All Great Things

And so it ends.
All Great things must.

I am thinking tonight about three endings.

The easy one is what i just saw on the tv. Brett Favre has said that this is it. 20 years. No more guessing, no more wondering, he is done playing professional football.

I can honestly say that I remember the first time i saw him play. we probably all can. and without going into all of the feelings the man has generated for us over the years, I can say that Brett has been a part of our lives. His play, his personality, have created excitement for fans every year. every game, every play. For 20 years. That just doesnt happen. and it is what makes him great.

I know it sounds cliche, but all great things must come to an end. coming to that end is what makes those same things great.

You will never remember something with the same fondness if it just keeps going.

My father in law had to have his dog put down this week. I want to say that there are good dogs. and then there are great dogs. Cody was truly a great dog. His body was not right since he was puppy. he always had a bad limp from an injury as a puppy. That said, consider what makes a great dog. This guy fit every description. He was amazing with kids. none of them were ever ever scared of him. and they knew he was cool. Ever heard the phrase "that dog wont hunt?" not about cody. he loved to do it and was by all accounts about as good as it gets for hunting dogs. I never heard Rocky yell at the dog. Cody could be clear across the yard, and all the man would have to do is say quietly, "ok boy, cmon, inside now" and this dog would just respond. even lately, after the dog couldnt hear anymore, all Rocky had to do was wave and the dog would come running.

I remember one time. We ended up house-sitting for my in-laws for the night, and i was instructed to take care of him. Having no idea what the routine was, I put him on the leash and we went outside. Following him through his routine, Cody never even tried to give me a hard time. He went about his routine, and back to the house. I am not his dad, but he didnt try to run, or give me any trouble. he just went with it.

SO tonight i would like to say Rest In Peace boy. All great things must come to an end. There will never be another dog like Cody.

I find myself tonight on the eve of my last day at a job. I have taken a new post, at a new company. After 8 years of walking to work, I will have a commute. After 8 years of being THE expert with this company, I will once again become the newbie. After 8 years of loving my job, I am hoping that I will love this one.

But again, All Great Things.

And here is the thing about change. It helps a person grow. I hope that as i embark on this, I am able to find some solace in the idea of becoming more of all of those ideals that I continually spout in these essays.

I hope that this job will allow me to better provide for my family.

I hope that this new spot will help me to better understand myself.

I hope that in some way i can improve the working lives of my new employees and team members.

And I hope, that sooner or later, this will become one of those Great Things in my life.

Dreaming of new Great Things....

Greg

Ego

As has been my standard lately, I'll start with a definition.....

(ē'gō, ĕg'ō) pronunciation
n., pl., e·gos.

1. The self, especially as distinct from the world and other selves.
2. In psychoanalysis, the division of the psyche that is conscious, most immediately controls thought and behavior, and is most in touch with external reality.
3.
1. An exaggerated sense of self-importance; conceit.
2. Appropriate pride in oneself; self-esteem.

Thank you answers.com

Nobody wants to be egotistical. No-one thinks that they are an ego-maniac. Nobody intentionally buys something to get an ego boost. But yet we have all heard these terms.

Ego has a bad connotation. I have said many times, and repeated many times, my theory about being the least important person in the room, and what that will do for your relationships. And it works. Because we are allllllllll egotistical. When you behave in such a manner as to convey that you are more interested in the well-being of others than yourself, it also leaves the impression that you are interested in others. Which of course, you are.

Except. But. However. Nobody, and i mean nobody, can ever truly be more interested in others than themselves. I dont care who you are. I dont care how gracious, caring, loving, giving, etc. that you are, you are egotistical. You DO Care more about yourself than anybody else. at some root level at least. You come first.

Sucks to think about doesnt it? you egomaniac prick. kidding.

But it is a fact. let me soften the blow.

My birthday always blows chunks. Every year. I get within a week of it, and I get depressed. Not because I am worried about aging. Not because I dont get enough presents. Not because I dont really like eating cake that much.

My birthday is depressing because I havent had one in a long time that fed my ego. There. I said it. I have not had a birthday lately that made me feel as though the people who knew it was my day legitimately gave a flying you know what one way or the other. Last year was almost awesome. And then i ended up working right through my birthday party, which my family and friends put together, and would have rocked. but it ended up blowing chunks.

This sounds reallllly childish. That brings me to the kindergarten theory. read back a few dozen posts if you dont remember that one. What kindergartner you know would not feel completely let down if they felt that their birthday didnt matter to anybody? This guy right here. And it is how I always feel. Even when my friends and family care; I end up working late and miss the whole thing. And it didnt get rescheduled.

I admit it. I have an ego. I want it to be boosted once in a while. we all do.

Birthdays aside, lets get into the idea of an ego boost.

Examples. at least for guys, and maybe for women too, dunno, never been a woman.

Feeling physically attractive to others.
Feeling as though others think you are intelligent.
Feeling as though others are jealous of you.
Feeling superior to others.
Feeling more successful than others.
Having a lot of friends.
Having cooler stuff than other people.
Being superior in a competition to other people.
Being needed or wanted by other people.

you get the idea. Your ego is boosted when you feel as though you are important for some reason. the level of importance you carry is determined to you by the general impression that you are given by other people. In essence, your ego is boosted by what other people say or think about that aspect of you.

crap. Most of the things that I have written here have given the impression that I was mentally above or beyond that. Most of these posts have expressed my desire to be more logical, more reasonable, above this basic line of reasoning. Remember, like I said so many times, it isnt about you.

BUT IT IS ABOUT YOU. Nobody can help having an ego. Your ego is what makes you feel good about all of the things that arent about you. If you can take the attitude that this situation isnt about you, and then turn it to a feeling of self worth based on the quality of relationships you are developing around you, then guess what. You just made it about you.

And you cant help it.

Ego is the root cause for most of the worlds problems, small and large scale.

Marriages break up because one partner does not feel as though their partner is as attracted to them physically or emotionally as some other alternative. I mean it. I know people who got divorced because one partner felt as though they werent "wanted" in one of those ways. If somebody shows up who does want them that way, its over. DOnt tell me you dont know somebody who worked his ass off, trying to provide for his family, and lost his wife to a loser who made her feel sexy. Or the guy who left his wife of 30 years , who struggled through running a business, because he found a cute young woman who made him feel as though she wanted him physically.

Wars are started because one government is made to feel left out of politics, or slighted in some way, and their beliefs or pride are not important to another nation.

I could go on all night.

but i wont.

