It's gotten to the point where I won't even watch mainstream media or any news outlet.

Both sides are against each other. Yeah. There's no center Alrighty, folks. Welcome back to Transacting Value where we're encouraging dialogue from different perspectives to unite over shared you.

Now, our theme for 20 22 is the character of your character. So who you see when you look your values in the mirror?

NOW, TODAY WE'RE TALKING OUR SEPTEMBER COR VAL VALUES OF FORGiveness, HUMILITY AND SECRIFICE WITH MR. CHRISTIFER KURK. For right now, if you're new to the podcast, welcome, and if you're a continuing listener, welcome back.

Without further ado, folks on Porter, I'm your host, and this is transacting value. Alright, Chris. What's up, man? How you doing? How's it going? Pretty good.

I'm glad you can make some time here this weekend to talk a little bit. So I I appreciate you coming out, man. Thanks. Yeah. It's been a rough 1. Well, how about today, everything going a bit smoother at least, all things considered?

Yeah. Pretty much. Wife and kids are out of town. They're up in Wisconsin right now. Is that where you're from? No. I'm originally from Illinois, but I grew up in Tennessee, and then back in Illinois now.

Oh, I see. Okay. Well, you know what, let's just jump into that for a little bit. So I can obviously see you because we're talking on a video, but for everybody listening, let's work some relatability.

So you mentioned you're from Illinois initially, raised in Tennessee, but what do you do now? What what what has sort of shaped your perspective to this point? I just recently transitioned from the military in 20 19.

I was an infantryman in the army, did some reserve time, tried to balance work and military all in 1 with kids. So that was a task in itself. Yeah. Currently, I I run a CNC machine cutting floory.

Flooring? Yeah. Okay. Like, for residential use, what does that mean? We do all sorts and stuff from gymnasium floors to commercial buildings to sports logos. 0000, like inlays for floors. Yeah. Yeah.

Yep. Okay. What are some of your most complicated projects that you've had to work through? We did 1 for the Wisconsin Badgers, their college locker room. That 1 was a nightmare. Lots of little pieces, basically, a ginormous puzzle.

Oh, yeah. Yeah. How long did that take to put it all together? From start to finish anywhere from 20 to 30 hours. Jeez. Now you're talking piecing it together or design concept, cutting, and putting together?

We do we do we do the design concept cutting, and then we laid out ourselves, make sure everything's tight. And then from there, we send it to the customer.

And so then if you're not local to where they're at, they do the assembly and install? Yeah. Okay. Yeah. We do know it we do no install. We just put it together at the shop, and then go from there.

Sweet. Okay. And so you've been doing that for the last couple years now? Yeah. About 4 or 5 now. Oh, yeah. Good for you. How was that as an industry, I guess. Because I don't know anything about it.

And it seems a little niche, you know, people that want custom floors or companies that want custom floors. We do it like Robert Math, like what you would see in a gym floor. Uh-huh. We do that almost weekly.

Oh, so that's pretty much your regular go to type material? Yeah. Logos kind of hit or miss. Alright. How was it during COVID? You guys end up keeping as busy as normal? Or Oh, we were open the entire time. Really?

We never shut down once. The entire shop ended up getting COVID, and we shut down for about a week or 2, and then ran counteracting shifts and nobody interacted with each other. That's busy. But it's only, like, a 4 person operation.

We've got the owner. We've got the shop manager, we've got Meen and another guy. Oh, that's your standard crew. That's it. That's nice. You don't have a lot of conflicting personalities to deal with.

You don't have a lot of craziness. Yeah. That's nice. And so you guys were able to stay regularly busy too. That helps a lot. Oh, yeah. We if anything, we got busier. Really? Yeah. Oh, actually, I I guess that makes a little sense.

People staying home or, you know, office managers, whatever being just noticing things they wanna update and change. Yeah? Right. Yeah. We're 1 of or, I believe, in the Midwest that do what we do. And we ship all over the US. Oh, dang.

If you're that busy working all the time, you mentioned that you had to adjust, especially in 20 19, once you got done and out of the military and then balance and work and life and family and your own self and whatever things you wanna do and to relax or or pursue.

So if you're that busy at work, what kinds of things do you find work for you? To balance out all of those priorities and your time. A lot of sleepless nights. Yeah. Yeah. That that's definitely the first thing to go.

