A Journey in Life:Reflections Of A Common Man

Bandaid for the heart

2011-07-25T16:31:00.000-04:00

In the town of Stapleton Nebraska is a lady by the name of Monica Harvey, affectionately known by many as "Lil Sis" She is an unassuming lady with a beautiful soul. In 2001 she assumed a ministry that has evolved into the Veterans Music Ministry. She travels from place to place visiting Veterans Homes,Hospitals,and get togethers such as moving walls, and the such. She sings and brings hope to a forgotten generation of warriors. When the World War II vets were welcomed home as the heroes they were, Korea a littel less so, and then a war broke out in some little god forsken corner of the world that very few could locate on the map. We shipped load after load of Sailors, Marines, Sldiers and Airmen, as well as Coasties to that remote place in Southeast Asia. During that timesome 58,000 did not return home, and those who did found a whole different war going on in this country. Those coming home learned to ditch their uniforms, hide their medals, and disguise their outside wounds and just try to blend in. However the wounds that were born on the inside never healed. the ound of the soul and the heart given by a country that they came from, given by their neighbors, school mates, and old friends. These wounds hurt far more than any bullet ever could. They were spat upon, called names and made to feel shame for what they did. As I said these wounds sat and sat day after day, month after month year after year. Many of these men vowed never tolet this happen again, to make every returning warrior feel welcomed when they returned, yet it did not really do anything for the internal anguish that they felt. Then along comes Lil Sis in her little corner of the world, singing to them, hugging them, caring for them, and welcoming them home. In addition she came up with a little trinket she called the healing heart medal. A little pin to be be attached to the hats, vests, and shirts of these mighty men. much beyond her control the name transitioned to the Band-aid for the heart, as that was what it is to these warriors who answered their countries call, adn gave unselfishly of themselves. It was a symbol of a gap being bridged and the wounds of the psyche being pulled together. It is a symbol of caring, and sharing of the pain that they feel. Many wear it proudly, probably more proudly that any medal they received. they wear it with honor and dignity. To them it is the trinket that shows someone really does care, and remembers the sacrifice they made.
From that Ministry sprang hope, love, and trust of a quiet unassuming lady who just wanted to express her gratitude. From her example has sprung the Healing the Heart Ministry ~ Vietnam & Veterans of all Wars and Ann Marie Hatchell, and has inspired me to transform my own Gale Farm Ministry to the Gale Farm Veterans Ministry, reaching out to all our Veterans, because as I personally know, the wounds on the outside will heal and fade, but the wounds on the inside never really do. So welcome home to all my brothers and sisters in uniform welcome home.

Lost Our Way

2011-07-15T08:58:00.000-04:00

I try not to get to political in my posts but have recently been reflecting on the situation this country finds itself in of late.America was founded on the concept of hard work and self accomplishment. The early settlers worked hard in carving a niche out for themsleves in the wilderness that was the early colonies. They saw a way and severed ties with England as a result of the Revolution, and took a fledgling nation to a superpower. In World War I and World War II they sacrificed and did without in order to accomplish the goal of winning the war.

We seem to have lost our way. We have become a nation of whiners complaining about all aspects of our lives. We have our hands out collectively as a nation expecting the government to provide everything for us from food to health care.Welfare is abused, but if you try straightening it out the masses complain the fix is unconstitional, even though many who complain have never read the Constitution. We expect the government to ffix and make our retirement comfortable. We expect our elected official to bring more money "home" than we sent in. We seem to have lost our way in that we elect "professional" Politicians. The way our Government was set up by our founding fathers was that the Senate was the elite, the House was the commonor working person, the businessman who went to Washington for one or two terms, then went back home to their farms or their businesses and let someone else take a turn. It has become a government of corruption, and special interests plying the halls with money to burn, and those with the most m oney to burn win the biggest prizes. The people of this country seem to have lost the ability to think for themselves.

I am warning you we have to find our way, and get back to our roots, or this country as we know it is going to head the way of many of the ancient civilizations tha once had it all, power, prestige, and wealth ending up in collapse. Wake up people...the Constitution does not guarantee you happiness, it guarantess you the right to pursue happiness, the rest is up to you.

Nails in the Fence

2011-07-14T10:56:00.000-04:00

A friend posted this on Facebook, and I liked it so much I had to use it myself

There once was a little boy who had a bad temper. His Father gave him a bag of nails and told him that every time he lost his temper, he must hammer a nail into the back of the fence.

The first day the boy had driven 37 nails into the fence. Over the next

few weeks, as he learned to control his anger, the number of nails hammered daily gradually dwindled down. He discovered it was easier to hold his temper than to drive those nails into the fence. Finally the day came when the boy didn't lose his temper at all. He told his father about it and the father suggested that the boy now pull out one nail for each day that he was able to hold his temper.

The days passed and the young boy was finally able to tell his father that all the nails were gone. The father took his son by the hand and led him to the fence. He said, 'You have done well, my son, but look at the holes in the fence. The fence will never be the same. When you say things in anger, they leave a scar just like this one. You can put a knife in a man and draw it out. But It won't matter how many times you say I'm sorry, the wound will still be there. A verbal wound is as bad as a physical one.

Remember that friends are very rare jewels, indeed. They make you smile and encourage you to succeed. They lend an ear, they share words of praise and they always want to open their hearts to us.'

Please forgive me if I have ever left a 'hole' in your fence

We leaves holes in peoples fences all the time through our anger and even meanness. When we call some one names or do spiteful things we are driving a hole in the relationship and those holes are always there for people to see and feel. Think before you say, and think before you do because you may never really know the damage you do to someone through your actions and or your words

New Posts

2011-07-13T16:05:00.002-04:00

It has been a very long time since I paid attention to this site. When I started it, I was going to light the world on fire, and then things happened and I got sidetracked. I was out of work for an extended period of time I did some posting, but mainly sat around feeling sorry for myself, but then started a new job and pushed it all to the back burner. I have realized one thing, and that is my thoughts don't stop. Instead of a blog this could be called ramblings becasue I shift from one subject to another, but they are all near and dear to my heart. I am vowing now to start all over again and be more faithful to my writing. I am going to ask for accountability partners to keep me on track of at a minimum 1 blog per week but hopefully one per day. SO watch for some great stuf to be coming out of my head.

Geting Oldr and Older

2011-07-13T15:52:00.003-04:00

It has been three years since I wrote the following blog about when Did I Get Old, and I am amazed at how much has happened the orginal post was this.....

Several things happened to me recently that made me ask myself this question. When did I get old? When did life speed by and leave me in the past? My daughter asked me to volunteer and help the Kingswood Ski Team setting up the race courses the other day. In a previous time I would have been to busy to be bothered with such mundane stuff, but in recent times I have realized how important it is to be able to do the small things with your family and friends. So I told her to tell the coach I would help. We got to the ski area and I rushed to get my equipment on, and proceeded up the mountain and with a special “wrench” in hand I proceeded to screw down the gates for the slalom course. It didn’t take to long for me to realize I am not as young as I used to be, my legs ached from standing on skis on such a steep incline, my shoulders ached from turning the wrench to force the screw on the bottom of the gate into the frozen snow. I wondered when the task would ever end as I looked down the mountain at the long snaking line of gates running to the finish line. I realize I am not as young as many with children my age as I was in my early thirties when Khrys was born. Later that day I was skiing down a black diamond with my daughter, I was at the top of the trail and Khrys started down the hill, I followed behind her watching her carve a line down the mountain. I believe I blinked once, and when I looked down the mountain she was gone.

I realized how that is with our children. We raise them and think they will always be there, but when we blink, and our eyes reopen they are grown and gone starting a life of their own independent of us. All we can hope is that we raised them properly and equipped them to live a life that would make us proud as parents. I remembered this little girl at my side when I was first teaching her how to ski. She held my hand and looked up at me with trusting eyes, as we waited for the chair lift to come around and take us up the mountain. Like most protective fathers, when the chair came around and hit me in the back of the calf, and forced us to sit in the seat, I reached in front of her to make sure she didn’t slip from the chair, as I brought the safety bar down. I took her down the mountain prodding her to remember her turns instead of barreling straight down the mountain. She was the headstrong one, and she tried my patience as we worked our way down the mountain. I then realized that I should put her in lessons. She was little more advanced than a straight beginner, but not yet up to the next level, so I sprung for private lessons for her, but being the protective Dad I hung back behind the lesson and watched her listen to the instructor and do as she was told. When her lesson was over I talked to the instructor, and he told me that this little girl with wide blue eyes had a natural talent when it came to putting skis on her feet. I remembered that as I looked down the trail and saw the graceful curves of her trail going down the snow. She is a natural at life, she takes things in stride, and moves on with pride and determination that she is going to make her mark on life in her own way. She is no longer that little girl that holds my hand and trusts I will make everything okay and safe for her. I realized then that I had grown older, and was no longer the required leader I her life, but in many ways a bystander, standing back watching her meet life head on. In many ways I realize she still does need me, but I also realize that I have to stand back and let her make her way in life.

I then look at my own fallibility and frailness as I reflect back on slipping on the ice and giving myself a concussion, with the headache that accompanies it. Then I was told by my wife that a friend of the family had passed away form a heart attack in his garage. I realize how short life really is. Earlier in December the music director from the high school’s life ebbed out after a battle with cancer. Time is short and we grow old and deteriorate, so take life one day at a time, and enjoy each and every moment as if it could be your last.

In the time that ela[sed since I wrote this post...my oldewst has come back from college, bought her first car and started her first "full time" job and taken over her own bills. The little girl I wrote about in the original blog has gone off to college, made Deans list her first Semester of college life , gone to New Orleans to work work on the Katrina Revitalization program during a school break, serves on the student senate at Johnson Statte College,a dn co-ordinate volunterr effort programs at the school. She is a self imposed perfectionist that strives to be the best at what she does. My youngest is in Middle School and developing into quite the woman she displays dignity and poise along with compassion and love in everything she does. What hurts is I don't want to give up that role of protector and guardian, and stand back and watch them make their mark on the world. It makes me proud to do this but also makes me feel ancient, and unneeded anymore. I am no longer the man who carried a screaming baby on my back up and down the street becasue it was the only way to get her to quiet down. I am no longer the man that the girls reach up and take his hand when they are scared, and frankly I am not adjusting well to the new role in my life. I miss th littel girls in pig tails and mud boots, but I am so proud of the ladies they have become. I love you all, maybe a little differently but I love them all the same

America: How We Got this Way

2011-07-13T11:36:00.002-04:00

It is hard to miss that the united States is in an economic and social mess in this day and age. High unemployment haunts us at every turn, and does not seem to want to rebound. Foreclosures at extreme highs, real estate prices plummeting and not regaining. Every one points fingers as who is to blame, The Obamites blame Bush, the Bushites blame Clinton and Obama.

The truth is the Presidency while having some effect is not the total cause of the situation. Yes there were roots inthe Carter Administration that set the whole thing in motion when the edict came down that every American should be able to own a house, and as time worked its way around, and lending restrictions relaxed making way for the undocumented loans and sub prime loans as well as interest only payments the housing crash and economic demolition did begin. However if you dig deeper, you find the root cause of the problem. It is the people's greed. No longer happy with a small house with a master bedroom and the kids sharing a room, then a family room, kitchen and maybe a dining room, we started demanding a master suite with 1 bedroom for each kid, a play room living room, and ore and more space, much of which actually went underused. small 1000 square foot houses made way for 2,000, 3,000, 4,000 and even 5,000 square foot houses while average family size actually decreased. Add on top of that we want televisions in every room, and the kitchen has to have stainless steel appliances, imported marble countertops, and custom made tile floors, with pantries large enough to sleep in. Bathrooms have to have whirlpool tubs seperate shower stalls, and more. We could go on and on Closets have to be filled with shoes and clothes, but if you look at the labels, you find what used to be made in the U.S. is now made in China, Malayasia, Mexico, Guatamala, and other remote places. Our neighbors get more, so we want more becasue heaven forbid we can't fall behind. We demand raises and higher and higher minimum wages, thus driving the price of the products we make higher and higher, while we demand more and ore goods, so the manufacturers find countries with lower and lower wages and less restrictions to keep the cost down. What was once an extravagance susch as microwave ovens and mega sound systmes, become a neccesity we have to have them or we just can't survive, thus looking for cheaper and cheaper goods. We become a disposable society shoes we wera once or twice then go the back of the closet and eventually thrown out, so China's economy grows and our manufacturing base continues to shrink. If every American bought pair of American made shoes we could reopen most of the shoe factories in Maine and remploy thousands of people, but we won't because they cost to much and who can live with only one or two pair of shoes...(I have a pair of sneakers, a pair of work boots, work shoes 1 pair of dress shoes, and a pair of beach shoes,and my winter boots, that is it, Oh I almost forgot my one pair of well worn hiking boots that have hiked many New Hampshire Mountains, American made, and 36 years old but still look and feel in pretty good shape.) If we bought American made clothes, from natural fibers such as cotton or linen we would put farmers back to work, we would put textile mills back in operation. If we repaired clothes instead of throwing them out we would employ more seamstresses, and tailors. If we would buy 1 or 2 American made Televisions rather than having to have one in every room we would open more factories. Just think about it. If we bought more domestic goods rather than foriegn goods our economy would rebound very quickly. I we gave people hands up instead of hand outs we would have a very robust work force.

I hear the cry Jobs, Jobs, Jobs, where are the jobs the government promised us....face it folks the governement does not have the power to create jobs that are meaningful and self sustaining, they can expand governmment departments but those are tax dependent jobs. Only we can be the force to create more meaningful jobs b demanding American made products, thus putting more of our fellow countrymen back to work.The choice is ours, and ours alone. We were once a mighty manufacturing giant, but where are we now...those facotries sit vacant or are being demolished. Do we allow this to contiue to happen, or do we get offour asses and do soemthing about it, and rebuild this mighty country.

Change The Channel

2011-07-12T10:49:00.000-04:00

Has life got you down?

Do you drag yourself out of bed?

Does it seem the world is against you?

My friend it is time

To change the channel of your life.

Change the channel of your life!

Face the life from the positive,

And see how your outlook does change.

Turn off the negativity,

And instead of dwellin in the wrongs,

Count the blessings,

God has bestowed upon you,

For even when it appears,

Bleak and darkest in our lives,

God is raining blessings,

Down upon you.

So I say unto you,

Dwell not on the pitfalls,

But call upon possibilities.

So wake up my friends,

Change the channel on your life.

All is not doom and gloom,

God is with us all our days,

Wanting the best inour lives.

Change the channel in your soul,

Face the day in a whole new light,

Let us look at what we have,

Instead of dwelling on that which we don't.

Change the channel of our lives,

Form darkness and despair,

To that of light and hope.

Paul H. Bartoswicz

The Honor Guard

2011-07-12T10:00:00.002-04:00

On July 4th I had the honor of marching with the color guard in the Ossipee July 4th Parade. I use the term marcning loosely, because what this middle aged man with a damaged knee did could hardly be called marching even in the loosest sense of the word. It was more like a limping stroll down Moultonville Rd. It was the first time I had participated in the Parade in this capacity, and it was heartwarming to hear the applause from the viewers lining the side of the road. The warmth and sincerity was music to my ears. The girl who came up to me at the end of the parade and handed me a pin of the American Flag, and the smile on her face as I asked her to pin it on my shirt, and the hug she blessed me with afterward set a warm rush through my heart. What did bother me during the parade, and frankly it bothers me all the time when the flag is presented, is the lack of respect our national flag seems to get and how it seems to deteriorate every year. I was bought up to respect the flag, stand when it goes by, take my hat off and hold it over my heart. I was taught to sing the National Anthem with gusto and pride even though I couldn't carry a tune in a bucket. When I joined the Navy I was taught to salute the flag even before requesting permission to board the ship. I was taught to treat it with honor and dignity, fold it with care, carry it with reverence, and above all to protect it with my life. I took those edicts very seriously,and still do. When many look at the flag they see a piece of cloth flapping in the breeze, when I look at the flag, I see the signers of the Declaration who were signing their own death warrant if things turned out differently. I see the men who shed their blood in places like Lexington and Concord, fighting a vastly superior army with much more training I see families who through the sweat of their brow and daily toils who carved out a little place for themselves in the American wilderness. I see the blood and carnage of Antietam, Bull Run, and Gettysburg. I see the bandages and the carnage in places like Flanders Field and the trenches of Europe in a world torn apart by war. I see the anguish caused by places like Normandy, Pearl Harbor, and the Phillipines. I see the pride in a group of Marines raising the flag on Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima. I see places like Pusan, Inchon, Quesang, Da Nang. I see mighty war ships with 16 inch guns, I see PT boats with their hit and run tactics. I see swift boats plying the brown waters of the rivers in Vietnam. When I see the flag I see mothers who are burying their sons, I see the tears in a fathers eyes as he sends his son off to war. I see 240 caskets lined up side by side and end to end for the peacekeepers in Beirut.

When I see a flag I see a country that rolled up its sleeves and worked together to get done what had to be done. I see a country who got together and pulled itself through the great depression. I see a flag that represents a country that looked to the stars and said what is out there, then worked hard to find out. I see a country that is able to overcome any adversity that is put in its way if we only work together instead of fighting each other. I see a country who proudly sends help when they see a neighbor inneed but does not ask for help in return.

My friends, that is what I see when I look at those colors go by or fly from a flagpole in front of some building. I don't just see a piece of colored cloth flapping in the breeze, I see 235 years of history. And when I render honors to those wonderful colors, I render honor to every man and woman who through the sweat of their brow worked to make this country as great as it is. Please think of this next time some middle aged guy limping along goes by in an honor guard with the American Flag proudly held out leading the way.

Common Courtesy

2010-11-23T10:01:00.002-05:00

Something has been bothering me a lot over the years and it has come to a head lately as I look around me in life, and that is common courtesy. Somethings I can see being a little more relaxed at, but others I still believe is common courtesy to others. What brought this to a head for me was two separate events over the weekend. On Saturday evening my Mother in Law took my family out to a bean supper. I was wearing my ball cap to the supper as I usually do when I am outside, and upon entering the fellowship room of the church I removed my hat and with lack of space around the table I clipped my hat to my belt loop and proceeded to sit down at the table. Down the table from me sat two men I would say in their 3's or early 40's both wearing their ball caps during the meal. Then the other stark contrast was my 19 year old daughter was asking people to please pass the beans or other meal items,and thanking them for it when she received it. The older couple across the table made the comment about her politeness,and it made me feel very good about the way I tried to raise my girls. The second event that irritated me this weekend was the next day at church they had the seating arranged in a circle around the communion table which I enjoyed, and a benefit to this is you could see more people around you during the service, instead of just the back of a bunch of heads. I looked over during the service and there was this one young man about the same age as my middle daughter and that s 19, and he was wearing his hat during church, not only wearing his hat but wearing it sideways in that ridiculous "gangstah" style that the young kids seem to want to emulate today. I can tolerate the relaxed style of dress prevelant at church today even though I was brought up that you wore your Sunday Best to church Sunday morning, and I even enjoy being able to go to church in a more relaxed style, but I also feel that this relaxed style should not override common courtesy.

A contrast in this was several weeks ago I went to a concert at the church in Union by two very talented musicians. After this concert I was talking to a young lady who happens to be the mother of a classmate of my youngest daughters. This lady kept calling me sir and Mr. Bartoswicz. When I made the comment that I wished sh would call me by my first name she responded back that she did not feel comfortable doing so for two reasons, first I was an officer in the military and she was enlisted and second I am substantially older than she and she was taught at a young age that you showed respect to those older than you by calling them Ma'am or sir and by the title Mr. or Mrs..

We have lost so much of this courtesy in our society today, our children call our friends by their first names, we walk by people struggling with packages without offering to help or even hold the door for them. Men do not treat ladies with respect or dignity, nor do women expect it anymore, sometimes even degrading a man for doing it. It is common courtesy to hold a door for any person. I tell my daughters that if they have a date pick them up at the house and the young man just sits in the driveway and honks the horn they are not going out for them, for if the young man can not get out of the car and come to the door to escort them out of the house, he is not worth the effort of your being seen with him., But I would expect them to do the same thing if they were picking the young man up at his house to go somewhere, because it is common courtesy.

I say it is time to make a difference and let's bring back some courtesy and manners back into society. Let us make this a more sociable place to live where we express gratitude when people do things for us, and we help others in our day to day lives rather than just being selfish and expecting the world to do for us all the time. We are connected to each other in more ways than we know, and the more we do for others, and the more we treat others with dignity, the more we are doing for ourselves, and treating ourselves with dignity.

From Gale Farm Ministries Web Site blog

2010-11-02T12:03:00.001-04:00

This is a repost of my blog page from my ministry website that I feel compelled to post here today

I have been trying very hard not to get political on this website, because I firmly believe that republican, democrat, independent, libretarian, all believers are still brothers and sisters in Christ, and I will not expound on my political stance beyond to say I vote in every election because I believe it is not only the right thing to do, but part of our duties as American Citizens.

However a quote I heard on the news this morning deeply saddened me. President Obama stood there and called those that disagree with him as the enemy. I found and thought what was great about this country was that we could disagree politically, go out an vote out conscience for the candidate we thought best represented us, and still be friends of those who we disagree with politically. A statement like the one that President Obama made goes a long way into driving a wedge between the political parties I thought one if his campaign promises was to find a way to work together with those who disagree with him and reach a common ground. A statement such as calling those that oppose you as the enemy does not reach across the aisle but builds a wall in that aisle that many would not want to take down. In this tme of economic crisis and national turmoil the president should be trying to find a way to build up relations and not tear them down. I even had a "friend" tell me a couple of months ago that he couldn't consider our realtionship a "friendship" anymore because of our political differences, I should inject here that we have many other things in common like our love for the state we live in, our love for the community, our interest in the trades and many other things but because we disagree fundamentally on the direction of the country as a whole we should no longer relate as friends. Is this really the direction we want this country to take to deepen that divide between red and blue as the news has dubbed it, or are we to be a country that works through our problems with a common discourse, and some give and take. what would happen if we heard..."Gee Harry I never looked at it that way, maybe there is some merit to that argument" or "You know Judd, now that you put it on paper and show me how this works I may not agree with everything you say, but this idea does have merit." Instead all we hear is how the Republicans want our seniors to eat pet food, and the democrats want to spend us into oblivion.

Let's get real folks, and think about the true question...and I am going to use a new slant to this becasue this is a Christian Website and look at this from a Christian perspective, let us ask ourselves in this case...."what would Jesus Do?" we have a tendency to look tot he government for answers, but we should really be looking inward, to the spirit that resides within us as Christians a part of the Holy Spirit. We have the power to change this mess the country is in, we have the power to make things right...we just need to focus on hwo to do it rather than pointing blame at everyone as to how we got into the mess. Let's get real folks God is our power God is our walking stick, we have to rely on Him to be our support in times of crisis, adn find common ground with those we disagree and find a way to fix the problem rather than be a part of it.

I'll come down off my soap box now and go out and cut wood to help keep my family warm during the winter, and think about the answeres to the questions I just raised. What will you do to help make the situation better.?

Let Go and Let God

2010-10-28T08:44:00.001-04:00

Let Go and Let God

How do you live life

My dear friend?

Are you spiritual

And a person of faith?

Do you live a life

That exhibits that belief?

For a man who believes,

But does not put into action,

Is like a hollow shell,

Without filling substance.

Are you developing

My dear friend,

By becoming more gentle and a humble self?

To become more

Like God Above?

For life my friend,

is a constant transition,

From our Ego self,

to our Spiritual self.

As you live your life,

You must change and grow.

We need to develop,

Just as a flower grows.

We cannot rely,

On the wisdom of our fellow man.

For that wisdom is folly,

The way of a foolish Man.

It is the way

Of selfish enhancement.

Earthly wisdom,

Grows heavy with envious thoughts.

It is on our lives,

That we cannot deny.

But instead give up

Your sensual pleasures.

And strive instead,

For the Spiritual pleasure.

Practice the art,

Of lifting up,

The lives of

Your fellow man.

Become a man

Of peace and love.

Stay clear my friend

Of the earthly hazard.

Don't weigh yourself down,

With a heavy Heart.

Don't fret my friend,

Of the earthly desires,

For the fruit

Of God's true wisdom,

Will purify your heart,

And lighten the feeling.

He will bless you

With a sense of desire and peace.

He will make you

Considerate of your fellow man,

And bestow upon you

A feeling of submission,

To God's desires..

He will fill you with mercy,

And make the fruit

Of your labor good.

You will look at your fellow man

With an eye of impartiality,

And finally bestow

unto you a new life.

A true blessing

Of sincerity in all that you do.

So go forth my dear friend,

Transition your life,

From understanding,

Based here on earth.

To an understanding,

Based in Heaven above.

And let God

Work Wonders in your life.

Paul H. Bartoswicz 6/27/2010

Based partly on James 3: 13-18

Are we truly trusting Good to direct our lives by opening our hearts and letting the Spirit guide us on our daily walk and putting our faith in action on a daily basis? Or ae we letting our EGO take over and deciding we know more about how to live our lives than God does, not believing there is a design for our lives and a path for us to exhibit His divine love and guidance. I have found in my life when I rely on myself for my guidance I really mess up my life and my relationships, but when I rely on the guidance of the Spirit, my creative juices flow and I end up being a lot happier in everyhting I do. For when we rely on EGO we Edge God Out of our lives and we determine we should be in control, but when we rely on Him we learn to trust totally and accept the blessings He is willing to bestow on us on a daily basis. So my friend, LET GO AND LET GOD direct us on our daily walk by trusting in Him and talking with Him as we woul talak to a friend for He is our Divine friend.

