Consider a well-known truth that never appears to be fully understood, does a man sow thistles and reap strawberries? Leo J. Muir’s book, “Flashes from the Eternal Semaphore,” lists this as the fifth semaphore, and of the six semaphores, this one is probably my favorite to discuss. Not because I am sowing rocks and reaping corn and beans, but because I often sow rancid vegetables and reap garbage, then wonder why I cannot improve my harvest. As the writings on flash four stated, “Thy speech betrayeth thee,” I am a slow learned and generally only really grasp things after experiencing some consequences that would kill others. As we discuss the Law of the Harvest, please note I am not here to convince or convert, merely to help myself. If you find value in this topic, join me, teach me, that we may both then learn more perfectly.
The law of the harvest is straightforward; many farmers know this law cold, “You reap what you sow.” If you sow lima beans, you do not raise grapes. If you are sowing carrots, you cannot harvest apples. No matter how many times you plant them, Cheerios do not sprout a doughnut tree; I know as I planted a LOT of Cheerios. Bubble gum, when planted, never grows into a bubble gum tree; my mother lied!
Yet, with this mindset, many people, myself included, become depressed, disconnected from reality, and mentally unstable. Thinking, oh, I can sow gossip and truth, and equity and justice will be shown to me. I can tell lies, cheat, steal, then become rich, famous, and never have any negative consequences. I can take and plant some cocaine, heroin, methamphetamines, etc., in my body and remain healthy, strong, active, and never suffer mentally, emotionally, or spiritually. The law of the harvest doesn’t work like this, yet, this remains the greatest living lie.
From the eternal semaphore comes the following:
“Be NOT Deceived! [emphasis mine]”
Now, consider how many people drink alcohol and expect not to suffer a hangover. Consider the people consuming vast amounts of sugar, in all its various forms, who think they will never suffer diabetes, become overweight, or suffer any consequences from all that sugar. My aunt is a great woman, fantastic artist, amazingly kind and generous person, and a chocoholic. She never thought about the consequences of consuming chocolate because the research shows chocolate is healthy; she never could overcome the mental illness she suffered from that the chocolate was a comforting influence. Her family mourns her passing!
The law of the harvest is a stern warning and an incredible promise.
“He that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.”
The pattern is evident for those struggling who sow goodness, kindness, and happiness. Hold on; your harvest WILL come, and it will be glorious. In the same breath, those sowing hate, envy, strife, malice, greed, and so much more, your harvest is also coming, and I feel awful for what your harvest will be. For the law of the harvest comes with a profound sentiment:
“God will not be mocked.”
I promise, there is a God, an atonement IS available through His Son, and the Holy Ghost is real and powerful. The enclosed sentiment in the Law of the Harvest remains my comfort when harvesting the bitter fruits my heart grows. Yes, many times, I quake for the thought that I desperately need to find a way to raise a better crop on the stony ground of my heart. Long have I prayed for a change of heart, for a line from Stephen King’s “Pet Sematary” rings forever in my mind:
“The soil of a man’s heart is stony ground. A man grows what he can, and he tends it. ‘Cause, what you buy is what you own. And what you own… always comes home to you.”
If you get nothing more out of this flash than the need to change fertilizers and seeds, all with an eye to improving your harvest, I have accomplished my goal. Confucius is quoted as saying, “Our headstrong passions shut the doors of our souls against God.” What great counsel, our passions are the seeds, the consequences are the fruit, and the law of the harvest governs whether we will have a harvest to enjoy or curse, and we choose how to value that harvest.
Bear with me a moment; I might have lost a few of you. Let me explain. As a kid, we often had gardens, and I was regularly on the working end of a hoe killing weeds. I cursed those weeds; I despised every second I wielded that hoe in the garden. My cherub-like demeanor was nowhere to be found working those garden rows! Then came the endless days of harvesting, canning, storing, and eating that which could not be stored; I still was NOT a happy person. Ever eat zucchini for weeks on end because that horrible stuff reproduces like rabbits in perpetual heat whose water is full of Viagra?
