Grant Me the Serenity - Reinhold Niebuhr

Ends of the Earth - J. Stuart Holden

A=X+Y+Z - Albert Einstein

Fore the One - Robert E. Harris

Quit Playing - Keith Green

Immortal Ideas - Kelly Nelson

Be Known More - Saheed B. Olalekan

Misfortunes in a Heap - Socrates

If the Wind Stops - Polish Proverb

Master of Words

Intercessory Prayer - Charles Brent

Impact of Small Things and Your Size - Sydney J. Harris

Nature the Broadcasting System - George Carver

June Roses in December - James M. Barrie

In Four Years

10^th July 2011

Dear (Potential Employer),

I’ve been a Security Officer for the last ten years, but with four years of Grad School ahead of me I’m looking to stay one until I get my MS. I like my work as a guard, and I’m told I do it well.

At the start of this year I was laid off from my seven year employer and took that time to finish my degree. They lost more than 50 jobs that month, so I guess it was inevitable.

My last employer said that if business picked up they would call me back, but they knew I was soon to become a college graduate. I doubt they will have need for more Guards any time soon. They had lost ten jobs the month before and fifteen two months earlier.

In four years I hope to get my certification from the state as a Mental Health Counselor. I want to help people. I can get this degree without working another day if I wanted to cash in my retirement plan and come away with tens of thousands in debt. I don’t see this as an option. A man is better off working than borrowing.

I look for honest work for honest pay.

Thank you for your time,

Richard Leland Neal

Escape is Easier than Change - Jim Rohn

Circular Logic

28th April 2013 

Hay James,

There has been a bit of business stuck in my gut for a few years that I’ve meant to talk to you about. Truth is this has likely slipped from your memory.

It must have been some eight years ago shortly before Celaya shipped off to the army that we went to a strip club. I’m not sure how common an event this is for you, but it has never left my mind, because I was in a lot of pain. It happened that I was suffering from potassium deficiency, and so my gut filled with water and threatened to burst.

Well, Celaya just insisted I get a lap dance and only stopped asking when I screamed to be left alone. From what I gather you asked Mr. Celaya why he refused to listen and he told you that I was always saying ‘no’ to him. This came up a few years later when Chris Celaya pestered me to play video games when I had homework.

I recall lamenting to you that Chris would not listen to me unless I was screaming. “He pesters me until I snap” I think were my words, and you replied with “Well, you’re always saying ‘no’ to him” as if this gave him the right to treat me in this manner.

I just have to ask, James, did it ever cross your mind that this was circular logic? Honestly, I never have to say yes. That’s just not how things work, but when I got up and walked away from the situation I detected a feeling of anger among your friends.

Don’t get me wrong, it was unfair of me to have involved you in this at all. It was my fight and I should have fought it alone until it ended my friendship with Chris Celaya.

This put a bitter feeling in my gut about you for some years and I guess this is my way of letting it go. I’d like to apologize for that as I should have just explained the situation. I still would rather you keep your hands to yourself. I mean, no means no and should have no less meaning or power no matter how many times it passes my lips.

Just had to get that out,



Richard Leland Neal

Sweep as Michelangelo Painted - Martin Luther King Jr.

Hope and Sarah

From my 1994 Middle School Yearbook

 

It was only my second year of middle school when I started collecting signatures. This was because I had difficulty spelling and didn't like signing things. Back then I went by Ricky, because I couldn't spell Richard. This changed my first year of high school. I'm preserving the signatures from my yearbooks now. 

Who knows, maybe someone will see them and enjoy them.

 

   

                 "To: Ricky

 

                        Hope you have 

                        fun in the summer, 

                        and good luck next 

                        year.

 

                                        Bye

 

                                    Hrigo P." 

 

Now, this next inscription I have no idea about. I recall a Sarah or two in middle school, it is a common name, but "Jaws"?

 

This could be a reference to the 1979 James Bond movie Moonraker. There was a vary tall fellow in that film with mettle teeth that they called Jaws. This girl could have had braces and just run with the nickname.  

 

Unless she comes back into my life somehow I guess I will never know.

 

                    "To: Ricky

 

                            Have a cool 

                            summer, and don't 

                            get too hot!

 

                                    Your friend 

 

                                            Sarah

                                                or 

                                            Jaws"
 

Think there are No Crocodiles - Malayan Proverb

Growing Old - Robert G. Easterling

Dear Doctor Beals

3^rd  May 2013

Dear Doctor Beals,

A subject has crossed my desk that would benefit from your expertise in intimate relationships. It’s more of an argument really but none the less I feel it is in the greater interest of the persons involved and their future significant others that I do my best to resolve the dispute.

It would happen that a heterosexual male wished to add a second female to his sexual activity with his girlfriend and later wife. The woman in question has a history of sexual trauma. It is my understanding that her sexual behaviors are strong and strange enough to warrant the question. Further, what a group of consenting adults does with their bodies is their business and it is my practice never to judge people on their sexual choices.

However, when the female refused the male became insistent. He masturbated to pornography featuring to females and insisted on watching this pornography during intercourse. He further became increasingly upset when the female continued to refuse. At one time he went so far as to withhold sex unless his significant other agreed to permit a second female in the relationship.

After the couple was married he only raised the subject once and was silenced by strong reproach. There was little sex in the relationship after marriage and what there was involved watching pornography.

Now, it is my opinion that pressuring your significant other into a sexual situation in which they are uncomfortable is a breach of trust. Further, it is my opinion that intercourse should be an act of mutual fulfillment.

Would this man’s actions be a breach of trust?   

Richard Leland Neal