New rule. In any relationship that you are involved in. Rather than making yourself the least important person in the room, try making yourself the person who understands what it is to communicate your feelings for the others in the group. everybody needs a ego boost once in a while. Make your friends feel valued for what you do for them. Make your partner feel sexy and desirable. Tell someone thank you for what they have done for you and mean it. Tell your kids that you are proud of them. And dont be afraid to expect the same in return. Its ok to want a pat on the back once in a while.

Maybe, just maybe, your birthday wont suck this year. Because you were made to feel as if your ego has been fed..

Enthusiasm

en·thu·si·asm (n-thz-zm)
n.
1. Great excitement for or interest in a subject or cause.
2. A source or cause of great excitement or interest.


From websters....

Ive bypassed some of the definition, because tonight we dont for once need to talk about god.

Dont you find that those things that you do with enthusiasm are the same things that you do better? I do.

Speaking of I do, I recently had the opportunity to stand up in a wedding for a very dear friend of mine. He was very enthusiastic about the ceremony, and to prove my point, it was one of the more enjoyable events I have been party to.

And thats the point. When you are interested, engaged, ie enthusiastic, about what it is that is going on around you, it is likely that you will have a much better result. You will be more focused on that which is happening around you. You will be less stressed about the outcomes.

I went north a few times in the last months with some friends to ride atv's on the trails. I was enthusiastic about it, wound tight would be a better term, and thanks to the iowan, I had a machine at my disposal to use. We had an unbelievably good time.

Work can be the same way.

While some people go to work each day with a feeling of excitement, anticipation, and enthusiasm about the events to come, others go to work with the same feeling of excitement, anticipation, but replace enthusiasm with dread.

There are many factors that contribute to this. Boredom. Dismay at the thought of the interactions that might come to pass, the list goes on and on. Sometimes people hate their jobs.

I have always tried to lighten this mood with the statement that if it was always fun, they wouldnt have to pay us to show up. Keep in mind, you are being paid for your time, not neccesarily your enthusiasm. If you use your time wisely, regardless of whether you are excited about it, you will continue to be paid for your time hopefully.

But yet, so many of us are not satisfied with our jobs. For many of us, it is a feeling of being undervalued. Others feel underpaid. Some of us dont like our co-workers. Yet, it is like i always say, there is bullshit in any job, some jobs just have less than others.

So we go on. We may look lazily for another position, but we generally dont quit working untill we find a new spot. Reason being, we cant afford to quit, we have mortgages, etc.

I have some friends who are enthusiastic about the work that they do. They are among the most successful people that I know. I congratulate them on finding a job that allows them to have that attitude.

For the majority of us, I will just say this, Get back to work, your kids need to eat.

binding together

It has been quite a while since I've written.
I am not likely tonight to have anything creative to say. I probably wont even have any vast insights. In short; this wont be any sort of a "deep thoughts" type of post.

On September 11Th, 2001. 2996 people lost their lives. Of those people, 1616 death certificates were issued without so much as a bone fragment to identify the dead.

Although it has been 9 years, I remember the day as if it was much more recent. I am certain that this rings true for all of you as well. The interesting thing about reflecting on the day is that exact fact. We all experienced more or less the same thing. The same feelings. The same emotions. To anybody who lost a loved one, or was near the scene that day, of course i realize the vast difference between us. I'm talking about the rest of us.

Tonight, watching the slew of documentaries about the events, I was struck by that similarity. I was struck particularly by the change in attitudes through the course of the day. I watched people go through shock, fear, and finally anger. And i remember going through the same gamut of emotions myself.

Remember when you first heard about it? Nobody knew exactly what had happened. Was it an accident? was it terrorism? how many people worked there? How did this happen? What is going to happen now?

We saw people jumping.

And then the second plane. Oh my god. this is real. this is not an accident. We started hearing something about other planes. about the pentagon. We heard rumors about threats of continuing attacks every 30 minutes. In our area, the focus turned to us as likely targets due to our proximity to nuclear power plants.

We were glued to the TV. The radio. The telephone. Whatever source of information that we had.

The first tower fell. Disbelief. "It just disappeared" "is it really gone?" Who did this? Look at those people running away from the cloud. Remember how you felt?

You know the rest of the story. You Lived It.

But here is the great thing about this country. We love our fellow citizens. We care that this happened. And that started to show right away. People got mad. You started to see the fight in the dog.

So its been 9 years. Think about the way that we have changed. As a country. As a people. As a world. Have you noticed the changes in even some of the basic day to day things in your life? We have invented new words. We have noticed faults in this fairly young country of ours. When, ever, before this, did any of us think about the aging infrastructure of our country? When did we ever think about airport security as anything other than a nuisance?

When did we ever notice how strong our biases are? I believe that we all have a much stronger feeling of what our country is to us than we have had as a country since we became one. I don't believe that there has been a time, wartime excluded, that we as a people have bound ourselves together as we have since this. That said, I do believe that this event has been the one of the least significance, and has had the most importance, if that is possible, of any of these events.

Think of the death toll of any war that we have been in. WW1. WW2. Korea, Vietnam. You know the list. This one day. This one series of attacks. 9/11/1 made a bigger dent in my opinion than any of them. Tied us together as Americans more strongly. Made us more United. 2996 people.

Why? Because it happened HERE. We had never been attacked on any grand scale on our own soil before. Most of our country had never been combat veterans. Because we had never been, we had absolutely no understanding what its like in a war zone. Every major war has happened somewhere else. Somewhere far away. In other words, NOT HERE.

There is not likely to be a Combat Veteran who will give you many details about being "there." Wherever "there" is. They don't talk about it. It is suddenly, in the light of what we all saw that day, not very hard to understand why. When you have been in a war zone, and you have seen what those heroes have seen, there is not much to say. And the ties that bind those guys together speak for themselves.

I spoke this week to a gentleman named "Bob." He was headed out for a winter trip immediately after we got done with his vehicle. The man told me that he needed to be in some part of California by the end of next week. When I asked why, he told me that he had some friends out there, six of them, they were getting together for his 81st birthday. He hadn't seen some of them in ten years.

I can tell you that if I haven't seen somebody in 10 years, I am not likely to drive a few thousand miles, especially at 80 years old to do so. Except. They had been in the war together. How many time have you heard the phrase "you put your life in this guy's hands" from a veteran? While Hollywood has maybe been guilty of using the phrase to the point of vanity, to a veteran it really means something.

And what you find out as you look around is that it is not just veterans. There is a country song out right now that expresses the same sentiment about high school football. You will not find a Police Officer or a Firefighter who doesn't know what it feels like.

But the rest of us. The rest of us never knew. Because of these guys we lived at that time in a world that was safe. Was indestructible. Was impermeable. We were Americans, we were a superpower. Remember Operation Desert Storm? Remember the way we puffed our chests out at the sight of our troops running bulldozers and tanks across the desert? The power we all felt at our almost uncontested Dominance of the world? We were untouchable. We knew we were. Think of your own lifestyle in the late 80's and early 90's. Remember No Fear clothes? Exactly my point.

