When you haven’t updated your blog in a long time, and don’t even know where to begin, always go with an inspirational video. I don’t like the title though. It’s more like “One Inspirational Speech out of Many!”
May 19, 2009
February 24, 2009
Tongue-in-cheek Truth
This guy thinks like I do! Luv it.
February 16, 2009
timeless presidential wisdom
I have been driven many times upon my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go. My own wisdom, and that of all about me, seemed insufficient for the day.”
—Abraham Lincoln
February 13, 2009
in honor of Valentine’s Day
“Love is a temporary madness. It erupts like an earthquake and then 
subsides. And when it subsides you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots have become so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because this is what love is. Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the promulgation of promises of eternal passion. That is just being “in love” which any of us can convince ourselves we are.
Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away, and this is both an art and a fortunate accident. Your mother and I had it, we had roots that grew towards each other underground, and when all the pretty blossom had fallen from our branches we found that we were one tree and not two.
- From the movie “Captain Corelli’s Mandolin”
February 12, 2009
All I really need to know…
All I really need to know I learned in kindergarten.
ALL I REALLY NEED TO KNOW about how to live and what to do
and how to be I learned in kindergarten. Wisdom was not
at the top of the graduate-school mountain, but there in the
sandpile at Sunday School. These are the things I learned:
Share everything.
Play fair.
Don’t hit people.
Put things back where you found them.
Clean up your own mess.
Don’t take things that aren’t yours.
Say you’re sorry when you hurt somebody.
Wash your hands before you eat.
Flush.
Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.
Live a balanced life – learn some and think some
and draw and paint and sing and dance and play
and work every day some.
Take a nap every afternoon.
When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic,
hold hands, and stick together.
Be aware of wonder.
Remember the little seed in the styrofoam cup:
The roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody
really knows how or why, but we are all like that.
Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even
the little seed in the Styrofoam cup – they all die.
So do we.
And then remember the Dick-and-Jane books
and the first word you learned – the biggest
word of all – LOOK.
Everything you need to know is in there somewhere.
The Golden Rule and love and basic sanitation.
Ecology and politics and equality and sane living.
Take any of those items and extrapolate it into
sophisticated adult terms and apply it to your
family life or your work or your government or
your world and it holds true and clear and firm.
Think what a better world it would be if
all – the whole world – had cookies and milk about
three o’clock every afternoon and then lay down with
our blankies for a nap. Or if all governments
had a basic policy to always put thing back where
they found them and to clean up their own mess.
And it is still true, no matter how old you
are – when you go out into the world, it is best
to hold hands and stick together.
© Robert Fulghum, 1990.
Found in Robert Fulghum, All I Really Need To Know I Learned In Kindergarten, Villard Books: New York, 1990, page 6-7.
January 25, 2009
December 6, 2008
Going Back
OK, so most Americans realize that our country is one of “excess”. While we can easily take all that is available to us for granted, we occasionally pause and recognize it.
We also know that we are currently in an “economic downturn” (unless you live under a rock somewhere). Economic challenges directly conflict with excess & abundance. Herein lies the problem, you can’t “go back”.
Once you’ve had a big SUV that seats nine with cargo room, you can’t go back to an economy-sized car.
Once you’ve had cable internet, you can’t go back to dial-up.
Once you’ve experienced being able to reach anyone, anywhere, anytime by cell phone — you can’t go back to a land-line.
Once you’ve had a big screen HDTV with cable, you can’t go back to a 22 inch screen with rabbit ears OR how about the idea of putting rabbit ears ON your big screen HDTV???
If the doomsday sayers are right, even just a little bit, what ARE we going to do??
November 24, 2008
fiddler on the roof
One of my favorite plays/movies of all time is “Fiddler on the Roof”. The story centers on Tevye, the father of five daughters, and his attempts to maintain his family and religious traditions while outside influences
encroach upon their lives. Part of the story involves Tevye’s coping with the strong-willed actions of his three older daughters as they each choose a husband that moves them progressively further away from established customs. “The Fiddler” is a metaphor for survival, through tradition and joyfulness, in a life of uncertainty and imbalance. Thus this musical sings and dances through the challenges of life and tragic circumstances.
My favorite moments in the movie/play are the “On the Other Hand” scenes, where Tevye struggles with himself, his beliefs, and his traditions. He weighs tradition on one hand and then says “on the other hand…” Tevye gives in as his first daughter defies tradition, followed by the second. The third daughter, after watching her father adapt to societal and cultural leanings, comes to him and asks to marry outside of her faith. Tevye begins now-familiar arguments with himself, but suddenly realizes that “there is no other hand!” Marriage outside his faith is a line he cannot cross. It is a painful, powerful scene.
Flash forward, as the pendulum has swung through time, and the issues that Tevye struggled with are not nearly as shocking. Today’s society is all about tolerance. Words like honor, rights and liberty have been twisted, their meaning and power diminished. Where is your line that you will not cross? When is there “no other hand”? Although tradition and morals can be painful, they are equally powerful. They are the foundation blocks that societal structures are balanced upon, just like A Fiddler On The Roof.
Sunrise, Sunset…..
November 22, 2008
Wisdom from Dr. Seuss
I have heard there are troubles of more than one kind. Some come from ahead and some come from behind. But I’ve bought a big bat. I’m all ready you see. Now my troubles are going to have troubles with me!”
~ Dr. Seuss
November 14, 2008
the right to remain silent
I was watching some police show on TV the other night, and got to the ever-familiar part where the bad guy is caught, cuffed, and mirandized: “You have the right to remain silent…“
A thought suddenly slammed into my head: I have the right to remain silent
I bet there are people in my life who occasionally wish that I would exercise this right. I bet there are times when I would have accomplished more if I had heeded these words. I’m usually busting with questions, ideas, stories, jokes and thoughts….but I have the right to remain silent. I’ve been accused by those closest to me of “talking things to death”. That’s a sad statement right there. I’ve committed conversation murder. Evaluating and judging, responding and reacting, instead of choosing to remain silent.
I’m thinking of many relationships that would vastly improve if I would practice this art. I’ve heard that people should listen twice as much as they speak, and we were given two ears and one mouth as a reminder of this fact. The reason for blogging about such a personal issue (instead of remaining silent) is that perhaps there are others, like me, who need to be reminded of this right.
