From the time we’re little we’re taught that it’s better to give than to receive! Trouble is that after a lifetime of that, you tend to feel a little guilty whenever you actually do receive something. Then, you find yourself not asking for help or refusing help when you need it. It turns out that accepting help is so much harder than asking for it is even harder than that!

In this age of Trumpian ethics and lack of concern for others, it’s even harder to ask for help or accept any because it’s more and more common to hear things like “I’m not responsible for your problems” or worse yet having someone assume you’re pulling a scam or they just walk by altogether.

Here’s the pIain truth, there will come a time when all of us will need to accept help from others and yes, even ask for some help too. Ironically, it’s those who want to help the most who are least willing to accept it. Whether It’s ego or the failure to accept the situation, I don’t know. I do know that fear plays into it. Fear of taking from others, fear of not being worthy or maybe fear that we might be just the same as everyone else.

I had been going through some pretty serious health situations and was in general, felling pretty crumby. My son and daughter-in-law live in another town and have been absolutely amazing with their help. They however are there and I am here. In any case, my son Mason sent me a text referencing a tweet I had forwarded to him the day before from Henry Winkler. Wilkler was talking about how much he was looking forward to an after Thanksgiving Turkey sandwich and some other fixings. My son, wanted me to know that in a couple of hours I would be getting a delivery with all the makings from that tweet! I cried as I attempted to tell him how much that meant to me. I knew how much it meant to him and I also knew how much it meant to me. Plus, as lousy as I had been feeling, I had almost nothing in the house to eat and Thanksgiving was a day away with grocery stores closed. I knew with every fiber of my being that I wanted to tell him to cancel the order but thank him anyway. I also knew I needed to grow up a bit. I needed to accept and appreciate his help and be a better father by asking for his help more when I truly needed it. In the last few years I’ve gotten better at this, today was an example I still have some work to do.

The simple truth is that it takes more guts to ask than to receive. That homeless vet asking for change is as strong as anyone you know. That elderly neighbor who can’t repay you for cutting the lawn or bringing dinner by is a rock. That disabled or chronic pain involved man or woman who takes the money you drop by to buy groceries or medications shows more bravery than you or they knew they had.

Allow yourself to accept help. Allow yourself to ask for help. Allow yourself to give what you can to others now knowing so much more than you ever could have guessed!

Maybe after we conquering this challenge, we’ll make it a much bigger priority to teach those who are little now, that while giving is a wonderful part of life, so is receiving gifts with gratitude, thankfulness and love. Maybe we’ll also teach them not only to learn to do things by themselves but to realize how very strong they are when they ask us for the help they really need.

Maybe that is the gift that is best given and received.

Peace

     …..Gregg

We keep hearing all of the horror stories about what Impeachment might mean for the United States of America. I wanted to take a slightly longer than One minute look at just a few of the things Impeachment Doesn’t Mean.

Impeachment doesn’t mean that it is one party or another’s way attempt at a coup or wiping out or overthrowing millions of Americans votes. After all , Impeachment was  put into the Constitution so that even if all Americans voted for a President and that President ended up committing Bribery or High Crimes and Misdemeanors, then that President should and could be removed from office.

It doesn’t mean those running the Impeachment hearings aren’t patriots. It also doesn’t mean some in the nations Capitol aren’t acting patriotically either.

It doesn’t mean that the rules of logic are somehow suspended. A FACT is still a FACT and an ALTERNATIVE FACT is still a lie!

It doesn’t mean that just because you support the President, he might be guilty. It also doesn’t mean that if you don’t support the President, he’s automatically guilty.

It doesn’t mean (sadly) that some House and Senate members won’t, instead of doing their jobs, vote one way or the other due to solely political reasons. (Instead of following their oath of office)

It doesn’t mean that because we’re told by one party or another or one Network or another or even something one neighbor or another might say, that just because something is a small point or wrong, means it is!

It doesn’t mean you can rest on your butt and not care. You can’t!

You shouldn’t! You’re better than that!

It doesn’t mean that all the deflection or distraction or rationalization or spin will somehow magically change the central “did he or didn’t he” question on EACH article of Impeachment.

It doesn’t mean that your friends can’t still be your friends.

It doesn’t mean it’s anywhere close to a good idea to bring it up at Thanksgiving!!!

it doesn’t mean that it has ANYTHING to do with Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton unless they are mentioned in the Articles of Impeachment.

It doesn’t mean that all Democrats, Republicans or Independents are 100% good or bad.  If you’re a “You’re either with me or against me on this” kind of person. You have bigger problems than impeachment.

It doesn’t mean that just because Lindsey Graham says he won’t pay attention to the evidence, you shouldn’t! You should! Be a better person than he is, a better American than he is.

It doesn’t mean this will automatically sway the election one way or another. I just checked and apparently, if you go and vote, THAT will determine the election. Go vote. Get your friends to go vote. Get your acquaintances to go vote.

It doesn’t mean that anybody did anything wrong. It does mean that that’s what Impeachment is all about! Find the FACTS. Find the people associated with the FACTS and then find out the FACTS behind who did/didn’t do what and when and was that wrong!

