Click to view the video: https://www.facebook.com/watch?v=1300433908756245
Social reform comes from individuals doing what they can.
In 1824, Charles Dickens watched helplessly as his father was dragged away to Marshalsea debtors’ prison. With their family name in ruins and no money left, young Charles was pulled from school and thrust into the harsh reality of Warren’s Blacking Factory near the Thames.
For 16 hours a day, this gentle, educated child sat among rough adults, pasting labels onto bottles of shoe polish. The factory was cold, rat-infested, and reeked of industrial chemicals. His small hands grew raw from the work, but his spirit suffered more. He felt abandoned by the world—invisible, worthless, forgotten.
Most children would have been broken by such trauma. But Charles carried something different inside him: an extraordinary imagination and an unshakeable belief in human dignity. That suffering didn’t destroy him—it awakened him.
Years later, when his father was freed and Charles returned to school, he never forgot those who remained trapped in poverty’s grip. That pain became his purpose. Every novel he wrote carried the voice of the voiceless, the cry of the forgotten child, the plea for justice.
Oliver Twist wasn’t just fiction—it was Charles at age 12, asking for more. David Copperfield wasn’t just a character—it was every abandoned child Charles had seen. A Christmas Carol wasn’t just entertainment—it was a moral revolution wrapped in story.
Dickens didn’t just write books; he rewrote society’s conscience. His novels sparked real reform, shuttering workhouses, improving labor laws, and giving dignity to the poor. The boy who felt powerless became one of history’s most powerful voices for change.
Sometimes our deepest wounds become our greatest wisdom.
Sometimes the moments that break us open are the moments that let the light pour in.
That broken boy by the Thames didn’t just survive—he saved countless others through the stories only he could tell.
On Freedom
“Freedom is not deserved. It is taken then defended.” from the story ‘The Peace Treaty Was a Lie—Humanity Knew It All Along’ on the YouTube channel SCIFI-HFY
Quote of the Day
“I am not a product of my circumstances. I am a product of my decisions.” Stephen Covey – Author (1932 -2012)
Consequences
Lance Davis writes, “I always felt we are responsible for the decisions we make, right or wrong.”
I would add that the difference between an ethical person and one who is unethical is that the ethical person can and does more accurately predict the consequences of alternative courses of action and makes more pro-survival decisions based on that more accurate prediction.
Based on that observation, teaching our children to stop and think about the consequences of alternatives is perhaps one of the most valuable lessons we can give them.
Lucy and Uncle Sarge
It was 2 AM when I heard a knock on my door. I opened it to find a little girl, barefoot in the freezing cold, clutching a half-dead kitten to her chest. Her lips were blue, her pajamas soaked from walking through frost, but she looked up at me and whispered, “Can you fix my kitty like you fixed Daddy’s motorcycle?”
I’d never seen her before. My Harley was still parked out front with tools scattered around from earlier, and somehow this child decided a biker could fix anything—even a dying kitten. But then she added the words that made my stomach drop: “And Mommy won’t wake up.”
I scooped her up, wrapped her in my leather jacket, and called 911. She told me her name was Lucy. The kitten was Whiskers. She pointed down the street toward “the house with yellow flowers,” saying that was home.
When I asked why she came to me, she said something I’ll never forget: “Daddy… before he went to heaven… showed me a picture of his friends. They had jackets like yours. He said if Mommy ever got the sleeping sickness again, I had to find one of his angel brothers—‘cause you fight the monsters.”
Those words hit me like lightning. “Angel brothers” wasn’t just a child’s imagination—it was real. Her father had been one of us. A Heaven’s Angel. A brother I didn’t even know had left behind a wife and little girl.
I didn’t wait for paramedics. I carried Lucy and ran to her house. Inside, her mother was on the floor, unconscious, an insulin kit spilled beside her. A diabetic coma. I did what I could until help arrived. They managed to save her.
The kitten didn’t make it. But the bigger picture was clear—Lucy and her mom were alone, and they were family to me now.
When her mom woke up in the hospital, the first thing she saw was me sitting beside her bed, her daughter asleep in my lap. With tears in her eyes, she whispered, “You found one. Danny always said one of you would come.”
From that night on, they weren’t alone anymore. My brothers and I fixed up their house, filled their pantry, and set up a fund for Lucy’s future. She called me “Uncle Sarge.” I taught her to ride a bike, just like her dad would have.
