Happy Birthday!

Hi all, I’ve started this with a simple phrase we’ve all said and heard many times.   

I chose this little phrase for three reasons.

    First, recently it was my birthday.  Fifty years ago I was born, half a century behind me. I’ve gone through many changes, seen many wonders and a few horrors over the years.  All that I’ve seen, done and experienced is my history, its what shaped me and made me the person I am today but my history is a shared history.  I share the same history as our nation. The nation you see today is not the nation of my childhood, over the many years I’ve watched it evolve. I seen it change, sometimes slowly, sometimes in an explosive rush.  Some changes she has gone through were born of sweat, some were born of innovations, yet others were born of pain and spilt blood. 

    Second, this is my first blog so Happy Birthday BLOG…  Actually I’m more the adoptive parent.  This was the idea of someone very important to me, my son-in-law Aaron.  He felt that my knowledge, thoughts, views and observations should be shared.  This puts a bit of a weight on my shoulders, not because it’s difficult but because I don’t want to disappoint him.  I need to do my best to live up to his expectations.  In my heart I know he would accept any effort I put into this but I have to feel I’ve done my best to truthful, honest and accurate at all times as if I were speaking directly to him.

    Finally (and this just may be the GOOF in me) you can’t say Happy or Birthday or HAPPY BIRTHDAY without at least a little giggle, even if it’s on the inside.  Put the angriest scowl on you face and in your grumpiest voice say Happy Birthday… Did you fill that little tingle?  It may have been in your stomach or your heart or even the back of your mind, just the plain silliness of it brought you a tiny moment of joy.  Take those moments, search them out and embrace them.  Anytime you can have a moment of joy or a moment of levity in your life it will diminish the stress you come across each day, it will knock a bit of the edge off the bad you may see in the world.  Little self-inflected giggles never hurt anybody and there cheap… Enjoy them.

    As I mentioned earlier this is my first blog and you may ask yourself “Why should I spend my time reading the thoughts and opinions’ of a person I don’t know?” “Why am I considering taking advice from someone I’ve never met?”  Simple answer DON”T… I’m not here to persuade people to have the same opinions as me. I don’t know your situation so giving advice would be hit or miss.  What I hope to do is provide views and information on a wide range of subjects, situations and events to possibly expose you to a different perspective on a situation, give you food for thought as you make up your mind, form your own opinions, or come to a decision.  Ultimately my goal is to develop free will and the skill of critical thinking in others.  I am getting just a bit tired of seeing a society that produces weak minded sheep that need to be provided for and lead from one crisis to the next.  I want to be a part of a society that is populated with self-reliant and motivated individuals ready to meet challenges and overcome adversity.

    The subjects you’ll find in the future on the blog could be just about anything.  What caught my interest the past week, your or another readers question/comment, or maybe just a little story.  Nothing is off limits, if you would like to contribute to the conversation feel free I just ask you be courteous in your selection of words.  I hope to post a new blog each Sunday evening or early Monday mornings.  I’ve been having a little trouble with browser compatibility… We’ll see what happensJ

Thank you for taking the time to stop by and I hope you return.

         The TOMCAT