I am a voracious reader and also enjoy writing. I often have a very different point of view than the popular one. I do see value in debate, and thought it might add to the public debate on controversial issues if I were to express my contrarian opinions. I also started keeping my poems recently (I've written little pieces my whole adult life but never kept any); and I've been a photographer now for over 25 years. So I will be adding an occasional poem and hopefully interesting photograph to the blog along the way, just to spice things up.
Great civilizations, no doubt, can rise or fall depending on the presence or absence of an effective leader at a critical juncture. Few would doubt that Franklin Delano Roosevelt was the perfect leader to face a relentless depression and a terrifying world war. His leadership still rings down through the ages with the echo of his forever familiar words, “Only thing we have to fear is fear itself” and “A date which will live in infamy.” But what if there had been no FDR to face the double barrel perils of a depression and a world war? What might have been the darker fate of mankind then? What might it be today?
Of course we have many politicians who pledge to fight for seniors. And defending the middle class is the stock and trade of the “successful” politician – that is, those who get re-elected. And one must not forget…
When I was a boy, Nobska Light, the lighthouse in Woods Hole, Mass., was a special place for me. The lighthouse sits high up on a promontory with a spectacular view overlooking Vineyard Sound and the always busy entrance to Woods Hole, bustling with boats. To the north is Boston and the rest of New England and to the south are the Elizabeth Islands that stretch out toward a distant horizon, beyond which lies Long Island Sound and New York City and the world.
When I was a boy, that distant horizon to the south was full of intrigue for me. I grew up a Cape Codder and so could lay claim to its heritage that voyaging off into the distance was in my blood — what with the Cape’s history of whaling around the Horn in far flung places. But I make no such claim. To my knowledge, no one in my family was ever handy with a harpoon, although we have all been sailors. But I do lay claim to the thrill that distant horizon had for me as a boy. What was beyond it, what marvels lay in wait for the brave soul who ventured thither, what wondrous experiences could be claimed if only one had the courage to go forth? That was the hold it had on me.
Now, at 70 years old, I’ve been well beyond that oh-so-far horizon — to many places and even to many other countries, if not other continents, and the experiences have been many and varied and colorful, and I have appreciated them all. But I do question whether the total stack and weight of all of them could ever measure up to the great expectations of that wide-eyed boy looking out to a distant horizon and wondering what lay beyond?
You know the type — people who doesn’t hesitate to do that falling backwards routine, into the arms of another person without really knowing that person or even if he is still standing there. Another how-much-do-you-trust experiment is to find a straight country road with no traffic or an open parking lot with no cars, close your eyes, and see how far you can walk with your eyes closed before you open them. It’s harder than you might think, even when you know there aren’t any obstacles in the way. But may be for the trusting kind of person, they just keep chugging along, no problem, eyes tight shut.
The trusting kind of person is going to be heir to a number of bad outcomes just waiting to happen. Friends are one of those bad outcomes. Trusting friends without reservation sooner or later is going to mean a very big comeuppance. After the disappointment, you’ll hear the “truster” say of the “trustee” friend who betrayed, but he (or she) was my friend, which translated in the language of trust means friends don’t behave that way — but, unfortunately, they often do.
The same happens with family members. The truster gives extra free rein in the behavior of other family members because naturally they would never do anything to harm another family member, right? Wrong again. So such a trusting person is likely to get burned here again, especially with money matters. It seems that family members don’t regard a financial debt with another family member as really any debt at all — it’s all in the family, isn’t it?
I won’t even go into the area of love and affection. We all know that’s a minefield — actually an extremely lucrative minefield — worth mining — for divorce attorneys. There was a famous line in a famous movie where an older and experienced man advises a recent graduate on lucrative options for his future, and he utters just one word: “Plastics.” I might have said instead two words: “Divorce attorney.” There’s big bucks in the misery of those who trusted in love and affection — and lost.
So, for goodness sake, what does one really get for being trusting. It would seem that it is a house of cards, a calamity waiting to happens, a fool’s errand. Except I like the quotation, “If there is no trust, there is no us.” That’s the conundrum in a nutshell. The true value of your relationships with friends, family members, and lovers only happens with deep and abiding trust. No trust, no real relationship, and so you will be marooned on a cold and unfeeling planet, really alone, that is, feeling very alone. But with trust, there’s the possibility of connection, genuine connection. That’s the wisdom of those who trust, in spite of the risks and the bumps along the way.
What do you get for a one dollar contribution? My gratitude.
If you enjoyed the post, you can help me keeping blogging along with just a one dollar contribution. You can contribute more by increasing the quantity — each increase by 1 is an additional dollar. Thanks for your support in this blog-eat-blog world.
‘Tis fair play, I say —
So don’t worry yourself none.
Death don’t descriminate, I tell ya;
All’s welcome.
Never ya mind then,
For Father Time, he sees to it —
Keeps for all and sundry
A certain ‘pointment.
Nope, no reservations needed;
He’ll call ya when it’s time.
What do you get for a one dollar contribution? My gratitude.
If you enjoyed the post, you can help me keeping blogging along with just a one dollar contribution. You can contribute more by increasing the quantity — each increase by 1 is an additional dollar. Thanks for your support in this blog-eat-blog world.
The JPG file of this photograph that you will download into your home computer.
This is a photograph where you can get lost in all the circles, and the reflection of the branches of the leafless tree provides abstract patterns and dark contrast to the raindrops. If you buy the JPG file of the photograph, I will be sending you an email in a day or two with a link to the JPG file. You will then download the file into your computer in its Download or Picture folder or whichever folder you choose, and you can use it on your PC as you will, as a screen saver or just to look at. Up to you.
Digital download of the JPEG file for this photograph.
If you buy this photograph, I will be sending you an email in a day or two with a link to its JPG file. You will then download the file into your computer in its Download or Picture folder or whichever folder you choose. You can use it on your PC as you will, just to look at now and then or as a screen saver after you configure your computer to use it as such. Up to you.
What do you get for a one dollar contribution? My gratitude.
If you enjoyed the post, you can help me keeping blogging along with just a one dollar contribution. You can contribute more by increasing the quantity — each increase by 1 is an additional dollar. Thanks for your support in this blog-eat-blog world.
Where were you before birth?
And after death?
In the same non-existence?
You pass from one into another non-existence.
No choice, pre-planned.
One loses only the present moment in death.
One gains only the present moment in birth.
You are a captive of it,
For there is nothing else –
There is no future
And no past…
Illusions.
Let your mind roam free today.
Let it leap with associations.
Let it inspire with originality.
Let it frolic in the lush pastures of pure thought.
Let it rejoice, complete and entire unto itself.
For we are silly little things,
Trapped by a narrow existence,
Snared by time and space.
Yes, “a little soul carrying a corpse.”
Indeed, Epictetus.
But your mind, that is free —
Free as a bird.
What do you get for a one dollar contribution? My gratitude.
If you enjoyed the post, you can help me keeping blogging along with just a one dollar contribution. You can contribute more by increasing the quantity — each increase by 1 is an additional dollar. Thanks for your support in this blog-eat-blog world.
What do you get for a one dollar contribution? My gratitude.
If you enjoyed the post, you can help me keeping blogging along with just a one dollar contribution. You can contribute more by increasing the quantity — each increase by 1 is an additional dollar. Thanks for your support in this blog-eat-blog world.
Henry's Views 