it can't be helped

So here I sit, surrounded by piles of paper. White paper, yellow paper, glossy paper with charts and illustrations, stiff dark blue paper encasing yet more white paper. Piles on my desks (I have 2-1/2 of them). Piles in and on top of the "organizer" units on top of my desks. Piles on the floor. More piles over there on that other 2 square feet of formerly empty floor. Bookshelves filled, not with books, but with piles of paper.

Houston, we have a problem.

Those of you who read my blog back in April 2008 (tinyurl.com/63jul8) will remember my initial excitement for David Allen's book, "Getting Things Done" and the (then free) software I found that implements his method. The book is still an excellent book, and the software, now available for a truly nominal fee, is still good and getting better with each new release. Here's the link: www.trgtd.com.au/

So where's the holdup? In a word, me. No plan works by itself. The best crafted methods are worth no more than the paper on which they're printed until someone (that would be me in this case) actually makes an effort to implement them.

David Allen's method obviously works. He's proven it hundreds of times with far more serious cases than mine. Following his GTD process empties your brain of everything you need to remember and lets you recall it at exactly the right time to get it done when it's supposed to be done. The catch is being consistent.

Just as with an exercise program or a diet or learning a language or a musical instrument or (fill in the blank with your long-term goal of choice), consistency is paramount. And with David's plan, you must get a roaring start. You must clear out EVERYTHING from ALL of your working areas (even the corner of your nightstand and the glove compartment of your car) and put them into the system. Then you must reference and use the system CONSTANTLY.

The key to success, then, is changing habits. I don't generally like changing my habits. Not too many folks do, I'll bet. But in order for this (or any similarly significant goal) to be achieved, habits have to change. Shikata ga nai (it can't be helped - there is no other way).

Tony Robbins reminds us that we respond best to the hope of pleasure and the fear of pain. Guess my next step will be to vividly imagine compelling examples of pleasure and pain.

"Honey, where did I put that tax rebate check we got last spring?" Oops - time to change habits …

We’ve Got to Get Out of This Place

In "From the Earth to the Moon,” the ground-breaking 1865 novel by Jules Verne, we read the story of a Frenchman and two well-to-do members of a post-American Civil War gun club who build an enormous sky-facing cannon and launch themselves in a projectile/spaceship from it to a Moon landing.

Ever since that novel was published, man’s dream of travelling to the planets and then to the stars has grown ever stronger. Science fiction novels and movies continue to spark the imagination of would-be astronauts, both the “real” variety and those who explore space from the comfort of their armchairs.

Such romantic visions of space exploration and conquest are slowly, quietly being supplanted by a more ominous motivation -- survival. Man’s chances of surviving as a species on this planet go down almost daily. Any elementary school student can give you the laundry list of reasons why this is so. (Read my thoughts on the subject here.)

Yes, Earth is home. It is where we were born, have lived and died for thousands of years. But given those reasons alluded to above, it’s likely the cycle will not continue too very much further into the future.

And now, the important part: if we’re going to establish a permanent human presence on another world, we must take action SOON. It may even be too late already.

Simply “exploring space” is not the same as colonizing other worlds – not by a long shot. Researching, planning, designing, funding, building and populating a viable colonization mission (preferably several simultaneous missions) could take many hundreds of years and thousands of trillions of today’s dollars. And for such a mind-bogglingly large undertaking, man’s resources may well be forever insufficient.

So why don’t we just forget about it and work harder on improving our chances of survival here on our home planet? Good question. Many people believe that’s the proper course of action, and those people have a good argument in their favor.

My argument is simple. What if those people are wrong?

(For a general discussion of this topic, start here with the Wikipedia article, "Space Colonization.")

It's Time for a Change! (again?)

We hear it during every election: "It's time for a change!" I can remember political campaigns from decades ago that were filled with the phrase. So, have we experienced change? The change we truly desire? Obviously not, or we wouldn't need to ask so often and so loudly.

Why do we ask for change at every opportunity? More importantly, are we asking the right people this question?

Certainly, change can be a good thing. In Toastmasters, as in many other such educational organizations, we regularly hear that "we always have room for improvement." Change, if properly planned and executed, can result in a positive improvement of our situation.

But we're asking the wrong people to effect change, or more accurately, allowing the wrong people to convince us they should be entrusted with effecting change.

How can government (city, county, state or national) possibly know what change would benefit us best as individuals? They can't. The levels of government rise far too high and contain far too much complexity to make such best decisions possible.

So who can we ask? The man (or woman) in the mirror.

We know ourselves best. We know what will make a positive difference in our lives and what will waste our time and resources. We know our own strengths and weaknesses and how we perceive our places in the world. We, above all others, have the power to create change - change that will stand the test of time.

Yes, it is time for a change. So, what are you waiting for?

me first

They don’t look before walking across your path.

