New Years resolution time, Political correctness, Outrageously Outraged? I connected all of the dots here.

  As I sat on my deck this morning having my coffee and catching up with the birds and critters that occupy our stretch of the world, during squalls of rain/clearing it get's interesting. The birds do not fly in the rain with the exception of the seagulls, they are shaped like bottles with wings, very efficient flyers, they fly the same course over and over. The birds of prey, are nowhere to be seen, I guess they don't like to get wet? I'm not sure, I am sure of one thing, however, when the rain ceases and the sun comes out between clouds the birds show up across the river.

This is a google image photo, not mine, however, birds act alike
everywhere.

They dive bomb whatever creatures are scampering around on that island, it is interesting to watch, there will be as many as 10 hunters dive bombing. Cooper's hawks, Sharp-Shinned Hawks, the one lone Northern Harrier and of course the ever-present Red Tailed hawks, when the rain starts again they head for shelter. There are a lot of mink here, many years ago a mink farm existed in the center of our Island, if you've lived by a mink farm you know as well as I some free themselves and become wild. I don't see them directly very often, I do see underbrush shaking where they run through it. I saw one this morning on the far shore, I know they have dens there on the water side of the levee, I can see the tunnels through the tules and weeds. One day I saw a Red Tailed Hawk chasing one on foot up and down the slope, the mink escaped, the hawk flew away.
  I was thinking of Thanksgiving and the holidays soon to be upon us, my thoughts were mostly on it being the end of the year and my New Years resolution. Yes, every year I make one, some of them last for a few years, I have no problem with "retreading" them especially if they are working. One of those resolutions is one my wife and I still go by to this day, "Intentionally do one positive thing every day." That does not include normal household duties, we share all of the cleaning and chores, everyone in our house cleans. It is intended to be meant for a task we would not normally perform to get it done, an example would be getting a can of touch up paint and touch up chipped paint in a small area. It's not intended to be a long chore, it's tasks that need to be done but are easy to ignore. We do it every day, put away the CD's we haul out to listen to, mate the socks in the singles pile, just items that we don't like to do. Today, for instance, I have a box of CD's my wife found, there are about 12 in the box, the task is to figure out if we want to keep them and if so I will find a place to keep them secure. This resolution has become a part of our lifestyle, the grandkids are indoctrinated as well, they have accepted it as part of their lifestyle while staying with us. I held this as a resolution for three years, two years ago my resolution was (and is) "Be more curious." (Are you in need of resolution ideas? Follow this link for 50 suggestions.)
  "Be more curious", it involves a lot, I adopted it to inspire me to read more, question more and listen more, I think it worked. I have always been very curious, I wanted to kick it up a notch and I feel as if I have. It's not a declaration of being more of a skeptic, it is all about thinking clearer and developing some parameters for performing more research. What inspired this was a mistake I made on the internet, we all know how the slightest error is able to create a tempest of angry responses, that's what happened, I forget now what it was about. I made a resolution that whatever I am reading and incorporating into my writings from that moment on if I read something with a new declaration or some one's opinion, I don't accept it as truth immediately. I since then have intended to not accept anything unless I have read it in at least 3 different publications, no matter how much I want to believe it. Yes, part of this resolution is due to the past political atmosphere as well, it was getting me down.

Wow, Outrageously Outraged, it just isn't worth it.

Most of the time it works, but as with everything there are slumps and depressions, I made a mistake on a comment pertaining to Puerto Rico, I read one account that stated there was no one living on that island when Columbus landed there. I found out I was terribly wrong, I offended a lot of people, I'm not an idiot but that ended up being the popular consensus of the readers. I apologized, backtracked and proclaimed just how wrong I was. It's OK now. "Be more curious" worked out well and now it's time for another resolution for 2018. I have a new one.
  "What can I do to help?" Or something on that order, maybe just the word "help" might work, or "how can I help?" I am not 100% sure what it means, I will figure it out, I have some ideas that do not involve anyone but myself, and it will help. I plan on including a number of things in with this resolution, Here's a few:
   1)  We hear a lot about "Political Correctness", I don't know where this came from, strike it against my age (66) but to me, it doesn't make sense, what in the world does it mean? So I have defined it, speaking in terms to be "Politically Correct" in my speaking and writings, it means I treat everyone with respect, yes I will be polite, courteous, and resort to basic manners. When I read where there is an accusation towards a person of being "Politically Correct", in a derogatory way, I'm thinking this is backward, manners and politeness will rule my days from now on. (This link will take you to Wikipedia's take on "Political Correctness")
  2)  I am done being "Outrageously Outraged", (my words), I do not ever need to be angry towards a stranger, just because it's the internet and it's my desire to succeed while dealing with it and the people it makes up, it doesn't mean they are anything other than my fellow human beings. Everyone is too angry, people are too eager to protest about anything they see as a personal insult towards them, I may be talking about raccoons and someone somewhere takes exception to it. I will explain my positions and they can be accepted or not at a persons pleasure, if they want to be mad about something, that's ok with me, I won't become outraged to match their outrage.
  3)  We stopped laughing at ourselves, my grandkids and I would make up jokes on our way to someplace, someone would come up with a "punch line" and whoever was involved would begin the thought process. Some of the jokes were not funny, a lot of them were "corny", some made no sense (it's like you had to be there). They were however thought-provoking, imaginative and most were jokes on ourselves and some of the dumb things we do. This resolution involves laughing at myself, I have actually started, if you have watched any of my videos, I am experimenting with humor out of the 1930's, black and white movies, Laurel and Hardy, the Three Stooges (have you noticed how men like them and women mostly don't?) and other 'slapstick" comics. I have gotten away from humor over the past few years, things just aren't funny anymore, so I'm intending to change that, for myself at least.

Do you think they are funny? Most men do, the ladies
not so much.

  My intention is not to merely be polite to the ladies of the world, it is my #1 intent, but to treat everyone with politeness and be politically correct. I will not only open the door for the ladies but I will for men, children and everyone else. Being a gentleman is the goal, being a gentleman to everyone is the intent, and I do firmly believe it has a lot to do with being self-reliant and the ability to take care of myself in all situations. I don't need to make any enemies, especially if we may have to join together during an emergency which is possible where any of us live. (If you have studied "the 7 habits of successful people" it's called an "emotional bank account".) I am a student of Steven Covey the author of the course. This Link will lead you to Wikipedia's take on the 7 Habits course.
  I'm finished being Outrageously Outraged, I am ready to return to a few years ago and just be good old easy going Jacques, the nicest guy on the river, I want to go there and leave this negativity in my wake. I have always resisted commenting on Religion, Politics, Abortion and Gun Control, I do have opinions on each subject but there no way to alter a persons thinking with a 120-word tweet, or an argument on facebook over Politics. Those 4 issues are subjects for letters to the editor or my congressmen, (I do write to them). So I'd like to ask you "how can I help?"
  Thanks for reading and sharing, follow me on G+ if you are so inclined, and keep reading my blog and sharing it. Thank you.

Jacquesandkate  emergencykitsplus.com