Land of Special Character

Here I intend to take a closer look at the terms; province, state, estate, real estate and property. The core of the project is to determine the etymology and the genesis of these terms in relation to the rights written about property. The conclusion shall illustrate the need to understand property and to gain a new respect for property.

The term "property" came about in the 13th century as a noun to describe someones land of special character. Special in that it wasn't owned directly by the crown, but by an individual citizen. The word "province" came about around the 14th century in very much the same way to denote land ruled by a higher power and means that there is a central power that rules the province. "State", as a polity, means to stand alone and comes from the root word "estate" which is a collective of properties held by an individual. "Real estate" is simply property that cannot be moved.

The period between the 12th and 14th centuries brought these terms into our lexicon and they all pertain to ownership of things with intrinsic value. The reason property was known as land of special character is that it was owned by an individual and not a government. This tells us that there was a sea change that shows how we view ownership of land. The 12th century is the outset of the high middle ages and is known as the beginning of the renaissance. The terms that defined our ownership of land stem from the age of enlightenment.

We need a new renaissance to reiterate the lands of special character.

It seems to me that we've allowed the term "property" to become archaic. This isn't a new tactic as we see anti-gun advocates question the terms used in the Constitution as antiquated and archaic. I needed to weave all of the terms describing land ownership together, to show that we are taking this word for granted. It's a land of special character because you own it, it is no longer public. It becomes your private property and is protected from confiscation without compensation. The Bill of Rights was written into the very beginning of the Constitution to denote their importance to stand the test of time and to never become antiquated.

I was inspired to write this over some trivial act. The other day, I was getting ready to pull out of my driveway and I had to wait for a slow, meandering cellphone zombie walking her dog. As she cleared my driveway she walked her dog right into my front yard. I rolled my window down and told her to not let her dog do its business on my lawn. She replied with the most ignorant retort; "I have bags and will pick it up!" I didn't ask you to pick up your dog's business. I told you to not let it do its business on MY property. I pointed to all of the public lands around us and told her to take her dog there.

I shouldn't have to tell anyone how important property rights are, but when I have to tell people to stop trespassing on and disrespecting my property, we have a real problem in this country.

Black Swan

black swan

/blak/ /swän/

The black swan theory or theory of black swan events is a metaphor that describes an event that comes as a surprise, has a major effect, and is often inappropriately rationalized after the fact with the benefit of hindsight

Many young voters today in the U.S. were too young at the time of the attacks on this country in the dawning of the 21st century, to have reasonable opinions of their own about those attacks. As a member of a generation that was just taking the helm of this country from the previous generation, I find it hard to reason the attacks, myself. The generation before us spent their time battling the march of communism from Korea to Vietnam and then comes religious extremists from a minority religion to attack us. 

We could call these events, "black swan events" and they define the delineation between the generations. My generation was taught to respect the symbols of our country such as the flag and the servicemen who fight for our ideals. On the same token we were given a revisionist history of the events that occurred in our recent past, namely the Vietnam War. We had to hate the war but not our countrymen who fought against socialism. 

We have these labels of generations; "The Greatest Generation", "The Babyboomers", "Generation X", "Generation Y", "Millennials", each defined by how they interpret past events that the previous generation lived. This is the "black swan theory".

We cannot define this theory by broadly painted events. The Great War was not a black swan event, however the assassination of Ferdinand was the event. World War II was not the event, the attack at Pearl Harbor was the event. 

To find a commonality in all of these events, each generation will come up with a different theory. To boil it down with reason and objectivity, aren't all of these events connected by imperialism?

All major powers seek empire and many have held empires. Let us agree, if for only a moment, that the major wars of the past century were fought against empire. Even Muslims fighting against the United States empire. 

What is the result of global empire? Well, if it's based on the ideology that you hold dear, it's a great world of unison. If it is based on an ideology anathema to yours, then it is an oppressive world of division. You're always going to have thesis and antithesis. Every clash between two ideologies leads to an event that we retroflect upon in order to make sense of it, or to bring the event into some form of synthesis. 

Before I lose you, everything has its antithesis. Hot has cold, light has dark. In the middle, is the grey area, the commonality, the compromise, the synthesis. "Black swan" theory suggests that we are always looking for that compromise to lessen the blow of some catastrophic event. 

The terrorist attacks using fully fueled aircraft to destroy human lives as well as infrastructure, was a black swan event in that it lead to a reactive resolve of war against muslim extremists. Yes, we heard it over and over "the resolve of the American people". However, a generation came up hearing that it was our empire-building that was the reason for war in Iraq, never mind the hunt for Bin Laden, they focused on Iraq. Their only rationalization was that the US was truly evil and probably deserved to be attacked. This thought, essentially, became a paradigm overnight and was exacerbated by the election of the socialist Obama. Here we were a few years after a major attack on our soil, against our freedoms, and we elected a man who made it his goal to have the government take control of, not just the means of production, but everything about American life. 