Have you really felt that way since this happened? This is the impact that I believe this event has had on our nation. We are the biggest, most wealthy, most powerful, most benevolent, and most diplomatic country on the planet.

But if you never understood what it was to be part of this nation, remember this. Remember that we lost a few average airplanes, and 2996 people from this planet, and you feel the way that you feel every time that you think about it. Remember how small those numbers really are. Remember the enormous impact that they have had. Because that is the way that we declare victory over these hateful people. By remembering.

I don't know about you, but i am thankful every day for those who protect us. I am thankful for our troops. for our civil servants. All of them. I Am Thankful for those men and women who have traveled to other places and seen war firsthand for me. and for you.

And mostly, I am thankful for the spirit of this country. For the culture of this people. And for our gifts of integrity, courage, and strength.

May we never forget how important this day has been, and how much it has strengthened us.

Choices

Everything that happens in life is a result of a choice.

I'm not about to get into the idea of free will. That conversation gets very intense and confusing. And it involves whether or not we actually have the ability to make a choice or if things are predetermined for us.

Lets just start with the idea that a choice has an outcome.

Whenever you have to make a choice, you also have to consider the possible result of that choice. And then you decide what to do.

Sometimes the things going on in your life are a result of choices that you made a long time ago. Sometimes they are a result of choices that other people have made. Sometimes you don't know who made which choice. But they are a result. Sometimes one choice affects your entire life.

It always seems easier to make the correct choices if you have some goal in mind. A goal provides guidance. Guidance is what tells you what to do in the first place. So working to a goal helps you to make the correct choices on a day to day basis.

I want my children to have a certain set of values as adults. That goal alone has a very real impact on the way that I choose to go about my life now. Whether or not they understand the choices that I make, I hope that my example will provide guidance to them as they grow.

I have a set of goals for my family's financial future. So my wife and I make spending choices based on that goal.

I know that a lot of who I am has to do with a similar set of choices that were made by my own role models in my life to date.

What none of us can know however, or even pretend to understand, are the choices that other people have made in their lives. We may be able to get a sort of a snapshot every so often of what other people are about. But we will never have available to us a way to completely understand what makes others make the choices that they do. We don't have the ability to look into their mind and see what cog pushes which lever in the decision making process.

This is why there are so many things that happen in the world that we just don't understand.

An engine is a great example of this. I recently had to replace one in one of my cars. As I was doing the work, one of the things that I was very much anticipating was the task of taking apart the old engine. I wanted to know what had gone wrong.

Whether you speak gearhead or not, I'll do my best to give this information in simple terms.

When i took the oilpan off, I found a colossal amount of debris. Let me qualify the word colossal by saying that I have taken apart quite a few engines to see the carnage. I can't take one out and not take it apart. I have to know what happened.
I have never seen one quite this torn up. never. I had parts of the engine literally ripped apart. And some of those parts I had never seen broken in any engine before.

So I started digging. As i worked through disassembly, I found that the outlet of the water pump had failed. Knowledge of engines indicates to me that soon after the engine must have stopped cooling properly. After it stopped cooling, logic says that it likely got very very hot. The heat naturally created excess expansion of some of the bearing surfaces in the motor, which ruined them. Those ruined surfaces must have then begun to generate friction on the parts they are designed to lubricate and protect. The friction generates resistance in the engine, in this case stressing the connecting rods, which are the parts that make a piston cycle during combustion. Given enough friction, the connecting rods on two cylinders broke. The parts of the rods went flying around the inside of the engine, causing more damage, and breaking more parts. One of the broken parts lodged in the pickup for the oil pump, stopping it from doing its job. without oil, then friction and heat grew, until finally the engine just couldn't take it anymore and stopped running.

I believe that people are just like engines. Everything about us is due to cause and effect. Choices. The only difference is that nobody can look at a person and do much more than speculate what series of events and choices have been made to lead up to the current situation. We only get a snap shot. Unlike my understanding of how an engine works, and my ability to look at the snapshot of the broken engine; there is nobody on the planet who really has enough understanding of a person to actually take a snapshot of now and sort through all of the steps.

Some of us are better or more well trained than others at it. We have learned all of the different theories of the operation of the human mind. We can put some of them into practice, and achieve some results some of the time. Unfortunately, we are not able to look into somebody's mind in a manner that allows us to fully understand all of the choices and results that have taken place in that persons life.

Imagine the problems we could solve if that were possible. Imagine the things that we'd see that nobody realllly wants to know about.

I spoke in an earlier post about evidence. All of our studies of this nature directly relate to evidence. My ability to retrace the final minute or so of the life of the engine has mostly to do with my ability to interpret the evidence.

With a person however, the evidence never tells the whole story. Did you know that a cat will instinctively try to hide an illness until it just isn't able to do so anymore? Usually a cat goes from looking very healthy to looking deathly ill seemingly overnight. People will similarly try to "save face" and hide the evidence. How many times have you heard the phrase "i never would have thought" when discussing something that a person has done. People, like cats, never want anybody to know what outcome those determining choices have created.

Oddly, we don't even seem to want to know about it. "How are you doing" is a rhetorical greeting that we use when getting coffee in the morning, like saying hello or something similar. Only in a rare situation does somebody ask the question and actually want you to tell them how you are doing.

We seem afraid of what might be going on in there. Or we are so wrapped up in our own interests that we don't want to spend the time to find out about someone else. But mostly, we are just afraid that they might answer the question with much more than the word "fine." Ever had an elderly person explain their health problems to you in detail? You didn't really want to know.

The biggest problem with choices is that they can be made without guidance.

And yes. This is where God comes into the conversation. I own a whole great big book that gives me a great deal of guidance about what choices i should and should not make in my life. It covers every possible example if you look for it. As a matter of fact, I'll give you a dare tonight, (like always i know) The next problem that you face that matters, go get your bible. Open it to any random page. close your eyes and put your finger anywhere. You will find some sort of guidance if you try to understand what the words are telling you. I guarantee it.

I'm not saying that you should play bible roulette with your life. I'm just saying that in those times that you feel a need for guidance, there is just such a sort of help available to you.

Consider again the engine. If that little o-ring on the water pump had not failed in the first place, the engine might still be running. What I guess the point tonight comes down to is that every time you make a choice, make certain that you have considered where that choice may lead not only you, but where it may lead those who are affected by it. Sometimes you can have a profound influence on somebody's life and not even know it.

the slippery slope.... and yet?

ok, I will get into the meat of this at the end of what im going to copy and paste. if youre patient enough to read all of this, then i'll tell you what i think. note, this comes courtesy of the christian science monitor....

