First Thing, Improve Yourself

There does seem to be more people that want to advise others, than others that want such advice, which is either a function that there is an oversupply of wise people, or instead an oversupply of those that think they are wise.  While it is a good thing, for people that are truly competent and knowledgeable to want to pass such knowledge onto others, it is important first to take an honest assessment of your own value, of which that assessment is especially pertinent when received from people that you truly respect, people that are your contemporaries, and people that have your best interests in mind. In any event, such analysis will typically help you to become a better person and to thereby improve yourself, for those that are not in the process of growing, are at best, standing still, and at worse, regressing, for knowledge does not stop the day you stop taking educational classes, but instead ends the day that you close your mind to being a better and improved you.

The most wonderful thing about improving yourself, is that, first of all, it isn't selfish, for your improvement in character, in wisdom, and in insight, gives you the opportunity to impart such knowledge to others seeking such understanding, permitting you to become a mentor to others, to provide better guidance for others, and even if the overall quantity of people that take in your advice is few in number, even if is just one person, for that one, It is still very worthwhile.

Those that improve themselves, are following one of the most primary dictates in life, which is to be fruitful in what one does and what one accomplishes, for such fruitfulness besides benefiting one's own, benefits others, by your example and by the abundance of the myriad things so produced, often bringing forth a desire by others to emulate the type of success that you have, for people can be influenced by acts of good as well as by acts of evil, so that those that demonstrate in their life that hard, conscientious work ethic, are sowing the seeds of success for others to abide by.

One should never live a life in which one has to say, do the good of what I say, and not the evil of what I do, for when actions do not mesh with the words that you are speaking, you are a combination of hypocrisy, contradiction, confusion, and weakness, for if you really know what you should be doing, but do it not, the suffering for yourself as well as for the others that you interact with runs riot, for it is never enough to just know right, for actions do indeed make the man.

Finally, one should want to improve yourself, for the sensible reason that there is no greater joy and because there is no greater legacy than a life lived well, for if it can be said, at the end of your life, that you have made your community a better place for the things that you have done and influenced, then you have well served your fellow man, having prudently stored up eternal treasure that will never rust, nor be stolen.

Law and Order and Christ

Whenever there is some trouble or the emphasis of such by news media organizations or similar, the kneejerk response by a wide swath of Americans, though not all, is that the solution to this problem lies in our need for more "law and order".  Not too surprisingly, those that cry the largest and longest for more law and order, are either the direct or indirect beneficiaries of such, for instance, law enforcement, justice departments, and those that work with them or on their periphery, as well as those that are convinced that people that do not look similar to their self, or act similar to their self, or are just sojourners within the community, should be carefully monitored and contained.  In short, the cries of law of order aren't really requests for the law being better applied, or for more order in an age of chaos, but more akin to protectionism of the status quo, and thereby for the law to be unequally applied so as to protect and serve those that are the favored class in opposition mainly to those that might infringe upon such status.

Ever since civilization began, hierarchies have been created, so too, in the time of Christ, there was such a hierarchy within the Jewish religion, as well as in the governance of the people by Roman authorities.  As Jesus the Christ, became something more than a mere sideshow to the common people, but someone that appeared to threaten the very veracity and legitimacy of the Sanhedrin, such a persona of Christ, became the most dangerous of all men, for a man that answers solely to the power above, solely to Truth, is a man that cannot be reasoned or compromised with, and hence, such a man can invalidate and compromise the very power of the elders of the Sanhedrin, even though that may not be a primary or secondary mission of Christ.  Additionally, while Rome was rather liberal in permitting the religious practice of Jews, as well as allowing the Jews to take care of religious affairs within their own, they had no liberal attitude whatsoever against any entity that threatened to upend the law and order of Rome, so that, once Jesus was labeled a rebel, and arrested for sedition, Jesus, was therefore subject to the full penalty of that Roman law which was crucifixion.  In short, Jesus, was caught between the authority of the Jewish religion, as represented by the Sanhedrin, who considered certain acts of Jesus to be blasphemous, and therefore subject to being stoned to death, and the Roman law, which brokered no rebellion, whatsoever, and utilized capital punishment as a matter of course in order to maintain their orderly rule.

All of the above, would imply, that if Christ had been alive in this present age of law and order in the United States, and considered to be a danger to a particular religion for his views that embarrass as well as making hypocrites of the highest powers of that religion, while, on the other hand, being perceived, rightly or wrongly, to be a mortal threat to the state of governance in an era of terrorism,  law and order would do what it always does, which is to manufacture a case, using whatever means so necessary, against such so as to silence or to minimize this person, as well as to conceivably to take extreme prejudicial actions so as to eliminate such a person, once and for all.

Those that cry the longest and loudest for more law and order are, in fact, the very same, as those that cried in that day and age: "crucify Him."

Should you ever attach a picture to your Résumé?

Anyone that is wise or sensible, wants to present themselves in the most positive light when actively going after employment, so that, there may be for certain people, an inclination to attach a picture to their résumé, especially if the perception is by doing so, that this will help them to get an interview for that job, and as much as interviewers want to tell us that they make decisions base on rational items such as experience, background, education, and so on, it just seems that when the initial introduction by a new applicant is done through a résumé, and that résumé has a picture on it, that picture will often influence matters, for better or for worse, no matter how much a particular interviewer denies it having done so.

While, in general, interviewers are not permitted to ask for or mandate a picture as a requirement in order to interview such, primarily because employers do not want to get on the wrong side of the EEOC, for insisting upon a picture in which requesting such places themselves in the unenviable position of having to justify how such a requirement does not violate age, race, or other discriminating factors, there is, on the other hand, the situation where the shoe is on the other foot, so that one's thought process should at least consider attaching a photo, of which, some people do, especially since they feel that they are going to be "outed" anyway, via social media, Google, LinkedIn or similar, so why not then get ahead of the curve and present typically the most conservative and professional looking facial photograph possible, in conjunction with their résumé.

Anyone that says that looks do not matter as regards to an interview, is not being honest, for in almost all situations, your look, will matter, at least to a minimum degree, if not more.  This means, one should definitely consider adding a photograph onto their résumé, but should only do so, with the following caveats.  The first caveat being that your look should be to the best of your ability, a look that you believe via the research that you have conducted a good representation of what you believe that the employer is looking for.  The second caveat is that the photograph should be as professional as possible, typically conservative in taste, and strictly a facial shot from the shoulders on up.  The third caveat is that if you are going to attach a photo to your résumé you may as well attach it to the top corner of said résumé, as opposed to the bottom or elsewhere, because that picture is your actual lead-in.