What do you sow in Life

2010-10-01T09:40:00.001-04:00

God will nurture what ever seeds you sow in your life. If you fail to sow the seeds how can you expect to reap a harvest wether it be happiness, financial freedom, or what ever you desire. Just as the farmer can not expect to reap any crops if he failed to preapre the soil, plant the seeds, and nurture the plants. In the same vein if the farmer plants peas, he can not expect to reap corn from those plants, it just doesn't happen.

The same is true in our lives. If the seeds we plant are misery, and unahppiness, how can we expect God to bless us with crops of happiness, and plenty. If we desire happiness in our lives we have to sow seeds of happiness in those around us, not only those we know, but those we just meet in passing. If we desire to reap a harvest of plentiness in our lives, we have to help others acieve their dreams of plenty in their lives, if you can't afford to help them monetarily achieve their dreams, you can help them by the gift of time, maybe it is time to help them ge ttheir plans off the ground, or guidance in writing a business plan. Just as Jesus never turned people in need away, we should not either. It is up to us to use the gifts that God has given us, to help others achieve the gifts meant for them.

Now go forth and plant your seeds, so that you may harvest your dreams that God will bless you with.

Have a Blessed Day

Be a Positive Influence

2010-09-28T08:35:00.001-04:00

I am posting a challenge here today. I hope you joined the group because you want to be a positive influence in the world. I challenge you to make up a card stating "I have performed a random act of kindness for you, I ask that each day for 30 days you perform a random act of kindness for someone else, and give them a card like this."

Now if each person we do a random act of kindness for performs a random act as we ask for the next 30 days, think of the impact we would have on the world...just on our acts we would have initiated over 536 million random acts of kindness on the 30th day for a total after the first 30 days of over 1 billion acts being performed. Now suppose there are 100 members in a group undertaking this, if we all participate after 30 days the group would be responsible for over 107 billion random acts of kindness, can you imagine that 107 billion random acts of kindness. being performed. Would you like to be a part of that?

Come back here and post some of the acts you performed and the impact they seemed to have...It could be something very simple, or something a little more intense, help someone load their groceries into a car, Pay for someones coffee, hold a door, the options are limitless....Now go forth and make a difference

Why Not You

2010-09-28T08:07:00.001-04:00

Today I choose to have you reflect on this piece by Steve Maraboli...think about it

Why Not You? By Steve Maraboli
Today, many will awaken with a fresh sense of inspiration. Why not you?

Today, many will open their eyes to the beauty that surrounds them. Why not you?

Today, many will choose to leave the ghost of yesterday behind and seize the immeasurable power of today. Why not you?

Today, many will break through the barriers of the past by looking at the blessings of the present. Why not you?

Today, for many the burden of self doubt and insecurity will be lifted by the security and confidence of empowerment. Why not you?

Today, many will rise above their believed limitations and make contact with their powerful innate strength. Why not you?

Today, many will choose to live in such a manner that they will be a positive role model for their children. Why not you?

Today, many will choose to free themselves from the personal imprisonment of their bad habits. Why not you?

Today, many will choose to live free of conditions and rules governing their own happiness. Why not you?

Today, many will find abundance in simplicity. Why not you?

Today, many will be confronted by difficult moral choices and they will choose to do what is right instead of what is beneficial. Why not you?

Today, many will decide to no longer sit back with a victim mentality, but to take charge of their lives and make positive changes. Why not you?

Today, many will take the action necessary to make a difference. Why not you?

Today, many will make the commitment to be a better mother, father, son, daughter, student, teacher, worker, boss, brother, sister, & so much more. Why not you?

Today is a new day!
Many will seize this day.
Many will live it to the fullest.

Why not you?

Revamping our Education System

2010-09-27T09:39:00.002-04:00

I just viewed a video on You Tube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8limRtHZPs which I learned about through Sharon Rose of Channel 6 News in Portland Maine through my facebook account. I will make the same disclaimer that she did about the video, I don't know anything about the group that posted the video, but I do like the video, as it makes you think about our educational system in this country. We expect our kids to learn in cookie cutter fashion everyone being the same, however no two children are exactly alike, they have their strengths and their weaknesses. We have to learn to play up those strengths and figure out how to strengthen the weaknesses within the child's interest level in order to keep them engaged and interested. If we tell a fish it has to learn how to climb a tree because all the other animals have to know how to climb a tree the fish is going to become frustrated and discouraged. We also have to learn how to let the child reach the desired goal in their own way. It may not be the same way everyone else learns how to do, but it may be the way the child is most comfortable in doing it. If the objective is to get to the top of a tree, the raccoon, the cat, and the squirrel are going to use their claws and climb to the top by going up the trunk, however the eagle is going to use his wings and fly into the sky and then perch at the top. If the subject is swimming the duck and the fish are going to excel in the subject, but the cat is going to rebel like crazy. It is the same with our children, I see it in all three of mine, they learn differently and all have different ways of getting there. They rebel at different subjects, Anya hates math but she enjoyed more social group types of learning, Khrys hates to write just to write but excels in business related classes, and computer related subjects. Grace says she hates math but she is the one her classmates used to call to explain how to do the homework. We have a tendency to put labels on kids because they are slow in this subject or that, or they excel overall. I know kids I went to school with that were tremendous in book smarts and learned just about everything you put in front of them, but I wouldn't trust them to build a house for me. Just as I know carpenters that could take a pile of lumber and create a work of art, but I wouldn't give them my taxes to do.
If you look at sporting events, what does a coach do, he takes the strengths of the players he has and designs his play book around those strengths. He downplays the weakness and tries not to focus on those. You make the team as strong as you can by getting every one to play to the best of their ability. If Johnny couldn't kick a field goal to save his life, you don't have him kick the field goal, you have him block which he is good at. If Susan can't throw a pitch and make it over the plate, it would do no good to require her to be the pitcher but maybe she has a nack for knowing exactly where the fly ball is going to come down and the speed to get her there, then you play Susan in the outfield. It is the same with learning Joey can write very creatively but is totally lost in algebra is it going to do any good to require him to learn trig. Play to his strengths get him immersed in creative writing, and teach him enough math so he can be functional but does he have to be conversant in mathematical theory to be an effective person in society?

I think it is time to revamp our educational system and make it useful for everyone. What do you think?

Giving

2010-09-25T12:34:00.001-04:00

I am currently reading a self -help book, (even though I hate that description) about recreating your life. The pages I am on right now talk about giving. God created us to be very giving beings, however we have made ourselves into being a very selfish being where we seem to want everything for ourselves. We hear excuses that I don't make enough I can't give money, I work to many hours I can't give time, I am having a terrible day I can't give a smile, on and on. However the reality is, and I can honestly say I have experienced this in my own day to day life, the more we give, the more we get back.

I have raised my children this way, and through the example of their grandparents they have seen it form that perspective also. They give very freely of themselves. As I sit here writing this my oldest and youngest are at the Ossipee Concerned Citizens Fall Fair helping thier grandmother man the tents and assist people who come to buy things at the whitle elephant table. My mother in law, wife, and I were talking about how early on in Anya's life the joke was for people who signed on to deliver meals on wheels for any specific day in Effingham, all they had to do was bring Anya with them to learn the route, because almost from the day she was born she would ride the route with her grandfather up until she was in school full time. All my girls have aprticipated in roadside clean up day,and have ebcome fixtures at all the fundraisers for the Ossipee Concerned Citizens, as wella s many for the RSVP (Retired Senior Volunteer Program) as well as many others. They don't come away with frowns on their faces, they come home tired but with smiles. When they go to the store in town or any activities around the area, everyone knows them and greets them, they receive back this way. They have also been very succesful in establishing reputations as hardworkers that will help them later in life when they are looking for jobs, or references of one sort or another, so many people know them and are willing to speak for them. My daughter Khrys is not immune from this either, even though she is away at college in Johnson Vermont, she is very active in the SERVE office there which is a community outreach program, and she is learning a great deal form her volunteering in many different places. On the 24th of September they went an started building a ramp for an elderly lady in the area that needed one, she wrote on her Facebook status that not only was she satisfied in the job they had done for the day, it also marked the commencement of her construction career. She even proudly joked on her uncle's page that she used a screw gun. I am so proud of these girls because they so freely give of themselves to help make the world a little better place, whether it is spending the day helping at a fall fair, or just as simple as giving someone a pat on the back, and a sincere smile. They strive to treat everyone fairly and look for the best in all they meet. They have truly learned the value in giving of themselves, just as my wife and I have. You can be amazed at what happens, we just have to be the change we want to see, and be willing to give freely of ourselves all the time.

Have a Blessed day

Lean Not On Your Own Understanding

2010-09-24T07:32:00.001-04:00

Psalms 35 tells us to

Trust in the LORD with all your heart

and lean not on your own understanding;

This is very sage advice, and something that most humans can not get their hands or their heads around. Sigmund Freud spent a good amount of his professional career studying the effects and ramifications of the parts of the human psyche one of whic is commonly called the EGO. I think this is a very appropriately named part of the psyche because wehn we rely on our EGO instead of relying and leaning on God we

Edge

God

Out

of our lives. We rly and lean on ourselves rather than relying on the divine love of God to provide for us.

Let's face it , when we rely on our own understaning rather than leaning on God we have a tendency to really mess things up. We make decisions that are not always in our best interest in the long run, we jump at the immediately attractive, not thinking of the long term results. In retrospect many of the problems we find ourselves in todays economy is the result of us Edging God Out of our lives and not trusting in God. We bought houses that were way out of our means, aided by mrtgage brokers that made it very attractive to be able to do by offering interest only loans for a period of time, not worrying about what was going to happen when the principle kicked in, or taking variable rate loans that they knew were low and not thinking about the ramifications when the interest rate kicked up a notch and you were already stretching the budget to make the payment on the low interest rate. We have a tendency to be a greedy society always wanting more than we can really afford, but if we wait on the Lord all the things we need will come to us at the appropriate time.

Leaning Not on our own understanding is also one of the inspriations for my walking stick, with the inspirational engravings, they are to remind us to trust in God and lean on soemthing in times of trouble and uncertainty rather than leaning on ourselves. I am struggling at times with this myself in this time of extreme transition in my life. Having been out of work for going on thirteen months I am really trying to lean on God and His tming for my life and understand the lessons I need to learn form the ordeal. He has blessed me with a renewed creativity in my writing as well as other opportunities, but I have to admit it can be very hard to give yourself over and not Edge God Out of my life and try to force things in my own time rather than His.

Have Blessed Day

Agricultural Commission Meeting June 23, 2010

2010-06-23T22:31:00.001-04:00

My opening comments as Chair of the Agricultural Commission for the meeting of June 23. I was nervous about them but they were very well recieved

Agriculture in Effingham is at a crossroads in its future. The town has granted us the ability to form this commission to advise the town as a whole and the various boards in particular as to issues relating to general agriculture. In turn the selectmen have appointed the five regular and the five alternate members as directed by the town.. As a town we have not been blessed with a major body of water with which to attract tourists and many summer residents, we are not situated in a major highway with which to attract more industrial type of development. In some areas many services are not offered unless we have a concentration of industry to utilize those services, and industry will not locate here unless we are able to offer those services. I see the future of this town as being in the area of agriculture, and agricultural related businesses. We can make a name for ourselves in promoting ourselves as an agriculturally friendly town. New Hampshire as a whole is becoming very agriculturally challenged, and we have to find a way to turn this tide. Development is encroaching on farm land and history has shown that once that land is lost it almost never reverts back to agricultural use, and the sprawl keeps on happening. Farmers also have to be able to coexist with more and more residential neighbors, and conservation issues.
Effingham has a rich agricultural history, all you have to do is listen to landmarks, you have the Davis Farm, The Watson Farm, Gale Farm, Cloverleaf Farm, Meloon Farm, Washburn Farm, and Farm by the River to name a few. The problem being is many people are moving to the area because of the “rural character”, but not knowing what that entails. They come to places like Effingham because of the wide open spaces, yet complain about the noise of the frogs at night, or the rooster crowing at dawn. They complain about the smell of manure in the spring or the cows that invariably get out and roam the area.
On Tuesday June first the Union Leader ran an article based on a report exploring the economic impact of New Hampshire’s local food. It was found that only thirty percent of New Hampshire’s farms had positive income while forty seven percent nationwide do. Maine has forty percent and Vermont forty four percent. Granted Northern States will have a lower percentage than southern states because of challenges in climate and land type. Farmers in New Hampshire could only feed six percent of our population compared to forty percent for Maine and Vermont. While both other states have less population density than New Hampshire, it is imperative that agriculture in New Hampshire close the gap.
One of the problems in New Hampshire as I have stated before is the sprawl factor that is happening, and looking at farmland lost in the southern tier of the state and moving northward. To combat this sprawl we have to make regulations more agriculturally friendly. We also have to make our farms more efficient to help make up for lost lands. I have been skimming the best management practices put out by the state, and they have guidelines to help with that as well as helping to protect the environment.
It behooths those involved in agriculture to be good stewards of the land. I don’t care what your religious beliefs are, but if you look at the Bible, it gives good sound management practices like rotating crops, and letting land lay fallow to recharge itself. I for one am very interested in the pasture management plan being put into use by the Klotz’s at the Farm by the River, as it works in just that type of philosophy. As farmers we must be good stewards of the land and our environment to help promote a healthy environment and a healthy population. We look at the large Agri-businesses and cringe as they utilize every square inch of their land, deplete the nutrients in the soil, then treat the land with chemicals to build those nutrients up artificially. One just has to wonder what the health connections are as we look at risks like ADD, ADHD, Autism, Cancer, High Blood Pressure, just to name a few. Face it many environmentalists cringe when they hear the word farm today because they equate farms with the huge agri-businesses. It is up to us to work with groups like the planning board, Conservation Commission, Zoning Board of Adjustment, Board of Selectmen, and Green Mountain Conservation Group, to educate that farms can co-exist with residential uses, conservation uses, as well as other uses. Mush of our richest farmland borders lakes, rivers, ponds, and other wetlands. But by utilizing best management practices we can coexist. It is in the agriculturist’s best interest to protect surface water, ground water, and deep water, as well as properly maintain open spaces, and forest land. We want to protect Steep slopes because of what we see happening in California with mud slides. Proper forest management can help preclude forest fires. We all know the importance of water sources for irrigation and watering of animals. If we pollute those sources we taint the quality of our crops and our animals.
My challenge to all in this room is to keep this in mind as we continue on with our planning and evaluations of regulations and resources. Work with our counterparts on other boards and commissions to come up with recommendations to protect everyone. This is not about personal agendas; it is about the best interest and development of the town of Effingham and the agricultural community, and development of agricultural related businesses.

Taming the tongue

2010-06-21T08:09:00.001-04:00

Yesterday in church Pastor Dan Mitchum preached on James 3:1-13, the title of the Sermon was Taming the Tongue. The crux of the sermon was to think before you speak and to choose your words carefully, as words hurt. We are taught at a young age the saying Sticks and Stones can break my bones, but words can not hurt me. The contrary is actually true, words do hurt and they hurt deeply. In some cases worse than the sticks and stones, as the broken bones can heal and we get on with our lives, however the injuries that are caused by words can last a lifetime.

An example of this is a girl I knew growing up. She went to a different school, but I knew her through her family and some work I did for their family with my then brother in law. She was a smart very beautiful young lady, popular in her circle and very well thought of. Her parents went through a messy divorce, and in anguish her mother, who had found out her husband had been having numerous affairs, and supporting a mistress secretly yelled, in front of this beautiful young lady, "I should never have married that (expletive deleted)(expletive deleted), it was the biggest mistake of my life." What this beautiful young girl heard was I should never have married that man, and everything that happened with him was a big mistake. This translated to the girl that she was a huge mistake, even though she and her mother had had a pretty close relationship. She turned to sleeping around with whoever would have her, she started using drugs, and ignoring her schoolwork. This was in her senior year of high school, and she had already been accepted into the college of her choice. I lost touch with her when I went into college, and then the service, but did look her up at her mothers home in 1984 when I was stationed in South Weymouth Mass. She was a mess, smoking 2 packs of cigarettes a day, hooked on drugs, and mother of a 4 year old with no father around (she said she wasn't even sure of who the father was). I am sorry to say I left her house that day and lost contact with her in spite of saying I would be in touch, as her lifestyle was not what conducive to mine. I don't know what ever happened to Lisa.

After hearing that sermon though and remembering this story, I can relate as to how words do hurt. Here was a bright promising young lady, who heard in a moment of rage and betrayal that her life was a mistake and that she should never have been. He promising life was sent into a spiraling downturn, until she was in a morass of drugs, promiscuity, and depression. I am sure her mother truly loved her and would not have changed having her in a moment, but those words uttered made such an impact that they erased years of relationship that the two had together. Words that if had been held in check, and not uttered at all in front of such an impressionable girl, would have had such a different result in this ladies life.

So think before you utter words, they may have very different results than you intended them to have. Are the legacy you wish to be known by?

Declutter your life

2010-06-10T11:01:00.000-04:00

I was struck by a fact the other day, it had actually been there buried in the back of my mind for some time, and something my daughter Grace has been doing brought it to the forefront and cased me to reflect on it more and more.
Since Khrys came home from college she has been nagging Grace to clean her room and organize. Khrys has always been a clutter free type of person, at least in her own room (don't ask e about the rest of the house.) Through this verbal sparring, Grace finally started the decluttering process. Last Sunday, Janet and I went through a utility closet in Grace's room and disposed of several boxes of "important" stuff that we hadn't looked at in probably fifteen years, and ended up taking a truck load to the transfer station (ie. dump). Grace has continued on and produced about eight bags of trash for me to dispose of on Saturday. When I asked where it all came from, she responded it was stuff important to her when she was little, and that she was not little anymore, so it was time go. There were toys that were broken, games missing pieces that hadn't been played in years, but up until now she just couldn't bring herself to part with. She has books she has outgrown she wants to give away to someone who would enjoy them. When she said this I felt hit up the side of the head with a two by four. Out of the mouth of babes, and she is so wise beyond her twelve years.
We spend so much of our time in our lives cluttered by the junk of the past, and it seems like the older we get, the more we are cluttered, because more has accumulated to clutter us all up. I look into my office and I see the stuff I just can't live without. I haven't used it in years, but just can't do without it. My bedroom is the same way, pants I haven't worn in years have to stay there because I may fit in them again (yeah right).
Don't get me wrong, memories of the past are a great thing and do have a place in our lives, but not all the junk we tend to collect as humans. We must remember our past, for it is a part of what has brought us to where we are today, and it is important to remember. A famous quote warns us that if we do not remember history we are condemned to repeat it. The danger my friend is when we dwell in the past, pining for the "good old days". When we do this we have a tendency to lose the future and all of its possibilities. We cling to what was and seem to miss the the possibilities of what is and what could be. We tend to cling so tightly to what we think is important that we miss the path to what is so truly important.
An analogy I was thinking of, is a driver on the freeway. Where he is at any given moment is the now, anything behind the car is the past and anything in front of the car is the future. He is looking for a particular exit, one that he knows will get him to his destination. To do this he must be looking forward, facing the future. If he spends to much time looking in the rear view mirror watching where he has been, he can miss that most important sign telling him where he is to go.
The same thing is true in life. If we spend so much time looking to the past we miss the important signs for the future, and let us face it, the future is where we are going to spend the rest of our lives, regardless of how hard we try to block it, not in the past. is it time to get rid of the clutter in your life, so you can get out of the past and start your journey into the future. Loosen your bonds on the past, how many bags of trash can you get rid of, so you can journey boldly into the future.

A mother's sharing

2010-01-06T08:40:00.002-05:00

We have a lady in town who is sharing her son with the country. For the second time she is sending him overseas to serve his country in Afghanistan with an April deployment date scheduled. The first time he went overseas she was struggling with some problems of her own, but would like this time to travel to Virginia to see him in the deployment ceremony before he leaves. The problem is her husband who works in the construction industry has been out of work for the last two years only able to pick up small jobs here and there. We are trying to take up a collection to send her to Virginia to see her son off. If any of my followers out there would like to help in this endeavor please feel free to contact me at bartoswicz@roadrunner.com. No greater love hath a man than to lay down his life for others. We must remember we have many many and women who are willing to do just that every day of the year. May God bless and protect them all.

The Great Equalizer

2009-11-29T13:48:00.001-05:00

There is no promise,
of an easy life,
For any God's children
here on earth.
Life is filled
with toils.
Life is filled
with tribulations
No promise is given
of riches untold
or condemnation made
of abject poverty.
We shall toil
On a daily basis
Through the sweat
Of our labored brow
Some will see riches
beyond imagination.
Some will not
see any at all.
The world seems
So unfair,
But the true reward
lays not on earth,
but in heaven above,
In God's own realm.
For death becomes
The great equalizer
For we all
leave this earth
with nothing
but the name
we made for ourselves.
We stand before
our Lord
To answer for
the lives we lived.
Can you be proud,
Of the name you built?

Paul Bartoswicz

The State of the Union

2009-10-02T10:30:00.002-04:00

We are at a crossroads in society today, depending on who you talk to we are either still mired deep in a recession that hasn't been seen in several decades, or just climbing out of the back side. Whichever you listen to, we still have a high percentage of Americans out of work and looking for virtually non existent jobs. I know the hardship those who are unemployed are going through as I am also stuck in that mode myself. It is a road full of highs and lows, and many of the policies the government has implemented do not work. I am a veteran, yet because of my time of service, after Vietnam, but before Desert Storm I do not qualify for a lot of the help out there for veterans, so you do it all on your own. I listen every night to the debate on the overhaul of health care, yet no discussion on how to help those who do not have a job...Obama has made comments that he would like to impose penalties on those who do not have insurance, but what about those who do not have a job and can not afford it, then they have to pay a penalty to the government as well? Doesn't make sense to me. We have to many people in this country with their hands out expecting the government to take care of them from cradle to grave. Yes insurance rates are rising faster than the rates of pay are increasing, but I do not see the government being able to do anything about that. It is our responsibility to take care of ourselves. We have to destress ourselves and work towards trying to live a healthier lifestyle, not drink as much, not smoke, not use drugs, the government can't do this for us, we have to do it for ourselves

DeStress

2009-09-19T08:29:00.001-04:00

I read once a long time ago that every person should have a place they can go that is within 5-10 minutes of where they work, and where they live that they can destress and just get back on track. I was thinking of this the other day when Pastor Mitchum and I snuck away to talk for an hour at one of my secret locations, and Dan had made the comment that "it was so nice to get out there and hear the river in the background rather than the clicking of keyboards, and the hum of machinery, and people's voices in other offices. I was thinking about this for the last couple of days and realized how blessed I am to have so many of these "secret" places to get away to even though I haven't really taken advantage of them to their fullest potential. My own back yard up in the field is one of the first places, and they are all in their own way God's outdoor cathedrals, a place where we can reflect on the grandeur of His great creation. It may be noisy as in the river but it is God's noise not man's noise that predominates, and it can be a place that is very quiet for the most part as it is in my field, with the only real noise being the wind blowing through the trees and the rustling leaves. I think we all need to find such places, and if they were utilized I think you might find our stress levels as a country decrease, and with the decreased stress levels, I think we would find that our medical needs go down also.

Just a thought.

The Awesome Journey

2009-07-26T11:37:00.002-04:00

The Awesome Journey

Don't be anxious
Wait on the Lord
Don't let fear take hold
Trust in the Lord
Your life is a journey
Let God be the guide
Let God take hold
And follow His will
And His patient hand
Guide you on your way
Let His eternal calmness
Settle your troubled soul
Let the whisper of His vice
fall gently upon your ear
Open up your senses
And let Him into your life
Feel the warmth of His love
wash over your body like the sun.
Let His desire for your life
change your eternal soul.
His still hand allows
you to reach beyond the grave.
When you learn to trust
In His will for you
You set upon a journey
of awesome proportions
Don't be envious
of what others have
Be joyful of what you have
In God's great plan.
And enjoy your ride
On God's awesome journey.

Paul Bartoswicz 7/26/09

I wrote this poem during church on July 26th as I reflected on what life had to offer as well as a reflection on Pastor Dan Mitchum's sermon series he has been preaching on. The whole financial mess we find ourselves in today is in part due to envy, we must be able to keep up with the Jonses and have everything they have regardless f how much debt we must bury ourselves in to get it, then our financial lives are so finally balanced, that one little blip in our finances slips us over into the abyss of despair.

Invocations, Benedictions and Baccalaureates

2009-06-13T19:29:00.004-04:00

I attended my 17 year old's (soon to be 18 years old) graduation this morning, as well as several other graduation/ senior events over the last two weeks. I have several questions if the liberals cling so heavily to the separation of church and state idea, which incidentally is no where in the Constitution, it is actually that the Government will not establish any state run religion, but allow us as a country a freedom of religion not a freedom from religion. Yet we cling violently to religious ideas. They still call the event before the graduation ceremony a Baccalaureate which by definition is Baccalaureate service, "a farewell address in the form of a sermon delivered to a graduating class", yet the services today are an extension of Senior reflections on their passage through school, so call it what it is an evening of Senior reflections not a Baccalaureate.

Now we come up to the graduation ceremony at the start of the ceremony is listed an invocation, which traditionally and by definition a blessing opening the service asking for some spirits guidance, what we had today was a senior stand up and give a short reflection on high school with a quote by Dr Seuss. At the close of the ceremony was listed the benediction, again by definition a blessing for those in attendance to reflect on as they leave the ceremony wishing for the spirit to watch over those who have been honored as well as those who were in attendance, again what we had was another senior give a short reflection on his career in school, again no religious inference in the ceremony at all. If you want total separation Church and State why cling to terms that are religious just by the use of the name. It is a case of trying to have your cake and eat it too...it jsut doesn't cut it for me...again just call them what they are...Senior Reflections

Economic recovery?

