July 2, 2105                                         Lesson 4.1 Fluency Blog-Day 7

I found this quote posted on someone’s Facebook page. I think this definition is pretty close to what most of us would actually consider success.

“Success means doing the best we can with what we have. Success is the doing, not the getting; in the trying, not the triumph. Success is a personal standard, reaching for the highest that is in us, becoming all that we can be.”
–Zig Ziglar

My question for our Know Your Audience assignment was: “What is the meaning of success”.

As several of my classmates answered, “Success can mean one thing to one person, and a completely different thing to another.”

To answer my own question:
I have agree that success is a personal standard, setting a goal and accomplishing it, whether that be work, school, relationship, etc. or just being the  best person  we want to be. Though it would be nice to have enough money to have a nice, paid for house, a nice vehicle or two, maybe even a boat, and be able to go on nice vacations, the quote is absolutely right, in my opinion. Success is the doing, not the getting.  It is in the trying, not the triumph.

I can attest to that as I have matured. I used to think it was all about the money, and the choices I made were a reflection of that. I wanted what I wanted, and I did what I did to get it.  How quickly one can find out one does not succeed making those choices.  But it’s not about the money. It is what we have and what we make of it, as I have come to realize. I have been blessed with a second chance. I have a wonderful lady in my life, who I plan on asking her formally to marry me this 4^th of July weekend, I have a beautiful five year old daughter who is my whole world, and I want her to know that her daddy is a success because of the lessons which have been learned.  I have a good job which will allow me to put a roof over our head, food on the table and clothes on our backs. I have a family that has stood by me when they could have easily turned their backs on me in disgrace. And, I'm getting the education which I threw away in high school, which hopefully will provide a better chance of job security and an opportunity to rise above... maybe even one day afford to have a business of my own. I can now say I feel good about myself. I'm making something of myself. And, I'm making the right choices now.  I call that success!!  Anything above and beyond, is just an added bonus. How much more blessed could one be.

Happy 4^th everyone!

July 1 2015              Lesson 4.1 Fluency Blog-Day 6

Well yesterday was one of those “momma told me there would be days like this” days.  I was tired and wanted to sleep some more, but I drug my butt up so I could get some stuff done, not to mention all this stuff for school I needed to be working on before I went to work. We lost internet…why?...it was not storming or anything…reset modem…nope that didn’t work…call Centruylink…not on their end… going to have to get a tech out to see what’s going on and that wasn’t going to be until this morning sometime…sigh. I was thinking “ so I got up early for this. I could still be sleeping…and now I’m going to have to do two posts instead of one”. Not one of my more patient days. So then I thinking, “Well, I’m up so I might as well try to get something else done. I’d like to get some of it done before the weekend because I’ve got big plans for the 4^th.” 

 I had ordered parts for my motorcycle that I’ve been working on and they should have been here the day before. According to the tracking information they’d been in Springfield since Monday “so why were they not here.” The Fedex guy usually comes early and he should have been here long before then. I needed to be working on it because there’s a chance for rain the next few days, and since I don’t have a garage to work in I'm thinking to myself, “I’m not going to get to do it if those parts don’t get here.” I only had three hours before I had to get ready for work, I couldn't do my homework, I couldn't work on my bike... I was still tired. I love my job but it doesn’t give me a lot of time to do what I need to except for the weekends. Getting more frustrated.   

So hoping to at least get something accomplish,  I decided “I guess I’ll go down to the part store and get the sway bar for the front of my car thanks to good old Ozark and their  manholes that you have to dodge to keep from knocking your front end out.” I get down there and they don’t have it…gonna have to order it…won’t be here til Thursday. Great! Not! "Love this car...its such a pain in the butt. Why can't  I  just go in a get a part without ordering it? " I just love the hurry up and wait.I don't want to wait, I want to get it done NOW. NOW, I really am frustrated! I can hear my mom’s voice in  the back of my head “just calm down..you'll get it done...quit being so negative”…grrrr. “So what! Why can’t  I be negative sometimes...Why do I always hear that voice even when she's not around." But I know she's right."I think maybe I just need to go back to bed and wake up and start over again. Maybe I’ll be in a better mood when I get back up.”

June 29-2015               I Believe Creed

I Believe in Respect

I Believe all people/all things deserves respect

I Believe in respecting others unless proven otherwise they do not deserve

I Believe that respect is earned

I Believe in order to earn respect you must give/show respect

I Believe there are many who are not respectful

I Believe that we can all be more respectful.

I Believe you don’t have to agree with someone to show respect

I Believe respect is taking into consideration other peoples beliefs of culture, traditions, religion etc.

I Believe in respecting others choices even if they don’t agree with mine.

I Believe  respect is agreeing to disagree without argument
I Believe that my mom taught me what respect is.

I Believe I haven’t always been respectful

I Believe I believe I have learned to be respectful 

I Believe respect is a part of my creed

Lucas

June 29, 2015             Lesson 4.1 Fluency Blog-Day 5

I have juggled, tossed, turned over and over, thrown on the floor and stomped on ideas and thoughts  for days now on what to write about for this weeks I Believe  Essay assignment. There are so many things that one believes in become so automatic that go without a second thought as to why we believe that way. But what is evident, everyone has beliefs and they came from somewhere. Not everyone’s beliefs are the same. Many are quite different depending on our culture, traditions, etc. Does having a different belief make any one person’s beliefs right or wrong? Does that give anyone just cause to tell another they are wrong because they don’t believe exactly how they do? Who determines what is right or wrong?

