Been going to Oriental Pearl lately, but they don't give out fortune cookies for some reason. So tonight, we went back to Orchid of Hawaii and actually had some pretty good Szechuan Shrimp. Best of all, fortune cookies. So I have a new stash to tap for inspiration. So what was today's fortune? it was interesting as I had spent four years in the Air Force.
"Aim High, Time Flies"
Sound familiar Lindsey? Kind of timely on this. I had just been talking to my daughter about school, college, and life in general. i told her, Aim High. That was the Air Force motto for a number of years. The point i was trying to make is that she needed to push herself just beyond where she believed her limits were. if she was going to get the good jobs, get the good colleges, she needed to excel in school now. Otherwise, she may end up having to struggle through life as I have.
We all can take a lesson in this. We can spend our lives just getting by, or we can challenge ourselves to move beyond the limitations. We can do this just an inch at a time. One of the things that has kept me in my job all these years is that I try to keep learning. In computers, you have to. Technology changes about every six months or so. So you are always having to move beyond your comfort zone and learn new things.
While my daughter may think it is a drag to have to study and press herself to do well in school, the second part of the cookie reminds us that time does fly and before she knows it, she will be off and on her own. The lessons she is learning now, both in school and from what we tell her we hope will help her have an easier life than I did. So she has to remind herself that time does fly and soon she will be out of high school and hopefully on to college.
As for myself, well, I do try to Aim High. I keep trying to learn. I keep trying to excel in all aspects of my life. I may stumble, fall down, and even fail at times. What makes me successful is that I keep getting up and moving on. During the struggling time, I remind myself that time does fly. I look back at all I have faced and overcome and know that the things that I face at this time in my life will just be a memory a few years from now. All a matter of perspective when you think about it. I keep inching towards that retirement age and hoping that I can make it. Time flies. Soon, I will be sitting by the fire in my backyard telling stories about my life. Grandchildren at my feet. Really, Grampa, you saved the President? Oh, um, of course, I was great hero. Oh well, maybe not stories like that.
Aim High. Yes, to be able to get through the next ten years or so and keep my integrity intact. I just need to keep true to myself, keep balance in my life, and keep dreaming of a time when i don't have to get up at 5am and fight traffic for an hour or more to get to work. Of course, if they keep moving the bloody retirement age out, I'll be 90 before I can retire.
And to my old Air Force buddies, Aim High! Or as my squadron motto in basic said, "Lead, Follow, or get out of the way!"
Okay, this really fries me. Now, I am not a big baseball fan, so whether Jason Bay stays or goes is of no matter. What bothers me most is the importance we place on guys like this. America's pasttime? Not hardly. How many American families can afford to go see these whiny spoiled brats play a game? I know I can't. The last time I was at Fenway, Wayde Boggs was playing third. I had seats right there, but he wasn't playing, nor were any of the other "stars" because they made it into the playoffs so they were off resting. Instead we got Pawtucket level players. i am just glad that I didn't spend money for the tickets, they were given to me, for just this reason. The person who bought them was upset because he paid so much and was going to only get to see the second string.
So what has me speaking up? Well, it was announced that Jason Bay rejected a four year, sixty million dollar offer. Okay, now how many of you will see one million in four years? Yeah, I didn't think so. These guys play a game. A game that many of us played in school yards across America. The insanity of it is that they get paid millions and that is before endorsements, to play a game. Bottom line, that is it, they are doing the same bloody thing we did as kids in the school yard. Granted they are better at it, well marginally at times. Yet, we are all struggling. We are worried about our jobs, if we haven't all ready been outsourced and put out of our homes. Yet, these guys think that they deserve tens of millions of dollars to play a game! It is a game! These whiny, spoiled brat, egotistical bums, believe that they are so great. For sixty million, I expect Jason Bay to bat a thousand. I expect no balls to make it over the fence because for sixty million he should be able to snag them out of the air like the six million dollar man. Heck, he was ten times less money and could run faster than Bay, jump higher than Bay, and probably when it comes to hitting it out of the park, well, I think he could hit Cleveland from Fenway. So what makes Jason Bay think he is worth more than the cop on the street or the firefighter, or even that serviceman who is facing bullets and mines every day?
