Here's what you can look forward to An A-to-Z Mentality It offers something different-a twist on the many literary options that are out there today. Author Rodney Etheridge presents a simple read that touches on facts, life experiences, personal opinions, and views of common, everyday words and phrases using the letters of the alphabet. He seeks to touch and connect with everyone on a personal and or realistic level.

An A-to-Z Mentality

By Rod Knee

Abbott Press

Copyright © 2012 Rod Knee
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4582-0725-8

Chapter One

Alcohol

What is alcohol? I know it is a beverage, that is a given, but what is it? What is it about alcohol that drives people insane? Some may not agree but it is a drug, a controlled substance. But is it bad for you? Nothing is wrong with alcohol it self, it is the abuse of it that makes is so wrong. It makes a lot of people feel jolly and happy. Some people, it gives them nerves of steel. Some people, it relaxes them. I myself, I couldn't tell you how it makes me feel. On top of that I can not stand it. To each his own, but it is definitely not my cup of tea. I have seen it turn a person who loves another into a punching bag, Ever since that day I could never understand how a beverage could change a person inside out. It looks no different than any other drink. It does have a distinct smell. But it looks harmless. Millions of people can not live without it in their lives. Some have no recollection of its effects, yet they still urn for it. Others get so sick they pray to the porcelain God asking for the night to end and if they can make it through the horrible feeling they are going through. Asking for the hangover to cease, and when the dust settles and the smoke clears, that alcohol is back in their hand quenching their thirst! I am not sitting here to down talk or condemn alcohol. The drink it self is no more than that, a drink, a beverage. Some people can handle a little, while others can bathe in it. It effects everyone differently, but when most people want to have a good time, alcohol is the treat they reach for. Why, I will never know. Some of the same things people do with alcohol, is just as much fun with out alcohol. Maybe some people use alcohol to release their inner demons or alter egos.

Chapter Two

Blessings

Blessings, everyone has them. A lot of people don't believe in God and

Accept blessings. A lot of people prefer to believe in luck or coincidence.

A lot of people can not grasp the concept of a God, or a supreme being, which Created us and loves us, and showers us with blessings! I am not here to preach Or try and convert anyone. But I do want to say that blessings are true gifts. Blessings have no set standard,, shape, or size. What I mean by that is if you Were to steal a car, and then steal a grape, stealing is stealing. A blessing is The same, a blessing is a blessing. You can not judge it by simplicity or Complexicity. If you did you would over look a lot of blessings. Everyone Is quick to acknowledge the big ones, such as a job promotion, walking away from a car crash, or a train wreck, or surviving cancer. I believe one of the most obvious blessings that is most overlooked is just waking up everyday to be able to see a new day here on earth. People either don't recognize them, or refuse to acknowledge them. The neigh sayers or those who don't believe are quick to try and disprove any notion of such behavior. They believe they control their own destiny or fate. Others try and use science to rule judgment over these matters and beliefs. But I believe even the neigh sayers have doubt over their own discontent at times, because the blessings can be so great they go beyond our reason and understanding. Even in times of despair and tragedy, blessings take place. How you might ask, lets say you have a drunk driver who gets in an accident, hospitalizes everyone involved in the accident. One person is paralyzed, the others are badly injured. You would probably say what blessing can come from that, I would say life! No one lost their life. To be able to see another day, spend time with family, friends and love ones. Enjoy walks in the park one more time, go to your favorite restaurant, hug your aunt, mother, or kids one more time. Those are all blessings. We take a lot of blessings for granted. But make no mistake; they are what they are, blessings! There was a time when I believed in luck. I found money or I may have won a raffle or a door prize. If I got a cute girls phone number, maybe, but to say that I or someone else was lucky they didn't get shot, or they didn't drown, that is not luck. Especially when someone gets shot, but the bullet misses all major organs by mere inches. I am sorry I do not believe that is luck. Nothing wrong with being blessed, it is a beautiful thing. Whether you believe in blessings or not, they are gifts that we receive each and every day. We should cherish them and be thankful!

