Describe the American Dream Then one culture that understands happiness Key To Life # 1.2 Live By The Moment Nothing Else Matters

The American dream has always been to own your own home, have two cars, a beautiful wife/husband, two lovely kids, and enough money in the bank to cover you and your family if you lose your job. In short it's always been material things for the American, at least that's my take on it. I'm American, and for a long time thought like this too. This carrot still dangles at the nose of many Americans, some even though any chance of it for them was lost during the Reagan years. This is why I am answering the second part of this question with "India". I know from my own experience in life that happiness comes from wisdom, knowledge, and understanding of the world around you. Once there, there is no other substitute for happiness. I learned this through my studies of the Holy Bible and Buddhism, but what prepared me most for pulling up and out of the mental, emotional and physical suffering I'd endure for enlightenment was Buddhism. It is void of Christian dogma. Here is a quote from Matthieu Ricard; a molecular biologist turned Buddhist Monk. "Happiness is not a mere pleasurable feeling, a fleeting emotion, or a mood, but an optimal state of being. It is a way of interpreting the world. While it may be difficult to change the world, it is always possible to change the way we look at it." Many Indians know this and live by it, as do many Chinese. And so do I. For more discussion of failed American dreams: The 50s a decade of the perfect family 

What is happiness? More about the dynamics of happiness can be found at: http://peopletruths.blogspot.com  and on jimisound.com   Tip: type "happiness into the search box at jimisound.com

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What is love? Key To Life #1.1 Love Makes The World Go Round

If a hug represents how much I love you, I would hold you in my arms forever Mandy Hampton

What is love, where did it come from, is it worth the heart ache that almost always comes with it. Although the word love is mentioned at least several times in every book of the bible except a few, it is mentioned in the book of psalms many more times than all the other books. 1 Corinthians 13:4 NIV says, love is patient, and love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. Love is patient, understanding, kind and unselfishness (2 Corinthians 6.6) Ok, so there are a few words that describe love.

It is said that love comes from God who is in us. If that is true, then the more God/love that is in someone, the more painful the heart ache would be from a failed love, right? Well, not quite, if love is all forgiving, because we would be expected to immediately forgive those who hurt us. But why is it we can't do that? All of us need time to heal, and it's only after some time has passed, that our capacity to forgive will outweigh our feelings of hate and anger towards someone who has hurt us. Only time can heal a broken heart and nothing else. Does "don't do the crime unless you are willing to do the time", sound familiar? But yet it feels so good when we are in love.

Maybe it’s like yen and yang, love and pain, you can't have one without the other. What is the secular take on love? From the movie Captain Corelli's Mandolin: When you fall in love, it is a temporary madness. It erupts like an earthquake, and then it subsides. And when it subsides, you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots have become so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because this is what love is. Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, and it is not the desire to mate every second of the day. It is not lying awake at night imagining that he is kissing every part of your body. No... Don’t blush. I am telling you some truths. For that is just being in love; which any of us can convince ourselves we are. Love itself is what is left over, when being in love has burned away... (Iannis to Pelagia) Note: there are two versions of this quote, one from the book and a slightly different version from the movie.

Well that is definitely another description of love and a pretty good one. I remember an old flame once told me as she was leaving: It's not that I don't love you anymore; it's just that I'm not in love with you anymore. I guess what she was trying to say was that our roots never entwined enough to warrant a continued stay, after the honey moon ended and real life began. On a serious note, however, many people that I spoke to before writing this article were asked: Do you believe in love? You know what the most common answer was? "People abuse love" "You’re taking a big risk by allowing yourself to love someone". Some men said:  “It's not worth the risk anymore; even the laws of the land punish you for it.” While that may be partly exaggeration, it is at least partly true to many American men who have been mis-treated by the countries divorce proceedings in its’ court rooms regarding their children and their income.

Scientists have learned that a chemical cocktail of neurotransmitters — phenethylamine, dopamine, norepinephrine and oxytocin — are at work when we fall for someone. This powerful love potion is secreted when we feel that initial attraction and serves as an amphetamine, elevating our mood, keeping senses on high alert, and helping us bond with another person. Once smitten, these “love” chemicals surge and their health effects are set in motion. Some people, are particularly hard-hit. Here’s a few of love’s side effects. Can't sleep, can't eat, and can’t concentrate, chest pressure, nausea and butterflies. They don’t call it lovesick for nothing. Falling in love affects your brain about the same way as smoking crack,” says Ethlie Ann Vare, author of  “Love Addict: Sex, Romance, and Other Dangerous Drugs. “It has essentially the same effect on what’s called the reward center of the brain.” _{(retrieved from; http://on.today.com/nf9owt)}

Here's what I think. I think love is like a muscle, if you don't use it, you lose it. I also think love is the most important emotion we have in us, and I don't think the foolishness of a few hurtful (sometimes a person who hurts you is just ignorant for lack of a better way to have handled the matter) people that have crossed our paths, is evidence enough to abandon something as beautiful as love is. I have loved and lost at least twice in my life and believe me, it hurt like hell, and I still can't wait to find love again.

