Fireside Chat: Man's Silence Through Hardship

Circumstance does not make the man; it reveals him to himself.

-      James Allan

I have been dealing with more pain than usual. It has gotten to the point where I only leave the house when it is necessary. The pain clinic believes that, should they help me with opioids, I will become an addict. Meanwhile, they are totally fine with me learning to deal with nerve death. It feels like parts of your body are asleep all the time. I would instead get my neck broken again then feel this…again.

            Last June was the fifth anniversary when I temporarily left this world. Since then, I have had to learn how to read again. I have had to learn to write again. I’ve had to learn how to control my emotions throughout the process because a man suffers in silence. He does not vocalize his trauma because he needs to ensure that he does not further the worry of his family. He knows that they stress how he feels, what he is going through, and whether or not this will be the day he decides to end his suffering himself. A man does what he must, despite circumstances, despite his issues. What he must do is simple: sacrifice everything for his family. The first chapter of Joshua tells us that “if thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small.” God does not allow his work to be made manifest by cowards. God commands that a man must provide for his family throughout the thorns and thistles brought forth for us. They strengthen our souls and bring us closer to the Lord. The first epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians tells us to “Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong.” Without some form of faith, there is no reason to live.        

            Life is not fair; it just is. If there is any form of truth, we learn who we are from two places: conflict and pain. If we surround ourselves with aggression, abuse, or violence, we accept or reject these lessons. If ideologues of ideology gain control of the culture of manliness, transform it into a therapeutic adventure and strip away what makes mankind a life of grit, they take away how men are supposed to grow and develop. Instead of fighting a war against your best, the modern era compares every man’s accomplishments to those of another. No matter how strong you are, how much money you have in the bank, or how high you’ve risen in the ranks, the therapeutics will constantly remind you how much others have accomplished. The truth is that, no matter how the world attempts to make him think in their ideals, mankind needs to set the bar themselves. The ancestor of every action is a thought. The thought which needs to be abandoned is the reliance on others to set the bar for you; a man who sets the bar for himself is liberated. When he fights to exceed his very best, he is above all other lines set.

The Ineffectiveness of Torture in the War on Terrorism

            At the start of the interview, Mark Fallon, a former counterintelligence officer, counterterrorism operative, and a Naval Criminal Investigative Service agent for more than thirty years, offers his opinions concerning the ineffectiveness of torture in the global war on terrorism, what the outcomes of such methods have not only on those at the receiving end but also what are dealt with from the agent giving the treatment. Fallon includes the actions of President Bush’s green light on the programs in Yemen, the fact that CIA operatives brought in were not trained to work in an interview capacity, and how the utilization of matching Al-Qaida’s tactics has done little to solve the problem of terrorist organizations. Though such methods may have some effectiveness at a tactical level, torture is an ineffective Operational strategy in the fight against terrorism. Just minutes into the interview, Fallon mimics this by saying there was no long-term strategy of what to do with these prisoners other than extracting information from them and ultimately hope for the best[1].

            After the introductions, Mr. Fallon introduces actions taken by the Bush administration shortly after 9/11, publishing four memos on what actions could be taken regarding interrogations of suspected terrorists. These included waterboarding and authorized up to 180 hours of sleep deprivation, nudity, physical assaults, and being placed in cramped environments for long periods[2]. The CIA took steps alongside operations inside Afghanistan to end what was now being called The Global War on Terrorism[3]. Before such rash actions were taken, the United Nations Convention against Torture, ratified by the US in 1994, defines torture as:

… any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person, information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity. It does not include pain or suffering arising only from, inherent in or incidental to lawful sanctions.[4]

Fallon explicitly explains that “we ended up stooping to their level and we were ultimately no better than some of the men we detained,” which was ultimately against the laws in which America agreed to concern the matter of torture just eight years prior. Fallon was not one of the men who carried out such actions, but he was one of those in charge of agents who carried out the President’s orders. He talks about the issues that arose with the detainee’s mental state and the mental scars carried by the interrogators themselves. Such actions were not in the CIA agent’s job descriptions, and they were ultimately not prepared to inflict such violence upon others. Fallon recalls a time which he had an agent on the verge of suicide due to the trauma of carrying out such actions on another human being, which extracted little from the captor, and left both parties scarred for life. Many of these policies were abandoned near the end of the Obama administration, but a couple remained, including the infamous waterboarding and “pressure point” techniques.[5] Fallon concludes by praising the Obama administration for creating some accountability for torture, but he also condemned Obama for not ending the policy altogether, saying that it was not a tremendous operational strategy[6]

