The Blessings and Joys of STUDYING History

GRASS

Pile the bodies high at Austerlitz and Waterloo.
Shovel them under and let me work—

                                I am the grass; I cover all.

And pile them high at Gettysburg

And pile them high at Ypres and Verdun.

Shovel them under and let me work.

Two years, ten years, and passengers ask the conductor:

                                What place is this?

                                Where are we now?

                                I am the grass.

                                Let me work.

By: Carl Sandburg

I have always LOVED history. 

     I love studying about history. I love daydreaming about history. I love imagining myself as an actor in the past and considering how I would act were I to be inserted into events gone by. 

As a boy, I often felt a twinge of wistfulness that sometimes bordered on wishfulness that I had, in fact, been born in the past so that I might have played a role in one of a thousand different historical scenes ranging from the the peaceful, placid, and commonplace to the thick of battle—and everything in between. 

In my youth, the pages of history provided me with a healthy "escape" from reality. For example, throughout my first year of junior high (7th) grade, I was miserable due to the onset of OCD combined with the loss of innocence that seemed to accompany my peers' rocky transitions from elementary school to junior high.

But I was often able to escape my unhappiness by stealing away into books such as Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House on the Prairie series. This adventure in reading was further supplemented by watching the television version of the same material. As I soaked in these historical fiction narratives and events, I often found my heart clamoring after days of yore, and wishing I could have lived in simpler times myself. 

In the summertime, I would often take a .22 caliber pistol or rifle and go hiking on my Dad's land. In my mind's eye, I was a soldier fighting in the Civil War, or a crack shot gunslinger in the Old West. The objective reality of my hiking and shooting was one thing; but the vivid events transpiring in my rich imagination during such solitary sojourns were quite another!

My fascination with military history and war in general was spawned at a very young age and has not abated much as an adult. Few things are more interesting to me than reading books or watching audio-visual content about past armed conflicts. I am also an Eagle Scout and have participated in several re-enactments of the Battle of San Jacinto, which is staged each April in Southeast Texas, both of which further instilled in me a love of uniformed organizations and military-esque historical events and memorials.

General Sir
Henry Rawlinson
Commander of the
British 4th Army 
at the Somme.

Between my various experiences and deep study, I feel as though I possess some small sense—however artificial and passive—of what it must have been like to sit amongst the Founding Fathers as they drafted the Declaration of Independence and Constitution in 1776 and 1787; defend little Round Top with Colonel Chamberlain and the 20th Maine on July 2, 1863; join the Royal Newfoundland Regiment at Beaumont Hamel as they go "Over the Top" in the Battle of the Somme on July 1, 1916; and cross the English Channel to storm the beaches at Normandy on June 6, 1944. Interestingly enough, my paternal grandfather—Ned Adams Jensen—was part of the D-Day landings, albeit he was fortunate enough to make landfall in France after the beaches had been cleared of any hostile resistance because he served in a radio signal corps.

In many cases, I have felt something akin to a nostalgic sense of historical FOMO (Fear of Missing Out)—almost to the point of disappointment that my lot has been such as to preclude me from the famous events I have read about and studied so deeply and widely.  Consequently, I can appreciate what motivated and inspired the Great War Poet, Alan Seeger, to famously write:

I Have a Rendezvous With Death

I have a rendezvous with Death

   At some disputed barricade

   When Spring comes round with rustling shade

And apple blossoms fill the air.

   I have a rendezvous with Death

When Spring brings back blue days and fair.

It may be he shall take my hand

And lead me into his dark land

   And close my eyes and quench my breath;

It may be I shall pass him still.

   I have a rendezvous with Death

On some scarred slope of battered hill,

   When Spring comes round again this year

   And the first meadow flowers appear.

God knows 'twere better to be deep

        Pillowed in silk and scented down,

Where love throbs out in blissful sleep,

   Pulse nigh to pulse, and breath to breath,

Where hushed awakenings are dear . . .

   But I've a rendezvous with Death

        At midnight in some flaming town,

When Spring trips north again this year,

   And I to my pledged word am true,

   I shall not fail that rendezvous.  

By: Alan Seeger

U.S. Infantryman of the First World War 

Seeger, a British volunteer infantryman, was killed in action on the first day of the Battle of the Somme (July 1, 1916)—the bloodiest and most disastrous day in the history of the British Army. This famous "Great War Poet" was one of 57,000 British "Tommys" who would be killed or wounded that fateful day—many of whom were mowed down by German machine gun fire after crawling out of their trenches and advancing across "No Man's Land." Despite a seven-day artillery bombardment involving more than a million shells prior to the attack, the Germans were still alive, well, and prepared to meet the British that tragic morning. 

Following this infamous opening day, the Battle of the Somme would rage on for four more terrible months, cost well over a million casualties, and ultimately rank as one of the bloodiest battles in human history.  Although technically a British victory that served to wear down the German Army, only a few miles of ground had been gained in the process.  

Despite these recurring thoughts and feelings of nostalgia and yearning for famous (and obscure) events in the past, I have come to the conclusion over the years that I have been uniquely blessed with the very best of both worlds. In other words, through my enthusiastic, diligent, and ongoing study of history, I have been able to vicariously participate in far more activities and events than I could have ever dreamed of actually playing a palpable part. Moreover, I have been able to do so without getting shot, having a limb cut off, being run through by a bayonet, slashed by a saber, or blown to bits by a cannonball or artillery shell. Indeed, I have survived every battle in which my imagination has ever participated—and lived to fight another day, and another, and another. In fact, I have been able to participate in many of the same battles over and over again, further enriching my overall understanding, experience, and wisdom derived there from.