She came to my door that night asking me to fix her kitten. But what really happened is—we fixed each other. She gave me a family to protect. And we got to keep a fallen brother’s promise: to fight the monsters and keep his girls safe.
Taylor Sheridan – No. 11 On The Call Sheet
In 2011, ‘Yellowstone’ creator Taylor Sheridan was a jobbing actor down to his last $800.
When he attempted to negotiate a pay rise for his role as Deputy Chief David Hale in FX’s ‘Sons of Anarchy,’ an exec knocked his attorney back by saying:
“He probably deserves to make more, but we’re not going to pay him more… There are 50 of him. He is #11 on the call sheet. That’s what that guy is and that’s all he’s ever going to be.”
That was the final insult that convinced Sheridan “I didn’t want to be #11 on the call sheet for the rest of my life.”
So he got to writing, and four years of typing away later, he’d turned in a screenplay that became Denis Villeneuve’s ‘Sicario’ (2015). A masterpiece, through and through.
The following year, Taylor Sheridan racked up nominations for David Mackenzie’s critically acclaimed ‘Hell or High Water’ (2016) starring Chris Pine and Ben Foster; before making his own spectacular directorial debut with ‘Wind River’ (2017).
The real game changer, however, was the moment he co-created one of the most successful modern television franchises with Art Linson: ‘Yellowstone.’
Despite being snobbishly rejected by HBO during a prolonged pitch process, the five-season affair featuring Kevin Costner has spawned two epic spin-off shows with three more currently in active development.
It also convinced Paramount to let him produce five more passion projects — ‘Mayor of Kingstown,’ ‘Tulsa King,’ ‘Special Ops: Lioness,’ ‘Lawmen: Bass Reeves,’ and ‘Landman.’
In present day, Taylor Sheridan is worth over $200 million and the proud owner of historic Texas property Four Sixes Ranch, AKA 6666 Ranch (pictured: below).
How’s that for being #11 on the call sheet?
Building Men
On Detoxification
In an email I received Ty Bolinger wrote:
“…they’re saturating your life with toxins through the very products you trust. A stunning new global inventory has cataloged over 350,000 commercial chemicals, and in the US alone, more than 80,000 of these chemicals are used in everyday household products, with approximately 1,500 to 2,000 new chemicals introduced each year.
“This article exposes the cancer-causing agents hidden in your furniture, your water, your food, and even your children’s pajamas. Ignorance isn’t bliss; it’s a recipe for disease. https://thetruthaboutcancer.com/toxin-cleanse-identifying-harmful-toxins-affecting-your-health/
“However, you can’t stop there with internal toxins. What you put on your body is just as important. That “natural” moisturizer? It’s probably full of endocrine disruptors that are throwing your hormones into chaos. This article breaks down the link between the beauty industry, plummeting fertility rates, and skyrocketing cancer cases. Your skin is your largest organ, so it’s time to start paying attention to your skincare routine.” https://charlis.beauty/articles/your-skin-and-hormones-know-the-connection
(Tom: Now I know some will focus on the fact that he makes money by providing a solution with natural skin care but his data is supported by much I have seen elsewhere.
Here is a summary of the detoxification data I have read: https://healthelicious.com.au/Detoxification.html)
Bill Gates’ Organipeel Nixed
Published July 16, 2025.
Apeel was not just approved for organic produce. Apeel Sciences made two food coatings, Edipeel for conventional produce and Organipeel for organic produce. In 2019, Organipeel was approved by the EPA and the Organic Materials Review Institute as an organic fungicide. People are mistaking that Organipeel was just approved, which is old news. In fact, Apeel has since discontinued Organipeel and is working on new formulations for USDA organic growers. No Apeel food coatings are currently approved or in the market for organic produce. I confirmed this with the OMRI yesterday.
Edipeel is still allowed for conventional non-organic produce in the US including avocados, limes, oranges, mandarins, grapefruits, and lemons. The vast majority of produce at the grocery store is coated with insect based, petroleum based, or plant based food coatings, not Apeel. The best bet to remove Apeel or any type of food coating is using vinegar and water and scrubbing with a vegetable brush or cloth.
https://myhealthforward.com/blogs/my-health-forward-july-25/organipeel-discontinued