From a Higher Perspective

Here is an excellent explanation of millennials by an individual of that generation. The writer, Mac McCann, is clearly the antithesis of that common belief held by so many. A belief that definitely needs to be revised.

We’re millennials, and we’re not very popular.

We’re a “generation of idle trophy kids.”

We’re far too lazy to care about careers. (Nevermind that many of us are working around the clock, often as unpaid interns, hoping to get a decent job during a struggling economy.)

And even if we did care about careers, we aren’t ready for them.

Basically, as millennial Stephen Parkhurst’s brilliantly hilarious viral video put it, “We suck and we’re sorry.”

Obviously, these stereotypes can be false, if not flat-out ridiculous, but who can pass up on a good chance to mock America’s youth?

Bashing younger generations is nothing new, having occurred throughout history. In a few decades, I’m sure we, the millennials, will be participating in civilization’s timeless tradition of criticizing society’s young people. I’m not the first 20-something to realize this: A 23-year-old Alexander Pope wrote in “An Essay on Criticism” centuries ago, “We think our fathers fools, so wise we grow; Our wiser sons, no doubt, will think us so.”

With that said, let me clarify some things. Despite the allegations, we are grateful, and we understand our debts and obligations to others. In fact, it’s easy to argue that millennials are actually the most socially conscious generation ever.

And despite the seemingly infinite denunciations of technology by most other age groups, our generation recognizes its enormous overall benefits.

We’re grateful that information is more accessible and cheaper and quicker and constantly updated and international and interactive and diverse and seemingly infinite, all at our finger tips. We’re grateful that information that took centuries to compile and figure out is available within seconds to anyone with Internet access.

Don’t think that because we don’t watch the evening news or read a printed newspaper every day that we don’t crave information. However, having been the victims of standardized testing, we don’t want it watered down and chopped up into bite-size pieces. Nor do we want our news given to us by an objective suit-and-tie-wearing robot for exactly 30 minutes at the same time every night.

We want our news when it’s new, and we want our journalists to be as transparent as we want our politicians to be.

We do, indeed, want our news mixed in with cat pictures.

I won’t deny that, as Time magazine has boldly stated, millennials are “The Me Me Me Generation.”

But I would recast that to say that we’re the most individualistic generation since the 19th-century American transcendentalists. Like American transcendentalists Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau — see, people, we actually do respect our past — we value individualism as a means to virtues like tolerance, creativity and freedom.

And we hate when people speak on our behalf.

Does that make it absurd for me to act like I have the authority to speak for my generation? Yes, it does. But is it not just as absurd to dismiss my entire generation as if we are all the same?

If anything, millennials realize that it’s impossible to define an entire generation, knowing, as Oscar Wilde knew, to define is to limit. When millennials are put in a box, it does nothing but limit us.

Denouncing the entire “Me Me Me Generation” as if they’re all the same is lazy and stupid. Only millennials are lazy and stupid, right?

Mac McCann is a graduate of Lake Highlands High School and a student at UT-Austin. He can be contacted through macmccanntx.com.

It is interesting, when someone speaks about the true meaning of what the man the Christian world calls “Jesus The Christ” taught, so many, who claim to be a Christian and a believer, deny the truth as in the following article.

We’ve all heard the expression “Too good to be true” when it comes to evaluating a story that defies the odds or that involves sales promotion and usually the statement is correct.  All too often the story has been a fabrication or conveniently altered to create interest or produce sales. Sometimes though, what seems too good to be true actually is true. Here is a story that is difficult to believe, but which in truth actually happened.

Carlos, a veteran from the Vietnam War era, was a paratrooper who almost lost his life when his parachute failed to open. He had been dealing with post-traumatic stress since 1967 and had been through all kinds of treatment, all to no avail. He reported that he was only able to function with the help of his daughter. He didn’t like leaving the house and avoided crowds. Part of Carlos’ trauma occurred in a hospital and he was unable to enter one without extreme anxiety. Even four decades later Carlos’ stress levels were in the 6 to 10 range on a scale that measures stress levels (ten being unbearable). Carlos has a very big heart and, in spite of his own battles, was determined to reach out to other veterans who he felt were less fortunate than he. With the help of his daughter, he developed an association through which he and his daughter and a team of volunteers feed hundreds of veterans each month entirely at their own expense.

Carlos initially contacted Psychologist Dr. Sherry Buffington regarding a research program she is conducting in conjunction with The Foundation for Positive Change to establish the efficacy of a method called Rapidly Accelerated Mind Patterning (RAMP) in treating PTSD. The purpose of Carlo’s call was to help other veterans get treatment. In talking with him and discovering he had been battling PTSD for 47 years, Sherry suggested that he too be a part of the study. His session was on September 1, 2013. In little more than an hour Carlos was unable to find a single trace of the stress and anxiety he had been enduring for nearly five decades. In checking with him at the 30 day mark, he reported has was out walking for the first time in years and exercising, and has not had a single episode of anxiety or any situation he could not easily and effectively manage.