Downtown Dubai; United Arab Emirates
History is endlessly interesting and exciting...
But so is the PRESENT age in which we live!

In the meantime, I am blessed to enjoy the many wonders of our ultra-modern age, with all of its medical, technological, and other marvels that make our lives so comfortable, capable, and creative. And one of the greatest benefits of our present age is the absolutely extraordinary collection of and rich access to an endless array of history articles, books, magazines, periodicals, videos, websites, and historical sites, making the past more alive than it has ever been before.

Truly, it is the best of both worlds! 

Thus, I no longer feel the same degree of longing or wistfulness to have actually been present at so many interesting (and in many cases, dangerous) events in the past.  After all, had I actually been there, I may not have lived to tell the tale, much less be able to continue my study of the conflicts. Furthermore, I would have missed all of the exciting wonders of the age in which I live today. 

It's a pretty good deal!

     And one for which I thank my Maker.  

Please don't get the wrong idea from reading this article. War is a terrible thing. I have no bloodlust or desires to kill my fellow human beings under any circumstances. I will, however, be forever intrigued by the complex human affairs and events that lead to armed conflicts—and that motivate individual participants to play various roles within those conflicts. And I am further fascinated by the characteristics and virtues that inspire noble deeds on the battlefield—attributes and actions such as courage, compassion, friendship, loyalty, mercy, strength, determination, persistence, endurance, patriotism, integrity, and nobility—for there is no question that war brings out some of the very best examples of humanity alongside some of its darkest shades of evil. I believe there is value in studying it all in an effort to exemplify the positive while seeking to eliminate the negative in the FUTURE. 

Therein lies the great Opportunity in the diligent study and observation of history.  

Opportunity

This I beheld, or dreamed it in a dream:—

There spread a cloud of dust along a plain;

And underneath the cloud, or in it, raged

A furious battle, and men yelled, and swords

Shocked upon swords and shields.  A prince's banner

Wavered, then staggered backward, hemmed by foes.

A craven hung along the battle's edge,

And thought, "Had I a sword of keener steel—

That blue blade that the king's son bears—but this

Blunt thing!"—he snapped and flung it from his hand,

And lowering crept away and left the field.

Then came the king's son, wounded, sore bestead,

And weaponless, and saw the broken sword,

Hilt-buried in the dry and trodden sand,

And ran and snatched it, and with battle-shout

Lifted afresh he hewed his enemy down,

And saved a great cause that heroic day. 

—Edward R. Sill

Our greatest OPPORTUNITY in studying history lies in the chance to learn from the mistakes of those who have gone before and then avoid making the same mistakes in our own lives in the present and future. 

In the words of a Prophet-General from a famous book of religious scripture (The Book of Mormon):

"Condemn me not because of mine imperfection, neither my father, because of his imperfection, neither them who have written before him; but rather give thanks unto God that he hath made manifest unto you our imperfections, that ye may learn to be more wise than we have been" (Mormon 9:31).  

—Dr. JJ

April 26, 2023

Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, USA

Author's Note: This is the 318th Blog Post Published by Freedom Focused LLC since November 2013 and the 144th consecutive weekly blog published since August 31, 2020.   

Click HERE for a compete listing of the other 317 FF Blog Articles 

Click HERE for a complete listing of Freedom Focused SAL QUOTES  

Click HERE for a complete listing of Freedom Focused SAL POEMS   

Click HERE for a complete listing of Self-Action Leadership Articles

Click HERE for a complete listing of Fitness, Heath, & Wellness Articles

Click HERE for a complete listing of Biographical & Historical Articles

Click HERE for a complete listing of Current Events, Cultural, Philosophical, & Miscellaneous Articles

Click HERE for a complete listing of Dr. JJ's Autobiographical Articles

.........................

Tune in NEXT Wednesday for another article on a Self-Action Leadership related topic.  

And if you liked this blog post, please share it with your family, friends, colleagues, and students—and encourage them to sign up to receive future articles for FREE every Wednesday.

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The Old Man and the Sea and Other Training Adventures

Throughout my life, few things have thrilled me
more than a library filled with wonderful books.

Today's post recounts some of the prominent and memorable adventures I had as a contract trainer/seminar facilitator between the years 2005-2016. It more particularly highlights one adventure in particular that I had on Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina—outside of Wilmington, NC—back in October of 2008, just a few months after Lina and I were married.  

BACKGROUND  

At an early age, I became fascinated by and deeply enamored with GREAT LITERATURE. It was as if famous novels, novellas, plays, poems, short stories, and essays were magnets and I was a washer or other steel object; thus, literature and I were pulled together by strong tugs and pulls of metaphysical gravity.

It began in the earliest days of my childhood with a fondness for children's stories, books, poems, and nursery rhymes (my favorite was Wynken, Blynken, and Nod by Eugene Field). It didn't take long, however, before I began to take notice of the cornucopia of great literature available in the adult section of the library.

This discovery was made in part because I had four older brothers who attended high school and college when I was still just in elementary school. I basically idolized my older brothers and sought to follow in their footsteps whenever and wherever possible. Thus, I was introduced to high school and collegiate textbooks of all kinds, which I found fascinating. Aside from finding it "FUN" to browse through their calculus, chemistry, physics, and trigonometry textbooks and then copy down equations and math problems "pretending" I was doing advanced math, I took an especial liking to their English and literature books. 

I was only in second or third grade when, thanks to my brothers, I was introduced to books such as: Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy and Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe. On one occasion, I explicitly requested that my brothers procure for me a copy of Shakespeare's Hamlet and Othello from their high school library. I'll never forget coming home one Friday night following a high school football game to find two, clean, crisp, hard-backed copies of the Immortal Bard's classic tragedies lying on my desk. 

