People Stories

Published on February 20, 2010 in Uncategorized. Closed

The activity that touches me in a special way in my campaign is talking to people.

You have to understand that I am a “people junkie”. I love listening to people’s stories. I discovered this when I was a teacher. One particular year when I was a teacher at O.L. Slaton I was given a one period assignment as the ISS (In-School-Suspension) monitor. For some this would be “horror” assignment, but I loved it. It was my favorite time of the day. I would talk to students about why they had been “sentenced” to ISS, talk with them about their grades and how they could improve. That’s what started my journey as a counselor and a true people lover.

During my campaign I have been priviliged to listen to people’s stories–their needs, their trials, and why they need a representative who REALLY wants to help.

Today was one of those days that made me truly realize why I’m running for this office. While phoning, I talked to a woman with a handicapped child who keeps the woman “housebound” in order to care for her. We talked about IDEA and special education and her needs as a parent of a special needs child. I talked to a man who has terminal cancer and an extremely optimistic attitude.

At the Pancake Festival, I met Miss Caprock 2010, Patrea Ferrell, a beautiful poised young lady who is a student at SPC. I was also priviliged to meet her little sister who is in elementary school and especially Patrea’s mother–a beautiful and warm woman. We talked about college tuition and how much more it might increase by the time Patrea’s little sister would attend college. Mrs. Ferrell was worried about how she would manage that.

I talked to many of the custodians who were working at the Civic Center, diligently bussing tables, bagging trash, and cleaning up. One man was working for a temporary help business because he had been laid off two years ago. Another was eager to go home to his children and yet another, was leaving to help take care of her elderly mother.

These are the people I want to represent as the District 84 Representative. They’re working hard to make ends meet, they have challenges in their life and they need someone who cares and who will speak for them.

I can’t wait to help these people. They are why I’m running.

The Best Predictor of Future Behavior is Past Behavior

Published on February 17, 2010 in Uncategorized. Closed

The best predictor of future behavior is past behavior.

We hear this “psychobabble” phrase often, but it does have merit.

It doesn’t matter if you’re considering someone for a company position or as a friend. If you examine how they’ve conducted business in the past or the causes to which they’ve committed themselves, you’ll have an idea of what kind of employee or friend they will be in the future.

What in the world does this have to do with running for office? In my opinion–everything!

Take a look at the tab “About Carol” on this website and see that I have made significant accomplishments in every position I’ve had in my career history. I am a producer of results and I am very proud of that.

I hope everyone has had the chance to view the District 84 Candidate Forum that was sponsored by the Lubbock League of Women Voters and Channel 11: http://tinyurl.com/yhajs2o
You will see from this forum that I am a person who prepares. You will see I am a person who is a communicator. I know about education. I know about business–way beyond the accounting sheets. I know about what motivates people. I know how to bring people together to get the best results.

What’s in it for me? Nothing. I am merely continuing my pattern of past behavior–and that is to make my community a better place and to help others to have a better life. We all need to stop asking the question “What’s in it for me?”. We need to start asking what we can do TOGETHER just because it’s the RIGHT thing to do.

We need to have public servants who are going to do the right thing by their constituents and put people first. We need to have public servants who will forget about party labels and political “catch phrases”, do their homework, ask for their constituents’ opinions and stand by them.

Government is about people–meeting their needs and helping to make their community better.
The best predictor of future behavior is past behavior  and my past speaks for itself.

Determination is the Most Powerful Word in the English Language

Published on February 10, 2010 in Uncategorized. Closed

The older we get, the more time seems to get away from us.

If you remember when you were young, time went so slowly. Summers were forever, getting to Christmas was such an unbearably long time and it seemed as if you would never grow up. We always wanted to be older than we were and sometimes we even pretended to be older.

Now, time and our lives seem to whiz by at nano-speed. We look up dreading Mondays and then wonder where the week went when Friday rolls around. We reach our birthday and wonder what we did with that year of our life that just passed and is behind us.