That is the crux of it isn't it? We have put so much emphasis on these spoiled brats while we fail to pay people who are putting their lives on the line. Many of our service people live near the poverty line. They are just getting by, yet they are out there on the front line watching their brothers and sisters drop by enemy bullets and land mines. They watch in horror as the man next to them gets blown apart, arm there, leg over there. The horrors they have to endure for a meager salary. What of that fireman who goes into the burning building to rescue the family pet because all life is precious. What of that cop who takes a bullet while trying to stop a drug dealer from selling dope to your kids?
In our town, they had a special election to vote on a Prop 2 1/2 override. There is a cap on raising taxes in the state unless the voters vote an override. Because the state was in a crunch, they cut the amount they sent back to cities and towns, so towns everywhere were facing shortfalls. Well, many people have been laid off during this economic downturn. A company that had taken tax payer money to come to MA and start up a solar panel manufacturing facility with the promises of jobs for MA residents, just announced recently they were cutting those jobs and moving manufacturing to China. More jobs gone, more on the bread line. So the people said enough, we have to struggle, we can't continue to pay when we aren't getting anything. So the town had to lay off fireman, police, minimize town hall hours, and other cuts including schools. So for sixty million, maybe Jason can come here and fill in for some of those policemen lost because we can't afford to pay them.
We need to start reviewing our priorities in life. Is a man who plays a bloody game worth more than that cop, the fireman, the serviceman, the teacher? What I don't get is when our paychecks have been frozen, when our jobs have been shifted overseas, when many are struggling to put food on the table or pay the healthcare mafia, why, why, why, do we continue to support these spoiled brats!
If you like baseball and live in New England, stop supporting the spoiled brats up in Fenway. Go to family friendly venues like Pawtucket. Go see the Portland Sea Dogs, the Lowell Spinners, or some other A,AA,AAA league where the ticket prices are still reasonable and snacks can be had at a decent price. Stop paying these spoiled brats!
Oh, and Jason, go play for the Yankees, you fit in with all of those Prima Donas.
There is a lot of hoopla over this new film, 2012. Once again, Hollywood has latched on to an idea and twisted it so they can try to capitalize on it. i have not seen the film and can only base my feelings about it from the commercials. I don't plan on seeing it. I don't have a lot of disposable cash at the moment. From what I have seen of it, we are all doomed.
Many people are unaware of the significance of 2012. So let me back track just a moment. The date December 21st, 2012, is supposed to be a significant date based on the Mayan calendar. Now this date is suspect because it changes depending on what scholar you talk to. The basic principal is this. The Mayans, who were renowned astronomers created a very precise calendar that spans a time period of about 5200 years. The current 5200 year cycle is slowly coming to a close. Now I won't get into an interpretive lesson on tuns, baktuns, nights, days, etc, that make up this calendar. I will leave that to you to investigate for yourself should you find yourself interested.
Now there are two distinct camps, or more depending on how you want to look at it. The first camp is the ones that probably inspired the movie, the doomsday squad. They have bought into this idea that the end of the Mayan calendar signifies the end of the world. Makes for great movies but is far from the truth. The second camp are the ones who see it as a time of renewal and new beginnings. i suppose a smaller third camp would be those who say it is simply the end of their calendar much as December 31st is the end of the Gregorian Calendar. December 31st has never meant that the world was going to end, why should December 21st, 2012? Of course it is a significant date in that it is the end of the Mayan Calendar of 5200 years, but think back to December 31st, 1999. How may doomsayers came out saying THAT would be the end of the world? All I remember was how much a PIA it was from a computer programming point of view as many programs were written with just a two digit date and 00 would suddenly be before 99, so that would mess up a bunch of calculations. (I had all ready built calculations into my programs to account for that and added fifty more years life to my programs. lol)
So in the end, is 2012 going to be a big bust as 2000? Well, let me throw some things out there. First, the calendar that many of us know, based on the supposed year that Jesus was born. (Some theological scholars believe that the date was actually four years earlier which would make it 2013 now. See, we made it through it. ) Well we survived that supposed Apocalypse fairly well though some would argue the point. The calendar though has gone through a number of shifts and transitions until it arrived at the current form. So our dates may not be as accurate as we believe. However, the Mayan Calendar is set in stone, literally, it was carved in stone. Our place on that calendar is mostly educated guesses, though I think there are still 'time keepers' in the jungles of South America. I read from one scholar who believes that our perception of where we are in the calendar is off and whatever changes predicted will actually happen in 2011. So there is a lot up for speculation.
