If you've been reading my Life posts for awhile, you know that I'm seen as having a quaint and unusual moral foundation. To me it's what I assumed everyone had when I was a boy until I found out otherwise. But lately I had several people remind me yet again just how different I am seen as compared to some/most other people in my circle.
To me, I find it amusing, as I don't see it as anything special. It goes back to the fact that both of my parents were raised on farms, dad in Texas, mom in South Carolina. So I was raised with what were seen as "country values" in the city. Most of what I am I assume I was born with, but since I was raised around a lot of adults (due to being shunned because of my childhood speech issues), I was called an 'Old Soul' by the time I was in my teens.
My grandmother had the greatest effect on me, as she didn't have to tell me about her sense of morals, I could see her living them day after day. I've shared with you how she allowed complete strangers to live in her home and sleep in the rooms with us. These transient hobos must have sent the word out that hers was a welcoming home, because she took one after the other in, and fed them all.
Some would stay a couple of days, then hop on the next freight train out to whatever their destination was. Others stayed with us for months at a time, sleeping among us children, and yet somehow no one ever decided to murder us all, that is until the last illegal immigrant she took in attacked her when he showed up at her door asking for food. The beating and robbery eventually let to her death and COMPLETELY changed my once VERY liberal politics when it comes to immigration and the border.
Violence against a sweet old lady who helped anyone in need will do that to you.
But what didn't change were those values and the positive mindset that went along with them.
You see, I became a very discerning person sizing those hobos up as they talked in my grandmothers living room. They'd talk for hours about their lives, and if you really pay attention, little things can tell you a lot about a person.
Count your Blessings
It's a matter of perspective. How you view your surroundings can effect the way you see things and shine a light on just how good you have it even in the worst of times.
Take me for example. I do a lot of complaining about crime and violence in these small to mid-sized towns in my state, right? But when things head south for me I tell myself that I was blessed to have been born in a country that millions (maybe billions) of people are trying to get to, so no matter how bad it my seem in the moment, it's a lot worse elsewhere.
Visiting the Third World in the Navy was a real wake-up call for me and others who'd never left the country before. In East Africa, stepping off that ship, we all noticed how rail-thin many of the people were. This was malnutrition in real life, something I'd never seen before.
We talked amongst each other; "you mean everyone doesn't have three meals a day and snacks in-between?" No Virginia, not everyone lives like that, so be glad that you do. That invisible thought seemed to hover among our conversation as we realized how fortunate we were compared to others.
Having a healthy and full-bodied perspective on things can sharpen the image of how you see things in the moment. It helps to guide me every day, and allows me to be thankful for all of the little good things which occur, that I'd never taken notice of before.
Life is a "Two-Week Story"
If you watch long enough, you'll see that many issues and problems are temporary, even though they may feel like an eternity while you're in them. I worked at a newspaper, and asked tons of questions of the older people who worked there. That's where I first heard the term a "two-week story." It turns out that in media, most news stories have a two-week life-cycle.
They burn hot in the beginning, and then fade. Two weeks later, something else replaces it in the news cycle. Take the Donald Trump assassination attempt from July. That was everywhere about 3 months ago, but it feels like it happened a long time ago doesn't it? It's old news now, people hardly talk about it anymore despite the huge impact it would have had on our country if Trump hadn't turned his head at the last second.
That's how I approach troubles and keep a positive mindset. No matter what I'm going through, I tell myself that its likely a two-week story and will pass. And soon enough, It does.
The other thing you have to realize is that many problems are small when seen in the right light.
You often have it good and just don't know it...
Last year I was in Walmart on a crowded shopping day. There was a morbidly obese man in a group pushing his cart, but there was just enough space for me to fit between him and another person. As I did so, he shouted out "next time go around me!" (there was no space to "go around" him as he took up most of the space anyway). Now I could have stopped and told the fat cow off, but this is America, he could have been armed, and I realized I'll likely never see him again. So I ignored him and pushed on.
And never saw him again.
See what I mean? Little moments like that, instantly diffused. As I walked away, it dawned on me that he is cursed to wake up every day trapped in that huge, unhealthy body. His failure to focus on that instead of starting arguments with other shoppers is a sign of his lack of perspective, and a failure to work on what's most important.
See the man with the bag in the picture below? He's just a small part of the overall scene. Keep him in perspective. If he represents a problem, don't make him any bigger in your life than he already is.
When I wake up each day I picture my life force as a form of currency. With a limited amount minted daily, it's up to me to decide how I'll spend it and who I spend it on. Used wisely, this can maximize your enjoyment of life and have a positive effect on others.
I assign people a value. Good people have immeasurable worth to me and are to be cherished for the light that they bring into my life and the lives of others. Bad people like that fat guy, are seen like the specs that they are, and assigned almost no value to me, therefore aren't worthy of wasting my time with.
Don't let them waste yours.
There's a famous saying of "If you're going through Hell, keep going." The implication is that step-by-step, if you keep moving, you'll eventually step out into the daylight. That's how I approach life.
Hive Notes:
Does anyone know what happened to 'Account History' over the past few days? I couldn't see it on my account or anyone else's wallet account until I woke up this morning. You'd scroll down and see the 'Account History' heading and description, but it wouldn't populate anything below that. It works again now, I just wondered what happened and if anyone else noticed it.Yesterday I went to the crypto ATM to buy some BTC to turn into HIVE. But this one requires a QR code as opposed to letting me type the receive address in by hand as with other crypto ATM's.
I found an online OR code generator and will make another attempt next time. Does anyone know how long those receive addresses (for example on hive-engine) last? On ionomy the address never changed and they gave you a QR code to use (they're defunct now), but I think the HE addresses change, I just wonder how often. Do they change by the session? the Day? Because the old HE addy that I used to have the last time I used it is different now.
Note: I just did a test on hive-engine, and each time I click on BTC for Deposit Tokens, it generates a new address. I just want to ensure that my BTC will make it there if I sign out for instance and then go to the crypto ATM.