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Be A Friend To The “Cranks” In Your Life

/ Chase Blosser / Leave a comment

This is #a response #to #the one-word prompt “Crank” by “The Daily Post.”

Is there someone #in #your #life that you come into regular if brief contact with that are just never in the “mood”  and really have anything nice to say to anybody. I think we all at least once in our lives have come across one of these “#cranks” and we are never quite sure how to deal with the person.

Usually, when we look a little deeper we tend to find that the “cranks” in our lives do not behave as they do “just because” but that there are actual reasons behind the behavior. Any number of reasons that prevent them trying to connect with others. The best thing to do is whenever you see the person is just as a starting point give them a friendly greeting and move on, but keep doing this every time you see the person.

Eventually, hopefully, this will “break the ice” at some point and those greetings will turn into small conversations which may then turn into a friendship of shorts and before you know it, you are no longer dealing with a “crank” but a normal person. Which they have always been, the “crankness” was always just a cry of help; the person needed a #friend. So why not #be that friend whenever you encounter a so-called “crank.” You will begin to make the world a much better off place as a result. It also does not take much if any effort on your part but the impact pays “big dividends.”

So what are your thoughts and viewpoints on this subject? Please do share them, all are welcomed and wanted. 

To Have a Glimmer of Hope

/ Chase Blosser / Leave a comment

This is #a response #to the one-word prompt “Glimmer” by “the Daily Post.”

How important is it to #have “#hope” in tough situations? Is it actually encouraging and helpful or is it really damaging in the long one? These are questions that people have struggled with forever. On the one hand, “hope” does seem to allow us to get through our challenges in life by focusing our attention less on the bad situation/possible outcomes and more on something positive that gives us reason to “push on.”

Yet “hope” can indeed be damaging if those positive outcomes do not materialize. We then will “lose hope” and become even more demoralized. Although I would say that the danger here lies not so much in “hope” but in reality “false hope.” Wheres “hope” can give us something to hang onto that encourages us to “fight on” despite how bad the situation may appear; it never does so by “magically changing” the situation we may be facing, only how we perceive it.

Before getting “hope” we already had the “tools” and ability to “get out” but our “despair” prevented us from seeing that. With “false hope” we are given something positive to hold onto, but when we really don’t have the ability to make things better. So the problem with “hope” is not that there are times when we can get “too much” #of it, but that we can confuse “false hope” for “real hope.”

To have real hope in our lives, at our “deepest lows”  is to the have the “tools” needed to “get out” at our disposal and the “vision, courage, and drive” to make use of those tools. “Hope does not give us anything new that we don’t already have, merely a reason for us to make better our situation.

So what are your thoughts and viewpoints on this subject? Please do share, all are welcomed and wanted. 

“The Founding Fathers’ Guide To The Constitution” by Brion McClanahan; A Review

/ Chase Blosser / Leave a comment

#Brion #McClanahan‘s book “#The #Founding Father’s #Guide #to the #Constitution” is #a very compelling and complex history of just how The Constitution to the United States had come to be and of the views for and against it. The way he percents his facts and figures and the back-stories behind each of the debates during the Constitutional Convention and the ratifying debates is just stellar in the thoroughness and ease of following.

Especially compelling is how he counts not just the well-known men that “we” all “know” from history as “Founding Father’s” (Washington, Madison, Hamilton, so forth), but literally everyone involved in the making and ratifying of the Constitution. He measures involvement #by the debates on what type of government the United States should have; which were going on all across the thirteen states since during the Revolution on till the ratification its self.

He tells how the “founding #fathers” included not just the names we recognize such as those mentioned above, but many others such as Luther Martin, Rodger Sherman, and George Mason, to name a few. He also does away with the “common” terms of “Federalist” and Anti-federalist” in explaining his reasoning; where he shows how the opponents of the Constitution were actually wanting to preserve the existing federal system of the Article of Confederation.