At least I still have the capacity to love. Never lose your capacity to love; you never know when you might need it again. To find someone you can love romantically or fall in love with (they are both the same to me) is a blessing. What I've learned, is to just know to be careful choosing that someone to love, an even being careful you may get hurt again. Give the things you need to know about a person at least a couple of years to come out, whatever those things might be, before you let go of yourself and fall in love with them.  This will help.

A small voice always speaks to you and tells you what you need to know about a person. You just have to discipline yourself to listen to that small voice and respond in your own best interest, just be sure you do respond. If that voice says this person is tricky, don't ignore that voice, it's there for a reason. Find out what tricky is, and determine if it's something you are willing to accept in your life from a mate. If not, sign out and start over again, you'll be glad you did.

Are you a romantic like me? I have a site you might like: http://www.1-love-quotes.com/
More on this subject: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/44010532

Seniors You Can Be Scammed On The Internet Key To Life # 1.0 Learn How To Use The Internet

The Internet is one of the newest and most powerful things in life, our lives anyway. The military had it long before we did (the people). In the 1990's, the early years the internet was slow, cumbersome and always going down. Thanks to the relentless drive of the technology community, the Internet and the computers we use to access it have come a long way in a short time in the way of speed. The Internet will captivate you once you see how useful it is. There are so many subjects, opportunities, so much information, pictures, sites that connect people around the world, and forums, and the list is growing. If you're not careful, you can go online to do one thing and end up doing a hundred other things before you get to the one thing you went online to do in the first place. Mature adults, this is directed at you, please start using the Internet! Of all the things man has done throughout the last one hundred years, including going to the moon, microwave ovens, artificial hearts, cars that park themselves, bionic limbs, and telescopes that can see to the end of the universe, the Internet is the biggest. If you are not familiar with it by now you are running way late. Everyone is being directly effected by it in one way or another.

Get your own computer, have a friend show you how to use it and get started. It's time you catch up with the rest of us. The Internet is the new way of the world. It has changed the world and is growing like a juggernaut, gobbling up entire countries, industries and making them into the image of the people of the world, not governments. It's changed radio, television, music, movies, the way we shop and even health care and that's just to name a few. It is a secure place to make purchases, as safe as walking into a store to make the purchase and it has the best prices. In many ways, it's more secure to purchase on the Internet than to go to a store. Recently, thousands of people who shop Michaels had their debit cards compromised and their accounts robbed. The criminals physically went into individual stores and secretly modified the electronic reader pads the customers slide the cards through to pay for a purchase. They modified the pads in stores all across the country and got into thousands of accounts taking increments of $500.00 at a time from each account so as not to be noticed while robbing hundreds of people's bank accounts.

The Internet is becoming safer for several reasons. In its early years, it gave birth to a new kind of crook, the cyber crook. This drew negative attention to the Internet, but it also drew the attention of ALL law enforcement agencies, and the US government which went to work passing law after law (and they're still not done) to protect cyber space (the Internet and the people that use it). This made the Internet a hotspot for authorities who because of it's economic importance, (there are more transactions being made on the Internet than any country in the world), protect it more and more as time goes by using advanced Internet security technologies, and staying ahead of the criminal's bent on compromising it. Soon it may be the safest way to do business if not already. Don't be afraid of the Internet, embrace it, use it, learn from it, grow and have fun with it. Just get started, you'll learn what you should and should not do in no time at all. The price of a computer drops every year. Don't be afraid of change, it's good for you, all good. So go out there and open a new chapter in your life, you'll grow so fast once you get started and you'll be glad you followed this advice. 

