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  • Politics Is Like Hiring A Hitman
    by Scott Woods inPolitical on2020-08-13

    For me, politics is like hiring a hitman. I have values and things I care about. I care enough about them to at least bother voting for 5 minutes every year for one issue or another. And because I care at least that much, I vote for people who align with the ability to realize the things I care about.

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  • Punching Above Our Weight
    by Roger Madison Jr. inPolitical on2020-07-24

    I believe our vote is the punctuation of our voice. Without that resounding exclamation mark, I believe our voices are just incoherent noise.

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  • BLACK PROGRESS AMIDST SOCIAL CHAOS
    by Roger Madison Jr. inPolitical on2020-06-16

    Recent events have raised the profile of historical injustice and inequities here in the USA. The entire world has taken note of the fact that BLACK LIVES MATTER.   We invite all of our friends to engage in actions that result in the greatest movement for change in our history. It is imperative that we take advantage of this opportunity to affect a positive change by ACTING IN OUR SELF-INTERESTS.

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  • Living in a Black No-Man's Land
    by Roger Madison Jr. inOur Community on2019-10-28

    There are many narratives that define the Black experience in America in this 2nd decade of the 21st century. Our striving over the centuries of our sojourn in this nation is a tapestry of every human experience -- oppression, enslavement, forced assimilation, dehumanization, exclusion, segregation, isolation, struggle, perseverance, achievement, excellence, celebration, mourning, despair, progress, setbacks, lynching, assassination, genocide, terror, self-hatred, low esteem, pride,...

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  • Fighting Racism
    by Scott Woods inOur Community on2018-10-25

    I had a boss who was racist. Not an outright bigot, of course; her toolbox was more subtle than most. We bumped heads a lot over inconsequential things. She frequently couldn’t keep my name out her mouth. Lot of gaslighting. You know…2018 style. I tried a lot of ways to combat or navigate her issues. None of them worked, and that’s saying a lot because I’m really good at fighting racism. But at the end of the day – every day – she was my boss, I had to deal with her, and that was that. Finally I...

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Choose to Live 100 Years

"The difficulty of life is in the choice." George Moore

"Statistics are no substitution for judgment." Henry Clay

It is difficult to fathom that man once lived to be hundreds of years old. The oldest living person in the U.S. died recently at 115 years of age. Was it luck? Was it modern medicine? Why is it now such a challenge to live long, productive lives? Well, I believe that it has everything to do with the choices that we make in shaping our lifestyles. I believe that statistics are a direct result of judgment.

In previous a post, I offered to you the six dimensions of wellness. These are the areas of life that must be maintained and balanced to ensure an overall sense of good health and well-being. Here they are again: mental, physical, emotional, spiritual, psychological, and occupational. The degree to which we are considered "well" is a direct result of the choices that we make in each of these six areas of our lives. One key aspect in achieving balance comes through understanding that no one dimension operates independently of another. For example, students cannot focus solely on their coursework at the expense of proper diet, exercise, social outings with friends and family, proper rest, and/or meditation. Every dimension feeds the others.

At the start of the new year, many of us made resolutions to set new goals and/or to address some deficiency in our lives. We are almost two weeks in now--are you progressing? Ninety days later, our efforts may dissipate: If we choose to settle back into comfortable routines laden with tasks that don't necessarily fit with our plans we will lose sight of the big picture. How does this happen? We fail to be present in the moment. Many of the decisions that we make are mindless. We do what we have always done without studying the impact. We don't take a personal inventory of our activities and then actively find ways to correct imbalances. Many of us don't know how to assess ourselves, but where do we start?

I took an online assessment this morning called "The Living to 100 Life Expectancy Calculator" by Thomas Perls, M.D., M.P.H. that measures the wellness dimensions in some detail. It will only take about 10 minutes to complete the survey and you will be provided with a projected age calculation with personalized feedback and tips to add more years to your life. http://livingto100.com (See you own physician for a complete health assessment.) Overall, you will come away with some action plans that will help you make more informed decisions about how will live your life. According to my assessment, I could make 8 simple changes that could make it possible for me to live to see 101 years old! Think that you can live 100 years? I challenge you to make the choice today!

More next time...