I wake each day to a new beginning

It's a new day of life you see

A chance to make a difference in this world

A chance to shine so brightly

A blessing has been given

I shall not take it for granted

Today I'll make a difference

Today gives me another chance

It's a chance to help a friend in need

Or maybe someone I don't know at all

To make a difference in a strangers life

Just wouldn't be bad at all

Yes to see a stranger smile today

A chance to make a new friend

Just maybe they'll pass on the same blessing

If it continues then the whole world can be friends

Here we go!

10. The apostrophe: Is it April Fool's day or April Fools' day or April Fools day? Get rid of it!

9. French Fries: Those frenchies across the pond take credit for things they had nothing to do with. Off with their heads!

8. Though/Through: End the same but pronounced totally different... fix it please!

7. I read it, I've read it: Should be I reade it, I've read it.

6. gh/ph=f: Do I need to say anything?

5. Eggplants: Do not contain any eggs. It is not an eggplant. Same with faceplants, they do not contain faces.

4. Ewe: Should be pronounced "ew", not "you".

3. Cwm: Is actually a word, in which the w serves as a vowel. Pronounced "kroom", though shouldn't exist at all in my book.

2. Queuing: The only word that has five vowels in a row. I hate it.

~~~

1. Meese: the plural of moose shouldn't be moose. Or mooses. It should be meese.

This morning the boys are at the bus stop and heading back to school. Spring Break has been a learning experience and one that I am already planning how not to have so much next year.

I love all my children with everything that I am, I would never stop fighting for them or their rights as human-beings and Americans, I am just happy as a pig in his own crap that the public school system, despite some political ram fighting, is up and running and these kids are back to learning the most valuable lessons in life.

So the real question comes down to who learned what during this preview of the summer heat? Looks like me.

My sons are 8 & 9, up till this past couple of weeks, they have been restricted to a large yard (1/4 of an acre). As some of you may recall from my early writing here, I have been the victim and father of a victim of childhood sexual abuse. One of the apparent results for me has been my unwillingness to let the kids go and ride their bikes and play with their friends in our neighborhood. Well, I gave it a whirl....The oldest almost got killed pulling out in-front of a car...he didn't think those signs were for kids....and the youngest was wheeling and dealing, trading up toys and electronics. The last 3 or 4 days they were back in the yard, along with 4-6 neighborhood kids. Thanks goodness for bottled water!

So now I know. No matter how much I think I am doing to protect these kids, they are going to grow, spread their wings and will be exposed to a world that can be dangerous and perverted. But, they are also going to find new ideas and see things they never knew could exist. It seems we just keep rediscovering our world and finding things that were missed. They will make friends that will stand by them for the rest of their lives and some that will be fighting with them on the bus in a month. They will find their way, I can either loosen my grip slowly and with caution, or they will rip themselves from my grasp.

I will always walk around with a daily delusion that I am in some kid of control, and in many ways I have to be. However, much of it is an obvious illusion, an illusion that is serving this father just fine.

Maddad

Its just past 6pm on the east coast and a dictator, a miserable stain on humanity and the earth, a dishonor to America for supporting him, is gone. He is overthrown by a free people.

Most people going through hard times are easy prey for the old story of "If we don't have the "fathers' and capitalism to guide our way, how will we survive?" What people need are new stories not of superheroes that go to war against evil, but of those super-heroic powers of the  …

Thinking outside the box - something most Americans have lost the ability to do .....

I have recently come to the conclusion that my life has been based on 2 flawed principles.

I am no different than most people, I can see the mountain top of whatever challenge I wish to take on. However, I begin the accent, and as I come closer to the peak, I notice it is damn crowded up there, and the sea of people ahead of me make the climb impassable without knocking a few back to the bottom. So, I sink my flag on a ridge in sight of the peak and become complacent, or I parachute my ass to the base and go home. This line of perception has kept me in constant stress & anxiety. I have found it easier to accept things I can change and never move towards a more serene and fulfilled life.

The reasonable answer at this stage in my life, that makes sense to me, is to start making my own mountains. As long as I take a more active and creative role is my own future, I will not be drawn into the compliant, sheep to the slaughter, follow the leader garbage.

I have also lived with the sincere belief that most people are in one way or another, simply out to satisfy their own desires. The damage they do and the people they use means little or nothing to them. To a certain extent this belief will likely stay with me in one amount or another. However, although the world is full of jerks, even most jerks have a line they will not cross where it comes to abusing others. As I trust a little more, I may find a way to live in this world without the anger & isolation.

Follow your dreams and march to your own beat. If the climb is too crowded, you have been sucked in. In small measure find a way to connect to another human being, the worst thing that could happen is you identify another jerk.

Maddad

AMERICANS, do you feel powerless, left out in the economic rain storm, drenched with debt and bills, unable to keep up with supply and demand messages creeping into your home that make your kids weep for more stuff? Do you feel that globilization has made you smaller and less important? Are you on a giant rubber tree and you are just an insignificant insect crawling around looking for safe havens? Do you feel weakness and fear about your future? Has your wallet become heavier because the credit cards are heavy with want and debt? Is your pocketbook empty a lot of the times?

I am sure we can all agree with at least one of these questions I pose here. Money, economic power, safety, home, food, heat, air conditioning, fun and family. It is all tied together folks, it is all strands of the Gordian Knot and it describes all of our lives. So why are we powerless or why have we lost the pocketbook power our forefathers and mothers had?

We spend too much, we spend too much on cheap stuff and we do not question the expense in outward terms. Oh Yeah, we complain about prices, but we want it so we buy it.

