Category: Uncategorized

Wise words

As with most things on the internet, we don’t necessarily know their real origin:

“You know, I once heard very wise words:

Your hard work is the dream of every unemployed person;

Your restless child is the dream of everyone without children;

Your small home is the dream of every homeless person;

Your little capital is the dream of every debtor;

Your poor health is the dream of every patient with an incurable disease;

Your peace, your peaceful sleep, your accessible food is the dream of everyone in a country at war.

You must appreciate everything you have. After all, no one knows what tomorrow will bring”

Thoughts on the word Race

The concept of dividing humanity into distinct “races” based on skin color or other physical traits is a social construct without scientific basis. There is only one human race from a biological perspective.

Skin Color Variation is Adaptive, Not Racial

The main reason humans exhibit different skin pigmentation is an evolutionary adaptation to different levels of ultraviolet radiation exposure across geographic regions. Darker skin tones evolved in equatorial regions to provide protection against intense UV rays, while lighter skin tones evolved in higher latitudes to allow more UV absorption for vitamin D production.

“Race” is a Social and Political Construct

The idea of categorizing people into “races” like black, white, etc. arose from unscientific beliefs about biological differences between populations. In reality, genetic variation within any socially-defined “race” is greater than the variation between races. Race is not a valid biological taxonomy, but rather a social and political construct rooted in colonialism, slavery, and racism.

Perpetuating Racial Categories is Problematic

Continuing to refer to “races” based on skin color or ancestry reinforces the flawed assumption that these superficial traits determine meaningful genetic differences between groups. It perpetuates the very ideology of racism that led to the unethical categorization of humans in the first place. A more accurate and ethical approach is to acknowledge the single human race and describe observable physical traits like skin pigmentation as examples of human diversity and adaptation.

In summary, while skin color variation exists due to adaptive evolutionary pressures, the socio-political construct of distinct “races” lacks scientific validity. Referring to races perpetuates an ideology rooted in racism rather than reflecting our common humanity.

80th Anniversary of D-Day

Today is the 80th Anniversary of D-Day.

D-Day is the largest amphibious landing in military history. Never forget the sacrifices these young men made landing on the beaches of Normandy, France.

D-Day was the name given to the June 6, 1944, invasion of the beaches at Normandy in northern France by troops from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and other countries during World War II. France at the time was occupied by the armies of Nazi Germany, and the amphibious assault—codenamed Operation Overlord—landed some 156,000 Allied soldiers on the beaches of Normandy by the end of the day.

Despite their success, some 4,000 Allied troops were killed by German soldiers defending the beaches. At the time, the D-Day invasion was the largest naval, air and land operation in history, and within a few days about 326,000 troops, more than 50,000 vehicles and some 100,000 tons of equipment had landed. By August 1944, all of northern France had been liberated, and in spring of 1945 the Allies had defeated the Germans. Historians often refer to D-Day as the beginning of the end of World War II.

Please never forget the sacrifices these young men made for freedom.

Please and Thank you

Please and thank you. These magical words Barney used to talk about or maybe Will Rogers would do a segment on. I know my parents engrained them in me. I’m not sure why, but my early morning thoughts have been on this for the last two days. If you don’t use these words, use them. I’m sure your parents taught you good manners. If you’re a young adult, instill these words in your children. Ingrain them in your children’s head now. Manners are a small part of the very fabric of our society and those manners make the days pleasant and go by easy.

Please and thank you transcend all these buzz words that often divide us like politics, religion, race, ethnicity, color, sex, gender on and on. Frankly, these buzz words shouldn’t.

We live in a fast paced world where life is moving by us at 100mph. It could be easy for us to skip over these words. Don’t forget them. In fact, when dealing with a waiter or waitress and they ask…would you like a refill?”. Say yes please. When they return instead of saying…thank you say, thank you “so” much. Or when you’re inline to get coffee or McDonald’s or checking out at the grocery store. Look them in the eye and make it personal. If they have a name badge say thank you Jennifer.

My wife and my friend Rick use this tactic when eating out and they say hey, what’s your name? It shows them they acknowledge their existence and it makes it personal. If they bring you a refill say thank you Bill. I always forget the names. It’s not my strong suit. Ask for their name though.

We’re moving at 100mph it seems. Take the time to use those manners your parents gave you. Please and thank you. So simple. They transcend all divisions. Use them, teach them to your kids. Open doors for all people, always. You could make someone’s day by being polite. Focus and humble yourself by using those basics that we all know. You could make someone’s day and who knows, you could cause the butterfly effect.

