What We Surround Ourselves With

Poking fun or celebrating our lives? 

New Yorker's in fun, but mine? 

Living with memories and loved ones. 

Collections

Maimonides and Mine

And yet another bit from the book, The Lost Book of Bonn. This time on repentance and forgiveness. Two characters are talking when one brings up Maimonides's four steps. I used to tell people only two, which is one better than most people think of. 

The Lost Book of Bonn

Saying you're sorry isn't enough. Oh, it's good to regret what one has done, but the far harder part is vowing to not do it again. That's where, too often, people fail. And I don't mean they fail because they make the same mistake again. That's human nature. It often takes a few/many failures to get something right. 

When someone says they're sorry too quickly with no thought of being better, that's when I get edgy. A person needs to truly regret what they've done and then work to not repeat their action again. In today's world people have somehow learned a quick sorry will get them out of trouble. It shouldn't. 

Being sorry and then vowing to work at being better: my watered down version of the far more sophisticated four step plan.

Repentance and Forgiveness

Gotta Love It

QUOTE OF THE DAY

'There's no putting lipstick on this pig. Mr. Trump was crushed by a woman he previously dismissed as "dumb as a rock." Which raises the question: What does that make him?'

Karl Rove, a Republican political consultant who served as deputy chief of staff in George W. Bush's administration, trashing Donald Trump's "catastrophic" performance in his debate against Kamala Harris  ~ from The Week's Evening Review Newsletter, September 12 Truth

The Challenge

Some days it can be so easy to find the anger and sadness in the world and so hard to find the joy and fun. But, with effort and some conscious thinking, we can work to find the good every day, and sometimes in the most surprising places.

This morning was a perfect example. I found joy in the pavement. Can you see it? 

A smile! 

Getting to school and finding a quote about joy on the slides for homebase, I showed the students my photo. Asking what they saw, I wondered if any would be able to see what I'd seen, and one did! Two joys from one moment: the smile and then the connection. 

Finding the Joy

The Fox Hole

Watching the debate between Harris and Trump last night was hard. Very hard. Who wants to listen to a person who spews lies, who can't use facts and lets his mind roam in ways that is not only hard to follow but in a way a sane person would never want to follow? 

This morning reading yet another historical fiction book about WWII, books and the many women and men who did what needed to be done, I saw the stark connection. It's easy to throw out the idea that Trump is Nazi-like, but when confronted with what he said last night and this book's writing, it is proof once again that it is the truth. In his own words, his awful words and lies that paint a picture of decay and destruction, I see the man who wishes to gain power again, power for his own, not for our country. 

I can only hope that enough Americans aren't taken in, aren't so far down the Fox hole that they can't think for themselves. It is sad to know that there are those who are. 

So Very Sad

The Thrill

The scope of time. Here in the history of our planet (but just recently, also in a conversation on politics.) Clarity and perspective can come with distance. The joy of thinking.

Inference. What the planet is and what we are able to garner from it. Both earth and people are amazing. 

And Awe. Joy, amazement, and awe, and the greatest of these, to paraphrase, is awe. 

Of Learning

Music: 95.5 and 103.7

A few weeks ago, it was A Bar Song (Tipsy) by Shaboozey.  Two mornings ago it was Stargazing by Myles Smith on the pop station, and yesterday it was Miles on It by Kane Brown and Marshmello on country. These are my songs of the moment. I hear them, I smile... and then I sing, loudly and happily.

Today I spent the morning finding and arranging the lyrics only to realize they just don't matter much.* 

It's the beat. Driving in my car belting out the song to the radio enjoying life, I'm young again. 

Go ahead. Listen to them. Hear the hook? I sure do. One more time and I'm singing, and you will be too. 

Keeping Me Young

*

What Goes Around

For sure, there was a moment when I realized that, like cleaning the bathroom, it was a part of my life, dreary but had to be done, and so I was Todd too. 

But then, now, emptying the dishwasher, vacuuming the carpets, starting the clothes washer, or cleaning the bathroom became, yes, a job fulfilled that I could cross off my list for the day with a feeling of success. 

So, I say, "Wait for it, Todd. It could come to you also."

Comes Around