            In the end, the author believes that torture can be effective, but only in certain situations. If a child is about to die if the detainee does not say where they are, I am okay with breaking a finger or two. If there is a sleeper cell of terrorists, a secret site of a nuclear weapon, or a conspiracy to assassinate the President, I believe that it would be perfectly okay to waterboard someone until they reveal what they know. I also understand that this method should not be a universal way to deal with an enemy. Most people are more than willing to talk to you after a meal and a cigarette instead of pressure point techniques. Ultimately, the Operational level should be focused more on collecting information than forcing it out of the enemy.

[1] Mark Fallon, “No Good Intelligence Is Gained Through Torture: Coming To Grips With The Use Of Torture As An Instrument Of War,” interview by David Siry, 29 March 2016, West Point Oral History Center [http://www.westpointcoh.org/interviews/no-good-intelligence-is-gained-through-torture-coming-to-grips-with-the-use-of-torture-as-an-instrument-of-war] (accessed 10/2/19 ).

[2] MacAskill, Ewen. “Torture Techniques Endorsed by the Bush Administration.” The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, April 17, 2009. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/apr/17/torture-methods-interrogation-george-bush-approved.

[3] Smith, Gene A., David Coffey, and Kyle Longley. In Harms Way: a History of the American Military Experience. New York: Oxford University Press, 2020. pp. 488-490.

[4] Arendt, H. (1994). Eichmann in Jerusalem: A report on the banality of evil. New York, NY: Penguin.

[5] Serwer, Adam. “Obama's Legacy of Impunity for Torture.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 16 Mar. 2018, www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/03/obamas-legacy-of-impunity-for-torture/555578/.

[6] See note 1.

Process: The Self-Esteem Movement's Sociopaths

The Processes are opinion pieces where the author explains how they used information to reach their conclusion.

A quick side bar before i begin: my tattered old Merriam-Webster dictionary has been getting quite a lot of use as of late in these posts! It really does make me sad to think that these relics of the past will probably never be used again in another hundred years or so, though. I wonder how many adults, much less public school students, have used a physical dictionary outside of an academic setting in the past year? Most people will just type the word into Google these days, anyhow. Who am i kidding? It’s so much easier to ask Siri what something means!

Anyhow, back to the topic on hand. It’s been a couple of generations since Nathaniel Brandon wrote his essay entitled "The Psychology of Self-Esteem" which suggested that "feelings of self-esteem were the key to success in life". Since then, several dozen groups were formed in order to aid in the development of the self-esteem of children, all with various agendas, but most shared three goals:

1 - Minimize early life poverty by reducing teenage pregnancy

2 - Encouraging the artistic qualities of children and allowing their emotions to be expressed

3 - Focus less on a punishment and reward system and more on a reward by effort system

Many of these ideas came from Humanist Psychologist Carl Rogers, who held the belief that:

Every human being, with no exception, for the mere fact to be it, is worthy of unconditional respect of everybody else; he deserves to esteem himself and to be esteemed.

Rogers also theorized the origin of many people's problems to be that they despise themselves and consider themselves worthless and incapable of being loved. This is why Rogers believed in the importance of giving unconditional acceptance to a client and when this was done it could improve the client's self-esteem. It was following this rationale that led to the establishment of the California-based Task Force on Self-Esteem and Personal and Social Responsibility in 1986. The purpose of this group was to study the importance of self-esteem in the lives of young people and determine what changes needed to be made in public education to encourage a better sense of self among children. Despite the fact that this committee found very small associations between low self-esteem and its assumed consequences, ultimately showing that low self-esteem is not the root of all societal problems and not as important as the committee had originally thought, many of the policies people love to mock, such as “every kid gets a trophy” and “kinder, gentler Army” were still created from the successor of this committee, the National Association for Self Esteem.

