We all need money to survive in this world. We have to purchase food, pay rent, buy a bare minimum of clothing, and find the money for healthcare. There are extras that make our lives easier like owning a car, investing in an education, having a phone, and getting access to a television or radio. I’ve lived on a shoestring that didn’t allow for the cost of air conditioning even in severe summer heat and I’ve known the luxury of being middle class and having enough leftover money for savings, entertainment and vacations. I’ll be the first to say that money does make life better and less stressful but there is a fine line between having enough to live decently and being so obsessed with having more and more money that it becomes a driving force that overtakes us. Sometimes we humans become as greedy as the fisherman’s wife who was never satisfied with the financial blessings that she received. She always wanted more, more, more and never managed to find the happiness that eluded her. The truth is that aside from the basic human needs some of the most important things that we treasure don’t cost a dime. Continue reading “The Best Things”
Category: Commentary
Lists and News
As I prepare to do some traveling tomorrow I find myself being unfocused and filled with random thoughts. I suspect that I’m in checklist mode as I make certain that the the mail will stop, the bags are packed, and my plants are watered among a hundred other little details that have to be covered before we drive away. Going on a trip brings out my obsessive compulsive tendencies big time.
I spent most of last evening cleaning my house from stem to stern. Mike doesn’t seem to think that this is something that everyone does before going away for a week or so. In my mind it is quite natural to put things in tip top shape. Now in the light of day I’m wondering how many others that I know insist on leaving everything in perfect order before embarking on an excursion. Continue reading “Lists and News”
Hearing Voices
Being retired and having more time to pause and reflect has improved my hearing. In fact if I listen well enough I am able to read between the spoken lines and hear thoughts that are not even uttered. One thing that I have noticed for certain is that there are so many more people hurting than I ever before imagined. They don’t always say what they mean or mean what they say. I have to do a bit of translating of their ideas before the real messages become apparent. If I concentrate enough I hear their cries for help. The trick in having so much information is in knowing how to respond. Continue reading “Hearing Voices”
The Unimaginable
It was late one night in October. I was driving home from a very long day at work, so close to my home that I would have been able to walk the rest of way. Suddenly I saw a flashing red light in my rearview mirror and the quick sound of a siren. At first I wondered if I was simply in the way of a sheriff on his way to a crime scene. It took me several seconds before I realized that he wanted me to stop. I had little idea why he was doing so but I complied and pulled close to the curb and turned off my engine while I waited for him to come to my window.
By this time my heart was pounding in my ears. I was nervous and scared. I had no idea why I was suddenly the object of concern because I felt that I had been driving very carefully. It was the first time that I had ever taken that particular route to my home and so I was being particularly cautious. That I was being asked to stop was quite concerning and confusing. Continue reading “The Unimaginable”
We Need Heroes
I have always had a fascination with heroes. As a child I loved learning about saints. Later when I began to realize that none of us are ever as perfect as I had imagined those blessed individuals to be I found new people to inspire me. Among them was John F. Kennedy. Even then I understood that at times he had disappointingly human failings but when his courage was most needed he more than once managed to rise to the occasion. During World War II he saved a number of his fellow crew members on PT 109 in an effort that left him plagued with chronic back pain for the rest of his life. During the terrifyingly dark October days of the Cuban missile crisis he maintained a strong and cool head managing not just to defer a possible nuclear strike on American soil but also to prompt the Soviet Union to dismantle the warheads that had been aimed so dangerously toward cities in the United States. Continue reading “We Need Heroes”