Are you just going to let those years roll by and then live with a litany of regrets? Are you going to be sitting in a rocking chair thinking about all the things you could have done and wonder why you didn’t?

Think about this: Who are the people that you’ve admired in your life? It might be an ordinary person that you know–someone in your neighborhood or an acquaintance at church. It might be someone famous like Joan of Arc, Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King, or Nelson Mandala–those historical giants that have left a great legacy with their work and efforts. Each and every one of those individuals was just like you AT SOME POINT. They were young and had big dreams of something, a passion, that they wanted to accomplish. They each could have allowed jobs, family, health, aging parents, setbacks, or money problems to derail the creation and development of their vision. But, they didn’t.

We all have issues that are gauntlets that slow us down, but we shouldn’t let those hurdles short-circuit our hopes and dreams. And they won’t, but only if we erect a spirit of determination without ourselves.

What makes them different from you? They had the DETERMINATION to accomplish something that was so important and so overriding to all their personal life issues that they persisted and as a result, were successful.
Determination is the most powerful word in the English language if we understand its real meaning: de (turn away from), termination(the end)

Each one of us is the same as these famous people. We all have the potential to be great. We all have the qualities deep within us to accomplish our most cherished dreams.

All it takes is the GAS of determination to propel us to that treasured destination.
Turn away from the end today, be determined!

How Do We Accomplish Our Goals?

Published on February 10, 2010 in Uncategorized. Closed

For as long I can remember I have utilized William Glasser’s Choice Theory not only in my career counseling practice but, in my personal life as well.
It’s a simple theory that leads to more happiness, greater accomplishments and a more productive existence.

It involves answering three questions:
1. What do you want?
2. What are you doing to get what you want?
3. Is it working?
If the answer is “no” to #3, then:
1. change what you’re doing OR
2. change what you want.

The key is this: Changing what we do is the key to changing how we feel and to getting what we want.

This philosophy can be aptly applied to the business of being your Representative to the Texas House.

The answer to question #1 is KEY to establishing good governance in Austin.

Before we can accomplish anything, we, as a people, must decide what we want.

In counseling, this is always the question that is the hardest to answer. In life, this is the most difficult question, and certainly as citizens, the answers are many and varied. But before we move to questions #2 and #3 we have to answer the question “What do we want?”

Knowing what you want involves having a vision. In that vision, you must be able to see clearly, in great detail, the finished product that is your ideal. You must visualize its every element—its color, its taste, its smell, who’s present in that vision and what happens in that vision. We must have a shared vision before we act.

I want to focus on the present. I don’t want to revisit the past, point fingers in blame, or criticize others in their past attempts to serve their constituents. This is totally unproductive and prevents us from moving forward.

Let’s ask ourselves what do we, as West Texas, want our area to be?
Let’s create a vision.
Let’s visualize every element of that vision and then let’s work together to make it happen.
As your representative, it should NOT be my vision, but our collective vision.
I will merely be the one to work for YOUR VISION in Austin.

Thoughts on Being a Public Servant

Published on February 6, 2010 in Uncategorized. Closed

I’ve said so many times during my campaign that I’m not a politician—and I sincerely mean that!

I try to keep this quote from Reed Markham in my thoughts each day: “A good leader inspires other men and women with confidence. A great leader inspires them with confidence in themselves.”

The power in being a great leader is in “tossing the ball to others” and motivating them to “run with it”. A great leader inspires others. There is tremendous power in ideas and encouragement.

This is the kind of public servant I want to be—not a politician.

So many believe that the power of a representative is in creating legislation and appropriating funds and while that is a part of a legislator’s job, a good public servant should do more than that. A public servant should use the influence of his/her office to solve problems for people on an individual basis. A public servant should utilize the legislative network to connect others to resources that will enhance their community and enrich lives.

A public servant should diligently strive to create unity and cooperation between the political parties and different groups. I contemplate this each morning and the steps I can take each day to make this a reality. We should speak despairingly of no one, but instead concentrate on understanding his/her point of view and relating how it might be incorporated into our own.