Right? You start staying up late and waking up early. I mean, that was basically my routine in the military, though. We would get maybe 3 hours of sleep if we were lucky. Whoa. Yeah. No wonder you stopped.

You can't sustain that. Yeah. Jeez. Well, I ended up getting medically discharged. I blew out both of my knees, 20 18 in Fort Oak, Louisiana, had surgery on 1, got a blood clot, and then they basically said that was it.

I was the non deployable. Oh, wow. Yeah. But I assume once that passes, you're you're back to normal? What does that mean? Not necessarily because I'm at risk for future clotting. Oh. So it kinda makes me a element to the mission.

I see. I guess, it would be 1 thing 1 other thing to consider Yeah. And so for your safety, if it's not worth it, it makes sense? Right. What's rehab like when you've got 2 legs that aren't working?

It was a nightmare. So I got the first surgery, had all the complications, and I just said screw it. I'm not gonna do the other 1. So I kinda just lean more onto that 1 than the other 1.

The the 1 that had the surgery is actually worse than the bad 1. But now that I'm compensating with the other 1 to kinda take the weight of that 1, that one's starting to hurt a little bit more too.

Yeah, man. Compensation is tricky. Yeah. Tricky. I've worked with some personal training clients. At at gyms over the last couple years, and that's sort of the biggest trend.

Right? You start to I guess, people generally gravitate towards relative pleasure and away from pain or discomfort. So, yeah, compensations huge. And it's it it may be minor, but over the course of a couple years, just compounds.

Right. Yeah. Yep. And how are you getting around now pretty well? Fairly well. I had a little bit of entropy in that lake too just from sitting on the couch along with the clot and the surgery and everything else.

Yeah. So my cloud actually won't fire. I'm just now getting to the point in 4 years later where it's starting to somewhat grow and fire again.

But if I were to, like, lay straight, I can't lift that leg straight up. Really? Yeah. But walking and everything else is fine. That's wild because you gotta have a little bit of quad action to walk.

Right. Man. But like conscious effort, you know, moving forward, you can catch yourself, but wow. Right. Right. If you're looking for high quality locally sourced groceries, the Keystone farmer's market is the place to be.

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Really? Yeah. But walking and everything else is fine. That's wild because you gotta have a little bit of quad action to walk. Right. Man, But like, conscious effort, you know, moving forward, you can catch yourself, but wow.

Right. Right. He may. We we did an interview with with a guy named Cody Anderson. 1 of the things actually that Cody taught me before he got out was this concept of a it's called sliding filament theory.

And so the gist is essentially what you just described with your quads, not firing. But whereas chemicals interact with the muscle fibers, whatever the muscle group is.

They have these little filaments on the end that that sort of excite and stand up, and then they latch on to the next fiber above them, and then the ratchet and contract or release or whatever like a ratchet strap.

They were giving they were giving me electrotherapy for that to try and get it to do what you're saying. Yeah. Did it work. And even still couldn't get anything.

No. Whoa. Yes. See, I always thought that if a muscle group or whatever, part of your body starts to atrophy, 1, obviously visibly, it gets smaller. But But 2, it's just not necessary to be as strong. So it just -- Right.

-- cannibalizes itself. But I didn't realize that meant that it actually What's the word? They're not working now. Wow. I didn't know. And there's nothing you can do to mentally combat that. You just gotta wait a minute.

Not really. I mean, I tried, like, just doing light squats and little jogs here and there. And eventually, like, it's starting to build back now, but Yeah. It's been about 4 years. What's that like mentally?

I assume that takes a toll. Oh, yeah. It was hard for a while. I was I couldn't even go from the couch to the restroom without being in pain or my leg would just completely give out And so you you just have to rely on other people.

But you got a whole family that you still gotta take care of. Right? So, like, could you drive? So I did my left leg for that purpose so I could drive.

Uh-huh. That that in itself was rough. I was in huge brace that I couldn't even move in for 2 and a half months. Well, that's a long time. Yeah. I bet you got in some pretty quality movie time though.

Oh, yeah. What are some of your go to movies, man? Tombstone, Goodfellas. Nice. Western mafia movies. You know, I just watched it's a whitey bulger documentary, not the movie, what is it? Black black something or anything. Biobig.

Yeah. The actual biopic. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But it it's such a crazy story how many different like in his case, how many different law enforcement entities, and how many different organizations, and everybody had some role to play.

But then he was just able in in South Boston to manipulate everybody to his benefit. You know, it was like it was like watching a what I expect a less maniacal Joker biopic to be.