If you want a rocking chair, instead of going to a big box store, save a little more and buy it direct from the craftsman who made it by hand. You will have bought a good piece of furniture and a historic hand me down to your families and helped an American craftsman and kept the money local. What that takes is a little more time, money and patience, yes patience, that virtue we talk about but we never use when we buy stuff, patience, ahhhh, nice word. Buy a corn broom instead of that crappy plastic broom that falls apart from 1 year of use. Re-darn those socks darn it! Use those tennis shoes till they have holes in them and wash them when they get dirty, don't buy news ones, unless you need them for a wedding ceremony.

Don't buy that cheap 'starving artist' junk. Go to a local art gallery or even to a crafts fair and buy real art, lasting art that your grandchildren will cherish. Artists and craftspeople barter, barter with them.

Don't buy overpriced crafts from those craft stuff parties, over priced junk is just junk that you have been suckered into buying, don't go and don't buy.

Ask the big question always "do I need this or just want this", a simple but honest answer may be yes or be no, then decide what you want to do, save or buy.

No resonable person just buys without looking at the merchandise, is it really a good buy or just cheap and ready to fall apart, are the seams done well, will it hold up over time, is it worth it, will I get long term use out of this item?

If the product you buy sucks when you get it home, take it back and demand your money back or store cerdit!

Look at the label, do you really want to send your money half way across the world and pay someone who uses slaves to do the work, are tennis shoes made overseas worth 200.00 dollars a pair while the shoes are made for less than 10.00, do you want to support evil governments and repressive regimes, look at the label and learn about the working conditions of those workers.

Buy local food, for the health and safety of your family, buy all your food as local as you can get.

Haggle with people, make bargains and trade, barter and try using other forms of payment in kind.

If you want change in your life, it is in your pocketbook, use it wisely, use your power to say no to high prices, cheap knock offs and just plain junk by using your buying power everyday, buy, don't buy, wait for a sale, save and earn and buy better.

Power is money, your pocketbook is your power, change the world by saving your change.

Remember, a penny saves is STILL a penny earned.

Buy good, eat good, live good.

This dog barks for you. If you think this will not make change I will nod my head in agreement and then think in my head,

"I ain't buyin' it"!

Today starts Constitution Week. Do you like our USA Constitution or would like to change it?

Nine years ago today, our world, as we knew it, changed.

But truthfully, America was always hated. The only thing that really changed that day is that we were given a wake up call and finally shown just how much we're hated. Before 9/11, we were sitting here in our McMansions, watching our flatscreen TVs, drinking Starbucks and putting spinners on our SUVs and thinking that America was sitting under some kind of giant bubble of invincibility.

Today is a good day for every American to take some time and reflect about what our country is really all about. We spend a great deal of time abusing the very freedoms that we claim to revere. You can't throw a stick anywhere in America without hitting someone with major entitlement issues who's filed a frivolous lawsuit, thinking that they deserve to cash in on some dumb thing that happens to people everywhere every day.

We're grossly wasteful. We eat too much food that we don't need to survive, we buy too much stuff that we don't need, period. We drive four blocks to mail an envelope instead of walking. And then we blame our government when we realize that we have spent beyond our means, or have gotten fired from our jobs because really, we're just phoning it in and spend more time playing Farmville on Facebook than we do working, and our bosses need to have people working for them who actually work. Yes, the state of the economy isn't the people's fault, except for the fact that we voted for the lame-asses that made it possible for the big, rich businesses to take over power of just about every financial institution in this country and a few other countries as well, and also have the right to sway the elections. So now our freedoms belong to some committee in some boardroom, where they're handing out bonuses to the executives from the money they got from the government bailout funds. That came out of our taxes. Oh, and then they raised our interest rates.

We've forgotten how to maintain communities. We're so busy fighting amongst ourselves that our children are being lost in the underfunded educational system; underfunded because we've allowed those funds to be cut, cut, and cut again. We spend more time trying to find ways to stick it to our neighbours instead of helping them, or at the very least become nodding acquaintances, in case someone disappears for too long and might need help.

America is the most powerful country in the world. And we've gotten cocky about it. Today is a good day for each and every single one of us to sit quietly in reflection and remember - great power does come with great responsibility. We need to start acting like real Americans again. Instead of lashing out in blind anger, which only serves to perpetuate the circle of hate and violence, we need to realize that we have the power to stop the circle and get it spinning in the other direction. We have the freedom to make a choice -- we can either continue to be a nation of Americans that are hated and feared, or we can be the harbingers of real change, real peace, real understanding, of tolerance and acceptance, of cooperation and collaboration. We do have the power to make this a better world. Let's not @!$%# it up.

Today is not only a day to remember, but also a day to make sure it never happens again.

Okay, the Census gigs are over. So, how did 67,000 jobs get created in August of 2010? Could it be that President Obama's economic policies are.....working?

If it weren't impossible, I'd write a book, as a plan to follow, then I would take each chapter and make it come to life.

THE SHELTER KIDS by Dale Davis

Setting,
Christina Virginia Freeman had just been offered the director position at the Animal Shelter under distressful circumstances. She had been doing volunteer work with pet therapy for years and had a hands-on history of knowing what worked with the animals. She had accumulated so many visionary ideas on how to make connections with people and animals and now that just might be a possibility.

First Paragraph,
"Dad, I think I can do this, make this dream come true." Christina said.
Joe Freeman, Christina's dad, cleared his throat and took a deep breath. "Then go for it girl. I've got your back, you know that, and Cathy and Buddy stand at your side." Silence hung in the air as Joe looked deep into Christina's eyes. With passion in every word, he spoke softly "If you don't do this now, you never will."