That is the point; when the harvest comes, and a harvest always comes, we choose how we value that which is being harvested. My father tried hard to teach me this lesson, but all I ever saw were the endless hours sweating in a kitchen preparing jars for canning, the blisters from hoeing the weeds, and the time spent doing that which we would eventually purchase in cans as winter dragged on and on. I could not see any value in gardening, so the blessings of the harvest were lost on me. Headstrong passions blinded my eyes to the blessings of the harvest, and I cursed the day I was conceived. Confucius is correct, and I have witnessed the problems with headstrong passions interfering with the Law of the Harvest many times since.
I am also experiencing the truth from Cicero:
“A youth of sensuality and intemperance delivers over to old age a worn-out body.”
I would add, an intemperate youth also yields a worn-out mind! Having observed this as a youth, I thought I could escape the problems of being intemperate, and I can honestly proclaim, I was wrong! Since my youth, I lifted objects heavier than practical; I gloried in the strength of my body and pushed it to the absolute limit many times. What am I reaping; I was disabled by the time I was 30. I am now older but not wiser. I still want to push my boundaries without regard for consequences and wind up on the floor, in hospital, or mentally unable to think properly for weeks on end. As a kid, when my parents were told of one of their kids being punished (a not infrequent occurrence), they regularly said, “Well, he brought that on himself.” To quote Ray Stevens, “Yeah, I Did!” I did bring on myself the harvest of intemperance and am delivering a worn-out body and mind to old-age. There are lots of seeds we plant and many different types of harvests we reap. When valuing the harvest, choose wisely how you evaluate the crop.
Pliny, more famously known as Gaius Plinius Secundus, also known as Pliny, the Elder,” was a Roman author, naturalist, philosopher, and naval and army commander. He is quoted as saying:
“Lust is an enemy to the purse, a foe to the person, [a] canker to the mind, a corrosive to the conscience, a weakness of the wit, a besotter of the senses, and finally a mortal bane to all of the body.”
Lust is regularly only thought of as an intense sexual desire. This type of lust definitely fits what Pliny is warning about; however, lust is also an overwhelming craving, unassailable desire, and intense eagerness or enthusiasm. Yet, many might not fully grasp the semaphore Pliny is flashing; Henry Wordsworth Longfellow might be easier to understand:
“The blossoms of passion, gay and luxuriant flowers, are bright and full of fragrance, but they beguile us and lead us astray, and their odor is deadly.”
Henry Giles and John Howe are both flashing the same message, trying to capture our attention and teach the same lesson:
“The passions are at once tempters and chastisers. As tempters, they come with garlands of flowers on brows of youth; as chastisers, they appear with wreaths of snakes on the forehead of deformity. They are angels of light in their delusions; they are fiends of torment in their afflictions.”
“Sensual delights soon end in loathing, quickly bring a glutting surfeit, and degenerate into torment.”
What do you regret from your youth as the first tastes of passion’s deadly fruits? Let me speak plainer; of course, you remember your first time in love, the rush of passions start, and the heartbreak of closure. Do you see the seeds of passion and the harvested fruits as beneficial or deadly? I know my answers to this question and understand more fully why modesty, chastity, and virtue are to be honored, respected, and cherished. You choose how you evaluate your experiences.
I currently work with a person who curses their ex-wife in the vilest language imaginable, yet, they praise their child in the same breath and bless the day they came into their life. What seeds are being planted in the child, the co-workers, and society? Will the bitter fruit be understood and evaluated as good? Time will tell. Byron summed this semaphore perfectly:
“Vice digs her own voluptuous tomb.”
Of all the advice given, I wish I had observed the following more perfectly, and while I do not know the author, many have semaphored the following message in one form or another:
“Shun the obscene!”