Nevermind that you had to slam on your brakes and send your scalding hot coffee flying into the center console. Nevermind that parking spaces are at a premium, and that three other people had begun stalking the same one on which you’d cast your eyes before our oblivious pedestrian began their seemingly interminable trek. Nevermind that the crosswalk was clearly marked and certainly a safer route for folks on foot.

Nope. Nothing else matters. Nothing but my cell phone call, my iPod music, my trip to the convenience store for the latest copy of the Hollywood Scandal Daily.

What has happened to our society? When did it become OK (even expected) to put yourself first and others second, or, more typically, to remove others from your list completely?

It became OK when self-esteem and materialism became gods.

There was a time when folks were courteous, both to strangers and to those they knew. Now neither is true. Their happiness and convenience is more important than yours.

There was a time when a man would give you the shirt off his back if you needed it. Now you’d be lucky if he even noticed you were in need.

Is it time for a change? I think it was time for a change long ago. Are we capable of making that change? Not likely. Until it becomes unfashionable to worship our selves and our stuff, no change will be possible. And who or what defines what is or is not fashionable? The people and media to which we pay all too much attention.

The recipe for change? Turn off the television and the computer, put away the cell phone, pack the family in the car and head for the forest. Have long talks and walks with your family. Get them to realize that the true meaning in life is found in meeting the needs of other people, rather than getting what you think (or are told) you deserve.

Robert Downey, Jr. IS Iron Man

I’m a fan of live-action movie interpretations of comic book characters. Well, I am as long as they’re finely-crafted. And in this case, I am definitely a fan.

It's difficult to imagine a better casting for the lead role of Tony Stark (aka, Iron Man) than Robert Downey, Jr. His real-life swagger, under-the-surface vulnerability and wry humor blend perfectly with the character he plays – a super-intelligent, flamboyant entrepreneur who’s corporation makes billions of dollars designing and supplying bleeding edge war toys to the good guys of the world. Downey keeps his character accurately grounded in the face of the disturbing revelation that his toys have fallen into the wrong hands.

Awesome special effects will always catch my attention, but you won’t hold that attention long if there’s no meat to the story. In this case, the story and the characters were more than sufficient to keep me riveted (be sure to stay all the way through the credits!). Downey’s performance is matched well by his supporting cast: Jeff Bridges as Obadiah Stane, Tony’s right-hand man; Terrence Howard as Lt. Col. James Rhodes, military liaison to Stark Industries and Tony’s best friend; and Gwyneth Paltrow as Virginia “Pepper” Potts, Tony’s trusted executive assistant.

If you enjoy movies with state-of-the-art special effects, borders-of-reality story points and lots of things blowing up real good, go see this movie (in a big theater with a big sound system) - Roger Ebert saw it (if that means anything to you), and he liked it (if that means anything to you). Even if you don’t like all these things, see the movie anyway, if for no other reason than to enjoy what may be an academy award-nominating performance by Iron Ma-- er, Robert Downey, Jr.

nuclear power -- is it safe to go back in the water again?

Thanks in part to the 1979 movie "The China Syndrome" and the accidents at Three Mile Island (also in 1979) and, most notably, Chernobyl (in 1986), most folks duck and cover when someone suggests a return to nuclear power generation. This was an understandable reaction for that day, since the designs of nuclear power plants were indeed dangerous (obviously).

Times (and designs) have changed. The new kid on the block is called PBR, which stand for Pebble Bed Reactor, also known as PBMR or Pebble Bed Modular Reactor. So what's the big deal? The links at the end of this entry will give you all the details, but ...

Safety, for one thing. Cost, for another. And a bonus (and badly needed) byproduct for yet another.

The pebbles (which contain the fuel) in a PBR are specifically designed (due to an effect called "doppler broadening") to shut down the nuclear reaction as they get hotter. So, there's no possibility of a runaway reaction.

The problems with liquid cooling (which in the old design accounted for a much larger amount of the reactor facility than the reactor itself) are gone. PBR reactors use an inert or semi-inert gas such as helium, nitrogen or carbon dioxide for cooling. Any leak (much less likely than in prior designs) would have a very low level of radioactivity since these gases do not readily absorb neutrons or other impurities.

PBRs are designed using small, self-contained modules, each roughly the size of half a football field. Need more power? Tack on a few more. No more need for sprawling complexes and ultra-complicated interconnecting hardware, software and people.

The valuable byproduct? Hydrogen. Lots of it. Our need for commercially available hydrogen will grow exponentially as the fuel cell industry moves forward from the testing environment into everyday use. PBRs will provide a ready source for our growing hydrogen gas appetite.

Of course, there are flaws in every design, and these systems are no different. What is different is that PBRs use fuel that is specifically designed to be self-limiting. The Germans, the South Africans and the Dutch (among others) are pursuing this technology. Let's not let past fears cloud our evaluation of new, promising technology that can free us from our addiction to oil.

Is it safe to go back in the water? I say so. Do your own research (starting with the links below) and see if it makes sense to you as well. If it does, voice your opinion to those who can make it happen.

