Blood Counts

I got my current blood counts today. Just a few improvements. My white blood counts are critically low and I have very low platelets. Still off chemo.

Pat Sr Health Update

My most recent blood test indicated that my current chemotherapy is adversely affecting my blood counts. For now, my oncologist is suspending my chemotherapy.

THE NEED FOR EDUCATION

Today’s blog to my grandchildren is about the need for education, including the need for continuing education after you have completed your formal education. I am also sharing the advice and plans of others because you would be wise to emulate them.

My first advice comes from Dr. Ben Carson, the recently retired director of pediatric neurosurgery at John Hopkins Hospital, one of the premier hospitals in the US.  In his book “One Nation”, Dr. Carson says:

“There are many studies available to show vast lifetime economic differences between those with a high school diploma versus a college degree versus a professional degree. (Education in highly skilled trades also pays off very well economically.) The first twenty to twenty-five years are spent either preparing yourself educationally or not preparing yourself. If you prepare well, you will have sixty years to reap the benefits. If you prepare poorly, you will have sixty years to suffer the consequences. When you look at it that way, a little investment in hard work for a relatively short period of time pays huge dividends, while failure to prepare is equivalent to choosing to be a victim of society. We must get our young people to understand that they are the ones who get to make the choice about the lifestyle they will lead. As long as they remain free of legal entanglements, no one can stop them from pursuing their dreams.  My life is a testament to this.

Education also opens many doors of personal fulfillment and joy that have nothing to do with economics. I believe it would be highly instructive and beneficial to many of the young people in our nation to live abroad in a third world nation and then return to the United States. Like many immigrants who come here, I believe they would immediately realize how many opportunities they have and how many choices are theirs for the taking.”

Great advice from someone who has overcome many difficulties to become a highly respected and influential person.

In my opinion, the most important action my grandchildren can take is to develop a general career plan that fits what you want to do-see example 2 in my 11/12/2013 blog entitled Advice to Grandchildren. You should then correlate your education to your career plan.

I know that it is difficult to determine career direction when you are young.  You simply haven’t experienced enough of life to know what career you really want for the next sixty years of your life.  But, you need some general sense of the characteristics that are important to you.  As examples:

• What attributes are important in your daily activities?  In other words, what’s fun for you? For example, do you like to have exposure to a variety of people and frequent communications during your daily activities? Or, do you prefer more solitary activities?
• Do you like work that requires a lot of detail? Are you organized or more of a “free thinker”?
• Do you prefer working on tasks where you are in charge, even though you may be working with others? Or, do you like working on tasks with others where you are just a member of a bigger team? If you prefer the first approach, consider a career where you are an individual contributor—generally a professional role (attorney, carpenter, dentist, plumber, electrician, mechanic, physician, etc.).  If you prefer working as part of a team, look for a career where team play is an important part of your responsibilities.
• Do you prefer a career that requires a continual formal education process, like a professional career (e.g., accounting, attorney, consulting, physician etc.) where there are formal continuing education requirements? Or, do you prefer a career that is “one and done” where most of your continuing education comes from on-the-job learning?
• Do you like physical tasks that require working with your hands? Or, do you like tasks that require mental problem solving?
• Do you have a hobby that you would like to continue as a career? As an example, a friend of mine has an education degree but he really liked woodworking, which he turned into a full-time career as a furniture manufacturer and cabinet maker.
• Do you have an entrepreneurial spirit?  Do you have an idea for a business that you can start yourself?  Many of the world’s most wealthy people have been entrepreneurs.

These are just a few of the questions you should be asking yourself as you consider your career options. Your parents and guidance counselors can also help you as you consider your long term career choices. There are also a variety of books that you can read which can help you with career choices.

Money by itself doesn’t make you happy.  When you make your selection of a career, just be sure that you will enjoy it. There is nothing worse than making a career choice and then hating every day you go to work for sixty years. You will be much happier (and ultimately more successful) selecting a career that you enjoy, even though it may pay less.  

