Hello again, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to another episode of Freedom's Creed. Today is April the twelfth, twenty twenty two. And yes, there is still turmoil in the world. And war and trouble and flooding and fires, and a whole lot else that is, well, just ain't very good. But we're going to try to focus on what is good and what is positive and how we can do better in our lives. That's the whole point of my podcast, really, to discover that freedom and liberty that we all seek for and want in our lives, but sometimes can be a little bit elusive. I'm calling this episode Who Do You Believe? I suppose all of us have a set of core beliefs, those things that we look at and we say, uh no, yeah, this is hard and fast for me. I'll never stray from these set of core beliefs. And then on the other end of the spectrum, there are those things that we're just not too sure of about what we believe. So I'll be talking about a few things today. And by no means is this an exhaustive list. You're going to have things that you believe in that I may not, and vice versa. So let's get going. The thing that came to my mind first off is the news. Now, there's a variety of ways that all of us get our news today. I'm a little bit older than some of you, perhaps, and there's probably a few of you who are older than me, so well, no offense, but you're still older than me. In any case, when I was coming of age, there were limited choices when it came to news. You had the three major networks on television. You had public television, you had newspaper articles, periodicals, magazines, things like that to get your news from, and that was about it. The advent of cable television really exploded things, and then even more so than the cable networks was the internet. And now we have social media companies, big tech companies, who are masquerading as news outlets. And as far as I'm concerned, that's a scary proposition. And I get limited, I mean very limited news from those sources. The point of this is the fact that we have these huge social media big tech companies, whatever you want to call them, who are giving us so-called news. And if that were not challenging enough, we have the actual so-called news companies giving us what they determine is news. So if you're like me, you're left sifting through the information that you're given and trying to find the truth in all of it. And that's like finding the proverbial needle in the haystack because it's really, really hard to do. So where do you go for your news? What sources do you trust? Is it print media? Is it the radio? Is it television? Is it any number of big tech companies? Or even any number of these smaller outlets who are actually trying to make a name for themselves in the news business, who want to get as many readers, listeners, what have you, as they can. And you have to wonder, are they even doing their level best to give us the news as we should be receiving it, not slighted or biased or any other manipulative way that they might be trying to gain more viewers, listeners, etc.? It's a scary proposition that we have, folks, to try to find out how we can get the right, not even the right kind of news, but news that is designed to tell us what's actually going on in the world, what's happening in the world, and let us make up our own minds about what we believe. My goodness, when you think about it, it seems like it's not that big of a deal. But when you start talking about it and you start thinking more about it, it is a big deal. And we should have enough confidence in the places where we get our news to say, okay, well, how much of this am I going to believe? I'd like to be able to believe most of it, if not all of it, but it's just not that way anymore. And perhaps it's never really been that way. None of us can possibly think that we would believe 100% of what is reported to us by the so-called news. And truthfully, I would just be very naive if I were to tell you that that's what I believe, because it's not. It's not what I believe at all. Like you, I try to decipher between what's real and what's not, and let my best gut feeling, better judgment take control at that point. And while we're on this topic of manipulation, I want to talk about commercials, the marketing tactics of commercials specifically, and also how it seems to me, and maybe it's just me, I don't know. I'd like to think not, but it seems to me that men are often made to look like bumbling idiots in commercials. Have you ever noticed that? Start paying attention to it and you'll see what I'm talking about. But it it's I can't even give you a specific commercial that I'm thinking of right now, but it's those commercials where maybe the the dad's doing a household chore or uh taking out the garbage or doing something with the dishes or or some other chore that is a monkey could do, and it it they make the man look like he's a total imbecile and too stupid to figure out how to work a trash bag or do the dishes or do some other household chore. I mean, it's just ridiculous. And you know what? If there are men out there, if you're listening to the sound of my voice right now, and you're one of those men who give pause to the rest of us as to why these companies and their marketing departments market and run commercials like that, then take a look in the mirror because you're probably part of the problem. Jeez. I honestly didn't think I was going to get this worked up about all of this, but I find myself getting worked up about it. So anyway, if you see a stupid commercial on television or on any other medium, and it depicts a man looking utterly foolish, then hopefully you'll think about this time right now that you're listening to my podcast. Because I can't be the only man in America who thinks this way. Come on, guys, help me out here. And when it comes to commercials and advertising in general, there's just an absence of truth and an absence of reality