Category: Random Thoughts

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Where has all the compassion, love and respect gone?


MP900427611Where has all the compassion, love and respect gone? People seem to be colder at heart and have only interest in themselves. Compassion is a key part of being human and respect is like the super lube of society. Without one or the other the world begins to become chaotic . Seems selfishness and the lack of respect for others is becoming the driving forces of the world we live in. Thing about selfishness is it is the seed to other things such as lust, greed, envy and vanity. I was brought up to respect elders, authority and have compassion for those who are less fortunate and in need. I was also taught that everyone is equal in the eyes of God and no person is greater than another. I never could see how anyone could find pleasure or some kind of satisfaction in causing physical or emotional pain to others. To help others and to make them smile or to make them laugh is the right path to follow and can be quite rewarding emotionally too.

MP900427738It seems Karma does exist in one form another, what you sow you shall reap and what you give you will get back seven fold. So when you show compassion it will be shown to you and when you give hate it will come back to you. It may take years but you always pay for both the good and bad you do in life. I just don’t understand why for some people being compassionate and carrying a heart of love is such a hard thing to do. Is it fear of being considered weak or the chance of being hurt by others? No matter how tough or how compassionate you are, you are going to be hurt from time to time in life its part of being human. It could be they have a deep wound or emotional pain blocking them from becoming what God had planned them to be. I wish everyone could be compassionate, understanding and full of kindness and we all could follow the teachings and examples god gave us through Jesus.

MP900289198There were many great prophets, philosophers and sages god gave man, he gave us great philosophies and examples to follow through them all. He just wants man to be kind, compassionate and forgiving towards each other. Far as the many branches on the tree of life and the many religions spawned on our planet, let each person choose their path and be good to one another. We all have freewill and the right to choose which religion and or faith we want to follow. We shouldn’t force our belief on others or judge them if they choose differently than ourselves. The judgment of who is right and or wrong is God’s alone, not that of man’s. We of different religions and faiths can get along and even be friends, I have many friends that are of different religions and faiths than myself and we have no hatred or distrust between us because of our differences of belief. We have respect for each others beliefs and live with each other in friendship and peace.

“ Learn from the wisdom of the old and the innocent truths of the young.”

Raymond Barbier

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A Fork in the Road


Concept Lately the cycle of life has really sped  up around me, so many pregnancies and people either dying or getting life threatening diseases. This world is speeding up and we are heading towards a fork in the path we are going down. One of the paths ahead is to a dismal and foreboding future of selfishness, greed and eventual depletion of natural resources. The other path though will be rocky and hard to follow leads us as a species to a future of peace, equality and the saving of our wonderful planet and home called earth. We can not continue to walk through life with a selfish and/or apathetic heart, we have to become humble, compassionate and take care of this world we live in. We are all on this rock together and not one race, religion,country or individual has any more or less rights to live here. We are all equal and are equally responsible for our home and the life forms that live within it.

MP900408941 Some of the rich and powerful believe they are superior or at least deserve a better life than the average and impoverished man. This is just plain selfish and heartless thinking and not true, it isn’t about wealth, power or even physical prowess but it is about the spirit and the heart. The common and impoverished are not as naïve or  as uninformed as the rich and powerful believe. We are waking up and seeing that we are not being treated equal in taxation and not being represented equally in our governments. Eventually the meek shall awaken out of their groggy state of mind and will help bring some of the change needed. Sometimes I see big business as a kind of bully, they raise prices to gain huge profits with no concern about if the average person can or can not afford it.  Nothing matters but the profit margin and the bonuses they get each year. They fill their banks with money that was earned by underpaid worker’s in both their home country and 3rd world countries .  I understand the need for profits, but to be too greedy and have no care about the workers or the consumers who helped build that wealth is just not a good business model. Eventual things will become so costly that only the rich will be able to afford to buy anything beyond just food. And since the rich are just a small percentage of the whole consumer base there will be a lot of businesses failing.

Human eye with the recycling emblem inside<br /><br />File contains gradientsThough not all of the current financial crises is the fault of big business a lot of it falls on the consumer as well by using credit to purchase items they can’t really afford to have as well as buying luxury items that they could have lived without. Then the credit card companies also have their part in the mess as well as the mortgage lenders. There is many reasons why our world is in such a financial mess and the blame falls all across the board. The solution will also have to come from each level of the financial pyramid in order to fix it all. Greed and Envy seem to be the root of most of the mess, the businesses want more money and the consumer wants to keep up with the people next door.

