"I've been the DoD since ... At some point I plan to go back into teaching but not yet. Hey I want to commission another painting just been super busy. How are things on your end?"
From my end, and for a long time by now, there is a clear mission statement, with the main goal to do the very best that I can do and in the best of my abilities, in spite all my shortcomings, difficulties, and obstacles. Nothing that I have done, though, has been done for money but for following my mission life statement which matches my values and propels me to continue onwards, I would have not stay in New York City otherwise.
Hope you would have find the meaning of your life already within your own interpretation of what is Coram Deo and Coram Mundo for you... You know, it is the time of the year in which we usually meditate in how to make this world a better one. It is possible that my message does not eloquently "speaks" inside any ear yet, but I know that I have shared, written, and uttering my words as I have painting my impressions with all my true empathy, compassion, sincerity, and deeply scrutiny of the reality in which I have the opportunity to live in, and which I am witnessing.
It is all sharing, for which I have never the desire nor the aim to impose my views or anything else onto others. What else could I do, if I do not know nothing?
I feel somehow accomplished and successful since some people have made their business to take almost everything that I did or have owned from me without recognizing that they did in the first place. Perhaps, because I think differently or because their fears, or any other unknown reason, or much deeper psychological complexes; or evenly, just because they were making some type of money or earning some kind of privileged; however, it is not all negative, many people are using my ideas, my paintings, diagrams by acknowledging my modest contributions; I have not received any monetary remunerations for their usage but makes me really proud as they have used what I have conceived somehow.
In addition, by today the free-culture aka as Open Source is actually changing the landscape and many other things especially in technology, and it is all for the better. Look at the city of Munich for example, lately after a painful migration, it has completed, this last week, after ten years, the migration from Microsoft servers and office applications, to GNU/Linux and LibreOffice...
Freedom my friend... and of course with the same free-will and good faith by which I would have allowed you and others to enter into my office; with the same enthusiasm, positivism, and energy that I have opened to you and anyone else to see my being as is... Freedom the essence of life and dignity based on respect, kindness, and responsibility towards what are your real priorities of life considering others in the meantime too.
Incidentally, today, and since yesterday, people are fighting to be the first ones to access the stores to buy bargains; today is the so called Black Friday. It is sad for me to see that so many people believe on that; many brothers and sisters are believing in having more instead to be happy and thankful for what they already have. Greedy is winning nowadays my DoD friend.... and serving as a teacher has nothing to do with it.
Anyhow, you should be very proud to work for the DoD... under the unique leadership of Dwight Eisenhower, with the inspirational vision of J.C.R. Licklider and the incredible management skills of his student, the computer scientist, Bob Taylor, the DoD was able to implement the ARPANET and it has changed the world since then.
Finally, perhaps you could remember well one thing, Bob asked to IBM and AT&T, first than to anyone else, to develop the project based on packet-switching-then-theory, but they both rejected it and stated the same thing, "Packet-Switching would never work;" and what has happened after all? Doesn't work, really?
It reminds me of so many higher education institutions and the individuals behind them... An apparatus that deserves and needs to be changed for good. If those institutions still are running in the way they are, it is not because they are competent or effective but the lobby-ism, greedy-ism and idiot-ism in many branches of the illogical "tree." I am not Noam Chomsky in that I am not believing that it is the United States as a whole, which by they way, I think that it is very unfair to put a country under the same label, that is doing evil, but some individuals, and more so, a group of bastards that are in positions whereby with their pretenses are taking the very wrong decisions for all of us under their mere empty and selfish interests.
It is ludicrous and sad up to the point of ridiculousness but a lot of people have been fished into thinking that those who are precisely in positions of power are very smart people, think on the Mayor of Ontario as an example; notwithstanding, there are many others less conspicuous and stupid but many times more harmful.
March Forth my friend...be your own portrait, as you still can find your mojo, this is your life and as I have explained you it is not a prison but only for those who think of it as that; as they do not know better, they make the hell out of it for them and for the rest of us. Just don't be one of them, let us use a mirror and see ourselves into it… anyway enjoy it!
Sincerely,
JMK
PS. This is your shopping day, and so you got your "painting" for free as in Freedom... What do you think?