Believeability

"Believe in love. Believe in magic. Heck, believe in Santa Clause. Believe in others. Believe in yourself. Believe in your dreams. If you don't, who will?"

-Jon Bon Jovi

So yesterday, I was working at the YMCA pool...and I'm pretty sure that I saw Santa Claus. Yes, that white bearded, plump, jolly old elf was at the Lebanon Family YMCA. This man was a rather plump, red nosed, long white bearded, jolly old chap. Before he left the pool I wished him a good evening and he said, "You too kiddo," just like he knew me my whole life. Although I know that Santa Claus isn't real, I still would like to believe in something not believable, even if it brings me back to my childhood years. Maybe I'm just feeling nostalgic, I wasn't "deprived" of my childhood years--believing in Santa and the Easter Bunny and such--but now that I'm looking back, maybe I've wanted to grow up too fast.

The truth is, is that Santa isn't real. Sorry kiddos, but it's your parents. They're acting as Santa's "helpers." If you've stumbled upon this blog amidst a random search on Google, just know that your parents still love you and you can still have a great childhood even though you know that there isn't a fat man coming down your chimney every Christmas Eve, eating your food and drinking your drinks, and spying on you the whole year to make sure you are being a good boy or girl.

My parents, my foster parents, or whoever I lived with-depending on the year-when I was a child always made sure to make holiday times special. They always made it a big deal that "Santa was coming to town," so I needed to be a good girl and always eat my vegetables and be respectful at all times. Now, as a child, I thought this was a pretty good incentive to get tons of free presents from a magical man on top of the presents everyone else got me. Like many other American children, I thought the presents were sort of owed to me, which isn't the case. Many children all over the world don't even get presents for Christmas. Or, the way that they celebrate is exchanging fruit or small trinkets.

Lately, I've come to the realization that I'm pretty blessed. I have parents who love me, friends who care, an amazing God who gave his son for me, a nice car, and everything I've ever wanted. Now what does this have to do with Santa? Well, I think that I get so consumed about what I want that I don't stop and think about the other people in the world that don't have as much as me.

In the springtime I bought a pair of TOMS shoes. If you're not familiar with the TOMS brand, TOMS is basically a charity organization that's all about giving shoes to the needy. With every pair of shoes you buy they give one pair to a child in need, usually in another country. It's simple, one for one. The shoes are slightly expensive, but it's for a good cause. It makes me want to help people. I saw a video on YouTube about kids that received TOMS shoes because someone took the time to buy a pair so they would get a pair. It's a good idea, one for one. Many other brands and companies have started doing the same things.

In this day in age it's hard to get people to want to help others, especially young adults and teenagers. However, if we can start when the kids are young, teaching them about giving back to people in need, instead of just taking what they think is owed to them, maybe the future of tomorrow will be better than what we think it will be.

Despite the fact that for a moment I thought I saw my favorite childhood character, Santa Claus, I can still look back and remember that day that I found out that Santa is fake, (I found all my teeth that I had lost that the "tooth fairy" took and replaced with money, so I concluded that none of the other magical characters were real if the Tooth Fairy was my parents.) and still have a pretty good outlook on my childhood. I can now relate giving to other people, just like the original Santa did back in the day, with the TOMS shoes that I buy. I'm trying to do my part, it may not be much, but it's better than doing nothing.

So, if you have any good stories about giving or how you found out about Santa Claus or the rest of the magical creatures that aren't real, post it in a comment below! :)

And that was Lindsey's thought of the day, where Lindsey Shares an Everyday Thought.

Steve Jobs: America's Greatest Failure...He says "iQuit"

"Glory is sometimes born of catastrophe."

"Steve Jobs’s announcement that he is stepping down as CEO of Apple is not surprising. He’s a very sick man; and running the world’s largest market-cap technology firm can’t be easy for someone with pancreatic cancer and who-knows-what other ailments.

Lots of digital ink will be spilled about Jobs in the coming days, most of it focusing on his truly marvelous successes.

It’s better to focus on his failures.

Jobs failed better than anyone else in Silicon Valley, maybe better than anyone in corporate America. By that I mean Jobs did what only the greatest entrepreneurs can do: learn from their failures. I don’t mean learn from their mistakes. I mean learn from their abject, humiliating, bonehead, epic fails.

Everyone today thinks of Jobs as the genius who gave us the iPod, MacBooks, the iTunes store, the iPhone, the iPad, and so on. Yes, he transformed personal computing and multimedia. But let’s not forget what else Jobs did.

