The Purposes of Politicians

Theoretically. the Purpose of Politicians is to reflect the composite Will of the People

and to further the People’s Causes.

It is certainly not to promote their own Values, Morals or Principals.

In practice, however, they seek to further their own needs first,

and thus, if the need to get re-elected, conflicts with “What is Good” for the People,

they will always sacrifice what is good for the People

and instead do what is good for them.

Robert Jorrie,
1992

The Goal of most individuals that are Executive Directors of Associations and Trade Organizations

is to perpetuate their own jobs,

& it is not to promote their Organizations … as their First Priority.

Robert Jorrie,
1992

but most of the previous experiences they have to lean on in the Decision Making Process

are Juvenile experiences.

Robert Jorrie,
1976

One Saturday evening, when my children were perhaps, between 10-13, one of my girls had a slumber party at our house, one Saturday night, which was the night of the Full Moon.

At about 1:30 in the morning, when the party was in “full roar,” I piled all these “electric” children into my car and drove them to the Receiving Room of the County Jail.

As we sat there a few minutes, we watched prisoners being admitted, girlfriends, wives and friends pleading … trying to get people out, bail bondsmen doing their jobs, drunks vomitting, and people who were freshly bandaged up, being admitted to jail.

Each time a prisoner was admitted, the big steel Admitting Room door “slammed” shut with a resounding clank.

After watching perhaps 10 or 15 people get admitted, I took the children, piled them back in the car and we went to Earl Abel’s all night restaurant to eat Maple Pecan pie.

As each of the children told each other and me how they “would never, ever do” what caused those unfortunates to get there,

I also told the kids

“If you don’t want to go to jail, don’t do what it takes to get there.”

The Lesson:

The resounding clanking of that closing door, impressed my children and their guests in a manner they will never forget.

And I am glad they got to see the harsh results of Disobedience to the Law.

Robert Jorrie,
1992

A Succesful Parent Works Himself Out of a Job;

An Unsuccessful Parent has a Child for All his Life

Bill Hauser

“If you think what you’re doing NOW is hard …

just wait ‘til you get up here

and find out what ‘hard’ really is.”

EXAMPLE:

Sophomores tell Freshmen:

“Boy, if you think 9th grade is hard, just wait ‘til you get to the 10th grade.”

And when they become Juniors, the same people tell the new sophomores:

“Boy, if you think 10th grade is hard, just wait ‘til you get to the 11th grade”.

MORAL:

Those who are advanced beyond you in attainment or time, often make comments that do 2 things:

1. They give you partly false information with which you build an exaggerated fear of the next step which can prevent you from performing well if you “psych” yourself out; and

2. They express their own anxiety about their performance in their current task.

RULE: Don’t Listen to those who tell you “How Tough the Next Step is”
without taking it with a grain of salt.

Robert Jorrie,
1987

One day in 1961, Julie was crawling across the den floor to the unscreened open fireplace.

My grandmother, Gertrude Jorrie, exclaimed:

“Bobby, she is going to crawl in the fire and get burned!”

“If she does, grandmother,” I said “2 things will happen:

1. She’ll burn her finger and she’ll learn that when I tell her not to do something that I have a reason for it, and

2. She will learn that whenever I have something to say too her, that I will only tell her 1 time.”

What this Means to Me:

The purpose of parental communication with a child is to actually communicate something

and that communication can be accomplished by a single speaking …

Repetitious Warnings communicate NOTHING EXTRA.

In fact, Repetitious Warnings can actually be Destructive,

in that they train a child “not to respond” until a parent speaks multiple times.

Thus, I think it is wise to teach a child, (or people, in general)

that when you speak to them,

that you will only tell them “1 time.”

Thus, you teach them to “Pay Attention”

every time you speak.

Robert Jorrie,
1991

Dear Ann Landers: A long time ago you printed a column about “The Meanest Mother in The World.”

My children were too young to appreciate it then– I’ll bet it would shake their bicuspids loose if they read it today.

Please, Ann, let’s have a rerun. … Fifth Ave., N.Y.

Dear Fifth:

It took some digging, but I found it.

Here it is:

MEANEST MOTHER IN THE WORLD

I had the meanest mother in the world. While other kids had candy for breakfast, I had to eat cereal, eggs and toast.

While other kids had cola and candy for lunch, I had a sandwich. As you can guess, my dinner was different from other kids’ dinners, too.

