SURPRISING CONSEQUENCES FOR NOT PAYING ATTENTION?

Brace yourself for surprising consequences for not paying attention.

More important, dial up your empathy when you hear someone telling about the consequences for their poor behavior.

“I didn’t do anything wrong. I mean, I know how it looks, but what’s the problem? It could have been anyone.”

If you’re listening, maintain eye contact, nod your head, but know this person is not ready to face any surprising consequences because they can’t embrace the problem.

Why do you need to brace up? Because the current problem is just the tip of their problem iceberg.

For all of the pat denials ever uttered out loud, the lamest excuse is, “What? I was just doing my job.”

The worst example in my lifetime happened in Nuremberg, Germany after WWII.

To the question, “Are you a mass-murdering, death camp building, son of a B,” German commanders claimed they were just doing their jobs.

“I was following orders,” has a hollow ring to it after being accused of organizing the Holocaust, but the jackasses accused had other orders to follow once brought to court. The top man in their midst rallied them to stand strong.

The surprising consequences for their WWII actions ended in executions as ten bad men swung from the gallows, while the highest ranking among them poisoned himself while under constant guard.

What Is The Lingering Message Of Surprising Consequences

Today we’re far enough away from the events in the early-40’s to make room for denials. This didn’t happen, that didn’t happen, and if it did it’s not the way it’s portrayed in history books.

The advantage for those pushing the denial stories is that their audience has limited interests. They don’t read, don’t pursue more information to balance the bullshit, and they give themselves over to their leader’s ugly spew.

How can this be? Where does the “Don’t tell me what to do” crowd, the “Guns, God, and Freedom” folks disconnect to the point of taking a knee instead of listening to common sense?

People have needs, unfulfilled needs. You, me, and everyone else. For the most part, we’re not celebrities, billionaires, influencers, or brands. Instead, we do the best we can with what we’ve got where we are.

If you have other plans, review the basics: We matter enough to people who know us to want their attention, but not enough to face the consequences of taking it too far.

This is too far:

A competitive kid asks what they can do to be a better basketball player. The answers depend on who they ask. One that sticks is “You need to get bigger and stronger” so the kid gets hooked up to a steroid cycle.

This kid gets bigger and stronger, and receives a scholarship offer to play out of state. And he takes it. The pressure mounts to be even better. Bigger and stronger isn’t big or strong enough, which lead to behavior problems.

The spiral starts with wanting to feel better about the choices made. Sometimes the spiral leads to a nasty habit of heroin, poverty, theft, and a jail record. The sequence gets played out over and over. Who’s at fault?

The kid grows up with consequences while everyone else is on a different channel. From drug house to jail house, and back, the spiral gets tighter and tighter, spinning faster everyday to one of two outcomes.

A Picture That Screams “OH HELL NO.”

I saw an image of the men accused of assassinating the Haitian President.

Two men were identified as Americans.

As a fellow American I want to remind others: Don’t join a hit squad traveling to a foreign country to kill their president. Don’t do it.

No matter the wants and needs facing you, don’t do it.

There is no ideology, no pep talk or promise, that will sooth the hurt you bring on your loved ones for showing up in a picture spread around the world of captured assassins.

Movies show the good guys escaping after harrowing bravery and close calls. If they are caught, they find an ingenious way out of certain death.

But getting caught up in a death squad is not a movie. It’s not a video game with ‘extra lives’ either. And no amount of money will help their plight.

The Assassin Life Needs A Change To Avoid Surprising Consequences

If you, or someone you know, is tempted to engage in what looks like a bad, bad, idea, what to do?

Start with small changes.

Make a good assessment of where you are. Sometimes we’re the last to know, so ask someone’s opinion of what they think. Go ahead and show some vulnerability.

My favorite resources are older people with miles to go before they sleep, not those resting on their laurels.

Checking with someone who knows you well comes with its own problems. They know you as you are and might back away from helping change happen.

If an old friend gets snippy and snotty, it’s because you’re making them think about changing every day.

But let’s not get too far ahead of the process.

Get a solid take on where you are today, and where you want to be.

Even if you’re satisfied with where you are, why not make a small change. I mentioned this in a previous post and added the fear element. A reader commented that fear can be knowledge.

Fear can be knowledge if you attend Fox News University and fear some of the stupid spewed out of their tense faces. If they look frightened, then there must be something there? Not likely.

If you’ve heard of the Sure Thing, the Big Winner, the Easy Money, but not Focus, Education, and Do The Right Thing?

You might be a candidate for recruitment by skilled predators looking for easy marks.

Stand strong and know you have better choices, although they might not be apparent at first.

Patience is a virtue for a reason.