Phillip Dunn: Safe Nuclear Power and Green Hydrogen Fuel

Wikipedia article on the Pebble Bed Reactor

not always as they seem

British film director Ken Russell ("Women in Love," "Tommy," "Altered States") developed a schoolboy crush on US actress Dorothy Lamour (13 years his senior) when he was only ten years old. Her exotic roles in the "road" pictures with Bob Hope and Bing Crosby fueled this youthful fire by adding the allure of the South Pacific as a backdrop to his fixation. As a young man, he joined the British Merchant Navy in hopes of traveling to the South Pacific and realizing his romantic dream.

What Russell found was water. Lots of water. No Pacific islands. No Dorothy Lamour. His early life obsession was permanently crushed upon the discovery that the closest Ms Lamour had been to the South Pacific was a water tank on the Paramount Studios back lot.

Mother Teresa began her lifelong service to God and the poor at age 18. She lived and worked tirelessly among the impoverished of India, and was instrumental in focusing world attention on the plight of the homeless and seriously ill. She was not an actress, pretending to be something she was not. She was the real deal, always ready to divert attention from herself and onto the desperate needs of those less fortunate than most.

How often do we succumb to the images of people who languish in the spotlight, waiting for their next close-up? And how many times do we quickly latch on to an attractive idea or pursuit without giving much thought to its foundation or to our reasons for being attracted to it?

"Things are not always what they seem to be." An old, familiar phrase to be sure. But never more relevant.

Before you pursue that dream, before you cast that vote, look below the surface and think.

simplifying your life

Sir Alfred Hitchcock, the famed Hollywood filmmaker and producer, wore the same thing almost every day -- a blue suit, white shirt, black socks. He wore no jewelry of any kind, not even a wrist watch. His reason was that being simply dressed helped him avoid unwanted distraction. Hitchcock was once quoted as saying,

"I'm full of fears and I do my best to avoid difficulties and any kind of complications. I like everything around me to be clear as crystal and completely calm."

Western society works hard every day to prevent us from simplifying our lives and to distract us from what we believe to be our important tasks. Television, radio, the Internet, magazines, store displays, families, friends and associations -- all compete for our attention and offer hundreds, even thousands of things on which they want us to focus. The challenge, then, is to first determine what our important tasks are (not as easy as it sounds), and then to do all we can to avoid being distracted from them.

Hitchcock was a master at his craft, most likely because he loved it so much. The secret for him, and I suspect most other wildly successful people, was passion. His passion gave him the courage and discipline to take whatever steps were necessary to simplify his existence to the exclusion of all except the attainment of his goal.

Simplifying your life is not just something you do to create calmness. Sure, that's the immediate payoff, but there's so much more. Once you're calm, you can dream without effort, and easily turn those dreams into goals and plans. Now you're reaching your human potential, and that's what it's really all about.

Blue suit, white shirt, black socks. Simple colors on the outside. A rainbow of possibilities on the inside.

Experts say we must explore space

I've written before about the need to explore space. That need remains, and now I add more fuel to the fire by referring to you the following list (compiled by author and space advocate Sylvia Engdahl) of books (and a video) by noted scientists and researchers.

Pick up one (or more) of them on your next trip to the bookstore. Give it a read and report your impressions to me. Let me know if your view has been changed or remains as it was before the read.

• The Survival Imperative: Using Space to Protect Earth by William E. Burrows


• The High Frontier: Human Colonies in Space: Apogee Books Space Series 12 (Apogee Books Space Series) by Gerard K. O'Neill


• The Case for Mars: The Plan to Settle the Red Planet and Why We Must by Robert Zubrin


• Entering Space: Creating a Spacefaring Civilization by Robert Zubrin


• Return to the Moon: Exploration, Enterprise, and Energy in the Human Settlement of Space by Harrison H. Schmitt


• Return to the Moon (Apogee Books Space Series) by Rick N. Tumlinson


• Moonrush: Improving Life on Earth with the Moon's Resources: Apogee Books Space Series 43 (Apogee Books Space Series) by Dennis Wingo


• Mining The Sky: Untold Riches From The Asteroids, Comets, And Planets (Helix Book) by John S. Lewis


• The Millennial Project: Colonizing the Galaxy in Eight Easy Steps by Marshall T. Savage


• Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space by Carl Sagan


• RealSpace: The Fate of Physical Presence in the Digital Age, On and Off Planet by Paul Levinson


• The Overview Effect: Space Exploration and Human Evolution, Second Edition (Library of Flight Series) by Frank White


• Spacefaring: The Human Dimension by Albert A. Harrison


• Beyond Earth: The Future of Humans in Space (Apogee Books Space Series) by PhD, Bob Krone


• Disturbing The Universe (Sloan Foundation Science Series) by Freeman J. Dyson


• Out of the Cradle: Exploring the Frontiers Beyond Earth by William K. Hartmann


• Gaia Selene - Saving the Earth by Colonizing the Moon DVD video


• The Far Side of Evil by Sylvia Engdahl


• Journey Between Worlds by Sylvia Louise Engdahl


• The high road by Ben Bova


• The Space Enterprise by Harry G. Stine


• Doomsday has been cancelled by J. Peter Vajk


• Space Colonies (A Coevolution book) by Stewart Brand


• The fertile stars by Brian O'Leary


• Spaceships of the mind by Nigel Calder

empty your brain and get things done

I've been on a quest of late to find some tool that could help me manage my work, home and personal projects effectively. That search has led me to an excellent book and a useful (and free) software program.

