What are some of the positive life lessons you learn from your father?
Posted : 29 Dec, 2010 11:39 PM
Well, in 24 years my dad has crammed more wisdom and lessons into me than I know to repeat. I'll try to hit the big ones, and I'll try to stay away from the almighty wall of text.
First off, my dad taught me that education is everything. This is coming from a man who served as a Green Beret for 22 years, a detective, a police officer, a mechanic, and a plethora of other jobs I could only hope to count. He taught me from the get go that without a good education, I would be stuck with dead end job after dead end job. I thank him for that to this day.
The next thing my dad taught me was the value of hard work and dedication. I've yet to meet a person whose work ethic could even begin to compare to my dad. This man is 71, working at the Commissary on base bagging groceries just to keep active. He doesn't need the money, and he sure doesn't need all the physical stress, but man he sure loves making those high schoolers work harder than they ever had and still not keep up with him. To this day, he's the only sparring partner I've had that I didn't beat too.
My dad also taught me to always do what is right, just, and pleasing to God. I was raised on biblical teaching from the time I was 4 years old. I didn't get the cliche "would Jesus do that?" talks. No, I'd get "this is where you're wrong. This, this, this, and this. Correct yourself." But I will say this, he always made sure I was squared away.
Prioritization is another big thing for my dad. My family was not well off when I was younger, but my dad made sure we never missed a meal, and we never went without something we needed. I know he did this at great sacrifice to himself sometimes, and I know I'll never know just how much he sacrificed until I'm in the same position. He also made sure we were taken care of, granted we didn't get all the random toys and useless junk we wanted as children, but we never missed something we needed.
My father also made sure I was always taken care of. He would constantly ask me about my car. Did I check the oil? When's the last time I rotated my tires? I know now he didn't do this to harass me and make me feel stupid. He knew one day I'd have to do this stuff for myself, and these are things that require a rhythm, as they occur regularly. Which reminds me, I need to change my oil tomorrow. Thanks for teaching me that too, dad.
He also taught me how to fix just about anything I could get my hands on. I'm not as automotive proficient, but I get it back in computers. Everything in between is fair game, whether it's painting a room, dry walling, knocking down a wall, or rewiring a house. I'm thankful he taught me this.
Most of all, I thank my dad for teaching me how to laugh. Laughter is my method for coping with stress, and I'm glad for that. I feel if you can't laugh and enjoy life, what's the point of living it? Without the quality of life, it's a shameful existence. You exist simply to exist. How much more greedy do you get? Take that extra minute or two to brighten someone's life a little each day, and DON'T take the easy way out of picking the same person each day... slacker.
There's so much more he taught me, but I think this is a good start.
Silverfire: I'm not saying the guy is right, but was it right to take a private conversation and splay it in a public place? You met private scorn with public humiliation.
Silver, in all fairness this is one of those things that deserves to go out in the open. The guy had no right to turn his personal convictions into an outright attack on someone's spiritual beliefs. Maybe I'm wrong, but this was handled correctly imo.
Angela, the only thing you should really worry about is being a Steelers fan. I hear Satan is a Steelers fan... lol
1. What's for breakfast? I work as a night auditor for a hotel, so I eat pretty well for breakfast. Eggs, bacon, sausage, juice, biscuits, apples, oranges, banannas, and the list goes on.
2. How do you sort your laundry? By color groupings. I do solid whites, mostly whites (white shirts with designs, etc.), light colors, dark colors, and finally a seperate dark load for jeans and shirts made for getting messed up.
3. What do you do on Saturday mornings? I'm usually sleeping in from working friday night, but I get up around 11, and go meet a group of friends in the next town over and we usually hang out until about 3 or so. Then I swing by to see my dad for a bit, maybe watch a game of football (either Alabama (his team) or Florida (mine and my brother's)), then it's off to work that night.
4. What's your favorite word? Not a clue in the world, lol.
5. What is the most puzzling thing to you about women? Why they say they want something when they really want something else. If you want X, tell me. If you want Y instead, tell me that too. Just don't tell me you want X when you really want Y.
6. How do you like your pizza? Deep dish buffalo chicken pizza. Amazing.
7. What's your favourite girl name? Dani
8. What was the last book you read? The Sundering
9. Are you a slob or a neat freak or somewhere in-between? I'm somewhere in between. The bulk of my house stays pretty tidy, but I don't worry too much about my room since I'm the only one in there typically.
How do you fare in the battle between faith and doubt?
Posted : 1 Dec, 2010 04:01 PM
Doubt is not the absence of faith. It's the forefather of faith. Almost everyone looks on doubt as a negative, but it's really just a step in the process of coming to terms with your beliefs.
If you can't take the time to doubt something, how much can you really believe in it?
If it wasn't you, it would've been someone else. It's better that you showed them where they were wrong rather than letting them live life thinking they were correct. I say Bravo, sir. I'm glad someone here had the testicular fortitude to say something.
I have a friend who loves to get into religious debates, and he brought up an interesting point by quoting Epicurus. I know how I replied, but I'm curious to see how everyone else would react to this argument.
