Let it snow,let it snow,let it snow

[Jerry Oz]

You can't win... You get the elbow in the ribs for being too observant [[if somewhat naive) just like you get it for not being observant enough [[and quick to offer a compliment). Michael Jackson's scarecrow had it right.

[westgrandboulevard]

I'm increasingly of the mind that I'll do it my way, and the best I can...and if others don't like it, I don't have to pay them much of my mind, if any....

[Jerry Oz]

In the end analysis, if someone wants to hold onto something and be angry, that's more on them than on me. My advice for the last several years in any situation that caused someone to be upset, is to realize that it will stop being important at some point anyway, so it's best to get over it now than waste the next 24 hours [[or months) on something that you'll forget anyway.

[westgrandboulevard]

We're all heavily influenced by the way we feel at any given time, and it's tough sometimes to override that.

You can be feeling murderous, but the other person still has their story......

[Jerry Oz]

I'm pretty sure they would find some chemical that gets out of balance when we are disproportionately angry at something. Imagine what you sell bottles of that drug for. Some folks seem like they prefer being mad.

[westgrandboulevard]

I know I have to concentrate harder on any issues, if I'm receiving signs that my blood sugar is low.

If I let myself start to 'lose it', the adrenalin rush makes the blood sugar problem worse - so it's in my interests to remain as calm as I can.

[Jerry Oz]

It's hard to rein those feelings sometimes. It's interesting though, because life experience should have taught us that reactions based on those emotions seldom, if ever, lead to a positive result. You'd think that the would be the least productive emotion and consequently the easiest to control.

[westgrandboulevard]

Feelings always surface first.

Our thoughts then follow....

[Jerry Oz]

I'd like to think that the difference between men and the animals is our ability to reasonably assess and handle the situations we face. To the contrary, even when we know right from wrong, we often choose the path that is destructive to ourselves or others. That kind of makes us worse than animals because they act in the interest of self-preservation and we act in the interest of the moment.

[westgrandboulevard]

Would that, in effect, not be the same thing?

[Jerry Oz]

Not exactly. If I see a bum passed out on the street, with his last dollar bill partially hanging out of his pocket, it's my choice to take it from him or to leave him alone. Perhaps I can take it to teach him a lesson, perhaps because I simply don't like bums. Or maybe I just need one more dollar so that I can upgrade my lunch at Subway. However, it can honestly be stated that I have no need for the dollar; certainly no need that is greater than his.

I submit to you that 30% of people passing that bum on the street [[mostly men), will take that dollar from him for no other reason than greed or to satisfy the immediate impulse that they feel when they see it. "He ain't gonna use it for nothing good anyway." That, in my understanding, has nothing to do with self-preservation. It's simply wrong, no matter how you justify it.

[westgrandboulevard]

Yes, it's wrong to steal from someone, which an animal will do simply for self-interest and survival, but even worse for a human not to protect and support another when they are vulnerable.

[Jerry Oz]

And we all have our faults. It's just easier to see those of others... Or should I say, it's just easier to see those of "others"?

[westgrandboulevard]

It seems much easier to notice what we perceive as 'faults' in other people, rather than ourselves. Perhaps, that way, we simply recognise something within ourself, but the existence of which is denied, at least to some degree.

It would be good to think that virtues receive the same attention.

In a way, noticing faults in ourselves in the first instance, is a fault in itself.

[Jerry Oz]

Only if you are accepting of them. Perspective is remarkable. Two people can see the same man and one will call him a patriot whereas he's a terrorist in the eyes of the other.

[westgrandboulevard]

Virtues and vices are only of any help to me if they offer me something I can use, to aid improvement - or, at least, to halt a decline!

A patriot, or a terrorist, are people I can do without. Too removed from my own daily routine, so making it difficult for me to identify myself with them.

[144man]

Going back to Jerry's example above of the bum passed out in the street, I'd like to think that if I saw someone taking his last dollar bill, I'd try to stop them.

[Jerry Oz]

On most days, I would push it into his pocket along with a few more dollars.