Christina lifted her head assertively, looked directly at her father, and gritted her teeth. She paused for a moment as she realized the immensity of this lifetime obligation. "Okay then... It's do or die." She got up, gave her dad a kiss on the cheek then went to her lap top and formulated the plan.

Summary and Outline
Christina's first step was to expand the pet-therapy program to every hospital and retirement home that cared about their residents' zest for life. In the process, she found a wealth of experienced and eager cohorts with a lot of time on their hands.
In the hospitals, the expanded pet therapy process began to have noticeable positive effects on those patients that had lost that spark of hope. The doctors began to see improvements and started doing some research on these phenomena, and the effects pet therapy had on speeding up recovery.

Her daughter, sixteen year old Cathy Anne, focused on establishing communication networks with a website, blogs, web zines, E-Zines, newspaper articles, with community pleas for volunteers and advertising sponsors from local businesses, all with the help from retired professionals.

Her fifteen year old son, Buddy, took charge of completing a dog-obedience and training course and with the guidance and mentoring skills of his granddad, he turned the shelter of homeless dogs into a training camp, complete with agility courses and sled-dog teams and even designed dog walking paths for the elderly with benches along the sides.

Julia Roberts, seventeen, brought her horses up from W.Va to the farm and began horse riding and grooming schools along with special equine therapy programs for some of the kids with social-contact issues. She also put her black belt in Combat Hapkido to good use teaching kids Zen, The Art of Self-defense.

Martha Grey, one of the residents at Green Acre's Happy Homes, donated the use of her abandoned family farm to the shelter.

The TARP (Teens At Risk Program) took root and the Foxfire concepts of survival skills and self-sufficiency became a major theme providing much opportunity for the kids to realize their potential. They put their newly developed skills to good use providing the local community with fresh fruits and vegetables when in season. Grandma's old fashioned baked pies and cakes came back into vogue with the zucchini bread, made with Grey's secret hand me down recipes being the rave at many of the local stores and bakeries in the Tri-State area. Revenue generated from all their many goods and services provided a surplus. Not only did it pay all the bills, it also allotted each participating member a wage to sock away.

TARP also generated many programs designed to evoke potential through interactions with the land, animals, and other needy kids. Teaching and mentoring became the preferred tools of learning (Observe it, Do it, Teach it), all under the guidance of other mentors, other teachers and other students. The kids earned merit badges as their individual skills improved in specific areas. The connection between empathy and self-perception was a key factor in stimulating desire within these programs and spawned many research studies, sponsored by government and private grants.

Special interest groups were not permitted and there was no teaming up with friends or cliques. The focus was to build up the self, as an individual, with discovery of potential through interactions with the whole group, as a team effort, "One for all, and all for one." The trinity team duty rosters changed frequently and always included a mentor, a teacher, and a student. Everybody was required to participate in every aspect of every function, of every program at various times, even taking stints in the kitchen learning secret recipes, as well as sharing duties in management and participating in decision making skills. Community Mission Meetings were held daily with all issues put on the table for all to voice input on. Think military structure and design, with the primary purpose being to build up individual character for a lifetime.

Eventually the program began to take root, grow, and overflow with willing volunteers and troubled kids from other areas. Satellite programs were set into motion to initiate similar programs in other towns with similar problems and plentiful resources at the animal shelters. It became a grass roots movement where faith, love, and support for each other became not just something to hope for, but something to get involved in.

RAPE & ABUSE Happens!!! Let's move on to Damage Control

What happens after the fact is what determines the extent of mental damage. (Damage Control) This is a dramatization of an ACTUAL EVENT that happened in Floyd County, Virginia on Feb. 15, 2010 to seven year old Sally Andrews. (not her real name)

Sally answered the hard knocking on the front door. It was Joshua Lantz Cromer, and he was mad! He barged through the storm door and proceeded to beat her then raped her with foreign objects. All her begging, screaming, and pleading for help and mercy was in vain.

There hasn’t been a night pass by since that fateful day that she hasn’t woken up screaming, in a cold-sweat-drenched nightmare. She was terrified of being alone for even a minute, anywhere, at anytime. She was frightened of going to school, petrified to go outside to play, but mostly, she was horrified of just being at home. It happened right there, in the living room. She could still see the blood stain on the carpet, under the coffee table. Every time there was a knock on the door, her heart fluttered and her eyes darted around the room looking for escape routes. Joshua Lantz Cromer, violated and stripped away the sanctity and safety of her own home, among other things. If it could happen in her own living room, without a reason or a cause, it could happen again, anywhere, at any time, and for no reason at all.

For weeks now, the counseling and therapy sessions has had no effect in alleviating this trauma and her parents pleaded for help. The child-care counselor involved with this case contacted TARP (Teens At Risk Program) and spoke to Dr. Amy Baxter at the University in Pennsylvania. Dr. Baxter immediately arranged to bring Sally and her parents to Gray’s Farm the following week for a six-month intensive, TARP intervention program, with all expenses covered by the research foundation.

Arriving at the farm the family had set up in trailer #12, which nestled in along side the horse corral and the pasture with an over-looking view of Wintergreen Gorge. For the first two weeks, they were to live there together and participate in every activity as a family unit. The father had to return home after a few days but the mother stayed on for the second week, participated in some of the activities with her daughter, and helped with chores around the farm. For sixteen hours a day, everyday, Sally’s day filled over with action, adventure, structure, mentoring, learning, teaching, dog training, etc, etc, etc, all with good guidance and mentoring from the many, good and caring people who understood pain and suffering.

