I have had a minor malady in my left eye for the past few weeks. Nothing serious but it gets you thinking about just how incredible these precious orbs are. They are literally our windows on the world. Right up there with hearing, they are what feeds our minds and our psyche.  

Of course like so many other things in life, we take them for granted until they are threatened. In real time they provide one with the most incredible movie on earth. You watch in wonder at beauty. You crouch in fear at the unimaginable. You are disgusted by vileness and soothed by an idyllic scene. And this all happens automatically without changing your F-stop and you never run out of film.

When you bat your baby blues to greet the day, the input starts. Is the day sunny or gray? You take that quick look in the bathroom mirror and you immediately feel like a movie star or a well worn hack. Don’t be so hard on yourself, there is always plastic surgery. 

You grab your coffee and go right to your laptop or phone. What has happened in our world overnight? Certain things go in the mental trash can and some pique your interest. Data is flying everywhere and those eyeballs are the the valve that controls the flow. It is like this giant factory coming to life.

The National Eye Institute explains the process: “When light hits the retina (a light-sensitive layer of tissue at the back of the eye), special cells called photoreceptors turn the light into electrical signals. These electrical signals travel from the retina through the optic nerve to the brain. Then the brain turns the signals into the images you see.” Yikes! All this is going on in my crazy head?

Past the mechanics I ponder the validity of the process. We all have this 4 million pixel TV screen but do we all see the same picture? In reality we do but this is where judgment or predisposition gets into the act. The Donald or Biden pops up on the screen. Do you see a friend or foe? Do you luxuriate in that warm fuzzy or are you ready to throw a brick at the screen? Beauty of course is in the eye of the beholder.

We here in Harbour Ridge had a Zoom interview with Marco Rubio the other day. For the most part our senator does not move my needle either way. As he talked and answered some serious questions he seemed to talk not as a politician but as somebody we were having a cup of of coffee with. He knew his subject but did not pontificate. Not once during the call did he revert to a party line. It was, dare I say, refreshing. 

My eyes saw and probably believed to some degree. In a way they were at least receptive and less guarded as I normally view politicians. Maybe these peepers when used properly can change my ways of thinking. It is like I am looking at things in different way. Hmm, not bad for an old fart. 

On the other hand we view things that seem pretty cut and dried but somehow people don’t agree. I watched the events of January 6. Forget about whether or not the camera angles were right or wrong, a bunch of people stormed the Capitol and broke down doors and windows. Last week I saw some pols trying to downplay things. “It was just like a normal tourist day” one decried. Did my own eyes deceive me?  

We have all become tech savvy people. Through the miracle of Fotoshop we can create any type of picture we want to project to the world. In other words there are times that we shouldn’t believe what we are seeing. Now what do I do? Is it really fake or do my internal filters and prejudices make it so? Interesting question. 

We need photographers to capture those moments that are so fleeting for us. We do it ourselves with our SLR’s and I phones. They seem to get it just right while most of us click away, only to constantly hit “trash” as if, what was I thinking when I took this? But then you see that one frame that is poignant. It says it all and then we look at it over and over again. Good stuff.

For a moment think about how many zillions of pictures have passed through those two fiber optic cables over the years. They are probably stored in some hard drive in the back of our craniums. Some elated us. Some hurt us deeply. Some were accomplishments. Some were total failures. Etched seems to me to be a very operative word. And that is what we are all about. The sum of our experiences. 

People send us all sorts of emails with pictures. I search the files to try to come up with the right pic to supplement my musings. This cacophony of images is really a treasure. We have  woman here at Fla La Land that takes nature photographs. They are both beautiful and startling. They take you away to another place that is right in our back yard. Wonder why I never saw that? Maybe I just never looked. Maybe they are the real touch of reality in our crazy world. 

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. I have tried to keep Ted’s Head to a thousand words over all these years. I try to paint a picture but probably in comparison I fail miserably. If nothing more maybe I am just here to conjure up those memories in your own mind. I hope they are all good. 

As always 

Ted The Great 

Factoids:

Your eyes are about one inch across and weigh .25 ounce. They do not change is shape and size over our lives. Our eyes blink over 4,200,000 times a year.  

The human eye can differentiate about 10 million different colors. 80% of all learning comes through the eyes. The only organ more complex is the brain.

People read 25% slower on a screen than they do in print. The human eye can only see three colors, red blue and green. All the others are combinations of these. 

While a fingerprint has 40 unique characteristics, an iris has 256. This is why retina scans are increasingly being used for security purpose.

These nature pictures are a few examples from my good friend, Lois Fraser. You can go to her Instagram account @loisfraser She would love to hear from you and you will enjoy more of her fabulous work. Look at your own habitat. There is a lot there.

Most of you know the story. Many, many eons ago, God had created this fabulously lush and verdant Garden of Eden. Nothing could be better. It is ironic that the supposed site is where Iraq or some other portion of the Middle East is today. Was this prophetic or was His GPS broken?

The first humanoid was a guy named Adam. He was fat dumb and happy until this chick named Eve along. She was a looker and the A Man was head over heels in love. Turns out there were snakes in Paradise and one in particular proved to be their downfall. They ate from the Tree of Life and that is how strife and struggle started. Or so the story goes. 

The original couple probably fought and accused each other of causing this mess. Things like pride, jealousy, lust and overindulgence became the norm of the day. Right from the get go they wanted more than they had. They wanted to strive and accomplish more. Contentment was a long forgotten goal. As the planet reproduced, everyone took different sides. 

Fast forward several millennia and you would have thought that history would teach us something? Not so. It got worse. People, towns, cities and countries all wanted to be better than the other one. Each civilization built cities and trade routes and acquired a specialty of some sort. But one group or another always wanted to be first. It was bred into us.

In a perfect world there would be balance and equality. Everyone brought something to the table. Exchanging gold for spices and silk or fruits and vegetables for lumber it seems on the surface work. But going back to that cute little couple in Paradise there was never enough. 

