I”ve never followed politics very closely until 2008. If anythng positive has come out of Barack Obama’s Presidency, it is it has broght a new interest for me and possibly for many others about the business of governing our Great Nation.

And now as we are narrowing down to logically only two candidates for the Republican ticket, what is transpiring between Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich strikes me as really queer.

Mr. Romney is a very wealth man, who is unscupulous in how he uses this wealth. Consider the vicious, falsehoods he has levied at Newt Gingrich. He impresses me as a desperate man totally out of control with nothing to stand on but to contrive blantant lies about his opponent, Mr. Gingrich. Numerous sources have brought these accusations to light as being misconceptions and in many cases outright lies.

Why do lies and falshoods attract smart, intelligent people, indeeed patriots who love this Country, into total belief? Yes, so many have swallowed these lies “hood-lin-and-sinker”, Wake up folks, the bacon is burning! What a qeer situation this is!

Even queerer, is so many have expressed the fact they believe Mitt Romney is the “safer” candidate. Safer from what? How can anyone believe the ruthless, viciousness Mr. Romney has displayed is safe? Even his wife has stated that they were never convervatives. And Mitt’s professional records prove this. Why is it that Newt’s past marital problems become the BIG moral sin of the century?

I suppose a man who believes homesexuals have a right to participate in the boy scouts constitutes no moral issue? Neither does a repeated stand for aqbortion. And of course, bearing false witness against another, as Mit Romney as done repeatedly with Newt Gingrich isn’t so bad, huh? No moral sin here? God’s Word, the Bible, is clear on all these issues as being sins….and any sin is a moral issue.

What really strikes me as totally queer is these points of view, actions, and opinions of Mitt Romney directly relate to his character. If he is going to flip floop on issues he has supported all his professional career, how do we know he won’t flip flop back to these liberal beliefs should he become president? Frankly with the weakness demonstrated by Mitt Romney, as evidenced by him stooping to sinful tactics as falsehoods as the only means he seems to possess for trying to beat Newt Gingrich, I doubt seriously if he can beat Barack Obama. President Obama has him beat in this department!

The moral issue of Newt Gingrich is a serious matter for most Evangelicals. But based on testimony from several well respected Evangelical clergy, and the backing of the American Family Association, it seems clear that Mr. Gingrich has confessed these short comings (sins) and has taken them to the only One who can forgive him. Why are we allowing someone like Mitt Romney to bash Newt Gingrich over the head, yes, as Sarah Palin said, “crucify” him, when Almighty God has forgiven him of these trangressions? Are we bigger than God? This attitude, is also queer.

And queer too is condoning Mitt Romney’s sins by backing him for a candidate for President of the United States, when the very existence of freedom, liberty. justice – our entire American way of life – hangs perilously by a very thin thread.

Telling the Truth

To tell the truth is golden.  It is a mark of distinction that identifies our caliber.  Without it, a person is unable to be trusted.  Many persons do not think anything about telling occasional lies.  They lie about their importance.  We travel through life knowing that we can get away with things, some of them small and others not so small.  As it turns out, we bend the truth.  For some, after awhile, individuals are not able to distinguish truth from fiction.  But as it is said, “The truth shall set you free.”  Therefore, say it and experience the freedom it brings to your soul, body, and spirit.  Let others see your works, through the things that you do.  

Do not allow obscenities to leave your lips or be part of your life.  Instead of cursing why not praise.  Give thanks for the beautiful things you encounter daily.  Express these in words, pictures, and images.  Let your heart be open to the niceties of creation.  Think and live uplifting thoughts and delight in all things.   These expressions tell others about the truth that is present in the world and us.  They celebrate life and give joy.  It is very romantic to live your life to the fullest.

Your Body as A Temple 

Treat your body kindly and it will do the same for you.  Begin by praying and asking for divine intervention in your life.  Let your spiritual being be nurtured.  Through your psyche you can experience the goodness of all things.  Eat properly.  Have a balanced diet.  There is sound advice that is promoted by dietitians at a hospitals around the country.  Follow this and you will help ward off high blood pressure, diabetes, heart, and kidney disease.

