people running are experienced politicos and we may be choosing for a lesser of two evils during war and economic crisis. People who helped "create" the crisis are not going to bring "change."
Do the math. Do the homework. Your vote is required in 30 days. Obama or McCain, and other candidates will ask, "Trick or treat?"
God bless America... JMP
www.jmpratt.com
I gave up on Halloween costumes and "trick or treating" when my 1965 12 year-old brain told me it was "childish" to hit up homeowners on Christine Ave, Simi Valley, CA. for treats in exchange for playing no "tricks." Yet that is exactly what many supposed leaders of our country and financial institutions have done to stake-holders in the Amercian dream of home ownership for decades... dressed up and played the Halloween games with our future.
How appropriate: Given the momentous "Bailout" (they like the term "Rescue") actions of the present politicos I thought I would share the Wikipedia definition of the Halloween mantra used by children. Here it is:
The "trick" part of "trick or treat" is a threat to play a trick on the "homeowner or his property" if no treat is given. Trick-or-treating is one of the main traditions of Halloween.
It isn't difficult to understand how we got into an economic mess...
"Trick on the homeowner:" Congressional Democrats and Republicans have allowed the mortgage industry to create "entitlement" mentality to "home ownership" for nearly a generation. Documentation, and traditional qualifying requirements have been virtually suspended compared to past generations of borrowers. Mortgages; the "easy money," became "candy" or treats for "votes."
THE CANDY MAN: Both political parties are to blame; creating a sweet tooth public mentality that all people were "entitled" to home ownership regardless of classic and real ability to pay. Now we are on the verge of economic collapse. Banks sit on non-liquid assets. Banks require liquidity to run, lend, keep the engine of commerce alive. Congress created the problem, and now pat themselves on the back for fixing it? (See Sept. 27th Blog - Saving the Economy.)
New Candy Men with October Surprises? In thirty days we can choose between a war-hero seasoned Senator who claims to be a "maverick" or a freshman "community organizer" Senator who hopes we buy into an emotion filled platitude as a substitute to substance; "change we can believe in." Is this your average election year "October Surprise?" or just a coincidental convergence of justice finally catching up to theft, incompetence, and greed 30 days away from America's national election?
Under the Political Rug: When you need to "clean up in a hurry" you sweep the dirt under a rug. You suggest by doing so that you maintain a "clean house." The house isn't clean in Washington. And all parties running are pointing to fellow "House Members." Kind of comforting, huh?...
Not sure there are many "treats" out there, but I'm sure there are plenty of "tricks." Be careful. Be thoughtful. Judge character. Shed emotion and toss out reliance on empty "platitudes" of change. Look under the political rug for what has been swept and hidden there. These people running are experienced politicos and we may be choosing for a lesser of two evils during war and economic crisis. People who helped "create" the crisis are not going to bring "change."
Do the math. Do the homework. Your vote is required in 30 days. Obama or McCain, and other candidates will ask, "Trick or treat?"
God bless America... JMP
www.jmpratt.com
Saturday, September 27, 2008
SAVING AMERICAN ECOMONY The Right Way
BAIL OUT, RESCUE, GOVERNMENT, and COMMON SENSE
RONALD REAGAN: “Government does not solve problems; it subsidizes them.”
Bailout Definitions:
PRATT definitions of a bailout: “Tossing water out of a sinking ship without plugging the hole.”
PRATT definition of Government financial bailout: “Tossing my money into the sinking ship with a hole in it.”
WASHINGTON definition: “We allowed your ship to have a hole in it. Now we are keeping your ship from sinking by stuffing money in the leak. This is temporary. Together we can all row to shore while we decide who caused the leak. We think the money stuffing is good for the economy. Please agree with us, after all we are doing this for your own good.”
Football coaches reminded us when we wanted to give up: “No pain, no gain.” We were taught by those coaches that "performance excellence" required "practicing excellence." You can't "bailout" a game when "excellence" matters and no one can hand high performance to you. Bailouts sound mighty good when you can’t quickly assume responsibility for the the travesty of poor performance, and saving "hail Mary's" seldom come to the rescue.
Magic Wands for Fixing Ships?: Congress treats their check book privileges like a magic wand. No market responsibility, just demagoguery in hopes the market "responds." A billion here, a billion there in magic; but please no "responsibility." Wish I could wave financial "fix it wands" over the manuscripts my reviewers give "10's" to, but the market decision-makers (publishers) decide aren't quite worthy of the next 6 figure advance. If I goof in any given area of performance I don't have them to bail me out, nor do I want them to. I am “fixing” my ship in every port of call, before the next storm or dangerous tides. How? By editing my behaviors, and constant production of new value. Downturns are "my turn" to assess, fix, and course correct. This has been my constant focus for five years of writing against the currents. High quality products now appear to be gaining momentum and increased worth to buyers as a result.
Why? Struggle-inspired solutions... Patching the hole isn't the answer. Re-fitting the ship is. Perhaps the Wall Street paper manipulators should take struggle as a learning opportunity to improve future performance. Will the government let them? Ah well...who am I to lecture the financial genius dressed in degrees from Princeton, Yale, Harvard, et al, who created the mess they are eager for me to help clean up? Bet they won't have to "chip in" to save their sinking ship. Watch carefully, as they quietly row safely away from the Titantic...
"God help us all if this bailout fails.” Quote, Warren Buffet Sept. 25th 2008. One of the richest men to have ever lived on the planet owns Berkshire Hathaway, whose 'Class A' shares are valued at $143,000 per share. Yes, you read that right. What does this mean? The guy understands values. He’s smart. He’s patient. He follows the rules of investing. He buys real value and doesn’t invest in overinflated, hyped properties or worthless paper. He just personally “rescued” Goldman Sachs by buying a significant stake for 5 BILLION cash. (Seems the old axiom, “Buy when blood is running in the streets…” holds true. Buffett just made $783,000,000 in one day on that investment plus locked in guarantees on stock purchases for five years at fire-sale rates.)
Marketplace Rescue: "Mr. Buffet, excuse me? ‘God help us?’ You are suggesting we 'bailout' this disaster created by greed merchants? You’ll walk away with sweet deals either way. The market always corrects itself. You know that. Worried your $143,000 per share might take a hit? So, are you worried about us little guys too, or want us little guys to collectively offer 700 BILLION dollars to prop up financial industry big guys so that us little guys don’t feel so much pain?"
“God help 'US'?” I respect the talent of Mr. Buffett; his professional calculated risk taking. But isn't his asking us, the little guy to insure Wall Street through a taxpayer 'bailout" a mitigation for his risk? Sure, it really is about jobs and the loss of them and our income. We get the "big picture." We know it may result in tough times for the average guy...
IDEA and CONGRATULATIONS! What an opportunity. How many times does bargain-basement stock day opportunities come along in a life-time? Why don’t you put some buddies together and purchase Wall Street instead of asking us to? You guys take the risk and reward! It's a world economy. Take control and be men! Imagine what you could control...and the power! There have to be a few more billionaires milling around smelling the blood and with your combined skills, willing to take a risk.
If you lose then pull out your AARP discount card like the rest of us and tighten belts. A little painful to contemplate? You ever play football?
GOD HELP US... God will help us when we learn integrity, grit, values, and honor. I understand real bailouts. I've done it. Left school and my dreams; paid for by the US Army, to stand with struggling parents in their recession-hit business 6 days a week for four years in my prime education years. Learned alot about real economy, the marketplace, and from suffering, Mr. Buffett...