Oh the excitement! 

          Oh the joy!  

Click HERE to BUY this BOOK

This inclinational draw towards literature was further fueled by my access to school and public libraries, a university bookstore in the summertime, as well as sizable personal collections of books held by my dad and maternal grandmother, who, between the two of them owned between 5,000-10,000 volumes, all of which were easily accessible from the comfort of their homes. In intervening years, my dad has procured many more books and presently owns 10,000 or more of his own volumes. 

My attraction towards great literature at a young age was so strong that I would often read in volumes I couldn't even understand due to my nascent and fledgling grasp of vocabulary, setting, plot, theme, etc. Occasionally, I would even read an entire book—or large sections of it—despite comprehending almost nothing along the way. The most prominent example of this was when—at age nine or ten—I plodded through Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice in its entirety. I was quite conscious that I was getting nothing out of the experience other than the satisfaction derived from sticking to a difficult task and seeing it through to completion.

I know... I was kind of a strange kid!

     But boy has that stick-to-it-iveness paid rich dividends in my life in ensuing years!    

Click HERE to buy this BOOK

Another book I read from cover-to-cover in second or third grade was Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea. As a novella, this undertaking was a little less intimidating than many other options I found on the shelves of my dad's home office library. Moreover, unlike The Merchant of Venice, I was actually able to understand some of Hemingway's famous work.

Year's later, I had a unique experience myself with an "Old Man and the Sea" on Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina.  It is this experience that I wish to write about TODAY.  

For over a decade—from late 2005 to early 2016—I had the opportunity to travel extensively throughout the English speaking world, including the United States, Canada, and Great Britain, as a professional contract trainer or seminar facilitator. Along the way, I had the chance to teach approximately 500 all-day courses on about 50 different topics spanning a dozen different general subjects such as leadership, management, and communication skills of all kinds. My travels took me to 44 U.S. States, 9 Counties of Great Britain, 5 Provinces of Canada, Washington D.C., Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Along the way, I had a variety of wonderful adventures and formed priceless memories I will always cherish.

A Crane Company (Terex Cranes) was just one of many
Fortune 1000 Companies for whom I facilitated seminars. 

One of the most delightful and memorable adventures I enjoyed occurred on Wrightsville Beach, near Wilmington, North Carolina, in late October 2008. I was in Wilmington for the week to teach a couple of all-day grammar and email etiquette courses for Terex Cranes, a Fortune 1000 organization. 

On Wednesday afternoon, after wrapping up my third seminar of the week, I decided I would go for a run on the beach. I LOVE the beach; I love visiting new beaches I have never been to; and I enjoy running—so I was pretty happy that day as I sauntered along the salty, sandy, and sunny, yet breezy waterways of the glorious Atlantic Ocean that pleasant fall afternoon.

After jogging a few miles northward along the shore, I turned around and came back the way I had come. After a while, I started passing a fisherman here or there, casting their lines out into the surf. After seeing a few of these fishermen—and having never saltwater fished myself—I began to grow curious about what they were trying to catch and whether they were having any success. So, I decided to stop and ask one of them. 

The fellow I decided to stop and talk to was an old man in his early 80s. He was casting his line into the ocean in search of bluefish, a few of which he had already caught that day. As he showed me his catch and answered my questions, I became fast friends with this friendly fellow who introduced himself as George Clark.

George seemed to genuinely enjoy the conversation and clearly appreciated that I had stopped to talk to him—so much so that he invited me to come back to his house "for a drink." I told him I didn't drink, but asked him if he had any soda, to which he replied: "I have everything, come on over."

His home was close—a beach house just a few minutes walk from where I had first met him on the shore. It was a nice, comfortable home whose location suggested the fisherman was a retired man of at least modest means. As we became better acquainted, I learned that his wife, whom he loved deeply, was suffering from Alzheimer's disease and was no longer able to live at home with him. He had a large and elegant portrait of his wife inside his home and she was BEAUTIFUL! Having just tied the know with my own bride a mere 10 weeks previously, I was reminded of how fortunate she and I were to both be alive and healthy with our whole lives still before us.

After enjoying an orange soda while George sipped a martini, he asked me if I would like to stay for dinner. I accepted, and to my delight he began to prepare and cook the FRESH bluefish he had just caught from the ocean. Latin market tomatoes, summer squash, fresh mangoes, and Heath bar ice cream rounded out the evening's delicious menu. If you are wondering how I remembered such vivid details of the evening, it is because I wrote down the details in my journal 15 years ago and was able to readily access them in my computer files.  

During dinner, George and I had a lovely visit. Afterward, I explained that my new, sweet, young wife was probably wondering why I hadn't called yet and I should probably head back to my hotel to call her since I had left my cell phone there. Not wanting our time together to end just yet, George said I could go ahead and use his phone to call her, which I did. He then turned on the television (at my request) and we watched the end of Game 5 of the World Series together.

I'll never forget the experience of sitting there in the home of my new friend—who had been a stranger just a few hours before—and the image of Philadelphia Phillies' relief pitcher, Brad Lidge, falling to his knees, his arms stretched upward in jubilant celebration as he struck out the Tampa Bay Rays final batter of the evening followed by the roar of the crowd and the jubilant celebration that ensued as the Phillies beat the Rays four games to one to secure just their second world series win in franchise history, and first since 1983.

Click HERE to watch video clip of Brad Lidge and the Phillies clinch the 2008 World Series   

Interestingly enough, Game 5 of the 2008 World Series had originally been scheduled and played two days previously—on Monday, October 27, 2008. However, a rain delay in the sixth inning had cut the game short, postponing the final few innings by 48 hours. For Phillies fans it was worth the wait; and for George and I—it was perfect timing!