Be sure to exercise.  Breathe fresh air as you walk and ride in gardens and parks.  Avoid pollution.  Polluted cities are a hazard and so is such water.  Be sensible about these natural blessings from which we partake.  They can be the cause of cancer.  It is a clever person that chooses where he lives.  A lifestyle in the country will be helpful.  Some people decide to grow their own food so that they will be able to eat organic meals.  Others may raise their own beef to avoid buying from the mass production of such produce.

Avoid Poisonous Substances

Alcohol should be drank in moderation.  Doctors recommend that a glass or two of wine will be beneficial for a person’s digestive system.  To go overboard, may cause harm.  Some persons may become alcoholics.  There are those that become addicted to drugs of all kinds and even pain killers.  Individuals should stay clear of these temptations,  for your objective is to live clean lives.  Drugs are harmful and detrimental.  Coffee can be helpful if drank in moderation.

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Undoubtedly, from time to time, many of us do backslide and we should surround ourselves with our cheer-leaders.  That is where good friends come in.  It is great to embrace these.  Call on them for advice, company, and reach out when you find yourself in trouble.  By these actions, many persons undergo a sort of healing and become better persons for it.  They soon will be loving the idea that they are aspiring to live lives that are as clean as possible.  A person’s life is on the right track when he can safely say that he has cleaned up his act, and his life is as clean as clean can be.

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Do they say that you demonstrate your cooperativeness on many occasions?
Do they say that sometimes you do not help others or do what they ask?
Do they say that you are always ready to fight?
Do they say that sometimes you do not show regard for others in manners, speech, behavior?
Do they say that you sometimes do not support a particular person or a belief?
Do they say that you are always  respectful and considerate of other people?
Do they say that you are always able to make decisions quickly and effectively?
Do they say that sometimes you show a feeling of hostility?
Do they say that you often have firmness of purpose?
Do they say that you sometimes show a very deep unfriendly feeling?
Do they say that you show intense enjoyment and interest?
Do they say that you sometimes do not show much emotion or interest ?
Do they say that you sometimes are indecisive, unsure?
Do  they say that you always do what is necessary?
Do they say that you always do what is convenient?
Do they say that you sometimes are indifferent?
Do they sometimes say that you are open, communicative, talkative, effusive?
Do they say that  sometimes you are extremely reserved?

Do they say that you always accept authority?
Do they say that you always show firm and constant support or allegiance to people?
Do they say that you are always very loving and  loyal?
Do they say that you sometimes show a desire to rebel?
Do they say that you always show affection?
Do they say that you sometimes are unfriendly or unenthusiastic?
Do they say that you sometimes are not friendly toward other people?
Do they say that you sometimes are ambitions towards achieving something?
Do they say that you are motivated or unmotivated?
Do they say that you are self-satisfied?
Do they say that you are free from prejudice?
Do they say that you are not influenced by others?
Do they say that you are very careful about showing your feelings?
Do they say that you are inclined to conceal feelings and intentions?
Do they say that you always pay serious attention and consideration to your actions and plans?
Do they say that you have an uncaring attitude toward your schoolwork or job?
Do they say that sometimes you show no sympathy for others?
Do they say that sometimes you are easily annoyed or angered?
Do they say that you show concern for the needs and  feelings of other people?
Do they say that sometimes you do not think about the rights and feelings of other people?

This racial ‘trap’ is exploited daily, all over the world.  The Con man will always find a group of ‘his people’ and exploit them, rob them, and feel not a tinge of remorse.  Why should he?  ‘His People’ won’t rat on ‘one of their own.’

This factor has played a significant role in scams. 

Gender is another feature often used to gain dupes.

Many quite dishonest women have pushed themselves into feminist organizations or offered themselves to groups as a professional. They gather a great deal of money for their own use, and often, with Outsiders eyes scrutainizing, they are not sent to prison.  How would it look? 

