Gratitude

It is often in "our own desert" that we "meet" God. 

With all of the things going on in March I have come to realize one thing is easy to overlook, gratitude.  We live in a society where everything is "on demand."  We have come to believe that you can get something for little or no effort.  We have become an entitlement based mentality.  Did anyone ever stop and think what this brings about?

One of those things I have noticed is lack of gratitude. Gratitude for what?  For starters just being alive.  There is health, family, a place to call home, food and appreciation for good hard work.  Who to be grateful to? There are our employers for providing us with a job from which we can get an income.  There are our parents who gave us life and sacrificed much so we could be who we are and believed in us and what we can become.

There are those who lifted us up on a down day. There are those that bore our trials with us even though they had no reason to do so.  There are friends who put loyalty before differences.  There are those who don't turn away when it would be easy to do so.

There are the good times when very little adversarial trials are in our way.  There are the things that we learn in easy and hard times.  There is humility when it is easy to become prideful.  There is the spiritual when darkness is all around us.  There is being accepted for who we are and not what we aren't.

Above all there is a Supreme Being to whom all the glory of this gratitude goes. He is the architect of our lives, the giver of all things from the most simple to the very rich. He says yes to more prayers than He says no too.

Where have we gone as a society when the only thankfulness we can muster up is the obligatory type at a restaurant to the server?  Being grateful is second only to being charitable in defining a person. If we were only just a small bit more grateful to our fellow man and our God just think of the miracles that would follow?

What are we truly missing out on here?  We are missing out on the ability to be free or be in bondage. To appreciate rather than demand. To love rather than demand love. To be respected because of being the better person.  There is much more than just these things, but I truly believe our level of self actualization is tied to how grateful we really are.

We all must make our own way, yet no one can get to the goal without some assistance seen or unseen. It is not the great things, but the little things that  we must be thankful for before we can appreciate the big changes in life.

We watch the media and they say that we should all do it for ourselves and others should benefit us. We should do for ourselves the right thing so we can be of assistance to our fellow beings, not the other way around.

I get on social media sites and the stench of "look at me" is everywhere.  How about we look at us and then honestly assess our situation. If we want different outcomes we have to change the way we make things happen. We can't beat the same dead horse expecting a live one to take it's place.  We have to bury the dead horse and assess. What are we doing right? If we are doing the right thing keep it. What are we doing wrong? If we are doing wrong change it. What is we don't know where to go? Ask directions.

It is easy to say this stuff but much harder to do in practice.  A wise man once said the world would take the poor out of the "slums" and put them in better conditions. He then said that God "takes the slums out of the people and then the people take themselves out of the slums."

Thankfulness is taking the slums out of the people, out of ourselves. Then if we are in literal or symbolic slums we remove ourselves to better housing, communities, attitudes, jobs, friends, etc.  That gratitude is what I hope more members of society will see and practice. A simple "thanks" goes a long way when you mean it. Just imagine thank yous and humility combined? What a better world we make for ourselves.

If we want to be the center of attention, quit trying to make everyone see how much you have, your social status, your job, income, and physical attractiveness.  People are more attracted to character than to substance. If you desire attention get it the right way, not the "look at me" way.

Gratitude is the key to happiness and more blessings in our lives. I hope our society can have gratitude vs entitlement. The entitled person is never happy because they always want something and never stop demanding.  The grateful person opens up and is thankful for what they have and then have more room to receive, because they are more willing to give to others. It is the service that is tied universally to gratitude.

There is never something for nothing. Someone is writing a check. We should be grateful for what we have and we will get more in proportion to gratitude.

Spring Means Taking Care of the Cactus

With Spring just a couple of weeks away it is time to get out and do those green thumb projects. One of mine of course is Cacti. Winter killed many beautiful cacti with rot, still others remain that survived the cold wet winter.

First thing is to prep the soil from last year. Mix in new with the old and also top soil to bottom. The cacti seem to like nutrients that land on the soil as well as the bottom.

Make sure that the soil is well drained. Water retaining soil = rot. Also make sure any containers can drain excess water.  Cold hardy cacti will be starting to "wake up."  So don't forget to cut off rot and keep your cacti healthy. If your cactus is rotten, chuck it. Rot from borderline cold hardy can spread rot to otherwise healthy plants.