In America money is everything Key To Life #0.9 Equip Yourself To Make Lots Of Money At An Early Age

Money is one thing in life you should understand and teach your kids about. Money & trade is the thread that holds the fabric of society together with or without capitalism. It is the net that catches you in a fall and when the waters of life rise up, it is the lifeboat you row away to safety in. I remember being told when I was a child that money isn't everything. At the time that sounded good to me because money was so hard for me to get. I was glad it wasn't everything, and I hoped it never would be. I felt that way because I had to work, do chores, sell things, or beg to get it. This made life seem pretty tuff to me as a kid. Yes, it taught me the value of earning but little else.

Now that I'm an adult my understanding of money has changed. Money is still not easy to get, but it wouldn't be as hard to get if I had known all about it early on. So now the matter is worse because money is everything and in reality, it always was!  I still have to work to get it, do chores for it and sometimes beg for it. The problem is that without it everything stands still. Now I think money is not only everything but a necessity so important to live that you can die from not having it. And in fact, an embarrassing number of Americans do and that number has increased exponentially over the past 40 yrs.

A person shouldn't say money isn't everything in capitalism unless they explain why it is. We've all been down on our luck and at some point suffered long and hard because we didn't have a higher paying job, a savings or an investment activity in place. Under a rigged system, most will not. Money buys everything in life even love, respect, family (families cost a lot of money relatively), and happiness. Those four things are important which makes money that much more important. Now that I've gotten that out of the way let's get right done to it! "In America money is everything"!

Money buys comfort, convenience and time. Given this, when you work as hard as Americans do you deserve those three advantages. Unfortunately, low wages due to evil politics and greed have eroded 'The American Dream' by putting those things farther and farther out of our reach. It by nature makes us work harder and more to grab that carrot, which is no longer there, pity. This is a labor trap that has taken The American Dream out of the picture for some people because they were misguided about the importance of money in America. If you mention it, they'll call you a communist. And, this word has been their escape route for damn near a century and people still fall for it.

If you are sick you need money to get help and pay medical expenses, and when you're hungry you need money to eat. You need it to communicate with a cell phone or computer if you want to live in the present and not the past. If money is not everything why do you have to work for it, why don't people just give it to you? An individual should work for a living, but to rig the system and undermine the individuals' efforts is simply evil. But then greed does encompass all sin. It can only get worse over time unless that carrot is removed.

Here's the truth, money should not be worshiped. By that I mean one should not seek money as the answer to everything. It is only a means to an end. We need money for trade and there is where the value of money should stop. Money can foster greed and greed will eventually devour the better part of a man's character and in some instances his life. One must respect money in order to make wise decisions concerning it. And we should be careful what we purchase with it to avoid misusing it.

The person who doesn't take money for granted will always have more of it, so we should purchase what we need as opposed to what we want about 99% of the time. Do you need a vacation, okay, but do you need a lavish vacation, who does? It's easy to think of money as a status symbol to impress ourselves or someone else, but there are more important ways to impress someone. You just have to think about it a little harder.

One example is people who always put others before themselves. Now there is an impressive person.  If you spend your time learning what good values are, the money will never come to mind and in that way money is not everything, and in fact, it literally becomes nothing at all. However, none of that counts if you need a place to live. For that, you need the money and by today's standards, more than you should have to.

Kids should be taught finance early, and how the value of money in their lives will become more important as they ascend into adulthood. But they should be encouraged to live an honest, keep balance in their lives too. Furthermore, parents should explore the strengths of their children and help them relate to those strengths and avoid temptations. For example; a child who has an aptitude in math should be told at a young age what the careers in math are and the job descriptions explained to them. If it is highly paid they should be told that and how to handle the higher income.

But they should also be told of the dangers of greedy behavior. They should be shown those that pay well and those that don't and told what the difference means from a financial point of view. Thus the child becomes equipped early on to maneuver in the forest of employment, understand why poverty is not chosen, and then taught about having their own business. When we teach them how to stay prepared, they never have to get prepared. This shows them the value of capitalism and how not to support its flaws! It also shows them the importance of having social programs in place to support capitalism because the greedy (those with privilege and opportunity) will fight any kind of social program.

Worry Key To Life #0.8 Never Worry!

Worry is one of many things in life that is hard to conquer. I mention it briefly in the previous post so here we can spend a little more time on it. It seems there's always something that can get us to worry, even when we've promised ourselves not to worry about anything anymore. How many times have you worried about something only to find that when things were all said and done your worry was in vain. Frankly speaking: Worry is a self inflicted injury.

