I know it has been a while since I have put out a rant. You know how it is. Right in the middle of our wonderful plans… life happens. I would like to thank everyone that has supported my family and me during our time of bereavement. God never promised us we would not hurt. He only promised comfort when we are hurting. So thank you all for the comfort.

I just read about a very interesting experiment. The scientists were testing whether you could learn hopelessness. They defined hopelessness as a state of accepted helplessness. If so, how is it learned?

Interestingly presidential candidate Sen. Obama has underwritten his whole campaign with the idea of hope. Former presidential candidate, Jesse Jackson, built his career on “keeping hope alive”.

Where there is hope there is help. We all could use a little help every now and then. Obama has been able to paint a picture in the hearts and minds of the people that the most powerful government in the world is willing and ready to help them. Now that is hope! Who would not vote for that?

I, on the other hand, am skeptical of the government’s willingness and ability, for that matter, to help people in a lasting meaningful way. Hence, I focus on people. What can we, as individuals, do to help ourselves?
What is making Obama’s message of “hope in the government” so popular? Obama’s message resonates with people, who for a long time have lacked hope and over time may have learned to lack help.

I pose this question to myself. Have I learned helplessness? Will I vote for the ticket that potentially represents the most help (hope)? My fear is that many American’s, especially African Americans, may have learned helplessness somewhere along the way.

In the experiment, a caged dog received an electrical shock. It could however push a button that would end the shock and let it out of the cage. At the same time, there was a second dog that received the same level of shock as the first dog. There was nothing, however, it could do to relieve its shock on its own. It had to wait for the first dog to figure out how to stop the shock to get any relief. A third dog received no shock at all.

Here is what the research showed. The first dog very quickly realized that it could do something about its situation. It would do so as soon as it figured out what to do. The third dog who had received no shock learned that it could do something about its situation. It did not take it long to figure out how to stop the shock and free itself from the cage. 

The second dog, however, exhibited a very strange behavior. The second dog learned that regardless of what it did, it did not matter. Despite the pain of the shock, it did nothing. It just laid there. It learned that it could not change its own situation so it simply suffered the pain. It yelped from time to time, but did nothing of substance to improve its own situation.

Now I wonder how many of us are like the second dogs. How many of us have yoked ourselves to a presidential candidate? How many of us have decided to endure the pain of the economy, gas prices, unemployment, foreclosures, bank failures or whatever your particular pain is until one of the “Big Dogs” figures out how to stop the shock.?

Sen. McCain believes he can stop the shock and many people are hoping (voting) he can find the “STOP THE SHOCK” button. Sen. Obama believes he can stop the shock and many people are hoping (voting) he can find the “STOP THE SHOCK” button.

We can find our own “STOP THE SHOCK” button. We can help ourselves.  We already have hope. We can bring about change in our lives today. We can bring about our own hope.
Regardless of who becomes the president of the United States of America, do for self. Determine what we as individuals can do to change our personal lives so that we can undo our learned helplessness. Regardless of who becomes president… whether it is McCain or Obama, we can affect our personal situation when a shock of life happens. We can do something about it and it does not matter the breed of the first dog Democrat or Republican. Roo!!!!

This is just my 20 cents!!!!