Category: short stories

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short stories

Bear Bear, is that you?

Nine lives? How about recycled kitties? Am I crazy, or have I just found a truth that nobody has discovered yet?

Female Siamese cat curled up in a blanket
Bear Bear

I owned a cat named Bear. She passed away, and oh, how I miss her. I wouldn’t consider her the friendliest cat that I have had, but I loved her uniqueness. Although she lived with my whole family as well as a few other cats, you would notice right away that she was mine. I suppose if you were to look at it through her eyes, I was hers. I say this because a dog will adjust to the human that owns them; however, a human must adjust to the cat that owns them. I suppose only cat people would understand this.

I have never considered myself a cat person. I would much rather be around dogs. But Bear was different. She pulled at my heartstrings and taught me what it was like to truly love a feline. I have had a couple of other cats that I liked but loved; maybe it would be a stretch at best.

Bear was wild as a kitten, and I tamed her by feeding her bits of cooked steak. This, my friends, may have been the downfall of who would become “Bear Bear” and not just the simple “Bear” as a name. The best way that I can describe It is like a child with that special toy. They will give it a special name and not just call it a doll, truck, or whatever that special toy may be.

Bear grew to drive me crazy with her little games. Games such as “Pet me, pet me, pet me, but just don’t touch me” or “You can pet me now, but I’m going to bite you when I’ve had enough” There was the “I will run and jump in your lap if you rub your fingers and thumb together and show you the best love, but my purr will be very low and only if I want to purr”. And, of course, “You can rub your fingers together until they turn raw, but today I’m going to turn my back and hate you until dinner time.” Just thinking of her little nuances brings a tear to my eye. I do realize that you cat people are thinking that your cat does the same things sometimes. I have had a few in my day, but none would match the deliberate way that she did it. It was almost as though she was part human at times. I haven’t the words to explain it in better detail (this is coming from someone who does a great deal of writing).

As I stated above, she passed, and I was heartsick over it. Throughout my life, I have had many pets cross the Rainbow Bridge, and they have hurt my heart, but when Bear Bear passed, I felt it down deep in my soul. I tried not to show it to my family (my male ego), but I became physically sick for a while. I was destroyed! After a few weeks, I was able to put her death behind me, but I would catch myself calling for her and rubbing my fingers together now and then. Would I ever truly get over her? I wasn’t sure; however, I believed that I would not.

Sometimes I think about how cruel it is that we outlive so many pets in our lifetime. Then again, I believe that God feels our pain and finds ways to help us adjust. This is what happened to me. Although I didn’t learn to adjust to her passing, I was adjusted to it in the most unlikely way. The saying goes that cats have nine lives. This is because they cheat death throughout their lives, whether it is jumping from too high up or dodging that speeding car. Most of the time, when a cat dies, they are in their ninth life! But what if the cat in question had an easy life and only used up a few of their lives and not the whole nine? What happens then? I am here to say that I now believe that a cat can come back after death without entering Stephen King’s “Pet Sematary“. (Now, I will tell you that, as a Christian, I don’t believe that, but what has happened to me is weird, to say the least.) Has God brought my cat back to me? This may be the only logical (or illogical) solution to the issue at hand.

A male Siamese cat lying on a bed
Boo Bear

We have a friend who is moving overseas. He had two kittens that needed a good home. After my wife saw them, she knew they would become part of our family. She told me about them needing a home, and I hit the roof. “We don’t need any more cats,” I yelled. She said that I would change my mind when I saw them. I have to admit it; she was right. Although one was a yellow-haired cat that is a true lover, the other took my breath away. This kitten looked exactly like Bear Bear. I’m not talking about a resemblance; I mean exactly as my long-lost friend! Not one hair was different. This must be Bear Bear’s doppelganger! Now there are a variety of differences in that this cat is male and about twice her size. Well, I thought it wasn’t her, but the resemblance is amazing. I shall name this one Boo Bear in memory of her.

Now you may be thinking to yourself, “Awe, what a cute story.” But wait, there’s more to this story, and it becomes almost eerie. All of us catch ourselves calling him her or calling him Bear Bear instead of Boo Bear, not just because he looks so much like her, but because he acts just like her too! Every day, he gains more of her peculiar ways. Mind you, he is a different cat, or is he? This is like living with the ghost of my long-deceased cat. Sometimes I look into his eyes to see what is going on in him. When I said he was her doppelganger, I wasn’t kidding! Everything he does is like watching him walk in her footsteps. Did she make it halfway over the Rainbow Bridge and decide she wasn’t ready to leave yet? Is this a Frankenstein-type move to bring her back? Should I go dig up her grave and make sure she is still there? Oh, there are so many questions I have, and none of them are answered. Did Bear Bear use one of her nine lives to come back as Boo Bear? The questions just keep filling my mind. Although I love Boo Bear, I believe that it’s my Bear Bear who has come back to keep me company. Oh, how I wish that I could read this cat’s mind to finally find the truth behind those blue eyes. I know one thing for sure: if this cat dies, I will await her or his return.

I guess the only regret that I may have is that I wish I could’ve taken both of their pictures with the same phone and under the same lighting. I guarantee that both of these cats are identical in color.

Thank you for reading. I hope you have enjoyed this post. I would love to hear from you if anything like this has happened in your life. I would also love to hear from others about their thoughts on this true story. As always, I will close with this thought. Remember, we are all in this together.

Categories
short stories

Unmasking the Illusion: The Perils of Misinformation and How to Navigate the Sea of Fake News

This post may seem ridiculous to some. However, I assure you that if you bear with me, you will understand why I am writing this. Furthermore, you may look at the information found on the internet in a whole new light.

To start with, I would like to say there is information for anything you wish to find out online. There is very good, somewhat reasonable, terrible, and downright horribly made-up information out there. All of this information comes to us on our devices, like the phones we carry around all day. The problem is that some of the younger generations take the information they find on the internet as absolute truth. All the information is there for the taking. All we have to do is look for it. But wait, didn’t someone have to put this information on a website in the first place? Have you ever asked yourself, “Maybe the person who wrote this is wrong,” or “Maybe they left some of the important information out of the text that you are reading?”

Let me put this as simply as I can. Not all the information online is true. In all actuality, if you pay attention, you will find that a great percentage of what you are reading is false! This is also the case in videos. Videos can be changed to show a certain outcome that is different from what actually happened. I’m not saying that all the information out there is false. As I stated before, there is a percentage of falsehood placed for you to read and watch.

Man looks at skeleton on a computer tablet
Don’t trust everything you see online

Information out there can be used to help us in many ways. On the same note, information out there can also cause us and others harm. We have to be careful when believing what we are reading and watching online, just as we do with television. In most cases, the ability to pull up information online is far worse than what we see on television. This is mainly because television is monitored closely, whereas the internet is not.

Here is an example of something that I know a lot about, and I could write it down for you and post it for you to read. I have done a fair amount of welding in the past, and now that I have spent quite a bit of time writing, telling you how to weld two pieces of metal together would be easy for me. However, if I were to leave out what tint of glass to use in your welding helmet, you could seriously hurt your eyes. Furthermore, if there was a typo in what tint to use, you could also hurt your eyes by following my directions. Would I do this on purpose? Of course not, but it could happen. This silly situation happens more often than you think. Typos happen. People leave out information to make their posts or videos fit into a certain time frame. Or the person writing a post or presenting a video may not find certain information necessary. It is possible they feel it is not worth mentioning certain things because, to them, it is common sense. However, to someone who has never tried what you are teaching, it may not be common sense at all. So, if you want to learn how to weld, you would be safer going to school for it or at least having a person who knows how to teach you in person, not on video. Is any of this sinking in yet?

Here is an example that we see every day: Two newscasters tell you what a politician is saying about what they stand for. One newscaster is liberal, and the other is conservative. The first question that you need to ask yourself is which side the politician is on. Is he or she a liberal or a conservative? This will make a huge difference in how the reporters tell you what is going on. If he or she is a conservative and you are listening to a liberal reporter, then you will get a variable difference than if you listen to the conservative reporter. And this works on both sides. Are the reporters changing the story? Probably not, but there will be a bias from one side to the other. When reporting, using certain words or stressing certain words can manipulate the audience of the newscast. This paragraph got your attention, didn’t it?

So what do we do with the information we are receiving from the internet to fix this issue? The best you can do is look up multiple sites on the subject you want to know about and find the variations. From there, we must use our own intelligence and some common sense to decide which we want to believe. This, of course, takes more time than just believing the first thing you read or hear. However, you will find that you will become educated and successful if you take this extra time.

Here is a small test that you can use to see if my argument holds water or not. Look up which breed of dog is best to own as a family dog. I have my favorites, and you have yours, but which breed is best? When you look it up, you will find my favorites, your favorites, and many others. Why is this? The answer is simple. Everyone has their own opinion on the subject, so you will find article after article about different breeds. This will hold true on any subject that you look up online, all because everyone wants their opinions heard and believes their opinions are the right ones. Are you going to run with the first article you read or do a little searching before you bring that dog into your home to live with your family? I hope you do some research first.

Lady (Ai) shown in computer screen
Artificial intelligence pulls information from the internet that was first put there by humans.

One last thought for you about the internet AI (artificial intelligence) is being used more and more to write information. These posts written by AI can be helpful, but they can also be misleading. Be very careful when reading AI scripts.

On that note, I will leave you to ponder what I have said. Please don’t take my word for it. Look up other opinions on the internet, and I hope you come back to my post on this subject as the one to believe. Well, I have to go now. I am working on my fiction writing on my other website (csi-extras.com). If you wish to read some of my fiction stories, I suggest you go take a look. This website (readcsi.com) is strictly for my and my guests opinions to help you in society. Take care, and remember, we are all in this together.

Categories
short stories

“How to Make Progress Towards World Peace by Embracing Our Differences and Working Together.”

We, the human race, have never had such an ability to create world peace as we do today. Although it is possible with all the latest communication that we have, it is not probable. Countries just don’t want to get along anymore today than they did in decades past.

Every society believes that the people of the world should live as they do. If we could just figure out that different countries are just like different people (none are the same and all have value), then we would be well on our way to world peace. Instead, we find fault in all nations that don’t share the same values we follow on our little piece of this planet. Who is right and who is wrong is written out in the gray area of life. Why must everyone else be who we are? Why must others follow our positions to be considered worthy of our blessings? We are all members of the human race, but we treat each other as aliens from outer space. Who is right or who is wrong in their beliefs and behaviors within their borders? As long as that nation takes care of its people and treats them as humans and not as property, there should be no conflict. If, on the other hand, a nation treats its people as less than human, they should be dealt with swiftly and without pause. (No amount of diplomacy can change the mindset of a monster!) This may sound harsh; however, I stand by what I have written. A monster (or monsters) that wish to wipe out a religion, a people, or a society as a whole because of their differences should be shown no mercy!

Call to Action for Peace

If we want to make progress towards world peace, we need to start by promoting peace in our own communities and families. We can practice empathy by listening to others’ perspectives, even if they differ from our own. We can support organizations that promote conflict resolution, education, and human rights. We can vote for leaders who prioritize diplomacy and international cooperation. We can broaden our horizons by traveling, learning new languages, and experiencing different cultures. By taking these small steps, we can contribute to a more peaceful world for ourselves and future generations.

Successful peace efforts

Full rainbow over the mountains
A peaceful world

Although world peace may seem like an unrealistic goal, there have been some notable examples of successful peace efforts in recent history. The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the subsequent reunification of Germany showed that a peaceful revolution could overcome entrenched divisions. The signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993–1995 between Israel and Palestine demonstrated that even deeply ingrained conflicts could be addressed through diplomacy. The establishment of the European Union in 1993 brought once-warring nations together in a spirit of shared prosperity. These examples remind us that peace is possible when we commit to it and work to overcome our differences.

Conclusion

It’s clear that to achieve world peace, we need to shift our mindset from imposing our values on others to embracing our differences and treating everyone with respect. As I have pointed out, there will always be gray areas between our beliefs and behaviors, but if we focus on taking care of our people and treating them with dignity, we can resolve conflicts without resorting to violence. We have the technology to communicate with each other and understand other cultures, but we need the willingness to seek common ground and work together for the greater good. We must understand that there are many differences in religion, clothing, food, dialog, and other such things. The differences between societies are valuable assets if we correctly look at them.

I have one question that I will leave you with. How can we create world peace if we can’t stop the strife within our borders? This post was written with my heart and soul. I believe if we take this seriously and strive to be better neighbors, it could flow worldwide. Remember, we are all in this together.

Categories
funny story short stories

“Tuff,” a dog without a paddle

As I have suggested before, I have had many furry friends in my lifetime. I try once in a while to bring out some of the crazy stories that each of my pets has blessed me with. This story is about my dog, “Tuff.” He was of the Boxer breed. Although I only had him for a few years before he passed, we became fast friends, and I truly enjoyed his companionship.

Tuff came into our family as a small pup but soon became an adult-sized dog who was a puppy at heart. He and my other dog, “Cooter,” were great friends. Before you ask, yes, Cooter is the Labrador retriever that is in the picture with me on the author’s page of this website. I have stories about Cooter as well, but for now, I will focus on a specific time with Tuff, although Cooter was there as well.

When I would go out and play with my two dogs, Tuff would get so excited that he couldn’t stand still. It was really funny to see him turn from head to tail in a standing position. He wasn’t one to run in circles that way. Instead, he just turns from side to side, with his head ending close to his cropped tail. Back and forth, he would turn. My wife and I remembered how they always taught kids about the alphabet on Sesame Street, so we would tease that he was making the capital “U.” As Cooter would run back and forth chasing the ball we would throw for him, Tuff would run a little way and do his Capital U impressions. We would laugh as we spent time yelling, “Go get the ball, Cooter! Then laugh more as we would say, “And here’s Tuff showing us the capital U!”

The author (Billy Scaggs) with his boxer Tuff (as a puppy).
“Tuff” as a puppy posing with me

This brings back great memories for me. There was a time when our two companions got into trouble with the law, and as Tuff held his ground and scared the officers, Cooter was evading capture. This part of their story will be told at a later date. I want to focus instead on why the title of this post is so important.

We decided one day to take our furry friends to the river so they could run free and have some well-deserved playtime. Having spent most of their two-year-old lives living in our backyard was boring for our beloved pets. They deserved a vacation of sorts, and the river would be perfect, or so we thought at the time. Cooter, being of the retriever breed, was built for the water. Although both dogs were very muscular in stature, there was a difference in their body makeup that we didn’t think of beforehand. Tuff was not built for the water, and we found this out the hard way. We loaded the dogs in the back of my pickup, and off we went. Both of our furry friends were having the time of their lives. It’s funny how much a dog enjoys riding in the back of a truck.

I pulled my pickup down to an area by the Gila River that was away from other people who were also enjoying the day at the river. We didn’t want to keep the dogs leashed the whole time, so we had to be far away from others to achieve this. It would be hard for the dogs to enjoy the river fully if they had to stay on leashes. When we found the spot we were looking for, we turned our friends loose. It was so great to see them running around and truly enjoying life! My wife and I walked down to the water’s edge and looked around. I made the comment that the water was still and deep enough to do some catfishing. Our two companions were running around crazily and finally headed at full speed toward us. Cooter never slowed down and leaped into the water about ten feet from the edge. He swam all over at a great amount of speed. Tuff, however, stopped at the water’s edge and looked around. He whined a little and looked back at us. It was as if he were asking permission to get in the water. I said, “Go ahead, buddy, jump in.” He walked back and forth, sticking his nose in the water, but was afraid to go in.

My wife and I looked at each other, both of us thinking how strange it was that he didn’t want to go in. Finally, I reached down, slapped the water, and told him it was okay. A few minutes went by, and we decided that he wasn’t going in. Just about that time, Tuff decided it was okay, and with an awkward jump, he splashed into the water about three feet from the bank. He disappeared! No bubbles, no splashing, nothing but the smooth, silky water that completely engulfed my dog! My wife looked at me and, with a shaky voice, asked, “Is he okay?” “Of course, he’s okay, sweetheart,” I answered, “He’s just checking out the catfish,” I said with a half grin. After thirty seconds went by, I started thinking that maybe my smart aleck answer wasn’t the best. Another thirty seconds, and I’m starting to think, “Maybe I need to go in after him?” Just about that time, his head popped above the water by the bank, and he was splashing around like a drowning man! Oh, crap! We both reached down to help him. I grabbed his collar, and my wife grabbed one of his front paws. We helped him out. He came up onto the bank and shook off the killer water that attacked him. Then, with relief on his face, he turned to one side and gave his signature move, the capital U. We both breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that he was okay. I decided that a boxer in the river is where that term came from: “A dog without a paddle!“

This was very scary when it happened, but it became funny in the aftermath. If I may make a suggestion, if you own a boxer, it might be a good idea to put floatation devices on your dog if you take them to a river or lake. Although they can swim, it’s more of an extreme sport for them!

I hope you have enjoyed reading about my furry friends. I plan to write more about them in the future. I would love to hear about your pet’s adventures if you want to tell them. Take care of your pets and yourselves. Remember, we are all in this together.

Categories
Guest posts short stories

Easy-to-Adopt Health Tips for Busy Adults

CSI is proud to present this insightful and informative post

written by Julia Mitchell

A healthy lifestyle can help minimize the risk of serious illness and result in a longer lifespan. That doesn’t mean you’re never allowed to eat sweets and have to run five kilometers every day. Many smaller, easy-to-adopt habits can make a big difference to your well-being. The guide below covers some actionable health tips that even busy adults can incorporate into their lives.

Ensure you’re getting enough sleep

Sleep allows your mind and body to rest and recharge. Unfortunately, many adults don’t get the Zs they need. In fact, according to Direct Line Group, one in seven Brits gets dangerously low levels of sleep, reporting that they get less than five hours per night. Aim to get at least seven hours per night. If you have trouble drifting off, it may be time to revamp your sleeping space. Adding black-out curtains and a white noise machine can help.

Make healthy eating and exercise fun

Grandmother with her grandson stirring cake mix in a mixing bowl
Cooking can be fun & stress-free. [picture courtesy of Pexels.com]

Healthy eating doesn’t have to be a drag. The NHS offers recipes that are affordable and delicious for the whole family. They even include lunchbox ideas for the kids. You can also make healthy eating more enjoyable by making cooking something that’s fun instead of a chore. Put on some music or listen to your favorite podcast while you prepare meals. Take a similar approach to exercise: Working out with a friend can make it more fun.

Grab a coffee with a friend

Leading a healthier lifestyle doesn’t have to be complicated. Something as simple as seeing a friend for coffee can be helpful, especially for your mental health. Age UK reveals that strong social connections help to keep our brains healthy as we age and may even minimize the risk of dementia. Maximize the impact by combining healthy activities. For example, grab a friend and prepare a healthy meal or go for a walk together. Make healthy activities social.

Come up with ways to manage stress

Stress can negatively impact your mental health, increasing your risk of everything from depression to anxiety. It’s important to come up with tools to help manage it. For example, you might try a tool like meditation. Other stress management tips include establishing your priorities, reaching out to family or friends, and spending more time in nature. Simply going for a walk outdoors can make a difference.

Create a calming atmosphere at home

Your home is supposed to be your safe space. You definitely don’t want to be stressed here. If you’re at ease within your own four walls, make a change. For example, clutter is shown to be a cause of stress. Help eliminate clutter by digitizing your paperwork. To make the most of your digital document storage and save space on your hard drive, use a PDF merging tool. For example, you can put all your health paperwork into one document. This could help you get organized.

Try tech tools to support your health

A PDF merging tool is just one technology that can enhance your health. There are plenty of other technologies to help, too. For example, fitness apps can help you track your diet and exercise habits. You can also get a step counter, like a Fitbit, to track how much you’re walking. Research suggests that an active lifestyle, even if it’s just a lot of walking, has a big impact on health outcomes. Get those steps in every day, and you’ll improve your health.

Living a healthy life may seem daunting at times. However, if you break it down into small steps, it will get a lot easier. The above guide covers actionable tips that aren’t complicated to implement into everyday life, no matter how busy you are.

☆☆☆For more content like this, visit the Read CSI blog☆☆☆

Categories
short stories

Silence can be the loudest words spoken

I believe this is a post that is as much for me as anyone in the world. I have a bad habit of speaking more than I listen. I also have a problem with letting words spill out of my mouth before I have a chance to allow my brain to check what ramifications may befall me because of the words I speak. I have always used a saying that states, “If you don’t want the answer, don’t ask me.” Part of this is because I speak with complete honesty when at all possible. This, in many cases, can hurt the feelings of those who ask my opinion. The other part is that I speak out how I feel very quickly, not worrying about those around me. This, in some cases, can be called “diarrhea of the mouth.”

Although many who know me think highly of me because of my honesty, others wish I would keep my mouth shut. In this day and age, people are offended by every little thing that they do not feel is a compliment to them. This causes me (and many like me) to use our words carefully so as not to offend others. Someone like me, who loves to talk and believes that honesty is the best policy, can cause very adverse conditions. 

I was raised in a time when it was fine to speak your opinion to those who were your age or younger than you. However, when speaking with someone who is your senior, you must only give your opinion when asked for it. For the most part, this worked well in the ’70s, ’80s, and even the first part of the ’90s. However, this way started to fall apart in the mid-’90s up to this day. What changed?  The changes began when people stopped teaching their children to listen to their elders. Instead, they are now taught to speak up when they feel like it, no matter what their age is. This has its good parts as well as its bad parts. First off, it does give each individual a voice in society. This is considered a good thing. The second part is where the problem lies. When we no longer teach our children to hold their tongues when speaking with an adult, we have the respect taken out of society, and we create a world where anything and everything offends someone. So, even though we were not living in a perfect society during the time that I grew up, I can say that we used more respect and were less offended than those people being raised today.

I am now in my fifties and find myself gaining ground on the older generation. I also find myself in a society that no longer believes in the teachings that I grew up with. Although I try to speak the truth, few wish to listen, and of those few, half become offended by what I have to say. So, how shall I speak without offending others around me? This is something that I have pondered over for a long time now. I believe there are two ways to solve this dilemma, and I shall try to explain each in the following paragraphs.

Mule deer with its ears forward to listen
Listen up

It is wise to listen twice as much as to talk. Twice may also grow to three, four, or many more times depending upon the situation and people with whom you are associating at any given time. Although this may sound crazy to most people in today’s world, it works quite well. Those who speak as much as or more than they listen miss out on many valuable lessons in life. When you are speaking, it is very hard to listen. Furthermore, those who speak too much tend to ramble and lose any authority they may have gained. There is a time to speak and a time to listen. The time to listen must outweigh the time to speak by no less a margin than 2:1. This is a wise way to live.

With the last paragraph being in complete truth, it does cause a problem for people like me. I love to talk and find myself rambling after a while. I don’t take the time to think before I speak. For the most part, this works well for me. However, during a heated discussion, my words do not come out as I wish them to (I start rambling). Now I find that all the information and truths that I wish to share have become no more than a garbled mess of words that make up a bunch of nonsense. This has caused me grief in many instances. I must find a way to put forth what I wish to say in a way that others can understand and respect.

It took me more years than I wish to admit to come up with a way to fix this problem I have. Then, two years ago, it hit me in a way I had never thought of. I found that when I write, I get very quiet and allow my mind to work out how to put forth the words I wish to use. Not only did it help me get my point across on any given subject, but I could go back and fix any wording mistakes before someone could read what I had written. My voice became my printed word, no longer just a bunch of hot air! I don’t have to take back what I said to spare someone’s feelings because I can fix it before it goes out to the public. I can now read my thoughts and decide whether to allow someone else to read them. This works very well for me.

If you were to meet me and have a spoken conversation with me, you would find a different person than the writer you see before you. I am the same, and yet I am two different people all rolled into one. Although both sides of me think the same, have the same beliefs, and are honest about them, one is well-written while the other can be overpowering with words.

The adage says, “If only I knew then what I know now.” There is a lot of truth in this, and as we get older, we all find this to be true. I hope that if one day we speak face-to-face, you will remember me more by my writing than by my spoken words. There are many ways to speak without using your voice box or that big hole in your face. Sometimes, silence can be the loudest!

I hope that in some way I have helped those like me find ways to express themselves by listening more than speaking. If speaking is your main issue (as it is mine), may you find different ways to use speech other than having diarrhea of the mouth? Take care, my friends. Remember, we are all in this together.

Categories
short stories

Don’t be stagnant or phony

Without the ups and downs in life, we would become stagnant. Are you staying in one place in life? Do you think you can’t do anything other than what you are doing at this point in time? Have you decided you have no other choice than what you see right now? Are you sitting around with your thumb up your bum, figuring this is as good as it is ever going to get? Let’s look at the dictionary term for the word “stagnant” and see what it says.

