Ratko Mladic

The infamous Serbian military general got served on the 26th of May.  If you're not familiar with who he is or what he did keep reading.

In a nutshell, he is one of the men responsible for the most recent genocide in Europe since world war two.  Mladic ordered the systematic killing of 8372 Bosniak Serbs (Serbian Muslims) in Srebencia in the mid 90s.  To the best of my knowledge the most recent mass grave was discovered in 2003.  I'll leave any images out but a simple google search of "bosnian genocide" will turn your stomach upside down.  The level of brutality is on a level with the Rape of Nanking in China. Even infants no more than a few days old were shown no mercy.

If you look at the images and surf around the internet for 15 minutes or so maybe you'll arrive at the same question I have: How does a human being have the capacity to commit/order such an atrocity?

It is not a rhetorical question meant to provoke an emotional response but a serious question that I think deserves a serious answer. (Methinks a psychologist would be a good person to ask?)

The closest I've come to answering my own question is that you have to be: a) some kind of fanatic b) brainwashed c) a religious extremist d) mentally unstable/insane e) all or any combination of the above.


Are there really people out there with no conscience? no guilt?

Kind of boggles the mind when you think about it.

quotes

We all love them and have our favorites...here is one I came across recently:

 "Knowledge is realizing that the street is one-way, wisdom is looking both directions anyway."

 

what are we without our aspirations?

Think about it man! What if money wasn't a problem...today you hit the lotto and you're set (assuming you're younger than 30 years of age). Yes you could having every material thing you ever wanted. Stop and think outside the box for a minute. Think about the big picture.

What would you really DO with your LIFE if money was a non-issue?You wouldn't need a job and you wouldn't need an education. In the barest sense, education and work is what the daily human life consists of.

But since we're all not millionaires, you will realize that our aspirations and our dreams define us as human beings. Ask yourself, "what am I/what do I do without having any goals?"  They give us something to strive for. A purpose for living and being. They impact our behavior.

In the end though, dreams and aspirations generally focus around making money. Some of us focus and worry so much about income that we might loose sight of what is important in life. What it truly means to LIVE!

And when I asked myself what is really important in my life I discovered that it's OTHER PEOPLE.

Family, Friends, People I haven't met yet







   

Opinions

A retired Major General visited my ROTC battalion today and I have to say he was very insightful and incredibly knowledgeable.

Outside the scope of his discourse, I reminded myself that everyone has an opinion and usually delights in imposing it on others (which is nothing new, right?).

But it is a rare occasion that we get to interact with and ask questions of an individual with REAL WORLD EXPERIENCE...Someone that has a "true" basis for what they tell you. That is say, verses someone that just thinks something and because they think it they believe it to be true and that must make them an expert.

Ergo, I quickly decided that a 36 year special forces officer and veteran was worth giving my full attention to.

Knowledge is Power

We've all heard the cliché saying before and it never meant anything to me. Well at least until recently when my youtube account was hacked by trolls that I originally blocked from communicating with me. 

Long story short, they acquired my full legal name and my location down to the city and state and posted it on the net (scary stuff). If they had access to my email that means that had access to pretty much everything I do online. So I changed all my passwords using an encryption device and opened new bank accounts blah blah blah it goes on and on

I got curious and talked to a tech-weenie friend of mine who really taught me a lot about privacy, hacking, and security online (and a lot of other things that are beyond the scope of this post)

And then the light bulb came on..........BAM!

"Knowledge: acquiring expertise and skill through education and experience = Power: measure of the ability to CONTROL an environment and the behavior entities within." Yes we all know this but do we truly comprehend the potential behind it? Watch “The Book of Eli” maybe that will clarify. Study a few world dictators as well.

In this particular situation, these hackers could acquire my personal info via an electronic connection. When you really think about that and wonder how that's even possible, it kind of blows your mind! Their knowledge has given them the power to control people on the net and do things as crazy as empty their bank accounts.  Knowledge REALLY IS Power

It is no longer a cliché saying to me anymore. I started doing strange stuff such as paying attention in Math class. Weird right?

[insert creative title here]

Intro:
Chances are if you're reading this you know who I am.  So I'll skip that part...

Reason behind this:
Ever have one of those moments where something (thought, idea etc) crosses your mind and it's like "WHOA!" and the light bulb just went on? You know a "wow" moment. Nothing specific necessarily. And it's not something brilliant or ground breaking or something that some other dude didn't think about 500 years ago but it's seems worth sharing



This isn't going to be anything DEEP or MIND BLOWING or PHILOSOPHICAL and I doubt you'll be IMPRESSED.  The idea is just to stir up a little thought. 

So! I'll try this blog thing out and hopefully I have something semi-interesting to post.