Julia Roberts, (17) had been working with Sally to develop assertiveness and self-identity through defensive action moves in the Combat Hapkido Self-Defense Program. “It’s all about control.” Julia kept repeating to Sally. Julia knew about fear and its ability to freeze you in that moment of indecision and panic. It will lock up your mind making you virtually unable to move, helpless with no recourse, no choice, and no control. She knew the only solution is to take control now and prepare, with training, for that day when you might need it.

Julia had worked with Sally every day for a week now, both at the farm and here at the Animal Shelter. She showed Sally just a couple simple techniques and focused on speed, accuracy, conviction, and spontaneous reaction. There are at least five techniques to break the thumb of an 800 lb gorilla and Sally already knew two of them. She was getting readings of ‘SEVERE SPRAIN’, on the ‘Rule of Thumb Meter’, a contraption J.F. designed and built to measure the actual twist torque delivered to a fake thumb. She knew the sidekick and the front kick now and her impact force, speed, and accuracy kept improving every day. Julia knew it doesn’t matter how many moves you know, but how well you know them and kept repeating the mantra, “It’s better to know one thing well than ten things not quite good enough in a pinch.”

Mrs. Andrews, Sally’s mom, sat on a bench and watched them finish their workout in the front yard of the shelter. The kick bag hung from a big oak tree in the yard and Buddy stood behind the bag, supporting it. Julia looked over to Sally and smiled, “OK, let’s do it one last time for today.” Then she shouted, “MY NAME IS JULIA AND YOU WILL NOT HURT ME!!!” She went into a backspin, then a round kick hitting high on the bag almost knocking Buddy off his balance with the impact force. “It’s your turn Sally. Show your mom what you can do!”

Sally glanced around at her mom then back at the bag. She zoned in on that exact spot Julia had showed her and with conviction in her voice, she shouted loudly, “MY NAME IS Sally, AND YOU WILL NOT HURT ME!”, and then went into her kick. At the impact, Buddy, in his bag-support position, grunted loudly and pushed himself off into a back roll. Being the natural clown that he is, he bounced off the tree and rolled backwards again. He then got up, staggered a few steps, feigned a faint, and fell to the ground, motionless, and pleaded, “Hey, take it easy on me, I’m a good guy.” Sally and Julia looked at each other, high fived it, and started laughing.

Mrs. Andrews just sat there for a moment. She could not believe the difference in her daughter, after only two weeks. She had thought she might never see her sweet child laugh again, but…. A tear seeped into her eye, and she had to shake herself, to control her voice, “You’re doing really good sweetheart.”

Julia put her arm around Sally as they walked towards her mother, “She’s going to be a champ Mrs. Andrews, you can be real proud of her.”

Her mom stood up and took Sally in her arms and they hugged.

After a second Julia spoke, “Were going to do a short cool down walk, then she can get ready for her appointment with Dr. Amy. Come on Sally, let’s get a quick drink, grab a dog, and hit the trails.” Julia patted Sally’s back. “You’re doing good kid, there’s nobody ever gona ever mess with you again.”

After grabbing two bottles of water from the fridge and two leashes off the hook on the wall, they went into the kennel area, walked down ‘dog-isle’, and stopped about halfway. Julia opened a gate and put a leash on a little beagle pup for Sally then went to the large dog section. She went to the last kennel on the left, knelt down, and spoke softly to Ol’ Maude, an old yellow lab they found last year beaten and almost starved to death. Maude was about ten years old and nobody seemed interested in adopting the old dog so Julia did. Ol’ Maude was Julia’s favorite and got all excited when Julia stood up and opened her gate. She wagged her tail so hard it swayed her whole backside back and forth, and she almost lost her balance. She loved her walks with Julia everyday. With people in tow, the dogs lead the way out the side door, around the agility course, and up the well-worn trail that meandered through the trees. Ol’ Maude took point position with her keen nose and sharp eyes, always looking and smelling for any signs of danger, or food. This was her pack and she had a job to do. Julia and Sally followed behind their dogs with an easy walk and some small talk until they came to a fork in the trail. Julia paused for a moment. “What time is your meeting with Dr. Amy?”

“Three o’clock.” Sally said.

Julia looked at her watch then back to Sally, “We’d better take the short trail this time.” She then tugged the leash to the left with two easy snaps of her wrist and said “Haw.” to Ol’ Maude, who knew the lingo and headed off onto the trail to the left.

Sally looked over and asked, “How long have you lived at the farm Julia?”

“Oh, for about a year now, my real home is in W.Va. Did you know that J.F., Christina’s dad lives right next me and that’s where Christina grew up? And Buddy always use to come down for the summers, and that’s how we became best friends.”

“No, I didn’t know that. So how come you’re here, don’t you miss being home?”

“Yeah, I miss home, but this is important, helping Christina, Buddy, and Cathy get this Animal Shelter going.” Julia went off in thought for a second, “Ya know, what I really miss the most is watching the wild mustangs frolic in the creek, in the late evening with the moonlight reflecting off the water. It looks like a liquid silver-ribbon running back and forth through the valley. It’s the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.”

“YOU have wild mustangs?”

“Yep, ‘bout 25 of them, all ranging free in the upper meadows behind J.F.s cabin. We bring them down every year for the rodeos.”

“Rodeos! Oh, that’s mean; I saw how they are so mean to those horses on TV.”

“Nobody’s mean to my horses! I’m with them most of the time and they really like it. They spend all year long looking forward for the rodeo season to begin, so they can buck those cowboys off their backs and put em down on their butts in the dirt.” Julia smiled and looked over to Sally, “Do you ride?”

“No, I’ve always wanted to but…”

“Well how about tonight, after supper, you can come along with me and Buddy for a little trail ride.”

“Sure! That’s neat.” Sally piped up with enthusiasm. “Julia? Will you teach me to barrel race like you do?”

“I think that might be something we can work towards, yeah! That’s good idea, Sally.”

They reached the half waypoint of the trail where it turned and followed along side the babbling creek for a short bit before winding into the woods back towards the shelter. “Hey, you want to switch dogs?” Julia asked as she held out her leash towards Sally.

“Sure, I’ll take the lead with Ol’ Maude” she said, then switched dogs and positions. Sally admired the way Ol’ Maude just moseyed along, smelling everything there was to smell when she noticed a big scar on her hind leg, “What’s that Julia?” she asked pointing to the scar.

