Archive for the ‘People’ Category
Posted on September 15, 2009 - by reallyrotten
Respect Yourself
My 13-year old son had started at one of the most prestigious private schools in the nation – an honor that we were paying $20,000 a year for and at a school that had 100 applications for each spot! When he came home the second month with a horrified look on his face, telling me that he’d done something awful, I was more than a little concerned. He explained that, as a prank, he had given a boy’s locker combination to someone else. That person had opened the locker, and trashed all the books and belongings inside. He didn’t know what to do, so he asked for my advice.
Here’s what I guided him to do: He called the boy whose locker was trashed, told him that he was responsible, and that he would do whatever it took to make things right. He called the boy’s parents, told them he was sorry and would do whatever it took to make things right. Even though the mother was yelling at him and calling him names, I stood by his side, and he continued to apologize. The next morning, he went to the Dean’s office before his first class, told the Dean what he had done, and said he would do whatever it took to make things right.
This was one of the most terrifying moments of my son’s life up until that time. I can remember the look of horror on his face as the mother cursed him and called him names. I also remember that he was able to stand up tall, with dignity and with self-esteem, as he went to school the next morning to talk with the Dean. He felt good about himself, not because he had made a mistake (as everyone is going to do in life!), but because he had the courage to stand up and admit it. He had the integrity to take responsibility for his actions and the inner strength to do whatever it took to make things right.
Now, you may be wondering what happened in all of this. My son had to pay for a new lock for the boy’s locker. The Dean called me to tell me he had never in his entire career seen a student carry himself with such dignity and such integrity. He was truly impressed and thanked me for the guidance I’d given him, and for raising such an incredible son with clear values.
The boy whose locker had been trashed barely talked to my son for four years. And yet, when they were graduating from high school and went to their elementary school reunion, it was as if nothing had ever happened. Yes, it took some time for the wounds to heal, but in the end everything turned out fine.
What happened to the boy who actually opened the locker and trashed it? He refused to apologize and his parents refused to make him apologize. He was put on detention for weeks and was asked to leave the school at the end of the year.
We all make mistakes, some of them are big ones, some of them are small. My son made a mistake, and in the process got to learn a very valuable lesson.
Honesty is always the best policy. Taking responsibility for what you say and do is essential if you want to feel good about yourself. It’s important to be willing to go to any length to make things right when you breach your integrity. It may not be easy. It may feel crummy and uncomfortable. You may get yelled at. In the end, though, you’ll be able to walk with your head held high, you will be able to go to sleep in peace at night, and you will be respected.
Most important, you will respect yourself. That may be the greatest gift of all.
Posted on September 9, 2009 - by reallyrotten
Rather Be a Mistress
I would rather be a mistress than the lady of the house. In every relationship there should be a mutual benefit between the parties involved. Have you ever asked yourself about the benefits gained by those women who date married men. It’s every girl’s dream when they grow up to get married and build up a model home to be admired by many people. As these girls grow up and get exposed and interact with many people, the perception of getting married changes. It’s supplemented by another mentality and the issue of dating married men comes in.
In case this woman slips a little and gets hooked up in a relationship dating a married man, the probability is that the trend continues and it becomes very hard to wipe out that spirit of admiring married men. A habit is a disease and this is what makes the girl happy. A theory that is floated by many is that girl would prefer dating a married man because of the financial gains that she gets. It is assumed money is in the hands of married men and that explains the high affinity for the married man to the girl. Another school of thought puts it that this is the group of women who are not keen on being attached to one man, they prefer no attachments. They value their freedom more. I personally see it on a deferent angle. Married men have more experience in matters of love and dealing with women and thus any woman who has had an experience dating a married man may never date an unmarried one. Married men have a hand on experience in matters of dating and they know which batton to press to make her happy when she is not in the mood. You realize that most men have really neglected their women and they have concentrated more on their mistresses. It really hurts to see your man going out with another woman. This makes me feel that it’s better a mistress than a lady of the house.