The irrational thought of the last decade paints our country as the source of evil in the world. This thought wasn't just contained within our own borders, it was widely held by many, if not all, up and coming socialist countries. 

Nikita Khrushchev, debated with, then secretary of state, Nixon in what has become known as the "Kitchen Debate". It was an open clash between communism and capitalism while touring a model home of the future. Khrushchev speaks of the future as a world embracing communism as an inevitability. Since that meeting, the world has seen the collapse of socialist republics at the behest of the United States. 

We were the killers of socialism on a global scale. It has only been in recent years that many of the citizens of this country have renounced that label, vehemently admonishing capitalism. The rest of the world seems to be going in the other direction and throwing off socialism with BRIEXIT and the hyperinflation collapses that are plaguing socialist countries. 

This, short, turnaround to being anti-capitalist leaves this country alone in a world that is embracing capitalism. We are a capitalist system, so it isn't going to hurt the country to fully embrace it once again. This, is the newest black swan event. 

The 2016 elections saw a huge group of conservative presidential candidates get wiped out by a pure capitalist business man and the socialists are blaming Russia. This statement about 2016 shouldn't need any further explanation into what happened with the election. This was a black swan event perpetrated by foreign powers to stop the march of socialism in this country.

So, the return of this country to its rightful position as socialist-killer is going to be muddied by the irrational thought of a rigged election that, ironically, killed socialism.

So, we need all of the information to make a rational conclusion of recent events. We are not getting this information. The media has become a government mouthpiece, an activist tool. The commentary is designed to push your thought in a particular direction. After all, they wouldn't like to go the way of viewer attrition as is the way of free market capitalism. No, they want government control, to take money from you to prop them up and to continue the narrative. That, my friends, is yellow journalism, an effective tool of the socialists from Marx to Castro. You see, if one can paint a perfect yet fictitious world, people will want to by it, consume it and make it a reality against every odd. That's the sacrifice of the proletariat. 

The greatest capitalist president since George Washington, sits in the White House as we speak and is making America Great Again by returning us to the socialist-killing country we once were. This is our Black Swan Event.  

The Road

Finding memories in the songs we hear is pretty powerful. I'm sitting here listening to an eighties rock album "Adrenalize" and it reminds me of high school. Then it leads me to the road I've traveled since then.

I know what you're thinking; "Oh no, another memory lane flashback", but it's not. It's just in that music from the past inspired me today. Well, it's not completely the music. I'm now working out with a bicycle to lose weight and get back into shape. I want to live longer and this is what I have to do. The memories brought on by music and that old road of life, inspire me.

Def Leppard is road trip music and I was just on the road today to find a cycling route for my workout. I used to run to get into shape, but I have too many doctors, orthopedic surgeons, podiatrists, and such telling me to never run or even walk again to burn calories. I'm not exaggerating, my podiatrist even went so far as to say he wishes he could tell everyone that running and jogging is the worst thing you can do for your feet, knees and back.

 On the road this morning, it felt good. I have a long journey ahead of me, but it feels good. It gets me thinking about where I want to go and that destination is, of course, my goal. When I listen to music that takes me back to the eighties, I ask myself if where I am currently was my goal back then. I have answer that question with"No".

That's the thing about our lives. We love music, we set goals, we live, but we never really know where we'll end up. I'm happy where I've ended up even though it's been one rough road. I think we hit an age where we eventually see the road smooth out, but that rough old road is always there and we just need to be reminded of that road.

My goal won't fulfill itself identically as I have envisioned, but I will achieve results that will make me happy. When I was in basic training for the Navy, our company commander had a great philosophy about goals. I'll be paraphrasing, but he said that goals don't mean anything, they are just plans and aren't real so make them unrealistic. Set your goals outrageously high. Set them so high that no one can even think they are achievable. That way, as you go down the road towards your goal, where ever your stopping point may be, it will be great.

Life Change

So, fuck cancer. That's the creed muttered by cancer patients worldwide. We go on social media and spell it out in one word led with a hashtag. We wear t-shirts with the words emblazoned on the front and back. "Fuck Cancer" is our mantra.
When adenocarcinoma struck me, I was in the middle of accelerating my life; a wife, new job and moving up in the world. The call came while I was at my step-son's home, loading a moving van with the last of our stuff to move to Missoula Montana. The call that changed my life.

The summer of 2015 was a great summer. I took my, then girlfriend, to Conner Montana for her birthday. The East Fork of the Bitterroot river is a spectacular area and it just so happens a good friend of mine has a place up there and we stayed there for my, now, wife's birthday. I woke up the next morning with a hacking cough.
A month later, Memorial Day, I was engaged to the love of my life. July 24th, 2015 I married that wonderful gal. The cough persisted.