SO... Should I insure your investments for my own good? Congress and President Bush think so.
Real bailouts come from people working shoulder to shoulder with respect for each's value, through tough times, and not capitalizing on their positions of trust hurting the shareholders of a common dream. God help us, indeed, to learn and not ask for dollars from heaven to rain on the results of poor choices, or greed, power-mongering, and mis-management of resources he already gave us!
Financial Value and bureaucrats: “Value” means an increase from a subjective monetary worth to an objective point of view governed by what the market says something I produce is worth. If government sets the value, rescues my dream, the market goes away. It (the marketplace) doesn’t want to pay for a product where price is determined through bureaucrats. (Socialism)
Government “Public Servants” to the rescue: “Hey public servants… thanks for being ‘on time.’ Thanks for seeing the early warning signs of this problem and rescuing us as the ship sinks! All you wizards at “serving the people” are doing just that; “serving” us up on a ‘golden platter’ filled with financial parachutes for those who failed shareholders through fraud, deceit, and incompetence.
Punish Theft: I’m not sure I can improve on those two words. This much is true. Theft of value, real money, and trust of shareholders was a combination of greed, manufacturing bogus values, and incompetence. Will it go unpunished?
Who gets punished: Some of us little people are not stupid. We chose our common everyday lifestyles and who we are, often because we don’t want to live a life of lies, false pretense, and thievery. Seems like the guilty get “life rafts,” freeing them to sail away from the sinking ship with government help to some eternal pina colada party while we the shareholders of our government and national interest find the hole, fix the hole, and sail their ship to port.
These rantings feel really good. I encourage everyone to write to get their anger out, and if you do, share with others. If you've read this far, you and I share something in common; an understanding of what the word "value" really means.
“Thanks Coach Paris, Mears, Cratty, Mieke. ‘No pain no gain…’ You taught us average boys well. We’ll get through this.”
Finally leave it to "the Gipper" to make sense: RONALD REAGAN
“Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it. Governments tend not to solve problems, only to rearrange them.”
MORE COMING SOON... JMP www.jmpratt.com and www.powerthink.com.
RONALD REAGAN: “Government does not solve problems; it subsidizes them.”
Bailout Definitions:
PRATT definitions of a bailout: “Tossing water out of a sinking ship without plugging the hole.”
PRATT definition of Government financial bailout: “Tossing my money into the sinking ship with a hole in it.”
WASHINGTON definition: “We allowed your ship to have a hole in it. Now we are keeping your ship from sinking by stuffing money in the leak. This is temporary. Together we can all row to shore while we decide who caused the leak. We think the money stuffing is good for the economy. Please agree with us, after all we are doing this for your own good.”
Football coaches reminded us when we wanted to give up: “No pain, no gain.” We were taught by those coaches that "performance excellence" required "practicing excellence." You can't "bailout" a game when "excellence" matters and no one can hand high performance to you. Bailouts sound mighty good when you can’t quickly assume responsibility for the the travesty of poor performance, and saving "hail Mary's" seldom come to the rescue.
Magic Wands for Fixing Ships?: Congress treats their check book privileges like a magic wand. No market responsibility, just demagoguery in hopes the market "responds." A billion here, a billion there in magic; but please no "responsibility." Wish I could wave financial "fix it wands" over the manuscripts my reviewers give "10's" to, but the market decision-makers (publishers) decide aren't quite worthy of the next 6 figure advance. If I goof in any given area of performance I don't have them to bail me out, nor do I want them to. I am “fixing” my ship in every port of call, before the next storm or dangerous tides. How? By editing my behaviors, and constant production of new value. Downturns are "my turn" to assess, fix, and course correct. This has been my constant focus for five years of writing against the currents. High quality products now appear to be gaining momentum and increased worth to buyers as a result.
Why? Struggle-inspired solutions... Patching the hole isn't the answer. Re-fitting the ship is. Perhaps the Wall Street paper manipulators should take struggle as a learning opportunity to improve future performance. Will the government let them? Ah well...who am I to lecture the financial genius dressed in degrees from Princeton, Yale, Harvard, et al, who created the mess they are eager for me to help clean up? Bet they won't have to "chip in" to save their sinking ship. Watch carefully, as they quietly row safely away from the Titantic...
"God help us all if this bailout fails.” Quote, Warren Buffet Sept. 25th 2008. One of the richest men to have ever lived on the planet owns Berkshire Hathaway, whose 'Class A' shares are valued at $143,000 per share. Yes, you read that right. What does this mean? The guy understands values. He’s smart. He’s patient. He follows the rules of investing. He buys real value and doesn’t invest in overinflated, hyped properties or worthless paper. He just personally “rescued” Goldman Sachs by buying a significant stake for 5 BILLION cash. (Seems the old axiom, “Buy when blood is running in the streets…” holds true. Buffett just made $783,000,000 in one day on that investment plus locked in guarantees on stock purchases for five years at fire-sale rates.)
Marketplace Rescue: "Mr. Buffet, excuse me? ‘God help us?’ You are suggesting we 'bailout' this disaster created by greed merchants? You’ll walk away with sweet deals either way. The market always corrects itself. You know that. Worried your $143,000 per share might take a hit? So, are you worried about us little guys too, or want us little guys to collectively offer 700 BILLION dollars to prop up financial industry big guys so that us little guys don’t feel so much pain?"
“God help 'US'?” I respect the talent of Mr. Buffett; his professional calculated risk taking. But isn't his asking us, the little guy to insure Wall Street through a taxpayer 'bailout" a mitigation for his risk? Sure, it really is about jobs and the loss of them and our income. We get the "big picture." We know it may result in tough times for the average guy...
IDEA and CONGRATULATIONS! What an opportunity. How many times does bargain-basement stock day opportunities come along in a life-time? Why don’t you put some buddies together and purchase Wall Street instead of asking us to? You guys take the risk and reward! It's a world economy. Take control and be men! Imagine what you could control...and the power! There have to be a few more billionaires milling around smelling the blood and with your combined skills, willing to take a risk.
If you lose then pull out your AARP discount card like the rest of us and tighten belts. A little painful to contemplate? You ever play football?
GOD HELP US... God will help us when we learn integrity, grit, values, and honor. I understand real bailouts. I've done it. Left school and my dreams; paid for by the US Army, to stand with struggling parents in their recession-hit business 6 days a week for four years in my prime education years. Learned alot about real economy, the marketplace, and from suffering, Mr. Buffett...
SO... Should I insure your investments for my own good? Congress and President Bush think so.
Real bailouts come from people working shoulder to shoulder with respect for each's value, through tough times, and not capitalizing on their positions of trust hurting the shareholders of a common dream. God help us, indeed, to learn and not ask for dollars from heaven to rain on the results of poor choices, or greed, power-mongering, and mis-management of resources he already gave us!
Financial Value and bureaucrats: “Value” means an increase from a subjective monetary worth to an objective point of view governed by what the market says something I produce is worth. If government sets the value, rescues my dream, the market goes away. It (the marketplace) doesn’t want to pay for a product where price is determined through bureaucrats. (Socialism)
Government “Public Servants” to the rescue: “Hey public servants… thanks for being ‘on time.’ Thanks for seeing the early warning signs of this problem and rescuing us as the ship sinks! All you wizards at “serving the people” are doing just that; “serving” us up on a ‘golden platter’ filled with financial parachutes for those who failed shareholders through fraud, deceit, and incompetence.