The House of Representatives passed the health care reform bill Sunday night with a 219-to-212 vote. With the Senate already having passed the bill on Christmas Eve, it now stands ready for President Obama to sign into law, perhaps as early as Tuesday.

Many challenges remain, though. Attorneys general in 11 states have said they will challenge the constitutionality of the health care bill. Moreover, Democrats still want to make changes to the final bill after the fact.

The House has already passed this package of fixes – which would rein in some of the special deals made with senators last year. Now the Senate must pass the same package of fixes before Mr. Obama can sign them into law. To do that, the Senate will have to turn to the contentious and time-consuming process of reconciliation.

But the outlines of the bill are now clear. Here is the Monitor's comprehensive look at what is in the health care bill and how it might affect you.

So we’re going to try to describe what’s in the healthcare reform bill in plain English.

That’s not easy. For one thing, the bill is full of sentences that begin “For the purposes of subparagraph 6(b)....” For another, healthcare reform would be the most sweeping change in US domestic policy in a generation. It’s big, and it’s complicated.

Healthcare 101: What the bill means to you

But here’s a key thing to remember: There is a simple concept at the center of this rambling, Rube Goldbergian machine. Democratic healthcare reform would expand insurance coverage in America by requiring people to obtain it.

That’s right. The healthcare reform bill would mandate that most US citizens and legal residents purchase “minimal essential coverage” for themselves and their dependents. They can get this either through their employer, or, if their employer doesn’t offer health insurance, they can buy it through new marketplaces that will sell policies to individuals.

Those marketplaces would be called “exchanges.” We’ll talk more about them in a later story. (We’ll also cover subsidies for health insurance, when it all would take effect, how it would be paid for, and what it means for businesses.)
Are there penalties if you don't buy insurance?

If you ignore this mandate and don’t get health insurance, you’ll have to pay a tax penalty to the federal government, beginning in 2014. This fine starts fairly small, but by the time it is fully phased in, in 2016, it is substantial.

An insurance-less person would have to pony up whichever is greater: $695 for each uninsured family member, up to a maximum of $2,085; or 2.5 percent of household income.

There are exceptions. Certain people with religious objections would not have to get health insurance. Nor would American Indians, illegal immigrants, or people in prison.
Why the requirement?

Why is Congress doing this? It’s a pretty obvious way to expand coverage, for one thing. Also, it will help bring in a flood of new customers for health insurance firms, including healthy young people who might not need much healthcare.

For insurance firms, those new customers could balance out the losses they might incur if they can no longer deny coverage to people with preexisting conditions. (Yes, that’s another change the bill makes.)

And remember, many people will not be buying this coverage purely on their own. Uncle Sam will be helping them. The bookend to the individual mandate is federal subsidies for insurance purchases, which reach deep into the middle class. We’ll talk about those next.

Yes, the legislation now in Congress would require most people in the US to buy health insurance. That’s the main way it would expand coverage by upward of 32 million people.

We told you about that in the first installment of our attempt to describe bill provisions in plain English. (Our next installments cover the timetable for rolling out reforms, how they would be paid for, and what they mean for businesses.)

Healthcare 101: What the bill means to you

But there’s a carrot that goes along with this stick: subsidies. Uncle Sam would help many lower- and middle-income Americans purchase their health coverage.
What's the formula for aid?

Let’s start with people who are unemployed, self-employed, or work for businesses that don’t offer insurance. Beginning in 2014 (that’s right, this is four years away), these people would be able to shop for coverage in new “health exchanges,” a sort of online bazaar in which insurers would hawk different kinds of plans. We’ll talk more about how these malls might work in our next story.

Congressional budget experts figure that about 25 million people will shop for coverage in these exchanges. That’s a pretty big market. Of these, about 19 million are likely to be eligible for financial aid.

The cutoff level would be an income of four times the federal poverty level. For one person, that’s about $44,000 a year. For a family of four, the comparable figure is about $88,000.

Subsidies would be figured on a sliding scale, with those who make less getting a bigger boost and those nearer the top getting a smaller one.

The formula is pretty complicated. Basically, though, people who make three or four times the poverty level would get enough federal money so that they would not have to pay more than about 10 percent of their income for a decent health insurance package.

People who make less would have to pay a smaller slice of their income for coverage. For instance, individuals who make about $14,000, and four-person families with incomes of about $29,000, would not have to pay more than 3 to 4 percent of their incomes for insurance.

And those who make even less – under 133 percent of the federal poverty level – would be able to enroll in a newly expanded Medicaid program.

The federal subsidy would go straight to the insurer. It would look like a discount on the policy to the customer.
Anyone else who qualifies?

But what if you work for an employer who does offer health insurance? You’re not shopping for policies on the individual market. At least, not yet. Can you still get a subsidy?

Excellent questions. Glad you asked.

Yes, if you make less money than the poverty cutoff level, you would still be eligible for aid. The federal government will in essence guarantee that you do not have to pay more than 9.8 percent of your income for your share of health insurance costs.

There’s something of a catch there, however. The main way the feds would ensure this is to steer you, too, into this new exchange. Your employer would give you a voucher equal to the amount of money it contributes to your policy. Then you’d dive in there and shop for plans with all the self-employed people.

(Unsurprisingly, the Congressional Budget Office numbers indicate it does not expect that many people will do this. Only about 1 million.)

The Department of Health and Human Services would be the umpire making calls as to who would and would not get subsidies. The bill, if enacted, would set up a process for appealing HHS decisions.

We’re thinking the bill, if enacted, also would make HHS one very busy place.

We talked about these topics in the first and second installments of our "in plain English" series on healthcare reform.

The legislation also would set up new places to shop for health insurance. They would be called “exchanges,” and they’re the subject of this piece.

Not everyone could use exchanges, and they won’t be open for some time. But they’re an attempt to inject some retail competition into a marketplace that today is not exactly teeming with bargains.

Theoretically, they’d allow individuals and small businesses to band together and get better prices and more variety in health insurance options – the kinds of breaks that big corporations can negotiate for their employees today.

How would they work? Would they be actual stores, in a mall, next to Hot Topic? Would they be Internet sites, or toll-free phone lines? What?

They would at least have to have call centers. So you could try to get them on the phone. But for the most part, their design is up to the states.
How many exchanges would there be?

The House’s original version of healthcare reform would have created a national exchange, but that particular bill is gone with the wind. Instead, the reform that’s now on the edge of passage (or defeat, who knows?) would have states set up health option exchanges administered by either a government agency or a nonprofit organization.