Stagnant

  1. Lacking freshness, motion, or flow; decaying through stillness. a stagnant pool         stagnant water
  2. (figurative) Without progress or change; stale;  inactive. a stagnant economy stagnant prices                             their love had turned stagnant

Related terms
stagnate
stagflation
Translations (lacking freshness, motion, flow, progress, or change; stale; motionless; still
This text is extracted from the

This text is extracted from the Wiktionary and it is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license

Man slouching in a chair (stagnant)
Woman slouching in a chair (stagnant)

It doesn’t seem like a term that I want to be involved with; how about you? As seen above, this would be directed to many of us and, in some cases, society itself. Do we wish to fulfill this term within ourselves or society as a whole? I believe the answer to this question should be a resounding No!

How about being a phony? Does this fall into being stagnant? In a way, it does. If you are spending all your time trying to be someone else, then you are stagnant because you aren’t showing who you are. You are helping the one you are imitating avoid stagnation, but you as an individual are going nowhere! You have lost who you are and are now someone else. What happens to your identity, your ideas, and you as a special, one-of-a-kind person? Since you are the phony version of someone else, you are living a stagnant existence.

Let’s look at the term “phony” and see what that says.

Phony

  1. (informal) A person who assumes an identity or quality other than their own.He claims to be a doctor, but he’s nothing but a fast-talking phony.
  2. (informal) A person who professes beliefs or opinions that they do not hold.Synonyms: faker, dissembler, pretender, fake, Thesaurus:deceiverHe’s such a phony, he doesn’t believe half of what he says.
  3. (informal) Anything fraudulent or fake.

This text is extracted from the Wiktionary and it is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license

We should have fresh ideas and show our individualism to those around us. In other words, be yourself and stop trying to be like someone else. You are special in your own unique way. There is only one of you, and you are it! Be proud of your uniqueness, and be proud to show it to others around you. Just because someone has become famous or has a large following doesn’t mean it will work for you. In all actuality, it probably won’t work! If you act like someone else, you are a clone or counterfeit of the one you are trying to be!

Famous people have found their unique ways and used them to their benefit. Those who imitate or impersonate famous ones are just that, “imitators or impersonators.” Will those who imitate others become famous themselves? The answer is “very few.” The ones who do make a name for themselves by imitating others only become famous if they can imitate a multitude of different famous people. And most will only know those people by who they imitate. They are no longer an individual with their own voice, but just a caricature of others. The ones who don’t become famous (and, as I said, there are many of them) may end up as Elvis impersonators in Las Vegas, and that’s about as far as they go. If you want to believe it or not, Elvis died a long time ago, and he was the only one of him who ever existed or will exist in the future. I must say, there is nothing wrong with being an Elvis impersonator. However, to want to be Elvis himself is to remove who you are as a person. So if people in show business find it difficult to become someone by imitating someone else, what makes us think it’s a good idea in regular society?

If we can be ourselves and be proud of who we are, there will be others who will want to imitate us. We can then explain why they are wrong in doing so. I can guarantee one thing that is true in all our lives: If we insist on being ourselves, we will be more successful in life than if we try to be someone else. Don’t be afraid to step up and step out! Let the world meet the real you, and stop hiding in the shadows of others. 

Here is a question for you to think about. Who sets the trend for which clothing is popular at any given time in history? And if that isn’t a good enough question to get my point across, then why do clothing trends come back into style some years after they have gone away? Granted, it may not be an exact replica, but the fashion does come back around at least once before it goes away for good. This can also be seen with long hair versus short hair in men and women. Somebody is setting the trends. Why not be that somebody and let the world follow you?

Who wants to be the same as everyone else? I mean, we are not robots, regardless of how society would like to see us. We are different in many ways from one another, and this makes life exciting. If we were all the same, humanity would cease to exist. We don’t want a mate who is just like ourselves. We want someone who thinks differently in at least a few ways. There is a saying, “Opposites attract.” I’m not a firm believer in this. However, I don’t believe that two people who think exactly alike would get along for very long. If we all thought the same, it would be a very bland world indeed.

So, for us not to fall into a stagnant way of life, we must be ourselves and stop trying to be someone else. We should be a new picture and not just a negative reflection of someone else’s life. Who are you? You are the only you there has ever been and will ever be. Get out of the shadow of others and shine your own light for others to see and appreciate. We were not put on this earth to be stagnant. We were put here to show the world the gifts we were blessed with. You may think that you don’t possess special gifts, and that is why you have become stagnant in life. The truth of the matter is that we all have special gifts. We just need to figure out what our gifts are. 

Woman holding a mask to her face (phony)
Remove the mask & let the world know who you are

Stand up, stand out, and be proud of who you are. Remove the mask that you are hiding behind. Decide to become you and stop trying to be someone else. It’s time for you to decide who you are and get motivated to be the best you that you can be!

Stagnant people are going nowhere, doing nothing, and only knowing who others are but not themselves. Aren’t you glad that you have decided not to live a stagnant life anymore? I am proud to meet those who want to be themselves. I don’t want to meet the imitation, counterfeit, or clone of someone else. I hope I have helped you in some small way today. Please take a couple of minutes and tell me your thoughts in the comments below. Take care, my friends, and remember, we are all in this together!

Author’s note: This post was originally two posts that I combined into one. This may be a mistake on my part. If so, I apologize for thinking around corners. However, I believe adding stagnant and phony together in one post worked out very well. I believe you will get some good information to think about. If you are having difficulty with this post, I suggest you put it aside and let things sink in a little at a time. Afterward, come back and read it again. Remember, this is my way of thinking around corners. I do hope you will let me know if something here has helped you in any way.

Categories
short stories

Pets can become more than family

I suppose the hardest thing about owning a pet is knowing their lifespan is shorter than ours. We fall in love with our pets as we get to know them. On the other hand, our pets love us instantly. They put their trust in us for all their needs. We call them pets, but they become family as time goes by. Then certain pets become more than family to us; they become a part of us. In this post, I will be talking about two of my pets that have passed away recently. Murphy, my little poodle, passed away last night at the time I am writing this. 

When our pets pass away, it is hard on us, and some make us believe that we can never have another because of the sadness we feel. Time moves on, and we end up with another pet that we know will probably pass on and break our hearts once again. We are not replacing our pets, but we need to fill the void our loved ones have left in our hearts. And then there are the ones who will hold that void open for the rest of our lives. These are the truly special ones who have touched us in a way we never thought could be possible by a creature that is not human. No matter how many others we have in our lifetime, these certain ones are always on our minds and part of our souls.

Photograph of a Siamese cat laying in a blanket
Bear

I am now in my fifties and have owned more pets than I can count on both hands, but only a few hold my heart and will hold it until the day I pass away. Usually, these are few and far between, but I have lost two in a very short time. My Siamese cat “Bear” was a very special friend of mine. She was very wild because we didn’t get to her until she was an older kitten. I guess you could say she was a feral cat. She would’ve been a great barn cat if I had let her be, but I felt a connection to her that I really can’t explain. I tamed her by feeding her small bits of cooked steak. We became great friends through the years. She would come if I called her and would even run to me if I rubbed my forefinger, middle finger, and thumb together. There was very little sound in this gesture, but this was how I would call her to me for the bits of steak I fed her. Bear was an extremely loving and obedient feline that probably should have been born a dog. Cats aren’t usually the ones that take well to training, but she was one of the exceptions. She passed away not too long ago and left a hole in my heart.

Photograph of a Poodle dog laying in a blanket
Murphy

The pet that I just lost last night was my dog, Murphy. I say that he was my dog, but in all rights, he was my brother’s dog first, my mom’s, and finally mine. My brother was killed in a motorcycle accident years ago, and my mom took over full custody of Murphy. When my mom moved across the country, it was too much on her to take care of him. I became his owner, and he and I enjoyed many years together. He only knew one trick, and that was “Hide the face,” or so we called it. When my family and I would play with him, we would say, “Hide the face, Murphy,” and he would tuck his head down and cover his face with both paws. For the last three or four months of his life, he wouldn’t do this trick anymore, so we knew his time was getting close. I suppose it was hard to lose him because we came to be so close. The second part was because he was the last true thing I had left of my brother. So, in a way, I lost my brother all over again. This hit me harder than I ever believed it would. Murphy was well into his senior years, and it was just a matter of time. But I can’t seem to shake what that little fur ball meant to me. I miss my brother a great deal, and I know that Murphy too will be in my thoughts until it is my turn to leave this world behind.

I wrote this more for my own selfish needs. I need a way to move on from this sadness. However, if it brings some peace to you for your loss, then I’m glad that, in some small way, it did help. To all our loved ones, whether human or not, that we have lost along the way, I salute you for bringing love into this wicked world for us. We miss and still love you.

Bridge with a rainbow at the end
Rainbow bridge

There is a poem that I, along with other pet owners, like to think about when our little friends pass away. The poem is about the Rainbow Bridge that we like to think our pets head to when they are gone from this earth. Here is the link to the poem for anyone who would like to read it. I suggest that if you own a pet that you love and have lost, click the link above and check it out. It will help with the sadness you feel.

One last thing I would like to say concerning all of our pets. Show love to your pets, as they have shown love for you. Never take for granted what may be gone far too soon. Their eyes look upon you with love and admiration. They deserve all the love you can give them. Trust me when I say, “You will never out-love your pet.” Take care, my friends, and remember, we are all in this together.

Categories
short stories

Burned-out Internal light

Author’s note: When I started writing my short stories, I made a promise to myself and my readers to be honest. That being said, no matter how I am feeling, I will be truthful and share my feelings with my readers. There is some of me in all of my writing, whether it is a helpful article or a fantasy story. This is the only way I can achieve a one-on-one relationship between my readers and myself. I pour some of my soul into all my stories. And so, this article may be somewhat distressing, but I feel I must once again share my true feelings with you. If I hide this part of my life, I will be breaking the promise I made in the beginning.

Flame (represents internal light burning bright)
Internal light burning bright
Smoke (represents internal light that has been quenched)
Quenched internal light

When did my internal light lose its luster? What quenched the fire that once burned so brightly inside of me? Is this part of growing older, or is this something else that I’m dealing with? These are a few of the questions I have had of late. These are the questions that have slowed my writing for a while now. This is not an excuse or a cry for help. These are just the questions tormenting my soul at this point in my life. I began my writing journey for self-help, and it turned into so much more. I believe that I have helped others with my written words. Now, I find that my self-care has eluded me somewhere along the way.

Am I alone in these feelings that I’m having? I would venture to say that is improbable and very unrealistic. So I find myself writing about these feelings, not only to help myself but to help others in the same boat I find myself in. Together, we can solve any problem, no matter what it entails. Alone, we will drive ourselves deeper into the rabbit hole, but together, we can climb our way out.

I am a firm believer that we must help one another get through these times of despair. You are not alone! Most importantly, we will work together to find our inner fire and bring it back to full flame. Living with this lull in life is not something I would wish upon my worst enemy, and most definitely not on those I care about. However, this is something I and many others are fighting against as I write these words.

What is the answer to feeling okay once more? Is there an answer, or do we just ride the wave until it passes back into the darkness from where it came? I have seen many things in my life, and one truth has always shown up. There is an answer to all problems! The trick is to find a solution to the problem you and I are facing. The solution may come from ourselves, a close friend, a relative, a stranger, or from God above. Where will the solution come from to the problem I am facing now? Will the solution be in a way that will help others facing this strange feeling? I can only hope that by putting this in print and publishing it, it will come from the audience I am writing this to.

I believe there comes a time in all our lives when this feeling of being lost (or discombobulated) affects us. If you have not experienced it yet, this is a blessing. However, I do suggest that you pay attention. In this way, if it happens to you, you will be more prepared to fight it out of your life. There are many ups and downs in life. It just so happens I’m running in the valley right now, along with many others around you. Once you hit the valley, it is hard to see the mountaintops because of all the clouds blocking the view. This is strange because when you are on the mountaintop, it is easier to see the valley below. I suppose it is in the perception of how we view things in a given situation.

If you are suffering from what I described above (I know it is very vague; however, I don’t know the words to describe it in a better way), I would like you to comment below and know we are together in this fight. If, on the other hand, you have a solution, please comment below so we can all use it.

Thank you for your time and patience with me. I have been writing some fiction on my other site because that is what makes sense to me at this time. I hope to get back to my old self soon so I can continue writing on this site as well. Take care, God bless you, and as always, remember, we are all in this together.

Categories
short stories

We must mourn the loss of loved ones for the healing to begin

Death is the hardest thing for humans to understand. Death is a process we will all go through. We enter death without knowing what happens next. Will we be with our loved ones again or in a different place when our time comes? This is the greatest question, I believe, that has ever been asked. I have my beliefs, and you have yours. Only in death will we know who was right. 

As I grow older and friends and loved ones leave for the great beyond, I find loneliness slipping in. It truly becomes a greater task to find an end to the sadness and emptiness I feel. Must I continue to mourn until my dying day, or will peace find me before my time comes to an end? I’m at the age now where many of my friends are leaving this earth, and I start to wonder when my time might come. Although many die young as well as old, when we grow older, the wick of our candle grows shorter. With each passing breath, we are tempting fate. We shall die, and those who mourn us will do so as we did with so many others.

I suppose I should thank God for allowing me to get this far in life. I never believed I would see the age of thirty-three. I am now within days of my fifty-sixth birthday and am amazed that it has shown up so quickly. Where did all the years go? How is it that I still see myself in my twenties, but when I look in the mirror, those years are long past their existence? Have I fought the good fight? I believe I have. Have I spent my life wisely? This I must sadly say no to. There were so many choices, and yet I made few correct ones. 

I look to the youth to find my strength to go on. I have fought to maintain my breath and know that my time too is running out. Will it be today or one of the tomorrows yet to come? This I do not know the answer to. I shall continue taking one breath at a time until the breath no longer enters my body.

I am here only by the grace of God, for on my own, I would have been dust many years ago. Many choices with many failures, but I live on while I watch better people who deserve so much more, return to the ground beneath. “Why, Lord, have I been allowed to grow older while the young with so much to give are taken away?” Where do I fit in the grand scheme of things? Am I here only to write these words or to right my wrongs? If I must right my wrongs, I shall live forever. 

We all strive to leave this world on a good note, with many who will miss us and tell our tales. How can this happen when all those we know are already leaving? I mourn for those I have lost and find myself in a state of perpetual mourning. “Oh, Lord, let me have a break from this sadness. “Let me wake up to the living around me, and let the dead be few for a while.”

I write this with great sorrow in my heart as I learn of another friend being put to rest. I pray you have found the heaven you imagined, and your eternity will be one of true happiness, my friend. We followed the same God in life. May we meet once again after death. Peace be with you, “Big Jon.” You will be missed.

We must be allowed to mourn the passing of our loved ones. This does nothing for the dead but allows healing for the living. Our hearts break, and the repair is a long journey. Do not hold in what must be let out. Without wailing, our hearts cannot heal. Release the hurt and allow the healing to begin. May God be with you and yours. Remember, we are all in this together.

Categories
short stories

Wonders never cease for an insomniac who gets some sleep!

Insomnia can be one of the hardest things in life to deal with. We, as humans, require a certain amount of sleep to be able to function during our wakeful hours. Without the proper amount of sleep, our bodies and brains have a hard time keeping up with what is needed to accomplish anything at all. This includes simple things like having a conversation or comprehending directions without being told twice. To those who have never experienced insomnia, this may sound like a funny story. However, for those who know the woes of insomnia, this is no laughing matter.

Person laying in bed with insomnia

Most people have had insomnia at least once in their lifetime and understand how this affects them the following day. For those who have had it a time or two, think of those who live with it constantly. It is understandable that these people are more irritable and sometimes downright mean to the others, who enjoy their eight good hours of sleep. I say eight hours just because that is a rule of thumb. Different people require different amounts of sleep. Some may do fine with four hours, while someone else may require twelve to be at their peak performance. While the majority of people enjoy their four, eight, or twelve hours of restoration, the insomniac would do anything for one or two hours of restful, uninterrupted sleep. 

The insomniac will try anything to get some form of sleep, including taking sleeping medications. The problem with this is that the medications also create other problems, like headaches and drowsiness, which affect us in our wakeful hours. So, all in all, they still have a problem being at their best when they are awake. So, the solution to using medications is really no solution at all. The person taking these over-the-counter medicines is not much better off than not sleeping as much as needed in the first place! If you don’t get enough sleep, you will feel like crap, be irritable, and not be able to perform at a high level in anything. On the other hand, if you take the over-the-counter medications and get some sleep, you will find the effects of headaches, be irritable, and not be able to perform at your best. Are you seeing the problem here? With or without the pills, peak performance cannot be achieved. 

Now, let me explain that I am not a doctor of any sort. (Well, maybe a doctor of self philosophy, ha ha). But I have no degree in what causes insomnia. The only thing on which I am basing the information I am presenting is that, well, I am an insomniac. I live with this affliction almost every day. The few days a month that I get a restful night of sleep (usually once a day out of fourteen) are because my body almost shuts down on me. I become so tired that I can literally fall asleep standing up! I have tried many things to cure my sleeplessness, but to no avail. The one thing I have found is that if I use these over-the-counter drugs, it makes things worse. Yes, I can sleep, but I sleep very restlessly with nightmares and wake up feeling like crap.

Men in line at boot camp are getting yelled at by company commander

I will add here that insomnia is caused by many different things. Veterans (like myself) are more prone to insomnia than those who have never served. I thought on this and found why I personally believe this to be true. Veterans are trained to always be thinking ahead to the next task that must be completed. We were taught to always be ready at any given time for any situation. Our brains must always be tuned into the coming situation, whether we know what’s coming or not. I was a firefighter in the US Navy, and even in my deepest sleep at the time of service, I could be awake and fully functioning in a matter of seconds to do the job I was trained for. This works very well in the military because you have others in the same situation as you, and we lean on each other for help if needed. The problem comes when the airman, sailor, or soldier becomes a civilian, and his or her needs change. No longer do you have the support of many men and women around you, and the need to be ready in a matter of seconds is no longer a part of your life. However, the training to always be thinking ahead is so deeply instilled in the veteran that he or she has a tremendous difficulty getting that part of their brain transformed back to civilian life. To a civilian who hasn’t served, this sounds ridiculous. However, to a veteran, this makes complete sense.

Man getting a good night's sllp

So, how do we get past these sleepless nights? This is a question I wish I knew the answer to. If you know, please inform me. I sure could use that information. The best way that I, personally, have found help through meditation. The times that I can focus on something particular, like a tree or a certain model of a car (mine is the 1969 Ford Mach 1), it helps. I have to put all other things aside. I cannot think of bills, things that need to be fixed around the house, or even family (both good and bad). Once I achieve this task, which seems simple but really isn’t, I can fall asleep. The question then is, “Can I stay asleep and keep the nightmares away?” This I still have not mastered, and so about once every fourteen days, I will fall into a deep sleep and stay that way for anywhere from twelve to sixteen hours. After this time, I feel great for one day, and then it’s back to thirteen more grueling days of insomnia. However, every once in a great while, I will achieve that inner peace and be able to focus on my dream car or that big tree and fall into a relaxing sleep.

For those who deal with insomnia, my heart goes out to you. I wish you the best of luck in breaking whatever pattern is causing your affliction. Hopefully, one day, we will all enjoy night after night of restful sleep. Until next time, have a good night, and remember, we are all in this together.

Categories
short stories

Is imagination on the big screen a thing of the past?

I remember a time, many years ago, when the movies hitting the big screen were all new and exciting. I want to say it was in the 1980s and before. Every movie was something that hadn’t been seen before. We could go on a date and watch something fresh that would take us to new worlds and adventures. What happened to those times? Why is it that all, or at least most, of the movies that come out now are remakes of something that has already been done? Is it time for a new invention to come our way for our entertainment, or just time for the movie people to once again use their imagination?

It’s nice that the writers of novels still have imagination and write fresh things for us to fall in love with, and that takes us into new worlds. Maybe it’s time for people who are dumping money into Hollywood to start reading more and discovering new books to turn into movies? Why must we see remakes of movies and stories destroyed by throwing in new actors to replace those we fell in love with in the first place? Have we come so far into the future that thought no longer exists? Maybe the thought is there, but laziness has taken over. I myself would love to see something fresh hit the big screen! I want to look forward to buying that ticket and having no problem spending the outrageous amount of money on popcorn and a soda. As of the last multiple years, I, like many others, no longer have that desire whatsoever. We can wait until it shows up on our television screens and be completely happy. We didn’t waste our money at the movie theater to see something that was completely disappointing. 

It is sad to say that the sitcoms have more imagination than the big screen box office hits. When are you going to wow us with the likes of Star Wars or Indiana Jones? Are the good times really over? Have we come to the end of an era, or have you decided that your audience doesn’t deserve the best? It is true: once every five or ten years, you throw us a bone of a good movie. Of course, these movies are usually continuations of movies from our past. Why is it that novelists can lead us into new worlds of imagination, but big screenwriters use little to no imagination? They are all writers, correct?

Popcorn buckets at the movies
Movie theater building
Seats in a movie theater

I challenge the movie writers to once again wow us and bring back the long lines waiting to see what you have created. Bring back the time when the people leaving the theater could talk of nothing else but the movie you had put together. Bring back a time when people wanted to see your movies three, five, or ten times while they were still on the big screen. Bring back a time when a date at the movies was a time when the movie was actually watched! Bring back a time when teenagers decided what to do on a Saturday night and put seeing your movie at the top of their list.

Are the good times at the movies really over? Has imagination left the screen? Are we to look at having a date with reading a book instead of watching the cinema hits? Has the time come when watching people at a department store is more fun than going to the movies? Bring some imagination back to the screen and give us a reason to spend money to see your creative juices at work! I know you can do it! All it takes is some imagination and the desire to. Remember, we are living, breathing, and learning creatures. We are not mind-numbed robots. We want your best, not the recall of something from our past.

Go ahead, screenwriters, and show us what you can really do. Go ahead, movie executives, and let your writers have some freedom to give us that great story we can sink our teeth into. Bring back the wow factor and watch going to the movies once again become the thing to do on a Saturday night.

This post is purely my opinion, but I believe many will agree with me. We need more imagination on the big screen to give us a reason to spend three hours sitting in a cramped seat next to someone we don’t know, listening to them slurp their soda and munch that popcorn. 

I welcome all feedback on this post, whether good or bad. Keep your comments clean, and they will be approved. Thanks for reading and sharing this post. Remember, we are all in this together.

Categories
short stories

To hold anger is to blacken one’s soul

We all have feelings. This is what we are born with, and we separate them farther from one another as we get older. Using these emotions to the fullness of their power is what shows how humans are different from other creatures on earth. Below, you will see a list of human emotions. I ask that you read each word and decide what these words mean to you. I also want you to notice that love is at the top and fear is at the bottom of the list. 

Definition of Fear is:

  1. (countable) A phobia, a sense of fear induced by something or someone.Not everybody has the same fears.  I have a fear of ants.
  2. (uncountable) A strong, uncontrollable, unpleasant emotion or feeling caused by actual or perceived danger or threat. He was struck by fear on seeing the snake.
  3. (uncountable) Terrified veneration  or reverence, particularly towards God.
A woman bound, blindfolded and beaten shows true fear

Love is the most positive emotion we have, while fear is the most negative. All other emotions may be placed in a different order than seen here. This is just the way I lined them up from positive to negative in my thought process. If you wish to move the emotions in the list the way you feel they should fall, I suggest you do so. Furthermore, I maintain that “love” and “fear” remain in the positions I have assigned them. You may disagree with the statement that fear is the furthest from love, but that is because we have been describing this emotion incorrectly for many years. Fear is very powerful and not to be used lightly. When someone jumps out and scares you, this may be “surprise” or cause “anxiety,” but not true fear. One could even use annoyance, frustration, confusion, and many other emotions, but not necessarily “fear.”

  • Love
  • Happiness
  • Satisfaction
  • Affection
  • Self-confidence
  • Gratitude
  • Surprise
  • Sadness
  • Frustration
  • Embarrassment
  • Confusion
  • Boredom
  • Loneliness
  • Anxiety 
  • Shame
  • Annoyance
  • Disappointment
  • Jealousy
  • Pride
  • Envy
  • Disgust
  • Loathing
  • Anger
  • Fear

 

There are many that can be mixed with each other to form a hybrid of emotions. For example, we can take surprise and embarrassment and put them together to form a hybrid of what a certain situation may call for.

