Don't Mess With Mama Bear!

   "Woman shoots intruder in the face!" I saw this story on the news this morning and I am still cheering this Mama Bear on.  I got chills imagining myself in her shoes.  She's at home with 9 year old twins and there's a knock at the door followed by incessant ringing of the doorbell. She calls her hubby who tells her to grab the kids and hide while he calls 9-1-1.  

     The intruder breaks in and ransacks the house. The terrified woman is on the phone with hubby and the 9-1-1 operator as the intruder is closing in on their hiding place.  Hubby keeps her calm and urges her to start blasting  with her .38 caliber revolver if the intruder opens the door to their hiding place.  She hit the guy five times in the face and he still managed to make it out of the house and drive off before crashing his truck and being arrested.  So I can only imagine what may have happened if this Mama Bear had not been armed, ready and willing to use her weapon. 

     While the entire situation is a tragedy it is viscerally satisfying for me as a wife and mother to know that the cowardly intruder who meant to do this woman and her children harm got a painfully rude awakening.  A situation like this is a perfect example of why the gun control issue is so frustrating.  Some statistics say that a victim who is armed is more likely to be shot or killed than a victim who is unarmed.  But as we all know every situation is different and I, like most every Mama Bear, would prefer to have some fire power on my side in a life or death situation.   I'm just saying.  Let me know how you see it?

"Be Better!"

"Your actions speak so loud I can't hear your words!"  Whoa there!  
     I came across this quote the other day and it won't let me go.  The words are  simple yet incredibly and annoyingly true! I know I'm not the only person who has spent time wondering what on earth other people think of me.  And certainly I  care more about what some folks think than others.  None-the-less I do care. I can't help but wonder what I telegraph about myself to other people. 

          On my good days I'm convinced others see me as witty, loving, beautiful, encouraging, charming and I could go on and on.  But what about my bad days when I don't want to deal with anyone or anything, no way or no how? When nothing is going right and it seems like the entire world is plotting against me? Do all of my "good day" qualities shine through the darkness?  Honestly I don't even know if I have an answer for that question. If I did I'm sure it would be biased. 

          I can say making an effort to be conscious of what I do and what I say makes a big difference in how I act.  Also realizing that every action starts with a thought means I need to check myself and my thoughts often. Whew! Yes that's a lot of work (at least for me), an ongoing process filled with a series of victories and defeats.  But hey, at least I'm in the game.  My hubby's motto for 2013 is "Be Better!"  While he's not the boss of me, though he thinks he is, I shall do my best to take his advice and be better with my actions and not just my words.
     Okay, so what about you? What will you do to be better?