10 Most FASCINATING PEOPLE OF THE YEAR 2011

I have just watched an interview of what is to come.  Barbra Walters of course is outlining the 10 most fascinating people of the year 2011.  Low and behold, the Kardashians made the list.  First I had to review what Webster's definition of fascinating was, of course to better understand were the show may be coming from:   "extremely interesting or charming".  Of course if we are thinking that they are "interesting", well I have not given them much thought, "charming"" even, is stretching what is already to much credit for a group of individuals who have 1) Not solved Cancer, 2) Have no real talent or written anything that is clearly intelligent, 3) Who have done nothing that did not involve self absorption.  Call me wrong, but only in America the greatest nation will you be defined by a award winning journalist as fascinating for doing absolutely nothing of value.  Over whelmingly in America we are, weather it be verbally or through other methods telling our children that if your "charming" you can be rewarded for it.  What happened to the value system that we speak of so openly ?  I can think of many more people that would be worthy of such an accolade of fascinating, people who have done more in a week than sit in a chair and concern themselves with makeup for 3 hours at a time.  What ever happened to acknowledging people who are making a valid contribution to the betterment of a society, and not just themselves?  All day long we as parents, will tell our children that if you study, and concentrate it pays off and you will be rewarded for your efforts.  Never have I seen it were you can be rewarded for being charming short of a Miss Congeniality contest.  Maybe Barbra Walters got it wrong and should rename her clearly jaded observation to be the 10 most Entertaining People of the Year or at least if you are going to stick with the story line really consider who you promoting.  What again are we teaching a nation of children, at this point we can be held as responsible as we can hold you responsible, and we will.  So I have taken the liberty of putting out who I believe to be the 10 most fascinating people of 2011, I suppose sense we are all entitled to our perceptions than lets run with it and feel free to add others,

10)  Every man and woman who wears a Public Servant Uniform on a daily basis and no matter how cold/warm or dangerous it is will do a duty to serve and protect.

9)   Every school teacher that goes to work everyday knowing that the pay is not great but his/her desire to teach is far more important.

8)   Every child that remains in school even through the difficulties and struggles that our jaded society will work to insinuate upon them.

7)  Every man that leads his family and takes his rightful place as a leader to guide and provide for them.

6)  Every woman who takes her active role as a lady, a wife and a mother to nurture no matter how society views women on a collective level.  

5)  Every scientist that has worked day and night to heal the illness that plague us.

04)  Farmers who look up at the sun and understand the value that it provides, for it helps to feed the world around.

03)  Parents who are the real hero's of our world, who gave us a value system and a sense of honor and repsonsibilitly that can't be exchanged for the dollar that our society will to put more value in than our families.

02)  Our children who teach us more than we can learn in a book or a school if you will just be observe and listen to them.  Who will be the most forgiving even when you miss a birthday or understanding when you have to work a little bit later than normal. Or when you will miss a year of their lives because you raised your right hand and took an oath to defend something greater than yourself.  Children who will know that your oath is far more relevant to their future than the latest episode of the Kardashians.

01) The American Soldier, Sailor, Airman, Marine, and Coast Guard, who the road to hell is just another work day for them, who cannot pick and chose who is safe but said hey "we got you" so no worries your safe tonight.  Who made it possible for the Kardashians and people like them who have made no contribution to a greater society to be considered Fascinating People today.

Please feel free to add more to this list as I will forward it to Barbra Walters so that we can all make a contribution to the most fascinating people of 2011.  

What is your Reality?: The best choice vs the popular

What is your Reality?: The best choice vs the popular

The best choice vs the popular

On any given day our great nation and it's people will take for granted more than other countries could ever dream of.  Not that this is a bad thing, it is just something that may need to be observed and acknowledged.  Why?  Because when a nation such as ours  has as many options as we do vices, Praise the Lord for this, then we stand before our children and  generations before us with perishable values and questionable explanations.  Our value system should not be treated like a gallon of milk that has an expiration date on it because then you are trusting time to decide when you will curdle, other than yourself to decide the longevity and the continued success of the greatest nation.  There lye's the problem.  Not to disrespect the brave men and women who are putting themselves out there for public criticism, those men and women who are running for public office, but I guess if someone has to be openly and legitimately be critical, well I guess let it be me.