We better change direction and choose the better path in the fork ahead, if we don’t our children, grandchildren and the generations afterwards will be living in a very dark future. We need to take care of the imbalance of wealth and start taking care of our home.

Just a rant of a middle-aged man.

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Raymond Barbier

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A Middle-aged Man’s Thoughts on Life


MP900321192 A lifetime sounds like a long time, but it is but a drop of water in the ocean of time. It goes by in a blink of an eye, one minute you’re in high school and the next minute you’re a grandparent or at least old enough to be one. It really does seem just yesterday I was a teen and a day before that I was a child. Life goes by way too fast and there is very little time to appreciate everyone and everything in it. We get so wrapped up in everyday life we don’t even realize that life is flying by. By the time we figure out that life goes by fast we are past the mid part of our life here.  Getting old isn’t so bad at least until teenagers and kids keep pointing it out to you. Just because I am so-called old doesn’t mean I don’t have dreams or that I don’t want to have fun or that I am incapable of doing so. I am pretty much the same person I was when I was 18 to 19 years old just a bit wiser and a little slower to be as compulsive. I have quite a few battle scars from relationships and life’s lessons that I didn’t have back then but still I try to be optimistic.

I guess the funniest part of it all is I went through most of my life never being old enough for one thing or another and now I am too old for a lot of the same things. Seems I missed that right age for everything somehow. Well phooey on all the people who think I am too old to do what I like and the same that think I am to young to have my own opinions and wisdom. I am me and no matter what age I am and will live to be I will live life and enjoy it with all my heart. If I am not the right age or good enough in someone else’s eyes then they don’t have to look. To live life by the opinions and ideals of others isn’t living your own life. To live by what is your own ideals and beliefs is living a full and hopefully  a happy life. Even if it isn’t as happy or as fulfilling as I might want it is still my life and my choice and that is what really matters.

For life goes by quickly and we should enjoy every moment we are blessed to live to see.

Raymond Barbier

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Call to Charity: Tornado Victims Will Need Help


MP900427741With the recent outbreak of tornadoes in yesterdays storms across the Midwest there are many people in need. With the possibility of more tornadoes from this storm system there will be a definite need for charitable contributions at the red cross. Clean water, blankets, can food and even cash donations to organizations such as the red cross will help. Getting your Church involved or volunteering to help can make a great difference. If you prefer to do it yourself please wait until the storms settle down and contact the local governments of the areas you wish to help. You must make sure it is safe to go to the town your willing to help and the local governments will help coördinate you or your church’s efforts.

MP910221024More than likely there will be many organizations and church groups participating in the relief efforts within the next day or so, when I get any new information on which groups will be participating and how to contact them I will post an update. If anyone knows of any efforts underway please tell us in a comment so those who would like to help the victims can do so.

God Bless

Raymond Barbier.

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We are the stewards of this world we live in


We are the stewards of this world we live in; we are responsible for the well-being of the planet and all living things on it. We are responsible for one another, be it friend, stranger and even foe. God gave us the gift of life and the gift of such a beautiful planet to call home along with the responsibility of caring for both. Somehow a lot of us forgot our responsibilities and/or our job of being stewards of this world. So much pollution is filling the air, covering the land and poisoning the water. There is too many hungry and homeless people and way too many children in poverty. When did we lose our way and how can we find our way back? How can we continue to pollute our planet and allow famine and homelessness to run rampant across our beautiful world? We can spend trillions of dollars on wars and dedicate such a large workforce to achieve victory but yet spare hardly any resources to combat the hunger and homeless in our own country and around the world. As precious as life is along with the beautiful and wondrous planet to live on we don’t seem to care that we are throwing it all away. Since there is so many of us humans on this planet we all can choose just one or two things to be responsible for in our stewardship and still make an impact. Not everyone can be in Greenpeace or be a political activist. Not everyone is cut out to be a social worker or volunteer. Choose your battle and be dedicated to its cause, be it feeding the hungry, helping the homeless, cleaning up your hometown or doing grassroots activism.