The federal government would provide states with start-up money for exchange establishment. The exchanges are supposed to be open for business by 2014. If a state declines to open one, Uncle Sam can step in and open an exchange himself.

Who will the customers be? Not you, if you work for a medium or large company, and if your employer offers health insurance benefits. That sort of arrangement is grandfathered in, according to the legislation, and can continue pretty much as before.

In their initial years, the exchanges will be open only to those who work for firms with 100 or fewer employees, and to individuals looking to buy insurance for themselves. Because they’re self-employed, for instance. Or unemployed. Or retired but not yet eligible for Medicare.

As all who have tried to buy health insurance on their own know, currently most policies available are much more expensive than comparable products offered to big firms. Partly, this is because big firms can offer lots of customers, both healthy and less so, so that insurers know they can spread their risk.

The exchanges are meant to be cooperatives that allow these individuals to band together and, for health insurance purposes, become like their own big firm.
What oversight duties do exchanges have?

The exchanges themselves would inspect offered policies to make sure they meet government standards. They’re supposed to make sure the plans are “in the interest” of buyers, according to the healthcare reform bill.

They are prohibited from setting premiums. They can, however, ask insurers to justify rate hikes – and if they’re unsatisfied with the answer can use price as a reason to ditch that particular plan from their product lineup.

Then the exchange would offer approved policies to interested buyers, in the same way that a food coop offers oranges (“Ten for $5! Florida sunshine!”), free-range chicken, and bag-your-own rolled oats.

They're supposed to have four levels of plans to offer, of declining expense. The levels would be labeled "platinum," "gold," "silver," and "bronze." (We guess somebody spent a lot of time watching the Winter Olympics.)

Yes, you would be able to buy health insurance for yourself outside the exchanges. They would not be monopolies. But an insurer would have to charge the same rates outside the exchange as it does inside, for comparable plans, among other new regulations.

But some of the most important provisions of the mammoth health bill aren’t set to take effect until 2014, or even later. As we said in the first installment of this plain-English series on what’s in the health bill, healthcare reform is a big, rambling, Rube Goldbergian machine.

It would take time to set that up, and write the regulations that will govern its operations.

You’ll note that by 2014 the US will have had two Congressional elections. Three, if you count the one that will occur in late 2014 itself. And in 2012 there’s the little matter of President Obama’s run for reelection.

That’s just to point out that the implementation of healthcare reform could come in a very different political environment than the one in which passage occurs. If the bill passes, that is.
Things that happen first

The healthcare reform bill makes a point of putting first the things that are supposed to happen first. They’re in subtitle A, right up top: “Immediate Improvements in Health Care Coverage for All Americans.” Things in the bill that take effect right away include:

* Insurance companies will be prohibited from placing lifetime caps – limits on the amount of money that can eventually be paid out – on their policies. They’ll face new restrictions on setting annual caps, as well.
* Insurance companies also will be prohibited from pulling your coverage, except in case of fraud or intentional misrepresentation.
* Children won’t be excluded from coverage due to pre-existing health conditions. Plus, children will be able to stay on their parents’ policy until age 26.
* Small businesses that offer health coverage to employees will be eligible for tax credits of up to 50 percent of premium costs.
* Seniors who fall into the coverage gap, or “doughnut hole”, in the middle of the Medicare Part D prescription drug coverage plan will get $250 to help them pay their bills.
* People with pre-existing health conditions will be able to enroll in a new, but temporary, national high-risk insurance plan.

Things that happen later

The central element of the superstructure of President Obama’s healthcare reform effort is its individual mandate, as we described in part one of this series. Most people who live in the United States will be required to obtain health insurance.

But this does not kick in until 2014, when fines begin for those who don’t have coverage.

Similarly, the subsidies intended to make policy purchase affordable – the subject of part two of this series – don’t start until then. And the exchanges where individuals and small business can buy health insurance (you guessed it – part three) are not supposed to be up and running for four years, either.

Finally, one of the most popular provisions in the health bill, its ban on the denial of insurance coverage due to pre-existing health conditions, won’t take effect until 2014 either. That’s because insurers will need the flood of new customers brought in by the individual mandate to cushion the costs of accepting people who already have health problems.

As we’ve noted throughout this series on what’s in the health care bill, the legislation, if the vote succeeds, would represent the most sweeping change in national domestic policy in a generation.

Among other things, it would provide or subsidize health coverage for 32 million currently uninsured people. That’s more than one-tenth of the entire population of the US.

Healthcare 101: What the bill means to you

Change like that doesn’t come cheap. More specifically, change like that would cost about $940 billion over its first 10 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

Add these two things together, throw in $40 billion worth of tax credits for small business, and you’re pretty close to the bill’s top line for expansion of health coverage.

So where’s the cash to pay for this coming from? Remember, CBO says this bill will actually cut the deficit over 10 years. That means it has to raise a little more money than it will spend.

The answer is that the money will be provided by new taxes, fees on industries involved in health care, and cuts in projected spending growth for existing government health efforts, primarily Medicare.

Here are specifics on some of the biggest money raisers:
Higher Medicare taxes on rich people

If you are an individual making more than $200,000 a year, or a married couple making more than $250,000 a year, get ready to pay more for your Medicare if health care reform passes.

First of all, your Medicare Part A (that’s hospital insurance) tax rate would be increased by 0.9 percent, to 2.35 percent. Second, the bill creates an entirely new tax of 3.8 percent on unearned income (dividends, interest, stuff like that) for people in those same income brackets.

The good news is that this would not take effect until Jan. 1, 2013. And it is a big money raiser, truth be told. The Joint Committee on Taxation estimates this would bring in $210 billion between 2013 and 2019.
New tax on expensive health insurance

They used to call this the “Cadillac tax,” but it’s been pared back enough so it might better be called the “Chevy with leather and A/C” tax.

The health care bill would impose an excise tax on insurers of employer-sponsored health plans that cost more than $10,200 annually for individual coverage, or $27,500 annually for family coverage. The tax in question would be 40 percent of the cost of the plan that exceeds those dollar thresholds.

This tax would not kick in until 2018. The JCT figures it would bring in around $32 billion in its first two years.
Fees on health care industries

The Obama administration figures it is only fair to slap some fees on health care industries, since they’d be getting lots of new customers if health care reform passes. So after negotiations with some big sectors, the White House struck a number of deals.

* Drug manufacturers would pay the US a total of $16 billion between 2011 and 2019.
* Health insurers would pay $47 billion over the same period.
* Medical device manufacturers would pay a 2.9 percent excise tax on the sale of any of their wares, beginning Jan. 1, 2013.