According to Merriam-Webster, Esteem is defined as “to regard with respect”. If you throw Self in front of that, then the definition becomes “to regard yourself with respect”. This is a fine thing to do, and the people in these committee’s were doing what they thought were right with the best of intentions. However, with all of the “Everyone’s a Winner” games and “Everyone’s Special” gospel, it may be safe to say that the modern tooter’s of the Self-Esteem movement are using a different definition entirely: “self-worship”. Instead of creating a society of young people who feel good about themselves and want to make others feel good, we just created a culture of young Narcissists. And, little known fact, Sociopaths think very HIGHLY of themselves already, and since Psychology Today claims that 6.2% of people would likely display Narcistic Personality Traits, that would mean that we’ve helped the 5,069,100 Sociopaths in my generation alone become better at becoming conceited. No wonder we can’t take criticism, can’t listen to an opposing viewpoint, and don’t understand why others don’t value our opinions!

I offer a solution. It may be seen as cruel, but it may be essential at this juncture. Instead of the “everyone get’s a trophy”, “everyone’s special”, and “do your best”, replace these pillars with the following:

1 - Whoever does the best gets the trophy; you lost because you weren’t the best

2 - Only those who make themselves special are special. Everyone else is ordinary, and that’s okay. Someone has to be the baseline.

3 - “Bobby, if you don’t get that damn Math grade up to an A this semester, I’ll make you wish that the sperm did a backstroke before it hit that egg!!!”

Process: When Uncomfortable is ACTUALLY Offensive

The Processes are opinion pieces where the author explains how they used information to reach their conclusion.

There are a lot of buzzwords that are popular in the modern lexicon, but probably the most commonplace is the term “offense”. Whenever someone exclaims it, they are usually saying it in an incorrect manner and what they are actually trying to say is “what you are saying is making me uncomfortable, and I lack the words to properly explain why I am uncomfortable with it”. According to Merriam – Webster, the definition of the word Offense is “an annoyance or resentment brought about by a perceived insult to or disregard for oneself or one's standards or principles”. This would be brought on by calling someone a slur, making a Klansman rally in the middle of a black neighborhood or urinating on a sacred object revered by a population. These may be extreme examples, but they are drastic to demonstrate that they are understandably offensive. In the same dictionary, the term Uncomfortable is defined as “causing or feeling unease or awkwardness”. These feelings may be caused by the drastic toning down of the previous examples in the following: referring to a woman as black as opposed to a woman of color, stating that the Klan has the right to freedom of speech as much as any other peaceful demonstration, and someone not liking a Mosque being built in their town. All three of these can understandably make someone uncomfortable, but at least definitionally, they do not cross the line into offense.

The next question is when do such acts cross this line and become offensive in nature. I would argue that an uncomfortable opinion can never become an offensive opinion, unless it’s a call to violence against another person. An example of this would be if someone calls for the death of a minority; calling for this is harmful and is therefore disregarding for them and their lives. Therefore, an uncomfortable action can only become an offensive action when it violates the rights of others. An example for this would be if someone burned a cross in another’s front yard, something which was a trademark for the KKK. This is an offensive action not only due to the menacing nature of the action, but also due to the trespassing act required to do so and the property damage involved with the fire. The problem seems to occur in the gray areas where offense and discomfort overlap, and the average person cannot tell the difference between the two. Thankfully, we have a lovely Constitution in this country that is capable of aiding us with this distinction and can help us tell if we should feel offense or if we are simply uncomfortable. We should look at this distinction like this: if it is an opinion, and it is not a call to violence, we are uncomfortable. If it is an action, and it violates our Constitutional rights, then it is an offense.

Process: How We Forgot the 11th Commandment

As a child, I remember hearing this wise saying. For me, it was the single wisest thing which could ever have
been said to anyone and had the power to transform the world for the better. This was the 11th Commandment, a message which those in power have attempted to wash away from the world and keep hidden. It is a secret phrase which, if allowed to exist in the world of men, would restructure the world and
restructure our society as we know it. It has the ability to trump every theory concerning black holes, all of the research concerning the Human Genome Project, and will allow the poorest person on the planet to become the richest and most powerful person the world has ever known.

This is not a polite suggestion, as God does not deal in such matters. No, this is a code of conduct which we
are all to follow. For centuries, entire societies were built around this commandment, and entire empires were forged. However, as the years went on, fewer and fewer were allowed to know this final Commandment, and an aristocracy was developed. It wasn’t until public education was formed that society as a whole made the attempt to right this wrong, reminding students at an extremely early age if they weren’t living up to the 11th commandment through failing grades. Nowadays, most public education systems have eliminated the moral building which comes with teaching the 11th to students, and our society has neglected to imbue the 11th into society at large. Are you ready to know what the 11th Commandment is? Here it goes:

Thou Shalt Not be Stupid.

