Life advice a lost friend speaks

When my friend sensed that in a few weeks the light of life was about to be extinguished, and that there was no more hope for him, he called me to his side and said, "If only I had lived my life differently, I might not have felt such an emptiness now. Promise me," he caught my hand, "Promise me that you won't make the same mistake." And when I asked him what mistakes, he asked me to get a pen and paper and to jot down his last words. Here they are in condensed form: 1) Talk less; listen more. 2) Listen to your grandfather's stories about his youth. When he's gone, you will relive the bond through these memories. 3) Invite friend over for a snack or dinner even if the house is a mess. 4) Eat popcorn in the living room even though its messy. 5) Invite the friends who have children home. Don't worry about their children creating a mess. 6) Sit on the grass even though it dirties your pants. 7) Never buy something just because it lasts for a long time or because it is practical. 8) Stay in bed and at home when sick and stop pretending that the world cannot go one without me for a day. 9) Light up the wonderfully crafted candles and let them burn out. Better this than they accumulate dust in the closet. 10) Share life's responsibilities with a partner, not only expenses. 11) (Meant for Women) Instead of waiting for the pregnancy to get over, cherish each moment in your heart. Understand that the life in you is the only chance you will get to help god create magic. 12) Let your children hug and kiss you whenever they wish to. Don't stop them by saying things like: later, go wash your hands first, we have to eat dinner. 13) Say the following two phrases as often as possible: "I love you" and "I am sorry." 14) Stop worrying about who loves or and who doesn't or about what others have or don't have. 15) Cherish all personal human relations. 16) Play with a pet every day. Laugh and run with it and take part in all its antics. 17) Spend more time with the people who love you. 18) Stop sweating because of all the small details and problems of life. 19) Grab every moment, look at it and live it. That moment will never return again. Her name was Susan, and she had one six year old daughter. Susan taught me these few basic ideals that I have tried to follow in honour of her memory. It has made me a better man, a much nicer husband and in general, a happier person. Even now I can hear her say that God has blessed each and every one of us, and that we should accept these blessings and strive to become stronger both physically, mentally and also emotionally. I will always remember what she said to me the last time we met: "Jack, you are lucky. Don't blow it."

Our christian and patriotic pursuit of happiness

Throughout our recorded human history great people such as Aristotle, Socrates, and Plato all suggest that we personally play a pivotal role in our own happiness. Our right for the pursuit of happiness was also written by Thomas Jefferson in our Declaration of Independence of the Thirteen Colonies; but what we use as our guide to obtain happiness is essential to truly achieving happiness. If one reads the beginning paragraph and the first sentence of the second paragraph of our Declaration of Independence, you will have, what I feel, is a realistic guide to how to achieve happiness. I have copied the beginning parts of our Declaration of Independence below for you to read for yourself, and I have underlined what I feel is our clue to what is our guide to this pursuit. The Declaration of Independence of the Thirteen Colonies In CONGRESS, July 4, 1776 The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. I also read and see these patriotic words and their meaning from a Christian viewpoint. How you interpret these words maybe different than my interpretation. Our Father in Heaven’s first wish for us is that it is that we develop and have a deep, meaningful relationship with Him. His second wish is regarding our treatment and actions towards our fellow man be the same as we would do for ourselves. These are the primary commandments of our Father, but because of Him also granting us (free will) He does not make us do them, it is up to each of us as God’s children to follow His wishes. Just as us as parents we can instruct and guide our children, but we cannot make them follow our wishes, we only hope that they will see their importance and meaning as adopt them as part of their character in their own lives. If each of us does not respect and treat our fellow man with the respect and dignity as an equal, life can be hell on earth. Also, if each of us does not have a continuing and growing relationship with our Father in Heaven life can be hell on earth and beyond into the afterlife. People from different walks of life, stature and income levels have made the statement that they feel something has always been missing in their lives, and not until they initiated an ongoing relationship with the Father in Heaven did this void seem filled. These constant reminders throughout history and in our daily lives themselves should be a neon sign for our guide as to what we need to do in the pursuit of happiness, but as the adage goes “History repeats itself.” Why is this statement true? Because many people seem to not learn from history and others mistakes, hence we repeat them! I can only pray as a patriotic Christian that to those who read this article will wake up and smell the coffee, and indelibly take them to heart.

