Not Words Alone from Curt Savage Media

Coke or Pepsi?  Caf or Decaf?  Regular or diet?  Whole or skim?  Milk chocolate or dark?  Red or white?  White or wheat? Grilled or crispy?  Home style or spicy?  Hunan or Szechwan?  Paper or plastic?  Cash or credit?  Check out or continue shopping?  Coach or first class?  Smoking or non-smoking?  Pump or semi-auto?  Gun or cannoli?  Standard shipping or expedited?  Truth or consequences?  Would you like fries with that?  Democrat or Republican (or independent, TEA Party or Libertarian)?  Trick or treat?  Does that complete your order?

We spend a huge amount of our day making all sorts of choices; some important – some not.  Coke or Pepsi?  That’s an easy one; neither – I like my bones.  Smoking?  Only when I’m on fire.  Gun or cannoli?  Both.  Onion rings over fries if you’ve got ‘em.  Red or white – that depends; what’s for dinner?  Hunan or Szechwan?  Yes to both!  Paper or plastic – I brought my own bags.  And the most important ones – Caf, whole, lots of chocolate and add whipped cream please.

Some decisions are collective and some are solely ours to make.  Most of our choices are not life or death decisions.  However, with all the available options, even unimportant choices can leave us feeling paralyzed.  Many philosophers recognized this dilemma and tried to argue their angles.  For example, Aristotle wrote in his 350 BC treatise “On the Heavens” that a man being just as thirsty as he was hungry, and placed between food and drink, would not be able to move toward one over the other and would starve to death.  The 14^th century French philosopher Jean Buridan revisited this concept when he wrote about choices and determinism.

This is where we get the term “Buridan’s Ass”.  Buridan’s writings were satirized with the image of a donkey that stands between two identical piles of food, cannot decide between the two, and starves to death.  I have to admit, I’ve been known to shop for an item and, after much mulling in my mind, walk away without making a purchase because I wasn’t comfortable with my knowledge about the choices – my Buridan moment.  But, I still made a choice because not choosing is one of three possible choices.  Some believe that’s the best choice when faced with only unclear choices – or worse – choosing between the lesser of two evils.

What if the decision is important and not choosing is not an option?  What if your opportunity to make a choice cost you something; like a non-refundable deposit for example?  Would you still be likely not to choose and just walk away, especially if you felt under-informed and therefore possibly incapable of making the choice that would be best for you?  What if you felt your choice wouldn’t get you what you chose, but rather what someone else chose for you?  Now, what if the cost of your opportunity to choose had been paid for by someone else; possibly even by a close relative?  What if that relative paid for your opportunity with their life?  By now you’ve probably figured out I’m talking about voting.  This article will hit the streets on election-day 2014.  Aside from running for public office, the next best way to affect change in government is to vote.  A single vote has determined the outcome of an election more than once.  Your vote can be that vote.  You can make excuses or you can make a statement and possibly change history.  The choice is yours.

© 2014 Curt Savage Media                                                                notwordsalone.wordpress.com

I’d been thinking about this all day.  The more I thought about it, the more I knew I wanted to write something about it.  The news probably wasn’t as important as military actions and humanitarian disasters occurring in the Middle East, but it mattered to troops deployed there.  Through his USO shows, Robin Williams showed how much he loved the troops, and they loved him back – and now he was gone.

Williams’ self admitted drug and alcohol addictions and subsequent treatment sessions had been in the press from time to time, but not much was said about his battle with depression.  These deep waters were where he swam alone, apparently for quite some time.  News articles seem conflicted over whether his drug and alcohol abuse was a result of his attempts to escape depression, or if his depression was a result of his drug and alcohol abuses’ failure to relieve his anxiety and stress.  He had been clean and sober for twenty years, but relapsed just 8 years ago.  I struggle to reconcile memories of the funny man we loved with the reports of a man who took his own life to escape the emotional pain caused by mental illness.

He must have felt like he was drowning.  I mean – here’s a guy who had all the creative and artistic theatrical talent anyone could ever want, loving friends and family and more than enough material wealth.  He had all the components of what looked like a happy life, but those couldn’t keep him above water emotionally.  Depression dragged him under despite the superficial buoyancy of all those things.

I’ve seen first hand how well real buoyancy and the buddy system work together.   I responded to a distress call once from a commercial dive boat that began taking on water near the Palos Verdes Peninsula in Southern California.  We were having a hard time locating the vessel; their flares had expired and didn’t work.  We saw some lights in the area, but they were on a freighter moving away from us.  We lost radio contact with the distressed vessel, but her crew didn’t give up hope.  They donned their dive suits, inflated their buoyancy compensators, lit fire to the part of their boat that remained above water and jumped into the ocean.  Once in the water, they tied themselves together so as not to drift apart.  Their distress signal worked!  We spotted the glow of the fire from several miles away, sped to their location and rescued them.  Even though they knew they were going under, they believed there was a chance for survival if they could get the attention of someone who could help them.

Many of us have probably found ourselves dealing with brief periods of difficult emotions such as grief, sadness, hopelessness or feelings of isolation.  I’ve been there myself and got through those tough times with the help of pastor friends who gave counsel, prayed with me and kept my faith focused.  I knew these feelings would pass, and I sought the help of friends to get through them.  Celebrities and publicly high profile individuals have shared that they often live lonely lives, intentionally cutting themselves off from people in an attempt to maintain some semblance of privacy.  Loneliness can turn into sadness which can turn into depression if dealt with in isolation – even if that isolation is self imposed.  Robin Williams may have given up hope and drowned in a sea of despair even though he was surrounded by people who loved him.  If you find yourself struggling in deep water, keep treading water, send out a distress signal and don’t give up hope.  Despair sinks, but hope floats.