“That’s an old battle wound Maude carries with her. She was abused and beaten pretty bad before we found her.”

Sally stared at the scar that ran from the top of the left hip all the way down to her knee, “Who would ever hurt a dog like Ol’ Maude?”

“I don’t know,” Julia said vehemently. “But they sure as heck wouldn’t if I was around.” She looked over to Sally then off to the side and threw out a swift round kick at some imagined dog abuser and shouted out simultaneously, “UHAAUUH!!!”

Sally then imitated Julia’s kick with one of her own, “My name is Ol’ Maude, and you will not hurt me! Uhaauh!”

Ol’ Maude turned her head around to see who called her name and what the ruckus was about, then turned back again, and resumed leading her pack.

The American Dream, what does it mean to you?

At one time it may have meant a decent job that pays the bills with a little left over for savings. For some it was a way to escape tyranny and poverty or religious persecution.

It may have been the dream of the individual over the state, worker over boss, monetary gain without any oversight, unlimited access to success. It may have been about acquiring more goods and products. It may have been a way to elevate oneself to a higher social status. it could have been the safety of insulating oneself from others.

Or it could have been as simple for some that they were able to live quietly and pursue their lives with little interference from others. They could educate their children the way they wanted, they could pursue higher education or not, they could develop the values in their family and feel no persecution for their choices.

In the end it could be as simple as the amount of freedoms this country has to offer anyone who wants to join.

I have always wondered what this "American Dream" was and what it means to me. I grew up seeing the images of the happy family, tooling down the road in the brand new Ford or Chevy, mothers who bake pies with pearls on, children always cheerful and full of fun, their apple red cheeks all aglow, the brand new home surrounded by green yards pristine and manicured, the street line festive with large sentinal elms and friendly multi-armed maples. I lived in something that was not even close to that image. That is why I have alway thought of what the "American Dream " really is

For me it is many of these things and more. It is a promise of growth through determination, forward thinking, learning from our mistakes and not repeating them. It is knowing that I am an important part of the machinery that this social experiment needs in order to succeed.

I am at the age where reflection is a daily occurrence, evaluating what is really important to me. These important things are what makes my "American Dream" possible.

A place to live that says "Home'. A sense of security in that home. A little land surrounding that home where I can feel a sense of ownership in something important. I want to till the soil, grow the crops and provide for others. I want to see growth and change that is healthful for all of us and not for just the few. I want to be able to care for myself and my wife without too much strife from the government, religious groups or corporations.

I want our country to grow and earn, but I also want our country to preserve the nature beauty and wonders. I want to know that those other things that are living with us are treated as a treasure that should not disappear. These gifts that are around us should not be wasted. Our soil should be rich with the natural elements, our water should be pure and sweet, our food should be healthful and provide nutrition and be as free from additives as possible.

I want to see good service from the service industries, I want to see craftsmanship in our products. I want to be able to trust financial institutes to do a good job with our finances. I want to see those who rob and cheat and steal treated fairly but firmly. I want to see actions produce and reponsibility taken.

I want to see us all prosper and also learn to save for a rainy day.

I want to feel less fearful and more fearless and I want to hear that others feel that way too. I want to see difference and I want to hear all. I want real issues to talk about that are not used to provide partisan ammunition only. I want people to not use a persons appearence, or words or actions to become more important than the issue. ( I know I am asking the near impossible on this one but it is a dream after all.)

I want to meet and learn from others, I want to hear their voices ring with pleasure that they too "have the dream".

So, fire away, give me your interpretation of your American Dream

WE CAN Wanting to make a difference I ponder all the time One person who sees things differently, that’s me With a different view of how things should be Someone who wants to make things better than they are But at times I feel alone in my thoughts

We're all connected Your pain is my pain Your joy is my joy So should life be Often we get consumed with ourselves, our individual lives While forgetting about others, their lives, their concerns Often the focus is too much on you or me

(The news writing begins from a lone editor from a small community news source whose readers are scattered across the nation but mostly across the Arizona Sonoran Desert floor.

John Henry sat on the cot of a homeless shelter as he had done on many occasions and cold nights for the past 20 years. The reasons for his homelessness are of no consequence. Would you not house a person because he had a mental challenge or because that person abused alcohol or drugs, or simply because of bad choices. Doesn't that individual deserve a second chance or a third. He sat without dreams or expectations. His hopes had been left on some doorstep or bus bench long ago. He did not even notice Jim, program director, coming his way.

A few minutes before Jim had been looking at a list of homeless individuals he has been trying to get into a new subsidized permanent housing building and saw that John Henry had passed all the requirements and was going to be one of the residents. To Jim's surprise he did not know who John Henry was; he had to ask other staff and guests if they knew who John Henry was. Some could not identify him, but for the side a staff member told Jim where John Henry was. Jim walked towards John, who was sitting on a cot.

Jim told John that he had some amazing news for him and that he would never guess, but he did not prolong the conversation with meaningless guesses, Jim continued to ask him if he remembered all those applications and forms he had been filling out a few weeks before, to which John answered he remembered. Jim continued to tell him that he had just received news that he was into the new building. John Henry crack a slight smile and started to shake all over without stop. He started crying and gave Jim a hug.

In approximately one week John Henry will be in a brand new room in a brand new building that he can call his own. I suspect that after 20 or so years of living on the streets and enduring the cold and hardness of sleeping on the pavement a bed, a door he can lock, a stove on which he can cook, a place were he can make friends and not feel awkward or ashamed to call home!

