McDojo

My son, Jacob, was born on June 27, 1995. It was from this point forward, I would learn my most valuable lessons in life. I learned that, together, as a family, hopelessness could be overcome, the feeling of having a child succeed when all odds were stacked against them was boundless, and sometimes life seems most alive when taking a chance. My wife and I made sure everything was in place. We had a solid relationship and steady jobs, and in time, we were able to balance our debts and save enough money to keep us afloat for many months, just in case something were to go wrong. It was time to have our first child. Our son Jacob was born June 27, 1995. We were the happiest parents ever; ironically, it would only be a few short months before we found how dark the days ahead would become and how our new family would struggle to survive. I worked night shifts, and after arriving home around 1 a.m. I would check on Jacob, but this particular night something was wrong. His body was twitching. The twitching grew stronger, and stronger, then he quit breathing. Panic, and utter helplessness fail to describe the bleak feelings overtaking my soul. This would be the first of many seizures, many late nights in the emergency room, and literally dozens upon dozens of doctors. In his first year of life, Jacob spent over six months in the hospital. The doctors could only come up with one answer; they accused us of child abuse. Not only were we in a strange city, in a…

next edition of the iPad, the concept of the having orientation encapsulates the rampant materialism or consumerism that pervades our culture. Then, as opposed to this, he describes the being orientation, in which a person values experiences and emotions, or human contact above materialism. Though he framed the being orientation in a more positive light (he accuses the having orientation to be what is wrong with our culture), it is not surprising to find that, in our capitalist society, we put…