My understanding of brevity is not why I will endeavor to achieve my points in as few paragraphs as possible, but my mission has always been and remains is to offer informed solutions to the issues of life. Granted, I require of my audience to engage the breadth, and length, and depth, and height of their understanding. As I was fond of telling my soldiers this phrase all the time, “Sergeant Moseley can’t do everything, you are going to have to do your part too.”
One.
I will start with religion, which I must warn you may be insulting and amusing, but I will make a point. As an assignment in one of my classes I had to watch a PBS video called ‘Armed in America’. A panel of ministers sat on stage talking about how they now had to carry concealed weapons (guns) into church in order to protect them if someone wanted to come in and harm them. Pause. A younger white minister who looked like he was auditioning for Pearl Jam was the only voice of reason (surprising to me) on the entire panel. He touched on my revelation I will reveal in a minute about these so-called Christians. Guards armed with weapons were needed to protect the House of God. Pause.
Imagine with me if you will. God, upon hearing this development asks the minister of that church for an audience. The minister agrees and appears before God to answer this affront. The minister tells God that there are people out there looking to murder, sow discord, and strike fear in his children to keep them away from worshiping him. God, upon hearing this looks to his right at Jesus. God looks at the Holy Ghost, Gabriel, and Michael. God looks out across heaven and summons a Bible to his hand and reads it to be certain he did say something about persecution and featured it prominently within the pages.
My revelation is: Are you kidding me! Oh, by the way, God threw a few bolts of lightning. God shook Earth and brought the whirlwind to be sure he still had a little power left in him to behold such doubt from his followers. Maybe God felt he was loosing it and check himself there for a minute to be sure. Try Matthew 5 vs. 10. That panel discussion blew my mind as I was attempting to comprehend the cascading flood of arrogant beliefs impacting against my mind displayed by their lack of faith in God. A Christian should be enthusiastic about the chance to die in the name of God if it is God’s will that he do so! Ministers should be calling this blasphemy of weapons in the house of God as a lie, a confusion, a contradiction of the word that God has given us. I am talking to all these so-called Christians. If you believe that you can protect God’s Kingdom with a ‘firearm’, I don’t ever want to be in church with you period.
Two.
Beautiful people. Don’t think I’m picking on you. It is just that a lot of the trouble in this world stems from the fact that beautiful people neglect the development of their interpersonal skills. Take for instance a scenario where upon a beautiful woman leaves her home and goes to work. Many doors are opened for her because humankind loves to have something pleasant to view when conducting day-to-day transactions.
Remember some times in your life where you couldn’t avoid conflict. Did you count on your looks to pacify the situations? No? Why not? What did you use to mediate the issue and come to a solution? Something involving that gray matter encased in your skull perhaps. Right. Most disagreements are fairly minor and can be solved easily by giving up on a point of view, or allowing the greater good to be served by deferring to the other person’s position.
What if the issue can’t be solved so easily? Facial or body features will not get you out of sticky situations. I’m sorry to inform you in case you thought they always would. Sometimes the intensity of a conflict burrows two or more parties into a matter so deep that all issues surrounding the matter are all that matter. What use would your looks serve you then?
My point here is to ‘burst that bubble’, that fallacy for all those who thought that looks would render you the victor 100% of the time. Male and female alike. In public. On the job. In every setting within a society. No one has to bow down to you because your man or your woman told you that you were pretty. You walk on water, or your crap doesn’t stink! All that’s good, but that is for you to share it with whoever tells you that. The rest of the world doesn’t have to acknowledge that you look good in that dress, or that three-piece suit.
Now what’re you going to do? An argument has to have two or more participants willing to argue for their point of view. If one of the participants developed their interpersonal skills to fight for their position and the other party, with the opposing point of view, relies on looks to win the argument. I believe the more prepared person will win that battle.
Look people, I’ve seen it happen. I’ve seen people fall apart. I’ve seen people get shredded to pieces (their position) because they relied on their looks to persuade their opponent to give them the day. What’s worse is that time (years of your life) is still passing. All the time people could be working on those interpersonal skills wasted because they were told they were pretty or handsome. It made them neglect a critical part of their character. Their mental toughness. Their comfort with not being the center of attention. The demanding nature of business where if you can’t articulate your desires (intelligence); then what good are you to a company?
My revelation is: Then you are just another pretty face that ‘hangs on the wall like a painting in a museum people come to view, but they know they can’t take it home because it’s too expensive.’ Who needs to stare at something everyday that doesn’t give them much more than a pleasant thought.
Three:
A decision. One decision could have monumental ramifications! For this I’m going to stay positive because it is one decision I will share with you. Back in 2002, I was in the Alabama National Guard. I was newly single (you know what that means) and making a career for myself at a grocery store. The President at the time started one war and was about to start the Iraq war. I prayed to God and asked him if this is my destiny; then I will stay on duty in the U.S. Army.
That decision lead to an opportunity to come back on active duty in the Army in 2007 nearly five years later after serving in Germany and Iraq. I ended my active time in 2014 and joined the Army Reserves which has lead me to the process of adding all my time to qualify for a 20-year letter of retirement from the Reserves. None of this was easy. After Iraq, I served two 12-month tours of duty in Afghanistan. I also survived a lot of ribbing from younger colleagues serving with the ‘old man’ in many of my units.
When I say I wouldn’t change it (my decision, my life) for anything I am being reflective and thankful. I am a full-time student and I work about 32 hours a week. Oh, and don’t forget my website www.landcause.com. My income is higher than when I was on active duty while my expenses have certainly dropped. All for one decisions that now looks like an octopus as it spreads it’s tentacles throughout my life.
My revelation is: Do not think lightly of the decisions that you make. A decision could serve you with good nourishment for years, heck even decades to come if made wisely!