I have been corresponding lately with new friends - and potential tribesmen. One of them (we’ll call him Brutus), in his latest e-mail wrote:
“You have told me several times and you have said on your site to be grateful, but it was not on your list of rules to live by. So should we be grateful? Or did you just forget?”
To Brutus and all other young men that stumble upon these 42 Rules to live by - they are my rules to live by... you need to create your own rules to live by, your own creed, your own philosophy of life. You need to define your own success, your own morals, your own meaning of dignity. Only you can determine what integrity is for you and draw the line between how far you will go to achieve the life you want without surrendering your honor and your dignity and only you can decide on a life of honor, which is not an easy life, or a life with the rest of the cattle, which is a much easier life - until the day of the slaughter.
I have tried for a few years now to live my life according to the Lord’s 10 Commandments, aside from the Commandments, I have put these rules together for me, to help keep me on the path toward the man I have chosen to be - If you choose to be no one of importance to those you leave behind and leave no legacy for them - rules to govern your life by are really not important - follow the crowd and do what others do... go to work, get drunk, try to get laid... play games and watch your regularly scheduled programming... pass out for the night without having learned anything of value and not having done anything to improve your life and make something better of yourself and the world you live in... doesn’t matter to me, see - the more people we have dependent on us, the more power we have over you... and there it is.
Gratitude
I learned long ago to be grateful for all that I have and all that I have earned and acquired through hard work, paid for in blood, sweat, my honor, my dignity and my sanity, that now, being grateful for every little thing that may seem insignificant to the outside world, is just a part of life, it is a part of my being that I no longer think about it - I pick up a discarded coin from the street and I whisper a little thank you to my God... I get a check in the mail and I light a candle to the Lord in Humble gratitude... I give thanks for my crew by giving my friendship and loyalty in return... I appreciate the food on my plate as I savor it slowly and ask the creator to bless every swallow. When you are grateful for everything from the very small to the great accomplishments of your life you will truly be blessed with more of it... I am grateful for beautiful art that I see and I have been blessed to be surrounded by more of it... I am grateful for the money I have earned and I have been blessed by receiving more of it in abundance... I am grateful for the friendships I have made and I am being blessed by attracting more friends to me... I am grateful for all the opportunities that the universe places in my path and I am blessed by stumbling upon many more of them...
There is a time to be humble in life and that time is in the ways you express gratitude... it is in the sincerity of the way you simply say “thank you”.
Do it long enough the right way and it becomes like breathing... you don’t have to think about it - you simply just do it.
The Ungrateful
For a very long time I worked in the food service industry - and I did it all. Some days, when I was a waiter, I made no money and I was just pissed off, either because we had no customers or I made absolutely no tips for my service (they say it builds character). It was an older person that I worked with that first showed my what gratitude means and I truly began to study what we call “the Laws of the Universe” - after every tip this person received he wold fold the money and hold it in the right hand and with it do the sign of the cross and kiss the back of the thumb... every single time without fail... and this person, I began to pay attention, never got stiffed and had clientele that would not set in any other waiters section other than his... so I began to do the same, but nothing happened until I showed honest sincerity in my actions, then my attitude changed and the money flowed and my position in the business began to rise... but for the most part outside of that I had always been ungrateful for anything... and I never cared and I was greedy - and not in a good way... I wanted more but I had done nothing to earn it - I felt entitled but I had no right s to entitlement, neither by birth or by conquest... I was just, at one point, jealous and greedy and lacking in morals, values and direction... but life has a way of kicking a man in the dick just when he needs it.
I was never really thankful for having food to eat until I had no food to eat, never grateful for having a home until I had nowhere to live, never grateful for my little car until I had to sleep in it and then I was grateful I was not huddled behind a dumpster... I’ve lost it all, a couple of times and it made me angry and bitter but the second time - I humbled myself before the Universe and tried to figure out how I got into this situation and I accepted the fact that my choices and my mistakes got me here... and it would be my attitude that would determine where I go from there - for at one point I was ready to just give up and stay in the abyss and loneliness of failure, but my selfish greed spurned me on, and what little honor and dignity I had left would not allow me to beg for money - though I disgraced my self by stealing... I humbly asked for another chance and if given that opportunity I would prove myself and I would do something better than what I had done before, I would make something better of myself and give back for every good thing that I get... the Universe heard me and began to place opportunities to prove myself in my path - but I did not pay attention at first, though once I caught on, it became a game and I was on my way to winning... but be aware, for everything in life is a test. And life can very easily kick you in the dick once more and laugh in your face without giving a goddamn about you and your dreams and your feelings... and take it all away
I asked for an opportunity and I got it - and I gave thanks. Times have gotten tough but it helped me find out who I am and what I am made of - and for that I gave thanks. I worked hard and lived below my means and sacrificed friendships and relationships and having fun to have enough to live well later - and for that I give thanks. Men came into my life that tried to teach me about the world and life, about money and women and the power of the human mind, and I may have been a poor student - but for them I give thanks.
I have heard people say they have nothing to be thankful for... though they have a job and home and nice possessions. The United States is a country where the poor are fat and have cell phones, but they have nothing to be grateful for, where people can be taken care of from the cradle to the grave if you know how to fill out the right paper work, but they have nothing to be grateful for, where people are allowed to burn the flag and spit on the service of those wounded and killed to allow them to burn that flag, but they have nothing to be grateful for. The United States is a country where the weak are protected by the strong, but they have nothing to be grateful for, where the lazy and the poor are supported by the generosity of those that can afford to give, but they have nothing to be grateful for.
My mother’s name is attached to a scholarship fund of a local university along with that of her late husband’s and not once has she received a thank you letter from anyone who has benefited from that scholarship, nor did her late husband receive any such letter. I suppose these students feel they have nothing to be grateful for since they did themselves earn said scholarship - but if that scholarship was not there for them to help pay for their education... what would they do. My mothers late husband was under no obligation to set up that scholarship fund - it was his way of expressing gratitude for his successful life and wanted others to be able to learn to play and create music (which is what the scholarship is for), because he enjoyed it so much - he just wanted to humbly and sincerely say thank you for the music.
The greediest people I know are the angry, intolerant, lazy, envious youth of America, who want more, without having earned it, without having paid their dues and not having accomplished anything... that is true greed... and truly ungrateful behavior. Want to see more ungrateful behavior, look no further than countries taking in third world refugees and see how they ask for more and give nothing in return - see, refugees do not volunteer to join the military and serve their host country to show gratitude - or do they... not many illegal emigrants joining the army to show gratitude to their new country - or are there?
More, more, more... give me, give me, give me... mine. mine, mine... You don’t have to be grateful for anything... you don’t have to express gratitude if you don’t want to - I don’t care, it makes no difference to me - I can only tell you what I do and how I do it and what works for me, I can only make suggestions - it is up to you to do what you want with the information I give you - you don’t have to say thank you... I consider it giving back - it is an expression of my gratitude when I try to help others that ask for it... but I don’t care what you do afterwards.
I have learned how to make money, I do not have to beg - for that I am grateful.
I have learned how to take care of my self and I have learned to be prepared - for that I am grateful.
I have learned about women and I can get laid - for that I am grateful.
I have learned the power of the mind and the secret to bend the Universe to my will should I chose it - and for that I am grateful.
I have learned that the world needs more men like me in it more than we need the world - and for that I am grateful.
art
by
Rene Gruau
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