I HATE YOU!

I HATE YOU!

By Jim “Gymbeaux” Brown, November 30, 2018

The date was October 27, 2018, 11 people attending a religious service were murdered by someone expressing hatred for them because of their religious beliefs.  The shooter said as much as he pulled the trigger.

Where does such horrific “hate” come from?  How does it originate?  How is it nurtured?  Does anyone believe that people are born with a hate gene?  Even someone like Adolph Hitler was not born hating Jews; he made the decision to hate Jews as a tool to serve his political ambitions.  That choice cost more than six million Jews their lives.

“Hate” and “Disrespect” are different words but have the same end result.  The Pittsburg shooter both hated the Jewish people and he disrespected them solely based upon their religious beliefs.  During this same weekend, a shooter began shooting up a McDonalds where one of the customers at the facility with his son was himself armed and shot the shooter.  Completely different stories but both based on the same premise – hatred – disrespect.

I find it impossible to turn on the local news for New Orleans without hearing the “breaking news” that another shooting, stabbing, robbery, carjacking, mugging, or home invasion has taken place.  I have seen statistics that indicate violent crime is on the decline.  While those stories may be true, I don’t see the evidence of that on my television newscasts or the local papers.

When someone robs another person or business they do so because the other person or business has something the robber wants that he or she currently does not have.  The robbers probably have no “hate” for the victims of their crimes but they certainly have a very high degree of disrespect for them.  Where does such behavior come from?  How is it nurtured?

I have a very strong belief that both hatred and disrespect begin and end in the home when children are NOT taught the difference between right and wrong, between respect and disrespect, between hatred and love.  Teaching of this type begins with parents. So what happens to the child that has dysfunctional parents or a single dysfunctional parent or no parents at all?  Keep in mind that children are born WITHOUT any operating instructions.  How parents treat and rear their children in 2018 is pretty close to how THEIR parents most likely treated and reared them.  What other instructions do they have in regards to having children?  If a child is reared in a single-parent household it goes without saying that proper supervision is automatically cut in half of what it could or even should be and has been for hundreds of years; that is until now.

Growing up in the 1950s I remember being taught the Ten Commandants two of which were Thou shall not kill and thou shall not steal.  You would think that common sense would dictate that these two “commandants” would be self evident but look at the crime statistics – they speak for themselves.  While 11 people were murdered in Pittsburg on October 27, look at the number of murders in Chicago just in 2018 – 468 through October 26.  That’s just Chicago.  https://graphics.suntimes.com/homicides 

SHOCKINGLY, according to the Forbes site, Chicago is not even in the top 10 worse cities based on the MURDER RATE (RATE as compared to the actual NUMBER of murders). If you look closely at these cities there is a common denominator but I’ll let you discover what that is for yourself; it should be very obvious.  https://www.forbes.com/pictures/mlj45jggj/detroit-6/#4bd0b9007971

Does anyone reading this actually believe that a baby is born with the hate and/or disrespect trait in his or her DNA or do you believe as I do that hate and disrespect are taught to children starting with their parents?  Look at the numerous videos of children born into families in the mid-east where they are taught how to use guns before they are even 6 years old. How has that turned out for those children who grow up to be terrorists and murders?  Of the most dangerous cities listed by MURDER RATE, Detroit is #1.  Does anyone think that a baby born in Detroit is destined to become a murderer?  I certainly don’t but somewhere in that baby’s upbringing, he or she is taught to hate someone or a group of people based upon their religion, skin color, political party affiliation or because they have “things” the murderer wants.  Or they are taught that since his or her family has less than another family it is okay to steal from the other family whatever he or she wants to have. 

Michael Dunn wrote an amazing book titled What’s The BIG Secret?  You can obtain a free copy of his book by clicking on the title.  In the book, specifically Chapter 20, What Happens When We Ignore The Conscious,  the chapter contains several remarkable charts showing what happened to topics such as violent crime rate, divorce, child pregnancy AFTER prayer was removed from the schools in 1962.  The charts are shocking.  I am NOT suggesting that schools should bring prayer back into schools but consider this.  If a child does not learn right from wrong from his or her parents and such things ARE NOT taught in schools, exactly where do they learn the difference?  Do you think the people they select as friends will teach them the difference between right from wrong?  Or do you think that as in a lot of cases, they learn there is nothing wrong with taking the life of another or stealing from everyone from their friends?  You are and you become the average of your five closest friends.  That goes for success as well as crime. 

