Category Archives: Beliefs

Pride In Your Work

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There is a certain beauty in having pride in your work, and having the ability to see it through, even when things go badly.

My brother-in-lawand his wife recently had a baby, and we were going to go see them, but the hospital had a rule about kids under 11 not allowed in to see the baby.

So I stayed home and watched the kids while my wife went.  When she got back, I expected to hear a story about how cute the baby was, but instead she told me how impressed she was with the security guard.

Apparently, he was friendly towards people who were asking him questions, and instead of being stoic and reserved, he was open and helpful… even though directing people wasn’t part of his job.  My wife said he helped her by explaining where to find the room she was looking for and was all around courteous.

I bring this to light because lately I’ve become a fan of people who do their job very well.  In the security guard’s case, he was helping people in ways that wasn’t even really his job!

I would even go so far as to say that there is something to be admired when a person that is doing a simple or unglamorous job extremely well!  I know a girl (literally a girl), that works at an taco bell drive thru that shows these characteristics.  Whenever you drive through, her entire face lights up and she become such a positive force, you can’t really leave not feeling better about the entire day.  Most teenagers cope an attitude and are stoic if not rude, so seeing such a person as the Taco Bell girl is like find a $100 bill in the parking lot.

People like the 2 examples above are amazing!

The attached video is another great example of a small girl doing her job/task extremely well.  The girl singing does such a great job singing the national anthem, that even though the speaker system give out, she continues.  Amazingly, people join in on the song to complete it!  I think they join in to support the girl because she was doing such an amazing job that it touched them!

Ironically, after the speaker system goes out 1 person does laugh at first, so maybe the others people singing tried to counteract the one rude persons laugh.  It’s amazing how some people when in the presence of beauty, only find defects to point out…  I feel sad for them…

-MR

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Becoming Super?

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What makes a person change ?  Is it financial ruin, or perhaps a near death experience?

Most people are resistant to change, or they don’t know how to change.  Oh sure, by working out we can change the shape of our bodies, losing weight or gaining muscle, but what about changing the way we think and perceive things?  It’s not so easy, huh?

We hear about it time and time again, where people who are now rich once lived out of their cars.  Such people include Jewel, J. K. Rowlings, Robert Kiyosaki and Jim Cramer all claim to have lived either on the street or out of their car at one time.

So is it desperation and the fight to survive that make such individuals keep running until they achieve their goals?  Perhaps this is why many immigrants climb the ladder to success more easily.  Maybe it because they have that continual drive.

But business/financial success is just one part of the puzzle.  There are other attributes that make an individual super.  Perhaps being super health, or super sociable are just as important, if not more so!

I think the biggest obstacle in becoming better at things is the fear of trying or the fear of being ridiculed.  We see TV make fun of such people, calling them losers, dreamers or nerds and so we instantly associate stupidity with being a non-conformist attempts.  It’s hard to be super, when everybody is the bad guy trying to keep you down!

I admit, I come from a family that such efforts and ideas get sly smiles and ideas get shot down instantly.  It’s hard to believe when your friends, family and spouse are non-believers…

Do you have any obstacles to overcome to accomplish more out of life?

-MR

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Does Money Have Value?

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What do you think?  Does Money Have Value?

Sometimes I open my wallet and look at the paper money there within!  While the paper is a lovely shade of green with some very special effects in the print, I have to wonder if it’s really worth it!

I often wonder what would happen if aliens from another planet came down and saw us working away for a few, relatively small, rectangular pieces of paper?  Do you think that they would conclude that we aren’t the smartest animal on earth…  Perhaps they would give up on us and try to communicate with the dolphins instead?

Money has had different forms throughout the ages ranging from shells to such things as ancient metal knives (in china) and even stones!

The thing about paper money is that it has no intrinsic value!  The only way it has value is if a group or society believes that it has value, and are willing to trade other things (such a labor) for the belief of the value in that paper money.

At one time in the past, many countries backed up their paper currency with precious metals.  For example, in the United States, at one time in the not to long ago past, each dollar had a certain amount of gold locked away in a safe that was reserved to represent the money.

So at one time, paper money did have value, but the gold standard has been given up (in 1971), and now the money floats.  Now paper has nothing backing it up other than an a believe that it has value (and it does).

Even though I’m not currently buying gold, if something were to happen to my country, my paper money would become worthless (see the confederate currency for a great example).  However if I did own gold, even if something were to happen to make my countriy’s currency practically worthless, gold would still have value!

So tell me, what do you think, does money have value?  Do you think it would be worth it to diversify your investment portfolio by owning some precious metals?  Maybe 10%, or more?

-MR

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As Times Change, So Does Our Truths

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Last week, I went out on a limb and suggested that the lesson from the old story of the Hare and the Tortoise might not be as true anymore.

I mentioned that I thought the rules have changed in such a way that the basis of the story is no longer the norm.  I believe we are now running in an Internet world, where information is cheap and readily available, giving the impatient and easily bored but faster Hares the advantages.

Here are other beliefs that I once believed to be true that aren’t today:

  • Pluto is no longer a planet!  It’s been demoted to a dwarf planet.  Sometimes life sucks if you’re an outlier and not like the other planets!  I heard that Pluto doesn’t really mind (much)…
  • Dogs do see colors!  My daughter asked this because she said she believes that they do.  Now I’ve been told since I was a wee lad, that dogs only see in black and white.  Not so, they do see colors, but scientist believe that they don’t see as many colors as a normal human being.  The scientists now say that they can see what a color blind human can see today.  (click the link to the left, it’s a great writeup)
  • I remember learning in elementary school that violins were made from cat’s intestines (guts).  But I have since learned that this was never true, old violins were not literally made of catguts!  Instead they were made from sheep or goat intestines.  Some people believe that catguts really stood for cattle guts (but this hasn’t been proven).
  • Holding a toad will not cause warts.  Wash you hands afterward though, some toads are poisonous.
  • Thomas Edison did not invent the light bulb (but he did refine it)
  • Ford didn’t invent the automobile but did make the process more economical by creating an auto assembly line.

After googling false facts, I came across this great site:  https://ctrldotlife.blogspot.com/2007/12/false-facts-you-thought-were-true.html.  It has a lot of great facts, check it out!

Is there anything that you have recently learned wasn’t true, that you once took as an obvious fact?

-MR