This post was inspired by, and is dedicated to, FallingSafely,  Her post,So I kind of hate having a personality. Is that ba…, is one I think many of us can relate to.

    We have a certain way we think of ourselves, and try to present ourselves to the World.  This forms our personality.  We don't think of it as a role we assume, but in a way it is, because when we are alone, we often wonder about "who we really are".
    When I was growing up, I was a quiet, shy boy who didn't say too much, and much of my time spent alone, reading and dreaming about the future, even when in the midst of a lot of people.  That's what the people around me saw, and they assumed that to be who and what I was. 
    I have a good mind, though, and when I form opinions, I hold them strongly, and will defend them.  Also, I have a strong sense of what is right, and I won't stand by to watch someone weak being abused by a bully or group of bullies.  That, along with mere quirks of fate, led me to working in the Security & Law Enforcement field after leaving the family farm.
    By the very nature of working in Security, I developed my predisposition to protect people, and the property of those I worked for, and to be forceful in doing so.  I have since worked as a Prison Guard, a Police Officer, and a Security Police officer at a military training base.  All of this further expanded my knowledge of the evil people can perpetrate against others, usually in an attempt to gain profit or power.
    Working in those jobs made me change my own perceived personality to fit the field, and I enjoyed it for quite awhile.  I was seen as what I acted like, a tough, outgoing guy who wasn't afraid to wade into a fight, drank heavily, and flirted with all the girls.
    Since moving on from that line of work, much of my work has been in customer service and retail.  I am currently trying to reach a happy medium between the hard guy and the sensitive intellectual.  I admit, though, when you are trying to make changes in your lifestyle, even for the better, it is sometimes hard to give up aspects of your old identity, even those that others see as negative, such as drinking too much, and going out partying.
    Because you have come to think of them as a large part of who you are, and wonder how much of yourself you lose by giving them up.

What have you learned in trying to become who you want to be?

Mario Andretti McNeill, has admitted to kidnapping 5-yr-old Shaniya Davis.  Now it turns out he may have also raped and sodomized the girl before murdering her.  Shaniya may have been willingly given to him to use for sex, to pay a drug debt owed by her mother, Antoinette Davis, who was supposed to caring for her while Shaniya's father was out of town.  The mother had allegedly given Shaniya over to be used in child prostitution


Original article these images came from linked to below.  As for McNeill's photo, I don't know if this is mug shot, or a picture from elsewhere.

Murder and rape charges added in case of Shaniya Davis | WCBD

This post is dedicated to mtngirlsouth.  I just read a post which taught me more about Thomas Jefferson, author of The United States Constitution, than I ever knew before.  Jefferson's views on Christianity are very similar to my own.  Her post is long, but it, and the links it includes, are well worth reading.  I include below a couple of excerpts, and a link to the original post.

"Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, & not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should "make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof," thus building a wall of separation between Church & State." 

"the successful experiment made under the prevalence of that delusion on the clause of the constitution, which, while it secured the freedom of the press, covered also the freedom of religion, had given to the clergy a very favorite hope of obtaining an establishment of a particular form of Christianity thro' the
U. S.; and as every sect believes its own form the true one, every one perhaps hoped for his own, but especially the Episcopalians & Congregationalists.The returning good sense of our country threatens abortion to their hopes, & they believe that any portion of power confided to me, will be exerted in opposition to their schemes. And they believe rightly; for I have sworn upon the altar of god, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.  "

Please take the time to read her entire post, and the links she provides.  It will give you an incredible understanding of our Constitution, and the great mind that it sprang from.

The Truth About Jefferson, as Promised