When Jim told me this story he had a bit of a shine in his eye, a shine of accomplishment, or perhaps the beginning of a tear. I will deny of course as soon as he reads this or possibly even comment under my name, perhaps not! Regardless off what that shine was he felt very glad that he had helped or one-handedly place John Henry into permanent housing and to think that he did not know who John was, well that is because there are so many individuals who go through the emergency shelter.

This is only the second story I have written from the experiences of my friend, JIm and trust me when I say there a many; here is the first story. Just putting a little effort, a skipped meal, or a possibly getting a ticket because you are rushing to get documents in time can make a huge change in an individuals life, I am not sure whether or not Jim knows how lucky he is to touch so many lives, which many times he cannot remember their names, understandable!?

Disclaimer: The name of the homeless man was changed pending his permission to publish his name. The story is true and Jim is the director, my friend, "trying-very-hard-to-become the patron saint of the homeless," and already have his permission to publish his name. As soon as I get permission, I will revise this story to include the name of the building the actual name of John Henry.

This morning, when I got up to put the trash on the curb for the collectors, the woods on the hill across from my house were on fire. Not actually, on fire, if you will, but lit up by the rising sun reflected off the low-lying layer of clouds passing a short distance overhead, lit up like billows of flame racing across the treetops. After I finished with the trash, I stopped in the driveway, shivering, to admire the show for a few minutes. It's not such a rare sight in the hills of southern Ohio in the fall, but it's not exactly a common one, either. And then I went inside to feed the dogs and prepare for a working day.

My wife and I eyed the sunrise as we drove away from the house towards work, catching glimpses of it now and then, and for one beautiful moment we had a clear view of the sun just above the horizon, surrounded by a nimbus of orange-gold clouds, and then lost again behind trees and homes, and eventually more hills. And in a few minutes, the sun was well-up enough that the magical quality of light peculiar to sunrise had dissipated.

"I bet you're wishing you had your camera, aren't you?" she asked.

"I've got a camera in my pocket, there just wasn't a good place to stop and take a picture," I replied. "Photography is a little bit about talent, but mostly about timing. Some things, you have a big window for catching them. Other things, like that sunrise, your window is about this big." I held my thumb and forefinger an inch apart in indication. "Sometimes things change pretty fast."

Just then we topped a gentle rise from which I have often taken photographs of sunsets over the last few years. Off to our left, recently harvested corn-fields lay like sheep, exhausted after a sheering. And I noticed that a large tree, well-over a hundred years old, an old friend and a favorite subject over the last six years, lay toppled on its little hill. It was off in the distance, and I couldn't make out what had happened. Did the wind finally push it over? Did a farmer, not paying attention, bash it with his combine? Did someone cut it down? It was impossible to tell. The only obvious fact was that it no longer stood like a solitary guardian over the surrounding fields, and the landscape was a little more barren for its diminished state.

"That tree is down," I told my wife.

"Awww. I liked that tree." We drove in silence for a few moments. "That makes me sad," she finally said.

I spent the rest of the drive thinking about absent friends, separated by distance or time or death. You have to enjoy the ones you love and the things you do while you have the opportunity to do so. Revel in their successes and commiserate with them in their defeats, and not lose sight of the fact that despite the best of intentions time moves on, changing the landscape.

Things change.

Seeking a new job, is a very important life-changing decision, but a necessary thing to do. Any change means growth, development and evolution, and can only make you a better person. When we dread change, we hang back in fear and lose the opportunities for surprises, personal fulfilment and even greater success. Eventually, we are then steeped in regrets.

The first essential tips for changing your career are the following:

1. Make a list of up to 10 things that a job SHOULD give you (the PROFESSIONAL points).

Your ideal, no matter how unrealistic they may sound. This could include type of job, pay, location, perks etc. The things you dream of. Experiment with the priority order of that list as much as you can, until you have got it in exactly the order that reflects the importance of each desire for you.

2. Draw a line under your top five, to clearly demarcate them from the rest.

There is a very important reason for this. You can always compromise with the last five items, but if the job does not provide the top five desires, especially the first three, DON'T take it. You will only feel good at the beginning, then get progressively disillusioned as things do not add up to what you expect. And they won't. If you have identified what you really want and what makes you happy, then go against it, you will still be unhappy.

3. Make another five point list (the PERSONAL checkpoints), clearly identifying the following important aspects:

A. Who you really are? (what you stand for, how you see yourself, your true personality).
If you don't know who you are, your job cannot reflect you, enhance you or develop you. For example, what is the point of gong into the Armed Forces/military because the pay is good and you can lord it over others if you cannot stand taking orders from anyone, or don't like the idea of killing others? You'd be going against who you are.

B. Where you are going or wish to go (if you don't know where you're heading in your life, your job cannot take you there). We don't get into a car and drive aimlessly. We always have a destination in mind and we tend to get there safely. The same with our lives. If you don't have a direction, you can bet your last dollar that someone will find a direction for you, which is unlikely to make you happy!

C. What you seek in life (what is your real PURPOSE, what makes you sing and smile to do it?).
If you don't know what you want, how on earth are you going to recognise it when you see it?

D. Your level of self belief and confidence. If you have very little, not even the best sounding jobs will provide the opportunities and achievement you seek because the barrier to such success would have already been inside your head.

E. Whether you are a 'people person' or feel more comfortable with 'things'. That is very important for your direction in life. If you are the quiet, introverted type, who tends to feel uncomfortable with others, it is pointless getting a job to manage people. You are probably better with projects/technology.