The tanning tax

OK, it’s not a big money raiser, but we could not resist mentioning that health care reform would establish a tax of 10 percent on indoor tanning services. (Outdoor tanning services remain untaxed, of course.) This would raise $2.7 billion between 2010 and 2019.
Medicare cuts

Government payments to Medicare Advantage – plans run by private insurers that are an alternative to traditional Medicare – would be reduced by $132 billion over 10 years under the health care reform bill. (Those plans now get around 14 percent more per person than traditional Medicare does.)

Medicare payments for home health care would also be reduced by $40 billion over 10 years. And cuts in certain payments to hospitals would raise another $22 billion by 2019.

Quite a bit. It could affect business decisions on health coverage for employees at tens of thousands of firms.

Let’s start with a caveat: that dry cleaner, and probably the restaurant, might be too small to be affected by some of the most important business-related elements in the bill. Employers with 50 or fewer workers would be exempt from coverage provisions.

But for top executives at firms with 50 workers or more, the most important question may be this: would the health care reform bill require us to offer health insurance to our employees?

The answer to that is “no,” strictly speaking. But if you don’t, you might have to pay fairly large fees to Uncle Sam.
How does the bill work for businesses?

Here’s how that works: If you are a firm with more than 50 employees, and do not offer health insurance as a benefit, and at least one of your full-time employees gets a subsidy from the federal government to purchase health insurance on his or her own, you would have to pay Washington a fee of $2,000 for every one of your full-time workers. (Company accountants take note: you could subtract the first 30 of your employees from that assessment.)

Got that?

Also, even if you do offer coverage, you might have to take some extra action to help any of your low- or middle-income workers who want to buy insurance on their own.

Take an employee who makes less than 400 percent of the federal poverty level, which today is about $10,800 for an individual, or $22,000 for a family of four.

Perhaps that employee is finding firm-offered insurance expensive. If their share of health premiums is more than 8 percent of their income (but less than 9.8 percent), they would have the option of going out and buying insurance on their own through the new-fangled “exchange” marketplaces the health care reform bill would establish.

And you, as an employer, would have to help them. You’d have to provide them a “free choice voucher” equal to what the firm would have kicked in to provide coverage in the company plan.
When do the changes take effect?

All of the above changes would take effect beginning on Jan. 1, 2014.

One final item: if you’re a firm with more than 200 employees, and you do offer health insurance, you would have to automatically enroll your workers in the plan.

They could opt out of the coverage. But they are the ones that would have to make that decision.

For those struggling to pay bills, who’ve avoided buying insurance because it costs too much, reform might mean they'll have coverage, at least in a few years. For those at the top end of the income scale, it will mean higher taxes, fairly soon.

For the vast majority of middle-income families, details of employment, dependents, and place of residence might change how the healthcare bill will alter their lives.

Here are a few specific family-oriented changes in the legislation:

Kids with health problems. Healthcare reform legislation prohibits insurers from excluding from coverage children with pre-existing health conditions. This provision takes effect immediately upon the bill becoming law.

The bill would also prohibit insurers from excluding adults with pre-existing conditions, but not until 2014.

Older children and parental insurance. Dependent children up to age 26 will be able to stay on their parents' family policy, after President Obama signs the bill. (There’s no special regulation as to what this will cost, however.) Currently, states regulate the age at which children are kicked off their parents' insurance policies. Generally, it's around 18 years old.

Children's health insurance program. Kids' eligibility for the popular CHIP (Children's Health Insurance Program), which helps lower-income families, must be maintained, under the bill. States, even if hard-pressed by budget shortfalls, will not be able to cut children from the program until 2019.

Wellness program. Under bill language, "qualified health plans" will have to provide – with no cost-sharing – immunizations and other preventive health services for infants, children, and adolescents. This provision takes effect six months after the bill becomes law.

Would the healthcare reform legislation that President Obama plans to sign into law on Tuesday affect seniors in any direct way?

The short answer is “yes.”

The longer answer is that some seniors may lose Medicare benefits they now enjoy. Many others will gain from an enhancement of Medicare’s prescription-drug program.

Here are some specifics on these changes:
Medicare cuts

Under the healthcare reform bill, government payments to Medicare Advantage – plans that are run by private insurers such as Humana and are an alternative to traditional Medicare – will be cut by $132 billion over 10 years. (Those plans currently get somewhat more per person from the government than traditional Medicare does.)

Medicare Advantage plans often offer extra benefits that seniors in traditional Medicare don’t get. It is possible that these extras will be dropped as Medicare Advantage plans feel a budget squeeze.

In most areas of the United States, this reduction will be phased in over three years, beginning in 2011, although in some places it will take longer.

The bill does not contain cuts to traditional Medicare benefits. However, Medicare payments for home healthcare would be reduced by $40 billion between now and 2019. And certain payments to hospitals would be cut by $22 billion over that same period.
Medicare enhancements

The bill would bolster the existing Medicare prescription-drug benefit by addressing part of its “doughnut hole” problem.

Right now, after a senior has spent $2,700 on drugs in a year, coverage stops until that same person has spent $6,154 on drugs, when it starts up again.

Hence the “doughnut hole” nickname.

Beginning in 2010, people who fall into this hole will get $250 from the government to help. Thereafter, according to the bill, the US will gradually increase the percentage of drug costs it pays within this gap. By 2020, the US will pay 75 percent of senior drug costs between $2,700 and $6,154.

Medicare will also begin to pick up the tab for annual wellness visits.
Medicare payment advisory board

Healthcare reform legislation also establishes what it terms an Independent Payment Advisory Board, made up of 15 members, that would submit legislative proposals to reduce per capita Medicare spending if that spending grows too fast.

“Too fast” is defined as exceeding the growth rate of Consumer Price Index measures for a five-year period that ends in 2013.

If that happens, beginning in 2014, this board will submit proposals to Congress and the president for consideration.

Some critics have charged that this board will be the leading edge of Medicare reductions. Legislative wording in the healthcare reform bill prohibits the board from submitting any idea that would ration care, raise taxes, or change benefits.

Now you have what I consider to be one of the best outlines of the facts that I have found. You have been educated beyond what 90% of your countrymen know of this topic, congrats.


So what do you think?

this is the best outline of the new law that I have been able to find, and having read or scanned most of the actual text, it seems somewhat accurate.

I can hear you already. you're yelling the word socialism at the top of your lungs. and i dont blame you. it is socialism. no argument.

But. there's always one. But.

You are already in a socialist environment when it comes to healthcare. The uninsured already get healthcare in this country. We still pay to have thier babies born, thier cuts stitched; basically and emergent or necessary care provided. The difference is that we dont force them to be responsible for it. And there is not any kind of control over the cost.

