February  13,  2021

A  JOB

 

Every kid needs to get that first job –

then the second and third and so forth –

making pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters –

learning how to be and how to deal with others –

delivering papers, washing dishes, waiting 

on tables, cutting grass - doing this and that.

Like learning how to sing - how to play

the guitar, violin, drums or piano. You

have to find your skills, your interests,

your song, but above all - you have to

practice practice, practice if you want as

they say to find your way to Carnegie Hall. 

Like learning how to box, how to fight,

getting in the ring – lasting ten rounds –

learning to get up when knocked down –

gaining skills, doing the footwork, dancing,

jumping rope, practice, practice, practice,

till I can hold my own with my own. Amen.

 

 © Andy Costello, Reflections 2021

February 13,  2021 

Thought for the Day

   

"Experience is the name so many people give to their mistakes."

 

F. Scott Fitzgerald

 February 12,  2021

 

NO!

 

Your opinion?

Do kids learn to say, “NO!”

long before they learn to say, “Yes!”

 

They know what they want

and don’t want – when it comes

to food and awful smelling wash cloths.

 

They learn to hide and put off

what they don’t like or don’t want

to do with homework and home chores.

 

The enemy:  parents, teachers,

bullies, older kids, older people

bark out orders and they resist.

 

Folded arms …. Passive aggression ….

Hiding  …. or learning to say, “NO!” –

that simple two letter tiny word.

 

Your opinion? Would this world be

a better place if we could all say,

“Yes” or “No” when want to say, “Yes” or “No”?

 

 

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2021

 

 

 February  12,  2021

Thought for the Day

 

“I never blame failure – there are too many complicated situations in life – but I am absolutely merciless toward lack of effort.”

 

F. Scott Fitzgerald

February 11,  2021

THERE  IS  A  MOVIE 

There is a movie being made,
a documentary, a drama,
a comedy, with tragedies,
stories, surprises, twists and turns.

It's me. 

It's you.

It's all of us.

It's filled with lots and lots of people.
It’s  being put together – cut and paste - 

slowly - - -

being gathered from the scattered

scenes and stories of our lives.
We are figuring  out our life....

Slowly.
It’s playing up there on a tiny screen
in the right hand corner of our mind.
It’s like a tiny TV in a diner. We watch it

while eating - especially when the others

go into the kitchen for a moment. We watch

it while waiting in a waiting room in a hospital. 

We stop to watch in from time to time 

in church or at the beach, or in bed at night. 

Yes.

Yes we do.

- - - -

Years later 

we see so much more when we re-visit the places
we’ve been to or when we look at pictures 

from way back when - 

where we’ve been -

what we've done.

We do.
We are in the stories  of our life
and the lives of so many people in our lives –
and on the planet. We have regrets

in the desk drawers of our lives.

Secrets....

Yes we have secrets

and sorrows....

We are holding "bags of sand and shells". 

We are "injured sea gulls at times".
We are the people we go by every day. 

So it’s good to stop and look at.

It's good to put and pull together 

the movie of our lives.

It is

and it's good to talk to each other.

It is.

It's good to show each other - each other.

It is.

It has been.

It is - - - - - good.

 

 © Andy Costello, Reflections 2021

February  11,  2021

Thought for the Day

 

“No matter how low you go, there’s always an unexplored basement.”

 

 

F. Scott Fitzgerald

February 10,  2021

HOME

 
It’s no accident that "home"
has such a comforting sound.
 
Home ….
 
A favorite chair …. knowing just
where the refrigerator door handle is.
 
Home ….
 
A broken-in-bed – my side is
my side – great for sleeping here.
 
Home ….
 
No dress code – it's where I can
be I and you can be you. Thanks.

Home….

 

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2021