Yeah. Crazy. And then for, what was it, 2 and a half, 3 decades, just running South Boston? Yeah. Yeah. But tombstone's pretty cool too. That's I I think that's a classic, man. That one's wild. Oh, yeah. Definitely, for sure.

I actually had a chance to go down to the okay core Barrell in Southern Arizona in Tombstone a couple years ago. Yeah. I mean, you know, it's nothing special. It's a bunch of rock wall and dirt, but That's still pretty cool, though.

Yeah. Have you have you had a chance to travel anywhere or or go anywhere? Maybe even like that? Not recently. No. We don't do a lot of traveling. We're constantly working. Yeah. There's all sorts of cool places, man.

And you mentioned goodfellas too. You know, Rayleota just died a couple months ago. You remember hearing about that? Yeah. Yeah. That was unfortunate too. I really liked him. He was young too. He was only, like, 70 something.

Yeah. I don't think he was much older than that. Yeah. I can't remember. Let me ask you this. Only because you said you were raised in Tennessee, and I'm extremely ignorant when it comes to a lot of things.

My first, I guess, leaning goes to, okay, well, then you must like country music. Is that a stereotype or is that fact? Growing up, I didn't. I was forced to listen to it. I absolutely hated it.

But as I got older, I appreciated it a little more. And what aspect of country, what, I guess, almost now genre of country, like nineties, late eighties type country or, like, now more I don't even know what it's called.

Old outlaw country, Johnny Cash, Merl Haggard, Weyland Jennings. Not too crazy about any genre music past, like, 2005.

Now, there there are some I I don't wanna say Newark. They've been around a bit, but more There's a few that I can get in to, but not very many. Like Luke Holmes. He's not that old. It hasn't been around that long.

Yep. He's a he's a good 1. And Morgan Wallen, that's another 1. Yep. There's there's definitely if you you remember hearing was it maybe 2 years ago? I think it was Morgan Wall and got into that I don't even know if it's a controversy.

Yeah. Yeah. All that mess? No. Yeah. It's crazy now, in in twofold, how quickly things can get blown out of proportion, but how quickly they can happen and get passed around and talked about period.

It's 1. Social media and media in general is just a huge problem right now. Exactly. Everybody's offended by everything and Yeah. There's definitely a lot of that, right, and you you hear it all the time.

Whether you watch, I don't know, Tucker Carlson or or whoever or not, Right. It's it's almost like everybody just I don't take sides. Like, I I don't know where they're I feel I feel in reality, though, most people are generally center.

They're not so far over 1 side or the other. Yeah. But it's it's almost like to get any sort of social currency you have to pick a side. Right. You know, it's such a weird Actually, I guess it's not that weird.

I've seen Greece. Okay. So let me back up. Do you have you seen Greece? The movie, the musical? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And so that's what I feel like. It's it's Ridell high on prime time. You know? Like Right. Yep.

Absolutely. You're you're with them or you're not, and it's it's weird. And then now, I I don't know that it ever died away, but this weird sort of back and forth thing with Biden and Trump not to dive into it. It's just interesting.

Between Biden and Trump, like, you guys aren't running against each other anymore, but they keep Right. They're always popping up in the media. Yeah. Yeah. But but to each other, like, what you don't you have no ties anymore, you know?

Exactly. Man, but gets ratings. I guess. I mean, it seems to be working, you know. I mean That's mainstream. Yeah. Yeah. Everybody covers it. And, you know, I'll tell you BBC, The Guardian.

Yeah. Generally, both a little bit comparably more centered. I haven't seen any of that. Yeah. And it's super easy to get sucked into these hot button hashtag issues of the day here in the states, and get tunnel vision on alright.

Well, then there's nothing else happening. It's gotten to the point where I won't even watch mainstream media or any news outlets both sides are against each other.

Yeah. There's no center that's most of America. Hey, y'all. It's jewels here with the b and the bear creations, we specialize in custom tumblers, t shirts, car decaf, and anything else you can think of.

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Yeah. There's no center that's most of America. I think so. Yeah. And it it doesn't even have to be politically driven. Right? Like, you don't have to be libertarian or Democratic or Republican or whatever else exists now.

I don't know. Like, just as people. You know what I mean? Like -- Right. -- what do you Yeah. Let me let me let me ask you this. And you answer as as in-depth or or b as 1 as you want. It's entirely up to you.

