“The fluttering of a butterfly's wings can effect climate changes on the other side of the planet.”
~Paul Erlich
This post is a potpourri of topics, but they all tie into our lives. Nothing in this world occurs without an impact, sometimes good and too often, bad. We live our lives every day, never knowing what may happen to interrupt our hopes and plans.
This has been a very busy summer for me! I have been fixing the house my family has lived in for twenty-seven years to sell. And it sold in one day! We are moving into a “smaller” home near our daughters. It is astounding to me how our old house was able to hold within, all of the things we are now taking out. We have given away, thrown away, lost and rediscovered so many clothes, books, memorabilia, toys, mementos, blankets, Christmas decorations – I could go on and on. And we did it to ourselves! With all that, we still have a garage full of “stuff” at our new home that didn’t make the first cut. ‘Letting go’ is a new goal of mine and also, I hope, for my wife Kathy. In the meantime, we still watch grandchildren, maintain a country farmhouse, and there is this blog that I try to keep alive in the hopes that someone will get something out of it.
With Father’s Day being this month, I had to be diligent about promoting my book, “The Power of Dadhood”. This was the second Father’s Day since my book was released. As much as I try to get my book into the hands of fathers, buying publicity is not working very well, especially with Facebook ads. If more books were purchased, it wouldn’t matter that to me that I cannot sell enough books to cover my expenses. Writing and promoting a book is the last thing I would recommend doing to make money. I never hoped to make money, but to improve the lives of families and children. When things settle down in my life, I will have to look for speaking engagements – something with which I am not yet at ease. Of course, I do give books away to family-oriented charities and welcome recommendations from readers.
Speaking of fatherhood, books, and giving - good friends of mine have donated a very large sum of money to a charity I support for the purpose of buying copies of my book for military families. The name of the charity is “Little Patriots Embraced” and I ask that you look them up and consider supporting them on their mission of supporting military families during periods of hardship which include times of deployment and so much more. Words cannot express my appreciation for ‘Little Patriots Embraced’ and the generous support of my good friends, military people themselves!
This has also been a tough week for race relations and the police. It hurts to see singular incidents be representative of acts that rarely happen in the bigger picture, but those acts on their own are still very tragic. I live one mile away in a town, called one on the ten safest in America, where a black man shot a police officer in the back during a traffic stop. Not twelve hours earlier, twelve police officers were shot and five were killed by another black man in Dallas. In the week prior, two black men lost their lives in incidents with the police that, on the surface, appear unnecessarily tragic. When there is a black man that commits a crime, we should never assume that is the character of most black men. But too many of us do. When and if a police officer is tragically derelict in his duty, we should not blame most police officers for that act. But too many of us do.
One last related thought. As a writer on fatherhood and its value in the community, it is true that a much larger percentage of black children are raised without the proper attention of their father than any other racial demographic. This does cause many issues including boys being violent and girls having babies out of wedlock. Like children everywhere, black children matter! But they are often the most ignored. This is something all of us must admit and find answers regarding. Fathers must be involved in their children’s lives in a positive way and mothers must allow it. We need more black fathers engaged in the lives of their children! There are too many negative influences out there that will fill the void.
Peace, patience, and understanding.
~Paul Erlich
This post is a potpourri of topics, but they all tie into our lives. Nothing in this world occurs without an impact, sometimes good and too often, bad. We live our lives every day, never knowing what may happen to interrupt our hopes and plans.
This has been a very busy summer for me! I have been fixing the house my family has lived in for twenty-seven years to sell. And it sold in one day! We are moving into a “smaller” home near our daughters. It is astounding to me how our old house was able to hold within, all of the things we are now taking out. We have given away, thrown away, lost and rediscovered so many clothes, books, memorabilia, toys, mementos, blankets, Christmas decorations – I could go on and on. And we did it to ourselves! With all that, we still have a garage full of “stuff” at our new home that didn’t make the first cut. ‘Letting go’ is a new goal of mine and also, I hope, for my wife Kathy. In the meantime, we still watch grandchildren, maintain a country farmhouse, and there is this blog that I try to keep alive in the hopes that someone will get something out of it.
With Father’s Day being this month, I had to be diligent about promoting my book, “The Power of Dadhood”. This was the second Father’s Day since my book was released. As much as I try to get my book into the hands of fathers, buying publicity is not working very well, especially with Facebook ads. If more books were purchased, it wouldn’t matter that to me that I cannot sell enough books to cover my expenses. Writing and promoting a book is the last thing I would recommend doing to make money. I never hoped to make money, but to improve the lives of families and children. When things settle down in my life, I will have to look for speaking engagements – something with which I am not yet at ease. Of course, I do give books away to family-oriented charities and welcome recommendations from readers.
Speaking of fatherhood, books, and giving - good friends of mine have donated a very large sum of money to a charity I support for the purpose of buying copies of my book for military families. The name of the charity is “Little Patriots Embraced” and I ask that you look them up and consider supporting them on their mission of supporting military families during periods of hardship which include times of deployment and so much more. Words cannot express my appreciation for ‘Little Patriots Embraced’ and the generous support of my good friends, military people themselves!
This has also been a tough week for race relations and the police. It hurts to see singular incidents be representative of acts that rarely happen in the bigger picture, but those acts on their own are still very tragic. I live one mile away in a town, called one on the ten safest in America, where a black man shot a police officer in the back during a traffic stop. Not twelve hours earlier, twelve police officers were shot and five were killed by another black man in Dallas. In the week prior, two black men lost their lives in incidents with the police that, on the surface, appear unnecessarily tragic. When there is a black man that commits a crime, we should never assume that is the character of most black men. But too many of us do. When and if a police officer is tragically derelict in his duty, we should not blame most police officers for that act. But too many of us do.
One last related thought. As a writer on fatherhood and its value in the community, it is true that a much larger percentage of black children are raised without the proper attention of their father than any other racial demographic. This does cause many issues including boys being violent and girls having babies out of wedlock. Like children everywhere, black children matter! But they are often the most ignored. This is something all of us must admit and find answers regarding. Fathers must be involved in their children’s lives in a positive way and mothers must allow it. We need more black fathers engaged in the lives of their children! There are too many negative influences out there that will fill the void.
Peace, patience, and understanding.
