After one of my eldest cousins posted some great advice on our family website about having faith, hope and showing love in these harsh times, I responded with the following. I have another very pessimistic cousin active on our site whom I tried to indirectly address in this post, but who knows if/how he took it. Anyhow, I hope anyone who reads this takes it to heart and acts on it.




Cousin Larry, I know that Grandmother and Grandfather Lane are so very proud of you for the way you have lived, loved, and just spoken your beliefs in this post. I truly appreciate your optimism as well as others, and I know that most of the other members on this site agree.

But let me say this -- people can and will surprise you. Anyone is capable of this feat. Just last week I worked with a single delivery man to transport 400 lbs. of instrumentation to my customer's site. We usually have a two man team, but instead of bitching and moaning I just got down to some dirty work.

Upon first glance I assumed he was a total slacker, but he had the good heart to put in extra time to help me out even after he was told his job was done. So, assumptions are asinine, and first impressions are more often than not, incorrect.

The take home message is this:

I don't care how many times you have been burned, by how many or which people or how repeatedly. It's one thing to build a safety net, but when you lose your faith in humanity or God or just trust in general, you have alienated yourself on your own agenda.

I hope these ingredients spice that 'tude pie up a bit. ;o)