When you think about anything, I don't want to say political, but like, when you were in school, Right? High school or college, whatever applies in your case. When you were in school, how many times did you side with the popular vote?

You know, like, to get vending machines in every classroom with class president or like -- Right. -- I'm only with the sports team and the Jocks because that's what groups do, or did you just do your own thing?

I was kinda doing my own thing like, we were in a super small high school football was king. Yeah. I played all 4 years, but I was also the guy that had the freaking big gauges in my ear too that didn't fit in at all with anyone.

Yeah. But, no, I I was hanging out with everybody. It's such a weird thing that, like, when does that change?

Or maybe it doesn't, and it just sort of gets masked over. I don't know. But it seems like it does. Everybody who rides sort of down the line where you're describing, you're not the outcast, but you're not the popular crowd.

Where do you go as an adult? When does that change? What's the threshold? I think the military was a big part of that for me because everybody in units in. There's no clicks. There's no groups.

Yeah. It is a hard reset. White, Hispanic, everybody just meshed together because we all depended on 1 of another. Yeah. Well, that's sort of the difference. Right? Like, in the regular world, private sector, whatever you wanna call it.

You don't have rely on anybody. You can do your own thing. Right. As long as you're not -- Yep. -- murdering people and running stop signs or anything in between, you're good usually.

Yep. That's exactly how I feel. Long as you're not affecting me or anyone else do you? Yeah. But do you think that might be contributing to some of this division? Oh, a hundred percent.

So is that a problem? I feel like it's becoming a problem. I don't think it we're there yet, but it's becoming So in whatever direction applies as a fix, and I'm quoting that for anybody listening, how do we fix it then?

Honestly, I have no idea. Like, I feel like we're just going downhill, and it doesn't matter who's in office, what's going on, like, crime right here in Chicago is just ridiculous.

A higher than you are usual? Oh, yeah. Just over fourth of July, my body was on the fire department when the mass shooting happened, that's great. And then I just saw on Facebook, like, 2 weeks ago, there was a shooting at 6 flags Yeah.

But, I mean, is that, like, in the nineties. Right? Kids can't play these games because it's gonna incite school violence and Is it because of video games?

Is it is it really because Pokemon Go is corrupting our youth? You know? Like, what do you think? I mean, I think maybe video games do have a part play in it, but also our movies, our television, everything is ruled around gone.

But it's exciting. Oh, it's definitely exciting. I'm not gonna lie. I love it. But no. I think our media in general contributes to all that.

Yeah. But I mean, they're they're a business. Right? So as far as business goes, they're just trying to keep up ratings and cater to what's popular and I mean, that's all anybody does, usually.

Right? Like -- Right. -- like, we we started with politicians. They're obviously going to say what they can to get a popular vote and win the competition, get elected.

Absolutely. That doesn't necessarily mean that's them as people, or that's what's true to them and their ideals. Maybe it is, maybe it's not.

I don't know. If there's ever any sitting president or senator that wants to be on his podcast, send me an email. If you don't cater to your base, you're gonna lose support. And -- Absolutely. -- how do you get elected?

To say that everybody has something unique to bring to the table, whatever that means in your circumstance or application here to say that everybody's opinion is has merit or is valid. But then to say, alright.

Well, yeah. But to win this competition to get elected to fill in the blank, it involves anything popular, spreading on social media, for example, causing any sort unity for a company or gaining consumers or selling products.

Right? You've gotta give people what they want, ratings on TV, video games, movies, sort of like Steve Jobs said. Right? How do people know what they want if I haven't told them yet?

I don't even know how to describe it. It's a weird kind of threshold where you've got to cater to people on 1 hand, without sacrificing maybe your values, your corporate culture, your character, your sense of you authentically.

I don't know where that middle ground is. I guess we're all sort of finding about as we though, right? Absolutely. That's a tricky balance. And then now, man, now you don't even have to be you.

Remember watching catfish on MTV a while ago? Oh, yep. Yep. Yeah. I mean, it was funny then, but now it's reality. I mean, more than then. Right. You can be a I don't know how into computers you are.

You can be a character on a computer game and be a 55 year old man, but be a 12 year girl in the game. Yep. I mean, now I don't know. Now there's a little bit of that in in it seems like every game, TV show, movie, where -- Yeah.

-- where where people are, I don't know, pretending? Yeah. It does. It seems that way, it's more now than ever. Yeah. I but it's it's the it's becoming the mainstream popularity point.