It is absolutely best for us to avoid worry at all cost. Worry has been associated with illness, aging, weight gain, weight loss, crimes, theft, false witnessing, and even murder. Where does worry come from? Well worry comes from fear. And fear is: "False Evidence Appearing Real" F.E.A.R. or relying to heavily on "foreseeing", the reading into a matter pretentiously. To be overly concerned in one's own mind. If you worry hard enough you will make what you fear a reality.

Have you ever heard it said that one can bring their fears to life by fear itself? For example: how about the guy who says, "she's too good for me. She's out of my league. She's going to leave me", then to find that his fear comes true? Another one is: I can't do the math, I'm going to fail this class. Did you know that we as human beings almost do what we tell ourselves to do? We will succeed if we believe in ourselves, and we will always fail if we tell ourselves to fail. 

Worry is just another way to tell yourself to hope for the worst.  Its blaming a concern when concerns are an opportunity to make progress. It can't be to your benefit if it is allowed to become worry right? Worry brings stress to walls of your blood vessels. And it creates a chemical imbalance in your brain which sends mixed signals to your nervous system. Too much of that over time and your body will become ill due to a weakened immune system. If you're going to read into something, read into a good book,

What Is Hope Key To Life # 0.7 To Hope Is Good It Gets Us Out Of Bed In The Mornings

Hope is lessor than faith and more than giving up. The belief that something desired is coming or that a circumstance will change or that a thing is coming. Hope is time sensitive, time is the stress factor of hoping. To desire something and believe it is coming is good, but when will it come and should we be concerned that it may not? Positivity is the common denominator of hope. Some would say that to hope is to be positive thinking and to not hope is negative thinking. That to desire is to hope and to hope is believing in what is not. And to believe in what is not yet, is to believe in spiritualism and the power of willing a thing into existence. And finally, to believe in spiritualism is to believe in what the eyes cannot see.

Now we know to believe none of what we hear and only half of what we see, right? So it makes sense to believe in nothing we can't see. "Now would be good" is something I have often found myself saying, but rarely does what I'm hoping for occur when I say now would be good. But! Sometimes it does happen. If a thing comes at all it is never when you expect it, but somehow it feels right on time though it was horribly late. Do we compromise common sense to keep hope alive? And does that perpetuate the practice of hoping even though we should not. We know we should never worry, but to bring ourselves to the point where we've learned to never worry is very hard to do. Something always comes alone that makes us worry.

What if the truth is we as individuals have no power in the unseen world where hope and faith point to, That would mean that hoping is futile, that we only hope in order to get ourselves to accept an unpleasant present time. Have you ever hoped until you got tired of hoping and and gave up? I think we all have at one time or another. In the end did you find that your disappointment became a moot point because what you had hoped for was of less value than what you had placed on it in the first place? I have discovered that it is best to believe and let time do the rest. Time has power over hope. I've noticed that when I spend my time well hope is more real to me, that it carries more significance. Faith is powerful and there is little doubt in my mind that it is, but how do we activate it, how do we get it to serve us? I have found that when I serve others in some way that hope and faith begin to serve me. Maybe that is the best way to spend my time. 

Life is as good as your words Key To Life #0.6 The Only Thing People Cannot Forget About You Is How You Treated Them

Some of you may have visited this site in the past week and found a post titled "What makes life suck". I have chosen to remove that post because it noted unpopular behaviors. Who needs to be reminded of the things in life that make us sad? Instead I am replacing it with people in life who are beautiful. And isn't it wonderful to know that we have that power built in us. We are charged with managing ourselves, why not take full advantage of that. There are many people in life who can make it joyful and lovely for you, me, and it is those things we should hold on to and dwell upon with love for that person. Think of things, which make you smile as you lay down to go to sleep each night, plant seeds that will be in bloom when your eyes open to the new morning. Look for those things about you that are good in you and cultivate them, nourish them by finding ways to build others up. And you will find that it will build you up too. When you practice tolerance and watch how you view others it improves you, and will plant seeds of love and confidence in you and them, and that in turn removes burdens and obstacles from your own life. Hope for a healing in those who offend you, don't look for vengeance. This makes you a winner. And you are you know. You are a winner. Words are what make the difference in our lives. Words can cut and they can heal, choose the latter and watch yourself heal too.  