Jobs (along with Steve Wozniak) brought us the Apple I and Apple II computers, early iterations of which sold in the mere hundreds and were complete failures. Not until the floppy disk was introduced and sufficient RAM added did the Apple II take off as a successful product.

Jobs was the architect of Lisa, introduced in the early 1980s. You remember Lisa, don’t you? Of course you don’t. But this computer — which cost tens of millions of dollars to develop — was another epic fail. Shortly after Lisa, Apple had a success with its Macintosh computer. But Jobs was out of a job by then, having been tossed aside thanks to the Lisa fiasco.

Jobs went on to found NeXT Computer, which was a big nothing-burger of a company. Its greatest success was that it was purchased by Apple — paving the way for the serial failure Jobs to return to his natural home. Jobs’s greatest successes were to come later — iPod, iTunes, iPhone, iPad, and more.

Jobs is a great entrepreneur for another reason. Lots of ninnies can give customers products they want. Jobs gave people products they didn’t know they wanted, and then made those products indispensable to their lives.

I didn’t know I needed the ability to read the Wall Street Journal and The Corner on a handsome handheld device at my breakfast table, on the Metro, on the Acela, or in any Starbucks I entered. But Steve Jobs did. I didn’t know I wanted to mix and match my music collection on a computer and take it with me wherever I went, but Steve Jobs did. I didn’t know I wanted a portable multimedia platform that would permit me and my kids to hurl angry birds out of a slingshot at thieving pigs. But Steve Jobs did.

All those successes were made possible by failure after failure after failure and the lessons learned from those failures.

There’s a moral here for a Washington culture that fears failure too much. In today’s Washington, large banks aren’t permitted to fail; nor are large auto firms. Next up will be too-big-to-fail hospital systems. Steve Jobs is a reminder that failure is a good and necessary thing. And that sometimes the greatest glories are born of catastrophe."

I just wanted to share this article with you. I didn't write any of it, but I thought it was an amazing article and I wanted to write something about the Steve Jobs incident but this pretty much summarized how I feel about it. This article was written by Nick Schulz who is a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and editor of its journal, The American.

Sorry for leading you on like I wrote this article, but if I didn't people probably wouldn't read it if I just linked it...So this article is totally all written by Nick Schulz.

And that was Lindsey's thought of the day, where Lindsey shares an Everyday Thought. (only this thought was Nick Schulz's thought that I agree with!)

Everyone Has a Story

"Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen."

~Winston Churchill

 In the past 17.3 years of my life, I have realized that I, Lindsey Marie Kolb, am a very self-centered person. I've finally admitted it, but unfortunately it's true. However, I'm trying to stop being so worried about myself and care more about other people. So, I started thinking. What could I do to stop thinking about myself and really help someone else? I can talk to people and truly care and be compassionate for them. This isn't a "self-righteous-make-myself-feel-good type of thing," it's a "here's-a-good-way-to-start-caring type of thing." So, I set out to find someone, or many people with a good story. Something to say. Some way that I can truly relate to them, make them smile, brighten their day. Here's four people that I met this summer that I spoke with that have changed my life, and maybe I changed their lives too.

The first person I encountered was an 88 year old man named Ed that comes to swim at the pool almost every single day. Now, I know that some people don't like elderly people and think of them as "useless" or whatever, but I totally DO NOT think that way. Talking with older people is one of my favorite things to do, actually. I love to work the morning shift at work so I can talk to the older swimmers who come, they're always ready to talk to the lifeguard and tell a story.

Ed started talking to me one day, and we soon found out that we had a lot more in common than most would think. He actually just returned from a trip to Washington DC--the trip for the veterans to see the memorials and experience DC. We talked about both of our trips, as I had recently come home from my Youth Tour trip, and tears soon filled his eyes. He was so touched by the tomb of the unknown soldier and the memorials, he loved it. I loved DC and was touched too. But seeing someone so moved by the memorials was truly amazing and made me value my experience in DC even more. He had actually fought in World War II, he beleived in this country, and he is proud to be an American--no matter how old he is.

He has been married to his lovely wife, who swims laps daily, who is 88 for, I believe, 62 years. It's truly a great love story.

The second person I met was a man who comes to the YMCA nearly every week, and is blind. He is so positive about life, and he even jokes about his blindness. Despite the obstacles that he's had to go through in life, he still smiles a big grin and walks with pride, even though he carries a walking stick. The things that I take for granted, like being able to see to drive, see myself in the mirror to fix my hair, or see an amazing sunset or sunrise, this man has probably never seen before. I learned not to take for granted the simple things in life that matters so much, to remain optimistic, and to always smile.

