Resolution Through Self Reflection

For many, many years, I lived with the belief that if everybody else in the world would only conform to my standards, then that elusive peace and happiness I sought would come to fruition. My unresolved issues had accumulated to the toppling point, exponentially intensifying with increased frequency and duration my feelings of both desolation and despair. My set of friends was nearly empty, and I was questioning whether or not I even liked myself.

One day, out of nowhere, a package arrived addressed to me. In it was a box, and a simple, unsigned note saying only "I hope this helps you." Inside the box was an assortment of books, tapes, and videos. The topics varied, but the common theme was ‘taking responsibility for my own feelings and actions.’

The Engineer and His Apprentice

It was only a garage roof, but, after years of admiring Jack, the engineer in the family, I would finally have the opportunity to work beside and for him as an apprentice, albeit for one rather small job. Still, this was my chance to cast away the doubts I seem to have over everything and learn how to be certain about everything based on an engineering degree like Jack has from the local state college.

If Schools Taught Life Skills in 1980

Many people have suggested that schools should teach children life skills rather than wild math and humanities concepts they will rarely use in life. I wonder how differently my life might have been had the schools emphasized teaching us how to deal with the problems our parents were facing, rather than teaching us how to convert problems stated in sentence form into mathematical equations.

I was personally cast into adulthood in the mid-'70s. I have never had an occasion to try to figure out how far apart two trains traveling in opposite directions would be after a certain amount of time. Instead, I had to deal with the same adult matters that my parents had been dealing with all along.

Parents Beware: Schools No Longer Teach This Important Skill

I was talking to a young parent who told me that the schools today are stupid because they teach this new math that he doesn’t understand. I told him schools have gotten easier and easier than they were when I attended school. I told him kids his age, and kids today, do not understand that because they do not have a clue about school when I attended. They used to teach us important skills.

Proposed New Rules for the Road

Swerving, darting, weaving, passing on the shoulder, tailgating, slamming on the brakes, blasting the horn, and even flipping people off - no matter what combination of these I try, it seems I am not getting my message through to other drivers. Just the other day I was busy dialing my cell phone, and, when I looked up, traffic in front of me had stopped. I had to slam on the brakes so quickly, I barely had time to grab the steering wheel!

This is simply getting out of hand!