2009-06-07T11:15:00.002-04:00

I have heard many people say that Obama's plan is working and the country is going to be strong again. While I hope they are right because I would love to see America in a strong vibrant growing economy, I fear the opposite is going to happen. Ultimately the plan Obama has laid out is going to weaken the economy even further. The people out there who seem to blindly worship Obama will argue with me that he is the savior, and that his plan is the strongest, best possible plan out there. I disagree, right now it is the only plan out there but not necessarily the best plan.

Why I don't think it is the best plan is based on the fact of what got us into this mess in the first place, which is wanton debt, plain and simple. People bought more than they could afford at terms that were ultimately well beyond their means. It does not make a difference who's fault it ultimately was, the greedy banks, or the greedy individual. This fact resulted in prices in the housing industry being pushed up in an unnatural manner, and to levels that could not be supported. We had to keep up with the Jones' and be damned of the consequences. Well we are living those consequences now.

Obama's plan to end this situation is to spend money...money the country does not have. So how do we handle that we put our country further in debt than we already were with no plans for paying off that debt, nor the ability. Print more money and drive the value of the dollar down, raising the value of foreign currencies. Guess what as the value of the dollar declines and the value of foreign currency rises the products we consume are going to rise also. Remember we are an economy that has developed to the point that we import much more than we export, and what little we do export will be worth even less because of the strengthening of the foreign currency, so the value of our products decline on the overseas markets while the values of what they ship to us increases, and this results in inflation. We are going to drive us deeper into debt and weaken our economy even further. The rise in gas prices will seem incidental to what can happen if this continues unchecked..wages will not be able to keep up with the cost of living...driving even more people down below the poverty line. I hope I am wrong but I fear I am not

A Wake Up Call

2009-03-08T12:13:00.004-04:00

As unpopular as my posting today may be with some people, I have been reflecting on the current economic situation we are currently going through not only in this country, but in the world overall. I think we are going through a wake up call of historic proportions. We are a world that has gotten to materialistic, and dependent on physical things, and creature comforts. More often than not both parents work to provide nicer vehicles, and bigger houses than we really need.

The banking crisis was a result of people stretching their mortgage payments out to the maximum they could afford in order to buy houses far to big and fancy for their needs. We are a society that has to have all the latest and greatest in the world of electronics and entertainment. Our homes are not complete without them. We all have to have cell phones, and the highest of speeds on our internet. I just read an editorial about teenagers using cell phones to cheat on tests as well as sending naked pictures of themselves out into cyberspace. It is estimated according to this writer that 1 in 5 kids have taken a nude photo of themselves and passed it out into the electronic world. Cell phones have also made it easier for kids to arrange drug transactions, and go around behind their parents back in regards to relationships, especially when you tie the internet into that. We use a computer in my house as I have to have internet in order for me to do my daily work, but we restrict the computer to the living room or kitchen for the kids under 18 where my wife and I can keep some semblance of an eye on our kids while they are using it. Many kids are not that restricted and can go just about anywhere in the house and have access to a world that is begging for them to find mischief of some sort.

I think the overall economic crisis is a wake up call for us to examine our lives and find a lifestyle that calls for family values and learning to do without some of the extravagances in life rather than having all the creature comforts. I can remember a time when dining out was a big deal and we were all on our best behavior because it happened so seldom. As a family of 6 we lived in a modest house of less than 1600 square feet and and I shared a room with my brother while he was still at home and my sisters shared a room, rather than each of us having our own room. Even today my wife and I have a house that is only about the same size of less than 1600 square feet. We don't have a luxurious master suite with walk in closet, and private bath, we have one bathroom for the entire family (I do admit as the only man I would like to have at least another 1/2 bath) We don't go out to eat all that often to a restaurant, we may order subs or a pizza in for a special treat, but even that is not all that often. My wife tried to stay at home when the kids were younger than school age, and event today with one a senior in high school and one in 5th grade, we try to have one of us at home when they get home from school. We eat dinner together as a family,and yes still say grace and ask for God's blessing before our meal. We do without a HDTV, and our kitchen does not have all the latest gadgets you can buy, event though I do like to prepare some gourmet meals every now and then. We don't find the need to travel to extravagant locations for vacation, we do spend time exploring some of the things to do in our own home area. Yes it would be nice to be able to go to some luxurious location for a vacation, but we think it is more important to be a part of our children's lives on a daily basis. We still ask how our kid's day was when they come through the door (even though sometimes they want to take our head off when we ask) Nothing makes me feel more like a dad than when my 17 year old still asks for my help with her homework.

We have tried to ingrain on our girls the importance of community and community involvement. The lessons seem to have made an impact, when I watch my girls take part in events, and help where ever they can. All three girls worked on the moving wall when it was in Ossipee, and on the last day when asked if she wanted to go home with her mother after the closing ceremony my then 10 year old told her mother she could not abandon her post because the veterans were counting on her. When my 17 year old seeks out projects that will make an impact on the community it makes my heart swell with pride. She recently wrote an essay for a scholarship application that in essence said that volunteer work makes life worth while, and makes her feel so good when she sees how she has helped other people.

Let us take this opportunity to learn a lesson and simplify our lives. We don't really need all the extras that we have somehow decided are necessities. We can get by with a lot less then we really have. I recently listened to a Pastor talk about why they grow a vegetable garden each year. they don't do it because they need the food, they do it so their kids will learn that a tomato comes from the ground rather than just coming from the supermarket. They do it so the kids will learn that they have to take care of the plants and fertilize them, and water them for them to grow strong and produce fruit. Well guess what we have to do the same thing for our kids. We have to nurture them, we have to care for them, we have to be there for them, and not just leave them for others to care for all day long, or to leave them to their own devices. When I sit in my chair and watch my daughters still cuddle with my wife on the couch I know all is right with the family and that even though we have our moments when the girls yell at each other and say they hate each other, they still know the value of family and supporting each other in all they do.

Stimulus

2009-02-08T10:14:00.002-05:00

I realize I have been very remiss in posting to this blog of late, and I have been keeping quiet on the political front which is totally unlike me, however due to the condition of my knees since my accident, which I will have to blog on later, I have not felt much like writing. I have to credit the recent reconnection with an old friend that has re stimulated my desire to write. She was actually an old girlfriends room mate.

Now for the topic of this blog. One of the things Obama promised us when he got elected was that he would undertake a stimulus package that would put Americans back to work. Well let's look at how some of that money is to be spent that is in the stimulus package. The following excerpt is from Glen Beck

"We're never going to recover if we don't get the $50 million for the National Endowment For the Arts, we may never recover if we don't get $380 million in the Senate bill for the Women, Infants and Children's program, we may never recover if we don't get $300 million for grants to combat violence against women, we may never recover if we don't have $6 billion for university building projects, we may never recover if we don't have $1.2 billion to provide youth summer jobs, and this bill defines "Youth" to people up to the age of 24. You'll be paying for those. We will never recover if we don't have $2.4 billion for neighborhood stabilization activities. We may never recover if we don't have $650 million for digital TV coupons. We may never recover if we don't get $150 million for the Smithsonian. We may never recover if we don't have $34 million to renovate the Department of Commerce headquarters. We may never recover if we don't have $500 million for the improvement projects for the national institute of health facilities. We may never recover if we don't have $44 million for repairs to the Department of Agriculture headquarters or $350 million for agriculture department computers. We may never recover if we don't have $88 million to help move the Public Health Service into a new building, not for a new building. To help them move to a new building. We may never survive if we don't have that $88 million for a moving truck! We may never survive if we don't have the money to convert federal auto fleets to hybrids. This country may never recover if we don't have a billion dollars for the census bureau. We may never recover if we don't have $89 billion for Medicaid or $30 billion for COBRA extensions or $36 billion for expanded unemployment or $20 billion for more food stamps. We may never recover if we don't have $850 million for Amtrak, a train that hasn't turned a profit in 50 years. America as we know it may never recover if we don't have $87 million for a polar ice breaking ship, never recover. Let's not look too deeply into why we would need a polar ice breaking ship if the poles are melting and won't have any ice! We may never recover if we don't have $1.7 million for the national park system or $55 million for the historic preservation fund. We may not survive if we don't have $7.6 million for the rural advancement program or $150 million for the agriculture commodity purposes or $150 million for producers of livestock, farm-raised fish and honeybees. We may never survive. We may never recover unless we have $160 million for paid volunteers at the Corporation for National and Community Service for the community volunteers, the National -- wait a minute. Why are we paying the volunteers?

Look, we may never survive if we don't get serious about renewable energy. Our planet has a temperature. It's very sick. We have to do everything we can. For instance, would be ridiculous for, you know, me, the president, to take Air Force one out on its maiden flight, to take a 747 jumbo jet from Washington D.C. for an out-and-back excursion to the House Democratic caucus retreat at the Kings Mill Resort and Spa in Williamsburg, Virginia, where the 747 is parked in Virginia. It would be crazy to take a 157-mile trip in a 747 jumbo jet when you've got teleconferencing there in the White House, because the Earth has a temperature and that's why America may not ever recover if we don't act now and pass $2 billion for renewable energy research or $2 billion for clean coal power plants in Illinois or $6.2 billion for a weatherization assistance program which basically is weatherstrips for underneath your door! We may never survive if we don't have $3.5 billion for energy efficiency and conservation block grants or $3.4 billion for the state energy program or $200 million for state and local electric transport projects or $300 million for the energy-efficient appliance rebate program or $400 million for hybrid cars for state and local governments or $1 billion for the manufacturing of advanced batteries or $1.5 billion for green technology, loan guarantees or $8 billion for innovative loan guarantee program or $2.4 billion for carbon capture demonstration projects or $4.5 billion for the electricity grid or $79 billion for the state fiscal stabilization fund. We may never recover if we don't do these things right now. Don't think. Do it now! Or we may never recover. Is anyone insulted? "

I was reading in the New Hampshire Sunday News about how different communities want to apply the stimulus package... a 2.4 billion dollar wish list....
117 towns, municipalities, or districts have submitted lists for projects they want to complete. The city of Laconia wants $3 million for their river walk project, The town of Lempster wants 3.1 million for a municipal complex 3.1 million dollars for a town that during the 2000 census had a population of 971 people even figuring the rtown doubled in size (highly unlikely) that is still under 2000 people that is over 1800 per person in town. Franconia NH wants 3.85 million for a town wide water system, guess what Franconia is a booming metroplis of 1036 residents estimated in 2006, that is almost $4000 per person in town figuring an average of 3 people to a house why not give 12,000 to each house and let them drill a well and buy a new HDTV while they are at it.

As I look through the list I wonder how many jobs is this really going to create, a lot of the projects on the list would employ only people already working for the town and no one else, and if it does then they either lay the person off when the project is done or keep the person on at taxpayer's expense to do other work. Shouldn't the stimulus package help the average American realize the American Dream of succeeding in their own right. Use the money to hand out low interest or no interest loans to start businesses or grow businesses that will create real long lasting jobs and employ people in the private sector where they can support themselves instead of being on a government handout. Put successful business people in charge of administering the funds rather than government hacks that are just concerned about their jobs. I would love to start my own business and a loan of $150,000 would go a long way to helping me put the infrastructure in place that would make the business successful. I would gladly pay the money back as my business grew, and guess what with my initial idea I would employ 4 to 5 people in addition to myself but that does not get the politicians the type of recognition they "deserve" They would rather be able to stand in front of the citizens of Laconia and hear the mayor say without so and so's support this project would never have come about, so people can walk along the river, who cares about putting 4 to 5 people to work in a lasting job.

This stimulus package is just one huge pork barrel spending plan. The American people voted for change. the change they got was more of the same...spend spend spend.

Commander in Chief?

2009-01-25T13:52:00.002-05:00

http://www.clevelandleader.com/print/8627
Obama Snubs Nation's Heroes,
Becomes the First President to Skip Ball
Honoring Medal of Honor Recipients in Over 50 Years
By Julie

Created 01/21/2009 - 10:13pm

Barack Obama may have stumbled over his words briefly during his inauguration, but he made an even bigger blunder later Tuesday evening. The newly sworn-in President opted not to appear [1] at what should have been one of the most important Balls on his agenda that evening - The Salute to Heroes Inaugural Ball.

The Salute to Heroes Inaugural Ball was begun in 1953 for President Dwight Eisenhower's inauguration. The event recognized recipients of the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest military award. There were 48 Medal of Honor recipients in attendance, who were undoubtedly disappointed by the Commander-in-Chief's failure to show. Over the past 56 years and 14 inaugurations, no President has skipped this event - until now.

The Salute to Heroes Inaugural Ball is sponsored by the American Legion, and co-sponsored by 13 other veteran's service organizations, including those such as the Paralyzed Veterans of America and the Military Order of the Purple Heart.

Instead of attending this ball honoring our nation's heroes, Obama was busy making stops at 10 other official balls. Obama and his wife's first stop was at the Neighborhood Ball. From there they went to the Home State Ball for Illinois and Hawaii, the Commander-in-Chief Ball, the Youth Inaugural Ball, and the Home State Ball for Delaware and Pennsylvania. They finished off the night with brief appearances at the Mid-Atlantic, Western, Midwest, Eastern, and Southern regional Balls.

Celebrities were a plenty at the balls, with Stevie Wonder, Shakira, Mary. J. Blige, Faith Hill, Jay-Z, Alicia Keys, Adam Levine, will.i.am, Sting, Mariah Carey, and Leonardo DiCaprio in attendance at the Neighborhood Ball. In addition, the other nine balls also featured a star-studded lineup including Kanye West and Kid Rock at the Youth Ball, Marc Anthony at the Western Ball, and Cheryl Crow at the Western Ball.

It was the party without all of the celebrities that Obama skipped. The very people who he sought to have support him during his candidacy and campaign, who have fought to protect this country, were snubbed in favor of publicity and the opportunity to rub shoulders - yet again - with the out-of-touch Hollywood elite.

Land of the free....because of the brave...

This was passed on to me. I find it reprehensible that the President of the United States who is the Commander in Chief of the United States would skip a ball that honors the heroes of this country, in order to rub elbows with the Hollywood Elite. The Medal of Honor is a very elite award, and for the most part the recipients were awarded the Medal posthumously. Even for a President to be able to rub elbows with he 48 men in attendance that are entitled to wear that ribbon with the thirteen stars on it. I personally would rather be in the company of these great men then the likes if Kid Rock,Kanye West, Shakira, or any of the other entertainment elites out there. These are men who were willing to give the ultimate sacrifice to save their fellow man.

Humblling Year

2008-12-25T11:01:00.002-05:00

As I sit here on Christmas Day reflecting on the past year, I realize how it has been a very humbling year. During the first half of the year it was a blur of planning and implementation of the Moving Walls visit to Ossipee. During the Walls presentation I had the humbling experience of meeting such great men as Dave Haskell, Frank McCarthy, Joe, Kenney and many more who served their country with dignity and pride. The Summer was kind of laid back, and relaxing with bursts of insanity. In October while at a job site I had a window shatter and sliced my wrist just missing the artery and tendons. Thanksgiving came and went with little fanfare, but in an ice storm on December 11th I lost control of my truck on a remote road in Moultonborough NH and rolled it over on its roof. The fire department had to extract me from the truck using the Jaws of life. I walked away from the accident yet in getting out of the Ambulance my knee buckled from under me and ended up being transported to Lakes Region Hospital in Laconia. When I called my wife form the back of the ambulance and told her I had totaled the truck she didn't believe me and told me to stop joking around.

The accident happened on a Thursday, and the following Monday I went out to a job site to visit one of my customers and while trying to protect my injured left knee I felt a shooting pain up the inside of my right knee, so spent Monday evening at Memorial Hospital in North Conway.The I was stuck at home with my legs elevated for the duration. I am the type of person who takes a lot of pride in my Christmas decorations, and I had to watch my neighbor set the tree up in my living room and my kids put the lights and garland on the tree. Because the knees hurt we didn't get to do any shopping together and to top that off the gift card I had earned at work did not come in in time for Christmas shopping so we had to punt, and on Tuesday the 23rd my wife did a whirlwind shopping trip to North Conway, and ended up doing most of the wrapping, while I sat in my recliner with my legs up living the life of leisure.

My prayer is that my wounds and aches heal so I can hit the ground running for 2009

The Reason For the Season

2008-12-25T10:47:00.003-05:00

We have a tendency during the Christmas Season to forget the true Reason For The Season. It has become such a hectic time of year running from one place to another. Christmas parties, shopping, wrapping presents, visiting friends. If we are lucky we might squeeze in one or two Advent Services, and if time permits we will try to get to the Christmas Eve Service at Church, but even that becomes a visistation of people we haven't seen in a long time.

The following story was sent by a new friend, and it sums up the Reason for the Season. God sent His only SON to us not to judge us but to redeem us from our sins, and essentially ourselves

~ A Baby's Hug ~

We were the only family with children in the restaurant.
I sat Erik in a high chair and noticed everyone was quietly
sitting and talking. Suddenly, Erik squealed with glee and
said, 'Hi.' He pounded his fat baby ha nds on the
high chair tray. His eyes were crinkled in laughter and his
mouth was bared in a toothless grin, as he wriggled and
giggled with merriment.

I looked around and saw the source of his merriment. It
was a man whose pants were baggy with a zipper at half-mast
and his toes poked out of would-be shoes. His shirt was
dirty and his hair was uncombed and unwashed. His whiskers
were too short to be called a beard and his nose was so
varicose it looked like a road map.

We were too far from him to smell, but I was sure he
smelled.. His hands waved and flapped on loose wrists.
'Hi there, baby; hi there, big boy. I see ya,
buster,' the man said to Erik.

My husband and I exchanged looks,
'What do we do?'

Erik continued to laugh and answer, 'Hi.'

Everyone in the restaurant noticed and looked at us and
then at the man. The old geezer was creating a nuisance with
my beautiful baby. Our meal came and the man began shouting
from across the room, 'Do ya patty cake? Do you know
peek-a-boo? Hey, look, he knows peek- a-boo.'

Nobody thought the old man was cute. He was obviously
drunk.

My husband and I were embarrassed. We ate in silence; all
except for Erik, who was running through his repertoire for
the admiring skid-row bum, who in turn, reciprocated with
his cute comments.

We finally got through the meal and headed for the door.
My husband went to pay the check and told me to meet him in
the parking lot. The old man sat poised between me and the
door. 'Lord, just let me out of here before he speaks to
me or Erik,' I prayed. As I drew closer to the man, I
turned my back trying to sidestep him and avoid any air he
might be breathing. As I did, Erik leaned over my arm,
reaching with both arms in a baby's 'pick-me-up'
position. Before I could stop him, Erik had propelled
himself from my arms to the man.

Suddenly a very old smelly man and a very young baby
consummated their love and kinship. Erik in an act of total
trust, love, and submission laid his tiny head upon the
man's ragged shoulder. The man's eyes closed, and I
saw tears hover beneath his lashes. His aged hands full of
grime, pain, and hard labor, cradled my baby's bottom
and stroked his back. No two beings have ever loved so
deeply for so short a time.

I stood awestruck. The old man rocked and cradled Erik in
his arms and his eyes opened and set squarely on mine. He
said in a firm commanding voice, 'You take care of this
baby.'

Somehow I managed, 'I will,' from a throat that
contained a stone.

He pried Erik from his chest, lovingly and longingly, as
though he were in pain. I received my baby, and the man
said, 'God bless you, ma'am, you've given me my
Christmas gift.'

I said nothing more than a muttered thanks. With Erik in my
arms, I ran for the car. My husband was wondering why I was
crying and holding Erik so tightly, and why I was saying,
'My God, my God, forgive me.'

I had just witnessed Christ's love shown through the
innocence of a tiny child who saw no sin, who made no
judgment; a child who saw a soul, and a mother who saw a
suit of clothes. I was a Christian who was blind, holding a
child who was not. I felt it was God asking, 'Are you
willing to share your son for a moment?' when He shared
His for all eternit y. How did God feel when he put his
baby in our arms 2000 years ago.

The ragged old man, unwittingly, had reminded me, 'To
enter the Kingdom of God , we must become as little
children.'

If this has blessed you, please bless others by sending it
on. Sometimes, it takes a child to remind us of what is
really important. We must always remember who we are, where
we came from and, most importantly, how we feel about
others. The clothes on your back or the car that you drive
or the house that you live in does not define you at all; it
is how you treat your fellow man that identifies who you
are.

This one is a keeper.

'It is better to be liked for the true you, than to be
loved for who people think you are......'

Are you listening

2008-11-29T12:53:00.002-05:00

Soren Kierkegaard once wrote " It is very dangerous to go into eternity with possibilities that one has oneself prevented from becoming realities. A possibility is a hint from God, one must follow it." Are you listening to the subtle hints God is giving you on a daily basis, or are you ignoring them because they seem to inconvenient or risky to undertake? God will make all things possible if it is His will to do so

We all travel on a daily basis down the road we call life. During these travels we hear little voices or feel little nudges in directions that we feel uncomfortable in going. We may feel uncomfortable in going there because it si something we have never done before, or it is outside of our comfort zone. We may resist the nudge because it is to risky, and how will I feed my family of it fails? I am slowly learning that we have to trust God on our daily journeys, and open our eyes, hearts, minds, and lives to the gentle nudges that are given to us on a daily basis. We all can be successful but it is not necessarily a monetary success, it could be a spiritual success as well. Mother Teresa was not a monetary susccess by any stretch of the imagination, but her life was a strong testament to the success of the spirit one can achieve.

Open your ears, your eyes, your hearts, and our minds to the possibilities that God is presenting to us on a daily basis, and the successes can be endless.

Oath

2008-11-15T14:32:00.010-05:00

I was reflecting over the last week, with the 11th being Veteran's Day, the Oath of Office I swore some 28 years ago.

I Paul H. Bartoswicz, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.

At the time I took that oath it was a very serious thing for me to do. I put a lot of thought into the oath before I swore it in front of the admiral, my pastor, and very close friend Polly. I had just finished a pretty intense training program over the past several months including military history, small arms qualifications, navigation, protocol, and the such. I was about to be commissioned an Ensign in the United States Navy. In the reflection I had taken upon myself regarding the oath of office I was about to I came to the following conclusions:

I Paul H. Bartoswicz, The one possession that I have that can never be taken away from me is my name, my background...the I Paul H. Bartoswicz, is the one thing that can never be taken from me. I may lose money, I may lose my health, I may lose my freedom, bu the fact is that I am who I will always be, and that can never be changed. My name may change, but me as a person will not. I am a culmination of the experiences of my past.

Do solemnly Swear. I had to make a solemn public affirmation in front of classmates, friends, and officers that I would do something. This affirmation is not to be taken lightly nor without deep soul searching of what it meant to me.

that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States. The Constitution of the United States, the one document above all others that sets the course of American life apart form that of any other country. Our founding fathers thought long and hard about what was to be set in stone so to speak as the founding document and guiding light for our great country. It is not a living document as some would try to make you believe, but a foundation for the country to be built, and the guiding light for our illumination through tumultuous times. It is the foundation upon which all other laws guiding our actions must be based, and the template for which the Supreme Court to rely upon for judging the admissibility of those laws. Before i swore this oath, I took the time to read and study the document I would be swearing to defend, and I came to the conclusion that these brave men in the infancy of our country were so wise beyond their years for the guidelines they set up. The electoral college to give all people of the country equal weight in electing the President, and not just leaving it to the heavily populated urban areas. The freedom of the press, the right to bear arms as well as the rest. It is a document and set of ideals well worth defending. I still pick up copies of the Constitution and read it today. It would be my wish that every graduating Senior form High School be given a copy of the Constitution along with their diploma as they set upon their future. We would all benefit from reading it and learning what our founding fathers meant when they set the pen to the parchment it was written upon. (The other document every senior should receive is the Declaration of Independence to give them insight as to what we were leaving behind when we set on the course of history we set upon). With the studying of this great document came the reading of some of the Federalist Papers to get a little better insight to what our founding fathers were trying to do. As a result of this intense research, I found that the Constitution was a document well worth supporting and defending, and that our states must remain United in a common cause.

all enemies, foreign and domestic, we have to remember there are people all around the world as well as within our own country that would love to tear down the structure and the very fabric of life we enjoy on a day to day basis. It was part of my oath that I would defend the country and our way of life from those people and ideologies, with in the confines of the procedures set upon me by the very document I was swearing to defend.

that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same. I interpreted this to mean that I would hold my faith and allegiance to this document the Constitution of the United States as the guiding light of the governance of this country. I had the most trouble with this part as a Christian Man of Faith, in that in Sunday School we were told to swear allegiance to no power but God's. It was only after talking to a chaplain that I was able to overcome tis obstacle to my searing the oath, In that we were not swearing an oath that made the Constitution a divine guidance, but a political guidance for the governance of the country, and that we could hold a faith and allegiance to God as our religious belief, but also a faith and allegiance to the Constitution as the guiding light of our countries political future.

that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion. I was not coerced, or in any other way forced to swear this oath of affirmation. I was able to do so with a clear conscience, and no wavering, or using as a method of evading any other responsibilities I may have had.

and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. This is an affirmation I try to do in all aspects of my life now as well as then, whether it be my job, my extracurricular interests, my marriage, or my family, I will faithfully execute the responsibilities expected of me in all aspects of my life. I will try to be a builder rather than one to tear down. I will try to be a supporter rather than one to be supported. I will try to be a positive influence, rather than a negative one.

