Monthly Archives: May 2011
Dabbling
Written on May 28, 2011 at 8:34 pm, by Mike Martel
I believe one of the greatest problems facing our society in this moment is that of dabbling. Merriam Webster defines dabbling as a superficial or intermittent interest, investigation, or experimentation. What I mean by dabbling is that we don’t dedicate the necessary commitment or dedication to what we are pursuing. US Society Dabbles This has been pretty much our method of doing business in the US going back until the Vietnam War. Previously, when we were in a conflict our servicemen stayed until the job was done. Serving during World War II and Korea meant you were there until the enemy surrendered. There weren’t rotations back to the US every year. Vietnam continued the same pattern. The level of commitment
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Survivor
Written on May 16, 2011 at 6:56 pm, by Mike Martel
I have a confession to make. I am pretty ashamed of it, but I have to admit…I am a reality TV show junkie. I love Amazing Race, Biggest Loser, Cops, Dancing with the Stars, etc. These programs show human interaction and makes a good study of how people react under different circumstances. Probably my favorite is Survivor. Survivor combines beautiful scenery, harsh conditions and I believe the biggest prize available in reality TV, $1,000,000. Last night was the final show of this season’s Survivor. Boston Rob Mariano won the $1,000,000. This was Rob’s third time on Survivor. If you haven’t seen it before contestants are dropped in a secluded spot somewhere usually in the tropics. They are divided into teams
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Trees for the Forest
Written on May 8, 2011 at 9:57 pm, by Mike Martel
There is an old saying, “you can’t see the forest for the trees.” I hear people say this quite a bit meaning that a person is focused on detail and not on the big picture. While this is sometimes the case, more often than not I see people try to see the big picture without really understanding what makes it up. When I first entered Special Forces I was a Weapons Sergeant. Part of my training was being totally familiar with a multitude of US and foreign weapons. A big test was known as the pile test. The instructors would take and disassemble 5 weapons, one from each sub group (pistol, submachine gun, light machinegun, heavy machinegun and rifle) pile
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