Once you enter into marriage, you are bound to remain faithful to your spouse. I wonder what happens to most men, only one man in a million will be faithful to their women. This makes women get pissed off and they end up opting to be a mistress rather than a lady of the house. Unlike men, women get heartbroken very easily , it’s a fact that women use their heart to love while men use their mind. This is a reason that makes women get heart broken very easily and they end up getting frustrated ever. It’s for this reason that makes women feel that it’s better a mistress than a lady of the house. Your married partner has nothing to lose when the relationship hits a dead rock. After all it was only for leisure and he can get hooked up with another mistress. In a relationship its all about giving and taking. Don’t allow yourself to be fooled, be rational and be wise not to be on the losing end.
Published At: Isnare Free Articles Directory http://www.isnare.com
Submitted By: Francis K. Githinji
Posted on September 2, 2009 - by reallyrotten
Texas Residents Say Racial Equality Does Not Exist
In the same year that we celebrated the historic inauguration of the nation’s first African American president and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) celebrated its 100th anniversary, the dream of racial equality in America seemed to have come true.
However, as many debate the relevance of groups such as the NAACP, instances that prove true racial equality is still a dream deferred are constantly grabbing headlines across the country.
This week, members of the New Black Panther Party, the Nation of Islam and the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) gathered in the East Texas town of Paris to voice their opinions on a judge’s decision to drop murder charges against two White males, Shannon Finley and Charles Crostley, accused of murdering their Black friend, Brandon McClelland, by running him over in a vehicle and then dragging him to his death. The case has drawn comparisons to the dragging death of James Byrd in Jasper, Texas in 1998.
Paris, Texas and its 26,000 residents are no strangers to the negative spotlight when it comes to a perceived lack of racial equality. The town, which is approximately 73 percent White and 22 percent Black, made national headlines when a Black girl was sentenced to seven years in a juvenile prison in 2007 for pushing a teacher’s aide by Lamar County Judge Chuck Superville, while the same judge sentenced a White girl to probation for burning her parents’ house down.
“Caucasians in Paris must understand that they are the reason for Paris being the center of unsavory attention,” said Jimmy Blackwell, a Black protestor. “We welcome the KKK because we want the world to see how real Americans act.”
However, many White residents of Paris sympathize with their Black counterparts. “I guess I am like most of people in Paris. The majority of people in Paris don’t agree with the way they do things. Most people are not happy about the groups, about the people who are coming,” said Marva Joe, chairperson of a diversity task force to address the perceived lack of racial equality in the town.
The charges against Finley and Crostley were dropped because of a lack of evidence and because a truck driver came forward and said he may have accidentally hit McClelland and caused his death.
Regardless of the circumstances of McClelland’s death, Small Town America has to get with the program and realize that a lack of racial equality will only lead to further conflict and controversy. In the same country where we can have enough racial equality to elect a Black president, should be proof enough that minorities in small towns across the South should receive the same treatment as their White counterparts.
Towns such as Paris, Jasper and Jena, La., will only find themselves as black sheep in a country that should be determined to move forward, not backwards, when it comes to race relations. If a country is intelligent enough to put a man on the moon, then forty years later that same country should have enough common sense to realize the importance of racial equality and the destruction that can occur if we do not come together as one.
Published At: Isnare Free Articles Directory http://www.isnare.com
Submitted By: Todd A. Smith
Posted on September 2, 2009 - by reallyrotten
Rosewood Massacre
The Rosewood massacre was a violent, racially endorsed dissent that took place during the first week of January 1923 in rural Levy County, Florida, United States. Six blacks and couple whites were slaughtered, and the habitation of Rosewood was fled and bargain during what was characterized as a race riot. Racial interferences were regular during the early 20th 100 in the United States, reflecting the nation’s swift social changes. Florida had an especially high diagram of lynchings in the years in the past the massacre, surrounding a well-publicized taking place in December 1922.
