Stress of Life

I suppose its not so much stress that is getting to me as it is dissatisfaction with the activity (or lack thereof) and enjoyment in the activities in my life.  It is very difficult to be a happy person, for me, when my job and [most] coworkers bring me so little to be happy about.  When people ask in passing as a superficial question, “how are you?” I don’t lie.  I wish I could say,  “I have never been more happy in my life than I am now.”  But I can’t… why?  What is keeping me from being happy?  Surely other people have been happy despite dissatisfactory jobs and coworkers…  It’s just that I’m at work so much, if only I could be done at 2pm then I would have time for my own life.  I’d have time to build up my happiness meter enough to go back to work the next day.  Maybe that is what it is: I just don’t get enough time off work to build that meter back up to 100%.

Life Moves On

There is at least one person in my past who used to mean so much to me. We only truly knew each other for a year, but she was my best friend; we were so incredibly alike in the way we thought and acted and reacted. But there was at least one specific part that was vastly different between the two of us, and that is why we aren’t friends now. Once in a while I’ll run across a letter or a card or something that reminds me of her and I remember the fun times we had and how much I loved her as my friend; I miss her.

An Update and a Rant

Update: I ran the CenturyTel Whistlestop Half-Marathon in Ashland, Wisconsin October 13th! Personally I think the race was the best and most exciting one I’ve ever done and I’m completely interested in doing the full marathon next year. The race follows an old train track (the track has been taken out), hence the title “Whistlestop.” The path is about 8 feet wide and its all dirt until the last mile when it goes through Ashland to end up in-town. It is BEAUTIFUL!

Rant: Social Workers think they are so special, or at least this stupid book I have to read thinks that way. Every single line that says something about what Social Workers do includes the words “unique” or some other similar word used to emphasize how “special” and “cool” Social Work is. I think it sounds like the authors are trying to sell people on becoming Social Workers so they too can be “unique” and “special” and “cool.” Here is an example of a sentence taken directly out of the book called The Social Work Experience: “Social workers, however, have the unique responsibility to advocate for clients” (pg 211). As if no one else EVER advocates for their clients! Grrr! I immensely dislike this class! It’s so ridiculous because the proff is a sniveling idiot who has a cackle-laugh and says random, irrelevant sentences on top of giving impossible exams that everyone gets a C on even though we can use our notes (which, by the way, I copied most of the book and still got a bad grade). Part of our course work–on top of 3 exams, papers and other stupid assignments–includes 20 hours of volunteer work and 10 hours of volunteer group work!! Is she insane?!?! Did she EVER think that this is a 100-level class and, therefore, supposed to have the course load of a 100-level class??????

Ok, I don’t feel better at all, but at least some of my dislike is outside of me now. I hope she somehow reads this. Or, better yet, the authors of the book. Here’s a message for you ladies: Social Work is not the answer because you don’t consider social situations, Sociology does. All you will ever be able to do is come along behind poor people, mentally ill people, lazy people and any other kinds of people and clean up their messes. And, after doing your “unique, special, cool” work, why don’t you write a book about it and try convince other people to clean messes with you too? Oh yeah, that’s what you did.

Recipes from Mom

The thing that makes me sad is when another person does something for me, which shows their love or care for me, and I don’t even fully appreciate their thoughtfulness. For example, when I graduated from high school four years ago(!), my mom made me a recipe book. The recipes are printed on special illustrative paper and secured within a dark green three-ring binder and some recipes have been edited after the fact with a pen. One recipe used to be called “Tofu Stir-Fry” but now is called “Tofu Stir-Fry” because Mom learned that Tofu isn’t very healthy. Another recipe calls for Cool Whip (whipped cream) after Mom figured out that whipped cream is more healthy.

Sometime over the past four years Mom went through and edited these recipes for me and I didn’t even really use them until this last year. It makes me feel really sad, as if I didn’t care about her thoughtfulness.

I think I’m just in my nostalgic mind-frame right now… I don’t know why this makes me cry. :-D It’s silly, really. I can’t imagine how I will feel when I’m 25 or 28 or any other age! I never knew that 22 was going to feel so far away from my childhood.

Solution to Poverty

Oscar Lewis studied poor Mexican Americans in the Southwest United States. Out of this study he wrote The Culture of Poverty. The main points are as follows:

In poor groups, a culture will emerge that functions to keep the people in poverty.
This culture results in behaviors and a perspective on the part of the people that is not conducive to upward mobility in our society.
It can result in high rates of alcoholism, drug us, criminality, and violence. not all people do this, but There are higher incidents in these communities.
The culture that emerges inhibits upward economic mobilit.
Elements of this culture:

despair
hopelessness
fatalism
resignation
powerlessness
instant gratification

Willium Julius Wilson wrote that Affirmative Action, which says if equally qualified people apply for a job the minority person must be hired, will not solve the problems of poverty but solves the problems of minorities and women in the middle class. To help the poor we must have Affirmative Opportunity in which each person has the ability to get an education using a pay-what-you-can scale. It will be expensive, yes, but so is crime, drug use and so many other social problems.Many people agree Affirmative Opportunity is the way to help the poor but as Oscar Lewis pointed out, many of the truly poor people of the world are in a mindset that isn’t even conducive for education. Their culture has taught them resignation to their position in life; many are not even aware there is another way of life.

The government should treat education as if it is a job opportunity for the poor. For each poor person who becomes literate, there should be a monetary reward. For each poor person who completes grade school, there should be a monetary reward. For each poor person who completes middle school and high school, there should be a monetary reward. For the first [long-term] job, for saving money in the bank, for proving themselves as individuals who can take care of themselves out of poverty there should be a monetary reward.