A long time back, exactly when escaped me, I watched a comedian who told some off-color stories for the audience’s amusement. Those seeds bore some of the most pernicious weeds in my mind, choking out life and pleasure, goodness, and all things clean and kind. Killing those weeds is a constant exercise, some would classify as futile. But, I have chosen differently and fought those weeds desiring something better, and the fight continues. I do not find swearing, debauchery, lewdness, immorality, perversion, and such amusing anymore. When I came to myself, I cleaned out a LOT of entertainment, removing books, magazines, music, movies, and more in an effort to cling to the good and shun the obscene. I had to re-learn lessons from childhood.
Now I look back on those mistakes, those seeds planted carelessly, and the bitter and thorny weeds I now fight and wish I could help others understand the same lesson I learned. Not shunning the obscene leads to problems immeasurable. In the US Navy, I had a good acquaintance who went to a party, was slipped a mickey, and woke up having been raped by another female. I counseled my friend to report this event and get tested. My friend declined because she “did not know if she liked it or not.” I mourned my friend that day and many days after as she experienced what happened after not shunning the obscene. Before she revealed her true self, her rapist was a person I respected and who was removed from military service for other actions. But the crime of rape went unreported, a sad commentary indeed! John Howe was absolutely correct:
“Sensual delights soon end in loathing, quickly bring a glutting surfeit, and degenerate into torment.”
My friend’s experience in the US Navy always brings a poem to mind courtesy of Alexander Pope:
“Vice is a monster of so frightful mien
as to be hated needs but to be seen;
Yet seen too oft, familiar with her face,
We first endure, then pity, then embrace.”
The truth of the matter remains permanently etched upon our souls or consciousness, “You reap what you sow.” We inherently know this truth, and then become sidetracked by temptation, which comes in the forms of misery, depression, beauty, emotions, and more; wrapped in shiny foil, the fruit inside is always bitter, but the first bite is a temptation that over time becomes that which we would have died to avoid. Robert Southey, the English poet, semaphored this message thusly:
“They who engage in iniquitous designs deceive themselves into thinking that they will go so far and no farther. One fault begets another; one crime makes another necessary. Thus downward they go into the depths of guilt, which at the commencement of their career they would have died rather than incurred.”
Can you relate to your experiences with planting and harvesting? What are you teaching and semaphoring? Dr. Johnson adds a comment worth remembering: “The chains of habit are too weak to be felt until they are too strong to be broken.” While Dr. Johnson is correct, there is a “Balm in Gilead,” there are chain cutters available through repentance and a path back. There is a reason to hope! Not speaking religiously, nor am I here to convert anyone to any religious flavor, merely to alert those needing it that there is a way to clean your mind and heart, that your future may produce a better harvest. Even if you might have to harvest garbage for a while as the ground cleans itself of the impurities dumped into it. Mr. Muir quotes Simons, a reference unknown, regarding the path:
“Impure thoughts awaken impure feelings, lead to impure expressions, and beget impure actions, and these lead to imbecility both of body and of mind, and to the ruin of all that is noble and pure in character.”
We who have survived youthful transgressions understand this path perfectly. Note, we live in an age of severe iconoclasm, where every day, we are bombarded by attacks on established beliefs by institutions built for the sole purpose of tearing down others. Who cannot replace their depravity and destruction with anything wholesome, good, pure, or worthwhile. Where beliefs of religion, societal norms, and institutions representing the living and breathing were destroyed for the wanton pleasure of the iconoclasts. The age of the iconoclasts began with the 1960s, and nothing built since is worth the pain and suffering we are experiencing now. Worse, those iconoclasts from the 1960s are now teachers and professors, elected leaders, and their legacy of destruction stares them in the face while they laugh and take pleasure at your suffering.
With each successive generation of iconoclastic behavior, the succeeding generations are a factor of 10 worse than their parents. Think of how many generations have come and multiplied this abhorrent behavior into society. Is it any wonder as a society we are in the mess we are in, where criminals get off, the victims are repeatedly punished, good is heralded as evil and evil for good. But, I promise there is a “Balm in Gilead,” there is a path forward that leads back to life, growth, happiness, goodness, and a morally upright society. Shunning the obscene is the first step!
