This post will explain why I haven't been blogging so much lately. It will be another month before I get back to blogging regularly.

Most of the people that read my blog have no idea what I do for a living. Actually what I did for a living. For the past week I have been unemployed. I quit my job.

There have been a lot of people that came to my blog and criticized me for various reasons. Mostly for my thinking, which is fine. I have no problem with that, after all, what is the point of being politically active if you can't stand the criticism? If your ideas are better, then shouldn't your ideas be able to stand the test of fire?

But there have been other criticisms as well, mostly about my typing skills. More directly, about my spelling. I agree that my spelling should be correct 100% of the time, but even professional writers need editors to correct things.

Unfortunately, I have neither an editor nor the time to check spelling and grammatical errors. I just type and go. I say what I have to say then move on. Ah, but I never felt the need to explain that until now.

For the past 2½ years, I have been an insurance person. Not just any insurance person, but a "debit agent". Most of you probably don't know what a debit agent is, so I will explain to you what I did. I went to people's houses and collected insurance premiums and sold life insurance.

Life insurance is a tough business. I swear if I ever write a book, I will title it "Every Thing I Needed to Know About Starvation, I Learned in the Insurance Business". Not that the money isn't good, it is. However, the money that you have to put back into the business can be costly. Yes, there are a lot of write offs, much needed write offs, but you still have to spend the money. You have wear and tear on the vehicle, cell phone, gas, lunches, et al.

To top it off, I worked in North Baton Rouge, which is our ghetto, and I worked 12+ hours a day.

Not the I hated the job, it was a good job, it was fun, I have met a lot of great people. Nor did I hate the company. The company was fine. However, I wasn't happy with the direction of my life. I wasn't accomplishing the goals that I wanted to accomplish.

Growing up in Colorado, I could see the mountains off in the distance. Those mountains always seemed so small and so easy to climb. They looked small enough to jump over. But when you would go on a hiking expedition with a group of people, it would not take long before people would get tired. I remember that I used to look at them and wonder why, when we just started off? But as we would continue up the mountain, the slope would get steeper and more people would quit and rest.

About half way up the mountain is where people start to camp out at. Why wouldn't they? They had a great view of the world, they were comfortable with their station in life, the mountain was only going to get steeper, and besides, they could no longer see the mountain top. No, for them, their station on the mountain was just fine. For them, maybe some other day they will reach the mountain top.

Then there are those that decided they want to get higher up the mountain top but the great challenge was still ahead. The mountains only got steeper, the trail no longer existed, they were tired and hungry, and they could no longer see the mountain top. Most people would see no reason in continuing. No, just those few idiots would continue on.

Of that few, most of those will eventually quit because their equipment breaks down, some fell off, and most will just be happy with the view they got.

But then you have that last one, the one who decides he will get past one more boulder, he will go just a little further, and then decide where he is at, even though he can no longer see the mountain top. He passes that last boulder and suddenly he is there, he is on top of the world, he has the best view of all.

I realized that is exactly how life is. When you are young, success is so simple, it's just a simple jump and you will be successful. We all believe that success is in the works for all of us.

As we set out into the world, immediately many people start to quit. They tell theirself what ever they want to hear in order to excuse their own failure. They couldn't get a job, nobody would give them a job, they will say it's because of their race, or what ever reason they have to excuse their failure. But the truth is, they just gave up. They got out of high school or college and couldn't find a job that pays them $10 an hour. They were just too good to get a job at McDonald's. In many cases, they just never filled out an application. In other cases, it's because of their attitudes. In fact, if you can't get a job, I am willing to bet it's your attitude that keeps you from getting a job.

Then there are those who take a job and begin to work their way up. That's what I did when I came to here, I worked my way up. Along the way, I got some breaks. Attitude is everything in the business world. Many people have a bad attitude and this keeps them from moving up. Anyway, I digress. I am getting off point.

What I find in most people is that they get their jobs, move up and find theirself happy with their station in life. They don't want a promotion, they don't want the added stress, they are happy right where they are. That's where they camp out. They have a great view of the city and they dream maybe someday they will get to the mountain top. Maybe they will win the lottery. Maybe a rich man will come marry them, maybe they will have a car accident and can sue somebody. They want to reach the mountain top, but they want a much easier way there.

But there are still those who try to achieve more, the want more, they struggle more, they desire more. Life only gets tougher for them because they want to get to the mountain top. They starve more, the do with out the parties that are going on in the camps below. They are challenging theirselves to do better.

Of those people, many of them will drop out. They gave up, the couldn't go a little further without eating. They just fell off. This group doesn't make excuses for their failure, they don't look for an easier road, they didn't achieve their goal and are laughed at by the people below because they couldn't make it. Even though they failed in their goals, are they really failures? Certainly many of those below will laugh at them and say they failed, yet, these people accomplish so much more than thos below ever did.

And then there are those who reached the mountain top. They accomplished something, the earned the best seat on the mountain. Many of those below hate them for having the best seat and accuse them of cheating. They are filled with jealousy but they could have done the exact same things and ended up at the mountain top.

The question I have for myself is where am I at on the mountain? I certainly hope that I am not on the bottom, but I know I am not ready to camp out quite yet.