Imagine watching a tornado come straight at you and you have no place to run or hide. What would you do?

A father and son experienced something they will remember – forever!

My story begins at a fishing tournament. On April 16, 2011 at approximately 3:39, a special weather feed on a nearby cell phone broadcasted a tornado warning for our exact location.

High winds and showers were in the forecast for a good part of the day. My son and I arrived at noon to help setup a small tent and handle registration. The tournament was not cancelled. It was still on by popular demand from some of the most dedicated catfish anglers found anywhere.

Around 3:00 PM, we started feeling the winds pickup. We sat under a 10′ x 10? tent attached to our 12′ x 6′ boxed-in trailer. This protected us a little from the wind, but as we peered across the lake, trees on the other side were starting to disappear. A mountain high wall of white water slowly moved towards us. In fact, the lake started to turn white.

The sky around us turned solid white very fast. Heavy rain began to fall. Everyone scattered to their vehicles and went inside the trailer for protection. However, three of us did not get the chance to make our move. We ran out of time as the tent collapsed on top of us.

Heavy winds blew the rain sideways at us. My son looked through a hole in the tent and spotted the tornado on the ground at the other side of the lake. He said, “This is going to be bad.” I made my move to look through another nearby hole. What I saw was a huge white Halo, swirling in front of me.

The tornado ripped through trees and blew debris across the lake. It was approaching at a very slow speed and we could clearly see the funnel spinning on the ground. However, when the tornado made its way to the water, it changed form.

The tornado quickly became a funnel cloud. The high winds from the center sucked up lake water and mixed it with rain. Our lips tasted bitter with mud. We could see the funnel cloud coming straight at us. We knew time was running out in order to make it to safety, so we all decided to stay put.

Winds were brutal at this point, blowing around 90 miles an hour. It took all our strength to hold down what remained of the tent. We used the canopy as a shield to protect us from the blowing rain and heavy lightening.

Suddenly, the winds blew directly down on us. It felt like were being pushed to the ground. The force of the rain, wind, and barometric pressure from the system caused us not hear each other’s screaming.

As the eye passed directly over us, the heavy winds slowed dramatically. We stared straight up into the eye of the tornado as it passed directly over our position. The northeast side of the outer wall blew by overhead first.

The twister had a black color to its spinning ceiling. Huge white clouds inside and outside looked like a huge washing machine tub on spin cycle. The size appeared to be 150 yards wide at the top, and 50 yards wide and the bottom.

As soon as the eye passed, the other side of the twister approached us with even faster winds. Except this time, the winds were blowing the other direction. This forced us to reposition ourselves and hold on again. Heavier downpours flooded the parking lot with three inches of water.

Approximately one minute after the eye passed, the funnel cloud quickly changed back to a tornado. Its spiral cloud touched down in the trees on the other side of the parking and moved on throughout the area.

Three minutes later, the sun was back out without a cloud in the sky. My son and I looked and each other with amazement. We asked, “What just happened?” I said, “We just looked up into the eye of an F1 Tornado and lived to tell about it. One of the most destructive forces of nature on the planet simply passed right over us.”

Fortunately, there were no injuries or major damages. All we lost was a small tent that saved our lives!

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Consumers increasingly expect more dollar value at the pump, but as we explore various techniques to get the best deal, it presents a huge change in purchase patterns. This means discrete shopping at its best.

It is no surprise that gas prices are having a big impact on consumers. They have become innovative minded and systematically search for ways to save money. In fact, more are setting a predetermined amount instead of filling up at the pump. Even gas for lawn equipment is purchased in a lower amount.

Another example can be found in small companies. They are purchasing vans to carpool office staff to and from work. Others are seen at the same gas station twice in one day to cap off their tank because of longer distances for travel. Uncertainty about the future of gas prices contributes to the shortest route possible.

Construction contractors are all riding together and service companies are planning routes that are more direct. Some companies have installed GPS to notify headquarters if the engine is idling too much, or on the road. Churches are buying small vans to pickup the elderly so they can attend services and meetings.

Truck stops are going silent. Truckers who travel long distances are required by law to rest for a certain period before heading back on the road. This means they are shutting off their trucks while resting, instead of letting the engine cool or build up continuous air pressure.

Recreation is experiencing change at a rapid pace. Anglers and boaters are not frequently spotted on the road. If so, trucks are packed with people and gear. Campgrounds in state and private parks are virtually empty. Community events and movie theaters are starting to see fewer participants.

In one small southern Virginia community where two gas stations are within seeing distance of each other, the larger gas station raises their price, so does the smaller one – within minutes. The smaller mom and pop station does not waste any time to make their move when they see the major chain station increase their price.

In one small Pennsylvania town, drivers with big SUVs, Mercedes-Benz, Lexus, and Jaguars are seen pumping only three or four gallons into their tanks. These expensive models have warnings that signal the driver when the tank only gets down to a three or four gallon minimum.

Suppliers are playing a game and its persuasive structure is full of profit yielding potential. Consumers have gone through an unprecedented change, and their definition of unwanted quantifies a legitimate reason to become shrewd savers.

