Tag Archives: human beings

Calculating

Calculating: (adj) acting in a scheming and ruthlessly determined way.

Do me a favor.

Stop trying to outsmart me.

Yes–that would be the kindest thing you could do for me.

If you don’t like me, respect me, appreciate me or want to be around me, don’t attempt to use your calculating ways to make me look foolish
 so you can have a good giggle with your real friends as you walk away.

I’m a human being.

I’m looking for a chance to be with people who will see my faults, mention them privately and then defend me in front of those who would try to destroy me for my weakness.

The American culture has become a great competition in trumping one another. I do not mean any disrespect to our President, but the phrase was alive before his administration, and it endures.

If your greatest need is to conquer me, then I surrender.

If you must prove you are my intellectual superior, then I nod to your diplomas.

If it’s your muscles that must be praised for their firmness and size, I will stand over here meekly and applaud.

Although I have tried to be a calculating person, the end result was always a Pyrrhic victory–I won without possessing anything in my hands. Yes–an empty feeling of vanquishing.

I’m not interested.

I’m not willing to be either the instigator nor the victim.

If you want to deal with me, come clean or don’t come at all. I can handle it. Can you?

If you have a need to be better than me, then feel free to pursue your path, but also be prepared for the end result of your ignoble effort. 

 

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Cack

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Cack: (n) a talkative, gossiping person

I have a new favorite word!

Cack!

How perfect! Does that not describe every single gossiping soul that you have encountered in your life?

They cackle–like poultry. And this stimulated me to realize that there are three types:

There’s the duck cack:

This is the person who tears another individual’s character apart, under the guise of concern and prayerful wishes, ducking away from the responsibility of being a back-biting loser.

This is followed by the chicken cack:

“Cluck, cluck, cluck, cluck” all day long, pecking at the integrity of others, only to turn chicken and deny their involvement when confronted. They’ll even tell you who started the rumor.

And finally, there’s the goose cack:

These are people who are so sure that they’re direct emissaries from the Lord God Almighty that they’ll take their long neck and beak and unapologetically stick it up your ass–goosing you.

After all, when you speak for the heavens, you’re certainly not concerned about earthly criticism.

Here’s the question:

Can I catch myself when I become a cack?

Can I keep myself from barnyard nonsense so I have the right to live in the house with other sensible human beings?

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Bulldoze

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Bulldoze: (v) to use insensitive force when dealing with someone or something.

People will not be convinced.

All the attempts to debate, argue, fuss, preach, evangelize and bulldoze human beings are wasted effort.

Knowledge does not impress us.

We pretend it does. We pass on the impression of being impacted by information. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Once you realize that any effort you put into changing another human being through speech, force, intimidation or even alienation will only deepen their convictions and cement their will, you can cease your campaign.

Humans change when they’re convicted–in other words, when the evidence stacks up against them and they are sentenced by a court of public opinion, looking for a pardon.

  • It is an act of their will.
  • It is often a manifestation of frustration.
  • It is a jealousy over seeing others happy.

It is why it’s better to let your light shine instead of trying to buy the whole world flashlights.

 

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Build-Up

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Build-up: (n) a gradual accumulation or increase

When the project fails, in retrospect, we call it “hype.”

When we’re trying to promote the project we refer to it as “build-up.”Dictionary B

How much advertising is really necessary to propel a good idea?

How much money do we need to spend to advertise quality?

How much recognition is achieved by shouting things from the housetops?

It is the nature of the human race to be picky and to appear disappointed.

So if you advertise the “best tacos in San Antone, Texas,” very few people will agree and admit, “That was the best taco I ever ate.”

Instead, you will be inundated with descriptions of other tacos they’ve enjoyed, or worse, suggestions on how you could make your taco better, so your advertising would coincide with the product.

For instance, I think we would have a more successful democracy in America if we had less build-up.

  • Why do we have to be the “greatest nation on Earth?”
  • Why do we have to be superior in every way?
  • Why do our missiles have to be more powerful?
  • Why do we think our athletes are more attractive or healthier?
  • Why do we think our women are fairer than those in the Middle East?

What have we really achieved as a nation, a people or even as individuals, through build-up?

Because just as soon as you try to convince someone that you’ve found the best … they will start looking for better.

 

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Budget

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Budget: (n) an estimate of income and expenditure for a set period of time.

Sometimes I think the word “budget” was created so that the word “over” can be used more often.

Over budget.

I don’t exactly know why we’re so obsessed with budgets. I mean, I understand the practicality of them, but itDictionary B often resembles the little ant talking to the rubber tree plant.

In other words, we can account for many things as human beings:

  • We can tally.
  • We can work.
  • We can place things in envelopes.

But none of us are prepared for the surprises. Usually, those unplanned happenings are negative and not positive.

For instance, your car never tells you that it grew another transmission. That would be nice.

This is why, when we play Monopoly, and we pick the card that says “Bank error in your favor. Collect $100,” we almost feel like crying.

What is the value of a budget? The greatest purpose for a budget is to confirm that we have the possibility for solvency in the first place. Without such a consideration, we can launch a ship and run out of supplies in the middle of the ocean.

It’s called “counting the cost.”

And even though it doesn’t solve all problems, it at least informs us that if the wind blows just right, the figures we put on paper have half a chance of covering the need.

 

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Brutal

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Brutal: (adj.) savagely violent.

On occasion, I comically refer to human beings as “monkey angels.”

