Don’t Give A Fire Truck

Sometimes, others can get negative at you in life.

People are unhappy. 

 

Complaints are rolling in. 

It seems like you can’t do right.

But you have to have a thick skin or as one colleague told me:

You need to be like Teflon and have it all just roll off you.

And this book title reminded me of this:

“The Subtle Art of Not Giving A F*ck”

Yes, we do have to care about doing good in what we do. 

It’s just that we shouldn’t “give a f*ck” when others are just wanting to tear us down and enjoying it. 

Constructive feedback is good. 

But destructive negativity at every turn is just hurtful.

It’s also a way for others to not take ownership.

We all need to do our part to make things better in this world. 

Sure, no one does everything right and no one is perfect. 

But everyone needs to try their best, and when others just want to beat on you…

That’s a completely appropriate time to not give a firetruck. 😉

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Trump’s Uncanny Ability To Call A Horse A Horse

So President Trump has an uncanny ability to call something what it is and literally brand it that way. 

After Stormy Daniels lost a recent lawsuit against Trump, he called her “Horseface.”

Not a nice term about people and things he doesn’t like.

But you know what when I looked at her, I could see what he saw.

And you know what, she will go down in the history books as Horseface. 

Similarly, with many other brands Trump has bestowed on others:

“Crooked Hillary (Clinton)”

“Failing New York Times”

“Crazy Joe (Biden)”

“Criminal Enterprise (Clinton Foundation)”

“Save Your Energy Rex (Tillerson)”

“Countries That Rip Us Off (NATO)”

“Worst Deal Ever (Iran Nuclear Deal)”

“Losers, Thugs (Islamic State)”

“Fake News (CNN)”

“Pocahontas (Elizabeth Warren)”

“Cryin Chuck (Schumer)”

“Will Make America Weak Again (Nancy Pelosi)”

“Crazy Rants (Maxine Waters)”

“Rocket Man (Kim Jong-Un)”

“Doing Many Bad Things Behind Our Back (Iran)”

Again, I’m not condoning name-calling of any kind.

And words certainly do hurt. 

However, Trump does seem to see things that are like, “Oh yeah!”

And once, he coins a term, it sticks!

Not that it’s right, but he has a genius to brand people and things.  

What he sees and what he calls it, just like a branding iron, will stick with them forever. 

Why?  Because a horse is a horse, especially once it gets called out. 😉

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

I Got The Call

I got the call!

But not the one that I always wanted, which is to serve at the very highest echelons of government or/and industry for those values and things which I so hold dear. 

No, instead I got the call that my professor in college warned me about. 

He said:

“You will get a call one day from someone asking for a lot of cash–no questions asked! At that time, you will know who you’re real friends are.”

So I actually got this call (for real) and in the middle of my work day.

This person who contacts me is considered quite affluent and with an extensive network, and I know him/her for only a relatively short time. 

Person:

“You know you’re like family to me Andy…I need $2,000–in cash–by 7 pm. I’ll pay you back $500 on Friday and the rest by Monday.”

Me (Stunned):

“What–is this a joke or something?”

Person:

{Repeats again the request}

Me:

“OMG. What’s wrong–is everyone okay? Are you in any trouble?”

Person:

“Uh, everyone’s fine…don’t ask me any questions–there’s no time for this now.”

Me {Reaching for some humor in this bizarre situation}:

“Oh, only $2,000–I thought maybe you needed $2 million–that’s no problem, of course.”

Person:

“Please don’t make jokes now Andy–this isn’t funny!”

Me {Trying once again to get some more–any–information}:

“Can you just explain to me what’s going on–I really want to understand, so I can help you.”

Person:

“Do you have the cash or not?”

Me: 

“To be frank no. I don’t keep any cash around. {Inquiring to learn more…} Could you take a check or something else?”

Person:

“No. Listen, can you go to the ATM now?”

Me {frustrated by the abruptness, lack of sensical communication, and pushiness, as well as more than a little suspicious at how this is all going down}:

“Well the ATMs have a cash limit. Also, I would really need to check with my {lovely} wife first,”

Person {seeing they weren’t getting what they wanted when they wanted it}:

“Okay, well if you can’t help, I’ll just call someone else–thanks {hanging up on me}!” 

WOW!

Despite having trusted this person and feeling very hurt by all this, I still called the person back later that evening to follow up and because I truly cared, and they were still not any more forthcoming with me, and in fact, were quite attacking that they were sorry to have called me.

But I wasn’t sorry…my college professor was right on, thank G-d–I do know who my friends are!

Whether its a lunch date, LinkedIn/Facebook contact, or social invitation, be discerning about the motives of people–outside of any sane and normal context–that are seeking to “friend” you. 😉

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Why People End Up On The Sh*t List

This was a funny sign…the old “sh*t list!”

When people do cr*p to you and they do it maliciously and with intent, and as repeat offenders enjoying their evil ways hurting others. 

Invariably, they can end up on the sh*t list. 