Today we call that entrepreneurship and growth and that may well be true. If there are frontiers to conquer and horizons to sail to, that will keep our minds occupied and creativity will flourish. Progress is a good thing unless we subvert it. We create cures for disease but we also dream up ways to kill people with similar compounds. The Wright Brothers taught us to fly but today we have used that knowledge of flight to build supersonic fighter planes and hypersonic missiles. We used to wage war from afar but now we can annihilate each other with the flip of switch. 

My poor little brain has been cogitating on all things cosmic these days. My first question is strife inherent and a necessary part of our existence? I believe events are somewhat spontaneous and just happen. How we interpret them and react is what causes problems.  

We all think differently. We like to label ourselves this or that but we really are incredibly different. We don’t think white or black or American or European or Asian. We are alone in our thoughts which is both petrifying and exciting. To say you and I or Biden or the Pope agree on everything is an absurdity. And I think this is where the politics, religion and ethics collide. You are either with us or against us. How much time is wasted trying to figure that out instead of embracing those difference and dare I say benefit from the interaction?

I have my idea of what heaven is but I get cut off many times trying to get  there. You have yours. Do you take that collision as a minor bump in the road or a threat to your existence? I think one of the major difficulties today is we have made every little thing a Waterloo. Everything is a crisis and a threat to your manhood or womanhood and as such can not be ignored or glossed over. 

We have taken something so basic as communication and parsed it and reviled portions of it, so most people are afraid of saying anything. Spontaneity and creativity are snuffed out. We become placid and compliant. The only winner is the one who yells the loudest or who has the most clout….or the biggest gun. 

I have been studying empathy because I want to have it as much as possible.I am not getting all Kumbaya, but I think it is the only way we can break down the walls on both sides. We have to figure out where the other person is coming from.  I want to listen. I want to admit I might be wrong. Is that difficult? You bet it is. But what is my alternative?

I can shut out a number of the people in my life because they are either left or right. Another group I will ask if they are moral or immoral? Then I have to separate believers and non believers.  For immigration or against it? Racist? Gay, straight? Ah yes, now I have my small select group of friends. We can sit around over drinks and congratulate ourselves on how perfect we are. We can get a visceral pleasure when one side or the other falters. And we think that is cool. 

Think about the number of times there are negative thoughts or situations in your daily routine. Of course you are happy overall but screw the other guy. That son of a bitch has no right. I feel your pain. Ha! I hope you rot in hell. 

Back to that Garden of Eden thing. No one is perfect. No one is that smart. Life has its good and bad spots. Weeds in that flower bed or thorns in the bushes. And of course a few snakes. Understand them. Greet them. And most of all don’t let them get you down. Damn those first two! Why did they have to screw it up? 

As always 

Ted The Great

Factoids:

Main Causes of Conflict:

Money. You are criticized for having too much or too little by your friends and family. It is a struggle to make it and keep it.  

Approaches. We all have different ways of solving problems. Some are diametrically opposed. Tough to problem solve.

Perceptions. Did you hear what I had to say or did you hear something else? Eye contact and body language can cause a myriad of problems

Goals. What you and I think are important can be greatly divergent. What is the end game. Define that and half your problem is solved. 

Pressure generates a LOT of conflict. Performance pressure, financial pressure, emotional pressure. All kinds of pressure exist in our lives.

Power.  Everyone wants to have power. Those who do not have any power, want power. Those who have all the power want more of it.

Values. Values lead to generalizations about people. You are a Republican so you have to be against human rights. You didn’t go to an Ivy League school so you can’t be smart 

Policies. They cause conflict because it is in their nature. People, with different values, create policies. Policies only change when people change them. If you disagree with a policy, there are limited ways to change the policy.

This last week for at least the 439th time in my life, I have taken stock, rearranged priorities and set new goals. The occasion? I turned 76. Not a day for panic or euphoria but introspection. I have always found it good for the soul. 

In doing so, I have to look at my world around me. It would be foolhardy to consider it anything other than pretty nice. I need to lose a few pounds but that is inherent in any of my refits. I want to shave a few shots off my handicap. I want to get more involved in outside projects. I want to try to be a better husband, father and friend. But why?

Aha! We now talk about a thing called progress. Defined as: a forward or onward movement toward destination or goal. If you get there, it is a sense of achievement. If you fail, you are miserable. Why take the chance ? Why not just chill? Interesting stuff.

Personally I would be lost without something to shoot for. If I just sit around and read at least I hope I am learning something. If I lay down, my crazy mind is still processing dozens of thoughts looking for my next insight into this or that. Can I go comatose in front of the TV? Of course, but that is just a passing fancy. I really like being on the move and dying to get absorbed into something. 

Now I do believe in living in the moment. I can’t take back what happened 30 seconds ago. I have no idea what the hell tomorrow will bring but at least I have the expectation that there will be something new to learn or enjoy. And that is what keeps me motivated. 

Here in Fla La Land there are some who think I am nuts. Of course several of you will quickly rejoinder that is not only the Sunshine State. But many just want to exist. Their life by their standards is perfect. Don’t know what tomorrow will bring and I don’t really care. If it is you, I would probably stop reading right now.

I can understand this happening to the mega rich. When you have a billion why do you need another one?  Why do you need one more house, hot car or toy? I guess because it says you can. The hunt, the fight and the thrill of victory are intoxicating. Bill and Melinda Gates, Warren Buffett et al have found other uses for their energy and the world is a better place. Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk? The jury is still out. 

Our country is torn by inequality. Wealth, race, gender etc. But compared to what? In charting our progress we seem to rely on the metrics of wealth or fame. Who wouldn’t with a non stop barrage of ads saying you have to be this thin, this successful, this white or black to make the grade. It’s natural but does that make it normal?

Progress needs to be achievable but challenging. I go to the gym and someone says, I wish I could do that. Boy, Ted I wish I had your energy or your ability to write. Ted, you seem to have so much fun, how do you do that? I think you all know that I don’t have anything special. It is right there inside each one of us. Make your goals your own, not someone else’s. 

Probably a goal we all share is to be happy, which of course begs the question what is that?

