Regards to style, I am probably as old fashion as it gets. I still have shirts hanging in my closet from 15 years ago. I have bought a few suits in recent years but all the old ones are still hanging beside their younger siblings.

In the business world, there are people that can carry off a hipster (my term) look and then there are people who just need to be who they are.

The Hipster look is described being a tad overly trendy. They are easy to spot in a crowd because they typically wear a slick (shiny suit,) hair gel, tight jacket with pants that come about two inched above the ankle (yea, that is really a thing,) no socks and pointy toe shoes. They always look real serious like they may be a bit constipated.

Again, there are people who can pull this off and then there is the rest of us. Without naming names, there are several public figures in their late 60’s who can dress like this and really look cool and relevant. Several weeks ago, I was in NY at a conference and I saw this older gentleman, clearly wanting to style and profile for everybody to see. The problem was, he just didn’t quite pull the look off. It reminded me of a pig trying to wear a wristwatch. It doesn’t matter how nice the watch is, it just doesn’t look right.

So, my styling advice for old dogs like me is to dress your age and don’t try to look like someone you’re not. The truth about what men wear, is that no other man will remember if you wear the same shirt two days in row. Ha. We just don’t compute those kinds of details. You never hear a man telling another man, Joe, you just wore that shirt and those shoes last week. No-siree. This is why in ever married couple’s house is a little section in the closet for the husband and then,,,, the rest for the wife. Women remember what people wear but men are oblivious to it. So, men if you find a pair of jeans or a shirt that you like, just go ahead and wear it several days in row. KT

My good friend Rob Greene (no pun intended) sent this to me and it made me think of our grandparents and how simple life was in those days. I did not write this but wanted to post it on my blog because it is so very true. KT

Checking out at the store, the young cashier suggested to the much older lady that she should bring her own grocery bags, because plastic bags are not good for the environment.

The woman apologized to the young girl and explained, “We didn’t have this ‘green thing’ back in my earlier days.”

The young clerk responded, “That’s our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment for future generations.”

The older lady said that she was right — our generation didn’t have the “green thing” in its day. The older lady went on to explain:

Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled. But we didn’t have the “green thing” back in our day.

Grocery stores bagged our groceries in brown paper bags that we reused for numerous things. Most memorable besides household garbage bags was the use of brown paper bags as book covers for our school books. This was to ensure that public property (the books provided for our use by the school) was not defaced by our scribblings. Then we were able to personalize our books on the brown paper bags. But, too bad we didn’t do the “green thing” back then.

We walked up stairs because we didn’t have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn’t climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks. But she was right. We didn’t have the “green thing” in our day.

Back then we washed the baby’s diapers because we didn’t have the throw away kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy-gobbling machine burning up 220 volts. Wind and solar power really did dry our clothes back in our early days. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing. But that young lady is right; we didn’t have the “green thing” back in our day.

Back then we had one TV, or radio, in the house — not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of the state of Montana. In the kitchen we blended and stirred by hand because we didn’t have electric machines to do everything for us. When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used wadded up old newspapers to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap. Back then, we didn’t fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn’t need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity. But she’s right; we didn’t have the “green thing” back then.

We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water. We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blade in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull. But we didn’t have the “green thing” back then.

Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service in the family’s $45,000 SUV or van, which cost what a whole house did before the “green thing.” We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn’t need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 23,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest burger joint.

But isn’t it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn’t have the “green thing” back then?

We live in a world that is becoming less and less aware of who the real heroes are. With social media and mainstream news, the messaging continues to confuse who and what a hero is and who is worthy of our respect. Just about every faction of our society is represented in the news as being the example we all should follow. Nothing can be farther from the truth. Our country is in the middle of a battle for the hearts and minds of our youth.

I served in the military and for me, a hero is not an outspoken athlete, Hollywood actor or misguided politician. For me the greatest display of heroes is found at Dover Air Force base where service members from all five branches of the military that are killed in combat are repatriated. In other words, it is where our fallen service members are brought home to the United States.

A hero is not defined by the amount of money, fame, influence or social status they have. I believe the honor of hero should be given to the ones who fought to provide the opportunity for those who have money, fame, influence and social status. Just maybe, it would be helpful for all of us to be present at Dover just one time to watch the military caskets with flags draped over them as they are carried with military precision from the plane with the ultimate respect of what should be a grateful nation. That is what a hero is.

On this 4^th of July, pause and remember the literally hundreds of thousands of young men and women that gave their life so that we, as a nation can live free and read a blog post. KT

I got ready to go to work this past Monday and while getting dressed, I started thinking about all the things I had to do that day and all the calls I had to make. Needless to say, when I got in my car, I was hurrying and anxious. I ran by Starbucks before going to the office and I realized how wound up I was,,,, and I wasn’t even at the office yet. Ha

I stopped the car and looked around and saw that the world was in order. Then I took an inventory of my own life and realized how blessed I am. Then I when through the life checklist (wife, children, grandchildren) and was satisfied that all was ok there. Once I did all this, I then said a word of thanks to God for the day, its beauty and the luxury of life itself. Sitting in my car, I became calm about the day and thankful for the opportunity and the ability to live life.

Occasionally, we all could use a good reminder of the blessing life is and the joy of being able to live it. Many times, the simplest way to calm your spirit, is to pause and take a short inventory of how blessed you are to be alive. Bing Crosby sang a song in the movie White Christmas (1954) with the lyrics, “when you are worried and you can’t sleep, count your blessings instead of sheep and you’ll fall asleep, counting your blessings.” Pretty good advice to live by. KT