The only thing that we still have in society that keeps the 11th alive in culture are organizations like colleges, blue collar work, some white collar and various levels of the military. Even still, most of these areas have been
under attack in previous decades, as calling someone out for stupidity is seen as offensive. In most situations, blue collar trades and the military are safe on the lower ends, as one is expected to have thicker skin to be involved in that line of work anyhow. White collar jobs like doctors and lawyers are paramount in following the 11th, as people will either die or lose a lot of money if someone does not know what they are doing. Engineers who are clueless will immediately be pointed out if their building falls down. However, the biggest problem comes from colleges, who either are seen as the bad guys for not following the pauper standards of public education or are babying grown men and women by resuming the process at a higher price tag. This builds the entitlement culture which we see plaguing younger generations today, all built around a society which has done it’s hardest to avoid the 11th at all costs.

How can we fix this? Well, we can start by acknowledging that offensiveness isn’t a bad thing. All offending
someone does is make them uncomfortable. When you are uncomfortable, you learn something new. Even if that is when someone tells you “you’re an idiot,” you’ve uncomfortably learned that someone thought that you’re dumb, and can now adjust accordingly. If enough people make you feel bad about being stupid, that may be God trying to tell you to adjust yourself, that you’re not obeying his commandment in your life. It’ll be impossible to adhere to this commandment, however, if we continue to try to ignore the most powerful law in mankind’s history.

Process: Five Steps to Misery

We live in a world which is filled with heartache, sorrow and pain. Some of it has been caused by others, but most of the time it is caused by the actions we take. It does not have to be this way though. When someone injects their lives with misery, it usually follows a simple 5 step process:

CAUTION: DO NOT DO ANY OF WHAT FOLLOWS!

Step 1: Become self-centered and believe that you are the center of attention

            Double down on this concept by turning every conversation that you ever have towards yourself. By doing so, you will have everyone you talk to calling you a jerk. Should they call you this, continue to tell them how wonderful and superior you are to them and point out their flaws at every turn. When you have them ready to toss a punch, point out your professional victim status. Whether you are a minority, are a woman, a smaller man or disabled, throw it in their faces in a way that they would feel bad for hitting you, call you a couple of names and will walk away from you. You will then feel bad because no one will want to be around you. After this step is completed, it brings us to the next phase.

Step 2: Blame others for you being miserable

            Inevitably, there will be some people who will actually want to still be your friend, and you should use that comradery to increase your isolation. You do this for accusing those who cannot stand you for your problems. Should you have no discretion for accusations. Everyone who disagrees with you is against you, everyone who does not hand you everything you desire is against you and everyone who has not bent over backwards to help you is against you. Create a social circle of people who have the same feelings as you and utilize their issues to help clarify all of the people who have wronged you in their eyes. Specialize in seeking out people who you know cannot help with all of the things that you want them to do. Once you are in this mindset, you can move on to the next phase.

Step 3: See pettiness as a virtue

            Keeping the lessons from the first two steps, hold grudges for everything! Did someone forget your birthday? They’re dead to you! Has a friend gotten a promotion which you felt that you were more qualified for? Make sure that their time as your boss is as painful as possible. Did your mom make a dish that she KNOWS that you don’t like? Make a scene where there is no doubt in anyone’s mind that you are so hurt by her doing such a thing. No matter what happens, if someone does something that you don’t like, intentional or not, be so offended that it defines your relationship and remember the ultimate truth: whether consciously or subconsciously, they meant to hurt you!

Step 4: Become a self-righteous ideologue

            Remember, even if others have done the same thing, nothing YOU say or do is offensive to anyone else. If they show offense or are hurt, that’s a they problem or they are faking it. They fake it because they want others to hate you more and nothing that comes out of their mouth is the truth. All they want is for others to look away from some terrible action they made in order to look at you taking offense. If someone takes their side, then they are now the enemy.

Step 5: Why should you have to change?

            After all, nothing you do is wrong. There is nothing wrong with what you say, what you do or what you feel. Their thoughts and their words are incorrect in your eyes; therefore, you should be static in how you react and they need to just accept that the world is your oyster, not theirs. They are the ones who need to change and get tougher skin, not you. After all, you need to remember that no one who disagrees with you is correct, no one is better than you and people who don’t meet your standards don’t deserve the privilege of being in your presence.

