PERSONAL GROWTH BY SUBTRACTION

Personal growth is the job. If you have problems, check yourself first.

If everyone you know carries the same poor opinion of you, maybe it’s not them.

What is the solution when one size never fits all?

Let’s go:

The common adage for dealing with other people with negative attitudes comes with a strong “F-U if you don’t like what you see.”

People in the streets for the past week don’t like what they see. They like it less when they get gassed, clubbed, and tased.

They show up to bear witness, not get their asses chased down and kicked harder than they’ve ever had it kicked.

So far the highlights are pretty low for the men in blue. I’ve seen good policemen stop to help a fallen protester only to get pulled away by their superior.

Who remembers policemen swinging for the fences when they engage the crowds that stand their ground? It looks painful. Even the images of the aftermath of clubbing legs and getting shot by rubber bullets hurt.

Is Personal Growth Real

If you use booze and drugs to be the best you, then you’ve got some pretty good shit going. But it’s not you, not the person you might be. Absent alterations, you may be angry and hostile. Not a good look, but neither is masking the causes.

The fix takes more than moving a few pieces around in your brain, especially if you are guided by tradition and custom.

When a leader yearns for the good old days, encourages police to rough up suspects, and smiles his approval before adding, “I’ll take care of your legal bills,” be suspicious, very suspicious.

Some police officers who embraces the rough life are up for review, up for trial, some accused of murder. Who do we hear stepping up?

So far I’ve heard of money collected to bail protesters out of jail, but not a lot about helping officers accused of brutality. Maybe the guys serving and protecting, the guys who serve and protect, feel more confident to show themselves as community guys?

That’s my take, and good for them. They take a knee instead of crack another woman’s head? Good move. They march with the protesters? Damn, those are real pieces moving around upstairs.

Don’t Play The REMF Move

Effective leaders know how to portray themselves. They show they’ve got what it takes by standing up when it’s just as easy to sit down.

History explains how one president stood up:

On the Friday after the Kent State massacre, in which Ohio National Guard killed four students and wounded nine during an anti-war protest, Nixon was unable to sleep. Around 4 in the morning, after spending several hours making phone calls, he roused his personal valet, Manolo Sanchez, and asked him if he had ever seen the Lincoln Memorial at night. Knowing he would encounter a crowd of student protesters that had camped out on the National Mall, Nixon set off with Sanchez, his physician and a Secret Service team.

Is Nixon a role model for Mr. Trump? Is there much difference between them? There is. I’m no Nixon fan, but some things are undeniable.

• He served in the Navy and understood how the chain of command worked.

• Nixon was elected to the House.

• He served two terms as Eisenhower’s VP.

• In 1960 he probably won the presidential election, but stood down for the good of the country as he saw it.

He followed that loss up by losing the California Governor’s race, then promising to the press that they wouldn’t have Nixon to kick around anymore.

But he broke the promise when he won the presidential election of 1968 as the Law and Order president. Sound familiar?

A sitting president ought to know enough about the job to do it the way America needs it done. Gassing and clubbing and shooting Americans in the street are not in the job description.

Talking up violence, bad science, and division are not part of the job, either. We’ve recently learned that America has an undeniable strain of ignorance a mile wide, or wider. To pander to ignorance is poor leadership.

The difference is between someone who surrounds themselves with people comfortable enough to kiss ass in public, as Mr. Trump has done with a round of praise from his cabinet members, and a moment with JFK.

The Smartest Dinner Ever?

One evening for dinner, President Kennedy invited all Nobel Prize winners from the western hemisphere. He called it the greatest gathering of intellect in the White House, aside from Thomas Jefferson dining there alone.

Kennedy, another rich man’s son, has a familiar story. His naval career during WWII is the stuff of legend. Ask yourself a few questions about men in power.

Which president would stoop to gassing, clubbing, and shooting rubber bullets at an American protest crowd to clear them before they dared step out of the White House?

Which president decided national service in the armed forces wasn’t for him, and found a way around it? Elvis, The King of Rock and Roll, got drafted and shied away from Special Service duty where he could have done concerts. Instead, he joined the rest of the guys in the draft.

Which president struggles with the execution of law and order in their personal life?

American Presidents share much in common, while others struggle to attain personal growth in the leadership role.

Which one speaks the truth you need to hear? Try and move around a few pieces of your own personal growth to find an answer.