For those of you who are not fortunate enough to be able to currently afford college or have tried college but have decided it’s not right for you, I want to share some thoughts about the difference between a “job” and a “career”. Two of the people who have an excellent perspective on this distinction and deserve to be emulated are Hazem Awad and Edgar (Robin) Aleman.  Here are their stories:

·   Hazem Awad—For my friends who may not know him, Hazem is the brother of Sarah Awad, the fiancée of my grandson, Justin Collett.

When I first met Hazem, we had a conversation on our deck about the difference between a job and a career. Hazem has an excellent perspective about the difference between the two and he has a plan for achieving his career goals.  Hazem said that he is not able to currently afford to be a full-time college student. He went on to say that his plan is to have a “job” in his 20’s and start a “career” in his 30’s. 

During his 20’s, he is going to initially take the first two years of classes for his Bachelor’s Degree at Columbus State Community College where tuition costs are much more reasonable.  Then he plans to transfer to a 4-year University (perhaps Ohio State) where he can finish the courses required for his Bachelor’s Degree. That is a great plan.  It allows him to get a lot of the basic courses out of the way at a reasonable cost. Then he can focus on the courses in his area of specialty.

·   Edgar (Robin) Aleman—I have included Robin’s full name for my friends who might read my blog and do not know Robin.  Robin is married to my granddaughter Sheridan Payne.

Robin also has a great plan to achieve his career goals.  He is currently taking classes to get his commercial driver’s license so that he can get a higher-paid “job”.  With the higher pay resulting from a truck driving job, he hopes to make enough money to be able to afford classes at a local community college.

Robin’s plan is the same as Hazem’s: focus on a “job” in his 20’s and focus on a “career” in his 30’s. Robin will be focusing on a career that makes use of his multi-lingual capabilities and is people oriented. 

Just because you can’t currently afford college or specialty courses at this time, don’t give up. Think longer-term like Hazem and Robin. 

To summarize, identify a career path that is attractive to you, develop a plan that will help you achieve that career, and execute that plan by getting the additional education that you may need, whether it is on-the-job training, a trade school, or a college degree.

THE GREAT THANKSGIVING HOAX

My friend Frank Lictenberger provided me the following so I am posting it unedited on my blog.

The Great Thanksgiving Hoax

NOVEMBER 27, 2014 - Richard J. Maybury

Each year at this time, schoolchildren all over America are taught the official Thanksgiving story, and newspapers, radio, TV, and magazines devote vast amounts of time and space to it. It is all very colorful and fascinating.

It is also very deceiving. This official story is nothing like what really happened. It is a fairy tale, a whitewashed and sanitized collection of half-truths which divert attention away from Thanksgiving's real meaning.

The official story has the Pilgrims boarding the Mayflower, coming to America, and establishing the Plymouth colony in the winter of 1620–21. This first winter is hard, and half the colonists die. But the survivors are hard working and tenacious, and they learn new farming techniques from the Indians. The harvest of 1621 is bountiful. The pilgrims hold a celebration, and give thanks to God. They are grateful for the wonderful new abundant land He has given them.

The official story then has the Pilgrims living more or less happily ever after, each year repeating the first Thanksgiving. Other early colonies also have hard times at first, but they soon prosper and adopt the annual tradition of giving thanks for this prosperous new land called America.

The problem with this official story is that the harvest of 1621 was not bountiful, nor were the colonists hard-working or tenacious. 1621 was a famine year and many of the colonists were lazy thieves.

In his History of Plymouth Plantation, the governor of the colony, William Bradford, reported that the colonists went hungry for years because they refused to work in the field. They preferred instead to steal food. He says the colony was riddled with "corruption," and with "confusion and discontent." The crops were small because "much was stolen both by night and day, before it became scarce eatable."

