A small group of people from my high school class have begun to explore ideas for our fiftieth reunion. Where does the time go? Surely it was only yesterday when we sat inside the gym on Mt. Carmel Drive while our family and friends watched us graduate from our youth into the world of adults. I’m certain that each of us quietly dreamed about the future. I know that I was convinced that I would do something extraordinary. Of course I had little idea what that might be beyond a superficial understanding of what it really means to be more than just ordinary. Back then my thoughts involved fame, wealth, distinction. Mine was a vague picture of an existence that would stand out from the humdrum. Continue reading “Being Extraordinary”
Category: Life
Grabbing Joy
I love to people watch everywhere that I go. I’m always looking for interesting stories and sometimes I find them just in observing the day to day interactions of human beings. Some of my favorite Facebook posts come from the Humans of New York series of short interviews with ordinary citizens. There is often profound wisdom found in the comments from unknown, everyday men and women. It is for that reason that I am always alert to the goings on around me. Continue reading “Grabbing Joy”
Wolves
I don’t have too many pet peeves but among those that I do possess is a dislike of being badgered by anyone who insists on changing aspects of who I am. Don’t get me wrong. I fully understand that I can always use a bit of self improvement here and there but I find it quite irritating whenever someone has the audacity to critique my lifestyle and then force unsolicited advice upon me. These individuals are so certain that they have all of the right answers that they are unwilling to even consider that there might be room in this world for differences of opinion. They are like barbarians at the gate with their argumentative style of inflicting themselves on others. They just won’t let go until they have bullied the people in their locus of control into changing. They often search for those that they think they might dominate and then launch their offensives. They are bullies and their tactics are emotionally abusive. Continue reading “Wolves”
Probability and Life
We all know people who seem to have incredibly bad luck. Perhaps one of those people may even be you. We find ourselves wondering why this is so. How is it possible, we ask, that some among us lead seemingly charmed lives and others get pounded by fate over and over again? Is there really some cosmic karma that chooses unsuspecting souls for the worst possible situations? Aren’t the laws of probability supposed to work out in favor of distributing both the good and the bad? Why does God allow some to suffer while others appear to never have a care in the world? As humans we sometimes contemplate such things but never really understand what the true answers may be. Continue reading “Probability and Life”
Tick Tock
Tick tock! Tick tock! We live in a world that is a hostage to time. We have clocks on our stoves, our microwave ovens, our phones, our wrists, our radios, the dashboards of our cars, our computers, our televisions, our mantles, our bedside tables. Reminders of time are everywhere and we seem to always be rushing from one place to another, one task to a different one. We time ourselves when we exercise, when we take tests, when we cook. Tick tock! Tick tock! We rush around all day long, in bondage to schedules that seem to dominate every waking minute of our lives. We tell ourselves that we must be here, be there, do this, do that within a certain time frame or we will fall behind. The moments when we are not near a time piece of any kind are rare. Our lives seem almost to be a competition to see how much we are able to cram into a day, an hour, a few minutes. We measure the success or failure of a twenty four hour period on how much we are able to accomplish. Tick tock! Tick tock! Continue reading “Tick Tock”
All It Takes Is A Little Love 