People who pass through the orbit of your life

I just heard that another of the radio executives who tried to hinder my career has been shown the door. Almost all of them are out of the business. Sooner or later we all get the boot or move on, don’t we?

I don’t dance on graves, and I sure won’t dance on his. It’s just a reminder that people are always coming and going, passing through the orbit of your life, but none of them are in charge of your life. God is. His plan for you never changes, and He certainly has a hand in who’s in your life at various times.

Remember that His plan is fulfilled through people who sometimes test you or try to discourage you, and sometimes, if you’re really blessed, encourage you. Big people will do that; small ones won’t.

Remember that even if you love your job and the people you work with, as I did in my last job, nothing is permanent. Everything and everyone is in flux at all times. When you think people have it “all together”, you really have no idea what they’re going through.

Don’t put your trust in what might seem to be an ideal work situation, co-workers or money you’re happy with, or feel that God has abandoned you because your career isn’t quite what you would have wanted. Things are always changing, but God never changes, nor does His plan for you.

Heidi Harris

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What student debt is really costing us.

One of the aspects of the student debt problem that no one wants to acknowledge is what it’s doing to families. If you can only earn $40 or $50K a year after you get that fancy degree, which most college grads do, you will never pay off your student loan debts of hundreds of thousands while you’re still young enough to have children. So that means your kid will be raised by strangers while you’re frantically trying to pay the salaries of (mostly liberal) college professors, who would prefer your kid be in care care.

You are told you won’t be able to have any kind of life without a college degree, but aren’t told what that overpriced piece of paper will really do to your life. Colleges get away with this because they recycle students every few years, so no one is around long enough to complain.

Higher education, while important to some occupations, is the biggest racket in the world, if you consider the ratio of expenditures to outcome. You are lied to about the value of that degree versus the debt you incur, and what it really costs you, and us, as a society.

Prospective students ought to be able to see a spreadsheet of what the degree will really cost versus what kinds of jobs they will really be prepared for as a result. I know too many people whose kids are doing jobs they didn’t need a college degree for even after college, while paying off mountains of useless debt.

Although no one can take away that degree you’ve earned, if it’s enslaving you and forcing you to give up being the primary influence over your children, what’s the point?

Heidi Harris

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Why is one woman’s change of lifestyle so offensive to some people?

Why is this controversial? She left a lifestyle – wasn’t that was HER “choice” to make? If people are entitled to sexual freedom, whatever makes them happy, (or so we are told) why are some gay people upset? This made her happy; in her case, gay relationships weren’t accomplishing that.

Some say she’s going to ‘drive young gays to suicide’. Seriously? How could that be? This is one person who made a choice for herself. She’s not forcing anyone else to believe anything or do anything. If you’re happy with YOUR choices in life, why do you worry about what others do? Just dismiss people like her as misguided.

BTW, this topic is covered in my upcoming book, Don’t Pat Me On The Head.

Heidi Harris

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Spending your life in futile endeavors

I’ve been reading the book of Ecclesiastes this week, and although I’ve read it before, I’ve been reading it more closely. Basically, the theme of the book is the futility of spending your life seeking temporary riches, knowledge and power, instead of eternal things.

Solomon, the author of Ecclesiastes, had everything people think will be make them happy: money, women, power, knowledge…and he realized it meant nothing, nor did it bring him happiness or fulfillment.

There’s nothing wrong with making money, having it and spending it, but not if you put your trust in it is futility. Title, power, “fame”, influence? Those can be “taken” from you in a second, and few people will remember you when you’re gone.

You should live every day as if it might be your last, care for the people you love, and of course meet your obligations, but never take your mind off eternal things. Many of the “obligations” we claim to have are self-imposed and not really important. We all have to make a living, but don’t forget while you’re at it, to make a life.

“Better is a handful of quietness than two hands full of toil and striving after wind.” Ecclesiastes 4:6

Heidi Harris

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Everyone who was in Vegas October 1 doesn’t deserve a check!

We live in a culture and climate today where everyone wants a band-aid for every boo-boo. No one can handle anything anymore. Some people who merely attended the Route 91 Harvest concert where the Las Vegas Massacre occurred now think they’re somehow entitled to compensation. Sure, it had to be scary to all and traumatizing to some, but I had several friends there, and they are fine. One of them was on the stage when shots rang out, many of those shots aimed at the stage. Sure, he was shaken up, but he is working and living his life. Another girl I’ve known for decades saw a man right next to her die. She’ll never forget it, but she will get through it.

The latest local news story features a woman whining about the money she clearly expected to get. Why? She wasn’t physically injured. She claims “people aren’t who they used to be”. Please. If you get in a fender bender you’re not who you used to be. I’ve been rear-ended twice and you’d better believe that if I have to stop suddenly, I look in my rearview mirror or try to get to the shoulder immediately, so I can avoid a direct hit. Life changes you, every day.

Another woman claims helicopters are now a trigger. Come on! How much do you want for that one, hon? Ask a combat veteran how they handle the trauma of seeing a helicopter.

There was another guy making the news who claims to have been living in his car since October 1 because he was so traumatized over the last few months. When you put different people in the same situation, you will have different outcomes. It’s just a fact. You’re not going to make every person whole by giving them money.

A few years ago I was at the San Diego Zoo on the bus tour. Three kids, maybe six to eight years old, were standing in front of the elephant exhibit watching the elephants eat. Without warning, the elephant picked up his trunk and blasted the kids with water like a firehose. It was hilarious. Two of the kids thought so too, and were laughing. The third kid was hysterical and clearly traumatized. Should the Zoo give HER a check, because she couldn’t handle something the other kids could? She might be terrified of zoo animals forever, like people who are bitten by dogs at a young age sometimes are.

Yes, it is the same thing. Imagine what our service members have to see or experience in combat. Imagine what homicide investigators, paramedics and child abuse investigators have to see every day. I have a friend who had to investigate the murder of a child when he has kids the same age. You could argue that he signed up for the job, and that’s true, but people go through things. Life is tough. People used to tough it out. Now everyone wants a band-aid in the form of a check.

How much should we give you because you’re “not the same person” mentally? A thousand dollars? A million? Enough so you never have to work again? A lifetime supply of anti-depressants? The money in the Victims’ Funds should go to people with permanent injuries first, some of whom will need lifetime care, then to people who were injured but will recover, and so on. But not people who can’t handle life.

It would be great if everyone’s medical bills could be covered, but with Obamacare, I’m sure that won’t be an issue, right?

If you’re living in in your car because of one event, you were headed there anyway, and it’s way too late for a check.

Heidi Harris

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