After the game, it was time to head back to my hotel, so George and I said goodbye and we parted—but not before he offered Lina and I a chance to go out with him on his boat if we ever returned to the Wilmington area.

It has now been almost 15 years since my wonderful adventure with The Old Man and the Sea. As I was preparing this article I thought about George and wondered if he was still alive. I began to search for him online by googling "George Clark, Wilmington, and Obituary." But the only obituaries I found for George Clark in the Wilmington area were both for men much younger than the George Clark I was searching for.

Then I came across a news video of a man in his mid-90s being honored as the oldest living Wrightsville Beach lifeguard. It was the George Clark I was looking for.

I recognized him.

     He was still alive! 

Click HERE to watch news video clip of George Clark from 2022.  

Realizing that George was most likely still alive, I searched for his address online, accessed it, and immediately wrote George a letter to reconnect. I hope he gets my letter and writes back. And I hope maybe Lina and I might still be able to go out with George on his boat—even if we have to wait until we all pass on to that great Ocean in the Sky.  

I cherish memories like this, as well as other adventures I had traveling at home and abroad as a professional contract trainer. I have compiled a list below of other memorable adventures I enjoyed while traveling around the U.S. Canada, and Great Britain during the years 2005-2016.

Dr. JJ's Prominent Contract Training Adventures 

1. A gorgeous jog along and then a very brief and brisk swim in Lake Erie in late October!

Niagara Falls

2. After teaching a seminar in Saint Catherine, Ontario, Canada, I crossed over the border into the U.S. in search of KFC biscuits (which were not available in Canadian KFC's). To my dismay, the only close KFC in the Niagara Falls area was all boarded up — indicative of the severely depressed economy of the area at the time (2012).  

3. Wonderful trips to Chinatown and my Church's Temple in Toronto and Brampton, Ontario, Canada, during my many visits to the area to teach seminars in 2011-2012.  

4. Hotel bookings on the beach in Daytona Beach and Fort Lauderdale, Florida.  

5. As a runner, I enjoyed many adventurous runs out-and-about in the areas where I traveled, including getting lost once in the greater Baton Rouge, Louisiana area, which extended my run by several miles as I tried to figure out how to get back to my hotel room!

6. Visits to the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library in College Station, Texas; the Bill Clinton Presidential Library in Little Rock, Arkansas; and the Abraham Lincoln Museum in Springfield, Illinois.  It was hard to visit museums on the road because my seminars would usually go til 4:00 p.m. and museums usually close at 5:00 p.m.  But it didn't stop me from running through them (or touring the outside of them) and taking in as much as I could with the few minutes I had available!  

7. Wonderful visits to the beach in Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Florida, New Jersey (Atlantic City), Texas, and North Carolina.

Westminster Abbey
London, England, UK

8. Marvelous sightseeing adventures in London, Edinburgh, and all throughout the UK during a whirlwind 10-seminar, 16-day tour of the British Isles. Saw such wonders as St. Paul's Cathedral, the British Museum, Buckingham Palace, Westminster's Abbey, Poet's Corner, and the Churchill War Rooms among many other memorable places.  

9. Touring (in 2011) areas of Edmonton and Calgary where I had served as a young missionary a decade earlier. Got to visit the West Edmonton Mall (including water park) for the first time despite having lived only a few minutes away as a young missionary. The Mall was one of the two largest malls in the world at the time.  

10. Visiting the Hawaiian Islands twice in one year (2014). Got to visit Honolulu and the Big Island with my wife and son and then Honolulu and Laie (North Shore) again with my Mom (who was raised in Honolulu) that same year. I badly cut my nose on some rocks in the water at Waikiki Beach; in fact I still have the scar! Visited a green-sand beach, the Southernmost point in the United States, lava flows/fields, and many other wonders of that enchanted place.  

11. Taught a seminar (outdoors) just meters away from the beach in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands. It was 92 degrees and about a thousand-percent humidity that day; one of the most oppressive heat indexes I've ever experienced, and considering I lived in the Houston, Texas area for a decade, that is saying something! That beach was steamy, but gorgeous!

12. Visited Cooperstown and the wonders of Upper State New York in the gorgeous month of October at the height of fall.  

13. Going out of my way on multiple occasions to eat at an Indian restaurant called Havelli's in suburban Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Also had a lovely run in downtown Ottawa where I got to see the unique architecture of the iconic Canadian Parliament buildings.  

14. Teaching seminars in high-rise corporate offices inside of skyscrapers in Manhattan, Charlotte, Miami, and Houston.

15. Teaching seminars in high-rise hotels in Memphis, Raleigh, Austin, and probably several others I'm forgetting.

16. Teaching two seminars at an incredibly affluent and exclusive living space in Vero Beach, Florida, where I was hooked up with a golf cart to cruise the private golf course, a private beach, and 5-star accommodations.  

California State Capitol
Sacramento, California

17. Visiting family members (immediate and extended) while teaching seminars in Utah, Wyoming, California, New Mexico, Georgia, and Florida. One time, in particular, I got to eat dinner with my dad and his wife in Farmington, New Mexico in 2015 at age 36 years old — the exact age Dad was when I was born in 1979 (Dad was born in 1943). 

18. Ordering a modest breakfast via room service at the Sheraton in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and gulping when I saw the $26 bill!

19. Eating lunch in the California State Capitol in Sacramento while teaching a seminar for a State Government agency. Took long runs after my seminars through beautiful parks and other areas along the Sacramento and/or American Rivers. I had a chance to see the sad proliferation of homelessness that became so endemic in California in the 2010s and beyond. In addition to the State Capitol in California, I was able to drive by or visit several other state capitols in my travels, including: Madison, Wisconsin, Tallahassee, Florida, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and Jackson, Mississippi.

