Truth or Lies

"A lie may take care of the present, but it has no future." -Author Unknown

The news has recently been filled with the scintillating news of a New York Congressman. The public appetite for this type of news has always intrigued me.

There are U.S. Military personnel risking their lives in foreign nations to help the oppressed and fight terrorism. We spend our day reading of someone who took some pictures and then lied about it.

There are Japanese people still without a home due to a nuclear plant disaster after a tsunami. But yet we spend our day debating the social aspects of what this man did and his resignation.

I guess it has to do with our attention span as human beings. The ever increasing ADHD nature of our lives. We flip from channel to channel and the last hour's news is old news. But it wouldn't be quite so bad if we didn't just focus on what is termed lurid pictures. The real story is why do we lie in the first place.

My belief is that if you come out at first with the truth, no lies, no cover up, people are pretty forgiving. The truth sets you on a path to recovery or redemption much quicker. You save yourself having to fix two problems instead of just one.

But what a lot of people tend to depend upon is the short memory of others. If I lie and get away with it, they believe "no foul, no harm." But if I get caught in the lie, people will eventually forget about it. the only problem is that it doesn't make you a better person. Not telling the truth pulls you down and makes telling the next one easier and more costly. Lies will only hurt you and those close to you.

So try telling the truth upfront. It is going to hurt most certainly and maybe its that pain we are trying to avoid. But the pain is short-lived and redemption so much greater. Your life will be greater for having told the truth.

Broken Lens

"There are always flowers for those who want to see them." -Henri Matisse

There will be times in our life when the rose-colored glasses we wear might get broken. Disappointment can occur due to circumstance, change or other unforeseen instances. The pessimists in our life will certainly try to pull us down to their way of thinking. The pebbles they throw may break our view of life. The lens can be repaired, your optimism restored.

Love Is

"Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.' -Lao Tzu

This is a special day for my wife and I as we celebrate an anniversary. It is the type of day that is only understood by two people. It can only have meaning for those two hearts.

The words between two people are not shared in a blog or video. Only two people can understand the words each speak. It is in the sound, the touch and the unspoken looks.

That is what love is.

Graduation is Over

"When you get to be our age, you all of a sudden realize that you are being ruled by people you went to high school with ... You all of a sudden catch on that life is nothing but high school." -Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

Kurt wrote the above when he was 47 years-old during the time of the Vietnam War and after many years that drifted him through World War II and numerous jobs. It is a topic that could get wide spread discussion at a party. Both in regarding the quote and Kurt Vonnegut's life. But it also makes you stop and think about what one has done with their life since high school.

In a Time article by Annie Murphy Paul titled, Life After High School the discussion does take place. Are we that same person we were in high school? Did the time we spend in high school dictate the person we have become? Maybe to some degree it does but it doesn't have to be that way.

The person you are in high school is not the person you have to be later in life. All of our life experiences, high school, college, work, travel, friends, and just about everything has an influence on whom we become. But the determining factor in whom you become is you.

Think of those movies which depict what a person in high school turns out to be at the ten year, twenty-five and so forth reunions. Most times they are over-dramatizations or generalizations of people. But we get a picture of people that really didn't change much from high school.

The sports jocks get depicted as faded stars still talking about the winning touchdown. The geeks are shown as brainiacs with a lonely career in research. The partiers are revealed to still be whacked out people with no job living under the boardwalk. The stereo-types go on and on.

And yes, there are those that do not change. There are people that tend to keep holding onto their high school persona, never growing beyond that point in life. But the stories I like to hear are those of people that, what I call, 'drink from the water of life.' The people that have taken their high school life and used it as a launching pad towards a greater life. People with changed livesthat take what life has to offer and makes it work for them.

When we leave high school and home, we have the whole world before us. We can choose the type of life we desire. We have limitless potential. There will be those that choose a simplified life, full of the wonders and joy that exist there. Others will choose the uncharted road that is also full of wonders and joy. The point being that there is no right or wrong, just do the things that fill your life.

If ten years from high school have passed and you are unhappy, then the water of life is there to drink from. You can change what is happening and move beyond it. The same is true for any point in life. This isn't to say that you run from responsibility or run just because things get hard. You need to work through and persevere, but you can adapt and change along the way as well.

There is so much you can do with your life. You can take advantage of the power to change at any point, situation or age. All it takes is being bold enough to move. Your graduation is over and there are no more tests to take, just life.