Wall needed to elevate to the top of the survival pyramid and learn how to be ready all the time. The question was, would the long-term stress of looking after her wear him down and crack him like a damaged boiler? As if sensing his thoughts, she said, “Burnout isn’t an option. The spoils go to the resilient. You can’t just win once. You have to survive and keep rebounding to win every time. Diligence is the price we pay for living.” He saw that in some of his army buddies. Ethiopia, while called a peace-keeping mission and not a war, broke too many men and women. PTSD followed them wherever they went, which made reintegrating with civilization difficult. He worried about their frayed edges and heavy consciences even more now that they would have to battle for survival. Would a return to war, albeit without the Army, break them or thrust them into leadership roles? He suspected both.
~~~
It's been a tough week or so, I've had a couple of bad interactions which set off depression for me. (I'll be writing about them this week.) But, today, I want to talk about how the above excerpt affected me... as it relates to my ability to deal with interpersonal communications.
Wall, in this case would be me. He had been duped, betrayed and made to feel that his work, his major project for many years, was, perhaps not worthless, but rather, that for him personally, it seemed that many years of his life had been "wiped out." And, in the book, he had helped to create something that had destroyed the world as they knew it...
From 1963 through about 35 years, I had been treated as a valued member of West Virginia University. I was able to interact with thousands and thousands of faculty, administrators, staff and students in various positions as I climbed an ongoing career ladder. It should be noted that each step higher was normally based upon expanded duties and/or level of responsibility or supervisory duties.
Initially, I used the participatory management style of supervision. A job description was provided, training then followed, and the individual was free to act on their own initiative based upon gained experience. During this period, I moved from a records clerk/secretary position on through levels of clerical and management, and then on to directing of an office which included about 30 different people at any given time.
When I moved from Secretary to the Provost for Instruction, I, in essence, continued to work with him in the new office where I was responsible for scheduling and management of classroom facilities on three main campus (including the Health Sciences Center and Law Center) as well as negotiating the uses of the university's athletic facilities between the academic program, athletics department and the intramurals programs. Once that final move occurred, my work week moved much higher than a standard workweek.
Class schedules had to be done within a deadline for printing the next semesters' schedules. Mostly, I would be simultaneously dealing with issues for all three semesters, actually four, since we had two summer semesters.
During down times from scheduled I developed classroom utilization patterns which were then used to develop more efficient room time and station (seats) utilization. These reports were sent to all deans so that they could use them for the upcoming scheduling activity.
Soon my use of the other function of the office, maintaining an inventory of all campus facilities, including land, buildings and rooms. I was promoted to manager of the entire process and hired additional staff to deal with the additional workload.
During that same time, an organizational change was made which merged the University Architect and his staff under one office...During that time, I became responsible for graphics creation of maps and needed reports to document all utilization across the campus and across the state, including farms, and branch campuses. I was made Assistant Director of the Office which was now called Facilities Planning and Utilization. In theory I was responsible for half of the office...
In practice, that soon began to evolve...
Facilities Planning was essentially the former University Architect's office who developed and managed capital construction....
I stopped writing yesterday... The Highest position that I held at the University was Acting Director... But I quickly realized that simply creating a list of positions held was not what I needed to do today... I needed a break to get from thoughts in order... So I played my new favorite song, for now...
You know, folks, in the past and in the future, and especially within an apocalyptic thriller novel, there is bound to be some rich guy who is hungry for power and decides to use other people, not caring that they may, or will definitely, be damaged in some way and often with death... In fact, because this is well known, nations across the world, in reality, actually have to plan for the potential of those who choose to seek power, regardless of anybody else... Or ensure they will be killed if they "do not comply!"
The following is a message from God, I believe... It is not what I intended to write about... certainly not, in this Memoir, rather than my A Single Christian Woman...
Why? Well, it's been out quite a number of years ago! He was saying all the things I've felt or said from the beginning... So, why aren't Evangelicals listening?
Well, I found that this book is available on UTube! In fact, it is running live right now... so if you wish to pursue this, sign up to follow Michael L. Brown, and you may be able to listen to the whole book. However, in the meantime, here's just one of the quotes that you should consider as to the Test as Brown presents in the book.