The racially conscious person puts him or herself in the path of disaster.  He hires on complexion.  He finds one of ‘his own’ to transact business.  He is not judging on character his choice is based on color.  

For example, at a particular University one of the maintenance men was arrested.  He asked another to ask one of the Law Students who was working in the Legal Aid Office to help him, specifying that he didn’t want any white boy or gal.   The only student willing to run to the police station to assist was a white one.  The black ones who were asked declined.  

The maintenance man not only spent two weeks in jail but lost his job. 

This could have been avoided if he had accepted the white student’s assistance.

An agency needed a specifially qualified person for a very important position.  The top six candidates were not black.  The 7th was and gained the post.  The work was beyond her, and she had to take a leave of absence. As the criterion the Board had used became notorious, the higher ranked candidates demanded very high perquisites before ‘filling in’.  The agency had no choice but to comply.

When one can chose among a very large pool of persons of one’s ethnicity, the selection is based on merit. When it is looking for the one or two ‘brothers’ one will usually find their downfall.

“Character is power; it makes friends, draws patronage and support, and opens a sure

way to wealth, honor, and happiness.”

- John Howe

“Personality can open doors, but only character can keep them open.”

- Elmer G. Letterman

“Our character is what we do when we think no one is looking.”

- H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

“To measure the man, measure his heart.”

- Malcolm Stevenson Forbes

“The true test of character is not how much we know how to do, but how we behave when

we don’t know what to do.”

- John Holt

“Many a man’s reputation would not know his character if they met on the street.”

- Elbert Hubbard

“Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and

suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved.”

- Helen Keller

“A loving person lives in a loving world. A hostile person lives in a hostile world.

Everyone you meet is your mirror.”

- Ken Keys

“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort, but where

he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

“Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him

power.”

- Abraham Lincoln

“Bluntness is a virtue.”

- Allison Ling

            One of the claims Aristotle makes in his work The Nicomachean Ethics is that we all individuals are responsible for their character. However, I completely disagree with this statement. In this essay, I will attempt to prove that this claim made by Aristotle is flawed, but rather it is how people are raised that is responsible for each their character.

            Aristotle states in The Nicomachean Ethics that every human soul can be divided into two parts, rational and irrational (1102a 28 – 30). The irrational part of the soul consists of two aspects: the vegetative aspect, and the appetitive aspect (1102b). From these two aspects, the appetitive aspect partakes in our reason and controls our impulses (1102b 15 – 16). The rational part of the soul however controls these impulses (1103a). From all this, it can be concluded that a person with great rationality (and hence a stronger rational part of the soul) is better able to control his or her impulses than a person without a great rationality. Since our character is determined by the way we think and act, individuals can control their character through the use of reason based on the level of rationality that they possesses. Nevertheless, Aristotle goes beyond this, and boldly claims, that every individual has the power to be good or bad (1113b 16). In order to support this claim, Aristotle makes note of a few key First Principles. These are shown when he boldly states them as follows:

“Where it is in our power to act, it is also in our power not to act, and where it is saying ‘No’ is in our power, so is saying ‘Yes’; so that if it is our power to act when it would be noble, it will also be in our power not to act when it would be shameful, and if it is in our power not to act when it would be noble, it will also be in our power to act when it would be shameful. Now it is in our power to do noble and shameful actions, and the same goes for not doing them, and if, as we saw, being good and bad consists in this, then it is in our power to be good or bad” (1113b 9 – 16).

As of now, it has been claimed by Aristotle that individuals can control their character through the use of their reason. Moreover, individuals also have the ability to be good or bad, and hence have a good character or a bad character (1113b 16). From these two claims a third one results, which is that the more rational a person is, the higher his/her ability to have a good character and the more irrational a person is, the higher his/her ability to have a bad character. Clearly then, the argument Aristotle made – that every individual is responsible for his or her own character – seems valid because individuals have the ability to control their character based on their level of rationality, something which is already attributed within their souls.

