A Gift We Can Give the World

Yep! Poopster, it is more than I can get my tired old brain around.
Biggest prob we had to encounter when I was a kid…...........Guys in Jr. High who smoked, had cars, and girls who would kiss on the first date. Maybe even a test in English.
There are those who would say that the issues were as difficult then as now. I don’t think so.
Bill

-- bill@magraphics.us

Over the decades, one mindset that has taken over is the need for instant gratification. And indeed, it does work, it is working, except for the issue of what to do with one’s self when there is no answer. In a single moment, these people change their outlook irrevocably. Their final act of instant gratification, even if it means terminating their own life in the process. Others just as sadly, select self-destructive behaviors that take their toll much more slowly, through addiction or other high-risk behaviors. Nobody intervenes, not until the damage is done. One seldom raises an eyebrow, unless the horror of collateral damage has happened.

-- Einstein: "The intuitive mind is a sacred gift, and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift." I'm Poopiekat!!

PK, you’ve given us something that deserves consideration. I for one am going into 2013 with eyes open for such an opportunity-thanks!

-- "It's amazing how much can go wrong when you think you know what you're doing."

It was said in a press conference recently: How many people are there in this country, right now, who are contemplating a heinous crime against innocent humanity? Why and how do people get this way? Why does everybody miss the warning signs? The debate should NOT be about harsher gun control laws, but how to address the problems suffered by at-risk youth. To come of age in this time is a daunting, intimidating task, and any failure to flow with the mainstream can force anyone into the margins. There is a profound inability to cope, and it spirals downward until it implodes. We must do what we can for those who have become outcasts. They all deserve a whole life, free from despair and despondency.

-- Einstein: "The intuitive mind is a sacred gift, and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift." I'm Poopiekat!!

I agree with all that is said here, I lost a son of just 17 yrs old to the horror of gun violence.
I do not blame the gun, I blame the way the kid that did this was raised, I blame his parents.
Thanks PK for a real thoughtful eye opener!

-- Robert B. Sabina, Ohio.....

Very well said/written PK. I do believe that education could solve a lot of the problems in front of us.

-- Thor and Odin are the greatest of Gods.

Robert… My son just turned 18. Thank you for reminding me how precious he is.

PK, I hear you. I can sense a piece of your heart through your post. I admire and respect your opinions. I agree with you to a great extent. I hope you do not feel my thoughts are contentious.

Will a grain of sand in a sandbag hold back a surging river? When the flood water comes, doesn’t it take tens of thousands of full sand bags just to provide some hope that the flood will be held back? Even then, it is only hope and our hopes can get washed away.

I’m not one for fatalism, but I want to make a point.

Many of us are willing to throw in a grain of sand. It’s easy. Some will offer up a handful of sand or even 100 sandbags full of sand. Every grain of sand helps but it’s not enough. There are very few people who realize that the flood can only be held back by giving everything. Every sand bag they have, every ounce of sand they can beg borrow or buy. Every strip of flesh on their hands has to be sacreficed to fill the bags with shovels or fingers if need be. Even thuogh your very back is broken in the process of stacking more and more sand bags on top of one another, more may be needed. When you have given everything – absolutely everything – and the flood crashes through your barrier, would you be willing to build the next barrier?

It’s way harder than we ever magined to save a broken child. Most of us quit when we start breaking a sweat. The truth is – If everyone were willing to break a sweat to help, it would probably be enough. As it stands, we have to go all out and break our backs and hope.

So what?

When you start helping – Don’t quit. Even if you perceive futility – Don’t quit. It takes Every grain of sand in every bag with every shred of effort to do the job – so don’t quit. Don’t ever give up hope.

You do not know what mark you are going to leave on someone. While you are going about your day, throw a few grains of sand in a bag. Smile. Say thank you. Say have an awesome day. Compliment someone. Make someone laugh. Make someone smile. Make someone feel good. Do this especially if the person is having a lousy day and doesn’t treat as well as you deserve.

WHY? Because THAT person may be going home to a child who needs a break and YOU may have just bought it for them. It takes every grain of sand to hold back the flood.

-- Learning is like a door. Open it and there are hundreds more on the other side. Thanks for all the lessons!

Thanks, everyone for the kind comments.
Thanks to you, Mark, for so eloquently expressing what I’m trying to say!
The despondent child goes to great lengths to conceal his pain, which makes our implicit responsibility to them all the more difficult.

-- Einstein: "The intuitive mind is a sacred gift, and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift." I'm Poopiekat!!

Pretty strong stuff here fellas. Living in Connecticut and having a newborn at home this whole tragedy really rocked me in a way that i never knew before. Ive always felt very fortunate for my life. Surrounded by a very loving family, blessed with a wonderful wife and child, the list goes on.

As woodworkers we bring things to life out of something inanimate, a piece of wood. There’s a lot of people who feel that they are just a piece of wood, a lonely chunk of timber with nothing to become. If we (society) can show kids / adults that they too can become a wonderful work of art we are on our way. When im given the opportunity, i would really like to show someone how this craft can change you as a person. Its never about being the best but its about transforming something inanimate into a work of art. It can be applied in so many different ways.

LJ’s, PK, Mark, and everyone reading this …. take some time and better someone elses life this year. Make a gift, show a kid how to work a plane, donate some tools, lets all do something for someone without expecting a return on our time. Invest in others. No parent should lose a child. No family should be subject to such heartbreak and sorrow. Lets all lean on one another. Bless some one elses life this year.

-- "there aren’t many hand tools as awe-inspiring as the #8 jointer. I mean, it just reeks of cast iron heft and hubris" - Smitty

Well said, chrisstef!

-- Einstein: "The intuitive mind is a sacred gift, and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift." I'm Poopiekat!!

PK, you are so right. I saw kids left behind in a high school class I attended. The pace is so fast now a days that no one takes the time to look at who is not with the group and evil sets in and then it is too late. I tried to get one kid to turn a bowl and when he finally said he’d do it, it was the first time I ever saw him smile. There are tons of kids out there with no guidance from two parents like it used to be. If they don’t get recognition in school , some of them go into isolation where who know what will be the result. If everyone took on one person like that and showed a little interest, some of these tragedy s might be avoided.

-- Jim Jakosh.....Practical Wood Products...........Learn something new every day!!

Sadly, those in the education profession would prefer to concentrate their attention to the future Valedictorians, than to cater to those kids who are without direction. Those kids are already on a slippery slope, and guidance counselors are rarely worth their salt. There is still a tendency to look down on any kid who shows aptitude and preference for a career in the trades. In my own case, a clueless guidance counselor suggested to my parents that I should take Latin, FOUR years of it, and prepare for a post-secondary enrollment. I’d spend my recesses watching the fascinating metalworking, welding and woodworking classes thru the windows of the Industrial Arts building. As crappy as that was, there were kids who had it FAR worse than me. They were the dead-end kids, accepting their fate as petty criminals, substance abusers, and malcontents, Our board of education was all too happy to sweep them under the rug.

-- Einstein: "The intuitive mind is a sacred gift, and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift." I'm Poopiekat!!