      Never should the option of balancing the budget take this long to accomplish.  If your absent on 3 occasions you should  automatically lose your seat.   All Parties should be ashamed at this point,  you should immediately be made to resign your coveted position.  You by this point have proven your inability and lack of mental fitness to have the position that you sit behind so comfortably.    The current political arena is a scathing indictment of the same negotiable value based system that Hollywood has.  And were it works for pure entertainment, when you attempt to take on governing our great nation, we would prefer less entertainment and more business at hand. We have for, I know, the past 3 years, asked our representation to balance the budget, I suppose we should have been more technical with our "silly' demands, and said balance our "nations budget", and not your off shore accounts.  All parties are guilty of the next indictment, "cutting military funding"  if any of you sitting in Washington believe this to be intelligent or even a legitimate cut, then you do not deserve to sit so safely and comfortably at your desks any longer, because in the event that it has escaped anyone of you, as it has not been out of the minds of those families of those of us serving, you do what you do because of us, not in spite of us, BUT BECAUSE WE GRANT THE FREEDOM AND PROTECTION TO DO IT.  For those that do not understand what I am saying let me refer you to the Middle East and other nations, were their political players are hanging on by a thread.  You are simply one vote away from it being voted out.  You serve at the privilege of the American People, and with the privilege comes the same  responsibility, (not a notion), but a responsibility  that the big print giveth and the small print taketh away. The ability of a great leader is to understand the afflictions of many and not just one (you),  again not just something that you stand for during a campaign and then suddenly take a notional perspective to while your holding the office.  Why are our candidates so easily swayed, because they have a lack of character associated with them.  When you stand for nothing to begin with and sell it to the unsuspecting public as the best part of Pandora's box, then you and us will fall for everything.   Well most of us at least. When insinuation alone can change your  view, then that tells me that you borrowed them to begin with.  What I want to see is someone that no matter how difficult it becomes, no matter how many accusations get leveled at them, stand for what they truly believe, and not quit.  That, just when you as a candidate, feel as though you can't take anymore, you dig deep and find out exactly what you are capable of weathering through.  Can I say this yes,........ because on any given day, I tell myself the same things, "I can't do this anymore" and then I remind myself that there is a  finish line and everything around me becomes of point close to my success.  At the end of it be worthy of the "notional coronation" and never forget the fortitude it took to get you there.  It is those type of people that will grow with the power that has been bestowed on them and not swell with it.  The best choice is not always the most popular, and the popular choice is not always the best.  Clear judgment and values should at some time enter into the equation.