Question: Is the world around you changing or is it you that's changed? Key To Life # 0.5 Accept Change

Hey, things ain't like they use to be any more, are they?  I remember when the use of fowl language was taboo and particularly around  woman (ladies) and children. So what happened, where are the manners we lived by before the era of bad language? Were they of no real value, and unworthy of protecting? Who decided it was ok to be vulgar and disgusting, was it our government turning the other way, while they quietly slipped us down a notch, turning us into a third world nation? Are there any decent women left or are they all cheesy, sleazy, sneaky self righteous judges and opportunist? So what's going on? What do you think? Has the world around you changed for the worst in recent years, or is it just that your opinion of it has changed, maybe because you have changed? Do you care, and if not, why not, and if yes, why? Where are we right now, any ideas?  

Is there anyone out there? Key To Life # 0.4 Never Expect People To Do What You Ask Them To Do

Hey everybody, its Gene, your host, and I just want to say, oh what a bad blogger I've been. Posting irregularly, posting long posts (Aging, and From the beginning), lecturing, Aging again, and failing to invite comments, discussions and writing as though I am the final authority on something, and I apologize. Well today is the beginning of a different kind of blogger in me, and I hope you like the new me.  First, I would like to invite your comments, and your opinions on stuff I blog about here, or anywhere I blog.  I want to ignite a spark in you that summons the writer in you to come out. Give you a forum to express yourself and be heard and recognized. So, without further apology, let me jump right into it. I was reading a piece yesterday at Imgur . com. The title was "What the fuck is wrong with these people?" At first I turned away because of the language, but my curiosity got the best of me, and I'm glad I looked. I couldn't believe what I was reading. These people posted hate messages about the Japanese and their plight. I was floored. Forget about praying for em, let's take this opportunity to kick em while they're down. If you don't mind, go over there and check it out and come back over here and post your thoughts on it. Really, I mean it, are you still angry about Pearl Harbor? 

From The Beginning Key To Life # 0.3 Never Forget Where You Came From

This will be a fun blog for me to write you. I get to recount my childhood and I hope when you read it, that it takes you back to your childhood too. I was this wild kid who always attracted animals of all kinds. Here are some of my childhood memories. Like a kid running into a candy store, I popped out of my mother and hit the ground runnin she'd say, and I haven't stopped for anything but food, water or a girlfriend since. That's a pretty accurate metaphor. If you lived out in the country, I'm that crazy kid from the woods who'd show up in your yard and play with your kids.

Always sneaking off and getting into mischief. My fathers shot gun saved me more than once. Twice exactly. Once from rabid skunk and another time I was playing in an irrigation ditch that had been filled with water. A small child can swim in the big ones. But sometimes dangerous animals are in them too. A cottonmouth was in the water one day with me and my dad shot it too. I've always celebrated life and tried to sample everything about it.

My mom said my eyes would light up whenever I saw the sunrise. She said I rarely ate and was always excited. 

I am convinced that I remember the details of when I was born in the little one car town back in Texas. I was born in a hospital not much bigger than a small duplex apartment building. I can recall back to when I first saw the light, a bright bulb set in an aluminum cowling protruding out of the ceiling in the delivery room, at least that's what it looked like to me. Don't under estimated babies, they begin collecting data immediately I guess! My said all people don't have that kind of recall. My mother right today will tell you that my description amazes her. Neither her or my dad have ever described that room to me. You know back then they slapped a babies butt to open their eyes. Maybe that's what made me like I was. Maybe.

My mother loves to tell the story how one day her and my dad did a stupid thing. They left me alone in my crib at the farm house while they drove to the store around midnight. When they came back there were wolves throughout the yard and two had already entered the house. My dad always had a gun and the moment the car lights revealed them he jumped out shooting in the air. When they saw two run out of the house she said she feared the worst. But nope, I was lying in my crib wide awake she said.

Both my collar bones have been broken from being slam into a fence and another time tossed into a fence from several yards away. Both times by two different bulls I was teasing from inside their pins. I was 7 and 8. I think most city people would think I'm exaggerating, but most country folks would know I'm not. That's where I come from! That's who I am.  

My mother said that at 16 she was not well equipped to deal with a colicky baby like I was. She said she couldn't take it so she gave me over to a white lady who lived down the road. She said she saw her carrying me and crying one day walking along a dirt road and she stopped her car, got out and asked her what was wrong. And she told her that I was crying and she couldn't get me to stop.

From that day on this lady came over every morning to the house and would stay with me and you she said, all day helping me with you. She showed me how to fold a towel and lay it across my knees and lay you face down on it on your stomach and how to rock you till you burped". She told me that this lady was as much my mother as she was, Because one day she had to go away, and she gave me to this lady. I remember her raising me. She was young and pretty like my mom was. She me a long time. My mother doesn't talk about why she me to her. I remember feeling safe and warm all the time with her. She toted me everywhere even after I could walk she'd still carry me all the time. 