I have searched for that definition for a long time. Contentment? That’s not bad but it still leaves me a little restless. I think I just want to matter. I want to feel I can contribute and in some small way be recognized for that. At some point in time maybe someone would say I am nice guy. I am not holding my breath on that just yet. 

When am I happiest? When I am making someone else feel good. Somehow, some way I made their life a little better. It could be at the gym or a gas station. A smile, a handshake (whoops I violated COVID protocol) and maybe even a hug. It doesn’t take much. 

I was able to finally return to hospice volunteering  after being shut out for one whole year. I know this sounds weird but I couldn’t wait to walk through those doors. The nurses and staff are some of my best friends. In an instant I met a large family whose patriarch was dying. We clicked and became close in a matter of minutes. There was an openness and honesty that was palpable. There wasn’t time to be wary and calculating. Maybe it’s life as it should be? 

I felt I was moving forward. I was so much luckier than before I walked in there. I was a fuller person if that makes any sense. I think I figured it out. Forget about my weight or my golf game or glass of fine  wine. Look at yourself as the benchmark,TTG. Tell your friends. Maybe a snippet here or there will help them. Not a bad goal to have. Progress? You bet!

As always 

Ted The Great

Factoids:  

Reimagining happiness is almost hard-wired into Americans’ DNA, said Sonja Lyubomirsky, a psychology professor at the University of California, Riverside. “Human beings are remarkably resilient. There’s lots and lots of evidence that we adapt to everything. We move forward,” Here’s hoping!

When people are down they are less giving. When they give a lot they are more up. Go figure!

Less than 14% of the people in the United States say they are happy. That is down from 31% in 2018. Only 31% before all this mess?

7 Steps to Make Progress Towards Life Goals

1. Determine Why You Want to Move Forward in Life. …
2. Be Okay with Where and Who You Currently are in Life. …
3. Strive Within Your Circle of Influence. …
4. Stay Reflective During the Process. …
5. Accept the Possible Setbacks. …
6. Celebrate Your Successes. …
7. Take Time to Enjoy the Amazing Result of Your Journey

      Sounds like a plan.

And shoots everyone…. What seems like an intro to a classic joke turns out to be a tragic outcome. It could be a bar, a church or a super market. The most sanguine of locations sets the stage for slaughter. Once a rarity, it is now an all too common part  of our lives. 

People say how sad and move on. Adaption or aquiescence? Maybe if I ignore it, the aberration will just go away. We fail to dig down and find out what is causing this in some madman. Is that capacity for hate and anger endemic to all of us or just the few? 

At birth we have the capacity for both aggression and empathy. We are imbued with a sense of survival but also a desire for connection. We are by nature social animals. We want to love and be loved.The outcome of good or evil is a learned trait. 

 It is great to be part of a group, a town, a state, country and of course a fan of our favorite team. It is ignominy to be an outsider. If someone moves into our neighborhood we are welcoming but wary. Are they going to be one of “our kind” of people or are they going to try to turn my wonderful little life upside down? I get defensive and maybe angry. I could even hate that person if it goes far enough. 

Let’s start with that getting pissed off thing. Psychologists will tell you rage is caused by an event, a feeling you are not valued or the grandaddy of them all, injustice. Somebody cuts you off in traffic and you flip them the bird. What might have been simple faux pas gets to the point of road rage. 

Overlooked as inconsequential or shunned by your peers you are hurt to the core. Your Rodney Dangerfield moment where you don’t get no respect. What am I chopped liver? Some are hurtful and some are downright nasty in their putdowns. It’s what we do as we revel in “gotcha” moments. 

The cause of the day, year or decade is injustice. No matter how hard to you try to be reasonable you are convinced you have been screwed. It could be your status in life, your position in the company or just a series of failures that you blame on anyone else but your self. Some right. Some wrong. 

I get nailed for a drug charge and get sent away for forty years. A rich kid with a great lawyer pleads it down to a misdemeanor. Better yet I am arrested for trafficking when my customer was a rich kid from the burbs in his BMW. Does that sound just to you?

The world is against me because I am black, gay, muslim, Jewish handicapped etc. Many of these are not imaginative but real. Racism, sexism, ageism are there no matter how hard we deny it. I hate to tell you but the world is not fair. The bigger question is should it be?

Now I am a white male in a golf community with decent resources. I can opine on how hard work got me here but I would be stretching things a tad. A member of the “Lucky Sperm” club? You bet. A stable home life to grow up in? Check. Good schools? Yes. Good student? Maybe. 

Yes,I did have to have my wits about me and fend for myself on more than one occasion. Did I take chances? Of course. And yes it could have gone horribly wrong. Did unfair things happen to me? Sure. But people weren’t shooting up my neighborhood all night long? Was my father a drunk who came home and beat the crap out of my mother and siblings? Thank God that’s a no. .

My point is this. Don’t say you have experienced all of the above unless you have. I feel your pain is a bit theatrical. Have you really walked hundreds of miles to a border with your wife and three kids so as not to get killed or raped in your own hometown? Until you have been totally destitute, don’t be so quick to judge and dismiss.

But as in almost any disagreement, this is really a fine edge to be defined. There are two sides to the immigration story. Ditto racism et al. The needle bounces all over the place trying to find true north. And herein lies why we can’t make any progress. 

We are a highly competitive nation. We like to win. As a country, an athlete, a parent or a person. The opposite of competition is cooperation. But If I cooperate today I am seen as weak and yielding. You can’t compromise your position. Do not yield the high ground. Stick to your guns and sadly we have taken that literally. This can only go so far. 

The last time we had any cooperation across all party lines was 9/11. We were one and we were even one with most of the world. We shared and hugged and cried as one. We were partners. A friend told me one time that partnerships were wonderful until one side or the other feels they are being screwed. We got back to looking out for ourselves and the romance was over. 

We are at juncture and I don’t see the way out. Whether it is the US vs China or Russia or whites vs blacks or liberals vs conservative we have lain down the gauntlet. People are angry. People are disgusted. Empathy for the other side is a hard to find commodity. 

