Category: Life

Life

Humility-2

Anthony Dixon

 

Humility

I have met two Men in my life that were of enormous wealth, their wealth was not what impressed me the most about them. What impressed me the most was their Humility. John Gutfreund was one, I will forever be talking about John because all the Money he made and all the notoriety it never changed him in the least.  When I worked for Mr G as we called him among ourselves, he was CEO at Salomon Brothers Inc a Brokerage House on Wall Street. He was well respected among other CEO’s and Brokerage Houses on the Street. Many Movies about Wall St was spawned from His trading style. What impressed me the most about the Man was the way he interacted with people. His staff was approximately three thousand people, traveling the fifty Stories Building of One New York Plaza, if he knew that you worked for the Company in whatever capacity, you were in an Elevator with him, he would address you in a cordial friendly manner.

 

 

Not so with some people who made less than 1% of of what he made yearly, in the same situation in an Elevator they treat you like the Elevator, inanimate. I figured that John had to be that way all his Life meek, humble and poised, because people rarely change for the good. Remember that the meek shall inherit the 🌎 Earth. Meaning, Humility rules, why does Humility rule? While working on Wall Street a Billionaire Buisness Community there were many Indigent People who slept in the Alleyways of the Neighborhood they once traveled in Limousines, they dressed fine, they themselves threw Pennies at Beggars not ever dreaming that the Table could ever turned in such an upside down Economy as in the late 70’s.

 

When I worked for Salomon I came to work in a Limousine and went home in one, I never lost sight of the Bum sleeping it off in the middle on of the Day on a Sidewalk in the richest Neighborhood in the World. Knowing that he once tipped Hundred Dollar Bills, so who am I to look down on him while John treated me the way he expected me to treat others, not knowing if and when I also should fall from Grace. The first time I heard of Jesus washing his Disciples Feet, my life was changed for every. From that day on I learned the meaning of Humility. Even though for a great portion of my life I lived it  in a wayward manner, I never lost sight of the big Picture knowing that even if I developed the cure for Cancer I would still be no more than a Grain of Sand on the Beach of Life.

 

 

1988 Salomon Rented several floors in the upper 70’s of the world Trade Buildings. At that time being an employee in good standings, to be precise a model Employee. I didn’t go to John looking for special treatment, I went through the chain of command, I submitted my request to be transferred to the World Trade Center Branch of the Company. My request was flatly turned down with no explanation. I tendered My resignation cashed out My Portfolio and moved to Pennsylvania. My Mother noticed me mopping around and inquired why I was down and out. I explained my situation to her, with the wisdom of Salomon she said don’t stress it,

 

 

God has a plan for you. It was those words that kept me from passing out watching my coworkers and friends perished while the Buildings Collapsed to the Ground. Salomon lost 900 People I was supposed to be 901, but God had it charted differently in the Book of Destiny. I have since stop asking myself what is his plan for me, realizing that it is as simple as doing unto my Neighbors as I expected of them. When I worked in a Nursing Home in Pennsylvania I got a close look at my Mortality, I met Moguls, Artists and Performers of yesteryears who were reduced to the mercy of their Caregivers. Some were neglected and some were abused, sometimes by their own families. One Resident named Salt, which describes her personality, nothing like John, her personality was Venomous as she had been all her life.

 

 

The 59 millions she made off the Backs of her underpaid and abused Staff was not enough to command care and sensitivity from the Staff at the Nursing Home which she abused daily with poisonous diatribe like calling each and everyone of us, from the Director to the Cooks, Sons of Bitches of Bastards. You don’t learn those words at 85 ravaged with Dementia, they are the Column Post of your Personality. Karma the Backbone of Justice paid her back handsomely, to the end her loving family deserted her counting the Days they could start spending her Money. That is why I am telling you who are out there on your way to becoming Successful and Famous” teach your children well” do not create selfish self centered People who don’t give a Rat’s Ass about the Community of Man, because that Toxic personality they also inherit and passes on to their Children.

 

 

Anyway what I truly learned at the Nursing Home is that one Day I am going to end up there at the mercy of Heartless Caregivers who is only here for the menial wages, got no Humanity got no Humility got no Love, what is to become of me? if my Personality isn’t covered in Honey, my Fate will be that of Salt’s. I have always been Humble since meeting John Gutfreund, I know that if he reads this Blog he would be proud of me telling it as I see it. For me to say that Life is unloving, un-giving, untimely and unpredictable would be the greatest understatement one could utter. my best advice to you is “Live, Love, Laugh”, do not take yourself too seriously because today you are riding on a Cloud, Tomorrow, who knows.