In the harvest feasts of 1621 and 1622, "all had their hungry bellies filled," but only briefly. The prevailing condition during those years was not the abundance the official story claims, it was famine and death. The first "Thanksgiving" was not so much a celebration as it was the last meal of condemned men.

But in subsequent years something changes. The harvest of 1623 was different. Suddenly, "instead of famine now God gave them plenty," Bradford wrote, "and the face of things was changed, to the rejoicing of the hearts of many, for which they blessed God." Thereafter, he wrote, "any general want or famine hath not been amongst them since to this day." In fact, in 1624, so much food was produced that the colonists were able to begin exporting corn.

What happened? After the poor harvest of 1622, writes Bradford, "they began to think how they might raise as much corn as they could, and obtain a better crop." They began to question their form of economic organization.

This had required that "all profits & benefits that are got by trade, traffic, trucking, working, fishing, or any other means" were to be placed in the common stock of the colony, and that, "all such persons as are of this colony, are to have their meat, drink, apparel, and all provisions out of the common stock." A person was to put into the common stock all he could, and take only what he needed.

This "from each according to his ability, to each according to his need" was an early form of socialism, and it is why the Pilgrims were starving. Bradford writes that "young men that were most able and fit for labor and service" complained about being forced to "spend their time and strength to work for other men's wives and children." Also, "the strong, or man of parts, had no more in division of victuals and clothes, than he that was weak." So the young and strong refused to work and the total amount of food produced was never adequate.

To rectify this situation, in 1623 Bradford abolished socialism. He gave each household a parcel of land and told them they could keep what they produced, or trade it away as they saw fit. In other words, he replaced socialism with a free market, and that was the end of the famines.

Many early groups of colonists set up socialist states, all with the same terrible results. At Jamestown, established in 1607, out of every shipload of settlers that arrived, less than half would survive their first twelve months in America. Most of the work was being done by only one-fifth of the men, the other four-fifths choosing to be parasites. In the winter of 1609–10, called "The Starving Time," the population fell from five-hundred to sixty. Then the Jamestown colony was converted to a free market, and the results were every bit as dramatic as those at Plymouth. In 1614 Colony Secretary Ralph Hamor wrote that after the switch there was "plenty of food, which every man by his own industry may easily and doth procure." He said that when the socialist system had prevailed, "we reaped not so much corn from the labors of thirty men as three men have done for themselves now."

Before these free markets were established, the colonists had nothing for which to be thankful. They were in the same situation as Ethiopians are today, and for the same reasons. But after free markets were established, the resulting abundance was so dramatic that annual Thanksgiving celebrations became common throughout the colonies, and in 1863 Thanksgiving became a national holiday.

Thus, the real meaning of Thanksgiving, deleted from the official story, is: Socialism does not work; the one and only source of abundance is free markets, and we thank God we live in a country where we can have them.

IMMIGRATION

With the arrival of 52,000 children as illegal immigrants in the first 6 months of this year, a  national debate is raging over immigration. Here are a few of my thoughts on the subject to start my debate with Lauren on this subject.

I am in favor immigration but I am opposed to illegal immigration. Logically, there has to be a limit to how many people the United States can absorb into it's economy without causing social and economic disruption.  What is that limit?  I don't know but simple logic would indicate that the US cannot absorb all the poor from Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Brazil, etc. without major disruption of of our infrastructure and economy. If one accepts the premise that a limit is necessary, than it is the role of our government to determine and enforce that limit. 

Why am I in favor of immigration? We grew as a nation by immigration and I see no reason why we cannot continue to grow as a nation by permitting legal immigration. Legal immigration will help us in several ways:

• Immigrants will help bring needed skills to the US to help us grow.  It is no secret that the education of US children is badly lagging many other nations in mathematics and science. We simply aren't educating enough engineers, doctors, and scientists to meet the changing world. Legal immigrants will help us fill that gap.
  
• Immigrants will help us keep wages lower and thereby become more competitive on a global basis. 
  