If everyone would go three days without purchasing gas, you would see prices fall. However, that is not going to happen. Change is very difficult and can be extremely tough for some people. The toughest thing about change is when it involves other people!

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Unemployment will continue to be a major obstacle facing economic recovery for years to come. The confusion and deception increases dissatisfaction for millions of American lives who fight to survive at this point. This feature is in direct conflict with what we should know about the cultural characteristics of a pure successful business. A business in today’s economy is predominantly a flat organization with quick decision making, where risk taking is encouraged and failure is merely education.

Utility Struggle

Consumers purchase new energy star appliances, new windows, new insulation, new weather stripping and sealants for their homes, yet, their utility bill skyrockets from $170 to $410. With only one power source, it’s impossible to stay ahead. The problem is power companies are still in development of their infrastructure coupled with high home and business foreclosures that power demand decreased rapidly. Unfortunately, they recoup through high rates passed to existing customers.

These power companies, with the possible exception of co-ops, have maintained a certain comfort level. They have tried to grow out to meet demand. However, since more homes are now “turned off” they have to maintain a dollar value X in order to even stay at that level and also for trading excess to other areas. At the root of every utility grid is more excess now than before, and nobody is trading at the levels they were even one year ago. It’s a shame that energy is itself a fungible commodity such as oil.

Unemployment

Congress has continually extended unemployment benefits to incredibly long, unprecedented amounts, and that creates a consequence of said action. A good percentage of the unemployed population have simply given up seeking a job now, because the job market is waterlogged. In many instances, people simply were not laid off from their jobs. Those positions no longer exist at all.

Entire sectors of skillsets are not considered necessary now by companies because they are either too expensive to keep on the payroll, or they have downsized to the point of not being able to retool back up to their prior levels of production where those skills are needed again. The people with those skillsets are now finding that they literally have no qualifications or are overqualified for part-time work and cannot find anything in their sector anymore.

As this number of unemployed (or even the “working unemployed”) increases, so too does the increased need for longer unemployment. Whether or not this is needed as a social program is not really debatable at this point; it’s here and this is the current state of things. However, here’s the catch with unemployment: you have to pay back your unemployment when you finally do get work or reach the termination time for your benefits. Which leads to a further drain on whatever meager pay these folks can get.

So, in the case of unemployment, it creates a feedback loop which will cause Congress to, undoubtedly, extend unemployment benefits to even longer lengths of time. This action will further create a short-term drain whereby other programs might need to be downsized or nixed altogether, as well as help perpetuate more in the job market to give up.

Imagistic Repetition

The US has been artificially keeping the cost of inflation down by printing more money, while the government buys down the inflation cost. Remember the 90s? Greenspan and Clinton, even though jobs were plentiful and the economy appeared healthy, were concerned if interest rates were raised, would it impact the economy.

A properly managed economy works on checks and balances, and those balances are during the good times is when you raise the cost of inflation, such as; interest rates which controls the rate of growth by slowing it down so that sound decisions can be made and eliminate taking unnecessary risks. Then, should there be a downturn in the economy, due to those risks that were not taken, is not as severe while a slight reduction in interest rates will restore confidence and the economy gets back on track.

However, the US economy is being managed today by two previous events: The Great Depression and the high interest rates brought on in the 70s. Think about all we have heard about in the past year is the Great Depression. And the 70s, 80s, and 90s were nothing but high interest rates. The Federal Reserve is playing on our fears of these two events (brainwashing), as a means to get us to go along with their agenda, which has resulted in one catastrophic event after another in regards to the financial health of the United States.

We have been programmed during the good times to spend, spend, spend, and take out more credit, when in fact, during good times, both professionally and personally, we should actually be more frugal and during the bad times increase our spending so business expansion can balance things out and minimize the impact of our economy.

It is a well known fact that all truly, successful people set goals. If hard working Americans who are struggling right now wish to be more successful than others, then all goals must be realistic, short term, measurable and obtainable within the bounds of our own God given perception.

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Fishing is the oldest industry on earth. If we look back in time, we could literally see our ancestors trading their catch for goods and services. Fishermen back then probably challenged their own conventional wisdom by seeking fundamental change. A change that transformed the way we do business today.

When we glance at our current economic situation, the predetermined agenda sits inside our collective consciousness. We often feel like doing business is miserable and unfulfilled. This psychological path is why we are brainwashed into thinking our products and services will sell just by giving it a name. Names are nothing but jargon, and features are only components of the solution.

The fishermen knew of this early on. People had to eat. They expressed the benefits upfront and then ended it with proof. If businesses tell the consumer what they are getting and why it’s the right approach we wouldn’t be breaking communication rules for more sales!

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We must first determine which things in life are most valuable to us. We also must determine our feelings about such things as patriotism, pride, love, freedom, excellence, ownership and tolerance.

These are values in society; the moral, ethical and fundamental judgments that we, as individuals, deem important.

Without a clear system of values for ourselves, it is impossible to believe in something with a passion that has no value to us.

Once we have established our individual value system, we are then able to determine how we can achieve success based on our priority of values.

It’s like holding one hand up to accomplish what we desire on the other. Without a value system we can never move forward. Why? Because we may be doing business without increasing our potential for success!

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