I truly think that the bible’s “written word” is fallible because it has morphed like the sentence in the “telephone” game. It is nothing more than a document that has been manipulated and twisted to conform to the illusions of ill-intentioned power mongering zealots who desire nothing more than to foist their ill-begotten claims to be connected to the universal god.
Another glaring heresy that plagues my thinking is the thought that the disciples of Jesus were remedial students at best. All the parables in the bible illustrate that the women who came and saw Jesus understood the intended messages and teachings and went on to follow those teachings without further need for guidance. Whereas these male disciples followed Jesus around for three years and at the very end, they still did not get the message and they denied having an affiliation with Jesus.
I hope you have a delightful experience today and every day henceforth.
During one of my substitute teaching assignments I had a pleasant conversation with a teacher about managing the behavior of the students and helping them focus on their school work. Paraphrasing the teacher she said,
“If we could only get the students to stop harping about the activities of each other; get them to stop the senseless bickering among themselves; get them focus on their own behavior and work, then they would all be doing fine…”
My immediate thought was, if someone can figure that out, then we can send her/him to Washington D.C., or any state capital, to get our government officials to work together responsibly and to do the work that needs to be accomplished.
Put another way, from my observations of behavior in our elementary schools, it seems to me the behavior that is reported out of Washington D.C. is about on the level of elementary school. I wonder if anyone has done a study on the behavior of politicians; perhaps my observation is true, to get elected and work in government you need to be in the behavioral development stage of a first grader. Just saying….
I know a fellow who is 100 years old; how many people can say that? I don’t just mean that he is some person who lives down the street or attends the same church, I mean I know a 100-year-old person intimately. I know this fellow deeply based on the simple fact that I share a genetic bond. I am his son and his namesake.
I can describe in detail his favorite shirt and mark the number of consecutive days he wears his favorite pleated and cuffed pants that hang loosely from his bony hips. And I might even be able to determine how many decades he has been wearing those abraded old dress shoes, and accurately guess at how many iterations of laces they have had.
I know his routine: Every morning he makes his bed as neat as a pin as though a drill sergeant will be coming in for inspection. He shuffles around the kitchen grunting and sighing as he manipulates the utensils needed for his morning bowl of cereal and his beloved cup of half-caffeine Folgers coffee which he drinks black. The last part of his routine consists of attending to his daily hygiene and dressing for the day although he may not have anywhere in particular to go.
Mostly, his day consists of getting out of the apartment for a walk once or twice a day, engaging the other residents he sees with social repartee, and settling in his decades old lounge chair for a couple of hours of watching the daily news broadcast and a couple of black and white situation comedy shows from the 50s and 60s.
In the evenings he sets up his coffee machine and places his preferential “I Love Dexter, MO” cup beside it in anticipation of his breakfast the next morning. He retires around the same time each night after changing into his worn pajamas, brushing his teeth and watching some evening games shows on television.
His physical stature is frail, and his muscles hang loosely from his bones, overall he is scrawny. I believe he is more bones than mass at this point in his life. His heart’s pacemaker protrudes from his chest, and he is happy to tell you that it is good for another couple of years!
His fingers are gnarly and sometimes they don’t function in a manner that allows him to grip a spoon or some other item that needs to be opened or manipulated. One example is the morning challenge to open the Meals-on-Wheels pint-sized milk carton that he uses for his morning cereal. Every motion and step he takes is measured and taken into consideration because he is no longer certain about his balance. His walker, the countertop or some type of handle is always within arm’s length so that he can maintain his equilibrium.
He laughs at funny and corny jokes and slap stick routines he sees on TV. He enjoys conversing with the folks who cross his path while he is out and about. He always demonstrates a genteel, considerate, and grateful demeanor with those who encounter him. He trudges and shuffles through each moment in time making this existence better for those crossing his path. He maintains a curiosity about the wellbeing of others. He is even curious about what might be in his mailbox as he makes the daily trip to the lobby to check on what new “junk” mail has his name on it.