Many of the emotions listed above fall into the positive realm, like affection and gratitude. Others land in the negative realm, like fear and envy. Some may even teeter between the two realms, like surprise and pride. Although these last two can clearly be put on one side or the other, there are times when they may lean to the other side, given the right circumstance. Furthermore, they may be used in one realm while being misinterpreted by others or landing on the opposite side from what was meant. A great example is when a woman cries (in happiness or sadness).

Looking again at our list above, choose which of these words holds the most power. I would venture to guess that “love” is the response of more than 98 percent of those reading this post. I will not argue the point that “love” is a very powerful emotion. This is an emotion that is hard to explain but is very powerful when one experiences it. This is the emotion we all wish to have in our lives, and for good reason. The old adage, “Love makes the world go round,” holds a lot of truth to it. Besides, who doesn’t want love in their lives?

So, if love is the most powerful emotion, then we see the positive side as the powerful side. However, with the positive, there are also negatives. This is the side I wish to talk about today. Although the positive makes us feel all warm and fuzzy, we must also be aware of the negative. The negative can and will destroy all that we wish to experience in life. We look for love, but we dismiss what may keep us from achieving it. Take another look at the list above and see which word stands out other than love. Did you find it? Many of you may want to choose the opposite of love and choose fear. This would be a great choice, but not what I am aiming for.

Anger blackens one’s soul!

Man, in a shroud, yells with anger, consuming him.

Anger that is not released will do more destruction to your body than you will ever know. Anger that is not released will continue to build and consume whoever holds it close! Do you have true anger, or is it annoyance or maybe frustration? This is a question you must ask yourself. Anger is a black hole that will continue to consume you until all other emotions are devoured within its impenetrable shield! Anger is very dangerous to play with. Do we get angry once in a while? Of course we do. This is human nature. What is not in our nature is to hold onto anger and feed it until it consumes us. Let it go! Release the anger before it becomes the cancer it can become. Replace your anger with forgiveness and allow your innermost core to heal itself.

One thing you may consider is that it is easy to stay angry and build a life around it. It takes a stronger person to use his or her strength to release the anger and allow your insides some much-needed rest. When we are angry, our whole body, inside and out, is tensed up. This can cause harm to the body over time. not to mention the psychological pressure we are putting on ourselves. Think of how you feel when you are angry and the difference you feel when you practice forgiveness. Your body and mind will show you the difference. Do you want to feel the stress of anger, or would you rather feel the relief of peace? You can’t have both at the same time. Anger and rest are not compatible and can’t coexist. You must choose!

A person on the beach at sunset completely at peace

You may take my advice on anger or kick it to the curb. This is completely up to you. However, from one soul to another, I have lived with and without holding anger. I can honestly say that living without it is a better and healthier way to live. Take care, my friends, and remember, we are all in this together. 

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short stories

Every day I die a little, yet every day I live a little too

I die a little to let the old go away, and I live a little for the new beginning coming my way.

      “When we are born, we are already heading towards death.” To think in this way, life can be a horrible thing, unless we look towards what happens once we die. Each individual has their own beliefs about what happens when we cease to exist here on earth. Some would believe there is a great place called Heaven. Others believe we come back as other people or life forms. There are people who believe we go to the planet of the aliens that made us. There are even those who believe there is nothing after death. I’m sure there are many other beliefs that are not coming to mind right now, but for this post, I will be talking about those I have mentioned.

Tomb in a graveyard

       Before I get into these different beliefs about what happens to us once we die, I believe we must first ask ourselves how we came to be. There are many different beliefs in this aspect as well. Some believe we started as an amoeba and worked our way up to monkeys, from which the lucky ones were able to evolve into humans. I suppose the monkeys left behind weren’t quite ready to evolve when others were. I question this belief due to the fact of where did the amoeba come from. Others believe we were planted by aliens from a far-off planet, and we are more like a science experiment. I also question this, due to the fact that I don’t know where these aliens come from and who created them. There are those who believe in multiple gods, and yet others who believe in one. The problem we have as humans is that we think we know or must know everything. We believe there must be a beginning and an end, or do we believe in an end? As I stated above, the only ones who believe in an end are those who believe our deaths are the end, while others believe there is something after. So who is right, and who is wrong? The only way we will find this is after death, or is it?

       Those who believe there is nothing after death are those I want to talk about first. Fear not, I am not here to tell you if I think you are right or wrong. I just have a hard time believing that this is it. All the hard work through life with no reward for it I think everything that humans do has a purpose, and I think it’s sad to believe that we really don’t after all. What is the purpose of life? Why are we here in the first place? If death is the ultimate end, isn’t life just a cruel joke? I’m sorry, my friends; I can’t buy into this one. I think it would make me empty inside to believe this is all there is. What am I working for if not to become the dirt beneath my feet? I think it would make me just want to go through life with no hope. Humans without hope are sad people, indeed. I think I will stay clear of the nothing theory. 

       When it comes to the aliens planting us, this is a little intriguing. However, I just can’t wrap my head around this one. Is there life on other planets? Possibly. I would think if we were from aliens, we would be contacted directly by them and not just flown by every now and then. I guess it’s kind of like having a pet. Would you put your pet somewhere and never have contact with it or want to play with it? Besides, I don’t like to think of myself as a pet in the first place. So, sorry, I just can’t imagine this is where we came from.

Female alien holding flowers

     Is there such a thing as reincarnation? And, if there is, do we get to choose what form we come back as? If I had a choice and I wanted to come back as my dog, what if my dog was my great-uncle Albert from a life before? Do I displace him, or am I given a second choice? How many deaths would it take to finish using up all life forms? Furthermore, who is giving me this choice or making the choice for me? This one sounds interesting; however, too many moving parts could cause many collisions. I mean, if five hundred people wanted to come back to the same spot, who makes the decision of who gets first choice? Furthermore, does the cycle end, or do we have to keep coming back time and time again? I think I will leave this one alone for others to figure out the logistics for.

       So how about the multiple gods? Well, the first thing I would want to know is, “Who is the Supreme One?” And, if there is one Supreme over the others, wouldn’t this mean he/she/it was actually the one and the others were just wannabes? That would mean the other gods couldn’t be gods at all. What would they be, mini gods? This just doesn’t fly in my judgment. It seems like a lot of thought had to go into this one. Too complicated for my thinking. It makes my brain hurt just trying to figure out who to follow with this theory. Sorry, but one is enough for me.

       So we came from monkeys, huh? This is the belief of those who follow evolution. I don’t know about you, but this one is difficult as well. I have gone to the zoo and seen these creatures, and even though I have seen a few people that had the big ears and hairy backs, I have to question it. If we evolved from monkeys, what kept the others from evolving with us? Why haven’t we seen any change in the monkeys at the zoo? Why are we keeping our ancestors locked up in the first place? Why is there very little difference from one monkey to the next? Wouldn’t you think, if this were true, there would be some that maybe evolved half way between monkey and human? This seems like too difficult a solution for me as well. 

Monkeys huddled together

What caused the big bang, and did it come from nothingness? Were there a billion big bangs to create the multi-universes, or were rocks just thrown here and there throughout space? And if the big bang started everything, then why do we have all the life here on earth, while the moon is void of such things? Furthermore, who created the mass to cause the big bang in the first place? An awful lot of thought went into this one. Sorry, I just can’t swallow it.

      So we’ve come down to one Almighty who created everything, and when we die, we go on to live with him, depending on how you believe, of course. Well, this solves a couple of the problems. For one, there is a creator who covers all, including the planets, stars, moons, and life. One being created all; that somewhat sews things up. This would explain how everything started, not just us. It does sound better, but there are still questions that must be asked. Things like, “Whose god is the true God?” I mean, different sets of people believe they have the right one and everyone else is wrong. I guess I’d choose mine, because it’s nice to know that I was made in God’s image. Some gods have gone on to die and will never be seen or heard from again. These gods want to leave the rest of the story up to the humans, his creation. That doesn’t seem right. I mean, he’s God; how could we go on if he didn’t take care of us? The Christian God has a son who died and came back to life for the sole purpose of taking care of us. Well, I guess if he were God, he wouldn’t stay dead, right? If he created all of this, he would have to be very powerful. This God and the story of creation seem to be the simplest solutions to our problems, and it’s nice to think that life doesn’t end after death; it just changes. This makes me feel better about how things came to be. And these Christians seem to love and want peace. That sounds like a good thing. I think I like this explanation; it seems to cover all the bases without the stumbling blocks. I think this is the one I will seek out and follow. 

Necklace with a cross hanging from a rod, with sunset in the background.

We all have our own beliefs about how things came to be. Not all beliefs can be correct, and nobody will know for sure until their time comes to meet the one who created them. I challenge you to look deep into your beliefs and pick the one who shows true love for his creation. If you feel that you have found the truth without a doubt in your heart, you have definitely found the truth. If you have doubts, maybe you have been living a fantasy. We don’t have to know everything about creation, but we shouldn’t have any doubts about who we are following. 

I completely understand how some may cheer what I have written while others will hate that I ever put pen to paper. Either way is fine with me because I believe in “free will” as well. I believe God gave us a brain for a reason other than keeping our heads from collapsing. Don’t be afraid to question your existence. Some will get it right, while many others will be wrong, and we will all know who in due time. Take care, my friends. I shall write again soon. 

Categories
short stories

The Challenge of Raising Children

Brothers and Sisters, Brothers and Brothers, or Sisters and Sisters, close enough in teenage years, and let the wars begin. Who is right or who is wrong does not matter. The casualties of these wars are parents. Early gray hair and shaking hands are what parents have to look forward to. Oh, the joys of having children! And, Lord help me; I would not give my children up for the world.

Three young brothers, all about the same age, play together

It always looks like a good idea, at the time, to have our children close in age. This way, your child will have a playmate to grow up with. Right? We also see it as a good idea to have our children at an earlier age, so we will not be quite as up in age when they are out of the house on their own. We realize that our parents give us advice, but they are old and probably do not know anything about how things are done in this day and age. (I see a lot of head nodding and hear a lot of laughter from the older folks out there, right now).

Let us say you have two children in your early twenties that are eighteen months apart. You have set yourself up to have them raised and on their own by the time you hit your mid-forties. You and your spouse can enjoy your later years before entering the retirement age. Well, it may seem to be a smart plan, but it is not necessarily a good idea at all. You and your spouse have not had the time yet to mature as much as you need to be parents. This is not meant to be a slam on you, but there is a lot of truth to it. If you wait until you both are in your thirties to have children, there is a better chance that you will be better prepared for what is about to happen in your lives.

Children turn your lives upside down in ways that are never expected, and are different with every set of parents. The unexpected becomes your norm! If you believe that you know what it is like to have kids, and you do not have any yet, lord help you. You are about to be educated in ways you could never dream of. You think school was hard to get through; welcome to true schooling! The adventures you will go through with these brighteyed little ones are a joy, but also a wake-up call to even the strongest, most levelheaded parents alive.

Reading parent guide books can give you simple solutions to try with your children. You will not find solutions to all the problems you will face as a parent in these books. There will be times when you will have to come up with solutions for your child’s life on your own. You will face problems that have never been written by any author of any book. At times children will send you into the Twilight Zone, pushing every one of your buttons. You are being tested by the best! These angels will at some point become the little monsters you have seen in other children. How about that child yelling at the top of his lungs in the store because he did not get a toy? You will at times, hear people murmur, “They need to teach their children better”. Could you be this parent talked about one day? If you are mentally able enough to handle this once in a while, you are well on your way to having well-behaved children. If you let your little darlings run over you one time, you are in for a long road. This road will lead you into a disaster zone called “The Ultimate Teenager“!

Teenage girl acting crazy
Teenage boy and girl look like trouble

All teenagers are, to put it nicely, a nightmare! If you think your children will be the same lovable creatures when they hit the “Teenage Zone” as they are; now, you are in for the ride of a lifetime! You will swear this cannot be your child. Parents that believe it is easier to raise children close in age will be hit with the double feature of nightmares.

As a parent, you will learn how mentally stable you are. Children will take you to the edge of your sanity and then push harder. This is all in the growing phase for the child as well as the parents. I have heard said, You pay for your sins with your children. This is a distressing reference, but it does hold some truth. You will start to understand the pain your parents went through with you. You will appreciate your parents more. This is the circle of life.

You are a legal adult by age, but you become a grown-up when your first child arrives. You believe you can do a better job than your parents did. This in some cases is true, but for most of us, it is a wake-up call about the wonderful job our parents did to raise us.

Grandparents enjoying each other's company with no children in sight.

How can a grandparent enjoy a child more than the parents? Now, I am a grandparent, and it is becoming clearer to me why this is. I am now going to lay this secret out for you. Grandparents enjoy their grandchildren because once the visit is over, the children go back home! Grandparents are on cloud nine watching as their own children go through child raising struggles. Your parents tried to teach you. Well, now it is your turn! You will find yourself acting the same as your parents did with you. You will finally know the nightmare you put them through.

You will start looking forward to the day that you and your spouse can have your home all to yourselves. Your parents will ask you, “Do you remember when we told you to wait to have children and not rush into it?” They will laugh when you answer, “No.” They will always be there for you, as you will be with your children. However, the advice for you will only come when you ask for it. No longer are your parents bound to raise you. They tried their best with you, and now get to sit back and watch how their teachings took hold. Yes, your parents made mistakes, and yes, you will too!

Parents have the hardest job known to the human race! We do not understand this until we become parents ourselves. You may look at the way other parents raise their children and try to follow them. This will help in some ways to give you a starting point. However, children need unique teaching designs set for their understanding. Parents with multiple children understand this. Although you love each child with the fullness of your heart, you will find your love different for each of them. This is the awesome thing about love, it can expand in as many ways as is needed. If you do not think so, just talk to parents who have four, five, six kids or more. They will tell you they love all their children, but in different ways for each one. Because of this, I believe the definition of love should be a bunch of question marks expanding into the unknown.

Young boy at the table with his family, holding hands for prayer before dinner.

Children are a blessing from the good Lord above. Children may bring you closer to God as you cry out for his help. Be patient with your children and allow them to go through the different phases of life. This will help your offspring to become well-rounded adults. Disciplining your children is showing the love you have for them to grow up to be the good people they can be. Allowing your children to “run the show” is telling them you do not care how they turn out in life. A respectful adult comes from the years of love and training given by their parents. There is no magic formula for raising your children, but you must do the best you can for them, as your parents did for you.

Children are hard to raise. They, at times, will have you wondering if there is a grand solution to raising children. The only thing I can tell you is, do not rush into having them, and love them no matter how crazy things may seem. I hope in some way this helps. If you are a teenager reading this, try to take it easy on your parents. They are doing their best for you. Take care, my friends, and do not forget to follow me. Remember, we are all in this together.

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extras short stories

It’s official!! CSI Flipside is now available. Go to csi-extras.com to read the first story of many that I will start putting up. Let me know what you think. These stories will fall into different genres as my brain comes up with them. I hope to see you there!

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It’s official!! CSI Flipside is now available. Go to csi-extras.com to read the first story of many that I will start putting up. Let me know what you think. These stories will fall into different genres as my brain comes up with them. I hope to see you there!
Categories
short stories

What kinds of situations are you willing to put up with to call a place home?

     Depending on what you are willing to put up with, will determine where you want to live and call your home.

      As I write this, I am thinking of the different states within the United States of America as those I will be discussing. However, this post can be used anywhere in the world. We all have our breaking points, which will move us from one place to another.

Saguaro cacti in Arizona desert
Looks like my backyard

      I currently live in Arizona, which has its beautiful along with its dangers. When someone thinks of this state, the first thing that comes to mind is heat. However, if you were to travel in northern Arizona, such as Flagstaff, in the winter months, you may be surprised by the massive amounts of snow you’d encounter. I, myself, reside in the middle of this great state and see cool winters, but still very high temperatures in summer. There are also many other dangers, these come in forms of rattlesnakes, scorpions, Gila monsters, and many other poisonous things. Cacti are also very troublesome to put up with. Speaking of cacti, this is the only place in the world where the giant saguaros live. So if you are willing to put up with the various dangers here, you will be given beautiful landscapes, awesome lightning shows, and of course, sunshine with clear skies most of the year.

       Another place I have lived is in the Midwest, in the state of Missouri, where I spent many years of my youth. This is a beautiful state, full of farm land, lakes, rivers and woods. Here, you will have wonderful fishing and hunting opportunities. You can easily live off the land since water is abundant, and growing your own food in the fertile land is fairly easy. Raising your own livestock is also a plus, with the grasslands for your cattle and other farm animals is easily found. The downside to this great countryside comes in the form of high humidity in the summer and hard freezes in the winter. It is a well known place to carry a sweater, light jacket, raincoat and heavy coat most of the wintertime. The weather can change rapidly, and being prepared is sometimes a challenge.

Missouri River in Missouri
Missouri River

       North Carolina is a place I lived during my time in the Navy. While it is an absolutely beautiful state, hard freezes and hurricane weather is something that may keep you from this state. Some of the friendliest people I have ever met, live here. The hunting is absolutely wonderful and fishing is great as well. The winters are fairly hard, and wet weather is an understatement. This state has very fertile land for growing whatever you wish in your garden. You can also live near the Atlantic Ocean, with some beautiful beaches to enjoy. If you are willing to deal with the harsh winters and hard rains here, you have found one of my favorite states.

Forest trees in the fall, North Carolina
Fall in North Carolina

      Virginia is an interesting state with abundant historical American sites of the Civil War. Many other states have places to see involved with this war, but Virginia stands out in this category.  This state also has many woods as well as beaches to enjoy. The weather is much like North Carolina, with fairly hard winters and hurricane weather to put up with. Furthermore, this state contains the military city of Norfolk. While other states contain military cities, this one stands out as one of the greatest. I was stationed there and can honestly say, if you are not military, you are of the few, not the many in this city.

Welcome highway sign entering Virginia
Welcome to Virginia

      I, personally, have been to every state of the United States, except two. These two states are Alaska and Hawaii. I would like to visit both of these states before I die. I have only lived in a few, but have traveled through many, forty-eight, to be exact. One thing I have noticed is the difference from state to state. It amazes me how much difference there can be, just by crossing an invisible line from one to the other. We can freely move from one state to the other and live  as though we have always been there. The language may be the same, but accents can be extreme from one state to the other. All in all, we are Americans. We stand as one with completely different ways of life. All we have to do, is decide what weather we are willing to put up with, and in a short period of time, we can live out our dreams in the place we choose. If this place gets old to us, we just pack up and move to another state and try something completely different. We can do this as many times as we wish, as long as we live. We may have to learn a different accent, but we will be welcome.

Northern lights in Alaska
Northern lights as seen In Alaska

      I may be a little prejudice, but I feel that I live in the greatest country in the world. This is not because I don’t like other places, this is just because I love my country with all my heart. I have been to many countries, and enjoyed the sites, but I like it here and believe I will stay. As I mentioned from the beginning, this post speaks of what one is willing to put up with to live somewhere. I used the United States because this is where I live. However, you can use these thoughts anywhere in the world. Do you like the woods, desert, plains or beach? What kind of weather are you willing to put up with to live there? There are natural disasters everywhere in the world. Which ones do you deal with? Mother nature is e everywhere, and she will use her power, one way or another. What disaster can you handle to live where you wish? These are questions we must ask ourselves to be happy of our surroundings.

       Fortunately, in this day and age, it is easy to find that perfect spot we wish to live. With the availability of the internet, we can find that special place where we wish to live and raise our families. It wasn’t many years ago that people had to travel to a place before they knew what mother nature had in store for them. So with that in mind, where is your perfect place? Have you even thought about moving, or are you content where you are? I’m curious to know, for I have yet to  live in my perfect spot. I am however looking, as we speak. Furthermore, I’m very close, but these summers are getting to be too hard as I grow older and feel I need to head more north. I thank God that I live in a country where I can move to different parts of the country, without any trouble.

      I hope this post has brought you to a decision of where you want to be, and what you are willing to put up with to live there. I would like to hear of the place you live, and some of the issues you face. Do you have hurricanes, tornadoes, extreme heat or cold? Maybe you have found your Utopia. My readers and I want to hear. Feel free to leave a reply, and I will answer as soon as I can. My readers will likely chime in as well. Take care, and I hope today finds you well. I look forward to discussing this post with you.

Categories
short stories

What is Abuse and how do I get away from it?

First off, before I even get into the subject the title shows, I must say a few things. I am not a physician, psychologist or a psychiatrist. I am going to simply put out some information, from my years of knowing people on both sides of this issue. If you are in an abusive situation, I urge you to seek help now! I believe that I can put a spin on things that may help you see what I have found to be a problem and a possible solution to that problem. Please do not take my word as gospel of what you are going through. Keep in mind, I am just a writer, giving my opinion. If you are in danger, get help immediately!

A woman sitting on the floor with her hands up in a defensive matter, protecting herself

Let’s first look at what is considered abuse. Most people believe abuse as a physical hurting of another, usually a husband hitting his wife. This is abuse, but there is another form of abuse that most people never think about. Verbal abuse can destroy a person as fast as physical abuse, and in many ways become the worst case scenario. Verbal abuse can lead into physical abuse.

I want to first talk about physical abuse. If you are a man and are hitting your wife or children, you have a problem that needs to be taken care of immediately! You should never hit your wife, period! As far as your children, if you are spanking them, make sure you never do so out of anger. Any other type of hitting your children is an absolute wrong. I will not lean one way or the other on this issue. You are responsible for the discipline of your children. To further your education on spanking, let’s take a look at what the definition of spanking is.

noun

  1. an act of slapping, especially on the buttocks as a punishment for children.”you deserve a good spanking”

The key factor about spanking, is never do so when you are angry. You have to remember how much strength you have and how easily you can hurt your child. By the way, this goes for you too, ladies, never spank your child while you are angry. Spanking can be a form of discipline however, if done while in an angry state of mind constitutes abuse.

A man points and verbally abuses his spouse

Men, Never hit a woman! Part of being a man is learning control of your body and emotions. You should have been taught that growing up, but some of you did not receive that lesson of life. Men are naturally stronger than women, especially in our upper bodies. Not only is it the wrong thing to do, it can cause great harm to whom you are hitting. Men are known for their self-control for a reason. If you lose control, make sure you are alone or with your male buddies, who can help control you. This is a huge #1 lesson for a man to learn. Don’t let your true temper show when there are women or children around. None of us really want to hurt our bride or children. Don’t allow it to happen, because being sorry later doesn’t fix anything. They may forgive you, given time, but you will never forgive yourself.

I have talked a little about Men hitting women, but ladies, I have something to tell you as well, and you’re probably not going to like it. It takes great control for a man to hold his temper to a lower level, if you ladies hit your man, you may be tempting fate. Don’t hit him and hope he doesn’t hit you back. Most of us have control to not snap, but there are those that don’t have this control, especially while drinking or under other forms of mind-altering substances. If he hits you, he is completely in the wrong, but just don’t help him get there by hitting him first. I want to add here that I have been talking about husbands and wives, this also is for boyfriends, girlfriends, fiancée, or any other couple out there. I guess the biggest difference is, if your boyfriend is beating you up, and you go ahead and marry him, you are asking for trouble. It would be bad enough to keep dating and see how many times he hurts you. Remember, if he will do it once, there’s a great chance there will be a repeat in your future.

A man yells at his spouse, while their daughter sits on the floor, covering her ears in fear

The main issue people are not learning is, “we must respect each other“. If you are hitting one another, there is no respect, and you shouldn’t be together in the first place. Of course, there are always the instances where people change and become someone else. If this is the case, there is a reason, and it usually involves the substances, mentioned above, like alcohol. Ladies and gentlemen, if you meet your mate in a bar, the writing should be in letters ten feet tall to look deeper before you commit to a relationship.

I have discussed abusing and being abused, but how do we change what is happening? If you are the abuser, you need to move out and seek help immediately! It may be hard to leave your family, but until you get help, you need to get out before things get worse. If you love your family, get help, and there may be a chance of getting them back. If you lose them because you left, at least you will have peace in your heart that your family is safe. This would be the hard lesson #2. Remember, there is help for you, and you don’t have to do it alone. There are plenty of places willing to help you with your anger issues.

Woman and her child pack a suitcase to leave.

Ladies, if you are being physically abused, get your children and leave. The longer you stay, the harder it will be, and the chances of serious injury or even death for you and your children will gain in percentage, not lower. If he is out of control, it will continue to get worse until he gets the help he needs. He can apologize all he wants, but if he has let the beast out more than once, it will continue. I say more than once, I would like to say the first time, but I know that I would be talking to a brick wall. I know you women always want to believe it was a one time thing. Furthermore, I pray that you are right, but studies show this not with good odds. When he beats you or your children up the second time, will you give him a third?