The first words I spoke were not mommy or daddy, they were s_ _ _ pot, f_ _ _ you and a few other choice words. I was afraid of my own shadow at night but not of anything else; just my shady, literally. Not snakes, wolves, bulls, horses or people. In fact she say's I was incredibly bold and aggressive at a very young age.

She laughs when she tells of the time I was riding in the back seat as she and my dad was heading down the road to Plainview Texas, and my dad said "sit down back there boy" and I said "no you shit head" and hit him in the back of the head with my metal toy cap gun. I wasn't even scared when he stopped the car and spanked me she said, but I remember the spanking. Do you have a lot of memories from your childhood?

My parents were wild, young, dumb and mean. Once they left me in the car and I got into the glove box, took my dads 38 pistol out and shot a hole in the dash. The windows were rolled up and the sound waves knocked me unconscious. I remember the ringing before everything went black. They say they found me unconscious with the gun lying beside me. This is all true dumb country stuff I'm sharing with you. If you are reading this and you are from the country, you know.

Things changed when they moved us to California. I got asthma really bad and stopped breathing a lot. They rushed me to the hospital and doctors saved my life a number of times. That scenario played out more times than I care to remember. I practically lived in an oxygen tent from the age of 11 to 14. Then one day it was gone.  

My fearlessness has gotten me into some pretty tough messes along the way in my life, but it's given me a great deal of wisdom to share. Both my collar bones have large breaks in them from those bull attacks as a result of those antics on the farm. To get into a bullpen with a bull is one thing, but you gotta run right after you get the bull's attention, and not run in a circle around the bull, that really pisses them off. We were at about 7 and 8 at that time (my friend Jaime would do it too). I had a dog named Ranger. Ranger was a giant dark brown Great Dane and I loved him. He was my best friend as a child. I used to ride him like a horse. My mother would send my dad to find me in the car whenever she called out for me and I didn't answer. They always knew they’d need the car. Because I'd ride Ranger miles away. 

I used get up in the mornings at day break and go right outside, get on Ranger and ride him for miles down the road at times, not realizing how far we had gone. I loved exploring the residuals of the ending night. Right to today, you will often find me basking in the early morning sun, I love the warmth of the morning sun, its better than coffee to me.

One early morning I saw a man get struck by lightning, they say he lived, I remember seeing him sitting on his tractor and plowing his field at daybreak when out of the dark gray sky without a sound, came a bolt of lightning, the loud cracking sound didn't come till after the lightning had come and gone, then it started to rain and thunder as more lightning flashes splintered and cracked the skies like and egg cracks. I ran to his house, banged on the door and told his people, I guess his wife. Then I ran home with Ranger. My dad said the man lived. He said the lightning hit the tractor mostly.

My mother and father would drive to visit some of our relatives who lived in nearby cities and spend the nights there for awhile and in the mornings they would all drive out to the fields and pick cotton. They would leave me in the car, they said it was too hard to watch me out there with the kinds of poisonous snakes that were out there. If I wondered off in those fields and got bitten we were too far away from anywhere to get help. 

 Sometimes when I think about to that night of wolves, I wonder if somehow during that night  a bond of some kind took place because some years later a beautiful wolf followed me home from a hike and rabbit hunt just after we moved here to California. Of course we moved to the outskirts of the city to a place called Otay Lakes. My friends, parents and relatives couldn't believe it and they couldn't stop talking about it. I've always had a way with animals. My mother thinks that's why I got asthma. She says it was a psychological reaction from being take away from animals. 

We really became close, the wolf and I. I would hug him, lay on him and we played tag all the time together. He would lower his head and let out a fierce growl when people approached me but never bit anyone. He never growled at my mother and father or my brothers, but still didn't trust him, they'd just call me away from him most of the time refusing to come close. They said he was just too big. I named him Lobo which is wolf in Spanish. Then one day I woke up and went outside to him like I did every morning, and he was not there.

I called out loud running and crying for miles but I never saw him again. My eyes are tearing as I write this. After a month or so I quit looking. I just knew it was right. That he had to go back to the wild. I stopped crying a lot and one day resumed my life as if it never happened. My dad said that's how it would play out, and it did. By the way, my dad never kept the gun loaded in the glove box anymore and he kept the glove box locked. I know because I looked for it again. These are the memories that I can escape to when life gets complicated for me. I hope you enjoyed reading them.  