Hang ups? He has some. I think he still considers me (at 70 years old) to be a petulant child and he has never fully understood my un-typical thinking process and my neuro-divergent brain challenges. He finds some simple things to be exceedingly frustrating and reacts in a quick irritable manner, but it subsides just as quickly. He moves on to address each frustration in the manner that he has learned over the course of many years. He may express frustration, but never any sustained anger.
He is grateful for the many blessings he has received, and it seems to me that he realizes that he has been gifted with a long life that has meaning. This is especially evident when it comes to his family and the community legacy that he has worked on for many decades. He knows the gift of life is precious. He has been granted 100 years. In contrast, his first-born child was granted only a few hours, so I am sure he knows heartache as well as jubilation.
Yes, my dad is a centenarian. I want to say; ”Hey dad, do you realize how unique you are? You’ve earned your place in the hearts of all who know you. You are history in and of yourself.”
I too am grateful for the blessings I have; especially having my dad in my life. I realize that not many 70-year-olds can phone his dad and say; “I love you” to him and in return hear him say “I love you.”
I hope you have a delightful experience today and every day henceforth.
I have a theory that our children choose us. They come to us to remind us of the mysteries of the universe. How else could a sperm and an egg develop into a sentient, soulful, individual?
I hope you have a delightful experience today and every day henceforth.
An issue with living with ADHD is the realization that I could have accomplished so much more if I had a sustainable consistent “executive function” within my thought process. As it is, the realization that I have constantly meandered in life sometimes frustrates me a little and saddens me to think about how the time has passed in a mindless stream of activity with no substantive productive results. An analogy that comes to mind is that it is similar to not being able to get the oars in the water to row while the entire time being infinitely capable of doing the rowing.
In an effort to remain positive I keep in mind the quote from the poem “All That Glitters in Not Gold” from the Lord of the Rings; “Not all those who wander are lost.” I am not necessarily lost, but I tend to wonder about my wandering thoughts. I also live with the joyous realization that I am my own mapmaker and not constrained by the “norms” of typical brain functions. I never liked coloring within the lines of my coloring books!
I hope you have a delightful experience today and every day henceforth.
When there is the passing of a loved one it is invariably very sad news. Whatever the relationship between the deceased and those left behind may have been, the world as we perceive it is diminished significantly.
In these moments we are compelled and even forced to stop to contemplate how the life of another has impacted our life. We think about the deceased’s character, personality qualities, and the little things that made him/her so unique, genuine, and beloved.
Quite simply it is these types of events that help us to realize those things that we value and embrace in life; the most important being the gratitude we discover for having known a person who has left an imprint on our heart, mind, and soul.
Here are some quotes to help put things into perspective when considering the loss of a beloved person:
Jonathan Safron Foer wrote; “You cannot protect yourself from sadness without protecting yourself from happiness.”
Rumi wrote; “The cure for pain is in the pain.”
Kahlil Gibran wrote; “The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain.”
Whatever significance your beloved has been in your life and however painful the loss may seem at first, we can bear the pain and move forward in life by making a the promise to the deceased that we will fill the schism in our heart with love and joy as we travel through our personal grief.
Farewell for now my dear beloved, I know that you have found peaceful repose now. I live with the hope that we will meet again.
I hope you have a delightful experience today and every day henceforth.
Once upon a time, which was the moment just prior to this one; I wondered, what is a humorist? So I looked it up on the web site dictionary.com and got this result: 1) a person who is skillful in the use of humor, as in writing, talking, or acting and 2) a person with an active sense of humor.
I suppose I could ask for a vote of those who read this to determine by consensus if I fit this description, or I could just live here in my own self-delusion and unequivocally declare that I am a bona fide humorist beyond doubt.
Perhaps I could even start a conspiracy theory, which seems to be the rage of the ages, that I am the one and only humorist living today and that all others are frauds and malcontents who wish they could be as skilled and accomplished as the person writing these words.