So, armed with your two lists of exactly who you are and the essential things a job must give you, every time you see a job that you like, rate the job against your first list of elements, perhaps using a scale of 1-5 for each. If you get a lot of fours or fives, especially for your top five items, then move on to your personal list and see how the job aligns with your personality, purpose and direction etc; whether it boosts your confidence and self belief. If it is also high on these, that's the one to go for.

If you follow this simple plan every time, you won't allow yourself to be blinded just by pay, perks or location. You will keep a steady head as you assess something even more important: the job's capacity to excite, develop and enhance you in ways you really dream of on an emotional level. You will then stop playing to someone else's tune purely for money or the convenience.

Elaine Sihera (Ms CYPRAH)
Emotional Health Adviser
"Respect and love begin with the self. If we have none, how can we give away any?"

Related: Open Letter of Filipino Patriots to Obama. P.S. Don't boost Gloria's 'wrong side of history'

(Backgrounder article:Obama's 'strategic interests' call to SE Asia's notoriously corrupt leader)

Greek God Narcissus was cursed to fall in love with his own image, once wept to find that it did not return his love. Narcissism is an extreme. It's as extreme as Germans are about precision and Britain is English. It is also just as natural and either you are, or you aren't.

We all wish we could do certain things to ease the quality of our life, to avenge a certain painful situation, or to make things better for someone else. But if you were given the power to be invisible, what would you do with that day? How would you spend it? Would you be a hero or just use it to fulfil some long lost wish?

The possibilities are endless here so tell all! :o)

It is pretty sad but it's true that some people might look at everything Obama does and go: that's great, I really like that my President did that. But as they look at him, they cannot help but feel anger or hatred, just because they are unable to see him as a person and let go of their racism.

As we take a good look at the world we live in, we can see many different groups of people. Whether they are racial groups or others, there are the differences that will always bother this or that person.

When President Obama was elected, the world looked at the United States of America and saw hope for the future; people from all corners of the world who have at least once in their lives suffered racial discrimination started to believe again. They believed in freedom and they started to regain faith in humanity.

They celebrated President Obama's victory as if it had been their own!

And for some whose family members that once were denied the right to even eat at a public restaurant, or were denied the freedom to live their live as a human being, could once again bring themselves to believe that humans can all live together in harmony without fearing for their lives just because they have a different color of skin.

Maybe the meaning of Obama's election to some of the other nations was greater than any American citizen can imagine. But little they know about what really goes on in this country. They may just have no idea of how far we really are from being a nation that accepts everyone without restrictions.

It seems to me that America just loves to be the first: The first to fly to and step on the moon, the first in flight*; the first to elect a black president…! Which could easily be completely for political purposes and to bring the USA's popularity back to the spotlight [accomplished by the way] but I certainly do not know any of this for sure.

Truth be told, as I mentioned in the beginning of this article, I think that there are people that just can't help but dislike President Barack Obama and his family for the simplest fact that they have dark skin or are African descendants. It doesn't really matter that his mother was a white woman.

The reality is they will always find something wrong to say about him; they will always have negative thinking regardless if President Obama brings this country's economy to the best it has ever been.
The world outside believes that the people of the United States of America are one step ahead of everyone when it comes to fighting discrimination. But how much truth is in that, really?

I think that this country and the rest of the world are yet to be openly accepting of the minority. We have a long, very long way to go until things can really change. They may change but it'll be a very extremely slow transition.

But whatever the purpose was, the fact is that America has elected a multiracial/Black man as the greatest nation of the wolrd's President. I guess that if the world at least follows the USA's positive steps towards this change, then the USA's contribution to this change will be the first and most important one. But this step towards change shouldn't just end there…America should keep on walking!

How many times have you gone to the polls and realized you were not picking the candidate you believed in; you were simply choosing between the lesser of two evils? That has been my voting process since...well, since I voted in my first election in...just believe me when I say it …

Change We Can Believe In: Barack Obama's Plan to Renew America's Promise
Forward by Barack Obama
ISBN: 978-0307460455

This book lays out President Obama's general plan for where he wants to take the country. He covers everything from the economy, to health care, education, verteran's affairs, foreign policy, innovation, and more. This book was actually written during the campaign, and so lacks much of the detail that one would hope to get from such a book. Also, because so much has changed since this book was written, especially in the area of the economy, that many of these original plans have already become outdated. For example, at this book's writing, Obama was planning on a $50 billion stimulus, rather than the almost $800 billion stimulus package that was recently signed into law.

I decided to read it, despite the fact that it was written last year and is somewhat out of date, just to make sure I had not missed anything during the campaign (I hadn't). If you are already familiar with Obama's proposals from the campaign and read through his website, there is no point in reading this book (unless you just want to read some of his speeches that they printed the transcripts of at the end). If you did not read through the Obama campaign's website and are not familiar with Obama's general plan for America, then this book is still a worthwhile read, even if it is somewhat out of date.

This video is associated with the article quoted here:

