"Habit", Something Good or Bad?

Since this is the season for many of our young ones to adopt a "habit"/costume in order to accumulate a hoard of goodies, I thought it was a good place to begin this week's blog. I am willing to bet that each of us at one time or another have assumed a different persona by donning a piece of clothing not usually worn by us. Perhaps, a simple dishtowel worn as a cape and we not only pretended to be Superman, we were Superman!! Or perhaps a smidgen of mom's makeup and we became a fairy princess! These examples were one kind of "habit". They were part of growing up.

As we became older, we may have adopted a different kind of "habit". Perhaps we did so because of peer pressure, we just wanted to "fit in", to be part of a group. Unfortunately, some of these kinds of habits are not always so trivial as those when we were young. In fact, some of them may have negatively changed our lives forever.

Now, to the meat of this week's blog. I request that you adopt a habit that will have a positive result for you and for that matter, for all of us. In order to be successful in your effort to develop the habit I am recommending, you will need four items: a pencil / pen; a small note pad / sticky notes; tape; and a phone. The singular most important item you will need however is commitment!! Once you begin, don't give up! Stick to your guns! Stay the course! After just a short time, you will have developed the habit. For those of you who would rather use a computer than a phone substitute it for the phone. Now to get started.

The first activity to get started is to identify your local politicians. Access the Pennsylvania Taxpayers' Cyber Coalition at www.PTCC.US . Look on the left side for the heading Find your Legislators. Click on it and enter your zip code in the appropriate place. If you don't know what the four numbers are that should follow the usual five digit zip code for your address, click on the prompt that will provide those four numbers. It is important that you provide the search with all nine numbers so that the legislators for your specific address will be shown. You should end up with just one Senator and one State Representative. When their names appear, click on one at a time. That person's bio and demographic info will be revealed. Note their phone number and e-mail address. This is the most "labor intensive" part of the project. It should require about 10 to 15 minutes of your time.

Now that you have their names, phone numbers and e-mail addresses, the next part of the project is to write or print the following message on at least three sticky notes or pages from the note pad: Call (or e-mail) my local legislators today. Now, using the tape, affix the notes to those places where you will not fail to notice them when you arise at whatever time you usually get up each day, e.g.: the bathroom mirror; the handle of the refrigerator; the coffee pot handle; the inside door knob; etc. Perhaps you will be able to think of many more locations that will serve to remind you to Call (or e-mail) your local Legislator every day.

Now that you have identified your local Legislators and written / printed your reminder notes, take a minute or two and mentally compose a "strong" message you will say or type so that you will get their attention. Do not resort to expletives to get you point across. Don't be too soft or whine / whimper. Remember, they are (or at least are supposed to be) our employees!! State your demand as though they were an errant child. At this point, rather than mention how you have been negatively affected financially (form of whining), suggest they cross train for a different carreer if they do not demonstrate support for the School Property Tax Elimination Act (SPTEA). The bill was re-presented by Sam Rohrer on 29 OCT 09.

Our opportunity to oust the noncompliant legislators is next year. We will have given them more than ample time to do either one of two things. Either they will submit to our demand or they had better make good use of the time to cross train.

In my last blog, I perhaps went a little over the top when I assumed there may be as many as 9 million + voters who would call their local Legislators. OK, so perhaps there are just 4,500,000 voters. If they all called or e-mailed their local Legislators every day each Senator could look forward to about 90,000 messages per day and each Representative would receive about 23,000 messages per day!!! I do not believe they will be able to ignore us for any appreciable time.

It may sound too easy to sway their thinking by just calling / e-mailing them with our demand but remember, there is strength in numbers. In order to be successful, it is important, it is crucial, it is critical we band together as one voice the crescendo of which will reach even those Legislators who attempt to ignore us, who may even resort to: stuffing cotton in their ears; refusing to look at our e-mails; etc. If any of the foregoing action on their part occurs, it will be time to inform the local media that our "leaders" are refusing to pay attention to their employers. If that occurs, the media will see it as an opportunity to become like vultures and descend on the Legislators as thought they were a piece of rotting meat!

Remember the goal. The School Property Tax Elimination Act must be passed if we all want to keep our homes, not have to scrimp and do without the necessities, forget the niceties.

Please do not forget anyone you know who does not have a computer and therefore does not have the means to identify their Legislators, e.g. your neighbors, friends, extended family, co-workers. Please assist them to get the data they need to contact their legislators so they can lend their voices to ours. Perhaps there is a senior family member with Arthritis who has difficulty writing. You could write the reminder notes for them and post them in strategic locations in their home so they would be reminded to call their Legislators every day.

If you have any difficulty locating your Legislators, contact me and I'll help you out. You can reach me at johnjhere@gmail.com .

Semper Fidelis

Nurse John