It will probably take something pretty bad once again to make us come together and collaborate. It might be global warming. When things get so desperate there is no other way whatsoever. It might be mass killings on such a scale that even the coldest soul has to take heed. I just hope and pray the guy walks into the bar and the joke is not on us. 

As always

Ted The Great 

Factoids:

We concentrate on mass shootings and mental illness. It is shown however that of the 120,000 deaths due to guns only 7-8% are directly related to mental illness. It is somewhat bizarre that we concentrate on mass shootings that total of several hundred victims in a year but do not even consider the other thousands that don’t make the news. 

In fact over 80% of shooting deaths are committed by persons who have many of the problems that nearly everyone has to manage at some point in life: anger, isolation, depressive moods, resentments, jealousy.

Anger is a condition in all of us. It can create heartburn or be a motivating force. It can cause us to wallow in self pity or provide impetus to do better. It is many times valid. How we tame or control it is another question.

Self esteem is a personal estimate of one’s worth. China does not like its position in the world. It is hell bent on being number one to make up for the Century of Disgrace. If one is confident of their self esteem they are more open to new ideas and contrary thinking. If they are worried about their image they will do everything possible to protect their point of view. 

Although nautical in nature, this idiom refers to philosophies and credos that undergo some sort of metamorphosis or distinct change of direction. The cognoscenti would rather call them paradigm shifts in today’s vernacular, but I think you get the idea. 

I have written many times of how painful change can be. We are creatures of habit and comfort in knowing this is the way things are supposed to be. The COVID monster has thrown us for a loop but I feel it is just symbolic or even a distraction from what’s really going on. 

I hate subtlety and the latest blurring of the line between equality and equity is particularly galling. Up to this point in our fair nation we have at least striven for equality. We should all have the same status, rights and opportunities. Bumpy as the road is we have slowly but surely fine tuned what it means to be equal. There is a long way to go and many are impatient and they should be. There is a similar crowd that says we have gone too far. 

Equity is whole other thing. Equity allocates resources differently. You are poorer, slower, sicker, less imaginative than others because of your surroundings. We want to change that and reallocate resources to ensure your success. 

The difference between equality and equity must be emphasized. Although both promote fairness, equality achieves this through treating everyone the same regardless of need, while equity achieves this through treating people differently dependent on need. However, this different treatment may be the key to reaching equality, but not always. There are some that want success to be guaranteed. 

All this is well and good but the results of the Great Society of LBJ tells us differently. Despite trillions of dollars over 50 years, we have lowered the poverty rate from around 20% to 10%.That sounds good but it was accomplished by raising Social Security so the gains were for those over 65.  The pandemic has brought big bucks into the debate once more.  I am not as much against giving the money as to how it is distributed and accounted for. We have not been good at this. 

Education has been proven to be the ticket out of lower classes. Several years ago I was involved in a program called Tri County Scholarship. We took an abandoned Catholic High School in beautiful downtown Paterson, NJ. This was a tough area to say the least. We stressed commitment and discipline. There were no entrance exams so we did not cherry pick. Sister Gloria ran a tight ship but that did not mean we were not open to all faiths.

It cost us $2500 to educate a child at a time when the state was spending $11,000. Public school’s attendance was around 65% and ours was 100%. We graduated 90% into some form of higher education and they were coming in at 33%. Every child had to pay at least $5 in tuition and the money had to be brought to school by the parent. 

Why were we successful? For the same reason schools like this throughout the country today are succeeding today. We won their hearts and minds over to a concept of striving to be better and taking incredible confidence going forward at its accomplishment. Everyone wore uniforms which gave them a sense of pride. Today that is  considered an act of tyranny. 

We are changing today. No longer are we to be competitive because that does not give everyone a fair chance. Discourse and true questioning are not allowed. We want everybody to be the same and think the exact same way. We forgive student debt. We forgive your rent and your mortgage payments. You don’t have to have any responsibility because we are going to make it all work for you in some magical way. 

Don’t get smug on the right. There has been a gravy train and you know it. You have made the top tiers so impenetrable that the hoi polloi can only wish from afar at your cult like status. We cite the here and there success stories but only consider the Ivies and top MBA mills as appropriate supply chains. The disparity between the worker bees and El Jefes salaries is obscene. 

How does this all tie together? In all areas it has become about me. Rich and poor. Black and white. We decry violence but each side finds some sort of rationalization in burning Federal buildings or storming the US Capitol. Send those SOB’s back to Mexico or Central America and let the wait them wait their turn while others want to take down every border control station. Each one can justify their narrative by citing this poll or statistic. 

We have created a fantasy world. We watched as royals cried victim. The suits of corporate America will tell you how hard they worked. So have others. Many cry poverty but have a new SUV in the garage or a big screen in every room. I watched on TV as a Mercedes pulled up to a food bank. Seriously? Everyone dreams of winning the lottery….or at least getting a check from the government. This can’t turn out well. 

In a radically changing world we need an efficient and caring government. The COVID chaos has shown a lot of flaws. In industry we need compassionate managers who will recognize people for their talents and not necessarily their CV. We need a work force that wants to work and create a pride in achievement like we had at Tri County. Each and every one of us has to figure out how to help someone besides ourselves. 

Sure this is altruistic and heady stuff. Tell me if I am wrong? Whether you are a billionaire or impoverished I will give you the benefit of the doubt. Get some skin in the game. There is a sea change and if we don’t get it right there is a good chance of being swept overboard. Unfortunately I don’t see a lot of lifeboats on the horizon. 

As always 

Ted The Great 

Factoids:

Women earn 81% of what men do for doing the same job. 

The pay gap between top executives and workers continues to be wide. Since 1978, CEO compensation rose 1,007.5% for CEOs, compared with 11.9% for average workers, according to the Economic Policy Institute. In comparative terms, CEOs now make 278 times the average worker. In 1978 it was approximately 30 times.

Very high earners are up 339%

19% of the US population received government assistance in 2020. That is about 59 million people. 

The US spends 11.6% of public spending on education. The international norm is 15% 

We spend on average $12,612 on K-12 . 

