Let Go of the Branch

Daily writing prompt
What’s the best advice you’d give to someone younger than you?

President Reagan told a joke about a man holding on for life to keep from falling three hundred feet. He seeks help from God and He tells the man to let go. The joke is far too long for me to repeat it here so I’ll save you the time and go straight to the punch line. The man looks around a number of times and calls out, “Is there anyone else up there who can help me?”

I can understand the man’s fear. Really I can. I wrote a post explaining that the only way I would jump out of an an airplane is if the plane is falling faster than me, parachute or not. I have a very strong fear of heights. Indeed I have thought about this joke many times and initially thought I would immediately follow God’s instruction. However, as I reconsidered a number of times, I don’t know. Three hundred feet is a long fall.

I wish I could honestly say I would release my hold on that temporary solution, but I don’t think any of us really knows what we would do until we are tested under real conditions.

I don’t know if the person who wrote the joke was aware but it is a good way to think about God’s plan of salvation. There are those who tenaciously hold onto that branch, the hope of a false religion. They believe in the repeated rituals, and the murmurs of memorized ‘prayers’ taught to them by men who don’t really know God. We are taught that if we just hold onto those traditions, we will go to heaven and live forever.

I am one of those who don’t put my faith in rituals but in Jesus Christ the son of God. I let go of that false hope of religion.

My advice to the youth: let go of the branch. Do as God tells us. Place your faith in Jesus rather than the traditions began by men. It will take courage, but the end of men’s traditions is death. If you think it over, it’s only logical. Jesus has the power to save. Tradition, man’s traditions won’t.

By the way, it’s also good advice for anyone who has not accepted Jesus as their only salvation, young or old. It’s just better if you do it while young. As we grow older, we also get more set in our ways. It becomes more difficult to let go of the old ways and harder to place your faith in Jesus. As we age, pride becomes more of a factor. I was thirteen. I remember. Even then pride stood in my way. I said no many times before I said yes. And each time I said no it was more difficult to say yes.

Let go now, before you wait so long you can’t.

Worker Exploitation

When I looked up capitalism, I discovered something fascinating—a curious contradiction, for lack of a better word—regarding one of capitalism’s purported drawbacks, exploitation by management. My first thought went to professional athletes, actors, and those newly minted dot-com millionaires, all supposedly exploited by the horrible owners of those organizations. Honestly? I’d welcome that kind of exploitation.

Teamwork between management and labor often produces impressive results. This collaborative approach far surpasses the rigid hierarchies of feudal systems. America’s considerable achievements stand as compelling evidence of this fact. The Democrats would prefer to revert to a system where equality exists solely for those in power. ironically, democracy would only exists for the government rather than the governed.

Suicide is not Technically Murder

And after days of looking into it, they determined that on July 20, 1993, Vince Foster, Jr. shot himself six months into Clinton’s presidency, but why we will never know.

A suicide note was never found, though there was a letter of resignation found. It is, perhaps the perfect way to kill someone, simply drive them to kill themselves. There will be absolutely no evidence of murder. And I would suspect that it would not be difficult to drive a depressed person to suicide.

It’s hardly a novel concept. Not long ago, it was entirely routine. Men were given firearms and understood their purpose without question. I can’t help but wonder if someone in the Clinton administration provided Foster with the weapon he used. It raises another question: what if he’d refused? Maybe he offered his resignation, only to be told it wasn’t sufficient. Perhaps he was warned that he was THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH.

One more little question, an afterthought. How many people saw Foster’s suicide as a message, a warning message? Don’t you step out of line, don’t dare say a thing to anyone.

Touched on This Before

Daily writing prompt
What’s one thing you wish you had started doing earlier in life?

It’s worth revisiting this timeless principle, and the guidance here is genuinely valuable. Cultivate gratitude. Express your thanks sincerely to those around you, and let your appreciation flow freely. Doing so will undoubtedly benefit them, yet the greatest advantage returns to you.

By the way, don’t forget to thank God. We frequently take Him and His blessings for granted. Yet when you genuinely begin expressing gratitude to Him, you’ll likely discover just how much you have to be thankful for.

Try it and you’ll likely find it causes no harm.

My Opinion of Airports

Daily writing prompt
What’s the best and worst airport you’ve been to?

I am not a well-traveled person, but I have been through a few airports. Obviously, the one I have been through the most is Memphis, now Fredrick W. Smith. The first time I saw that airport was as a Marine private flying in from LAX. I must admit, considering the size of the city, I was surprised at the size and the cleanliness of it, back in 1967. I found out later that it was relatively new and the one it replaced is now for general aviation. Since that day, I have gone through the airport more times than I can count. Unfortunately, I don’t think the airport has truly kept up. I wouldn’t count it as the best or worst. It might be better than average.

It’s been over a decade since I last traveled through LAX, yet it remains my gold standard for operational excellence and strategic planning. The airport processes an impressive volume of passengers and aircraft while maintaining a remarkable track record of avoiding negative publicity. What’s particularly impressive is their commitment to continuous upgrades that keep operations flowing seamlessly. That said, my experience is somewhat dated, so current conditions may well have evolved.

