Category Archives: OUR BEST POSTS

* A MUST-READ CONCERNING JUSTICE AND POVERTY

September 22, 2016Clippings, Dependency, Get on your feet, Justice, OUR BEST POSTS, Poverty, SqualorDelaying gratification, Genetics, TohuWilliam Tell

(Originally posted 10/05/13. Reblogged 07/25/24.)

The Marshmallow Study Revisited

For the past four decades, the “marshmallow test” has served as a classic experimental measure of children’s self-control: will a preschooler eat one of the fluffy white confections now or hold out for two later?

Now a new study demonstrates that being able to delay gratification is influenced as much by the environment as by innate ability. Children who experienced reliable interactions immediately before the marshmallow task waited on average four times longer—12 versus three minutes—than youngsters in similar but unreliable situations.

The article explores the issues in some depth.

* Courage to walk unarmed

September 15, 2016Get on your feet, National politics, OUR BEST POSTS, Poverty, Squalor, Yahoo! VoicesA Nation of Cowards, Emotional intelligence, George F. Will, Gun control, Handguns, Infantilism, Jeffrey Snyder, self-esteem, self-esteem movementWilliam Tell

A Nation of Cowards

Jeffrey Snyder suggests that carrying a handgun is both a right and a duty of every law-abiding citizen.

This is hard for me to relate to; as, for all practical purposes, no such people exist in my world.

Gun lovers’ slogans include, “When guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns.” Forget laws; in my world, only outlaws have guns now.

I have no impulse to join them.
Continue reading * Courage to walk unarmed →

* Must I work for Rent-a-Bum?

September 8, 2016Homelessness, Job search/Job prospects, Motivations, OUR BEST POSTS, SqualorAgenices, Employment, Homeless, Rent-a-Bum, Temp agencies, Temporary, The Homeless BloggerWilliam Tell

(Originally published 08/11/12 at Trojan Horse Productions; reblogged 10/30/13 here.)

If you go into a men’s room and see that someone’s taken his backpack and perhaps suitcase with him into the stall, you can conclude two things: (1) He’s homeless. (2) In his world, squalor is so intense he can’t leave his bags anywhere, or things will be stolen.

All kinds of people steal from the homeless.

They’ll steal your socks. It may only be a pair of socks, but if it’s your only pair of socks, it really hurts.

I stood smoking outside Dunkin’ Donuts and this man came up to talk. He was looking pretty rough. Walked on crutches, and one bare foot. He told me he’d spent the night outside, and while he slept, someone stole one shoe.

One of the few shreds of dignity left to me is that I don’t have to take my bags with me into the bathroom stall. At Dunkin’ Donuts or Lenny’s or the library, I leave my bags in a certain place and they’re all still there when I return. At the shelter, I stash my bags under the bunk, and no one disturbs them. I do lock the bag that has my phone, my cash and my prescriptions (link).

———— ♦ ————

I knew I was likely to become homeless months before it actually happened. I had contacts with the City’s Office of Homeless Services and obtained a list of shelters Continue reading * Must I work for Rent-a-Bum? →

* Paying my dues, singing the blues?

September 1, 2016Career goals, Get on your feet, Homelessness, Motivations, OUR BEST POSTS, Poverty, Yahoo! VoicesNitzotz, Presence, Your Heart's DesireWilliam Tell

Courage and despair hang in the balance for a homeless radio talk jock wannabe.

“You’ve got to pay your dues
If you want to sing the blues,
And you know, it don’t come easy.”
— Ringo Starr, “It Don’t Come Easy”

Many years ago, when I first conceived the ambition to become a radio talk show host, I quickly selected that song as virtually a theme for my show. Life is difficult. My heart’s desire was to equip people to face life’s difficulties head-on.

My life circumstances were far more comfortable at that time than they have become since. Now I’m asking myself if I’m paying my dues; if I can sing the blues; and whether I myself will face life’s difficulties head-on.
Continue reading * Paying my dues, singing the blues? →

* “Every thought is a prayer.”

August 27, 2016Get on your feet, Job search/Job prospects, Media, Motivations, National news, National politics, OUR BEST POSTS, The Way of PeaceAmbrose Worrall, Chaos, Choosing feelings, Choosing thoughts, Prayer, Self-love, White privilegeWilliam Tell

The seductiveness of turmoil.

Thursday, August 25, 2016

My foremost task for today is to keep myself focused on the practical things I need to do to improve my lot in life.

They can be seen as boring, mundane, dreary, tedious, and so on — if I fail to love myself enough to actually want to do them.

Accordingly, this morning I was reading through various news articles, and on one page, at the end, the links to “related” articles included this:

People Who Say ‘Check Your Privilege’ Should Do It

I didn’t read the article, but boy, just that headline really got my engines going. I can’t remember the last time I was in a setting where someone might have been told, “Check your privilege.” Normally this is addressed to a white person, and, as I’ve noted before, in my world there aren’t enough white people to matter.

