Good Morning Digital Neighbors! Greetings to all you Vagabonds, Visitors, Members, Supports, Lurkers and Contributors to Rubin Report, Phetasy, Triggernometry and At Padre's! I do enjoy using the names more so than just the community names, but it helps to break out of patterns that can just become routine and try to keep the fresh and animated. It is hard to cultivate rituals in life and not have them slip into the robotic. I often share with my flock that being mindless about our actions is parked right next to be selfless in out acts. We want to strive to be selfless and not mindless in our worship and our living.

Stosh @Stosh in the Triggernometry community offered some interesting feedback about expectations as they are experienced in family life. I appreciate his and everyone's feedback to these morning musings.

I have always fest that a lot of the animosity and family alienation you discuss (when it happens) comes from expecting a bunch of specific, seemingly random or small things from children or grandchildren, and not expecting them to act on the broad principles we've passed on to them in a patient, thoughtful upbringing.

I think it is both the small things and at times the overall climate in the household. In many homes I suspect it is random things that playout in family life that are really not disruptive or alienating. Those are almost always laughable when remembered especially at family gatherings and other moments of reminiscing.

In other cases there are widespread dysfunctions in families that goes beyond the random incidents. My parents were a good mix of the patient, thoughtful upbring they wanted to communicate compromised by issues of alcoholism (my father) and bi-polar issues (my mother). Overall, it was a workable mix for me and my sister but not for my other siblings. Of the six of their children, 4 felt fairly alienated and withdrew from closer involvement with my parents in their adult lives, and two of us remained closer. None of them very disowned my parents or separated from them in major way, more avoidance and preoccupation than anything else.

All of this leads up to my morning quotes on perspective. Stosh's comments and many of your from these various communities on my morning posts always contribute to my own further reflection and refinement of my views as well as deepening my understanding and appreciation of them. I have always found the challenge of perspective one of acknowledging feelings and thoughts about a particular issue or experience without ignoring the feelings only to have them come back with a vengeance. A silence to violence syndrome is a very common experience for those who ignore their feelings until they explode.

The other more common and frequent danger is giving feelings free reign and having them completely distort the experience and your ability to process it. I think we see this plague all the time in the cult of victimhood and projection of perpetual offense and grievance. It is a bitter irony that those most decrying their victimhood often use it as club of submission to ensure their will is indulged. "I'm a victim - shut the hell up and accept my issues without question" seem to be the most effective way to ensure you ability to compel and coerce others. I suspect the vast majority of Local's members are here because of their weariness with such things. Perhaps one of the saving graces of such distortions of victimhood are their breaking points and eventual pushback by those who formerly had patience and empathy for their plight. On to the quotes and a barn photo! Happy Tuesday my friends!

The only thing you sometimes have control over is perspective. You don't have control over your situation. But you have a choice about how you view it. - Chris Pine

A little perspective, like a little humor, goes a long way. - Allen Klein

Once you put everything in the right perspective, even bad times can be an opportunity to refresh your appetite, your desire. - Alex Zanardi

The beauty of an old barn - Noah Bradley