Posted on by BWThomas

Does what we say to ourselves and others make a difference?

Painting by Belynda Wilson Thomas

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then is not an act, but a habit. Aristotle

When we hear children’s words, do we sometimes wonder where they heard that? If we know it first came from us, we might be happy if it sounds good, or look for somewhere to hide, especially if it is in public. “Give me a child until he is seven, and I will show you the man”. Is this a Jesuit Motto or a quote by Aristotle adopted by the Jesuits?

It is scary to think we only have a few years to help a child become who they will be. We don’t consider them adults until eighteen, but the foundation for their lives is set much earlier.

Yesterday, my three-year-old grandson invited his mother to eat potato chips with him and his dad. “I don’t like this flavor,” she said.

“We get what we get, and we don’t get upset,” my grandson said to his mother, or something similar. In life, we often get what we get, and getting upset doesn’t make a difference. Sometimes we must accept circumstances as they are, sometimes we can change them, and knowing which is which might make all the difference. We need to know when to work for change and when to accept what can’t be changed, and if we can tell the difference between the two, the impact on our lives will be immense.

How often do we rail against the things we can’t change while living with things we can change that would make a big difference in our lives? How often have we heard, “Clear the clutter, and clear your mind?” How often do we find someone’s life descends into chaos as their surroundings do? Which comes first, and if we can keep clutter from taking over our lives, can we deal with the slings and arrows that come with life?

You can’t build a reputation on what you are going to do. Henry Ford

We might not like the action we need to take in our lives, but if we know it needs to be done, we may as well get to it. If we pull the covers over our heads instead of getting up and getting busy, it leads to feeling worse, instead of better. The longer we take to do what we know we need to do, the worse things get. Sometimes we have to change what we can, and sometimes we have to accept what we can’t, but either way we have to move forward.

I think of the choice Mom and Dad made after Dad lost most of his right hand in a farm accident. Until that happened, I don’t think they considered leaving the farm, but by accepting their new reality, they had a different retirement than they might have expected, and I think it was a pretty good one.

We probably all have some things in our lives we wish were different, but have no power to change. We have choices to work around what we can’t change, and is this where our power lies? If we accept the things we can’t change, and change the things we can, how will it impact our lives? As my grandson told me when I was peeling wallpaper, “Don’t give up”. Eventually, the wallpaper was removed; it seemed daunting to attempt, but now it feels like an accomplishment. Getting started was half done, as it is in many cases, when we finally tackle things we’ve been putting off.

What would make a big change in our lives, how long would it take, and what would it add to our lives?

Tomorrow becomes never. No matter how small the task, take the first step now. Tim Ferris

Do. Or do not do. There is no try. Yoda

If you really want to do something, you’ll find a way. If you don’t, you’ll find an excuse. Jim Rohn

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Posted on by BWThomas

Christmas traditions, building strong families, and making treasured memories.

Painting by Belynda Wilson Thomas

It’s not how much we give but how much love we put into giving. Mother Teresa

Christmas is coming with all that entails. Santa gets the credit for the presents, Jesus is the reason for the season, but moms do most of the work to make it happen.

I’m not part of the over-the-top Christmas crowd. My daughter, the grandkids, and I put up the Christmas tree last week. On Christmas Day, we have a big breakfast, open the gifts, and then late afternoon, the kids and grandkids go off to Christmas dinner at their spouse’s families.

A big Christmas breakfast has been our tradition; we still get our Christmas morning, and the kid’s spouse’s families get them for dinner. Making Christmas work for everyone can be a huge challenge. I feel blessed, and it’s working out for everyone.

On Saturday, I removed a wallpaper border we put up thirty years ago. It was slow going, and my three-year-old grandson, watching me, said, “Grandma, my Dad always says, don’t give up.” He helped me take off wallpaper in the hall. He’s a big helper, and he would have helped on Saturday if I’d let him go up the ladder.

In a movie we watched last night, the overworked Mom mentions three little words she loves to hear. Another character nodded and said, “I love you.”

“No,” the character laughed, “Can I help?” Don’t we always need help and encouragement, but sometimes we don’t get the question, “Can I help?” Because we are so particular, the person asking knows they can’t do things to our standard, and so they don’t offer to do anything at all.

