leasheryn's Blog

An interesting topic on Your Turn today about parents who cannot let their children go once they reach adulthood. 

It was appalling to hear that there are parents who will actually attend their child's job interview.  Now back in the day when I was just starting out in the world, the very last thing anyone would want would be to find their mother sitting next to them during a job interview.  That would be enough to make a person want to sink down into the floor and disappear from the face of the earth....forever. 

Now let's be real.  Holding a child's hand during the first day of school is one thing.  When you're five years old and facing the world for the very first time in the way of kindergarten, you want your mother there to see you off.  By the time a person reaches 18 or 19 or 20, 21 or 25, the last thing in the world they want is for mommy to hold their hand or to see them off. 

This is ridiculous!!  We should be raising our children to become independant and to be free; to be capable of finding themselves and finding their own way in the world.  Once a child reaches adulthood or their majority, it is normal and natural for them to wish to see the world, to expand their minds and to be free from the limitation imposed upon them by having to do what their parents tell them to do. 

There's no real safety net in the world and no magical umbrella to keep us safe from harm.  In order to make good decisions, we have to face certain experiences that are sometimes happy experiences and are sometimes not such happy experiences.  I am sure we can all recall times in our lives when we could have acted differently or when we have made mistakes.  Surely those are times when we learn from our misfortunes and in some way improve ourselves because of it.  It's all apart of life and all a part of growing and becoming better people.

Keeping a child in a gilded cage and preventing them from growing into strong adults holds no purpose and achieves nothing.  Letting them go and giving them their freedom to make their own decisions and choices, gives them the ability to make their own lives and to live life to the fullest.

Letting go and setting your child free tells that child that you have confidence in them and that you believe they are ready to be a functional part of society.

 

 

About a week ago, Michelle asked me to post a virtual Christmas party.  Unfortunately, due to circumstances beyond my control, I was unable to do so.  I did promise Michelle that I would make it a New Year's Eve Party so here goes.

Everyone is invited.  All you have to do is bring your favorite appetizer, snack or cocktail (or beer if you prefer!)   Champagne will be provided for a toast at the end of the year! 

Have fun!!

It seems to me that Christmas is about love and there is no greater love than that which lives within the family circle.  At times we are too busy or have too much to do to really sit back and think about what being a part of a family really means.  This is the place where we belong and where we are accepted as we are.  I expect the greatest gift anyone can have is that of knowing the importance of family; in knowing that there is a group of people all related by blood who are there to catch you when you fall and to support you in your time of need. 

Christmas is a time of gathering and a time of renewal; it's a time of sharing and a time of giving, one to the other, free of strings and free of reasons.  I always remember the old Beatles song, "Can't Buy Me Love."  Love is something that is not for sale and it is something that cannot be bought.  Love doesn't come in the biggest present under the tree or in the most expensive one or the one with the prettiest wrappings.  Love is something that is given when nothing is expected in return. 

There is nothing that we can hold in our hands or that has structure which can define love.  It is just something that happens between two people or within a family.  No amount of money in the world can define what love is. 

Christmas and home go hand in hand.  Being at home and with family is one of the greatest gifts that one can receive.  It is comfort and warmth and a good feeling of being together and in spending time with each other.  Once time has flown it is impossible to retrieve it or to call in back again.  A missed moment or a missed opportunity can never be recalled.  Once it has gone, it will never return.

Instead of focusing on the things money can buy, we should gather together as families and share our memories of times past.  We can recall those days of our youth and share the feeling with the young people in our lives.  These memories can be an inspiritation for the young to aspire to create their own memories and to progress into their own lives which may be better than the ones we left behind.  But most of all we should talk and remember and think of the good time, the happiness and the joys we have received in our own days gone by. 

Paper chains around the doors in red and green construction paper and popcorn chains upon the tree are simple additions to our holiday decorations but they are things that can be done together and shared and bring happy times to the young.  It is a way to create a memory and to add to the happy times that will be important when the next generation grows old. 