There you have it. There’s my Thursday deep thoughts and public service announcement.

2021

In 2021, strive to do what is good. Goodness, love and selflessness are what will help heal the world of its calamities. Be purposeful in your actions to bring goodness to the world as goodness is a place of strength, not weakness.

Give not just your money, but give your time.

Place others before yourself. Perform random and purposeful acts of kindness. That can set the mood for a second, a day or a decade.

Love your neighbor

Have a soul willing to forgive as forgiveness shows the solidity of good morals. Keep your memories short for wrongs and reminisce and recollect what has been done right. Especially to those closest to you.

Find the good in everyone you know. Be thankful and share your blessings. Share your blessings in secret and with a humble heart. Those who are humble and silent are among the wise.

Reflect each morning and evening your personal priorities for the year. Make sure in 2021 your time, which is precious, is well spent.

These are my goals for 2021

Extraordinary and Unprecedented Times

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During extraordinary and unprecedented times, we must set the precedent for extraordinary action.

Take personal responsibility of your needs and your “neighbors needs”. Act, don’t react. Don’t be hasty. Approach this world with clear thought, wisdom, maturity and with the ability to view ideas with a broad perspective. Be the solution at the smallest level yet be open minded to solutions at the highest level.

Times like these call for unity. It’s up to you as an individual to make that unity possible. Be our countries individual transformation agents. We need individuals to take that responsibility. We are all brothers and sisters bound by destiny. As citizens, it’s our personal duty to shape a positive common good. Let’s shape our countries destiny and once again be a proud nation of liberty and freedom.

Thoughts of the day.

~Will Wilcox

WWJD- What Would Jesus Do?

Note:  I’m no angel.  Not even close.  I’m not perfect, not even close.  This is not directed at anyone in particular.  Here’s some afternoon thoughts for you and they are my own reflections.

Lots of interesting events are taking place around the globe today.  I look to humanity and in my daily life for optimism.  I heard an interesting experience just a few days ago about a good person.  A person at a café (short condensed version) who upon request, cooked a meal for a homeless man at no charge.  Such a simple act of kindness that impacted a meek, poor life, inspired and gave hope to another (the witness) and upon sharing the story gave people smiles across Facebook.

Regardless of your political, ideological, philosophical, or religious views let’s ask some questions.  Think deeply about this.  Let’s have a discussion.  WWJD?

I don’t even care if you believe in Jesus nor am I here to announce or discuss what I believe.  For those that follow Jesus what exactly would He do?

Would He come upon a cloud of vengeance and burn the world up in flames?  Simple as that?  Done with you people?  Would He pose the white man against the black man and vice versus?  Would He punish one or the other for crimes against each other or crimes against themselves regardless of how any of us see these crimes.  How would He view the politics of today and ask you to vote?  How would He ask you to view your neighbor, and how would He ask you to lift your neighbor up?  If He said follow me and lift your neighbor up would you put down your life and actually listen?  Would you recognize Jesus?  How would He ask you to see the immigration crisis?  How would He ask you to solve it?  Didn’t Moses have an immigration crisis?  How would Jesus ask you to view prostitutes or how would He have you solve the problems of human trafficking?  Didn’t Jesus hang with a prostitute?  Would Jesus have you throw money at all these problems or would He have you take your own precious time and resources to solve these problems.  How would He have you view your own pessimisms, doubts, prejudices and biases?  How would He view YOUR prejudices and biases?  Would He have you running around spreading the “Good News” or would He have you running around spreading the “Bad News” that we see every single day?  How would He have you react to the beggar on the street while you live in a society of consumerism?  How would He react to those that subscribe to the so called “Prosperity Gospel”?  Would He pose women against men in the political arena?  Would He claim a complete failure of our institutions and destroy them all?  Would He ask you to help fix the institutions and would you listen if He asked?  Would Jesus tell you that you can best protect your faith by practicing your faith and by being an example of your faith or by truly defending your faith by the sword as if you were a crusader?  How would He react to your participation in American consumerism and would you let consumerism go if He told you to follow me?  Literally to follow me?  Are you in fact really following him?  Would He draw the battle lines of liberalism and conservatism?  How would He navigate those lines?  How would He view your judgements when you’re not supposed to judge?  Would He see you as a hater of the people of this world of different religions, faiths, colors, creeds and so-called races?  Would he see you as a lover of the “things” of this world?  Would he see you as a person that loves his neighbor and someone that would do for his neighbor?  Would He see you as prejudice?