So help me God. My divine guidance, my religious faith is not separate from my civic responsibilities. My life is an intertwining of my religion and my civic duties, and as an American Citizen it is my responsibility to balance the two aspects of my life and not let one over run the other. The very document I was swearing to uphold and defend, was the very document that guaranteed, not the freedom of religion as we hear so often touted, or the freedom from religion that others would have you believe, but the freedom that we would not be imposed with a state sanction religion as they are in so many other parts of the world. We are free to believe and worship as we see fit. The country was founded on Judeo-Christian principles, but the founding fathers were to weary of making the government the controlling factor in ones religion. So many had come to this country to get away from state mandated religions.

So the oath the I swore that day some 28 years ago was without reservation that I would not be able to uphold the office I was being commissioned into, and is pretty much the same oath the President swears every four years on January 20th. I think we should all reflect on what this oath means as we move forward to that date again this year

Election

2008-11-03T14:46:00.003-05:00

I have been uncharacteristically quiet over the last several weeks as this election heated up into the media frenzy it has become. I am an avid upholder of the Constitution and the intent of our forefathers when they penned that great document that has been the blueprint for our civilization for the last 200 plus years. We separated ourselves from the despotic rule that the English had held over the colonies, and in doing so penned one of the greatest documents guaranteeing personal freedoms that has ever been written.

John McCain was not my first choice of candidates for the Presidency of the Unites States, however he is the candidate that the Republican Party has chosen to be the candidate to represent them in the race for the Presidency and he is now my choice for President of the United States. In supporting my choice of Candidates I have been called a racist bigot, yet those that know me know that it is far from the truth. I believe all humans are born equal with the ability endowed upon them by God to become whatever they may decide to become. My lack of support for one Barack Obama has nothing to do with race, and more to do with his lack of coming clean with the American people. When I swore my oath in 1980 to support and defend the Constitution of the United States, and to follow the legal orders of the Officers appointed over me (which include the postion of the Commander in Chief, POTUS, President of the United States) I subjected myself to a background check that was very extensive and thorough. I had to meet certain criteria in order to hold the position I was being considered for. My life became an open book so to speak. Barack Obama is not willing to let the information out that I had to let be known in order to hold my security clearance, and the clearance Obama would hold is much higher than the clearance I had.

I recieved this information in my e-mail this morning and it really makes you think, what is Obama trying to hide...

A Guy named Joe, who happens to be a plumber with ambitions for a bigger business, questioned and challenged a Guy named Barack, who happens to be running for President of the US/Leader of the Free World. And within 24 hours The Media has given us more information about Joe's life than they've given us about Barack's life in the past 18 months!
Thanks to a diligent press corps, we now know about Joe's professional licensing status, his income tax situation, his employment history, his domestic squabbles, his voting record, everything associated with his personal identity; his education. It's probably been reported somewhere whether he wears boxers or briefs.

Thanks to a lazy press corps we still don't know
1) what grades Obama made in college
2) how he got into Harvard
3) when he met Bill "the bomber" Ayers
4) when he stopped doing illegal drugs
5) his medical history
6) whether he still smokes cigarettes
7) the extent of his affiliation with socialist/communist organizations
8) why he's no longer a licensed attorney
9) whether he lied on his Bar application
10) whether he'd qualify for a security clearance if he were just an "average joe"
11) what passport he used to travel to Pakistan in 1981
12) who his ex-girlfriends are
13) whether he was or still is an Indonesian citizen
14) why his Kenyan grandmother insists he was born there
15) whether he was ever legally named Barry Soetoro or anything else besides Barack Hussein Obama
16) why he needed the help of a crook to purchase his family home
17) where he was on Nov. 6 and 7, 1999
18) what the long-version of his birth certificate says
19) why he helped an anti-American, pro-Islamic candidate for Kenyan President against US interests
20) why he listened to Rev. Wright's sermons for 20 years
21) how many times he took his kids to a Rev. Wright sermon
22) what he actually did as chair of the Annenberg Challenge
23) the depth of his relationship with ACORN

Well, you get the idea.

But, really, I am SO relieved that the Mainstream Media has done its job vetting Joe The Plumber, who is NOT running for public office, but who had the AUDACITY to challenge Barack Obama, who wants my vote for President of the United States of America."

Think what you may of McCain and Palin but their lives are open books compared to Obama. When questioned about his being born in Panama, McCain produced his birth certificate, revealing that he was born to American parents. His father a Naval Officer, his mother and American Citizen, He was born under military jurisdiction thus make him an an American Citizen by birth..

The argument is being made that Srah Palin is not qualified to be Vice President of the United States, when she was a Governor and a Mayor. Obama was a senator for 140 days before deciding to run for President of the United States. He was an assemblyman and a community organizer before that. So I guess that autmatically qualifies him to be President of the United States.

In closing I urge every person to go out and vote. it is our Constitutionally right to be able to cast a vote for the President of the United States and every other elected office of this country. Whether you agree with me or not about my choice for President, exercise your right to vote for President.

I need Your Help

2008-09-27T16:26:00.003-04:00

My family has been on a terrific journey for the last 23 years. We are a family that steps up to the plate and helps people and groups when they need help. It is not uncommon for us to spend our vacations and free time helping out in some volunteer capacity. To me it can be much more rewarding and relaxing then just laying around on a beach somewhere. I have bitten in lately to several projects which are to say the least huge.

A minor project which is no less important than any of the others is where I need the help right now. In an effort to collect can tabs for the Shriners Hospital of Boston

One man's trash is another man's treasure, and in this case the little aluminum can tabs are collected at approximately 1300 tabs to a pound. The tabs are sorted and then sold for recycling value to help pay for the Shriners Hospital of Boston which provides free care to children up to 18 years of age.

My family is undertaking a collection drive for these tabs, and help raise money for this much needed project. I need 5 gallon buckets to help in the collection and storage of these tabs. I strongly encourage anyone to collect these tabs, and if you have clean 5 gallon containers that we can use at collection sites and for storage in my barn I would greatly appreciate hearing from you. Please e-mail me at bartoswicz@roadrunner.com

How much for minimum wage?

2008-09-06T08:08:00.003-04:00

I had an argument with someone yesterday about minimum wage. He was going on and on about how much easier it will be for working people now that the minimum wage has increased in New Hampshire to over $7.00 an hour. People will have so much more money in their pockets for the things they need he exclaimed.

This is a fallacy and I will try to show you here. Suppose I own a small business. I am buying raw material from another small business. It takes that business one hour to produce the material I need, being a small shoestring business they hire high school kids to produce the material and pay minimum wage for an entry level position. So two weeks ago the labor cost of that material was $6.50, now die to the increase of minimum wage it goes to $7.50 so an increase of $1.00 per unit. Now suppose he has uses a basic profit margin calculation to make his money on the product and he figures 10% for profit, so now his product has raised $1.10 in cost to me for my product.

My material cost just went up $1.10 overnight, and it takes an hour to produce my product, so I have to pay my entry level high school employee an extra dollar to produce my product, so now my cost of production has gone up $2.10 per unit. In order to stay in business I need a 10% margin to stay in business, so to cover my increase in material , and labor increase, I have to raise my price by 21 cents per unit on top of the $2.10 for a total of $2.31 increase in my product., and this does not even include the increased cost of employing people such as my share of employment costs, insurances, energy increases. But for the sake of simplicity I will just stay with my original supposition. Now my product goes out on the market at it's increased cost of $2.10, and the retailer adds their markup on the product a minimum of 25% so this brings the cost of the item up (I'll make it simple here) another 50 cents so know my product costs another $2.60. Now the person who makes minimum wage has to pay another $2.60 to buy my product, and guess what they are no further ahead then they were before the wage increased.

Now you have another unintended consequence. You have a person who has worked several years for a small business and his wage has increased $1.00 per hour over that time, now he is back to making minimum wage again, his employer is not obligated to giving him another raise so he is actually taking a step backwards, because in order to buy some products his dollar does not go as far. We could increase minimum wage to $20 an hour and we would still be in the same position, maybe even worse because a lot of small businesses would go out of business because they could not pass the added costs on and keep selling their products or services, so more of our jobs go overseas to countries where workers make pennies a day.

How Do You Respond?

2008-08-23T15:31:00.004-04:00

I am currently reading a book by Robert Schuller Tough Times never last but tough people do, Inspirational writings. in this book Dr Schuller poses a question, How do people repsond when you ask them how they are doing? He rates the answers on what he calls "Schuller' Scale of Spirit". Everyone's answer falls somewhere on this scale of 1 to 10, but it totally reflects their attitude on life and ultimatley how well they may succeed in life.

1. Silence, trembly lips, eyes filled with tears.
2. Profane Anger, a torrent of swear words
3. Awful, you would be too if you had the problems I face
4. Not to bad. ( this is barely just one step above awful)
5. Pretty Good (just a a step above not to bad)
6. Good
7. Great
8. Terrific
9. Fantastic
10. Sensational

While we may never get to many responses in the 1 to 3 range, even though I have heard 2 and 3 a few times. The same is said of responses in the 7 thourgh 10 range. I hear a lot of Not to Bad, and pretty good responses, even the good or fine range, but they do tend to be pretty negative comments about us. We have become a very negative society, we tend to look down on our lives, and not counting our blessings. We grow complacent about our abilities, and when things go wrong we feel helpless to change them or climb out of our complacency. Negativity is running rampant in society today, especially with the economic downturn we have experianced. Even now with signs of the country coming out of the slump we still tend to be negative and fatalistic. The dollar is growing stonger, prices seemed to have peaked and seem to be edging back down off the crest, but we moan and groan about what we don't have, instead of being thankful for what we do have.

Just as negative, we seem to part company by another seemingly innocuous statement such as Take care, or Take it easy. They seem on the surface a pretty neutral comment to be making, take care, don't do anything to rock the boat, don't venture to far from land. Discoveries weren't mande by taking care. Continents would still be undiscoverd if we all took care. Answers to medical problems would still be unanswered if we all just took care. The same goes for take it easy. Many things worth accomplishing would go undone if we all took it easy. The world would be a much different place if we all just took it easy. When the times get tough, tough people have to roll up thier sleeves and do things the hard way, not take it easy.

On the scale of life where do you fall, not to bad or sensational? Do you plan to take the bull by the horns, or stand around and just take it easy? And for those who care to ask I am sensational. I woke to a beautiful sky, I have a loving wife, and I have all the opportunity in the world, I just have to work at it and not take it easy, or for granted. I don't sit around waiting for opportunity to fall in my lap but I get out and try to make my own breaks.

Saturdays

2008-08-17T14:46:00.002-04:00

We tend to take time for granted and feel that things will always be the same and that those we love will always be there. A friend sent me this story. I had seen it before but forgotten all about it. It will put a lump in your throat.

"3900 Saturdays

The older I get, the more I enjoy Saturday mornings. Perhaps it's the quiet solitude that comes with being the first to rise, or maybe it's the unbounded joy of not having to be at work. Either way, the first few hours of a Saturday morning are most enjoyable.

A few weeks ago, I was shuffling toward the garage with a steaming cup of coffee in one hand and the morning paper in the other. What began as a typical Saturday morning turned into one of those lessons that life seems to hand you from time to time.

Let me tell you about it.

I turned the dial up into the phone portion of the band on my ham radio in order to listen to a Saturday morning swap net. Along the way, I came across an older sounding chap, with a tremendous signal and a golden voice. You know the kind; he sounded like he should be in the broadcasting business He was telling whomever he was talking with something about 'a thousand marbles.' I was intrigued and stopped to listen to what he had to say.

'Well, Tom, it sure sounds like you're busy with your job. I'm sure they pay you well but it's a shame you have to be away from home and your family so much. Hard to believe a young fellow should have to work sixty or seventy hours a week to make ends meet. It's too bad you missed your daughter's dance recital' he continued. 'Let me tell you something that has helped me keep my own priorities.' And that's when he began to explain his theory of a 'thousand marbles.'

'You see, I sat down one day and did a little arithmetic. The average person lives about seventy-five years. I know, some live more and some live less, but on average, folks live about seventy-five years.'

'Now then, I multiplied 75 times 52 and I came up with 3900, which is the number of Saturdays that the average person has in their entire lifetime. Now, stick with me, Tom, I'm getting to the important part. It took me until I was fifty-five years old to think about all this in any detail', he went on, 'and by that time I had lived through over twenty-eight hundred Saturdays. I got to thinking that if I lived to be seventy-five, I only had about a thousand of them left to enjoy. So I went to a toy store and bought every single marble they had. I ended up having to visit three toy stores to round up 1000 marbles. I took them home and put them inside a large, clear plastic container right here in the shack next to my gear.'

'Every Saturday since then, I have taken one marble out and thrown it away. I found that by watching the marbles diminish, I focused more on the really important things in life.'

'There is nothing like watching your time here on this earth run out to help get your priorities straight.'

'Now let me tell you one last thing before I sign-off with you and take my lovely wife out for breakfast. This morning, I took the very last marble out of the container. I figure that if I make it until next Saturday then I have been given a little extra time. And the one thing we can all use is a little more time.'

'It was nice to meet you Tom, I hope you spend more time with your family, and I hope to meet you again here on the band. This is a 75 Year old Man, K9NZQ, clear and going QRT, good morning!'

You could have heard a pin drop on the band when this fellow signed off. I guess he gave us all a lot to think about. I had planned to work on the antenna that morning, and then I was going to meet up with a few hams to work on the next club newsletter.

Instead, I went upstairs and woke my wife up with a kiss. 'C'mon honey, I'm taking you and the kids to breakfast.' 'What brought this on' she asked with a smile.' 'Oh, nothing special, it's just been a long time since we spent a Saturday together with the kids. And hey, can we stop at a toy store while we're out? I need to buy some marbles.'

A friend sent this to me, so I to you, my friend.

And so, as one smart bear once said...'If you live to be a hundred, I want to live to be a hundred minus one day, so I never have to live without you.' - Winnie the Pooh."

I hope you go out and buy your marbles. Let us get a real perspective of what is most important in our lives

Be careful what you ask for

2008-08-14T20:21:00.002-04:00

Many people do not believe in God, or they don't believe that God answers prayers. I was out picking blueberries this evening, as has been my nightly and weekend project since late June. I was down in the field in the midst of a patch of low bush blueberries that were hanging like grapes. The mosquitoes were like a black cloud around me, and all you could hear was the constant buzzing. It sounded like the world war II movies when they show the planes all over the sky, and that incessant drone. I looked up to the sky and there were rain clouds off in the distance, and I said, "God, I know these mosquitoes are some of our creation, but can you do something to control them while I pick my berries. Just then the sky opened up and the rain poured down on top of me. I considered coming down out of the field but I decided I was already soaked and by the time I got to the house I would be soaked through as I was way up at the top of the field, so I just kept on picking, and picking, and picking. When the container I was putting the berries in was full I stood up and the rain suddenly stopped, and a rainbow came out ending right on my property. I am amazed about how many blueberries are out there this year, it is like a carpet of blue out there.

This does bring up a pet peeve of mine. I have all these berries and I am picking like crazy, but I will never harvest them all or even come close, I offersd a local food pantry to let their customers come over an pick berries for themselves, and was politely told they couldn't do that, they can't require their customers to do any work like that, but if I wanted to pick them and bring them over they would gladly give them out to the people who came in for food.

Lives

2008-08-10T10:50:00.002-04:00

Publius Syrus once wrote, "We should not live one life in private, and one life in public."

Those who know me well know I love to collect quotes, as a matter of fact I have filled two journals with quotes I have collected and am currently working on my third. This is one quote that seemed very very appropriate just after I found it. It was shortly after I wrote it in my journal that we got news of the John Edwards affair. This was definitely a case of a person living two separate lives, his public personae of a man who adored and supported his wife's battle with cancer. A loving man who was there for her ignoring his personal needs (but not his public ones in running for President) to help her with her battle. Then there was the personal life where he sought and acted on the relationship with another woman during this time. he stated that he grew into the assumption that due to his successes he could do whatever he wanted without any reprisal or ramifications, he had become a legend in his own mind.

We must live transparent lives willing to let what we do in our private lives be as upright as that which we let be seen in our public lives. If anything we should be more upright in our private lives as our giving spirit should be a private matter. God knows our hearts and He knows our intentions. If we do what we do for public acclaim it may be for the wrong reason.

March Out

2008-07-27T17:26:00.002-04:00

I meet the most amazing young man yesterday at the annual family concert at Camp Sentinel in Tuftonboro New Hampshire. He went to college to play baseball, and after an injury changed his life around he now plays guitar, writes music, and sings for a group called Fort Pastor. A group who challenges all their fans to join a group called Social Justice Army. The challenge is to donate an hour per month to a worth while cause such as Habitat for Humanity, Food Pantries, Soup Kitchens, and spend some time helping your fellow man. I am actually thinking of joining as it would end up giving me some extra time each month if I only donated an hour a month instead of all the volunteer time I do give each year. The young man's name is Brant Christopher, and if you ever have a chance to hear him and his message, or that of Fort Pastor, I strongly advise you to go and see him. The following video and song really has meaning to me.

FORT PASTOR MUSIC VIDEO

Heroes

2008-07-27T16:51:00.002-04:00

It seems a lot of times when I am working on a piece to post, I go to church on Sunday and the Pastor talks on a subject very close to the subject I am working on. It happened again today. I was working on a piece listing heroes in my life, and when I got to church this morning Gordon McDonald was preaching on a hero of his. He started the sermon with the fact that when he is getting to know someone one of the questions he invariably asks is "Who are your heroes?" He says he can get a lot of insight out of how a person answers this, and I agree with him. I have been amazed for years by several people who have become heroes in my life, some more recently than others. I would like to take the opportunity to list them today.

Jesus Christ for some obvious reasons. When I state someone is my hero I am saying I would like to be like that person, or there is something in that persons life that I deeply admire and would like to emulate. well in the case of Jesus, I strive to be more Christ like in my life. I strive to treat people fairly and the same regardless of their station in life. I strive to be happy with what God has bestowed upon me. I try not to be bitter when bad things happen to me. I strive, but because I am an imperfect person I know I can not ever gain that lofty goal, but I know that God loves me anyway.

The second hero in my life is the Apostle Paul. He makes the list because when confronted by the reality of God, he did not take the easy way out. He left his life of privilege and became an outcast to most of mainstream society of his time. He strove to do what was right and just. He supported his fellow Christians and helped them grow in their walk with God.

Third on my list is Ronald Reagan, again because he strove to do what was right even when unpopular. He brought some pride back to both the country and the military, both of which had been devastated after a long protracted war in Vietnam. When I joined the Navy in the early 80's it was still a negative connotation to be in the service, but when I got out the attitude had come about 180 degrees. He helped the country back on a path of prosperity and growth. he lived by his convictions.

Fourth on my list is more a group of people than a single individual, it is the likes of Milton Olive III, Jack Lucas, and every other person to ever receive the bauble we call the Congressional Medal of Honor. These are men who gave their all to save the lives of their fellow soldiers, sailors, marines or airmen. They gave no thought to their own safety, and I can never help but wonder if I were in the same position coul I bring myself to do what they did, for no man has a greater gift to give than his own life.

Fifth on my list would be William Bartosiewitz my paternal grandfather ( name has changed several times) I never really got to know the man except through stories my father and grandmother had told me, but he was a self made man who worked hard to get where he did in life. The stories about him have inspired me in work, and my personal life. Those stories taught me the importance of voting, and hard work.

And after today's sermon I have added a sixth to my list in the person of Barnabas as told about in the Book of Acts. He personified courage and was an encourager, he worked hard at being generous to a fault, and encouraging people on their walk with Christ. I try to be the uplifting person who helps people to see the bright side instead of dragging them down all the time. I try to be generous to a fault. As Gordon talked you realize that there is two prefixes that you can add to courage with two totally different results, En/courager, the person everyone is glad to see, and the DIS/courager, the person every one is glad to see....leave. The encourager builds up and supports, while the discourager tears down and demoralizes.

Those are the heroes in my life, the people I strive to be more like....Who are yours? Feel free to write me and let me know.

Responsibility

2008-07-26T09:18:00.002-04:00

I was not going to comment on this but over the last couple of weeks I have been stewing about a lady form Rhode Island whose family rented some canoes in Conway. They wanted to spend a quiet day on the Saco River. I know that when you rent a canoe from any of the reputable outfitters they give you a briefing on the hazards of the river, and you have to sign a waiver, waiving any rights to go after the outfitter if something happens on the river. Now while the Saco river is not a white water river by any stretch of the imagination, there are areas where the river does get a little fast and rocky. Now if I had to sign a waiver to rent a canoe or raft, I would consider that the activity was at least moderately dangerous. This lady had an incident on the river and her son almost fell into the river, and could have possibly drowned. They lady started a letter writing campaign to the local papers as well as politicians that she thought the state or local government should post signs warning that tirps down the river should be considered hazardous. Right about this same time another lady from out of state drowned while she was going out in the lake over her head holding onto the beach markers, it turned out she could not swim. Water is a hazardous medium. Just like the mountains are dangerous. We always seem to have the perennial hiker who goes out on the trails in late fall, and get caught in a snow storm, or slips on rocks and gets hurt. Outdoor life can be dangerous, get over it. If you want to enjoy the mountains and rivers of New Hampshire there are inherent dangers in it and you have to realize the risks.

We had a tornado, or micro burst go through the area on Thursday, and several homes got damaged. One of the houses featured on the news was under construction and the people interviewed stated they did not have insurance on the structure because they did not realize that they needed it on construction without a mortgage. Now they are wondering what they are going to do about their house. I went up to Walmart and heard some people talking about the storm and the poor people who didn't have any insurance, and that the state should pay to rebuild their house. I own a home and I take the responsibility to make sure their is insurance on the house. Yes I feel bad for the people that their house was damaged, but face it they volunteered not to take any insurance out on the house in order to use the money elsewhere. I think we as a people are becoming to dependent on the government to tell us what is safe and what isn't. We need warning labels to tell us what products we shouldn't use. I feel if we really want the government to warn us about all the dangers in life then we should make an edict that all babies born get a tattoo on their forehead just after birth reading "Warning the Surgeon General has determined that being born is the leading cause of death in the United States."

Come on folks get real. The government is not and should not be our baby sitters. We are capable of thinking for ourselves, or at least some of us are. we can make judgments when an activity is going to be dangerous, and then make the decision if we are going to participate in them. An excerpt form my daughter Grace's letter home from camp where they just installed an extreme swing as part of the program. She wrote to us "I went on the swing, all the way to the top, I was so scared I almost peed my pants" now she has made a determination that the activity might not be the activity for her. We all have that ability, to realize when something may not be right for us, we do not need a baby sitter to tell us that we shouldn't do something, or that it may be dangerous with inherent risks. Life itself is dangerous, and we take risks every day we breath.

Offended

2008-07-19T17:33:00.003-04:00

I am offended by this picture of Christine Agullera holding her baby wrapped in an American Flag. The American Flag is not an article of clothing, nor is it a blanket in which to wrap a baby. The American Flag is supposed to fly free and wave in the breeze.
My other pet peeve are people who put a flag up in their yard then just leave it their until it it is all tattered an torn and then continue to leave it there. Please folks when the flag is worn you take it down fold it respectfully and take to an American Legion or VFW post and they will dispose of the flags in the prescribed manner in a respectful way. The only time the flag should be a cover is the casket of a President or a Veteran , or military personnel killed during their time of service.

The flag is to be revered and honored. The colors are not to be treated disrespectfully, nor is it to touch the ground. It is to fly high and free unfettered, and to be shown the respect that would be shown to all who served in the uniform of this great country in order to protect the flag.

Joy

2008-07-17T21:29:00.002-04:00

My daughter Khrys brought home the movie, The Bucket List with Morgan Freeman, and Jack Nicholson. If you haven't seen it I strongly recommend you do. It is about two men who have cancer, and not long to live, live out the things they want to do before they kick the bucket. They come from two totally different walks of life, but reach across that chasm with the common bond of their deadly disease. One scene in the movie Carter (Morgan Freeman) and Eddie (Jack Nicholson) are sitting on a pyramid and Carter talks about the Egyptian views on the afterlife. He stated that when an Egyptian died and they walked up to the gates of the afterlife and they are asked two questions. How they answer those two questions determines how they spend their afterlife. Eddie asks what the two questions are, and Carter responds, "Have you ever had joy in your life?" and secondly, "Have you ever brought joy to someone else's life". I spent the day today thinking about those two questions and how I would answer them. The first question, "Have you ever had joy in your life?" Most definitely,yes, I have, many times. When I saw my wife walk down the aisle of the church on October 5th 1995, dressed up in her lovely wedding gown. Again when I saw the doctor hold up each of my three children for the first time. I felt true joy when I saw my oldest walk across the stage getting her diploma from High School. I felt tremendous joy the day we picked her up from the hospital after her cardiac scare when she was only three months old. I felt tremendous joy when I saw Khrys in her prom gown. Again on the day each of my children took their first steps. I see true joy each and every day as I look up at the White Mountains that have become my home. I find joy in the cold crisp winter day as I snowshoe through my field and into the woods, I find joy in sitting quietly filling my blueberry bucket. I find joy in sitting at my desk putting words down on paper. I find joy in watching my wonderful daylillies bloom. I find joy in many of the small things in life that others may find mundane. The second question, "have you ever brought joy to another person?" I find this much harder to answer. I would like to think I brought Joy to my wife as she saw me standing at the front of the church in my full dress uniform. I would like to think I brought joy into her life when I asked her to marry me. I would like to think that the anonymous gifts I have bought for kids at Christmas have brought joy into their lives. I hope some of the people who read my writing finds joy in my writing. I really do hope I have brought joy into people's lives.

