Life’s Tempest Flame
On rare occasions in life, we encounter those that offer connections unlike any we've experienced in our past. The value they bring to our existence...
She
Was she a ghost The one I loved the most An Illusion of the mind That I can't leave behind The pain is real For...
The Army: Cavalry Scout Perspective
In early January of 2008, I entered basic training and AIT at Fort Knox, Kentucky. I joined the Army late in life at the age...
Justice for all: How Societies Crumble.
Institutions of Justice are what hold states together. If corruption runs rampant in a state, the justice system breaks down, favoring those with money and...
Monotheism, etc.: Anthropic Principle
What is the strong anthropic principle? The strong anthropic principle states that the universe must have conditions capable of supporting intelligent life. That this must...
Beyond Earth: Survival of the Species
Survival of the human race upon Earth has been constant competition for resources. Technology has enabled us to extract resources with remarkable efficiency and raised...
Fire and Brimstone Sale! Everything must Glow!!
If you fail to comply, you burn in fire for eternity! Sounds reasonable, right? Religion was utilized throughout history as a confidence game. It enables...
For the love of Irrelevance
Our subconscious minds contain a vast library of information. Our dreams draw upon this vault of information and make manifest stories with no apparent logic...
Constrained Vernaculars of Substratal Bipeds
The development of language has enabled us to coordinate strategy, solve problems, and facilitate learning and civil society. But, on the other hand, language has...
The Price
Value is subjective based upon individual choice and preference. What we call civilization is based upon a generally agreed-upon value of goods and services. For...
The Pretentious Puerile Imbeciles
I don't expect to inspire my readers with words of encouragement today. However, I intend to tell a story about what it's like to exist...
Hope Floats down a river of lies
Hope is that great expectation of a brighter future. A belief in the positive attributes of humanity or some project we have in the works....
The Lingering Vision
If you had asked me when I was a teenager if I'd recognize the man I would be in 20 years, I would probably say...
Leadership and Power in Today’s World
No one wishes to have their wills subverted. We live our lives seeking a level of control we never really achieve despite every effort. We...
Invisible Chains
I live in a state with very minimal employment laws protecting its citizens from abuses perpetrated by employers. The operating rationale of this decision is...
Purpose?
Life is a journey without a clear-cut destination. We slog through, searching for happiness that is just around the next bend in the road. Perhaps...
Personal Growth
We plant seeds in fertile ground and watch the fruits of our labor spring into life. Sometimes they grow into magnificence, and at other times...
Chameleons and Truth
At an early age, we experience the judgment of others. The unmitigated harshness of reality is painful and difficult to understand. The majority of us...
Appearances and all that….
We live in a world where appearance is everything. It goes to such extremes that substance no longer matters to many, just the semblance of...
The Merits of Authenticity
Life is tumultuous and often a cruel teacher of the humanities. We emerge as babes, and some us remain such somehow unafflicted by the...
The Naivety of Babes
Life is the summation of experience. To say we have lived isn't a statement made lightly. We grow old, and as our lives progress, we...
The Replay
Humanity has a long history fraught with wars and disputes of all kinds. We have displayed an inability to coexist with others peacefully for any...
The Castaway
Life is a pursuit of happiness for some, and the search for money and power for others and these two goals are not always synonymous...
Unearthing Truth
Since the dawn of man, humans have been consummate explorers. We started by exploring over the next rise in search of resources and new horizons....
Unbarred Hearts
The world can be a dark and unforgiving place filled with a multitude of obstacles. Each of us makes our way through the morass as...
Reality:What is it really?
We have all got our notions of what constitutes reality. Philosophy tells us that reality is both subjective and objective. Science seems to embrace the...
The Irredeemable
The heart goes where it wills. We often find ourselves led about as if controlled by puppeteers, due to the desires of our heart. The...
Progressive Retrogression
Existence is a minefield, dotted with pitfalls aesthetically differing yet familiar in their consistent and constant barrage upon our consciousness. From birth we strive forward...
Who can you rely on?
Our existence is a trial from which there is no escape. We all lose in the end. Time ravages all it touches from the highest...
The Old Familiar Road
We enter this world by no choice of our own. Once we become cognizant of ourselves, we greet the world with wonder and fascination. We...
The Mediocre
Life is spent pursuing happiness and security for one's self and family. We fight daily not in open warfare but compete with our fellow humans...
A Nation Divided
We are a nation constructed from the ashes of revolution and built from the blood and sweat of patriots. From that firey beginning, a country...
Renaissance
So much of our lives we encounter what at first seems like setbacks, and down the line, we discover that these perceived defeats were in...