Brian’s work shines because of the detail he puts into his findings that the Constitution would not have passed ratification let alone pass the Convention floor if it was not understood to be putting in place a strong centralized government, but one with limits in place. He also does a wonderful, enlightening job of explaining away certain preconceived notions and myths about the “founding fathers” and the making of the Constitution.

It is a myth-but one often repeated-that the Framers “really wanted” the president to be chosen by the people at large; supposedly they rejected this method only because the people in one State would not know enough about the candidates from others States. But the records from the Philadelphia Convention clearly illustrate that the Founders intended the Electoral College to be a buffer against the potential abuses of democracy (p.129).

Overall, the book is a very well thought-out, telling of the history of the Founding of the (2nd Republic) of The United States under the current Constitution. He does an excellent job of keeping to a “fact-based” scholarly approach while at the same time showing the suspense and conflict experienced by our “founding fathers” to keep the reader entertained as well as informed and not be drowned in “dry” texted. A very good history of the subject with some surprising turns in its direction. The most important point from a historical perspective is that the author Brian does so well in not just telling the history of the Constitution’s making, but the telling of “all the sides” involved.

I hope you enjoy this book #review; please do share your own thoughts and viewpoints. All are welcomed and wanted!

Do You Worry To Much?

/ Chase Blosser / 4 Comments

This is a response #to the one-word “Warning” by “The Daily Post.”

How often #do #you #worry day-to-day; what do you worry about? Why do you worry? We all worry about different things and different times in our lives. To have worries is not the problem, for “to worry” is to put importance on/for something. The problem lies in the number of worries we get in our lives and what exactly we worry about.

A  common worry is for our loved ones. Of course, that is a good worry to have if there is actually something wrong that is affecting them in a negative way. The worry creates an “importance” for you to do what you can to help your loved ones. But that worry is not so good if it continues even when you know you have already done all that you possibly could do to help. Then all that happens is an increase of stress on your part that may very well affect your health. That will do nothing good to help your loved one’s situation but actually, make things worse for they will have to worry about you.

When one starts to worry about someone or something, in most cases that “worry” can and will only cause one to “act” in a positive way, and to put what the worrying is about as a priority in one’s life. Only when that “worry” continues does it become a problem for you and those around you. Some worry is good, but too #much is never good and in fact is quite harmful.

What are your thoughts and viewpoints on this subject? Please do share, all are welcomed and wanted here. 

To be “A Blink of the Eye”

/ Chase Blosser / Leave a comment

This is #a response #to #the one-word prompt “Blink” by “The Daily Post.”

What exactly is meant by the phrase “a #blink in the #eye” or “a blink #of the eye?” Obviously is it is referring to the blinking of one’s eye/s. Usually, it refers to the speed of the blinking and how fast it happens. So when you describe something happening as “a blink of the eye” you are saying that it either has or will happen so fast that you will miss it if not paying attention. That is how the phrase is usually used but, I think it could just as easily mean and refer to the ease of blinking one’s eyes and thus suggesting something may #be very easy.

A Time To Cherish

/ Chase Blosser / 5 Comments

This is #a response #to the one-word prompt “Cherish” by “The Daily Post.”

For Christians, Chrismas is the #time to celebrate the birth of humanity’s savior Jesus Christ, but even for the non-Christian, it is an important time of year. Christmas for everyone is a very special moment of each year that deserves to be cherished. For Christmas is all about hope; hope for the coming new year, hope for an end/lessening of one’s troubles, and just plain hope for whatever hope is needed for.

With that hope that we have come to associate and #cherish with Christmas comes a much needed reminded of perspectives in life; of what is truly and really important to ourselves and our communities. Christmas for a brief time takes away all our troubles and problems from our minds and removes differences, hates, and reveries between peoples as well.