Family or Lack Thereof

2008-07-15T20:40:00.002-04:00

I was out in the field picking blueberries this evening, when my wife cam out frantically calling for me. Now you have to realize picking blueberries at this time of year is like my snowshoeing in the winter. It is a time for me to be alone with nature and to talk to God as I pick the bountiful gifts He has given us here on the Gale Farm. Regal (my black lab cross) was running around in the field like a possessed dog, gobbling down mouthfuls of the luscious blue fruit that is hanging off the bushes like bunches of grapes. I made my way through the tall grass that is in need of mowing, out to the road up through the field. Janet had a piece of paper waving it over her head. Citi-Bank bank had called asking to speak to Judy Bartoswicz, well there is no Judy living in our house, however my sisters name is Judy, but we have not seen her in over 20 years, since my fathers death. I had tried to stay in contact with my family but they all for some reason or another would not return the favor. To the point that I just celebrated my 50th birthday, and never heard form a single member of my side of the family. My children have basically grown up without ever really getting to know their aunts and uncle form my side of the family, nor my mother and her second husband. What it had amounted to was Judy has used my name and phone number in order to get a loan for a car, (which the monthly payment is more than the mortgage on my house). She is late on the loan so the bank had called my house in order to demand payment. The sad thing is even though I am struggling to make do in my life, and struggling with the downturn in the building industry, if she had even made an effort to stay in contact with me I would have helped her and maybe even made the car payment for her. I told my wife if she ever gets a hold of Judy to ask her three things about me, my birthday, my age, and what disease I have that I will probably die of (I am not fatalistic, but I just face reality), and I know she would not be able to answer anyone of the questions unless of course she stumbles onto my blog she could get a couple of the answers. I just hate to divorce myself from a member of my family but their comes a time when for mental health and stability you really have to

Responsibility

2008-07-12T12:29:00.002-04:00

I wasn't going to do a post on this occurrence, but the more I thought about it, the more I decided I had to. Before I get in to the meat of the post I ma going to tell you a little story. Saturday July 5th started a most Saturday's do in my house. My wife got up early and did her puttering around the house before she left for her job delivering the mail in town on Saturdays. I was up with her, and at 7 I woke Khrys up so she could get ready to leave for her babysitting job. She babysat all day arriving home about 5:15 grabbed a quick dinner, and changed clothes before heading out for her evening job busing tables at Whittier House Restaurant. Janet and spent the evening home watching television and I went up to bed around 10:30 (yes a late night for me, just after Khrys called saying she was out of work and on her way home, something she always does so her mother and I will not worry about her. About 10:45 she called her mom and said a friend had called her and asked if she could take her friend up to the store to get a movie because she was bored, and then Khrys said she would be home right after that. About 11:20 the phone rings again, it is Khrys informing us she had been pulled over and one of the people in in the car had put some beer in the trunk , and she was being charged with transporting alcohol as a minor. Janet got me up and we drove to West Ossipee, where we found her car by the side of the road, and two police cars behind her, and the K-9 unit sniffing the car. The police officer told us what happened and we told him we did not agree that she knew what was going on and he explained what he thought she did, which sounded reasonable if you did not know the way we had brought our daughters up. He had said there were a couple of cars in the store parking lot and she elected to park away from the door on the other side of the cars that were at the store...Well we have taught our children to be respectful and if you are able and there is a parking spot in front of the door and one away from the door to take the one away from the door to allow those less able to park nearer the door. however when the other cars left she moved over closer to the door, which the officer said set off another red light in his head. So when she pulled out of the parking lot they tailed her and pulled her over and asked if they could search the car. Not knowing she had done anything wrong she let them and they found the beer the "boy" had put in the trunk, and cited her, they also brought in the K-9 unit to sniff the car which he found clean. I do not fault the police officer as he was just doing his job. The car was impounded and she was released into our custody. it cost her 160.00 hard earned dollars to get her car back the next day. I explained to her it was her fault as she was the operator of the car and ignorance of the law is no defense, and she understood. I did not yell and scream at her as she half expected me to I just gave her a hug and drove her home. I also explained that if the shoe was on the other foot and she got a friend to giver a ride and knowingly put beer in a car driven by a minor not only would she be in trouble for the beer but as a father I would expect her to pay her share of the impound/towing fees as she was just as guilty, or even more so than the driver. SO she told her "friend" how much the fee was and surprisingly has not heard back from her. The "boy" turned out to be 27 years old, and I still use the term boy, because there are MEN out there at 17 showing a lot more maturity than this boy does. At 17 we have MEN making conscious decisions about joining the military and going to war to defend this country. This 27 year old boy has 5 children probably by 5 different girls, though I do not know that as a fact, but I have been told he does not take full financial responsibility for the kids. His idea of a good time is spending and evening with an 18 year old girl and getting a 16 year old girl to drive him to the store to get more beer, so he can get a buzz on and maybe make a 6th baby, after all he must be super stud. the ironic thing is this 27 year old boy lives across the street from a store and can not plan his day enough to get his beer there, which he can buy legally, before the store closes at 8 o'clock. this 27 year old boy stood beside the police car and assured us he was extremely sorry that he got our daughter in trouble with the police, but never offered to help with the cost of the towing or impound fees on the car. Now Khrys has a court date of August 13th where she has to appear before the judge, and admit she was guilty of a crime that she was unaware of and hope he doesn't take her license away from her as that would exclude her from being able to drive her senior year of high school and work after school to help make money to pay for her college education. This is a good kid with a big heart who takes people at face value and trusts them until they giver a reason not to trust her, and now Meagan has lost that trust, and this 27 year old boy is brought out for the scum he really is.

Service

2008-07-04T15:31:00.002-04:00

I was at part of the towns Fourth Celebration this morning at the parade, and someone asked me why I had joined the service when I did. I went in after Vietnam when people still treated servicemen badly. I didn't even have to think about it. I pointed to a flag that was waving proudly in the breeze, and said that is why. I was born in country where you can be anything you put your mind to.There are no guarantees, but if you work hard and apply yourself and have a solid plan behind you you can achieve just about anything. There are those who say the American Dream is dead,that there is nothing you can do about it.I say that is bull crap and you can still achieve if you desire to. We live in a country where regardless of the station of your birth you can become active in the political function of the country. Regardless of your status at birth you can become a business leader. College dropouts can become one of the richest men not only in the country but the world.

This is why I joined the military and served my time. I believe it is the duty of each of us to put something back into this country without thought of personal gain. For me it service time in the Navy, for others it may be the Peace Corps, or Teach America. In Israel every person has to serve in the military for a certain amount of time. I do realize that some people are not cut out for the military, but there is some level of service they can give back. I carry this philosophy forward with me to this day, I try to give back to the community I live in by making a better, more enjoyable place to live in. I don't do it for personal gain, I don't do it to get my face plastered all over the paper because of all the great things I do. I do it because it is the right thing to do, and I do it because it helps the people of my community. I do it to see the smiles on the faces of people who benefit because I do it. Personally I get frustrated by the people who ask, "What's in it for me to do this?"

When I can I love to anonymously leave a Thanksgiving Basket for someone who is having a tough time of it. I also love to buy presents for Christmas for people who might otherwise have anything. Having been on the receiving side of the coin at Christmas one year I can tell you personally how it feels to have some one think of you in a time of need like that. Some years like this year I am struggling to put food on the table to feed my own family, so I can't do as I would like, but other years I can be very generous, and I love to be. People seem to look for my ulterior motive when I do things like that, but believe me there is none, my only reward is because I know it is the right thing to do, and to to see the smile on the face of someone who benefits. My wish is to have foundation that can just help families in need, and not have to worry so much about my own needs all the time, and God willing it will come, but in the mean time to see the smile on a little boys face when he finds the quarters that just happened to fall out of my pocket on the way into the store, when I know his dad is having a hard time of it, and the little boy would like a candy bar every now and then. That says it all. I served my country proudly in uniform, and would do it again in a heartbeat if I had to, but I also enjoy serving my community and fellow man when I have the ability and the chance.

Common Sense

2008-07-01T16:43:00.004-04:00

"Real intelligence is a creative use of knowledge, not merely an accumulation of facts. The slow thinker who can finally come up with an idea of his own is more important to the world than a walking encyclopedia who hasn't learned to use information properly"
D. Kenneth Winebrenner

In the height of the petroleum problem in this country I read recently that the lawmakers in Maine raised the gas tax by 8/10 of one cent. The general consensus was that they didn't even raise the tax a penny so who was going to notice. well first of all how is the dealer going to collect 8/10 of a cent and not hurt their already slim margin on gas so they are almost definitely going to raise the price a penny. Is this the way to help build consumer confidence? Yes people may be driving less so revenues are not going to be there, so is adding taxes to what has become a basic necessity in this country, especially in rural areas the right answer? My other pet peeve is when politicians say they will not raise taxes on working people, they are just going to tax corporations more. This would be fine on paper, but the reality is companies do not pay taxes, people do, and if you raise the tax rate for a company, in order to maintain their profit margin, and keep their investors happy, guess what!!!!! They increase the price of their product to cover the increased taxes, hence the tax increase falls again on the back of the consumer without them really being aware that they are being taxed more.

I am a firm believer that we should do away with payroll withholding taxes, and people should have to pay a quarterly estimated income tax just like the self employed and they would be more aware of what they are paying in taxes. I was talking to a young man right out of college one day the beginning of April and he was all excited because the Government had just given him several hundred dollars. It turned out to be his tax refund, he was not aware that he had paid this money to the government and he was just getting back what was over withheld from his paycheck every week. We need more common sense in this country and especially in our politicians who are "looking out for our interests"

Now that I am Old

2008-06-28T19:50:00.002-04:00

Well I finally reached that milestone. I turned fifty, however I was told not to look at as being fifty, I was told to look at it as being the 29th anniversary of my 21st birthday. Turning 40 didn't bother me but something about that 50th birthday. You are a full half century old, qualify for AARP, and other "senor programs" The one thing though that did make me feel old was my two oldest daughters took Janet and I out for dinner tonight and they paid for it. I think that is the biggest turning point in a fathers life when he realizes that his kids are becoming more and more self independent. Their reliance on me is not like it used to be. Sure they still come to dad for money at times, but they are able to do for themselves more and more. I t kind of makes me feel obsolete and not needed anymore, but also proud that they are able to do for themselves.

Fair Treatment from Fair Point

2008-06-25T19:39:00.002-04:00

In the idyllic town of Tamworth New Hampshire, nestled at the base of the White Mountains just north east of Lake Winnepesaukee a group of dedicated veterans and other volunteers resurrected a veteran's memorial updating the names and adding markers. In this same community FairPoint Communications worked hard to take over the communications service from Verizon, as it did for all of Norther New England, and many of these veterans supported the buyout. One of the publicity ads supporting the buyout by FairPoint was how they wanted to be part of the community and work with the communities they are in.

Now a little bit of history and I do hope I get this entirely correct, but this band of volunteers who updated the memorial approached Verizon who at that time owned the pole seen in the picture that detracts form the solemnness of the hallowed memorial. Verizon told this group they would relocate the pole for $30,000. No FairPoint comes on the scene and when this intrepid group approaches FairPoint the price jumps to $42,000 but magnanimously offers to defray $12,200 of this cost from their "Community and Economic Development Fund" bringing the price to $29,800 a savings of a whole $200 over the cost that Verizon quoted originally. Jeffery Allen Executive Vice President for External Relations of FairPoint also suggested that the committee contact the Power Company and the Cable Company to get their donations for the movement of this pole. If FairPoint was truly interested in the community they would work with their tenants on the poles and find a suitable and expedient solution to this distasteful problem. With the amount of money people pay the phone companies for their service, and the state of the competition of the cable companies are giving the phone companies for internet and communications, you would think that FairPoint would be eager to generate the goodwill that moving these poles would bring.

Please let FairPoint know what you think of this atrocity in the middle of the Tamworth Veterans Memorial

ANOTHER REFLECTION

2008-06-24T07:50:00.002-04:00

If many of you haven't guessed by now the visit of The Moving Wall to Ossipee was a very touching event for me. I worked hard on the event, and learned a great deal. We had a get together last Sunday at the organizers house, a way for them to say thank you for all the volunteers. We had a great time, and were able to look at the scrapbooks put together during the event, as well as seeing some of the pictures that were taken. It brought a tear back to my eye as I relived again the experiences of Memorial Day Weekend. I borrowed the guest books to read peoples comments over the last couple of days, and was deeply moved by all the great comments.

As a writer I dream of putting that combination of words down on paper that will stir all sorts of images in ones head when they read it, and there were several lines like that in the guest books, of sons lost or friends never to come home again. The one entry in the guest book that really leaped out at me is the following, I will not list the full name of the author but what she had to write was very haunting and powerful to me....

"God Bless You All! Robert, I'm so sorry for giving you that one last kiss, Kathy."
When I read this I had to stop cold in my tracks, a tear streamed down my cheek, and a lump formed in my throat. It conjured up all sorts of images of what might have happened. This powerful statement has now become a life's definition for me. Never leave someone without letting them know how you feel. In the lottery of life, you never know what may happen, and that last moment can never be recaptured. You may never have the chance again to tell that special person how you really feel, life is to short to waste any moment playing games or being angry. Part of me would like to write to Kathy and find out the story of this very poignant entry in the guest book, and part of me says to let the entry speak for itself, and bring out the images it does. Whatever I do, that one entry in a guest book at the Moving Wall in a small town in rural New Hampshire has had a life changing force in my life....

"Robert, I am so sorry for not giving you that one last kiss...." Don't let this happen to you

Government

2008-06-21T12:24:00.002-04:00

"Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely" -Lord Acton-

This was an observation made in the late 19th or early 20th century about people who have risen to power. I was reflecting on this quote this morning as I was mowing the back yard. It is very obvious in our form of government today. I was thinking about the founding fathers and some of my research on the Federalist papers. The framers of our Constitution had it right when they wrote that great document. I used to think it should be considered a living document meant to be interpreted in reference to the times it found itself, but the more mature I become, the more I realize that as the foundation to our country, it is in fact not a living document, but a static one. It is a document that must be static in order for the base of our country to be stable. You can not build a foundation for a house on live sand that is constantly shifting and moving, you have to put it on a stable compact base. The same is true for our country, and the solid unmovable base that the country is built on is the Constitution written by our forefathers. Further research shows that these great men, with a vision greater than the average man,intended us to have two houses of the legislative body. The lower house being the House of Representatives, similar to the House of Commons in Britain. The intent of this house was to be a body of common men who go to Washington to serve our Country as a legislative body and then to go back to their civilian jobs and their regular way of life. The second body was to be the Senate similar to the house of Lords in Britain where the upper class resided and worked their end of the legislation process. Unfortunately the House of Representatives has become a full time job to be re-elected to in perpetuity. The lines have become blurred and the the power that is inherent in the position has corrupted many individuals. Common sense has been thrown out the window, and the lust for money and power has become the norm. Lobbyist grease palms on a daily basis. While their is nothing wrong with lobbying to get your point across to the politicians, what is wrong is the amount of money that changes hands for political favors on a daily basis. It amounts to legal bribery as the money for the most part does not go directly into the politicians pocket, but for all intents and purposes it may as well.

I call for a return to the original intent of the government, and we do away with lifelong seats in the house. Elect business men who want to share their experience, but then return to their regular jobs when they are done, and don't give the power a chance to corrupt as it has a strong tendency to do

Fathers Day

2008-06-15T13:38:00.004-04:00

I jokingly tell everyone that my gift to my wife on Mothers Day is that I take the kids for a day and give her some time off. Her gift to me on Fathers Day is I get to spend the day alone with the kids, who wins here.

The truth of the matter is for the most part I enjoy the time with the kids, and now that two of them are older the time I do get to spend with them is very precious indeed. The oldest Anya (21) is away working at camp. The middle one Khrys (16) is way to cool to spend much time with dad and or admit that she likes to spend any time with the old man. The youngest grace (10) is still at that age where time with Dad is fun, but at times she gets into that zone where no Dad you go do it, I want to do something else. For fathers day they "took" me ( I still ended up paying go figure) out to brunch at Whittier House where we had made to order Omelets and just about every other breakfast item you can imagine. I was given my cards and included in the cards was a $20 gift certificate for the local nursery, on top of a $20 gift card I had from Khrys at Christmas. Janet, Grace, and I paid a visit to the Greenery and I picked out five new varieties of Day Lillies. I purchased Apricot Sparkle, Barbara Mitchell,, Rose Emily, Prairie Wildfire, and Joan Senor. This brings my total collection of day lillies to 40. If you haven't guessed, I have a passion for day lillies, and hope to grow my collection to over one thousand before I die (so if anyone wants to make an addition to my collection any donations are accepted). It is a dream of mine to start to raise these commercially, along with Iris, and Peony's. After getting home from the nursery I changed clothes and Grace and I worked in the garden and planted my new treasures. I do enjoy spending time with the girls and it is a pleasure to watch them as they work in the garden. I had just finished weeding out this particular garden and spreading bark mulch on it, so it looks really nice with the new plants in it. I can't wait to see them in bloom, and each time they bloom I will remember the time I spent with Grace planting them, as each time the Hemerocallis Fulva blooms I remember the time with Anya as we dug up the entire patch separated them, replanted some and gave a bunch of them away. With Khrys it is every time I look at my flagpole and remember her helping me put it in, and the blueberry bushes out in the back yard. I remember the gift cards and for the most part I can tell you each year what I bought with those cards. You see my daughters I do love you all and remember the time we get to spend together because in a lifetime it is all to fleeting, and my wish for each of my daughters is that they have a garden of love where they can plant memories, and build off the ones I had already planted, because my gardens are more than just the plants in the ground, it is where I also plant the love of my family and my memories. Little do they know but each and every plant I have planted takes on a new meaning and a new memory for me to hold on to and cherish

PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE

2008-06-10T21:36:00.002-04:00

We seem to take this for granted and forget what it really means

Please take the time to read these words. I tried to post the audio but it didn't work.

The following words were spoken by the late Red Skelton on his television program as he related the story of his teacher, Mr. Laswell, who felt his students had come to think of the Pledge of Allegiance as merely something to recite in class each day.

Now, more than ever, listen to the meaning of these words.

"I've been listening to you boys and girls recite the Pledge of Allegiance all semester

and it seems as though it is becoming monotonous to you.

If I may, may I recite it and try to explain to you the meaning of each word?"

I

me, an individual, a committee of one.

Pledge

dedicate all of my worldly goods to give without self pity.

Allegiance

my love and my devotion.

To the flag

our standard, Old Glory, a symbol of freedom. Wherever

she waves, there's respect because your loyalty has given

her a dignity that shouts freedom is everybody's job!

United

that means that we have all come together.

States

individual communities that have united into 48 great states.

Forty-eight individual communities with pride and dignity and

purpose; all divided with imaginary boundaries, yet united to

a common purpose, and that's love for country.

And to the republic

a state in which sovereign power is

invested in representatives chosen by the

people to govern. And government is the people

and it's from the people to the leaders, not from

the leaders to the people.

For which it stands, one nation

one nation, meaning "so

blessed by God"

Indivisible

incapable of being divided.

With liberty

which is freedom -- the right of power to live one's

own life without threats, fear or some sort of

retaliation.

And Justice

the principle or quality of dealing fairly with others.

For all

which means, boys and girls, it's as much your

country as it is mine.

***~~**~~***

Since I was a small boy, two states have been added to our country

and two words have been added to the pledge of Allegiance...

UNDER GOD

Wouldn't it be a pity if someone said

that is a prayer

and that would be eliminated from schools too?

A Lifetime

2008-06-07T13:15:00.002-04:00

I was reflecting today as I am going to a 100th birthday party for a friend of the family. Can you imagine 100 years walking this earth. I am only 1/2 way there and I find it hard to imagine. The changes he saw in the world in his lifetime.

He saw presidents elected from the 27th to the 45th President of the United States. He was 6 years old when the World War 1 started, and 10 when it ended. He saw the Panama canal open when he was 6. He was 7 when the first long distance phone service was offered. At ten he saw the world wide flu epidemic that killed nearly 20 million people world wide and some 500,000 United States citizens. At 19 he saw Lindbergh make his historic flight. At 23 the Star Spangled Banner is adopted as our National Anthem. At 24 he saw Amelia Earhart make her transatlantic flight. At 27 the FBI is formed from the Bureau of Investigation. AT 31 he saw the start of World War II, and at 33 the Us enters the war. At 42 the US entered the Korean War. He saw several amendments to the Constitution pass.

At 51 he saw the US get more deeply involved in Vietnam at 56 the Gulf of Tonkin incident that escalated the war. At 50 the first satellite is launched into space.
At 51 he saw two stars added to the flag with the addition of Alaska and Hawaii as states. At 54 he watched John Glenn launch into outer space as the first American in space. He was 60 when Martin Luther King was assassinated. When he was 62 the Kent State incident happened. At 72 he saw the US boycott the Moscow Olympics.

At 78 he saw the Challenger explode. He was 82 when Iraq invaded Kuwait. At 87 Oklahoma City Bombings happen. At 93 the Trade Towers are attacked by hijacked airplanes. 95 years after his birth the shuttle Columbia burnt up on reentry.

He saw the rise of airlines during his lifetime. The growth of automotive traffic, the development of the Interstate Highway system. He was around when Television was invented. There was no such thing as a microwave oven when he was born, and many homes still had outhouses. Computers were just a dream, and space travel was only science fiction. Wars were still fought in the trenches, and planes had propellers. Helicopters were not even really a dreamt when Wendall was born. He probably saw more changes in the world and society than any other generation.

An American Hero

2008-06-05T18:53:00.003-04:00

Who knows the story of Jack Lucas? He died today, but how many people know his story. After Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, Jack Lucas at age 13 forged his mother's signature and enlisted in the United States Marine. He stowed away on a ship to hide his age from officials. He eventually ended up on the shores of Iwo Jima. While in combat on Iwo Jima, two hand grenades landed near him. Without thinking Jack Lucas threw himself on the hand grenades, with out any thought for his own safety, in order to protect his platoon mates. He absorbed the force of the blast with his own body, and after some twenty plus surgeries, some two hundred fifty plus pieces of shrapnel removed form his body. Jack Lucas became the youngest man in history to win the Congressional Medal of Honor, at the age of 19. After his service to our country he kept his promise to his mother and finished the 9th grade. Leukemia finally claimed this awesome heroes life. In a day when we seem to idolize rock stars, and rappers who sing about tearing down our society, we read stories about drugs, sex and rock and roll. We idolize athletes who can't keep themselves off drugs and charge kids for autographs. This awesome hero that any American should look up to because in a time of need he chose to put on the uniform of his country, and in a time of extreme danger he never had to think twice before he offered himself up a potential supreme sacrifice to protect his buddies. He did it because he knew it was the right thing to do, and he never looked back. Where do we find such men, I take my hat off to him and mourn his passing even though I never knew him.

We need more men like Jack Lucas, especially in a time when a man can sue a town because he is offended by a display of American Flags flying in town, because it violates his constitutional rights, and there are people in this country who applaud the man bringing suit as a true American Hero. I ask you who is the biggest hero Jack Lucas or the guy who hates what the flag stands for?

Energy Costs

2008-06-02T18:47:00.002-04:00

Again a disclaimer that the following is not my idea but as a follow up to an earlier post on oil costs, this is the only option that is a viable way to control energy costs, otherwise our fuel prices wil just continue to skyrocket.

I constantly receive tips on how to make the oil companies “Knuckle under”. They don’t work. Here's something that might really work. The biggest problem?: “Some $260 billion is invested in commodity funds, 20 times the amount in 2003”, the Economist May31st, 2008.

This is money chasing money. Anywhere from $30.00 to $50.00 of the current price of a barrel of oil on the commodities market is due to speculation. Speculators are adding at least 25% to the cost of every gallon of gasoline, propane and heating oil. President Bush can end that in a minute with a National Security directive that forbids speculation on energy commodities (heating oil, propane, gasoline, diesel, etc), Congress can end it by law. If only legitimate buyers (energy dealers) and sellers (energy producers) are allowed to buy and sell energy products, prices will drop substantially and more accurately reflect real supply and demand. Some of these speculators are actually the countries selling us oil!

The New England Fuel Institute, the Maine Oil Dealers Association, the NH Fuel Dealers Association and other groups have been lobbying unsuccessfully for an end to speculation in energy commodities. We agree. Cutting speculators and hedge funds out of the market will cut prices to consumers like you and me.

This is everyone's fight; oil in New England, propane in the Midwest, natural gas in our cities and gasoline for the cars we drive; they are all traded and speculated on the commodities market. We've created a Web Page to lobby to ban speculators from the energy market. Go to http://www.otchoice.com/petition.asp and a) sign the petition and b) if you wish to, send an email or contact your Congressional representative. The timing is right, the Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Committee is considering a bill right now to limit speculation in oil & food. The question is, are we going to do something about it or just sit back and take it?

Please Sign the petition and send this to everyone you know. If everybody calls and/or emails their US Senators, we WILL see some changes.