Then again, there are many reasons why a particular person would not want to attach their picture, which has a lot to do with an individual's perception of their look, and what it says about them, for a picture gives away one's basic race, one's gender, and one's basic age, all things, that may negate an opportunity for an interview, legal or not, so that all things being equal, prudence may dictate to skip the picture in the hope that a future face-to-face interview will provide you the chance to  overcome snap judgments built upon your facial look to begin with.

We live in a world in which people claim that they make decisions just based on the facts, but, in reality, that isn't true, and most definitely how your résumé is structured, formatted, the words that you use, and what it says, makes a material difference on whether you get the job opportunity or not, so that the adding of a picture to such, does change the nature of your résumé, so that it very well might help you or hurt you, for as long as humans interview other humans, first impressions as done via a résumé, picture or not, matter.

Physical Death and Liberation

As America becomes more of a secular nation, with its leading intellectuals having become more and more dismissive of religion in general, promoting that we humans are physical beings and nothing more, so that with physical death being the inevitable end of all that are born into this world, then clearly it doesn't take any real perception to reach the rather reasonable conclusion that all is completely and utterly meaningless.  It then follows from this, because physical death is the end, then, no doubt, death is the destruction of the self, is the destruction of the ego, is the destruction of what has been, and must thereby make for the rather forlorn and long faces for those that still live, while their loved ones are dead, forever.

To make matters worse, there are all sorts of deaths on earth, of which, unfortunate to say, some die without anyone to mourn for them, because of their isolation, or, even worse, because of their actions.  So too, there are others that die way before their time, having not even had the opportunity to prove their worth, because they are gone at such a young age, then there are others, that have lived long and fruitful lives, but age has taken a toll upon them, so death, though perhaps not welcomed, is considered to be somewhat merciful.

Yet, the great religions of this world, recognize death for what it really is, the transition from the limits of the physical form along with the release of the blinders of limited perception and insight, replaced with the unlimited horizons of love, truth, justice, and fairness, of which time and space, are seen for what they are, constructs necessary for mankind to live in this dimension, but having no part in the dimension beyond.

The most basic and the most fundamental problem that those that do not understand that we are immortal beings encased for a limited time in a physical form, is that if you do not recognize or know what or who you really are, as well as ignoring the unalienable inner voice that each is gifted with in order to help guide and to keep one focused, than you will do far less than what you could do in order to progress and thereby help make this world a better place for all, or, even worse, you could make this world far worse by your actions.

Liberation, most definitely, is any stage in which you are able to not only perceive the way that things really are, but are also able to release yourself from whatever imprisons you from not reaching the being that you should be.  It isn't so much that our physical body precludes us from being liberated, it is more that far too many people believe that the needs of the physical body in conjunction with its ego, should trump all, whereas, in actuality, we are here to master and/or to supersede our physical self, so as to appropriately see that all this is indeed vanity, that we all are in fact, in this together, all created equally, and all never satiated till we rest once again, in the bosom of our Creator that created it all.

While there is sorrow when anything good dies in this world, the end of all sorrows lies not here on earth, but in the conscious recognition that this world isn’t the end or even the beginning, but instead the staging for our re-birth into what is.

Social Security Lump sum payout

For virtually all private sector workers they are compelled by law to pay into Social Security via their paycheck payroll deduction, so as to receive their future Social Security benefits, upon retirement eligibility. Whether you see the value and wisdom of the Social Security program or not, that is the way the government has structured it and you cannot start receiving benefits for all of the years that you paid into the Social Security system, until you reach at a minimum the age of 62, with the current law structured that those that were born in the year 1960 or later, having their full retirement age being set at age 67, in which they will receive 100% of their calculated benefits per month, and those that postpone their Social Security payments until they are age 70, will receive an extra premium per month for having made that specific delay.

While there are all sorts of calculations available to help figure out which Social Security payout age would be best for you, one also must calculate in their particular financial as well as health situation in order to come up with the best decision.  Currently, unlike some pension funds, the Social Security administration does not allow you to opt-into a one-time Social Security lump sum payout, although for people that delay their Social Security payments until after their full retirement age they are permitted under special circumstances to get a retroactive lump-sum payout, but alas this is limited to a maximum of six months of benefits.

As you might expect, different people have different needs from their Social Security benefits, in which certain people don't even need their monthly payouts because their assets are so great to begin with, to people that definitely need their social security monthly payouts, but even that monthly amount isn't enough to take care of their basic financial well being, and, of course, everything in-between.  It seems surprising, that in a country as large and as sophisticated as America, that a program hasn't already been developed that allows retirees of Social Security age the option to replace their future Social Security monthly payouts and replace this with a one-time cash-out payment.  There are obvious reasons why someone might opt for that one-time cash-out payment, despite the fact that such a payment must be discounted to its present-day value, which is that money up front allows you the opportunity to pay off bills, and/or to buy things that you need or desire today, rather than never really having enough cash to do so in the future.  Additionally, for savvy investors, even with their future Social Security payments being discounted to their present-day value they would be freely able to take such a lump sum payment and invest it as they so desire in the belief that such an investment plan would be superior to what they would have received via monthly payments by the Social Security administration.

The bottom line is this, the Social Security payments are an obligation that the government has to the individual for being the fiduciary party in receiving such from paychecks throughout the lifetime of a given laborer, therefore, that obligation should be available to that individual in a form that includes a one-time lump sum payment discounted to the present day, and this option should be made posthaste, for not only will it benefit in particular, those that are struggling, but it will also benefit the economy by virtue of the fact that monies that are spent or invested, now, increases economic activity.

No doubt, the government and critics will argue, that some people having received a one-time lump sum payment will be irresponsible, and thereby will become wards of the state, but what of it, for isn't it their money that the government has put up for their safekeeping in the first place?  Those that are of retirement age as defined by Social Security should be permitted to do what they so desire to do with their Social Security money.

Inheritance and the Wealth Gap

America prides itself on being perceived as a meritorious country, and to a certain degree it is, yet, because America has existed for well over 200 years, we have become a country that passes on its legacies from one generation to the next on this soil, of which, some of these legacies are simply the stories, principles, and memories that we all communicate from one to another, as well as for some families, material assets that are passed onto the younger generation, and it is these material inheritances which account for a significant reason as to why certain people and certain classes of people are able to have a significant leg up in comparison to those that receive little or nothing materially as their inheritance.