I’ve been through there about ten times without any issues or unexpected delays. They have a nice restaurant right in the center with a great view. The area has developed quite a bit, so the view has diminished somewhat over the years. But when I ate there, I enjoyed excellent food at a surprisingly reasonable price.

Chicago O’Hare is a hectic hub, as you might expect. One particular visit stood out as especially chaotic. I was scheduled to arrive from Memphis at 7 p.m., but severe weather caused significant delays. We circled overhead, waiting for clearance to land. Upon leaving the baggage claim 12:30 am, I found vehicles—primarily taxis and limousines—queued two-deep along the curb.

Still, I won’t call it the worst airport. It was the exception, not the rule. Besides, it features a smart design: you step virtually from the plane onto a train. (Or visa versa). If you know the city, that’s a major advantage. I haven’t seen that anywhere else. New York might offer it, but I only passed through New York on a connection. I’ll reserve judgment on that one. Besides, I don’t know which airport it was.

When connecting through DFW Airport, brace yourself for a challenging experience. On three separate occasions, I barely made my connections, coming dangerously close to missing my flights each time. The gates consistently closed just as I was boarding. This proves particularly problematic when transferring between domestic and international terminals.

Atlanta receives my lowest rating, primarily due to my personal experiences there. While I acknowledge that worse airports likely exist, I haven’t visited them to compare. Every time I’ve traveled through Atlanta, my plane has been positioned at one of the terminal’s furthest gates. Adding to the frustration, my luggage consistently arrived even later than I did. Thankfully, I no longer have occasion to fly into Atlanta.

Debt Free?

A few years ago I paid the last payment on my house, which made me feel really great. I thought of myself as debt free. However, I ruined that when I purchased my 2023 Nissan EV. Well, I am again looking at the possibility of being debt free as I have just a few payments left on my car.

As I recently thought about I felt really good. And then some character on the radio went and ruined it. He reminded me I will likely not be debt free in my lifetime, nor could I completely pay off my debt if I got that million dollar check I’ve been looking for in my mail.

You see, the feds owe about forty trillion dollars. My little million dollars would not even put a dent in that debt. And as an American citizen, part of that debt is mine. I’m guessing a million dollars would not even pay off my part of that debt.

My guess is that if I lived to a thousand, my portion of my debt will only grow larger by the day.

So much for looking forward to being debt free.

Two or More Words With the Same or Nearly the Same Meaning

That is basically the definition of Synonyms. Good writers make good us of synonyms primarily to keep from being irritatingly repetitious.

Many don’t realize it but the words communist and Nazi are effectively synonymous. That’s right. They both mean socialist. Okay. There are some minor differences, but they basically mean the same thing. Look them up. Go ahead.

Ergo, when I hear a communist or even a socialist call someone else a Nazi, I realize they are showing off his stupidity. It is simply one socialist calling someone else a socialist, especially when they are referring to a capitalist. Indeed, a capitalist is virtually the opposite of both a communist and a Nazi.

If you don’t believe me. Look up the meaning of Nazi. It is an acronym with the word socialist embedded within it.

So why do people still use the prajorative term? Because it works. Most people are not aware that it is a very accurate illustration of the old saying the pot calling the kettle black. One is about as bad as the other. In fact the communists have likely killed, outright murdered more than the Nazis.

The fact of the matter is, neither party has any political interests. There real goal is control. As in the day of kings and surfs, they want to be the royalty and the want the rest of us to be subservient to them. They are simply using the two parties to reach that goal.

Observations and Conclusions

I have taken note: there have been very large facilities built for sports, professional games. There are stadiums, untold acreage set aside for games for a few hours a week. This is small compared to the highways, parking lots and electric power resources set aside to play baseball and football from one end of the country to the other.

Then too, I have seen the land set aside for golf courses. For one game and the other, fortunes are spent to create and maintain fields to play in.

Oddly, I haven’t seen a whole lot of complaints though some of these facilities have been built on prime high value real estate. Indeed, many of these facilities are built in the middle of big metropolitan areas and these cities brag about them.

My conclusion, sports and games are greatly more important than power generation facilities and computer sites, this even though these stadiums use enormous amounts of power themselves.

Problems With Social Security

If only the people representing us in government would look past the tip of their nose when writing law. It would drastically reduce the well foreseen problems such as Social Security. From a number of sources, I have heard that Social Security will, by law be cut by nearly a quarter.

I have some easy solutions. However, there is what I call the options law. The longer you wait to fix a problem, the less options you have to fix it. Obviously, if we wait until it runs out, then we will no longer options.

First, the most effective way is to increase gross income. If income is increased ten percent, then the money going into the Social Security fund by ten percent. This, alone should extend normal Social Security.

Decrease benefits, about five percent. It would hurt all of us receiving benefits but if they did something earlier, it might be 1% instead of 5%. As I said, you put things off, you take away options.

Delaying benefits is also an option, again one that would not have hurt so much if it had been done twenty years ago. If we do it now, it’s not effective for another ten to twenty years.

Whatever the case, it likely will not effect me so much. I won’t likely going to be around to suffer the consequences. I am surprised I’m still around. Hence my suggestion s are not for my benefit.