And thirdly, I met was an elderly man using a walker, who came up to me and my dad while we were at Culver's in Colombia. He came over to us to thank us for praying before we ate. He said that we were the first people who he'd seen in a long while pray before a meal and give thanks to God for what he'd given us. It touched my heart that someone would see that and would thank us. He then went to tell us, with a big grin on his face--with his front teeth missing--that he loves Jesus with all his heart. We talked about moving from Cape to Lebanon, how he loves Jesus, and how he came to be where his is now. At the end of our talk I felt like I have the power to witness to other people, just by saying a quick simple prayer before a meal. It was grand.

And fourthly, the last person I encountered was a an elderly man who had Cerebral Palsy and was also suffering from Arthritis. I struggled to understand what he was saying, as the disease was taking over his vocal muscles, but I held on to every word. He told me that he hates having this disease, and he just wants to be able to dive off the block and swim laps again. He also told me that he loves Jesus, and attends church every week. And with that, we both agreed with each other, was the best part of life.

After meeting these four men this summer, I learned a lesson, something I wouldn't have learned if I didn't get out of my comfort zone and talk to someone about something. I learned to smile, to not be afraid of being a Christian, to be optimistic, and to try my hardest to love others.

And that was Lindsey's thought of the day, where Lindsey shares an Everyday Thought.

Still Beating that old Dead Horse about Censorship

"It's not just the books under fire now that worry me. It is the books that will never be written. The books that will never be read. And all due to the fear of censorship."

-Judy Blume

When I lived back in Cape, and was going into Honors Sophomore English I was required to read "Slaughterhouse Five" and "Animal Farm" for my summer reading. I remember hating "Slaughterhouse Five" with all my might. I mean, I was 15 years old. I understood what "Slaughterhouse Five" was talking about and I understood that it was inappropriate. I even came and talked with my mom and told her how uncomfortable I was reading the book. She asked me if I wanted to talk to my teacher during the summer to see if I can read a different book but I declined, I didn't want to be the "only one" with a "moral dilemma" with the book that was my summer reading.

Apparently more kids than just myself had a problem with the book. In my predominantly Christian-class most kids hated reading "Slaughterhouse Five." Some kids even chose the easy route so they didn't have to read the book--using Spark Notes. I have never cheated, nor will I ever. So, using Spark Notes was not the route for me. So I stuck to my guns and read the terrible book and finished the summer reading packet all by myself--without Spark Notes.

In the end, I still hate the book. The use of many many many cuss words, the tons of sexual content, and the extreme awkwardness I felt as I read the book as I was fifteen years old, made me hate the book even more. But I still read it, so I'm allowed to have an opinion.

If you haven't head it in the news already, a high school in Missouri, Republic, has banned two books from their library because they teach of things that are "contrary to the bible." The district's school board voted Monday to remove Kurt Vonnegut's "Slaughterhouse-Five" and Sarah Ockler's "Twenty Boy Summer" from the library.

I can only speak for the book "Slaughterhouse Five," I deem it inappropriate. However, maybe the school districts should just take it off of summer reading, that way it won't frustrate students and put them into an awkward position and a moral dilemma when they're young students in high school. The problem is, is that you can't "censor" what everyone reads. I mean, for heaven's sake, if the schools were to take out every book that is contrary to the bible it would take a year to sort them all out. I think it should be left up to the kids and the parents of the kids to decide what they will and will-not allow them to read. And if a school district deems a book like "Slaughterhouse Five" inappropriate they should do that, but don't do it because of Christian reasons. That just opens up a whole new bag of worms.

I understand if it's a Private Christian High School, go ahead and ban books, but public high school, that is run by the government, should that be where the line should be drawn??????

At the moment, I'm torn because I don't want kids to be forced to read inappropriate books, but yet my Christian values tell me that the inappropriate books shouldn't be allowed to be an option in the first place. I mean, in the U.S. we are supposed to have separation of church and state, aren't we? So, maybe we should let the school districts choose more appropriate books for summer reading, and not make the "possibly inappropriate" books part of the curriculum. They can't tell us what we can and cannot read on our own free time. If you want to read "Slaughterhouse Five" and you live where it's banned, go to Amazon, buy the book. People will read what they want whether or not the school says they can. It's their right.

The government shouldn't censor everything, but the schools have a little more "say-so" in the matter because it's the "children" they are protecting. My idea on this issue may be contrary to yours, but I'm not exactly sure what my stance is. I'm leaning more towards "no censorship outside of schools." Sound good? Tell me what you think in the comment box below.

And that was Lindsey's thought of the day, where Lindsey shares an Everyday Thought.

P.S. This whole problem reminds me of the book 1984!! Just saying!