That is to say, most people make their money by their labor, in which wage earning statistics are broken down into all sorts of categories, from race to education to sexto location and so on and so forthWhat has perhaps surprisingly changed for those that classify themselves as white, is that in aggregate, Asian-American's median household income as reported by Wikipedia.com for 2015, absolutely crushes White-American's median household income in which Asians' are at $74,246 and Whites' are at $59,698, while Black-American's are at $36,544. 

Further to the point, as reported by pewhispanic.org the median household income for Asian-Americans was greater than White-Americans in 1980, 1990, 2000, and 2010, yet as reported by stlouisfeg.org, using constant 2013 dollars, White-Americans had a median family household wealth of $130,102 in 1989, whereas Asian-Americans had a median family household wealth of $64,165 in 1989, and White-Americans had a median family household wealth of $134,008 in 2013, whereas Asian-Americans had a median family household wealth of $91,440 in 2013.  For African-Americans in 1989 their median family household wealth was $7,736 and in 2013 was $11,184.  This clearly indicates that White-Americans, despite making far less in household income than Asian-Americans still have a quite impressive advantage over Asian-Americans in median family household wealth, despite their significantly lower household income, and while the percentage gaps have been closing between all races v. White-Americans over the last twenty-five years for the median family household wealth, White-Americans despite having far less college education in aggregate v. Asian-Americans, still lead the pack.

This gap in median family household wealth in favor of White-Americans can only be explained logically by one factor, which is the amount of inheritance that one family generation passes onto its progeny.  This then reflects that White-Americans in aggregate, begin their life with an inherited advantage over all other races in America, which, makes it far easier for them to enjoy, buy, and maintain the material assets that they so receive as well as to add onto this with the labor that they create in their own endeavors. 

While we can applaud hard work and diligence, along with understanding that families have a need and desire to take care of their own, what isn't quite right, is that when politicians talk about eliminating the estate tax (aka the "death tax"), or reducing the impact of such a tax even further, they are essentially aiding and abetting the same favoritism for the same favored race, as has been done since America's inception, in which to continue such isn't fair, equal, just, or appropriate.

Certain Unalienable Rights

The seminal document for all Americans is its Declaration of Independence, and a careful reading of such, we come upon these immortal words: "… that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are…" in which most people finish the sentence correctly with life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. However, many people gloss over the absolutely critical point which is that life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, are unalienable rights but not the only unalienable rights that we are entitled to, as the Declaration of Independence clearly states that these three unalienable rights listed are some of those unalienable rights, but not all of our unalienable rights.

Scholars have postulated that the Bill of Rights (our first Ten Amendments to the Constitution) completes the set of our unalienable rights, those these Amendments to the Constitution don't carry with it the actual title of Unalienable Bill of Rights, yet, in principle, these rights should probably be considered as unalienable, which means that each of these rights as enumerated by our Bill of Rights are of extreme value, pertinence, and importance to the citizens of these United States.

From that, we should be able to discern our unalienable rights by carefully and logically thinking it all through, for unalienable rights, by definition, supersede any legitimate or illegitimate governmental power, for these rights come to us not by the power of the government, not by the privileges granted to us by such, not conditionally, not rights that are ours some of the time and sometimes are not, but these are rights that we are born with, they are unalienable, and no state agency has the legitimate God-given authority to wrest such from the people for these were gifted to us by our Creator, and not by man.

These additional unalienable rights indicate that we have the right to reasonably defend ourselves from foreign or domestic hands, that we have the right to earn and keep the fruit of one's own labor, that there is permitted no taxation without fair representation,  that we are permitted to worship in whatever manner that we so please, in which, further, neither the government nor the people has the right to impose upon us who are what God we should worship to, that we entitled to speak our mind and to freely express those thoughts whether politically correct or not, that our press and other communication devices are free to distribute whatever news that they so desire, that we may freely associate with whomever we so desire, regardless of their race, creed, or social status, that all are born free and none are born into servitude, that we have the right to know the charges that are made against us by policing authorities and in addition we are entitled to receive a fair and speedy trial, in front and by our peers, that fines, bails, or punishments should be reasonable and fairly applied, and that we have the right to be secure in our own private property, fairly obtained.

There isn't anything more important than our unalienable rights, which is the real and legitimate reason that governments are instituted amongst mankind, for these governments are specifically created in order to protect our unalienable rights, and a country that makes that their policy in principle and practice, is truly a nation blessed by the very hand of God.

Controlling the Narrative: Conflict Diamonds

The very first question to ask is what are "conflict diamonds"?  The definition by the United Nations reads: "...diamonds that originate from areas controlled by forces or factions opposed to legitimate and internationally recognized governments…"  You might then think that there are probably all sorts of minerals or resources in areas of such conflict, such as: oil, plutonium, phosphorus, titanium, and so on and so forth, so is somewhat puzzling why diamonds should be something that is of particular concern, as opposed to these other natural resources and minerals.

The basic answer to that question is that diamonds, unlike many other resources have been essentially price-controlled by the De Beers cartel for years, so that the very best thing for any cartel that wants to sustain itself is to declare that diamonds that are procured from other areas of the world, in particular those are outside De Beer's sphere of influence, are somehow tainted, so that in essence, because those diamonds are tainted, De Beers subsequently is still able to command a premium for their diamonds, knowing that they need not have to worry about being undercut.

Another important issue, is De Beers, itself, in which De Beers is by far the biggest producer of diamonds in South Africa, a country that was known for decades for its policy of apartheid, which was considered an anathema to the international community, and although, apartheid has come and gone, De Beers still remains, though De Beers has historically not been noted for its liberal conditions towards blacks, but rather has been seen at best as employing blacks in the grunt and dangerous work of the actual mining, and at worse, just outright exploitation.

All of the above points to the very obvious concern, which is, why does a company such as De Beers get a free pass, as if they have never been guilty of essentially taking the lion's share of profits for themselves, their stockholders, and their board of directors, while in return providing native South Africans with nothing even approaching the wealth that has been successfully extracted from South African soil by De Beers essentially running and dominating the show, in which not even the elimination of apartheid, fundamentally changed the nature of De Beers business or control.