It’s very scary to be in a situation where you think of being trapped or that he will find you. I feel for you, I really do, but if you don’t get out of that situation, it is only going to get worse. You know when he won’t be home. You know where you can find a police station, or a relative to get to. Don’t let yourself or your children become a statistic on the news. Especially if you have children, get them out of this situation to a safe place.

Now, most people don’t want to talk about it, but there are instances where the wife is the physical abuser. This doesn’t happen as often, but it does happen. The same goes for you gentlemen, if your wife is abusive to you, you need to get out. If your wife is abusive to your children, get them out and make sure to seek help with the nearest authorities. By authorities, I mean the police. This falls under a little different circumstance, because it is rare and people don’t want to believe the wife as the abusive one. You want to make sure to go directly to the authorities, so your wife can’t say you kidnapped your children. If you do anything else, you might be charged for kidnapping, since you are the man. I know this isn’t right, but society is what it is. Get your children to safety, this is the most important thing.

I have gone over what I believe about physical abuse. Now let’s talk a little about verbal abuse. Do you realize that verbal abuse, even though not taken care of by authorities as it should be, can actually be worse than physical abuse? First let me say that physical abuse usually consists of verbal abuse at the same time, but not mentioned very often. Verbal abuse, by itself, can be a lifelong tragedy. Someone can verbally cause their partner to commit suicide. If the verbally abused person does get out and away from their abuser, they may never be able to trust another person, ever. They can lose the ability to function in society, because they have been torn down so badly, they can no longer make decisions on their own. Verbal abuse can become a brainwashing that may never be fixed. Verbally abused people lose all self-esteem and can go into deep depression that may control the rest of their lives.

A man, with his hand raised, has a woman up against a wall, using verbal abuse.

Most of the time, verbal abuse starts slow and grows from there (degrading your spouse, calling him/her hurtful names or telling him/her they are useless). It is a constant tear down of one’s mind. The abused person becomes dependent upon the one that is abusing them, and believing they themselves can’t get along without the one abusing them. Verbal abuse may later become physical abuse, but they are so beaten down by then, they start feeling they deserve the physical abuse. Do you see why I say verbal abuse can be worse than physical abuse? It is a tear down of one’s mental ability, and can be considered brainwashing. If this is done slowly enough, the person doesn’t even realize it’s happening until it’s beyond repair.

I’m not an expert by any stretch of the imagination, however I have known people in all aspects of what I have written. I hope that you have found some comfort in and possibly even some helpful advice. If you are in an abusive situation, whether you are the abused person or the one being abusive, there are those of us who care and want you to get help. Take care and remember, God loves you, and we love you too. Don’t give up who you are! Take care my friends, I wholeheartedly believe in you, and believe you can make, and have a better life.

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Categories
short stories

Calming Pure Anger

If you are one of my readers, I’m sure you have noticed that I haven’t written a post of my own for a couple of weeks. I want to apologize, and I have decided to let you know why. I did get some great guest post writers during this time to make sure that you guys had something to read and learn from. I would like to thank Laura Moseley and Julia Mitchell for their great post, especially during this time. I believe they are both outstanding writers and feel you should go to their websites and see what else they have to offer. I hope to have them both back very soon.

Some of you know that I suffer nerve damage from an accident I had while working in a copper mine in Arizona. This is not an excuse for not writing, however, it has something to do with my absence. Just about everybody understands what nerve damage can do and the pain that goes with it. Things such as burning, losing control of extremities, itching, tightness and swelling to name a few. What those that have never experienced nerve damage don’t understand is the anxiety, depression and anger that come along as though the pain alone isn’t enough.

My anxiety has been through the roof, as of late, but that I handle with medication. The problem that has sidelined me has been pure anger. How can I write an uplifting post for my readers if I can’t even uplift myself? You may ask yourself why the anger? This I will try to explain the best that I can. Those of you in this position understand, but may not be able to find a way out of it. Although, I myself have been having great struggles with anger as of late, I have also been able to finally curtail it, but it has not been easy.

I have always been a person who jumps to get done whatever it is to be done in the safest, yet fastest way possible. I may complain and use some choice words during this time, but I was always working to finish the job, even while using the childish “complain phase”. Furthermore, I’ve done jobs that I hated, but I still got the job done. After becoming disabled, my whole world got turned upside down. All of a sudden, I can no longer jump right in and get the job done. No longer can I do what I want and speed through any situation. I now have to slow down and not do the things I used to be able to do, without major struggles. This alone makes me angry. And yet there is so much more to it.

Some things that I go through, have no explanations, and I will not try to explain to you what I can’t even explain to myself. The focus of this is to explain what I do know. I know that when I lose control of my hand and drop or crush a can of soda, anger is quick to come. I know that when I fall down in front of someone, without an obstacle causing it, first comes embarrassment, but anger is not far behind. The falls I keep to a minimum using a cane, yet even the stick fails me now and then.

So, throughout all my rambling and complaining, am I looking for sympathy? No, I am not! I am getting angry just admitting some of the things that make me angry. Crazy, huh? The only reason I decided to write this is to help others, in the same situation, to know there are others of us, and we need to be open about it and stop allowing the anger to get the best of us. Holding the anger in just multiplies it, however, we don’t want it to come out on others around us. I have found going to be by myself is the best I can do.

There are things like mindfulness that help in these situations, but I have found, I still must be alone for it to work. So alone time is the way to go in my opinion. The only thing to keep in mind, is don’t allow negative thoughts come in while relieving myself of anger. This is what I have been going through as of late. I believe I now have it under control, for the meantime. I am generally a kind person and when the anger hits, it is a shock to my system.

Most people that read this post will have no real idea of what I’m explaining. I would like to tell those people, there are people you know that are dealing with this and if they say to give them some space, time or to leave them alone, please give them this time to refocus. There is very little you can say to help other than you are there for them when needed.

Once again, I want to apologize to my readers for my absence. I will try to get back to my normal writing soon. I also am in the mist of creating a second website, where I have been writing short stories in various genres and will attach it to this website for those that have an interest, once it goes live. Furthermore, I want to thank you for sticking with me during this time, and I hope to bring more followers on board to help C.S.I grow. Take care, my friends, and remember, we are all in this together.

Categories
Guest post short stories

The Art of Forgiveness

Written by Laura Moseley

My guest today is Laura Moseley from The DV Walking Wounded. Thank you, Laura, for sharing something that is so important for others to see! I commend you for your strength and for teaching other women, all is not lost. Laura is a survivor, and you can be too!

“Everyone says forgiveness is a lovely idea, until they have something to forgive.”

CS Lewis

I learned about forgiveness early on, as a young child. My father always told me, “Those who anger you, own you.” That was the way that he instructed me to not let others dictate my behavior, which opened the door to forgiveness of others. My family was very ingrained in our church, so I was taught to receive forgiveness, I myself had to forgive. It wasn’t until I was a married adult, did I learn the proper way to forgive and “mean it.”

I had NO idea that there was a formula to forgiveness, until recently. I always knew that there was a technique to it, but not that there was an actual formula. I am going to break down the formula, putting my spin on it. I feel like I have massive experience in the “forgiveness” department, after surviving a twenty-six-year marriage to an abusive man AND surviving and healing from sexual abuse from a former boyfriend when I was just a teenager. I have had to forgive these people, even though I’ll never receive a formal apology, to live my life. I also will not allow them to do anything else, ever again. It’s the “Fool me once, shame on you! Fool me twice, shame on me!” principle.

Step 1: Acknowledge

Acknowledge that an offense happened, one that hurt the recipient (you). Be specific. Example: “My co-worker lied to our boss about taking sole credit for our project.”

Step 2: Consider

How did that offense make you feel? Has it changed your thinking or perception? Mull over what has happened, not making any decisions under stress (either anger or sadness).

Step 3: Accept

Please accept that what has happened (the past) cannot be undone. It is done and acknowledges that it has happened — and do not alter that perception. There is NO guarantee that the other party accepts that. What-ifs are not allowed here!

Step 4: Determine

This is the step where you will “determine” whether or not you intend to forgive the other party/person. This is a pivotal point. DO NOT take this lightly. This point can also dictate the future relationship you will have with the offending party, if any.

Step 5: Repair

Repair the relationship with the person who wronged you. Before any act of forgiveness or reconciliation, rebuild the connection you used to have with this person. For instance, if someone at work has wronged you, you may not necessarily forgive them, but you can let them know that you all have to work together, and you will be professional and courteous to each other. If you say something, keep your word! In most cases, you will be the instigator of this “olive branch,” so to speak. Many people know that they have inflicted a wrong, but “freeze up” and do not try to repair, only to avoid it. Keep in mind that you are “repairing” not “restoring.” If you are going about as if nothing is wrong, that does not solve any problems, but just creates more instances for you to be wronged.

Step 6: Learn

What does the term “forgiveness” mean to you? You really need to define that at this point. To me, I acknowledge the wrong and what you plan to do (or need to do) to correct that wrong. However, I will not forget this wrong, I just will no longer acknowledge that once forgiveness is granted. I am not allowing that wrong to own my thoughts and feelings. BUT, that is my interpretation. As a child, I had an adult tell me that you cannot forgive a person if they do not ask for it. I don’t believe this to be true, now that I am an adult. I have to get to a point of forgiveness for what they did to no longer control my feelings and perceptions. That person may no longer be in your life or may have passed away. You can forgive them and move on, based on time and feelings.

Step 7: Forgive

Actively forgive the person who has wronged you. This may be silent forgiveness, doing so in your mind. However, if you have an issue with someone currently in your life, you should speak the forgiveness. Example: “I forgive you for lying to me about _______. However, this has made me not trust you. I realize that we still have to work together. I will treat you with kindness and professionalism as I always have, but I may not entirely trust you.” The verbal statement may not be met with penitence or compassion, but it is your statement to make. Doing so in a non-threatening way is the way to go. Waiting to introduce it into a conversation, when it is just you and the other party, is best. The silent version is helpful in all aspects, as it helps you to let it go and move on! You may never truly get an apology or acknowledgment that the other party wronged you!

Conclusion

Another point is never to bring this past transgression up if you all have a later disagreement or argument. If you have truly forgiven someone, this is not fair to what is going on in the present! You may recall the past transgression also if there is a history of disagreements or misunderstandings. This may help you to know if you need to cut off the relationship, as a negative history, but DO NOT verbally bring that up. That only adds fuel to the fire and illustrates that it was truly not forgiven. You want to be a person of your word and if you want others to forgive you, you don’t want that thrown in your face. Each transgression merits its own attention! I definitely learned this from being in a romantic/intimate relationship. No one is perfect and I don’t expect my partner to be. I know I am not perfect, so I can extend grace to them — once we talk things through, that is. Communication should be a vital part of any relationship. If it is not, the relationship is not a positive one. Understanding why the transgression happened takes time, but try not to dwell on it too much. You may never fully understand why or how, but acknowledge that you can no longer worry about it! Worrying causes stress, which can shorten our lives. And I’m going to be darned if anyone gets to own my feelings! They are no longer allowed to pay rent inside my head! I release them from that, through forgiveness. I have found life is too short for that, honestly. After everything I have been through personally, I hate no one. Hate is a strong emotion that can kill you. Plus, I do not want to stoop to my transgressors’ negative levels. I am better than that and will conduct myself as such. Not better than the person, but better than the bitterness. Love and light!

Picture of the author Laura Moseley
Laura Moseley

BIO: Laura is a single Mom of three, Nana to one grandbaby, who survived 23+ years of sexual or domestic abuse. I work for a federal social services organization, and also am a DV advocate, activist, speaker, writer/author, and blogger. I enjoy helping victims survivors get out of abuse and never go back! https://dvwalkingwounded.me/
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Guest post short stories

5 Ways You Can Better Your Health and Increase Your Confidence on a Budget

C.S.I is proud to present another great guest post by Julia Mitchell from http://outspiration.net/

Lady in dress walking with confidence and a smile
Image: Pexels

Believe it or not, a health-conscious lifestyle does not have to be expensive. In fact, you can eat well and take care of your mental health even when you’re on a tight budget. Here are some ways to live healthily and make money, courtesy of Common-Sense Interaction.

1. See a Doctor

Part of properly caring for yourself is going to the doctor for a health evaluation and talking about any current health issues. You can save on visits by scheduling an online consultation with a doctor and going over possible medications to treat your condition. Talk to the doctor about what generic medications are available at a lower cost than the brand name medicines. Then the doctor will send the prescription to your local pharmacy electronically for pick up.

2. Practice Your Favorite Self-Care Routine

Research shows that self-care enhances your overall wellness by boosting self-esteem and acknowledging self-worth. If you live a busy life, self-care can be something as simple as saying self-affirmations or making sure you have your favorite morning coffee. Occasionally, take yourself on a wellness vacation and spend some time doing the things you love the most. 

3. Change Your Diet

Gut health affects your energy level and even mood. That’s why it’s important to be mindful of what food you eat. Processed foods can sometimes provide very little nutrition, leaving the body feeling tired and sluggish. A well-balanced diet will change your physical and mental health. You can save money by shopping for fruits and vegetables when they are in season and cheapest and cut back on eating out which typically means more expensive meals and larger portions. 

4. Make Your Home a Place of Peace

Your home is the one place where you should get the most comfort in your life. Whether you live alone or with a big family, you can turn it into a more positive and stress-free environment. Start by cleaning and removing unwanted clutter. You can sell items you don’t need to make extra cash. Then find a space in the home where you can relax and meditate. It could be a spot in the backyard, an area of the basement, or just your bed. Wherever you feel more comfortable and can find quiet is the perfect place to reflect and relax.

5. Monetize Your New Knowledge

With your new lifestyle, you can turn some of your healthy habits into a lucrative business. For example, if you developed a love for cooking, you could start an affiliate marketing blog sharing your healthy recipes and the nutrients they provide. You could open a yoga studio or freelance as a life coach. Quick tip: these days, you’ll probably be conducting a lot of your business communications on the fly, so here’s how to save an email message as a PDF and share it from your Phone.

Reaching your optimal health is a process that may take a long time. Find a doctor, practice self-care, change your diet, create a stress-free home, and maybe even start your own health-related business. Appreciate the journey and the passions you develop along the way. The more invested and dedicated you are, the more you will get from the process.

Brought to you by Common-Sense Interaction, who shares short stories using Old School thought for today’s society. Join “William (Billy) Scaggs” and let’s change the way we think today for a greater world tomorrow. Feel free to contact him directly at joinme@readcsi.com.

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short stories

Toxic, Bubbly, or Blah

A Guide to Navigate Through Your Social Circle

Author’s note: I originally wrote this as a guest post a month ago for “Wellbeing Media“. I decided to run the post now, on my site, so all of my readers can read it first hand. Furthermore, I will be adding my own pictures. If you would like to see how the original post was printed, I urge you to visit their site. They also have many other great articles to read. Tap here

      We all have them friends that are either toxic, bubbly or blah. Heck, some of us may fit into one of those categories. Actually, it’s very difficult not to fit onto one of those. All three are hard for the “well-adjusted” people to handle. Of course, who is well-adjusted anymore? It’s very difficult to find someone that doesn’t fit into one of these categories, in this day and age. The well-adjusted, or “normal”, would be those that at times can enter into all three of these categories without being stuck into one all the time. The only position the normal people should lean into more is the bubbly crowd.

Girl sitting at desk alone looking miserable and blah. Two other girls in background talking happily.

     Let’s talk for a minute about the “blah” person first and work out to the other two extremes from there. The blah person is the one that you may know that is, the most part, very boring. Never showing happiness or sadness and seems to be in the exact same place of life, at any given part of time. These people are the most reliable of the three because they are always found at the same places, at the same time, every day. If you need to talk out your own problems with someone, and just need a sounding board, these are those to seek out. These people have no true opinion, one way or the other. It’s kind of like talking to a mirror. You probably won’t get an answer to your problem from them, but instead, you talk your problem out, and find a solution for yourself. Of course, if you have good news, these are probably not the ones you want to tell it to.

Lady with a dead stare, looks like a trouble maker

      The “toxic” person is the worst type of friend to have. Although toxic, we all have this type of friend, and it’s hard not to keep them. We feel sorry for these people, and are always looking for a way to put a smile on their face (this smile rarely, if ever manifest). These people are always in the dumps and never happy. You could hand a toxic person $1,000,000, and they would think you don’t like them because you didn’t give them $1,000,001. These people could make the happiest person in the world want to give up within five minutes of conversation. Although we always want to help them, a toxic person’s only help is to help themselves. They must change their own attitude towards life, before they will ever be happy. Toxic people will not listen or change for anyone, but themselves. Another way to describe a toxic person is the “Poor ole me Syndrome“.  If you are a toxic person, I suggest you read this paragraph again and again until it sinks in!

Very happy girl sitting slumped in a chair with a big smile. Looks like a bubbly person.

     The “bubbly” person is the rarest of the three, and although sometimes they are too much to handle, these are wonderful people to know. These people bring joy to others and are a blessing to all they meet. Never showing a downside to anything. Bubbly people have a love for life in their hearts and don’t mind sharing with everyone. These people are the only type that can bring a smile to the blah person and make the toxic person feel good, (for a short period of time). Are you a bubbly person? If you are, then you have people wanting to be around you all the time. This may be overwhelming to you sometimes, but don’t quit being who you are, we need more of your kind in the world today.

      Lastly, there are, what I like to call the well-adjusted or, “normal” people. These are the vast majority of people on earth today. These people switch between all three at different times. Usually, these people change according to those they are around. If you are one of these, I suggest trying to stay around the blah and bubbly people as much as possible. Try to stay away from the toxic folks if you have a problem with becoming who they are when in their vicinity.

GIF of a woman changing emotions and deciding which to choose to be normal

      My question for you today is, which type of person are you? Is there a category that you would rather be then where you are now? The change is most definitely possible, however, going from a toxic person to a bubbly person is a huge jump! If you are toxic and want to change, I suggest working on being a blah person first, then working towards bubbly. Going from toxic to bubbly in a single leap might just overload your system, and scare the heck out of those that know you.

      I hope this helps in some small way of assisting you in discovery of yourselves. It is possible to change, if you wish to do so. I don’t have a lot of hope for the middle age to elderly people who are toxic, but anything is possible. Take care, my friends and remember, we are all in this together.

Categories
short stories

Life’s a Vacation

What kind of vacation are you planning to have?

      Think of life as a vacation. When we are born, the vacation starts. At first, it seems like this vacation will last for a very long time. However, as we grow older, our vacation soon speeds up and will all too soon be over. The hardest thing about the greatest gift (life or shall we say vacation) is we never know when it will end. Like any extended vacation, there will be ups and downs that we will go through.

       This vacation starts out great, with nothing to do but enjoy the playtime. Soon, as we grow a little older, we must pay our dues, so we can continue to enjoy our vacation. If we don’t work hard, the vacation soon starts to fall apart. We can no longer enjoy the finer things without putting in the work. If you want to be enrolled in your college of choice one day, you must put in the work to add that to your itinerary. The first thing that is thought of when someone says college is the money it cost. You may have wealthy parents to foot the bill, but you still have to keep them grades up, not only to get in, but to stay once you are there. How about being able to visit a different part of this great park, we call earth. The money must be saved and spent to visit different countries. You may need to learn different languages and customs to be able to stay for an extended amount of time. This all comes down to, how much do you want it, and are you willing to put in the work to get it?

      Most people think of the one or two week vacations you get after you have worked a job for a year. If we think of life as a vacation, then we are working many years to enjoy it until we leave. This vacation can be as good or bad as we make it. This can truly be a lifelong wonderful vacation, if we want it to be. We can also have a miserable vacation, if we allow ourselves to let it be.

Two small children talking, one in wheelchair and one sits in chair

      Here is a thought for you to put into perspective, why are people that are born with disabilities, usually the happiest people to meet? These people accomplish more and enjoy life more than the fully functioning person out there. Maybe, just maybe, they see life as a vacation they have been granted. This thing we call life, most people don’t think of more than just a struggle, but those with afflictions (who should be the ones complaining), are those that find the good things about life and live it to the fullest. These people truly enjoy life because they can see what a gift they have been given. They also know to make the best of it before their vacation runs out. Why can’t we all see life in this way? Why take this gift and make it a nightmare? The breath of life is a gift, if you want to believe it or not.

        The middle of our vacation is the hardest. This is the part of the vacation we must work, not only for our own vacation, but for our families as well. As a man, I can say with all honesty, once my children started being born, all I thought about was them. I didn’t worry about me anymore, I wanted to make sure they had a better life (vacation) than me. Children make us want to work harder, so they may have the better things in life. If we are to have the nice homes, cars and family to put into our vacation, we must be willing to sacrifice a great deal for the reward. We, along with our significant other, might have to put aside what we want, in order for our children to do better than we did.

William Scaggs holding his grandson
I’m a proud grandfather holding my grandson

      As you get older and look into your grandchildren’s eyes, you can see what you have passed down into their vacations. Furthermore, we become older, and our vacation is coming to an end. Did we get to see and do all the things we wanted to earlier in life? You would probably answer no to this question. So, if we didn’t get to enjoy the whole park (or world) did we at least get to enjoy most of life up to this point? If your answer to this is no, then it’s make-up time before the park closes. Few people get to visit even half of the park. The question is, did you get to enjoy the part of the park you have seen? Are you happy with the part of the park you are at? Can you be content to finish the rest of your vacation where you are, with happiness in your heart? If the answer is yes, then you, my friend, have been successful in life and your vacation has been wonderful indeed! If you have answered no to this question, then maybe it’s time for a few changes. You have worked hard all through life, and you deserve to end your vacation on a high note.

      Let’s take a for instance and look at what you believe should be the high point of leaving this vacation. Have you been saving your money for that rainy day, but always wanted to go on a cruise? It is a good thought to be prepared, but if you are just holding money with no more reason than, if something should happen, you are letting your vacation slip away. I’m not saying to spend your life savings, but don’t just rot away on that old couch, either. Enjoy some of what you have worked so hard for. It’s a fact that you can’t take that money with you, it will stay at the park when you’re gone. You may be saving it for your loved ones to have, but you should have rights to some of it, shouldn’t you? Your loved ones should want you to enjoy the park before it closes. They are working on their own vacations, and what you leave them should be considered a bonus, not a fully paid vacation.

       So let’s look back at what life is. Life is a vacation that we have no idea how long it will last. If life is a vacation, then we must work hard to make it the best vacation that we can. If we want to make the best of our vacation and truly enjoy this great park, (earth) we better do the best we can every day and not wait. Those that wait, may miss a ride if the park should close before they decide to enjoy it. Our families are also here on vacation, and we must help them make the best of the park as well. If you want to accomplish something that you have dreamed of, don’t put it off too long, or the park may close on you before you can.

Lady, with arms spread, looking at the beach

       This maybe the wildest way to look at life like a vacation, but isn’t better than thinking of life as a struggle? There is good and bad here at the park we call earth, but searching for the good is better than accepting the bad. We have no idea how long we will live. When your number is up, it’s up and that’s it. No matter how bad things are right now, if you look for the good, life is better. The world is not a perfect place, and we must overcome many obstacles, but overcome them and move on. Don’t give up when you’re down, keep getting up and go again. Let’s make life the best vacation ever!

Categories
short stories

Tips on Drawing on Your Inner Strength

Written by special guest Julia Mitchell of  outspiration.net for Common-Sense Interaction.

Emerge Stronger and More Resilient Than Ever

Woman writer in her office typing on computer
Image via Pexels

If your desire is to not only achieve more for yourself in this life, but also to grow in ways you never imagined, you’ll likely have to dig deep and draw strength from those reserves you never knew you had. Here are some helpful tips from outspiration.net on how to achieve that level of growth you always knew you were capable of.

Practice self-care more often

If you want to achieve more and be more, then you must be willing to put in the time to take care of yourself first. Some would even argue that without self-care, you aren’t likely to make it as far because you forget about the most crucial person in your growth journey – you!

Breaking out of your comfort zone

Perhaps the one thing that’s limiting you from achieving your dreams is your current career, in which case now may be the perfect time to step out to pursue that dream job you’ve always wanted. But first, you’ll probably have to think of redoing your resume to put your best self out there. Speaking of, you can create a phenomenal-looking resume from scratch with a resume builder if you’re stuck for inspiration. Just select a suitable template online and add your information, your photo, the relevant colors, etc.

Tidying up your home

Two ladies putting on rubber gloves to clean the house

The condition of your home could also be something that’s hindering your personal growth due to bad energy that’s just sapping every ounce of creativity out of you. If this is the case, then it may be beneficial to rid your home of any bad energy by decluttering and tidying up to create a clutter-free, more inspirational environment.

