Month: April 2024
Obits?
Why do I read obits? I’ve given that some thought.
First, because the best obit writers are wonderful storytellers. Second, I enjoy them because they are short, engaging bios just as I love poetry because it’s short and evocative. Hey, I don’t have that much time left.
Finally, they prompt me to appreciate our Lord who has granted me longevity, kids and grandkids in this life. L’ chaim!
Humour
Laughter is the Jam
“Laughter is the jam on the toast of life. It adds flavour, keeps it from being too dry, and makes it easier to swallow.” So said Diane Johnson, an American novelist. Lord knows we need it.
When Kristine and I were dating, I was laughing so hard in one movie theater that she was concerned about my health. What a way to go.
Years later, Planes, Trains and Automobiles became my all-time favorite film comedy, and Jerry Seinfeld’s Netflix special in the heart of the pandemic became the funniest stand up I had ever enjoyed in my thankfully long life.
Though I am not fond of reading books twice, I may never get enough of that film or that 🧍♂️ up routine.
Close Friends
Saved
“It’s clear to me that sharing our shortcomings and weaknesses with each other is our greatest strength. Our salvation.” Steve Gleason, former NFL, New Orleans Saint with ALS or Lou Gehrig’s Disease. He typed his 300-page memoir slowly with his eyes.
This is wisdom learned the hard way by this unfortunate fellow traveler. It is central to Judeo-Christian thought that focuses on a life of humility, of considering others more important than ourselves.
Sometimes, the self importance thing is a bit more subtle as in bragging about your kids. You did raise them. They do share your genes. At times, it is like an addiction and hard to avoid.
To me, the best way to walk this road is at the cross of Jesus Christ, giving your life to Him. He IS our salvation. Christ is who I desperately needed in 1985 when He found me and continue to need each day.
Irony
Yesterday I Discovered…
There are several Kumeyaay Indian reservations in California. At a nature museum at a San Diego lagoon, yesterday I first learned about this 10,000 year plus, old tribe, who, were the first human inhabitants of San Diego County.
They did some beautiful weaving that I saw, were hunter gatherers and farmers in this county where Kristine and I have only lived for 30 years.They ate everything from deer to mice.
I have never known that San Diego has 13 Kumeyaay reservations and more Indian reservations than any American county. Who knew?
Oh, those Major Conflicts
The Good Old Days?
“When you hear the expression, ‘Those were the days,’ or any equivalent allusion to the good old days, are you inclined to dismiss the speaker as a sentimentalist or do you credit that there indeed were better days?” Padget Powell, an American author. He or she is a sentimentalist from my perspective.
Life has always been far too hazardous on this planet to render such a verdict about our past. Certainly, the first half of the twentieth century’s fifth decade by any rational human would be the bad old days. WWII, with its millions of deaths, civilians, and combatants, had enough heinous behavior to satisfy any historian of that.
Some of the world’s most peaceful decades for governmental warfare involved horrendous racism and/or anti-religious behavior below the level of outright war. That’s a primary reason my forebears left Europe in the late 19th century to venture to the U.S.
Others try to use certain standards to claim these are the good old days, but Putin and the world’s other dictators seem to belittle that position.
Critically, Padget Powell has also asked, “Have you used the Tibet Almond Stick from the Zenith Chemical Works in Chicago on fine furniture?”
Pilgrim on a Long, Long Journey 