• I also believe that immigrants will help to continue to invigorate our culture.  Many immigrants have a "hunger" that is at times lacking among certain segments of our own populace.

To summarize, I believe that legal immigration can continue to have a positive influence on our country, just as it did in the 1800's and 1900's.

How should we determine who can enter the US legally? My belief is that we need a set of standards by which we evaluate potential immigrants.  But, those standards need to be broad enough to accommodate people with a variety of backgrounds, not as President Obama has said "the best and the brightest."  

Why?  My grandparents immigrated to the US and while they were decent, hard working people, I'm not sure they would have been considered the "best and the brightest." Lack of a college degree or a lot of money should not bar people who wish to come to the US to become a functioning part of our society.  I believe we should allow people of all educational and economic strata to legally immigrate to the US. 

What should be included in our immigration standards? In my opinion, our immigration standards should include the following:

• Limits On Public Assistance--My grandparents came to the US before the growth of all the public assistance programs that are in existence today.  They came with the expectation that they would have to work for a living to support themselves and their families. We need to limit all forms of public assistance programs that immigrants can receive.  We should bar all people who want to come to the US who cannot demonstrate that they can be become a contributing member of our society within a reasonable period of time.
•  Willingness to Assimilate--One of the strengths of our culture has been our ability to assimilate disparate cultures into one more or less homogeneous culture. I understand the need to maintain cultural heritages.  But, immigrants to the US need to assimilate into our society and not "Balkanize" into separate cultures.   One of the greatest problems facing the world today is the Balkanization of countries into separate regions, frequently based upon religious beliefs (Iraq) or ethnic background (Ukraine and significant parts of Africa).
• Learn our Language--Immigrants to the US should be required to learn English as their primary language within a reasonable period of time.  They should not be entitled to citizenship until they have done so and failure to do so should result in deportation.  That is one way to avoid the Balkanization process.

I'm sure there are a lot of other requirements that are necessary but these are the most important to me.

To improve legal immigration, the immigration process needs to be revised and streamlined. Based on my experience with Robin's immigration process, the process is too complicated, too long, and too costly. 

It is a difficult decision as what to do with respect to the 52,000 illegal immigrants who have arrived in the US this year that are children. Having 3 children, 9 grandchildren, and 2 great grandchildren, my heart goes out to the needs of these children. But, as previously noted, there is a finite limit to what our nation can do to help the poor of other nations.  There are millions of children around the world who live in poverty and whose countries are embroiled in conflict of one type or another.  The refugee camps in Turkey, Jordan, and a variety of African countries are just the latest in refugee problems that have existed for centuries.  We simply cannot absorb all the world's refugees without a serious displacement of our economy.  I'm afraid that if we grant these children asylum in the US, it will set a dangerous precedent.  It will only encourage further illegal immigration from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and other Central/South American countries.  Therefore, I believe these children (and the parent's who accompanied them) must be deported.  

OK Lauren.  Those are my thoughts.  Let me hear your thoughts and let the debate begin.

ABORTION-WHEN DOES LIFE BEGIN?

I was recently ambushed by my granddaughter Lauren.  It's amazing how sneaky grandkids can be.

While innocently sitting at the kitchen table, Lauren asked me "Grandpa, why do you believe in abortion?" Little did I realize that my comments would become the opening paragraph of a philosophy paper Lauren was writing for one of her college classes.

Here's Lauren's opening remarks in her paper:

" A young girl and her grandfather sit together around a table illuminated by the afternoon sun.  Out of the blue the girl asks why her grandfather holds that the view (that abortion) is ethical.  The grandfather responds with the typical 'I believe it is the woman's right to choose what happens to her body' mantra. With a quirk of her head, the lass asks why that would matter (as) to whether the fetus is a human or not.  Sighing, the grandfather rebuffs the girl's argument with the simple ' I do not believe in (that) conception as (is) the beginning of life.' The girl is stumped.  She has studied the topic of abortion but, obviously not comprehensively.  Otherwise, she would have known the many fallacies of such a statement."

