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#53) Social Cycle Theory

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Hello and welcome back to "Always Be Better" with Mel Windham. Today we return back to politics and the last of my three videos featuring the "Power of You." Today we're going to explore something called Social Cycle Theory. As we look back on history, you may see certain patterns. Each country has good times and bad times. Times when freedoms are great, and other times when autocrats are in control. Prosperous times and destructive times. And throughout the millennia, different philosophers and social scientists have tried to capture these patterns in a type of formula. And as you may guess, these formulae come in many different varieties, each with their own nuances and differences. But overall, each of these theories have in common the idea of some kind of cycle.  You can even see this idea in one of the oldest books -- the Bible. Here, we can see such a cycle in the account of the Jewish people after Moses led them to the Promised Land. The people enjoyed ...
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#52) The Afterlife and the Worth of Souls

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Hello, and welcome back to "Always Be Better" with Mel Windham. Today we're going to switch over to the Spiritual Track. But before we start, I'd like to remind you that as I've said before, my goal is to have everyone enjoy these conversations, including people of different faiths, and even atheists. So, I will do my best to keep these discussions agnostic. Also, I want these first three videos of this year to share a theme in common: the power of you . You'll see where this is headed by the end of this video. And one last observation before we begin... When we touch on religious, philosophical, and spiritual items, it's impossible to rely on evidence and logic alone -- this is something I'll explain in a later video. Nevertheless, I find these topics intriguing and often important, because they are all connected to our human experience. I will not be providing a water-tight proof, but rather some unique ideas that are always fun to discuss. I'll...
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#51) The World Needs You

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Hello, and welcome back to "Always Be Better" with Mel Windham. Just like I did a year ago, I thought I'd come outside again and have another one-on-one talk with you. And I'll cut straight to the chase. I'm concerned. In a perfect world, we would all live peacefully. Everyone would love and help each other. Strong leaders would guide us and show us through example the best way to succeed and prosper, giving us a strong foundation -- a top-down model of living. However, last year I've come to realize that we can no longer rely on our world leaders. There's just too much hate, corruption, deception, and power-grabbing. More and more our leaders are teaching us to hate our opponents, and are encouraging division. At times I wonder, who's going to come and save us? Who is left among us that has any remaining honor, integrity, intelligence, and a sincere desire to help make this world a better place? Where could we find such a person? Could that person b...
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#50) Circle of Influence

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Hello, and welcome to "Always Be Better" with Mel Windham. It's been a while, but I'm back. My 50th topic will be on our Circles of Influence, by far one of my favorite items from the 7 Habits, and the source of much of my success. Think back to the last few weeks -- a major election here in the US. When the results were announced, half of us were ecstatic, and the other half of us were shocked and depressed. We knew it was coming -- it would only be a matter of which candidate would win. Now that it's all over, do you remember what came next? If you're anything like me, your life probably continued on as it had been before. I had a day of reaction, and then ... well ... I had work to do, and it was time to get busy again. Because when it comes down to it, each of us really can't do anything about these types of big items. There is certainly a lot we can worry about. Nuclear war, poverty, foreign threats, stock market crashes, immigration concerns, elect...
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#49) Flipping Pennies

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[Note about this transcript -- it is approximately the same as what is said in the video -- the same material is covered, though the video might be more fun to watch.] [Mel starts at the white board, writing notes as he goes along.] Hello, and welcome back to "Always Be Better" with Mel Windham. Today we're going to do something fun ... an experiment. But first, during this exciting election year, let's consider a claim from the 2020 election. From 1980 to 2016 (10 elections), there were 19 counties that successfully voted for the candidate who won the presidency. That is, they all voted for Reagan in the 80s, then Bush Senior, Clinton, W Bush, Obama, and finally Trump in 2016. An amazing feat. These are called bellwether counties, because they seem to "predict" the national outcome. Perhaps they are purple and more sensitive to the overall national trends -- nobody quite knows what makes these counties so special. They're just really good at picking t...
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#48) A Walk in the Park

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TRANSCRIPT (Note: In prior episodes, I've spent way too much time getting the words here to match exactly what's on the video, but it's not really worth it. So, this is an approximate transcript. I strive to deliver the same message, whether you watch the video or read these words ... I would only suggest not doing both at the same time.) Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of "Always Be Better" with Mel Windham. Today I'm at C. G. Hill Park on this beautiful cold President's Day, just a couple of miles away from home. Hey, want to see something cool? Come over this way. [Head over front of a big tree.] This large poplar tree has a hole so big, you can hide things in it. Let's see what this sign says. Older than Columbus. Got struck by lightning. You can hide cows in there. It's called the Loving Tree. Cool. Hey, camera lady -- wanna try out this tree? Picture by Michael C. Wilcox  HMdb.org [Cut to the big hole in the tree.] Here it is...
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#47) Visiting Wieners and Losers

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Following is the transcript for the above video. As this installment relies heavily on visual hijinks, I highly recommend watching instead of reading. But for those of you who prefer the written word ... here you go ... [Episode starts in the usual Mel's Desk setting.] Hello and welcome back to "Always Be Better" with Mel Windham. Today I have a treat. We're going to check out a local small business called Wieners and Losers, something you've got to see to believe. We're going to talk with the owner and get a small tour. And as usual, you'll never know what's going to happen. I'd say more, but why talk when we can hurry up and get there? [Mel gets up and walks away from the camera. He's wearing sweats below his nice shirt. He turns to the camera.] Wait a minute -- I can't go looking like this. [His clothes magically change to a Wieners and Losers shirt.] Well, that's more like it! Okay. Let's go. [He runs out the door. He gets in m...
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