To say that diamonds should be divided into conflict and non-conflict diamonds might make good copy, but in reality, the great bulk of diamonds that are mined in Africa are mined by black hands, while the real beneficiaries of these diamonds are white hands and white capital, but somehow that story is completely ignored, in favor of some sort of arbitrary distinction that diamonds that are mined in countries that are not in revolt are legitimate because they are considered to be blood-free diamonds, but the reality of it is that virtually all African diamonds are essentially mined by the sweat, bodily risk, and toil of black inhabitants that receive in return a small fraction of the worth of the diamonds so mined.

Diamonds are an expensive luxury item, in which the maintaining of pricing, distribution, and control are essential for maximizing such, so by controlling the narrative so that those that are outside your realm, are thereby designated as illegitimate because they have been branded as "conflict diamonds" this, in essence, becomes just a devious way to put a spike into your competition.

Temptation and Opportunity

Life presents all sorts of opportunities and choices for us, whether we are consciously cognizant of them or not.  Not too surprisingly, some of those opportunities and choices, are not things that are we should give in to, for the consequences though often times not immediate, are negative in their ultimate outcome, so that, having made that choice, we suffer for having made a poor one.  So too, it is necessary to recognize that in order to truly measure a man, one needs to test that man, for many a person believes that they are faithful when they are not, or believes that they are strong when they really are not, or believes that they are better than thou when surely they are not.  Therefore, some of the tests that we take in life, are in fact, to prove what type of man that we really are, for words are one thing, especially lofty words, and actions are the proof of whether those words have real meaning, and those that talk a good game, but fall short, are held more accountable, than those that are rather more humble about it, while also falling short.

Whenever we are tempted by something that we know has no good upside, the choice would if we are rational, be rather straightforward, but within mankind, there are innate traits, inclinations, and habits that some are able to master and some are not.  For instance, very young children are known for their need for instant gratification, for they really do need food or drink or comfort or to go to the bathroom, and are not shy in expressing such, but as adults we need to overcome some basic temptations, especially when we have been taught better and we do know better.  That is to say, as adults, the most common temptations actually align very closely with the most deadly sins which are: lust, pride, covetousness, anger, gluttony, envy, and sloth.  This would surely indicate that we should be well familiar with these deadly sins for these are indeed the ingredients of the temptations that we will have to face up to in this world.

In order to be a master of anything, not only must you consciously know well your craft, you must be able to perform it well on a consistent basis, as well as being able to perform competently under the most trying of circumstances, along with having the discernment to cast aside things and barriers that get in your way while performing such focused work.  All these are the qualities of a master craftsman, so that, we should expect, that on a good day, all will go well, but on a poor day, that we would still be able to persevere and overcome obstacles in our way, in order to demonstrate in action that we are not just a "fair weather" worker.

The temptations that we face in life may be expected or unexpected, but temptations will come, and those that are able to overcome such, are those that then become the pillars of bright light in the house of our Lord, for God accepts nothing less than the attributes of what makes for the eternal music of harmony which are: love, humility, kindness, courage, chastity, patience, and diligence.  Therefore those that face temptation and overcome such have taken hold of that opportunity to prove themselves worthy students of good faith, deserving then of all the nourishing fruits for their loyal labor.

The Federal Government and Frugality

Frugality for people most definitely has its place, for those that are unable to pay their bills, may easily find themselves placed into a position in which such non-payment will result in the loss of their vehicle, the loss of their home, the loss of their credit capacity, and so on and so forth.  There are many people that are able to juggle their debts, but still suffer for being in debt, because of the massive interest payments that must be paid to their creditors as well as often being placed into a dubious credit category which means higher interest rates, often less credit capacity, in addition to the fact that some potential employers look at the credit scores of their applicants, equating to less job opportunity.  Clearly, then, for people, mishandled debt is bad, though, many people deliberately get into debt for school, for their vehicle, for their home, and are able to handle responsibly such debt, primarily because their earning capacity along with their overall budget savvy aids them in doing so.

Most of our State governments have balance budget amendments so that they are constrained in their spending in which these State budgets take into account anticipated revenues from their taxpayers as well as other payers in a given fiscal year which is thereby balanced against the legislated budget.  Yet, for whatever reason, the federal government does not have a balance budget amendment, which might be fine, if that government demonstrated its frugality in its expenditures, or a realistic plan that made some sort of fiscal sense, or the proven capacity to responsibly handle such debt, but in fact, the 21st century clearly indicates that the emperor has no clothes, for at the completion of Clinton's final year in office, the national deficit, rested at $5.629 trillion dollars, whereas as of July 6, 2017, as estimated by treasurydirect.gov the national deficit had risen to an astonishing amount of $19.844 trillion dollars.

While there may be legitimate reasons for any government to run a deficit, such as the procurement of land, for infrastructure, because of a foreign war that threatens their very way of life, because of a recession or depression, or some other national emergency, the fact of the matter is that the United States primarily runs such massive deficits because the legislative and executive branches of this government, does not have the courage to either get their house in order by spending monies within a balance budget, and/or has not the courage to raise taxes on the people and other institutions that pay taxes to the federal government. 

The problem that our present-day government has is that for whatever reason, it desires to provide benefits and services to designated people and institutions, but knows that in order to pay for such things, it would have to confiscate too much in taxes from those that would either be unwilling to pay such or have not the ready capacity to do so.  All this really does is to kick the can down the road, a road in which rather than taxing appropriately its people and living within its means today, the country has divided itself into those that reap the benefits of not having to pay their fair share by receiving more than their fair share presently, while essentially sticking the responsibility of that lack of keeping their fiscal house in order, onto the youngest generation or even generations yet unborn, because eventually those that are the creditors of these massive deficits will receive their payments off of the backs of those still alive to pay it, irrespective of the fairness, the legitimacy, or their capacity to pay such.

Tyranny and we the People

The seminal document in American history is its Declaration of Independence, for it is this document, which succinctly put forth what it was that we were in rebellion against, in which the foremost complaints against Great Britain was its tyranny that was injuring its subjects on this Continent as well as Great Britain's usurpations of our unalienable rights.  All this led to our successful and bloody revolution against Great Britain which ultimately resulted in the uniting of our individual States into the United States of America under its present-day Constitution, which begins with the preamble "We the People…"

Our Constitution signifies that we are legitimately governed by those that have been properly delegated to be in their positions of authority through the voting powers and representation of the people, and that therefore those that are in authority are not in authority because they have been born into it.  If necessary, the people are entitled to hold their representatives' feet to the fire for these office holders have a sacred duty to honor the Constitution which represents in writing the responsibilities that these representatives have to the people, and that thereby those that aggrandize unto themselves special privileges, special immunities, and special powers, have vacated their legitimate ruling of the people.

