Her boyfriend would take care of her while she stayed there due to a phobia. When she finally was moved the toilet was surgically removed. There are better ways in life to get on the front page of CNN.

It baffles me that after even a few hours the boyfriend would not have sought help but in his own words he is quoted as saying “She is an adult; she made her own decision,” said her boyfriend, Kory McFarren. “I should have gotten help for her sooner; I admit that. But after a while, you kind of get used to it.”

When things are bad in life there’s always worse…

It makes sense and is appropriate to spend time compiling a list of achievements for a person that has passed and summarize their life in front of a group of people. This is how we honor the person, yet it’s one of those things in life that doesn’t make sense. The person is dead. They can’t hear all of the great things you have to say about them. You didn’t say them in life, but now you can in death when it doesn’t matter to anyone else but yourself, for who are you benefiting?

I suppose the family may be consoled by being reminded of what they already knew, but overall you are only benefiting yourself by being the person who is “strong” and able to stand up and share witty stories with those who are weaker.

While an exception for self-righteous can be made for family members, everyone included the dead can benefit more if we share our heart-felt feelings in life.

I was surprised and yet inspired when I cam across a CNN Article about Jim Carey and his efforts to help Aung San Suu Kyi in Burma. She is an imprisoned human rights activist being held under house arrest. Jim Carey can be seen in the video below giving a brief, yet urgent message about her and how you can learn more about helping her cause.

It’s sad that only a small minority can take a break from their glamorous life to help others. All it takes is one selfless act. More information about Aung San Suu Kyi can be found at: http://www.uscampaignforburma.org/

Like many classes these groups of people can be broken down into further sub-groups:

You start off with the clueless. These people are desperate, in need of immediate financial repair and will listen to anyone or anything with a solution. The often want a quick fix and want the quickest and easiest path to riches. Sadly they are uninformed and often end up losing more money because they took the easy way out instead of figuring out what would work for them.

Your next group of people are the dangerous amateurs. They’ve taken a course before, read a book, know some buzz words and are freely willing to dispense “knowledge” and advice about what you should do with your life. Sometimes they share how they are doing with you, but often just keep talking and spitting out information without letting you get a word in edge-wise lest you ask a question and figure out their naivete.

Another group consists of the fairly educated. They take classes to improve their knowledge and are willing to discuss theory with you without dispensing advice. They often have advisors of their own and take their newfound knowledge to that person to ask questions.

There is the know-it all that likes to talk about how great they are doing and yet is unwilling to share their “secrets” so as to avoid competition. They are their for self-gratification and validation. Tell them how smart they are and they will be your friend for life and yet rarely if every will open up and help you.

You also have the Sharks. These are either people planted in the audience to talk about how good the course is and how much it has helped them so you feel compelled to buy and achieve their success or they consist of “professionals” looking for new clients of their own. They claim to be in the class because the topic is of interest to them, bur really they are there to hand out business cards and drum up business.

Finally there is the King or Queen. This the instructor and often self-dubbed guru who is willing to let you into the secret life of the rich. They are there to show you the magic of how to become financially free and just like them. They often accidentally let information slip out about the fabulous vacations they have taken, the expensive cars and homes they have and often have a rags to riches story. They are amazing sales people and know how to take advantage of your fear of being poor and offer the panacea to solve all of your problems whether it be a $10,000 dollar advanced course, $5,000 dollar software tool that enables you to point and click your way to financial freedom with little or no thought or time, or the amazing book they just came out with. The often desperate people in the class fail to see that the guru’s real skill is sales and that their wealth is coming from your purchases and not from their amazing system they are altruistically giving to you.

America is the land of opportunity. The question is, who is being given the opportunity when you attend a class that is supposed to better your life? Who’s life is the class really benefiting?

As I walked around the glass counter I met up with her again. She mentioned that some new scents had just come in and asked what I usually wore. That simple question and its wisdom would result in a sale. I went over my standard fragrances that I was bored of, and what I thought worked and didn’t. She listened. When I was done talking she motioned me over to a counter an suggested I try a new fragrance, the Lacoste Elegance Eau de Toilette Spray. She suggested that I spray it on my wrist and then walk away for 10 minutes to let it sink in. I did as instructed. She new like the dog seller at the pet store…allow the customer to see how they feel with your product and they won’t want to live without it. As each minute passed and I smelled my wrist and had others smell my wrist to get their opinion I grew more excited. She made me my own best salesperson and within 10 minutes I was back to purchase the largest bottle they had. Now I’m hooked.

We get bombarded with sales and advertising all day everyday. Our automatic response is to say “no” no matter what is being offered. It’s an interesting social phenomenon and those who truly understand it are more likely to be successful at what they do. Humans are overwhelmed with everything in today’s society, and our automatic response is to filter out the weakest messages.

The saleswoman understood me just as she’s understood hundreds before me and will hundreds after me. I’m happy with my new acquisition and will be sure to return for a repeat purchase when the time comes.

Did you ever notice that there a million most amazing video and police chase shows on TV? They seem to fill the void between good and bad programming hours and interestingly or perhaps incestuously enough they all seem to contain the same “Amazing” videos from 10 years ago. This leads me to three conclusions:

1. Anything amazing in that could ever happen in the world, has already happened and has been caught on camera
2. No matter how bad the video, TV viewers will watch the same footage over and over again
3. There are still people in the world who haven’t seen these amazing things

This sort of product and it’s marketing must be the holy grail of wealth. Loud noises and chaos, human suffering and tradegy, and an unoriginal story line. Wait, isn’t this just like the news?

Living in or visiting a foreign environment presents its set of challenges. Perhaps keeping your wallet in your front pocket allows you to have one less thing to worry about allowing you to focus your attention on other issues. Even so , it’s interesting that one must derive safety advice from a travel guide instead of the school of life.

How could someone begging for money all day have nothing to show for it? and yet who would give anyone begging for money a cent if money was overflowing out of the cup and you could not “feel” or “see” this unfortunate person’s hardship? I found this paradox quite interesting and yet immediately obvious. He had learned through experience and conditioning what the “right” amount of money to have in the cup was. Too little and people might wonder why out of all of the homeless people on the street, this person had nothing to show for their time. We all tend to validate our actions by what other people have done before us. Too much and he would appear not to be a person in need.

Life is the best teacher. Human nature avoids pain and seeks pleasure. These are simple truths about life and govern how we deal with the world. People are by far the most things in life to observe.