Right. Inclusion, creativity. Maybe you being authentic to you means you being someone else. And then, so that's 1 angle. What do you think about this other angle? I was tossing this around. Let me get your opinion.

In elementary school, did you ever have library time? Yeah. Yeah. I think we went, like, weekly. Yeah. Something like that. Right? Where you sit down, the librarian teaches you the Dewy decimal system, and she reads you a book.

Can you take a nap, maybe, you know, Yeah. Yeah. Well, what do you think books are the same thing? Like, are we really that far now from where we were then?

You read a book to escape reality. You create a character to escape it? I honestly don't even think that people read as often as they used to. Maybe not. You don't need to as much now. No. Everything well, I mean, I know me personally.

I probably haven't picked up a book since high school. I listen to a lot of audiobooks, though. Yeah. Well, and a lot of that's the same the same vein. Right? It's still just basically somebody reading to you. Right.

Yeah. So there's there's nothing wrong with that. But I think we have kinda lost that a little bit and it moved over into media. Well, what about People aren't influenced by books and narratives and everything else as they are media.

And That's a fair point. Okay. I agree with you. But then what about times have changed so much. People, I don't know, aren't like they used to be or or whatever type references you wanna make, saying like, Okay.

So this was Family Robinson. To read a book for entertainment, you're really just taking a break to escape from whatever reality you're in.

100 percent. Yeah. Is it really that different now? Kids doing the same thing, making video game characters, or people, I guess, making video game characters, escaping to reality No.

I think it's entirely the same. Well, okay. So how did your parents or you with your family or whichever discourage you from Okay.

Like, you can read books about magic but you're not a wizard. Okay. You need to learn reality. How do you teach that then? Yeah. That's a that's a good point. I never really thought of it that way.

I had a I had a teacher in school. Maybe it was high school or secondary school for me listening, but I had a teacher. So I was reading 1 of the books in the Harry Potter series. It it came out around that time, that book.

I remember he walked over to me, and he said, just so you you believe that? Believe it. No. But it it's fun to read. And I know it's not real It's so hard to differentiate fiction from nonfiction.

Anymore. Yeah. But that's a valid point too. There is a difference though, and maybe that's just what we've lost. Maybe that's why reading or reinvigorating the of it is could be so much help so much more helpful.

But, like, you have kids? Yeah. I've got 2. Okay. So I've got 1. He's 8. He doesn't wanna learn how to read. Yeah. That's how my 7 year old is. Yeah. Okay. So, yeah, same Like, he absolutely hates school.

Because it's not fun. Right. I think a lot of that because our kids are the same age is because mine was doing kindergarten during Coke. So it was all online when you're supposed to be interacting and everything else.

Yeah. So I just back played a big part in it. But I think also, we gotta take a step back as parents and be like, alright. Well, I didn't think school was fun either, and I didn't have half the distractions they've got now.

Right. You've gotta be able to fix. Time to make them read, essentially. Right. Yeah. Or make them realize that there's a difference, at least. Yeah.

Yep. And then now, man, I'll tell you what, dude. Now, YouTube Let's just say. Another against YouTube, nothing against any of these people making these channels. Oh, yeah. It's not allowed at this house though. That's probably smart.

Every time I catch my kids, I'm an art, you're losing your phone, you're losing the tablet, you never know what's gonna pop up. No. They've got the kids they've got the kids YouTube, but I've seen, like, adult content on that.

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A day long celebration of the power of podcasts. And nothing against YouTube, nothing against any of these people making these channels. Oh, yeah. It's not allowed at this house though. That's probably smart.

Every time I catch my kids, I'm like, alright, you're losing your phone, you're losing the tablet, you never know what's gonna pop up. No. They've got the kids they've got the kids YouTube, but I've seen, like, adult content on that.

Well, it still comes down to whoever's moderating or whoever's up loading to say -- Right. -- now it's kid friendly. But then so you've got videos on YouTube that are fabricated for the sake of YouTube and ratings.

Right. Right? So the these types of people, commentators, if you will, talking about Minecraft or whatever other video games, people just watch and then play video games, these types of channels though.

All of that is not real. Some of it is, people playing video games. It's all gameplay, but -- Right. -- the reactions There's there's a show on Netflix. What's it called magic for humans?