New York state spends $24,000. 

Colorado spends $12,200 

Utah spends $7600.

 . 

Our world gets a little more complex every day. Just when you think you have things figured out something out of the blue hits you right between the eyes. It could be an event or concept. Where do you go? I think we have to start with trust.

It has been called the glue that holds everything together and I think whomever coined that phrase was right on. But how do you gain trust or more importantly how do recapture it after is has been lost? 

Whether it is your parents, siblings, friends, boss or lover you approach things warily. You take small steps at first and then increasingly feel comfortable opening up. You get enthused as the door to your and their psyche opens. As you increasingly feel that you are not going to get hurt, you let them see more and more. It is very human.

As much as we crave community, you are ever watchful. If you have had a great childhood with few disappointments you are more prone to believe. If you have been hurt either physically or emotionally you are saying I never want to go there again. We see severely deprived adults who can’t even conjure up a smile or a wave. How tragic but oh so understandable. 

Trust is belief in someone or something. You know it to be true and reliable. Sometimes we accept all that without empirical data and that is a thing called faith. You believe because the person speaking has degree of competency in their certain field. Words that pop out to me are reliability, authenticity and fairness. It is so hard to achieve and even more difficult to win back. Once burned, you are petrified of the flame. 

As I think about all the things I believe in, I harken back to my youth and parents and siblings. My parents loved me and I responded. Not so much my one brother who needled me constantly and I thought he could clearly be labeled a terrorist today. Ha! Friends were many and some even became close.  You won’t tell anybody, will you?

School at the onset was rote. Who am I to argue 2 + 2 of course equals 4? Doesn’t it? But as you go on you begin to have a doubt here or there and in some cases outright revulsion over what was being said.I just don’t agree! You are starting to think independently. That was what learning was all about but of course today that discourse is not allowed. 

I used to have a lot more trust in the government. They were smart or at least productive and “In God We Trust.”  Unfortunately they tend to think those words on the fins and c notes referred to them personally. Not so.

For me it started with John Foster Dulles and his brother at the CIA who thought they could play chess with countries. Watergate, Iran Contra, the Rose Law firm, K Street, dalliances, elections, Russian influence etc showed that most if not all politicians had their flaws and some went very deep. 

All one has to do is look back at the Great Society and the trillions spent with scant results. WMD’s brought us to war even though they never existed. Money commandeered with the right intentions gets siphoned off in bridges to nowhere and a detailed review of the latest COVID relief bill shows the kids are still at work.

The world scene? Do you trust Russia or China? How about Turkey, Iran, Venezuela, Cuba ?  The World Health Organization(Who) ? Maybe even the UN? We all have our skeletons but it is hard to trust egocentrics and petty dictators. 

Big business? Volkswagen,Boeing, JP Morgan, McKinsey et al, have paid out huge sums to make things go away. All without admitting any guilt of course. Bernie Madoff conned hundreds of people and institutions. He even betrayed his Jewish faith by screwing many temples with equanimity. You just don’t do that! Have you no conscience?

Speaking of which, how about religion? The Catholic Church, not my faith has lost me. The lies, the coverups and sanctimonious preaching was beyond a breach of trust to those they counseled.  Ministers and rabbis are right up there but not as easy or visible a target. 

Doctors and coaches molesting at will. I could go on and on. Am I being unfair? Have you lost faith in me? Good question. I have often felt to solve a problem you have to admit to it. We are not very good at that. If you want my trust there are some simple things you have to do to get it back. 

Be sincere and be vulnerable. No one is perfect. If you are wrong, admit it. If you don’t know the answer don’t try to BS me. It will come back to haunt you. Learn to trust others. Don’t think I can’t take the truth. The Donald and Cuomo were almost complicit at the same time in the failure to give us the facts. Equal Opportunity Offenders.

How about being humble? Look yourself and then me in the eye. Show me your warts. I will do the same. Then maybe we can get back on track. When you believe you are beyond excited. When you see inequities and falsehoods it sucks all the air out of the room. We are devoid of oxygen in many places on our big blue marble. 

Hopeless? No, but a daunting endeavor lies ahead. Where do I get just the facts to make my decisions? Is the speaker sincere or duplicitous? Do the corrupt speak for entire countries and institutions? Do we have the inner drive and gumption to turn things around? Therein lies the problem. Trust me. 

As always 

Ted The Great

Factoids:

Digital information which floods our world is suspect to many. Are the claims honest? How are you going to use my personal information? Is my credit card info going to be pilfered? Yet we pound away all day on that keyboard or phone. 

People you should not trust are fickle, tell secrets to others, are too sweet to you, competitive, narcissistic, lack empathy and are social climbers. Yikes, is anyone left?

Lying…telling falsehoods. We all lie between one to two times a day. I am sorry I am busy. I think you look great. I feel great. If you lie five times a day you are probably younger, male and have occupational status. Memories of liars become reality in the their minds. It is easier to lie in an email than it is in pen and paper or in person.  Ask me no questions, I will tell you no lies.?

Pew Research:

35% have low trust, 41% have medium trust 22% have high trust

The top professions that are  trusted are scientists, military and police officers, with journalists, business leaders and politicians bringing up the rear. 

My wonderful and very liberal daughter, Megan gave me a subscription to the Sunday New York Times for Christmas. She thinks my thinking is too far right or for sure too far right of hers. I am a grateful donee. It does take a few hours of my Sunday morning to get through but it keeps me off the streets. 

The Sunday Review revealed a particularly interesting article by Charlie Warzel. Spoiler alert: I am going to plagiarize many of the thoughts presented. They were outstanding. 

The gist of the article was an interview with a guy in Berkley who was somewhat of a  savant about the internet, websites and reality TV to name a few. In the early nineties he focused on appropriately, ”Attention”. It seems it is currency of sorts that we distribute without giving much thought to its worth. 

A zillion times a day we are bombarded by requests for our attention. It could be the boob tube, newspapers, the internet or just someone with something to say. Each one wants you to take notice, to be of interest to you or on the other hand to have meaning themselves. 