Chapter Three

Choices

There is a saying "The only things guaranteed in life are Death and Taxes". Now that may be true to a certain extent. Choices are also guaranteed in life. When you really think about it, that is, what life boils down to, it is Choices! Oh, you don't think so? Well hear me out. I understand as a baby this principle does not apply, or does it? Now if we are aware of the choices we are making, that is a whole different story, but choices none the least. I don't care what you do in life; it all comes down to making choices. Some choices may be easier than others, while some choices are more difficult. The end result is a choice. I have rambled on enough. Now I will let you see the picture I am trying to paint. The alarm clock goes off, you have a choice, let it ring or cut it off. It is time for you to go to work, you either get ready for work, or you don't. Someone calls your phone, you either answer your phone or you don't. Granted, there are millions of choices you may have to make each day. One choice may lead you to a whole different set of choices, but that is what makes up life. I know it sounds easy, we make it difficult, but it is really just that simple. We make life way more complicated than it has to be. A lot of times, emotions, feelings and other factors get involved in situations in our life, but the end result is a choice to be made. If you are in a relationship, let's say for 5 years, you are truly in love with this person. After 5 years you find out this person whom you are deeply in love with has been cheating on you for the last year. What do you do? Some people would say break up, some would say try and work it out. Others may say they would want or try to fight the person because of the hurt they may have caused or sense of betrayal. There are many scenarios to CHOOSE from! There is no set pattern to how to live. Everyone is different and unique. Free will allows us to make our own choices in life. If you take a million people, all with the same goal in life, lets say to be a doctor. There may be your occasional occurrence where some people may have a semi-identical path to becoming a doctor. No two people would have the same exact path to reach their goal of being a doctor. Choice is a powerful gift. Some people choose to create life, while some choose to take it away. Some people choose to be bad while others choose to be good. I could go on for days with different variations and scenarios, but the outcome is going to be the same. The end conclusion will simply come down to a choice. The bad thing is that not all choices we make are easy ones. However the up side is that we all have a choice none the least!

Chapter Four

Death

Why do people fear death? It has got to be one of the most feared things in most people's lives. For me, I don't think it is the dying part that scares me, as much as not knowing what happens or what to expect after death. It is a reality that is difficult to grasp. With most phobias you are suppose to face your fear to overcome it. But how do you face death to overcome it? There is no coming back from death. Some people have experienced death to a degree. Where they may have flat lined but were brought back to life. But it was not like they planned it and new they would be brought back to the world of the living. Life is funny to know that we live to die. It is crazy! I have experienced death first hand through family members. It is very tough and difficult to accept. The closer relationship you have with someone the more difficult the journey of death can and will be. You hear about death so often now days, but a lot of times it does not hit home unless it is personal or a major or tragic event. Now I must tell you, I believe in God, and in Jesus Christ. With that being said, I should have no fear of death at all. When death comes for me, and takes my last breath, I shall leave my body and ascend to heaven to be with my father. It is just my mind, my carnal mind, it gets in the way. It produces my fear. Another thing about death, we never know when it is going to come. If you had a choice, would you rather know what day death was going to come for you? I have thought about this question often. I can honestly say, I don't know. I would probably live everyday without a care in the world, especially as my day got closer. I do think I would cherish things a lot more and not take little things for granted. Death is the one thing no man or women can avoid. I think the only thing more frightening than my own death is to out live any of my children. Having to endure the lost of my child that I brought into this world, be taken away from me before their time. At times when I really think about it, I have difficulty going to sleep at night. To me sleep is the cousin of death. It scares me. If I go to sleep tonight, will I wake up tomorrow? I think, if I go to sleep and not wake up, will I have a memory of my life, my family, and friends? Will I recognize myself or people from my past that already have pasted away? Will there be any pain when I pass? The not knowing is truly scary. Not just nor knowing about death, not knowing when its going to happen. Death comes unannounced and unwelcomed. It can come in the form of a heart attack, a car crash, plane crash, medical condition, drowning, the list goes on and on. Depending on what type of lives we live, we can speed up or stall our date with death. With that being said we can not live our lives in total fear of death. It is an unavoidable meeting we must all make one day or another. I am also sure that there are many people who do not fear death. They have come to terms with it and have accepted the inevitable. Just like I am sure there are some people who long for death. Death is an issue most don't like to talk about, mention, deal with, or accept. Life and death go hand in hand. You simply can not have one without the other. They are their equal and exact opposites. So instead of inviting death, let's deal with it when it comes and pray we will have the courage and strength to walk into death with no fear, but until then, Lets live!

