The way we live leaves an imprint on the people and circumstances we touch.  Sometimes, like today, I realize that each moment I interact with other people, it may be a time that will be remembered, either positively, or negatively.  It means that our actions may affect people long after they happen.  So it is important that we treat people in a way that we would want to be remembered.

Whenever possible, smile and be pleasant to everyone you encounter.  A smile affects the person that is smiling as positively as the one who receives it.  Look for something good to comment about.  Be grateful and express it often.  I think about the people I meet on a regular basis, especially the ones I like and love.  Good memories are easy to make with these people.

Then, I consider how I can be positive to the people I don’t like, and people who do mean things.  It is so hard to find ways of being positive around these people.  But it is important to try.  The world is a better place for it, each time it happens.  It matters that we try.  Whether or not it works, should not be the criteria by which we judge our behavior.

Being true to oneself is so critical to the development of good character.  It is up to each of us to decide what that will be.  Being remembered will either happen, or not.  Memories of a person can be good, bad, or non-existent.  And we are not the ones who determine this.  The other person makes these decisions.  All one can do is be authentic.  The rest is not in our control.

As I get older, I realize more and more that my time here is limited.  It makes each moment more precious.  One thing is for sure.  I can only go forward from this place and time until the end of my life here.  If I start my day with a prayer to love more each day, then maybe I will evolve to be a person who is remembered for the positive things and not be a person that people will want to forget.

I realize that my age has something to do with the way I feel about many issues.  I suspect it is about maturity and tolerance or intolerance.  One such issue is the proliferation of profanity in the youth of our culture.  It is an affront to civil society and a bane to those of us who like to have peaceful spaces in our lives. And it has become almost as “normal” as its ubiquitous presence.  

So why do they do it?  I have thought about this for a long time.  Once reserved for tough guys and those thought to be crude and uncivilized, children did not speak in this manner. And then, it became a cool thing for adolescents to do for its shock value.  Now, it has become a way of speaking and thinking.

Why isn’t this seen as a lack of vocabulary?  Why is it okay to say nasty things loudly and in public?  I have far more questions than answers.  Vulgarity is not attractive, as much as there may be evidence to the fact that young people may think so.  I very much doubt that it will get them a great relationship or a decent job.

Something that really gets to me, is that there are many young people whom I observe that think it’s okay to say these words because “they don’t mean anything.”  This is not entirely true. Even if these words may not mean anything to a particular circle of “friends,” they do in the world at large.  And people are listening.  People that can make or break your future will make associations between your language and your abilities.  Profanity is not a  smart way to behave.

I am constantly exposed to young people who act in this manner, and it makes me very sad.  I see so much potential being wasted by the constant, negative, extraneous babble.  These “bad” words and blase attitude can crowd out natural curiosity and the desire to gain knowledge.

If one looks at the origins of these words and the negative meanings each of them have, then maybe it would cause some serious thinking.  The words that have expressed insult and degradation to people, are now being used to do those very same things to the ones using them upon themselves.

There needs to be a dialogue with those who think that this behavior doesn’t matter.  The conversation needs to happen, and soon.

There is a problem in public education that has to do with casting blame on others for whatever is not working in our schools.  Some of our children come into school without basic needs being met.  There are many possible reasons for this, some of which are economic, but they come to school each morning, “ready, or not” to learn.

Some of our schools have systems in place that allow teachers to keep on working long after they are effective because of seniority.  There are some teachers that simply aren’t good at their jobs, but no more than other professions.  And in my opinion, having worked in public schools in many different capacities, they are a small minority.

State governments make decisions based on statistics that they collect.  Most of them have not set foot in a classroom for decades.  They are out of touch with the reality of the school environment.  And in the last few years, standardized tests have taken so much time out of the limited hours for teaching, it is counterproductive.  Besides which, teachers are now being judged on the progress of the students based on these tests.  Anyone who makes these kinds of decisions regarding education should have to work as a substitute teacher for at least 30 days per year to see first hand what pressing issues are blocking children’s success and their readiness to learn.

My opinion is that we are all to blame for failures in the educational systems.  I believe it to be a social problem.  We are all part of the problems that exist in schools.  Too many reasons add up to no solution, because blaming others gets in the way.

There is enough blame to go around so that everyone has a share in it.  Whenever there is a problem in one area, the rest of us, not in that area, should run to try and help.  The community should pitch in and fill the gaps.