The good and bad

Being in the Army is difficult, some times tough.  So tough that I really can't bring myself to roll out of bed.   Its those days when I have to focus hard on why I do this to begin with.  My boys, at the end of every day, I am reminded of why I live this kind of a life,  My boys.  When I get home, and they are nice and warm and fed, and have all that I could give them, they are happy, there is my reason for what I do what I do. I often wonder how my boys really feel about all of it, and for one reason or another, they are really okay with it.  "Mom, just be tough you got this", to ever insinuate that the Army and multiple trips to a war zone have not created a different person is just wrong.  I am tougher, I do sleep less, I am far less indulging, and I do realize more and more that the minutes matter, and you can't just let them slip by.  The Army has been the platform that has allowed me to be apart of  so many people lives,  of different countries, cultures, and lifestyles.  I have brothers and sisters that I would never trade for the world, brothers and sisters that have traveled to the gates of hell with me.  On any given day, the Army is the one entity that will tell you "you can be better today than you were yesterday", the one entity that will give you the tools to find out who you are and what your made of.    The people in the Army are special in their own right, it does take a certain type of person to be apart of this amazing organization.  These people are closer to me than anyone else, we know each other and can read a bad day before anything else, but the solice behind it all is that we are in it together.  Your bad day will be felt by many and theirs will be too.  I am a linguist, and as a linguist, I have the opportunity to speak and read newspapers and communicate with so many people.  I saw this in Iraq, there was not a day that passed that I did not hold a conversation in Arabic and even in Spanish.  To be apart of their lives on a very personal level, I could get no were else.  The  men, women and children, that just broke my heart, a very secret part of me that I refuse to acknowledge when I depart from my own family, they have found a way to reach and touch.  I remember my last rotation to Iraq, I had been there for a few months when my son was involved in a horse accident back home.  I wanted so badly to be with him, he was having surgery, and as a parent you hurt for yourself and for your child.  Just being with my son is what I wanted more than anything, my son an amazing young man was handed the phone so that I could speak with him before he went in for his surgery, and I tried to so hard not to cry just to let him know that I loved him deeply and he in one sentence told me " mommy you need to stay there, You will be okay mommy, you get to walk the land that Jesus walked mommy you are in the house of Jacob, you are so blessed so just walk it mommy and tell me about it when you get home, your safe and because of you I am safe".  I just lost it, I cried and he cried, but I realized something he was right, so insightful to be so young.  He saved me that day, and from that day on I have always responded to "how is your day" with the same manner, I am blessed, so blessed because I got to walk the land that Jesus walked.  I am getting ready to embark on yet another rotation, and I hope and pray that this one will open my eyes even more. I never walk away from anything without realizing that I learned something and that I grew because of it.    I have grown in ways that I can not even identify ways that I am learning about everyday, but do realize how fortunate I truly am.  I figured out on my second rotation that I only really had to be a hero in two peoples eyes, the two that drive my life and love so deeply.  MY BOYS

Definition of YOU

On any given day you will be asked as an individual to check a block, a block that is designed to outline who you are for society in one way or another.  Not sure how others feel about this but every time I come across the what now appears to be "categories" and eight blocks I have a hard time because there is really not one or the other that I find myself in.  I am not Latin so this block does not apply nor am I Caucasian, because I do not hail from the Caucus Mountains.  So after the alternatives are even less at identifying me, I find that I must pick one, or face the stare when you go to turn in what ever application you have just filled out.  Than the really great question comes up the one that just makes me laugh out loud.  SEX:  and the option is male or female, honestly the question is really asking a yes or no answer and if you feel froggy go ahead and put how many times this week.  At some point this question does even more to disqualify me as a member of the accepted categories because were I am female, and yes I am Hispanic, the architects behind the application are actually stating more about themselves than about the population that will be asked to fill it out. Maybe just maybe the questions that are not being asked but are being presumed by the line of questioning is " are you a well adjusted person for your age, and culture" are you having sex regularly or do you need assistance of the medicinal kind ?  So after the shrugging of my head over and over again, I have come to the conclusion that none of this really matters to me and most certainly does not even begin to identify who I am.  As a member of the military, they have gotten the point and simply don't ask who you are, all to quickly the will let you know who you are and exactly what values you will stand for.  Again, I beg to differ were my value system and theirs correlates they don't exactly meet up.  PT every day, blah blah blah, minimum standard is blah blah blah, qualifying score is blah blah blah, and so forth.  So if you not only meet the standard but exceed it, than shouldn't you as the individual be allowed to set a new standard?  Or are we going to remain subjected to the one standard that they have found in order to define your worth?  Not so fast, there is not one standard that they have given me that I did not already come with, there is not one value that they have cornered the market in that I did not already poses on my own, so they also cannot define me.  When we as individuals allow an outside entity the privilege of defining you as an individual than you unknowinlgly succumb to what they have decided.  Either knowingly or not society has set up a class system and you will be asked to fit in one way or the other, that is of course if you opt out of defining yourself and allow the outside entity of those who have some level of control over you to do the work.  The talents and traits that you poses are not ones that society has given you, you have had a larger hand in who you are than what society wants to regulate you to.  When the power is handed over to someone else I believe you lose more than you gain.  On any given day, I will tell My Soldiers that we bear some level of control on their success, ultimately it is in their hands, we can no more decide it than they are willing to allow.  We don't make you a hero, you do that, you do this by understanding the very fiber of your being, and deciding that your potential is in your hands only.  If I allowed anyone short of myself to decide my self worth or potential I can only imagine what I would never have accomplished.  Your talents are yours, society will only add to them but can not give you them, your success is also yours, society will give you the platform but ultimately it is yours and yours alone. Society is simply asking what nice little group can we put you in, it is time to make your own group, because either way they fail to understand the ones that they put on paper.  Next time you fill out an application look for the insight that is not there but  is in you.