Mom always said, “You have to let kids help, when they are more of a hindrance than a help, or they won’t help when they are capable. Maybe they won’t become capable if we don’t let them learn to do something badly before they can do it well.

What is Christmas? It is tenderness for the past, courage for the present, hope for the future. Agnes M. Pharo

My daughter-in-law helps her Grandma bake. There was a time she would have been more of a hindrance than a help. Now these baking times are a great way for her and her Grandmother to spend precious time together. We are the recipients of the delicious things they bake.

Christmas traditions get started; we might not even remember the origin. I can’t remember when we started having a big Christmas breakfast, but it has become the centre of our Christmas, and more important than Christmas dinner for years.

Once our children grow up and start their own families, we aren’t in control anymore. Our children need to create their own traditions, and if we are lucky, we can be part of them. Such is the tapestry of life, we weave in and out of people’s lives, and we might feel sidelined at times while our children build their own lives.  Our thread will end, and we want our children to carry on with traditions we started or carried on that fit into their lives, and they can pass on to their children. This is how we leave a legacy impacting generations. We don’t know how long our thread will be; what’s important is being a strong thread in the tapestry, helping our children and grandchildren to be strong threads.

Is there a Christmas tradition you hope your children and grandchildren will remember fondly?

 Christmas magic is silent. You don’t hear it – you feel it. You know it. You believe it. Kevin Alan Milne

Winter, a lingering season, is a time to gather golden moments, embark upon a sentimental journey, and enjoy every idle hour. John Boswell

Christmas can’t be bought from a store. Maybe Christmas means a little bit more. Dr. Seuss 

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Posted on by BWThomas

Is losing hope for the future one of the greatest tragedies of life, and the worst thing happening to our youth?

Painting by Belynda Wilson Thomas

Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does. William James

Is the phrase, “The devil made me do it,” still used? As a mother and grandmother, I think, what would make a child or grandchild turn away from how they were brought up and do the unthinkable? A father turned his son in for the heinous murder of Charlie Kirk. Short years ago, did he watch his son finish high school and expect him to build a bright future?

We can’t keep our children safe from influences that mean to take advantage of them. Sometimes we start down paths that aren’t good, realize it, and turn our lives around. Not all parents see this manifest in their children’s lives; some see their children’s lives continue in the darkest direction they can go. Other than prayer, what can we do when we see our children going down the wrong path?

Some paths only devastate the life of the one on it, and some want to take others out with them. What is the phenomenon going on in our society? It is easy to blame guns, but what is behind picking up the gun and aiming it at someone, whether it is a school shooting, a political figure, or someone like Charlie Kirk?  

If we believe that out of bad can come good, does that give us a way forward? All things can be used for good, but how do we use them for good in our own lives? Some believe conservatism is bad, that if we want to conserve something, it means we want to take something away. What it means to me is we want to conserve and preserve for coming generations so they too have a bright and shining future. We conserve and preserve the harvest, for wintertime when we can’t pick anything from our garden to eat.

Success is not final, failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts. Winston Churchill

We plant trees for a harvest in the future. Everything about our society is not bad, but our youth are feeling their inheritance has been squandered. We lived too large, we overspent, overdeveloped, and wasted what should have been conserved for the future. What impact will AI and robotics have? Is the problem that some of our youth are giving up on life before they even begin?

How do we turn this around? How do we offer a bright future to our children and grandchildren, and if there is a bright future, how do we get them to see it? A lot of life is about perspective; my perspective on some things has changed over the years. The years between high school and building a life as an adult are fraught with pitfalls. Does it only seem worse now? How do we build our youth for the future? Has the optimism of youth become the pessimism of youth?

We cannot always build the future for our youth, but we can build our youth for the future? Franklin D. Roosevelt

What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us. Ralph Waldo Emerson

Perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did. Newt Gingrich

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Posted on by BWThomas

What is good, what is bad, staying positive, and dealing with life as it unfolds.

Painting by Belynda Wilson Thomas

There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so. William Shakespeare

Does life feel more or less precarious as we watch what is going on in the Middle East? Are our conversations a minefield as we take sides and someone else takes a different side?