Well done Lauren.  A trap laid very well and your dumb grandfather walked directly into it.

The purpose of this blog is to share with my family and friends my thoughts about the subject of abortion and the right to life. I realize that some members of my family will not agree with me.  So be it.  We are all entitled to our opinion.

With the few superficial grammatical changes I have noted, Lauren accurately portrayed my broad opinions on the subject of abortion.  But, let's dig deeper.

With a few exceptions, I believe that all pregnant women should carry their fetuses for a full term. If the child's mother/father/family cannot give the child an adequate home life, I encourage them to give the baby an opportunity to prosper and grow by placing the baby in one of the many adoption programs sponsored by charitable and governmental organizations. I personally know of many children who have been adopted and have thrived. 

Those are my personal opinions but it is not my opinion that really matters in these decisions.  The opinion that really matters and takes precedent is the opinion of the mother/father/family of the woman who is pregnant. Contrary to the beliefs of others, my opinion (or theirs) does not abrogate the right of the mother/father/family to choose what happens to the entity within the mother's womb.

So if the mother/father/family decide after an appropriate reflection period that an abortion is appropriate for the woman, should there be limits on when the abortion can be performed?  My opinion is "YES".  But, I am not smart enough to determine what should be the boundaries for that election period.  Is it the first week, first month, first trimester, or some other period? I will leave that determination to smarter people than me.

As I struggle to escape from the trap Lauren sprung on me, I hope the above comments clarify my position on abortion.  For a more scholarly dissertation on this subject, I encourage my family to read Lauren's paper entitled "What Are The Unborn?"

ADVICE TO GRANDCHILDREN

While fishing with Spencer, my grandson, he asked me a very interesting question.  He asked "Grandpa, what Forrest Gumpisms do you have for me?"  After clarifying that a Forrest Gumpism was a saying like "Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you are going to get.", I gave him a few learnings from my life experiences.  

That was the end of that experience until I recently heard former Governor Mike Huckabee on the Today Show promoting his new book: Dear Chandler, Dear Scarlett".  He made the comment that he felt he had an obligation to his grandchildren to pass on the wisdom he has accumulated over his lifetime.  I reflected on Spencer's question and realized that I agreed with Mike Huckabee.  That is the genesis of this portion of my blog.

In his book, Mike Huckabee says "Like every grandparent, I hope to give even better counsel ("to my grandchildren") than I did with my own kids.  After all, when I was raising them, I was a total neophyte at being a parent and had to learn everything as I went along." I feel likewise, so for better or worse, here is the first installment with my advice ( (i.e., Gumpisms) to my grandchildren and great grandchildren:

1. Choose Your Heroes Carefully- It's important to have heroes who you admire and want to emulate.  They are an important part of the maturation process. But, you need to choose your heroes carefully and not choose an empty-headed athlete, pop star, politician, or movie star as a hero.  Choose people as your hero who have made or make a positive, real difference in your life and the life of others.
   
   I have several heroes to suggest to you:
   
   Your Grandmother- From your grandmother, learn how to cope with adversity. Your grandmother is one of my personal heroes.  In addition to being the love of my life and my "soul mate", she is extremely brave. She has battled metastatic breast cancer for almost 19 years.  During her battle she has endured many debilitating treatments and many disappointments.  Throughout, she has maintained a positive attitude and has never once given up.  These are attributes well worth emulating.
   
   Your Great Aunt Donna- From your Great Aunt Donna Weibel, you would be wise to emulate her work ethic.  Even though she has serious health problems, she has worked 60+ hours per week at two jobs.  You would be very wise to emulate her.
   
   Your Parents- Just like Mike Huckabee's three children, your parents are very different from one another.  But, they have all been successful in their own way.  They are working hard to raise you the best way they know how. Make them your heroes and emulate their best qualities.
   
