August 30, 2022

Reflection

EXIT  SIGNS

Did people look for exit signs long before there were exit signs?  Long before they could read?

We get on the plane and there they are: Emergency Exits.

We go to a movie and there they are up front or off to the side, Exit signs.

We hope we never need them - but if there is a fire - or a crash - we want to be near one.

Sometimes the conversation is too long or too "itchy" or "whining" or "boring" and we start to look for exit signs. We look at our watch. We pick up our glass. We stretch. We stand up - if we were sitting.

We've been at the job - marriage - a relationship - too long. We want out.

Jesus left town at Nazareth - before they could throw him out of town.

Jesus forced people to drop rocks and leave the crowd of attackers.

Jesus told people whom he healed to go home and enjoy the rest of your lives with your families.

Jesus was always on the move - shaking dust from his feet - and the Pharisees and Scribes - saw his back and were filled with anger.

Jesus went out into the night - at the Last Supper.

Death is the last exit.

Is Resurrection the second best entrance?

We have to make an exit to hear and experience the answer to that question.

 August 30, 2022

Thought for Today

"There's only one real sin, and that is to persuade oneself that the second-best is anything but the second-best."

Doris Lessing [1919- ]

The Golden Notebook [1962]

 August 29, 2022

Reflection

CAR  RIDES

Car rides together became the main metaphor of his life - without knowing that it did.

He drove alone to work ....

Together with his girl friend in his first car - it cost just $1,ooo - an old Pinto - dark blue - noisy rattle inside - never did figure out what caused it.

Together on weekends after they got married - a better car of course - when going to see friends, parents, family ....

But the metaphor really rolled in when he and his wife and their four kids went together to parents - and he  yell out, "I need you. Is there a map there. I'm looking for Route 435.

And then when his parents were really getting older and sick - and they had to drive to Rhode Island - every other weekend - and their kids were gone.

She would be knitting - he thinking about their life time - and the times of their lives together.

Sometimes good silence together - sometimes good talks together - good understandings together - these car rides together.

They winked at each other - when other couples said thy hated car time together - she always yelling, "You're too close to the car in front of you."  He really hated her constant refrain, "Slow down!"

Car - a metaphor of freedom - that first car he had when he was off to college.

Car - a metaphor of time together - now a Volvo - their old age car together as retired folks.

Let the good times roll.

 August 29,  2022

Thought for Today

"I know nothing except the fact of my ignorance."

Socrates

in Diogenes Laertius, 

Lives of the Philosophers,

Book 2, section 32.

 August 28, 2022

Reflection

ACT  YOUR  AGE

We know what it means when we heard as kids,  "Act your age!"

What about 67?

We see or hear about men - but also some women - who switch back to act 20 years younger and they have what is called "The Mid-life Crisis."

What about 67?

How does someone who is 67 or 70 act?

We hear that retirement age might be delayed.  We hear that it's good to keep on working, if we can. We hear that second careers are a smart move for health - both physical and mental health.

What about 67?

I love to meet people in their 70's who are alive and young at heart.

How about people in their 80's?

Victor  is 94 - and he sleeps more -  but he seems to be very much alive mentally. And he takes a good walk every day.  He still drives.  His wife Nancy is in her 70's. That helps.

Act your age.

Jesus says, "Unless you be like little children, you won't see the kingdom of God."

Someone said that a person who stays, "young at heart" can be called "Kingdom Person",  Is that true?

What does it mean to be young at heart - to be a child at heart?

Watch children.

Watch their sense of imagination - play - scream for fairness, etc.

I want that. 

Amen. 

At 67, 87, and 97.

August 27,  2022

Reflection 

CONSEQUENCES

"There are consequences!"

That's one of life's top ten truisms.

"There are consequences."

If you drink a lot of alcohol, you can crash a car, say the wrong thing, or wake up in a place you have no idea where you are and how you got there.

If you order sushi, you get sushi.

If you order steak, you get steak.

If you become pregnant, there are consequences.

If you walk a half-an-hour every day, there are consequences,

If you don't walk, there are consequences.

If you lie, there are consequences.

If you tell the truth, there are consequences.

They say the teenage brain lacks physical "something" and as a result they can mess up the consequences of their choices and actions.

Us older folks often don't stop to think that this other person - especially a teenager thinks differently than I think.

How do we get kids to stop before they act - and ask, :What are the consequences of A or B or C or D?"

Trusting in the principle of  cause and effect - i.e.:  there are consequences, maybe just repeating over and over again, "There are consequences" will bring about good consequences.

 August 28, 2022

Thought for Today

"At 50, everyone has the face he deserves."

George Orwell (1903-1950)

Last words in his notebook, April 17, 1949

in Collected Essays, Journalism and Letters ...

(1968) vol. 4