Do we have faith that we can deal with the challenges ahead? No one knows what is ahead, but we all know it will be different from what it is now. We see the changes coming, and many of them we don’t like, but what if changes weren’t coming? Would life be better? Better for whom?

In the game of life, there are winners and losers, and no one minds being on the winning side, but when we think we might not be on the winning side, we’d like to see no more change.

My parents lived through a lot of change, some good, some not so good, but they rode the rollercoaster of life to the end. They lived through one world war, and my grandparents lived through two. We will live through the changes coming, some we may fear but never face, and some we don’t worry about will blindside us

Is faith what will get us through? Do we have faith in ourselves, our countries, fellow citizens, governments, and faith in a higher power? Is it possible to live in a precarious world with faith to deal with what comes? Hasn’t it always been a precarious world? What can we do in our own lives to make our lives less precarious?

Being part of a strong family is a safe harbor in times of trouble. If we are resilient and able to see what is still possible and make the best of what is, life will be better than if we feel we are a victim of circumstances.

A man sees in the world what he carries in his heart. Johann Wolfgang

Victimhood does not build a good life! What is the difference between facing hard challenges and feeling like a victim? Is it when we face hard challenges that we have to find courage to deal with what is, and when we feel like victims, we don’t take advantage of what we can to make our lives better?

We are told we always have a choice, sometimes the only choice is our attitude, sometimes our choice is between two goods, and sometimes we have to choose the best of the bad. Our choices might be for our children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.

Is what we stand up for, rail against, and support, for the greatest good? Do we even know what the greatest good would be? We always come up against the unexpected consequences of our decisions. Sometimes we get good consequences from bad decisions, and we get bad outcomes out of what we thought were good choices. Will there be unexpected consequences for every change we try to make?

Do we pray for those who make the tough decisions affecting all our lives? Do we pray for discernment and wisdom to govern their actions? We know decision-makers have information we don’t have, do we trust them?

We might think we know the obvious direction we or others need to go. But we don’t know, and we can’t know what the unintended consequences of our best intentions are. Leaders are tasked with making hard decisions, even if we don’t like the decisions or think they were the best decision, we will have to live with the results. Can we get peace through strength?

If we are blessed to live in peace and safety, do our thoughts and prayers go to those facing war and strife? Is there more we can do than thoughts and prayers? Is living in peace and plenty possible for everyone?

Never let a bad situation bring out the worst in you. Choose to stay positive and be the strong person that God created you to be! Unknown

No one else can choose your attitude for you. Your perspective and choice of attitude gives you the power to be in control. Irene Dunlap

Choose the positive. You have choices, you are master of your attitude, choose the positive, the constructive. Optimism is a faith that leads to success. Bruce Lee

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Thank you for reading my books, and a special thank you for leaving a review on Goodreads and Amazon. If you click on the Amazon link and make a purchase, I receive a small percentage of the sale through the Amazon affiliate program.

Posted on by BWThomas

Clash of titans, relationships change, can some be fixed, but others end forever?

Painting by Belynda Wilson Thomas

Building and repairing relationships are long-term investments. Stephen Covey

How many of us have experienced beautiful relationships that ended? Some relationships die because we didn’t put enough time and effort into maintaining them as we moved on with our lives. People go their separate ways, lose touch, and sometimes we never hear from friends who at one time were the center of our lives.

Sometimes we stay in touch loosely, and other times relationships end in spectacular ways. The rose-colored glasses come off, and someone we saw who had no warts, we now see as having all warts. It happens everywhere, in our families, friendships, workplaces, and governments.

Personalities, ideologies, and circumstances collide, and our relationships can be casualties. We were good until something was said or done that changed everything. We might wish with all our hearts we could go back to what was, but once the fracture happens, there may be no way to repair the breach.

Parents and children, siblings, and friends haven’t spoken in years. Some will go to their grave never speaking to each other again, and some will begin to talk when there is a death in the family. If a brother, sister, mother, or father is not welcome at a wedding, how much of a shadow does it cast?