No name stirs up more emotions than the name “Trump.” No name stirs up more dissension or triggers more disagreements. And no person alive today is more widely loved or hated than Donald Trump. This presents a unique dilemma for evangelical Christians, a group historically known for its strong moral stands on family, character, and the sanctity of life. What are we to make of President Trump? How closely should we be associated with him? To what extent is he an answer to prayer? To what extent a blessing? To what extent a curse? If we fail to stand with him, are we missing a gift from God because we don’t like the packaging? If we do stand with him, are we diminishing our Christian witness in the eyes of the nation? What do we do with Donald Trump? Evangelical journalist Warren Smith puts it like this: “The real story of Trump’s presidency will not be written until he is out of office, and we learn whether Trump delivered us from four years of Hillary Clinton, or whether he doomed conservatives to 40 years in the political wilderness.”1 That is saying a lot. President Trump has surrounded himself with evangelical leaders. He has a strong evangelical Vice President and perhaps the most evangelical cabinet in history. And he welcomes prayer and receives it humbly. At the same time, no president in memory has a less evangelical past and behaves publicly in a less evangelical manner. One of my evangelical colleagues was asked by an interviewer how he would evaluate Trump’s presidency so far. He answered, “On policy, I give him an A-. On demeanor, I give him a D.”2 And a Pew Research article posted on March 12, 2020 stated that, White evangelicals largely see Trump as fighting for their beliefs and advancing their interests, and they feel their side generally has been winning recently on political matters important to them. But when it comes to Trump’s personal qualities and conduct, many express mixed feelings. Even among this strongly supportive constituency, most do not view Trump as a very religious, honest or morally upstanding person (though many white evangelicals say he is somewhat religious, fairly honest or fairly morally upstanding).3 I reduced my own assessment to a simple formulation. Much of what Trump does is praiseworthy. Much of what Trump says is cringeworthy. To this my wife Nancy responded, “But saying things is often doing things as well.” Quite so! Who Is Right?
~~~
While I was listening to the video, heat began to rush over me. I'm sitting here jittery, because I posted the following on two different videos about this book. Now, I am back and, hopefully, you will understand that when this happens I do not do it on purpose. Please, believe me... I AM has spoken through me. Read the words as they came to me--some of it was my thoughts (about King David) and nothing that I perhaps haven't said before...Except the following words poured out of me...
Thank you for writing this book. I have just started reading it but, as a book reviewer, I was here on UTube to see if there was a book trailer. I found your entire book, which I thought was great since I write for my readers who may or may not even hear about the books or not be able to afford the cost. In any event, when I tried to include on my blog entry for today, it wouldn't permit it... I encourage you to think about sharing this book widely. Since 2015, when I first heard the infamous vid of Trump bragging about grabbing a woman, I was Never Trump. Since then I have not changed my mind... and I've allow His Holy Spirit to guide me in what I am doing on my blog, Book Readers Heaven. A Key Point, I think, that you are missing. I hope your book explores abortion further because in my opinion, this is where you are losing we Christians who have considered this from a woman's viewpoint. I am not pro-life; I am pro-choice. In saying that, please, you must assume that we do not wish to abort children! Yet that's what is being implied by Evangelical Christians. If you all have NOT seen news articles about what is happening when Trump/Republican Party has been allowed to use, in my opinion, God to distribute disinformation regarding this matter, then I advise you all to do some research. Consider the teen who lost her baby in the commode...She has been arrested!!! Consider the woman who does not have a viable child to live... She even when to court and the judge ruled that she could have the abortion...but Texas politicians overrode that judge!!! It seems to me that you all have made a deal with the devil. I've watched this happening over the years and I've tried in every way to professionally bring the issue forward without as you acknowledge getting threatened by fellow Christians... This hate is NOT of God, I have often stated through the last years, but your