An Ounce - For Your Consideration

Got a question for you. What does it take to be a star and a great performer?

 Typical answers might be - A great voice, the ability to be a bit edgy and get people’s attention, A great smile, well-spoken, a cutting-edge wardrobe, be absolutely relatable to what’s happening now, sexy, and educated, with extraordinarily good looks, and a willingness to push societal boundaries.

 A lot of the really popular performers of today also include a big ego, some self-importance, and an unhealthy amount of arrogance. I mean, heck - what good are you if you don’t show everybody you know your worth.

Well, Ok. 

But I’d like to tell you a story about a performer from the past who was anything but what you’d think a great and loved star and performer should be. He was atypical.

This episode is the true story of a part of the Jewish holocaust in which a bright light of goodness and courage can be found.

 During world war II, and after the Germans had invaded Poland, they began to move forward with their 'Final Solution'. The extermination of all Jews. 

Part of this plan in Poland displacing and moving Jews from their homes into a single segregated 16 block neighborhood in Warsaw. The Warsaw Ghetto was increasingly sealed off from the rest of the city - and the entry and exit points were controlled by the Nazis. 

All of this was prior to transporting them in cattle cars to prison camps where they would be used as slave labor (or worse, where they might become lab rats in medical experimentation) until they were slaughtered and buried in mass unmarked graves. 

But, under the noses of the Nazis in the Warsaw Ghetto - there was an angel - that was able to rescue 2500 children.

There is an ancient Chinese fable you may have heard before – or maybe not – that tells the story of a simple but wise farmer and his view on Luck - and his consideration of what was bad and what was good over time. 

 A great story from eons past that has very good application to our lives right now.

Bad luck is seldom as bad as it seems, and it sure does make you appreciate the good times. And, good luck – well enjoy the moment, it’s all you really have – and there’s another moment full of possibility on the way, so don’t be stuck within the moment you are in.

In my family, there is a story told about my great grandfather Jens Christian Jensen. A very unique and ingenious man for his time.

Great Grandpa was a jack of all trades, raising a family on the alkali and prickly pear cactus flatlands of Emery County, Utah in the late 1800s and early 1900s. 

These were an industrious lot who found ways to irrigate arid lands scrape out a living in a place most folks would happily walk away from. But, Mormons, Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were pretty unpopular at the time. Just a few decades before they had been forcibly driven out of Towns they had built like Kirtland Ohio and Nauvoo Illinois to name a few, and they were happy to be in a place where there was no one trying to kill them and take their lands – probably because no one wanted the remote, arid, and barren place they choose to settle in.

For Grandpa Chris there was another way - other than farming – along with a few others he was a prospector who found a very pure vein of uranium near Temple Mountain.

The uranium helped provide a good living for the family but was quite likely the thing that ultimately took his life.

"Hi! My name is Tish."

" My Husband does a podcast, it’s called ‘An Ounce’. 

People are always asking what he does, what kind of podcast is it? Where does he gets the ideas? So,  this little episode is kind of an origin story – a quick description of what he does, and what the Podcast is.

But, we didn’t want it to be boring.

 So, since I’m always asking him questions, and he jokingly say’s “stop interrogating me!” I got an idea – I really am going to interrogate him for you. C’mon along with me. Just let me grab my dark glasses and the battery cables (Hehehe).

This is gonna’ be fun ; ) !

In this episode, we will talk about the life and background of a famous, or infamous character you’ve probably heard of. His unlikely story is rather remarkable. 

Can you guess who it is before I tell you?

Tim was born centuries ago into a society of violence and scarcity. Frankly, he had about as rough a start as one can. The tribes in the region were constantly battling with each other, and stealing each other resources.

Who was he?

We might know his name, but who really knows story?

Hearing such a legend will make one pause a little when betting against the underdog.

The carpenter grew older, and tired, and decided it was time for him to retire. The hammer was beginning to grow heavy, the saw less sharp, and the markings on the boards were a little harder to see. The quality of his work continued at the highest level, but he did not want to stop after his work was not as fine – before his reputation was diminished. 

He would be missed. But it was time, now he could rest and enjoy his grandchildren.

A few days passed and the contractor showed up at the modest home of the carpenter. The contractor plead for the carpenter to come back and build just one more home. A home for a valued friend of his. A home of lasting beauty and quality. The carpenter politely declined. The Contractor pressed a little – and the carpenter agreed. He would build one more home.

The day came that the home was complete. It looked grand. A home anyone would love to inhabit. And, as he was ready to return home, His good friend, the Contractor smiled. Shook his hand, and gave him the key to the home the carpenter had just built.

All the things that new technology brings us – isn’t it fun?

In the past several years there has been some concern over Genetically Modified Organisms, or GMOs. Folks are concerned that the modifications made in plants will affect nutritional content, the human bodies allergic response, toxicity, organ damage, or even the transfer of genes into the body with an unanticipated response 

I remember back in the day we just planted the seeds took care of their growing and enjoyed the fruits of our labors without fear.

But, hold on just a second. Did you know engineering GMO foods is not the first time that humans have messed around with plants? 

IT’s not. 

Humans have been playing with the genetic makeup of plants for eons. Hybrids, cross-breeding, and all kinds of other fooling around with nature to increase yield and nutrition have been going on pretty much forever in one way or another.

Here is an example you’ll be hard-pressed to believe really happened.

While necessity has been deemed the mother of Invention, Curiosity is surely the father. And curiosity continues to be a prolific sire to things like discovery and learning. Curiosity manifests itself in our lives in many ways – in short - it is a desire the expose truth – excitement and anticipation to see something new.

Curiosity is a shared feature of the human condition. To one extent or another we all want to know what makes things ‘Tic’, what’s behind the curtain, how the magician made the ‘Magic’.

It is a natural and very powerful drive that has taken us, quite literally to the moon, and beyond. Curiosity has inspired us to look into our world, and ourselves, and we have grown because of it.

But, as powerful as it is – curiosity can ignorantly show us things, though true, we might wish we didn’t know. 

Guest: Alan Peacock

In 1870 William Canby presented the story of his Grandmother, Betsy Ross to the historical society of Pennsylvania. His presentation was strong on personal remembrance, family stories, and anecdotes. Canby even bolstered his presentation with signed and notarized affidavits from family recounting the stories they had been told. But, the presentation, though powerful and persuasive, was void of anything that could be considered evidence or firsthand accounts. Just the remembrances of stories told within the family about their remarkable matriarch Betsy Ross.

This fabled account of Betsy Ross became the ‘version of events’ that became accepted and celebrated by the public, but the truth – well most of it cannot be proven, and historians tend to discount much of what you think you know about the Patriot Flag Maker as unsubstantiated romanticized stories.

Does this mean it was all a lie?

Listen and find out!