Reflections

2008-06-01T08:34:00.002-04:00

I know a lot of my most recent posts have centered on The Moving Wall, and I apologize, but for such a long time, it took up a great deal of my time and effort, and for the five days it was here, I all but lived at Constitution Park in Ossipee, drawn to the wall like a piece of steel to a magnet. I do have one last reflection on the time it was here. During that time I had a chance to talk to other Veterans who were in during the same era as I was, the early to mid 80's. I missed the horror that was Vietnam, but reflecting on my own time in Service, as a young Ensign assigned to a ship for the first time and sent over to our own foreign land Beirut, Lebanon. We did not realize it at the time, as there was no war on terrorism at the time. We sailors, soldiers, and Marines were at the forefront of the Global War on Terrorism. We were a multi national (read it 90% American, 10% other nations)thrust into a land to keep the peace between factions that had no interest in having the peace kept. They were and still are bent on killing each other because their beliefs in the same religion are so far apart they can never come to terms between them. This would be much akin to the Baptists declaring war on the Catholics.

When they realized that the Peace Keeping force was trying to keep them apart and maintain a very fragile peace in the area, they turned on us bombing the Marine Barracks killing some 250 Marines, Sailors, and Soldiers. This was the beginning and it has only escalated from there, the Achille Lauro, The USS Cole, The first World Trade Tower incident, The German Nightclubs, The British Subway, 9/11, The Shoe Bomber, and many more we forget or may have never known about. Beirut should go down in the history books as the start of the Global War on Terrorism, and unfortunately I do not see any end for it in sight. It will continue to affect the way we live and act for many years to come.

Volunterism

2008-06-01T07:40:00.002-04:00

As I reflect on the enormity of the effort we put forth to make The Moving Walls visit to Ossipee, a positive, and memorable event for all that visited it, I have to be awed by the dedication and energy put forth by the volunteers who helped make it possible. From the efforts of David and Susan Dube who were the driving force behind getting the wall to the area, to the kids who came and helped erect the Wall and help with parking. The wall walkers who showed up day after day and stood on their feet for hours at a time helping those who needed help or a shoulder to cry on, or just someone to share stories with. It was an awesome experience for all the visitors as well as all those who volunteered to help. The planning paid off, and even those who just heard about the event at the last moment and showed up asking what they could do to help.

Looking at this event and the some 23,000 people who visited, the number of people who helped put the event on is minuscule. I also look at other things I help on or have helped on in the past like the Ossipee Old Home Week which I was involved with for several years, a week long event that costs some $20,000 to put on, and has an event going on just about every night including one of the most awesome fireworks displays you could imagine for a small community like Ossipee, is co-ordinated and put on by only a very small handful of people (last years committee consisted of only about 6 people who came to the meetings. The act of volunteering seems dead, people do not seem to be willing to put any time into helping the community, while they are very eager to criticize how things were set up or done.

My wish for the world is that more people would find it in their hearts to help make their communities a better place. Put some time into the community and help make it a better place. The rewards you get back far exceed any inconvenience you may have to put up with.

The End

2008-05-27T12:07:00.004-04:00

The Wall is down and on its way to Middleboro Mass as I write this entry. With few exceptions you would never know the wall was ever on the soccer field. The well worn path of thousands of people walking being one of those exceptions. The volunteers are are exhausted from long hours of walking the wall, and talking to people for hour after hour, but I am sure if you talked to any of the people who volunteered their time for this labor of love, they would tell you they don't regret a moment of it at all. Every minute spent in Constitution Park, in Center Ossipee NH was well worth it, educating children on a period in our history, working with adults coming to grips with their past, and just remembering their part in this historic event. There are over 58,000 reasons why each person volunteered whether it be for a specific name on that somber wall or for all 58,000+ in general they came day after day for five days to pay their tributes, and the volunteers where there to help them.

If you have the chance to visit the wall I strongly suggest you do, it draws you in like a magnet, and almost refuses to let you go. Even better if The Wall is near you, become a volunteer, the people you meet make it worth all the effort you put into it. Unfortunately now it is gone only a memory in some many peoples histories, but it is a memory we can take with us forever., knowing that in some very small way we are forever linked to those men and women listed upon that wall. Lives who never met intermingled in the history of this country

Moving Wall Part IV

2008-05-25T20:16:00.002-04:00

Brenda, who blogs under the page ENROUTE 365 posted a comment on my last post...."I was just wondering if there were any commonalities in the stories told during this event? Or any thoughts on what you think the greatest benefits are from events like this? Obviously it's good for the young to learn and understand part of the country's history. But it's good for us adults, too. A cousin of mine who served in Vietnam is now also just started to discuss his war experiences ... something that I think is good for us, his family, as well as for him."

I think it is time to answer these questions. There is a commonality of the stories I have heard on this occasion and it is that of putting a face on the name of the wall. giving a more human look on the causalities. We have to remember that these are more than just names on a piece of aluminum in the case of the moving wall, or marble in the case of the Memorial in Washington.. These were people, who had brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, wives, and sons, and daughters. They were people who lived, loved, laughed and cried. They were scared, and bewildered in a foreign land. I talked to a man who had left a can of beer in front of his friends name because he owed him a drink from their last time on liberty. Another Veteran left 29 cents at the wall because he had borrowed it from his buddy to buy a pack of cigarettes the morning before he was killed, and this was the first time he was able to pay him back. A veteran from Iraq left his CID (combat infantry badge) and jump wings in tribute to all who lost their lives in Vietnam. In church this morning they showed a video that talked about Milton Oliver III who won the Medal of Honor because he picked up a live grenade cradled it to his stomach and then fell on top of it to protect his platoon. My 21 year old daughter picked some lilacs and left them in front of panel 9 East in honor of this brave man to let him know that people in New Hampshire appreciated his ultimate sacrifice. A veteran came under the cover of darkness to visit the wall as he walked along the wall looking at the ground ahead of him. He could not bring himself to look at the wall. I walked over to him in my camouflage shirt with my ribbons on it, I took his hand and said Welcome Home. He looked at me, then the bars on my collar, his eyes then glanced down to the ribbons on my chest, he dropped my hand and gave a bear hug, thanked me then wished me a welcome home. The next thing I knew we were walking across the field to the name tent to look up the only name he remembered, we then walked back to the wall and looked up the name as John then stood there and told me how this kid had just come the the United States from Turkey, and could barely speak English, but he joined the Marines, and he was one hell of a Marine. He died one night on patrol when he stepped on a mine. When he heard the click he froze, and warned the rest of the squad to get out of the way before he lifted his foot off the mine. John then sat on the bench in front of the east wall and told me in tearful eyes, how he was transfered to another platoon, never had a chance to get to know all the guys in the platoon, but they were ambushed . He couldn't remember any of their names but he knew the date, so I gave him the link to the wall website in Washington so he could do a search by the date of casualty. He then told me what happened, they were on the top of a hill when an artillery round landed right in front of him. He was wounded but the impact of the shell mainly mushroomed up over the top of him. The only survivors were the four closest to the impact. He was going to go home and do a search and get their names. We talked for an hour and he gave me another hug and walked out of the field with his head held high.

A woman asked me to help with a rubbing, as we rubbed the name she told me about her brother that she had hardly known because he was 12 years older than her, who had proudly enlisted in the Navy only to be killed when the tragic fire happened on the Forrestal.

We had a gentleman drive from Bangor Maine about 4 hours because he heard the Moving Wall was coming to us, and he felt it was finally time to say goodbye to some long lost friends. Another gentleman came to the name tent with a long list of names on tattered crinkled paper, as the volunteers looked up the names they could only find one fo the names, they wrote down the location of that one name, and while handing it to the man they apologized for not finding more of the names for him. He wiped a tear form his eye, and told them not to apologize, because the list of names were of guys he had served with, but lost contact with, he was very sure of the spelling he had for each man so if their names were not in the directory, then they had lived and he could finally put his nightmares to rest.

In my case even though I did not serve in Vietnam it finally gave me the chance to put some demons of my own to rest by sharing these stories with men who had gone through Hell and back. Even those who had never serve were able to put heir hand on someones back while their heads were bent in sobs over names of friends who never came back.

I strongly suggest if you have the chance to work on an event like this the rewards you get back far exceed any inconveniences to you for the time you spent doing the event. Every man woman and child that worked here is walking away from it much richer in their lives for the stories they hear. One lady walked over to me gave me a huge bear hug, kissed me on the cheek and thanked me for my service, and all I could do is croak out a thank you to her as I tried to hold back my tears. The children were very respectful and some kids got to meet the memory of a grandfather they never knew. I know my kids are walking away much richer for the time they spent at the Wall. The high school students who came to help set up were working shoulder to shoulder with battle hardened veterans, and hearing their stories.

Talking and crying are good at an event like this and it allows people to voice the demons that have haunted them for years. It is very important for our kids to learn the history of our past for those who do not study their past is doomed to repeat it. One of the greatest men I had the opportunity to meet during this visit is Major Frank McCarthy USMC. He is a Marines Marine, and presented opening remarks for the Wall on Friday night, his talk did not leave a dry eye. My intention was to leave a wreath for the Sailors and Marines who lost their lives in Beirut when the Marine Barracks were bombed,Frank found out about this and informed me there would be a formal wreath laying at 1600 hours Saturday, and all I could say was "Yes Sir" Frank then dug up another Veteran of Beirut and got us in formation and He made a small speech and and saluted me as I laid the cross I had purchased for my quiet impromptu wreath laying. When we dismissed the formation, Frank Saluted me and said "Well done Sailor, now you are Home". Another battle hardened Vietnam Veteran took my hand, placed them on my ribbons, and told me you've done well sir, you've done well.

The Moving Wall Part III

2008-05-25T05:44:00.003-04:00

This is going to be a very simple short post as all I want to say is Thank You.

Thank You to David and Susan for letting me help

Thank You to all who came

Thank You to all who shared their stories

Thank You to Major Frank McCarthy for helping me put some problems to rest

Remember on this Memorial Day on Monday, that Freedom is not Free, and that all our soldiers, sailors and airman gave some, and some gave ALL.

The Moving Wall Part 2

2008-05-23T21:23:00.002-04:00

Today was the second day of the moving wall and I had the honor again in being the Officer of the Day. We had quite a few schools come in today and learn about Vietnam and the men who fought there. The National Guard brought in a Huey today for a display the kids loved it. Again I was totally impressed with the quality and range of questions the kids had. They were also very impressive in their behavior and the respect they showed The Wall and the 58,246 men and women whose names are listed their.
I ran into a Marine tonight who visited the wall and for the first time he was able to look up the name of a kid he knew g who was killed over their. We stood in the V of the wall and discussed the his service in country and the men he knew. I am learning so much working on this event and bringing closure to an aspect of my life.

The Wall Part 1

2008-05-22T21:26:00.002-04:00

We worked hard this morning. After we had received the bad news that the driving force behind the Wall David Dube was in an accident on his way to meet the Wall in Tamworth. He required 20 stitches in his head and back. After things got sorted out we ramped up into full speed when it arrived in Constitution Park. A group of High School students from Kingswood came to help with the assembly. They were such a joy to watch, eager to work, and willing to learn. The wall went together without incident, and we were pretty much open for business by noon. While the attendance at any one time was not very high, it was a steady stream all afternoon into the evening. I stayed until about 8:45 and to see it lit up was inspiring.

I so hope many people take advantage of this visit to the area, and visit this tribute to our Vietnam Veterans, and grasp how many of our finest young men didn't come home from that remote area of the world to see their loved ones

How I plan to spend my long weekend

2008-05-20T06:43:00.003-04:00

In watching the news they are talking about the weather and how people plan to spend their long Memorial Day weekend. Let me tell you how I plan to spend my Memorial Day Weekend.

On Thursday May 22 The Vietnam Veterans Moving Memorial commonly called The Moving Wall is coming to Center Ossipee for a stay. I will be taking two days vacation and arriving at Constitution Park around 8 a.m. to wait for the walls arrival. As soon as it arrives among its escort, we will swing into action and assemble the display. One of the most moving moments of the morning will be watching Mike Gaudett, whom I have had the honor of working beside since the inception of the weekend, will with his son carry the panel with his brothers name and put it in its proper place on the assembly. Other Veterans have asked permission to carry the panel with their buddies names on it. We plan on making this step in their healing process a very solemn event, and memorable for all those involved. Over the next five days I plan on walking the wall, talking to people, and learning their stories. My wife has volunteered to work in the name tent, along with my oldest daughter. My 16 year old is doing her part as a gopher to help the volunteers on duty at the wall. My 10 year old is going with her 4th grade class on a field trip to the wall to learn more about Vietnam, and veterans in general

Even though I did not serve in Vietnam, my time of service was not until some five years after the United States pulled out of Vietnam. Preparation for this event , and the event itself leads to the first time I have put on an article of my time in service and wearing the awards I earned during my time in Service with several tours with the Multinational Peacekeeping Force in Beirut, Operation Urgent Fury in Grenada, and other cruises while in the Navy.

I take part in this weekend not because it will bring honor to me. I take part in this event to bring honor to all those who have ever put the uniform of this country on, and answered the solemn call of duty and honor, specifically those who served in Vietnam , and more specifically the 58,246 who gave their lives in a far away land, that few even knew existed before we were involved there. It was the first war we fought where there was no defined front, there was no push to gain new ground and move the enemy back. It was a war where it was a constant struggle just to stay where you were. The enemy was hard to tell, some were shaking your hand during the day, and sniping at you during the night. It was a challenge to an army used to conventional style fighting.

What do I expect to get out of the weekend? I expect to hear stories, see acts of contrition, and share pats on the back with brave men. My brother fought in Vietnam in the Seabees, and a brother in law was there as a brown water sailor with the riverine forces. This weekend is a way to connect with my brother in a way I have never done before, and honor the memory of my brother in law. It is a time to reconnect with my past, and dig into some memories I have. Friends who were blown up in Beirut, reconnect in my mind with friends whom I have lost ouch with over the years like the Tree Dave Walls, one of the most honorable men I have had the pleasure of knowing. It is a time for me to remember the service of my father as a motor machinist mate on landing craft in World War 2.

I expect to leave this weekend with a stronger connection to my past, and a stronger connection to my fellow vets.

Welcome Home Brothers and Sisters Welcome Home

Politics as Usual

2008-05-17T08:20:00.003-04:00

Again I can not take credit for the following, it was sent to me in an e-mail recently, but it is so true. I think it is time we re-evaluate our government and those who serve there. They say they are the solution, but they seem to be more and more of the problem. We hear politicians speak and say the solution to high income taxes is more taxes on corporations...I don't know if they don't stop and think of the economics of that or if they just don't want the American people to know the economics of the fact that corporations don't pay taxes people do. If corporations taxes go up, in order to insure that their share holders profits continue to be there, the cost of the products they produce will go up to cover the increased taxes, therefore we the people pay the taxes in the form of higher prices. Now for the text of the e-mail I received.....

Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them.

Have you ever wondered why, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, we have deficits?

Have you ever wondered why, if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, we have inflation and high taxes?

You and I don't propose a federal budget. The president does.

You and I don't have the Constitutional authority to vote on appropriations. The House of Representatives does.

You and I don't write the tax code, Congress does.

You and I don't set fiscal policy, Congress does.

You and I don't control monetary policy, the Federal Reserve Bank does.

One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one president, and nine Supreme Court justices -- 545 human beings out of the 300 million -- are directly, legally, morally, and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country.

I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board because that problem was created by the Congress. In 1913, Congress delegated its Constitutional duty to provide a sound currency to a federally chartered, but private, central bank.

I excluded all the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason. They have no legal authority. They have no ability to coerce a senator, a congressman, or a president to do one cotton-picking thing. I don't care if they offer a politician $1 million dollars in cash. The politician has the power to accept or reject it. No matter what the lobbyist promises, it is the legislator's responsibility to determine how he votes.

Those 545 human beings spend much of their energy convincing you that what they did is not their fault. They cooperate in this common con regardless of party.

What separates a politician from a normal human being is an excessive amount of gall. No normal human being would have the gall of a Speaker, who stood up and criticized the President for creating deficits. The president can only propose a budget. He cannot force the Congress to accept it.

The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, gives sole responsibility to the House of Representatives for originating and approving appropriations and taxes. Who is the speaker of the House? She is the leader of the majority party.
She and fellow House members, not the president, can approve any budget they want. If the president vetoes it, they can pass it over his veto if they agree to.

It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 300 million can not replace 545 people who stand convicted -- by present facts -- of incompetence and irresponsibility. I can't think of a single domestic problem that is not traceable directly to those 545 people. When you fully grasp the plain truth that 545 people exercise the power of the federal government, then it must follow that what exists is what they want to exist.

If the tax code is unfair, it's because they want it unfair.

If the budget is in the red, it's because they want it in the red.

If the Marines are in IRAQ, it's because they want them in IRAQ.

If they do not receive social security but are on an elite retirement plan not available to the people, it's because they want it that way.

There are no insoluble government problems.

Do not let these 545 people shift the blame to bureaucrats, whom they hire and whose jobs they can abolish; to lobbyists, whose gifts and advice they can reject; to regulators, to whom they give the power to regulate and from whom they can take this power. Above all, do not let them con you into the belief that there exists disembodied mystical forces like "the economy," "inflation," or "politics" that prevent them from doing what they take an oath to do.

Those 545 people, and they alone, are responsible.

They and they alone, have the power.

They and they alone, should be held accountable by the people who are their bosses -- provided the voters have the gumption to manage their own employees.

We should vote all of them out of office and clean up their mess!

It is more than time to drastically look at our government officials and evaluate truly how effective they are in solving the problems of this country. Are they the solution or are they a part of the problem!!!!!! Think before you vote, and in the example of the movie BREWSTER's MILLIONS maybe it is just time to vote for NONE OF THE ABOVE

Welcome Home

2008-05-16T06:50:00.004-04:00

My deepest gratitude goes out to Dave and Susan Dube of Lazy Susan's restaurant in Ossipee New Hampshire for their tireless effort in bring The Wall to Ossipee. I have been very involved in the project since the early days attending countless meetings and planning sessions. The time is coming up quick with the approach of May 22nd. You can feel the excitement among the volunteers and executive committee. So much to do and so much to worry about and it is soon to be here and the planning put into motion. Are we nervous, I guess you would have to say just a little bit.

It will be my first time viewing any version of The Wall, and while I didn't lose anyone close to me in Vietnam I lived amidst the tumultuous time that was the war. I had a brother volunteer to go over and serve as a Seabee in Da Nang, now suffering from the ravages of Agent Orange. I also had a brother in law serve with the Swift Boats in the brown water Navy, who not only went over once but volunteered to go back a second time. He has since divorced my sister, and there is no way to know how the tours in country affected his psyche.

It was a war in which our soldiers, sailors, and airmen did not come home to open arms of welcome as they are today. It is a war where the country was deeply divided by a chasm that will never be completely healed,but we have been closing it slowly over time. In preparation for the event I have been studying up on the wall. I found this quote from the designer of the memorial
"I felt the memorial should be honest about the reality of wall and for the people who gave their lives...I didn't want a static object that people would just look at, but something they could relate to as on a journey, or passage, that would bring each to his own conclusions... I had an impulse to cut open the earth... an initial violence that in time would heal...It was as if the black brown earth were polished and made into an interface between the sunny world and the quiet dark world beyond, that we can't enter...The names would be the memorial. There was no need to embellish." Maya Ying Lin. In my estimation she met her goal. Friends of mine who have visited the actual wall in Washington said that there is a stark difference between The Wall and the other monuments. The other monuments you can hear people talking about what the monument means how they were built, what they mean, however when they get to The Wall you can hear a pin drop, and tears are evident on the faces of many. Children can be seen touching the names of loved ones they will never know. Mementos left to honor those who will never be forgotten. Letters left telling loved ones how they are missed.

I look forward with trepidation to having the honor to work on he Wall, and share my thoughts and insights as we move forward. An to the Vietnam Veterans out there who may read this I have one phrase for you WELCOME HOME BROTHERS WELCOME HOME

"Stress Buster"

2008-05-11T11:33:00.004-04:00

Before I start today I have to make a disclaimer the title of this blog post is not my own but borrowed from Pastor Dave Kemper of the First Congregational Church of Ossipee. It was the title of his sermon this morning and I was deeply touched by the sermon. While I try to live a Christian life it is very hard because the minutiae of day to day life seems to always bog us down. We do things that cause us guilt, and we lose people and things close to us that cause us grief, and people do things to us that cause us to hold grudges. Because of the three g's guilt, grief, and grudges it causes us to live tension filled lives, and inhibits our relationship not only with God but also with others.

The three g's drag us down into the mire of our pasts and do not allow us to concentrate on the future where we can make the changes that would allow us to live less stressful lives. Guilt of our past actions, grief of what we lost, and grudges held against people all drag us into the mire of that stress. We cannot change the past but we can change and affect the future. by putting those things behind us and turning them over to God can we look forward to a bright new future with less stress in our lives. We have all done things that are wrong, but through turning our lives over to Christ, and believing the sins of our lives were nailed on the cross with Him then we can live guilt free lives and work on correcting those actions that we know we should not be partaking. When we lose something or someone dear in our lives, by concentrating on what we do have rather than concentrating on what we have lost we work on the future instead of living in the past. We may not have the person in our lives, but we will always have the memories of what made them special to us. My father passed on when I was a young man and just married, my wife was pregnant with our first child. Yes I miss my father deeply, but I have memories of fishing trips and camping trips with him. I also have my home, my wife and my daughters. I have made some bad decisions in my life, and at just shy of fifty years old find myself essentially starting all over again with little left in savings towards day to day living let alone retirement , but I still have modestly good health, I have a loving wife working with me to start all over again, I have dreams of where th e future can bring me, I have three lovely, loving daughters, and I have the ability to start all over again. (It takes a lot for me to be able to admit this on a blog like this but it is in a sense a part of starting all over.)

Grudges for me are the hardest part to give up. We have a tendency to hold things against people for things they have done or things they have said. Who does holding a grudge hurt? The person we hold the grudge against.....guess what for the most part they probably don't care. I held a grudge against a minister for years for things he did an said, such as basically telling me I had nothing to offer in my life. Does he care I held this grudge? I can tell you in retrospect he does not even care that I held this grudge against him. All it did was affect my life and turn me sour against the church for several years.

Let me tell you this, forget about the 3 g's turn your guilt, grief and grudges over to God and get on with you life and making yourself a better person. As Pastor Kemper said the difference between being BITTER and being BETTER is I so it is up to me. This reminds me of a saying that was drilled inot our keads at a sales meeting this winter.."IF IT IS TO BE, IT IS UP TO ME"

Amazed

2008-05-03T13:12:00.002-04:00

It never ceases to amaze me to see the eagerness of children to learn. Due to the heavy and frequent snows this winter, two of my daughters had school today to make up some of the excess snow days. It would have struck me that most kids would have talked their parents into letting them stay home on a Saturday school day, but it seems a good majority actually attended school. My youngest daughter Grace went to school and the teachers used today as a day to invite parents into the classroom to view the classroom and projects the children were working on. My wife had to work today, but I took advantage of the initiation and was amazed to see the eagerness of the kids in her class. Grace's 4th grade teacher Sarah Olkkola was doing a project in science called a water table, and when she was going over the project I witnessed kids very attentive to what she was saying and actively participating in the reading of the instructions. When it was time for the actual project, I saw the whole class participating. They all jumped in and took a job in the experiment which was to pour water into a water table and create a stream, then to observe how the stream reacted to the terrain in the soil that was in the table. The group my daughter was in was very observant, and readily picked out the features they were asked to, as well as trying to understand what was happening on the table in front of them. It was very refreshing to see the inquisitiveness that prevailed in the classroom.

The children were also very eager to bring the parents that came into the project and show them what they were learning. Kudos to the school for inviting the parents in, and kudos to the parents who attended to see how excited their children were to learn. Keep up the good work.

Presidential Primaries

2008-04-28T17:56:00.005-04:00

As a veracious reader, i read just about anything. One of my favorite reading is the letters to the editor section of the newspaper. One thing that upsets me is the people who don't have a clue. I think it is time to bring the primaries back to what they are supposed to be. The primaries are supposed to be a vehicle for those that are registered to a particular party whether it be Republican, Democrat, or the East Overshoe Squirrel Hunting Party to cast their vote for the person running on their ticket from all the people who throw their hat in the ring for that party. It is not a vehicle for every registered voter to be able to cast a ballot. Registered Republicans vote in the Republican Primary, and registered Democrats vote in the Democrat Primary. Independents, or un-enrolled not being registered in a party do not vote in a primary simple as that. It frustrates me to hear that people feel they are disenfranchised if they are not allowed to vote in a primary for which they are not registered. I voted in the New Hampshire primary as a long time registered party affiliation. After the primary I heard a local "independent" make the comment that they went to the primaries and took a republican ballot only to be dismayed to find neither Hillary Clinton or Barrack Obama's name on the ballot so he wrote in Hillary's name. The general election is the time to pick who you want for President, the primary is the time for the party people to vote for who they want to run for President. Take the time to learn the process and understand it.

Necessity or Luxury

2008-04-27T08:40:00.002-04:00

Well my typing should get better as I put a new keyboard on my laptop and now my keys are not sticking, it is nice to be able to type and not have to go back and continually check to see if the letter I pressed actually appeared on the screen.

I was reflecting the other day on the economic situation of a lot of families. We are in a definite downturn, and depending on who you talk to we are either in a slowdown or a recession, while by the actual definition of a recession, we are no there yet, but close. Part of the problem I see in society is that we have turned a lot of luxuries into necessities, and now we as a society do not know how to live without them. Rather than put up with cooking on a stove or oven, we have to have a microwave because we are impatient and need our food immediately. We not only need a television but unless some people have the latest and greatest wide screen HDTV with blue ray players. Not only do we need computers but it seems people always need the fastest most tricked out computer on the market. As a society we do not seem to be happy with the basics, our cars keep getting bigger and more equipped, rather than use maps we need to have GP units in the vehicle, rather than broadcast radio, satellite radio has become the necessity. On Star is becoming more and more of a standard feature on cars every day. The luxuries of yesterday become the necessities of today. Where does it all stop Can we actually live with less? I think so, and in the meantime I think our society would become stronger and more independent.