Rosewood was a peace, at the start black, self-sufficient whistle final view on the Seaboard Air Line Railway. Spurred by unsupported contentions that a white female in nearby Sumner had been overcame and maybe raped by a black drifter, white men from nearby habitation lynched a Rosewood resident. When black people secure themselves against further criticize, numerous hundred whites combed the scenery hunting for black population, and burned seal to every plan in Rosewood. Survivors obscured for numerous days in nearby consumes and were evacuated by train and car to enlarged towns. Although declare and provincial administrators were aware of the violence, they drafted no arrests for the wins in Rosewood. The habitation was fled by black residents during the attacks. None ever returned.
Although the rioting was widely reported round object the countryside, small proportion official itemising found the event. Survivors, their descendants, and the perpetrators stayed silent come seal Rosewood for decades. Sixty years later the rioting, the story of Rosewood was rebuilt in control media past numerous journalists swathed it in the early 1980s. Survivors and their descendants organized to sue the declare for having went erroneous to shield them. In 1993, the Florida Legislature commissioned a journal on the events. As a result of the findings, Florida became the first U.S. declare to compensate survivors and their descendants for impairs incurred because of racial violence. The massacre was the subject of a 1997 film fled accent on by John Singleton. In 2004, the declare designated the site of Rosewood as a Florida Heritage Landmark.
Rosewood was replied in 1845, nine miles (14 km) east of Cedar Key, near the Gulf of Mexico. Local industry midpoint round object timber; the call Rosewood refers to the reddish color of cut cedar wood. Two pencil mills were nearby in Cedar Key; numerous turpentine mills and a sawmill three miles (4.8 km) away in Sumner helped endorse provincial residents, as did rural of citrus and cotton. The hamlet grew enough to be labelled to the erected plan of a post office and train depot on the Florida Railroad in 1870, but it was never incorporated as a town.
Initially, Rosewood had both black and white settlers. When bulk of the cedar trees in the paddock had been cut by 1890, the pencil mills conserved, and more white residents transferred to Sumner. By 1900, the population in Rosewood had become predominantly black. The township of Sumner was predominantly white, and family members between the couple communities were relatively amicable. Two black families in Rosewood summoned Goins and Carrier were the bulk powerful. The Goins family brought the turpentine industry to the paddock, and in the years quicker the criticizes were the second utmost landowners in Levy County. To leaving lawsuits from white contenders, the Goins brothers transferred to Gainesville, and the population of Rosewood lessened slightly.The Carriers were also a more family, responsible for logging in the region. By the 1920s, seal to all in the close-knit occupants was distantly related to each other.The population of Rosewood peaked in 1915 at 355 people. Although residents of Rosewood perhaps did not vote because voter reservation conditions in Florida had expeditiously disfranchised blacks since the turn of the 100, both Sumner and Rosewood were speck of a single voting precinct was reliant by the U.S. Census. In 1920, the merged population of both habitation was 344 blacks and 294 whites.
As was regular in the late 19th 100 South, Florida had caused lawful racial segregation on the floor heading down Jim Crow laws, labelling for separate black and white public facilities and transportation.Blacks and whites written their have occupants centers: in 1920, the residents of Rosewood were substantially self-sufficient. They had three churches, a educational institution, a more Masonic Hall, a turpentine mill, a sugarcane mill, a baseball team summoned the Rosewood Stars, and couple complete outlets, one of which was white-owned. The township had come seal a dozen two-story wooden plank homes, other small two-room dwellings, and numerous small unoccupied plank farm and storage structures.Some families have pianos, organs, and other symbols of middle-class prosperity. Survivors of Rosewood remember it as a delighted place. In 1995, survivor Robie Mortin recollected at age 79, “Rosewood was a habitation where everyone’s lodging was painted. There were roses everywhere you walked. Lovely.
Posted on August 28, 2009 - by clklink
Homeowners Associations
I really need to vent a little. Something happened today that is really below most folks radar, not important you might say, but it is something that really got my goose nonetheless!
Maybe it is because of the way some people act and / or how they would like to be perceived, or some title they claim, or their need for a self-indulged lust for power. Mighty power, have you! Power like no other! Power never seen by many!