However this theory seemed flawed to me, when I applied my logic to it from a different perspective. According to my logic, all individuals are raised differently and have different values instilled within them as they grow. Clearly, this means that each of these individuals have learned to adapt and react to things in a different way from each other (this is why two individuals can have disagreeing opinions). What is implied here is that individuals have grown to be able to think in a certain way, and hence act in a certain way based on how they were raised. As a result, each of these individuals gained separate characteristics based on how they were raised. As a result, these individuals are not themselves responsible for their own character, but rather it is how they were raised which is responsible for it.

In addition to this logic I just presented, Aristotle himself has made a contradicting claim to his argument. Aristotle has claimed that individuals are able to learn how to become highly rational, or in other words very morally virtuous, through habituation (1103a 24 – 26). In order to do this, the individuals require trainers (1103b 12 – 14). This so far seems logical because individuals wanting to learn how to be morally virtuous, and hence rational, cannot decide for themselves what is morally good and what is not. This means that these individuals they need someone, who is already very morally virtuous, and hence rational. Now if this trainer is able to teach individuals how to become more rational (and hence gain more control over their appetitive impulses), this trainer must also be able to make the individuals better judges of knowing what is good or bad. Since now these individuals learn to be more rational than before and be better judges of knowing what is good or bad than before, these individuals can change their character to be different (more good) than before. Clearly, the trainer is now responsible for the change in character that individuals received, and not the individuals themselves.

I have a hypothetical suggestion to this flawed argument Aristotle has made. However, I will derive at this suggestion starting with a quick analysis of the human soul. As Aristotle has stated, every soul has a rational part and an irrational part (1102a 28 – 30). The irrational part consists of further two aspects, the appetitive aspect and the vegetative aspect (1102b). The appetitive aspect is the one that controls a human’s impulses (1102b 15 – 16). Since even an infant has impulses, but no power to control them since he/she has not rationally developed, it is clear that these impulses exist in every single individual, regardless of age or maturity. This contrasts with the rational part of the soul, which develops as the human grows and is affected by how the human is raised and what the human is taught. Therefore, it can be claimed that we have appetitive impulses from the time we are born, however as we grow we are able to control them better due to our changing and developing rationality.

Our character constitutes of how we behave and act. And how we behave and act is based on how our rationality can control our desires (which can be positive or negative) and make us behave and act in a positive or negative way. Since our rationality is something which is always changing, and that too because of outside influence rather than our own influence, we know that being rational is not the part of our character for which we are responsible. This leaves our impulses, which remain with us throughout all the time of our life. Then clearly, the only part we are responsible for in our character is the one affected by our impulses.

However, there is a contradiction which one can make about my suggestion. This contradiction is that even if we do have impulses throughout our lives, these impulses also are subject to change depending on how we are raised and how we socialize. Clearly, impulses that infants have are drastically different from impulses of a grown individual. Moreover, two individuals who have been raised differently also have different impulses. Clearly then, Impulses are a part of our character that we also are not responsible for.

However, this contradiction can be justified. This is because, simply, our Impulses are never affected by how we are raised since or how we socialize. These impulses grow as our intellect grows. For example, if a pre-teen who is going through puberty realizes that he now likes girls, it is not because of how he was raised that forced him to like girls, but rather because his mind now was able to think about it and was able to create this desire itself. Throughout his life, even as a child when he did not develop feelings for girls, the pre-teen must have seen married couples, or even unmarried couples, where a guy likes or loves a girl. However, this did not have any effect on the pre-teen’s desire for girls until he himself made it possible. Looking at all those couples must have affected his rationality and forced him to think of this as reality of life, whether good or bad. But unlike rationality, the desire was not developed through any outside influence. It was rather developed from his own influence on himself. This can apply for any other type of desires as well. Clearly, desires or impulses are not affected by outside influence, but by an individual him/herself. However, how he or she thinks of this impulse, and act upon this impulse is based on his or her rationality. Therefore, I claim once again that the only part of character of an individual that the individual him/herself is responsible for is the one caused through his or her on impulse, and not the one that focuses on how to deal with this desire, which is rationality.

