{"id":34003,"date":"2025-07-27T05:00:17","date_gmt":"2025-07-27T09:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/?p=34003"},"modified":"2025-07-26T22:21:19","modified_gmt":"2025-07-27T02:21:19","slug":"lesson-painfully-learned","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2025\/07\/27\/lesson-painfully-learned\/","title":{"rendered":"Lesson Painfully Learned"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>So, what have we learned?\u00a0 What have I learned?\u00a0 After fifty years as an adult living in the United States I have learned one thing.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 22px;\"><strong>The only thing that counts from leaders is results.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>In addition to that are all the other things you learn by living in the madhouse that was the last quarter of the twentieth century and the first quarter of the twenty first:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Talk, of all kinds, is cheap and almost meaningless.<\/li>\n<li>Good intentions by themselves achieve nothing.<\/li>\n<li>Action that is not informed by intelligence and purpose can sometimes be worse than inaction.<\/li>\n<li>Most politicians are liars and crooks.<\/li>\n<li>Those that aren\u2019t, often are insane.<\/li>\n<li>Everyone has ulterior motives. The trick is to align with those whose motives are compatible with yours.<\/li>\n<li>There are no angels out there, only men. Don\u2019t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.<\/li>\n<li>Allies can come from the most unexpected corners.<\/li>\n<li>Stay far away from really stupid people. They\u2019ll get you killed.<\/li>\n<li>Lots of conspiracy theories have turned out to be true. Be careful whom you talk to.<\/li>\n<li>Just because you\u2019re the only one in a dozen people who think something is a bad idea doesn\u2019t mean you\u2019re wrong. It might mean they\u2019re feds.<\/li>\n<li>Someone can be really smart and have all the facts and still come to the wrong conclusions. Use common sense.<\/li>\n<li>There are nuts on both sides of the political divide. Use common sense.<\/li>\n<li>Don\u2019t let political differences destroy your family. Tread gently here.<\/li>\n<li>Keep a sense of humor. You\u2019ll need it.<\/li>\n<li>Don\u2019t let hate eat you up. Most of the people on the other side aren\u2019t monsters.\u00a0 A few are but don\u2019t transfer that status to everyone.\u00a0 Unless you live in some kind of red bubble you will meet up with the Left.\u00a0 Don\u2019t become unhinged.<\/li>\n<li>Don\u2019t become manic or depressed. There will always be victories and defeats.\u00a0 Learn how to live in the real world not a wonderland that will never be.<\/li>\n<li>No one is God except God. Trump is a man.\u00a0 He\u2019s just as imperfect and prone to error as everyone else.\u00a0 He will not save us and one day he won\u2019t be in charge.\u00a0 Remember the big picture.<\/li>\n<li>Figure out your actual convictions. What do you truly believe in?\u00a0 What is unimportant?<\/li>\n<li>Figure out what you want to achieve in your life and decide if this is likely under the current political regime.<\/li>\n<li>Align your goals with the world as it really is. For example, cable news anchorman may no longer be a reasonable career path.\u00a0 Whereas news influencer has some currency.<\/li>\n<li>Don\u2019t waste too much time agonizing over things you have absolutely no control over.<\/li>\n<li>Spend the time prioritizing the actions you can achieve according to how much they will benefit you.<\/li>\n<li>Spend as much time as you possibly can with people you like.<\/li>\n<li>Learn how to communicate with people who hold extremely differing views from you. For instance, learn how to disagree with someone in a conversation without insulting him.<\/li>\n<li>Find some friends out there and laugh with them when you can.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>There, that was fun.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>So, what have we learned?\u00a0 What have I learned?\u00a0 After fifty years as an adult living in the United States I have learned one thing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,1263],"tags":[1267,971,4342],"class_list":["post-34003","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-events","category-stuff-that-personally-interests-me-miscellaneous","tag-photogs-corner","tag-politics","tag-right-wing-politics"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.4 - 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