I am talking about the power one must feel when they take a seat on the board in their local homeowers association. Yes, that’s right. A local homeowners association!
I live in a small town, in a small neighborhood and we have a HOA. The duties of this group is to make sure everyone complies with the bylaws incorporated with the neighborhood, even before the first house was built. Not unlike many other HOA’s.
OK, let’s get on with the griping….. The other day I witnessed one of the board members riding his bicycle through a neighbor’s lawn. This board member also seems rather particular about his own lawn and how it looks, how it is taken care of, and so on so I think this is what struck me as rather “rude”, to say the least. He more than likely knew the property owners were not home but there was no reason at all to ride through the lawn. The driveway is in near perfect condition so I still have no idea what the hell he was thinking. Well, I may have an idea.
If there was some type of emergency or something I could understand. Nope, just rode across the lawn, off the curb, then down the street. No hurry or worried look on his face so I cannot imagine what was going through his pea brain. This would also be the same person that speeds down the street in his car like a bat out of hell. Perhaps, a bat entering hell! At times it seems things like this are not just out of the blue. It is all in the attitude and respect and neither seem to be making the Top 10 List. This is why I think it must be the POWER. The constant lust for power. If being a board member of a HOA gives you power to encroach on others, treat others in ways you would not wish for yourself, act immature and cowardly……then I’m in! When is the next meeting to decide officers? I WANT that power. I crave it! hahahhahaha!!!!
Maybe I would be a little less peeved if folks on this board were not so (seemingly) concerned about how everyone’s lawn is supposed to look, how high the grass should NOT get, what you can and cannot do to your own property, and the like.
I know what you must be thinking. No, I have never had a run-in with this person that rode over the lawn and I have never been found “out of compliance” of any of the “bylaws”, or any of that sort of thing. Just a good, quiet neighbor that gets along with just about anyone. Most anyone. I do not have time for people who attempt to put forth a false facade in order to fit in or make nice to make sure the boat does not rock. If I do not like you or your ways there is a good, sound reason.
Life is easy for most of us. We choose it to be that way. If there are times when something as mundane as this sounds does not get under your skin then you are not still breathing. On the other hand, it seems you would need to be party to these “locals” and their ways. Again, this has just been a rant and I certainly feel better getting it out! Then, it is time to move.
(If anyone is..) thanks for listening!
Posted on August 27, 2009 - by Jim Romenesko
Man, 83, misses friend’s wedding to chase driver who hit his car
Frank Canale chased a pickup truck for 15 miles across state lines, weaving through traffic onto side streets, even running a red light. "I missed the wedding, but it was worth it to me," says Canale, a retired builder. "I wasn't going to let that guy get away. He could have killed someone." LoHud.com)Posted on August 27, 2009 - by Jim Romenesko
Animal-cruelty hater’s dog dies after being left in hot car
The CEO of Richmond's Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals accidentally left her dog in a hot car for four hours, resulting in its death. Some believe she should resign her post, but the SPCA chairwoman says the dog's death "enhances her ability to communicate and educate the public about humane issues." (Richmond Times-Dispatch)Posted on August 25, 2009 - by Jim Romenesko
Female bank robber who dressed as a man gets prison time
You can look at her photo and guess how her three years in prison might go. (Kentucky.com)Posted on August 25, 2009 - by Jim Romenesko
Official fired after telling golfer he’d show her his tee size
The guy, who had been drinking before and while golfing, walked up to a woman, unzipped his pants and said something to the effect of "I'll show you the size of my tee." For that, he lost his $149,000 a year county job. (Seattle Times)Posted on August 25, 2009 - by Jim Romenesko
Jealous woman uses ninja sword during fight with boyfriend
Dana Gordon didn't like it when her boyfriend talked to his ex-wife on the phone, so she brought out the ninja sword and poked him several times. Cops were summoned, but the guy didn't want Gordon hauled to jail. (Tampa Tribune)
