Monthly Archives: July 2025

People, People, People.

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Everyone wants to be in the position of leadership. We have our own ideas about what needs to take place in that role. The strange thing about that is that not everyone is suited to be in the leadership role. In my working life, I have seen different kinds of leader. Some were great and I wanted to work for those people. Some were not so great and you just tolerated those people. Usually when some the leaders who didn’t know what they were doing would have high turn over. They would also have poor production in the factory or office.

I was a Department Manager and Assistant Manager for our beloved Walmart. There I had every kind of leader you could think of. I did my job to the best of my ability. I was always cooperative with my employees. I tried my best to help them wherever I could. Every year the company would ask the employees to rate their Assistants and Manager. I consistently received an 80 to 90 percent approval rating. I always made sure people were doing their jobs. And if they weren’t doing what was expected, I coached them right out the front door. Each coaching was a call for them to improve their work ethic. They had 3 chances to do so. If they didn’t improve, they left the company.

I always treated people fairly. Always trying to coax or cajole them into working as hard as they can. I never yelled or belittled anyone. I would speak to my employees with respect never wavering about the task at hand. Christmas was coming and I had 2 young men moving pallets of goods into different shipping containers. At first it was liking pulling teeth. They resisted doing anything. At lunch time I brought them to a Subway store and bought them lunch. The results were day and night. Those two young men moved more pallets faster than our receiving team. It’s all about how you treat people.

The point is how you treat people. When the work got hard, I would pitch in and help them. People appreciated that I valued people. They would work for me because of that work ethic. I always believe that working hard and doing your best was the right way to do things. I wasn’t working hard because of what people thought. I worked hard because it was who I am. And because I worked hard all the time, I rose in management. I never wanted to be a store manager because it was too much politics and paper work. But I would always do my best to help people.

Crain Blanchard.

Joseph1637@juno.com

Joseph1637.com

When your Son goes to War.

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My older brother and I went to war, but I never thought about what our parents felt. When my son’s unit was called to war, Iraqi Freedom, my wife and I joined the Family Support Group for his company. My son didn’t know anything about war. Their training was intense for the type of combat they would experience. The US military trains troops to be able to fight a war. But the impact of war can only experienced first hand. All the troops were 18 to 30 years old and none had ever experienced the string of battle. Their bravado was strong, but I saw the fear of the unknown in their faces. You can’t teach how you will react in the middle of battle. All you can do is train and let muscle memory take over in combat.

While our son was deployed, my wife and I stayed busy with supporting troops with care packages of food and any other needs. We live in southwest Louisiana. The number one request for food items was Tony Chachere seasoning in the individual packets. The second request was Community Coffee, dark roast. We sent individual packages for each birthday in the company. We stayed busy because it was a shooting war. Out of the 150 members of the company, 36 were killed in Iraq and there were more wounded. While he was there, we were able to live video link with our son on Facebook. When I saw him, he had lost weight and had a serious look to him. He came home on his two week vacation during 4th of July. We went to the park to see the fireworks and every time an overhead bomb went off, he would jump. It was the ravages of war.

Before he was deployed, we had a serious discussion about death. Not only were we concerned for his safety, but that he would be seeing death up close and personal. My wife and I had to place him in the hands of God for his safety and our own sanity. While he was there, his best friend was killed. That morning his captain allowed him to call home. I answered and the first thing I asked was are you wounded. He said no, it is worst. He couldn’t tell me over the phone, but I figured it out. He took it hard and began to feel guilty for surviving. The effects of war are not only on the soldier, but on his family. It took a while for our son to transition from combat to regular life. The effects of war.

We survived and he came home. 2 more sons served in the military, one in Iraq and one in Afghanistan. It has been 20 years since they served and we are still feeling the effects of the war, but thank God not as much. I was watching soldier’s family reunions on Youtube and it all came flooding back.

Crain Blanchard.

Joseph1637@juno.com

Joseph1637.com

The Death of a Loved One.

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8 years ago my younger brother was dying of lung cancer. He discovered he had cancer in January and died in July. When I found out, I was at his side every evening. The cancer treatment was ruff on him. The cancer had caused his bones to weaken. Both of his femur bones, his legs, were broken. The doctors had to do surgery on his legs before they could start the chemo treatments. After the surgery, the doctors wanted him out of bed and walking. Everyday the nurses walked him through the cancer ward which was one whole floor of the hospital. What my brother saw was that most cancer patients were alone and had no flowers in their room. He looked at all the flowers in his room and told the nurses to bring his flowers to their rooms. Then he got his sons to start a memorial golf tournament to raise money to put flowers in the rooms of cancer patients. He did this while dying of cancer himself. It is called the Bill Blanchard Memorial Golf tournament and it is held every two years in Lafayette, La. The last tournament raised $10,000.