The book is entitled “Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity” by David Allen ($9.00 at Amazon.com). It’s been around for the better part of a decade, and has been a hot seller all the while, for good reason.

David teaches the reader that stress is caused (mostly) by our brains being full of those things we need to do but haven’t done yet. As a result, our brains become overloaded and eventually completely ineffective.

His solution is to empty our brains of these things regularly into a trusted system that can remember and organize them for us. The keywords and phrases in that last sentence are: “regularly,” “trusted system” and “organize.” David describes such a system and gives us the motivation to implement it in whatever ways suit us best personally.

The software program I found to go along with this book is called “Thinking Rock” by Avente Pty Ltd, an Australian software company. Click here to go to their website. Besides being free, its appeal lies in the fact that it very closely follows David’s model, and that it’s available for MS Windows, Apple OS X and Linux.

Even if you don’t make use of the software (and if you use computers on a daily basis, you should), you’ll benefit tremendously by reading the book. I highly recommend it, and look forward to hearing success stories from those of you who have or will do so.

Empty your brain, buy the book, download the software and get it done.

Unlimited Possibilities

There's nothing new under the sun. So says the Bible, and in that context (an explanation of which is left for the reader to discover) I accept the statement. Fine.

But where does that leave the creative types and innovators? Are they doomed to simply repeat history, with no hope of every generating a new thought or design? Is there actually a dark, lonely truth at the end of the mental roadblock?

I submit for your consideration the following concept: as more ideas and designs are created, the possibility for new ones increases rather than decreases.

Increases? How can that be? There must be a limited number of thoughts we can think and gadgets we can invent, right? Won’t we soon run up against the limits of thought and technology?

On the surface this seems to be a logical conclusion. But let’s think outside the box for a moment. What would happen if you took a cell phone and a PDA (personal digital assistant), slathered some glue onto each one and stuck them together? You’d get (a mockup of) a Blackberry.

Or let’s say you took social networking concepts (thousands of years in the making) and implemented them with computer technology (barely a few generations old). The result? You’re looking at MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn, … you get the idea.

My point should be obvious. Taking two things and somehow gluing them to each other can create a third thing. A successful result isn’t guaranteed every time, to be sure. But when it does occur, you’ve just increased the number of things in your parts box.

The next time you feel as if there’s no way to pull another creative thought from your tired brain, remember that your possibilities for success increase day by day. Just dig deep into your box of parts and get out the glue.

In Praise of the USA

Little did the first settlers from Great Britain suspect that the modest colony they established would someday become the strongest, most innovative and most generous nation the world has ever seen.

Our military, economic and political might are revered and even feared by every other developed country.

Almost single-handedly we have led the people of Earth through the industrial age into the information age and are now preparing to permanently colonize the Moon and the planets.

Whenever and wherever disaster strikes around the world, the United States of America opens her heart and her pockets to help alleviate the pain and repair the damage.

We are not perfect, and we never will be. But we are the best.

We are envied -- just take a look at the global immigration statistics.

We are hated by those who hate freedom -- 9-11 was proof enough of that.

What we have here is precious -- no, priceless.

If we are to remain strong, innovative and generous, we must continue to pay the ultimate price, whatever form it may take.

My challenge to you: in your own life, find some small way every day to pay that price.

The Come Hither Finger

When was the last time you received the Come Hither Finger? To give you a better idea of what I mean, let me tell you a story.

It was a bright, sunny Sunday morning. The birds were singing, the sky was blue and filled with puffy white clouds, and a gentle breeze stirred the trees.

I had reached my early teenage years, and was seated on that lovely morning by myself in the front row at church.

My Aunt (who was my legal guardian and, for all intents and purposes, my mother) was one of the pastors of our little church. Yes, I was a “preacher's kid.” And on that morning, my aunt was seated on the platform behind the pulpit, from which vantage point she could see me quite well.

Part way through the service, my sugary breakfast kicked in, and my behavior began to … deteriorate.

A stern look from my Aunt corrected the situation. It was reminiscent of Saturday Night Live's “Church Lady,” as though something were pulling her entire face to one side …

Approximately three minutes and forty-five seconds later, the excess glucose in my bloodstream finally overpowered my better judgment, and the aforementioned deterioration continued.