I don’t know about you but I am getting numb to a lot of things no matter how much the volume has been pumped up. A coup in Myanmar, floods in India, snowy weather, the impeachment trial and worst of all daily COVID stats have the ability to have me pay no attention at all. 

Now if they have something to say that might enhance your life or get to your soul you might perk up and want to hear more. You break out of that semi conscious state and in a sense they have caught you. Tell me more. It’s like the guy who will enable me to hit my driver thirty yards further. Where do I sign.?

Whole industries have grown up about buyer psychology and behavior. The type of music or the color of the background all are perfectly tailored to get the most out of you. The truly scary part is the the good old algorithms and AI are going to be able to design a pitch geared to you and you alone. 

Our writer surmises that the more attention you get the more powerful you are. If your posts are seen by millions that is cash in the pocket of the writer or votes for that particular politician or sales on HSN. If you have thousands or millions on your Twitter account that is some pretty heady stuff. You are king or queen of your empire. People genuflect at your every word. It really happens.

Now let’s get back to that whole ides of you giving attention. Or better yet trying to feel like you mattered because no one was reaching out to you. You were the unwashed masses and the Donald tailored his pitch directly to you. You mattered. You counted. And no one had ever really done that to you before. 

Is it possible to be selective about who you give your attention to? Yes, but I think it would take practice, patience and curiosity rather than blind acceptance.

Get back to that idea of it being a currency that I can choose to spend or not. Look at yourself as a panoply of responses that you want to dole out carefully. Be selective. Even be demanding. Not in a snob like way but to put some barriers on who you let in. 

 I can get your attention in a number of ways. I can yell at you.I can whisper.  I can slam doors or bang gavels. I can create an aroma or a bad odor. I can push eroticism. Sex always sells. I can preach a gospel. Maybe not so much. I can offer you riches. Get rich quick. I can tug on your heart strings for pity and maybe a shekel or two. 

We have to work hard at paying attention. We want to be wowed and captivated otherwise we shunt it aside or merely daydream. We have labeled it a disease as in ADHD. No doubt some suffer deeply from it but for others it is just an excuse for goofing off or screwing up. There is reality out there that I would rather not deal with. 

It seems to me that type of approach might actually make our lives better. For the past couple of nights I have avoided any contact with TV. I sit in my corner chair and just look things up that interest me. I read an article or book. I go back to reread an article I may have glossed over in the Sunday Times. A little classical or smooth jazz sets the scene. Hmm. That feels pretty damn good. 

I am here at an early hour. I am humbly trying to pour out drivel so the I might get your attention. It is a wonderful sport. You help me think things through and see many sides. I feel some sort of duty to be witty or pithy. It’s all in there. I just have to make sure I get it out right. 

I have to catch your eye. I have to be worthy. In a real sense I am not trying to get your attention. I am really just paying attention to you. Nice concept.

As always 

Ted The Great 

Factoids:

The average person has about 48.6 thoughts per minute, according to the Laboratory of Neuro Imaging at the University of Southern California. That adds up to a total of 70,000 thoughts per day.

Finding Nemo. Our attention span has gotten shorter. From 12 seconds in 2000 to less than 8 seconds today. The attention span for a goldfish is 9 seconds. How the hell do they know that?

Psychologists found that the human mind is actually wired for this state of continuous distraction. In a study conducted with 2,250 adults, they concluded that we spend around 47 percent of every waking hour “mind wandering.”

FOMO (fear of missing out), FOBO (fear of being offline), and nomophobia (fear of being out of mobile phone contact)—all forms of anxiety that border on obsession or compulsion. People are constantly checking their laptops, tablets, and phones because they worry about receiving new information after everyone else, responding too slowly to a text or an e-mail, or being late to comment on or like a social media post.

A momentous occasion occurred last Saturday. The Divine Miss K and I marked our 50th wedding anniversary. I can hear you all now, wondering how she did it? I usually quote the Bible and tell her that, “Many are called but few are chosen”. We have had a lot of fun and it doesn’t seem like 50 at all. 

A weekend in Palm Beach was a more than fitting replacement for a worldwide cruise or a quick jet to Paris. The Brazilian Court Hotel is old school and elegant. Maybe the way things used to be. Not a throwback but a hidden treasure.  It was perfect. 

For the uninitiated, Palm Beach Island is its own little world with His Hairness and Mara Lago to the north and Worth Avenue to the south. The latter is home to swells and wannabes. Comically a hot red Ferrari came around the block several times with the radio blasting. Gauche but noticeable. It called to mind “cruising” in American Graffiti. Just grayer hair and a lot more expensive hot rods. 

There was a marvelous inside terrace at the hotel that was the meeting point for breakfast, an afternoon glass of wine or a wonderful dinner. Neat but not gaudy is the phrase I like to use. Kath and I chatted quite a bit. We reminisced and looked forward. That forward part looms ever shorter but we still have a little runway left. 

Looking back was an adventure. Friends made and too many friends gone. Wonderful kids and grandkids. Successes and failures. New horizons and incredible memories. When you think of it we have seen assassinations of presidents and wars of all sorts. My little sojourn to Nam interrupted our wedding plans. 9/11 struck right in the heart of my daughter’s nuptials. A death of my best friend broke my heart. Financial crises almost broke my and a lot of other people’s back. 

We thought we would never recover. Watergate was going to bring down the country. Riots at the Democratic convention in Chicago were almost as heinous as a couple of weeks ago at the Capitol. Kent State. MLK and a soulful speech of hope in  “I have a dream” and then to have that candle snuffed out by a lunatic. Little Rock, Montgomery. You think you have seen violence?

Yes, we got down but I still revel in our tenacity and resilience. In every single instance we came back stronger than ever. Bruised but not beaten. Why do we dwell on all that is wrong and fail to even consider what is right? That is not to brush off the gravity of now. It is bad and we know it. But why is it so hard to dig deep? 70% of our populace feels we are going in the wrong direction.  Do you feel that deep down or is it just chiming in with the chorus because it feels better ?