20. The privilege of training for five branches of the United States Military, including the Army, Air Force, Navy, Marines, and Coast Guard. I'll never forget a one-on-one meeting with a Major General (2-star) in the Air Force at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Mississippi; what an honor that was for a guy who has always been fascinated by—and grateful for—the Armed Services.  

21. The opportunity to visit an array of famous college and/or professional sporting venues, including:

• Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin

• 

  Florida Field at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium
  Aka: The Swamp  ~  Gainesville, Florida

  Bryant Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Alabama
• Ben Hill Griffin Stadium (aka The Swamp) in Gainesville, Florida
• Mike Myers Track and Field Stadium Complex in Austin, Texas
• SECU Football Stadium in College Park, Maryland
• Tiger Stadium and Track Complex in Baton Rouge, Louisiana
• David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium in Lawrence, Kansas
• One of the last New York Mets games played in Shea Stadium during the fall of 2008.

For a lifelong sports fan like me, these visits were always highlights. I'll especially cherish the time I went on a run to Ben Hill Griffin Stadium (The Swamp) in Gainesville, Florida. Most high profile athletic venues are locked and barred from the public; but Florida Field was conspicuously and unusually open to all-comes to jog around the stadium (inside and out), run bleacher stairs, etc. I had the opportunity to visit there on more than one occasion and it was so FUN! 

—Dr. JJ

April 19, 2023

Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, USA

Author's Note: This is the 317th Blog Post Published by Freedom Focused LLC since November 2013 and the 143rd consecutive weekly blog published since August 31, 2020.   

Click HERE for a compete listing of the other 316 FF Blog Articles 

Click HERE for a complete listing of Freedom Focused SAL QUOTES  

Click HERE for a complete listing of Freedom Focused SAL POEMS   

Click HERE for a complete listing of Self-Action Leadership Articles

Click HERE for a complete listing of Fitness, Heath, & Wellness Articles

Click HERE for a complete listing of Biographical & Historical Articles

Click HERE for a complete listing of Current Events, Cultural, Philosophical, & Miscellaneous Articles

Click HERE for a complete listing of Dr. JJ's Autobiographical Articles

.........................

Tune in NEXT Wednesday for another article on a Self-Action Leadership related topic.  

And if you liked this blog post, please share it with your family, friends, colleagues, and students—and encourage them to sign up to receive future articles for FREE every Wednesday.

To sign up, please email freedomfocused@gmail.com and say SUBSCRIBE, or just YES, and we will ensure you receive a link to each new blog article every Wednesday.  

Click HERE to learn more about Freedom Focused

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Click HERE to buy the SAL Textbooks

Trust & Heed Wise Counsel

The Wise Listen to, Trust, and HEED Wise Counsel

A couple of weeks ago I wrote an ARTICLE about an experience where I failed to listen to that still, small, voice of warning within, in conjunction with the cautionary whispers of my own, common sense. The result of this failure led to one of my peers getting into a serious accident that broke his hip.  

Click HERE to review the post: Trust that Inner Voice of Warning.  

Today's blog is incidentally and thematically similar to that previous article. This time, however, I wish to emphasize the importance of both trusting and heeding wise counsel from other people who have more knowledge and experience than you do.

I spent the first seven years of my life growing up in Monticello, Utah, a rural farming and ranching community on the edge of the Colorado Plateau in Southeastern Utah in the Four Corners area of the United States. 

Click HERE to read The Riches of My Rural Roots.

At age seven (7), my family moved to Mesa, Arizona, where I attended grades one through seven. During the summer months, however, we spent most of our time in Utah, including in Monticello. Parts of those childhood summers were always spent with my cousins (The Bunkers) who lived across the street from the house where I was born and raised to age seven (7) and then lived again later from grades 8-11. 

Over the years, my Bunker cousins raised a variety of animals on their property or elsewhere. These animals included dogs, cats, sheep, chickens, pigs, steers, horses, and mules. One summer, in particular, they acquired a ram in addition to their small sheep herd.

My cousins, who had knowledge of and experience with this ram, warned me to NOT get inside the fence where the ram lived and grazed because he would charge after me and "RAM" me if I did. 

Being the wise and intelligent 10-year-old that I believed myself to be, I decided to disregard their warnings. "After all," I reasoned, "My cousins are probably exaggerating the ram danger in order to try and scare me." As a result, I was not convinced the ram would really try to RAM me if I got inside the fence with it. 

But... 

     I  WAS  WRONG! 

Immediately after letting myself down on the side of the ram side of the fence, the ram immediately began to charge after me at what seemed like a great speed.

And I PANICKED! 

Being a slender, distance-runner body type, my greatest physical talents have always involved speed rather than strength. Consequently, when physically threatened, I have always been more of a "negotiator" or a "flighter" than a "fighter." Knowing that my negotiation skills would be useless with a mute ram, and  intuitively sensing I was no match for the ram strength-wise, I spontaneously resorted to my speed to save me in what seemed to me at the time to be a moment of great peril. 

Accelerating my pace to an all-out sprint, I raced with all my might across the field towards safety. 

However, a significant obstacle stood in between me and safety from the charging ram. The obstacle was a barbed wire fence, which I judged to be too high to safely hurdle.

Nevertheless, fearing the charging ram more than I feared the barbed wire fence, I decided my best bet was to shoot the gap in between two of the fence wires and somehow slide and shimmy my way through the fence while racing at breakneck speed. 

Risky though my plan was, I concluded it was my only viable option in escaping the wrath of the charging ram. 