            You know that your doing it right if you live alone.

Process: How to Die in the Top 10% in America

For the past several years, I have heard non-stop the commotion concerning the “Top 1 percent” and their “evil, Scrooge McDuck greed”. In the previous process, I told you the story of Mr. Smith and what he did to build wealth for not only himself but also for his family. It was such an honor to sit down and speak with him and was exciting to learn that hard work and determination does indeed pay off in the end. However, I know that Mr. Smith already had some advantages that most people didn’t have, and even he admitted that certain circumstances fell into his lap. Therefore, this process is devoted towards the bare bones approach that everyone can obtain. It’s easy, I promise!

Step 1: Graduate High School

            I get it. Sometimes there are circumstances beyond our control that cause us to have to remove ourselves from school. I know someone who was gravely ill and needed to go to doctors for most of her senior year. In the end, she was forced to go on and get her GED. I’ll tell you something that most people won’t tell you: if there is no other option available, a GED is okay. For example, the person I know went on to get a degree and is quite successful in her field. The reason that the high school diploma is so prized should be rather obvious. What follows are just a few jobs and their annual salary which require no previous experience you are missing out on:

·         Subway and Street car Operator – 62,760

·         Electrical power line installers – 63,250

·         Business operations specialist – 65,120

·         Power Plant operators – 66,130

·         Elevator Repairers – 76,650

Which leads me to the second part of this process:

Step 2: Get a Job

            Any job will do but preferably one where advancement is possible and offers benefits. Take McDonalds as an example. They provide scholarships, certification programs and have a fantastic rate at advancement for those who want it. If you play your cards right, you can become the manager of the place in a couple of years, becoming SERV safe certified and having management experience and maybe even having a degree. At this point, you can either stay on as a manager or try to find another job where you will no longer be considered unskilled labor. Of course, this is just an example, but millions of people have done this in a wide variety of industries. How can you be seen as the correct candidate for promotion, success and opportunity? Here’s the secret. Are you ready? DO WHAT IS REQUIRED OF YOU! If you show up on time, in the right uniform and do solely what is on your job description, you will be doing more than what most of your coworkers do and will reap your rewards.

Step 3: Don’t have kids out of wedlock

            Now, don’t get the wrong idea. I love kids and I love spending time with them, watching them grow up and playing with them. However, there is nothing more detrimental to someone’s financial future than an unplanned pregnancy. I won’t go over this part too much, considering that I spoke of this at length elsewhere. However, not to get too graphic, here’s the top three ways to avoid this:

1.    Abstinence (Who are we kidding, right?)

2.    Pill + Condom

3.    Pill + Condom + Pull out

The reason that you want to be in wedlock before having children is twofold: you will have two incomes to take care of a child and both of you will be a bit more mature when you make this decision. Never before in the history of mankind has it been easier to plan for a family rather than having an “oops” family fall into your lap.

Step 4: Don’t do drugs or drink alcohol in excess

      Now, I’m not dense enough to think that someone is going to live their lives without any form of recreational substance. Whether its booze or marihuana or cigarettes or coffee, we all have that vice that we know isn’t good for us, but it is something we enjoy. I’m not judging, because I have a few of them myself. For me, there is a very simple way that I determine whether or not a vice is too powerful in my life. For my vices, I only use cash. Once I’m out of money, I’m done buying. Basically, if you have to decide between your vice or paying a bill, it may be time to get some help. Try the cash idea and see if it works for you. 200 dollars a month should be more than plenty for all of your wants. Well, maybe New York or California would be 400, but you get my point.

Step 5: Stay out of the legal system

Let’s be honest for a moment. No employer will hire someone who was convicted of theft. No trucking company will hire someone who has a DUI charge. No school will hire a teacher who is a sex offender. Basically, your legal record does not go into context about how or why you were convicted of anything. All an employer will see is the charge and will judge you from there. Here is a solution which will be guaranteed to keep you out of trouble, one which anyone and everyone can do. It is also a three-step process:

1.    Obey the law

2.    Be respectful to law enforcement

3.    If detained, follow the instruction of the police officer to the letter, asking permission before doing anything in their presence

It’s too easy to do the right thing and I won’t insult your intelligence by listing all of the things you shouldn’t do. Just follow the first four steps and use the lessons you learned about following the rules, and you’ll be fine.

