It has been a weird week so far. Ok it is only Tuesday, but I am thinking of the last several days.
I have been hard on myself because I seem to have lacked motivation.  Yet when I think about it, several things have been achieved that I have been wanting to see done for a long time.
I think I mentioned getting a whole pile of books (boxes and boxes).  I had taken them because I thought what we cannot use I will donate to bookfest.  Yest when I rang them, they said they were no longer taking books.  So here I was tuck with crates of them.
But good did come of it. (It is a little experiment of mine to find good in seemingly bad.  It has worked without fail.  The good in this instance was getting some really good books and one in particular that is out of print.)  
Another good thing has just come to light.  I got to talking to someone who gets bargins at our pantry.  He was the founder and owner of a second hand book shop in our area we used to visit called “The Book Hunter.”  He has retired now but belongs to a church that sells books and provides a mobile library.  He has offered to take them off my hands.
Last night Merril and I went through the crates again seeing if there was anything we wanted.  Merril grabbed a book that is right up the alley of what she needs to do in her studies.
All the books (8 crates) are now in the car to be picked up tomorrow from our pantry.  To me that is great.
I also worked on an area of the yard that was so overgrown it was ridiculous.  I removed all, added heaps of rocks, decided what needs selling or to go to the dump and then rearranged what remained.  I also did some major weeding.
We also had a guy visit us from an arborist company.  They will be sending a quote for getting rid of out last huge tree.  Neither Merril and I want to see it go, but we have both determined the stress during storms is not worth it.  It could fall a number of ways and take out houses and even lives.
I have achieved a number of other things.  So I have decided I am being too hard on myself.  There have been a number of good things done.

It is said, “the pen is mightier than the sword.”  I do question that.  In my mind it depends what the pen is writing.  There are times when the pen plays into the hands of the sword. What made something big in the first place is replaced with pulling down its foundations.
Right now I see a power play going on.  All have something in common.
It really does seem to me that the way of power is to ensure those close to a person have all they need.  If those close who wield power are content and satisfied it matters less what the vast majority feel and experience.  The strong rule by ensuring they have the strong close and satisfied.
I am concerned in the long term for those that exalt themselves.  For those that want others to perceive them as major players due to their own strength.  There is no doubt in my mind that they can cause a heap of damage and cause a multitude of misery while playing their game.  That sort of thing may go on while the status quo is maintained.  Yet it is the unexpected that brings undone.
It seems so much is the exact opposite of what is stated as a truism.  When I look at the power of others I do so in the light of what would be right for me to do.
I am a great believer in power being seen as an inverted triangle.  Traditionally power is drawn as a triangle with the powerful at the top - most removed from the ones they serve.  To me power needs to be represented by a triangle with the top at the bottom closest to those they serve.
And serve to me is a key word.  I heard of one person who had a vast complex employing hundreds.  He tried to wield power by ripping his workers off and not paying them a fair days wage for a fair days work.  Employees left in droves.  Eventually he made wages good and desirable, and people flocked to be employed by him.  The way he did it changed society for the better
The power I like of this world, and the power I follow, is power built on the recognition of its own fallibility and finiteness.
Power to me is right and necessary but it can easily be corrupted if not handled with care.

A guy grew up in Victorian England wanting to be a writer.  But his circumstances were totally against him.  His dad was in prison for not paying his debts.  He got a job putting labels on bottles.  He submitted multiple manuscripts which he sent out in the dead of night so no one would laugh at him.  They were rejected time and again.  Finally one was accepted and the editor praised him for his writing.  That compliment meant the world to him.  He walked the streets with tears in his eyes.  So began the career of Charles Dickens.
I wrote recently about Edison and how Henry Ford encouraged him in what he was doing, and it made a huge difference to him.  He was encouraged.
Encourage to me is an interesting word.  It contains “courage.”  I like that.  The willingness to take a risk.  To do something others may not have thought of, or that others regard as impossible.
Sometimes my dreams require courage.  Dickens was one of eight kids.  So often it is a word spoken in the right way at the right time that keeps a person dreaming.
It seems to me I see enough of pulling down.  Enough of saying “you can’t.”  Yet it is the one who says, “you can” that lifts.  It is the one who believes in another despite negative circumstances or the anonymity of the person.
Time and again I have heard of others lifted beyond bad circumstances and a lack of positive expectation to achieve good things.  Sometimes it is just achieving a happy family life when the past and all around is littered with failures.
I guess it is one of my things.  I totally believe others criticizing continually does not help.   What is seen, and needing to be dealt with, may be true but as they say honey achieves way more than the stick.
I know my failures and shortcomings.  Others reminding me of them do not help.  I achieve way more when others accentuate the positive and encourage me.  In those circumstances I want to go for the good.  A little bit of encouragement for all goes a long way and has even helped to unearth one of the greatest writers of all time.