Family

My family is my life.  If I fail to say it out aloud forgive me.  As the days and weeks pass into months, even I often forget or get lost in my life, that when my family arrives, I suddenly remember exactly who I am.  Is it  something that they bring with them, is it time understanding that for just a few moments the clock is going to tic just a little bit slower, is it that this is the one thing that no matter what is going on, when your family is around, you and them are allotted more time to breath and heal?  With the love of family, life no matter how difficult, gets renewed.  I am blessed I do understand this, my children are amazing young men for loving me the way they do,  for understanding that even though I work as a Soldier no matter how much the days pass, our time is yet to come.  I realize that it is the love of my family that drives me, the love of my children that motivates me and the love of my Country that burns within me to accomplish the difficult mission of being a Soldier.  I believe that we are fortunante to have each other because were we do not have days of even weekends together anymore, we have Moments, moments that truly are the fountain of youth.  I had so much to be Thankful for this year, and again I am greatefull for an amazing family and the moments in time that we laughed, that we hugged and that we spent renewing who we were and the friendships that we have formed with one another.  Thank you for being in my life.

APPLY then RUN

Everyone who has sought out some type of legitimate employment has had to apply for it, I know I have had too.  It is a basic application of the standard questions, education, position applying for, full name, social security number, criminal background. And depending on the type of position, your credit report will be requested.  So the question that needs to be asked is why is it that you and I have to apply for a job every time we want one, and the Politicians get to run for theirs?  Certainly there is a difference between applying than running.  I believe that they should be asked to apply first, then after they pass the smell test from their constituency they can run.  See, the majority of them that are sitting so comfortably in their offices, doing the Lord only knows what, because it certainly is not governing, will never make it past the smell test.  A politician would only hire the best staff for his team, your boss would only want the best qualified for his team as well.  So if I have to apply, and you have to apply, and the people that are staffed, to work for a politician have to apply, why again do the politicians not have to apply.  Again publicly slinging mud at one another is not a qualification or a UFC match it is a waste of precious productive time, and should be an automatic disqualification from the Political field.  Rest assured ,oh comfortable ones in Washington D.C I have taken the liberty of writing a JOB APPLICATION just for you.  This application is a 3 step process and once you have completed the second step a basic Math test will be given, not all that apply will make it to step 3 many of you will be eliminated in the 2 step or during the math portion of this exercise.  (Your math and the basic standard math, two different things, or so we have been led to believe, so study up on it) .  Once you have completed filling out the application it will get turned in to you County or District office, and a copy of it will be disbursed to all of your constituency in the district.  The county/District will record all yeas and nays following a complete mail out, and results will be recorded and you will be notified via mail.  Once you receive notification in the mail, attached will be the time and date and location of your Math test.  NO cell phones or calculators will be admitted into the exam and you will not be afforded any "life lines or phone a friend" that so many of you have grown  accustomed to having in Washington.  NOTE: Below you will find a sample of the math test.
2+2=4
2+2=22 (wrong answer)
Once you have completed the second step and have passed the math test, you will be notified of your ability to RUN for office.  I wish all you the best of luck, and we the People look forward to the best people serving us in Washington D.C.