Fundamentally, I do not agree with the govt taking control of private enterprise.

In this case, I understand why it may be needed. I can see the spiraling costs of healthcare, and of insurance for it.

And frankly, if it takes the fed getting involved to put things back in line, I'm for it.

Except.

I am just like you. I dont want the govt getting too involved in the day to day of my life. I dont want to be controlled. I care a great deal about my freedoms. And I believe in the constitution.

I realize that this one step does not mean that we are all going to be living in cold war russia soon. but it is scary.

The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step. Its a slippery slope.

I think you know what I mean.

Style

Have you ever seen somebody at a wedding who could REALLY dance? I'm talking about that person, or couple, who steals the show. Clears the floor. You know what I am talking about. Sometimes they are an older couple who has been married for forty years, sometimes they are 20. But when they start dancing, wow.

Or what about the way people dress? I am sure you can think of somebody that you know who always seems to look good, always seems to out dress those around them. they have the right shoes, great pants and shirt, their hair is just so, etc.

Of course cars are an image for me. How much different of an image does a car present about the person behind the wheel? There are so many cliche's about cars that it seems endless to make the list. Think of 3 cars, then think about the type of person who drives them. I'll do it for you. What sort of person drives a Porsche? A Cadillac? What about a jacked-up pickup truck?

Style. Attitude.

Some people have inherently more style than others. I know a lot of people who definitely have a style that belongs solely to them. I also know a lot of folks who just sort of blend in. I know some of those show stoppers. I know some of the ones who sit in the back of the crowd and watch.

I have been fortunate in my life to have had some times that I felt i did something with a unique style.

The odd part is that showing a little style always seems to take a lot of guts for me. It is usually easy to blend in. To stand out seems to require that a person extend themselves, put themselves out there just a little more or further than what they are comfortable with.

Stylish clothes are not my norm. So when I do choose to dress well, I usually feel as though it is a little over the top. In order to show that you can really sing, or dance, you have to be willing to be on stage a little. And because the idea of style usually goes hand in hand with the idea of being unique, IE, not the same as everybody else; the risk of course, is that people wont like your style.

We are social creatures, we don't want to put on a show that people don't like. We want to fit in. Doing something with style is the opposite of fitting in.

My standard response to this is as follows. Everybody will have an opinion. There will be those that don't like your style. There will be those that really like your style. But when you really lay it out there and do something that doesn't blend in, everybody will have an opinion. You will have already transcended the mediocre.

Doing something with style removes you from the masses. It shows your character. I think that the reason most people don't stretch the limits is because of this separation. There is a risk of negative feedback, which by and large, the social human animal does not want to be subject to. As much as most people want to be unique, and known for something; we also don't want to be KNOWN for anything in particular. Especially if it isn't popular. Oddly, to me, doing something popular is just about as close to the opposite of doing something with style as I can think of.

I brought up the couple at the wedding who can really dance. They have style in the eyes of the onlookers. A certain celebrity status if you will. and generally, everybody likes to watch them. But yet, most people don't ever learn to dance because doing so would separate them from the masses and put them in the public eye. Picture a middle school dance during which all of us sat on the sidelines most of the time. It is probably hardest to show any style during adolescence.

Another example, which shouldn't surprise anybody coming from me, has to do with cars. Foose painted his truck a while ago, and I did this weekend with mine, in a style which we know will likely not be enjoyed by roughly half of those who see it. Why would we do something to our vehicle that we know most of the people are not going to appreciate? For the sake of style.

Part of style is not being afraid of the opinion of others. When you consider something like a unique vehicle, it makes sense to me. Lets face it. Everybody can appreciate a perfect shiny red paint job. Nobody really cares, but nobody really dislikes it either. But if you do something controversial, everybody has an opinion. Granted, you may garner as many dislikes as you do likes. But the essence of style is the ability to generate interest.

And maybe that is the essence of tonight's thought. Maybe having style has less to do with doing what is popular than it is to do with generating interest. Maybe it is that little extra touch that makes you unique.

I guess my biggest fear in life is being forgettable. I want to know that I have made some sort of a dent somehow. That I have been of influence. That I have been noticed. And that I have done something good.

In the last post, I referenced the song "Feed Jake"

Tonight I reference another country song. "and on the day they lay me down, I want everyone to gather round, say he was a husband, father, neighbor and an friend. he was a good man" That's style.

disappointment

Interestingly, I am not generally affected by the topic at hand. At least not in the classical sense of the word. This subject to me has more to do with our own thought processes. What I do find challenging however, is the constant comparisons that we all make between what our lives are and what we wish our lives were.

Most people, I think, have some vision of what they expected out of life. And I further believe that most people have created a life that closely resembles that vision. Disappointment comes when a person notices some part of life that does not mimic the vision of their own ideals.

Disappointment can indeed lead to depression. It is this sort of disappointment that we see in middle aged folks who don't feel as though they've lived up to their vision of what a parent should be, or where their career was supposed to go, or their finances. The factors are as wide ranging and unique as the people who experience it.

When you were a child, you had a vision already. What did you want to be when you grew up? Where did you want to live? Even if we don't all remember our own story, we certainly can empathize with somebody. Children of the fifties and early sixties looked forward to hovercrafts and electric cars. My wife knew that she wanted to teach kindergarten. I knew that I wanted to build hot rods. At one time I dreamt of being an architect.

But life sometimes seems to get in the way of one or more parts of that childhood vision. Again, the things that block some part of them are as varied and numerous as grains of sand at the beach. There comes a point for everybody at which they will settle for less of the dreams gone by in order to gain more of the dreams of the moment. There are many people who choose to get married and settle down rather than to chase something that their inner 2nd grader wants.

Just in case you are wondering, I would never change the life that I have. I have gushed in prior posts about how truly good my life is. But yet, you seem to find yourself disappointed more often than you might like.

Personally, I thought that I would be farther along in my career by now. I think that everybody thought they would have more money. And that's what I mean to address with tonight's post.

Don't ever for a minute think that your life isn't good enough. The point at which you make that move is the exact moment that you start to take things for granted. And when you start to take things for granted, you will inevitably cause distress to those around you. People take their spouse for granted, and go looking for greener pastures. People take family for granted and don't give enough time to their kids. This one in particular causes many parents great heartache later in life, because you never ever can get that time back.

Some of the happiest people that I know are those who are content with who they are and where their life has taken them. They are also some of the rarest people Ive met. These are the people who have pride in what they do. They have pride in what they've done, and they also have pride in what they are going to do.

You all know that guy. The one who coaches the little league team. He is intimately involved in the lives of his kids. Every day. This is the guy who can be seen hauling 5 kids to games in his rusted out Astro Van. That guy is almost never very wealthy. He almost always has some sort of a blue collar job, not the kind that little kids dream of doing when they grow up.

