Sal's Reflections

I have read the Mueller report and like the over one thousand former prosecutors believe the evidence against the Trump team and the president is overwhelming. I need Mueller because of how the report was politicized and interpreted by the attorney general to stop being Pontius Pilate and to answer the following questions:
Why did you not subpoena the president?
If it had not been for Department of Justice policy would you have indicted the president on obstruction of Justice?
Was there a conspiracy on the part of the Trump team to work with the Russian government?
Did you position the information in such a way for the congress to act on impeachment?

Doing the interviews for my novel Hitler’s Priest with Holocaust survivors one of the most painful moments was when they spoke of what their children endured.Today at our southern border children are not being gassed or killed, but some are living in horrendous settings. Regardless of where one comes down on the immigration issue, we must stand against what is happening to the most vulnerable young children. The settings are often prison like adult warehouses and children are living in squalid, overcrowded conditions. Many are too young to have the ability to understand what is happening, and I fear some will suffer lifelong PTSD symptoms .We cannot blithely dismiss this horror with” well their parents should never have placed them in this position.” We have been the harbor for the protection and care of children and are we to just shake our heads and look the other way?I ,for one .will send money to an institution outside of government to assist these children and will contact every administration official to end this inhuman behavior toward children. This is not a political issue where we smoothly slide into protecting our label. This is a crisis about who we are and what we stand for.

Today is my wonderful sister Tina’s birthday. She died of Leukemia years ago but every day I feel her presence in my heart and soul.She was so compassionate, and literally a Pied Piper for children.No matter how bizarre any personal or business venture I knew that she had my back.There is a wonderful line in the musical Les Miserables that states” If you have been loved by someone you have seen the face of God.”Everyone who knew her could attest to that truth.

I read an article last night that made a clear distinction between essential and non-essential workers.The core of the piece focused on the belief that some occupations have little value and there should be minimal resources spent on training persons that have minimal skills.I personally find that belief offensive because there are so many that fall into this category that make our lives easier. Thy rarely are noticed, receive little if any praise and struggle to meet the basic needs of life. All labor,in my opinion, has value and treating all persons with respect is fundamental to a caring society. Today I will go out of my way today to treat all with the respect they deserve.

I was blessed to have a wonderful Mother and my wife has been a marvelous Mother to our children so it is fitting to honor them on Mother’s day. However it dawns on me that there are countless women who will not be honored on this Sunday. They have spent a great deal of their lives nurturing others but because they do not have children they often go unnoticed. My sister was a perfect example of one who spent her entire life loving and caring for children. She like many did not have biological children but the impact she had on so many was significant. On Sunday I will toast those Mothers that have touched my lives, but I will also remember all of the women who nurture and often go unnoticed.

Every person has a life story that resides in their mind and that story effects their choices and decisions. The story unedited and often written by others has great daily impact. Like all stories this needs to be examined, and other adaptions and conclusions need to be added. All writers are aware that in the re-writing and editing the work improves. This is also true in our personal lives, so I suggest we review the plot lines and give the main character, which is you, some wonderful new lines and paths to follow.

My driving words in life have been”Once you will it then it is no longer a dream”. We are all target oriented and once we send the signals consistently to our brain then we become more and more aware of the resources necessary to achieve our goals.If we see them,say them on a regular basis then the brain realizes that this is not merely a simple wish list.I would suggest that the two times we are most positively susceptible to the positive goals we choose to fulfill are just before sleep and when we wake.In those moments ask yourself what would it feel like if this really happened.Every time you invest in the process and reinforce it somehow every day ,it is amazing what can be accomplished.

A friend was recently going for a job interview and was quite apprehensive. She had been recently divorced and had been out of her career track for over seventeen years, At one point in that career she had been incredibly successful and was deemed an exceptional leader. Recent events had eroded a great deal of her confidence and she had momentarily lost the fact that she has an enormous level of skills and talent I asked her to assume the posture of Wonder Woman and stand in front of a mirror with hands on her hips. Once positioned, I requested she state all of the skills and challenges she has met in her life. Then add ” I will wow them at this interview.” She was hired the next day.

Beliefs are the platform on which we build our key decisions in life. Some are conscious while others have been attached to us while we were children . It is important that we surface these and test them as to whether they provide us with energy and inspiration, or are anchors that diminish our worth and value,I recently saw a list of negative personal beliefs that needed to be updated because of their current challenge to leading a meaningful life. It seems that some of them are part of most persons platform.

It’s too late.
I wouldn’t know where to start.
I’m not the type to be self-motivated.
I’m a procrastinator.
I have too many other responsibilities.
I should be farther along by now.
If I get my hopes up I’ll just be disappointed.
It has never worked before.
I’ve never been able to finish anything.
I can’t get organized.
I’m not outgoing enough.
I’m not self-confident.
If people really knew me, they wouldn’t like me.
I can’t feel good about myself without other people’s approval.

On of the greatest joys in life is trying to implement the profound goal “Love thy Neighbor as Thyself”. I have had so many role models and mentors who daily lived that and made it more than words. Each day at breakfast I try to recall one of the heroines and heroes that taught me that the opportunities are boundless. Tomorrow I will pledge to in some small way reach out with an act of kindness to at least one person. There will be fullness in my heart if at the end of the day I can say”mission accomplished.”