Okay for the moment let’s call me a “Have”. We were comfortable growing up but a wonderful Irish mother would cut you off at the knees if you even hinted at that. We had paper routes, cut lawns and babysat. I delivered mail one summer to pay for my college expenses. 

Was it hard? Who knows ? It was a job and you did it.  Military service was not an option but a rite of passage. Nobody gave a shit who your daddy was. It was a remarkable experience in that everyone was the same and you were serving your country. 

Along the way we have met trust funders and others who climbed the wall. People who got their place by right and others who got it by grit. I am turned off by the entitled. I am equally so by the “ you owe me”crowd. Just a fair shake, not a free ride. The world as we know it is not fair. That is unless we are willing to give up any sense of achievement or self esteem. A socialist society begets equality. If that is what you truly want, then go for it. I honestly don’t think you will like it once you get there.. 

I am not pontificating but maybe just spilling my guts. Kathy and I have seen a lot but we are not sage philosophers. At least not me. As a society we tend to analyze and criticize ad nauseam. Gotcha here. Gotcha there.  Is there any role for just living? Doing the best you can. Saying what you feel without retribution. Spontaneous and genuine, not canned and appropriate. 

We are a minuscule dot in the history of time. We think we are the cat’s meow but we are just a few years from being a has been. Maybe you have giant headstone or a building named after you. After it is over, does it really matter? Fame is fleeting and so is life. Take time to enjoy.

I truly hope you have been as lucky as me and hopefully that still very cute brown eyed girl feels that way also. It is not money or fame. It is a life that has been a blast. Every night I make some smart ass comment before we go to bed. She smiles broadly, giggles and it is the best thing in the world. As time goes by. 

. 

Factoids:

Several years ago I wrote down how I hoped to live my life. Not commandments but aspirations. I hope one or two might work for you.

Nobody and I mean nobody is better nor worse than me. Whether you are a vagrant or a billionaire we are the same. Don’t play either card or your are history. 

I will speak out when I see injustice. My place in life sometimes may makes that uncomfortable but I have to look myself in the mirror every day. It is just not right 

I am passionate and sensitive to the core, which some see as a weakness. I take it as a strength. I feel for myself and I feel for you.

I will lay down in the road for you if you make the effort. Charity is a two way street. I will give but you have to show me you want to take steps to change

I trust people to a fault. I believe in their goodness. I have been betrayed on occasion and it stinks. I have also been rewarded and they are some of the best moments of my life. 

I crave the unknown. It is not an abyss but an exciting prospect.

I can’t take back what I said 5 seconds ago. I really don’t know what tomorrow will bring. I am writing to you, my good friends at this very point in time and that is very cool

I am going to turn people off. Too brazen. Too outspoken. But if you get me, we will have a boatload of fun and maybe accomplish some wonderful things. At least we tried.

. 

Webster tells us it is a state in physics in which opposing forces are balanced. In our bodies it is the things in our ears that keep us from falling over. In our markets it is the equality of supply and demand. In our hearts and souls it is a sense that all is well. Right now in my life at least it is a concept I have not enjoyed for too long a time. 

I started to write last week but the events at the Capitol put me in a state of confusion. Due to the randomness of my ways, chaos is not a unique experience but this time it seemed to overwhelm me. How could I find a foothold? Something that was in some way normal? Tough to find.

I have had this feeling that I am being incredibly selfish. I have a great wife and family, live in an idyllic place with a roof over my head and food on the table. Suck it up boy. This too shall pass. But will it?

I am not talking about COVID. There is a vaccine and despite our foibles, sooner or later we will all get inoculated. Yes, there has been death and disease and this is consequential enough to scare one but it is incidental, as crass as that sounds. 

There is a substrata in our country and our world that has people feeling they have been screwed. States and countries want to regain their rightful position in the hierarchy whatever the hell that means. 

China’s bitch goes back over two hundred years. Putin and Russia are trying to go back to the 90’s and the USSR. Turkey wants to be the kingpin of the Middle East and every little tyrant wants to flex their muscle. 

Governors like Cuomo and Newsom are basking in the limelight, eying bigger and better positions. Bezos, Zuckerberg and Musk count their money and their clout in reshaping our world. Don’t get me started on the Pelosi’s, Shumer’s and Mc Connell’s of the world. When you come right down to it, it seems to be everyone for themselves. 

I am of the opinion that it is clash of styles. Humanists versus scientists. `The latter look at most things as an equation or a transaction. Black and white and survival of the fittest. There must be a cost benefit to everything. Thank you for your service but you are no longer needed. I am sorry but you don’t fit in any longer. We have found a process or machine to replace you. 

Humanists are based more on history or tradition if you will. Morality and the Golden Rule are at the forefront. We should all play by a set of rules that look to enhance the greater good. There is no “I” in team and all that. Fairness, equality and justice are the bywords. 

Is it just me or is this a clash that is being fought every day in every dot in the atlas. We have made our world smarter, faster, more efficient and convenient in oh so many ways. I used to go to the hardware store on Main St. Now I go to Home Depot. We loved a neighborhood bar to get beer and a burger. Now we just call up the chain and have it delivered. 

All this feels like progress and Utopia in our world. If we play it right we don’t have to come into contact with anyone we don’t want to. I no longer think about homelessness because I really don’t see it anymore. Riots, crime  and violence. Sorry, I just don’t feel your pain.   

 My daughter sent me an article about a mayor in Colorado who went homeless for a week. He is a staunch Republican but had the guts to do it. His life and his insight has changed dramatically. What if you or I spent a week in housing project or even a jail? Do you think we would be so dismissive and callous? 

By this time if you are still reading, you are saying TTG is a real downer. I don’t blame you. But at the same time that old pragmatic SOB in me says we or at least I have got to take a long hard look. I think we are kidding ourselves if we don’t.  Do you? 

This isn’t a revival meeting and if we were saving souls I would have to be first in line for redemption. But last week’s events as well as those of the summer focused on the optics and not the underlying condition. The jerks that busted into Congress were the same ilk as those who tore down Portland and Minneapolis. In both scenarios there were those who are upset and probably rightly so. Their message was bulldozed by violence and now have given the cognoscenti on both sides the means to rationalize their hatred. 