Those that are in the highest authority in this land, be it judicial, executive, or legislative, must always be the true representation of the people for the betterment of the people, recognizing that their power is only legitimate as contained within the Constitution, and to supersede or to overthrow the unalienable rights that each of us has been gifted to by our Creator, is fundamentally in error.

This means that when this government behaves in such a way that it demonstrates on a constant basis its tyranny over the people, through its constant standing military forces that busy themselves in every nook and cranny of the world, through the lack of trial by jury in the vast majority of our criminal cases, for taxes and laws that favored special elite groups while unfairly burdening the great middle class of this country, than such a government of tyranny must be called to account for itself, for its true legitimacy comes only from the consent of the people, as opposed to some sick preconception that they may rule as they see fit, running roughshod over the Constitution, so that the Constitution means whatever they want it to mean, so as to primarily aid those in power and their beneficiaries, so as to control  and suppress those that are not.

Those that are our representatives have a primary fiduciary duty to first to do right by the people,  and to specifically to obey and to uphold this Constitution, to administer justice fairly, to promote the general welfare which applies equally to all, to represent well this nation per its Constitutional laws, as well as to always to be held accountable and transparent to the people, of which these people have sacrificed again and again their blood, their toil, and their tears so as to create and maintain a nation truly blessed by the hand of God, to which the people and its representatives have a holy obligation to stand with each other when each of them is right, and to quickly make amends when either is in the wrong.

First, Master Thyself

All sorts of people are quick to offer advice, solicited or not, in which, the advisor of such, doesn't really have their own house in order, which doesn't necessarily mean that their particular advice doesn't have merit, but it does indicate that the person giving such advice, needs to follow their own advice, and/or needs to master their own self, first, in order to properly demonstrate themselves as a true mentor.

The very first thing that we need to have complete control over is ourselves.  While it is true that others can change our circumstances, the interior portion of our mind and how we react to external changes or things which we may not have control over, is still entirely our own, for all are gifted with free will and free decision making of the mind, and in many cases, are gifted with far, far more.  This gift of free will is ours to utilize either for good or for bad, to be used appropriately or not, as is our inclination, whatever it may be as ultimately we are responsible for the things that we do and say.

It must be said, that whatever that we do with our free will has an awful lot to do with our ability to truly be master of our own fate, as well as to be master of our own desires, in addition to being master of the circumstances that surround us.  For some people, it must be incredibly disappointing that they have not the will to resist a sugary dessert or similar that they know they should not have, especially since even a pet, can be trained to obey its master and not do the same, because of that training, whereas, some humans given the primary responsibility to demonstrate their own self-control, fall woefully short.

Sad to say, this inability to discipline ourselves properly, presents a problem that just gets progressively worse, for those that cannot control themselves, will often find themselves controlled by the state, in one form or another, because of this lack of discipline, or if not controlled by the state by some agent acting as its substitute, enthralled typically by their most imposing vice, such as alcohol, drugs, illicit sex, anger, and so on and so forth. 

Still, within each of us is the power to escape this lack of discipline, to escape this lack of order, and that way is to train the mind to overcome the things that hold us back from our better selves.  For some people, the best way to overcome their shortcomings is to work in conjunction with others that are able to hold them accountable for their actions and thereby to keep them focus on their goals; then again, alternatively it is the developing of one's inner concentration that helps one to calm their mind in order to make one's decision making less impulsive and better thought out.  In any event, progress is only made through successful application as well as the constant desire to be the master of yourself.

Those that see if through, and become masters of their own free will, are best able to deal with not only the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, but will find themselves better able to apply themselves in things great and small, so as to be and to thereby have the accouterments of a life lived successfully which benefits not only themselves but others that they mentor to.

Student Loans and the Treasury Offset Program

There are plenty of students that have incurred student loan debt, in which, many of these same students struggle in paying back such debt, for a lot of reasons, in which, the primary one is that they do not have the ready means to do so.  While it is one thing to be "pinged" to pay back such debt, and another thing to have your wages garnished legally by Federal, State, or child support agencies, it is an entirely different thing for taxpayers to have their Federal refund checks and/or their State refund checks "taken" from them in their entirety for non-payment of delinquent student debt, especially when there is a massive underclass of Americans, that each year, are totally dependent upon receiving those same Federal or State refunds in order to pay bills, to buy things, and just to basically survive.

While the government, likes to demonstrate how reasonable and considerate they are, by providing a step-by-step guide of how students that are unable to pay their loans, can request or negotiate the re-payment of such, there are a substantial amount of people that really don't even bother reading or paying much attention to that information.  In addition, despite all the various avenues that students who are falling into default may avail themselves of,  a significant amount of those student debtors don't really know how to deal with such, and thereby fail to do anything because they figure whatever that they might attempt to do, won't work out and besides they still don't have the means to pay back such a loan, but alas the chickens do come home to roost, especially so when expected and already designated monies that taxpayers are anticipating from their Federal and/or State authorities is snatched completely from their eagerly awaiting hands.

There isn't any good reason, why tax refunds should be subject to full confiscation in order to pay back whatever loan that a taxpayer has, for the only fair way to deal with outstanding loans, is rather than taking away legitimate refunds away from taxpaying citizens, that instead such agencies need to follow the rules of the road in regards to garnishments, which, by law, are limited to 15% of your disposable income, for defaulted student loans.   This means that those that ignore repeated requests to pay back student loans, are subject to suffering a 15% garnishment on their wages, and in aggregate no more than 25% total for all applicable garnishments, which while quite unfortunate, at least puts a limit on garnishments.  It would then follow, that tax refunds should also follow the same percentage formula, so that rather than the Federal and/or State agencies having the right to take all of a taxpayer's anticipated refund, the limit should be the same as the garnishment limit which is 15%, and nothing more.

While there are a lot of reasons why student loans are defaulted on, certainly one of the most common reasons, is that the defaulter typically does not have the monetary means to do so, in which, their biggest "paycheck" of the year is usually their tax refund, so that the full taking of such a refund by government agencies, creates undue stress, undue burden, and undue harm, to those that have so little to begin with, so that really the only lesson that is learnt by them, is that this government crushes the little people while protecting and augmenting the favored class.