This reward should be announced to all poor communities, offered to all poor people and should be a short-term offer. An individual can accept it (child-care should be provided free for parents) within a specific time frame, perhaps 5 – 10 years, and the individuals who accept it will be in the program.

The goal is to educate or socialize the majority of a community, ensuring the following generations will be taught education is helpful and good.

The goal is to break the chain of hopelessness and resignation within one generation of poverty stricken people.

The means is by money… the motivator of many.

Hmmm

Prof: Is God all-powerful?

Student: Yes.

Prof: My brother died of cancer even though he prayed to God to heal him. Most of us would attempt to help others who are ill. But God didn’t. How is this God good then? Hmm?
(Student is silent.)

Prof: You can’t answer, can you? Let’s start again, young fellow. Is
God good?

Student: Yes.

Prof: Is Satan good?

Student: No

Prof: Where does Satan come from?

Student: From…God…

Prof: That’s right. Tell me son, is there evil in this world?

Student: Yes.

Prof: Evil is everywhere, isn’t it? And God did make everything.
Correct?

Student: Yes.

Prof: So who created evil?
(Student does not answer.)

Prof: Is there sickness? Immorality? Hatred? Ugliness? All these
terrible things exist in the world, don’t they?

Student: Yes, sir.

Prof: So, who created them?
(Student has no answer.)

Prof: Science says you have 5 senses you use to identify and serve the world around you. Tell me, son…Have you ever seen God?

Student: No, sir.

Prof: Tell us if you have ever heard your God?

Student: No, sir.

Prof: Have you ever felt your God, tasted your God, and smelled your God? Have you ever had any sensory perception of God for that matter?

Student: No, sir. I’m afraid I haven’t.

Prof: Yet you still believe in Him?

Student: Yes.

Prof: According to empirical, testable, demonstrable protocol,
science says your GOD doesn’t exist. What do you say to that, son?

Student: Nothing. I only have my faith.

Prof: Yes, faith. And that is the problem science has.

Student: Professor, is there such a thing as heat?

Prof: Yes.

Student: And is there such a thing as cold?

Prof: Yes.

Student: No sir. There isn’t.
(The lecture theatre becomes very quiet with this turn of events.)

Student: Sir, you can have lots of heat, even more heat, superheat, mega heat, white heat, a little heat or no heat. But we don’t have any thing called cold. We can hit 458 degrees below zero which is no heat, but we can’t go any further after that. There is no such thing as cold.
Cold is only a word we use to describe the absence of heat. We cannot measure cold. Heat is energy. Cold is not the opposite of heat, sir, just the absence of it.
(There is pin-drop silence in the lecture theatre.)

Student: What about darkness, Professor? Is there such a thing as darkness?

Prof: Yes. What is night if there isn’t darkness?

Student: You’re wrong again, sir. Darkness is the absence of something. You can have low light, normal light, bright light, flashing light…. But if you have no light constantly, you have nothing and it is called darkness, isn’t it? In reality, darkness isn’t. If it were you would be able to make darkness darker, wouldn’t you?

Prof: So what is the point you are making, young man?

Student: Sir, my point is your philosophical premise is flawed.

Prof: Flawed? Can you explain how?

Student: Sir, you are working on the premise of duality. You argue there is life and then there is death, a good God and a bad God. You are viewing the concept of God as something finite, something we can measure. Sir, science can’t even explain a thought. It uses electricity and magnetism, but has never seen, much less fully understood either one. To view death as the opposite of life is to be ignorant of the fact that death cannot exist as a substantive thing. Death is not the opposite of life: just the absence of it. Now tell me, Professor. Do you teach your students that they evolved from a monkey?

Prof: If you are referring to the natural evolutionary process, yes,
of course, I do.

Student: Have you ever observed evolution with your own eyes, sir?
(The Professor shakes his head with a smile, beginning to realize where the argument is going.)

Student: Since no one has ever observed the process of evolution at work and cannot even prove that this process is an on-going endeavor, are you not teaching your opinion, sir? Are you not a scientist but a preacher?
(The class is in uproar.)

Student: Is there anyone in the class who has ever seen the Professor’s brain?
(The class breaks out into laughter.)

Student: Is there anyone here who has ever heard the Professor’s brain, felt it, touched or smelled it?….. No one appears to have done so. So, according to the established rules of empirical, stable, demonstrable protocol, science says that you have no brain, sir. With
all due respect, sir, how do we then trust your lectures, sir?
(The room is silent. The professor stares at the student.)

Prof: I guess you’ll have to take them on faith, son.

Student: That is it, sir.. The link between man & God is FAITH. That is all that keeps things moving & alive.
Guess who that young man was ?

ALBERT EINSTEIN……

…from the past

A girl contacted me twice in my old site about finding a person she knew a long time ago–Scott Ramsden, my friend who died in March of ‘04 (if it is the same person).  I googled his name and this site came up… she is trying to locate him and he is no longer.

Wednesday night at work someone called for Tom and I had to let that person know that Tom had “passed away”.  I cannot believe I used that terminology, by the way.

Is that what it will be like a lot?  Somebody is always bound to not know that someone has “passed”.

On a funny note, I read a little story in a Reader’s Digest or a journal akin that said approximetly this:

 A woman was sending out wedding invitations for her sister to the groom’s side of the family.  She decided to go the the philosophy of RSVPing if you are unable to come.  The night or day of the wedding everyone had come except the groom’s Aunt Bertha*.  Afterwards a couple of now-in-laws informed her that the reason Aunt Bertha had not responded was because she had died a few months prior.  The poor now-in-laws had been forced to stare at Aunt Bertha’s empty plate and name tag the whole night yet were able to find humor in the situation, thankfully.

*names have been changed to protect the identity of the persons involved.