Petty feuds occur with individuals we thought were above petty feuds, and may blindside us when they happen to us. How do we bridge the chasm between us, and if we can’t bridge it, how do we keep the fallout from affecting everyone around us?

Are there people we need to keep at a distance because the relationship will end badly? Have we watched other relationships end badly and still ventured forth to build one? We might enjoy watching famous relationships implode spectacularly; the clash of titans titillates us on the evening news.

A relationship is like a house. When a light bulb burns out, you don’t go and buy a new house. You fix the light bulb. Unknown

Watching other people’s relationships, we might wonder how we can make our relationships better, or keep them from devolving into coldness or exploding, and burning ourselves and everyone around us.

Some relationships will end, but if they have to end, do they have to end with vitriol spewed publicly? Isn’t it better to distance ourselves from relationships that no longer serve, without making it public? Some people might think we are being fake, pretending everything is okay, if we still speak to someone we no longer want a relationship with. Isn’t this better than fracturing everyone’s relationship? Sometimes people expect us to take sides, and we are in their bad books if we talk to someone they no longer talk to.

Is it possible to not take sides, and the one who makes us choose loses? Will power dynamics be such that we have to choose a side? We can’t heal someone else’s relationships, and sometimes we can’t even heal our own. Maybe what we can do is bring civility into our lives, so if breaches get healed by others, we haven’t created ones of our own.

Relationship repair just might be the most important skill you can learn for your emotional wellbeing. Unknown

Many good relationships have been broken and ruined by unwise words being spoken in a rage of bitterness, hatred and anger. Words of bitterness filled with hatred and anger breaks up relationships and throws logic and reason out of the window. Errol Anthony Smythe

A good ending to a bad partnership is better than a bad ending to a good one. Unknown

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Posted on by BWThomas

Every day comes with challenges and choices; sometimes we fall, but we should always get back up.

Painting by Belynda Wilson Thomas

Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant. Robert Louis Stevenson

I wanted to lie in bed longer this morning. How important is it if I get this blog out, in the big scheme of things, or any scheme at all? It’s important because if I stop, I might not start up again. A few Mondays of not bothering is the end. It’s not the end if there is a reason we stop something, but if we stop for no reason, then it probably is the end. We might be going through a period of self-doubt, wondering why bother, no one needs my ramblings.

But, I need them; they’ve become a part of what I do, and I like myself better when I write, just like I like myself better when I eat right and exercise. I read an article by a doctor over one hundred years old, and he says the most important thing is to exercise daily. It is better to exercise and be overweight than be thin and not exercise.

We often belittle what we can do, because we aren’t perfect. If we can walk and do, we will be healthier, even if we have a cookie, cake, or ice cream sometime in the day. Moving and stretching are good for us.

Yesterday was a time to get together, share a meal, and laugh. We need to take the time to get together and enjoy the time we have. Time flies by fast; our grandson is already three, and our granddaughter is six months old. It won’t seem that long, and he’ll be twenty-three and she’ll be turning twenty-one. Those twenty years will fly by regardless of how I fill my time.

Finding a creative outlet and enjoying creating something lifts our spirits and feeds our souls. Getting our fingers in the dirt, cleaning up debris, and neatening up the yard gives us a feeling of accomplishment. Spring blooms make us smile. If we plant them, can we make someone else smile as they walk by?

The fact that I can plant a seed and it becomes a flower, share a bit of knowledge and it becomes another’s, smile at someone and receive a smile in return, are to me continual spiritual exercises. Leo Buscaglia

Life is here, and we need to make the most of it. It won’t be perfect, we worry about things that won’t happen, and are blindsided by those that do. Things work out because we adjust to the realities of life, we might think I couldn’t manage if, but we can, whatever that if is.

One of the best things Mom and Dad did was show us what perseverance, courage in the face of adversity, and facing challenges head-on looked like. They planted in the spring, harvested in the fall, and dealt with what came. There is no other way to live a life. We might not be planting our seeds in soil, maybe we are planting seeds of a different sort, but they will still need time to germinate, they will still need to be tended and nourished as they grow to fruition, they will need to be harvested, and new seeds need to be sown.

