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Vote

“The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.” Edmund Burke

Don’t complain about the state of things if you are not willing to do something to change what you do not like. If a corrupt, subversive or nefarious force, family or group gains control, it is because honest and competent people are too busy to notice or care, thus allowing these destructive parties to get away with reprehensible actions. An example is the 2016 election. There is not a positive choice between an orangutan and a carpet bagger, especially when you consider this is all America can produce for statesmanship and leadership.

Unknown's avatar

Improve the situation

The Republican Party announced today that it is changing its emblem from an elephant to a condom because it more clearly reflects the Republicans party’s position on the major issues facing America. A condom accepts inflation, halts production, destroys the next generation, protects a bunch of pricks, and gives you a sense of security while you’re actually getting screwed.

Doing anything to improve the situation no matter how small, is better than doing nothing at all. Write a letter, make a phone call, talk to a neighbor, talk to several people, vote and elect new representatives, go to a meeting, get involved, and make a difference.

“You must be the change you wish to see in the world.” Gandhi

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Mistakes and Failures.

As a human being, one has been endowed with just enough intelligence to be able to see clearly how utterly inadequate that intelligence is when confronted with what exists.

I sometimes say, when I meet a sharp younger person, “If I knew what I know now, at your age, by now I’d be king. All of us have the desire to know more and have made so many blunders. So why not learn from my mistakes and the errors of others. Or, you can live a few lifetimes and take all the missteps yourself. Can you afford it?

Taking ownership of failure builds the foundation for success.

Use the experience to go forward having learned what not to do again. Do not be disheartened by occasional mistakes or failures. Turn the next similar situation around by not repeating the incorrect act or decision. Do not dwell one moment on your past mistakes. All flowers need manure. Satoru

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A Zen Life of Action

Implementation is everything and objectives means nothing unless they are transformed into action.

Your fortune, however, difficult to achieve, is there. The trick is to recognize it. It comes sporadically and in forms that are disguised. But most of all it comes to you in opportunities that are few and far between, sandwiched within an infinity of plausible futures. We look at the opportunity and see only the present. You must observe the chance and see the seeds of the future. If you are to succeed, waiting for ideal conditions or a situation is rarely an option. Good opportunities never last long and usually require a change in your thinking and actions. Usually, you have just one chance and if you do not take advantage of that moment in time the possibility is forever lost. Satoru

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Bushido Focus

Take the time to concentrate on the task that you are doing. Multi-tasking and incompetence permeate our world and mistakes are becoming more frequent and consequential. Zen Concentration on the now means, not only the awareness of the moment, but the discipline to be awake to the people, environment, tasks, and the next twinkling of the universe. How can you reach this level of awareness if you do not take the time to stop, look, listen, deliberately think, and are multi-tasking?

 

A Brooklyn Zen Buddhist arrives at an extremely ancient monastery. Because it is only his retreat, and he is a sculptor/writer, he is assigned to helping other monks in copying the old canons and laws of the church by hand. Being aware and in the now, he soon notices that all of the monks are copying from copies, not from original manuscripts. So, he goes to the old head abbot pointing out, that if someone made an error in the first copy, it would be continued in all of the subsequent copies. The head monk, says, ‘We have been copying from the copies for centuries, but you make a good point, my son.’ The head monk goes down into the dark recesses underneath the monastery where the original manuscripts are archived in a locked vault that hasn’t been opened for hundreds of years. Hours go by. The Zen Buddhist gets worried and goes down to the caves. He sees the head monk banging his head against the wall and wailing.

“We missed the R! We missed the R! We missed the fu%@#ing R!”

His forehead is bruised and he is crying.

The Brooklyn Zen Buddhist asks the old abbot, ‘What’s wrong, father?’

With a choking voice, the old abbot replies,

‘The word was…CELEB R ATE