From special occasions to memorable moments give them a gift they will never forget.
Working in Your Calling @SPSSuper
Are you working in your calling? My dad would say, “Wendy, when you get up in the morning and have to think twice about going to work, it’s time to move on”.
With a double masters, I’ve had some amazing roles, Yale Reimbursement Manger, Healthplan Administrator for Foxwoods Casino, Education Specialist for VNSNY – the role that had thee most impact is a Substitute Teacher, when I had a student go from wanting to be a stripper like CardiB to working at McDonalds (with the prospect of owning her own establishment) my heart cried out. When that young man found value in working for minimum wage verses dropping off packages for his cousin Julio and wearing a bright orange colored jumpsuit…the floodgates couldn’t be controlled.
#Thanks Giving
When #Sorry Isn’t Enough
What is sorry – feeling distress, especially through sympathy with someone else’s misfortune; or feeling regret or penitence;
What is penitence – the action of feeling or showing sorrow and regret for having done wrong; repentance.
Can one simply say, “I’m sorry” when they have caused someone harm;
Can one simply say, “I’m sorry” when they cause someone harm over and over and over again;
Can one simply say, “I’m sorry” when the harm caused is irreparable;
Can one simply say, “I’m sorry” when the recipient is unwilling to accept;
Can one simply say, “I’m sorry” and keep operating in a behavior that is harmful;
The Bible says, “For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.”
Apologizing is a way of recognizing our sins. It has a way of clearing the air between people and between you and God. When people apologize, they look for forgiveness for their sins. Sometimes, it means apologizing to God for the ways we have wronged Him.
Is there a difference between saying I’m sorry or apologizing – Saying sorry simply expresses your personal feelings about something. Apologizing implies that you are accepting the responsibility of the fault or mistake as well as expressing your regret about it. This is the main difference between sorry and apology.
When saying “sorry” didn’t work, I had to ask myself, “Lord, what is it You want me to do, what do You expect of me, what am I supposed to learn here. It was then that I received a call and the caller said to me something about Jesus saying He would create division between mother and daughter. I thought to myself, wow, I never read that or should I say that I read it but never paid any attention to it – until I found myself in a position where there was strife between me, my daughter and my mother and simply saying, “sorry” just didn’t seem like it was enough…
Not Peace but Division
Jesus said, 49 “I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! 50 But I have a baptism to undergo, and what constraint I am under until it is completed! 51 Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division. 52 From now on there will be five in one family divided against each other, three against two and two against three. 53 They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”
Jesus would stress the cost of discipleship with these words:
“If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple. And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:26-27)[2]
Jesus is not teaching emotional hatred for family members, but making it very clear that all relationships must be secondary to following him. Even parents, even a wife or husband, even children, even brothers or sisters, none of these could be first in their lives . Every loyalty and every love – even of a disciple’s own life – must be less than love for him. “Whoever does not carry their cross” – whoever will not die to every other loyalty – “cannot be my disciple.”
…above all else Christ must come first, a hard pill to swallow but a necessary medicine nonetheless…
#Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving Day is a national holiday in the United States, and Thanksgiving 2021 occurs on Thursday, November 25. In 1621, the Plymouth colonists and the Wampanoag shared an autumn harvest feast that is acknowledged today as one of the first Thanksgiving celebrations in the colonies.
Thanksgiving is a time for celebration, good food, and giving thanks. So as we gather with family, crush unworldly amounts of stuffing, and enjoy a football game in the crisp autumn air, let’s also acknowledge the real history of the holiday and practice gratitude by giving back.
Four hundred years later, the so-called first Thanksgiving is undergoing a reassessment. Museums and historic sites in Plymouth and around the country are telling a more nuanced story about the origins of the holiday—one that goes far beyond the lasting legend of smiling Pilgrims and Wampanoag people happily enjoying a big meal together.
“It wasn’t even called Thanksgiving back then,” says Darius Coombs, cultural and outreach coordinator for the Cape Cod–based Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe. “The Pilgrims had a large harvest that first year. So they have a feast. [Wampanoag leader Massasoit, or Ousamequin] shows up with about 90 of his men, and they bring five deer with them. They never ever mention turkey at that feast.”
In 1620, a small group of English separatists packed up and headed for the New World in search of religious freedom. Calling themselves “Saints” (the term “Pilgrims” wouldn’t be used to describe the settlers for another 200 years), they headed to what is now Delaware but landed in Plymouth in December after being blown off course by storms. The colonists first encountered the peaceful yet cautious Wampanoag the following spring.