VIN# on a Vehicle's Roof

In order to drive a vehicle on public roads one needs to have a driver's license as issued by the respective State and depending upon the State, there are requirements for a front and back license plate, or just one or the other.  Besides a license plate which is an easy way to identify the owner of the vehicle, each vehicle is issued a unique 17-digit Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) which is used for registration, insurance, and for tracking of vehicles, of which, this VIN# is attached to all paperwork and is identified on the dashboard of the car, as well as various other spots.  Because the VIN# is absolutely unique to each vehicle, as opposed to license plates, which though unique, can be transferred from one vehicle to another, the VIN# has special value attached to it, and while law enforcement cars as well as traffic cameras at lights, have the capability of tracking a vehicle via the reading of a license plate number, in an era in which the sky literally is the limit, there are advantages to being able to read one's VIN# from the air, as opposed to picking up a license plate number from behind or just in front of a given vehicle.

Currently, private citizen cars have no identification on their vehicle rooftop, whereas buses and law enforcement vehicles, typically do have such identification, making it easy for aerial devices to pick up their identification numbers, which thereby makes it straightforward to not only identify who, what, and where the vehicle is, but also allows that vehicle to be readily track.  Today, there are numerous cameras attached to light poles, or rooftops, or traffic lights that already are setup to record or take pictures of vehicles, but could be re-configured for aerial surveillance of a vehicle's rooftop as compared to angling itself correctly to pick up a license plate, and though there are helicopters that ply our skies, helicopters are expensive to own and operate, not to mention the fact that helicopters are relatively easy for the naked eye to spot.  On other hand, drones are getting more and more sophisticated by the minute, their price point to run them is trending lower and lower, and the visibility of drones can be masked by their physical look, for instance, as appearing to be a bird in the air, or by their height up in the air, which makes it virtually impossible for the naked eye to even know that they are up there in the sky.  The advantage of law enforcement using drones up in the air, is they are far less intrusive, than police cars or helicopters, and the drones are quite good at collecting information, in which, law enforcement agencies would welcome the capability of tracking vehicles on public roads, which would be easily identified by their VIN# or its equivalency in code written in a certain specified spot on vehicle roofs.   For instance, the VIN# could be designed to utilize a certain ink or imprint that is relatively invisible to the naked eye, but quite visible to cameras that are design to read such.

All of the above, would help law enforcement to more easily track vehicles that traverse our public roads so as to reduce crime and to protect the general public, for as most people are intuitively aware of, individuals have no right of privacy in public, in addition to the fact that cars are things, and things that are out in public, though they may be privately owned, when driven out into the public sphere, they now become fair play to be legally monitored, tracked, and observed.   Will having VIN# on the roof be de rigueur in America? It would appear to be an idea whose time has come, as it will be legal, relatively easy to implement, and another arrow in the arsenal of those that support our basic police state.

The American Aristocracy

Part of the lure of America is the fact that it is known more as a country of meritocracy as compared to the historic European style of aristocracy, in which, a select few people of royalty, are able to inherit their wealth and power, generation to generation.  Unfortunately, America has devolved more and more into a country that has created a form of aristocracy of wealth and power, by virtue of the fact, that the superrich are not taxed sufficiently when they are alive, and are further able to escape the most onerous taxes upon death, through estate tax lifetime exemptions, step-up basis in capital assets, foundations, trusts, charitable organizations, and so on and so forth. 

For average Americans that are employed and working, they are liable to our progressive tax system, in which the more that you make, the more that you are progressively taxed, whereas, for those making their money through capital gains or qualified dividends, there are straightforward ways to minimize such when paying taxes.  For instance, capital gains only occur when a security investment is actually sold, so if your investments are never sold, they will not be taxed, even if such an investment goes up considerably such as 500% or 1000% or even higher, and when the entity that owns this security investment dies, the beneficiary of that investment does not pay taxes on the capital gains, but instead is granted a "stepped-up" basis, in which, the security now owned by this new entity is granted the luxury of owning the investment at the current price of the security at the time of the grantor's death.  That is to say, for instance, someone that bought Amazon at $50/share and died when the price was at $1000/share has successfully passed on that security to the beneficiary at $1000/share, with no tax implications, whatsoever.  This same sort of formula applies to real property, such as houses, apartments, and condos, in which the beneficiary will own such at the "stepped-up" basis, no matter how much the property has appreciated since it was first bought.

Then there are investments that kick out dividends, of which qualified dividends max out at the highest rate of taxation which is 20%, as compared to the highest rate of ordinary income, that is, people that are actually laboring, which is 39.6%.  In addition, rich people that are married are allowed to gift $28,000 annually in which the recipient of such, receives these monies tax free and while that doesn't seem to be a substantial amount of money, that money, done annually, over a long period of time, adds up, quite quickly.  For those that actually do sell their assets and pay taxes on capital gains, those capital gains that have been held for more than one year are taxed at the top rate of 20%, as compared to the top rate of ordinary income which is 39.6%. 

None of the above even touches upon the tricks of the trade that the superrich utilize in order to shelter their assets from the tax authorities by, for instance, of hiding their assets offshore.  The superrich, by virtue of their wealth and influence are able to take reasonable laws that should apply to them, and again and again by utilizing lawyers, lobbyists, foundations, and the manipulation of tax codes along with pliant foreign countries, are able to minimize the taxes that they need pay while alive, as well as to minimize those taxes upon their demise.  While it is one thing for the superrich to have their cake and eat it, while alive, it is an entirely different thing, for those that have enjoyed such, to be able to pass it on, basically untarnished by the tax authorities, to whomever they so desire, upon their death, robbing the masses of Americans of a fair share and a fair opportunity of the prosperity that all should have access to by a tax code that ostensibly was set in place so as to help re-distribute monies to those in need but has failed woefully short of doing so.

Understanding others

Everybody wants to be understood, and they especially want to be understood as if you really know them, since that will allow the other person to empathize with them appreciably better, and thereby create a more meaningful bond between one another.  However, not too surprisingly, most people, as much as they say differently, concentrate way too much about specifically themselves, as opposed to actually listening and interacting with others as well as they could.  This would signify that there is much that each of us can do to be more actively involved with others, by improving our listening and interactions skills when relating with others.