© 2014 Curt Savage Media

notwordsalone.wordpress.com

I probably should’ve checked to make sure her brother returned all the gear he borrowed last time he went camping.  By the time we got out of the store with new equipment, fishing gear and groceries for the weekend, it was supper time.  My daughter’s first “camp dinner” would have to be from McDonalds!  We arrived at American Heritage Girls Family Camp just as registration was finishing.  We got the tent set up just before dark.  The kids were all having fun chasing each other around in the dark with their flashlights while the parents got a nice fire going and visited waiting for the girls to lose steam.  We made sure they all got safely back & forth from the bathhouse before bed.  Somehow, the door to the mens’ side of the bathhouse got locked;  we found this out when it was our turn to hit the sack!

I grabbed a flashlight and started walking in the direction of where I had seen the dreaded “pit toilets”.  I didn’t remember the gravel road being quite so long, or so narrow, or so dark.  I was thankful when the road led to an open field where I could walk along the wood’s edge in search of the ‘primitive potty “.  I finally zeroed in on the smelly shack.  After revisiting one of my least favorite camp memories, I was trying to get the sink spigot to work when I heard that sound you don’t want to hear in the woods at night.  I was about a hundred & fifty yards from what sounded like a bear!  All I can say is I’m glad the near-encounter was “post privy”, or the bear would’ve found out he’s not the only one who does something in the woods!

Friday was a field day full of fire safety & outdoor cooking classes, nature studies, archery, fishing, playing pirate on a scale wooden ship, and chasing all over the campgrounds.  The girls finished the day with a marshmallow challenge – they broke into teams to build a free standing tower using one marshmallow, 20 pieces of uncooked spaghetti, 20 inches of chord and 36 inches of masking tape.  My daughter’s team won by building the tallest tower!  Most of the kids were asleep by 9 after a very fun filled day.

Several families broke camp Friday evening and headed home.  Weather forecasters were calling for rain starting around noon on Saturday.  Those who remained lit lanterns to dissuade a closer visit by the bear and turned in around midnight.  Within an hour, we knew the weatherman was wrong.  Around 5am, I woke to find about an inch of rain inside the foot end of our tent!  After moving my daughter to drier ground, I relocated our stove to a spot under the roof overhang near the bathhouse and started heating water for coffee.  The kids played Hello Kitty Uno while the adults broke camp in a very soaked and rapid fashion.  We combined our remaining food into a nice group breakfast and then departed for our homes.  All-in-all, I think it was a successful camping trip – Naomi’s first campfire, her first Largemouth Bass, her first arrow in the hay bale, her first bear story and her first nights sleeping outside with her dad.  I’m already looking forward to the next camping trip with my girl!

I’ve been hearing a lot about attitude lately. My wife posted a quote by educator and motivational speaker Bob Moawad online today “Attitudes are contagious. Do you want people around you to catch yours?” Hmmm. I may have been told a time or two growing up that I had a “bad attitude”. I might have even had a shirt that said “I Love My Bad Attitude”. Then again, was my attitude really bad, or did my sense of propriety simply differ from someone else’s who happened to be in a position of authority over me? In my own defense, I’m going with the latter. Maybe it was they who had the bad attitude about my misunderstood contempt or lack of motivation.   In their defense, I doubt that.

While in the Coast Guard, I spent some time in various types of aircraft – I even got a little bit of “stick time”. My pilot fiends introduced me to an instrument called the “Aircraft Attitude Indicator” – or – “Artificial Horizon”. I learned that attitude is important when controlling the flight of an aircraft. If the aircraft is not kept in the correct attitude, or position, to maintain flight – it will stop flying and begin falling! Some aircraft are more forgiving than others, and they recover quickly from a bad attitude.   However, for the most part, push the stick forward too hard and you nose dive; pull back too hard, the nose goes too high, you lose airspeed and stall. As long as I kept an eye on my attitude, it was smooth flying. I was amazed that I could even fly in zero visibility through clouds and fog just by watching my altitude and attitude gauges.

We’re told in the Bible’s book of Ephesians to “be made new in the attitude of your minds”. This makes sense to me. I’ve found I can do anything better and with more ease by approaching it with a good attitude – even if it’s something I don’t want to do. Motivational speaker Zig Ziglar says “Positive thinking will let you do everything better than negative thinking will”. This is true whether you’re procrastinating over an unpleasant chore or you’re battling a life threatening illness – whether you’ve just lost your keys or you just lost a loved one. No, this is not easy. But it is the foothold in the end of my rope. Knowing God’s “got this”, even when I don’t, has been my saving grace countless times. Referring back to the Moawad quote above – I hope this outlook is contagious.

Zig Ziglar also said “Your attitude, not your aptitude, will determine your altitude.”  Aptitude is a nice, and sometimes prideful mark or competency gained through practice and self discipline. However, when aptitude fails and life’s sunny skies cloud over, “Being made new in the attitude of our minds” also requires us to check our attitudes and let the One who made us control our hands on that stick. Keeping our eyes on Him as our “Attitude Indicators” will keep our noses from going too low or too high. Only then can we can keep flying even when we don’t like what we see outside our windows.

© 2014 Curt Savage Media

notwordsalone.wordpress.com