(I’m going to repeat this one again because it is SO important…)

It doesn’t mean that the rules of logic are somehow suspended. A FACT is still a FACT and an ALTERNATIVE FACT is still a lie!

I almost lived through Impeachment in the 70’s and it was better for the Country that we didn’t. (The Watergate hearings were the lead up that convinced President Nixon to resign.) Then, in the late 90’s, Bill Clinton was Impeached and the Country was able to bounce back and recover. Now, we’re going through it again and no one seems to be willing to look at the FACTS, only the “politifacts.” This my friends, as resilient as this Country is, might be one that we can’t recover from. I hope we begin to start realizing that unless we get off our “High and Mighty” closed minded throne and begin to see and listen and feel the rest of the world around us and once again realize that Reality is based on FACT. Alternative Facts should be found only in the library under FICTION!

Peace

     …..Gregg

Please enjoy this guest blog originally published on The Journeyman Sports website. They specialize in taking the time to look at sports from a different angle and sometimes different sports that we might not be familiar with. Full transparency here, this website is run by my son Mason Masters. (He not only got the good looks but the talent and smarts too!) 

(You can directly access the written pieces as well as The Journeyman Sports Podcast here

https://www.thejourneymansports.com )

By Mason Masters

 

A week ago, if the name Don Cherry was familiar to most Americans, it was probably due to his ludicrous suits or his love of bull terriers. Man, a lot can change in a week.

 

For those of you not up on your ancient Canadian sports commentators, Don Cherry was synonymous with hockey’s marquee televised event, Hockey Night in Canada. Cherry was an institution

 

 

on his first intermission segment, Coaches Corner, where the ex-Bruins bench leader would pontificate to the masses about the values of old-time hockey. Virtues like determination, hard work, and sacrifice were the foundation of Cherry’s rants which could be seen on every NHL Saturday for more than 30 years. Then he went on one rant too many.

Cherry chastised some Canadians for not wearing the traditional poppies that honor service members during Canada’s Remembrance Day. To quote,

 

“You people … that come here, whatever it is, you love our way of life, you love our milk and honey,” Cherry said. “At least you could pay a couple of bucks for poppies or something like that. These guys paid for your way of life, that you enjoy in Canada.”

 

As an outside observer of Cherry and one who’s own lifetime fits within his Coach’s Corner career, I was generally amused by his antics. Don Cherry was a preacher of sorts for a section of devotes who knelt at the altar of hockey, and as a southern fan, who perhaps unconsciously, felt separate from the “true” game up north, he was a beacon of “real hockey.”

 

As a fan who literally grew up around a group of minor league players, I shared Cherry’s love of the code of enforcement. The rule of enforcers was a vital part of the game.

 

As a fan of the beauty of teamwork, I shared Cherry’s admiration for players willing to sacrifice for the benefit of their teammates; especially if their offering was made in teeth.

 

As a fan of loud and garish clothing, I envied Cherry’s wardrobe. My closet will not be complete until I too own a suit covered in mustaches.

 

The thing about beacons though is that they are supposed to guide you onto a better path. It’s hard to argue that Don Cherry has been doing much guiding in recent years. For starters, the game as he knows it no longer exists. The Dead Puck Area is no more. Forwards don’t have to be big bruisers to make a difference on the score sheet. A defenseman must now rely on their skates, not their size to effectively shut down opposing teams. And enforcers, perhaps the most recognizable part of the game to most casual fans, are extinct on the sport’s biggest stage. This all has been lost on Cherry, who’s favorite pastime for the last decade has been calling players soft, due to this modern style of play.

 

Not only has Cherry’s on-ice IQ been found wanting, so has his awareness of the nation he lives in. Going after “soft” players “who play the wrong way” has always been a go-to for Don Cherry. But looking back on it, most of the players who Cherry put into that box didn’t have his background. Cherry has long taken umbrage with a number of Quebec-born players. To him, they didn’t play the game right. When players from Sweden and Finland came into the league, they didn’t play the game right either. When the Soviet Union collapsed and Russian players joined… you get the drift.

 

There’s an innocent phrase in the south that women from a certain generation can wield with devastating precision. If you ever have anyone over the age of 40 say to you “Bless Your Heart,” you messed up something awful. “You people” is the bless your heart of bigotry. There has always been a “You people” attitude to Don Cherry. There’s no need to say the world immigrants, those familiar knew exactly to whom Cherry was referring. The reason this was the time for Cherry to go was simple. Even his biases had been exposed by the passage of time.

 

In a way, it’s quite sad. Last week, a man in his 80’s said something that old men tend to say. It’s the kind of statement that would’ve only garnered eye rolls from the kids at a holiday party because no one wanted to call Grandpa on it. But this wasn’t a family gathering. It was live, primetime national television. 

 

Don Cherry sees nothing wrong with his comments, because to him, there was nothing wrong. No one had ever told him differently. Now they have. Nothing, not an ever-diversifying Canada, not a changing NHL, not even getting fired will change Don Cherry’s opinion of what he thinks is right. That is a fact that we have to accept. But we don’t have to accept his opinions as facts. Hockey and Canada are both better off now finally understanding the difference