These are the days to remember and they should be remember with joy and with a light heart.  We shouldn't give ourselves up to creating moments of stress and aggravation and worry at Christmas time.  We should create good times and not fear for the future. 

This is our time and we should do all we can to make the best of it!!

"Such magic there is in Christmas to draw the absent ones home, and if unable to go in body, the thoughts will hover there!  Our hearts grow tender with childhood memories and love of kindred, and we are better throughout the year for having, in spirit, become a child again at Christmastime."  Laura Ingalls Wilder

At 5AM Friday morning, otherwise known as Black Friday, a group of eager customers standing outside a Wal-Mart forced the doors opened and stampeded the store, trampling a 34 year old employee to death.  It was reported that directly after this incident, which resulted in a loss of life, the same customers who stampeded the doors proceeded to shop as though nothing out of the ordinary occurred.  Was it really worth it?

This is mob mentality in it's finest example.  These people, who were frenzied over a possible sale, were so motivated by an inanimate object which was within easy reach became much more important than the life of another person who was just simply where he was supposed to be.  They acted as a group who would allow nothing to stand in their way and who had such a small line of focus that they could not think with any reason or logic.  They were all behaving as one group with a single motivation and without a care for the possibility that what they were doing would cause an injury and even death.

This is not only cruel but callous.  Whatever happened to having a little pride, a little dignity, a little composure and perhaps show a little self-worth?!  For crying out loud, nothing, no absolutely nothing can be more important than life itself.  But have we gotten to the point, as a society, where nothing matters and no one cares unless we are grabbing at what we want.

It is a good time to sit back and give a thought to what Christmas is really all about!!  Christmas is about peace and joy and love and of giving good cheer to our neighbors, our friends and our family.  It is for growing closer and growing stronger and growing in care and in charity.  It's definitely not about pushing the next guy over who might get in the way of a silly little object and putting feet marks up his back.  This is not Christmas at all and those who participated in this disgusting act of depravity should be deeply ashamed of themselves not only for killing an innocent man but for being so cruel and callous as to go about their business as though nothing extraordinary happened at all.   

Kindly excuse me if I missed something, but didn't we just bail out CitiCorp last week?  It seems to me that we reached deep into our pockets and saved CitiCorp from looming failure and now guess what they are about to do?!  Oh yeah, raise your interest rate!  How about that, boys and girls, we bail them out and they thank us all by raising their rates?!  Pretty nice of them when you come to think of it.  Here we are, the people of America, struggling to pay our mortgages, pay our bills, put food on our tables and somehow try to figure out how to give children a Christmas, and yet we are expected to pull one of the biggest banks out of failure and THEY raise rates.  Now that's a GREAT BIG HELP!

Okay, so CitiCorp isn't the only one raising rates, so are American Express and Chase.   Correct me if I'm wrong but how is this going to stimulate the economy?  In order for the economy to be stimulated, there has to be more money available for people to spend.  Reaching deep into our pockets to pay excessive interest rates is going to do very little or absolutely nothing to free up any money whatsoever.  Decreasing interest rates would do that, certainly not raising them. 

And not only this but they have the audicity to say that everyone will just continue to suck up these rates and keep on using the credit they so kindly offer.  What do they think, we're all stupid?!  This is nothing but greed, pure and simple.  It's as though these banks have the conceited attitude that we just can't live without them.  It's time to cut up those cards, folks, and show them just what We, the People are made of.    

Okay, all we've been hearing about on Fox13 is Black Friday.  Anyone ready to fight the crowds on Friday morning or are you going to bury your heads under the warm blankets and get your sleep? 

 

 

Look, I'm getting pretty sick and tired of hearing everyone moaning and groaning about bail outs.  You should all be ashamed of yourselves!!  C'mon people, quit whining and crying, pick yourselves up and go do something for yourself. 

This is just sad and pathetic.  There is not one of us out there who is too weak or weak-minded to consider our circumstances, figure out a plan and put it into action.  There is very little point in sitting around waiting for government to do something; all they want to do is sit around a bicker which is really all they've accomplished in the past 6 or 9 weeks or however long they've been at it. 