Slow down and recharge

2008-04-20T08:43:00.003-04:00

Remember the Sabbath and keep it Holy. Most of us recognize this as one of the Ten Commandments,but what does it mean in todays life. We have become a society of rush here and rush there, everywhere in a rush. We don't take time for ourselves to relax. I live in a vacation destination and I even see those up here on vacation rushing around trying to adhere to a tight schedule like they do at home. I drive down the road at the speed limit and a passed by cars with out of state plates with skis, kayaks, campers or what have you flying by missing the beautiful scenery I get to observe on a daily basis. They don't take time to smell the roses, life has become a big blur with so much to do.

The human body needs rest to rejuvenate. We need time to slow down and let the rigors of life just roll off of us. We were not designed to go 24 hours a day 7 days a week. Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy.

I can remember as a kid when most stores were closed on Sunday, and the scheduling of events like Little League and Pop Warner was just about a no-no. Sunday was a family time with the exception of the Jewish community in Providence where the Saturday was the family day. It was a day of picnics, and sitting on the beach.It was a day of the family dinner in the winter or recreation, walks to the reservoir with my dad. Walks in the woods, it was a time of relaxation, not a time to be scheduled like clockwork with running here and running there. Today in this hustle bustle world, Sunday has just become another day. A day to work, a day to be busy and schedule every micro-second out of. We have become a people of what can I do to cram in the time I have.I have never been a person to sleep in late n any day, with getting up at seven being the sleeping late mode, but I do try to keep Sunday as a day where the schedule is thrown out the window. I relax and read the Sunday Paper, Kickback in the easy chair, go to church with the family, eat a leisurely lunch take a walk out in the woods, or go to the lake. It is a time of relaxation a time to shut my brain off and let nature take over and let me relax. Recharge my batteries and get ready for the week ahead. We all need t down shift our lives and slow down. You never know what you will find there. I find a deep inner peace and tranquility. I find myself less irritable with the kids ,and less likely to lose my temper. I find myself more willing to help my wife during the week.

Even if you are not religious or spiritual, you still need the time to recharge and restore yourself.

"Dangerous Journey"

2008-04-19T08:20:00.000-04:00

"The fisherman knows the seas are dangerous and the storm terrible, but they have never found these reasons sufficient for staying ashore. " -Vincent Van Gogh.

Another very similar quote is
"Ships are safe in Port but that is not what ships are made for"

As a young officer in the United States Navy during the early to mid eighties, we had a cruise to the North Atlantic and through the North Sea We encountered seas during that cruise that boggled my brain. The time frame for this cruise was in the dead of winter so we not only had the high seas to contend with but also bitter temperatures. Yes our ship would have been much safer had it not left it's safe berth at Norfolk Naval Base and ventured this far north, but the overall reward to me far surpassed the discomfort of the raging storm. During this cruise we made our way to Denmark to work with the Danish Military and then further up to Tromso Norway. While traveling to Tromso we worked our way up the coast f Norway doing exercises along the coast, and I got to see some of the most amazing scenery in the fjords along the coast, and then spend some time in a culture that makes its daily life north of the Arctic Circle. On this cruise we also made port in Wilhelmshaven Germany. Therefore in my personal opinion the discomfort of the storm was far outweighed by the experiences I was able to have which I would never have been able to take part in.

Not only at sea is this quote applicable in our lives. We must go out on a limb at times in our lives, take risks, and put our necks out on the line in order to experience some of the most fantastic experiences that life has to offer. The person who is to afraid to climb the scary mountain misses out on the chance to see the spectacular views from the top. The person who is afraid to enter the dark dank woods, misses the chance to see the wonderful mossy glade with the sunlight filtering down through the trees.

Man is designed to face the dangers and to thrive on the exhilaration that ensues. For it is through these dangers that we succeed and move on to new levels in our lives. I have a confession to make in my early life I was one of those who took the risks and went t see what the world had to offer. When I graduated from high school I could have stayed near home and worked for my dad and maybe someday taken over the business from him, but I elected to move away from home and be the first in the family to go to college. Then I joined the Navy and traveled a good portion of the world. It was after I came home and got married that I started playing it safe. I took a company job and worked for someone else all my married life so far, even though a little voice inside me told me something else was waiting for me outside the norm, but the desire to make sure my family was provided for and taken care of far outweighed the risks that would be involved and even today I look at my life and say that the risks are far to high to venture out of the envelope, ideas I have but the warm and secure seem to hold me back. I am not saying life has been easy, and I find myself starting over from the start more often than not, thus telling me the secure is not even that secure anymore. The days of taking a job out of schol and retiring from that job in your 60's is long gone.
So here is hoping I can break out of that "secure safe lifestyle" and take some risks and continue on my amazing journey.

Winter in Full Retreat

2008-04-17T18:55:00.000-04:00

I just got back from my nightly walk in the fields behind the house. It is amazing how fast winter has retreated over the last week or so. It was not so long ago that the only way I could get back there was on my snowshoes. With one of the most horrendous winters behind us with more snow on the ground than we have had in many years, it is all but gone from the fields, and the yard as well. Oh yes there still are pockets such as on the north side of the house where the warming sun does not get, and back at the wood line the snow is still piled thick however you can tell it is still in a hasty retreat, it seems to go back a little further each night I get back there. The deer have been active, there is sign all over the field piles here and there, and tracks in the few remnants of snow scattered through the field.

When winter is full upon us we live in despair that we will never see bare ground again. It is amazing how as the days grow longer that we seem to lift out of that despair more and more every day, and then when the warm temperatures hit it is like a life preserver has been thrown to us. This has been a very extraordinary year with record snow amounts on the ground the saving grace has been that the snow pack came and stayed before the frigid cold weather. The frost was not driven deep into the ground as has been the case in years past, so as the snow melts the ground has been able to absorb it and the mud and flooding that most people feared has not really materialized. On top of that the heavy rains April is known for in New England have not reared their ugly head causing a huge rapid melt off. Life is a cycle and we are slowly being born anew in northern New England. There is a crocus in bloom in the front garden the purple hue a welcome change to the life of white and gray we have know for so long. the daffodils are growing and I saw evidence of their buds on the delicate stems. If you look close under the brown stalks of grass you can see the slightest hint of green coming out of the ground in the field that is lush in the summer months. It reminds me that no matter how bleak your life may seem there is a spring around the corner to help lift you out of your despair, and it has been a winter of despair here this year with the building industry in its tailspin. I tried to keep a bright positive outlook but it was so hard when you watched your checking account empty out faster than the money was coming in. But with the spring comes a new perspective and a rebirth so to speak. it is easy to feel invigorated and energized with the warming weather and retreating snow.

So here is to a rebirth and a new outlook on life.

Attittude or Aptitude

2008-04-16T19:24:00.000-04:00

Zig Ziglar once said it is not your aptitude but your attitude that determines you altitude. For those who know me know that I make my living in the construction industry, and we are going through a major correction in the building industry at this time. For that matter we are also going through a very trying economic time with gas prices at record highs, food prices rising daily, and if you listen to the press every one is on the verge of losing their homes to foreclosure (this is not true while the rate of foreclosure is at a record high it is still a minority of homeowners facing foreclosure).

I received an e-mail from the executive vice president for the company I work for with an article by Bill Lee entitled The only disability in Life (and business) is a bad attitude. In my day to day interaction with builders of all walks I have noticed that the contractors who talk all doom and gloom and do all the complaining are the ones who are not busy, their negative attitude builds upon itself and does not allow them to raise t the surface. The contractors who are upbeat and positive, have been able to build that attitude into a successful business altitude where even in this down time they are still booked out 2 to 3 years. You can soar like an eagle or you can hunker down in the mire and quack like a duck.

Do not blame anyone but yourself for your failures. The other guy did nothing to make you lose, the government is not to blame, it is up to you. A little phrase I learned at a sales meeting is "IF IT IS TO BE IT IS UP TO ME". Most of the people around me laughed at the phrase and commented about how hokie it was. I realized how true it was. I looked back at my own failures and realized it was all my fault for my my failures

Refuse to use a loser's language. Those who talk like a loser become losers. Those who are winners never talk like losers. Tiger Woods one of Golfs best players ever, even when he loses never talks negatively. He continually has an upbeat outlook and places the blame on himself, and this leads us to the third point.

Continue to believe in yourself. Tiger always believes in himself, and you have to also. Ask yourself who is more enjoyable to be around the positive upbeat person who always sees the glass as half full, or the person who sees the glass as half empty and never sees the bright side of anything.

My Dash

2008-04-05T15:48:00.000-04:00

I read a poem a couple of years ago called the Dash by Linda Ellis. This poem has become a moving force in my life. My wife gave me a book two Christmas's ago based on the poem from www.simpletruths.com.

The Dash
By Linda Ellis

I read of a man who stood to speak
at the funeral of a friend
He referred to the dates on her tombstone
from the beginning... to the end

He noted that first came the date of her birth
and spoke of the following date with tears,
but he said what mattered most of all
was the dash between those years

For that dash represents all the time
that she spent alive on earth
and now only those who loved her
know what that little line is worth

For it matters not, how much we own
the cars...the house...the cash
What matters is how we live and love
and how we spend our dash.

So think about this long and hard:
Are there things you'd like to change?
For you never know how much time is left
that can still be rearranged

if we could just slow down enough
to consider what's true and real
and always tries to understand
the way other people feel

And be less quick to anger
and show appreciation more
and love the people in her lives
like we've never loved before

If we treat each other with respect
and more often wear a smile...
remembering this special dash
might only last a little while

So when your eulogy is being read
with your life's actions to rehash.
would you be proud of the things they say
about how you spent your dash

Most of us live our lives in a hustle bustle of running here and there for our own gains. We don't necessarily think of others. We hear about people who have made huge differences in the lives of others, these are people who have learned to live their dashes. Our lives are short with respect to the length of history and we have to make our marks on lives. We can't all be Shakespeare's, or Mozart's who have left marks for centuries to come, but we can make the lives of those around us a little more memorable.

Last year at Thanksgiving I challenged each of my family to write a thank you note to a person who has made a difference in their lives in the last year. I even did this myself, and the response I gt back from the person I wrote to was very touching.
I even put this idea forth in a letter to the editor in the local paper and the response to the editorial was a letter from an elderly couple who recently moved away to be closer to their children warmed my heart. Our dash could be pretty lonely if all we do is live our lives for ourselves. If instead we put the thoughts and feelings of others in a prominent place in our lives, then our short stay on this planet we call home becomes a much nicer place. There was a movie several years ago called "Pay It Forward" where the premise was to do something nice for a person and rather than have them return the favor to us you request they pay it forward to seven people. Then those seven pay it forward to seven others and so on and so on. Can you imagine how fast it would spread though the world if people took this seriously.

I am trying t live my dash in such a way I can be proud of what I left behind, and my children can be prud to say that I was their Dad. I struggle to live my dash each and every day to its fullest because we never know when that dash will come to its end. We recently had a tragedy in our little community where two kids of a very prominent family died in a tragic snow mobile accident. Their dashes were cut extremely short as one was barely out of his teens and his cousin was only in third grade. It makes you think about how short our brief lives can really be, and we have to make the most of it. So how do you plan to live your dash? Will it be a life filled with love and compassion, and love for your fellow man?

Misspeaking or lying

2008-03-26T09:04:00.000-04:00

Hillary Clinton made a statement that she arrived in Kosovo as First Lady amidst sniper fire, and that her welcoming ceremony did not happen, and she had to run from the helicopter ducking for cover. Later it was brought out by others who had accompanied her that this had never happened.. Clinton in her book never even mentioned this as happening. She was just trying to make the crowd more sympathetic to her. When this was brought up her handlers said she just misspoke when she mentioned this as having happened.

Face it folks she did not just misspeak. She had total recollection of what happened and how it happened she just wanted to make the trip seem much more heroic than it was. Yes she was in a war zone, and yes there was some inherent danger to being there, but they flat out were not under fire when they arrived. This was an out an out lie, but because she is considered a choice for President we can not call her an out and out liar which is what she really is. No we have to say she simply misspoke, she was so under pressure she did not realize what she was saying. Do we want this as President of this country? If she is under pressure in the oval office and she misspeaks what are the ramifications of her misspoken words?

When I was in the service I had the opportunity to meet such celebrities as Loretta Lynn. If I told people in a matter of conversation or when I was speaking to a group that I had passionately kissed her on the lips, people wouldn't hesitate to call me a liar. Well folks that is exactly what Hillary did when she made this statement about Kosovo. This is probably not the first time she has "misspoken" or more accurately lied. Is this what we do want in the White House running the country in a time of crisis? Think about it folks, lets not sugarcoat a lie, call it what it is!

Lower Prices?

2008-03-17T07:03:00.000-04:00

We have all received them, the e-mails begging us not to buy gas on a certain day, or not to buy gas from the "big guys" or "bad guys" in order to get gas prices to come down. If we all pull together and drive by the Exxon station in favor of the smaller lesser known gas station we can bring the gas companies to their knees and lower prices because the big evil gas companies are driving the market. I recommend any of you go to snopes.com and read the analysis of this claim. We have come to become a society where if it shows up on the internet it must be true. I shamefully admit I have fallen for this more than once. The Exxon/Mobile email starts A Coca-Cola executive came up with this one and was supported by an employee of Haliburton. This lends the credence to the news letter. The snopes analysis of this sounds much more plausible because gasoline is a fungible commodity just the opposite would happen. A smaller gas chain which does not have the supplies available to meet such a demand for fuel would turn around and have to buy its petrol from whoever has the supplies available which would be the boycotted station and could and would most likely have the reverse effect, instead of driving prices down, it would drive prices even higher than the market normally would.

Face it folks, the only way to change the gas prices is t affect the basic law of supply and demand. Supply and demand is the immovable force in the economics world. The tighter the supply and the higher the demand the higher the price. The larger the supply and the smaller the demand the prices go down. However as a society we do not want to be inconvenienced, we just want the prices to go down. We still drive our big gas hogs and the amount we drive has not changed any, if anything it has gone up in a lot of cases.

We do have options though, but it involves pulling in our belts a bit and some minor inconveniences. Rather than boycotting a gas station where it would hurt an innocent retailer in most cases rather than a big oil company. We change our driving habits. My family definitely has. Rather than driving the 2 1/2 hours to Quincy to get my daughter at college for holidays and weekends, we drive to Dover which is only 1 hour away and she takes the bus from Quincy to Dover. While a little inconvenient in relation to times the bus runs, it saves fuel as well as my time on the road and a reduced amount of tolls I have to pay. My wife and I are looking for a new vehicle for her, instead of the minivan she drives we are looking for a more fuel efficient car. To many people are joined at the hip with their gas guzzling SUV's. They don't want to drive any less either. We all want the other guy to suffer for gas prices rather than ourselves. It kind of reminds me of the quote from General Patton which states "we don't win a war by dying for our country, we win the war by making some other poor bastard die for his country" This will not work in the war on prices folks. we have to sacrifice ourselves in order to make the oil suppliers sacrifice. Mobil and Exxon do not control the prices either. Yes to some extent the Arabs do control the prices in the form of the cartel of OPEC but we have the power also.

Rather than going away on vacation explore the things your local area has to offer, museums you have not been to, historic sites you have always been meaning to see. How about exploring your own back yard? Rather than running to the store every day, can you either plan your shopping a little better? or do without? How about using a bicycle more? or walking more and these would have a few more more pleasant side effects like getting rid of the spare tire around your middle. I know I have rather than getting in the truck and driving somewhere t do something a little mindless, I dusted off my snowshoes which I hadn't used in ages and went out in the woods with my dog this winter, it was fun educational, and exhilarating.

Face it folks the only way to affect gas prices is to sacrifice ourselves take public transportation when you can. Do without when you can, and conserve when you can we will all become a little less dependent on oil and maybe discover a little more about ourselves in the long run. One less flight a year, one less car trip a week, turn you heat down a few degrees in the house, and your air conditioning up a few degrees. I moved my thermostat from 68 to 64 degrees this winter and drastically cut my oil usage, you can do it also.

Can yu imagine how much oil we could save in this country if every driver was able to cut out even only 2 gallons a week and every building was able to use 1 gallon less of heating oil per month?

Drive Throughs

2008-03-08T11:03:00.000-05:00

I have a pet peeve, and it is one of the few areas my wife and I disagree, and that is the use of drive through windows. We complain about Americans getting obese, and how they don't exercise enough, but society makes it so easy not to get any exercise. We get in our cars and drive to the bank and drive up to the window, and complete our transactions, we then drive to the pharmacy and pick up our prescriptions at the drive up window. we then go to McDonald's and drive up to the window get our fat filled lunch super sized and then pull into a parking place and eat it. I have even heard of drive through bars in at least one state, tell me is that makes any sense at all???? At least drive in movies are pretty much a thing of the past at least in New Hampshire. But this whole time we never gt out of the car and walked anywhere.

Now I am not saying I am in the best of shape, but I despise drive up windows I prefer to park my car or truck and walk in to transact my business in person rather than through a microphone. At least I get a little exercise, and rather than drive around the parking lot looking fr a spot closest to the door, I don't mind walking across a parking lot a fair distance to get to the store. I think drive up windows are a very negative impact on our society. We try to make things to easy for ourselves. It isn't a lot of extra work to walk a few feet into the store. to get what you need. And then to top it off and add insult to injury it seems like in a lot of locations with drive up windows the lazy people in the car have priority over the people who walk in to do their business in person, so reward them for not wanting to walk anywhere.

MEDIOCRITY

2008-03-03T23:00:00.000-05:00

MEDIOCRITY

I live a life

That’s different you see

I live a life

Of abstract mediocrity

Ideas of glory

That I see

Die the death

Of insidious mediocrity

Ideas I have

The light of day they never see

They go down

In a blaze of mediocrity

Thoughts I dream

When confronted by a PhD

Wither on the vine

Of complete mediocrity.

To aid the human race

A dream I see

Gets mired down

In the muck of mediocrity

From a family of money

I may not be

But I can aspire

To the heights of mediocrity

Dreams of successes

As a child wee

As an adult I aspire

To raise above mediocrity

My thoughts are all there

And the visions I see

I get told are full

Of complete mediocrity

To be taken seriously

I seek to be

But all that I get

Is the glare of mediocrity?

A voice of velvet

It will never be

I sing my way

Around in mediocrity

Some people do tell

That greatness is in me

But the ones in the know

Say I am bound to mediocrity

Ideas do flow

And people agree

When they are mine

They remain in mediocrity

If ideas are others

Places they see

But when they are mine

They mire in mediocrity

How I do strive

To put in my life some electricity

And bring my lot

Above that of utter mediocrity

The harder I strive

The more that I try

The more I fail

To get out of mediocrity.

Maybe I should resign

And accept I will be

Continually bogged down

In a field of mediocrity

Stories I hear

Of escaping the bonds that tie

May people down

In the blues of mediocrity

Though shrug the bonds

I try

The people around push me back

Down in the depths of mediocrity

When an education

I continued to see

Those in the know

Tried to confirm my mediocrity

When it comes time, argue

Who am I to be

The scholars tell me

I should be content with mediocrity.

This poem seems to have become a biography of my life. Though I struggle and try to fight my way out, I seem never to be able to shrug the bound of a mediocrity or obscurity.Everything I do is overshadowed by the accomplishments of someone else. I do not even really seem to have an identity of my own. When I was in high school, I was constantly asked if I was Bill or Pam's brother. When I was first married everyone introduced me or identified me as Henry Parson's son in law. When he passed away I felt that identity would finally pass away, and then people would identify me as Janet's husband. In the course of my work I run into to people who ask me if I am the Bartoswicz who does the furniture refinishing, which of course was my brother, who hasn't done that work in several years.

The key that really hit home that I was somewhat mediocre, and obscure was an article recently in the newspaper thanking the work of the Effingham Budget Committee for their work and the writer identified me as Frank Bartoswicz. I walked out of church on Sunday and in passing a lady of the church I said hello to her with the response of a blank stare, yet when my wife walked by her, she responded to my wife by touching her arm and exclaiming how nice it was to see her. I seem to be a shadow that just blends in with the background, almost a non entity. I go out of my way to respond to people and let them know I care. I'd give the shirt off my back if that is what is needed. I am a simple man and do not require a lot to keep me happy. To have e few people outside of my family notice my blog and comment on it, to have my book be even moderately succesful would make me happy, but what would make me even happier is to have people recognize me for me not as an extension of someone else. I am a person in my own right not Khrys' Dad, or Janet's Husband, I have my own accomplishments and my own joys and sorrows.

Light of our Lives

2008-03-02T07:42:00.001-05:00

After yet another snow storm in New Hampshire this winter, it brings the growing piles of snow even higher in front of my windows. After clearing out the driveway for the umpteenth this winter, I again went out on my snowshoes. This time was a lot harder than some of my previous expeditions because I was sinking almost knee deep in fresh powder, and it was tiring, but as I got up closer to the crest in the field behind my house I was greeted with the scene at the top of this entry. As I often do, I reflected on how this is an illustration of our lives. No matter how dark and bleak our lives seem, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. If Jesus is in our lives he supports us as I have said in some of my previous posts, but He also lights our world and gives us hope and illumination. There are some who would try to tell you that organized religion is nothing but a method of keeping the masses down and locked in despair. I am telling you that it is just the opposite, a strong faith and belief system give us the hope we need to go on in an increasingly crazy world. It gives us a structure of morals and values to work with and base our lives. With this belief system we can see the light ahead illuminating our way on the road of life, and when the road seems darkest, alight bursts forth giving us guidance and hope in our lives.

Pride

2008-03-01T09:08:00.000-05:00

As I sit here in my living room, looking out at a pile of snow in front of my windows, and know that more snow is falling. Yes they are calling for another foot+ of snow.

I was reflecting on Barack Obama's wife that for the first time in her lifetime she is proud of this country. I was thinking about this statement. She is proud because the country in her words is hungry for change. Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama just celebrated her 44th birthday in January, and this is the first time in her life she can be proud of this country. Let us look back at the time line of the country and see what she is not proud of.

1969 when she is five years old, Neil Armstrong walks on the moon, a feat that was unimaginable just ten years prior, and no other country in the world has been able to accomplish.

1970 The United States created the Environmental Protection Agency recognizing the fact we need to do something to protect the environment around us.

1973 Skylab is launched into space

1980 The Miracle On Ice. The United States Olympic Hockey beats the USSR and goes on for the Gold Medal. definitely brought a lump to my throat when they did

1981 Space Shuttle Columbia launched on its maiden voyage the first of

Every four years 1968,1972,1976,1980,1984,1988,1992,1996,2000,2004, and we are in the midst of it again there is the chance for a peaceful overthrow of power in the highest level of our government

1983 the liberation of our medical students in Grenada, an operation I was proud to have been a part of albeit a very small part.

1980-1988 the Presidency of Ronald Reagan who during which time we saw the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the breakup of the Soviet Union

1990 Hubble Space Telescope Launched and activated

Not to mention how proud I was of the people in this country in their pulling together after such disasters of such magnitude as the Oklahoma City Bombing, Katrina, The Earthquakes in California ,and the rebuilding after each one. Seeing men like Paul Dorian from my church go forth to help people reclaim their lives in Mississippi after the devastation of Katrina, not once but several times. The way the country pulled together after 9/11.

I am proud of this country every time I stand up to the playing of the national anthem. I am proud of this country every time I see a man or woman in uniform walk past me. I am proud of this country every time I see the flag flying proudly above me whether it be in my yard r any public space. I am proud of this country every time I witness a protest of one sort or anther, because we have the right to protest for whatever reason we see fit.

I am proud of this country for many reasons, at many times over my almost 50 years n this earth why can't Michelle Obama find a few reasons to be proud in her 44 years. Her husband has achieved levels of accomplishment that in prior Generations would never have been possible. Is it a perfect society we live in? No, not by any stretch of the imagination, but it is a society that is willing to grow admit its problems and look for ways to change them. Yes this is a country that has taken on change many times in its History. In 1972 after a country weary from Vietnam put a democrat White House out and put a republican one in who got us out of the war. In 1980 a country weary of "scandal" in the White House put a democrat back in power. We have been a country of change on many fronts, and I believe we will be a country of change for many years to come in the future.

Stand up and show your pride in the country in which we live. It may not be perfect but we try and we have been and always be open to change

Support

2008-02-24T17:27:00.000-05:00

I have now been rebitten by the snowshoeing bug. I went out again this afternoon fr abut 1 1/2 hours. I trekked over the field and down into the woods beyond. My dog Regal was having a ball running on the snow. Being light enough she just skimmed the surface of the snow supported by the icy crust below the surface. before I get totally into the gist of this post I do have to relate a story. When I got down to the bottom of the access road to the wood lot, I noticed some old moose tracks, and wanting to get a picture of the depth of the snow for Anya, at college I put one pole into the hoof print and another pole even with the surface of the snow to show her the approximate depth of the snow in the woods. I looked up and Regal was gone so I whistled and called for her. Just then I heard a nise of branches snapping and turned around just in time to see a large brown shadow about 50 feet away moving off into the woods. The moose who made the tracks had made his appearance. I snowshoed down to where I had seen him and found an obviously fresh pile of his leavings still partially steaming, and a spot where he had obviously lain down in the snow. When my breathing evened out I could hear him off in the background crashing through the branches in the woods. Regal heard him too, and was not to eager to leave my side.