We might feel like giving up, we might have given up on some of our dreams, but giving up is a sad thing to watch. We’ve seen a house that looks like the occupants have given up. The backyard is full of things that were once or still are treasures, but it all looks like junk to an onlooker. The house looks as rough as the backyard. Whenever I watch shows on hoarders, there is always a story behind the hoarding, usually one of loss. The question begs to be asked: What would it take for the hoarder to find a better way to deal with loss?

We, too, might be so broken by loss we can’t find a way out, and maybe we should think, “There but for the grace of God go I.”

Every adversity, every failure, every heartache carries with it the seed of an equal or greater benefit. Napoleon Hill

We cannot force someone to hear a message they are not ready to receive, but we must never underestimate the power of planting a seed. Unknown

Think twice before you speak, because your words and influence will plant the seed of either success or failure in the mind of another. Napoleon Hill

Thank you for reading this post. Please return and read more. Have a blessed day filled with gratitude, joy, and love.

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Thank you for reading my books, and a special thank you to those who leave a review on Amazon and Goodreads. If you click on the Amazon link and purchase an item, I receive a small percentage of the sale through the Amazon affiliate program.

Posted on by BWThomas

What if we can always get better and that is our true purpose in life?

Painting by Belynda Wilson Thomas

Those who seek a better life must first become a better person. Jim Rohn

Listening to Jordan Peterson in an interview yesterday, he said, “We have a moral obligation to be optimistic toward the future.” What would it mean to be optimistic about the future, and what does it mean not to be?

Some people go on like the sky is falling and everything will be ruined, and we may be in for hard times. Some of our parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents went through hard times but through it all they moved toward better, and why are we thinking we can’t move toward better too?

We should always be moving towards better, but that doesn’t mean mistakes aren’t made, unintended consequences don’t occur, and we don’t have to regroup and reorient ourselves. How can we make this year better than last year? Spending our time worrying about what someone else has to do won’t make our lives better, we might feel we can analyze world affairs better than those tasked with the job, but I’m pretty sure it’s hubris on my part to think I see things the people in charge don’t see. How to make things better is for the people in charge to interpret and implement, and we will see the results in the fullness of time, some things they will do well, but there will be mistakes and missteps, and there will be no matter who is in power.

Since most of us have no impact on governance other than our vote, and many don’t exercise our vote, does complaining give us a sense of power? Do we waste our time complaining about what we can’t change instead of changing what we can? It seems like a thankless job to pour your heart and soul into running a city, province, or country; do we need to be grateful people are willing to step up and take on the challenge? How could anyone make most of us happy? Good governance might not be about making the people happy, but doing what is best for the city, province, or country, and what is best might make many people unhappy.

You have power over your mind, not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength. Marcus Aurelius

We know the government isn’t run perfectly but is our life? I see improvements I can make, but it is easier to complain about what someone else should do than to do what I can do. Perfection is the enemy of the good, and things could be so much worse. I have to remind myself to be grateful for how things are because it is a miracle we have the lives we have, with the conveniences, opportunities, and security we enjoy.

Jordan Peterson tells us we shouldn’t take for granted things going right because they could as easily, or more easily be going in the other direction. How often have we felt something could have been catastrophic, but somehow we escaped?

Are we all wandering in the wilderness; why else are self-help books so popular? Do we need to come upon a burning bush to set our feet on solid ground, find a purpose, and work on becoming better? What would our lives look like if we improved something every year? How would our relationships, health, and interactions in the community improve? Who would we encourage, and whose lives would be better because our lives touched theirs?

Jordan Peterson talked about firing on all cylinders, and he was asked how many cylinders there are. Maybe an unlimited amount was his answer. What if this is true and finding the right cylinders for us is the challenge? What if we can make a difference in our own and others’ lives? What if being better is truly possible if we choose to make it our goal?

You must take personal responsibility. You cannot change the circumstances, the seasons, or the wind, but you can change yourself. That is something you have charge of. Jim Rohn

When we are no longer able to change a situation – we are challenged to change ourselves. Viktor E. Frankl

You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it. Maya Angelou

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Thank you for reading my books, and a special thank you to those who leave reviews on Goodreads and Amazon. If you click on the Amazon link and purchase an item I receive a small percentage of the sale from the Amazon affiliate program.