When human flesh makes contact with
a steel barb, the barb always wins!

To my great relief, I managed to somehow make it through the fence before the ram caught up with me. To my great chagrin, however, the left-hand side of my upper right leg—just a few inches below my groin near my gracilis muscle—had caught hold of one of the sharp "barbs" on the fence on my way through, leaving me with a long, bleeding gash.

I hardly felt any pain at first because my adrenaline had been pumping so fast and hard, but I soon discovered my wound and realized it was not a small scrape, but a large open wound—the likes of which I had never before experienced.  

Grateful and relieved to have safely outrun the ram, but embarrassed by my significant wound, I limped back to my cousin's house where I washed and dressed the gaping gash in my leg. In hindsight, I really should have gone to the hospital for stitches and perhaps even a tetanus shot; but my parents were out of town at the time and I hid the extent of my wound from my aunt and uncle with whom I was staying, assuming it would heal up soon enough if I simply kept it clean and bandaged properly—an ongoing process I managed independently until the gash had healed and scarred over.

Fortunately, I did not incur any long-term consequences for lack of a tetanus shot and/or other relevant medical treatment. However, to-this-very-day, I carry an enormous scar that measures four inches long and a half-an-inch wide on the left side of my upper right thigh. The size and extent of the scar resulted from my failure to get stitches that fateful day in June of (circa) 1990. I am fortunate the scar is in a well-hidden place where others never have to see it.    

This scar is a continual reminder to me of that foolish and easily preventable accident of my youth. It is furthermore an ongoing reminder of the importance of TRUSTING and HEEDING wise counsel from others who have more knowledge and/or experience than I do.

My cousins had more knowledge of and experience with that ram. They knew what would happen if I climbed over the fence and got into the same space as the ram; and they warned me of this fact on multiple occasions. If I had simply trusted and heeded their warnings, I would have saved myself from a lot of fear, anxiety, pain, and regret from the events and consequences that accompanied my foolish decision that summer evening so long ago.  

Fortunately, this experience did not lead to a serious injury or death. But think of all the people throughout history who have been seriously injured, killed, or been the cause of serious injury or death to another person (or people) because they failed to trust and heed wise counsel from those who had more knowledge and/or experience in a given situation than they did?  

My experience with the charging ram that day taught me an important lesson I've never forgotten: taking unnecessary risks is just not worth it; the potential consequences are too painful and scarring. It is so much better—and so much WISER—to humbly listen to, respect, and hearken to the wise council and advice of those who have gone before who have more knowledge of and experience with whatever life adventures lie before you.  

I hope you will learn this lesson without having to get a long, wide, and deep scar like me—or worse. But if it does require a similar lesson for you to learn this great truth, I hope you will take your learning experience seriously, and allow it to empower your avoidance of similar mistakes in the future... and then pass along your wisdom and experience with others at relevant opportunities.    

—Dr. JJ

April 12, 2023

Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, USA

Author's Note: This is the 316th Blog Post Published by Freedom Focused LLC since November 2013 and the 142nd consecutive weekly blog published since August 31, 2020.   

Click HERE for a compete listing of the other 315 FF Blog Articles 

Click HERE for a complete listing of Freedom Focused SAL QUOTES  

Click HERE for a complete listing of Freedom Focused SAL POEMS   

Click HERE for a complete listing of Self-Action Leadership Articles

Click HERE for a complete listing of Fitness, Heath, & Wellness Articles

Click HERE for a complete listing of Biographical & Historical Articles

Click HERE for a complete listing of Current Events, Cultural, Philosophical, & Miscellaneous Articles

Click HERE for a complete listing of Dr. JJ's Autobiographical Articles

.........................

Tune in NEXT Wednesday for another article on a Self-Action Leadership related topic.  

And if you liked this blog post, please share it with your family, friends, colleagues, and students—and encourage them to sign up to receive future articles for FREE every Wednesday.

To sign up, please email freedomfocused@gmail.com and say SUBSCRIBE, or just YES, and we will ensure you receive a link to each new blog article every Wednesday.  

Click HERE to learn more about Freedom Focused

Click HERE to learn more about Dr. Jordan Jensen

Click HERE to buy the SAL Textbooks

From Whence Cometh JACK?

As an English major and Anglophile, whose ancestry

hails largely from the British Isles, this "JACK"

has a certain fondness for his namesake flag.

Did you know my nickname is JACK? 

That's right... "J - A - C - K"... you know, like "Jack-be-nimble, Jack-be-quick," or Jack and the Beanstalk.  

I am not kidding...

Many of my friends and colleagues call me "Jack" not "Jordan." 

Others of my family, friends, and colleagues are, however, still in the dark about this nomenclatural phenomenon of mine, which has developed over the course of the past couple of decades.   

To illustrate the consequences of this lingering confusion, consider the following exchange that recently took place between a friend of mine and my Parents-in-Law.... 

A few weeks ago, my friend saw Lina's mom and dad. He happens to know them personally—better, in fact, than he knows me—so he approached them naturally, and as a matter of clarifying chit-chat queried:

JACK-o-lantern

"Hello Tuckers! Hey, isn't Jack your son-in-law?"

With blank stares on their faces, Pa- and Ma-in-Law Tucker looked at their friend and replied, quite honestly: "No; we don't have a son-in-law named "Jack," leaving my friend as confused as my folks-in-law. Suffice it to say, it took the three of them a little while to sort out the situation and clarify that "Jack" was in fact "Jordan" and vice versa, leaving all three to walk away from the conversation scratching their heads. The next time I saw my friend he jovially retold this story to me. We both had a good laugh, after which he left saying: "See you later, Jack, Jordan, JJ!" 