The Inspector General’s Report
The IGs' report is due to be released tomorrow no doubt with heavy revisions from the DOJ. I sincerely hope that this will allow us...
What does liberty mean to you?
We are fortunate enough to live in a part of the world that professes it's love of liberty and freedom. Yet, the inescapable conclusion that...
Service
I'm an Army veteran and I'm proud of serving my country. It is difficult for some to understand what branch loyalty means to a veteran....
The Diversification of Delusions
Diversity seems to be the darling of pop-culture. It is encouraged in everything from fashion, leadership, hiring policies, and even the choice of personal relationships....
Faith in People/Movements
Faith can be a beautiful thing to have. If we love someone implicitly then we put our trust and faith in their steadfastness. Faith that...
Have we reached a Crossroads?
This country was founded on the concept of liberty and freedom from persecution by those with unmitigated power. It established the precept that all men...
The Q-Anon Phenomenon
The Q-Anon saga appeared out of nowhere with some mysterious entity promising classified intel relevant to current events aimed at some broader plan to take out...
The Root of the Syrian Conflict
Conflicts throughout history have always materialized due to monetary concerns. Sure as has been taught by the political leaders of old, the real reasons for...
Trade war on the Horizon?
Those of us alive today are no strangers to conflict, now we face what could amount to a trade war that might very well lead...
Religious Cloaks
Religion has been the foundation of societies around the world, both pre-modern and what we call modern society today. This in itself is not a...
The Greatest Loss
Life is a journey filled with victories, some of them pyrrhic in nature, and losses that leave us in search of where we went wrong....
Information in the Digital Age
We exist in a period of instant access to information both great and small. There was a time in the not so distant...
Visions
We live in a world where appearances are everything. Sadly, many people still believe that seeing is believing. A society focused on fabricating an illusory...
Thy Branches doth Grow
We learn if we pay attention while we are in school that there are three branches of government. The Judiciary, Legislative, and Executive branches. However,...
The Political Landscape
Politics in our country has always been a minefield made even more dangerous by bellicose rhetoric from both sides of the aisle. We elect representatives with...
Umbral Display
You hear the phrase you only get one chance to make a first impression. Such a statement conjures up images of the result of failed...
Identity: Defined by you or Society
We like to consider ourselves independent and free from the labels of society. However, passive stances upon the designs of others have led to some...
The lost art of Friendship
Friendship is the bedrock of any society. Strong connections with others that have similar goals in life are instrumental in leading a productive and healthy...
The Season of Renewal
It is that time of the year again! The grass will become green, flowers will bloom, and mother nature will embrace us with its warmth....
The Military Parade
The President has announced a military parade. At this point, it would seem that the parade will be held on Veteran's Day. It is a...
The Resolute
Existence is challenged by the persistence of time. Its passage ravages all things and grinds them into dust. However, examples abound in nature that proves...
Choosing your Battles
Life is filled with conflict. It is a fact that none of us can escape no matter how withdrawn we become over the course of...
Sins of the Past
History is a subject that many fail to comprehend. The horrors of past are the most oft-repeated and what many will cite when questioned about their...
How to recognize the Narcissistic Manipulator
Throughout life, we encounter numerous types of people. As we approach middle-age, we begin to realize that variety among our peers is in short supply....
Do we get the Government we deserve?
A phrase that one occasionally hears tossed about is that citizens get the government they deserve. Whatever metric we choose to measure it by this...
The Society of Now
We live in a time when technology allows us the ability to communicate instantaneously and order items straight to our home without ever leaving the...
Fiscal Responsibility
We as Americans have not done a great job as a society in managing money and staying out of debt. It should hardly be a...
Meeting with the man that wasn’t there.
Day to day living is fraught with a whirlwind of decisions that are made on the fly. Scheduling the daily regimen of workouts, meals, and...
My Ideas for Prison Reform
Correctional facilities in the United States house more than two million inmates. Despite the name, they have failed to correct some sixty-seven percent of the individuals...
No Substitute for Experience
The greatest teacher one will ever have in life is one's own experiences. Unfortunately, the negative ones have the most power to instruct us in...
The Dichotomy of Social Standards
We share the earth with one another, each society drawing upon its core beliefs to adopt ethical and social standards for behavior among its citizens....
The SOTU Address: My Reaction
Each year we are either treated or are horrified by what we call the State of the Union address. The state of it, however, is...
Life: The Rapacious Void in our Hearts
As life begins, we live with hope for a satisfying and fulfilling future existence. But unfortunately, life deals us setback after setback, and it is...