Did anyone bother to ask any of those high and mighty senators if they came into town on a commuter flight or did they come on their personal jets?!  They don't even know if they are on foot or horseback.  But you can bet your bottom dollar the high and mighties got to Washington on your dollar.  Your dollar that would do a heck of a lot more good in your pocket than theirs. 

It's time everyone started thinking about their own economy and how to keep that hard earned money in your own pocket rather than how to throw good money after bad into causes that are not going to help you one iota.  We've already seen what AIG has done with their bail-out money so is it any real guess what banks who are going to benefit are going to do with theirs? 

We cannot continue to be dependants; dependant on government, dependant on insurance companies, dependant on banks, dependant on oil, dependant on Wal-Mart.  If we continue on this line we will have to change to Declaration of Independence to the Declaration of Dependance.  We have gone from a country of independant thinkers to a bunch of whiners and criers who have to lean on government to survive.

You can not spend money to save money.  That has to be the most ridiculous statement anyone ever came up with.  You can't throw away money and still expect to have it in your pocket later on.  In order for the economy to work, people have to have money to spend but how can we spend when we expect government to give us benefits to care for us that leaves us with very little to take care of ourselves. 

Just look at health care for instance.  Taxes are taken in order to give your employers the ability to offer you health care,  next you take a payroll deduction in order to purchase this insurance, you go to the doctor or to the pharmacy and are expected to pay a co-pay, when that is all said and done, your insurance kicks in.  And lo and behold, the next thing you know you are receiving a statement from the insurance company telling you what your insurance doesn't cover, so you reach in your pocket yet again and shell out more money.  That's at least 4 times your digging into your pocket to pay for health care.  Somehow that doesn't sound right.

If anyone wants help, they should help themselves.  Improve your life or change your lifestyle.  If you have too much on your plate, lessen the load.  No one demands you have all that in your life.  But one thing that's known about people is that they can change and do things different as long as they chose to do so. 

Stop whining and crying, get up off your rump and help yourself and better your own economy.  It's up to you but it's not for you to lean on government to do all this for you.  It's too expensive and there's too little benefit to it. 

 

 

 

While suturing a  cut on the hand of a 75 year old rancher, who's hand
was caught in the  gate while working cattle, the doctor struck up a
conversation with the  old man. Eventually the topic got around to Obama and his
election to be our  president.
> The old rancher  said, 'Well, ya know, Obama is a 'Post
Turtle.'
> Not being  familiar with the term, the doctor asked him what a 'post
turtle' was.  The old rancher said, 'When you're driving down a
country road and you come across a fence post with a turtle balanced on top,
that's a 'post turtle.'
> The old rancher  saw the puzzled look on the doctor's face so he
continued To explain.  'You know he didn't get up there by himself, he
doesn't belong Up there,  and he doesn't know what to do while he's
up there, and you just wonder what kind of idiot put him up there to begin
with.'

A question was raised last week about what we have to be thankful for.  That is a tough question when the economy is going down the toilet and we are constantly hearing about financial bailouts.  With Christmas just around the corner, many families are struggling just to get by and are trying to figure out how it is possible to give their children a happy holiday.  I guess perhaps one thing to be thankful for is that gas prices are going down by leaps and bounds.  So, under these circumstances, what is there to be thankful for?

 

 

Way back in the 17th century, a group of rag-tag men and women set out from Plymouth, England to make a terrifying journey across the empty waters of the Atlantic Ocean.  The party consisted of a group of Pilgrims, Protestants who were fleeing from religious persecution in Europe.  These were dangerous times in the Old World since the Inquisition was raging in Spain and in Holland, countries under the rule of the Holy Roman Empire.  In those times, if one was not of a certain religion and captured by the Inquisition, that person was persuaded to become member of the True Faith, to denounce their beliefs and their faith and their doctrines.  If this did not work, they were tortured under devises both cruel and unusual until they submitted.  Yet if that still didn’t work, these people were burned at the stake for heresy, an untenable situation. 

