Creating Life

When life is created, it’s pretty passive. I mean, it’s going to happen or it isn’t. I’m not talking about creation in the Biblical way, but biologically. But creating a REAL LIFE isn’t quite so easy.

We create life, and then there it is. A person is  born, they suck in information for the first 4 years. It’s fun times. After that, the organized learning begins. He goes to school, he’s trained in the informational sphere that represents his current environment. In our global economy that sphere is sometimes hard to find, or even unrecognizable.

 

Critical thinking is now an educational buzzword because of this. Society isn’t really sure what to do with so many people. The economy is changing so work-life doesn’t look the same as it did 50 years ago. How is it going to look in the next 20? Individuals need to be able to absorb information, just like they did then, no question. However, 50 years ago you’d absorb the information and put it to practical use right out of the box. You learned to be a good electrician, farmer, carpenter, whatever, and use it. Today, the information you absorb needs to be synthesized and molded into something else. You may need to create life out of bits and pieces of information rather than having it handed to you.

Our educators, instead of handing out an itinerary for an industry-based future, are charged with presenting as much information as possible so that our kids will have more to work with when they begin sculpting their lives. That can get confusing for both the school systems and the children.

Confusion can lead to frustration, paralysis, and defeat. If you see the news at all, you can see the results of that.

So what does it take to create life in the new digital age? It’s not passive.

• It takes knowing who you are.

What are your strengths and weaknesses?

Skills?

Likes and dislikes?

Your styles?

• It takes an incredible amount of information synthesis.

Who, what, why, where and when aren’t handed to you.

Find these basics about every issue you face, then combine them. Sculpt that information into something that produces value.

• It takes the ability to network.

Get to know other people. Remember what you know, or write it down.

Create a web of human resources for yourself.

On a good day, these 3 will be enough.

On a bad day, or if we have any inherent personal traits that make these difficult, we must understand more.

• Clearly identify what you need
• Clearly identify what it will take to provide for that need
• Ask for help
• Recognize criticism and conflict as opportunity

Creating life, instead of just participating, is going to be fundamental for years. It’s time to start raising our kids that way.

 

Developing X-Ray Vision

Mercury is retrograde in Aries today.

I found myself in a online battle with a woman I don’t know.  A mutual friend had posted a commentary involving the high profit that an American company has attained and remarked about the fact that zero taxes had been paid on that money.

The friend of the friend stated their opinion. Companies like this one employ many people. These people are grateful and happy to have jobs and the company has blessed thousands by existing, thereby earning the right to pay no taxes to the nation.

I got all in a herffufle. Many jobs that are created are poverty jobs. The employee must work, out of a societal and internal compass to do so. However, the job will pay enough for the employee to get to work every day, but rarely enough to afford medical insurance or even car insurance. These people are doing what they should, but there is not enough money in their $300 a week paycheck to afford the things they NEED. The nation is taking a third of what they are paid because it is their obligation as a citizen.

This is not “some” people, who don’t work hard enough, are too “stupid” to do the work, or just couldn’t care less. This is a LARGE chunk of the population who, often through no fault of their own, are struggling to pay their bills.

What is poverty?  In 2016, the U.S. Department of Health and human services released this table outlining the different levels of poverty in the U.S.

100% of poverty is set at $11, 880 for one individual. So, from that number we take $3,920.40 which is the 33% standard individual tax. Leaving a person at 100% poverty level with $7,959.60. To be honest, the table doesn’t say whether that number is net or gross pay. The current federally regulated minimum wage is set at $7.25 an hour. For a 40 hour work week, which is, frankly, hard to come by as an average person working at the grocery store or local fast food restaurant, the math results in $15,080 a year. Take the %33 ($4,976.40) which leaves them with $10103.60. Below the poverty line.

There are a LOT of people finding the work they can get and still living without enough resources to provide for their basic necessities.

This is why it upsets me to hear about companies making billions of dollars and then not contributing back to the nation’s funds. They are not paying their employees enough to live with BASIC necessities. Meanwhile, those who are blind to the struggles of their fellow human beings praise the corporations for billions in revenue.

I’m fuming about this, because it’s not jabberwocky. It’s math. Rent is $400. Food is $400. Gas to get to that minimum wage job is $300. Car insurance is $100. And we’ll stop there, because we’ve already spent more than the money we’re dealing with.

What does this have to do with X-Ray vision?

I was so mad that the friend of a friend couldn’t understand this. I mean, it’s basic math.

However, we were talking. There was conversation about a problem. The only way to resolve problems. At least in America we can have a difference of opinion. They can  have their wrong one, and I can be right, and we’re both fully able to express those opinions. When people stop talking about the hard issues, that’s when we have to worry.

Disagree with  me, just don’t stop talking. The actual right solution lies somewhere between what I believe and what you believe.

As a member of a society where everyone holds their own opinions about what is right, we need to develop X-Ray vision. We need to see past the things that cloud our conversations. Pride, anger, and vengeance get in the way and take our eyes off of the crux of the problem. As we get closer to the real meat of the issue, the stronger these defenses become.

If we look past needing to be right. If we see through which “side” they are on, we’re free to pick away at that center nut, to undo the knot of injustice or misunderstanding, or whatever else is in the  middle.

Most importantly, with X-Ray vision we can leave offense behind. While offense and defense are crucial to developing a strong win, we don’t always need it.

Let’s fight the problem instead of our egos. In every disagreement use X-Ray vision to see past your offensive response, recognize that you’re actually offended by your natural defensiveness and so are they, and focus on the real problem.