I was with Bill until he died. We had many a discussion about life and death. Also we discussed God and Jesus. But about a week before he died, he was at home. We were talking and he asked me if it hurts to die. I looked at him and began to explain what the word of God says about death. It is the most feared thing in this life. People are afraid of death because they don’t know Jesus. But to anyone that is a believer, there is no fear. But the bible does say that believers will close their eyes in peace, in death, and open them in the arms of God. I told brother that death is just a doorway to the other side of life. The pain is in this side of life because of our flesh. You see our flesh is made of the dust of the earth and is cursed by God himself. God cursed the earth in the garden of Eden when Adam and Eve sinned against God.

Bill was at home with his family around him, when he closed his eyes and opened them in heaven. Death is not something to fear. It is our way home. This life we have on earth is just temporary. Home is heaven. And when we cross over that barrier, we wont feel any more pain. We will feel the joy and love of God to the fullness. He has been gone for 8 years and I still miss him. And sometimes I wish I was already there, home.

Crain Blanchard.

Joseph1637@juno.com

Joseph1637.com

The 4th of July.

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As an American, I celebrated the founding of our country. I marvel at the efforts put for by our founding fathers to create this nation. Our nation is not so different than many others that were founded throughout the ages. Mankind has not changed since the beginning of time. Technology has come a long way, but who we are has not. We live longer because of discoveries, but people are people. All you have to do is to read the history of anybody throughout the ages. And the pattern of who we are will emerge.

The first thing that comes to mind is family. It is the very first institution ever invented, both in mankind and animals. Then there is work to feed yourself and your family, then there is shelter and last but not least is clothing. Our basic needs have never changed. There is an old saying that is true, history repeats itself. Since the beginning, how many times has fathers worried about caring for their family? How many times have mothers been concerned about their families safety?

My son was being deployed to Iraq several years ago. As our family gather with others to see their sons and daughters off to war, I started watching people. Some were laughing, some were crying, some soldiers held their children as I wondered how many times has this gathering occur since this country was founded. As I was watching all the people, a song kept playing in my head. The song was “Johnny has gone for a soldier”. It is a song from the American Revolution.

We may all speak differently, have different origins, believe in different religions and are culturally different. But as a people we are the same. We all have the same desires for family, freedom, being able to provide and protect our families. So, I celebrate this 4th of July by remembering who we are and what was started in this country 400 years.

Crain Blanchard.

Joseph1637@juno.com

Joseph1637.com

Time and Belief.

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I have talked about time before. Time is a construct for us to measure seconds, minutes, hours, days and years. Time itself is finite, as we are. Each of us has been given a set amount of time. What we do with that time is strictly up to us. There is no cheating time and we can’t slow time down. All we can do with is speed it up. We have seen people live like there is no tomorrow. And their life proved the point. Our time is directly correlated to how we live our lives. If we live carefully, we can live a long life. We have all seen people burn out die. So time is consistent and methodical.

The one thing that mankind has is a free will. This free will gives us the choice in everything we do. It doesn’t matter what we get into. We choose that. Having free will isn’t always a blessing. Without understand, free will can become a curse. And we have all experienced that dilemma. So what makes the difference​?

Knowledge + Experience = wisdom or understanding. We find out about something, lets say chocolate candy, and we taste the chocolate. I don’t know about you, unless you are allergic to chocolate, I eat chocolate as often as I can. I know chocolate taste good, but it isn’t always good for you. There are people who are addicted to chocolate. So with the understanding of our limitations, we can enjoy the benefits of chocolate.

This brings us to belief. Belief is the wisdom or understanding that knowledge and experience give us. We don’t pursue things that we don’t believe in. When we want something, we pursue or are given the knowledge about that goal. Then we experience that goal and prove the point that we want that. Once we prove the point, we believe in that. Before we even try to obtain a goal, we must believe that it is obtainable. So here is my question. What do you believe in and is it worth the effort?

Crain Blanchard.

Joseph1637@juno.com

Joseph1637.com

Blast from the Past, An Observation.

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That Idiom refers to a song from the past. But a song doesn’t mean that it has to be music. I have been recently listening to the music of the 1960’s and 70’s. Some I like and some still turn me off. When I was in high school, I collected all the top songs of the day. Back then they were 45rpm singles with one song on it. I had a hard case to carry the 45 singles around. When I would go to parties, I would bring the case with me to listen to music. If you wanted, you could buy the whole album to listen to. Radio stations would play the music and we would listen and dance. The DJ’s of today came from people playing music back then.

People listen to songs from every different genre. I even like classical music. But the song I am referring to isn’t the music that you hear with your ears. The song I am referring to is the one that you hear with your heart. Everyone grows up wanting to become something. As a kid, we wanted to be firemen or soldiers. Some wanted to doctors or lawyers. But no matter the path we took, we all heard the song that call us to a particular path. That particular song was strong enough in us to motivate us to become whoever.

I have observed that the song in our heart never goes away. It became strong enough in us to choose a path that produce a lifetime of melodies. All along the way in life, people heard our song. Some people agree with our song and some didn’t. But no matter what direction that we took in life, it was our song. The strange thing about that song is that we hear is as strong as it was in the beginning. The blast from the past is our life, our song and our melody. This is just an observation that refers to family, friends, school or work that we orchestrated in our life.

Crain Blanchard.

Joseph1637@juno.com

Joseph1637.com