I think that in decades past, the world was simpler and the community was more involved in the raising of the next generation.  People knew each other in neighborhoods and took part in watching over all the kids.  Even just a sense of community helps children to feel cared for in their environment.  “It takes a village” is not a trite concept.

If we look at the “big picture” and think realistically about the next generation, we need to consider the cost of failure in public education.  Private schools are not the answer because we have to think of every person, not just the ones who have this opportunity.  Voucher programs are not sufficient to teach the entire population of the country at large.

I am not qualified to come up with a solution.  People from all stages and walks of life need to come and bring their ideas to the table.  Together we can tackle the difficulties and come to a consensus.  So much can be done if people come willing and ready to do what’s right for the next generation.  They are the future and they are worth it.  All of us will reap the benefits of their success or the repercussions of their failure.

Every time I put the trash out, I feel guilty for adding to the enormous pits of refuse to be found in every major city in the world.  I fear that at some point we will not be able to hold it all and it really disturbs me.  Recycling is helpful.  But, is it enough?

It wasn’t always like this.  People used to have their milk delivered in glass bottles and the bottles would be returned, cleaned and refilled  to be delivered over and over again.  Nobody used kleenex.  There were handkerchiefs to be washed and ironed and reused until they wore out completely.  There were no disposable diapers, or dishes or silverware.  I could go on and on and on.  

And now we have many kinds of toxic trash, some of which didn’t even exist when I was a kid.  Old computers and batteries and pharmaceuticals have become special types of hazardous waste.  It can only get worse.  Some things will never become recyclable.

So, what do we do?  What can we do?  First of all recycling must become automatic for everyone.  This is a no-brainer.  This is the easiest thing we can do. Reuse everything as much as possible.  Use less of the things that cannot be recycled or reused.  Be considerate of one another.  This is our world, not just yours or mine.  Like it or not, we share it.

We need to become more creative and think of new ways of doing things.  Most of us don’t need a lot of what we have.  We may want it, but do we really need it? Can we use things longer and not buy the next, best version of this and that?  Do we really need to buy the newest model of a phone just to discard the one we have that still works?  Can we give some of the things we don’t want to those in need?

Trash is just one of those things that will never go away.  More people live on this earth everyday.  Everyone contributes to the garbage.  And everyone needs to take responsibility for their own junk.  Period.

I’m sure that everyone knows something about the power of positive and negative thinking in each of our own lives.  But do we consciously and intentionally decide to think in a particular way, or do we just let ourselves be taken in one direction or the other without thinking at all?

When we let life take us on an emotional roller coaster, so to speak, we give up our power to choose the way in which we live our lives.  And, if you so desire, you can do this.  But, if you wish to have a positive or a negative outlook, you must decide how to view things.

Catastrophe hits you right between your eyes.  What do you do?  Panic and see no hope?  Stand up and see it as a challenge?  Maybe you go into shock first, before you can even see straight.  Then, you make a decision.  Whatever you do, you are making a choice because not choosing is making a choice too, if only by default.

You can decide to be positive.  It is something you can learn and it is worth your time.  It is valuable, even if you don’t always make that decision.  It is a useful tool in many ways.  By learning  to think this way, you can develop techniques to make informed decisions.  It takes serious work to look at possibilities and face challenges.

Negative thinking, on the other hand, doesn’t necessarily require a particular thought process to exist.  Instead, it is a mindset that can intensify miserable feelings with negative self-talk.  On it’s own, it does not solve problems.  It could make problems worse.

In 1952, Norman Vincent Peale wrote The Power Of Positive Thinking and it became a bestseller.  To date, it has been translated into 15 languages and has sold over 7 million copies.  Peale wrote 6 more books with the word “positive”  in the book title and 46 books in all before his death in 1993. Since then, a myriad of other books with similar titles have flooded the market.  When I “Googled” the title, I found one listing of quotes about positive thinking that had 1834 entries.  Clearly, you could spend a lot of time reading about this way of thinking.

To be fair, I also searched the web for “the power of negative thinking” which quickly produced a book by Bobby Knight and a lot of other entries, including a New York Times article entitled, “The Positive Power of Negative Thinking.”  There is a wealth of material that can be accessed if one wants to study these two ways of thinking.

One thing is certain.  The way in which we think deeply affects the quality of our lives.  It would behoove each of us to make a deliberate decision about the way we choose to live, and not be tossed and turned by the events of our lives.