Would you know Jesus if He stood in front of you?  Would you deny him as He was denied in the Bible?  Is your Jesus the Redeemer or the Destroyer?

What would Jesus really do?  Or what would your Jesus do?  Think about it.

Just some afternoon thoughts.  Note, I’m no judge and no angel.  Just a dude.  Thinking…..

Consumption

At a 40,000-foot view, Capitalist models seldom change as they are based on one thing; the consumer. Innovations in technology change the way we communicate, innovations in branding, reinventing the old to make the old new again, innovations in news broadcasting, advertising, medicine, the cloud, software, music, the IOT (Internet of Things), coffee, food, the holidays, fashion, and clothes; just about anything you can think of focuses on the one thing that we all are; The consumer. While we are all consumers, the corresponding business models are heavily focused on consumption. Let’s examine the word consumer in a way that hopefully some people have never really thought about. Hopefully I’ll shed some light on the word, what the word is and how such a simple and small word can have impacts that span the globe. Since this is just a simple blog, I’ll let the reader come up with their own conclusions at the end of this post as a complete book could be written on the topic of “the consumer”.

At the simplest level, “The Consumer” is defined as: A person who purchases goods and services for personal use. Most People have probably heard of the term “Consumer Confidence”, the Consumer Confidence Index or CCI. The CCI is an indicator designed to measure consumer confidence, which is defined as the degree of optimism on the state of the economy that consumers are expressing through their activities of saving and spending. Another way to view the CCI is, spending for useless things that consumers don’t need but perhaps want. I’m far from being an economic genius, at least that I know of, but you guys and gals get the picture. If I’m not willing to spend ridiculous amounts of cash to consume or over consume goods and services well, the Consumer Confidence index (CCI) sucks!

Well kids if you’ve made it this far, congratulations, you’ve earned a big ‘ol “C” in the introduction of the consumerization of our society and survived a plethora of boring definitions written by an amateur blogger at 6am in the morning. Additionally, you have also proven that your attention span is stronger than a dental hygienist working on someone that hasn’t had their teeth cleaned in 4 years. Vivid visual eh? Quick side note; did you know there is a magazine called Consumer Reports? Probably…..I digress…

Now, let’s look at something that most of us consume daily like brainless sheep smokin crack on a Monday morning. Too much? Too soon? Its Coffee. In fact, I’ve got a cup of coffee sitting next to me at this very moment. In fact, I’m on my second cup. In the olden days back in the 1970’s……Wait let’s go with; “Back in the day”, my mother or father would break out the ‘ol Maxwell House coffee can and prepare some coffee in the ‘ol drip coffee maker so it would automatically kick off at 5am. The coffee makers got so high speed they went from having a standard clock with hands to having a digital clock! Woah, talk about technology. As many of my younger readers probably don’t know, Maxwell House was “Good to the Last Drop”. We would all wake up in the morning to the smell of coffee permeating our senses, my parents would sit down and have a cup or two, eat breakfast and we, the kids would get ready for school. My parents would head out to Washington DC or the surrounding area for work and we kids would run off to school. Note that the metal Maxwell house can was used all across the United States for other things. Dads would utilize them to organize their sheds to hold nails, screws, nuts and bolts and mothers would use them for various odds and ends or projects. If you’ve made it this far with my blog post, well hallelujah! I’ve kept your attention and defied the odds of bloggership. You have now become a level 2 Dental Hygienist!

Now let’s do a hypothetical comparison to 2018.

In 2018 we have Starbucks, Dunkin Doughnuts, the Keurig, or maybe Crispy Crème. The Keurig is one of the most ingenious inventions I’ve ever seen. It spits out single cups of coffee almost instantly. It is pretty much single use and utilizes these low-cost (consumable) plastic pods. If you don’t know what a Keurig is, like them or not you either don’t have a pulse or don’t live on planet Earth. By the way If your Keurig breaks or has some sort of mineral buildup in its components, the Keurig is so low cost you can just throw it away and buy (consume) a new one. Or just ask for a Keurig for Christmas. You’ll get one for sure. I guarantee the Keurig will be on sale as somehow, some way they’ll be a must have innovation added to the Keurig. Back to Moms and Dads across America, they will not be using the plastic pods for storing nails and screws or other odds and ends.   With the Keurig in mind, imagine if you took all the pods and the Keurig’s that are thrown away each year and stacked them up in one place on earth. What would that would look like? Complete insanity. Imagine Soda Straws from fast food joints combined with the Keurig mess. I digress…again…and again, soda straws are a whole different consumption story.