The next look I received from behind the pulpit filled my heart with fear. The Church Lady's face had changed. Both sides were now collapsed, her brow was furrowed and her mouth was the size and shape of a marble.

Instantly I was in control of my behavior once again.

One minute and thirty-seven seconds later, I learned a valuable lesson in biochemistry. It seems that the combination of adolescent hormones and an elevated blood sugar level is a powerful force indeed. Willpower was unfortunately no match for this universal law, and my delinquency resumed with a passion.

To the right of the pulpit was the choir loft, in full view of the congregation. The loft was now empty, since the musical portion of the service had concluded.

The event that I now describe to you will accompany me to my grave.

For some unknown reason, and against my better judgment, I made the fatal mistake of looking up at my Aunt once again, and to my dismay I was given the Come Hither Finger. It commanded me, silently but oh-so-firmly, to get up out of my seat — in the middle of the service — and approach the platform.

The fear in my heart quickly gave way to abject terror, because as I approached, the Come Hither Finger transformed itself into the Pointing Finger of Doom. Imagine, if you can, the utter humiliation experienced by an adolescent human male being forced to sit, by himself, facing an entire congregation of friends and fellow worshippers, in the middle of an empty choir loft.

Dear reader, I beg of you, I plead with you, please — heed the advice of someone with painful, first-hand experience:

• join a monastery
• start wearing completely non-transparent sunglasses 24 hours a day
• get a lifetime prescription for Prozac

In short, do everything and anything you possibly can and pay any price to avoid the Come Hither Finger!

Seniors’ confusion can be costly—even deadly

I’ve recently become an independent insurance agent (health and life, CA lic# 0E80378), specializing in the senior market. What I’ve discovered is that a lack of understanding of the system can easily overwhelm and even endanger some seniors.

Education is the key. If a senior is mentally capable of learning, they need to make use of several reliable sources of information about their options when it comes to Medicare coverage and supplemental plans. If not, their executors must take on this task.

A good starting point is the US Government’s Medicare website. Read (or better yet download, print and read) the current version of the “Medicare & You” guide. Also read (or download) the documents that describe Medicare Advantage Plans (which manage your care), Medigap policies (private insurance that supplements standard medicare), and Prescription Drug Plans (PDPs).

Without a good foundation of knowledge, seniors can end up paying too much for their health care, and can even be denied care in some extreme situations if the plans they’ve chosen don’t fit them properly.

Knowledge is power. Take action today to protect yourself (or your loved ones) when it comes to senior health care.

"Happiness ..." is a Good Book

I'm currently reading the book, “Happiness is a Serious Problem” by Dennis Prager. If you've not read this book, put it on your list.

Dennis, a Los Angeles-based radio talk show host, has put literally years of thought and research into this work, and it shows. He makes the case that the reasons for being happy (or not) are not necessarily related to the causes one might think.

Pick up this excellent book, read it, and let me know what you think of it. I'd love to hear your reactions (and so would Dennis, I'm sure!).

A Better Way

Did you attended public school?

If you’re like me, you probably have some fond memories of those days.  You feel a connection with public school simply because it’s familiar and comfortable.

I’d like to suggest that, in spite of our feelings, there’s a better way – private education.

When you invest your money, what kind of return do you expect?  These days, you can earn anywhere from ½ percent in a savings account to as much as 6 or 7 percent or more for investments with more risk involved.  Would you consider investing in something that costs you 50 percent or more of your investment?

That’s not unlike what we’re doing when we send our tax dollars to fund public education.  Gregory Fossedal, in the March 27, 1996 edition of the Wall Street Journal, stated that:

“America's public elementary and secondary schools employ 2.6 million people who do not teach, and three million teachers. By contrast, the ratio of teachers to non-teachers is 2 to 1 in U.S. private schools, about what it was 40 years ago in the public schools.”

Here is the 2001-2002 breakdown of California’s non-teaching staff.  The total at the bottom of the table has increased by 55 percent over the past 14 years.

California Department of Education

2001-2002 Breakdown of
Non-teaching Full-time Equivalent
Pupil Services Staff

Councelors	6,442
Psychologists	3,707
Librarians	1,274
Social Workers	183
Nurses	2,443
Speech/language/hearing specialists	4,197
Resource specialists	545
Other pupil services staff	2,771
State Total	21,562

As you review these positions, please consider that most parents can and should be handling these duties themselves (or seeing to it that they’re handled) – our parents did.

Since the government runs them, public schools are subject to countless regulations that hamper teachers from being effective.  Student discipline, for example, is a serious and growing problem in our schools, and the teachers in many cases are helpless to do anything about it.

Political correctness is alive and well in the public school system.  Just listen to this excerpt from a book review in the April 28, 2003 edition of the Los Angeles Times:

“What do dinosaurs, mountains, deserts, brave boys, shy girls, men fixing roofs, women baking cookies, elderly people in wheelchairs, athletic African Americans, God, heathens, witches, owls, birthday cake and religious fanatics all have in common?  Trick question?  Not really.  As we learn from Diane Ravitch's eye-opening book "The Language Police," all of the above share the common fate of having been banned from the textbooks or test questions (or both) being used in today's schools.”

