...it is a long one, but worth reading.

Show up on my GPS. Where is that commencement located?  

Only 19 minutes to watch.

209.   First one to figure out what I'm talking about is a brainy kinda guy

Sadly though, I think it's lost on the "millenials." But it's not totally their fault. Twenty years of parents/coaches giving out trophies just for showing up has caused them to come to the party looking for a "handout", rather than looking to give a "hand up" to someone else or a cause greater than themselves.

I've always wanted to resemble a cartoon character.

have too many distractions today.  And they are spoiled rotten.  In my daughters case, her grandparents are super wealthy and let her live rent free in their full basement.  Her grandfather told me once that he couldn't retire because my daughter and his wife put 4,000 a month on his Discover card!  He said he wouldn't ever divorce his wife, but he was just going to move out and get an apartment!  My daughter had a much better first car than I ever had, and I paid for 1/3 and she totalled it out like it didn't cost me a anything in time and resources to pay for something nice for her!  Same thing with my step-son, give him my 2nd car, 9 months later it's totalled out like it didn't cost me a thing!  

doesn't learn survival or gratitude.

......I was fortunate enough to grow up with well to do parents, who gave me the second greatest gift: a college education, on their dime.  I was not allowed to skate by.  I had to maintain a B average, balance my checkbook (yes, checkbook), and volunteer in the community.

It's not going to get any better either.  

Sounds like your parents treated you like you were their child and not your friend. That's the biggest problem I see with parenting today. No one wants to "offend" their kid. They want to look cool and hip with their children and their children's friends and be a buddy, not a disciplinarian, which a parent must be at times.

The required mental toughness to deal with life needs to be developed in all of us, though it is not only an issue of development but also maintenance. And, that's not just an issue of the mind, but also of the heart, as is the desire to change the lives of at least 10 people. We have way too many people with weak minds and hearts, of all ages.

-- Modified on 5/27/2014 12:45:11 PM

trusting with an open heart, and wise to when to hit that shark in the snout!

The original one didn't work for me. Wanted me to subscribe.

"Trusting with an open hear..." I mean heart in the sense of caring about something or someone strongly. I've met several Navy Seals, and I don't know if they were exceptions, but they had in common strong family ties and loyalties, a strong belief in the overall goodness in our country, and they strongly believed that what they were trained to do, and did, protected us for our enemies. I met a guy, recently, who bragged that he was a Marine who served in Iraq.  After close questioning, I found out he tried to get into the Marines, but they wouldn't take him, so he ended up as a cook for a mercenary group like Blackwater, in Irag. Wanting to kill people for the sake of killing them does not take the strength of character and heart as say someone like a Navy Seal, or any good jarhead, grunt, squid airdale, or airman who serves his or her country for the right reasons.

Some more so than others. The issue is failure in providing optimal frustration.

to teach me the balance, a trust in my own intuition, self-power and self-love!  

the process of birth to death in this body.  Today I celebrate my birthday!  Really, its my birthday!

This one by Kalng