We must be the generation that begins the repair job from the iconoclast’s destruction. The ravages inflicted upon us will require re-learning, embracing hope, building faith, and acting charitably through faith and hope to act charitably first to ourselves, then to our families and friends, and then to the broader societies we all live in. Whether you embrace a religious community or not, the imperative to “Shun the obscene:” the need to sow better crops to reap a more desirable harvest valued by others is universal. Not to create fervor and fanaticism, but to create a people dedicated to improving ourselves and after improving ourselves to improve the world around us.
May we all enjoy a better harvest is my hope!
© Copyright 2022 – M. Dave Salisbury
The author holds no claims for the art used herein, the pictures were obtained in the public domain, and the intellectual property belongs to those who created the images. Quoted materials remain the property of the original author.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine, no longer is the truth able to hide; America has been pursuing easy things, making America weak! Several years ago, I was in a used book store and found “Flashes from the Eternal Semaphore” by Leo J. Muir. I count myself extremely blessed to have found and purchased this treasured book! Mr. Muir explains that a semaphore is a means of using flags to send messages, and people have been using flags to send messages for a lot of the earth’s recorded history. The author declared that regardless of religion, certain truths are timeless, ageless, and failure to learn and live these truths brings destruction to civilization.
What is weakening every oppressive regime around the globe; is a failure to honor the rule of law. The leaders pursuing easy things become weak, and their choices inevitably lead them into problems with the law. Think back a couple of years to the Chinese baby food or dog food scandals. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) blamed mid-level leaders for their roles in the scandals, but were these people really to blame or merely useful tools to help deflect blame from the flagrant and profligate rule-breaking of someone higher?
King Solomon provided the only instruction that offers a modicum of relief and is quoted as the final flash, “In all, they getting, get understanding.” I know many people’s childhood was full of abusive relationships. From parents to teachers, to peers and government officials, you have been robbed, plundered, and the abuse is real. For all that, you remain an eternal being suffering a mortal existence. Thus, you have the choice to get understanding. You possess the power to throw off the abusers. Learn to learn. Learn to read. Learn math. Learn how to write. You hold the power, choose to exercise that power, and you will bless your life and the lives of those around you!
Who granted Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter authority and power as the police of misinformation? The politicians did, by default and political power, by refusing to stand up for liberty, freedom, and the US Constitution they are duty sworn to uphold, has opened the abuse of the electorate. Consider the following statement from the Surgeon General:
After discussing 
Recently I was asked an interesting question that needs further elaboration, than the 30-seconds I could devote to the answer. The question, “As a disabled person, in a professional setting (workplace), do I expect others to accommodate me?” At the time, I used pieces of Douglas Malloch’s poem “Good Timber” as an analogy to help answer this question, stating that a tree in a forest does not demand another tree stop growing in their direction for sunshine, air and water. Thus becoming a forest giant through individual growth, adaptation, individual choice, time, goal setting, and working with other trees.
True story, I learned to swim by being thrown into the deep end of a lake and told to get back to shore on my own; my mother was never one for “easy lessons.” The conflict made me understand and learn how to coordinate movement, and I learned to swim. Not well, and to this day, I swim like I am beating the water into submission, not in a manner that is conducive to smooth and flowing coordinated movement. The conflict of motion and resistance, movement and flow has taught me a lot about science, engineering, hydraulics, and much more; but I do not thank my mother for this “swimming” lesson!
As a process of learning and developing, conflict has been the driving factor in all of our lives. Conflict is a tool, and like all tools, when used appropriately, it can build, enhance, strengthen, and create. Whereas, if the tool is improperly used, destruction, damage, and chaos are spawned. Regardless, life lessons can be learned in both uses of conflict when two additional tools are added, self-reflection over time. It took a long time to realize the value of science in the lessons of swimming taught in almost drowning. Remember, the forest giant in Douglas Malloch’s poem did not become a forest king without scars.
