Baby, Baby Let Me Sleep On It

Ever get one of those emails that the person wants you to forward on and you might if it didn't imply that if you don't send it on that you're not a good person or a good christian or a good American or a good whatever?

Sometimes for good measure the person who sent it to you wants you to not only send it on, but to send it back to them?

I hate those.

During the first part of the email they might claim or imply that they respect people with opposing views, but then the wording can change slightly to imply that their view is the only "right" view (or at least the one expressed in the email).

Years ago I sent a message to a person I love very much (and by the way, in case someone is wondering... I personally believe in God, The Holy Spirit, & Jesus AND I not only say the pledge of allegiance regularly at Toastmasters, I occasionally lead the singing of the Star-Spangled Banner - I'm told I have a good voice) asking her to not send me emails like that. Guess what. She still loves me and I even pray for her sometimes. I assume she prays for me, too.

But, in my request I did not imply once that if she did not do as I say that meant she didn't love me. I simply asked her to (send it on, oops, I mean) stop sending messages with those "catches" in it to me. I have never doubted that she loves me - ever. And she sometimes does some things that I really, really disagree with. I have also never doubted that she loves God or the U.S.A. or our troops.

Who decides what the standard is for loving our troops enough? I mean, maybe you don't love the troops enough if you didn't marry one? (I mean, for goodness sake, there are lots of troops to choose from!) Do you not love the troops enough if you vote for the person who didn't serve in the military? What about if you voted for the person who candid people admit sort of half-assed it through school and the military over the one who actually saw action and got a purple heart? Does THAT mean you love the troops less?

What if you vote for the person who helped a weapon system get built over the one who wanted that weapons system killed? What if that weapons system malfunctioned badly and killed our troups in larger numbers than otherwise would have happened with a more effectively designed system?

I don't know how far back problems with U.S. military weapons go, but even Abraham Lincoln said,

"I can make more generals, but horses cost money."

We can get a chuckle out of it, but what does that type of thinking say about the care we take with equipment versus human beings?

Maybe if we defined "love the troops" to mean something DIFFERENT than agreeing with one side of a political debate we would be able to treat each other with more respect and dignity and yes, love.

Now, there is also the last part of the email that really bothers me. Maybe the person who sent it on to me doesn't think about all these issues, but I do. Maybe he doesn't consider them "issues" and we're just supposed to "follow orders" and send it on. Or maybe we have the "choice" to not follow this order, but we all "know what it means" if we don't submit to this "request".

So, let me think about this a (very) little - if I choose NOT to submit to your surveillance of my assigned task - does that mean that I don't love the troops? You see, by asking me to send this back to you in addition to sending the message on, that's what you are doing. Surveilling me. And it's a real word even if spell-check isn't smart enough to understand that.

I want to believe that this person simply didn't think through the implications of what was contained in this email. I certainly hope so. Like the woman I referred to earlier, I pray for this man sometimes. I'm not perfect, so I didn't say "all" the time.

Now the question is - will he still love me (and by love I mean the old-fashioned "Love thy neighbor" kind of love) if I don't send it on? I hope so.

Why the title of this post? Well, I started out thinking I would be clever and borrow a line from Meatloaf's Paradise By The Dashboard Light because I might say something I might still believe but regret (a little) in the morning like Tom Cruise's protagonist in Jerry Maguire, but only the morning will tell me if I should have slept on it.

Instead I guess I just decided to go for it.

Now I'm wondering if those who agree with me will think I wimped out by not going far enough.

Oh well.

Toastmaster And Fan Dancer

Whether or not you're as interested in history as me, you probably think of Adlai Stevenson, the Democrat who ran against Eisenhower for president, as not too exciting (if you think of him at all). Because today is my Toastmaster meeting I was looking for a quote with the word toastmaster in it and found the one below. If you let the quote sink in, I'm pretty sure you will see Adlai Stevenson as more interesting than we might have imagined.


“The relationship of the toastmaster to the speaker should be the same as that of the fan to the fan dancer. It should call attention to the subject without making any particular effort to cover it.”

Adlai Stevenson


More on Stevenson

Twitter quote 105 from ThinkExist.com

45 And Lowest Weight In Years

Today is my 45th birthday. My weight has not been this low for a couple years and if the trend continues, tomorrow or the next day I will be at a weight I haven't seen for a dozen years! Rest assured I am still walking. I will get up after this post and see if I can get my 8 am to 4 pm mini-day to 10,000 steps. If you view the right column on this page and click on "Walk Out!" under Walking Links, you'll see that I post my minutes/miles 3 times a day.

Yesterday I was swamped preparing for a 40 minute presentation last night to a group of college bound high schoolers at Reality Changers. I was so adrenalized after I got home that I couldn't get to sleep until around 3! So, I'm a little tired right now. I'm going to walk and get back to you after my birthday and the Toastmasters speech contest tomorrow.

Please keep in mind that you walk a little EVERY day and some days you get inspired to do more and some of those inspired days you do A LOT more. That's the way it's working for me. I believe it's because I'm simply not stopping. If you don't see a post, which happens about 10% of the time, you can know I'm still walking. Remember to check my "Walk Out!" for my current numbers.