 

Related stories

John Gutfreund, ‘King of Wall Street’ who helped transform Salomon Brothers, dies at 86

Salomon Brothers chairman John Gutfreund. (AP)

By Laurence Arnold March 9, 2016

John Gutfreund, who was proclaimed the “King of Wall Street” in 1985 for harnessing the egos and fiefdoms of Salomon Brothers into one of the most profitable investment-banking firms, only to be deposed after a 1991 trading scandal, died March 9 in New York. He was 86.

The cause was pneumonia, said a son, John Gutfreund.

As managing partner and later as chairman, Mr. Gutfreund (pronounced GOOD-friend) helped transform Salomon from a traditional bond-trading firm into a leader in businesses such as mortgage-backed securities and computer-driven trading techniques. It also became the largest underwriter of municipal bonds, the department where Mr. Gutfreund got his start.

What I have learned, or at least belatedly remembered, is that there is the possibility of a satisfying life that is broader than the Street,” he said. “I never thought of myself as a king. People really want you to be their deity. They forget the fact that you are a person who has feelings and doubts.”

In the 2010 interview with Bloomberg News, Mr. Gutfreund said he didn’t have many regrets in life. “If I should have been a saint, I would have been,” he said.

 

Health, Life

I found this on Pinterest!

Anthony Dixon

If you waste time on Social Media

Procrastinate

Get overwhelmed at work

Try to be perfect

Overload on sugar

This is a must read

 

What do you think? https://pin.it/72qulpinuku2sb

Health, Life

Be Smart

Anthony Dixon
Pictures are interactive
Click to expand

 

Be smart

In all areas our lives we try to do what is smart, Except for our Health and our Habits, both will kill us sooner than later. We should not have to come  face to face with our Mortality before we put down a bad Habbit such as Smoking, before it puts us down. I have been Smoking Cigaretts since fourteen,  over fifty years later this Blog puts me on a Timeline to quit Smoking, or a least develop a formidable cestation program while I can still tell you about it. I have to tell someone, My goal is to save at least one person from sharing my Fate. first let me give you my impression of depriving your body of that which you have giving it for over fifty years, your body is not going to like it. Withdrawal is not an easy task for anyone.

Nonetheless sometimes it becomes Life and Death, and coming full circle with your mortality, or just plain as the nose on your face, that it’s time for action. My Mother was succumbed by Respiratory Failure, being the one who kept watch gave me first-hand at seeing someone grasp for each last breath,  it’s not a pretty sight. I am a Sixty Six years old male who gets a Physical every six months, my Doctor once said she wished all her Patients were as Healthy as us. My Wife woke up one Day and quit cold Turkey, other People I know have done the same. Cashing in your own Chips  is smarter than being cashed in when the Doctor tells you that you must. There it is in a nutshell, I have decided not to wait untill I am Told.

My Advice to you is to do the same and buy yourself a couple of years. Why? Because Life is Precious and good Health is a Blessing that shouldn’t be squandered. I believe that my gift of good Health is supplemented by Exercise and plenty of Liquids preferably water, I am not into Gurus, I have considered Hypnosis to quit. It should not have to come to that, strong Will have been known to Conquer All. I am not trying to move any Mountains,  just take back a couple of years that I have Squandered. So it becomes a matter of will to Live a couple of years more. Most importantly there have been cases where my Doctors have told me being a Smoker puts me at risk when Anesthesia is needed, I don’t want to be told.

One month ago I started writing this Blog but I didn’t want to complete it and post it until I was absolutely resolved. Since then I have been to my Doctor for my Physical which I get twice yearly. The reason for getting a Physical every six months is, if I develop any adverse conditions I want to know about it right away, so that if anything can be done to avert the course, early intervention is way better than sitting on a Time bomb. I am happy to tell you that getting a Physical every six months worked. Six months ago I was given a clean Bill of Health, Blood work, EKG, X-ray. Phenomenol I thought to myself for a sixty six years old Man who had been Smoking since fourteen same time I started smoking Weed and holding it in my Lungs till near passing out, to be in such excellent Health and Physical condition.

Now six months later same routine and She tells me that I have Emphysema. After fifty two years of Slowicide( slowly committing suicide) what do I expect, why am I not surprised why am I not sad, why am I not depressed. Because I dug my own Grave for fifty two years, that my friend is a pretty deep hole of dependency and Addiction. The Toxins have grafted themselves to my Cells and Organs. Going cold Turkey is going to put a beating on my Body and Mind, but I have no choice. I came to Florida to live out my life with a Bang, there is no bigger bang than knowing how you are going to Die. and so My friend by you continuing to put the Poison to your Lips you are sharing my Fate. Some ways I consider myself fortunate, Emphysema is slow Death, Heart Attack, Stroke and Cancer is much quicker and painful, all the above can come from smoking.