Punish Theft: I’m not sure I can improve on those two words. This much is true. Theft of value, real money, and trust of shareholders was a combination of greed, manufacturing bogus values, and incompetence. Will it go unpunished?
Who gets punished: Some of us little people are not stupid. We chose our common everyday lifestyles and who we are, often because we don’t want to live a life of lies, false pretense, and thievery. Seems like the guilty get “life rafts,” freeing them to sail away from the sinking ship with government help to some eternal pina colada party while we the shareholders of our government and national interest find the hole, fix the hole, and sail their ship to port.
These rantings feel really good. I encourage everyone to write to get their anger out, and if you do, share with others. If you've read this far, you and I share something in common; an understanding of what the word "value" really means.
“Thanks Coach Paris, Mears, Cratty, Mieke. ‘No pain no gain…’ You taught us average boys well. We’ll get through this.”
Finally leave it to "the Gipper" to make sense: RONALD REAGAN
“Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it. Governments tend not to solve problems, only to rearrange them.”
MORE COMING SOON... JMP www.jmpratt.com and www.powerthink.com.
Friday, September 12, 2008
LIPSTICK ON A PIG and LOVING IT
“Lipstick on a Pig,” My Wife, Atom Smashers, and Black Holes
"JUST WORDS"
It is the heat of the battle for the Presidency and Congressional seats…less than 50 days to go and the beautiful Governor from Alaska used the term of “lipstick on a pit bull” as being “…the only difference between a Pit Bull and a Hockey Mom.” That endeared me to her automatically as it did millions of others I presume.
This week Presidential candidate Barack Obama used the words, “like lipstick on a pig,” to describe some differences in points of view with McCain and Palin. Outrage overflowed from the Republican defenders, and yes, it was an obvious poor tactic and choice for Mr. Obama, when the attempt at humor back-fired. But then Mr. Obama has no idea what “lipstick on a pig” really looks like.
ADORABLE WOMEN
I don't care much for either political party... Let me state that up front. But, being introduced to Sarah Palin, I esteem Mr. Palin a lucky guy and both a class-act; maybe because she seems so much like "us," and that I would never have considered McCain a strong candidate until she came along. Both Presidential candidates are too much "same old" stuff. Back to Mrs. Palin... Yes, she has good looks, a great brain, and nice legs, BUT my wife beats her in two of three categories and matches her closely in the other; well unless you consider her considerable capacity for consumption of edibles in a way that would be embarrassing if you didn’t know “the rest of the story.”
PETITE VS. PORKER
I thought I was all alone in my awe of the petite wife of over thirty years, with looks that still turn heads; I mean in awe with regards to her considerable appetite. But her brother Tim took a trip to Lamar Colorado to celebrate the 100th birthday of Grandma Best who, it was assumed wouldn’t be with us much longer. (Still alive and ‘kickin’ today.) I’ll get back to his reaction after I “set up” the story a bit. See…
It's not fair, but Jeanne weighs no more than her high of her teen years and still is regarded as “wonder woman” at 54 years old at the elementary school where she multi-tasks from PE teacher, to self-defense instructor, to teacher aide, and part time custodial helper (when needed.) Jeanne is no ordinary woman. She keeps “going and going and going.” ...
THE ATOM SMASHER
I get accused of winding the Energizer Bunny up every morning. No one in public sees her wind down. The energy just never stops. She has that petite Asian hurry for places; a rapid walk and pace that means, she takes two steps for every one of my strides; I call it a “…nervous atom smashing move where she is everywhere at once and then back at your side as if she never left” sort of thing. Kind of like that Hadron atom smasher-thing that just this week in Geneva, Switzerland conducted its first experiment. It is 17 miles long and under ground trying to see if it can duplicate the effects of the “Big Bang” seconds after it happened.* That’s what living with Jeanne is like. Many scientist opposed to the experiment claimed that the effects could cause “dark matter” or “black holes to appear inside the earth and gradually four years from now could cause the earth to collapse under its intense gravity. That’s also kind of like… Well let’s not go there.
Anyway, back to Jeanne’s capacity for five course meals, mid-meal snacks, and sneaking a bite off other people’s donuts when they aren’t looking.
Tim took his sister on that three day vacation to Colorado and had no idea what he was in for. Jeanne took enough money with her, but it ran out by the time they got into the return trip. From the beginning of the trip and frequent stops at the fast food dollar menus to the buffet tables at the birthday bash for Grandma Best, the after social eating, the next day leftovers, (including all of the left-over B-Day cake)and all consumed between rushing around setting up, taking down, cleaning up and accommodating everyone the way Jeanne is famous and known for, her calorie burn rate was maintained at about 10 for every one of yours or mine. That’s how she gets away with it.
Being the Energizer Bunny creates an insatiable hunger, and does not pack pounds. But the actual snorting up food can only lead an observer to conclude, that the person they are observing is, what I called my wife today at a Sizzlers,’ as I waited for her to finish her ice cream sundae. With extreme determination though she struggled with intense pain from constant brain freeze… Well, you would have had to been there to watch the struggle of spoon meeting mouth but stopped in mid-stream between bowl and lips as she considered on one hand, the pleasure of the hot fudge verses the sure pain of adding more cold ice cream to an already intense stabbing going on in one eyeball. Literally "frozen" in indecision, whether another bite was a wise move, she asked, “What are you starring at?" I answered:
“LIPSTICK ON A PIG!”
Back to her brother Tim. A two hour layover in Denver Airport had Jeanne begging her surprised brother for spare change when she realized that the Swedish Fish staring back at her would not get consumed unless mercy outweighed common sense. He too saw beauty, though a hungry kind. It is the beauty of service to others, a zest for life, and the ability to burn calories at somewhat the speed of light.
Well…Mr. Obama, if you understood the beauty of lipstick on pigs you’d enjoy a picture of Jeanne. (Photo below)
“I’m Jeanne Pratt, and I approve this message.” ...
www.jmpratt.com
*Large Hadron Collider, a 17-mile-long doughnut-shaped tunnel that will smash sub-atomic particles together at nearly the speed of light. But a handful of scientists believe that the experiment could create a shower of unstable black holes that could ‘eat’ the planet from within, and they are launching last-ditch efforts to halt it in the courts.
"JUST WORDS"
It is the heat of the battle for the Presidency and Congressional seats…less than 50 days to go and the beautiful Governor from Alaska used the term of “lipstick on a pit bull” as being “…the only difference between a Pit Bull and a Hockey Mom.” That endeared me to her automatically as it did millions of others I presume.
This week Presidential candidate Barack Obama used the words, “like lipstick on a pig,” to describe some differences in points of view with McCain and Palin. Outrage overflowed from the Republican defenders, and yes, it was an obvious poor tactic and choice for Mr. Obama, when the attempt at humor back-fired. But then Mr. Obama has no idea what “lipstick on a pig” really looks like.
ADORABLE WOMEN
I don't care much for either political party... Let me state that up front. But, being introduced to Sarah Palin, I esteem Mr. Palin a lucky guy and both a class-act; maybe because she seems so much like "us," and that I would never have considered McCain a strong candidate until she came along. Both Presidential candidates are too much "same old" stuff. Back to Mrs. Palin... Yes, she has good looks, a great brain, and nice legs, BUT my wife beats her in two of three categories and matches her closely in the other; well unless you consider her considerable capacity for consumption of edibles in a way that would be embarrassing if you didn’t know “the rest of the story.”