This is our planet to take care of and we should do the best we can to make it a better place. Governments only can do so much to change our world; the rest is up to us and the business sector. We need to pressure both the governments and businesses of the world into being more green minded as well as more charitable towards the less fortunate. Not so much by making laws but by our spending and voting habits as well as writing our representatives. We should educate our fellow stewards about the state of our world and how to make changes at a personal level as well as in the big picture. We as a species need to learn to accept and tolerate the differences between us as people in order to come together and make this world a better place for ourselves and our children.

The Children are the world’s greatest resource and they are our precious future.

Raymond Barbier

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I embrace the tender heart within me and accept that which makes me who and what I am.


It is amazing how there is a tender side to everyone if they allow it to show. How we tend to hide that side out of fear, the fear of either being hurt by others or being labeled as someone who is a sissy or too nice for their own good. Being macho, tough and/or cold never gets anyone anywhere but alone and unhappy. For you should be that tender-hearted person god made you be, this does not mean to allow others to walk on you it means simply to forgive those that do and side step those that may. Forgiveness and acceptance of each other and our shortcomings is what Jesus tried to teach us, turn the other cheek and to love even thy enemy. We cannot be a hurtful and hateful person without suffering many pains and losses due to our lack of compassion and love. I rather suffer as a person of love and compassion than to suffer for being hateful and bringing suffering to others. Think what you may of me, my philosophy and the way I view this world we live in, I am what am and I cannot be anything other than which I was born to be. When I tried to be what others expected me to be I suffered with unhappiness, anger and sometimes depression, I choose to be me and be happy as I am than to worry about the opinions of others. If someone is not a positive influence on me I simply avoid them and wish them the best and then seek out the more positive people around me. When anger does strike me I let it out and then put it out so to move on instead of hanging on to the negativity it brings. I embrace the tender heart within me and accept that which makes me who and what I am. I accept and embrace what makes those I meet who and what they are as well. It is the differences between us that make us such a wondrous and unique species.

May peace and compassion be your guides through life.
Raymond Barbier

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Just some random thoughts to ponder on.


003Sometimes we go through our day without telling those who we care about how important they are to us or how much they impact our lives. We throw the word love around so much we tend to forget how to show love to others, both those we like and those who are strangers. Taking anyone or anything in life for granted tends to lead to the loss of those people and things. We get so hung up on our daily routine and sometimes even our own problems we forget those people and things that are important to us. We need to slow down and smell the roses as well as share a positive thought or a caring action with others as we go through our daily lives.  Compassion does not mean to have pity, it means to have concern and love towards all living things. Charity does not mean throwing money at a problem, it means helping those in need with not only physical needs but to educate them in ways to help themselves as well. It may be natural to focus upon yourself and those close to you, but it is supernatural to care about everyone and everything in this big world. We tend to get hung up on one thing or another to the point we can not see the whole picture. We either become self-centered or apathetic to the problems in our world around us. We need to wake up from our foggy self-centered apathetic dream state and see that as a world community we can overcome and achieve almost anything. Only if we can set our differences aside along with finding tolerance for each others cultural differences. In the end we all want the eradication of starvation, the end of all homelessness and a brighter future for our children.

This world needs a change of direction as well as a change in heart, we can not take anyone or thing for granted nor can we go on being in a foggy state of denial. We must find compassion, tolerance and love for one another as well as a less self-centered view of the world around us. We need to see that every living creäture big or small is an important part of our world and its ecosystem. No one person is greater or lesser than the other, they are equal though different. The differences between each and every one of us is what makes humanity a wondrous species and an unstoppable force when we work together. We should strive towards a world of love, equality and peace as we rid ourselves of the greed and hatred that plagues us as a species.

Just some random thoughts to ponder on. Right or wrong they are here for all to see.

Raymond Barbier

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It all could be gone within a tick of the clock.


65242 How easily we take those we love for granted, so quickly they can be taken away from us. We should cherish all our family and friends for no one knows when their last day may come. Leave no wrong undone, apologize and repent for the wrong you’ve done others and leave no love forgotten. Live each day as it may be your last and be sure to keep it where you will have no regretful things left behind when its time to go.Forgive those who have done you wrong so you do not carry any anger or hatred with you beyond the grave. Judge no one, but if you must judge them with great mercy for you will be judge in the same way in the end.