 

 

Many fled to England and many would rather take their chances on the fierce Atlantic than a fiery death.  They embarked upon a ship, which brought them to a new, wild and untamed land to scratch  out a living on untested soil.  In that first year, many of their number died in the wilderness, many starved and many found the hope of survival.  Yet they survived, planted crops in the spring and celebrated their meager harvest with Thanksgiving.  They didn’t have much, they suffered hardly and yet by the end of that year, they found reason to be thankful for all they received from their labor and hardship.

 

 

Soon afterwards more people started to arrive and populate this new world.  They wished to live in peace and to grow strong yet their leadership was far across the sea in England where decisions were made that did not pertain to the lives the colonists had to face in the land they were taming to call their own.  Throughout the years, the people had grown strong in their convictions and their beliefs and found they were not prepared to bow down before the knee of a King who had no understanding of what their lives were from across the long distance.  These people rose up and fought the established means of government until they could declare victory which separated them from the motherland. 

 

 

It was a daunting task these brave men and women faced as they contemplated what would be best for their new little world; they thought long are hard and carved for us a new doctrine, unheard of in far off Europe, but they certainly did their best and gave us their all.  We know the names, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Addams, Ben Franklin, Paul Revere and many many more.  They are celebrated men known for their great strength and ability yet in reality they were just ordinary people, like you and I, who followed their convictions, their faith and their belief and in doing so created a new and innovative society which is our great inheritance. 

 

 

So much has happened since those days.  Our country expanded under the Louisiana Purchase, which gain a great amount of land for what was becoming a great country.  Brave and fearless men and women moved forth across that new land to pioneer and to farm, to prospect for gold, to build railways, raise telegraph poles and telephone lines to connect us one to the other.  They faced hardships to survive and kept right on moving, working and developing and growing families to take up from where they left off.  These men and women had an immense open country to tame but they set forth undaunted to do all they could to survive and to be free and independent, governors of their own free will.  To these people, our ancestors, we have to give great thanks. 

 

 

This is the land of the free and the home of the brave.  Those free and brave are out there on the front lines of brutal wars, whether it be a civil war or a revolutionary war, whether at home or abroad, fighting in one of the two world wars, or in Korea or Vietnam or Iraq or Afghanistan to ensure we are at peace at home.  These men and women love this country so much that they are willing to put themselves in grave danger for us all so we can live and grow and make families to inherit this great land in the future.  They are willing to make the greatest sacrifice, without complaint, but with a brave face so we can live and be free.  To these brave people we must give salute and we must be thankful for all that they give. 

 

 

Our great country provides much to be thankful for but, when we think of thankfulness, do we not look to often to the small minor occurrences and possessions that are close to hand and forget what is large and grand. 

 

  O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!

O beautiful for pilgrim feet
Whose stern impassioned stress
A thoroughfare of freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America!
God mend thine every flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law!

O beautiful for heroes proved
In liberating strife.
Who more than self their country loved
And mercy more than life!
America! America!
May God thy gold refine
Till all success be nobleness
And every gain divine!

O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!

O beautiful for halcyon skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the enameled plain!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till souls wax fair as earth and air
And music-hearted sea!

O beautiful for pilgrims feet,
Whose stem impassioned stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till paths be wrought through
wilds of thought
By pilgrim foot and knee!

O beautiful for glory-tale
Of liberating strife
When once and twice,
for man's avail
Men lavished precious life!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till selfish gain no longer stain
The banner of the free!

O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till nobler men keep once again
Thy whiter jubilee!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Okay, I've posted this in a few other blogs but here it is for everyone to see...

Before we all forget or get ahead of ourselves, Obama is not our ruler, he's not our Messiah, he's not some great god sent down to heal all our wounds, HE'S OUR EMPLOYEE.

