Tag Archives: bottom line

Debris

Debris: (n) the remains of anything left over

It’s a matter of getting the right mind-set. If you don’t, you may find yourself going through life feeling cheated—angered at being passed over.

The bottom line is that ninety percent of us never get a chance to work with something that’s brand new.

The folks who handle the new shit have to have so much money that you and I could never achieve such garish amounts.

What we end up with are left-overs.

  • Abandoned projects.
  • Broken pieces.
  • And ideas that have already been deemed worthless.

Yet it is completely possible to get rich off of poor results—to have money because someone else failed to see a way to turn the material into something viable.

This is why a carpenter once mused that “the meek will inherit the Earth.”

In other words, once the rich people get bored or can’t remember why they bought something in the first place or have broken it just a little bit and don’t want to mess with it anymore—well, these spoiled-rotten humans will walk away and leave it behind, making it, shall we say, public domain.

I, myself, am a piece of debris.

I probably am not handsome enough for a fancy woman.

I’m not slender enough for an athletic one.

My talent is obvious but diversified and might confuse those who are looking for the strait and narrow.

I don’t have enough money to impress you.

And I don’t have the desire to overwhelm you with my silver tongue.

I pick up what’s usable and make it better. In making it better, I end up with the full usage of the discarded, and the possibility that someone might just want my little piece of renovated debris.

What is the old saying?

One man’s treasure is another man’s junk?

Also, one man’s junk, if treasured, can delight the world.

 

Changeable

Changeable: (adj) able to change or be changed.

It had all the appearance of being an official meeting.

Everyone was sitting around the table acting adult, and we were following Parliamentary procedure, which made us feel like “big kids.”

A gentleman spoke up and said, “Of course, no one likes change.”

Nearly everyone in the room nodded in agreement. Well, actually everybody but me.

You see, here’s what I have learned. If you work on an asparagus farm, it’s a good idea not to complain about the asparagus. And if you’re going to live on Planet Earth, which is in a constant flux of change, it’s a really good mental health move to stop bitching about transition.

Change is not inevitable–change is essential.

Change is the possibility of carrying the garbage out the door.

Change is being forced to consider the bottom line instead of just falling on your ass.

Change is when the Mother Nature, God, common sense, chaos and love meet together and agree, by some miracle, what direction to head.

Trying to appear “set in your ways” only beckons the concrete removers to come and chisel you out of your opinion.

What should our attitude be? What does it mean to be changeable?

Changeable is knowing that things will change–and if we get ahead of the process, we might actually have the privilege of determining some of the outcome.

 

 

 

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Bottom Line

Bottom line: (n) the final total of a financial document

If you’re not willing to flirt with some poverty, you’ll never make out rich.Dictionary B

It’s true.

There is such a thing as “safe money,” which remains the same because it is a salary given to you to procure your services by someone who owns a company–who is risking that paying you will end up paying him or her more.

If I had trusted the bottom line in my life, I would not have done ninety percent of the things I pursued. And even if fifty percent of those ended up either failing or having mediocre results, I still have a tremendous compilation of miracles, experiences, friends, creations and adventures to tout because I took a chance … on good things.

 

 

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Benchmark

Benchmark: (n) a standard against which things may be compared or assessed

Dictionary B

At the risk of barking out some dogmatic standards, I shall attempt to offer some concerns.

As I view the climate of politics, religion and entertainment, which are meant to be foundations in our American society, I realize that the benchmark for each one of these offerings has shifted over the years, unconsciously accepted by the masses.

Religion should have only one function: to teach us to love each other.

Anything else ranges from superfluous to dangerous. Nowadays we ask religion to afford us a heritage, a style, a uniqueness, or even a guarantee of eternal life.

The benchmark we have set for religion is careless.

On the other hand, the only benchmark for politics is honesty.

Without it, we fail to recognize what the true problems are, and therefore we end up working on the insignificant and overlooking the necessary.

Nowadays, politics is the symbol of deception, dissension, gridlock and even a certain amount of ridicule.

We’ve lost our benchmark on politics.

And finally, entertainment should have the benchmark of entertaining us, but also enlightening us.

Without these stipulations, entertainment starts to be sensationalistic, desiring a plumper and plumper bottom line.