Such as it is, I think I will crawl back into my safe little enclave of insular existence and be content with knowing that there are no words or actions that would otherwise persuade you to acknowledge my great skills as a humorist or to acknowledge my ever active sense of humor.
I hope you have a delightful experience today and every day henceforth.
What does it mean to come full circle? During this time of sheltering in place there is ample time for circumspection. And for some of us, if we are lucky, we come to realize the idiosyncrasies of existence.
I do believe I have come nearly full circle in life. On such example is: When I graduated high school 50 years ago my only viable option at the time was to go to work as an apprentice butcher at the local grocery store. As good fortune would have it, I left that job to attend college and I forged a life in another manner.
As I take account of life’s events, the current circumstances have dictated that the only job available for an aging baby boomer is working in a meat department assisting customers with their meat and seafood orders. Consequently, I am back working in the meat department of a grocery store. Interestingly enough, I still possess my meat cutters’ union card from 50 years ago. Sometimes I remind people that I was working in the meat business long before they were born!
This past Saturday I was thinking about my childhood days when it was the custom in our house that Saturday night was bath night. When I realized this, it became apparent that with this isolation business I was not paying strict attention to my hygiene. So now I am starting a new ritual of a Saturday shower and grooming, (whether I need it or not), just in case of an emergency and I have to leave the house!
Another full circle revelation was that as a young boy I paid little attention to my wardrobe. When I saw my reflection in the mirror I realized that I have recently neglected my fashion sensibilities. I have made a vow to iron some dress shirts and pants and wear them once in a while.
As a child I had to be in the house when the street lights came on. Now I am in the house even before those lights come on.
As a child I used to play hard and on many days I would forget about the time. Now I get engrossed in some activity, such as getting sucked into the internet streaming vortex, and lose all sense of time.
As a child my world was contained within a few neighborhood blocks. Now it has been days since I ventured to the edge of our property. I did step into the street to put out the trash and to retrieve them the other day.
As a child it was a rare occasion to ride in a car since we walked and biked everywhere. Now I have not driven or ridden in a vehicle in over a week.
That is all that comes to mind at this time. If you have any thoughts to share about your “full circle” please feel free to add them in the comments.
I hope you have a delightful experience today and every day henceforth.
This self-isolation practice is a great opportunity to discover new insights about one’s self. Today I realized that one of the benefits for me is that I am aggravating less people. In addition, my friendships/relationships are growing stronger because I am not present to mess them up. If you think of me, please think pleasant thoughts and ignore the reality of my annoying flaws.
Thanks for reading this and I hope you are well and taking good care of yourself and your loved ones……
I hope you have a delightful experience today and every day henceforth.
On the shelf in our family room there is a heart shaped ornament that was given by our son to his mother as a token of love.
Unfortunately, it fell from its perch and broke. It has been attended to and delicately mended with glue. Now it sits on that shelf as it did before and from a distance it appears to be whole without flaws in it, but upon close inspection there are the telltale signs of the break. Yet the love from which it was given and the care that it is still given has not diminished and may even have increased.
I view it not as flawed or any less worthy of resting on that shelf, but instead I see it as a fabulously unique adornment with its broken yet mended state. As I contemplate its existence and place in our lives, it reminds me of the human condition.
A heart can feel and be broken and sadness can permeate one’s existence, but it is always followed by a healing process which makes each of us unique in our own special way. Every day I remind myself that I have the opportunity to get it back together when I slip and fail to live up to my identified values.
And as I contemplate about the many relationships that I have had the great fortune of experiencing, it is the uniqueness of each person that I find most endearing. It is knowing that we all have been bruised and saddened along the way, and still we all join in the daily effort to search for meaning and sustenance to keep moving forward in the wondrous ways of this life.
I hope you have a delightful experience today and every day henceforth.
fillsmusings 