group keeps moving forward! You are forcing women across the world to turn away from Christianity on this one subject alone...forget about all the other things that we find offensive about Trump... Pro-Choice was legal before you all got involved to allow women to consider issues about her "specific" need in relation to pregnancy... By refusing to acknowledge that Christian women have NO right to pray about it, but just make the decision... well, from a purely medical standpoint, you all are FAILING in recognizing the complexity of a woman's body and what are all of the issues that could occur. And, by choosing Trump, who has obviously no concern about a woman himself, you have allowed fanatical republicans who are purely in it for power to push a button that is or should be between the woman and her God... Consider further that by doing so, you have opened up a can of worms that, in my opinion, is wrong. It seems to me that you all are totally ignoring the fact that God has created all of us and he has given us talents...let's choose science as an example... God gave people the ability to perform surgeries... That, Sir, has greatly changed since early times of Christianity. By refusing to consider the advances of science--the advances that many of you use for medical reasons... yet, refuse to allow doctors with God's gift for helping his patients...in my opinion, you are disrespecting God Himself... By using the Bible ONLY as a decision-making activity, you are in fact, ignoring all of the gifts that have been given to us since the birth of Christ. Surely, this is NOT what God wanted??? We must give some recognition to where we are today and consider the difference in time... For your consideration, I recommend you consider the fact that King David had a man murdered in order for him to possess his wife. THEN, he allowed one of his sons to RAPE HIS DAUGHTER! not one word is in the Bible about what happened to that young girl... When his father didn't act on behalf of his daughter, a brother murdered his brother who had raped the girl... CONSIDER THIS, SIR, IF YOU ALL REFUSE TO DO ANYTHING BUT READ THE BIBLE, THEN YOU ARE ACCEPTING THAT MEN DON'T CARE IF THEIR DAUGHTER IS RAPED. FURTHER, YOU ARE ACCEPTING THAT IT IS OK FOR A BROTHER TO RAPE A SISTER...CONSIDER THIS: The 10-year-old girl in Ohio who was raped in incest, was refused an abortion in that state. NOW, after women acted because of what the republicans are doing, the state has changed the law for that state that abortion is permitted! Let's take it a step further. BY using the Bible as Truth, you are allowing men to rape their children, because they read it in the Bible... Don't you think by NOW, incest should no longer exist... Yes, that 10-year-old, knows different... I know different... I know of other young girls who know different!!! I believe that the Bible is Inspired...but that it was written by man... Even the Words of Jesus is rarely used as the subject of sermons...Yet many claim that they are Christians... I say that if Love is not the primary reason they use as a basis for their lives, then they are NOT Christians... However, I am NOT a pastor... Don't you think it's about time that churches/pastors start talking about the reality of today's world, rather than to mandate laws that are specifically ignored by a "favored man of God"? No wonder the young are turning away from God... No wonder people like me--I'm 78--and a victim of incest... after seeing what you all have done by GOING BACKWARDS IN HELPING WOMEN TO CONSIDER ANY PART OF THEIR LIFE, BUT ESPECIALLY THE MOST INTIMATE OF THEIR RELATIONSHIPS, THEN WE ARE TURNING AWAY FROM THE CHURCH!
I HAVE NOT TURNED AWAY FROM GOD. I BELIEVE HE IS USING ME, RIGHT NOW, IN WRITING THIS MESSAGE TO YOU... HIS SPIRIT IS UPON ME. STOP WRITING BACK AND FORTH, BACK AND FORTH, CONSIDERATIONS ON WHAT YOU ALL HAVE DONE... BY NOW, AFTER THIS BOOK CAME OUT YEARS AGO, YOU SURELY HAVE SEEN THAT THOSE IN THE REPUBLICAN PARTY HAVE CHOSEN TRUMP, THE HATER, THE RAPIST, THE INCITER OF VIOLENCE... And you keep asking about passing a test? Even as you write, you have failed God's test, in my opinion. I am God's child... YOU all have put me through much turmoil by choosing a man who has been offensive to women since day 1... He's been convicted of rape! Yet you keep asking the question... No, Sir, I believe God is saying to you, Evangelical Christians, have NOT passed His test...
I believe America MUST ensure Trump is Never Able to Hold Office Again! Further I believe the entire party has been corrupted...please do your research and vote accordingly, hopefully to vote against this Political Party...
Remember, God is a God of Truth and Love
Vote against Hatred and Violence!
Gabby
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