APPLICATION FOR POSITION

1 What kind of job are you applying for? Give title.

2 Social Security Number

3 Birth date (Month, Day, Year)

4 Name (Last, First, Middle)

   Mailing address (include apartment number, if any)

   City

5 Sex (not a yes or no question)

   Male

   Female

6 Birthplace (City and State or Country)

   State

   ZIP Code

7 Other names ever used (e.g., maiden name, nickname, etc.)

8 Home Phone Area Code Number

9 Work Phone Area Code Number Extension

Were you ever employed as a civilian by the Federal Government? If "NO", go to 10 Item 11. If "YES ", mark each type of job you held with an "X".

Temporary Career-Conditional Career What is your highest grade, classification series and job title?

Dates at highest grade: FROM TO

Excepted

10  When can you start work? (Month and Year)

11  What is the lowest pay you will accept? (You will not be considered for jobs which pay          less than you indicate, many of you will be eliminated based on this question)

12  Were you discharged from the military service under honorable YES NO conditions? (If your discharge was changed to "honorable" or "general" by a Discharge Review Board, answer "YES". If you received a clemency discharge, answer "NO".)

If "NO ", provide below the date and type of discharge you received.

(Month, Day, Year) 20 List the dates (Month, Day, Year) , and branch for all active duty military service

From To Branch of Service

13 If all your active duty was after October 14, 1976, list the full names and dates of all campaign badges or expeditionary medals you received or were entitled to receive.

14 In what geographic area(s) are you willing to work?

15 Are you willing to work:

A. 40 hours per week (full-time)? B. 25-32 hours per week (part-time)? C. 17-24 hours per week (part-time)? D. 16 or fewer hours per week (part-time)? E. An intermittent job (on call/seasonal)? F. Weekends, shifts, or rotating shifts? (another question that will eliminate many of you based on truthful answers)

16 Are you willing to take a temporary job lasting: A. 5 to 12 months (sometimes longer)?

B. 1 to 4 months?

C. Less than 1 month?

17 Are you willing to travel away from home for: A. 1 to 5 nights each month?

B. 6 to 10 nights each month?

C. 11 or more nights each month?

18 Have you served in the United States Military Service? If your only active duty was training in the Reserves or National Guard, answer "NO".

19.  Attach all references on additional sheet of paper.
20.  Highest level of education completed.            College attended          YR graduated

19.   A full criminal background check will be done and  A credit report will be requested once application has  successfully gone through constituent review.  Unwillingness to fully disclose any and all information requested will result in automatic dismissal from Political Positions.

 Signature of Applicant:___________________                            Date:_________________

What are we teaching our Daughters?

The popular Mattel Corporation has decided to make a Barbie doll of a country singer.  Good for them, but now I think we are to blame more than they are.  As a society we do everything in power to escape the reality that hurts so bad, called our real lives.  We teach our children to escape when we give in to what society has said is a must have and acceptable.  The average person has a reality unlike the " reality shows".  The only real thing on the Reality Shows is maybe the time in which they come on, the time is real time.  What in fact have reality shows done for the average person?  The  real person can't escape from their reality which is bills, kids, homework, minimum wage jobs, and health insurance that is less than mediocre.  We escape our reality that is less than pleasant to watch yours which is full of everything that we have made you.  It has been said over and over again, in order to get noticed you have to take your clothes or make a sex video.  Is that what we are teaching our daughters today, in order to be loved and beautiful you have to sacrifice your integrity.  Lets not forget the, however long of shame that comes to these women but in the end they become famous for having done absolutely nothing of value.  Not one of them on a reality show has cured cancer, or put their lives on the line to fight in our nations battle against terrorism.  Not one of them have made a political statement to help fix our real economy that they are exempt from.
 I vow to women around that I will no longer watch a reality show featuring anyone that shops all day and calls it a job.  No longer will I subscribe to your richness while I work everyday and pay my taxes that you seem to be oblivious too.  You see I wear a uniform everyday, and carry a weapon.  I go to those places were there are no malls or makeup.  I fight for those who just  have a small wish of a different reality that does not constitute death for speaking their minds.  Yes I myself have not cured cancer, however my reality is far from yours.  I cry, and I swear but at the end of the day I believe in two things that may have escaped many of those in Hollywood, The King James Bible and My Country.  I guess our society is made of the haves and the have not's, the will and the will not's.  I am one of the have not's and I am also one of the will not's.  I will not sacrifice my integrity nor my morals  by taking off my clothes for you or anyone else to notice.  I am a have not, I have not done anything in my life that I have had to prepare my family for before the news hits them.  My children are far more important to me than what Mattel has decided to emulate as important or worthy of immortalizing in our society.  On a given day I can say I have participated in securing a border, a town, my family and yours, and more importantly MY NATION.  Make a barbie doll out of that.