My mother insisted on knowing where we were at all times. You’d think we were on a chain gang or something. She had to know who our friends were and what we were doing.

I am ashamed to admit it, but she actually had the nerve to break the child labor law. She made us work.

We had to wash dishes, make the beds and learn how to cook. That woman must have stayed awake nights thinking up things for us kids to do.

And she always insisted that we tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

By the time we were teenagers, she was much wiser and our life became even more unbearable. None of this tooting the car horn for us to come running; she embarrassed us to no end by insisting that the boys come to the door to get us.

I forgot to mention that most of our friends were allowed to date at the mature age of 12 and 13, but our old-fashioned mother refused to let us date until we were 15.

She really raised a bunch of squares. None of us was ever arrested for shoplifting or busted for dope. And who do we have to thank for this?

You’re right, our Mean Mother.

I am trying to raise my children to stand a little straighter and taller and I am secretly tickled to pieces when my children call me mean. I thank God for giving me the meanest mother in the world.

Our country doesn’t need a good five-cent cigar. It needs more mean mothers like mine.

Blessings on That Wonderful Woman.

Ann Landers Column

With Love but not Adoration,

With Attention to your Needs

but never Slavery to them.

With Help Offered when it was Needed

and Withheld, when to offer it would have Smothered

Independence and Responsibility for your own Actions.

by protecting you from Danger

but not from Pain and its Lessons.

by Refusing to take Responsibility for your Actions.

even though you’d occasionally “Stub your Toe.”

by deliberately putting you into Stressful Situations

so you could Learn to Handle Them.

by telling you “How” and “Why” …

but never doing it “for you.”

by training you that Results are the Reward for Action.

by teaching you to Distrust your Emotions

but to Trust your Intellect.

by teaching you How the World Works

so it wouldn’t be a Surprise.

by teaching you to Control your Mental Attitude to Do Your Bidding —

so Others Couldn’t.

by teaching you To Be Fair

even though the World is Full of Unfairness.

by teaching you that the Pain of Honesty is Always Smaller.

by Programming your Achievement of the Good Life by Letting You Taste Some of it.

by teaching you to Be An Expert

but teaching you “Never to Believe Experts” …

but instead to Listen and then Make Your Own Decisions.

by teaching you to Question, but Never to Accuse.

by teaching you to Love Family and To Do Your Duty Without Letting It Suffocate You.

by teaching you to Have More Fun than I did.

by teaching you to Give Everything Your Very Best Effort and to NEVER QUIT —

but to Know When it’s Time to Take a Second Look.

by teaching you to Appreciate Things

by Letting You Earn Them.

by teaching you to Argue Your Point Persuasively

and to Communicate in the Language the “Other Guy” Could Hear,

by teaching you that a Good Sense of Humor

puts Everything in Perspective and Makes Everything Easier.

We taught these things to you

in spite of everyone’s chastisement to “be easy on her” and “she’s only a little kid”

and we taught them to you

much Earlier in Life than your Peers learned them —

and sometimes Teaching You was Hard on us, … as well as you.

We hope you like The Way You Turned Out … We do.

Robert Jorrie

Build me a Son, O Lord,

Who will be Strong Enough to know when He is Weak,
and Brave enough to Face Himself when He is Afraid;
One who will be Proud and Unbending in Honest Defeat,
and Humble and Gentle in Victory.

Build me a Son whose Wishbone will not be

Where his Backbone should be;
a Son who will know Thee …
and that to Know Himself
is the Foundation Stone of Knowledge.

Lead him, I pray,
not in the Path of Ease and Comfort,
but under the Stress and Spur of Difficulties and Challenge.

Here let him Learn to Stand Up in the Storm;
Here let him Learn Compassion for Those Who Fail.

Build me a Son whose Heart will be Clear,
whose Goal will be High;
a Son who will Master Himself
before he seeks to Master Other Men;

One who will Learn to Laugh,
yet Never Forget How to Weep;
one who will Reach into the Future,
yet Never Forget the Past.

And after all these things are His,
add, I pray, enough of a Sense of Humor,
so that He may always be Serious,
yet never take Himself too seriously.

Give him Humility,
so that He may Always Remember
the Simplicity of True Greatness,
the Open Mind of True Wisdom,
the Meekness of True Strength.

Then, I, his Father, will Dare to Whisper,

“I HAVE NOT LIVED IN VAIN.”

General Douglas MacArthur