Consider this fact taken from the Internet:

More recently, having spoken with academics and National Survey of Family Growth representatives, PolitiFact.com estimated in 2012 that the lifelong probability of a marriage ending in divorce is 40%–50%.

Put another way, it appears that the chances of a child being reared by ONLY ONE parent is about 50%.  Raising children as a Single parent is not something that I can understand from firsthand experience.  However it has happened in my family therefore I can certainly begin to imagine what it would be like.  The problem compounds itself when there is more than one child in the family.  If one has to attend a sporting event/practice and another some other event, how does one parent split his or her time between two opposing requirements?  A family with two children or more have even greater problems. Can you imagine what a single parent must experience with two or more children?  Would it not be safe to assume that a child’s development in his or her early years would be severely hampered when there is ONLY ONE parent to provide supervision and guidance?

Isn’t it possible that if there is only parent in a family with children that the single parent could actually become very antagonistic towards other families that are succeeding at a much greater rate than theirs?  You know it is probably true.  Can you then understand how a child can grow up and have little consideration for other people and other people’s property?  If that child grows up with a “chip” on his or her shoulder (and yes it can happen with girls just as easily as boys), can you understand how a child may revert to bullying his or her classmates?

It doesn’t help when children are bombarded with the horrible lyrics of the songs they “can” listen to.  Don’t children typically listen to music that (1) their parents don’t like and (2) can aggravate their parents just knowing that you are listing to it.  I know this was true when I grew up but when I grew up the lyrics didn’t suggest that taking advantage of a women or killing a police officer was somehow an acceptable thing to do.  That is what they hear in 2018 and no one seems concerned.  No one seems concerned that children of all ages watch and listen to video games that specialize in killing graphically created people and stealing graphically created cars.  Video games, hardly considered as appropriate watching, leave lasting impressions on the minds of our youngest citizens; most of it is pure garbage!

When someone says or acts out the part of “I hate you!”; exactly where did they learn to hate so deeply.  They were not born with a hate jean they learned to hate and disrespect others.  But who taught them – that is the question.  Hopefully NOT you!  Most people will say absolutely not them but are you really sure.  What kind of language do you use regarding other people?  Words mean things especially in the formative years of a child.

Killing The SS

The Hunt for the Worst War Criminals in History

Book by Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard

Book Review by Jim “Gymbeaux” Brown, November 3, 2018

Note: Words appearing in Blue and Underlined are links to their respective web sites

Disclaimer:  I have enjoyed reading and learning from all of the books written by Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard in the “Killing” series of books and this one is no exception.

Reading this book is made easier if you have any knowledge of World War II and Nazi Germany.  I am constantly shocked at how little most Americans under the age of 50 (in 2018) actually know about World War II and the crimes committed by then Nazi Germany as governed by Adolph Hitler.  If they did they would not be as loose with their comparisons of people they don’t like to be like Hitler.

This book is NOT about World War II specifically but rather what happened to some of the worst of the Nazi criminals AFTER the war ended.  I was familiar with some of the story lines in the book but still learned a great deal about the details of their capture or eventual demise. 

O’Reilly and Dugan turn the life events into intriguing stories and introduces the reader to players they may have never heard of before as the book did for me.

I like the writing style of the “killing” series of books.  They are easy to follow.  I am reluctant to call reading about the crimes committed against humanity as being an “enjoyable” read but it was, primarily because it was difficult to put the book down; you wanted to read more and that is always a good thing.  If you are not familiar with people like Adolph Eichmann, Dr. Mengele, Martin Boreman and others, the information contained in the book will be enlightening to say the least.  If you are familiar with the histories of these villains, I still think you will find the information enlightening but more like a desert after a meal. 