A little bit of jungle, a little bit of heaven.

Because of this mixed breeding, the climate for our species requires a careful mingling of tough and tender.

I get in discussions with my sons about this all the time. They are convinced they can watch Dictionary Bmurder and mayhem in the movies and experience brutal treatment of God’s children, and be no worse the wear.

But the true diet for our spirit is an enduring toughness about complications and a tender empathy for our fellow-travelers.

In other words, celebrating, commemorating and being challenged by those who overcome difficulty through their determination, while emotionally impacted by gentleness among all brothers and sisters.

We’ve flipped it.

I think we try to be tough with our dealings with each other as we tenderize ourselves with decapitation, devastation and depravity.

It screws us up.

So I, for one, have no desire to become stronger by watching brutal acts.

Brutal is for brutes.

And “brute” is the part of our monkey that wants to act like a gorilla.

 

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Brood

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Brood: (n/v) a family of animals, or to think too deeply

There are several ironies in life.Dictionary B

Well, more than several, but a couple come to mind.

The idea that politicians can actually be statesmen. (I don’t know if that’s ironic or just pathetic.)

A second irony is the assumption that religious leaders actually give a damn about human beings.

You can be accused of being a misfit by railing against organizations which have lost their mission and purpose. Matter of fact, Jesus of Nazareth was crucified for sedition. That means he objected vehemently to existing standards–to such an extent that those who promoted the agenda found a way to kill him.

Maybe it’s because he called them a “brood of vipers.” It would be difficult to take that back, wouldn’t it? You couldn’t exactly say, “You misunderstood. I like snakes.”

But when you take into consideration the double meaning of brood, that being “a clumping” and also “a downcast, sour outlook,” you have completely described organized religion.

Religion worships a God who insists He loves everyone while simultaneously being so pissed off at humanity that He establishes stringent rules and threatens damnation.

It is alarming that atheism does not thrive more in our species, considering the abuse we endure by embracing faith.

Jesus didn’t like the Pharisees.

He said they created burdens which they expected people to bear, while they were privately finding ways around lifting their share.

Many things come in broods:

  • Certainly vipers
  • Religionists
  • Politicians
  • And white collar criminals

I suppose you can have a brood of thieves, and no doubt, a brood of murderers.

But whenever a gathering of souls completes their meeting and the departing participants have a smug grimace, you have unearthed something venomous instead of healthy.

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Botch

Botch (v) to carry out a task badly or carelessly.

Politicians could certainly learn a lot by reading the first six chapters of the Book of Genesis.Dictionary B

Because even though the Creator of the Heavens and the Earth certainly had enough status and power to insist that He was error free, within those six chapters, Almighty God admits He botched three things.

First of all, He created the Heavens and the Earth, but upon a closer look, realized that the planet was a real mess–misshapen and incapable of sustaining life. If His goal was to make creeping things, then the situation was already botched.

And later on, when He discovered how disgusting human beings could be, He regretted that He ever made them, and concluded He had botched the whole experiment by including Homo Sapiens.

Shortly after that, the God of the Universe has to repent because He killed all the people off in a fit of anger and realized the decision was overwrought.

So …

If God–who got the title because He was supposed to be mistake free–botches things, then who are we to think we can solve all of our problems with lies and duck tape?

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Boggle

Boggle: (v) to be astonished or overwhelmed when trying to imagine something.

Human beings are emotional creatures.Dictionary B

Perhaps our greatest error is when we fail to recognize this simple fact.

It’s not that women are emotional and men aren’t. Men cry like babies when they lose a football game.

We even have religions which try to do away with emotion, contending it’s the universal stumbling block to spiritual growth.

Good luck.

Our emotions will not be denied, ignored or passed over in favor of reasoning.

So long before our minds are boggled, we are emotionally confused and spiritually vacant. In other words, we have a feeling about something and no belief system to address it, so we are brain-dead-confounded.

One of the best reasons to believe in a Creator is to understand how we were created. We feel, we believe and then we think–even though there are those who say we should think first and then develop belief, ending with a confident feeling.

But it doesn’t work that way.

We feel first and then have belief so that we actually can think about it and come up with a common sense solution.

Our entire society, political arena and world order is presently boggled.

Why?

Because no one wants to deal with their feelings, and then find the faith to be reasonable.

 

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Bloom

Bloom: (v) to produce flowers; be in flower.

Dictionary B

Perhaps the most difficult thing for human beings to do is admit that what we are pursuing is just not blooming–especially if we’ve gone through contortions to promote it.

There are just signs that ideas, beliefs and goals are growing in the right direction and are worth further cultivation. When these signs are absent, we have to be willing to walk away and maintain the good cheer necessary to start again.

What are the signs?

1. Good ideas green.

Long before they bloom, they show some sprout–what you planted is actually emerging from the dirt. There is a greening.

2. We don’t find ourselves needing to make excuses.

I can always tell when I’m pursuing a faulty pathway–I need to over-proclaim its value or constantly explain why it’s important. Some truths do need to be self-evident.

3. Other folks see the growth and get excited.

America is a victim of hype. We spend too much time trying to advertise instead of asking ourselves if it actually has any chance of progress.

  • If you plant a seed and get some green, then comes the bloom.
  • If you don’t plant a seed there’s no chance for greening–that is true.

But don’t expect anything to become flowery if it doesn’t have… da-vine.

 

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