At the time, the two disparate groups were attempting to find common ground. In April 1621, both had signed a treaty pledging to come to the aid of the other in case of attack. After losing nearly half of their settlers to sickness during their first winter in America, the English were teetering on extinction. The Wampanoag weren’t far from that reality themselves: Between 1616 and 1619, diseases introduced by European colonizers killed up to 90 percent of New England’s Native population in an epidemic now referred to as the Great Dying. Greatly weakened, the tribe also needed help fending off incursions from the Narragansett, a rival Native group.
There’s no evidence that the Wampanoag people were even invited in the first place. An account from the time said 90 members of the Wampanoag tribe were present and makes no mention of invitations. Some experts believe that these 90 men were an army, sent by Wampanoag leader Ousamequin at the sound of gunshots (which turned out to be a part of the celebration).
In their first encounter with the Wampanoag people, the Pilgrims stole from the tribe’s winter provisions — it wasn’t until later that Ousamequin formed an alliance between the groups. Even then, the alliance really only existed because the Wampanoag people were ravaged by diseases brought by European colonizers in the years prior. It was less about intercultural harmony and more about survival (made necessary by the actions of these settlers).
That first harvest was followed by deadly conflicts between colonizers and Native people, including (but definitely not limited to) the Wampanoags. The Europeans repaid their Native allies by seizing Native land and imprisoning, enslaving, and executing Native people.
Following “Thanksgiving” celebrations by European settlers often marked brutal victories over Native people, like the Pequot Massacre of 1636 or the beheading of Wampanoag leader Metacom in 1676.
Source: Smithsonian Magazine; DoSomething
OnStar & Veterans
Quantitative Easing & It’s Effect
The events of the original 11/2 were poetic in their symmetry. Congress stepped back from the action, and the Fed stepped forward. On that Tuesday, Americans cast their votes in the first midterm election of Barack Obama’s presidency and gave the Tea Party control of the House. Tea Party politicians had campaigned on a platform of policy negation and government shutdown, and they achieved their aims. The Obama agenda came to a grinding halt.
On that same day, an unelected committee of 18 people gathered for their regular meeting at the Federal Reserve. This committee, called the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) was led at the time by Chairman Ben Bernanke, who had a penchant for bold experiments. Bernanke enjoyed a level of autonomy that would be the envy of any U.S. president. When Congress created the Fed, it insulated the bank from voters, which allows the Fed to move fast in times of trouble. Bernanke used this power to great effect during the financial crisis of 2008, orchestrating large bailouts that propped up financial markets.
By 2010, however, the Fed looked like it might be out of options. The FOMC had already cut short-term interest rates to zero and kept them there. But Bernanke had devised an experimental way to do more: a program called quantitative easing (QE). This tool had been used only once before, in the heat of the financial crisis, and now Bernanke wanted to use it as a way to boost overall economic growth. This was a radical plan, and some members of the Fed’s policy committee warned against it. They argued that quantitative easing would only encourage risky lending without creating many real jobs. Over a period of years, Bernanke justified taking such risks in part because Congress wasn’t doing anything to help. On November 3, 2010, after the second day of their meeting, FOMC members approved Bernanke’s plan for $600 billion in quantitative easing. The Fed made itself central to America’s economic growth.
This was just the beginning. Between late 2010 and 2014, the Fed used quantitative easing to create about $2.3 trillion. To put that in perspective, that’s more than twice as much money as the Fed had created during the first 95 years of its existence. The bank crammed two centuries’ worth of new money creation into a few short years.
3-Year-Old Girl Dead After Ingesting Fentanyl, Mother & Grandparents Along With Others Arrested
This story is just devastating. An Indiana toddler died from a fentanyl overdose and two other kids had to receive medical attention after they …
3-Year-Old Girl Dead After Ingesting Fentanyl, Mother & Grandparents Along With Others Arrested
Radio Host Gets 3 Life Prison Terms For Bilking Listeners Out Of Millions
FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — A Texas radio host was sentenced to three life prison sentences Monday for a Ponzi scheme in which he bilked elderly …
Radio Host Gets 3 Life Prison Terms For Bilking Listeners Out Of Millions
Yes I Missed It Too
The 29th Annual Canstruction New York, raising money for City Harvest, will take place from November 4 ~ 15 at Brookfield Place, this year as an in-person event!
View some images here, they are amazing
Happy Birthday Marines
MsConcerned's Manifesto 