[westgrandboulevard]

Most people wouldn't do that, but very few would take his last dollar bill, or even think of doing so.

They would simply pass by.

[144man]

We would do well to remember the Parable of the Good Samaritan.

[westgrandboulevard]

How many people under a certain age would even know it...?

[144man]

Christians have known that parable for two thousand years. What do they teach them in schools nowadays?

[westgrandboulevard]

How to apply for benefits?

[144man]

Why is the "Universal Credit" so called when it can only be received here on Earth?

[westgrandboulevard]

You have to be dead before you receive the full benefits......

[144man]

That's a cunning little ploy, and no more than I would expect from this Government.

[westgrandboulevard]

I'm not at all clear on why, when I receive the current national pension on my 65th at this time next year, someone born just a couple of years later will, on the due date, receive the 'new' one, with the additional benefit of over £100 each month....

[144man]

It may be worth a trip to your local Citizens Advice Bureau to make sure you receive all your legal entitlements.

[westgrandboulevard]

I had a financial adviser to do that for me, but he became bankrupt.

[144man]

That could never happen to R&B. He has all those liquid assets.

[westgrandboulevard]

Until they evaporate....

[144man]

Does he ever take the corks out?

[westgrandboulevard]

They pop all the time, without his permission.

[Jerry Oz]

No chance it'll evaporate before he drinks it. Maybe it'll evaporate out of his pores...

[westgrandboulevard]

He could wake up one morning, finding a group of people avidly licking him.

[Jerry Oz]

That's just... Nasty.

[westgrandboulevard]

We'll just have to assume Arr&bee will agree....

[ralpht]

Well you guys got a little existential for a moment, but good to see you back in the groove....Amazing thread...

[Jerry Oz]

Deep thoughts are 25¢ a dozen in this thread, Ralph. And I'm about five dollars in the hole...

[westgrandboulevard]

If you have thoughts to spend, this place never closes....!

[Jerry Oz]

Sometimes I can't afford anything that I see and can only browse. Deep thoughts are like a pocket full of change. Until you pull them out, you don't know if they're silver dollars or just a bunch of pennies. Fortunately, there's always someone nearby who is willing to share some of their own.

[westgrandboulevard]

I write mine down, on paper, or on SDF [[!) as they come along, generally unexpected.

As long as I do something with them quickly, they don't clutter my mind too much - which, of course, simply encourages yet more thoughts....

[Jerry Oz]

These threads are the closest that I come to conversations with someone outside of my family or close circle. It's a good outlet to express myself in a manner that may not be off-putting to someone that I care about.

[westgrandboulevard]

Yes, me too. I 'lurked' for quite some time,then began to contribute when the forum was ugraded in August 2010, and I had turned 60.

I am in my natural element here, being given to expressing myself even more with use of the written word, rather than the spoken form.

SDF is an outlet, and most therapeutic. I have learned a lot from other members here, and much more about myself than I ever had realised.

[Jerry Oz]

And the same for me. I love reading the posts from members who are acquainted with some of my idols. They refer to them by their first names and give insight that I cannot find somewhere else.

[westgrandboulevard]

It's good to have the knowledge of anything which interests us being extended, even in some small way, every single day. That prevents it from withering away....

[Jerry Oz]

I like knowing that I'm not the only one who was interested in some things. There have been songs and artists referenced on these boards that I knew about but never heard played on the radio or anybody's stereo. I'm kind of validated to find out that somebody else actually liked what I liked.

[westgrandboulevard]

The sense of belonging is a very powerful one.

The proof of that is in what can happen to a person's feelings when it is removed.

[Jerry Oz]

That's why the first couple of weeks at a new school can be troublesome for some. Especially when the big fish at a former school realizes that his/her years of building their brand don't mean much in their new environment.

[westgrandboulevard]

This strange thing we call life is like a huge, mischievous game of snakes and ladders.

We either accept and deal with the 'sling and arrows' as they arrive, and without notice - or become so self-protective that we miss out on many of the benefits....