Now for the main reason for my post, as I have a penchant for and as the three pastors who preach at my church often say, I am always looking for illustrations to base my writings and musings on as they are always looking for sermon illustrations. During this trek out through my field, and on into the woods I was noticing how well the snowshoes held me up on some of the deepest snow we have had in a long time. They would sink down briefly into the soft powder on top but the overall size of the snowshoe and the webbing would keep me up on the surface of the snow. If I did not have them on I would be breaking through not only the powdery layer but also the crusty surface underneath and buried in snow most likely up past my knees. I would tire out very easily, and most likely not get very far. With the snow shoes I would be able to just sink briefly into the powder but the snowshoe would spread my bulky weight out over the entire expanse of the shoe and support me on the crust underneath. Occasionally I would crack the crust but not sink very far into the snow at all.

The illustration I found this supports is my walk with Christ. My belief in God is like the snowshoe. He keeps me buoyed up in the quagmire of life's trial and tribulations. I break through the surface of the muck of life, but with God's support through my belief in Christ helps keep me from getting bogged down like being stuck in quicksand. Our lives are not completely trouble free, and God does allow us to get into scrapes and situations, but belief in Him does help support us form getting bogged down in the mire of despair that we could be. He is the snowshoe that keeps us on the surface and traveling down the path. In a note written by Sue Dorian thanking people for their support after the passing of her dear husband Paul, she noted that she could rejoice in his passing because she knew through her belief tat Paul was with God in heaven, but on the earthly side there was a void in her life now that could never be filled. Her belief in Christ is keeping her from getting to mired down in the snows of life, that our earthly bodies can find ourselves

Cold and Impersonal?

2008-02-23T15:46:00.000-05:00

I can't believe it has been three weeks since I last posted on my blog. Time sure has a way from slipping away from us. It has been a a hectic three weeks and there is a lot to be excited abut. With the Budget Committee for town we wrapped up our meetings and the public hearing and submitted all our paperwork to the town and the state. I have also become involved in the committee to bring the moving wall to Center Ossipee for Memorial Day Weekend of all days. I have been asked to serve on the executive committee for the project and we are all very excited about this opportunity. The honor of this appearance of the wall on such a solemn holiday is immense.

Now to the reason for this post. I got tired today of being house bound because of the depth of the snow in the yard. The weather was fantastic, about 4 inches of fresh powder sat on top of the ice encrusted snow out in the field, all four feet of compacted snow. I went out int he barn and dug out my old snowshoes which I have had for about 30 years. They are made by an old Indian in a traditional style. Varnished wood and gut webbing with a modified neoprene binding. There is a basic simplicity to the design of these shoes. They have been hand crafted and worked with a quality that is hard to imagine. Tref Bolduc was the maker of the shoes with a quality that is seldom seen today. The warmth and sturdiness of these wooden shoes can not be equaled by the cold impersonal metal contraptions they sell today. Yes the newer models may be lighter weight and easier to care for but they lose the personality of the traditional snowshoe.

This is so true in all aspects of our society. We go for the cold and the impersonal rather than the warmth and caring. Rather than the local hardware store or lumberyard people shop at Lowes, and Home Depot. Rather than the local supermarket people shop at the warehouse stores such as Sams and BJ's. The cold and impersonal has become the mainstay of our society rather than the customer service of the smaller stores.

When I as out at a training class for Pella they gave us a book about customer service. The gist of the book was about how to make you customers happy, and give the personal touch. There are several stories in this book about how people have made the difference. The first story is about a boy with Downs Syndrome who wanted to make his mark on the customers of the store for which he worked. He decided he could find a quote of the day and print it out and put one in each customers order as he bagged the order. The result of this little initiative was people were willing to wait in line for Johnny's quote of the day. His personal little touch made each persons day just that much more enjoyable. People would stop by the store daily just to buy a small item so they could get Johnny's quote. Other departments started doing small little things for their customers as well making the store a much friendlier place to shop. I reflect on this often as I watch my wife go about her daily job at a small grocery store. She takes the time to make her customers experience in the store much more pleasurable. There was on little lady who unfortunately passed away recently, but she would come by the store and being legally blind she could not see the things she needed to get, so Janet would take her around the store and help her do her shopping. She jokes with customers and tries to make their visit to the store a more pleasurable one. She refers to them all as her customers. She enjoys her job and she tries to show that to each and every customer that walks through the store.

I don't know why we settle for inferior products and impersonal service. We seem to have grown used to it as a normal course of life. I usually shop at Freedom Hardware, when you go to the counter and ask for an item someone comes out from behind the counter and takes you to the product you are looking for. Recently I had to go to another Hardware store in the are to get something. I walked up to the counter and asked where the gaskets were, one guy just pointed in the general direction of the stairs, another said it was downstairs. When I went down the stairs there was an employee sitting at a work table downstairs , just sitting there not really doing anything, I again asked for the gaskets and he just pointed to a rack. When I was over at the gaskets I was hesitant about which one I needed, he never asked if he could help me, or what exactly I needed, he just kind of grunted at me about the whole think being kind of complicated. This is a prime example f what our customer service has become.

I have been a salesman most of my adult life, and I am a customer service fanatic. I believe follow though is one of the most important things you can do.When I sell a customer a window package I try to give them a small gift to show my appreciation for their order. It may be something as simple as a framed poem I wrote, or a copy of my book. I did a job once for a gentleman who was restoring a camp back to original condition. It had a lot of native American decorations, so I found a small knick knack that fit in with the decor of the house. He loved it.

Let's put the customer and the service back in customer service, and not settle for the inferior service that we seem to have become used to.

When you can't afford it

2008-02-02T10:51:00.000-05:00

I was in a training class for Pella Windows with a gentleman from Idaho, when we were leaving the training session we got to the airport in Des Moines Iowa well ahead of our scheduled flight departure, so we grabbed a bite to eat in one of the airport restaurants, and believe me there are not a lot to choose from in Des Moines. However while the group of us were eating lunch, Greg said something his father had told him once, and that was "If you can't afford it, buy the best" I thought this was kind of a strange statement to make, as if you can't afford it you tend to buy whatever is the cheapest, or least expensive. The conversation then drifted off to business prospects and how we were viewing the building industry in different parts of the country, and sports teams and all the other little mundane things you talk about when you are waiting for a flight in an airport.

On the flight home I thought about that comment a little bit, and then put it out of my mind, but I kept finding it came back to me and I think about it a lot, and the more I think about it the more I realize, that it is absolutely true. When we can't afford things we tend to buy the bargain basement products, because they are cheap, and that is exactly what they are cheap. they don't stand up and they tend to wear out a lot faster than if you had invested some more money and bought a little more expensive of an item. I think about some of my investments in products. My wife and I live in a very old New England Farm House at the Gale Farm. It was moved to where it now stands in 1840 and the construction techniques used in the house seem to show it was built in the early to mid 1700's. When we bought the house it needed a lot of work to say the least, and one of the things it needed was windows. I tried to save the old windows but the frames where rotting and the glazing wouldn't stay put, as well as I may have just as well had a big hole in the wall to let the heat out of the house. We were newly married, and having just got out of the service, I did not have a lot of money to invest, I bought the cheapest windows I could find, because come on, every one knows a window is just a window, right? Well I put the windows in the house, and it did make the house a little more heating friendly, but when I look back at houses I call on that had put in a little more expensive of a window, they are not having to think about replacing the windows again, and they are not having to fuss with storm window units. and they are not having to put plastic up over their windows when the temps drop below freezing to keep the cold from coming into the house. Yes I paid less for my windows, but how much more have I paid for storm windows and heat and labor over the years in order to save a few dollars up front. There are many aspects of this adage. Tools, I have bought the cheapest tools I can find because they will work just as well only to have them snap, batteries wear out well ahead of time, strip out , and a myriad of other complaints.

I see the same things in batteries. As typical kids today my kids have the toys, IPODS, Cameras, and a myriad of other electronic gadgets, and I have seen them buy the bargain basement batteries and have to replace them in only a couple of days because they wear out, when I invested in a rechargeable battery system for them they have cut down on battery usage big time and in the long run the charger and rechargeable batteries end up costing a heck of a lot less money in the long run. SO the next time you go to the store and think about buying the cheapest, is it going to be the cheapest in the long run, or is it going to cost you a lot more money over time than a little larger cost up front.

2008-01-30T06:33:00.000-05:00

I was going to wait to unveil this piece, and my plans today was to write a piece to honor Paul Dorian, who's time on this earth was cut short last Thursday evening. I will mis his memorial service today due to work commitments. However the more I thought about it, the more I realized this piece was very appropriate for Paul's life. Please read and celebrate Paul's life and journey on earth.

It is a long piece but from the heart.

212 Degrees

Judges 16:23-30

Have you ever seen the screws also known as the propellers on a large ship? They are immense. I had the opportunity to stand beside a pair for an LPD in a dry dock and they dwarfed me as I stood next to them.. I don’t remember the weight on them but it was a very heavy amount, and the shafts that they attach to aren’t just toothpicks either. While I was in the Navy I was always amazed at the engineering types. They lived most of their lives below decks in the bowels of the ship working their magic that made the ship work. When you did see them above deck they always looked like their eyes were closed in a permanent squint in the foreign sun. I always thought they preferred to emerge from their catacombs in the peaceful serenity of the new moon so the sky was as foreign to them.. They sequestered themselves for hours on end in the nether reaches of the ship in such places as the boiler room, shaft alley, and the machine rooms. When they did emerge they always had this oily dinginess about them that never did quite come out. They were the givers of life to the ship. Without them working their magic in the black hole of the engine spaces, the ship wouldn’t move, the guns couldn’t aim, the radios wouldn’t work once the batteries died. In short without the engineers our glorious Navy would basically be a bunch of big piles of steel rusting away in the ocean. One of the things that the purveyors of Naval life understand is the difference that one extra degree can make. Many people talk of the advantages of going to the Celsius scale where water freezes at zero and boils at 100 degrees. How many of you know the Fahrenheit scale is based on the comfort range of the human body 0 was commonly thought to be the lower end of the comfort range for a moderately dressed man and 100 degrees is the upper range of that scale where the human body is comfortable. Of course we know now that there are other factors such as wind and humidity that play into the equation., as well as length of exposure. But using this premise as a basis, water at 100 degrees is fairly comfortable for the human body for a period of time. I have been told because I am not a coffee drinker that 180 degrees is the ideal temperature for a cup of coffee, so we could safely say 180 degrees is hot. Water at 211 degrees would be very hot, wouldn’t you agree?

But we know from basic chemistry, not one of my better subjects, and basic physics, which I enjoyed more, that water boils at 212 degrees, and boiling water transforms the water from a liquid to a gas we call steam.. Steam under the right circumstances can be used to produce a power that drives the huge propellers that move a ship through the water. Without going into it the steam is heated even higher than 212 degrees under pressure to become superheated steam, but it requires that 212 degrees to become the steam in the first place, and steam is required to turn the massive shafts that drive the propeller that pushes the ship through the water. If there are any naval engineering types out there I apologize for the simplicity of my explanation here, but it is the essence of how the system works that illustrates my point. It is that one degree that takes the water from the very hot, or scalding hot, to the driving force turning not only those massive propellers, but driving many tons of steel though the ocean at very impressive speeds. Aircraft carriers for example The USS RONALD REAGAN displaces 104,000 tons, ONE HUNDRED FOUR THOUSAND TONS. Think about that for a moment how heavy that ship is….ONE HUNDRED FOUR THOUSAND TONS. And it is propelled by steam. The vaporous form of lowly water that we all take for granted. It is nuclear powered but the nuclear power is just a way to heat the water and bring it to steam. Think of the power that one extra degree can produce. Can you imagine one hundred four thousand tons driving though the water at over 30 knots? 30 knots being a nautical mile is the same as driving your car at 34 miles per hour. The actual top speed is more than that but is classified. ONE HUNDRED FOUR THOUSAND TONS OF STEEL, with six thousand give or take men, and almost one hundred aircraft driven by steam. Not only does steam drive that massive ship though the water, it is also used to launch aircraft form a standing start to flying speed in an amazingly short distance. I once was told that the catapult of a carrier could launch a Cadillac up to one half a mile , now that is power. Steams launch those wonders of Naval aviation so they can ply the sky above the seas. One extra degree takes plain water and produces not only power, but mighty power, impressive power, unstoppable power.

I saw a film once while I was in the navy, of a high pressure steam leak. You couldn’t see the steam leaking out of the pipe, but you could hear it hissing it’s deadly warning. The instructor waved a broom handle through the path of the steam leak, and it cut the handle cleanly through as if it had been cut by an invisible saw. Now that is power. It is the power that that extra degree gives you.

In our passage today Samson summoned up that extra degree when he asked God to help him one last time. He summoned that extra degree that God gave him and brought the temple down on the Philistines. Samson could have just given up and let himself be put to death but he summoned that extra degree and went down in a blaze of glory.

Abraham summoned up that extra degree of courage when he put his pride and joy son on the alter to sacrifice. Noah showed the extra degree when even though he was probably subject to tons of ridicule and jeers while he was building the ark in preparation to the flood. Daniel showed the extra degree and tolerated the extra degree when he was cast into the fiery furnace with Meshach, Shadrech and Abednego. They all showed that extra degree of confidence that God would take care of them. Moses wavered but did show the extra degree in trusting God by leading the Israelites out of Egypt. In the sermons John Babson has been preaching Nehemiah turned up the extra degree and rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem.

What can we do if we apply that extra degree. We work on a daily basis some of you in an office, some in a factory, my wife works in a grocery store, and my 16 year old daughter works in a restaurant. Both of them show that extra degree in their jobs. My daughter is respected and well liked by the people she works with because she puts her all into the job. She doesn’t treat it as a lowly job of bussing tables she looks at as an opportunity to grow in responsibility, and in herself. My wife Janet works at Valuland as a cashier. People I run into all the time tell me how lucky I am to have her as a wife, and I am truly very thankful for that. What makes her special is she smiles and greets people, she makes them feel very special when they are at her register. She makes them feel like they are the most important person in the store when she is dealing with them. She goes the extra mile to remember what they like and how they like their groceries bagged. When she can she helps those who are struggling out with their groceries. I have had people tell me how upset they are when they go into the store and learn that Janet is not working on that day. Janet turns up the heat that extra degree and goes form being hot to being a driving force in what she does. She tries not to drag people down, even on days when I have seen her drag herself out of bed in excruciating pain, and come home in so much pain she was in tears, she still makes her customers the most important feature in the store.

I work on the road in sales, and I meet all kinds of people, form the ones that make you feel like you are an imposition on them for being a salesman to the ones who make you feel like you are their long lost brother. I know how hard it is to keep that smile on you face and work to get the person the right product of their needs, and it is not always what I have to sell. I struggle to find that extra degree, yet I know how important it is.

Jesus shows us examples of turning up the heat that extra degree all over the gospels. From the feeding of the multitudes at the Sermon on the Mount, He could have just packed it in and told the disciples they didn’t have enough food to take care of all those people. No he dug right in and worked his miracles. He raised Lazarus form the dead. He healed the lepers. Where in the Gospels can you not find an example of Christ turning up the heat. Right to the end of his earthly ministry when he was nailed to the cross and sacrificed for our sins. And guess what, he didn’t stop there, he rose again and overcame the bounds of death, he walked with and talked with His disciples and prepared them for the trials and the work ahead so they could in turn, turn up the heat to become a driving force in society. They were the steam that got the mighty juggernaut of Christianity going, and we are the steam that keeps it moving forward instead of becoming a rusting hulk in the ocean of society as many churches have a tendency to do.

God is always asking us to turn up the heat and put out that extra degree. He wants us to be a driving force in society instead of society being a driving force on us.. The First Congregational of Ossipee has gone from being a hot church to being a superheated church. FCCO is more than a force in the confines of Ossipee, it is more than just a driving force in the confines of this lovely valley. The extra degree that God demands of us has taken this church beyond Carroll County, beyond the borders of New Hampshire. That driving force has taken us out of Northern New England, and even out of New England overall. God’s driving power has broken the bounds of the nations borders. FCCO is a driving force in the world. By applying that extra degree that God has demanded of us It has driven FCCO’s reach into Mississippi with Paul Dorian and his group that went down to help rebuild after Katrina. It has manifested itself in the dedication of Rusty Reinhold, and Doug Kimball, and the rest who travel to Haiti to help minister to those in need down their. That extra degree manifests itself in Oscar and Janet while they labor in love in Peru, teaching and spreading God’s word. That extra degree manifested itself in the new Bible they were able to provide to the people they serve. That extra degree drives us to assist missionaries in South Africa, as well as other African countries. It drives our people into the Muslim strongholds of the Middle East. That driving force drives us to support missionaries all over the world.. That driving force drives us to support the missionaries in our own back yard who go into the halls of Kingswood to work with our teens and help them find their own driving force in the world, and to mentor them into that force being a positive rather than negative force.

If that driving force can take a plain quiet, unassuming woman, like my wife and make her a bright spot in many peoples day, how can it change you?

By asking God to apply that one extra degree to your life, could it make you the life change force for that one co-worker, or friend who is looking for something more? By adding that one degree could it make you the shining example that would attract people to FCCO through your example.

By adding that one extra degree could you help even one person break the shackles of a destructive life, of alcohol or drug addiction? By adding that one degree could you bring the pillars of Satan’s temple down that had been built up around someone?

What driving force does God want you to be in today’s society?

This was the life of Paul Dorian. He turned up the heat in everything he did. He was a moving force, and got things done, whether it was raking the beach at Loon Lake, organizing a work party at church, or organizing a mission trip to the storm ravaged Gulf Coast after Katrina. I respected and liked Paul deeply, when he greeted me he always did so with a smile and pat on the back and a cheerful Paulie.

Paul I will miss you, but I know through your trust in God and love in Christ, you are in a better place. I do know I am a much better person for having known you.

Slow Down

2008-01-29T06:34:00.000-05:00

I am including a piece I wrote about twenty three years ago, but it is as meaningful today as it was back then.

The Mountains Will Always Be There

It was one of those days that you dread seeing, the pressure of the job was getting to me. The head office had started putting more and more pressure on me to get more and more done and I didn’t have the personnel to get it done. I started the day jumping down one of the shippers throats to get more done. He looked up at me, smiled and said, “Calm down sir, the mountains will always be there.”

The statement flew over my head, as I hustled about trying to get all my jobs done. The pressure just kept piling up, and I kept running around and getting more and more frustrated. The burden on my shoulders kept feeling heavier and heavier. When I finally got home and started reviewing the day’s activities, and planning the next day, I remembered that quote, “Calm down sir, the mountains will always be there.” I looked out over the fields behind my house, and saw those majestic peaks in the distance. The snow covers them all winter in a cloak of white splendor. In the spring the chilling wind whistles between the peaks. In the summer the baking sun basks those peaks in warmth and glory. In the fall they put on their coat of many colors for all to enjoy.

I realize then that no matter what is thrown at them, the freezing snow, the boiling sun, the beating wind, or even the blazing glory, they stay almost virtually unchanged. Yes it was then that I realized, “Calm down sir, the mountains will always be there.”

We live in a time where we seem to always be in a rush. Kids to friends, wife running on this errand or that, and ourselves running off in this direction for one reason and that direction for something else. Meetings, practice, school, events all seem to fill up our lives on a daily basis. We don't take time to smell the roses anymore.

I live in one of the most beautiful areas and people come here all the time for vacations and weekends away, yet even then they seem to always be in a rush, I'll be driving down the road and an out of state car will fly by me at what appears to be the speed of sound. We don't take the time to slow down and really see the beauty around us. When was the last time you noticed a real beautiful sunset, or even sunrise. After a snow storm, have you really taken the time to notice the snow clinging to the firs and pines, and the golden glow of the sunlight on them as it starts to break through the storm clouds? Life is a journey, for some of us it is a long journey, for others it is tragically short, but what we do with that journey is up to us. We have to make the most of it.

One thing our family does is try to have dinner together every night, some nights, yes, it is a hectic time filled with bickering kids, but at others it is a time that we talk and learn. We even say grace and be thankful for that which we are blessed to have, as you should.

So my wish for you today is to slow down smell the roses, and enjoy the beauty that surrounds you each and every day.

My Children

2008-01-28T09:56:00.000-05:00

I wrote the following poem after my oldest Anya was born. It is exactly how I feel about all three f my kids. As we grow older we realize our importance in our children's lives slips away a little bit at a time, until they are independent adults themselves, and then you start being a little more important in their lives again.

To My Child

You came into this world,

at a whirlwind pace.

Even though I resist,

You will grow the same.

Today I hold you in my arms,

And dream of the future.

Tomorrow you take,

the first steps of independence.

Shortly you are on your way to school,

while I watch with a proud heart.

Then you ask,

to borrow the car,

and go on your first real date.

Next you are off,

to college and to make a life of your own.

Then I am holding my grandchild,

remembering holding you,

the same way.

Let us just take,

your life

one day at a time,

and make it last.

It is interesting to see, as I have three daughters all in different stages of their lives. The ldest Anya is going to be 21 in March, is away at college at Eastern Nazarene in Quincy Mass, studying Religion, with hopes f going into youth work. She is getting ready to make her mark on the world. It is comforting to know she still needs her parents every now and then to help her make decisions.

In contrast there is Khrys, the 16 year old high school junior. She is growing more and more independent each day of her life. She seems to be a natural at everything she does from playing clarinet, to skiing, and driving. She works two jobs and takes them both very seriously, and they have become a priority in her life, as she strives to become independent from us. She too, is striving to make her mark on life, and puts her all into everything she does. In some ways she is the biggest mystery at this age, because one minute she acts so mature and set n her path, and then in the next she is playing the little girl who needs her parents to lean on and help her out.

The we have Grace all 10 years old of her. She too is striving fr that independence. One of my greatest thrills in my daily routine is the fact that Janet has to be at work by 8 o'clock in th morning most mornings, and my job being a little more flexible, is waiting for the bis with Grace in the morning. Her inquisitiveness in the world around her is fun to see. Again on a lesser scale she acts like a little girl totally dependent on us one minute, and the next she is trying to spread her wings and act so adult. Last Saturday night she went to first dance, she had to get all dressed up, and act like a lady. Dances at that age are fun from a parents point of view, the boys on one side of the gym , and the girls on the other trying to look all grown up.

We have to remember that we have t take each day as it comes and enjoy the opportunities they produce, because you never know how short they can be. It is so easy to say we can do that tomorrow, but tomorrow may never come. It seems like the days fly by so quickly, one day they are there, and the next you wake up and there is an empty bed in the house, and your contact is through the mail and over the phone, until they come home on vacation and bring their dirty laundry for mom to do.

When Did I Get Old?

2008-01-27T15:39:00.000-05:00

Several things happened to me recently that made me ask myself this question. When did I get old? When did life speed by and leave me in the past? My daughter asked me to volunteer and help the Kingswood Ski Team setting up the race courses the other day. In a previous time I would have been to busy to be bothered with such mundane stuff, but in recent times I have realized how important it is to be able to do the small things with your family and friends. So I told her to tell the coach I would help. We got to the ski area and I rushed to get my equipment on, and proceeded up the mountain and with a special “wrench” in hand I proceeded to screw down the gates for the slalom course. It didn’t take to long for me to realize I am not as young as I used to be, my legs ached from standing on skis on such a steep incline, my shoulders ached from turning the wrench to force the screw on the bottom of the gate into the frozen snow. I wondered when the task would ever end as I looked down the mountain at the long snaking line of gates running to the finish line. I realize I am not as young as many with children my age as I was in my early thirties when Khrys was born. Later that day I was skiing down a black diamond with my daughter, I was at the top of the trail and Khrys started down the hill, I followed behind her watching her carve a line down the mountain. I believe I blinked once, and when I looked down the mountain she was gone.

I realized how that is with our children. We raise them and think they will always be there, but when we blink, and our eyes reopen they are grown and gone starting a life of their own independent of us. All we can hope is that we raised them properly and equipped them to live a life that would make us proud as parents. I remembered this little girl at my side when I was first teaching her how to ski. She held my hand and looked up at me with trusting eyes, as we waited for the chair lift to come around and take us up the mountain. Like most protective fathers, when the chair came around and hit me in the back of the calf, and forced us to sit in the seat, I reached in front of her to make sure she didn’t slip from the chair, as I brought the safety bar down. I took her down the mountain prodding her to remember her turns instead of barreling straight down the mountain. She was the headstrong one, and she tried my patience as we worked our way down the mountain. I then realized that I should put her in lessons. She was little more advanced than a straight beginner, but not yet up to the next level, so I sprung for private lessons for her, but being the protective Dad I hung back behind the lesson and watched her listen to the instructor and do as she was told. When her lesson was over I talked to the instructor, and he told me that this little girl with wide blue eyes had a natural talent when it came to putting skis on her feet. I remembered that as I looked down the trail and saw the graceful curves of her trail going down the snow. She is a natural at life, she takes things in stride, and moves on with pride and determination that she is going to make her mark on life in her own way. She is no longer that little girl that holds my hand and trusts I will make everything okay and safe for her. I realized then that I had grown older, and was no longer the required leader I her life, but in many ways a bystander, standing back watching her meet life head on. In many ways I realize she still does need me, but I also realize that I have to stand back and let her make her way in life.

I then look at my own fallibility and frailness as I reflect back on slipping on the ice and giving myself a concussion, with the headache that accompanies it. Then I was told by my wife that a friend of the family had passed away form a heart attack in his garage. I realize how short life really is. Earlier in December the music director from the high school’s life ebbed out after a battle with cancer. Time is short and we grow old and deteriorate, so take life one day at a time, and enjoy each and every moment as if it could be your last.