- Childhood may be the highest growth years for many
people, but it doesn't have to be that way.
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- Old 1950's films portrayed our future homes as have pushbutton
controlled doors, cupboards and just about everything else. But it became
far worse than even visionaries of fifty years ago could imagine.
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- Our civilized western world has become dangerously push-button
oriented, thanks to today's electronic toys which people now claim they
can't live without. I would venture to say that today's 20 year old adults
might be able to use a GPS but cannot read a map. They probably
can't handle re-folding back together, but would jump on-line to find out
how. Thinking has become a burden to most people, sadly enough.
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- Social engineers behind the scenes manipulate everyone's
life as much as they possibly can. There are many tools used to accomplish
their goals. Accepting second best is just one of them. We're not talking
about buying the most expensive car, home or boat that you can.
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- In America, many children growing up will hear a
phrase at some point like, "You can be anything you want to be in
life, even president someday." Of course, the reality about being
president someday is one thing, and being an engineer, teacher, scientist,
lawyer or other professional is quite another. The desire to be president,
a moving target for negative opinions and flying bits of lead should be
a questionable goal.
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- What does our push-button world have to do with second
best? Everything! As human beings we have the highest intellect on the
planet. For about 300+ million North American people and perhaps 100+ million
more Europeans that intellect often goes unused. A human brain weighs about
3 pounds. Added up that's more than ONEBILLION POUNDS of gray matter
that gets out of bed each day, eats, works, plays, loves and goes back
to bed completely oblivious to the manipulation. This waste of brain power
is staggering to say the least. Imagine how great life will be if ALL of
that brain power was used to its fullest capacity!
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- For many decades an advertisement ran on television in America about
the United Negro College Fund (UNCF.) Many readers will remember their
slogan which had a simple but poignant message: "A mind is a terrible
thing to waste." At no time in Earth's history has such a message
been as important as it is today. Why this ad no longer airs is unknown.
But for those behind the scenes dumbing down the civilized world, the UNCF
message is clearly anti-message for social engineers who are paid the big
bucks to dumb down people.
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- We have social engineers completely screwing up our lives.
Marketing people who could care less about what their products do to people,
either physically or mentally. There are war-crazed leaders who only care
about world domination. News shows that censor and sanitize the news to
make people think a certain way. All of us are fighting against this black
tide and in no way can we give up now.
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- Millions in the civilized western world they live with
a fear of bills in the mail, fake terrorists, bill collectors, electric
or gas company shutoff, process servers pounding on the door and finding
food to eat for the day. This is their daily life. There are those who
earned this lifestyle by excessive spending, and those who have not. And
then Earthquakes hit and add even a bigger fear factor.
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- We can let all fear run our lives or we can take charge
and fight it. Each of us is the master of our own vessel. It's time to
grab the helm and start steering our own ships again and stop letting others
chart our course.
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- Second best creeps into the picture as people are flooded
in their daily lives with endless tedium and BS to attend to. When money
is stretched tight, people start thinking about "making do."
This phrase is quite common with the British. This phrase is demeaning
and a pet peeve with me.
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- "Making do" is just another phrase for settling
for second best.
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- To settle for second best is an admission of failure;
another F word with more than four letters. In our home we don't ever use
this word. It is an absolute, a final concession something didn't work
as planned, a dead end. A hurdle is a curse and associated with
the F word that can be difficult for anyone to jump over. A "setback"
is a far better word to use. Human beings are inherently programmable both
overtly and covertly, and we are influenced by the words we choose to use.
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- Hearing and seeing our own words programs us.
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- There are enough social engineers and marketing experts
already feverishly pushing the wrong buttons in the minds of hundreds of
millions of people. Let's push our right buttons, not the wrong ones.
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- Contrary to common belief, realistic goals in life are
always attainable. We can change reality in more ways than we many realize.
Sometimes it takes less time than expected to reach our goal, sometimes
more. Sometimes it requires more work than we thought, sometime less.
But any goal or profession that will help others at the same time will
be doubly rewarding. Focusing and working on our goal EVERY day is important.
It isn't always the work you do each day toward that goal that's important,
but the fact you do SOMETHING on it each day to keep it moving forward.
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- Have you ever looked at a piano hinge? It's that long,
continuous hinge often used on storm doors and piano tops. In the center
of the hinge is a long piece of steel wire about the diameter of a pencil
lead. Without that wire the door or piano top would fall off. America is
that steel wire of the world's economy. If America falls so will
the world economically and perhaps militarily with it. It's the job of
every American to help prevent that from happening. Work hard toward your
own goals, doing it with a certainty in your mind they will be attained
and they will. Take a firm hold of your ship's wheel and start steering!
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- No one can overlook the economic troubles we have today.
Yet life must go forward. Despite the worst acts of others, life is a huge
cast of characters on a stage the size of the world itself. We're all on
stage and in the audience at the same time and there is no script other
than the one we write for ourselves.
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- There remain roles for everyone in life from store clerks
to doctors, engineers, teachers and more. In high school, children today
need to identify what it is they want to do in life and not go along with
what someone thinks they are best suited for by guidance counselors. Looking
at a student's grades for five minutes says nothing about what they think
or want in life.
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- Recently I had a conversation with a wonderful friend
of mine I've had the privilege to know for more than 20 years. He made
many quiet contributions to science and technology as an adult. His work
furthered technology for instrumentation, astronomy, the space program,
aerospace and much more.
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- Although he grew up on a rural farm he did quite well
in high school. In 1956 his high school guidance counselor met with him
and advised him to go into agriculture. When my friend asked him why, the
counselor said "Well, you grew up on a farm. You should be good at
it."
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- But being the advanced thinker he always has been, he
steadfastly disagreed and did what he wanted to do after graduation. He
went into the USAF and MIT and went on to be a true innovator and patent
holder. If he had gone along with his guidance counselor's recommendation
none of his contributions to our world's technology would have happened.
Some people are cut out to be farmers while others are not.
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- If we look at history, we see clear evidence that a war,
major shakeup or change is required to prevent stagnation. In American
history there was the Boston Tea Party, Revolutionary War, Civil War and
other events that created milestones for change. Without these events everything
would have continued as they were to this day. Without the revolutionary
war, Americans would be speaking with a British accent and paying bigger
taxes to the crown, and be given a lease on land to build their homes instead
of owning just as is done in England today. No American would
have the right to own the land their home is on. For Americans today, it's
unthinkable to build a home on land owned by someone else. In fact, no
bank would finance such a mortgage.
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- Change is the essence of growth and improving life.
Humans don't like change but are creatures of habit. But change is as essential
to life as the air we breathe. Without change we whither and die like a
grape left on the vine until the frost comes.
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- Second best is only another way to make people
give up. Never accept it, and take control of your own helm in life. Otherwise,
is there any real point to living? Yes, we are the captains of our own
ship regardless of whatever we may have been led to believe. Let's stop
bellyaching and get on with it!
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- Ted Twietmeyer
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- <mailto:tedtw@frontiernet.net>tedtw@frontiernet.net
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