            That is, it! This is a barebone system which is guaranteed to work for anyone who wants to die in at MINIMUM a middle-class status. There is no plea to go and get a four-year degree, I spoke nothing about finances (although a budget would only increase your wealth), and I spoke nothing concerning buying instead of renting cars and houses. This system is not affected by location, race or nationality in this country. That is what makes America so great! If you try, you will succeed.

Process: Old School Wealth

There’s a lot of talk concerning whether or not it is ethical to tax the 1% a bit more to provide for the whole, despite the fact that they pay 37% of the taxes brought in. I’m not going to discuss whether or not this is ethical, but I was rather curious how someone gets into a situation where they make above 400,000 dollars a year. Yes, if you make this much, you are in the 1 percent! So, I sat down with someone, who didn’t want to be named, and the following is the method for which Mr. Smith told me:

            I lost my Daddy when I was still in school. Me and my brothers split the money and I bought a small home just outside the college I went to. After graduation, I rented the place off, paying the mortgage with the rent while I moved in with my wife. After about ten years of making no money from the place, also adding in some of our savings to paying the mortgage, my old college house was paid for. My wife suggested that I could make some extra money if we bought another rental home; so, after about a year of saving from the income received from the rent, I took the plunge. I kept the same process, taking no money and using the income to pay off the second house. Five more years go by, and now we have two houses drawing us money.

            I got a promotion at the local bank, so I could afford to see if I could make more money from renting to college kids. This time, I bought two more houses, still not drawing an income. At this point, I noticed that it became easier and easier to pay off my property. So, another ten years or so of me repeating my process, I was forty-four with ten properties to my name, all paid off, and was drawing me enough money to focus on doing this full-time. After a couple of conversations with my wife, we decided that it would be better for us if our son aided me in my business. I told him to help me with three things: help me increase my income, focus on quality properties and in maintenance of the old ones, and REDUCE THE TAX BURDON! (he laughs), I made sure that he focused on that one!

            We kept this system going for another twenty years. Much to my wife’s, and my Mother’s dismay, we managed to create Smith’s Realty Company what it is today. I don’t know how many hours I spent working, but I do know that I would enter the office at 5 AM and would come home for dinner around 6 PM. In total, it was a 46-year process that has had many headaches all along the way, but I am glad that I have something I can pass off to my kids when I am gone. Nowadays, I mostly catch up on all of the sleep that I missed all these years!

            After this conversation, I began to have a much greater respect for those who start their own business. This may be inaccurate, but if we go by the metrics that he gave me for the twenty-year span for how much time he put in when Mr. Smith began working on his company full-time, that would be 57,200 hours working towards being wealthy enough to enjoy his golden years with financial security. I respect that discipline.

            So I end with a question: if you were in this position, would you be willing to have everything that you worked so hard for being taken away from you to give to those who didn’t take the risk, make the sacrifices and put in the effort that you did?

It's a Process

I decided that, through the week, I was going to try something a bit different than my usual weekly or bi-weekly format. I will begin writing something known as a Process essay once a week on topics ranging from economic development, to what makes someone a troll to what kind of person uses their free time to write essays that a college professor didn’t demand them to write. They’ll all be relatively short, maybe 500 to 2,000 words or so, but I will do my best to give you an informative opinion on the topic at hand.

            The way I write a Process is different from what you see on Wikipedia. Most are kind of like those troubleshoot pages in the back of an engineering textbook, labeling every piece of how something works from beginning to end, talking about which bolt goes where and is a step by step guide to bring you to a conclusion. This format isn’t something that anyone, including myself, would enjoy to read, much less write. Therefore, I will make a couple of changes to the format. First, I am going to begin at the end point. From there, I will begin to break down whatever the topic is until I reach the starting point. For example:

We have a car.

The car was assembled on the assembly line.

The parts that were sent to the assembly line were manufactured in a plant from metal and plastic

Etc.

I promise that it won’t be that dry, but you see my point. My goal in this little experiment is twofold. First, too often I begin a project with no clear ending in mind. Second, I would like to be able to train my mind (and yours, if you are willing) to see the mechanics of a situation before I dive right into a conversation, an activity or occupation. I believe that having the ability to see all of the pieces and how they work together is crucial if one wants to be able to troubleshoot their life, find weaknesses and learn how to see a situation at every angle.

            Stay tuned, because the first one will be out this week!