An Ounce - For Your Consideration

As a passenger on the rapidly speeding, express train of life, are we aware of the sacrifices that were made to benefit our lives?

By soldiers, pioneers, and countless other committed souls who came before us, and choose to commit their honor and their lives to do what needed to be done.

There will always be ample reason for gratitude.

Ever heard of Shavarsh Katapetyan? 

You might have. Shavarsh is a champion swimmer from the 1970s. His sport? As an athlete, he started as a gymnast then transitioned to Fin Swimming. 

Fin Swimming – I know – there are several sports we’ve perhaps never heard of that are quite popular elsewhere in the world. (Such as the rather ancient, but recently rediscovered sport of curling) 

 In 1976 Katapetyan, age 23, went for a 12-mile run – with 44 pounds of sand in his backpack. He had his coach and his brother running along with him. As they neared Lake Yerevan, they heard a loud pop – like an explosion, and then they watched as a trolley bus #15 rolled backwards into the lake – and sunk – with 92 people trapped inside. 

None of us is going to escape facing things that will mightily try us.

But, if continue to breathe through them, anger, disappointment, broken hearts, frustration, and overwhelming disappointment, can all be overcome – in time. 

How do we go on when disappointment, despair, and anguish of so many kinds can - and do - find us? 

Along with whatever else you do may I suggest these four steps:

Step one is always the same – Breathe

Step two –greave if you need to. 

Step three - Wrestle your focus from the loss - and focus on what is good. Memories, experiences, friends and family, and other positive things can be lost from your sight for a little while – sometimes you may have to go and find them again – but they are there. 

Step 4 – Repeat as needed

As babies, many of us had the privilege of being completely unaware of the efforts of others to keep us alive. Our understanding of dangers, political intrigue, war, and natural disasters, betrayal, was absolutely non-existent.

It took us years to mature and grow to the point of understanding the currency of the world – the currency of love was hopefully all we knew – and it was more than enough.

Yep – wouldn’t you love to go back to that blissful ignorance and complete lack of awareness that money was such a big part of life – even if we don’t want it to be.

The cost of financial ignorance is staggering.

The benefits of financial literacy are comforting – and incredibly empowering. You just need a chance to learn how money really works.

This is a reformatted version of a story used in Season 2, Episode 13, I Don’t Know. 

I was sweating profusely. I couldn’t see a thing. My hands could feel the difference between rough or smooth, hot or cold. My heart was racing, breathing was hard – like sucking air through a straw.

My ears were full of so much noise I couldn’t hear what was being said – let alone say anything anyone could understand.

I was... confused, becoming frustrated. Panic was setting in, and my situation seemed hopeless.

 Suddenly, no matter how hard I tried, breathing became impossible. 

 And then, right there at that moment - I died.  Well – kind of. Either that or I had a rather miraculous recovery, as I am still alive.

Something that seems to pervade almost every culture - and personality on this earth - is how much we hate to make mistakes. Reactions to ‘getting it wrong’ can go from completely ‘losing face’ to simple embarrassment or ridicule, loss of credibility, or standing with piers.

Sometimes, I fear it may be unfortunate we treat mistakes this way – as folks tend to have a hard time owning up to them. These responses to blunders often compound the damage or loss. Denying a misstep has occurred, or an error made, will make at best correction more difficult, and at worst may cost life or limb.

Here is a true story about a mother and father who made an error as they traveled across the country on an airplane with two kids – and what they did when they discovered their mistake.

If you can believe it - there are a whole lot of folks in this world who’ve never tried baseball. Even in a place like the US where we’ve been playing for years.

Really.

Hitting a baseball is pretty simple. All you have to do is swing a baseball bat in a manner that places the bat at the precise location, and at the precise moment to cause the bat and the ball (which is moving very rapidly through the air) to collide.

Yah – simple.

But, definitely not easy. 

However, not being fantastic, or world-class, at something is not a reason -not to do it.

And, not trying – or being willing to try new things - grantee’s you’ll find few new joys.

There are plenty of things we can involve ourselves in that we might be really bad at – but the fun of doing it makes it a great experience.

Something can be more fun when you do them badly – like karaoke

Humans and animals have always had a relationship of some kind. Domesticated animals are trained to work and be companions, or as pets, and they fill many other roles as well. 

And baboons have a documented history as far back as the ancient civilizations of Egypt of being adopted by humans, and then trained to be ox cart drivers and herdsmen. And in this case, as a railroad laborer.

Dale lived a very uncomplicated life. He never married and didn’t have any children.

He grew up poor.

Dale worked for 67 years for the same company. He was a carpenter.

Dale was a regular churchgoer.

And, Dale Schroder was a very frugal man, a blue-collar guy, with very simple needs.

He was not highly educated.

He was not all that sophisticated.

And, he was certainly not famous.

Most humans will arrive and then leave the earth without much notice, like Dale Schroder.

But, unnoticed or not, we can make a great difference.

Here in the desert southwest, around the end of February and early March, as the sun lasts a little longer in the sky, the lizards begin to spend more time in my backyard.

I’ve got a story to tell you that may well have happened right there, as I soaked in some warmth on the back porch swing.

We have a block wall fence the lizards seem to enjoy crawling up on top of to take in the warmth. I watched one of them, only a few inches long, skittering about, up and down the wall, back and forth on the top of the wall.

Life is pretty simple for a lizard. Wake up when it’s warm and go out to find lunch. 

But this little guy was apparently not sure what to have for lunch. Should he go to the top of the wall to pick off a gnat, or down to the bottom and ambush an aphid? He hurried back and forth up and down the wall – don’t know that ever found anything to eat.

His inability to make a decision and stick with it became a bit of a problem. - Check it out!