This Is My Truth

 Three years ago, I wrote a blog listing the many things that I was grateful for. It was an exercise in self-awareness that was good for my mind, heart, and blood-pressure. The other day I had a bit of an epiphany, and decided to do something similar, but using a different track. 



There seem to be fewer truths in our world. This AI, fake news, social media driven universe we inhabit has created more questions than answers. So many “facts” that I filled my personal reality bubble with made me a happy, comfortable, and apparently naive person. Slowly this reality came crashing down like a shower of meteor strikes, breaking my secure force field and leaving an apocalyptic burning landscape across the horizon as far as the eye can see.

        

Hyperbolic? One-hundred percent, much like many present day headlines. But…I did firmly believe that Bill Cosby was a great man I should model myself after, Lance Armstrong was a legitimate, legendary champion, and Michael Jackson was a respectable entertainment public figure. We learn the hard way that people are flawed, and the higher you hold them in esteem, the better chance they will let you down hard.
Every now and then I try to simplify and balance my universe by reviewing my truths, and see if they still stand up. Here is a list of things that keep me grounded as a person, and in some cases help me connect the years together; 
-Manners and politeness have become outliers instead of the norm, and we are the worse for it. 
-Pop Tarts should be frosted and fruity. Anything else is a fraud.
-Any words that follow “I am not a racist…” will most likely prove you wrong. 
-in the world of peanut butter, crunchy is king. 
-With half-hearted apologies to Magic Johnson, Lebron James, and my beloved Larry Bird, the best player in NBA history is Michael Jordan 
-Time alters almost all perspectives 
-If you decide to go to an expensive college or university to get a teaching degree, I can’t help you. 
-Bill Belichick has lost his damn mind, but may be the happiest catastrophe ever

-The word “literally” may literally be the most misused word in the United States 
-This is the angriest society has been in my lifetime 
-The effects of gravity rise proportionally to your increase in age. 
-Eddie Van Halen is the best rock guitarist in history. I’m taking that to my grave 



-Modesty is a lost art that is now often perceived as a weakness 

-Data, analytics, and replay is making many sports almost unwatchable. As much as I have hated bad calls, seeing a human being make a flawed call was a reason to get up and yell at the TV and rant the next day at work. That has been taken from me…but my wife is happier. 
-Wallace the Brave makes me laugh out loud every stinking day. What a gift. 

-I am a firm believer that no one can hurt your feelings unless you allow it. 
-Everything changes after age 50. 
-OJ did it. 
-What you experienced between the age of 5 and 25 will stay with you for the rest of your life. 
-Our government is complex and slow, on purpose. Example? California’s population is greater than the combined populations of
Utah, Iowa, Nevada,Arkansas, Kansas, Mississippi, New Mexico, Nebraska, Idaho, West Virginia, Hawaii, New Hampshire, Maine, Montana, Rhode Island, Delaware, South Dakota, North Dakota, Alaska, Vermont, and Wyoming. 
-California has 52 representatives in the House compared to the 50 representatives of the other 21 states combined 
-In the Senate, those 21 states outnumber California 42-2 
-A person’s “brand” has more value than actual achievement. We will see a reckoning at some point 
-If they made a movie about my life, John Cusack would play me.

-Santa is real. 
-Hard work no longer equals financial success. We are seeing quiet quitting because of it. 
-No one made me laugh harder than Robin Williams. His death made me almost as sad. 
-The food that I love the most will most likely be my ultimate cause of death.

-Failure changes bad habits and/or behavior. Success solidifies good habits and/or behavior. When the student is ready, they are the best teachers ever. 
     But…how we react to these failures and successes is just as important. Overreacting to small failure and small successes, as well as underreacting to large failures and larges successes does not promote growth 
-Animals make the world a better place 
-AI will save many, and kill many 
-No Christmas lights or music until the day after Thanksgiving!!! Full stop. 
-If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there, does it make a sound? Same concept applies to social media posts. If you don’t read them, they can’t bother you. 
-My generation grew up in a sweet spot. I was a teenager and young adult in the 80’s. Career, marriage, and kids in the 90’s. Have a pre-9/11 life that allowed me to understand a post-9/11 world. Retirement at what appears to be just the right time. Was able to buy a house just before real estate became unattainable. I grew up with some of the best music ever recorded, best movies ever filmed, and best books ever written. There was joy and heartbreak, but in a world where people still valued community and each other. My life was not a social media post. I am sad for the younger generations who did not have this. I have tried to reenact these things in my house and in my classroom, but feel like it is coming up short. I am feeling blessed and depressed at the same time. 
But that doesn't mean I don't see hope.  Society has faced much harsher futures in the past.  Society has managed to find a way through it every time.  People are capable of amazing things.
This is my truth. Peace out.

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