Stories - FD Thornton

Anyone my age or who has a decent taste in music (in my opinion) knows where that line comes from. It's the opening line to Pink Floyd's, Comfortable Numb . I was looking through my Facebook and About.me pages when the thought came to my mind how we as humans desire some kinda connection to one another. In my college studies I was made more aware of the fact that humans are  tribal and social creatures. It's something we can't help, it's in our DNA.  Even the "lone wolves" out there that don't see other humans for weeks or months at the time, need some social interaction. If for nothing else but to barter and trade wears. The old saying still holds true, " no man is an island ." But in this age of social media and instant messaging it seems our desire to be noticed has grown more and more. With the continuing ease of smartphones and apps, we are constantly photoing, posting, and texting our life histories, 140 characters at a time.  Now I...

The other evening I got an offer to join a firm as a consultant with their company. We have been discussing this for a few weeks now and the business appears to be sound and can be a great benefit to myself and to potential clients. So as I weigh my decision to work with this company, my mind has been wondering, how do my ethical standards jell with theirs?  I say this because on too many occasions I've found myself at odds with employers and partners over pitching and selling a product. To be honest though, the problem could be me. I mean one thing I hate is a salesperson who just appears to be hawking their wears. Giving off the impression once the sale is final it's " good-bye turkey, see you when I see you ". It makes me wonder, does sales have to be seem like such a dirty business?   Some of you maybe wondering, if you have those thoughts, why get involved in sales? Take an office or factory job and punch a clock and put in your eight and go home. ...

If you really look at the title, you may have an idea where this is going. Remember the old saying that goes, you can always choose your friends, but you can't choose your family . While it does sound kinda mean, unfortunately it's usually true. I think the problem lies in the fact that, your family has known you from the start. And in the case of mothers, fathers, brothers, and sisters, for a long while they lived with you 24/7. They've seen, heard, and smelled things you hope no friend has to.  But with all that said, I've have noticed in a pinch, when no one else will stand with you, you usually have your family. Yeah . In this information age with social media as it is, we often find ourselves building this social profile. A mask, if you will, that only displays the 8 by 10 color glossy of our lives. Now there is nothing wrong with putting your best face forward, believe me, I have a few skeletons no one needs to see.  I guess what I'm saying here is, whi...

One of the many blessings my work affords me is working from home. Still like most everybody, I do spend hours hunched over my computer. But working from home allows me to step outside every once in a while and breathe. I live in a quiet rural town which allows me to hear the morning birds the sing with little of the big city noises that bother most.  Still as spring awakens from the rough winter we've had, not everything is rainbows or sunshine. You see, while I so love the sights and sounds of spring, considering how bad my allergies are, spring is no friend to me. Sitting on the porch earlier this morning, I couldn't help but think. Not everything in life works out perfectly. Not every sunset brings another sunny day and not every missed opportunity brings about another missed opportunity.  What I'm wanting to say here is, a lot of times nothing works out to perfection. But imperfection in itself isn't so bad. If I've learned nothing else in lif...

Recently I've been struggling with a few issues that I had thought I was done with. But when dealing with some of the chronic issues that we all do, sometimes you can get a little lazy. But that is just us being human, believe me I'm the last man on earth to be pointing fingers.  Motivation, drive, and desire are all things that come from deep inside one's self. But at times there are other forces at work within us that are just the opposite. It is this give and take that I'd like to mention in this post. Being the social animal that we are, it can be really easy to just "follow the herd" , if you will. I honestly admit that in certain aspects of my life I do just that and follow the crowd.  In saying that, in order to excel you have to possess a certain amount of drive, motivation, or talent to break away from the crowd. For some, this isn't a problem. There are individuals out there that through whatever process naturally excel and you know, that...

As some of you may know, I live with a condition that at times can cripple me. It's a condition that I manage well most days and poorly on others. But like with so many other illnesses and situations, you have choices; you can choose to do your best with it or you can let it rob you of the simple pleasure of living life.  Despite this limitation I do my best to live my life as much as I can. Not everyday is wine and roses , but I have a great little circle of family and friends that encourage me. So what else can you ask for? My reason for the title and for this post in general is to let you know, we don't have to walk alone. Other than being just good advice, allowing others to share in the situation offers a certain amount of comfort in knowing you are not alone.  For too long I suffered without allowing anyone to know I suffered in silence. This went on for many years, until about a year ago when my suffering came out loud and clear. Those five days in t...

Sitting here, I kinda feel the creative juices oozing out, so I grab my laptop and start typing this. Used to I would jot my thoughts in a notebook (I filled several through my youth). I kept them for many years, but time, life, and moving took care of all that.  I've never really considered myself an artist although, I have wrote most of my life. I sort of don't think of it as a gift, just something that I do. I played music for a long time also, but that didn't cling to me like the words. But getting back to this artist thing, I've always had an appreciation for artist. I love to look at art in painting and photography. Music and the written word are essential to me as well.  Maybe I use the excuse of not being an artist to avoid working at it. I mean craftsman (women) work for years at their craft to perfect it. I just sorta sit at the keyboard and peck away. I usually don't have a clue as to where my writing will go. For me that's the...

This morning I was checking my  about.me  page ( the link I put in takes you the intro site, not mine ). I have found that it is a nice way to introduce yourself to a more global audience. Through the site I've introduced my work to a very diverse group of individuals globally. And, at the same time it's allowed me to get to know individuals from across the world.  For the past year it has been an interesting journey. For many the site is an introduction to the world of business, for other it's a place to express their dreams and desires. When you join (for free) you can set up a page that you can upload images, put in a brief bio, and insert links to your other various sites or ventures. Other than putting in links to my various other ventures, over the last number of months, I've changed up my bio section to express a more personal line.  My reason for doing so is to simply tell a little more  about  who I am ( now this is a link to my ...

I am one of those people no matter what I was doing, I'd always end up getting dissatisfied with it at some point in time. Now granted some of those times I was justified, like when worked as a security guard or a stocker in a grocery store. It's not that these jobs are beneath me or not valuable. It's just that after a time they presented no challenge, they were just jobs.   I'm sure I'm not the Lone Ranger when I say I've felt like that on a number of occasions with a number of jobs. At some point each of us gets the feeling that we are becoming drones to some far away queen bee. We sit or stand and do are repetitive task all the while dreaming of what we could be doing at our dream job.  I believe one point my heart wants to drive home here is each of us has to work in order to survive. The difference is what do you bring to the table that gives you peace and satisfaction? A lot of times we get caught up in the idea that work has ...

While Sunday was not too bad a day, my Monday started out not so great. Nothing really bad is actually happening it's just how I feel. For those of you that say, " get over your feelings and get to it ". For me, it's not that simple. When dealing with internal situations as I and any others do. Getting over it is no different than telling a cancer patient or some other physically ill person to just get over it . In many of my posts I usually offer sound advice. The hard part I guess is, taking one's own advice. Sitting here for a moment, I reflect on the words I've just written. One big sign that flashes across my mind is not to sit here and hate myself for my setbacks. That doesn't mean not to accept responsibility for my actions. It simply means accepting that I have shortcomings and not to hate myself for that.  The most insulting thing you can say to a perfectionist is " nobody's perfect ". From a lot of the reading I've done abou...