PETITE VS. PORKER
I thought I was all alone in my awe of the petite wife of over thirty years, with looks that still turn heads; I mean in awe with regards to her considerable appetite. But her brother Tim took a trip to Lamar Colorado to celebrate the 100th birthday of Grandma Best who, it was assumed wouldn’t be with us much longer. (Still alive and ‘kickin’ today.) I’ll get back to his reaction after I “set up” the story a bit. See…
It's not fair, but Jeanne weighs no more than her high of her teen years and still is regarded as “wonder woman” at 54 years old at the elementary school where she multi-tasks from PE teacher, to self-defense instructor, to teacher aide, and part time custodial helper (when needed.) Jeanne is no ordinary woman. She keeps “going and going and going.” ...
THE ATOM SMASHER
I get accused of winding the Energizer Bunny up every morning. No one in public sees her wind down. The energy just never stops. She has that petite Asian hurry for places; a rapid walk and pace that means, she takes two steps for every one of my strides; I call it a “…nervous atom smashing move where she is everywhere at once and then back at your side as if she never left” sort of thing. Kind of like that Hadron atom smasher-thing that just this week in Geneva, Switzerland conducted its first experiment. It is 17 miles long and under ground trying to see if it can duplicate the effects of the “Big Bang” seconds after it happened.* That’s what living with Jeanne is like. Many scientist opposed to the experiment claimed that the effects could cause “dark matter” or “black holes to appear inside the earth and gradually four years from now could cause the earth to collapse under its intense gravity. That’s also kind of like… Well let’s not go there.
Anyway, back to Jeanne’s capacity for five course meals, mid-meal snacks, and sneaking a bite off other people’s donuts when they aren’t looking.
Tim took his sister on that three day vacation to Colorado and had no idea what he was in for. Jeanne took enough money with her, but it ran out by the time they got into the return trip. From the beginning of the trip and frequent stops at the fast food dollar menus to the buffet tables at the birthday bash for Grandma Best, the after social eating, the next day leftovers, (including all of the left-over B-Day cake)and all consumed between rushing around setting up, taking down, cleaning up and accommodating everyone the way Jeanne is famous and known for, her calorie burn rate was maintained at about 10 for every one of yours or mine. That’s how she gets away with it.
Being the Energizer Bunny creates an insatiable hunger, and does not pack pounds. But the actual snorting up food can only lead an observer to conclude, that the person they are observing is, what I called my wife today at a Sizzlers,’ as I waited for her to finish her ice cream sundae. With extreme determination though she struggled with intense pain from constant brain freeze… Well, you would have had to been there to watch the struggle of spoon meeting mouth but stopped in mid-stream between bowl and lips as she considered on one hand, the pleasure of the hot fudge verses the sure pain of adding more cold ice cream to an already intense stabbing going on in one eyeball. Literally "frozen" in indecision, whether another bite was a wise move, she asked, “What are you starring at?" I answered:
“LIPSTICK ON A PIG!”
Back to her brother Tim. A two hour layover in Denver Airport had Jeanne begging her surprised brother for spare change when she realized that the Swedish Fish staring back at her would not get consumed unless mercy outweighed common sense. He too saw beauty, though a hungry kind. It is the beauty of service to others, a zest for life, and the ability to burn calories at somewhat the speed of light.
Well…Mr. Obama, if you understood the beauty of lipstick on pigs you’d enjoy a picture of Jeanne. (Photo below)
“I’m Jeanne Pratt, and I approve this message.” ...
www.jmpratt.com
*Large Hadron Collider, a 17-mile-long doughnut-shaped tunnel that will smash sub-atomic particles together at nearly the speed of light. But a handful of scientists believe that the experiment could create a shower of unstable black holes that could ‘eat’ the planet from within, and they are launching last-ditch efforts to halt it in the courts.
Sunday, August 24, 2008
LIKE AUTUMN IS TO LIFE
SEPTEMBER...
It sneaks up on you, though it got cold sometimes where I grew up. I remember one winter where it was it dipped into the 50’s almost every night. It would be hard to tell the seasons were changing by the turning of the leafs though; oak leafs simply fell to the ground revealing the twisted, ghostly limbs of branches which had already seen decades more time on earth than I might in a lifetime. Lime green eucalyptus leafs don’t offer a sign that summer has come to an end and autumn is upon you either. The cedars and evergreens, popular in landscaping along the coasts of California, are the tint of jade in October as they are in April.
Just outside Los Angeles, where at barely 800 feet above sea level in Simi Valley, the Santa Anas alerted me to Fall’s approach, but the hills were as brown then as May. Fire season meant the hills would burn the scrub off as the Santa Ana winds, up to fifty miles an hour, would whip through the dry valleys; but even that didn’t stop the Football game against Hart High School one October night in
1970...
The fans left to protect their homes as fire ringed the hills; fire so bright the new night lights in the stadium we had earned through selling chocolate bars could have been turned off; yet we played on. I never quite figured that one out. Of course the Hart High School team couldn’t return home over the Santa Susana Mountains on the new 118 Freeway because of the fire (later to be named for Ronald Reagan, our former Governor and actor who made “B” Westerns in these hills.) We couldn’t even get home after the game, so many roads were shut down. So we went to Chi Chi’s Pizza to eat and to watch the hills burn down, then each of us walked home through the smoke and fire-lit cinders whipping around us on LA Avenue. It was exciting to water down our roofs that night, play fire-fighter too, as September just closed its door.
That was a bad one. Usually one or two homes got it. In 1970 their were dozens burned down and even murderer Charlie Manson’s hideout just miles away, the Spann Movie Ranch, burned to the ground in the Fall of 1970. But life went on, and we barely noticed the oak trees regain their tiny hand-shaped leafs, or that the Eucalyptus dotting either side of LA Avenue had lost any of their tiny feather-like emerald ones. Leafs don’t change on evergreens.
I paid attention to February and May; those months as turning points in a year that alerted me to so much change coming. It meant tennis season and the fun-filled days at the beach, and summer jobs, and growing up, and dating pretty girls, and maybe playing another season of Football approached; and a boy needed to stay in shape for all that. Life was long as the days were too…
But September? It had no meaning other than another school year. And I had a long life ahead of me, and leafs falling weren’t a gage for such things, and colors were browns, except for those found in little suburban ranch home lawns and gardens of roses, gardenias, flowering ice plant, periwinkle, Japanese boxwood, and the ubiquitous juniper bush.
I recently visited Simi Valley, and stayed with Mark May on a hill that burned to the ground in 1970 while he and I played football. We reminisced. We looked out over the valley we grew up in and loved, and for a moment we hadn’t grown to be our father’s age…
You remember Mark May? The part-time 4th grade bully in MOM, The Woman Who Made Oatmeal Stick to My Ribs who would become one of my best friends? I uncovered the single home movie from my last football game, November 6th 1970 – We watched and laughed, and became boys again...impressed with out lithe running and skills which included getting clobbered only to get up and take it on the chin again, and again...
I got hurt, never put shoulder pads on again, but it was the game of my life. I played my heart out on a muddy field against a team boasting of another great friend, the team captain from Newbury Park High School, Mike Carlisle. We didn’t know he would have two "Falls" left to live back then… Or that our quarterback Phil, would see his last autumn season just one year ago.