The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.
- Thomas Jefferson

 

Being President of the United States holds many responsibilities.  One of importance is understanding how to seperate public life from private life.  It is very difficult for those who do not realize the significence of this or have never participated in this sort of lifestyle. They never seem to grasp that once one becomes a public figure, they must at all accounts seperate public life from private life.  They also must maintain the integrity of their family and be responsible for keeping them out of the public spotlight as much as possible.  This is particularly imperative when bringing young children into such a lifestyle.  It is most important to keep children out of the spotlight as much as possible and thereby protect them from the inquisitiveness of the press.

What a stupid move it was when Obama opened the door of speculation into his children's life when he blurted out that his two little girls were going to have a puppy.  The very worst thing he could have done was open this door into his private life and allow his children to enter this spotlight immediately. 

Knowing and understanding etiquette is going to be extremely important when it comes to dealing with the world diplomatically.  He has to stand forward as a public figure from hence forward.  Giving the public an open door view of his private life is detrimental to a man of his new standing. 

These mistakes although seemingly relatively small, can add up to a first step toward disaster upon the great stage of the world upon which he is about to step. 

 

The Silver Lining

 

 

Finding the silver lining beneath every disappointing event is something that keeps everyone hoping for the best. Therefore there is one beneath the outcome of the Presidential elections.  The Democrats have won the Presidency and have won more seats in the House and Senate.   To this they must be congratulated upon their victory.

 

 

However since the Presidency didn’t go to the GOP, the Democrats have lost their whipping boy.  From here on out, they will hold full responsibility for every single failed legislation they vote upon and pass.  They no longer have Bush to blame for their failure and certainly can’t blame McCain.  There are no longer any Republicans to point their fingers at and accuse. 

 

 

At the end of the day, all the Republicans can do is sit back, relax and simply let the Democrats do what it is they do best. 

 

 

As they say, he who laughs last, laughs best...

'Twas the night before elections
And all through the town
Tempers were flaring
Emotions all up and down!

I, in my bathrobe
With a cat in my lap
Had cut off the TV
Tired of political crap.

When all of a sudden
There arose such a noise
I peered out of my window
Saw Obama and his boys

They had come for my wallet
They wanted my pay
To give to the others
Who had not worked a day!

He snatched up my money
And quick as a wink
Jumped back on his bandwagon
As I gagged from the stink

He then rallied his henchmen
Who were pulling his cart
I could tell they were out
To tear my country apart!

' On Fannie, on Freddie,
On Biden and Ayers!
On Acorn, On Pelosi'
He screamed at the pairs!

They took off for his cause
And as he flew out of sight
I heard him laugh at the nation
Who wouldn't stand up and fight!

So I leave you to think
On this one final note-
IF YOU DON'T WANT SOCIALISM
GET OUT AND VOTE!!!!


*For Those Who Fought For It, Freedom Has A Price The Protected Will Never Know*


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You can always tell if a person believes in themselves by the way in which they present themselves or the way in which they speak.  Anyone who truly believes in themselves will always speak straight talk.  They will tell you clearly and in the least amount of words necessary exactly what they want to say.

 

 

Anyone who feels the need to shout or to sit down and give a lengthy explanation concerning their beliefs does so not because they want you to believe in what they are saying but because they are trying to persuade themselves that what they are saying is truthful and something they really believe in.  

 

 

An intelligent person has a quick understanding and is knowledgeable enough to comprehend what is being told to them instantly.  Lengthy and continuous explanations leads one to think that the person who is speaking believes that you do not have the intelligence to understand the message. 

 

 

If a message cannot be stated in less than 30 seconds, the speaker either does not understand what they are talking about or they believe to whom they are speaking is of little intelligence. 

 

 

There are others who believe that if they talk over an extended period of time, the meaning of their message will be lost in all the chatter.  They just continue to talk or repeat themselves or change their statement by a little bit in order to confuse their listeners who they already believe to be less than intelligent. 

 

 

In short, when searching for a candidate to vote for in the Presidential election, pay careful attention not only to what they candidates are saying but also how they are saying it and how they are presenting themselves.