When we lose our benchmarks, we start to stray, which makes us appear lost ... even as we insist we are following the cultural GPS.

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Being

Being: (n) the nature or essence of a person.

Dictionary B

The question is misleading.

We often ask younger people, “What do you want to be when you grow up?”

It’s not what we want to know. What we want to know is what they want to do when they grow up. Unfortunately, we teach our younger generation to do without ever having them search their souls for who they want to be.

The end result is that many people arrive at a certain status, where they have achieved obvious success in what they’re doing, while totally dissatisfied with who they are being.

The more important question is, “Who do I want to be?”

After all, I have to live with that entity as I go about doing.

Without this, we convince ourselves that achievement produces satisfaction rather than satisfaction promoting achievement.

We start talking about things like:

  • Bottom line
  • End results.
  • Keeping it real

You don’t have to keep it real if you are real. It just naturally oozes out.

I became a better person when I paused “doing” and perused “being.” It led me to three conclusions:

  1. I am not alone.
  2. You aren’t either.
  3. We should consider each other.

It makes all the difference in the world.

It actually turns you into a human who is worthy of being.

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Barter

Barter: (n) to exchange goods or services for other goods or services without using moneyDictionary B

“I really want it.”

This is probably one of the greater phrases spoken by human beings.

Without the passion to pursue some thing or some purpose, we try to conform our tastes to what is marketed as being current or cool. It’s the danger of possessing only money, and not producing a substance through talent.

So we go to the store with moolah, and then we allow the Madison Avenue promotion to convince us of what we need, never achieving a decision to get what we want.

The reason this transformation has occurred is because we have decided that bartering is for third-world countries which grow melons and go to open-air markets to sell them to hapless tourists.

But the truth of the matter is, if I have something you want and you have something I want, we both want something. Therefore, haggling over the price is the entertainment that gets us to the point that we are satisfied with what we’ve attained, and have a story to tell about the good deal we achieved through negotiation.

Otherwise, you go to the store and buy an overly advertised piece of material which has been pre-priced by executives who are looking at the bottom line instead of the pleasure of their customer.

Don’t get me wrong–I’m not lamenting the loss of the bartering system. I just want to make sure that I always get what I want and not what is thrust upon me … because someone ordered too much of it and they’re overstocked.

 

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ABV

by J. R. Practix

dictionary with letter A

ABV: (abbr.) alcohol by volume

Let’s even things out. I get it.

Politicians are generally considered to be greedy, nasty folks, out to get a vote, who will do anything to be elected.

People involved in religion are portrayed in our society usually as a bit ignorant, with an ax to grind and with the horrible side of being judgmental.

Corporate fat cats are only concerned about the bottom line and will personally kick your butt to get it.

Let’s just say that I don’t argue with any of that. But by the same token, WHY are alcohol and weed portrayed as “fun, glamorous, intriguing and giggly?”

I’ll tell you the truth: I saw a woman walking down the hallway of my motel the other night who was drunk. She was obnoxious, loud, out of her mind, a little scary and right near the front door, she threw up–which by the way, even though they cannot portray this in movies, STINKS.

I also stopped and asked two young men parked in front of a convenience store for directions . They rolled down their window and the waft of marijuana smoke floated out to my nostrils. Not only could they NOT give me adequate guidance to get to my destination, but I don’t think either of them ever knew I was there.

They weren’t HIGH. They were LOW.

The lady in the hallway wasn’t partying–she was vomiting.

Let’s try to create a society where we start with candor, move to balance and end up being able to make intelligent choices for ourselves. Let’s not attack government and spirituality and leave ABV and drug stupors in some sort of imaginary world of untouched revelry.

  • Alcohol makes people nuts.
  • Marijuana makes people dull.
  • Politics makes people compromise.
  • Religion makes people overly dependent.
  • And corporations make people too worried about profit margins.

I get it. I would just like to see this represented fairly. Alcohol is not better than the Baptist church simply because the people in the movies want to sell beer so they can get funding for their next project.

The alcohol blood volume in this nation is ridiculous. The political gridlock is equally stupid. The religious insignificance offered is insipid. And corporate greed is not making better products.

Call ’em like you see ’em–and make sure you test for the right volume in each situation.