Have you seen this? No. It's it's it's a good show. Dude, I can't remember his name now. But anyway, the the guy's a magician, mostly a street magician from what he does on the show, and then he turned it into a TV show.

So you see that yeah. So it's really cool. He does a great job with it is I don't know how many seasons now, but it is a series on, I think, Netflix.

So the first time I watched that with my son, he thought it was super cool. And I agree, and I don't wanna dissuade him from thinking magic is cool because the illusion -- Right.

-- it, you know, it is. It's cool. And it helps -- Right. -- maintain some creativity and and whatever. But but there's a difference when it's on TV.

Like, I can't explain the tricks, but I can explain that if there's a cut take, somewhere that you cut out or even impractical jokers is another 1, like, you can't do all these things without giving somebody a heads up.

But on TV, you can make it look like they don't know. Right. Because you edit that out. Going on, like, 15 years, and they're obviously gonna go.

Oh, these guys are here. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. But it doesn't seem that way on TV. It doesn't seem that way on TOO. Right? So -- Right. -- vow to say, Hey, Dude, look, this is nonfiction because it can happen, it does happen.

But in this moment, in this video, it didn't actually happen that way. Like, you almost have to discredit what people are seeing now to explain the reality and the nonfiction of certain things.

That's tough. That's tough. Oh, yeah. You're not, I don't know, sacrificing reality to say that this Not that this can't happen, but it's not happening in this moment.

Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. And that's a tough point to teach from, because now what sort of stable ground are you using as a platform to teach?

Absolutely. Man, even outside of school, just just as a parent or as an adult, as a human for that matter, talking to other people.

Like, Right. A lot of languages are rooted in religion, just because how it started. And then it carried through. A lot of new words like urban dictionary type stuff aren't.

Yeah. They're they're rooted in popular culture, but to say that they're not words, if you use them and people interpret the meaning and it's effective and correct, well, now it's a word, you know?

Right. I think it's the same sort of thing where I think overall, we're facing this destabilization of morals as a society, and it's going to get introduced as the new norm.

It's it's -- Absolutely. -- that's just the pattern of life and and time and history.

Now do you think with them removing all of this history and everything else, you think history will see this though? Maybe not specific events. Right? Like, we're not I don't expect we're gonna have another French and Indian war.

Right? Right. But there's trends in the same vein that there's scientific theories because they've stood time even though circumstances have changed and technologies have improved.

I think it'll be the same case where throughout history, people who get greedy, there will always be greedy people.

Right. And and land resources, power, will always be a focus of that greed. There's always gonna be a minority and a majority of what's popular and what's not.

Somebody's always gonna be oppressed compared to somebody else. You can't make everybody happy, right, on those larger, more sort of meta scale type things.

But even I think on a lower degree, the tactics that people fought in wars or the reason that people went to battle, how people sustained a livelihood during the revolutionary war who weren't fighting in the war.

Was all of that actually based on race? I don't know. I wasn't there. I only know what's in books. That doesn't necessarily mean that it matters.

I don't wanna trivialize it. And it was important. But, right now, present day today, if you're going to explain that things in the past are based exclusively on race, and that was the entire motivating factor.

And that's why we should have reparations now or should teach things a certain way in school. Then you also have to teach that, maybe it wasn't.

Maybe it wasn't based on race. Maybe that's not why we should have reparations now. Maybe economically reparations are a bad idea because this budget concern this that and the other has nothing to do with race.

Maybe we should also talk about in schools then, we were to teach that. Okay. Well, it is also important to forgive and move on.

It is also important to learn how to deal with conflict and how to cope. As opposed to and no offense to people bringing this up. But as opposed to 3 generations back, my grandfather was sexually assaulted by a slave owner.

Right. Okay. Got it. And III get it, but, like, there are other things we can teach through that instead of just stopping there too. So I don't know, man.

Yes, is the short answer. I think history is gonna repeat itself whether it it exists in writing or not. Because of all the events that have happened in history, not all of them get written down for every detail that existed.

Right. I don't know. What do you think? I'm I'm on the same page you with that 1. I think it definitely will repeat, obviously, not to the extent that it did.

But I think the leading history is just going to make it reappear. Yeah. I mean, if anything, it makes it harder to find, so it doesn't reappear. Right. Right. It's such a weird cycle. But good luck telling that to anybody.

Absolutely. Yeah. Man, you'll get reamed online or employed. Even if you agree with them. Yeah. And that's the tricky part, I think, establishing commonalities. And once you can do that, generally, you can carry a civil conversation.