that is missing from many of these advertisements. You talk about truth in lending. Well, how about truth in advertising? They're pathetic. And there's something that's probably even worse than these commercials that we see in advertising for our various products, and that's this the pharmaceutical industry. You've seen them, you know what I'm talking about. These ads that talk about a wonder drug that's on the scene now, and then it gives you a library list of the possible side effects, some as harmless as nausea and on the other end of the spectrum, death. Are you kidding me? These pharmaceutical companies spend millions of dollars and years developing these drugs, and that's the best they can come up with? I'm sorry, that's just pathetic, people. Really, really is. So how do you believe any of these things? I guess if your health is such that if you don't take this prescribed pill, you're going to die? Then yes, you'll probably take the pill and just take your chances. I mean, I don't get it. I don't see how they can spend all that time and money and resources and effort to come up with something that is going to cause you to die anyway. Why even bother? It's ridiculous. How can we believe the things that these people say? It really is a wonder that any of us can believe anything that we hear in the media, no matter what form you're talking about. It's just how can we believe the things that we hear, the things that we see, the things that we are exposed to on a daily basis? It baffles the mind. Moving on, what about teachers? Do we believe teachers? Now, uh, when I was going to school from grade school through high school, it was pretty much a given that you could believe the things that your teachers were teaching you because they weren't filling your mind with a bunch of ancillary things that had nothing to do with the subject matter that they were teaching, whether it be reading or writing or math or science or any of the disciplines. And even in college, at the time I went to college, and I went to college later in life as an adult, the things that the professors were teaching were their expertise in a particular subject matter. It wasn't all of the social constructs that we see being taught in our colleges and universities today. Unfortunately, in many areas of the country and the teaching profession today, there's often an underlying motivation other than what they should be teaching. Teachers have no business talking about sexual orientation, talking about gender, talking about anything that has anything to do with human sexuality. Elementary school children, children as young as five years old, have no business hearing their teachers' personal viewpoints about human sexuality. It has no place in the classroom. That should be left to the parents at the house, not teachers in the public school system. So with this in mind, again, who do our children particularly believe when all of this nonsense is being crammed down their throats, oftentimes without parents even knowing about it? It's an injustice, and as far as I'm concerned, it's child abuse. It's sad to say, ladies and gentlemen, but there is an agenda even in the public school system. Everybody has an agenda, and everybody wants their agenda to be the most important thing that takes place on any given day. And it's sad, it's an injustice to our children for sure when it comes to schooling. And frankly, it's an injustice to anybody who has half a brain. Let me move on to something that I think probably most people in the world have some core belief in, and that's religion. Whether that's any number of the different religions that are in the world, and there are literally tens of thousands of them, as well as even within the Christian ranks, there are tens of thousands of different Christian faiths. There are some predominant religions in the world: Islam, Judaism, Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, and a ton of other religions that I won't even begin to name at this point. It seems to me that most people would put their belief or would pin their belief in terms of who they believe on a particular religion. That seems to be a very important aspect of not only American culture but in cultures throughout the world. And I'm certainly not here to advocate for any one religion. I think that everyone should have the ability to worship and to embrace the religion of their choice without fear of any repercussion. That seems like a standard thing that most people would embrace. I try to conduct myself on a daily basis, having respect for those who choose to worship as they choose or choose to not worship at all. It comes down to, again, who do we believe? Who do you believe when it comes to your religion? What do you believe? I consider the fact that there's a higher power, and that higher power is God. I'll talk more about that momentarily. But meanwhile, here's another group of people that you can decide if you believe or not, and that's family and friends. You might be saying, Well, gee, Rex, I mean, come on. Of course I believe my family and I believe my good friends, but do we really? We're taught right and wrong, most of us are, when we grow up, and we have friends that we choose to be friends with because they're like-minded, perhaps. But it seems to always depend on the subject matter as to whether or not we believe someone in our family or a good friend, even. When I was going to high school, and we'd come back to school after a weekend, and people would be telling about the things that they did over the weekend, and there was always someone in the group who, after someone told about their experience and how crazy their weekend was, there was always someone else who wanted to one up that person. It was immature, it was juvenile, it was high school. And unfortunately, most of those one-up stories had to do with alcohol and somebody getting wasted and drunk and acting a fool. But kids were