Achieve

I recently watched a program about the human reaction to fight or flight. The test subjects were a SWAT team from the LA Police Dept. 

In the study, They monitored each team members heart rate, and breathing. The scenario was a simulated hostage situation.  The Team Leader was injected with Adrenalin to increase his heart rate to add stress to the simulation.

Once the exercise started, each members heart rate and breathing immediately increased. The team went through a realistic situation with loud noises, smoke, dark rooms and two assailants.

In the end the good guys win, but in reviewing the monitors, heart rates increased, but breathing leveled off and remain stable.  The SWAT team is continually trained on regulating breathing. This helps the oxygen flow to the blood enabling them to think clear and make quick decisions.

The exercise demonstrates the human ability to go beyond physical and emotional limits in stressful situations. The SWAT team resisted the flight mode of the human response and took control of their senses to respone to the fight.

The human response is not necessarly an automatic response. There is no limit to the human capaticy to achieve.  An Olimpic Weightlifter in their mind has no limit, just as the SWAT team could overcome fear.

We should always strive to achieve our best.

Leadership

Leadership as defined by Merrian-Webster dictoinary:

  Definition of LEADERSHIP

1: the office or position of a leader

2: capacity to lead

3: the act or an instance of leading

4: leaders - the party leadership

We see leadership in action everyday and the action is not necessarily in a management or lead position.

The role can be filled by anyone that has a positive influence on another person. A co-worker can encourage another employee in helping on a difficult project. Communities as a group demonstrate leadership in efforts to improve their neighborhoods. Leadership in religious activities can provide positive direction in faith. 

 

Leadership as defined - the act or instance of leading - is not a position, it can be a moment in time. 

 

Examples - Mother Teresa, Gandhi, Rosa Parks.  They demonstrated their leadership by their actions.

Arcade Post Office American Flag

The American Flag
Arcade Post Office
Nashville, TN

The American Flag

The American flag represents a nation based on freedom.

I will be posting pictures of the American flag at various locations.

My intent is to demonstrate the honor given to the flag that represents the United States. The locations will be as small as a desk flag to large flags flying over prominent buildings.

The next time you walk pass a flag pole take note and think about what it represents

Time

Time is constant it never changes. Why does time on some days speed up or slow down? In the course of a day the time varies depending on the events of the day.  In my younger days I thought time seem to slow down and nowdays seem much slower.   Why ? 

Faith

Christian faith is not just in the act of going to church on Sunday.  It is the action from your faith. The Grace received from God is what drives us to do good and avoid evil. The Church is a community of faith that bonds us in unity with Christ and his teachings. The Bible is the true guide for all Christians no matter the denomination. The Old and New Testaments are timeless.  The study of Sacred Scripture is now and forever the guidebook for a good and moral life.     

Change

Just some thoughts about change

The only thing constant is change

Every time we think that we are in the same old routine in the background change is taking place.

And then one day it seems as if change happen overnight, but in reality the change happen over a period of months or even years.

Skywarn

Skywarn volunteers for the National Weather Service are activated then large storms move across the United States. This service provides the reports that initiate the watch and warning system that is critical in saving lives.

2010

Planning For The New Year

A Young Nation

The United States is comparatively young to other countries and past reigns of government. The United States is 233 years old and in contrast to past established governments like the Roman Empire which reigned for over 1,000 years from 806 to 1806. And when you think about established countries like Mesopotamia (Iraq) which was formed in 4000 BC, we are a very young country. Today, the United States is one of the most modernized countries in the world and yet countries that have been around a great deal longer are still struggling to establish some form of cohesive society. The United States does have its fair share of problems, but some how we always try to improve upon on what our forefathers established in 1776 and that is what makes this country great.

Bread for the World

This organization encourages domestic and foreign assistance in the fight against hunger.
Bread for the World urges you to write Congress to rework U.S. foreign assistance and domestic programs to make it more effective in reducing poverty. These changes will:

• strengthen the ability of the United States to promote global development.
• promote economic growth in low-income countries.
• support the efforts of poor people to lift themselves out of hunger and poverty.

In the United States the key to ending hunger and poverty in this program assist:

• a stable well-paying job.
• educational opportunities that could lead to a job.
• create jobs and reduce unemployment.

http://www.bread.org/about-us/

Update

In trying to stay committed to my resolutions here are some updates. I am currently working on finishing my undergraduate degree in Business Administration. However, I'm going through an accelerated program for students who work full-time. Also the college I attend is Catholic and this month I have spent a great deal of my time studying Moral Theology. The subject has enlighten me about the morals of achieving good character and making the right decisions in everyday life situations. It has also given me a deeper understanding of the Catholic faith of which I belong.
That's the latest news - more later.