Life changes led to jobs and a new home in Missoula Montana. It was March 2016 and we were in Helena picking up the last of our stuff to take to Missoula. I had just undergone numerous tests with the VA for the cough. I remember I was struggling with some heavy boxes when my phone rang. It was a doctor. The images of my lungs, showed a mass. My mind raced and I don't remember much as my whole world changed. Within a week I was undergoing surgery and setting up appointments for chemotherapy and radiation treatments.

Now, those changes just prior to being diagnosed with cancer were an important chapter in my life and not just on the surface; new job, new home, new wife, but these were important building blocks to be in place for the 6 months of my treatments. The cancer center that saved my life was literally down the street from our new home. My wife is so amazingly strong and cared for me through the entire process. It all happened for a reason and that reason was for me to survive cancer.

I can say "Fuck Cancer" because I had a network of people who made me a survivor. The changes, however, didn't stop after treatment.

I was determined to make the summer of 2017 the best ever as a way to make up for the summer of 2016. That didn't work, because just as the activities began, wildfires broke out around the state. My lungs went through a lot during treatment and the smoke from wildfires was just intolerable.

With the summer of 2017, the first year of recovery, a bust my wife and I spent Thanksgiving in Southern Utah. It was this journey that I asked my wife what she thought about moving to Utah. It was a surprisingly quick answer of "sure". I feel it was easy to make the decision because there were negative issues piling up in Montana. For me, the biggest factor was the weather and I just have to have warm, hot, weather.

The residual effects of surviving cancer manifest themselves in other health issues. I mean, after all, they poisoned me for six months, killing all of my cells in hopes that only the good cells would grow back. I do have kidney issues and breathing issues. One would think that my health would get a huge boost from all the water I drink now instead of pop, but one would be wrong. Yes, it is healthier, but my metabolism is so slow now. During chemo I had a huge craving for carbs that just hasn't gone away. With the kidney issues, I also have to watch my protein intake and this screws with my weight too.

This blog sounds like a journal entry, and it really is an entry onto a blog directly from my thoughts. I've had a lot of changes in the last six years since I used Blogger and the last three are head spinning changes. I'm a married home owning cancer survivor in a completely new environment. It was a huge risk to pick up and leave Montana, but it has worked out and I'm finding that life changes, no matter how radical, have just as good a chance as being bad or good. Quite frankly, life changes are both good and bad, it just depends on which you dwell upon.

I'm happy, my wife is happy and life is adjusting just fine to the change. The next step will be taking back control of my overall health. I'm starting a diet and workout regimen that should have me back to a healthy weight by the end of the year. As I stated above, the wildfires of 2017 affected my recovery and that means recovery now begins in this new home. I'm glad I took the risk of change, in every action I've made. It has saved my life and I feel it will continue to serve me well. Embrace change.

Six Years.

The indefinite continued progress of existence and events. But six years? Isn't that a definite bloc of time?
My last blog was six years ago and it is defined by the time in which it was written, the Germans have a word for it; "zeitgeist". Time Spirit or the spirit of the time. It is fascinating how this continued march of existence is indefinite, yet certain blocks of it can be defined by the events and through those who existed in that time.
Six years ago I was just a college graduate with my sights set on going big in the world. The leadership in the country was still shaky after terrible attacks a decade earlier. I didn't necessarily make it big, but I did make a series of good choices. The old adage "Only time will tell" is true in this progressive line of events. Many of my choices seemed to be guided by divinity, I'm not saying I'm divine, but some of the choices were made and the results were surprising. My choice to put myself on the dating website led me to meeting my wife. My choice to move to a city just to effect change in my life, put me within walking distance of the cancer center that would, in time, save my life. Even my choice of schooling led me to meeting, working for and be helped by my veteran's representative and she is the one who helped my with my disabilities.
The choices I made were guided by the zeitgeist, spirit of the time. My mother died and I went to college. I found the most awesome veteran's representative while attending college. My degree led me to a job in the city where I met my wife. I wanted a better city for my wife, so we moved to the city where I eventually needed to go anyway after the diagnosis of cancer.
Six years of events that have now defined a major period, or era, of my story. Six years that have led me to where I am today, far from where I was a mere, well, six years ago.

With this new era comes all of the good that happened in the last six years. To move forward I left all the bad in the last era. That's right, I left all the bad stuffed into the past and brought with me all the good things to continue this indefinite continued progress of events. Some of the things that I had to leave behind actually surprised me and, yet, they will stay in the past. Some of the things that I am bringing with me into the new era are simply amazing; my wife, our new house, my second year of remission.
Some will tell you that you should repair the bad things in your past before moving on. To this I say, rubbish, literally, trash it. and leave it behind. There's no point in holding on to broken things from your past in hopes of fixing them one day. Remember, this is a continuous progression, defined by the things you do in those moments. Don't define your past with failed repairs. Accept the bad and move on, carrying the good with you.
I'm back on Blogger.com