Reaching for the stars

Suppose you feel like one of the few ways to achieve the growth you’ve never known before is to reach for the stars to test your true capabilities. For example, you may think that starting your own business is the key to your success. Furthermore, you’ll need to choose a business structure that has success written all over it, such as an LLC, for instance, because its benefits such as greater flexibility, lesser paperwork, and the fact that it has more tax advantages stand out to you as a recipe for success. Just be sure that if you decide to start an LLC, you check what the filing regulations are in your state, as the rules and requirements can change from place to place.

Thinking more positively

Focus on what you’re thinking about if you want to change the course of your future. While this may seem like a piece of advice that’s too good to be true, it is helpful advice that could end up fast tracking your quest for personal growth quicker than you thought possible. Moreover, thinking positively leaves little room to think negatively, something you should avoid if you don’t want to be held back.

Adopt better habits

Lady eating a bowl of fruit to stay healthy

Suppose some habits in your life could be changed for the better, then you should focus on identifying these, so you can adapt and change them for the better. For example, you might find it challenging to get up on time, and the day just seems to slip away from you timewise. Then make it a habit to wake up earlier at the sound of your alarm clock, so you can get to more and be more productive during the day. Or perhaps it’s unhealthy eating that’s your downfall, or not exercising enough, in which case you need to take those steps towards a positive and healthier lifestyle. Reaching your goals growth-wise is sure to be quite the journey. But you’re likely to appreciate your efforts, especially when you emerge more robust, resilient, and capable than ever.

Categories
short stories

Perspectives and Perceptions throughout society

      Perspectives and perceptions are different in life for everyone. As one person sees something as the correct way, another may view it as completely wrong. This could be due to the way we are raised, or to the society we are associated with. If you move from one society to another, is it not true, your views of the way you see things change as much as the society changes? Your perspective or perception of the way you view things may and usually do change as you get older. The question becomes whether this is due to age and wisdom, or to the different society we become associated with as age creeps in? I would like to think of it as a wisdom change, however,  there are many factors to consider.

Married man and woman show their wedding rings

       These differences of how we see things will show up between male and female as well. This is probably the one that most individuals see as the biggest difference. Since a male tends to think using only logic, and a female thinks mostly with feelings, this falls in bold print on the wall of different perceptions and perspectives. This may be why a strong marriage can conquer anything that comes up within it, while a weak marriage can be destroyed in a very short time. (As I have mentioned in an earlier post, love can only take a marriage so far. Other factors must come into effect to make it work). Don’t get mad at me, the difference in the way males and females think has been scientifically proven. I’m just the messenger, my friends.

      Now, we have seen the different perspectives and perceptions of individuals. However, this difference in how we see things goes much deeper, but nobody seems to pick up on it. Let’s take another simple situation, and see how different perspectives and perceptions show in our everyday society. A person is brought up on charges for a crime that involves a jury, lawyers and a judge. All evidence is brought forward and shown to the jury as well as the judge. The lawyers involved will take the same evidence and use it in completely different ways to sway the jury and judge in two different directions. The jury will find the defendant either guilty or not guilty. Let’s say, for the sake of argument, the jury finds the defendant guilty. During the time the jury is in discussions, there are twelve different perceptions and perspectives that come together to come up in agreement to the conclusion of guilt. The judge now has to decide what the punishment will be, and uses his/her perspective and perception for the punishment of the crime. The defendant has now been found guilty and punishment is set by many perceptions and perspectives.

Judge writes while listening to Lawyers form arguments about case
Male lawyer works on case
Female lawyer studies case

       Here comes the kicker in our case from above. If, for instance, there are different lawyers, a jury and a judge, trying the same case, the defendant may receive a different punishment, or even found innocent. Even though the evidence is exactly the same, the difference in the people involved will see the case with different perspectives and perceptions. Wow, isn’t that something to think about?

      Now let’s stretch this perception and perspective idea even farther. Within the United States, where I am now, each state has different views of how we should live and deal with the surrounding society. Each state has different laws, and society can be completely different from one state to the next. A person that lives in California has a different perspective and perception of how things should be done than someone that lives in Tennessee. Northern states view society different from Southern states, and so on.

      If we go even farther and look into religion or politics, the views can stretch to the moon and back! If we go into different countries, we see perceptions and perspectives that are vastly different from one to the other. So does that mean perspectives and perceptions play a part in wars between countries?

Female holding a world globe

      I believe if we were to look at the other person’s perception and perspective, we could learn to live a more peaceful existence. Instead of trying to push what we see as correct, we look at how and why someone else’s opinions are different. The old saying goes, “Walk a mile in my shoes”. This saying should be studied in more depth, and maybe we would, could get along with our neighbors. These neighbors could be considered anywhere from someone who lives next door to someone who lives on the other side of the planet. We are all human, and we all have our own brains to use to connect with each other. Where are these views when it comes to dealing with someone that has a different perception or perspective of things than you? Could it be possible for countries to use this simple method to look for peace instead of war?

      I know there will be different perceptions and perspectives of what I have written, and this is my point being played out right in front of us in black and white. Some will say this is plain fluff, and I’m just full of it. Others will see what is written, and start putting more thought into this process. Either way, I respect your opinion, and I won’t take a side one way or the other with you. All I’m doing is putting information out there for you to think about. I have my own perceptions and perspectives of the way I believe and see what is correct, however, if I were to push my side, I would lose half my readers. I plan to keep all of you with me as I write my posts, I hope by standing off to the side, and not taking a side, my readership will grow.

      I hope you have enjoyed this post, and I look forward to the discussion this will bring. I will warn you, by taking one side and posting it for others to see, there will be someone taking an opposing side. Furthermore, I just ask for everyone to show consideration for others and keep your responses clean in nature. If you use foul language, I will change such words before your response will be posted, however, all responses will be posted. All are welcome, just keep it family friendly. Thank you, my friends, I will write again soon.

Categories
short stories

C.S.I blog origins

      I have said this a few times within my writing and even in my profile, within a couple of places these post show up. Yet, I have not told the whole story of how and why this website (readcsi.com) came about. As I sit here trying to figure out what I should post about for you, my readers. I have decided to tell the story of how this blog came about. This may or may not be something that interests you, and either way is okay. Since this blog is starting to gain steam, I think it’s time to share. You may not see it on your end, but some things have happened recently, that is about to affect my writing in a good way. As a matter of fact, I may be expanding my writing to include another website where I will be working on short fictional stories. I also have some surprises coming to Common-Sense Interaction that I believe will be good for the old school thought movement going forward! Without further rambling, let me dive into my story.

       Some of you may know that I was injured while working in a copper mine. If you don’t, that’s alright and not of importance at this time. That’s a story I may write about in the future. The main takeaway is that because of this accident,  I became disabled and unable to continue to work. After so many years of working, I became what I feared of as a useless man. That was my first mistake, I had never become useless, that fluff was all in my head. I felt the world come tumbling down around my ears, and I was putting undue stress upon my family as well. The doctors preformed this treatment and that treatment with little result. Finally, it was decided this was something I would have to live with for the rest of my life.

        The pain was pretty bad, and I was prescribed morphine for it. I was in and out of doctor’s appointments, and I was prescribed a higher and higher amount of morphine. With this drug, I got to the point of being a blubbering idiot. I didn’t know if I was coming or going. I was driving my family crazy and I couldn’t see why. Furthermore, I didn’t realize how bad that opioid was making me. What made sense to me was gibberish to everyone around me. The worst part was, the drug didn’t help the pain at all. I was basically a jellyfish sitting in front of the television all the time. (Talk about useless, there it was).

Man acting drugged

       Finally, I got off morphine (I went cold turkey. One day on, the next day off for good) with help from my family a great physician and psychologist at the Veterans administration. It was a surprise to find the help that I needed at the VA. Once I was myself again without the opioid poison coursing through my veins, I once again wanted to be of help somewhere. I couldn’t work at a normal job, (for me) and I wasn’t ready to lie down and quit. My wife helped me start a small farm to keep me busy. What I could do, I would and what wasn’t possible, my daughter’s helped me with.

       I have always been a nighttime person, but after the accident, this became acute insomnia. Watching television night after night became boring and it wasn’t helping my IQ any either. I needed something to keep my mind busy and off my pain. Finally I starting writing a little. I started with a personal blog (The Billy thoughts) and it got me nowhere. I’m not the kind of person to do something without making it better than before. I wanted others to read my stories and if nothing else, feel sorry for me. I know that’s horrible, but that’s where I was at during this time of life. So, I decided to start writing of my experiences and things that I had learned through my life. I wrote a few things, had my wife look over them to check for spelling and punctuation errors, and posted them on my new blog Common-Sense Ideology). People started reading and I found out, I was helping others as much as myself. What once was personal therapy, now was therapy for others as well!

Man typing on a laptop holding a note pad

I continue to make small post on my blog, and the more I wrote, the more people read. It was such a surprise that I started getting excited. I have always been good at teaching others hands on work, but teaching through my little post about life skills, who knew? All of a sudden, I’m no longer writing for myself, I’m writing for my readers. I have to get busy and make this something to be proud of. I worked on different little things, like colors and making different pages. Furthermore, I looked at the name Common-Sense Ideology, which was the whole name to log in with (Commonsenseideology.com) and thought, something isn’t right. On my page, it actually said CSI because I thought I could get some alien chasers to my blog. I did it as a joke, but it caught on! Then as I was reading the definitions of common sense and Ideology, I discovered they were complete opposite. They worked against each other and made me look like a moron.

I still wanted to keep CSI, but needed to change what the “I” would mean. I literally got out a dictionary and started going down all the words starting with the letter “I”. This may be simple for you, but for me, it took many hours to decide what to go with. I finally decided to go with “Interaction”, and it seemed to fit. So now my paid domain would read “Commonsenseinteraction.com”. Still seemed wrong, too damn long. While I started thinking what to do to fix that, I decided I needed a catchphrase, and it hit me like a ton of bricks. “Old School thought” was exactly what I wanted. It all fit, except for the outrageously long domain name. It took me three months to come up with something simple for others to remember. And so “readcsi.com” was born! I still kept the “CSI” that I wanted and came to be known by. Short, simple and to the point, I had it all figured out.

Now the only thing left was a logo to fit all my ideas into. How hard could it be? Crap, a lot harder than I thought! I’ve had a few different avatars. (see avatars at bottom of post) Some looked okay, some looked terrible! Six months and I finally made one I like. I sure hope you like it as well because I’m not changing it again, too much writing to do to worry about anything else. I will continue to update my site and welcome any ideas you might want to shoot my way.

Well, if you kept reading to this point, I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart. As I said before, there are a lot of exciting things on the way, possibly even a sister site. Thank you for reading and being a part of this community. If you haven’t signed up for emails, you are welcome to join this community for free. Let’s get together and spread “Old School thought” using “Common Sense” with our “Interaction” and watch it grow! Stay tuned and take care, my friends. Great things are on the way!!!

First attempt at blog avatar
Forth attemp at blog avatar
Fifth attempt at blog avatar
Sixth attempt at blog avatar
Seventh attempt at blog avatar
Final blog avatar for C.S.I
Categories
poetry short stories

She said yes

  • I bought her a house
  • She made me a home
  • She gives of herself
  • I’ve no need to roam
  • I give her my seed
  • She gives me a child
  • I pound on my chest
  • She calms me with smile
  • I’m never in dark
  • She is my light
  • If not for her, mess I’d be
  • I give thanks each day
  • She said yes to me
Married couples hands showing their wedding rings
For my wife “Nicole“
Categories
short stories

I’m Enjoying a Happy Day Today!

     Today, I can say, will be a happy day!

     Do you feel as though you are in an endless cycle of time? You wake up, go to work, go home, eat dinner, go to bed and then start all over again. Unless it’s the weekend, days just seem to drone on. The weekend goes by like a flash, then back to work we go. I’m not saying that you don’t enjoy your job, but isn’t there more to life? Of course there is! The problem is, most people never find out what life’s about until age becomes a factor that slows the process down, yet tends to speed time up. The time on the clock doesn’t actually speed up, but it does feel like it as we grow in age. We want to savor everything more, and yet there is no time left to do so. We have wasted so much time while young, that we try to catch up in our later years. These are things we all will experience and learn from. We must learn to be happy with the time we are in to truly enjoy what time we have left.

Retired husband and wife enjoying the day together with a cup of coffee

     Why do things appear to be so different when retirement shows up? When we are working, we look forward to retirement. When we retire, we wish we once again were back at work. This may not be the feelings of all who read this, but a great majority will agree with me. We rush through life to that small part of our life when it becomes available,  then we take a look back. All of our conversations start by talking of things in our past.

      When will civilization figure out to enjoy the part of life we are in, and stop trying to rush though it? I myself ended up retiring early because of an accident at work that left me disabled. Every day I think of how it was to go to work, and do what I was so good at. Here I am, retired, and yet my enjoyment seems to be in the past. I tell my stories of things I did, and witnessed back then. I forget to enjoy the day that I’m in. Furthermore, I wonder if my best days of happiness and being of use are behind me. There seems to be a fog, or veil in front of me with the sun always at my back. I’m not a rich man, so I can’t go do things I would like to do. All the time I have wasted to get to this point, and the best I can think of is what movie I may watch. When did I lose the enjoyment of life?

      Then there are days like today. Nothing is really different except for my perception of the things around me. I walk outside and there is a light breeze with small clouds moving through the sky. Birds are singing and the leaves on the trees are rustling. What is different about today? Why is it today I feel so alive and happy? Were these same things happening yesterday and the day before? Yes, almost exactly as today. Why then is today such a happy day? Why is my heart beating a little faster? Why today, I ask myself, why today? For all the questions I ask myself, the answers are in my perspective of how I will greet this day.

      Today is different from yesterday, for I am different today. My perception of things around me has changed today. I am happy, because I choose to be happy. I am enjoying today, because I choose to enjoy it. Furthermore, I am living to the fullness of life today. It is a beautiful day. Today, I am a happy person in all parts of my life. I write to you, and I can almost feel your eyes upon these words, and I feel the wander in your thoughts. The more I write, the more I feel a little more of my soul being poured out over these words. Will I be this happy tomorrow? This I will decide tonight. Should I be as happy as I am today, tomorrow? The answer is completely up to me. If I choose to be happy, I will start the day happy, and that is the way it should be. Most of the time, our feelings are in our control, this does not hold true 100% of the time, but I would venture to say, 85% of the time, we feel how we want to at any given moment in life.

There are always variables, such as a sudden death in the family. This may throw your feelings into a tailspin. However, if you started the day choosing the more positive approach, you will be able to handle this tragedy with a clear mind. Whereas, if you started with the negative, you may fall into a place with no sense of direction. Your feelings were already in the toilet, and when the tragedy hit, you just flushed them. One scenario allows you to function, while the other has you with a complete loss of control. In both instances you are sad for your loss, but in the positive case, you are able to help others instead of being the basket case needing help. How you start out the day is in your control, and nobody can choose this for you. You have a decision to make, what shall you choose?

Are you willing to wake up happy tomorrow, or will you choose to have a rotten day tomorrow? Things may go bad tomorrow, but if you choose to start off in a good mood, you can weather the storm. On the other hand, if you decide it’s going to be a rotten day, it will be a terrible day. And what if something great happens tomorrow? If you have chosen rotten already, you won’t be able to enjoy it because you have already decided it is going to be bad. Negative people rarely have a good day because they choose not to. On the opposite side, a positive person has very few bad days because they choose not to have them. Am I getting through to you yet?

Lady smiling at herself in a mirror

      Life is too short to live it, one miserable day at a time. Try to make it a happy day, and see how much better things can be, even if there are bumps along the way. Let’s all have a great day tomorrow and continue this trend every day. If you want a little saying to help you, just remember, positive thoughts will lead you to positive things, whereas, negative thoughts can only lead to negative things! Take care, my friends, and stay positive. There are better things in store for you tomorrow.

Categories
poetry short stories

Choices

  • Reach for the stars, all shiny and bright
  • Stuck on the earth, so firm it holds all weight
  • Fly like the eagle far up amongst the clouds
  • Slither with the snake under foot on the ground
  • Life carries on with day and with night
  • Living and dieing, where do we end our plight
  • Our lives will carry destiny with the choices we make
Homor Simpson with good angel on one shoulder and bad angel on the other
Which one will you follow?
Categories
short stories

Sometimes love isn’t enough

       People fall in love and usually get married soon after. Is love the leading factor in marriage? Of course, it is, but is love the only thing that is needed in a marriage to make it work? This I believe would be a hard no! There are many other factors that are necessary to make a marriage work and last.

Man and woman just married, embraced

       What are the factors that add up to a good marriage and are needed to hold it together. As we grow and change as people, do we need more than what was first given? How are we able to hold the vow of better or worse till death? When the worse shows its ugly self, do we have what it takes to stay within that vow? As the marriage grows in age, what once was plenty, now is not enough.

       A married couple that has been together for many years, know each other’s good and bad sides. The problem lies where the bad tends to grow faster in one’s soul if not taken into great depths of consideration. There may be something that he/she did that was cute when you first married, but now becomes a thorn in your side.

      Many long term marriages end and both the husband and wife will say, “We just grew apart.” Is this reality, or is this just a way of saying they no longer have any new to look forward to? It’s like working on an assembly line putting that one little part in a toy over and over again, a million times. After the hundred-thousandth time, you tend to get bored. Where do we go from here when it’s the same routine with no end?

      If you don’t keep your marriage fresh, it will wither and die like the lettuce in your refrigerator. When it gets to that point, do you continue and let the love die the same way everything else in the union has, or do you allow your partner to leave with love still a factor? The song by the “Beatles” states, “all you need is love”, but we must remember, it’s just a song and doesn’t fit real life.

        So where are the answers that we need to continue what so long ago was wonderful and fresh? This is not an easy question to answer, but if you wish to keep things together, it must involve both sides to want it. If one side decides, the marriage must end, the other side is better off to let them go. Holding on will just cause more problems when the time has finally come to call it quits.

Married man and woman, both with crossed arms, discussing divorce

      Have you quit doing the things that made your significant other fall in love with you in the first place? If this is true, and you want to save your marriage, it’s time to bring those things back into existence. This is not a guarantee by any means, but it is better than giving up what you don’t wish to lose. Is there one cheating on the other? In this case, the marriage has already headed into the depths of destruction, and the chances of a reconciliation is extremely hard. It is very difficult for the other side to e ever trust him/her again, ever!

      All marriages go through rough patches, and only the strong survive. People are naturally selfish and want what best for themselves. The hardest marriages to keep connected, are those where the two people are of different religions. This puts a great weight on the marriage and there must be a true respect for one another, more so than those of the same religion.

      Once married, the two become one and, if you do not believe this, your marriage is already on the rocks. If one tries to have control of the other, this is slavery, not marriage. This is where people make their biggest mistake. It’s all even between the two until the honeymoon is over, then both wish to have control. If this is you, you are already failing in your marriage. This is something to be thought of before you ever get married. Are you willing to share your life with this other person, and are they willing to share theirs with you?

       Arguments are going to happen, but abuse should never even cross your thinking, even during the worst argument. Abuse can be physical as well as mental. Belittling your spouse is almost as bad as striking them. Have you ever considered this?

       So love is a huge part of marriage, but there are other aspects to it. You must think through all aspects if you wish to celebrate your twenty-fifth or fifty anniversary. It’s a long haul with many bumps along the way. A long marriage consists of two strong people willing to give, even when you would rather take. And last of all, if there are kids involved, don’t ever make them feel they had anything to do if a divorce is immediate. Make sure you both are civil with one another when you are around the kids. Also, don’t ever say anything bad about your ex, or soon to be ex, to your children. This is the number one course of action to follow.

Woman and man's hand together shows wedding bands

I have now been married for twenty-one plus years, and we have found a way to make it work through the good times and bad. Marriage takes work and complete respect for each other. Without this, we would never have lasted five years, guarantee. When I started writing this post, I was deep in an argument with my beloved. I can say the finishing touches of this post has ended with the argument over and peace in our household. If you wish to ask, which one of us won the argument, the answer is both of us. We are one and will be until death do us part.

I hope I find all of you that are married, or thinking of marriage, in good spirits and with peace in your home. If there are those reading this that are going through a divorce, I wish you well, and I hope you both find what you are looking for. Take care and God bless.

Categories
poetry short stories

Mr. Shadow Man

Man standing on a pier, looking at his long shadow
Sometimes it takes some darkness to appreciate the light

Mr. Shadow man…. I turn, and you are there, watching my every move. I cannot hide unless the darkness envelops me. The world keeps moving, spinning to and fro. I try to follow, but am slowed in curiosity of the one who watches my every move.

How can I be alone when you are always there? I do wrong and you show the world. All I want is to be myself, but you won’t leave me alone. Who am I? Am I your shadow, or are you mine? Am I in control, or just a figment of my own imagination? Why do you keep an eye on me, even when I’m not watching you?

Are you the darkness swallowing me whole for my wrongful deeds, or will you lead me to a better world? With strength of heart, I continue, even with thoughts that follow my every move. I will try to do right with hopes you will go away.

Am I a part of you, or are you the part that rules? Are you my shadow or am I yours, Mr. Shadow man?

Categories
short stories

A Writer’s life within

     Only a writer knows what he/she will put down on paper. Whether it is fact or fiction, the writer must enter the pages before a word is even spelled out. To live in a writer’s mind would be unnerving to most. To take all the threads of thought and be able to string them together for the reader to understand, is a miracle in itself. How do these people function in the outside world with so much yet to be written? How do we put aside our writer’s thoughts to function outside the pages of his/her next great work spelled out for you, the reader.

Man typing on old typewriter
Trying to put emotions into words

      The paragraph above has truly been in my thoughts, as I to live in a writer’s world now. Before the accident that sidelined my career, I myself could never string two sentences together to help someone understand what I was thinking. I would’ve never been able to allow someone to look into my thoughts on any given subject, whether fact or fiction. Why now then am I able to do so? Why can I now paint a picture in someone’s mind using nothing but the words I put into print? I have a lot to learn to write a book and keep my audience engaged, but I can write short stories and keep my readers’ attention throughout.

     I have always been a good talker, (some would suggest, I am way too good at it) I can tell a story in casual conversation and make you feel as though you are living it as I speak. But, to write something and get the same reaction, now that’s a lot harder to accomplish. For you see, when I write, I have to imagine your expressions while you read. I cannot see how you are taking my stories while you are engaging in them. Face to face, I can adjust my emotions to help you get more from the story. But, when I write the story down, I can only use the words, without facial expression and imagine how you are taking my words in. How you are understanding what I am trying to explain is different and difficult.

     Everyone has their own imagination and without the help of the writers emotions being seen, how can I decide what words to use. Is there a universal set of words that all will understand? So what changed for me to be able to get through to you using only my thoughts and written words? I have found my answer to these questions, that satisfy my own mind, but I can’t speak for other writers and their thoughts on this subject.

Man studying papers at a desk, deep in thought
Finding the right words to use

     My adaptability to using the words on a page comes from speaking to myself within myself. I use my inner thoughts as an audience to my writing. I do ask a couple of family members to read some of my post before I publish them, so I can see their emotions as they read. This usually gives me confidence, however, I do get a feeling sometimes, they are just being kind. It takes the person I don’t know to give me a review before my confidence really goes up. I have also learned a lot from my wife with how to write down an idea and to explain it. (I am very thankful for her help) I have since moved on to using my own ways, whether they are correct or not.

      I began to have a lot of time within my own mind after my accident. I have gone through a bout of self pity, but have used that to help others. Depression has been a great part of dealing with myself, and I have been able to turn that into a positive through my written words. As I write, I feel a power of positivity flow through me and into my hands. This flow is what you are reading in my post. Depression is completely gone as long as I am writing.

     All in all, I have decided, the reason I have been able to write the way I do is simple. I have learned to spend more time inside my own thoughts and less time outside my own head. We all talk to ourselves from time to time, but I spend hours in deep conversations with myself, although not showing it on the outside. If I were to have my conversations with myself out loud, I would be writing with crayons inside a sanatorium. Best to keep my conversations quite, I think.

     I would like to hear how other writers are able to do what they do, or if they even know. Does it just come natural to some, most or all of them? Am I the freak amongst the crowd, or am I on the normal side of things with how I write? Of course, if this is normal, I worry about the great “Stephen King“. I would be afraid to discuss with myself in terms of the things he writes. I believe that would drive me insane. Furthermore, I know I will never be a great writer like Mr. King, but the thought that he discusses things with himself, the way I do, would be intriguing to know.

