Category Archives: Life’s Lessons
Expectations, an Autistic’s Personal Perspective
I am a senior citizen with high-functioning autism spectrum disorder. Over the last more than 70 years of life, I have learned how to compensate for my personality disorder and almost appear normal. But under that facade of normality is … Continue reading
Trust Keeps Me Sane
To me Trust is a belief in the reliability that something physical will work predictably all the time. Trust in another person means the dependability and belief that that person will live up to my expectations of them. Trust is at the center of my belief that gravity will continue to hold me onto the ground instead of me floating into the sky. Trust is at the heart of all of my relationships, the glue that binds me together with others especially during the most stressful of times. It is the faith that allows me to rely on others to do what I expect of them so I can better do my job, live my life, and function in society… Continue reading
Posted in Life's Lessons, Personal Perspective
Tagged anxious, belief, certainty, dependability, expectation, faith, predictably, relationships, reliability, security, suspicious, uncertain, welfare
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Truth and The Universe We Think We Know
I’ll be the first to admit that my understanding of the universe is as to a single electron compared to a galaxy of countless stars and particles. What I think I know but really don’t is also nothing to brag about. What I know to be true is a myth. I recently saw a TV documentary about how we all live in the past. It takes some milliseconds for our senses to send signals to our brain and very complex things such as sight take a few hundred milliseconds to process and interpret. … So is life all an illusion? In a way it is. Most certainly it is not exactly as it seems. Continue reading
We Are Products of our Environment
It is my experience that from a very young age we are all in some way products of our environment. As we grow up our values becomes imprinted into the neurons of our minds. They say that children fluently speaking a foreign language up the age of 10 continue to speak it fluently for life. That seems the age at which our neurons become more fixed and difficult to later change. As we mature it becomes very difficult to change the responses we have towards people, things, and events. Continue reading
Posted in Personal Perspective, Social Issues, Society
Tagged biases, emotional response, homophobia, imprinted, natural response, neurons, racism, values
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What YOU Can Do to Make a Difference – Climate Change
The primary culprit of Climate Change is excessive CO2 being released into the atmosphere from the insatiable appetite of Our Affluent Lifestyle. There is almost no part of our lives that does not impact Climate Change from the goods we consume to the conveniences we treasure. So there are plenty of opportunities for each of us to mitigate Our Individual impact. It isn’t only about government regulating carbon emissions. It is also about each of us doing our part to reduce the use of energy that is responsible for greenhouse gas emissions. We can no longer wait for someone else to reduce it for us. Continue reading
Adult Autism (ASD) – Living in a Vacuum
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) has, in recent decades, received much attention and press. It appears that the rate of ASD is increasing. No one is certain if this increase is real or simply because educators, parent, physicians, etc. are looking for it more closely than before. Perhaps it is both. There are many clinics, schools, and psychologists who specialize in treating children with diagnosed ASD. But ASD is not curable. People can teach children with ASD how to better cope with this disorder and to improve social and communication skills. But people with ASD have it for life and those with high functioning ASD such as myself have to struggle to fit in with society throughout adulthood. Continue reading
So Wanting to be Understood
I have written in the past about my social and mental impairments and my struggle growing up and trying to fit in to society. I think I have autistic spectrum disorder but am very high functioning so most people cannot tell I have a problem. I simply seem shy and somewhat withdrawn. But there are far too many symptoms to simply conclude that shyness is my only problem. I also have a number of learning deficiencies such poor comprehension, dyslexia, and an exceptionally poor memory. But fortunately my cognitive abilities are not impaired. Continue reading
Posted in Autism
Tagged autism, better understood, communication, dyslexia, emotional connection, learning disabilities, needs, understood, validated
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From Dreaming Big to Thinking Small
I recently read a short article about how people used to think really big in this country and now think small and it struck me how true this was. We started with a great dream expressed in the Declaration of Independence which resulted in the Constitution of the United States and the first 12 Articles of the Bill of Rights. This was the impetus for the great move West, really bad news for native American Indians, but great opportunities for new settlers. This gave rise to the transcontinental railroad, one of the longest in the world up to that point and the industrial revolution and heavy industries such as steel. Continue reading
Posted in Life's Lessons, Personal Perspective
Tagged Climate Change, getting little accomplished, Global Warming, great dream, industrial revolution, no long-term vision, no will, opportunities, short-term chaos, slipped from dreaming big, think and dream big, transportation infrastructure
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Late Bloomer – A Life in Slow Motion
I am the epitome of a late bloomer. I’ve already written about some of my mental and social impairments. My unusually poor memory and such disabilities as dyslexia have hampered my normal development as a child making me a late talker and very slow and poor learner. I was always at the bottom of my class throughout elementary and high school where I repeated two grades, and did poorly in college. Learning has always been slow, tedious, and often seemingly torturous. Continue reading
Posted in Autism, Life's Lessons, Personal Perspective
Tagged adolescence, adulthood, Autistic Spectrum Disorder, cognitive abilities, determined and persistent, difficulty understanding people, dyslexia, loner, mental and social impairments, never felt grownup, organized, poor memory
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Idleness is the Seed of Unrest as Work is the Root of Stability
If one looks at all the social conditions that lead to crime, rebellion, and large-scale discontent, the common denominator is high unemployment where people have nothing to do but think how bad off they are and blaming it on others. In contrast employed people, even if impoverished, are far less likely to be discontent because they are simple too busy or tired to think about their predicament as well as receiving compensation to help with living conditions. Continue reading
The Price Nations Pay for Vengeance and Hatred