I am walking. You can walk. Please walk today. No matter what.

A Funny Thing Happened While Walking The Dog

A funny thing did happen. Mellow, our Lab/Golden Retriever/Chow mix, waited until we were about half a mile from home way beyond the convenient receptacles, to do his thing. Being a dog walking veteran, I had a bag with me. I guess I was penitent while carrying it home. I was at least a little bit sorry! Somehow I ended up thinking about a friend from Toastmasters and a disagreement we had this afternoon. Then I realized that it didn't matter who was right.

What matters is that he matters and I matter. In fact, every single one of us matters. It's not who is right that matters when we disagree. What matters is how we treat each other when we disagree. I'll say it again - EVERY SINGLE ONE OF US MATTERS!

A song from over 30 years ago comes to mind. Some of the lyrics go like this:

There ain't no good guy
There ain't no bad guy
There's only you and me
And we just disagree

Click here to watch Dave Mason's We Just Disagree.

A funny thing happened while I was walking the dog.

Christine Burke On The Radio

After some walking at Palomar College when I picked up my son, I found that Christine Burke had asked through email if I could be a backup speaker tomorrow at Toastmasters. Of course I said yes and then we emailed further about getting together at her Fitness Together in La Costa to measure my fitness progress. Here's our brief exchange:

> Is Tuesday 7:30 am ok?


I am on the Radio next Tuesday! KCEO AM 1000 9AM.



She's not available next Tuesday morning because she's on the radio! Listen Tuesday morning at 9 Pacific Time. Then come by and see Christine's Fitness Together.

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Click on the title of this post to see Christine Burke.

A Walk Before Toastmasters

If you've never been to Toastmasters, you should visit one or two clubs near you. We learn how to be more comfortable speaking in a group or in public. I've been a member of Expressions Unlimited, our Carlsbad club, for almost eight years. I found a club that's a good fit for me with some great people. Today at noon I was the Toastmaster of the day, which means that I'm the one running the meeting. Each meeting has a theme and mine was walking. Surprise. The meeting went well and our enthusiastic members really would have made you feel at home if you had been there. If you google expressions unlimited toastmasters, you can easily find the club blog. You can also check out the LINKS section of Big Man Walking over on the right of this page. I hope you visit a club and if you're near Carlsbad, California I hope you'll come see us.

This morning I took dropped my son off for calculus and instead of going home and puttering around for 10 minutes I went straight to Toastmasters. I was just over 45 minutes early and so I decided to take a walk. Our club is near the ocean and I could hear the waves as I walked to the southwest. I found a staircase I hadn't explored before and went down to the beach, stopping on the bottom step. I like finding ways to take a walk in street clothes as I hope to show people that walking more frequently can also be fairly convenient. I spent a few minutes taking in the beautiful view of the ocean on this cold, clear day. I had a smile on my face as I turned to go back up to the street and I walked to Fresco Trattoria on Carlsbad Village Drive. I sometimes see bumper stickers referring to this area that say something like "Locals call it Elm." I guess there was controversy over the name change some years back.

I realized that I didn't need to go to 101, which many people call Pacific Coast Highway or PCH, so I went back toward the beach and walked the path at street level which ends up along 101 as it sidles up against the Pacific. I stopped at the 30 MPH sign across 101 from the Tamarack Beach Resort and turned to go back to my Toastmasters meeting. Along the way I had a quick conversation with a woman reading a book on the bench titled The Best Travel Writing: True Stories from Around the World 2006. She said she liked the book and really liked our beach and places to walk in Carlsbad. I said goodbye and walked back past Fresco Trattoria again on my way back to Heritage Hall at Magee Park where Expressions Unlimited meets. My pedometer said I had walked 1 1/4 miles, some of it briskly and some of it leisurely, and then I was really ready for Toastmasters and my theme of the day: Walking. My walk took me 27 minutes.

I am walking. You can walk. Please walk today. No matter what.

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I really think FreeRice.com is a fantastic idea. Click on the title of this post to go there.

Keep walking even a little

Here it is Saturday, but there has been so much going on that I haven't quite walked a mile and it's almost noon. My honey is going to Florida tomorrow early and we spent a little time in one of our couple rituals this morning and I have assignments still to do to help her on her way. She just took our son to get his ankle checked after last night's soccer game and I'm about to take his two buddies to the movies because this outing was put in motion before he and his mother decided that he should get the ankle checked today rather than Monday.

But the dog really needed a walk, so I did get a little one in. I look forward to Monday when Christine will start "forcing" me to come in a couple times a week. When I was at Toastmasters yesterday I shared about walking and found out that at least a couple more people are walking in earnest in the new year. When you tell other people about what you're doing you can find those who are willing to support you in your goals. Conversely, if you don't share they don't know. So...walk. And tell somebody.

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Click on the title of this post to visit my Toastmasters Club blog - Expressions-Unlimited.blogspot.com.