Posted on by BWThomas

Find meaning in the small things, everyone can do something to make life better for someone.

Painting by Belynda Wilson Thomas

Some people want it to happen, some wish it would happen, others make it happen. Michael Jordan

What if Jordan Peterson is right, a mother can only be as happy as her most miserable child. What if this is true about society as well? What if we don’t want to see the terrible toll drugs are taking on our society because to look away means we don’t have to acknowledge a society that isn’t working for everyone?

What would it take for society to work for everyone? What would it take for someone to exchange meaninglessness for meaning? How must the change makers of the past have felt when they brought meaningful change to hurting souls? When they had a cause they believed in that would make life better – not for themselves, but for people they didn’t know, and weren’t born yet.

Where do we find meaning in our lives? Do we find it through service to others, our families, our community, and the greater society? Our society with all that is wrong with it, has many people who feel the hurts of others and want to help. The problem might be we are misusing empathy. He who is compassionate to the cruel will ultimately become cruel to the compassionate. Jewish folk saying

I’ve been listening to speeches from the ARC Conference (Alliance for Responsible Citizenship). Have we lost our way as a civilization and need to return to what helped us build a great civilization, but not a perfect one? It might be true we will always have the poor, but relative poverty is not the same as abject poverty.

Society grows and changes and we have to grow and change with it, but we have to keep the moral compass that has kept us moving forward for thousands of years. If we lose our faith in ourselves, our religion, and our society we will be ripe for other ideologies to take over. We have seen other ideologies rising, but we haven’t seen other ideologies create better societies. I think it is time for a revival of meaning and values and this is what ARC (Alliance for Responsible Citizenship) offers.

Too many of us are not living our dreams because we are living our fears. Les Brown

Working farms are being used as tools to overcome addiction. An active working farm resembles a life of recovery in that the work is never complete. Having grown up on a farm I can see how caring for animals, fields, and daily chores could help someone build a life of sobriety and meaning.

The other day, I heard someone mocking the idea of working for free on a farm to achieve sobriety. Would they rather see them on the street addicted to drugs? It is hard to know how to fix hurting souls, but if all we want to do is tear down other people’s ideas, how do we move forward?

We know working with animals helps people heal. We know meaningful routines are good for us. We know we need to remove ourselves from the environment that causes the problem. We know farm life is considered by many to be a wholesome life, and this might be exactly what addicts need. On a farm, they could find meaning, and structure, and be part of something bigger than themselves which will prepare them to go back out into the world, as a person with a contribution to make.

What if we are moving into a new era of people finding hope, meaning, and faith? Finding faith in themselves, a higher power, and faith in their countries, communities, and the world, and this is the antidote to a hurting world? We sometimes think people of faith are small-minded, but what if they are the big-minded people, not all of them, but enough to be the change we need? What if we can do all things through God who strengthens us? What if hope and promise are here, what if the future is bright?

Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy. Dale Carnegie

If everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself. Henry Ford

Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes… the ones who see things differently – they’re not fond of rules… You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can’t do is ignore them because they change things… They push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius… Steve Jobs

Thank you for reading this post. Please come back and read more, and have a blessed day filled with gratitude, joy, and love.

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Thank you for reading my books, and a special thank you to those who leave reviews on Goodreads and Amazon. If you click on the Amazon link and purchase an item I receive a small percentage of the sale through the Amazon affiliate program.

Posted on by BWThomas

Crisis creates opportunity. We should never waste a crisis.

Painting by Belynda Wilson Thomas

Opportunity is everywhere. The key is to develop the vision to see it. Jeremiah Say

Crisis creates opportunity, and even if we don’t take advantage of the opportunities they are still there and someone else will take advantage of them. How often do we look back over our lives and think I was there but didn’t see it? Many of us have been waiting for opportunities but only looking back do we see the opportunities that came our way.

I look at other lives and think why didn’t I see what they saw, what was I thinking when X was happening, why didn’t I jump on board?

How big of a life can we live if we are opportunity seekers and opportunity takers?