Let soil completely dry out before watering again. Also minimum for this time of year should be once to twice every two weeks.  Cacti in low light areas will need artificial light for indoors or access to a good light source by a window.

Also cacti are great for preventing break ins from burglars. If they want your stuff let them get stuck for it. I have always used a dog and cacti in tandem. So far, so good.  Yucca also require the same care as succulents, though not as hardy as cacti.  So much for Spring maintaining. Nutrients for indoor and outdoor include plant food, organicide for fungus, and of course beer and dog food my favorites.

So keep on having fun with painful planting. But in the end it is worth it for those spring and summer blooms.

Godfather Putin

There is much ado going on since Russia has invaded the Ukraine Crimean region amid the woes of the former Soviet Socialist Republic. The Ukraine has a long historical relationship with Russia and it is not surprising that the big brother of all the Slavs is invading little brother's territory.

In 1991 the Soviet Union ceased to exist and all Soviet Socialist Republics became free independent states. Moscow never gave up its ambitions for a sphere of influence. Changing over from a Communist to a Democratic form of government was not going to be easy and there were no guarantees that the newly freed independent states would make it. 

The Warsaw Pact nations were gone and only the Commonwealth of Independent States remained. Many former SSRs began to have Western leanings and soon just "go west." Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia were out of the gate and in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization or NATO before you could say Russian Federated Soviet Socialist Republic.

Fast forward to the present day.  The Ukraine has been heading west as well and has been pursuing greater integration into the European Union style of doing things as opposed to the old USSR way.

Vladamir Putin was a former KGB or Soviet Secret Police man. When the Soviet Union crumbled he was a displaced commie.  What to do? Can't go back, roll with the future. Putin changed is commie apparel for fascist apparel. If you can't beat them, join the Russian mob.  Putin became much richer and more powerful under corrupted capitalism than he could have ever been under an old communist regime. Vlad's  dreams never changed, his methods did. With his new "freedom" Putin could put away his goosestep for cement shoes.

When Putin was with the KGB and he had enemies what did you do? Get rid of them. What do mob bosses do when the competition oversteps its bounds or members thereof lose usefulness? See you at the bottom of the river.

The Russian mob is quite powerful now in the organized crime world. At its head, none other than Vladamir "Vodka on the Rocks" Putin. He was President, did a stint as Prime Minister and then was back into being President.  He is corrupt capitalism at its best, just like the mob. He deals in racketeering, money laundering, insider trading, commodities cornering, and price gouging.  If someone doesn't like it well they go missing so to speak. The Ukraine is too big to go missing, but it can be invaded by the rival Russian Mafia.

The reason why Putin has the Red Army there is not to make it a communist state. Communism is so yesteryear. He is there to bring the Ukraine into the full brotherhood of the new global state mafia. Fellow bosses in China, Vietnam, Cuba, Syria, Kazakstan are all wanting to keep the crime families in check. In the mob you simply don't walk away. Neither in Russia's "territory." Georgia learned this with Putin's Capos and now the Ukraine is learning this.

Putin is successful at what he does because unlike his old commie buddies he could repackage himself and change with the times. Putin is nothing more than an international kingpin and the Ukraine is a rival mob family that wants out. Well there is that old "oath" thing.

We can't have SSR after SSR join up with the West. Eastern and Central Europe did. Now its time to put the boot on the neck of the Ukraine, invade, fire an ICBM or two. That's it.

What about the West? What about them? Obama, the supposed leader of the free world can't lead and his policies are a disaster even by Vladimir's standards, so Putin is doing his mob thing in the open.

"Never let a good crisis go to waste." was an Obama Administration favorite quote.  Putin couldn't pass up the chance at expanding his sphere of influence. Oil and gas are the things being sold at Putinafia prices and he need not worry about the USA, EU nations. China et al are at the table enjoying the whole show.

This is what happens when leaders of nations don't lead, like Barack Obama. They look like fools. Had this happened on Ronald Reagan's watch Putin would be looking at serious meddling by America that would have kept him in check like when the Soviet's invaded Afghanistan and looked hapless. Well the West should take a bow. Sanctions says Obama. Putin is shivering in his shirtless pasty skin. Until real leadership comes back to the United States and the West, Vladimir Putin will flex his flabby muscles and our leaders will look like Larry, Curly and Mo.