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