Without a doubt. Yeah. Yeah. But Chris, speaking of civility, that actually brings us to the last segment of the show. It's called Development character. Developing character. Ready play. Let's do it.

Alright, man. Here's how it works. I'm gonna ask you 3 questions. Each of them are from your perspective and entirely within your perspective. Right? To answer as in-depth or be as vulnerable as you prefer to be. Question number 1.

What were some of your values that you had as a teenager? That's taken me way back. I would definitely say loyalty was a strong 1 for me. I was always loyal to my friends, always going above and beyond to help somebody if I could.

And I still carry that 1 today. That one's real strong with me. Punctuality was always a good 1 for me. I didn't necessarily always get places on time.

But I always I always made sure I made the attempt to be there early in on time. That's all you can do. Right? At least make the attempt. Alright. So question 2, you touched on a little bit, but I'm gonna ask you anyway.

So currently now, are some values you try to embody and spread to other people? Generosity. I always try and get 1 I can. Always trying to help somebody if they need it.

Loyalty, got same group of friends for the most part that I did back then. That goes a long way too, that stability in your life. Yep. So then question 3, how do you see your values changing, say, over the next 20 years?

I don't know. That's a tough 1. Everything's constantly changing. You'd never know what values you're gonna continue to hold or grow into. Oh, well, so then is it fair to say open mindedness is gonna stay on the list?

I'd say that's a fair assumption. Alright, man. Well, hey, look, I appreciate it. Making some time in your day, obviously, to come out and and talk a little bit.

And then just really, honestly, man, being willing to talk and have a conversation about some topics that might otherwise be a little contentious or where you gotta be vulnerable, so thank you.

I appreciate it. No problem. Thank you. Yeah, man.

Hey, Chris, I wanna ask you, man, before we get out of here and before we close-up this you. 2 questions. 1, if anybody wants to get in touch with you for any reason or to reach out for topics or just somebody to talk to, how can they?

How do you prefer that they do that? And 2, Are there any other organizations or anything that you wanna give a shout out to and bring up while you're on the air? Social is kind of the best option.

Facebook is really the only 1 I've got. But, yeah, you could drop a link at any time if anyone wants to reach out. Also, any veteran, check out irreverent Warriors get in on 1 of their high silky margins.

I saw that. What is it irreverent warriors dot com, I think? I wanna say, yeah. I should have should have researched before, but definitely an awesome organization.

Veterans only or veterans or active Right? Can participate in their hikes and you just hike around, have a good time, and basically just a giant tailgate? Absolutely. It's a good time.

Yeah. That's pretty much it. They have marches all over the country. They combat veteran suicide by these marches. Oh, that's their platform. It's not like a gathering of let's hang out and get to know each other. I mean, it's that too.

Like, I've met so many awesome people through them, but it's mostly to bring veterans together and combat veteran suicide. That's huge. No offense, but I think it can definitely do a lot more than 22 push ups a day.

So Absolutely. Yeah. So that's cool. Get people to reach out and give them a platform to do it. Yeah. Well, for everybody listening, make a note or irreverent Warriors, they'll be tagged in the post for this interview as well.

So you guys will be able to find them there. Click on the link, go to the website, reach out, and maybe even schedule a hike in your area if it's not already coming to you. But, yeah, Chris, I appreciate it, man.

Thank you. Alright, dude. We'll be in touch. Sounds good. AND FOR ANYBODY ELSE, THANK YOU FOR LISTENING INTO OUR COR VAL VALUES FOR SEPTEMBER WHERE WE TALKED ABOUT FORGiveness, HUMILITY AND SAFRIFIES.

AND Also, this may be a little bit of a stretch, but I'd like to thank a little bit outlaw country as a genre, specifically Tombstone, because you took me back there for a second, Chris.

And then Ray Leota, rest in peace. But all of those for your inspiration, among a few other topics, to our show partners, Keystone Farmers Market, to be in the bear creations, and anchor and bus prop for your distribution.

So if you're interested in joining our conversation or if you wanna discover our other interviews, check out transacting value podcast dot com.

And remember, you can follow along on social media too, while we continue to stream new views every Monday at 9AM Eastern Standard Time on all your favorite podcasting platforms.

If necessary, you can also jump onto any search engine search either survival dad y t or transacting value podcast, and you'll be able to find all of our links there as well. But until next time, that was transacting value.