People Who Love Animals Key To Life # 0.2 Treat Animals Nice!

"What about these animal rights activists?" Ever hear people say that, and then follow up with; "don't you think people should come first; I mean it's as though they don't realize that those are just animals. they are not as valuable as people. Those people don’t say much about anything that happens to a person, but oh, let something happen to an animal and it's all over the news, what a waste of time, don't these people have anything better to do?"

May I submit this to that? Our world consists of all the elements that keep it going, and besides things like trees for oxygen, rain for clean water, soil purification and other natural occurrences, among those elements are people. We have a certain responsibility to animals, being the superior life form here on earth. It is our responsibility to take care of animals and it is our responsibility to address true human concerns too.  So you are both write and wrong, and its’ extremely noticeable when one side strays a little too far into the extreme. People who make their voice heard concerning the ethical treatment of animals are just doing their job, our job if you will.

Imagine what the world would be like if no one stood up for animals. We run the risk of losing animals of all kinds by habitat invasion, abuse, hunting and killing them for sport, or vengeance, and whatever else you can think of. The people who speak up for animals are the world’s conscience for animals which sometimes will prod the rest of us to remind us of our responsibilities as the superior life form. Wouldn’t you agree that some of us need to be reminded at times? So please, don't be so quick to condemn people who love animals, we need them as much as we need rain, sunshine and air we breathe. They remind of us of our humanity and help us to keep our existence on the higher plain so that it doesn't sink to a level below that of the animals which share the world with us.  

Common sense dictates that there should be a balance or a border that keeps the love of animals within reason of course; we wouldn't want our love of animals to go beyond the ethical treatment of humans now would we that would be self defeating? So both sides, people who love animals and people who are not as interested in them have a responsibility to each other wouldn't you agree, and maybe it's simple, maybe it's just a matter of respecting nature, both human nature and natural nature because it's those two elements combined which keep us all alive?

Here's a good reason to respect people who love and protect animals I'll warn you this is graphic

This was done with a firecracker put into the mouth of the dog. This is an animal who would die protecting its master. Only someone inhuman would do a thing like this. And this kind of crap is happening every day. 

The Truth About Aging Life is a testing ground and we are the test! KeyTo Life # 0.1

Let's talk about aging for a minute, it's a subject rarely discussed outside of judgment, ridicule or labeling. If you don't believe me, take a look at these dictionary definitions? –noun

3.

The particular period of life at which a person becomes naturally or conventionally
qualified or disqualified for anything: He was over age for military duty.

5.

Advanced years; old age: His eyes were dim with age.

10.

The average life expectancy of an individual or of the individuals of a class or species: The age of a horse is from 25 to 30 years.

11.

Psychology. the level of mental, emotional, or educational development of a person, especially a child, as determined by various tests and based on a comparison of the individual's score with the average score for persons of the same
chronological age.

–verb (used without object)

15.

to grow old: He is aging rapidly.

–verb (used with object)

17.

to make old; cause to grow or seem old: Fear aged him overnight.

.—Idiom

If we change the way we look at age maybe it will change the way we age:

The universe is said to be billions of years old, our planet is said to be millions of years old, but who knows. Man and his finite mind often try to convince others of something that can't be proven. It's in our nature to want to be the ruler of things or to know it all, but how much we know is always suspect, and so is the age of the universe and the age of planet earth. There is one thing I think I know and that is that we use the word age and the concept of age to judge others, mostly for the wrong reasons, and most of those reasons are negative or counterproductive. How does that work in a so called positive thinking society? We judge ourselves and others by age, we predict by it, we make older people the point of jokes, and we fear it. Our attitudes about age must be changed. Men and women live to be an average age of 85 these days and more often than not much older than that, much older as of recent. It's a widely accepted opinion that it's due to a change in habits, exercise and medical breakthroughs.

Last year a lady died at 116 in Los Angeles, this year a lady in Cuba celebrated her 126th birthday and a 100 year old man who still plays tennis, laughs and hangs out with a younger crowd was profiled a ABC news this week. People are living longer, but are they really old? Well consider this, if the universe is billions of years old and the planet we live on is indeed millions of years old, then man's life span is really just a vapor in the overall scheme of things. People die because of gravity. Gravity is the cause of our bodies manifesting the appearance it has after a certain number of years here in the world we live in. It pulls us down after time; it puts undue weight on our organs, our bones and our mind. If you ask anyone who has been here awhile, say about 80 years, they'll tell you: it seems like it was just yesterday I was playing in a sand box with my friends, and other little kids, where did the time go? 