I thank the Lord for my wake-up call. This is a little awkward somewhat like writing my Death Journals. I thank him for a Wife who worked in a VA Hospital for twenty five years and have seen it all and knows the importance of constant screening. If it was left up to me I would only go to the Doctor when something hurts. By catching Emphysema from the onset is strategic in the course of Treatment but most importantly I know that I have no other choice than quitting. The Tobacco is now ready to spiral to other Diseases, one Tobacco related Illnesses is enough for me to see the Light, that the Surgeon General have been right all along. Which takes me back to us playing Devils Advocate with our Health by putting Poison to our Lips, minute by minute, hours on into years and not believing or expecting my Diagnosis would come one Day.

Lucky me I have been fortunate to live so long living on the edge. Many have left us in half my years Lorna died at thirty nine from Cancer, Vincent also thirty nine unexpectedly. I have lived a Dove Life with a Halo over me the amount of times that I used up my nine Lives and is now on my tenth. I intend to spend this tenth life well by trying to save at least one life from traveling the same Path that I have traveled, because If I passed through this Life to the other and posses nothing in the way of knowledge that I can’t pass on to someone coming up. Then I will have only existed and not truly Lived. As the saying goes you win some you lose some, you live and you learn. Well my Friend I have learned that being a Pack Mule, or a Sheep is living other people’s lives and not your own.

When I started smoking everyone in the Three stories House smoked except for my Mother she knew better she had Asthma most her life, also the hundred years old Grandma didn’t otherwise she probably wouldn’t be around. When my Kids were teenagers the biggest fights my Wife and I had were about who the kids hung with, due to peer pressure. Her take on the Subject was that everyone needs to live their own Lives and learn by their own mistakes. I on the other hand knew that she was deadly wrong seeing as how the first Joint and the first Cigarette that touched my Lips were handed to me by a twelve year old Catholic School kid when I was fourteen.

You would think that me being the oldest would have known better, not where peer pressure is concerned, how would it look my best Friend younger than I calling me a Woss. I took my first Hit of Colombian Gold and Coughed till I had to sit down. Once the potent Canabis let us flat on our Ass we drank a Beer and smoked a Cigarette, Man were we ever Cool, or so we thought. It’s a known medical fact that the earlier you start smoking the greater the damage to your under developed Body. What did I know about Medical statistics, peer pressure had claimed its newest Victim. In High School still being the Man about Town there was nothing cooler than being under Age sitting at a Table in a Night Club blowing smoke in some fine girl’s Face killing her along with myself. The damage was done from way back then, the rest of my life was just going through the motions feeding the Addiction. As it’s been said time keeps on slipping slipping slipping into the Future. I am ending this Blog asking you to do the right thing Quit!!!!

Future Posts on the Subject can be found on my Health Page.  LOL

Life, Religion

Losing My Religion

Anthony Dixon

Losing My Religion

Faith is about what you personally believe. It exists (or not) independently of if you ever tell anyone about your beliefs and independently of whether or not anyone else shares your beliefs.

Religion is organized faith. A group of people with similar faith that in some manner share the faith is a religion.

I am so glad that this is perfectly clear to me, why? Over the years it has been perplexing to me how self serving Religion can be, instead of being in Servitude. It’s been over a year since I have been to Church, that has not compromise my Belief in God, nothing can change that. What has changed is that I can’t be a Hypocrite to myself by showing up every Sunday and contributing to the Church’s Coffers while they are selective to how it is spent. Also the Politics of Trustees who dictate Church policies and how a Minster can deliver his Sermons.

A minister who didn’t speak on Social issues and issues that affected the Community, the Country and the World is performing a disservice. A Minister or the Church does not have the right to influence the Congregation Political views. However it is their obligations to speak out on Social issues such as Homelessness, injustice and Racial discord. Which brings us to why my Feet have not crossed the Treshold in a year.

My Minister grew up in the poorest of conditions in one of the poorest countries in the World. Naturally he is reminiscent and would like to see Social change. As a result of him interjecting his Empathy in his Surmons he was transferred by the Ruling Party to a less Prestigious Parish where they thought he was better suited. How could I continue going to this place every Sunday putting my contributions in it’s Coffers. Once a week the Church holds a Social where a small contribution of six Dollars buy you a Meal. Never once have I ever heard anyone mentioned inviting the so called Indigent members of our Community to the Church’s Kitchen backdoor to give them the leftovers, or cooking enough to feed them also.