Just for the RECORD, I answer enthusiastically to all three names!  

Nevertheless... in an effort to prevent future befuddlement of this nature, I am writing this blog article to clarify the issue and formally answer the question:

"From Whence Cometh Jack"?

     The story goes like this... 

As many of you know, I am a poet, and I love, Love, LOVE poetry.

I love hearing it.

     I love reading it.

          I love reciting it.

               I love composing it.  And most of all...

                    I love living it!  

In fact, I have written an entire book full of original poetry—click HERE to BUY.

Moreover, dozens of famous poems (or poem sections) stand ready for recitation at a moment's notice at my memory's command. If you don't believe me, just ask me sometime and I'll be happy to oblige because I LOVE reciting poetry!  

I first started writing poetry in the early 1990s when I was in 6th grade as part of a poetry project my classmates and I were assigned in language arts. Later on, in college and throughout my twenties, I began writing poetry prolifically, inspired almost exclusively by TWO (2) key subjects:

ROMANCE and PERSONAL LEADERSHIP (a forerunner of SAL). 

As a young, single adult, cupid's arrows were
many and varied and hit me from all directions.

At the time I was a young, single, and marginally immature fella in my early-mid twenties whose social development had been significantly delayed and retarded by obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) in my teens and early twenties. 

Furthermore, I was at this time of my life reflexively infatuated with about every tenth single woman who caught my eye or crossed my path; and considering there were multiple universities and tens of thousands of young, single women in the area where I lived at the time, you can imagine the variety of conundrums in which I often found myself as a result.

Looking back, some of my approaches were pretty pathetic and did not always reflect positively on me. Nevertheless, it was all part of an overall growth curve, learning space, and extended period of social maturation that was necessary to prepare me for a serious, long-term relationship in the bonds of holy matrimony several years down the road.  

Suffice it to say, I have always loved ROMANCE and everything to do with it, and I was determined to not let my fears hold me back from "going-for-it" in the realms of romantic pursuits in college and beyond. In my mind, there was no such thing as a woman being "out of my league." No doubt many women I pursued believed otherwise, and no doubt many other people believed that about many of the women I was wont to pursue; but I absolutely refused to ever believe it myself. Like every other area of my life, I was determined to shoot for the stars and live without regrets. If I got rejected, I got rejected—and most of the time I did get rejected. 

Nevertheless, I stubbornly affirmed and reaffirmed to myself that the only true failure in anything—including ROMANCE—was the failure to TRY.  

Sometimes this attitude got me into trouble—landing me into preventable snafus I would certainly avoid if I had to do it all over again. You might say I was committed to "Embrace Cringe" long before it had become a meme—and when Taylor Swift was still just a teenager!

But in the main, it taught me vital lessons (although usually the hard way) while gradually building my confidence and refining my approach to the point where I would eventually find great success in this important realm of my life's journey.   

In my view, few experiences in life can top authentic
and mutually-experienced romantic feelings and adventures.

To me, there are few (if any) things or experiences in this world that can match the excitement, adventure, and euphoria of romance. And while mutually experienced romantic feelings and experiences are by far the BEST—as being genuinely adored, appreciated, cherished, and loved romantically by another person is by far one of life's richest potential endowments—I daresay that even one-sided romantic feelings can still be intoxicatingly adventurous, even though disappointment inevitably ensues, something I am very familiar with since the vast majority of my romantic overtures toward other women were rejected prior to winning the heart of my wife, Lina.

Consequently, my circumstances in colleges—which involved being surrounded by literally legions of potential romantic partners—could be INTOXICATING at times for a guy like me who had always found it easy to fall in love (or at least deeply infatuated) with whomever I perceived as potentially the Right Girl at any given moment in my pre-marital life. Said intoxications were so powerful that it led to an explosion of energy and creativity with regards to not only flirting and dating, but to my composition of romantic poetry as well.  

My ROMANTIC dreams were finally

consummated upon marrying Lina Tucker

on August 8th, 2008—a date remembered as 8/8/8

Unfortunately—or fortunately—depending on how you look at it, my results never came close to matching my energy and creativity in the romance sector—that is, of course, until I met Lina; but that would not come until several years down the road.

Painful though it often was in the present, this was okay—nay, this was PERFECT—for my future because romantic failure kept me out of a good deal of trouble that I might have gotten into had I been more successful in my many pursuits. Moreover, the price I had to pay for winning Lina's heart made the reward that much sweeter in the end.

Thus, it is worth noting that:

The HARDER you have to work for something (or someone), and the more you FAIL along the way, the more you appreciate it (or in my case, her) when you finally earn the reward. This is partly why winning Lina's heart was, for me, better than finding a mountain of gold at the end of the proverbial rainbow.  

Click HERE to read about Dr. JJ's Rocky Road of Romance.  

Despite my lack of success with the ladies prior to winning Lina's heart, ROMANCE itself became a powerful muse for my mind, heart, and pen during this stage of my life. 

Click HERE to BUY this book

Being thus driven by what I viewed to be two of my life's ULTIMATE QUESTS—

1). To find and woo the woman I'd eventually marry, and

2). To build a successful business from the ground-up based on Self-Action Leadership,

is it any wonder, then, that most of my poetry revolved around these two defining subjects of that period of my life?

Click HERE to BUY Psalms of Life: A Poetry Collection by Dr. JJ.  

During this same period of time, I thought it would be fun to employ a pen name when composing in verse. Thus, Jordan would be the author of all my professional prose and JACK would be the pen behind my poetry.

And that is where "JACK" comes from; it is an erstwhile pen name I employed when composing poetry.