It’s time to start thinking about planting seeds, in our gardens and lives. The seeds we plant, like the thoughts we think will bear fruit. Are we planting for one season or for years to come? Are we planting something that will bring a blessing to generations?

My son tells me we are the worst generation; he thinks we haven’t been very interested in the legacy we leave behind. We haven’t been the builders but instead the users, not the conservers of what we inherited.

A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty. Winston Churchill

How do we look at what is happening in the world without fear? If it is possible, we have to have faith we can deal with what is coming, that embedded in chaos and crisis is opportunity. We need faith in our traditions that have helped build lives based on courage, fortitude, and trust.

We know if life is to be better for us, it has to be better for others. What does better look like, is it one more big purchase, one more memorable holiday, or is it building for the next generation? What choices need to be made as individuals and society to build better? Do we trust life can continue to improve for coming generations?

What would our grandparents, great-grandparents, and great-great-grandparents think of what we’ve built? Some of the good is very, very good, but some of the bad is very, very bad. How can we build a society with less of the very, very bad?

Why when we have an array of choices do some of us choose the very worst of what is on offer and others choose the very best, while still others muddle somewhere in the middle?

A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds. Francis Bacon

Opportunity often comes disguised in the form of misfortune or temporary defeat. Napoleon Hill

Life is a matter of choices, and every choice you make makes you. John C. Maxwell

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Posted on by BWThomas

Competition and national interests.

Painting by Belynda Wilson Thomas

In almost every case, whenever a tariff or quota is imposed on imports, that tax is strongly supported by the domestic industry getting the protective shield from lower-priced foreign competition. The sugar industry supports sugar tariffs, textile mills lobby for tariffs on foreign clothing. Stephen Moore

Who gets to weigh in on this conflict between America and the rest of the world? As a common person, I’m throwing out my two cents. What if what we are most afraid of will make us stronger and more resilient? What if we grow from adversity and become complacent with ease? What if all the angst can be harnessed for good and we will all come out better on both sides of the border?

What if self-reliance is needed because reliance on others means we can’t always get what we need? What if the price of a bargain is too expensive? What if fair trade and not free trade is what we need? What does fair trade look like, and is fair according to whom?

What if this trade war with America costs my household, but Canadians start doing things we should have been doing, we might all prosper in the end. We finish the pipelines to export our oil and natural gas to the world. We secure our borders.  We build houses, build up our country, and make things work. What if the kick in the pants we need comes from South of the border?

I listened to an interview with Jean Chretien, who served as Canada’s Prime Minister from 1993 – 2003 and turned 91 on February 1st. He tells us this is nothing new, we’ve always had trade wars with America, and he started dealing with America in 1968. What we sell to America they need.

There’s no such thing as a genius in politics, or at least I have never met one. There are only human beings, some better than others, who rise or fall on the challenges they meet. Jean Chretien

This might be a glass half empty, half full moment, and we choose to look at it either way. We have good people to negotiate for Canada, we have to trust they will do their best, and we also have to trust that America does not want to throw a wrecking ball into the parts of our joint economies that work tightly together. We must stay calm, Canada is not going to be the 51st state. Will we end up better because we get our house in order?

Let me tell you, my fellow countrymen, that all the signs point this way, that the 20th century shall be the century of Canada and Canadian development… For the next 100 years, Canada shall be the star towards which all men who love progress and freedom shall come. Sir Wilfrid Laurier October 14, 1904

A weaker currency is a national tariff. After we get a weaker currency, we have to take advantage of that. Or else, we will waste it once more in inflation and in the inability to raise competitiveness. Uday Kotak

Everybody talks about tariffs as the first thing. Tariffs are the last thing. Tariffs are part of the negotiation. The real trick is going to be increasing American exports. Get rid of the tariff and no-tariff barriers to American exports. Wilbur Ross

Thank you for reading this post. Please come back and read more, have a blessed day filled with gratitude, joy, and love.

To subscribe, comment, and see archives or categories of posts click on the picture and scroll to the end.

Thank you for reading my books, and a special thanks for leaving a review on Goodreads and Amazon. If you click on the Amazon link and purchase an item I receive a small percentage of the sale through the Amazon affiliate program.