Continue reading * “Every thought is a prayer.” →

x From my diary: Learning to pray

August 25, 2016Career goals, Get on your feet, Homelessness, Job search/Job prospects, Motivations, OUR BEST POSTS, The Way of PeaceAmbrose Worrall, Faith, Prayer, Resentment, The Homeless Blogger, What IsWilliam Tell

(Originally posted 05/12/13. Reblogged 04/18/24.)

Wednesday 04/24/13

Facing various issues as to how to spend my time. The current appearance of this blog is a far cry from what I want, but I don’t want time spent redesigning it to take away from job search. The same dilemma presents in choice of whether to use my tax refund to restore my former website on Yahoo! for $125.00/year, or instead rebuild the site as part of this blog.

My church is about to launch Saturday morning prayer services in which I will have a leadership role. I will be offering teachings on prayer; I think I have about two hours’ worth of material, and an issue rises of whether to try to organize that into 10-minute or instead 15-minute segments. And there’s an issue that what I would present to the prayer team members only, isn’t necessarily what I’d present to the general public.

This morning at McDonald’s I was reflecting on these things, and on what I might teach to an audience drawn from the general public. I began to understand why Ambrose Worrall fails to refer to Kabbalah.

Prayer team members will be principally interested in learning how to pray effectively for others. People who come from the general public will be principally interested in how to pray effectively for themselves — how to get their own prayers answered.

I presume to be pretty good at the former. That’s how I became prayer ministry coordinator to start with. I’m not so good at the latter.
Continue reading x From my diary: Learning to pray →

* The best present makes the best future.

August 18, 2016Homelessness, Justice, OUR BEST POSTS, The Way of PeaceAcceptance, Choosing feelings, Choosing thoughts, Christianity, Forgiveness, Presence, Race, Racism, SublimationWilliam Tell

I’m posting very little new material these days, but there are hundreds of posts different folks may not have seen the first time around. So I’ve had in mind possibly to start “recycling” old posts.

I happened across this one today. Actually, its story has been on my mind given recent difficulties getting into the shelter. And when I re-read it today, I was moved, not just by the story about Leo, but the remark about dwelling in untoward feelings. I see so many people around me, and so many expressions in the media, of folk dwelling in grievance, anger, the feeling of injustice, of being disadvantaged, of harboring resentment especially against those of different skin color.

And even within Christianity, I find sometimes such negativity being encouraged, in the name of justice; wholly forgetting the Gospel mandate to forgive, forgive, forgive.

The below post first appeared 2015-12-12.

===============================================

Saturday 2015-12-05

14:40. Actually, Leo arrived first.

But he got turned away.

Continue reading * The best present makes the best future. →

* For us

July 9, 2016Bible, Get on your feet, Justice, OUR BEST POSTS, Poverty, Qabala, Squalor, The Way of PeaceChaos, Chaos and order, Creation of poverty, The Chaos Factor, Tikkun, Tohu, Wealth creationWilliam Tell

A grassy lot inspires a vision of what can be when a community cares for itself.

When I take the bus to church in the morning, I normally get off at the closest stop, walk three blocks north and one block east. At the corner where I turn is a vacant lot. I don’t know who owns it. In months past, it has typically been heavily littered.

One morning not long ago, as I approached that lot, I saw that it had been cleaned. I saw this from fifty feet away. The way things are around here, that little bit of beauty nearly knocked me down. It took my breath away. It lifted my spirits.

A tiny bit of beauty can powerfully affect one’s mood. A mere glimpse of a pretty face can make one’s whole day.

I reflected: harmony is the essence of beauty, exemplified in the orderliness of the clean lot as contrasted with the chaos of its previous litter. I reflected on the relatednesses among light, love, harmony, order and prosperity, on the one hand; and darkness, strife, chaos and need, on the other. What does it take to begin to establish harmony? I concluded that perhaps love, or self-love, is the beginning of creation.

What if the whole community cared for itself as someone cared for that lot? Continue reading * For us →

* There can be no dialogue with toxic speech.

June 15, 2016Clippings, National media, National news, OUR BEST POSTS, The William Tell ShowAnn Coulter, First Amendment, Free speech, Free Speech Handbook, Hate speech, Joan Walsh, Milo Yiannopoulos, The heckler's vetoWilliam Tell

Debate opposing views, don’t label them hate: Column

Over the weekend, I very nearly un-Friended a church member on Facebook.

This woman is a pillar of the congregation, exceptionally gifted, and holds several important offices. But she frequents certain web sites that spew forth racial hatred, and she Likes certain items, and they show up in my Timeline. I will never voluntarily expose myself to such material. (Related: Change your diet.) There can be no dialogue with it: even to take it seriously is poisonous to my soul.

The First Amendment will not protect me from it. On the contrary, hate speech is normally protected. As are lies. As is verbal bullying. And heckling.

One can choose, however, what one pays attention to.

Milo Yiannopoulos is a troll.

As likewise are Ann Coulter and Joan Walsh.

There may be no lawful way to silence them, but those persons and organizations (such as Young Republicans) who sponsor them, hire them, and give them gratuitous platforms, may be persuaded that the nation deserves better.

Reblogged 2023-12-07.