      I’m being selfish with this post because, it has been written as much for me as for my readers. I have been reading many post from many authors about anything and everything. As I read other post, it came to me about how they are able to write as they do. Are we the same, or am I a loose cannon? I would love to hear thoughts from other authors on this subject. Do you also talk to yourself and read to yourself to figure out how your audience will respond? Are the things you write about already a part of you, or do you have to go outside your mind to get your stories? Give me some answers here, so that I can better understand how I came about this ability to connect with others using printed words.

Bearded man in straight jacket yelling
Crazy to have conversations with one’s self?

     I suppose, if some guys with white suits show up at my door offering me a jacket with sleeves that tie in the back, I will have my answer of going crazy or not. Just in case, I won’t give you my address for now. Well, that’s it for now. I look forward to reading your thoughts. If you are an author, let me know if you write fiction or non-fiction and how you come up with your writing abilities. Take care, my friends. Until next time, remember, we are all in this together.

Categories
short stories

Monsoons are blowing in Arizona

      Anyone, that hasn’t lived in Arizona through monsoon season, has no idea of the heavy rains we encounter this time each year. The only thing that is thought of when mentioning Arizona is hot and dry desert. Although we do have extreme heat in the middle to southern parts of the state, we also have snow up north, lots of mountains all over, and yes, heavy rains!

Monsoon cloud builds up in Arizona, looks like smoke from volcano
These are monsoon clouds building up. Looks almost like smoke from a volcano photo by “Brett Scaggs”
Lightning strikes during late night storm
Great lightning shows this time of year. Photo by “Brett Scaggs“

     The monsoons add another layer to our weather that is interesting, to say the least. 110 °F with super high humidity and flash flooding is what we look forward to each year around July. These rains come in fast, hard and heavy. Afterwards, in a short period of time when the rain stops, water disappears as fast as it showed up. The sand sucks it into the ground as though a great mouth had opened up and took a big drink of it. The only way you can see that the water had been running like a river down your street, is by the debris that is left behind. Things such as branches from trees, sand, gravel, rocks, cacti and palm leaves can be seen wherever the water ran.

Multiple views of Dripping Springs Wash running like a river after monsoon rain photos by “Brett Scaggs“

      Most people would think, we had a man-made river running, where nothing but sand had been a few minutes before. We have what we call washes here, that are like creeks, only with few rocks (mostly sand and shrubs) and no water to be found for most of the year. When the monsoons hit, these washes become full-blown rivers for a short period of time.

Video of flooded wash after monsoon in Arizona. Presented by Brett Scaggs

      It happens every year that some people get their cars and trucks stuck, (if not taken down the wash) because they don’t realize or believe the water could be that deep and run that hard in such a short span of time. These are usually people who are spending their first year here during the monsoon season, although, there’s always that one idiot, with no common sense, that thinks this time they can make it across. This is in the middle of the desert and yet, you would think we were down by the Atlantic coast for a little while. Even though these rains can do a lot of damage, by the time the monsoon season is upon us, we are ready for some water. Not necessarily that much that quick, but anything to break up the heat and bring the desert back into full bloom. The cacti spring to life and creatures, big and small, breathe a sigh of relief from the hot sands beneath their feet. The underground water tables are once again filled, and we can look towards the thing we all want to see come soon, …. Winter!

Dark monsoon clouds breaking up at dusk
Monsoon clouds that are breaking up after a big rain photo by “Brett Scaggs”

     We have a lot of people that like to spend their winters here to get away from the harsh winters in their own state. We call these “Snow birds“. Once the heat starts to rise, they pack up and head back to their home states. Quite a few will love it here so much, they will decide to make Arizona home. We have people from all over the map move here and after their first year, the same question always comes up, “What happened to Spring and Fall?” Those of us who know, will smile and simply say, “Other than about three weeks a year, we are either in Summer or Winter”. Do we have Spring and Fall? According to the seasons on the calendar, yes we do, according to temperatures, no, we really don’t feel that to be true. We like to believe so, but when we walk outside, Mother Nature just laughs and laughs.

Sunset after storm in Arizona. Clouds look almost on fire
Arizona sky at sunset after the storm    Photo by “William Glen Snelgrove”

      So if you want to know a little more about Arizona, watch the Weather Channel for the next two months. Who knows, you might get a glimpse of me floating by on your television screen. I’m just kidding, I know better than to cross a flooded wash, and I don’t own a boat. Take care my friends, stay safe wherever you are, and I will try to stay dry in the Grand Canyon State!

     If you enjoyed this post, you need to listen or read this one from July of last year Press here

Categories
short stories

Quit trying to be someone else!

Sun peaks through the bottom of clouds. "Be the leader that shines for others to follow" by Brett Scaggs

      We all have our heroes, but you need to be you. Quit imitating others, you are the only you there has ever been or will ever be. You are special and need to figure that out today.

      Do you have any idea what makes a leader? A leader is their own person and has ultimately figured this little piece of the world out about themselves. Followers are those that are still trying to figure out who they are and where they belong. Once a follower decides to be who they are, they are no longer followers. They have now become leaders and the followers will come, mark my words.

Twin women standing on opposite sides of wall. Both are individuals, but one is trying to be more like the other.

      There is nothing wrong with looking up to someone, but don’t go as far as wanting to be them. (The only people that can pull this off and not look ridiculous are twins, even though, they too are individuals who should follow their own path.) If you try to be them, you are a follower who is just an imitation and have yet to find yourself. Everyone has something special about them, the trick is to find out what is special about you. Once you have figured that out, you can step out of the shadow of someone else and lead a fuller life.

      Being a leader does have its downside. As a leader, you start to see others imitating you, so you have to try very hard not to put a step wrong. As a follower, nobody pays attention to you, you are just another face in the crowd. You have no significance as far as others see you. This may work for you, but for most of us, it’s better to have a little pressure put on us to be known as someone and not a nobody.

      Are you ready to step up and step into who you are, or will you continue to be someone else’s shadow? Nobody can answer that question but you. I can tell you, in this day and age, we could use some more leaders. Followers are readily available, but leaders are getting harder and harder to find. I think everyone truly wants to be their own person, but they are afraid of failure. It is true that you will see failures along the way, but a true leader can weather the storm and come out better for going through the struggle.

      Let’s attack this another way and see if this helps with your decision. If you are a follower and the one who leads you fails, what happens next? If they crash and burn, you will also crash and burn with them because you are just following without making a decision for yourself. Wouldn’t it be better if you held the reins and made the decision for your own life? You may find yourself making a bad decision once in a while, but at least it was your decision, and you can learn from it. As a follower, you have no decision capabilities, along with no way of learning from the failure that you were just dragged into.

Sun sets beneath the clouds. "Be the leader that shines for others to follow" Photo by Brett Scaggs

      I personally choose to make my own decisions of who I am and in turn, have others that follow in my footsteps. I also encourage these followers to step out on their own and learn who they are. Furthermore, I have been a follower and I have been a leader, both have their ups and downs. The main reason I choose to be a leader now is because I no longer wish to follow others when they fail.

       I have no idea why I felt the need to write this post. Maybe there are a few of you that needed to hear it, or maybe it is something that I needed to hear for myself. I do know I had an overwhelming need to write this. If this is something that you needed to hear, please let me know. If you don’t want to comment for others to see, you can always email me at [joinme@readcsi.com] Thank you for reading and may all your wants and needs be met. Take care, my friends. Until next week, remember, we are all in this together.

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short stories

Faith Quote By Brene Brown: “Faith is a…”

I received this from “Elena” and had to share. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. Click link below to see more from Short Wisdom.

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Don’t let the quotes you love the most go into the forgotten corners of your mind! Use the notebooks I created and published on Amazon to keep your quotes together! PS: If you enjoy my content, I will think of you while drinking my coffee. – BuyMeACoffee And if you are interested in reading some […]

Faith Quote By Brene Brown: “Faith is a…”
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short stories

Make time for Needful things

       In today’s world, we are in such a rush that we are forgetting the most important things in life. We hurry to work, eat fast food, while time for family and friends are laid to the wayside. Is this what life is all about in society today? It sure seems that way, but is this a healthy way to live? The answer to this question would be a resounding no. If we don’t find time for the needful things in life, then what kind of life are we really living? This answer would add up to be a very empty life indeed.

Small girl sitting with a smile

       All the money in the world won’t be near as precious a gift as a smile from your child. A child’s smile is more than enough reason to find the needed time for family and friends. How many people live their whole lives working and look back from an old age, knowing they have waited a lifetime? This is such a sad existence and one that should never be lived in the first place. Did you take care of your family with all the work you did? Of course, you did, but how many birthdays did you miss because you got called into work, and you took it upon yourself to answer the phone?

       It is true that working hard for your family is very honorable, but what did you miss because of work? Don’t get me wrong, I respect a hard worker, and I’m sure your family does as well. The thing I’m talking about is the downtime to enjoy your family and friends. Do you find yourself spending all spare time in front of the television or reading all about the bad stuff happening in your newspaper? When was the last time you spent free time teaching your daughter to fly a kite? Maybe it’s something even of a shorter time, like explaining a math problem or teaching your child how to bake a cake. The key is to find time when it seems like there isn’t any to spare. If you can’t spare it now, then when?

        Using your free time wisely is extremely important! Some of this time must be used for relaxation of the mind, other parts need to be used for connecting with loved ones and friends. If you don’t find time for others, why would they find time for you later? Many people grow old alone because they didn’t have time for others earlier in life. Don’t set your life’s goals only upon working that nine to five job. Finding the downtime away from work leads to a much healthier and happier life for you as well as those around you. Why wait until that one-week vacation to find out who is important to you.

Old man sitting alone reading a book

      We live our lives sitting on a time bomb! What I mean by this is, we never know when our time is up. Some die at a very young age, while others live to be very old. Are you going to lay odds that you will have time to enjoy life later? How old will you live to be? More importantly, how long will your family and friends live to be? Will they still be around when you decide it is time to get to know them better? Furthermore, will they be willing to give you the time of day after so many years of being ignored?

     I understand, in this day and age, it is hard to make a living for your family and many friendships may be put aside because of the stresses you have to deal with every day. I also understand how important it is for us to have friends and family in our lives in a social environment.

Dog getting a pat on the head by his owner

      Let’s think of a dog for a moment. Your pet dog is a great pet because they are always happy to see you! You could leave the house and be gone ten minutes. When you return, your dog is so happy to see you that he can hardly stand still. As long as you give your dog a pat on the head or a quick scrub on the belly, your dog is happy. He is always looking for another way to get that pat or scrub. Why do we call dogs man best friend? Because they are forgiving and ready to please you anytime day or night. Now, people are very different in this nature. People have to be reminded that they are loved and needed. If you go long enough without reminding them of this love and need, they will forget and look for another place to receive these things. Dogs are loyal to their owners, but people are their own owners and only loyal to those that show loyalty to them. Are you willing to pass a time to show your family and friends your loyalty? How long do they have to wait on you? Besides, your dog tends to get more attention from you than your family and friends, even if it is only a pat on the head. This is very sad if you think about it.

       When your children were younger, do you remember how excited they were to see you, even if you had been gone only a short time? As you become too busy to spend time with them, are they still as excited or are you now just someone that lives under the same roof? There was a time when you would call your friend, and they were excited to come over for dinner. Now, when you call, they seem to have other things planned. Do you feel any of this happening in your life? If so, then it’s time to find time for others, even if it’s just a few minutes to let them know you care. Make the connection today, or live to wander later when you are alone.

Father and children holding hands and playing

       One final note, and I will let you consider if my words hold truth for you. If you don’t want to grow old alone, I suggest you take this post to heart, and do so today. Don’t wait until it is too late. Remember, people are different from dogs, besides most of us outlive our dogs. Show a need and love for your family and friends today. Tomorrow may be too late. Take care, God bless and remember, we are all in this together.

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short stories

Repair your inner core to look younger

      I have been watching and learning from people all my life. Some feel this to be normal, but I look into the thoughts and actions of people deeper than most. We all come to a point in life where, no matter what your age, want to become something we can no longer be. The older we get, the younger we try to become. This concept has engulfed most of my thoughts while studying others. Whether it’s make-up for women or lifting weights for men, we are always trying to turn back the clock of life. Let it be known, you will be a day older tomorrow, regardless how much you do today to try and change it. Once you are thirty years of age, twenty-nine is gone forever. So are we trying to turn back the clock to help others see us as we were, or are we trying to help ourselves live a long and healthy life?

     Watching people can teach you a lot about yourself, but one thing it won’t teach you is to be happy with you! You can lose the weight, run five miles a day and eat all the right things, but you are still you. If you believe losing ten more pounds will make someone love you more, you are sadly mistaken. If anyone has ever made this statement to you, then surprise, they don’t know what love is. And if you believe it, then guess what, you don’t know what love is any more than they do.

Lady with lots of make-up with scowl
Make-up doesn’t cover up meanness

In the time it has taken you to read this far, you have gained age, and nothing you can do will change that. You can make the package look better, but you are still the age you are. I have nothing against anyone that wants to improve themselves physically, but you’re not turning back the clock, you are just putting a new coat of paint on it. God Bless those that try, but remember, we are still who we are. If you were a rotten person at three hundred and fifty pounds, you are the same rotten person at two hundred pounds unless you fix the inside, not just the outside.

As I watch, most people try to do the upkeep of their bodies, not for themselves, but for others. This is a huge mistake! If you want to truly improve yourself, put as much work on your inside as you do on the outside. And some might take this wrong and yell at the screen, “I am eating right!” This has nothing to do with what I am suggesting. To fix the inside (inner core), we must fix numerous things that have nothing to do with what we eat. We must repair our attitude (positive rather than negative), humor, thought process and even something called love for our fellow humans. Do you treat others the way you wish to be treated, or just expect them to show you kindness while you treat them like dirt? Are you making people feel welcome or slamming the door in their face? These are inside things that can be fixed with less will power, than it takes to leave the cookie jar closed.

You have now gained a few more minutes of age and there’s no going back. The good news, you can change for the better and make the world a better place beginning now. It may take a long time to lose the weight. It may take a long time to be able to lift them free weights you have been staring at. But you can start making yourself a better person by the time you finish reading this post. All it takes is to decide to do it. Once you have made this decision, it will start making you a better person immediately. Do you feel good about who you are? This question has nothing to do with weight, muscles or what job you have. I ask again, do you feel good about who you are? Can you look someone in the eyes when talking to them, or do you have to look away? Are you trying to hide who you are, or are you proud of who you are?

Lady running in triathlon with smile on he face
Good inner core makes all the difference

Here’s the good news. Once you start working and repairing your inside, it will become easier to repair the outside! All of a sudden, it will be easier to lose the weight or run them five miles, if you wish. And as far as turning back the clock, the glow you put off to others will make you look much younger than what you are. We can’t turn back the clock of age. We haven’t the technology of a time machine yet. Make-up may cover the rust, but when it is taken off at night, the rust will still be there. But an inner core can be repaired and will show on the outside as though you have the ability to turn back the clock. You have the power, but do you have the will? This is my challenge I lay before you. If you should accept, I promise you will become a new you, and you don’t have to believe an infomercial to receive it. God Bless, I wish you well, and I will talk to you again next week.

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Pain dealt with using humor

     A person in pain with no sense of humor is a miserable person indeed. However, a person in pain that has a sense of humor, may still be in pain, but is able to deal with it a lot easier. Is it not true that laughter is the best medicine? Try to laugh (I don’t mean fake laugh, I mean a true laugh) and think about being miserable at the same time. Can’t do it, can you? You are trying to cause two opposite emotions to invade the same place at the same time. So a person who has a great sense of humor has a hard time not laughing at something or someone that is funny, even if he or she is in pain at the time. This in turn will, even if for just a few seconds, will allow the pain to be forgotten. This few seconds are worth a million bucks to someone who lives with pain all the time.

Laughing baby

     As someone who deals with pain on a daily basis, I am always looking for the next laugh. Heck, there are days that a small chuckle would be worth its weight in gold to me. The days that I can’t find something to laugh about are the worst days by far. Now I’m not saying I have a great sense of humor, I’m saying I have a great sense of humor for me. Everyone has a different kind of humor, but we all started out with the same kind. You heard me right, have you ever seen a baby’s first laugh? Anyone who can watch a baby laugh and not smile themselves, has completely forgotten whatever sense of humor they ever possessed. How many baby’s have you known that never laughed? I will await your answer……

Okay, I’m done waiting. We must move on now. So since we all agree that as babies, we have a sense of humor, then where did some of us lose it? Was it a bad childhood, something happened after growing up, or was it trained out of us? That is a question you must answer for yourself. I had a few years that my humor left me, it was the heartbreak of divorce. It took a few years for me to locate it again, and oh, how I missed my old friend (humor). Once I allowed my humor back into my life, my whole life returned to me. Shortly afterwards, the love of my life entered my life, and we have been married now for twenty-two years and still going strong. It was up to me to allow my humor back and because I did, the pain I once went through with heartbreak has now been replaced by the love of my life. Why must I tell you this, easy, because I want to show that it is very possible to regain the humor you may have lost somewhere along your lifespan.

After getting injured during a mining accident, even though it caused a physical pain and not heartbreak, I find my humor helpful. The days that are my worst are the ones without a good laugh. Now I look for ways to laugh every day, regardless how bad the pain is. It works, my friends, it really does!

Lady sitting in chair, with hands on her head, looking very happy.

The whole point of this post is to let you know, pain exist, and it hurts, but humor does help. No matter what you are going through in life, a little laugh now and then can only help. It most definitely won’t hurt. You don’t need to be happy all the time, and humor won’t fix a broken heart or broken bone. It will, however, make the situation a little easier to deal with. I leave you with this final thought, why not take humor for a spin and see if it helps you? Take care my friends and remember to smile, besides it takes more muscles in your face to frown.

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short stories

No longer 10 feet tall and bulletproof

      I am reminded every day, as I get older, of my wild and crazy youth. Once my body was made of steel, now it’s made of petrified wood. At one time I felt that I could do anything even if it meant putting my body through rigorous pain. Now I know to search for the easy ways instead of blasting through head first. Once I was ten feet tall and bulletproof, now I know I was just stupid at the time. I am now paying for the heroics of my youth with a much wiser set of rules for myself. Am I any more fragile than when I was young? I don’t believe this to be true. In all actuality, I’m probably stronger now than I ever was. The difference is, now I understand how much abuse the human body can withstand. Now I know with great feats of strength, come great pains of what was in the beginning.

      I’m not sure why, as young men, we must try to blast through that concrete wall when it is much easier to use the door. Some say it’s the testosterone running through us and yet, others claim it is the rite of passage. Maybe, just maybe, it was that pretty girl that walked by, and she must be shown how massively strong this young buck was. Of course, later in life we realize that she, who turned the young buck’s head, thought we were just stupid. She, of course, was correct, but we are blinded by the beauty and the testosterone will boil! There is a certain dynamic to these tales that will be relived over and over through our lives. And when the magic 3-0 rears its head, the pain will drive a man to think twice about going through the wall instead of using the door.

Car wreck at bottom of hillside

      I believe in my heart, for most men, wisdom begins at thirty. How much damage have we done through our twenty-nine years of being untamed, stupid and just plain not right in the head before this time is anyone’s guess. We all have the stories of our wild and crazy youths but, you have to ask, was it worth it? The answer depends on how much your body reminds you of your wild or shall I step on and say, “Stupid” days. Did you break some bones or almost die from something that seemed like a good idea at the time? Did you wreak your first car by trying to make that 20mph curve at 60mph? Did you do something that even you knew at the time was idiotic, just because someone dared you to do it and out of the corner of your eye, you seen that pretty girl that you wanted to get to know? And afterwards, did really feel stupid when you did it and you got hurt, let alone seen that pretty girl leave the scene with someone else? Ya, me too!

     All the cases above had some form of truth to them in my own life. I wasn’t the brightest bulb in the barn. However, I have become much wiser for my misadventures so in some ways, it wasn’t so bad, I guess. I do feel all the twinges of pain more and more as I gain age. Even though I never broke a bone growing up, it wasn’t for a lack of trying. In all actuality, I believe the good Lord was taken care of me. Many times, I should have died from my variance, but it wasn’t until much older that I experienced my own death. Of course, that is a story for another time. So was it all worth it? Well I didn’t get the girl, I messed up a lot of vehicles along with my body, and I’m feeling a lot more pain from my adventures. I guess I would have to say, yes it was. I am who I am because of my stupidity and I enjoy a wisdom, I never would have without my misadventures.

       Would I live my life the same way over, given another chance? I guess I would have to answer no to that question. This would be because I now have the wisdom, so unless said wisdom was taken away, my answer would have to stand as no I wouldn’t.

Boy jumps his skateboard onto stair railing

      Another part of this would have to include my sons and grandson. I raised my boys letting them know, I didn’t want them to do stupid things, but knew they would. I never held it against them, of course there was always punishment that would be handed out. They are getting close to their thirties now, and I know, the wisdom will come when their time is at hand. I have one grandson now, and I hope his daddy will show him the same tolerance. We are all boys and as the old adage says, “boys will be boys.”

      As fathers, we must remember our youth and allow our sons to find their way in life, too. We must be stern when they mess up. We must teach them respect, and we must allow them to grow up to be good men. They will find wisdom on their own path in their own time, but don’t take away their rite of passage. They are going to mess up and cause themselves pain along the way, but it will make them stronger and wiser men. The last thing I must add, be careful telling them of your youth. Pick and choose your stories careful, at least until they reach the turning point from stupid to wisdom.

I once was 10 feet tall and bulletproof! I am now not so tall and no longer bulletproof, but I am much wiser for the things I have been through. Furthermore, I would love to hear your coming of age stories. Was there ever a point when you just knew you turned the corner from stupid to wise? If you had a chance to go back and try again, would you? What are your feelings on this subject? I hope you enjoyed this one. Take care, God bless, and I talk to you again next week. Remember, we are all in this together.

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short stories

My squirrel hunting cat

     Every once in a while, I enjoy writing about  something a little different. I choose to write about some of the experiences I have lived through. I enjoy sharing these tidbits of my life. If you are following my blog, you have noticed how I throw these funny yet true stories in every so often. Most of these stories involve me learning a lesson the hard way, usually showing comedy with me being shown as the butt of the joke. In all of these posts, there is also a lesson that I have learned and passed to you, hopefully helping you not make the same silly mistakes. I have had great success with these post and continue to go back through my memory to pull one out sometimes. This story is one that involves an amazing little creature I had the pleasure to witness at his absolute finest. For once, I didn’t make a grand mistake making me the stooge in an event of my life. Actually, there’s no funny in this one, just pure amazement. I hope you will continue to read and allow me to introduce you to “Smokey” my truly amazing cat!

     I had this cat that was the best darn  squirrel hunting dog that I ever owned. Did I say dog? He might as well have been. I know that just sounds plain crazy to start my story  like that, but when I explain farther, you will think that was the best way to start after all. Spending my teenage years in the Ozarks of Missouri, I did a lot of hunting for various reasons. Sometimes the reason fell upon food for my family, other times it was for the hides so rich people could wear strange clothing. If you have never lived in the country, you probably wouldn’t understand the need for hunting. It’s probably not a far stretch that you city folk wouldn’t understand the pure joy of hunting, either. The joy of hunting is a pleasure that is hard to explain. Was it bloodlust? No, it is the joy of being in the woods, watching and listening to everything around you. It brings a special piece to one’s self. It settles the mind and teaches us the gift of the great outdoors. The hunt is the necessary part, the other is the pleasure one is given for such an adventure.

     Part of hunting sometimes includes a good hound dog who can lead you to prey one seeks. A good squirrel dog will drive squirrels up a tree and run around barking, keeping the squirrel treed. This term treed means just what it sounds like, the dog will keep the squirrel in one tree, not able to flee to another tree. Once his master finally gets there, this brilliant dog will walk around to the opposite side of the tree, giving the hunter a clear shot at his prey. For those of you whom have never paid attention to squirrels before, when you are walking towards the tree the squirrel occupies, he will climb around to the opposite side, staying out of your view and in a safer place. This leads us to the good hunting dog I spoke of. The hunter once taking up his position at the tree will signal his companion. This brilliant animal will do what he is taught and circle around to the opposite side of the tree. Once he is in position, he will growl, bark and jump up against the tree. The prey will see this craziness and want to get to a safer position, climbing around the tree away from the danger to the opposite side. What the squirrel has now done is take himself away from something that can’t get to him into the sights of something that can, the hunter!