In putting thought to these questions is it not each belief that makes us the unique individuals we are. I don’t want someone telling me what I should or should not believe because it is their belief. So why should that same belief not apply to me. So, after all this juggling, tossing and turning over, throwing on the floor and stomping I’ve been doing, it finally hits me…it’s all about individual choice…our rights… freedom of religion, speech, etc… and it’s all about RESPECT. Respecting that I can have a different opinion than someone else, and they can have a different opinion other than mine. It makes neither of us right, or wrong. It just means we think differently. One can agree to disagree. And, once we can determine that, then respect can be established with no need for argument. That is what is supposed to be about. Somewhere people have lost respect for other people’s rights.

A person that demands respect rarely gets respect. You can’t push your opinions or beliefs on someone else and get respect. Respect is not a God given right, it must be earned. But respect is deserved and should be given to everyone and everything. This I believe. 

And I believe I have just found my creed!!!!!!!

Lucas.

June 28                                                  Lesson 4.1 Fluency Blog- Day 4

I HATE SNAKES

I believe that God has a purpose for everyone and everything, but one of the things that is a continuous mystery to me is why God created snakes. 

Here I am, what I consider myself to be a fairly “macho” kind of guy…crap, I’ve been through hell in my short lived life and I’ve made it back to where I am now. I’m not afraid of much, but there is something about those things…those creatures  that slide around on their bellies, hiding in the most inconspicuous places waiting for me to reach down or step on them, that reminds me of the Devil himself lurking in the darkness waiting to drag me to hell. I just flat can’t deal with ‘em…I don’t care what kind they are, and I’m not going to hang around long enough to find out either.What was God thinking?

I remember on the farm, kicking over a long piece of lumber which had fallen off the stack that my dad had to redo the floor of his trailer. There he was…I swear he was ten foot long, (even though I’m sure he was only about three) the biggest, fattest, ugliest copperhead all coiled up under it. I knew he was just waiting for ME…couldn’t have been anyone else; not mom, dad, or my sisters, he had to be waiting for ME. It wasn’t because I wasn’t smart enough to just stand real still or to back off really slowly, but my heart was in my throat and my feet and legs were frozen where I stood.  I could see him glaring me straight in the eye with this tantalizing look of contempt…..then he slowly slithered off.  My legs were shaking and I was weak in the knees, but I ran like hell back to the shop where dad was working to tell him. Of course the snake was already gone and not much he could do about it then but tell me to keep my eyes open. Damn right I’d keep my eyes open. Not only that , I would dream about that monster at night with my eyes open!!!

We used to go down to the creek down in front of the house and behind the shop to catch crawdads. They were plentiful down in our creek. We’d done it from the time I was really little…mind you I was only five or six when my folks split up and we moved from that place…so when I talk about this I wasn’t but just a toe head little kid anyway…but that summer the crawdads had seemed to disappear. There had been a lot of rain kind of like it has been this year and we figured that was why. NOT…guess what…we had a momma cottonmouth down there with a whole nest of babies…and those crawdads sure made good eating for them or be scared off.Did you know that a cottonmouth will flat chase you? Oh YEAH!

There were several other occasions, like when I was helping my sister get hay out of the back of the shop to feed the horses. She reached up to grab a bale of hay and there, with its ugly, nasty head sticking out of the bale, dared us to grab it. I could go on.

Then there was the summer we’d gone to Linden on the 4^th to swim, fish and do fireworks. My mom’s cousin and his kids were with us and he had brought a net so we could catch some minnows for bait. When he pulled it in there was a baby snake..about the size of a big night crawler. OK..disposed of…no biggy. Yeah sure!

 But the next day mom was off  work and didn’t have school that day, so we went back to swim. He were are, my sister and I swimming in our favorite spot, mom sitting in her lawn chair sunning, reading a book and listening to music. No one around because it was a work day…We had the place all to ourselves. We notice all this stuff floating in the river…looks like little cotton balls that have fallen off the trees bobbing up and down as we splash and carry on…no biggy...NOT!!!!!!…it was hundreds…and I do not exaggerate…hundreds of just hatched baby cotton mouths. Mom told us to quietly and quickly get out of the water…we packed up and we haven’t been swimming down there again. Again, nightmares for a week!

I’m reminded of this, and bring this all out, because the 4^th is coming up this weekend.  My fiance and my daughter are going to be here, we are making it a family affair with my mom, my sister and her husband, and even my dad is gonna tag along. I want her to know some of the same joys I had as a kid, going to the creek, shooting off fireworks…and I’ve been thinking where we could go to do it. I thought of Linden. We swam down there for years, my mom swam down there when she was a kid…people have swam down there for several years now after the “bobbing babies” as they came to be called, and I’m sure they will swim down there for many years to come. So, I guess I’ll just buck it up and try to man this one out, take my kid and the family and head to the creek in hopes we don’t meet up with one of those “devils waiting to drag me to hell.”

Did I mention I HATE SNAKES!!!!