Okay, back to the calendar. You remember that I mentioned that it is broken up into days, nights, tuns, baktuns, etc. Well, just as the Mayans built their temples in a pyramidal shape, so is the time of the calendar. While the calendar is a stone wheel, the time can be seen as a pyramid. Each level, time is more compressed. When we get to that final level, time is really accelerated and compressed. Do you feel like time is just flying by and you never have enough time to do the things you need to do? Yet, if you look at the base of this pyramid, time seems so expanded.
Let's leave the Maya for a moment and look at another view of time. It has been a while since I read of this so forgive me if I am not spot on with the terms or time periods. I offer it here only for comparison as it bears a striking similarity to the Mayan calendars perspective of time. There is another view which I believe is called the Golden Age. If I remember correctly, it also spoke of 5200 year cycles. Now here is the interesting part. To envision this, think of a globe. Most of us have seen a tornado, so we will use that image to describe the vortex coming from the top to the center of the globe. Going from the center to the bottom is an upside down tornado. Where the two tips meet is the end time, beginning time, the time of 2012 if you will. Now time starts from the point and swirling out to the bottom and half way up the outer side. This is the Golden Age. It is said to be a time of great enlightenment. A time of peace and harmony for all beings. As you progress up the side, you go into the silver age. It's duration is half that of the golden age. So in other words, time compresses. As you get to the top of the globe, you are in the bronze age. Time is getting very compressed now and beginning to accelerate as you head in to the vortex at the top. As you go through the vortex, you enter into the iron age where time is extremely compressed and things just seem to be spinning out of control. It is said, that is where we are now. We are heading to that point of time where we will hit the junction where the two points meet and then spurt through to the other side, like new born beginning a new life. From what I have heard and read from Mayan elders in South America, that is what will happen at the end of the Mayan calendar. We will be reborn into a new age, a new beginning.
Now there are many indigenous cultures that speak of these "rebirths". Some call them worlds. Depending on the culture we may be entering the fourth world, or the fifth world. If their stories have truth in them, then we are going to go through a rough time for a while and then be reborn into this new world. This new world will be one of peace, harmony, and balance for all of creation. Some stories have said that the past worlds have met their end by one of the elements. Fire, earth, water, or air. There are many flood stories, including that of Noah and the ark. What if the last world ended in a flood? Maybe the one before was fire, which wiped out the dinosaurs. We can only speculate until someone can create a time machine and we can go back and get the real truths.
Now every good legend or story has just enough truth in it to make it believable. I have read many prophesies about the coming times in my studies. One thing that most of the same is that we are coming to a choice point. We as individuals will have to make a choice. We can continue on the path we are currently on and destroy everything in our wake in order to garner material goods. Or, we can choose the way of right relations and learn to walk in harmony and balance. If what I read of the Hopi Bear Clan prophesy is true, though there is a lot of misinformation on the Internet, then we are coming to that juncture. Those who choose the path of right relations and return to a spiritual path, a path of harmony, balance, and respect for all life, including the earth itself, will be spared. Those who continue on the path of destruction that we are currently on, will be destroyed. Hmmm, maybe there is an Apocalypse coming after all.
There is an saying attributed as a Chinese curse, "May you live in interesting times". Well, I think they have been very interesting and soon to get more interesting yet. I pray for all that we do make it through 2012. I pray that the doomsayers are wrong and those with visions of a new world of peace, balance and harmony for all of creation are spot on. That is a world I could enjoy living in.
Watching the calendar
your brother in spirit
My heart to your heart, one heart, one spirit
White Wolf