Gray cat laying down
This is not Smokey but could be his twin

       I feel this is the time to introduce you to the cat I had back then. His name was Smokey. I named him that for the most obvious  reason. He was gray from the top of his head to the bottom of his feet. There wasn’t a speck  of any other color on him. Smokey was a great friend to me. Living on a farm, we had lots of cats, but Smokey was the only one I liked. As he reached adulthood, I noticed that Smokey started following me on my hunts. “Stupid cat, he thinks he’s a dog” I thought. Later on, he would be known as a genius kitty by me.

       I went for a squirrel hunt one day and happened to catch a glimpse of Smokey following me through the woods. Once again, all I could think of was, stupid cat. All of a sudden, I seen some squirrels looking for nuts around this large oak tree. I slowly kneeled down and patiently watched these little creatures running to and fro. It dawned on me that I hadn’t heard Smokey moving behind me. I knew if he was moving around, he would have to make noise in the dry leaves that covered the floor of the woods. Did he go back home? Nope. As I slowly turned to look behind me. There he was, maybe fifteen feet behind me, sitting still as a brick wall. Another thought jumped into my head. This stupid cat is going to run across them leaves on the ground and alert the squirrels of my location. This isn’t what was happening, he just sat there, watching, with me as still as he could be. He’s not crouched down waiting to leap, just sitting there patiently watching along with me.

     A little while past and I watched as the squirrels headed up this other tree, maybe one hundred feet away. This is when I slowly started my walk to their location. I would have them treed, and the only problem I would have now would be to get them in my sights to shoot them. I could have shot one from my original position, but I would lose track of the others and probably wouldn’t be able to get them. When hunting, I always believed I should bring home enough for at least one good meal for my family. Any less than that and I would feel like I failed the reason for the hunt.

Gray squirrel in a tree

     As I got within fifty feet of the tree, I stopped and waited for the first squirrel to get curious enough to come around to my side of the tree. I knew this would take a while since I didn’t have a dog or a hunting partner to walk to the other side. I waited maybe five minutes and I heard something coming from up from behind me through the dead leaves. Furthermore, I turned and seen that it was Smokey. I thought once again, “stupid cat.” I believe he must have read my mind. He must have been thinking, “I’ll show him who’s a stupid cat!” All of a sudden Smokey ran past me and headed for the squirrel tree! What the heck is he doing? When he reached the tree, he slowed down and slowly walk to the other side. Once there, he jumps up on the tree and ran up about ten feet. I was surprised to see he’s looking around the tree, where he had stopped, right into my eyes. The best that I could come up with was him asking if he was in the right place. Of course, he may have been thinking, “stupid human. Here I am running the squirrels to his side and all he can do is stare at me.”

      Once Smokey was in position, the squirrels worked their way around to the opposite side of where he was. This put the three squirrels on my side. It caught me by such a surprise, that it took me a minute to get through my brain what was happening. Once the shock left me, I picked up my rifle and was able to get all three squirrels, Smokey had sent to me. When the squirrels hit the ground, Smokey came down out of the tree and ran towards me. Once again, shock hit me. This cat was running towards where the loud sound had just originated from. Wow, that is the best squirrel hunting dog I had ever witnessed, and it is feline, not canine!

       I took the squirrels home and prepared them for my Mom’s famous squirrel and dumplings. I relived the moment of the hunt while sharing my story with my Mom and Dad. My Mom thought it was a sweet story, while my Dad ask what I had been smoking. I’m serious Dad. It really happened, just like I said. I don’t think he believed me at the time, but he would in the near future.

     I went out many times squirrel hunting, and every time Smokey went with me. Not only did he go, but every time he would do the same thing as before, jumping up on the opposite side of the tree, giving me the clear shot I needed. My Dad finally had enough of my story telling about Smokey, so one day, he decided to go on the hunt with me. Smokey followed us out and when we got the squirrels in the tree, Smokey once again showed his trick. My Dad was absolutely floored. He had just witnessed this with his own eyes and still had trouble believing what he had just seen.

     I continued to go hunting with Smokey over the next two squirrel seasons. No matter how many times I have seen Smokey do his little trick, it was still hard to believe. Smokey passed away towards the end of the second season. I guess I should’ve sent my story to the papers at that time, but I don’t think they would’ve printed such a crazy story.

     I have had a few cats since then, but none with the talent that Smokey had. I hope you have enjoyed my story. It really did happen, crazy as it seems. For those of you that are against hunting, I’m sorry if I offended you. For those of you that enjoy hunting, I hope you have the fortune of a talented cat that helps you on your hunting trips. Take care, my friends and remember, we are all in this together.

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short stories

Cameras at the mine

  My debut on screen

     I would have to say this was maybe the hardest, craziest and possibly the most embarrassing thing I have ever done. I was actually in a television show for one episode. The show is Heavy Metal Task Force. I guess you could say I had a starring role, even though I didn’t feel that it was.

Clapperboard used for takes while making films

     A few years back, this television show decided to do an episode at the copper mine I was working in at the time. I happened to be the safety representative for my crew that they were filming. It was the luck of the draw I guess that they used my crew. Actually, it was because we happened to be on day shift at the time. Quite a few of my coworkers and friends were in the film as well.

     My job as the safety guy was to follow this film crew around and make sure they were safe because they were filming in a working mine. I didn’t think this would be a very difficult job. Boy was I in for a surprise! First off, I would like to say that film crew camera men and women are a unique crowd. I think you’re nuts, but you do get the hard shots of film that make it look so real! The camera man that was on this crew really kept me on my toes. I thought, at any given moment, I was going to have to call for mine rescue to pull a body out of a 150-foot drop. This guy was relentless, positioning himself in places that would make a bird nervous, and here I was responsible for his safety. “What is this guy, part mountain goat?” I can honestly say, I walked around with my underwear sucked up my dark side because of all the times I had to catch my breath.

Open pit copper mine

     In comes the producer, who was very good about getting my attention, so the cameraman could do his job. I have always been a talkative person, but this guy was the equivalent of three teenage girls. Questions, stories, suggestions, whatever it took to keep my attention. I have to say, he was very good at it! The only one that I would consider halfway sane was the sound guy. Yet he did a great job of keeping my attention as well. These guys worked very well as a team for sure.

     All three of these gentlemen were very kind to me, but they wore me out trying to keep up with them. We would get out of the Ford Expedition on one of the higher levels of the mine, and they would all take off in different directions at once. Of course, they were doing their individual jobs, but how am I supposed to keep an eye out in three different directions? And talk about fast, these guys were like gazelles. They would have any two-year-old gasping for breath inside ten minutes. This film crew would get done with their individual jobs in one place, pile back in the Expedition, and off we would go to our next destination. Even though I was driving and still answering a billion questions, this was the time I would have a chance to slow my heart rate down again before the next stop.

     I was asked by the producer to find certain types of people that I thought would do well on film. I would take them to these people for a ride along in heavy equipment and for interviews from others about their jobs. (To all the miners that were in this film, let me apologize now, most of you were handpicked by me). I can confess this now because I’m retired and am fairly safe from any retribution.

      One situation that came up was wet weather driving. We had a lot of footage, but the problem was it wasn’t raining, and the producer said they needed rain for the story. When I asked why, he said that he heard from a couple of the haul truck drivers that that’s when it gets crazy out here. I told him he was correct because I was a haul truck driver myself. We had good cloud coverage but no rain. Then I had an idea that almost got me into a lot of trouble. I suggested that I could have a water truck driver over wet a section of road, and they could get shots of the mud and back sprayers of the water truck for rain. Along with this suggestion, we could go up to one of the dumps that were being leached with all the sprayers going. All this sounded good to him, and we did this. Then the request came from him to see a haul truck sliding. I don’t know what I was thinking upon this request, but I had another brilliant idea. Me and my alligator mouth, now overloading my Mickey Mouse ass, is about to cause a painfully close call.

Black and white picture of a 400 ton mine haulage truck
Actual truck I used to drive

     I got hold of a good haul truck driver I knew and asked him to do a small fishtail slide on the section of road we just had soaked down. This driver wanted to do a good job for me, and boy did he! It wasn’t a small slide, it was a Huge slide, and he almost lost it! I could see management’s eyes now while I try to explain that it was my idea and the wreak of a three million dollar truck was my fault. On top of that, other drivers seen that we were filming the slide and decided to help out by sliding their trucks too! After three trucks had done this, it had messed up the road to the point no trucks could come down that hill without sliding, wanting to or not. Three, six, nine million dollars, how many millions am I going to be responsible for?!! Everybody made it safely, and I breathed a sigh of relief.

     The next request was from the cameraman, who wanted to get a close-up of a haul truck driving by. So I had a haul truck drive slowly past us as I’m begging the cameraman not to get too close. So far, so good. Other than the hundred heart attacks I have had so far, nobody had gotten hurt or wreaked any equipment. All this stuff had happened in a few days time. Of course, with everything these three men were putting me through, it would be the longest three days of my life.

    There was this one point where we were driving up onto one of the dumps. I was as helpful as I could be, giving them ideas along the way and kidding around with them about anything and everything. As we were driving across one of the dumps, I was goofing off and made a comment about seeing money and not dirt ahead. This being said, I had no idea that I was being filmed from the passenger side of the back seat. Ultimately, this ended up in our little movie.

Tv cameraman with ball cap on backwards looking through camera

     The producer told me he needed a supervisor to be on film for the story. The supervisor they wanted couldn’t come out because he was in meetings all day. That supervisor and all others wouldn’t be available in time to do what we needed to get accomplished. So the producer asked me to play a supervisor just so when a supervisor was available they could piece them in. Sounded reasonable the way he explained it. What did I know about movie making, I mean I’m just a miner? Besides, I might have a little fun acting crazy at the supervisor’s expense. There aren’t too many chances you get to make fun of your bosses and not get into trouble.

     Here I was doing all kinds of crazy things on film, thinking it was just to set up for the supervisor to be placed into my spot. I had a lot of fun with it. It was like acting without worrying if someone actually seen it other than the one’s around me at the time. Along the way, I got a couple of mechanics that I knew to do a little skit for the film. Wow, did they do a great job! Also had the film crew go on board a shovel and film my friend and favorite shovel operator loading trucks and interviewing him. I’m not sure that he has forgiven me for that yet. We went to dispatch, and they interviewed and filmed my friend doing his job keeping up with everything going on in the pit.

One man standing by tire, another man standing by bucket of huge mine loader
Actual loader used in film

     The final day came, and I was exhausted, but we had to film the loader one more time, as we had filmed the loader and operator earlier in this process. That’s when I got the shock I did not expect. While the cameraman and sound guy were filming the loader and operator,  the producer asked me to talk to him in the Expedition. The operator of the loader was also the main safety guy over me, so I said ok as long as I can still see the other two members of the film crew. “Billy, you have done a great job so far, and I only need one more thing from you.” the producer said. “What’s that?” I asked. “I need you to sign these papers, so we can use the film we have of you and make you the hero in our production.” He said. This was not easy for me to do because, I was just messing around and not being serious at all. The sound guy and cameraman got back in the vehicle and asked the producer if he had asked me yet. I couldn’t believe it, they had all already talk about this, probably in the motel they stayed in the night before. The cameraman told me I was good on film and wanted to use the footage. They finally talked me into it and I kinda had a dull pain in my gut because I had just signed to let others see me as the opposite of who I really am.

There was only one part I couldn’t get right on the final day. The producer told me he wanted to take some still film of me for the end. I asked him what he meant, and he said it’s what they call a “hero shot” in the film industry. I tried my best to pose for this hero shot, but it just wasn’t what they wanted. Furthermore, I think the reason I couldn’t get it right was because they called it a hero shot. Besides, I wasn’t any kind of hero, I just played a part in our little film. Maybe if he would’ve called it the still shot or dull shot, I would’ve gotten it right?

     Finally, everything was done, and we had no idea when our little film would show, what show it would be on or anything for a few months. Finally, we got word that our show would be on “Heavy Metal Task Force” season two, episode two. The show finally aired and when I seen how they chopped things up and how they had filmed me without even knowing it on the dump, I was more embarrassed than ever. The one thing I can say was how proud I was of the people I worked with every day. To see my friends doing their jobs on film was a thing of beauty.

       Heavy Metal Task Force always has three different places they are showing on the same episode, and we got top billing! If you watch it, you will see how the show starts and finishes with us at the Ray mine just outside of Kearny, AZ. You will get to see the names of people in the film, but I left their names off here because I didn’t get their approval. I hope you enjoy the film and make as much fun of me as you want. It is pretty funny, after all. All the people at the mine have already had a lot of fun at my expense. I still have one guy that calls me “Hollywood” every time I see him. I really don’t mind anymore, or I wouldn’t be writing about it. Take care and remember, we are all in this together.

Watch Heavy Metal Task Force Season 2 episode 2 on Prime Video https://watch.amazon.com/detail?gti=amzn1.dv.gti.cca9f723-963a-f870-e6e8-377102d25efb&ref_=atv_dp_share_seas&r=web

Categories
short stories

Suicide, the selfish way out

One thing that can’t be forgiven is suicide. This is the ultimate selfish end to everyone that loves you. You have taken every aspect of good and forced heartache into all that know you. This is a heartache that does not go away. It is a stain on all of your loved ones. When someone dies in an accident, tragedy, or from natural causes, there is a time of mourning, but as time goes by the healing will begin for the loved ones. When someone takes their own life, the healing cannot and will not ever be there for the loved ones. There will be a hurt that will never ease in any way.

Lady stepping off ledge

People will look into the life of a suicide and say things that try to make sense of it. Well, he or she had a lot of problems. He or she was a very sad person. He or she needed help and couldn’t find it. These are responses of the living trying to find any kind of peace for themselves. Actually, none of these reasons warrant the taking of your life and I will tell you why. If you open your eyes and look around, there is always someone that has it worse than you, and they are making things work. These people will live a miserable life if they have to, just so they don’t bring the pain to others. These people will also find the solution to their problems. They will gain strength in their struggles and will see how much better off they are for the hardships they have been through. Those who soldiered on will see how selfish, weak and cowardly those that take their own lives are.

Support group with one female hugging another

I want you to know right now, there is help. Don’t give up! Don’t force the pain you are feeling onto others because you are having a hard time. Seek help now! Don’t wait until tomorrow. You know where you are with your feelings. You may not think that there is anybody that cares for you, but you are dead wrong. Furthermore, you are reading an article right now of someone who cares. There are also others reading this and want to help you. We may not know your name, but we care and are willing to listen to you. I am willing to talk with you and get to know you. I will listen to your problems and help you see a different way.

Give me and others a chance before you do something that you can’t take back or be forgiven for. You can respond to this post or contact me directly at joinme@readcsi.com. If you wish to be even more private, let me know, and I will be more than happy to give you my personal email. I truly believe that you can change your way of thinking and see a better future. If you are a teenager or someone who would like to hear a new perspective through a teenager’s eyes, I suggest checking out my daughter’s site. I am so proud of her and her friend reaching out to other teenagers to help with the hurt so many are going through. You can find them on Instagram @brettzoid. If anyone reading this post would like to add their thoughts, I welcome you to reply below. Together we can make a difference and help someone in need.

Writing on blackboard "Here To Help"

If you have read any of my post before, you will notice that I try to end my post with a small sentence that really hits home with not only myself but with others as well. I will end this here, and I will keep an eye on my email for your thoughts and questions. I look forward to talking with you. Take care, think of others as well as yourself and remember, we are all in this together.

Categories
Funny True Stories short stories

Monsoon driving in a Haulage Truck

Teaching monsoon driving in a open pit copper mine

I have been a teacher, not in the traditional sense, but I have taught in many of my occupations. This is about one of those teaching experiences that maybe went not quite as expected.

First off, let me explain something about haulage trucks and rain. These are two entities that are polar opposites. When the rains come to the mines, one thing is true, all haul truck drivers are in for an adventure. While the rain keeps pouring from the sky, haul trucks drive just fine, but when the rain stops and the dirt on the road becomes more like clay, it is like driving on ice. There is no feeling like sliding down the road in a machine the size of your house with no true control. Just as one tops the hill and is ready to head down the other side, the driver tenses up, especially in the buttocks’ region. There were many times I thought I might actually have to call out mine rescue to remove the seat from my butt. After about six months or so, it becomes more of a game than a total fear of life ending drama.

Monsoon clouds

There are still times, no matter how many years you drive one of these big machines, that you will have that scare put back into you. Here in Arizona, where I drove in the mines, we have a monsoon season every year. Sometimes the monsoons aren’t too bad, other times they are downright fierce. This instance is during one of the bad ones.

I trained a lot of haul truck drivers during my time working in the copper mines. Almost all drivers taught, but I taught more than the average amount. I’m not sure if it was because of my ability to talk to almost anyone and find out what works best for them, or maybe I just had a death wish. Some trainees would get behind the wheel and scare the trainers. I only had this happen to me one time in twenty years teaching to drive these trucks. I may and probably will write about that time in the future. This post however will be about the teacher scaring the student.

Whenever we got some new drivers in the mine, one thing we always told them, was if they made it through the monsoon season, they would be alright as long as they wanted to do this job. Once every couple of years. It seemed like we would get a new batch of students during the monsoons. This was the times the students truly got thrown directly into the fire. Learning to drive a haulage truck in the worst possible circumstance is very difficult, not only for the students, but for the trainers as well.

One day at work I was told that I would be training John, (truth be known, I can’t remember his name. This was many years ago). The rains had been bad for a week or so and the mine roads were a complete mess. John was excited to get started. He told me that he had driven many types of equipment, but never in a mine setting or anything as large as a haul truck. I explained how the rains affected the trucks and how bad the roads were right now. It didn’t seem to phase him. Maybe this guy will do alright, I thought. I have, and still do believe, the only way to learn to drive one of these monsters is to get behind the wheel and do it. I never allowed a trainee to just ride around all shift watching me drive. The first day it’s ok to ride and watch for half a shift, but after that, it’s time for the student to drive. This day was the exception.

I believe there were thirteen students that showed up that day. All the driver’s that would have trainees with them, including myself, decided, the students would just ride today. This was going to be a suck your seat up the butt kind of day. If the students didn’t quit today just by riding, then maybe they would make it through training. When the experienced drivers were worried, then I could just imagine what the students were going through. These poor trainees were going to have the ride of their lives and didn’t even have to buy a ticket!

Open pit copper mine

The first half of the shift was a circus. Drive up the hill, slide down the hill, and hope you didn’t hit anything. The bosses all parked their pickups at the top of the mine to watch what was happening below. There was no way in the world they were going to be on the road with us, doing everything we could to keep from playing bumper cars! I was doing fairly well keeping my truck out of the ditch, which was quite the challenge. I told John once that it was his turn to drive, and his eyes got huge until I said that I was just kidding. With a sigh of relief, he said under his breath, “Oh, thank God!” I laughed and told him that even I wasn’t that big of a jerk.

Maybe six hours into our shift, one of the shovels went down, and they had to start another one up. This wasn’t that big of a deal except, the road to the shovel hadn’t been worked on all day and I knew it was going to be extremely slick. The rains were turning on and off all day, keeping the roads in terrible condition. This road hadn’t been worked on today by road crew because they had their hands busy with all the other roads. Dispatch told me to let them know the condition of the road, so they knew whether they needed to pull someone to work on it. I knew It was going to be bad, but I didn’t know it was going to be that bad.

I stopped at the top of the hill, looking down the other side, and told John, this is going to be the best ride in the park today. John let out a small groan, which is what I would’ve done if he weren’t here with me. I have to keep up good appearances for the student, I thought to myself. Slowly we started down the hill. I knew it was going to be slick. I knew we were going to slide. Furthermore, I knew that my butt would try to eat my seat. Furthermore, I also knew that I had a trainee in the seat next to me, and I had to play it cool, so I didn’t scare him into quitting on his first day. What I didn’t know was how awful it was going to be and how hard it would be to keep my cool for John’s sake.

We started down with a small slide toward the driver’s side. This soon turned into a very large slide. One thing kept popping in my mind, stay cool for John’s sake. So I started explaining what I was doing to keep us on the road and out of the ditch. I explained every turn of the steering wheel, how much brake pressure I was using and how to watch what the road was telling me with the dips and potholes we were navigating over and around. I explained these things all the way down the hill towards the shovel we were heading for. Furthermore, I even told John that was the shovel as we passed the shovel, still sliding for another three hundred yards on the flat and heading towards the berm! The truck came to rest about fifty feet from the berm. I locked the parking break and took a deep breath. John looked as pale as a ghost, and I wasn’t sure that I didn’t as well.

Mine shovel with bucket on the ground and man standing out front

Over the radio came a familiar voice of my ole buddy Pat, who was running the shovel. With a small laugh, Pat said, “Hey Billy, the shovel is over here, come on over and get loaded.” I answered back, “John and I are going to step out for a small break and clean our shorts out first!” I smiled at John to let him know everything was okay. Truth be told, even though I had to play it cool for John, my heart was running about ten times faster than I was letting on. I asked, “Are you okay, John?” He said, “I didn’t mind the sliding and all, but I guess what bothered me was how you explained what you were doing as we were coming down the hill.” I answered, “What do you mean? I just wanted you to get the idea of what I was doing to keep us out of the ditch.” He said, “Ya, but you were looking at me the whole time!” John, I said, “Actually, I was looking at the road, it just happened to be out of your window!” This did not sit well with John, as his pale white took on a light shade of green. Maybe that was not what he wanted to hear, but it was the truth.

We got through the rest of the shift without incident, and I assured John that today was not normal and tomorrow would be better. He shook my hand and thanked me for everything. The next day came and as my shift was beginning soon, I asked my boss where John was. The supervisor told me he was one of the five students that quit today. Well I hated to see John go, but it let me know that he probably wasn’t right for this job anyway.  Yes, it was extreme conditions, but that is part of the job.

We all have our limitations. As for John, I hope he found a great career outside the mines. I’m not sure if he just didn’t have the stomach for the job, or if maybe he was just smarter than the rest of us that continued with this line of work. Sometimes you just have to find the right place in life for you. Oh, just to set the record straight, I only lost one other student during training in the mines, and he was the one that scared me, whom I talked about earlier.

Take care, enjoy what you do and remember, we are all in this together.

Categories
short stories

Doubt your Doubts

      This, my friends, is going to be fun to write. I get excited every time I think about the concept I will be teaching today. Everything yesterday, today and in the future deals with two basic concepts, positive and negative. No matter what it is we deal with in life, we are still creatures of these two thought patterns. If you are a positive person, then this post will help you with those minimal times of doubt. If you are a negative person…. well you need to read this post over and over again. Hopefully, you will gain a positive outlook on your life and those around you.

Lady with arms folded showing doubt

      Doubt comes no matter who you are or in what circumstances you are dealing with in life. Even the most positive person will allow doubt to creep in, sometimes even unnoticed. Why do we doubt things and even ourselves at times? Doubt can be considered as that extra sense that can cause all kinds of havoc. Some suggest that our sixth sense is one that lets us know that something is about to happen or something may not be right. Doubt will hang on to this sixth sense like an ugly little monster that just wants to destroy what you are doing in life. So what is this creepy thing we call doubt? The definition of doubt is; To be undecided about; to lack confidence in; to disbelieve, to question.
Synonyms: distrust, mistrust. So basically put, this is negatively in its purest form.

      If you are in a situation where this ugly little thing called doubt is getting involved, there is a problem with the situation or with you. At this point, you must be honest with yourself and decide if the situation, or you are at fault. Sometimes this can be real tricky because your mind will mess with you and create more doubt. So what are we to do to resolve this problem? You have to ask yourself some questions to decide whether doubt is a warning connected to that sixth sense or is it worry, lack of confidence or just plain fear. Here are some questions to ask yourself. Do the facts line up? Am I working with a positive attitude, or am I lurking into the dark shadows of negativity? Am I dealing with a positive or negative person? Have I done this before and did it work? Do I believe in myself? Am I over thinking the situation or process?

Lady with arms folded on desk in deep thought

      Once you have answered these questions that you have presented yourself, you can allow the true magic to happen. The magic isn’t magic at all, but it will feel like it. Here we go! You must doubt your doubts! That’s right. If you doubt your doubts, then you can remove all doubt. You can now make a positive choice whether to go through with it or not. You have officially removed the negativity that led to the doubt in the first place.

      Always keep in mind that a person who lives with doubt can never accomplish anything of value. These are the naysayers that believe nothing good can come of anything. These are the negative people I spoke about. These people will go through life just bouncing along with no goals. You can set all the goals you want, but living in doubt means you will never accomplish any of said goals.

       How can a concept so simple be so hard to learn? It’s not hard to learn at all, my friends. I just gave you the formula to positive thinking. If you find yourself dealing with a negative person (doubter), you better take warning. These people are toxic to you if you follow their direction. Instead, do what you say you can do instead of folding up camp because they said you can’t. Once you have done it, maybe, just maybe, you can take the doubt out of the doubter and help change a negative person to a positive one.