How legalized online gambling is better for society

The question we should be asking is, by banning online gambling are we going to make things better or worse? The answer to that question is simple, banning legalized and regulated online gambling in any form, just makes another way for organized crime to get a hold of peoples money, and then no one but the criminals win. If you want to keep a child from seeing an R rated movie you do not ban the movie from the theaters do you? No that would be silly you just make sure that people are doing there best to check and verify that no one under 18 gets into see the movie. By banning the movie chances are greater that someone will get a bootleg copy and show it to every kid in the town. So if you want to keep a child from gambling online then all the online casinos should be regulated and monitored, not banned. The same goes for terrorists. If you believe terrorist groups are exploiting an unregulated and unmonitored industry such as the online gambling industry, then by regulating it you can see where the money is going and make sure it is not going to fund international terrorist attacks. All that is accomplished by banning it is that the criminals get a stronger grip on the industry. The ban on online gambling is much like the war on drugs. If marijuana was legalized in the USA crimes related to it would almost go away completely, because it would be sold in stores and it would be controlled, another advantage would be that people would no longer be going to jail for marijuana related charges, this means thousands of less people getting arrested and going to jail every year, which would save us tax money that could be better spent. By making online gambling in the USA a legalized form of adult entertainment it would also bring in an estimated 1.2 billion dollars in taxes to the American government. This money could be used for schools, police and universal healthcare for all Americans. This is how you improve society, not by telling people what to do. It is human nature to want what we can not have so the more laws you put in place to stop people from doing something the better the chances are that people are going to do it. People are just as likely to become addicted to gambling at a regulated casino as an unregulated one, but the difference is that in a regulated casino they will not extend you the amount of credit that will get you into trouble in an illegal casino. And in a regulated casino they will have information on how to get help if you have a gambling problem. In an illegal casino they will not have this type of information, they want you to continue to gamble till you have nothing left, and then they will let you fall and find someone to take your place. In the long run society can only prosper if we educate people on the dangers of gambling both online and in a casino, and not from banning an industry that employs thousands of people in countries all over the world. No one gains anything from just telling people they can not do something that they are going to do anyway. It is about time the government learned this and stopped making the same mistakes year after year.

How to get your husband to cancel his weekly poker game

Over the past few years it always bothered me that my husband would go play poker with his friends every Friday night. Whenever I complained that it would be nice to spend time with my husband on Friday, he just complains that this is the only time he gets to be with his friends. I decided I had to come up with a way to make him choose me over his poker buddies so I tried many different things, at first I tried by asking him to stay home so we could have sex all night. That worked a few times but then he caught on to what I was doing. I also tried finding different events that he may want to go to like action movies, car shows and other things of that nature but there were not always things to do, so that was another failed attempt. But after 6 months of trying I had just about given up, finally at my wits end I decided that maybe I could get real good fast I could challenge him to a game and if I won he had to stop going to his game, and if he won I would pay for him to go to Vegas I spent every spare moment I had reading everything I could find online about Texas Holdem. Eventually I decided to go online and practice at some Video Poker. Eventually I started playing for real cash Online, and once or twice while he was at his game I would drive to one of the local casinos and play for a few hours in their poker rooms. Finally I felt I was good enough to make the challenge. So one night I told him that I wanted him to stop going to his Friday night games and to stay home with me, as I had expected it started a big argument. I waited until he made his speech about working hard and needing some “guy” time. So I felt this was my time to strike, I asked him if he would at least allow me to come and watch the game, to which he replied that players only as the rule and that since I did not know how to play I could not go. So I said if he could do it how hard can it be that really got him going, so he then asked me if I wanted to make the game a little interesting with a little bet. Now I had exactly what I wanted. I said if he won I would pay for him to go to Las Vegas alone, he did not know I had made some good money playing poker recently, and if I won he would give up his seat in his regular Friday night game. He looked at me suspiciously at first and I thought he was not going to risk it but he said ok. He ran to the closet and grabbed his chips we each started of with $100 in chips and agreed the first one out is the loser. Well in the end it was me that lost, but he was so excited at how good I was that he did stop going to his Friday night game, now every Friday night we go and play together at the casino. We have been doing this for 2 years now and our relationship has never been this good. Sometimes it really is better to try to get interested in his hobby.