Questions of Thought, Struggle, Misery, and Fairness

 

"Sometimes you just need to talk to a four-year-old and an 84-year-old to understand life again."

-- Kristen Butler

What comes first, a deed or a thought?

A thought. Even if you do something subconsciously, the brain still has to think about doing it.

What makes a great teacher?  Passion, or personality?

Passion, about the subject they’re supposed to be teaching, not about socialist doctrine.

Why is it that after many years of struggling, some people still won't make it?

They have done something wrong. Poor planning, wrong job, not trying hard enough, not caring, and so many more possible reasons. It is really up to the person who is struggling to honestly answer this question of “why” they haven’t made it. It usually falls on poor choices or decisions they’ve made while on their path.

“You are not the victim of the world, but rather the master of your own destiny. It is your choices and decisions that determine your destiny.”

-- Roy T. Bennett

What was your biggest victory after hitting rock bottom?

Living. My second victory was learning how to do it while striving to be happy always.

What is the point in becoming successful if you’ve lost yourself already?

You’re not successful if you’ve lost yourself. You can attain a goal, but you won’t be successful. Success, apart from attaining goals, is the ability to be truly happy always and in all things, especially when you attain a goal. This requires you not to be lost.

What attaining the goal will allow you the time to do, however, is find yourself. When you’ve accomplished that task, strive to be truly happy. Once you’ve managed that fairly simple task, you will be truly successful in life. You need to embrace that it isn’t the goal that brings you success, it is the true happiness you feel at all times. 

You’re taking a very difficult test and when you look at the window you saw your friends holding a sign that got all the answers to the test, what would you do?

Turn them in. They aren’t really your "friends" if they think you’re too stupid to pass the test. Their unethical behavior is also risking your ethical reputation and your future on campus. Real friends don’t do this, and you should be better than that.

"To me, knowing how to do something is like cheating. That's why I never studied in grade school. Studying made passing tests too easy. Anybody can pass a test if he studies. But I wanted to explore the furthest limit of my inherent knowledge. Apparently, my limit is C minus."

-- Gary Reilly

What is 70% of 2,000?

1400. You need a calculator.

Are you a balanced person? If so, how did you get to be balanced? If not, what steps do you need to take to be more balanced?

Yes. I read, live life, and learn. Learn to keep your mouth shut and open up your ears. Listen. Listen and learn. Read and live life. Form your own opinions, and question everything. When you speak, control your voice. If you control your voice you control the conversation. This also requires you to control your emotions. There must be balance in all things or there is chaos.

Which factor would you weigh more important between technique and experience if you had to choose one?

Experience. Experience hones technique to a razor-sharp edge.

“The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience.”

-- Eleanor Roosevelt

What are the most underrated random acts of kindness?

A smile.

When given two equal paths, why do most people usually choose the one on the right?

They do? I must be as odd as my mother says I am, then. I’m right-handed, but I usually lean to the left given a choice of anything other than politics.

What "life is unfair" thing did you learn upon becoming an adult?

Life is what we make of it. If life seems unfair, make better choices.

"Sometimes, life is unfair, and you have to suck it up and move on and not use it as an excuse."

-- Unknown

How does one understand the miseries of this world?

If we, in fact, were given everything we need to exist and thrive, then greed accounts for almost all the misery in the world. The balance is explained due to poor choices. Misery, unfortunately, has always been the consequence of mankind’s poor management of the gifts we were endowed with. We need to make better choices and decisions.

What is the perfect next job for you?

Pushing up roses. But, every day I wake up on this side of the dirt, is a good day.

What topics would you like to delete from your mind?

Sadomasochism. Maybe… nope. Still there.

“The worst part of this obscenity, this shameless visibility, is the forced participation, this automatic complicity of the spectator who has been blackmailed into participating. And it is this which is the clearest objective of the operation: the servitude of the victims, but a voluntary servitude, one in which the victims rejoice from the pain and shame which they are made to suffer. The complete participation of a society in its fundamental mechanism: interactive exclusion - it doesn’t get better than that! Decided all together and consumed with enthusiasm.”

-- Jean Baudrillard

 

Editor's Note

(Re: disclaimer cum "get out of jail free" card)

Before you go getting your panties in a bunch, it is essential to understand that this is just an opinion site and, as such, can be subjected to scrutiny by anyone with a differing opinion. It doesn't make either opinion any more right or wrong than the other. An opinion, presented in this context, is a way of inciting others to think and, hopefully, to form opinions of their own, if they haven't already done so. This is also why, occasionally, I will present an "opinion" just to stir an emotional pot. Where it may sound like I agree with the statements made, I'm more interested in getting others to consider an alternate viewpoint. 

It is my fervent hope that we keep open and active minds when reading opinions and while engaging in peaceful and constructive discussion, in an arena of mutual respect, concerning those opinions put forth. After over twenty years with military intelligence, I have come to believe engaging each other in this manner and in this arena is the way we will learn tolerance and respect for differing beliefs, cultures, and viewpoints.

We all fall from grace, some more often than others; it is part of being human. God's test for us is what we learn from the experience, and what we do afterward.

Pastor Tony spent 22 years with the United States Air Force Intelligence as a planner, analyst, briefer, instructor, and senior manager. He spent 17 years, following his service career, working with the premier, world-renowned, Institutional Review Board helping to protect the rights of human subjects involved in pharmaceutical research. Ordained 1n 2013 as an "interfaith" minister, he founded the Congregation for Religious Tolerance in response to intolerance shown by Christians toward peaceful Islam. As the weapon for his war on intolerance he chose the pen, and wages his "battle" in the guise of the Congregation's official online blog, The Path, of which he is both author and editor. "The Path" offers a vehicle for commentary and guidance concerning one's own personal, spiritual, path toward peace and the final destination for us all. He currently resides in Pass Christian, Mississippi, where he volunteered as a chaplain at the regional medical center.

Feel free to contact Pastor Tony:  tolerantpastor@gmail.com