   Rita Lynch- From Rita Lynch, you can learn the importance of family.  Rita is a friend who has devoted herself tirelessly to her family at a great personal sacrifice. She has been an inspiration to me and is one of my personal heroes. 
   
2. People Are Unique-Treat Them That Way-Every person is a unique set of feelings, knowledge, ambitions, and goals.  It's a difficult skill to learn, but learn to treat each person as an individual, not as a member of a particular group.
   
   When I became the head of the Louisville Office of Meidinger & Associates, I had several administrative assistants reporting directly or in-directly to me.  One of the administrative assistants came to me and said that she wanted to learn more about our business.  I gave her reading material about our business and I encouraged her to take college classes, which she did, ultimately earning a degree in marketing from the University of Louisville. She progressed rapidly within our firm and went on to become Vice President of Marketing for a major firm.
   
   I thought to myself that my personal administrative assistant should emulate the behaviors of the previously mentioned administrative assistant.  So, I gave her reading material to take home at night and I encouraged her to take college courses.  After several months, she came to me and said "Pat, you want more for me than I want for myself."  She went on to say that she wanted to go home at night, forget about work, and enjoy herself. 
   
   I learned a valuable lesson from her.  Don't assume you know what people want for themselves.  Make sure you are helping people achieve their goals, not yours. Treat them as the unique individual that they are.      
   
   
3. Learn The Distinction Between Different And Wrong-Just because a culture, technique, practice, etc. is different than what you perceive to be correct, learn to distinguish as to whether it is wrong or just different.
   
   Meidinger instituted a quality review process of its offices to try to assure uniform quality among the offices.  I was part of a team that went to each of our offices to access the quality of the work of that office. One of my first quality assessment visits was to an office that we had recently acquired.
   
   While conducting that review, one of the actuarial assistants in that office made the comment that I was being too critical of the practices in their office.  She said that I was evaluating their office based on my Meidinger experiences and "Pat, you need to learn the difference between different and wrong". She went on to say that their practices yielded comparable results to the Meidinger way but were just different.
   
   She taught me a valuable lesson.  She taught me to focus more on results and less on process, unless the process was significantly "wrong".  Her advice helped me in later life to better relate to people who thought and acted far differently than me.  
   
4. Don't Fight Too Many Battles Or You Will Lose The War-It's important that if your objective is to win the "war", you should conserve your strength and only fight those "battles" that are truly important. To put this into a easier context to understand, if you have a goal to achieve and there are obstacles to achieving that goal, it is at times best to avoid those obstacles rather than confront them with a direct assault. 
   The Chairman and CEO of Meidinger taught me this lesson.  I would regularly offer my opinion to him on various issues.  After one of my memos, he called me into his office and said "Pat, you are fighting too many battles and losing the war." He said that by fighting so many "battles", I was becoming regarded as a person who couldn't be satisfied.  Instead, I should focus my attention only on those things that were most important and thereby win the "war"--i.e., achieving my desired goal on the things that were most important to me.
    
   
5. Learn The Art Of Compromise-This is a corollary to my prior Gumpism. When you do choose to fight a battle, learn the art of compromise.
   As an example, if you are to have a successful relationship with your spouse, friends, co-workers, and people in general, you have to learn the art of compromise.
   
   
6. Learn How To Lose Gracefully-This is another corollary to avoiding unnecessary battles. Some times, you will find yourself in a battle you don't want to fight or, as frequently happens to me, you didn't see the battle on the horizon. In these cases, you have to learn to lose gracefully.
   These types of battles frequently happen between spouses, other family, and sometimes friends.  If a compromise is not available, you have to learn to lose the battle so you can "live and fight another day".
   
   You will have a lot of battles with your parents over your lifetime over "boundaries". Your parents will set a boundary and you will rebel against that boundary.  If you can't find a compromise (for example, adhering to one boundary if they ease another boundary), lose gracefully and perhaps that will earn you political capital for the next battle you fight.

That's enough "Gumpisms" for today.  More later.