So next topic. What the heck is Starbucks anyway and what the heck kind of name is Starbucks? Starbucks! Really? I would have never dreamt in a million years a brand called Starbucks would be so imbedded in our brains that Starbucks would become as prominent and as successful as McDonalds; if not more successful. This is called branding or mindshare. In terms of consumption let’s take a look. Where McDonalds used to have a tagline of million burgers served (something like that), Starbucks probably serves millions and millions of cups of coffee each day. In fact, I’ve stood in a line at a Starbucks in Washington DC waiting for a coffee where the line wraps around the inside of the building and extends to the outside. During the winter, it is so cold outside that each person looks like a zombie that has just been taken out of a frozen morgue awaiting their post mortem autopsy. Yes, that cold and just waiting for coffee that is frankly just average to below average. In and out we go for an average latte in the freezing morning and then a wash rinse, repeat amid a cold winter afternoon; Standing in the same line freezing, consuming, consuming and consuming saying baa, baa, baa, like sheep waiting to feed their fat bellies. All the while the wolves stand watching, smoking their cigarettes, consuming their stogies in the cold and then flicking their nasty stogie butts on the ground. The ironic thing is, within spitting distance of the Starbucks lies a Dunkin Doughnuts with superior coffee, with tasty doughnuts, no line and an indoor entrance, yet the sheep stand firm. Baa, Baa. At all the street corner Starbucks, tons of trash mounting each day, over and over again as we wait in that same line day in and day out, consuming and building layers of fat on our already fat bodies while the Starbucks executives smile and pad their already thick wallets and stock portfolios. Oh, don’t forget the plaque build up in your arteries over at the Dunkin Doughnuts counter. For those too weak to handle the suffering in the Starbucks line, you better believe the makers of cholesterol medication love your visits to Dunkin Doughnuts. Gobbling up the Boston Crème Fat Pills are sure to be great for the pharmaceutical industry. Then, to work that 1000-calorie fat pill and sugary coffee off, you must have a gym membership that you pay $75.00 per month but only go to the gym quarterly or perhaps just as we bring in the new year as we make our resolutions. Woah….easy….that’s a whole different post.

Clothes and fashion, you ask? The clothing industry puts together the latest trends to be cheap, disposable and consumable. While some 12-year-old works in near slave like conditions for a meager wage in some far-off land that you’ve most likely never heard of or read about, you sit here attempting to be En Vogue with the latest monthly fashion trend so you can satisfy the cravings of your own vanity.   To most it seems completely and duly fair and righteous. Right? At the end of the month when the next trend comes out, you donate the previous trend to Goodwill so you get that warm feeling in your fat belly that you’re helping the poor. Then you go out and buy this month’s latest fashion trend. Wash rinse….and you guessed it, repeat. Let’s not forget about your tax deduction and stopping to get your next latte. All the while the executives that run these clothing conglomerates are padding their pockets and some kid in Thailand is able to put a banana on the table for his family to eat for his/her 60 hours in a sweat shop. Extreme you say? Who knows.

Let’s briefly look at technology and how you receive your music, TV, movies, news and medicine too. Today and unlike the past, we “consume” all of our media through subscription services. Music is downloaded or streamed to your phone through unlimiting subscription services. Books are now read through your phone, or tablets, and movies are carried through the internet via Netflix and Hulu. In fact, there are tons of well put together TV Series’ that capture the minds and brains of drooling zombies that binge watch on their couches. All the while they fill up on their sugar filled caramel macchiato’s and “fat free” corn syrup sugar goodies further building up the layers of visceral fatty tissue surrounding their organs. Then we all wonder why we have an obesity problem or why the medical and pharmaceutical industry are a cash crop of services and consumption. I’m sure my primary doctor doesn’t mind once a year diagnosing me with the obvious fact that I need to diet and exercise more. I’m glad it took 12 years of education that cost ridiculous amounts of money to make that obvious diagnosis. “Fast food medicine” as I call it is a totally different blog post. You walk in, an educated doctor takes your blood, tells you your fat, you go home, be sedative, make your New Years resolution, gain 5 pounds pay 100 dollars to get on another fad diet, come back to your doctor again next year for the annual physical, he/she says your fat again, get prescribed some pill, then wash rinse repeat. We’re fat all over again. Wait, doesn’t Dunkin Doughnuts sound good right now? Your local pharmaceutical rep thinks so; At least for you anyway.