Ah September. Where did it go? The quiet approach, hardly noticeable, then…
Another approaches. I live in the mountains now. It snows here. Leafs turn amber gold and the aspens quake among the evergreens. I became as old as some of the oak branches back home on the coast, and quake at the cold that is coming upon us as I realize the golden youth of so many Septembers is but a dream…
“Jim”
August 2008
www.jmpratt.com
Coming in 2010: WHEN THE LAST LEAF FALLS
It sneaks up on you, though it got cold sometimes where I grew up. I remember one winter where it was it dipped into the 50’s almost every night. It would be hard to tell the seasons were changing by the turning of the leafs though; oak leafs simply fell to the ground revealing the twisted, ghostly limbs of branches which had already seen decades more time on earth than I might in a lifetime. Lime green eucalyptus leafs don’t offer a sign that summer has come to an end and autumn is upon you either. The cedars and evergreens, popular in landscaping along the coasts of California, are the tint of jade in October as they are in April.
Just outside Los Angeles, where at barely 800 feet above sea level in Simi Valley, the Santa Anas alerted me to Fall’s approach, but the hills were as brown then as May. Fire season meant the hills would burn the scrub off as the Santa Ana winds, up to fifty miles an hour, would whip through the dry valleys; but even that didn’t stop the Football game against Hart High School one October night in
1970...
The fans left to protect their homes as fire ringed the hills; fire so bright the new night lights in the stadium we had earned through selling chocolate bars could have been turned off; yet we played on. I never quite figured that one out. Of course the Hart High School team couldn’t return home over the Santa Susana Mountains on the new 118 Freeway because of the fire (later to be named for Ronald Reagan, our former Governor and actor who made “B” Westerns in these hills.) We couldn’t even get home after the game, so many roads were shut down. So we went to Chi Chi’s Pizza to eat and to watch the hills burn down, then each of us walked home through the smoke and fire-lit cinders whipping around us on LA Avenue. It was exciting to water down our roofs that night, play fire-fighter too, as September just closed its door.
That was a bad one. Usually one or two homes got it. In 1970 their were dozens burned down and even murderer Charlie Manson’s hideout just miles away, the Spann Movie Ranch, burned to the ground in the Fall of 1970. But life went on, and we barely noticed the oak trees regain their tiny hand-shaped leafs, or that the Eucalyptus dotting either side of LA Avenue had lost any of their tiny feather-like emerald ones. Leafs don’t change on evergreens.
I paid attention to February and May; those months as turning points in a year that alerted me to so much change coming. It meant tennis season and the fun-filled days at the beach, and summer jobs, and growing up, and dating pretty girls, and maybe playing another season of Football approached; and a boy needed to stay in shape for all that. Life was long as the days were too…
But September? It had no meaning other than another school year. And I had a long life ahead of me, and leafs falling weren’t a gage for such things, and colors were browns, except for those found in little suburban ranch home lawns and gardens of roses, gardenias, flowering ice plant, periwinkle, Japanese boxwood, and the ubiquitous juniper bush.
I recently visited Simi Valley, and stayed with Mark May on a hill that burned to the ground in 1970 while he and I played football. We reminisced. We looked out over the valley we grew up in and loved, and for a moment we hadn’t grown to be our father’s age…
You remember Mark May? The part-time 4th grade bully in MOM, The Woman Who Made Oatmeal Stick to My Ribs who would become one of my best friends? I uncovered the single home movie from my last football game, November 6th 1970 – We watched and laughed, and became boys again...impressed with out lithe running and skills which included getting clobbered only to get up and take it on the chin again, and again...
I got hurt, never put shoulder pads on again, but it was the game of my life. I played my heart out on a muddy field against a team boasting of another great friend, the team captain from Newbury Park High School, Mike Carlisle. We didn’t know he would have two "Falls" left to live back then… Or that our quarterback Phil, would see his last autumn season just one year ago.
Ah September. Where did it go? The quiet approach, hardly noticeable, then…
Another approaches. I live in the mountains now. It snows here. Leafs turn amber gold and the aspens quake among the evergreens. I became as old as some of the oak branches back home on the coast, and quake at the cold that is coming upon us as I realize the golden youth of so many Septembers is but a dream…
“Jim”
August 2008
www.jmpratt.com
Coming in 2010: WHEN THE LAST LEAF FALLS
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
JIM the BAG BOY for CONGRESS!
POLITICAL CULTURE UPDATE
AUGUST 2008 Congress on Vacation
Not much has changed in a year. The Democratically controlled Congress blames the Republicans for the energy mess and wants us to inflate our tires and ask for oil from the Strategic Oil Reserve to mitigate price at the pump...
The Republicans want to drill for oil at home, become energy independent in an age of terrorist sympathizers controlling the world oil supply...
There is alot of blame to go around but LEAVING WASHINGTON FOR A VACATION during a war and energy crisis? Sorry that is a "Majority" House and Senate decision. Nancy Pelosi actually turned the lights and power off last Friday during an energy debate.
Kind of like your Mom telling you, "Go to bed. I'm tired!" Well, what's a blogger to do? I decided that "common sense" is the answer, so I pulled up last July 19ths (2007) blog about a man with alot of it, and present it to you for your enjoyment!
JIM, the Mentally Challenged Grocer and Congress!
Sometimes it takes the mentally challenged to point out the truth and enlighten the lost. I was standing in the checkout line of my favorite “Mom and Pop” grocery store here in my hometown. I often go there just to support it over the larger “brand” supermarkets. At Day’s Market you get a clean environment, old-fashioned service, and fair prices. You also get Jim...
Jim was born with Downs Syndrome and is a man I would judge to be in his thirties. Jim is a bag-boy and general “go to” person for simple things needing done at the store. The owner, Steve Day, told me that a sitcom could be written around Jim alone. Jim has served faithfully for nearly two decades, and frankly the store just wouldn’t be as fun to go to without him.
So there I was today. I didn’t need anything really. I just wanted a dose of “Life at Days,” (the title for Steve’s sitcom idea.)A tall lanky boy with jet bleached-black hair, (intentionally “un-combed,”) a tight black T-Shirt with some death rock group symbol emblazoned upon the front, and tighter than tight black pants with the silver studded belt-buckle, bare footed (it’s July and 102 degrees today) came up behind me in the check-out counter. He had a “Sangria” (means “blood” in Spanish) drink, and I smiled (the new me) as he neared.
“Why don’t you go ahead,” I said. He was pleased, and once ahead of me I saw what no one wants to see. I wanted to scream, “And pull your pants up!” or ask the direct question I’ve always wanted to ask members of the color deficient teen cult, “How do you keep the pants up in front, but below the bottom of the bottom in the back?” This boy’s presentation of a non-muscular buttocks and immature physical development left me wondering about his mental stability. I knew that his intention was to attract attention, and also “fit in” – no matter how weird the societal element. I have a daughter suffering from insecurities, and so I really really work at holding my honest opinions in check and just “loving” the nearly unlovable...
So, I let the boy off the hook, desperately wanting to tell him that his pants would fall down at the lightest brushing up against a door, wall, person, whatever. If that happened he would no doubt fall on his face, require some medical treatment, feel more stupid than he looks, and get angrier at society. In short, the best option for his skinny, ugly derrière, was to pull his pants up near his waist and get on with life “safely” and without incident.