Diane's book is: "The Language Police: How Pressure Groups Restrict What Students Learn," published by Knopf; 1st edition (April 15, 2003), ISBN: 0375414827

Private schools give control of the educational process back to those that truly deserve and in fact need that control – the parents.  A growing number of parents have realized this, and are taking action.  Sylvia Costen reports in the February 16, 2003 edition of the Richmond Virginia Times-Dispatch that “private schools have shown steady growth in the last half-century, and now make up one-fourth of the schools in the United States.”

The Census Bureau, the U.S. Department of Education and the National Center for Education Statistics all agree that home schooling is growing at a healthy rate.  Independent universities and trade schools continue to proliferate.  How many TV and radio commercials have you heard recently advertising this business school or that technical university?

If we in fact were to come to the conclusion that private schooling is a better way, how do we stop the waste of money on public schooling?  Eliminate public schooling altogether.

I hear you cry, “Wow!  You can’t be serious???  We couldn’t do that!  Our country would collapse!”

Yes, you’re right – if we did it all at once.  That’s why I propose a gradual reduction in public schooling over a significant number of years:

• close all public universities 20 years from now
• high schools 5 years after that
• intermediate schools and junior high schools 5 years after that
• elementary schools 10 years after that

This gradual 40-year schedule of closings would allow everyone – educators and parents alike – plenty of time (two generations) to plan for the future.

And as these schools close, I propose that 80 percent of the tax money spent on public education be returned to us in the form of tax cuts, with the remaining 20 percent being diverted to increase police protection for our cities.

You may ask, “What will happen to those who can’t afford private schools?”

I’ve wondered that myself, and it concerned me.  And then I realized a couple of things.

One, we Americans always rise to a challenge – where there’s a will, there’s a way.  I’m confident that when parents truly consider what’s best for their children, they’ll do whatever is necessary to provide an education for them.

And Two, this capitalistic and charitable society of ours will provide a way.  Entrepreneurs will create educational opportunities to fit almost any budget, because there would be a profit to be made.

The least fortunate among us would have access to even greater pools of private scholarships than they do today, thanks in part to the tax cuts I’ve proposed.  Charitable organizations would create many kinds of free schooling for children from severely impoverished families.  The money is out there, and as people are allowed to keep more of their income, they will become more charitable – we see it happen daily in this great country of ours.

I have no doubt that as our country’s culture regarding education changes to meet this challenge, we will emerge with a system of private education that will be the envy of the entire planet – we’re that good!

Yes, there is a better way.

Let’s educate our children the way that makes sense – in private schools.

A Shared Obsession

For me, its balmy airs are always blowing,
its summer seas flashing in the sun.
The pulsing of its surf is in my ear.

I can see its garlanded crags,
its leaping cascades,
its plumy palms drowsing by the shore,
its remote summits floating like islands above the cloud-rack.

I can feel the spirit of its woody solitudes.
I hear the splashing of the brooks.
In my nostrils still lives the breath of flowers that perished twenty years ago.

I share an obsession with the famous American author that penned these words. They come from a book written in 1912 by Albert Bigelow Paine entitled "Mark Twain: A Biography," and describe our shared passion for the Sandwich Islands, perhaps better known as the Kingdom of Hawai'i.

No matter what is going on in my life, Hawai'i is always there, calling to me, pleading with me to come home again.

Yes, I said, "home." From the minute I stepped off the plane in the Fall of 1989, I knew this would someday be my home. Each of my 10 visits to the Islands has reinforced that belief.

Mark Twain set out by boat for the Islands in March of 1866, and spent many months soaking up the local color and putting up with the local insects.  Unlike me, he also did a bit of work during his extended stay.  And he did so, at times, under considerable duress.

Returning to Honolulu near the end of June from a tour of all the islands, he retired to bed in order to recover from an aggravated case of saddle boils.  You see, the horse was the touring vehicle of choice in those days, and he was not what one would call an accomplished rider.

Just as he was settling in, word came that a shipwrecked crew had just been brought in to Honolulu.  In spite of his precarious physical condition, he agreed to be transported to the hospital on a cot and there took notes from all the survivors.  He then stayed up all night writing the harrowing account, and the completed manuscript just made it on the next morning's sailing ship.  As a result, on July 19th, the Sacramento Union gave the world its first glimpse into the terrible Hornet disaster.

My work while in the Islands has consisted of shopping for friends, reviewing local restaurants for a travel guidebook, and working on the helper crew for the Iron Man Triathlon.  Not quite in the same league with Mr. Twain, I'm sure you'd agree.  But then, I go to Hawai'i to get away from work and rejuvenate my spirit.

