Muah

Literally, hugs and kisses to all of you who have, through thick and thin, supported me in even the smallest measure. And praise be to the Lord Almighty without whom I would be nothing! 

I am in absolute awe of the miracles I have been a part of. I will, for the rest of my life, look back on my experience in Haiti and know, unequivicably, that this is where the rubber meets the ashpalt, faith-wise. I came here with so many expectations that soon were modified in the most negative of ways. I had serious lapses in my faith and even had to seriously consider the salience of my choice to come down here. 

In the last 5 days I have had to really evaluate my reasons for doing this, and now am so much firmer in my conviction that the choice to give up a year in my life was not really my own. There is nothing I am doing down here that is for my benefit alone, and yet, everything I am doing is for my benefit. 

I have grown so much as a person since I have been here. I just don't even know how to begin to describe the personal growing pains I have been through since moving down here. 

You just can't make this stuff up! 

Anyhoo, I will sit down and try to put this experience into some media or another when I finally figure out which media is my voice when all the dust settles on this journey of discovery. 

Till then, Peace!

Why I hate apologizing

Okay, so the first step in recovery is to admit you have a problem. The thing I hate about admitting I have a problem is that it often time lets others off the hook, when they are clearly in part to blame.

A gun without ammo

Once, when I was stationed in North Carolina, one week a month I was made to go on guard duty. While on guard duty, we had to stay at the guard shack to act as a reactionary force in case there was any kind of trouble that required a ready force. Also, the station was divided into 15 posts, and each guard had to stand a post for a four hour period every 12 hours. While on guard, each Marine was given 5 rounds to keep in their rifle magazine. We were admonished at length about the amount of red tape and trouble we would expose ourselves to if we did indeed discharged our weapon.

One of those posts involved guarding the ammo dump. The ammo dump was a series of berms about 2 acres long containing enough explosives and bullets to supply a small war. On each end of the ammo dump there was a 20 foot high guard tower. We were to stand guard on this guard tower for 45 minutes out of each hour, and then climb down to walk the length of the compound and check for any suspicious activity. One other thing about the guard tower duty, there was a she-bear living in the adjacent woods and she had two bear cubs that she was still weaning. 

The rules were clear, these bears were protected by the government. We were, under no circumstances, to shoot these bears. Even if our lives were in grave danger, we would surely go to prison the rest of our natural lives if we so much as sighted in on the bears. So, what if the bear chases us? Climb up the tower was our only option. OK, but what if the bear climbs up the tower? Jump down and hope you don't break your leg so you can run away. Right, but what if we break our leg? Well, you could always shoot yourself, but if you even so much as aim at the bear, or discharge a round into the air, there will be hell to pay. 

So, you want me to do this job. You are giving me the tools to do my job. But I'm not allowed to use them? 

Right...I guess then I should pray I don't encounter a bear, or any other threat to national security.

Stereotypes

I am abundantly clear on the idea that it isn't fair, or just to lump people together based on only a few factors. I have always tried to be as open in my thinking as possible. I am the type of person that prefers to be loved for who I am, not what I am and so this is how I try to view the world. 

So quit trying your hardest to live up to the stereotypes I am trying not to buy into. You aren't helping to change the world view of people with your attitudes and behaviors! 

Stop it!

Facebook Wisdom of the Day #4

Oy! Right then. This explains everything!