I didn’t have the courage to do so. Besides, I look like a Dad and therefore have no credibility. I walked out of the store, shaking my head, holding my tongue, wanting to act decent about the scrawny in-your-face- buttock-indecency strolling to his car just ahead of me. Here’s where justice, humanity, and honest voices join together for “the rest of the story.”Another Jim, one more bold than I, took control. See, Jim looks out for customers.
He was busy making sure the parking lot was clear of shopping carts and otherwise on patrol for customer needs. He was near the car (parents SUV) as this boy was attempting to lift his leg (hard to do when the pants are wrapped tight around your knees) into the driver’s seat. Jim saw the dilemma and loudly let the young customer know. It went like this:“HEY! HEY YOU!” (of course everyone in the parking lot turned) “YOUR PANTS ARE COMING OFF!” he shouted.
Now my self-loathing for not having courage to be fatherly turned to pure joy. This was a parent’s dream come true – the young man HAD TO listen to the mentally challenged person filled with pure light and truth. Besides, the teen probably grew up knowing Jim, when as an innocent pre-teen child-customer he came in the store with Mom -- and the teen no doubt liked him, as all Days customers do. No decent human (the real teen underneath the outlandish clothes) would brush off such a truly pure individual who, with child-like candor, was only trying to help. If only this boy’s parents and world decision makers were there to witness the exchange where simple truth met social belligerence head on.
The boy hurried (best he could) to get into the SUV driver's seat and take off. Jim, worried about the teen's struggle to get into the car, came over to the passenger side window and wrapped his fist on it. “HEY YOU! OPEN UP! I want to tell you something!”I cannot even describe the delight coursing through my skin. This was one more magic moment at Day’s I could have missed had I not shown courtesy to this culturally handicapped boy in the check-out line, now being challenged by the mentally handicapped man in the parking lot.“You should never walk around like that,” I heard Jim counsel. “You could fall down and hurt your face, and then I would have to pick you up and call an ambulance!” Jim counseled. The boy, who having rolled the window down, now nodded vigorously in agreement.
I last saw the boy in the rear-view mirror, still trying to get away from Jim as I pulled away from Day’s.Well, to make a long story short I felt that God had sent the correct Jim, the Day's employee with no sense of anything but right and wrong, to the rescue. Perhaps the lanky kid will listen and save himself some grief. Or perhaps he will go on to embarrass himself, and his poor parents as he continues to expose his sorry under-developed behind to the rest of us.But for a moment at least, justice and truth combined today. Jim, the slow thinking grocer, can teach us all a lesson.
As hard as honesty may be to accept, and even harder sometimes to announce to another, there is nothing quite like the simple and child-like truths to straighten out a culturally sensitive situation, like not tripping over pants hanging below the bottom of one's bottom. Now if the members of the US Congress could meet Jim.
"Jim" www.jmpratt.com.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
STRAIGHT TO THE HEART
FROM BLOG CREATED FOR: http://www.powerthink.com/
From my author website, http://www.jmpratt.com/, I have been making opinionated commentary evaluating cultural, social, political, and personal conduct as it relates to positive results and personal growth. These opinions and musings are titled: James Michael Pratt Straight From the Heart. I figure a man has got to be straight up honest and who he is in this information age. We live in a time of inescapable transparency. In this "Golden Information Age," what we say, write, even wear, (or embarrassingly not wear) all may be captured for a world-wide audience to hear, read, or see.
As a kid I was asked to read a scripture in Sunday School class (my parents were mean; while other kids were playing they made me go to church) about men being "...judged and their sins shouted from the rooftops for the world to see." (Paraphrased.) I couldn't figure how God was going to do that (1967)...until cable TV came along (1980's CNN). It hit me while watching a US President's embarrassing White House closet secret come in to the open for the entire world...(1990's) I mean ALL the world to literally see while sitting in the comfort of their homes.
With the growth of the Internet, and email, and text messages, and IPhones, cameras everywhere, privacy has vanished and our actions literally "speak" for us. An ancient scripture spoken by Solomon 3,000+ years ago but repeated by many since: "As a man thinketh in his heart...so is he," makes alot of sense in 2008.
THOUGHTS ARE THINGS: Neuroscience is finding that out. (More later on the magnificent mind.) Thoughts are the "blue prints" to inevitable actions built from them. Beware what you think about; it will be known for others to see or hear. Who would have "thought?" Of course "right thoughts" make things "right." Take heart; there is a great deal of positive about the science of thought; and a great deal to consider when we decide what our life will be for a world to see. You have far more control than you may be aware of. AND... It takes no more energy to focus the mind on useful information that shapes us, than it does on the useless and mindless information that makes us stumble and humbled.
YOUR SUCCESS: I care deeply about fundamental success, not only for myself but the world at large. See... there are truths that are indispensable for living a happy and successful life. And the more of us attempting "happy" and productive lives creates a literal ripple effect that continues on to touch others. (I won't ask you to sing Kumbaya with me now.) In the end "joy" is what makes one successful. Rather a subjective thing, real success does not depend upon "having" stuff to make one happy; not like the hyperbolic "success principles" for wealth that the late-night TV gurus of slick training programs and seminars pitch. What we think about in our heart is where heaven or hell begins, bliss or its opposite. It's all about knowing you are in control of life and your circumstances, through the garden of the mind. Sow seeds of serenity, contentment, and "joy" is a result - and a better definition for success. So let's have at it.
CHALLENGES and BULL: But just when you think you are headed on the right path...more bull manure than a man or woman should have to wade through makes its way toward you even if you are sitting still. Noise and stuff you don't even want to see or hear is literally floating in the air for you to simply "tune in" to in our hyper-connected world of non-stop information flow.
Nothing like the "information at light-speed" age to guarantee serenity will have its share of challenges. It can be innocuous like a music lyric, or shrill from a radio "shock-jock" or pundit. It can be pornographic, or masked in "feel good" theory; man-made theories about living without consequence for actions. No different from the 1960's "If it feels good do it," (oops, got an STD... Hum...) or "Just once won't kill ya." (oops, tell that to Lenny, Alan, or Marty - teenage friends... all dead from "1 time.") I believe in Freedom of Speech, BUT all information is NOT equal, or useful. Choices about what we tune in to determines what we think about. And in turn what we think about...literally becomes us.
POWER THINKING: I am a partner in a small, but focused, publishing and training enterprise called PowerThink. The birth of Power Thinking is given in my newest novel, AS A MAN THINKETH…In His Heart, available today at http://www.amazon.com/, but not yet circulated in retail stores. The novel is a first person journey, fun-loving in its approach, Og Mandino (1923-1996) style inspired, and is calculated to invite the reader to examine proven principles for success...
Time tested - as delivered succinctly by original author/philosopher James Allen (1864-1912) in his timeless masterpiece on personal growth and self-improvement, As a Man Thinketh (1902) - these success principles have been proven by a modern audience for over 100 years. His book has sold to tens of millions and as a testimony to well-written words that change lives, continues to sell well almost one hundred years after his death.
Given to me by my mother and father for my 19th birthday (a long, very long time ago in a land far away, before the invention of smog less cars, calculators, Internet, telephones to fit your pocket, color TV, [in our house] pizza delivery, cable news, and deprivations of the modern kind too numerous to count) James Allen’s little book, As a Man Thinketh, helped me formulate a view of personal conduct for living in an increasingly complex world.
