Life
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Sought Through Prayer and Meditation: Help, Thanks, Wow
I close my eyes, then I drift away, into the magic night I softly say. A silent prayer, like dreamers do, then I fall asleep to dream my dreams of you. Roy Orbison My history with prayer has not been a good one. I was raised Catholic and rather than prayer being a means to… Continue reading
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Lasso the Moon
Wise to resolve, and patient to perform. Homer Until the pandemic put an end to it (as it did to too many traditions in my life), Linda and I loved going to the Riverview Theater for their annual holiday showing of Frank Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life. Even though I have seen it countless times… Continue reading
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Love, It’s a Bitch
In boxing, I had a lot of fear. Fear was good. But, for the first time, in the bout with Muhammad Ali, I didn’t have any fear. I thought, ‘This is easy. This is what I’ve been waiting for’. No fear at all. No nervousness. And I lost. George Foreman The following is a semi… Continue reading
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Shine a Light
I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. Charles Dickens I am not a Christian and despite that fact that I regularly attend Sunday services at a Unitarian church, I am not anything in particular. I have a strong sense of spirituality and attempt to practice a life… Continue reading
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What Have You Done?
Each time a man or woman stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the… Continue reading
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Lifelong Learning (It’s a Family Affair)
Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever. Mahatma Gandhi Like all people married as long as Linda and I have been (43 years and counting), our relationship needs the occasional tune-up to keep things moving in the right direction. This can take on many forms, but… Continue reading
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The Joy of Just Enough
Find ecstasy in life; the mere sense of living is joy enough. Emily Dickenson It used to be that if you asked me what I wanted I would have said “everything.” It didn’t matter if I earned the right to make such a statement. I wanted what I wanted and I expected everyone to understand… Continue reading
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Emotional Tattoos
In Hinduism, Shiva is a deity who represents transformation. Through destruction and restoration, Shiva reminds us that endings are beginnings, and that our world is constantly undergoing a cycle of birth, death and rebirth. Karen Salmansohn Not too long ago I heard an interview with the director of the 2013 movie The Place Beyond the… Continue reading
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Kitchen Ministry
I just hope Americans come to understand that food isn’t something to be manipulated by our teeth and shoved down our gullet, that it’s our spiritual and physical nourishment and important to our well-being as a nation. Alice Waters When I was just a lad of 10 or 11, my mother required an operation followed… Continue reading
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Everyone Needs Someone to Bark With
Lots of people want to ride with you in the limo, but what you want is someone who will take the bus with you when the limo breaks down. Oprah Winfrey I have made a lot of mistakes over the years, but the biggest may have been to not build and foster long term friendships.… Continue reading
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It’s all in the Game
It’s unbelievable how much you don’t know about the game you’ve been playing all your life. Mickey Mantle I worked in high tech jobs for over 40 years, but I am not a high tech person. I don’t need to stay current with the latest and greatest gadgets and this has been especially true with… Continue reading
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A To-Do List for a Better Life
We don’t need a list of rights and wrongs, tables of dos and don’ts: we need books, time, and silence. “Thou shalt not” is soon forgotten, but “Once upon a time” lasts forever. Phillip Pullman A much younger me believed I was in control of my fate. I lived life with the notion that whatever I was and wherever… Continue reading
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Three Vignettes
I can barely conceive of a type of beauty in which there is no Melancholy. Charles Baudelaire Foster’s Creek Few mourned when Clarence Findley died. He did not live a life that endeared him to many people. Clarence Findley was a hard drinking, mean spirited cuss of a man, and you could count on one… Continue reading
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It’s Life’s Illusions I Recall
It is better to have your head in the clouds, and know where you are than to breathe the clearer atmosphere below them, and think that you are in paradise. Henry David Thoreau Every so often I play the same song over and over again. For the past two days, I have done that with… Continue reading
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The White Space of Life
The Road goes ever on and onDown from the door where it began.Now far ahead the Road has gone,And I must follow, if I can,Pursuing it with eager feet,Until it joins some larger wayWhere many paths and errands meet.And whither then? I cannot say. J. R. R. Tolkien I became enamored with East Indian culture… Continue reading
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The Time for Prayer Has Passed
The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people. Martin Luther King Jr. Once more my news feed is filled with stories about another school shooting. Four people were killed, nine were injured, and the perpetrator appears to be 14-year-old boy with… Continue reading
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The Bait and Switch of Student Loans
My values, our values, aren’t about pointing fingers. They are about offering a helping hand. Kathleen Blanco The cost of higher education has changed quite a bit since I was a young man. I went to Arizona State University in the late 1970s and early 1980s when tuition was $500 a semester. Add another $500… Continue reading
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Richard Alexander Prokop
Death ends a life, not a relationship. Mitch Albom August 28, 2024 marks the eight-year anniversary of my brother Richard’s unexpected and not so unexpected death. I say “not so unexpected” since Richard had been neglecting his health for a long time. He was the type who either ignored a problem or minimized its significance. … Continue reading
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Do You Love Me
Love does not consist in gazing at each other, but in looking outward together in the same direction. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry One of the most poignant and tender moments in the musical Fiddler on the Roof is when Tevye sings to his wife, Golde, “Do you love me?” She answers him with, “For twenty-five years I’ve washed your… Continue reading
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This I Believe
It’s the repetition of affirmations that leads to belief. And once that belief becomes a deep conviction, things begin to happen. Muhammad Ali Each meeting of my men’s retirement group has a different topic of discussion. In the past, we’ve spoken about everything from unexpected events that changed our lives to how we approach downsizing.… Continue reading
Can You Hear Me Now 