• A woman wants respect, intimacy, love, closeness, trust, communication. You’ve probably heard the same words many times. 
• She wants to be the apple of your eye to be made to feel like she is the only girl in the world.. 
• Men are not always big on displays of affection. Showing your woman how much you love her does not mean you have to spend a lot of money or buy expensive gifts. Those are nice, but not necessary 
• She wants to feel like she is important to you and matters in your daily decisions. 
• A lady wants a little romance here and there, to be surprised with gifts. 
• Follow the golden rule and treat us as you would like to be treated: Be honest, fair, kind, and considerate. 
• You don’t have to spend a lot of money, just take a little time and show that you love them. 
• Being honest with her, even during the difficult questions will gain you a lot of respect and will make her quiver with excitement. 
• A woman wants a man who knows how to empower her. 
• A woman wants that every bit of their beautiful look must be noticed and appreciated by the man, like how their cheeks look while blushing, while smiling, while sleeping, in anger, in pleasant moments, while in romance, while meeting after a long separation, . Every woman wants to be noticed in good moods and as special. 
• A woman wants dependable and desirable character.  
• A woman wants emotional stability. 
• Women do expect men to buy them chocolates or flowers on any regular basis (sorry men but its true). 
• A woman wants mutual attraction and love. 
• A woman wants adequate financial resources. 
• A woman don’t want sloppy looks, self centeredness, roughness 
• Girls don’t want a weak guy and insecure, too. 
• Women want to feel protected by a man .if you make a mistake, take responsibility for your actions. 
• A woman wants, A man needs to make decisions and take responsibility for the outcome. 
• A woman like male confidence as an “I-can-handle-it attitude. 
• She wants to be able to trust you with her heart. A woman does not want to feel hurt, lied to or cheated on.  
• The words women think are everything But men just care about their meaning. 
• Help her to realize her dreams. 
• Blowing up in anger can seriously damage a relationship. Take control your anger. 
• Every girl is different, but what I learned over a long period of time was that women are essentially attracted to confidence and mystery. 
• Most important though is to treat every minute as if it may be your last together then you value it all the more. The greatest piece of advice I can give to men who want to keep their women happy is, LISTEN!  We don’t necessarily want you to solve all of our problems but we love it when you listen to what we have to say and make appropriate noises.  

Adapt your good behavior a you will have a very happy woman on your hands. Don’t act confident, be confident. Once you’ve gained confidence, you can start thinking about a woman Spend the time and attention to focus on her and know your woman!!!

It is appalling and disgusting to know that antisemitism has once again reared its ugly head, in the person of no other than a black woman, publicly and unabashedly. She stated that Jews who run  banks should be run out of the country. Does she realize that her ethnicity and race had once been a “plague” in the United States, and has she fogotten that Jews supported black causes?  It is one thing to be brainwashed and another thing to reveal her true character without any hesitation. I am sure she does not represent the civil affairs of blacks in general, nor, in my opinion, merited the concurrence of her counterparts who are enlightened and well-informed.

I take the liberty of emphasizing as follows: l) She should not forget that she belongs to a race that had once suffered the abuses of racism and bigotry; 2)  that Christianity is inherently Zionist since it is considered to be an offshoot of Judaism; 3)  that Christ was himself Jewish and a native of Zion (Israel) ) and that the New Testament is but an extension of the Old Testament; 4) that scapegoating had once been “the plague of Europe, represented by Hitler; 5) that Wall Street is not run by Zionists; 6) that the state of our economy is not caused by Jews. 7) that Jews are part of the fabric of the American way of life, no less than blacks; last but not least, Jews have undeniably contributed to many beneficial aspects of life in the United States.

Scapegoating is an epidemic that spread all around the Continent of Europe by ignorant folks.  Hopefully, the infection has not yet consumed this woman in its entirety. 

It is a great thing to celebrate a team’s success and there is a sense of comfort for a facilitator in knowing that their clients are happy, enjoying their time and feeling good about themselves.  A happy client is one who will hopefully return and pay for the experience again in the future.  It makes for a more straightforward and stressless day as the person running the program.  However, if all of your clients are happy and smiling throughout their experiences, I would like to suggest that something is not quite right.  There is an Opportunity being missed.  I would like to offer a life clue, one that if you grab hold of it may alter how you approach facilitation, business, and life.