Once in a while I find it difficult to communicate my passion for all that is Hawai'i.  Unfortunately, some folks just don't get it.  I can only smile, shake my head in disbelief, and hear the words of Mark Twain recorded by Walter Francis Frear in his book "Mark Twain in Hawai'i":

This is the most magnificent, balmy atmosphere in the world — ought to take dead men out of the grave.

I suppose that for these more stubborn folk, the only foolproof method of making them feel what I feel would be to kidnap them, bring them to the islands, and let them see it all first-hand.

Part of the allure of the Islands, both for me and for Mr. Twain, is the great pageantry with which the people live their lives.  It has been a joy for me to experience the spirit of the Aloha Festivals, which are carried on for several weeks in September and October of each year.  The local food is highlighted at these events, but more grand are the costumes and music that fill the senses with wonder and excitement.

In his book "Roughing It," Mr. Twain recalls, in his unique style, the wonderful festiveness of the Saturday afternoon marketplace a hundred thirty five years ago:

The girls put on all the finery they can on Saturday afternoon: fine black silk robes; flowing red ones that nearly put your eyes out; others as white as snow; still others that discount the rainbow; and they wear their hair in nets, and trim their jaunty hats with fresh flowers, and encircle their dusky throats with homemade necklaces of the brilliant vermilion-tinted blossom of the ohia; and they fill the markets and the adjacent streets with their bright presences, and smell like a rag factory on fire with their offensive coconut oil.

At the end of the day, this obsession I share with Mr. Twain has affected me in the same way as it did him.  I'll let him explain it to you.  In a letter to W. D. Howells on October 26, 1881, Twain wrote:

Charles Warren Stoddard has gone to the Sandwich Islands permanently.  Lucky devil.  It is the only supremely delightful place on earth.  It does seem that the more advantages a body doesn't earn here, the more of them God throws at his head.  This fellow's postal card has set the vision of those gracious islands before my mind again, with not a leaf withered, nor a rainbow vanished, nor a sun-flash missing from the waves, and now it will be months, I reckon, before I can drive it away again.  It is beautiful company, but it makes one restless and dissatisfied.

As they say, misery loves company.  I invite you to experience Hawai'i as have both I and Mr. Twain, and then to join us in this magnificent obsession.

Saddam's Killing Fields

Our young men and women who died in Iraq have put a stop to Saddam's "killing fields." God bless them and their families!

Here is an excerpt from a Reuters article dated Tuesday, October 12, 2004:

...

The victims are believed to be minority Kurds killed during 1987-88. One trench contains only women and children, apparently killed by small arms. Another contains only men, apparently killed by automatic gunfire.

[Greg] Kehoe [a U.S. lawyer appointed by the White House to work with the Iraqi Special Tribunal] said the women and children had been taken from their villages with their belongings, including pots and pans, shot — often in the back of the head — then bulldozed into the trench.

Some of the mothers died still holding their children. One young boy still held a ball in his tiny arms. A thick stench hangs over the site, as well as at a makeshift morgue nearby.

"The youngest fetus we have was 18 to 20 fetal weeks. Tiny bones, femurs, thighbones the size of a matchstick," says investigating anthropologist P. Willey, of California.

International organizations estimate more than 300,000 people died under Saddam's 24-year rule and Iraq's Human Rights ministry has identified 40 possible mass graves countrywide.

Authorities hope careful investigations of the sites will provide enough evidence to convict Saddam and other senior members of his regime, now in U.S. detention, of crimes against humanity.

...

Did you catch that number? 300,000. THREE HUNDRED THOUSAND. That's the population of a good-sized American city. Possibly FORTY mass graves. Mothers and babies. Butchered for his pleasure. Are you eating dinner? I hope so.

How many MORE innocents would have been tortured and slaughtered if we had allowed the U.N. to continue "negotiating" with that monster? What a few of our soldiers did at Abu Graib was like tickling compared to what Saddam's henchmen committed there. Don't even talk to me about that comparison.

Freedom and security sometimes come at the ultimate price, and as far as I'm concerned, America is one of the few nations on earth that is willing to pay that price.

When the fear of reprisal among the Iraqis on the street subsides, we'll hear much more of their genuine gratitude toward America. For now, though, they still must be careful about what they say to the press.

Cultural change takes generations. It may never happen. But at least we stopped a man who played "genocide" the way we play baseball.

What can we do?

Reported by KGTV, TheSanDiegoChannel.com, on Wednesday, August 25th, 2004:

A young couple was shot as they bid good night to one another Tuesday night in City Heights, 10News reported.

Carla Aguiar and Adrian Acosta were hugging one another outside her home when a single bullet was fired by someone in a passing car.  The bullet pierced the girl's chest before it hit Acosta in the heart.  Witnesses said Acosta picked up Aguiar and walked back toward her home before collapsing on the sidewalk.  He died at the scene.

After reading this story, and wondering what could be done about the situation, I realized that there's only one truly effective solution: a change in cultural values.