JACK jumped over
the Candlestick

However, a few years after I began composing poetry as "JACK," I concluded it would simplify things for me and my readers if I just stuck with "JORDAN" for all of my formal, published work, including poetry, which is why it says: "Jordan R. Jensen" on the bottom cover of Psalms of Life: A Poetry Collection.

It was at this point in time that you might say I consciously killed off "JACK." 

Fast forward a half-decade or so, however, and I got bored one day while ordering food at a fast-food restaurant. In an effort to combat my mind's momentary maze of ennui—a frustrating, painful, and continually reoccurring experience I suffer from in my life—I spontaneously decided to blurt out "JACK" instead of Jordan when asked for my name. Enjoying this little game, I afterwards began to develop a habit of referring to myself as "Jack" when a fast food employee or food server asked me what my name was.

From there, this tradition gradually spread to a small group of my friends and associates. Over time, I decided I really liked having a professional persona for my formal work and published writing and a casual moniker for less formal occasions among colleagues and friends. In fact, I liked it so much that I started using it more and more until one day I determined I was going to make a concerted effort to get people to start calling me "JACK" on a regular, personal basis.  

Jack & the Beanstalk  ~  Romantic Version

Now, I'm not gonna lie... it has taken some time and effort to accomplish this feat. Had I not been determined to make it happen, I would have given up long ago and just settled on "Jordan" alone for the rest of my life, which would have been okay because I love the name Jordan even more than I love the name "Jack."

"Jordan," however, is more suited to formal settings than casual ones. It also has two syllables instead of one, making it linguistically and rhetorically less efficient than "Jack."

For better or for worse, I have never been short on supply when it comes to determination, focus, and persistence, so it's not surprising that I stayed the course until I finally got "JACK" to stick on an informal basis.  

It's always nice to have options, right? So toss "JJ" in there, and you've got at least three choices when calling my name—which, may come in handy if you ever find yourself getting bored like I do.

Along the way, however, there have been moments of confusion for many people. Such confusion has even caused me to consider going back to just "JORDAN." The problem with that course, is, of course, that an attempt to do so at this point would only spawn greater confusion! Consequently, it appears the damage has been done; my efforts were successful—for better or for worse—and now I'm gonna have to stay the course with "JACK" whether I (or other people) like it or not.  

Fortunately, I like it! 

     And it seems most others are okay with it also.   

Jackie-boy Daddy-man with his three young Jacklings

Yes, "JACK" is here to stay—at least among my close friends, colleagues, and many strangers (such as food servers)—and now for my readers as well. And I'm okay with this because I really do like the name "JACK." Perhaps second only to "JOE," "JACK" is the penultimate All-American name—so delightfully simple and one-syllabic. It's also beautifully British, which scores big points in my book as well!  

It's short.

     It's simple.

          It's casual.

               It's easy.

                    It's AWESOME!

World War I Victory Medal
Photo from medalsofamerica.com

It is also worth noting that it was primarily the "Joes" and "Jacks" from America and Great Britain who saved the world from tyranny and evil, not once, but twice in the first half of the twentieth century. My paternal grandfather, Ned Jensen, was one of those American "G.I. Joe's" to whom freedom-loving people everywhere owe a tremendous debt of gratitude.

As Winston Churchill so eloquently put it: "Never in the history of human conflict has so much been owed by so many to so few." 

Thank You, Joe!  

     Thank You, Jack!

I'll never forget what you did for us, and for the rest of my life, I'll never stop honoring you—from the bottom of my heart to each and every letter of my multiple names—and beyond!

I'm so proud of you both!  

     And I'm so proud to (sort of) be a JACK!

World War II Victory Medal
Photo from medalsofamerica.com

On the covers of my books and other published materials, or when speaking from the podium, pulpit, or stage, I'll always be "Jordan"; and that is how it should be. But among my closer friends and colleagues, it seems I'm destined to be "JACK" for the balance of my days in this world.

So it goes... and it's all helped to combat some of my life's neurotic experience of existential and otherwise momentarily circumstantial ennui—which is an ongoing challenge I suppose will follow me to varying degrees and extents to the grave.

That's the bad news.  

But the GOOD NEWS is that stuff like "JACK" has helped address and palliate these negative symptoms, which I really appreciate!

So... thank you for your support and understanding, all confusion and annoyances notwithstanding! 

—Dr. JJ (aka JACK)

April 5, 2023

Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, USA

Author's Note: This is the 315th Blog Post Published by Freedom Focused LLC since November 2013 and the 141st consecutive weekly blog published since August 31, 2020.   

Click HERE for a compete listing of the other 314 FF Blog Articles. 

Click HERE for a complete listing of Freedom Focused SAL QUOTES.  

Click HERE for a complete listing of Freedom Focused SAL POEMS.   

Click HERE for a complete listing of Self-Action Leadership Articles

Click HERE for a complete listing of Fitness, Heath, & Wellness Articles

Click HERE for a complete listing of Biographical & Historical Articles

Click HERE for a complete listing of Current Events, Cultural, Philosophical, & Miscellaneous Articles

Click HERE for a complete listing of Dr. JJ's Autobiographical Articles

.........................

Tune in NEXT Wednesday for another article on a Self-Action Leadership related topic.  

And if you liked this blog post, please share it with your family, friends, colleagues, and students—and encourage them to sign up to receive future articles for FREE every Wednesday.

To sign up, please email freedomfocused@gmail.com and say SUBSCRIBE, or just YES, and we will ensure you receive a link to each new blog article every Wednesday.  

Click HERE to learn more about Freedom Focused

Click HERE to learn more about Dr. Jordan Jensen

Click HERE to buy the SAL Textbooks