Human beings at their very core desire challenge.  That desire is built in to the human body.  When we examine physical fitness it is a general principle that the more you sit the more you are going to want to sit.  The more you sleep, the more you will want to sleep.  However the more you are active, the more you will want to be in motion.  The more you are challenged and see the pay-off, the more you want to push yourself.  As we move forward and increase our activity we gain more ability to enjoy and engage in life.  Increased range of motion, reduced pain, improved health, higher self-confidence and more.  What is fascinating about this principle is that it is not confined to our physical selves. 

Our inner beings, something deep in our core, responds the same way.  The more we are indulged the more we demand to be handed to us.  The more we focus on our wants and needs the more angry we get with others who we perceive aren’t letting us have it.  But the more we work for things, the more we push our character and see ourselves grow and strengthen, the more we want to push on and to be pushed.

Did you know that to challenge someone is to say “I care about you”?  When offered out of a sincere desire to see someone grow and be healthy, independent and strong enough to face life’s storms, humans perceive challenge as a sign of love.  This is most obvious in young children who thrive when their parents challenge them by laying out boundaries, saying no, and disciplining them when they sink in to dishonesty, selfishness, greed, apathy or other qualities that will not serve them well in life.  While making for some very hard days, weeks, months or years at times for the parents, their children display higher levels of self-confidence and ability to navigate life as a healthy and independent adult because somebody loved them enough to push them rather than indulge them.  This is a gift from our parents we often don’t learn to be grateful for until much later in life.

What is critical to understand is that the need to be challenged doesn’t fade away as we grow older.  As adults, we are still drawn to people who call us to something higher.  People who empower us, sometimes by sharing insight so that we know how to move forward and other times by making us work for it so that we figure it out ourselves.  Either way, this person who we find so attractive usually accepted us as we were at the time, but didn’t allow us to stay that way.  They called us to face the challenge and empowered us in some way by pushing us, and we are attracted to that.

People are attracted to Life and challenge is so very much a part of that.  It is in being challenged that we truly learn how to persevere and not give up.  It is in being challenged that we truly learn what it means to practice honesty, to be a person of integrity.  It is in being challenged that we learn our strengths and identify our areas for growth, and develop hope that we can always move forward and always have the ability to be the change we want to see in the world around us.

I place the challenge to you as a facilitator to allow your participants to be stretched.  Call them to something higher, something greater, and allow them to be frustrated while they figure it out.  Examine yourself and identify when you are handing a group a clue to a challenge because they have earned it versus when you are handing out clues to relieve your sense of discomfort with their frustration.  Examine yourself and identify when you are modifying challenges or letting participants get away with things not because it is better for them, but because you feel safer when everyone likes you as the facilitator who entertained them.  Push yourself as a facilitator and know that there will be a payoff.  You will grow as a professional, able to handle more difficult and complex team and community issues as they present themselves.  Your business will grow because in the long-run people are more attracted to challenges that made them think than to entertainment which allowed their brains to turn off. 

And because we know that participants’ experiences with us in our programs do have the ability to impact their broader lives, take inspiration and motivation from this thought.  Your challenge to persevere may save a marriage.  Your challenge to participate rather than sit on the sidelines may lead a parent to take a more active role in their child’s life.  Your challenge to stop taking shortcuts or looking for the easy way out may save someone from a criminal record.  Your challenge to encourage others and point out their strengths may prevent a suicide. 

If you are facing difficult life challenges and are being given the advice to listen to your feelings because then you’ll know what to do, ignore it.  If you are giving this advice, quit it.  Our feelings and emotions are clues, not an answer.  It is what you know about hope, integrity, honesty, perseverance and more that will guide you through tough times and lead you to take actions that you will be proud of and that will give you peace in retrospect. 

Allow yourself to be challenged.  Challenge yourself.  Challenge others.  And Live.