There is a great example of such from World War I, called the “Christmas Truce” where during the Christmas of the first year I believe, the common soldiers on the western front on both sides stopped fighting and exchanged gifts and such. Sadly this “truce” did not last, but the fact that it happened at all is indeed something to cherish. Chrismas does not just bring hope, it brings us as humans altogether by reminding us of what we all have in common instead of what we do not; that truly is something to Cherish! Merry Christmas to all!

What are your thoughts and viewpoints on this Christmas subject? Please do share, all viewpoints all welcomed and indeed wanted!

To be “Mighty” and “Great;” What has made the United States a “Great” Nation?

/ Chase Blosser / Leave a comment

This is #a response #to #the one-word prompt “Mighty” by “The Daily Post.”

According to Merriam Webster to #be #mighty is possessing might: powerful, to be accomplished or characterized by might, or to be #great or imposing size or extent. President Donald Trump both during his campaign for the presidency #and during said presidency so far #has championed a returning the #United #States of America to a “great” #nation once again and to make it “mighty” in its powers. My question is and has been for quite some time is #what does the President mean by “great” and or “powerful?” A lot of nations in today’s world can be considered “great” and or “powerful” so too can we look to the history of past nations/countries and empires that were certainly considered “great” and or “powerful.”

The thing is, to be “mighty” and or “great” is, can be, and does mean several things. Also “mightiness” and “greatness” do not necessarily go together and are certainly not the same thing. As said above to be “mighty” is to process great strength, in the case of nations usually either military strength, economic strength, or both. But for nations to be considered “great” historically refers to the impact they have had on the rest of the world and on future generations long after the country, nation, or empire in question is either gone or had waned in power and greatness.

“Greatness” requires not just “power” and “might” but unequal influence over all other nations and peoples. It requires the nation to be quite different from others in its values, outlook, behavior and so on. Greatness can be either “good” or “bad.” To improve upon or bring back to “greatness” the United States as President Trump says is his goal, is all well and good, but not if he is focusing just on the economic and military strength of the nation. One has to look at the underlying foundations of the culture of a nation for greatness. If one believes that the United States has been a “great” nation (as I do and still believe in the potential for greatness) one must answer how has it been “great” and what #made it so. How has the United States traditionally acted and behaved in response to the rest of the word and its self?

One must remember that what makes up a nation is its people, thus it is its people that can or can’t make a nation “great.” If it is the people that have made the United States “great” then it is the culture, morals, and beliefs of the people that matter in making and deciding “greatness.” In making a nation “great” its people will also decide the underlying character of that “greatness;” that is if that “greatness” is either “good” or “bad.” Will the “great nation” have an overall positive or negative impact on the world? This is the fundamental question that must be asked by someone trying to “return” a nation back to greatness; what was the underlying “character of that greatness in relation to the rest of the word, good or evil?

I believe that the United States is and has been a “great’ nation for some time. That ‘”greatness” is not reflected in the military or economic “might” of the United States, (though both are and have been considerable) those are more a byproduct of said “greatness” no, the “greatness” of  the United States is reflected in the people’s traditionally strong sense of belief in both the individual and the community and a willingness (indeed eagerness) to reach out and help those in need, and not just those they know but in a lot of cases complete and total strangers.

The United States, I sincerely believe has become a “great” nation also because it is and was founded on a certain set of ideas and principles, (Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness). In that regard, unlike other nations and countries who have either collapsed and or have been conquered; as long as there is but a few to carry on those ideals and principals, the “United States” is and will be “immortal and everlasting. (But only if the morals and beliefs that made it “great” remain.) One could say that to be “great” is to transcend and transform the “normal” human experience and existence.

So, if President Trump or anyone wants to “return” the United States to “greatness” they need to look at the people and culture, not the military and economy, though those are important, just not the “be all by all” that some may think they all. “Greatness” is more than strength! The United States has been a great nation because traditionally the United States has been “good!”

What are your views on this subject? Please do share, all thoughts and viewpoints are welcomed and wanted.