25Oct 2016 by CJ

Money obsessions won’t lead to happiness

Life & Living
“People go on postponing everything that is meaningful. Tomorrow they will laugh; today, money has to be gathered... more money, more power, more things, more gadgets. Tomorrow they will love - today there is no time. But tomorrow never comes, and one day they find themselves burdened with all kinds of gadgets, burdened with money. They have come to the top of the ladder - and there is nowhere to go except to jump in a lake.” - Osho I’m often the first one to lecture others regarding materialism and society’s insatiable appetite for more money. Yet I’m embarrassed to admit that I haven’t fully practiced what I’ve preached. It was a reality recently brought to my attention by my wife, after she grew tired and frustrated of me judging my…
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23Oct 2016 by CJ

Election fraud – the tale of two ballots

Life & Living
“A vote is like a rifle: its usefulness depends upon the character of the user.”  - Theodore Roosevelt First, please save your hate mail. This post is in no way taking political sides in what I consider to be one of the most pathetic elections in American history. A subject making headlines of late is how the American election system is flawed. Many find such an accusation insulting and impossible in our technological advanced society. Truthfully, I never gave the subject much thought. That was until the other day. My coworker grew up in the state of Washington, and it was there where she first became a registered voter. About two years ago she moved to the state of Colorado, and went through the proper process of becoming a registered…
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14Sep 2016 by CJ

Nelly – why should your fans have to pay your taxes?

Life & Living
An important news bulletin. It appears that rapper Nelly (singer of the 2002 hit "Hot in Herre") has been a bad boy and now is in trouble with the government for not paying his taxes. But fear not! His adoring fans are coming to his rescue. They’ve started a social media campaign urging everyone to stream his song on Spotify – the more the song is streamed, the more money Nelly will make to bail himself out of debt. Are you serious? I can’t tell you how infuriated this makes me, especially given the fact that so many misguided individuals are championing this cause to help out the popular rapper. I’m reminded of a quote by Criss Jami: “Man is not, by nature, deserving of all that he wants. When…
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12Sep 2016 by CJ

Suicide – a decision you cannot change

Life & Living
“Only if you have been in the deepest valley can you ever know how magnificent it is to be on the highest mountain.” – Richard M. Nixon Last week a 16-year-old girl committed suicide at the school where my wife teaches. It was a complete and horrifying shock to her friends, who had no idea she was contemplating it, nor did they know of any apparent reason . It was a complete shock to the faculty and staff, who just the day before were talking with her in the hallway – never once noticing anything peculiar or alarming. And truly, it was a complete shock to me. While I’ve experienced depression and days of darkness when I just wasn’t sure I had the strength to go on, I never felt…
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05Sep 2016 by CJ

Amending familial relationships can be hard

Life & Living, Love & Relationships
“It's not a person’s mistakes which define them - it's the way they make amends.”  ― Freya North I have cousins on my mother’s side, whom I haven’t seen in over 30 years. While some familial relationships experience such absences based on geographical location or the expansion of sub-families, mine seems to have more dramatic undertones, rather than a logical reality. Without airing out all my dirty laundry, there was a supposed “falling out” between members of the family - details of which have been the subject of speculation for years, but never fully revealed to me. I was around eight-years-old when this all occurred. And while I fully understand how turmoil inside the family can quickly divide people against each other, for me there’s still that little eight-year-old boy wondering…
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