(Everyone should take 30 minutes and read James Allen's popular prescription for personal happiness. FREE in the back of my novel, AS A MAN THINKETH...In His Heart.)
His Victorian world of horse carriages, motor cars, and slowness doesn’t diminish the the impact his meditations may have for a more modern and sophisticated world. If James Allen were alive today he would not sound the trumpet less for what he called "right thinking," but in fact double his energy to get the word out on the "root" of the problems afflicting individuals who suffer, and to the "root" born from what he called the "seed of success."
I can never forget his line about thought and circumstance. I memorized it at age 19 and it has kept me away from alot of the "Danger Zone" signs of life offering peace and satisfaction instead. It goes like this...
"Mind is the master power that moulds and makes, and man is mind and evermore he takes the tool of thought and shaping what he wills, brings forth a thousand joys; a thousand ills. He thinks in secret and it comes to pass. Environment is but his looking glass."
In fact…
More coming soon…
Friday, June 20, 2008
AMERICAN MADE from AMERICAN ASSETS
Oil is Currency. Talk is Cheap. Values are American Made. American Assets are from where?
I can’t do better than talk show hosts who have staffs to study this stuff and are daily exposing the naked truth about American dependency on foreign oil – AND, consequently, American dependence on the stability of the governments producing it.
So it’s a short blog: Here are some talking points to banter back and forth with your conservative or liberal friends, family, and colleagues. (Except at social gatherings...)
1. We have 30 years of known oil reserves at the current import levels, right here, right now, "AMERICAN MADE."
2. We have enacted strict laws to protect endangered species, and the environment, thus not drilling our assets but relying upon others who don’t give an endangered rat’s tail about those things in their countries. With the threat of nuclear terrorism in the hands of those from oil producing countries we Americans and our endangered environment are:
a. Not endangered
b. Not threatened
c. In danger and threatened
d. Stupid
3. Oil is used for machinery and in by-products to produce the following:
Food, clothing, shelter (housing), transportation (to get vital goods like food from farm to the market) communications, national defense, all products manufactured, entertainment, medical and health care & research, and guarding the non-voting rights of endangered species.
Something to think about: As the oil price skyrockets minimum wage jobs will go away when Americans guard against waste and discretionary purchases of stuff like Big Macs, Whoppers, and Tofu burgers. A domino effect will occur in the economy as spendable money tightens. More homes and automobiles will be foreclosed and taken back by lenders, etc. etc. etc. We should:
a. Not drill for oil, but rely on thugs, socialists, and American enemies to supply it.
b. Drill for oil, and hope the environment and polar bears survive this assault.
c. Drill for oil and scare the foreign suppliers into lowering their prices to compete.
d. Drill for oil, employ Americans, produce reliable sources of energy for independence.
e. B,C, & D
f. Stop producing: Food, clothing, shelter, health care, research, transporting goods and services, and walk or swim to those locations where we need to protect the non-voting endangered species.
I'M REALLY GREEN: Meaning God gave us a world I love and will protect. He also gave man (not Congress and Special Interest Groups)"dominion over all these things..." when he created the world; (Chapter 1, Genesis.) I’m just addressing, with respect, the idea that we can solve a current looming crisis to our successful two hundred year run at “AMERICAN MADE” lifestyle and independence. We have, without trying become the envy of the world. We have, to large degrees, been a wise and generous people to the planet, and yet we are babes, as far as countries go. Just 200 years old, and still learning. What we need now is OIL to keep going while we create alternatives and become an even better steward of freedom and progress for all.
And…selfish me--I need paper made by machines run on oil, or at least energy for the electricity made by turbines running on oil, to deliver my words so I can afford to spend money to help the economy. You are in the economy…No? Do I sound self-centered because I care about AMERICAN MADE from AMERICAN ASSETS?
AND, “Who’s in charge here, anyway?” The people? Eight hundred or so legislators and officials from various federal government agencies and branches? Polar bears?
James Michael Pratt
Sunday, June 8, 2008
YOUR HEADLINE... READ ALL ABOUT IT!
CHOOSE TO MAKE YOUR OWN HEADLINES... IN ADVANCE
CHOICES: This blog begins and will end with the word "choice."
If you took a quick look at Sunday June 8, 2008 headlines you would read about earthquakes, floods, destructive and deadly tornados, mass murders, tragic accidents, wars and rumors of wars, diseases, increase in oil prices, global warming, political strife, and some stories sprinkled in the headlines offering HOPE… medical news, heroics, and what would seem just plain old good fortune smiling on a lucky few.
In reality most people are going to wake up tomorrow morning without a building they are in or a bridge they are on collapsing. Their plane will arrive safely and most of those on time. Politicians will actually do little to affect how most people decide to live their lives, and much of the bad around us will offer a new look at the opposites – creating previously unconsidered opportunities.
Though deaths in family and among friends inevitably happen, so do births. Losing fortunes or the house means you get to assess anew what really matters most. I know…It has happened to me. No one eats you, though the news would make it out they would. Credit scores plummet, but now you quit racking up a mass of stressful debt to live a lifestyle you couldn’t pay cash for anyway.
Wars rage, sons and family members go. Some will not return. Most will though. Even when we had a world at war (1939-1945) with 16,000,000+ Americans in uniform roughly 15,500,000 came home. This is not to diminish the tragedy of the lost or fallen. Heroes are made from how strife is handled, not from unending ease or lack of conflict. It is real life; to look at the thousands of decisions ahead of us yet to be made regarding how we will respond to the vagaries of life, the sudden reversals, the trials and losses. They certainly will come to all, and though suffering and stresses occur, the sun rises tomorrow and everyday with a question for you… “What will you decide to do with this day?”
CHOICES and Attitudes: We have much to be grateful for in America. Sure there are bad policies affecting us and our life-styles formed by either self-centered politicians or stupid ones (or both) and sure it isn’t $1.50, $2.50, or $3.50 for a gallon of gas any more. Things could be better. But here in the USA you can get up in the morning and change your life, your career, your job. It won’t necessarily be easy. It might take re-training. It might take re-locating. It could be selling one dream in exchange for a new one. Jobs aren’t handed out by governments anyway – not in a prosperous country. They are made or unmade by people with ideas, hopes, dreams, visions of accomplishment. That’s what brought my English ancestors here to virgin land untouched by all but natives 400 years ago. My Dutch ancestors one hundred years ago came with luggage and dreams. They did okay leaving Holland behind – not because someone handed them “freebies” right off the boat, but because of dreams they had and choices they made.
Life isn’t always fair. But, as the saying goes, “What doesn’t kill ya usually makes you better.” It is the future that drives an individual to have faith in the hoped for better days, not the past. Thank God for HOPE. Thank God for INSPIRATIONS which come to us. Thank God for Freedom of CHOICE. And I have to say, thank God also for family, friends, and opportunities to begin anew... I know, you may wonder if the fair-haired (younger years) "golden boy" (quite a while ago) really "gets it." I must sound like one more "positive mental attitude" cheerleader to many.
As I write this I have come to the end of a four year near “zero income” cycle in which I finished two novels, started three more, finished one screenplay and built a company from scratching out the concepts with a friend on a note pad. From hope, creativity, support of loved ones, encouraging words of readers, and belief that great things were ahead, I have created new and prosperous alliances I never would have had if former professional dreams all came true. I have generally laughed my way through each day with the love of a great wife, good friends, and this dream... To do some good with my talent. To remake my life into one that stands for principles during storms and carefree days of ease was not in my plans a few years ago. I was a one novel a year man with what I figured were slam dunk opportunities. Funny how it goes...