An amazing part of this story is that Carlos and Sherry had never personally met, as he lives in Los Angeles, CA and she is in Dallas, TX. All of their communications have been via the telephone. This is another asset of this program in that all contacts are completely private and can be done in the comfort of the home with no stigma of metal health issues attached.

Why and how does this work? RAMP is a method for communicating with the subconscious mind using its language and its rules. The subconscious mind is very cooperative when its rules are followed and the result is immediate and permanent change. In nearly 100% of study participants to date all have reports zero stress at the end of just one session.  The subconscious controls our very existence and, when you get right to the core of the matter, it wants only our survival and happiness. The conscious mind is logical where the subconscious is imaginal and the information it receives only needs to make sense conceptually. Problems arise when conscious desires conflict with subconscious programs. When that occurs, the result is emotional pain, anger, frustration, fear and all kinds of mental and physical distress.  A person with conflicts such as PTSD or depression can have this conversion while relaxed in the comfort of their home. The rewrite often takes less than an hour and the results are always positive and lasting, and the recipient ecstatic.

Additional information can obtained at www.banishblocks.com or, as a military veteran with PTSD, you can sign up to be part of the PTS Free study at www.thefoundationforpositivechange.org. Treatment is free to study volunteers and, like Carlos, you can be post traumatic stress free in as little as an hour.  Too good to be true? Try it and find out for yourself.

Here are several views from a higher perspective by individuals expressing their wishes for the New Year that were published in The Dallas Morning News Opinions, December 31, 2013.

Listen and compromise

With the coming new year, and considering the very poor performance of our public officials in Congress, I would like to propose a couple of New Year’s resolutions for not only their consideration, but also for all public officials whether they are city, state or national.

First, instead of listening only to your base, seek out and listen to others within your district who are not your base. They may not be as vocal, but they are quite often more numerous. You should be listening to them, too, since you were elected, whether with or without their help, to represent all of the people in your district.

Second, do not be afraid of compromise. It is very rare that compromise means giving up your principles. It is instead a recognition that many intelligent people of goodwill who also have the interests of the nation, state or community in mind will disagree with you, so that the only way to get anything done is to find ways to compromise. Getting part of something is much better than getting nothing. I have yet to read of a great politician who was not also a master at finding a compromise.

Bill Robinson, Arlington

Try for the higher bar

My best wish for 2014 would be that the well-paid politicians we have hired to work for us in Washington and Austin would do their jobs as efficiently as the immigrants who collect my garbage.

John H Brown, Arlington

Give us fresh voices

In 2014, I would like the producers of all the Sunday morning TV “news” shows to make the following resolution, for the benefit of their audiences and this country:

Stop culling from and recycling the same stale group of guests and roundtable members. Allow fresh, unscripted voices and viewpoints to be heard for an enlightening change.

These shows need a shakeup — because we all need to get out of our comfort (misinformation) zones.

Ellen Mermelstein, Dallas/Lake Highlands

Contradictions in Texas

My New Year’s wish is that public officials would stop pushing their religious beliefs and so-called “morals” on the community. The state of Texas is almost an embarrassment when it comes to how justice is administered. Despite all our guns, overflowing prisons and frequent executions, we still have one of the highest crime rates in the country.

Drunk drivers who kill and rapists are given probation, and simple drug possession can put you in prison for years and ruin your life. People can be pulled over and strip-searched for no reason other than someone thinks they smell something. I really hope we have a serious dialogue about our laws and how justice is administered in this state, including decriminalizing drug possession.

Tina Sanchez, Dallas/Pleasant Grove

Shameful parents

I hope you will discuss in 2014 the issues about the way kids are raised. It hurts my heart to see and hear of parents giving their kids anything they want, whether they can afford it or not. This is hurting them, not helping them. Kids go through life believing they should have everything, and all they care about is themselves and spend, spend, spend. Nowadays, kids are taught that everyone is a winner, not the best one. How can they go to school, then get a job thinking they are so special? That isn’t the real world! How about teaching children the pleasure of helping others?

They need to be taught to take responsibility for themselves or suffer the consequences. A good example is the case of the rich kid who has been taught he can get away with anything and everything, and he has. That isn’t being kind to him. At 16, he’s been in trouble before; now he has killed four people due to drunk driving. He’s not even getting any jail time. It goes on and on. If I were his parents, I’d hang my head in shame.

Barbara A. Whitfield, Streetman