The very first thing to improve communication with others, is to actually listen as well as to make eye contact, if possible, upon the person that is speaking, giving your full attention, as opposed to half listening, or half thinking about what you want to say in return, or just essentially tuning things out, because you just aren't that interested in what they have to say.  The very fact that someone is speaking to you, basically indicates that they have something to say, of which, no doubt, there will be times when some of it is repetitive, or some of it is mindless, or some of it is stupid, but the more that you really listen to it now, perhaps then in the future there will be in return less repetitiveness, less mindlessnessand less stupidity, because you are able to respond to them in a meaningful manner that indicates that you have comprehended what they are saying.

A true dialog necessitates that each party, actually listens, cogitates, and responds to the other, as opposed to simply taking turns talking at one another.  In addition to that, good dialog, allows each party to actually learn more about the other, so that listening and thereby having a conversation, is actually a valued skill, one, that is very important, for we can learn from and understand others in many and various ways, of which one very good one, is through verbal and body language communication, which gives each of us a better opportunity to become more knowledgeable about the other, and even about ourselves.

Humans have an innate desire to know one another for that is how friendships develop, as well as how good families grow and bond together, because not only does that make us feel more comfortable with each other, but by knowing one another better, we are better able to respond to each other in our more critical and intimate times of need.  We should develop a healthy curiosity about one another, because that helps to enable us to stay actively engaged. 

If you aren't doing a good job in understanding others, that like just about anything else, can be changed, by taking the very first step which is endeavoring to improve your listening and interaction skills, and, by trying and trying again and again.  You should want to make this effort for the very same reason that you desire others to do so, which is that you really do want other people to understand you, and the first step in having that occur, is developing the skill-set within yourself, so that you know the mindfulness needed in order to succeed at such. 

People get frustrated for a lot of reasons, and frustrated people are not as happy or productive as they could be, yet those that know themselves well, that are thoughtful, considerate, and attentively listen, help provide that impetus that allows others to a get a fresh perspective and help to renew their resolve to do and to be better.

Natural Resources and the Application of the mind

There are many countries in this world, of which some are blessed with great natural resources, such as America, and some are not, such as Japan, in which, if the material success of a given country, simply came down to the quantity and quality of natural resources contained within its borders, than Russia as the largest country in the world and the country considered to have the greatest amount of natural resources would be the most powerful and richest country in the world, but it is not, as Russia's GDP in aggregate does not even make the top ten of nations in the world, and Russia's GDP per capita, does not even make the top fifty.  Additionally, as ranked by investopedia.com, Iran and Saudi Arabia, are considered to be in the top five of countries that have the largest natural resources in the world, in which Iran is an economic mess, and Saudi Arabia, despite its vast oil and natural gas resources, is on a per capita basis, ranked just #35 in the world, in addition to its significantly large disparities in wealth. On the other hand, there are countries such as Japan, that lack natural resources in regards to oil, coal, natural gas, and arable land, yet this small island nation, has the third highest aggregate GDP in the world.  So too, many examples could be given of other nations such as Venezuela, Nigeria, and Angola, that have ample natural resources but are countries that are not noted for being either stable politically or equitable in their income.

The very first thing to really consider about natural resources, is that what so many people consider to be natural resources such as oil, natural gas, water, timber, arable land, and coal, are just some of the resources that man has developed over the years to utilize for energy, food, building, transportation, or heating, which means the designation of natural resources has a lot more to do with things that have been developed so as to be utilized efficiently as compared to something of pure intrinsic value.  What this means is that mineral resources such as oil, are valuable to mankind, because mankind has learned how to extract it from the earth very efficiently, along with how to process it, create energy from it, how to utilize it in plastics and all sorts of other products, and how to distribute it throughout the world, so that the development and importance of oil, aligns hand-in-hand with the products and needs that are coordinated with it.  The fact that oil is an incredibly valuable commodity has a lot more to do with the imagination and the application of the mind of man, than it necessarily has to do with the product itself, because it is that very application and imagination that has taken an abundant resource and developed it successfully for man's benefit.

The above presupposes that rather than getting fixated that the world has a finite amount of natural resources which we are using up at a greater and greater rate, because populations are increasing, in addition to the fact that more and more nations are using more and more natural resources,  is that, mankind is not a fool, for the greatest natural resource is to take the foundation of what has already been learnt by previous generations, and to utilize this as the basis to increase that knowledge, applying such in new and more efficient ways, so that mankind can do even more than was previously thought imaginable.

This thus signifies that the greatest natural resource isn't really mineral resources, though they have their value, but the mind of mankind, itself, and as long as mankind is driven to make the world a better and richer place, progress will continue, so that the more the world is developed, the more material wealth that will be discovered, indicating that the most successful nations are the ones that are both optimistic and that also diligently apply themselves to the vital tasks at hand.

Is Heaven Segregated?

You might think that the above question is absolutely preposterous, yet, the way that so many people live their lives, by design, by accident, or by social restrictions, this would strongly imply that as it is here, so as it must be above.  That is to say, look all around you, and it is relatively easy to see divisiveness and segregation, by creed, by color, by national origin, by sex, by age, by looks, by money, by employment, by housing, by clothing, by accent, and so on and so forth.  While America as well as many other nations, have strived towards integration, with some countries having made significant progress in doing so, there still remain systemic problems that preclude such from advancing much pass a certain baseline, as too often, people band together not by acknowledging each person's content of their character, but more so by what often appears to be socially conditioned identification cues that consciously resonate from one person to another as well as fromone specific group to another.

Then, of course, there is the fact that even within the very same religious affiliation, people have widely divergent views of Heaven, or of God, or of judgment, and everything in-between.  Not to mention, that there are literally hundreds of different beliefs in regards to God, to redemption, to the afterlife, and so on and so forth, which would presuppose that  a few religions must have it basically right, and a few religions must have it basically wrong, with everything else in-between, but ultimately though, there is just one God, the Alpha and the Omega, there is just One that is the Only One, no matter what name, that our Creator is designated by, there is ultimately just that One, omniscient, omnipotent, immutable, eternal and just.

So too, there are not different versions of Heaven, or different degrees of Heaven, or anything in-between, there is only just one Heaven, the very same Heaven that all souls ,equally created by the hand of God , will return to.  This very basic understanding that there is only one Heaven, should represent to us our very first clue, that if we are unable to see that each of us is entitled to the same basic benefits and the same basic rights as the other, than we have failed to comprehend that we are all equal in the eyes of God, and any divisions that we comprehend between us and "them", are false divisions and false paths that we must forsake for the blind cannot ever lead the blind.