Top Ten - Travel

Here are my top ten places I would like to visit. The list might change over the years but at this point in my life this is where I would travel.



Top Ten places I would like to visit:

10. Glacier Bay

9. Venice

8. Nile River

7. Tikal

6. Bavaria

5. Parthenon

4. Jerusalem

3. Vatican City

2. Amazon Rain Forest

1. Kilimanjaro

Blog Resolutions

Happy New Year
As we go into the new year, I would like to make a blog resolution.
For the year 2009, I plan on being more active in my blog entries. Here are some of my topics and themes I am planning for in 2009:

• experiences during the week i.e.. work, sporting events, observations
• my top ten's
• places I have been
• books/news stories I've read
• interesting photographs
• worthy causes
• my favorite stamps from my collection
• podcasting
• guest blogger

I also plan to be more active in reading and commenting on some of my favorite blogs.

Happy New Year to All

Year End

"Now there are more overweight people in America then the average-weight people. So overweight people are now average. Which means you've met your New Year's resolution."

Jay Leno – US comedian & television host

As 2008 comes to a close I would like to wish everyone a Happy New Year!!

Civilization

Underlying the whole scheme of civilization is the confidence men have in each other, confidence in their integrity, confidence in their honesty, confidence in the their future.

Bourke Cockran

The American Veteran

Thought and Purpose

A man should conceive of a legitimate purpose in his heart, and set out to accomplish it. He should make this purpose the centralizing point of his thoughts. It may take the form of a spiritual ideal, or it may be a worldly object, according to his nature at the time being; but whichever it is, he should steadily focus his thought-forces upon the object, which he has set before him. he should make this purpose his supreme duty, and should devote himself to its attainment, not allowing his thoughts to wander away into ephemeral fancies, longings, and imaginings. This is the royal road to self-control and true concentration of thought. Even if he fails again and again to accomplish his purpose ( as he necessarily must until weakness is overcome ), the strength of character gained will be the measure of his true success, and this will form a new starting-point for future power and triumph.

Existence of God

I have been recently reading a translated version of the Summa Theologiae by St. Thomas Aquinas.

St. Thomas has five ways to describe the existence of God.
The following is one of the descriptions I thought gave a good philosophical explanation of God.

"The first and most obvious way is based on change. We see things changing. Now anything changing is being changed by something else. (For things changing are on the way to realization, whereas things causing change are already realized: they are realizing something else's potential, and for that they must themselves be real. The actual heat of a fire causes wood, already able to be hot, to become actually hot, and so causes change in the wood. Now the actually hot cannot at the same time be potentially hot, but only potentially cold. So what changes cannot as such be causing the change, but must be being changed something else.) This something else, if itself changing, is being changed by yet another thing; and this by another. Now we must stop somewhere, otherwise there will be no first cause of the change, and, as a result, no subsequent causes. (Only when acted upon by a first cause do intermediate causes produce a change; if a hand does not move the stick, the stick will not move anything else.) We arrive then at some first cause of change not itself being changed by anything, and this is what everybody understands by God."
Summa Theologiae
A Concise Translation
Edited By Timothy McDermott

Labor Day

Labor Day is one of those holidays that should be a day when all businesses close. After all it is a a day to celebrate the spirit of the American work.
Here is some history facts about Labor Day.

Labor Day: How it Came About; What it Means

Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.

A Nationwide Holiday
The form that the observance and celebration of Labor Day should take were outlined in the first proposal of the holiday — a street parade to exhibit to the public "the strength and esprit de corps of the trade and labor organizations" of the community, followed by a festival for the recreation and amusement of the workers and their families. This became the pattern for the celebrations of Labor Day. Speeches by prominent men and women were introduced later, as more emphasis was placed upon the economic and civic significance of the holiday. Still later, by a resolution of the American Federation of Labor convention of 1909, the Sunday preceding Labor Day was adopted as Labor Sunday and dedicated to the spiritual and educational aspects of the labor movement.
The character of the Labor Day celebration has undergone a change in recent years, especially in large industrial centers where mass displays and huge parades have proved a problem. This change, however, is more a shift in emphasis and medium of expression. Labor Day addresses by leading union officials, industrialists, educators, clerics and government officials are given wide coverage in newspapers, radio, and television.
The vital force of labor added materially to the highest standard of living and the greatest production the world has ever known and has brought us closer to the realization of our traditional ideals of economic and political democracy. It is appropriate, therefore, that the nation pay tribute on Labor Day to the creator of so much of the nation's strength, freedom, and leadership — the American worker.
From: http://www.dol.gov/opa/aboutdol/laborday.htm