Why Give Up?

Why is it so easy for people to give up on things now a days.  I really don't get it.  Two people that I love are care deeply about just decided to give up.  As a matter of fact they both quit trying a long time ago.  Why?  Why is it that people work so hard to establish themselves at their place of employment, but think it's alright to not work as hard at home?  When you are in school and you desperately need that grade, you work hard to earn it.  When you are saving up for something special you make sacrifices in your daily lives to be able to afford it.  Why are those sacrifices not made in a marriage?  

Now that these two have decided to give up where does that leave their child?  Did they just show their child that things are not worth working hard for?  When their child grows up and gets married, if things don't go their way, will it be OK to walk away instead of working hard to make it work?  It's just my opinion, but I believe they showed that child that a B is just as good as an A even when the child is totally capable of earning that A.   

I started looking a round on the internet and found some people who believed that giving up wasn't an option and maybe, just maybe someone reading this will decide that giving up isn't an option for them either.

For instance,  what if Anne Sullivan had given up on Helen Keller?

Or how would our childhood be without Dr. Suess?  Did you know he was rejected by over 20 publishers?

Margaret Mitchell was rejected by 38 publishers.  I guess thats why Gone with the Wind was her only book.

And what would the 80's have been without Dirty Dancing?  The screenplay was rejected 43 times.  Vestron finally agreed to do it with a budget of only 4.5 million.  It grossed 3.9 million opening weekend, which was a lot back in 1987.

My children's favorite, The Princess Bride, author William Goldman shopped the story around for 15 years.  Luckily he was able to team with the legendary Rob Reiner to get the movie produced.

Did you know Walt Disney's first animation company went bankrupt or that Vincent Van Gogh, even though his painted over 800 pieces, only sold one painting in his lifetime and that was to a close friend?

How about the Beatles. They were told they had no future because guitar groups were on the way out.  And Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team.

Did you know that Albert Einstein could talk until he was four and didn't read until he was seven?  His parents were told that he was mentally handicapped.

Poverty stricken J.K. Rowling's book, Harry Potter, was rejected by 12 publishers.  Ms. Rowling is now the 12th richest woman in the United Kingdom due to the success of the Harry Potter series and subsequent movies.

How about Harland Sanders who had to drop out of school at 12 to cook and take care of his family after his father died.  At the age of 65 and after being turned down by over 1000 restaurants for his recipe, Colonel Sanders decided to open up his own store.  I'm so glad he didn't give up because I love me some KFC.

And then there's the story about a man who took up carpentry because, after years of uncredited roles in Hollywood, he had to find a way to support his wife and two young sons.  He built sets for movies and worked as a stagehand for the Doors.  Luckily, since this man had a great reputation as a carpenter and George Lucas needed some cabinets built for his new office, this man was hired.  George Lucas like him so much that he gave him a supporting role in his upcoming movie American Graffiti.  Still unable to find work as an actor, the carpenter was then hired by Francis Ford Coppola to expand his home office and Coppola also gave him some small roles in his films.  Finally, in 1975, he was able to read for a role in another George Lucas film, Star Wars.  Harrison Ford was about to give it all up and walk away from Hollywood because he felt that his carpentry skills would suffice to support his family, but luckily, he didn't.  Kinda reminds me of another carpenter who would never give up on me.

I guess I feel sorry for those who give up so easily.  They will never know what could have been.  And I do realize that there are people all over the world that have had to give up on their dreams.  But when most do, they have worked really hard at making a go of it.  These two people, that I love so much, really didn't.  They could have had it all, but I guess for some people all isn't good enough.  Some people want more when sometimes more can add up to nothing.  

The romantic ideal of marriage is difficult to sustain for a lifetime.  In marriage, people need to be willing to give a bit on their own personal goals, to focus perhaps on their partners goals instead of thinking, it's all about me.  Marriages need to be entered into with the idea that divorce is not an option.  Giving 50/50 shouldn't be an option either.  Going into a marriage expecting both of you to do your share will never work.  Sometimes it has to be 80/20 or 30/70 or what ever the needs are that day, but every day, looking at you partners needs, not just your own.  And why be so critical?  Criticism feels like rejection.  Didn't your mama ever tell you that if you don't have anything nice to say, to keep your mouth shut?  I don't always agree with everything my spouse says, sometimes I think he is sooo wrong, but I do respect him.  We can disagree, but we never criticize.

Hard work, determination, definitive goals, longevity, these are all words that I believe are the opposite of giving up.  They sound so much better than give up words like abandon, bail out, surrender, resign, throw in the towel.  

Wake up people, it's not rocket science.  Oh no, it's harder than that, but the rewards soar higher.  Stop giving up so easy.  Life is a commitment all on it's own and you wouldn't give up on that when the going gets rough.  So quit giving up on marriage America.  We can do better that this.  

Houston, we have a problem

Hi. My name is Carrie and I'm new at this so bare with me. First of all, why is this blog being christened as Two and a Half Cents? Well sometimes, OK most times, I have very strong opinions. Now having a strong opinion certainly isn't bad. I think life would be too simple if God had given us all the same temperament. We've all heard the saying about giving our own two cents worth and did you know that the my two cents thingy started from the phrase "A penny for your thoughts?"  Two cents came along because two cents were better than a penny.  At least that's what I heard.  Anyway my problem is that I tend to put in an extra umph, just a few words more than was needed, thus my two and a half cents.  