Conflict happens; what a person chooses to do with that conflict and how that person considers conflicting occurrences is how the labels “good,” “bad,” “valuable,” “beneficial,” etc., are applied. McShane and Von Gilnow (2004, p. 390) postulated, “conflict as beneficial [when] intergroup conflict improves team dynamics, increase cohesiveness, and task orientation. … [C]onditions of moderate conflict, motivates team members to work more efficiently toward goals increasing productivity.” The sentiment regarding conflict as a tool and beneficial is echoed throughout the research of Jehn (1995). Jehn (1995) reflected that the groups researched labeled the conflict as beneficial, good, bad, etc. based on the group’s dynamics and the conflicts faced and settled, the groups formed an integrated model for organizational conflict. Essentially, how the conflict is approached and used by the team members individually and collectively dictates how beneficial the conflict is for the team and the organization.
Thus, it cannot be stated enough, nor without sufficient emphasis, the leader who chooses to minimize conflict is leading their team to destruction, ruination, and despair. But, isn’t the path of less conflict more restful and peaceful? What about all those people who claim conflict is bad, fighting and war are terrible things and should be avoided at all costs. Let us examine Douglas Malloch further:
Thompson (2008) calls those who actively work to avoid conflict as those taking “trips to Abilene;” included in those making trips to Abilene are those who take conflict personally and choose to become offended, as well as those who choose not to see conflict, as a method of ignoring conflict. Thomas (1992) captured how individual choices about the valuation of conflict open or close the door to the productive use of conflict. Ignoring conflict, avoiding conflict, and other strategies to avoid conflict form the most dangerous people to be around, for when conflict grows beyond a point where it can no longer be ignored or avoided, that is the conflict that can destroy people, places, and things.
On Friday, an email crossed my inbox regarding how to write better and weasel words. The term “
Emperor Titus Flavius Vespasian began work on the Coliseum of Rome in 69 AD. Upon completion of the Coliseum, his son Emperor Titus held 100-days and nights of festival in the Coliseum. Ostensibly to calm the masses after the civil unrest following the death of Emperor Nero, the Coliseum acted precisely as it was planned, distract the masses, while the emperor consolidated his power, undermined the Roman Senate, and set the stage for the end of the Roman Empire. Roman laws were built, originally, upon the consent of the governed until the emperors broke the law. The people rebelled, and before the squabbling senators could take control, the Roman government was subjugated to empirical rule. All historical facts, reflecting the power of the consent of the governed and a lesson upon which we can plot the future if we are brave enough to take action.
The consent of the governed is built upon the intermingled trust between people as a body electing government officers and people representing those elected as government officers. The problems have arisen because many in public office have refused to accept the government of those who elected them and have served only themselves and the monied interests buying their time. Thus, trust propensity in government has dropped to disastrous levels. Adding to the problem are the accumulated actions of previously elected officials who have set a pattern for personal wealth by tax and spend, supporting political cronies, and gerrymandering system to protect them from negative election results. The trust between people of shared values has been broken by those elected, who never shared values, who refuse to live in their home districts, and whose time and the highest bidder can purchase interests. Thus, is it any wonder that people no longer believe the lies of government are restless and agitated?
Communication presentation is the careful and concise logic behind selecting words to communicate an idea—the rules of grammar and punctuation aid in communicating correctly to enhance the sense and communicate the vision. Language is a grand and glorious tool for sharing ideas, empowering motivation, and building ideas into action items. Yet, for some reason, words have become cheapened by political positions, and I would see this trend cease forthwith. Presenting the first and second principles of language and communication:
Is the fear of the mob so significant that even without a mob, fear is spread, risks must be avoided proactively, and thoughts curtailed? I say NO! I defy the entire argument that word selection can cause exclusion. Why; because understanding is a choice! The only person who can choose to be insulted over a word is you! You own the emotions of the moment, and your emotional choices are not my concern! Do we understand this concept?
But what about those messages specifically designed to inflame, insult, denigrate, and deride? What changed? Nothing! The communication initiator desired to rile the primary audience, deny them this power over you, choose different emotions, and retain the moral high ground. The best response to a communication initiator who wants to rule your emotions is to deny them that power, and then that person goes away as irrelevant.