I understand that we were better dressed and better smelling, but why couldn’t we put Park benches in the Parking Lot behind the kitchen. Maybe the lack of insight parallels an experience I had working in a Restaurant while going to High School fifty years ago. I was somewhat of Cook and shift Manager, my responsibility includes counting the money and cleaning up. Whatever food that wasn’t sold such as Hamburgers and Hotdogs, I would find a large Boxtop lined it with Aluminum Foil and place the food in it and place the container on top of the Garbage Can. I did that so the Homeless People who lived in the area of 14th St didn’t have to go through my Garbage cans to eat. My Manager went off the deep end telling me that I was Harboring them.

My God am I not my Brother’s Keeper. I was seventeen Jobs were plentiful I walked out on that Idiot as I walked out on my Church for it’s lack of sensitivity for our Indigent Brothers and Sisters. Once I was working Downtown St Pete during the cold months sometimes you would see the sidewalk close to the Soup kitchen on 5th Ave littered with Sleeping bags, sometimes Kids are in them, another reason why I withdraw my Tides from the Collection Plate. My Church is not as big as the Catholic Organizations but they are World Wide.

Yet I have never heard of them doing anything outstanding like this one small Church in Tampa that goes out of their way to cater to the Homeless, they have an Industrial Kitchen and they provide Shelter. While writing this Blog it occurred to me that this is the kind of Church that I should Worship in whatever their Denomination is and give a portion of my Earnings to, unlike the Government not knowing where my Tax Dollars go, they would spend my money in accordance with my Belief of Charity and Servitude.

Jesus washing the feet of the disciples (John 13:1–17) occurred in the upper room, during the Last Supper and has significance in three ways. For Jesus, it was the display of His humility and His servanthood. For the disciples, the washing of their feet was in direct contrast to their heart attitudes at that time. For us, washing feet is symbolic of our role in the body of Christ.

Walking in sandals on the filthy roads of Palestine in the first century made it imperative that feet be washed before a communal meal, especially since people reclined at a low table and feet were very much in evidence. When Jesus rose from the table and began to wash the feet of the disciples (John 13:4), He was doing the work of the lowliest of servants. The disciples must have been stunned at this act of humility and condescension, that Christ, their Lord and master, should wash the feet of His disciples, when it was their proper work to have washed His. But when Jesus came to earth the first time, He came not as King and Conqueror, but as the suffering Servant of Isaiah 53. As He revealed in Matthew 20:28, He came “not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” The humility expressed by His act with towel and basin foreshadowed His ultimate act of humility and love on the cross.

Jesus’ attitude of servanthood was in direct contrast to that of the disciples, who had recently been arguing among themselves as to which of them was the greatest (Luke 22:24). Since there was no servant present to wash their feet, it would never have occurred to them to wash one another’s feet. When the Lord Himself stooped to this lowly task, they were stunned into silence. To his credit, though, Peter was profoundly uncomfortable with the Lord washing his feet, and, never being at a loss for words, Peter protested, “You shall never wash my feet!”

Then Jesus said something that must have further shocked Peter: “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me” (John 13:8), prompting Peter, whose love for the Savior was genuine, to request a complete washing. Then Jesus explained the true meaning of being washed by Him.

Peter had experienced the cleansing of salvation and did not need to be washed again in the spiritual sense. Salvation is a one-time act of justification by faith, but the lifelong process of sanctification is one of washing from the stain of sin we experience as we walk through the world. Peter and the disciples—all except Judas, who never belonged to Christ—needed only this temporal cleansing.

This truth is just one of several from this incident that Christians can apply to their own lives. I maybe losing my Religion but I will never loose my Faith

P.S. if the Government can’t fix it it’s up to you and me the Community the Church

“She calls out to the man on the street
‘Sir, can you help me?
It’s cold and I’ve nowhere to sleep,
Is there somewhere you can tell me?’