kids and they laughed about that idiotic stuff. Oh well. I don't drink, never have, and I don't judge other people for doing it. It's their business, not mine. The bottom line, I think, though, for most people when it comes to believing and who do you believe, when it comes to friends and family, most people can really, I think, attest to the fact that the things that they were taught by their parents, by their grandparents and other relatives, perhaps, were things that they could believe and sort of take to the bank. The final group of people that we often perhaps may try to believe and try not to laugh when I say this, but it's politicians. Now, they tend to say whatever they need to say to get the people to believe them so they can get elected to another term in Congress or another term as mayor, another term as dog catcher, whatever. All I will say about this group is that they're extremely hard to believe. So we should really, really do our homework and try to figure out who it is that we can believe in when it comes to politicians. Now, all of these sources that I have mentioned with respect to who we believe have some sort of ulterior motive, unfortunately. And these are the things that we have to try to sift through to find out the things that they really want us to believe, or that we need to figure out on our own what it is that we exactly believe. And that's the challenging aspect of this whole exercise. With so many voices coming at us, it's oftentimes extremely difficult to try to decide who you actually believe. Let me ask you, how do you determine what or who you believe? What do you do? With all these different voices, again, coming at us from so many different directions, we need to be able to weed out the unnecessary and useless information that we come across on a daily basis. I truly hope that you have a method, something that you can use that you can apply in your life to help you to know who to believe. I'll tell you how it is for me, and this is how I do it. I have faith in a higher power. I do believe in God. I've learned at this point in my life that I can and I do receive direction for my life. But my telling you this doesn't necessarily help you. All of us may be motivated by the positive actions of others, but it won't carry us through the struggles and challenges of life that all of us have and then get thrown our way on a regular basis. Seeking God or that higher power is ultimately an individual pursuit. It really is. I believe that each of us can gain personal insight to our most deeply held questions. But my efforts to describe what that's like for me is like trying to describe to you, if you've never tasted salt before, what salt actually tastes like. Think about it. Maybe you've heard that before. I've heard it in my life or heard it when I was a very young man. To try to tell somebody what salt tastes like if that person had no frame of reference for salt. It's virtually impossible. So, knowing that about me, what do I do about the news? Well, I listen, I read, I watch multiple sources. And I would imagine that's what each of you do as well. What about commercials and stupid marketing ploys? Typically I decide what it is I need in my life, and then I go to my nearest store or online favorite place and I purchase it. It's that simple for me. And thank goodness that I'm at a point in my life where I don't have to take prescription drugs. If I did and I watched all the various ads and commercials about prescription drugs, I'd probably be in a frantic place right now. I'd be like, dang, I might as well just die and get it over with instead of taking this particular medicine and having it make me sick or doing something to me that I'd regret having worse than the disease I have in the first place. And my problem with stupid ads that make men look like ridiculous fools, I just chalk that up to wholesome entertainment. No matter how stupid they're made to appear, in in though I'm a man myself, it stings a little bit, but I just think to myself, well, this is not typical, I hope, of men across the globe. But one never knows. I mean, men made a stupid movie called Jackass, and they did stupid things. So well, anyway, I digress. Finally, as far as teachers and politicians go these days, I'm at a stage in my life where I read as much as I can to really learn and then do what I believe is important. I think that's all any of us can do. And if we go with a gut feeling, we go with an instinctual feeling that seems to come from a higher power, then I say run with that. Politicians, my advice, well, would be to tread with caution and do a whole lot of praying. Whew, wow. Speaking of which, when it comes to religion, I've found something that works for me. And that'd be my recommendation to each of you. Find something that works for you while keeping an open mind to learning about things that are beyond what you may already believe. Well, we've come to the end of another podcast, and I want to thank you for listening. And as always, ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to leave you with a quote. And this one comes from a gentleman by the name of Jenkin Lloyd Jones. He was born in 1843 and died in 1918. He served in the Civil War, he became a Unitarian minister, and he was the founder and editor of a magazine called Unity. He had this to say, and I quote, anyone who imagines that bliss is normal is going to waste a lot of time running around shouting that he's been robbed. The fact is that most putts don't drop. Most beef is tough. Most children grow up to just be people. Most successful marriages require a high degree of mutual toleration. Most jobs are more often dull than otherwise. Life is like an old-time rail journey. Delays, sidetracks, smoke, dust, cinders, and jolts, interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas and thrilling bursts of speed. The trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride. End of quote.