“And now brothers, I will ask you a terrible
question, and God knows I ask it also of myself. Is the truth beyond all
truths, beyond the stars, just this: that to live without him is the real
death, that to die with him the only life?”
Frederick Buechner,
The Magnficent Defeat
Tuesday, December 29, 2020
December 29, 2020
HOW TO WIN
AN ARGUMENT
EVERY TIME
Arguing with another is stupid most of the time.The other has their mind up – and so do I. As they say, “It’s a waste of time and energy to argue in the first place.” Remember Nelson Mandela. Be smart. So if you want to win an argument every time simply say, “You're smart. I'm smart. You got a brain. Me too."
“Were I a philosopher, I should write a
philosophy of toys, showing that nothing else in life need to be taken
seriously, and that Christmas Day in the company of children is one of the few
occasions on which men become entirely alive.”
Robert Lynd
Monday, December 28, 2020
December 28, 2020
SOUNDS LIKE
The dog barks, the train whistles, the radiator rattles, the December cold combines with everything metal, and you’re just sitting there, snoring. You haven’t said a thing new since November. Where are you as we come to the end of this worst of years?
“The smells of Christmas are the smells
of childhood.”
Richard Paul Evans,
The Christmas Box
Sunday, December 27, 2020
December 27, 2020
PRISON
CELL ARCHITECT
Is there a chapter in a book on architecture or a class in architect school about how to build a prison cell? If there is,does it make windows an absolute necessity– and how
high – so a prisoner can see the sky or
low so as to see more – like a father
with a son? Would architects in learning the
profession talk about room forshelvesfor books and windows to let in the sound of
birds outside – as well as trains in the
distance? How about chapels, churches,
mosques? Do prison architects bring up
questions about recreation, schooling,
spirituality, exercise, prisoners’ family, the future as
well as the past? Do wardens, guards, prison psychologists
and doctors consider questions other
than worry about escape?Who and what am I missing in this short meandering wondering about
prisons?