But that guy also seems to always have a good relationship with his wife. His yard always seems to be at least mowed. And he doesn't usually seem to be distracted by some thought of regret rattling around in his head. There are those of us who seem to spend an awful lot of time chasing some dream, and then there are those who are aware enough to realize that the dream is all around them.

Did you ever notice how this relates to the consumerism in our country? It is almost as if we feel that by acquiring stuff we will somehow get closer to our childhood goals. We always want to have the newest, best, fanciest, most prestigious things.

For my own part, the juxtaposition is evident. I said earlier the things that have given me disappointment. But yet, when I talked about the childhood dreams, did I mention anything about those factors? What I said was that I wanted to build hot rods. Oddly, I am in the middle of building one. And further, it isn't the first one Ive done. Matter of fact, I have honed those abilities to a pretty good level already. I've created some pretty silly contraptions in my life at this point, which has more to do with what I said i dreamt about than it does with the things that disappoint me.

Again, the comparisons of life. Joe makes more money than I do. Pete has a better house. John's car is faster. Ed has a cushier job. Steve's wife is home more. I would wager that you have made some of these yourself. I know that I have. And yet, I have written before about the amount of freedom that toys can take away from you.

It is these comparisons that drive depression many times. We seem to build our expectations up to a point of being unobtainable. We take them out of reach. And then we don't understand why we haven't gotten there yet. I'm not knocking ambition here, just pointing out that ambition is nothing if we aren't able to enjoy the life that we do have. Of course it's ok to want more.

When was the last time you heard of that middle aged guy who regretted not having nice enough cars? Or the big house? You have not heard a country singer lament about his truck not being new enough. It is always a story of lost love, missed chances, time not well enough spent with loved ones. There was even one that I remember encouraging the listener to feed his dog if he died.

Once again, and as always, the key to tonight's subject seems to be the setting of yourself aside for those around you. If it isn't about you, you are sure to be happy in what you've done. And you wont be disappointed with the results.

Deception

How well do you know anybody. Pick somebody, decide for yourself. How well do you reallllly know the inner workings of a person? Try to decide about your spouse. Your neighbor. Your sibling. A coworker.
The fact is, you know your friends and acquaintances in much the same way that science has been developed. Evidence.
I remember my seventh grade science class perhaps better than any other science class. The whole year was spent towards the final exam; which is not unusual at all. In this class, however, we were to be given a test tube of miscellaneous stuff and the test was based on how well we experimented to determine what the stuff was made of.
We used every bit of the chemical science that we had been taught and had experimented with through the year. density, color, odor, flammability, interactions with other chemicals, you get the idea.
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but this is much the same way that you know the hearts of those around you. None of us has a magic truth serum. We cant read minds. And so we are relegated to that seventh grade device of observing the evidence. The best definition of deception is to me the picture of reality going against the evidence.
When your best friend wrongs you in some way. A close business partner turns out to be stealing from you. Your spouse cheats. You can feel free to add examples of your own.
All conversations regarding the situation seem to include the words "you never would have thought" or "nobody could have imagined."
When it is plainly seen that somebody is not on your side, there is no deception. It does not surprise you when your competition tries to eat your lunch. You are not surprised when your enemy tries to hurt you.
But when you have entrusted somebody with something, based on the evidence, and the evidence turns out to have been false, it always comes as a shock.
Oddly, and what is a bit fascinating, is the fact that the only way our evidence is usually proven wrong is through the examination of new evidence. The world was flat until evidence to the contrary came to light. Your secretary was trustworthy until you found records to indicate they were stealing. your friend was true and blue until you heard what he said behind your back. It never fails that evidence is true until its falseness becomes evident.
This is by the way how innocent people go to jail. Not enough evidence. Think about being framed for something. Those framing you would allow only so much evidence to come to light as it takes for a conviction. Any more and you might be proven innocent.
In short, be sure to examine and find all of the evidence before you decide that you aren't being deceived. you might be surprised at the true intentions of those you trust.

Mastery

In the last post; I talked about strength. Tonight I feel like I should take it to the next step. Mastery.

When I was on the subject of strength, I mentioned the concept of developing those things that you are good at. To the extent of becoming great at them.

This is what i consider to be a master. I don't really care what particular discipline you are considering for the analogy. you are likely to find ten thousand other folks in the world who could be considered masters at it. There is nothing that will separate you from any of the other masters at whatever it is that you do.

But, that said, although there are other masters in the world; there is a world of difference between the masters and the rest of us.

If your computer dies, you call a master to repair it. If your car has a problem, you take it to a master mechanic. Likewise the master plumber, master carpenter, etc. Other sectors may call them doctors, professors, or something similar. The point is that these folks are generally considered to be the best of the best at something very specific. You would not call a plumber to fix your fuse box. He knows how to fix the drain. Not the socket.

The old adage is I think "jack of all trades, master of none." It implies that a person is not able to master more than one (or all) of the different disciplines available to them.

This, to me, is a crock of shit.

Given enough time, effort, training, and practice, I believe that the human mind does indeed have the capacity to master any damned thing that catches its attention.

The problem is that most people do not devote those four factors in unison often enough to actually learn to do more than one thing really really well. I know lots of folks who can do lots of things half-assed. I also know lots of them who can do one thing really well. I only know a few who can do lots of things really well.

I feel as though tonight's thought is a focus point for me of where I was when I started writing this journal. i haven't explored this idea in quite a while. So I re-examined myself in this light, and spent some time reading the things that I have written. It is apparent to me that I really am still pursuing those things that I spoke about over a year ago as being important to me.

Point in fact. Every single one of the interests that were mentioned in that very first post. Every single one has in my mind been developed to some point closer to mastery than it was at the time. I have continued to be driven to exercise each of those skills and grow my own mastery of it. Although I am still a jack of all trades by and large; I would say that I can now see that someday I might be able to at least consider myself to be a master of some. Sure beats none in my book.

And thats the point isnt it? Every day of your life you need to experience growth. It seems to me that the only way to find out what this world that we are in is all about is to grow with it. I dont want to get to some level of whatever and just stay there. I want to get bigger, better, faster, smarter, (better looking, but good luck right?) and so on every day. Staying the same just doesnt cut it.

The only way that this can happen is through challenge. Take help where you can get it, but face your challenges. head on. try it. whats the worst that can happen? failure, although it sucks, sure beats not trying at all. And failure never really happens if youve done your homework and your studies, and taken the test with a sharp #2 pencil right?

The point is, find something, anything, and master it. or find ten things and master them all. Just try not to get to be pretty good at them and then quit learning.