I am so tired of listening to the anger and hatred of cable television and talk radio. These negative emotions do nothing but waste our energy that should be directed toward positive efforts. Republicans, Democrats, Libertarians, Tea Baggers, Independents—we all have great ideas! How much more could be accomplished if we worked together in a spirit of cooperation and unity!

The key to establishing a community of diverse groups working in harmony is to NOT be anonymous. It is so easy to fear those you don’t know. And where there is fear, hate is not far behind. That’s why the haters continue to hate. If you get to know someone, as an individual, it is impossible to fear and hate them.

In a rally with a group of young people, a beautiful young lady remarked to me, “You give me hope that things can be better.” I was so inspired by this statement and I like to think about it each day. It’s the fuel that makes me want to work even harder to pass along a positive message to each person that I meet in this campaign.

January 4th, when I announced my campaign before old friends, new friends and the media, I said I was excited and my excitement grows exponentially each day. I hope that the citizens of West Texas catch my excitement and pass it on to their friends, relatives and coworkers.

I sincerely wish to represent the wonderful, warm and welcoming people of West Texas as their public servant in Austin. My daily strivings are to make that wish a reality.

Why I Know That I Have Big Shoes To Fill

Published on February 4, 2010 in Uncategorized. Closed

I am the product of an amazing, but humble history.

My paternal grandfather, W.T. Sessums had one of the first dairy farms in this area. W.T. and Grace Jane Yates and their ten children (which included two sets of twins) lived in a house on the rim of the canyon on East Broadway across from the present day Mackenzie Park. My father, Ray, used to deliver milk on horseback during the darkest days of the Depression—a ten year old boy doing his best to help in the family business. I remember him telling me stories of the circus that erected their tents across the road from their house and how he would help them “set up” in order to get a free ticket to the circus. The family would often travel to Hillsboro to help relatives harvest cotton crops in the fall.

My mother, Eva was born in Seymour, Texas—one of seven siblings. Her father, G.C. Clark was a grocer turned farmer in Baylor County. They were poor, but never went hungry because of their farm. Eva knew hardship early–her mother, Johnnie, died of typhoid fever from a contaminated cistern when my mother was only six years old.

When Ray and Eva married at only seventeen, neither had a high school diploma and they worked very hard to make a home for their daughters, Shirley and Carol. As a young man, my father worked at the Lubbock Cattle Auction that was on Ave. G. He did anything he was told to do from leading livestock into the bidding arena to scooping up their “bovine indiscretions”. I remember my mother constantly standing at the ironing board in the kitchen, starching those khakis that my dad wore to work everyday. Later, my mother chose to supplement the family income by waiting tables at Harold’s Café—a legendary Mom and Pop café owned by her friends, Harold and Evelyn McMillan. I can’t tell you how many times my school lunch money came out of her tip jar.

Eventually, both of my parents excelled in their careers—my dad becoming a self-employed cattle buyer and my mother becoming a buyer for W.D. Wilkins. They did it by taking one day at a time with sheer determination, never giving up and never being ashamed of who they were or where they came from.

My inheritance from my family didn’t come in the form of money. It was something of much greater value.

From my roots, I inherited an indomitable determination and the courage to hold my head up high and be proud of who I am, no matter my circumstances or human failings.

My motives in running for District 84, Texas House of Representative are pure and simple—I merely want to use my time and talents to help my hometown and most of all, the wonderfully warm and kind people of West Texas.

Most of all, I fervently hope that my bid for public service is one that is a fitting tribute to the legacy of my brave grandparents and my parents, Ray and Eva Sessums.

Good parents give their children roots and wings. Roots to know where home is, wings to fly away and exercise what’s been taught them. — Jonas Salk

Welcome to Carol Morgan for Texas!

Published on January 27, 2010 in Uncategorized. Closed

Thank you for visiting my website! It’s my hope that this amazing medium will let you get to know me, who I am, what I stand for and what I want to accomplish for YOU. Please let me get to know YOU, by leaving a comment or question.