He walks on, doesn’t look back
He pretends he can’t hear her
Starts to whistle as he crosses the street
Seems embarrassed to be there

Oh think twice, it’s another day for
You and me in paradise
Oh think twice, it’s just another day for you,
You and me in paradise”….Phil Collins

Life, Parenting And Relationships

Aberations

Anthony Dixon

Minions

When we are Born if we are not among the unfortunate ones who are Born with defects, we are blessed with a perfect Template to design our Lives, a plain white sheet of paper to write our life story. If there is such a thing as a Godlike creature a New Born is the perfect example. What is written on that Paper and what is filled into the Template is what we absorb during the developmental stages. That describes who and what we are and to become for the rest of our lives. Fallacies can develop as early as six months old, a Child who cries for his Mother’s attention not because he is hungry wet or is in any kind of distress, only because he enjoys the comfort of her cradling arms is a manipulative controlling person in the Make.

If you fail to recognize the game and take control early when they get to one year old, sitting in their High Chair and throw their Spoon on the Floor for the twentieth time and you picked it up each time you are fostering to the manipulating person in the Make. Continued to six years old and you say no to an outrageous request and they hit you with ” you don’t love me” then you flip your decision and give in, the battle is lost and the war is on. And now you have me at fourteen smoking Weed with my twelve years old Catholic School Buddy, thinking that I could Rule my single Mom. My Mother was no pushover, she laid out choices such as the comfort of my own Bedroom or a Cot in a Juvenile Detention Center. If a Parent don’t take control early then the manipulating and controlling person has taken shape on the Template, for the rest of their lives.

What is written on that plain white sheet of paper depicts who we are and who we becomes. As a Twig is bent so shall it grows. My Mother was a God fearing Christian Woman she Nurtured this Twig with Milk and Honey, yet at nine years old I stole from the Church collection in the Rectory, the Neighborhood Grocery Stores and the Neighborhood Dealer. I was Born with my own personal Minion called Me. I had no reasons to be bad, there were no lack of guidance or parenting skills, my Mother help raised her twelve siblings and her siblings children, she could have written a Book on Parenting, so where did she go wrong with me. She didn’t, if anyone blamed her for my transgressions, then who do you blame  for Eve’s transgressions, Her Minion was the Serpent,Cain’s Minion was Jealousy.

And so the Concept of good and evil is laid to rest, how we deal with our Minions define who we are. The way that people turns out to be Monsters doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with environment or upbringing. People will always be who they are, the Minions only gives them the push. By God accepting Able’s gift the Murderous Tendency in Cain was brought to the surface by his own Minions. The reason for all this Theological thinking was brought upon me from trying figure the Root Cause for Domestic Violence and Child Abuse. At first all the old cliche’s were dominant in my mind, the abused becomes the abuser, as a Twig is bent and all the other made up alibies. Then I reflected to my twelve years old friend and myself being Deviants with the best of upbringing and I realized that it is neither of the above that produces Horrible people who would take out all their aggressive tendencies on the ones who loved them.

The despicable act of Domestic Violence have weighed heavily on me from the early developmental age of twelve, Mister Henrique was my next door Neighbor he would get off work every Day and stop at the Bar and feed his Minions with Alcohol. He came Home just about every Day and beat his Wife in the yard in front of me and the other Neighborhors. That ongoing Horror Movie Psyched me out to the point where if I had a Gun, I would have shot him to put that poor Woman out of her miseries. Growing up with a single Mom gave me empathy for a fifteen years old Boy I met later on in Life who stabbed his abusive Stepfather over twenty times in Brooklyn N.Y. Then there were my Childhood friends who Married each other, the Boy had been studying Martial Arts for years he was a Black Belt, his Hands were Licensed legal Weapons.

If a person on the Street picked a fight with him all he could do was to cover himself, if he hit them he would go to Jail. His Wife was filled with rage, with an uncontrollable temper,  since we were Kids we called her Maddie. They had one Child together, I think that the beatings started when the Child was only months old in it’s Crib witnessing his Mother beating his Father with whatever she could put her hands on, she knew that he could not strike back. The beatings were constantly visible on his black and blue skin. He was part of a tight knit group we would have Jam sessions where we played instruments and sang at our frequent gatherings. Every Male in the Group including her own Brother advised him to kick her Ass and teach her a Lesson. Other than the fact that his Hands were Licensed Weapons, this Man was Godlier than all of us. He never laid a Hand on her, last time I saw them the Child was five years old watching his father’s Manhood being robbed of him. What an Education this Kid was getting. I can only pray to God that I am right that we are only who we choose to be and not a product of our Environment, otherwise this Child is a Monster in the Make, he will have a deep rooted hatred for Women, he Will beat every Woman in his Relationships exacting revenge for his Father, Sex to him will be same as a Rapist, strictly punishment. I do hope that the Lord looks out for this Baby.

P.S. October is Domestic Violence awareness Month.