Though many have tried down through history in various ways, cultural change can't be legislated — it has to happen one person at a time.  I believe we have a greater effect on our relatives, friends and neighbors than we sometimes realize.

Adrian's mother said that her son was not a troublemaker and always came straight home after school.  Whether or not this is the full story (we know how kids can sometimes hide their behavior from their parents), we'll never know.  We can, however, be certain of one thing: a breakdown occurred somewhere within the moral structure of several families in that community.

It's everyone's individual responsibility to reject bad behavior wherever we encounter it, even (and especially) among family members.

If we each hold ourselves to a higher moral standard, sooner or later the people closest to us will begin to want our acceptance and approval more than they want to satisfy their baser and, in some unfortunate cases, evil instincts.

A sad story, yes, but hopefully one that will encourage our resolve to make positive change within our families and communities.

what were you thinking?

In the following examples, what were Mary, John and Bob thinking?

Mary recently said to me, "I know I shouldn't have eaten that three-pound slice of chocolate decadence cheesecake.  I just couldn't help myself!"

John confessed, "I guess I shouldn't have told Marsha off like that.  I don't know what came over me..."

And Bob, previously in a very bad mood, suddenly discovered he'd just won the lottery — his mood changed instantly.

Do you have the sense that each of these people was just a little bit out of control?  And did you notice that what they were thinking played a significant role in each of these three examples?

Too often we assume that our thoughts are beyond our control.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  Except for those people who suffer from true mental illness, the one thing over which we have the greatest control is what we think.

You can easily establish and maintain control over your thoughts by applying the following three concepts:

Awareness  —  Planning  —  Evaluation

Let's explore these concepts in some detail.

1. Awareness

   The first step in taking control of your thoughts is simply becoming aware of them.  Let's reconsider our initial examples for a moment.

   1. What was running through Mary's mind when that decadent dessert presented itself for her consideration?  Was she thinking about its effect on her blood sugar level (and ultimately on her waist line), or did its taste and texture take precedence?
   
   
   2. When John's co-worker Marsha stepped over the line for the um-teenth time, did he simply react without first considering his words and their effect on her?
   
   
   3. And in our lottery winner example, was Bob even aware, after the fact, of the relative insignificance of whatever it was that had him so upset previously?
   
   

   You can't take control of something of which you're not aware.  Your task, therefore, is to begin right now, in this instant, to increase your awareness of your thoughts and thought patterns.

2. Planning

   The next step toward controlling your thoughts involves planning.  I can think of no better way to illustrate this concept than to ask you to recall the many examples, both humorous and otherwise, of the dangers of speaking without thinking.

   Bill Cosby tells of the time he visited Ray Charles one evening at his apartment.  There were no lights on at all.  The place was pitch black, and Ray said, "Hey, Bill!  Come on in!"

   Bill said, "Ray, where are you?"

   "I'm in the bathroom.  Shaving."

   "Well, Ray, why are you shaving in the dark ..." and he tried to stop himself right there, but the words kept coming out, " ... with the lights out?"

   Bill's brain immediately followed with, "You dummy!  What were you thinking?"

   But Ray was cool about it.  He laughed and said, "Man, I've been shavin' in the dark all my life!"

   The lesson here is simple: begin to flex your mental muscles by pausing briefly before each sentence you speak.  This will force you to develop the habit of thinking in advance, and will demonstrate the value of planning and organizing your thoughts.

   Take your time, plan ahead, and think before you speak; then watch what happens to your conversations.

3. Evaluation

   Finally, after you've become aware of your thoughts and have begun to plan and organize them in advance, you should evaluate your results.  Do this by examining your thoughts and thought patterns for:

   • Accuracy
   • Relevance, and, most importantly,
   • Conformance to Your Values
   
   

   This step is key to long-term success in controlling your thoughts.

   1. How accurate and truthful are your thoughts?  Are they centered around facts, or are you deceiving yourself in order to avoid some harsh reality?
   
   
   2. Are your thoughts relevant?  Do they really apply to the situation at hand, or are you again avoiding reality because it's uncomfortable or, perhaps, boring?
   
   
   3. Most importantly, do your thoughts conform to your personal morals and code of ethics?  Just because an immoral or unethical thought is hidden from others doesn't mean it won't have some negative effect upon you.  The Bible states that as a man thinks in his heart, so is he.  So true.
   
   

   Begin today to analyze your thoughts, make the necessary corrections, and then be prepared for significant, positive change to occur very quickly.

Bottom Line

To be in control of your thoughts is to be in control of your entire life.  And you can control your thoughts through awareness, planning and evaluation.

Please remember this point: lacking control of your thoughts prevents you from gaining or maintaining focus on those things that are most important to you.

Once you gain full control of your thoughts, the other areas of your life in which you're having difficulty will become much more easily managed.

You now have a choice, and a decision to make: take control of your thoughts, or allow your uncontrolled thoughts to control you.

The next time someone asks what you were thinking, will you have a good answer?