That's because in real time, in reality, in the overall scheme of life and time, it really was just yesterday. Kind of makes you think about what life is really all about doesn't it? You're here one minute and gone the next. Think about that as you plan your life out. Could life be a testing ground and we are the test? People should think about that when they ridicule those older than them, because they too are aging as they speak and heading down the same short road. Maybe they should be respectfully asking for advice about life instead. I say make the best out of your time here, live above the medium line, treat others as you yourself would like to be treated and above all practice tolerance, tolerance will take you further than any other virtue you could possess. We are all in this life together and we all have to die way to soon, so why not be helpful to one another and treat each other with consideration of that simple truth as we ourselves walk through a very short life. 

Actually, mankind never even gets the chance to mature before it's time to die. And when you look at that in the overall scheme of things, time, the earth, the universe and beyond, you'll have to agree. Nobody gets old; we just die young with the appearance of being old. We don't have to submit to that, we can keep going at a reasonable pace for years on into and beyond what the skeptics call old. Don't believe in them and their short sighted opinion, just live your life to the fullest, and do it every day till the day you do move on to the next playing field. Stay positive about your life, your age and your looks, because it's from the inside that you live not the outside. Stay strong and stay long. Keep moving; don't think about retiring, that's for quitters. Retire when your body has to retire. After all it's a known fact that during the 60's and 70's people who so called retired at age 65, died on average at 70-75 years of age, that's only 5-10 years after quote un quote retiring. Break those old limiting concepts and backwards thinking, go forward and keep moving, most of all don't listen to people who cast aspersions about age, that's the pot calling the kettle black. Keep up with the times and keep growing until you have to stop.



So live, that when thy summons comes to join
The innumerable caravan which moves
To that mysterious realm, where each shall take
His chamber in the silent halls of death,
Thou go not, like the quarry-slave at night,
          Scourged to his dungeon,
         but, sustained and soothed
By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave
Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch
About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams.
--Thanatopsis, William Cullen Bryant (1794-1878) 

Just kinda introducing myself and what I've been doing this week

Sites up, jimisound.com has been up 2 weeks now. Been working like a dog on it. Getting little and no sleep the past month. Because of the direction I'm taking it, it will be at least a year before its brand is developed and much longer to design and manifest it's purpose and usefulness to this medium. Just finished school with a degree in business administration. Going back soon (after a couple of months break) for a degree in marketing and internet marketing. Total time in class including my Cisco Certification: 10 years! Working really hard the past week. I wanna learn as much as I can about some of the website development technologies, blogging technologies and website design sciences, i.e. how pages are read before I have to be back in class. This is my second website and first blog on it. I don't know anything about how to make money blogging yet. And won't have time to until after I finish the marketing degree. I'll probably be all over the place until I figure this blogging thing out. Single so nobody is telling me to wait, stop, pause or don't pass go, not complaining just glad I'm not in demand right now cause they wouldn't get much of my attention. Long story, mine is, you'll like it though. I'll write about it. Won't talk long this is the first of a new blog I'm starting. My brain is so full of stuff, and I'm not sure yet how to write here. I have a tendency to write a lot. Kinda tired for the past two weeks its been none stop. I am a writer for local Examiner.com/Reuters world news in the restaurant coffee shop review channel, and soon will taking over the entertainment channels, love doing it, love to write. Am also a songwriter, will explain more over on jimisound.com. Lots of experience in several disciplines, no brag just sharing, tell you all about them all eventually. May even inspire somebody. Hope! Come from a large family of 4 boys 8 girls, born on a farm in Austin Texas, so I'm a southern country kid. I'm still very much a country boy at heart. Well that's all for now, I was just checking in so to speak to introduce you to this new blog idea, "Keys To Life". I titled it wrong in the domain name. I'll be hard directing traffic to it until I learn more. I shouldn't keep working once I get this tired, I just see that there's so much to do in becoming a blogger. I have so much to learn. I'll be working hard for years, I know. You can check me out a little more here:  www.myspace.com/165306880   
Also here: www.jimisound.com   and here  http://www.examiner.com/coffeeshop-in-san-diego/gene-vann , as you can see I'm a busy guy. I know I'll be making a lot of mistakes on the internet, please don't be too hard on me. Gods love to you all.