Life is way too short to carry grudges or hold on to the emotional scars of the past. Forgive and you shall be forgiven, love and you shall be loved and be compassionate and you will receive compassion. You get what you give in the end, it may not always seem so but it is true. I have found compassion from those I believed to be enemies and help from those who I thought didn’t care. Between all the negativity of this world you will receive that which you have given to others. Teach your children well, show them that mercy, kindness and compassion are greater than being popular or the biggest bully. Teach them to appreciate what they have both in possessions and in friendships. Too many times we run off the friends who would do anything for us because of something petty or a mistake made by one side or the other. Too many times families fall apart over differences of opinions and different view points. I find it quite sad when family members despise one another, families are supposed to love one another unconditionally.

Don’t take your family, friends or the day you are in for granted, it all could be gone within a tick of the clock.

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Have faith, Trust in god and live life Christ like as possible.


Being positive is not an easy task, but it is the most rewarding path to follow. Negativity is a path that usually leads to self-destruction and the harming of all those around you. Your attitude towards life effects everyone around you in one way or another. It may not be intentional but when your negative you bring others around you down and even cause them harm sometimes. Though there is a time for negativity but it is not something that is meant to occupy your life for any great amount of time. Positivity on the other hand rarely ever causes harm, it usually lifts up the spirits of those around you, heals the emotional scars within your self and it tends to attract positive people into your life. The hard part is realizing that happiness and/or positivity is generated within yourself and is not supplied from an outside source. God gave you the spirit of compassion, love, positivity, creativity, healing and much more. He did not give you the spirit of fear, anger, envy, lust, greed or any other negative emotion or action. The negative is something you created or accepted from the world around you. The lack of faith, low self-esteem and a poor self-image are spawned from the acceptance and embracing of the negativity in your life. If you face negativity with faith in god and with love within your heart then you can not fail.

God wants all his children to be happy, healthy and live a good life, he does not want us to suffer nor to be lost in the darkness of sin. He gives us all we need to face off any enemy and to stand in the face of any storm, he planted a seed within each of us that we must cultivate. We must plant it in good soil and feed it with that which is good or positive. The only external force that can bring you happiness and positivity is God. He can work from within you and through those around you as well. Even an enemy can be a messenger or a finger-pointing the way, God will approach you in every he can to get you to see truth and to feel his love. Jesus taught us to be non violent, to love one another, to forgive and to be compassionate. All positive emotions and actions, all part of the path of righteousness. To judge is not our part to play, and to turn any sinner away from god is a sin in its self. Be positive, Have faith, Trust in god and live life Christ like as possible.

 

Though no man or woman can be without sin, all sin can be washed by his blood except blasphemy of the spirit.

Raymond Barbier

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Nothing is for free, the programs are paid by working citizens


65242  Food stamps, public housing, welfare and other benefits provided by states and federal government are a necessity in times of high unemployment. The problem is the cost of these programs are bankrupting states and adding to the national debt. I don’t see why the states and the federal government couldn’t just require any able-bodied person who is receiving on or more of these benefits who are unemployed to work for the state or federal government in exchange for the benefits. At least it may offset the cost if not balance it out with the labor received. Nothing is for free, the programs are paid by working citizens and I see no reason a healthy person couldn’t work in exchange for the benefits. If it be just cleaning up trash off the side of the road, landscaping, mowing grass, custodial work in schools or any other job that could benefit the citizens and/or governments. Of course I support the idea of drug testing to receive benefits, If a person who is working a job has to take one to get and keep his job then why shouldn’t it be the same for a benefit recipient.

Plus if you require the healthy recipients to work then they can feel useful and it will keep them inspired to find employment. Also there should be more investigations and inspections on recipients to help prevent fraudulent benefit claims and beneficiaries. I do not wish to see the shutdown of the programs that are put in place to help those in need, but if we don’t find some way to alleviate both the cost and the waste created by fraudulent claims they will eventually either be stripped down to nothing or canceled. I am no expert and I don’t have all the answers, but I am intelligent enough to know the way things are going that all our benefits and entitlements will be gone in a generation or two if we don’t figure out how to keep them.

 

Just a few thoughts

Raymond Barbier

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