Since over one thousand sun risings, I have experienced some sad and almost unbearably hard moments; health and family welfare concerns, deaths and tragedy. But the sun always came up with a question on the following day… "What will you decide to do with this day?”
The dreams never died and choosing them over surrender made all the difference. They are my HEADLINES written in advance. I see what “will be” not what “was” or “can’t be.” I love more because of losing love. I feel more because of pains that nag and ridicule my fading youth. I believe more because I must. I am more because of going through less than comfortable moments; those adversities so common to all. I've earned my "cheerleader" badge.
The Headlines in tomorrow’s news will no doubt speak of destructions, mayhem, violence, and unspeakable tragedies. Don’t you add to them. Make your own Headlines. Announce on a notepad what you are willing to do, who you want to be. To make your life as big as anyone ever has, start and finish new projects. Touch the lives of others around you. It doesn’t take money to begin. It takes a decision. A great novel never will be written in ease or comfort until several have been written out of necessity with grit and determination to the final punctuation mark preceded by these words; The End.
Good beginnings promise victory and good endings. Good beginnings are offered each new day; our "choices" make them or break them. Make sure you have a dream bigger than mere “survival.” Cut loose all those who have hurt you. Do not hate them but do not tether your life to theirs, or to broken promises. Ignore the politicos who promise the moon. The sun is already shining for you. Forget a boss who doesn’t deliver; just make sure you “deliver.” Let go of “unfair” and make the world “fair” by how you live it; what you do for it.
Today, be someone who changes a life for the better, and begin wherever you are… and with whatever you have. Create a HEADLINE in advance! Soon the world will see who you have become and will READ ALL ABOUT IT!
I know this all sounds terribly optimistic. But… the alternative attitude is a terribly poor choice. It’s all up to you and one little word arriving with tomorrow’s sunrise and morning news: Choice!
JMP http://www.jmpratt.com/
CHOICES: This blog begins and will end with the word "choice."
If you took a quick look at Sunday June 8, 2008 headlines you would read about earthquakes, floods, destructive and deadly tornados, mass murders, tragic accidents, wars and rumors of wars, diseases, increase in oil prices, global warming, political strife, and some stories sprinkled in the headlines offering HOPE… medical news, heroics, and what would seem just plain old good fortune smiling on a lucky few.
In reality most people are going to wake up tomorrow morning without a building they are in or a bridge they are on collapsing. Their plane will arrive safely and most of those on time. Politicians will actually do little to affect how most people decide to live their lives, and much of the bad around us will offer a new look at the opposites – creating previously unconsidered opportunities.
Though deaths in family and among friends inevitably happen, so do births. Losing fortunes or the house means you get to assess anew what really matters most. I know…It has happened to me. No one eats you, though the news would make it out they would. Credit scores plummet, but now you quit racking up a mass of stressful debt to live a lifestyle you couldn’t pay cash for anyway.
Wars rage, sons and family members go. Some will not return. Most will though. Even when we had a world at war (1939-1945) with 16,000,000+ Americans in uniform roughly 15,500,000 came home. This is not to diminish the tragedy of the lost or fallen. Heroes are made from how strife is handled, not from unending ease or lack of conflict. It is real life; to look at the thousands of decisions ahead of us yet to be made regarding how we will respond to the vagaries of life, the sudden reversals, the trials and losses. They certainly will come to all, and though suffering and stresses occur, the sun rises tomorrow and everyday with a question for you… “What will you decide to do with this day?”
CHOICES and Attitudes: We have much to be grateful for in America. Sure there are bad policies affecting us and our life-styles formed by either self-centered politicians or stupid ones (or both) and sure it isn’t $1.50, $2.50, or $3.50 for a gallon of gas any more. Things could be better. But here in the USA you can get up in the morning and change your life, your career, your job. It won’t necessarily be easy. It might take re-training. It might take re-locating. It could be selling one dream in exchange for a new one. Jobs aren’t handed out by governments anyway – not in a prosperous country. They are made or unmade by people with ideas, hopes, dreams, visions of accomplishment. That’s what brought my English ancestors here to virgin land untouched by all but natives 400 years ago. My Dutch ancestors one hundred years ago came with luggage and dreams. They did okay leaving Holland behind – not because someone handed them “freebies” right off the boat, but because of dreams they had and choices they made.
Life isn’t always fair. But, as the saying goes, “What doesn’t kill ya usually makes you better.” It is the future that drives an individual to have faith in the hoped for better days, not the past. Thank God for HOPE. Thank God for INSPIRATIONS which come to us. Thank God for Freedom of CHOICE. And I have to say, thank God also for family, friends, and opportunities to begin anew... I know, you may wonder if the fair-haired (younger years) "golden boy" (quite a while ago) really "gets it." I must sound like one more "positive mental attitude" cheerleader to many.
As I write this I have come to the end of a four year near “zero income” cycle in which I finished two novels, started three more, finished one screenplay and built a company from scratching out the concepts with a friend on a note pad. From hope, creativity, support of loved ones, encouraging words of readers, and belief that great things were ahead, I have created new and prosperous alliances I never would have had if former professional dreams all came true. I have generally laughed my way through each day with the love of a great wife, good friends, and this dream... To do some good with my talent. To remake my life into one that stands for principles during storms and carefree days of ease was not in my plans a few years ago. I was a one novel a year man with what I figured were slam dunk opportunities. Funny how it goes...
Since over one thousand sun risings, I have experienced some sad and almost unbearably hard moments; health and family welfare concerns, deaths and tragedy. But the sun always came up with a question on the following day… "What will you decide to do with this day?”
The dreams never died and choosing them over surrender made all the difference. They are my HEADLINES written in advance. I see what “will be” not what “was” or “can’t be.” I love more because of losing love. I feel more because of pains that nag and ridicule my fading youth. I believe more because I must. I am more because of going through less than comfortable moments; those adversities so common to all. I've earned my "cheerleader" badge.
The Headlines in tomorrow’s news will no doubt speak of destructions, mayhem, violence, and unspeakable tragedies. Don’t you add to them. Make your own Headlines. Announce on a notepad what you are willing to do, who you want to be. To make your life as big as anyone ever has, start and finish new projects. Touch the lives of others around you. It doesn’t take money to begin. It takes a decision. A great novel never will be written in ease or comfort until several have been written out of necessity with grit and determination to the final punctuation mark preceded by these words; The End.
Good beginnings promise victory and good endings. Good beginnings are offered each new day; our "choices" make them or break them. Make sure you have a dream bigger than mere “survival.” Cut loose all those who have hurt you. Do not hate them but do not tether your life to theirs, or to broken promises. Ignore the politicos who promise the moon. The sun is already shining for you. Forget a boss who doesn’t deliver; just make sure you “deliver.” Let go of “unfair” and make the world “fair” by how you live it; what you do for it.
Today, be someone who changes a life for the better, and begin wherever you are… and with whatever you have. Create a HEADLINE in advance! Soon the world will see who you have become and will READ ALL ABOUT IT!
I know this all sounds terribly optimistic. But… the alternative attitude is a terribly poor choice. It’s all up to you and one little word arriving with tomorrow’s sunrise and morning news: Choice!
JMP http://www.jmpratt.com/
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