Like the expanded mind, choice leads to decisions, decision spurs action, and action will result in consequences. How you perceive the effects will drive the next series of choices, decisions, activities, and consequences. Liberty and freedom allow us the glory and the horror of choice and consequence. Thus, I plead with you, stop allowing your emotional decisions to be controlled by others! Cease the turmoil over language, speak simply, communicate clearly, and then rest knowing you have not intentionally caused harm. The audience is left to choose, and if they choose to be offended, those are not your consequences to suffer!
I know what you’re thinking, not another article on controlling emotions and feelings – well, yes. However, I wanted to approach this subject from a different tack. I discuss this topic so often because of the dearth witnessed in choosing proper emotional responses or not choosing an emotional response to the improvement of the environmental conditions in a situation. Across the globe, we find daily, even hourly, instances where emotional diatribes are ruling common sense, destroying logic, and creating hordes of emotionally charged people hell-bent on destroying. If I can help just one person understand this cycle of emotional abuse and then choose to correct their behavior, even if that person is only me, I consider these articles successful
Today’s title comes from Charles W. Penrose (n.d.), who penned the following poem, which has been set to music; the poem is based upon Proverbs 16:32, “One who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and one whose temper is controlled than one who captures a city.”
As a kid, if my parents did not like another child’s behavior, I was refused the opportunity to play with that child for fear the child’s emotional behaviors would rub off on me, and I would begin to act like a nincompoop! Yet, as an adult, I can witness rampant emotionally charged conduct, and I have to tolerate nonsense due to helicopter parents, political choices, and the media; I think not! I firmly support 
Thus, on this Memorial Weekend, let us firmly recommit to 
Representative Deb Haaland (D) sent out an email while a US House of Representatives member claimed America is a “Constitutional Democracy.” I will endeavor to correct this confusion using simple terms; for Representative Haaland’s benefit, please allow me to elaborate. Along the way, let us explore a few connected topics, including the plasticization of words and how that breeds tyranny.
Starting in the 1930s, during the “Great Depression,” changes were made to America’s methods of governance by the President, a willing media, and sycophants in the Senate and House. Establishing the Federal and State Government’s ability to rule by largess; picking winners and losers based upon obeisance to a bureaucrat’s whims, wishes, and will. Reich lays out this history, walks the reader through the laws, and makes the case that because of democratic rule America’s Republic has been reduced to a feudal system where the government decides who gets the largess and who does not. With the Federal and State Governments making these decisions, businesses do not compete fairly upon their own merits but upon how much taxpayer money they can bamboozle from Uncle Sam. Unfortunately, the entire system hinges upon reducing private property ownership and the freedoms private property allow to feed the ever-hungry beast of Government consumption.
Thus, America needs to demand change through the ballot box, insist that freedom and private property are returned to the people. Those representatives who have no moral center, or cannot serve their constituents from both parties equally, are removed from politics; indefinitely! Since America is a Republic and not a democracy (yet!), the problems in representation can be solved.
Shakespeare (2016) used Hamlet to relate a line that frequently applies, especially when communicating online, “… thou doth protest too much, methinks.” Too often, those intent on misusing words are protesting too much about something. On social media, every communication, every interaction, and every person is a threat to the intellect of the one protesting and must be lorded over, trolled, and publicly shamed. A recent example of this the world witnessed during Justice Kavanaugh’s confirmation process, where the judge’s children were physically and verbally assaulted—using a warping of legal rights, guaranteed justification for the assault. A careful review of any newspaper, news broadcast, and many politicians speaking will evidence the plasticization of words to justify actions, e.g., President Clinton, “Depends on what your definition of “is” is.” Words to couch a threat while seeming to be helpful and friendly, or worst of all hide abuses of others through twisted logic. Every time words become disconnected from standard meanings, society crumbles, language becomes useless, and the consequences are multi-generational, which is precisely what transpired in recovering Germany after Hitler’s demise.
DNC-Consulting 