However, I’ve never actually seen such a list until this. 

You have your:

– Offender

– Violation

– Was it a friend, stranger, lover, family, other?

– When did it occur?

– Severity level

It even has a line for your “plan of attack”–whether you confront, ignore, stew, avenge, talk sh*t, or other. 

And finally whether the terrible offender is still on or off the list. 

While not every offense is a mortal blow and we need to have compassion for people and try to love everyone…sometimes, people can behave so badly and don’t stop no matter how much you try and beg and offer to help them that they just force themselves onto the bad boys/girls list. 

We don’t want to have ill feelings to anyone–we are all G-d’s creatures–but what do you do when people go so far astray or have problems so big that they hurt others so bad and so often.

Surely, we need to have understanding and compassion first for people and try to do everything to help them and bring peace to the world, but when your dealing with the true worst of what people have to offer and they lack basic human self-control and decency, perhaps that’s why victims revert as a last resort to their sh*t list. 😉

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

What Do We Fear More?

So it’s Halloween tomorrow.

It’s a holiday to remember those that have passed. 

In modern times, it has become a holiday of ghosts and ghouls, spooky and scary.

People dress up often in ghastly costumes, party hearty, and go door to door, trick or treat.

With fright night, I ask myself, are we more afraid of what we don’t understand from the spirit world or perhaps of what do understand from people in this life?

Certainly, the supernatural and the spirits–elements of what’s awaiting for us on the other side are things we don’t really have tangible experience with or understand…we are afraid of the unknown.

But in this world, we are familiar and encounter bad people and deeds, and unfortunately have to deal with them, but it never becomes easier or less scary to confront these.

Sure, we understand that not everyone is good, and not everyone has the best impulse control–people do rotten, horrible things for selfishness and greed or simply because they can’t stop themselves.

How scary is it to run into and have to deal with people that can and will do almost anything–maybe without a conscious thought or remorse for doing wrong…perhaps, they might even enjoy hurting others, taking what doesn’t belong to them, forcing their will or themselves on others, and doing unthinkable acts of crazed violence and evil. 

We are definitely afraid of people like this…they are out of control, and don’t add up for those of us who think in terms of a soul, conscience, an everyday moral compass, and a seeing and hearing L-rd above

So life is scary, but death awaits us all as well. 

And as my dad used to say, no one has ever come back to tell us what happens over there. 

He had the most faith of anyone I know, and I understand we are supposed to have faith that we are going to a better place, but like coming out of the mother’s womb into this world, when we die, we are coming out into a whole new place altogether. 

New things are scary and going from the physical world to the spiritual one, I assume can also be a little earth shattering–where exactly are we going and how will we be judged when we get there? 

Of course, I hope that I will be with my family and with G-d and bask in his eternal light. 

Thus for me, I find myself less scared of ghosts and metaphysical things, but the evil that people can bring, behind ghoulish smiles and with hidden agendas, telling lies and fooling us of their evil intent, that is scarier than any ghost or goblin, any time of year on Earth or beyond. 😉

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Prove Them Wrong

So I was recently teaching a certification class. 

And this was a very high-caliber class of professionals attending. 

One gentlemen was a wonderful African American who I will call John. 

As part of one of the class assignments, John,  a very successful man, told of how as a young man growing up in the DC projects, a neighbor told him something very hurtful and potentially devastating to him.

The neighbor angrily said, “You’ll never be anything in your life!”

And John described how he pursued his education, his career goals, his family, as well as philanthropic pursuits to give back to the community–and he went quite far. 

He told with great emotion and tears in his eyes how ten years ago, he went back to his old neighborhood to thank this neighbor for motivating him (even though in a negative way) to go as far in life as he did. 

You could hear a pin drop in the class–I think a lot of people could relate to this story in their own lives. 

I know that I for one certainly could. 

For me, while I am a simple person and have not gone so far, I have certainly had an interesting life and lots of wonderful opportunities.

Yet, I too remember more than 20 years ago, when I had taken a job in a wild pursuit in my youthful ambitions that one crazy boss that I was briefly working for who was considerably older than me and with his own business abusively said to me one day, “You’re not half of what you think you are!”

BAM! Like a huge sledge hammer hitting me right across my head–I was still relatively young and impressionable.

Also, I came from a pretty blue collar-type working family and although upwardly mobile, and I was certainly trying to become “more,” I never really felt at all entitled. 

Anyway, the story this student told really brought my own experience hurling back to me from my past. 

In the class, John said–you have to go out and “Prove them wrong.” 

And while I don’t exactly feel that proving others who wish us bad to be wrong is the point, I do agree that we shouldn’t let any of these negative nellies in our own lives drag us down. 

We all have our mission in life–and it’s up to us to become the best people that we can–and to hell with everyone who looks down on us, discourages us, maybe are competitive with us or jealous in some way, or simply don’t wish us the best. 

So John is right–go out there and do great things! 😉

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)