On the Eve of a New Week: On #Gratitude, #Youth, #Faith & Other Thoughts

It has been an interesting weekend of reflection as I continued to support the curation of releases on this working weekend in Outsiders and gearing up for the new week.    It was also a moment of pause for me to be thankful as I continue to support the evolution of Outsiders over the ensuing weeks.   I joined a number of Community leaders for the afternoon yesterday to honor the achievements of the "Trailmasters" of Troop 772.  It is such an honor to see leadership in action.  I captured this scene as the leaders kept a watchful eye on the Scouts swam, surfed and had a fantastic time.   

There is a lot going on in our World right now which will be the immediate focus for us here @ # Outsiders including the UN General Assembly, the Clinton Global Initiative, the visit of the Holy Father and the on-going challenges our team has been in focus on.     I did catch this Sunday's Meet The Press and was disturbed by the comments by Ben Carson on noting that Muslims should not be President.   It was very gratifying to hear the conservative stalwart Hugh Hewitt remind all that Article 6 of the U.S. Constitution has no litmus test for those to run for office.  I made it a point of tweeting my thanks to him.

As the team finished off a View of the Week on Gratitude, I wanted to share this I ran across this morning that was so perceptive from Senator Corey Booker:

“Before you speak to me about your religion,
first show it to me in how you treat other people.
Before you tell me how much you love your God,
show me in how much you love all His children.
Before you preach to me of your passion for your faith,
teach me about it
through your compassion for your neighbors.”

It is quite a lesson to be taken to heart by us all.    

Onward!!! :-) 

Thoughts On The Eve of another Working Weekend....

It was such a joy to support the team in choosing and releasing the Friday Musical Interlude and the selections for the very talented Iranian American Singer, Rana Mansour. I can't help but reflect upon a very challenging week as we were witness to quite a show this week on the political circuit with the GOP candidates.

I could not help but be amused by how Fiorina seems to have emerged as the "flavor of the day".    The debate and the aftermath has been discussed to death by the "punditry" and some of the after-thoughts are not worth even the time of day being mentioned here.    Our team will provide a monthly update on the state of the campaign starting next month in the aftermath of the first Democratic Debate.    

Despite disagreements I have with all the candidates, I can't help but admire the courage of all who throw themselves out there.    With the myriad of forms, the 24x7 scrtunity they have to endure, I can't help but wonder--why do it?    When you get in, what then?    What I did find quite telling was this exchange about Fiorina as she criticized Hillary Clinton for her campaign:      



What I found laughable was how still even today there are people in the United states don't believe Neil Armstrong landed on the moon. 

As our team assessed the "day" and worked on the twitter feeds it was also quite telling how Republicans had also descended on South Carolina to attend a 6-Hour Heritage Action Event which Mr. Trump backed out of due to what the Campaign called a "business transaction" in the aftermath of the birther question noted last night.     I will only note this:  Some of the Republicans may well make it to a Republican President's Cabinet including George Pataki and Chris Christie.  In the meantime, though, the business of Government has to continue as a budget battle looms which our team will continue to monitor.   We also will be sharing thoughts on the visit of Pope Francis slated for next week.

The team allowed me to once again borrow this from +Jonathan Huie to underscore the spirit of what #outsiders and about the possibilities:  

The most difficult thing is the decision to act,

the rest is merely tenacity.

The fears are paper tigers.

You can do anything you decide to do.

You can act to change and control your life;

and the procedure, the process is its own reward.

- Amelia Earhart

The only way to discover the limits of the possible is

to go beyond them into the impossible.

- Arthur C. Clarke 

Working Away......

It has been an interesting 24 hours yet again.     The team worked on some initial GOP "post-debate" thoughts as the punditry class on the right and the left continues its' analysis.   One of the key interesting talks points was on Religious Liberties as the case of the Kentucky County Clerk was brought up.     It was striking as I ran across this during my own daily review on the "Grid":

As the work in #Outsiders continues, I could not help but take comfort in this I saw on my Personal Twitter Feed from the always perceptive +Jonathan Huie which I also released to my personal Pineterest & Facebook pages earlier as we continue to assess our World here in #outsiders and work on long-term plans:

There is more to life than increasing its speed. - Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi http://t.co/SZtiVxxTMr pic.twitter.com/AptQkaAfUx

— Jonathan L. Huie (@jonhuie) September 17, 2015