Lady with a smile talking in bullhorn

      This world runs on eighty percent negative and twenty percent positive.  It’s the twenty percent that keeps the world creating new and wonderful things. It’s the eighty percent that slow down progress. Don’t be part of the eighty. Stand tall with the twenty! I sure hope I got my point across. I picked this idea up from a wise man and ran with it in my own way to help explain to you, my readers, in the simplest way I know how. Don’t forget to doubt your doubts to remove all doubt. As always, take care and remember, we are all in this together.

Categories
Funny True Stories short stories

Dad did doughnuts in my car!

This is an adventure I had with one of my friends that I ran around with in my teen years. Kevin and I were and still are good friends. Unlike me, he is still in the Missouri Ozarks. This is a place I have great memories of and miss a great deal. In the area where we lived, it was almost impossible to get to someone’s house without driving on a dirt road. My house was no different. We lived at the bottom and in between two hills. One was steeper but shorter, the other was quite a bit longer but not as steep. This longer route was the one that was used the most because it emptied out on a blacktop road. The other went into another dirt road before it hit blacktop. The shorter of the two was also the wrong way to go in the winter because it was so steep and snow and ice would make it incredibly slick.

All of us at the time did a lot of engine work on our vehicles to make them faster than stock, and Kevin’s truck was no different. Of course, at our age, getting on dirt was a reason to spin the tires. Asphalt tears up tires, but a good dirt road is fun without the cost of tearing things up, usually. We all worked on our own vehicles and helped each other out when we could. Kevin was very good at mechanics, so his vehicles always ran top-notch.

Up at the top of the hill, close to the paved road, there was a man that lived in a ground set trailer. It sat back, maybe two acres off the dirt road. He kept pretty much to himself, except he really didn’t like when we drove past his house kicking up dust. I kinda considered him more of a city man instead of a country man. He really didn’t belong there. I never really had many dealings with him because he didn’t do any kind of farming, and he didn’t want to have anything to do with us farmers. Like I said, he didn’t fit in.

Chevy pickup on a dirt road

I’m not sure if we were coming home from school, but that is how I remember it. On this day, when we pulled off the paved road onto the dirt road, Kevin gave a little more throttle to his Chevy than was needed, and it caused the truck to slide sideways.  It wasn’t a full on rip up the road kind of thing. It was just enough to make the truck “fishtail” to one side and make us both laugh. I was a little upset that he didn’t give it more gas then he did. We headed on down the hill to my house. My dad was out front working on a tree he had just planted. Kevin and I went into the house to get something to drink.

Policeman explains the complaint he received about our driving

It was maybe fifteen minutes later and my dad yells for us to come outside. We went out and there was a cop talking to my dad. Oh no, what’s going on?, I thought to myself. This officer asked why we had been doing doughnuts at the top of the hill. Kevin and I looked shocked. We both denied it. Kevin told the officer that maybe he was going faster than he should, but we weren’t doing doughnuts.  I agreed with him and said if we were doing doughnuts, the tire tracks would most definitely show. The officer told us that he knew the guy at the top of the hill was a grouch and for us to please slow down going past his house. We said we would, and the cop shook our hands and left.

After the cop left, my dad looked at us and asked what we really did. I had probably the best dad ever. Anybody that knew him would agree that he was one of a kind. Kevin and I both told him about the small fishtail we had done and dad just said don’t do it again. It wasn’t long after that that Kevin went on home. After Kevin left, my dad asked me again what we had done. Again I told him what had happened and said if he wanted to, we could go up and look at the tracks. He said, “ok, let’s go.” This came as a bit of a surprise to me, but it is what it is I guess. We went to the backyard and got into my Ranchero and I drove us up to the spot, so my dad could look at the tracks. We both got out and looked. It was a little worse than I thought, but it was still a fishtail to one side like we had said. Dad told me to get in the passenger side, so he could drive. I got in and dad got behind the wheel.

Inside of old 60s Ford vehicle

Then it happened, my dad put the car in first gear, slammed on the gas pedal, let out the clutch and did three perfectly executed doughnuts in the middle of this dirt road, directly across from the man’s house that had called the cops on us. After, he stopped the car, he got out and yelled at the man. “Hey stupid! You see that? That’s a doughnut! Now call the cops you moron!” We went home and I was in awe of what my dad had just done. He told me that we were wrong to spin the tires like we had done and not to do it again. I answered, “Yes sir, but what about what you just did?” Dad explained, “I just wanted to make sure that idiot knew what a doughnut was!” Then he smiled and said, “Maybe next time he will come talk to me so I can handle it, instead of calling the cops like we live in the city or something.” That man never called the cops and he made sure to always wave politely anytime we drove past. I guess he figured he didn’t want to mess with dad. Kevin and I kept our promise to the cop and to dad, we never spun our tires in front of this man’s house again. Oh, we wanted to real bad, but we didn’t.

Front fender of 1960's car

I hope you enjoyed this story from my youth. I have many more to come in the future. Sometimes I wonder why I ever grew up. These were good times, but the past is the past, and we must move on. Take care and remember, we are all in this together.

Picture of the author's father dressed in a 3-piece suit
Picture of my Dad that o miss so very much
Categories
Funny True Stories short stories

Teenage years can be interesting

One of my friends that I ran around with and got into trouble with was Eugene. There were a few others, however Eugene seemed to be the one that helped me create some of my greatest, craziest and fondest memories.

To say my teenage years were interesting would be an understatement. I grew up on a farm in Missouri during my high school years. We didn’t have all the luxuries kids have today, like cell phones and computers, so we had to come up with things to do. This is what happens when you leave farm boys to their own devices…

I’m going to give you a little background into my life, so the pieces will fit together. My family had some property up on the highway a few miles from our house. The property had two large buildings on it. In the smaller of the two, we had a convenience store called “Linda’s Nut House.” I know that’s a funny name, and I will probably write about how that name came to be in a future post. The other larger building was an auto shop that my dad ran. Since I had the availability of an auto shop, all the tools that you could think of and of course snacks from the store, I had friends come over to work on their cars after hours quite often. One of the main ones that showed up a lot was my friend Eugene and his ’65 Ford Mustang.

Front right side of Ford Mustang

It was Sunday afternoon, and I was in the shop alone tinkering on my ’66 Ford Ranchero, when I saw that Eugene pulled up. He came in and told me that he had bought a new steering wheel for his car and asked if I would help him install it. “Of course” I told him. I had him pull his car in, and we went to work. I had changed out the steering wheel in my own car not too long before and knew exactly how to do it.

I gathered the tools we needed, and we removed his original steering wheel. I told him to get the new one. He reached in the back seat and pulled out the box with the new wheel in it and handed it to me. I set it aside and said that I needed the adapter box first. Eugene looked at me kind of funny and asked, “What adapter?” I told him the one that you put on the original bolt pattern, so his new GT steering wheel would bolt to it. “I don’t have an adapter” he said. “Well we can’t put it on without it” I explained.

There was only one auto parts store in our little town, and it was now closed. It wouldn’t be open until tomorrow, but we had school in the morning. Even though we didn’t live but about two miles apart, down a couple of dirt roads, we went to different high schools. This meant I wouldn’t be able to drive him to school, and there was nobody else around that neck of the woods that went to school with him. He absolutely refused to ride the school bus.

As we walked around the car, I was making fun of the situation, He did not see the comedy in this. I told him that we would just have to put the old one back on until he got the adapter we needed. He sat down in the driver’s seat with the new steering wheel in his hands and seemed to get an idea. This worried me. It always seemed like when he got an idea, I was about to get into trouble. He took the new steering wheel and stuck it onto the shaft. He then proceeded to turn the wheel back and forth, feeling the front tires turn under him. “Can’t I just drive it like this?” He asked. “I guess so, but there’s nothing holding it on but you. Any little bump and you’re going to be going down the road with it in your lap!” I answered with a laugh. My laughter soon turned into concern. He’s seriously thinking about this!

“It ain’t no big deal, Bill, I can get the adapter tomorrow and put it on tomorrow night.” He said. One thing I knew about my friend, when he decided to do something, it was going to happen. So he left the new one on there, fired up the Stang and backed it out of the garage. “Let’s take a run down the road and see how she does.” He said. “Why not?” I said. I got into the passenger seat and away we went.

Front end of a 1965 Ford Mustang

I fully expected to be in a wreck, but I’ve been in worse situations. We went down the road a piece, and he held nothing back. Full speed ahead and worry about disaster when it happens, I guess. After going maybe five miles, he turned around and headed back. Maybe two miles back down the road, he told me it was working great and asked if I wanted to drive. “Sure.” I said. I figured he just wanted a second opinion. Going down the road at maybe fifty miles an hour, he pulls the steering wheel off and offers it to me! “Put that damn thing back on!” I exclaimed. It took him a couple of seconds, but he got it back on and said “Cool!” “Are you crazy?” I exclaimed. He laughed, which made me laugh. How I kept my underwear clean in that few seconds, I will never know.

A couple of days later, he did it to me again. “You haven’t got that adapter yet?” I asked. “Nope, having too much fun and besides, nobody can steal my car. Hell, I just take the steering wheel with me,” He said with a crooked smile.. He always had a way to make sense out of the dumbest things. After about the third time he did this, I didn’t panic anymore. I would even take the offered steering wheel, act like I was driving from the passenger seat for a second or two and hand it back to him to put back on going down the road. We actually got perfect at it and decided this would be fun to mess with other teens.

We were at a bonfire party where we met a couple of girls. Eugene asked if they would like to run to the store with us to pick up a couple of things? They said they would. So we piled into his car. We made the girls sit in the back seat. Our first victims! Going down the road, Eugene asked if I would like to drive. Of course my response was, “sure.” He pulls off the steering wheel and hands it to me. I made a couple of quick gestures like driving and handed it back to him. He puts it back on and everything was great! Well, except for the blood-curdling screams from the back seat, of course! It was kinda of funny, for a short period of time, these girls wanted to kill us. But after it was all said and done, they wanted to kiss us, and of course we let them. For some reason, girls like to be scared as long as everyone is okay afterwards. We used this tactic a couple more times on girls and sure enough, blood-curdling screams and then kisses.  Oh, life was good!

The final time we used our little ‘you want to drive trick’ was with a guy we knew. His name was Floyd. Floyd drove this bright yellow beat up Ford pickup, and he was always running out of gas. He carried a five gallon gas can in the back of his truck all the time, so he could go get gas if and when he ran out. We never understood how one person could run out of gas so many times, but Floyd always was.

Eugene and I were running down a side road and there was Floyd. He had his pickup parked in the ditch and standing on the side of the road with that five gallon can of his. Eugene pulled up and asked if he was okay. Floyd said he ran out of gas and was wandering if we could take him down to the station and back. Eugene told him that he would. I opened the passenger door and pulled the seat forward so he could get in the back seat. Now Floyd was a mountain of a man and if you have seen the back seat of a ’65 mustang, you would know, there’s not much room at all. Floyd had to squeeze himself in and sit across both seats just to have enough room for his massive body and gas can which he sat in the floorboard.

Paved road going through woods

We took him down to the filling station where he filled up his can. He set the can in the floorboard and crammed himself back in there. Eugene couldn’t help but to laugh on and off through this ordeal, and he had a very interesting laugh that made me laugh. On the way back to Floyd’s truck, Eugene smiled at me, and then the words came. “Bill, do you want to drive?” I gave the proper response, “sure”. Eugene pulled the steering wheel off and handed it to me. I did my little number, handed it back to him, and he went to put it back on. This time, it didn’t work! Neither one of us had thought about it, but before when we had done this little trick, it was either on a flat dirt road or the US highway which was also fairly flat. This time we were on a back paved road that was not flat. It was convexed. They design roads like this in cold climates to help snow and ice run off. When Eugene tried to put the wheel back on, he couldn’t because the shaft it goes on was turning since the wheels were following the drop of the road! We were heading into the ditch, and this was no small ditch either. Just beyond the ditch was a barbed wire fence that was coming up on my side in a hurry! Into the ditch we went and up the other side. Just before we hit the fence, Eugene was able to get the steering wheel back on and turned as hard as he could. This slung the car away from the fence back down to the bottom of the ditch where the car came to rest.

Eugene and I both bailed out of the car and because we had been involved many times with stupid things like this, our full focus was to check the car. Our health and well-being was never even a thought. Looking around both sides of the car and underneath, there was no damage. We always called this a successful wreck. By the time we got to the front of the car checking for damage, it dawned on me. I looked over the hood from my kneeling position and asked, “Hey Eugene, where’s Floyd?” We both looked back through the windshield. No Floyd. Did he get out? Neither one of us seen him get out. So where’s Floyd? We both got up off of our knees, walked back and looked into the back seat. There’s Floyd, this mountain of a man, bent over hugging that five gallon can of gasoline, tears streaming down his face. Eugene was the first to speak. “Are you okay, Floyd?” He asked. Floyd yelled,”You crazy A**h***s, we could have blown up!”

Now, let me point out before I tell you what I told Floyd at that moment.  My dad was a mechanic. He taught me that it’s not the gas that blows up, it’s the fumes from the gas that causes explosions. “Floyd, is that gas can full?” I asked. He yelled, “Of course it’s full, you seen me fill it up!” “Well then you are safe because it’s the fumes that blow up and if the can is full, heh, no fumes.” I said with a half smile on my face. This did not help him feel any better. He squeezed out of the car, (which was like watching a hamster give birth to an elephant), grabbed his gas can and started walking toward the direction of his truck. “Hey Floyd, it’s still two miles to your truck. Are you sure you don’t want a ride?” Eugene asked with that undertone of his funny laugh. All we heard out of Floyd was a grunt as he kept walking. The next time we saw Floyd out of gas and offered him a ride, he refused. We never did our little trick again. I guess Floyd took all the fun out of it.

Years later after my time in the Navy, I went back to visit my friend Eugene. I asked if he still had the old Mustang. He raised the garage door and there on jack stands was the old girl herself. I had told alot of my shipmates about our adventures and a thought came to me. I walked over to the driver’s side of his car, reached in the window and grabbed the steering wheel. And guess what? It came off with a slight tug. My friend never did get that adapter kit. Good Ole’ Eugene.

I have many more stories of my adventures with Eugene along with some other friends that I will write about soon enough. We may be the reason they say don’t try this at home on those crazy television shows.

My friend Eugene is in Heaven now due to a boating accident years ago. I would like to dedicate this story to him. I miss you, my friend.

Picture above clouds with sun shining symbolizing Heaven

I hope you enjoyed this. Take care of yourselves and remember, we are all in this together.

(Floyd’s name was changed to hide his identity)

Categories
short stories

Change makes us Stronger

      When I was growing up, or at least until I became a sophomore in high school,  I was always the new kid in class. My dad moved us back and forth from Missouri to Arizona multiple times.

       My dad worked for the Railroad and the copper mines as a mechanic in Arizona and when the layoffs or strikes came, boom, we would be headed back to Missouri, where both my mom and dad grew up. He would open up his own auto shop or go to work for another shop (usually a diesel shop) until the strike or layoffs were over. And just like that, back to Arizona we would go.

Mechanic works under car

       Now, truth be known, it wasn’t exactly like that, but very close. Yes, we moved a lot back and forth between these two states, but sometimes it was just to different parts of Arizona or just to different parts of Missouri. This situation would very often cause me to be the new kid in school, sometimes twice in the same year!

      Growing up like this was hard on me, but as I have seen through my life, it was actually a very good thing to grow up that way. Sure it was hard leaving friends that were just made and trying to make friends over and over again, but I  learned that I can, did and do adapt better to circumstances that others have a hard time with even today. I guess the hardest part was figuring out who the new bully would be that I would eventually end up fighting. Of course, I lost most of the time, but I was granted great respect for always standing up for myself and sometimes others as well.

       I consider myself a ‘Missourian’ and yet for the past twenty plus years, I have lived in Arizona after my dad passed away. The thing I’m trying to spit out is, we become part of our society, and those that have lived in multiple societies are better off in a lot of ways. For one, I could be uprooted and placed in a different location tomorrow and within a month, I would be able to fit in.

      I was able to prove this when I went into the Navy. Most of the recruits beside me had a real hard time adjusting, but me, heck it was just another day.  Sure, I missed my family, but I was able to fit into my circumstance very quickly. And the bully? Well, that was my company commander and I decided not to fight him.

Child throwing a fit

       I sometimes feel for the military kids because I know it’s hard on them. Let me tell you moms and dads something about that. If you explain why your family has to move so often, the kids will be stronger for it. If you just tell them, “just deal with it”, then you will have a very troubled teen on your hands. Be honest with your children about it, and they may be mad now but understand later and become well-rounded adults.

      For all other parents that have a choice to move or not move for a job or other circumstance, make sure you make the decision, Not your kids. Too many times the decision is made more by the children than their parents these days and that is wrong. You are responsible to do the best for your family and let your children change things up with their kids if they want when they become parents. (This is classic old school thinking).

Mother sits with her children that are playing

      Before anybody yells at me for that last paragraph, I tell this from experience. I made this mistake!  I made sure to keep my kids with their friends and I decided to stick it out and not take them to a better life and now my children are paying the price, let alone my wife and I are still stuck where we really don’t want to be. Don’t get me wrong,, this is a wonderful area, just not what we want. One of my sons is in the Navy now and instead of adapting like I did, he is one of those having a hard time, and it’s my fault.

U-Haul building

      If I had moved us years ago when I had the chance,  I believe my whole family would be better off today. Instead, I let the children decide. So don’t be afraid to move if you believe it is better for your family.  I’m not saying to be like we were when I grew up, I do believe that was excessive, but I lived through it and would willingly do it all over again.  There’s a great big world out there, don’t be afraid of change.  Change can make you stronger. Your kids will adapt and be just fine. Take care out there.

Categories
short stories

Backup & Punt

Some of my readers may have never heard the phrase “If all else fails, back up and punt.” I promise most of the sports enthusiasts out there, especially those into American football,  have heard and understand this wisdom.

For those of you that don’t understand, I will try and explain this great wisdom. First off, let me tell you in advance,  even though  this is a football term, I will be using it to explain how to achieve what you want out of life. So fear not, I have a plan.

There are times in life where we have tried everything under the sun to accomplish something, but nothing seems to work. This is the same when one football team comes up against a much better team. Yet sometimes the better team loses because the weaker team pulls the Ole rabbit out of the hat trick, and catches the better team off guard.

Punter on football team kicking ball

I’m now going to coach you up, to put it in sports speak. When I say ‘punt’ this refers to kick the ball back to the other team because nothing else is working. Sounds kinda dumb, huh? Well not really, you see, when that ball is in the air a lot of different things can and will often happen. The main one being the guy that’s supposed to catch it, messes up and fumbles the ball. This gives both teams a chance to recover the ball. The team that just booted the ball has new life because if they recover it, they are in a better position than they were in before. Also, if they don’t recover it, at least they have a chance to regroup and physically and mentally catch their breath.

Okay,  maybe a little NFL thrown in there, but this is a lot like life. If you have thrown everything you have at a situation, and it’s not working, then sometimes it is better to back up and try something out of the ordinary. It may not be what was planned, but maybe the plan that was needed.

Not every rule works the same all the time with different people, businesses, inventions or whatever it is you are trying to find the solution to. So you can keep banging your head on the same wall making the dent deeper or try something that is really far off and maybe, just maybe, pull your own rabbit out of the hat!

I hope this post hits home with some of you that are having trouble finding a solution to your unique situation. Sometimes you just have to back up and punt. Remember, we are all in this together.

Categories
short stories

Reflection of reality

What if we are just the reflection of someone else’s reality. Have you ever stepped back and wondered why you did something even though you knew it was wrong? We have free will. We make our own choices. Furthermore, we do right or wrong knowing it’s right or wrong. So why do we do what we do?

A young boy with his hands on a mirror, leaning back looking up with his reflection

Life makes no sense, and yet here we are. But what if we are not in control but just a reflection of someone else’s reality or even worse just one of their dreams? What if our lifetime is just a small amount of time for he or she that is subconsciously making us who we are? Scary thought, isn’t it? I like to think outside the box a lot and this is about as far outside as is possible from said box. I believe what I am presenting here is a bunch of fluff with no basis for truth, but it would explain a lot if it were true.

We have all had that dream that seemed so real that it was hard to convince ourselves it was just a dream. But just for a split second, what if this is the dream and the dream we thought was a dream, was in fact reality? Would this change your prospective of life? Would you wake up and do things differently this time? Or if we are someone else’s dream, would we manipulate it to fit what we want?

I know I’m stretching this thought about as far as it can go, but I do have a reason for all this nonsense. If we can think of ourselves as a dream/reflection of someone’s or our dreams being reality and our reality being dreams, then we can believe we can accomplish anything without being held to the rules of the world.

We start believing we can do anything we desire without being held back. If we decide to amass a great empire, we can do it. If we decide to fulfill our life’s ambition, well it’s easy because we control the dream.

Lady walking down the middle of a road with one arm in the air heading to the sunset.

So why, if we can dream it, we can’t do or have it? There is no reason. We only use a small amount of our brain our whole lives and if we listen to others negativity, we use less than that. If we have to pretend this is all a dream to achieve what we desire, then so be it.

It’s been said time and time again, “Follow your dreams”. Well, I say, let’s help ourselves and live the dream and make things happen to help ourselves. There is nothing wrong with a good imagination. Don’t be afraid to step out into the world and achieve what you want.

Are we someone else’s dream, or is our reality a dream and our dreams’ reality? I guess it really doesn’t matter as long as we live life to the fullest. You may live to be a hundred years old, but that’s really a short time in the grand scheme of things. Do what you can to make your life’s dream come true and if we are really in a dream world, at least it will be a good one.

Categories
short stories

Do you have a kind spirit?

Are you a kind person? Do you care about others as much or more than yourself? Are you the most important person in the room and see others as beneath your superiority? These are questions that if you are not asking yourself, maybe you should.

Everyone on this planet is different.  There are no two people exactly alike. Even identical twins are not identical in spirit and observe their selves and others differently. My question to you is not only are you a kind person, but how do we know if someone else is truly kind? You have to determine you for yourself. As far as others, there are two sure fire ways I know if someone is truly a kind individual.

Number one is the reaction of a small child around this person. Now, I don’t mean when the child is acting shy or maybe even cautious of this other person because the child doesn’t know him or her. Most children will show both of these emotions to anyone they don’t know yet.  However, if you watch the child, you can tell a lot about this other person. A kind person will still draw the child’s curiosity. He or she may be hugged up to mom or dad’s leg, but still want to take glimpses of this new person.

If this stranger doesn’t have a kind spirit,  the child will never take another look. Instead, the little one will grip mom or dad’s leg as tight as possible, hiding their face in the parent’s leg and never even attempt to take another peek.

Small blonde child walking in back yard

How can a small child have these strong feelings at such a young age? This is because this little person has yet to be damaged by society.  You heard me right! Let’s put the child at say four years or younger, depending on when they start school. The child is still living by instinct. Once they go to school, things change. The child is forced to deal with all kinds of different people and to learn to get along and accept others no matter what. I’m not talking about race or handicaps or stuff like that because the child hasn’t been introduced to any such feelings just yet. I’m talking about kind and unkind people and trusting in both the same.

Once in school, usually starting first grade, society has started to take hold and instinct is starting to be less involved. If the parents are not on top of these new emotions, then society will take its hold and instinct will start to wither away. This will be the first start of bad thoughts of others because of differences like race, religion, mental abilities, athletic abilities, clothing  or any other Stupid reason not to like someone else for. However,  they will lose the ability to look out for the one thing they should be watching for, and that is someone that may really harm them. Society has now started taking over!

This is what sets humans apart from animals. No matter how old an animal gets, instinct is still there. We as humans tend to overlook our instincts and that is why a lot of humans tend to get into dangerous situations without even seeing it coming.

The second way I know if someone I’m talking to is kind or not is by watching my dog. Of course, a dog is going to protect his master no matter what. But if you really know your dog, you can tell when something is really not right. No matter how well-trained your dog is, he will advise you when something is wrong, even if he is going to get in trouble for it. Your dog is not only your protector but also and sometimes more importantly, your advisor of danger.

Golden retriever sitting, looking straight ahead

They say a dog can smell fear. I truly believe this to be fact. I also believe a dog can smell or sense a kind or unkind spirit in a person. If you are an unkind person and have a dog, the dog will protect you because they are so loyal. However, the dog will also be leery of you and never completely trust you.

So there it is. Are you a kind spirited person or not? If you’re not sure, watch a child or dog. They will let you know the truth about you! Until next time, be kind to yourself and others.