Dozens of hip-hop clubs have opened up in cities across the country, and thousands of raps and music videos by Chinese M.C.'s are spreading over the Internet. But making Chinese hip-hop is still a relatively profitless — and often subversive — activity. Some Chinese rappers address what they see as the country's most glaring injustices. As Wong Li, a 24-year-old from Dongbei, says in one of his freestyle raps:

If you don't have a nice car or cash

You won't get no honeys

Don't you know China is only a heaven for rich old men

You know this world is full of corruption

Babies die from drinking milk.

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The Obama brand of business as usual will sell for a while. He will close Guantánamo Bay, whose inmates represent less than one percent of America's 27,000 "ghost prisoners." He will continue to make stirring, platitudinous speeches, but the tears will dry as people understand that President Obama is the latest manager of an ideological machine that transcends electoral power. Asked what his supporters would do when reality intruded, Stephen Walt, an Obama adviser, said: "They have nowhere else to go."

The following poem is dedicated to three men who are not here to read it, but were it not for them, I would not be the person that I am today writing it.

Everyday people bring change in America. Albert Einstein was a simple Patent Clerk. Most of the men who crossed the Delaware with George Washington were farmers. Contrary to popular opinion, ordinary citizens should feel empowered to bring about any change they see fit.

The mosaic we know as the United States of America has been forever altered by one of the most significant historical elections in the history of this nation.

The election of Barack Hussein Obama as President of the United States of America is truly an event that should bring hope to every American----not just "real" America as so narrowly defined by the Governor of Alaska in recent days----but ALL of America.

As a tribute of sorts to this historic event, and in the interests of showing the rest of America a little glimpse into smalltown life in my neck of the woods I thought I would share some pics from my world, a part of the America that has been forever altered by these momentous events.

The signs in my front yard should give you an idea of my position on the matter. Each of the candidates represented on the signs won their respective bids for office----all Democrats by the way in a town that is almost wholly Republican. Congrats to all!

On Election Day here in Cairo there is a tradition: The Woman's Club sponsors a Catfish Fish Fry which provides a real taste of the south----fresh catfish, hush puppies and Cole slaw dinners which after a thorough sampling proved to be well worth the $5 a plate. I snapped this pic as we drove up to pick up our dinners for the night.

There is nothing like corn meal breaded, deep fried catfish America! You are cordially invited!

There is also another tradition here in Cairo---the posting of election results outside of the Cairo Messenger, (our local weekly newspaper), as the results are tabulated.

I arrived a little late but last night there were upwards of 100 people waiting for local, state and national results on the election. This is small town America at its best, as far as I am concerned. Democrats, Republicans, Independents, black, white, Hispanic all attend this event every election. The street is blocked off and people gather as the election results are tabulated and posted by hand on the election board.

Rarely, do we still have this kind of personal interaction and contact with the people who live in our communities. It is a tradition I hope keeps happening for many years to come.

And just so you know this is a bipartisan event, the final pic is of my mom, step dad, (Chairman of the Grady County Democratic Committee), and Representative Gene Maddox (R) a local rep standing outside the election results board.

Though the challenges are many in the days ahead for our new President and for us, my hope is that we can remember that our lives do affect each other, and that

"No man is an island...entire in himself....we are all part of the whole..."

So this pictorial tribute is submitted to Newsvine to give us all a glimpse at small town America as encouragement that there are many good things about America which can help us deal with the challenges and days ahead, and many traditions of which the whole is composed which prove our interconnectedness and potential.

Congratulations President Obama! Let the CHANGE begin!

There is one thing constant in life...CHANGE!

The one true thing that can be relied on, and welcomed in times of repetitious endeavors. How often we spend our dailies in overlap and discontent. Was yesterday's tomorrow today? Perhaps that is true for many, but for me not today; not this year; not this moment!

Before the turn of this year unfolded there was coarse of uncertainty with my employment. I went from using my mind to moving my muscles in a multitude of mobilities that made me mad. My everyday drive was threatened in knowing the new roads awaited. As I packed and transfered, I contemplated a better work day, an easier commute and a future in where my talents would be appreciated. (And hoping for some overtime, although I was salary).

The move happened as expected for there was not an alternative. I settled my boxes in heavy stacks, unpacked my computer and proceeded to settle into my new environment. A month or two passed and an unexpected change was about to shatter my world.

My mother unexpectedly had a major brain hemmorage that ultimately led to her passing after a week long coma. Although my world was literally turned upside down, there was a feeling that there was something that I should be paying attention to...my family.

That week was by far the longest eight days of my life. In that time there was nothing familiar. Nothing predictable other than the drive the hospital. Perhaps some may wonder what can be remotely associated with death and beauty, and I my answer is that my mother was beautiful. I celebrate her life in rememberance, the lives she touched and the gifts that she gave and supported in my own life. I have and always will, attribute my vision of the world through her eyes. Although her days seemed repetitious, there were few days were she did not see a new color for the daily painting of love.

The year progressed in just a few months later in where I'm still in a period of loss, and have been given my copy of walking papers from a five year job. Not surprised, and have been making efforts to start anew, I accept this change with open arms. It is one that I do have control over. I will not regret, and instead take the strength that I have been bestowed, and create a new morning – for it is that type that I am grateful, and the other that I can not afford. It is in the new day that our spirit has refreshed wings to soar. And it is on those wings that we will arrive at a new destination.

That is the Beauty of Change..........

1940 - 2008 I Love You Mom!

We have to reframe the experience that we are undergoing now if we are to thrive within it - and yes, we can.

This date will never again be an easy one for me--in spite of the fact it is my favorite cousin's birthday.