Who should read the book?  Anyone interested in history.  That should be everyone but I know that is not the case.

Would I read it again?  Most likely not since I already knew most of the story lines.

Would I give the book as a gift?  Possibly.  Why the uncertainty?  It would be a good gift if you knew the receiver of the gift was specifically interested in history and/or World War II.

Another GEM by Jeffrey Gitomer

Truthful Living

Book by Jeffrey Gitomer and Napoleon Hill

Book Review by Jim “Gymbeaux” Brown, November 3, 2018

Note: Words appearing in Blue and Underlined are links to their respective web sites

I have been truly blessed when author, speaker and all round great guy Lee Shelton suggested that I read I’m Okay; You’re Okay.  I read it and my life’s direction changed almost instantly.  I became an avid reader.  Since that day in the early 1980s I have read well over 1000 books and watched or listened to even more on video or tapes.  Why do I say this to begin this review of Truthful Living by Jeffrey Gitomer?  Glad you asked.

Without Shelton’s encouragement I would have never been introduced to the works of Napoleon Hill, Orison Swett Marden, Wallace Wattles, Jim Paluch, Joe Tye, Dr. Tom Hill, Jon Gordon, Kieran Revell and especially Jeffrey Gitomer.  I have read every book written by Gitomer as well as several of the other authors mentioned.  In fact I have read many of the books more than once.  I WILL read Truthful Living more than once, of that you can rest assured!

It would be foolish of me to actually write a review of the book.  Instead I would simply suggest that you read it and after you do you will understand why I suggested that first you read it, then you should study it, and then buy a copies for the people you care about, especially the youngest of the people you care about who are only now embarking upon their careers.  You’ve heard the famous saying, you can bring a horse to water but you can’t make them drink.  Here is your chance to bring your favorite horses to the fountain of knowledge from which if they partake of the knowledge will absolutely do no harm but almost assuredly help them achieve the success that everyone seeks.

Author Joe Tye asked me if I had a Life’s Mission Statement (Goal) which at the time I did not.  Thanks to Joe I created one and have done my best to live by it over the past 30 plus years and I include it here for a reason:

To help people to do what they do to do it better!

That is one of the reasons I read books, books like Truthful Living.  I weed out the books with little value in favor of the books with tremendous value and then share the recommendation to read a book or books with everyone who would take a minute or two to read my recommendations such as this one.  By encouraging others to read the books I have read IS helping other people to do what they do to do it better. My recommendation/suggestion to YOU the reader would be:

READ THIS BOOK!

A word of caution.  The book is written in color and if you attempt to read it on a Kindle type reading device in Black and White only as I did, you may have difficulty reading some of the featured material in the book.  The same Kindle version read on your computer’s Kindle or your smart phones Kindle is highly recommended because the color is displayed making it much easier to read.

Truthful Living is NOT just a book for people in sales; it is for people who are still breathing or in other words, EVERYONE!  It would be impossible to read Truthful Living without coming away without many very strong incentives to cause you to “think in a certain way” as Wallace Wattles writes about in his several books.  It clearly points out that everyone should have a mental plan outlining a roadmap to define their future as they wish it to be.  I came across the following poem, author unknown, that explains why you should read Truthful Living.

WHERE ARE YOU GOING?

High in the Sierra Mountains lives an old man

Who from his hermitage looks down in pity

Upon other men of higher mental aspiration.

One day he rescued a little group of Swiss mountaineers

Lost in the mountains’ fastenesses

When told were they were they exclaimed in disbelief,

“But how did we get here?”

To which the old hermit replied,

“If that question ain’t got no answer attached to it,

I ain’t got none that fits.

If you is goin’ anywhere in particular

Up here, yu’d better figger fust how to get thar.

Cuz by jest goin’ afore ya know where yere agoin’

Ya can get to a powerful lotta places ya might not wanta be.”

As usual, I always ask and answer the same questions whenever I finish reading a book.

Who should read it?  EVERYONE

Would I read it again?  ABSOLUTELY

Would I buy it as a gift?  ABSOLUTELY and already have