Chapter Five

Evil

Why do people do evil things? I do believe that there are some people who are genuinely evil. But our nature is not being evil. We are all made in the image of God, and God is everything that is good. Now some of you don't believe this. Some believe in the big bang theory, that there was a big explosion and we evolved. Okay what ever! I am not really going to go in to that because I don't believe it. My point is why do people do evil things? Even if you don't believe in God and being made in his likeness, why do we do evil things? There is this saying, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you". Now as people who believe in this saying, why would we want to do evil things to one another? What is just as bad is when we wish evil things on someone else. I know myself; I have been guilty of this many times. When I was younger if my parents wouldn't let me do something I wanted, wish something bad on them. Teacher embarrasses me in class, wish something evil on them. Somebody do something bad or evil to me, wish them the same evil if not something worst right back on them. Or even take it a step further, not just talk about it, but actually put your evil plan in motion. So I say again, why are we so quick to inflict pain or harm to others? It is not in our nature. None of us likes when something bad or evil happens to us. A lot of times our conscious or our holy spirit tries to warn us. I will use your conscious to make everyone feel a little better. Our conscious tries to warn us and stop us from committing something wrong or harmful or evil. It is a funny feeling in your body or gut, you may even get chills. If you do enough evil deeds, that funny feeling (conscious) goes away and evil becomes second nature to us because we have gotten so far away from our true self and nature of being good. Evil is a quickly spreading disease. It attacks us and pulls us in almost seeming like an unstoppable force. But when we see something so evil and heinous, our good nature kicks in and we pull together. A lot of talk about the evil intensions we have, but when it is show time, we back down, and that is a good thing. Just like star wars, don't give into the dark side. It is very powerful, but so is the side of good. Now this may sound crazy, but sometimes I think evil is somewhat necessary. History has proven that every time evil has tried to out do good, it fails short. Good prevails, but not until a evil act beyond anyone's wildest dreams is committed. The assassinations of President Lincoln and Martin Luther King, the shooting at Columbine, and most recently the terrorist attacks on 9-11. All these and many more horrifying events are always followed by acts of good. It is sad to say that all we ever hear about are the constant evil acts of the world that continue to plague our society. Whether you feel evil is necessary or not, we should all let our good side prevail, our natural essence that we were born with

Chapter Six

Friends

I quote the words from the rap group Whodini, "Friends how many of us have them?" we all have friends. Some of us have too many to count, while others have few if not only one. Unfortunately there are people out there who do not have friends. That is a sad thing. A friend is a beautiful thing. But how many of our friends are truly friends? I guess it all depends on your definition of a friend. I have been blessed to have lived on this earth for a decent amount of time. I have been all over the world and have met a great many people. A lot of whom were and are good people. But I wouldn't call them my friends, good or close acquaintances at best. I learned at an early age, just because someone smiles at you or with you, and if there for all the good times, does not mean or make them your friends. When things get sticky, or when times are bad or money runs out, your circle of friends tend to get smaller. In my life I have also had true friends and friendships, people who were there when times were good, and not so good. But have some bull**** come between us. They say time will mend all wounds, and that is true. But there is not enough time to let you forget. An act of betrayal, like when a friend stabs you in the back or takes advantage of you. Me personally money came between me and my friend, and our relationship has suffered. My circle of friends is very small, mainly consisting of family members, and my wonderful girlfriend! These people know if I really need them they will be there, and I for them. They know my fears; they know what makes me happy, sad or mad. These are the people who know me without being me. These are people I have unconditional love for. I am an army brat, what that means I never got the chance to live in one spot all my life. I jumped around a lot as a child. So I never got to really have what you would call child hood friends. That is something I wish I could have had. During my time in the service I was fortunate enough to meet a couple of guys, guys I consider to be my brothers from another mother. It is a good, no a great feeling to know that there are people here on this earth what will be there for me no matter what. Friends, yes we all have them, or so we think. You really have to watch out who we let into our circles. None of us are perfect even our friends; our best friends will sometimes cross the line. When they do, it hurts. When enemies or foes shoot you it hurts just to be shot. There is no surprise, they are the enemy. But to get shot at someone on your own side, someone you trust, you don't expect it. It is something that totally catches you off guard. It is a feeling like no other. A true friend, whether they are family or not is a beautiful thing. To know some one will ride or die with you till the end, there is a sense of comfort. Just don't confuse your friends and your associates. Associates are cool too, but there is nothing like a true friend. So those of you who are lucky enough to have a friend, cherish them, don't take them for granted, let them know what they mean to you and how wonderful you are to be their friend!

(Continues...)

Excerpted from An A-to-Z Mentalityby Rod Knee Copyright © 2012 by Rod Knee. Excerpted by permission of Abbott Press. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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