Now why do we have a problem in Houston?  I got up earlier than I needed to yesterday morning hoping to catch the shuttle Endeavor give it's last fly over the city that it and many of those who flew on it's missions called home.  Wow, as I just wrote those words I started to cry.  You see the space program is a huge part of my life.  No, myself nor any family member never worked there, but Houston is known as the space city.  Even our police officers shoulder patches have space city written along side Houston Police.  When I was a kid a favorite Houston restaurant, Kapans, had little space helmets for the kids menu.  Our baseball team the Astros, were named after the Astronauts as was our local theme park Astroworld.  It stinks that I can tell you the names of every Astronaut lost in the line of duty and exactly where I was when the accident happened.  Roger, go for throttle up makes my heart stand still.  I have argued the benefits of the space program with others who know nothing of the many discoveries that have been made through the program.  Just google space program benefits and you will be amazed at all NASA has brought to us earthlings besides Tang.  Our family has even planned numerous vacations to coincide with launch dates, but have I ever got to see one take off?  NOO!!!  We have however seen many of them sitting on a launch pad.  It was a dream of mine to see a shuttle in flight.  My husband David can't tell you how many he has seen take off.  His grandparents lived in Titusville, Florida, the last stop on the way out to the cape.  They would go out on Bumpa's boat and get up as close to the cape as they were allowed.  It was just something that the folks around there did, so to the husband it became a "no big deal."  One time when my mother- in- law was ill and husband went to help out, youngest daughter Carley went along.  Wouldn't you know it, a shuttle was taking off.  Well at least she put it on you tube for me to watch.

Maybe you can tell, but I'm having a really hard time still trying to understand why one of the orbiters is not staying in Houston.  I have absolutely no problem with a shuttle being assigned to California.  When the shuttle came in for re-entry, if Florida had a run of bad weather, the shuttle would land in California.  The Endeavor belongs there.  The shuttle Atlantis will go home to Cape Canaveral, Florida where it belongs.  Discovery will head to Washington D.C. to find it's home at the Smithsonian where I too believe it belongs.  It's part of our nations history and our nations home is D.C.  The Enterprise will find it's new home in New York City.  What?? Really!?!  What did New York have to do with the space program????  When it was announced last April I think I came unglued just a little bit.  A statement I made about it made our local news.  My thoughts were, when there was a problem with Apollo 13 what was the statement the whole world heard?  "Houston, we have a problem."  Not New York!  When the Challenger blew apart 73 seconds into the air, where did President Reagan feel the memorial should be held?  Houston.  Not New York!  I truly believe that sending an orbiter to New York would be like building the memorial for the Twin Towers here in Houston.  As a matter of fact we have more in common with the word "twin towers" than New York does with the shuttle program.  Our basketball team, also named for the program, the Rockets at one time had two players that were nick-named the "twin towers".  But Houston gets a mock up.  A flipping mock up that the astronauts trained in.  Don't know if it's true but somewhere I heard that it's partially built with plywood and a Home Depot sticker can still be seen on the wood.  I digress.

So yesterday morning the news states that the shuttle Endeavor, being piggybacked on a NASA 747, is getting ready to take off for a stop in our state capitol of Austin before heading on to California where it will make it's new home.  Living northwest of Houston along 290, the road that takes you to Austin, I think I'm going to have a really good shot at seeing it.   So I go outside, camera in hand a wait while oldest daughter Stacey is filling me in on the details she is getting from the local news.  "They've just taken off mom!"  "I can tell it's headed over the Galleria."  "It's turning mom, it should only be a few minutes…Mom, they just said the flight path will take it down I-10."  WHAT!  Wait, that can't be.  Doesn't somebody know that I need to see this in flight.  Depression sets in.  So I get in the car and drive.  Not knowing where I'm going, I end up in a park sitting on a bench enjoying a beautiful unseasonably cool Houston morning.  Blood pressure goes back to normal and I start on my day only to hear at the bank an employee on their way in driving on I-10 sees the shuttle go over.  Argh.  Then later, sister- in- law in Austin states that she went  outside and saw the shuttle go over.  I can't believe this.  I head home because I think if I stay out any longer I'm just going to hear someone else say, "Hey, did you see the shuttle fly over this morning?"  I need to do some yard work anyway and being in the yard is one of the things in my life that seems to take all my cares away.  Kinda like a Calgon bath does to others.  So I spend the entire day in the yard trimming bushes, pulling weeds, replanting in bigger pots what needs to be planted in bigger pots and look up and see it's six o'clock.   Oops dinner time.  Nothing is thawed out and not enough left overs to make a meal so I call the husband and tell him it's been a rough day, but I fail to explain why.  Could you please stop by Demaris, I need my favorite bar-b-que fix.  Forty minutes later husband is home and we sit down to a relaxed meal, because I didn't have to cook it, only to have him blow it.  He simply said, "Hey babe, I walked out into the warehouse today and looked up and saw the shuttle going over." 

Carrie;)