What about all our sacred holidays that we celebrate. Easter, Christmas, Hanukah, Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, Halloween, Cinco De Mayo, Mardi Gras, Independence Day, Thanksgiving, Black Friday, New Years Eve, Wash Rinse Repeat. Now don’t get me wrong, I love my holidays but let’s take a high-level view from a consumption perspective.

Easter: We buy plastic eggs and eat tons of sugar feeding my corn syrup addiction. I’m sure this is how Jesus wants us to celebrate his sacred day.

Christmas: Businesses can live or die off the consumption of goods during Christmas. The masses feed like maggots off of plastic goods, electronics, clothing, candy, the latest gadgets, fashions, toys, Christmas trees and associated goods and decorations. Alcohol is in abundance and drinking while driving becomes more common as the year comes to a close. While some people spend ridiculous amounts of money on their families, some will buy coffee cups for their friends with the latest fashionable or quick-witted saying written on them like “I love you” or “Happy Holidays”. Wow, the originality of that one. Oh, don’t forget that it’s no longer acceptable to say “Happy Holidays”. Who took Christ out of Christmas. As I write about Christmas, let’s think about that for a second. Now gift giving has become an obligation instead of giving people something well thought out and meaningful. What do you think Jesus would actually say about his birthday? Do people even know what Christmas is about? I think some do. Yeah, some people, but I judge.

Black Friday: Holy Moly, the day after Thanksgiving and the lead up to Christmas. I think Jesus would be especially proud of this day. Imagine the people working in Asia turning out electronics, plastic goods and other stuff in anticipation of this glorious day. Close your eyes for a moment and imagine the logistics involved with moving the sheer volume of goods from Asia to all across the United States to their intended destinations. Talk about boats, planes, trains, automobiles, trucks, so on and so forth. More recently there is Cyber Monday. Hell, with the new frenzy of Cyber Monday and Amazon in general, we’ve put the US Postal system back in business. I digress…..again. The consumption of gas just to make Black Friday happen from the factory, to purchase to a gift under the tree has got to be unfathomable. Think about this. It’s all in the name of the holy holiday Christmas. Jesus would be so proud, right?  I bet some starving kid somewhere has a great appreciation for the masterful logistical machine moving some gaming system from Asia to the living rooms of children in the United States on Christmas day. Like a zombie on Christmas day, those game thirsty children will now stare down a new mass produced 80-inch LED 5K resolution television to play a first-person shooter on their new gaming system while sucking on a candy cane filling their bellies with sugar. All the while the kid will be whining that their internet connection is too slow, and they can’t find their friends online because everyone on the face of the planet is consuming bandwidth from all the new gadgetry that’s been turned on consuming the bandwidth on the internet. To top it off, the kids will be able to buy additional weaponry in the game for $30 dollars while some other kid in the world is dodging REAL BULLETS in a war zone trying to find some clean water and food. Yep, I ramble just for Black Friday. Hell, people fist fight for goods on Black Friday. Literally fight for goods so they can give a gift on the holy day of Christmas. Ironic I’d say. Again, Jesus would be proud of us. Sorry, I judge….but Happy Holidays and let’s get Jesus back in Christmas while I beat someone’s face in because I want to get a tickle me Elmo for my 2-year-old.

For the rest of the holidays mentioned above, I’ll let you use your imagination. Green colors are consumed, Irish Car Bombs, Red Hearts, flowers, alcohol, American flags, food, sugar, candles, more food, more alcohol, more gas, more turkeys, on and on. We celebrate our blessings all the while people throughout the world or even in our own country struggle. It’s a good thing I’m blessed, and I can throw down a couple of $10.00 Irish Car Bombs. Hell, I don’t even know who Saint Patrick is other than he likes whisky and car bombs. I guess I can look it up on Wikipedia but damn, my internet connection is too slow! It now takes me 5 seconds to connect because three people in my house are lying down in bed on a Sunday streaming movies.

Consumption is chaos as you can see. Just like my blog post. I could literally site example after example after example finding myself writing into oblivion.  Let me get back to my Keurig, my ridiculous TV, my cell phone and find the latest news on the ridiculousness of the world today.

Enjoy, take good care…..oh and Merry Christmas.