There is inequity but everyone can’t be the same. The system has screwed up on education and healthcare but the downtrodden are not without fault. There is a thing called standards that we have to agree on. What is decent and what is obscene? Both in wealth and behavior. The chasm between us is enormous. 

Can we do it? I really don’t know. The political charade of impeachment is not a good start. The selfish and infantile behavior of Trump has created a nightmare. Both sides have built war machines that are revved up and raring to go. 

In my own small and probably naive way I am asking all of us to lay down the arms and try just for once to see the other side. Put away the barbs and the tudes and just say how can we get together? Everyone and I mean everyone has a valid point. It would take some very humble and big people to understand that. I crave some sort of equilibrium in my life. Do you? 

As always

Ted The Great 

Factoids:

The Amazon argument goes both ways. In one sense they have taken over the supply chain and monopolize it. On the other they have given small businesses the ability to market products to people that would have never reached. 

While working as a volunteer at homeless shelter in Denver I unscientifically figured out that about 25% of our residents wanted to not be homeless. Another 50% were either mentally ill or substance dependent. The other 25% just liked being homeless. 

There are 300,000 people in prison today for drug violations. 45% of those in federal prison are there for drug offenses. Most “Three Strike” laws mandate a life sentence for even those who have never committed a violent or aggravated crime. 

NOT!  We are probably as far from calm as you can get. I started enumerating all the events of 2020 and found myself looking for the scotch bottle at 7:00 AM.

Start with a dose of COVD, sprinkle in the ensuing calamity for our economy, and the just when you think things are getting better here comes Derek Chauvin and his callous disregard for a human life in George Foreman. Breanna Taylor, Kenosha and the lawless rioting in Chicago, Seattle and elsewhere and things are really starting to boil. 

Had enough? Sorry, but the Gulf coast is belted by hurricanes three times in a row. Almost like a prize fighter getting up off the deck after each knockout punch only to get hit with another. The fires in California and my beloved Colorado almost give you the feeling of doomsday or at least a glimpse of it from the edge. 

The response to the virus is chaotic. New York screams for help but a hospital ship with hundreds of beds goes unused. We can’t find masks, PPE, or ventilators. We dart to and fro trying this or that to stem the flow but it is a dam breach that takes down everything in its path. 

Just when democracy should be at its best we keep shooting blanks. Congress stutters in fits and starts. It is locked in a battle of egos and one upsmanship with our Tweeting president. The elections are contested no matter the assurances and we the poor people are clamoring for a leader. Anyone, anywhere among this ship of fools. It is almost as if everyone in Washington has fiddles while the rest of our beautiful country burns. 

This is not the year in review of a man who is depressed but rather one who looks at all we have in consternation. We were favored by 171/2 points and here we are in the fourth quarter and down by ten. We are so incredibly creative and resourceful when we want to be but we have chosen to bitch and moan about our lot, even though there is none better. 

The irony and maybe the beauty of all this is the ability of the locals to get back to basics. When in doubt do it for ourselves. Here in La La Land we don masks out of respect for our neighbors not feeling in any sense docile nor subservient. We play by the rules not because it is the law but because it is right. 

There is a school in Indiantown run by two nuns. It is called Hope Rural. The locale is home to the people that pick the fruit and labor in the hotels and condos. It has existed for over 25 years to educate a hundred or so kids in the basics of education and life. They do this without a penny of public or even diocesan funding. 

I mention them because as a community we give Christmas to the over 100 families every year. Our garage was the depot for our members to bring bags of presents for each. A vey cool thing but more importantly going on in nooks and crannies throughout our generous nation. Food banks, shelters and neighbors looking in on each other are a part of our landscape as a country and a people. 

I am so torn about how good and how bad we are. Sure it is life but does it really have to be that way? I am always amazed by the balance of nature. Food chains and adaptations over millennia have enabled all forms of life to survive. There is flock of sand hill cranes flying above me. I wonder if they fight and bicker about who is boss or does one have more than the other?

There was guy who was born over 2000 years ago. Let’s for the moment not even call him God. He preached about loving one another. He healed the sick. Maybe it wasn’t a miracle but maybe the human spirit just reviving because someone took the the time to care. We are so quick to rule it out as a possibility because science says it can’t happen. We can’t seem to get the message that is so obvious. 

I worry about us because we want to keep slicing off pieces of the pie for own. We want to be recognized and rewarded for what our color, nationality or sexual preference is. We want to stand out for what we have materially and not for what goes on inside of us. We are losing our sense of community in our burgs, our nation and our world. That can’t be good. 

I am going to go out and say hello to total strangers today. I am going to write or call friend and say thank you for being so. I am gong to have a talk with my God and tell him my shortcomings but also how lucky I am. I hopefully have put into words what I think we all feel. We can get there but it is going to take a lot of work. But as I think about it maybe “All is bright” after all. 

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all of you.

As always

Ted The Great

Factoids:

With three devastating hurricanes, extreme wildfires, hail, flooding, tornadoes and drought, the United States tallied a record high bill last year for weather-related disasters: $306 billion. 

In a letter Thursday, Capitol physician Brian Monahan informed members of Congress and their staffs that the National Security Council had designated vaccine doses to Congress to meet “long-standing requirements for continuity of government operations.” Members would be vaccinated first, followed by “continuity-essential” staff, and then other staff members until the supply is exhausted.The Devil made them do it.  As of press time many emergency room doctors and nurses throughout the country have not been able to be vaccinated because of short supply. 

From the beginning of March through the end of October, food banks nationwide distributed an estimated 4.2 billion meals to our neighbors facing hunger in the United States. 

Since 1947 the Marines Toys for Tots program has given out over 584 million toys to 265 milli9n kids. That is just one program!

92% of Americans celebrate Christmas. 79% put up a tree. About 35 million trees are sold each years.

Overall, American consumers will spend more than $1 trillion for Christmas this year, with almost $150 billion going to online retailers