Against the Odds.

Going to the Movies.
I was lucky, and I will call it luck because for what ever reason, if a woman gets excited about a movie, then the man automatically associates it with "chick flick", pulling teeth and 10 mins later, off we were to the movies.  "The Helper".  When we walked into the  movie to take our seats, I looked at the sea of isles that were open, I laughed inside because the woman looked very matter of fact and the men just looked like they had been to the dentist.  I looked at my partner and he just looked helpless.  You see when you take us to a movie that you want to watch, we have to be excited about it, or at least appear that way, when we ask to see a particular movie, it's met with " I don't wanna watch that", " really, now". So after walking through the isles to get comfortable seats, I just laughed out loud.  Yes, I won one, even if it was just in my head a small victory vs no victory.  I myself really had no idea of what the movie was about but the reviews were good and the previews seemed promising.  I sat down and looked around the movie theater, a sea of men all looked like they would much rather be sleeping if given the option.  It's not to often that I go to the movies so I said a small internal prayer to myself "please let this be a good movie" I knew that if it wasn't it would be a long time before I got to pick the next one.
As the movie got underway the usual rattle of people could be heard but 20 or so mins into it, I didn't hear a sound that wasn't part of the movie.  As i began to get involved in the movie I looked over at Clay, and noticed that so was he.  He was enjoying it even if he didn't want to say it.
I have to say not many movies move me emotionally like this one.  I felt emotions in myself that I had for some time shut off.  I cried, and I laughed, I simply enjoyed this movie, and felt like it had renewed something in me that not many things do. I walked out of the theater after that with my sunglasses on, as I did not want Clay to see my red eyes certainly he knew I had cried but he didn't need to see it.
I thought to myself afterwards.  There will always be people in this world that will work hard to deny you even the very basic of life, but as they deny you that, they will never be able to take away the spirit of a warrior.  No matter what people do, they can not on their own kill the spirit that resides in you.  The will to live, to exsist is not for anyone but you and the Lord.  Just when you think you can't do something, you dig deep and awaken the spirit of a warrior that only God knows you have, because he gave it to you.  Some people will never have to dig deep because they have managed to live their life in a safety zone, that has never tested their will, their character, or their internal fortitude.
Having gone back and forth to a war zone, I am glad God gave it to me.  Inspiration and the will to survive and fight.
Many will never feel it, and they are the ones who will never know the true meaning of life, and the search for meaning in it.
Today I feel inspired and accomplished.

DREAMS

My dreams and goals are no longer going to sit back and what for permission from anyone one else.  If a person wants to be in my life than they will understand that I will no longer sacrifice my dreams or even alter them because of another person.  Call it selfish but I have already given enough of me freely and now I fully intend to live my life with smiles and happiness and to do what I want in my life.  I am not asking for permission from anyone, I will not bargain my dreams any longer.  I will enjoy my life and I will see and live it for every second that I have now.  I will totally have my vineyard and I will have my own place regardless of what anyone says especially if it is negative.  Life is full of negative I will live out the positive.