In the Israeli-Palestinian conflict two generations of youth have grown up with hatred for one another. So when Palestinian terrorists recently kidnapped and killed an Israeli boy Israeli terrorist kidnapped a Palestinian boy of the same age and burned him to death unleashing another episode of bombings, rockets, and shelling that killed many more children thus minimizing the original acts. So what has really been accomplished by either side in all the resulting killing and suffering? Most certainly if each intended to kill out of revenge most certainly both sides have succeeded. Continue reading
Posted in Life's Lessons, Personal Perspective
Tagged Israel, killing, Palestine, permanently unemployed, poverty, resolve conflicts, Satan, vengeance, war
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100 Years from Now: The Complete Series
In the past year I have given some thought to what the future would look like a hundred years from now given the state of science today and the effects of global warming, diminishing natural resources, and a populations of over twice what it is today (population control will be in effect). One thing is clear, the word Sustainable will be far more than a buzzword. It will be a way of life. Continue reading
Posted in Crime & Justice, Economy, Education, Environment, Global Warming, Government, Life's Lessons, Personal Perspective, Science & Technology, Social Issues, Society
Tagged culural changes, future city design, future technology, Global Warming, holodeck, infrastructure, over population, shortage of resources
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100 Years from Now: Part 15 – Crime and Security
What can be said about crime and security 100 years from now? Keep in mind that in 100 years two significant and remarkable things will have occurred. Technology would become our willing slave meeting most of our needs making jobs obsolete and making us happy and content at the cost of privacy. But in 100 years privacy may not be nearly as important to us as it is today. Technology will also make committing and getting away with crime extremely difficult. Continue reading
Posted in 100 Years, Crime & Justice, Environment, Global Warming, Government, Life's Lessons, Personal Perspective, Science & Technology, Social Issues, Society
Tagged crime, cultural changes, future city design, future technology, Global Warming, holodeck, infrastructure, over population, shortage of resources
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100 Years from Now: Part 14 – Education
One of the primary purposes of education is to provide one with the tools to live a productive life. A large part of our traditional definition of productive is to become employable. The other is to give us other values of enjoyment and appreciation for things not focused upon work or earning a living. As describes in ‘100 Years from Now: Part 8 – Jobs and Economics’ both jobs and money 100 years from now may not even exist. Technology will literally become our willing slave making the need to make a living obsolete. Continue reading
100 Years from Now: Part 13 – Government
Social norms and values will be very different 100 years into the future as today’s values are very different that those 100 years ago. So will the function of government 100 years from now. The purpose of government is to protect the individual rights of its citizens. In a society 100 years from now where everyone’s needs are taken care of are everyone’s rights also taken care of? It largely depends upon what are everyone rights. Continue reading
Posted in 100 Years, Environment, Global Warming, Government, Life's Lessons, Personal Perspective, Science & Technology, Social Issues, Society
Tagged cultural changes, future city design, future technology, Global Warming, holodeck, infrastructure, over population, shortage of resources
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100 Years from Now: Part 12 – Population Control
Controlling the population will be a key element of Sustainable survival. Over population is a drain on precious resources. Fortunately since people 100 years from now no longer need to work a working population is no longer important. The birth and mortality rates can be carefully controlled to a sustainable level so as not to be a drain on resources. Continue reading
100 Years from Now: Part 11 – Recreation & Entertainment
I thought I’d add Recreation & Entertainment to this Series because these would be things people would spend most of their time doing together with socialization since no one worked. As I have eluded earlier in 100 Years from Now: Part 8 – Jobs and Economics people would typically live like the wealthy folk of Downton Abbey where robot like technology would serve their every needs. Continue reading
100 Years from Now: Part 10 – Shopping
As I stated in 100 Years from Now: Part 8 – Jobs and Economics money will have no value in the exchange of goods and services. Instead they will be provided freely. But there will be some rules and limits as to what one can ask for. Space and resources will be limited and there are things that are not beneficial to society so such things violating these rules will be prohibited just as we are legally limited in what we can posses today. Continue reading
100 Years from Now: Part 9 – Socializing
Socialization is in our DNA so it will be a significant part of our activities 100 years from now and beyond. I have alluded to the Holodeck in Part 2: Technology, eating out in Part 5: Food, and entertaining in Part 7: Housing. However remote socialization will become far more common in the future due to technology such as the Holodeck and other communications tools. Remote socialization is nothing new. Continue reading
100 Years from Now: Part 8 – Jobs and Economics
It is questionable in my mind whether jobs for people will even exist 100 years from now. Most certainly there will be far fewer of them. We see many signs of automation reducing the number of jobs in just about every profession today. In the not too distant future technology will largely make most if not all jobs obsolete. Continue reading
Posted in 100 Years, Economy, Environment, Global Warming, Government, Life's Lessons, Personal Perspective, Science & Technology, Social Issues, Society
Tagged cultural changes, future city design, future technology, Global Warming, holodeck, infrastructure, over population, shortage of resources
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100 Years from Now: Part 7 – Housing
The average home or microhouse will likely be about 500 sq. ft. and be largely located underground to protect it from the elements, though there may be limited above ground housing, in large energy-efficient clusters going up and down many stories. It is possible for a family of two or three to live quite comfortably in that small an area as exist in some communities in Sweden or apartments in Hong Kong. Multi-utilitarian rooms with movable walls and ceiling panels exist in places such as Hong Kong and Japan where space is at a premium. Continue reading
100 Years from Now: Part 6 – Mobility
In 100 years cars will be history. They simply use far too much energy, take up far too much space in terms of roads and parking (keep in mind that real estate will be at a premium), are too large and heavy, need too much technology and too many resources to manufacture and maintain, and produce too much heat. So bicycles, which have none of these drawbacks, will gradually replace cars. Continue reading
ouR Social Conscience 