While there isn't anything wrong with desiring to congregate with the people, friends, or family that you feel comfortable or compatible with, it is wrong to close your mind to others, as if those others are somehow, unworthy of your goodness and respect.  So too, while there is something to be said about desiring to aid those closest to yourself, as well as to benefit those that you have the most affinity for, in addition tomentoring those that are part of your same milieu, that isn't going to be quite enough to get you to where you really do want to go.  If you want to be in Heaven, a Heaven that consists of love, respect, joy, and peace, you must perform those very acts in this world for those that have cursed and mistreated you, for Heaven is made up of those that never gave in to hate or evil, but instead overcame it all with love.

Globalization and the destruction of domestic Labor

America is a capitalistic society, of which, it is of paramount importance of most publicly held corporations to make it their policy to essentially earn as much money as possible on their products and assets.  This signifies that almost all corporations look closely at their sales in which their objective is to increase them, as well as looking closely at their expenses in which their objective is to decrease them and/or to get more value out of the labor utilized.  It goes without saying that western nations, because of their wealth, their cost of living, their infrastructure, their laws, and their social services,  that their overall cost of doing business domestically is meaningfully higher than the cost of doing business in developing nations.

It then follows, if there is no penalty for doing business in countries in which you can produce your product for a significantly lower price point, in which labor laws as well as health and safety laws are far more lax, in addition to the fact that this can all be essentially outsourced to foreign manufacturing concerns that then have the responsible of adhering to both local as well as adhering to corporation policy, that it would behoove these corporations to do so.  So too, as good as that already is, corporations through the tricks of the trade, of specifically staging domestic subsidiaries in foreign nations as well as bending or utilizing tax rules  or loopholes in a manner that specifically allows that corporation to "game" the system so as to reduce their overall tax footprint, you then have as reported by cnn.com, companies such as Apple, that "…In 2014, the corporate giant paid just $50 in tax for every million it made selling iPhones and iPads to most of the world outside America. That's a tax rate of just 0.005%."

Not only does the globalization of manufacturing profit corporations headquartered in America, by allowing these same multinational giants to draw first upon the wealth of America in their stock issuance, higher education, and financing, but they are also able to leveraged up that wealth by utilizing it in all of its myriad forms off-sourcing in places all across the world, increasing profit and taking market share from others not so richly endowed, in which  the end result is often a corresponding robust stock price performance, based on impressive profit margins and growth.

Of course, all of the above signifies that as in most situations, there are the winners, as well as the losers.  The winners are those that are the corporate insiders and valued members to such corporations, as well as their stockholders, and consumers of such products that are able typically to purchase the product at a lower price point.  The losers are the tax recipients, which means cheating the infrastructure and safety net that America has an obligation to provide for the disenfranchised, in addition to American companies that are unable to take advantage of cheaper foreign labor as well as substantially lower tax rates for outsourcing, and finally, quite obviously, those that labor in the manufacturing fields of America, who have been squeezed out of labor markets through no real fault of their own.

Finally, as reported by epi.org, "…in 2011, international trade depressed wages for non-college educated workers by 5.5 percent, costing the average worker $1,800."  The bottom line, quite obviously, is that American labor cannot compete against foreign labor specifically because the playing field is not level, for if foreign countries have imported to them, or have access to all of the material needs that create the equivalency of a manufacturing plant in America, along with softer labor/safety laws, and millions of their denizens that need jobs,  then they will take jobs from Americans, and domestic labor will be left instead with hard to outsource low-paying service related jobs, hyped up but disappointing gig jobs, and way too often, idle hands and a future of little meaningful opportunity.

Your Soul's Mission

We read in Holy Scripture at Jeremiah 1:5: "Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee…" so too, the disciples questioned Jesus the Christ in John 9:2 with this question: “…Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”  These scripture passages represent clear markers acknowledging our existence in another dimension before we were born into this world.  In truth, our manifested life here on earth confuses many in the mistaken belief that we are just material finite corporal beings, because we are locked into seeing just what is reflected back to us; then there are others that believe that life here is our one time to do right and/or be saved, and that thereafter upon our physical death we will be judged, but the disparity in lives that we are born into, our family circumstances, nations, lifestyles, and so on and so forth, are so varied, clearly, if this is just our one life, all that ever we would be, than that life as created, is unequivocally in aggregate: unequal, unfair, and unjust.  This then means, for the inquiring or contemplative mind, that there must be something that transcends the rather limited vision propagandized by so many.

The answer to the above is reincarnation, or the re-manifestation of our soul into physical form, after our death here on earth, so that our soul lives eternally, with periodic incarnations into a physical form, followed by our bodily death, then a re-setting of our soul and its direction, and thereby our re-birth.  This means that each soul before it incarnates here on earth, has a specific purpose in its incarnation to achieve in their bodily form on earth.  While that goal is quite clear before incarnation, our incarnation itself drops a curtain, so to speak, behind our soul's incarnation, that precludes us from easily connecting with our greater purpose, unless we so dedicate ourselves to listening to that still, quiet voice within, which will gently but forcefully remind us of who we are, what we are about, and how we should be accomplishing the tasks that we previously had put in front of ourselves.

Each of our lives has a purpose, that purpose is specific to that individual, those that live up to their true purpose in action and deeds, are thereby accomplishing their mission, which enables them to grow closer, step by step, to He who knows all, for oneness with God, is our ultimate objective, for all else, leaves us devoid of the peace that surpasses all understanding.  It is this peace, that drives us ever onward, ever desirous, of doing right, of making right, until we get it right, for none ever can reach that pinnacle of perfection without discarding all that preclude such.

The trials and tribulations of this life, are each of ours baptism by fire, of which, some are cleansed wholly by such, some are burnt but learn from it, and others are stupefied and thereby become immolated.  It is these trials and tribulations that give us the opportunity again and again, to make good on our soul's mission and thereby progress, or to fail for one reason or another, and to thereby regress.  To say, however, that we care not, which way the wind blows, is to dishonor our angelic advisors and guides, to dishonor ourselves, and to dishonor our God. 

Each soul has a mission, known to that soul before its birth; it is thereby our most sacred duty, to know that mission and to successfully accomplish it, for that is indeed what we came here to achieve.