Where have all the hippies gone?

30 Apr 2012 3 Comments

by Dr. John Persico Jr. in Uncategorized

Where have all the hippies gone?  Long time ago. Where have all the hippies gone? Long time passing.  Gone to corporate lawyers.  Gone to Wall Street bankers. Gone to the suburbs.  Long time ago.  Long time ago. When will we ever learn?  When will we ever learn?
No doubt many of you will remember with some nostalgia, the Vietnam War Protests, the Free Love, Free Speech, Civil Rights and Women’s Liberation movements of the sixties.  The goals (even if they were never articulated as such) of the hippies and protesters of the sixties was to create a just society that was more clearly aligned with the principles and values of the founding fathers.  In 1776, the pragmatism as well as the culture dictated that not all “Americans” would share in the dream of the right to pursue life, liberty and happiness. Not all members of America were included in this founding father’s dream and by the early sixties; this smoldering situation was ready to burst into flames. America was rife with injustice and inconsistencies and a generation brought up on the ideas and values of American freedom and justice for all were ready to fight and march and protest to change things.
Looking back nearly fifty years, I remember my first wife Julie had been attending the University of Wisconsin at Madison in the sixties when it came to several students’ attention that the local Eagles club was excluding Black people from membership.  My wife joined a protest with several other students who picketed the Eagles Aerie.  Some years later, we both joined a group called PACE, which stood for People Acting through Community Effort.  We researched banks and organizations that had instituted Redlining in our community and we helped to organize boycotts and protests of these organizations.  So where have all the hippies gone? 
I often wonder when I look at the past few decades of greed, incredible debt, huge deficits, 10,000 square foot homes and increased intolerance towards the poor and immigrants where the hippies have all gone.  Who was it said, “I have met the enemy and he is us.”  Did we simply run out of energy or was the seduction of power and wealth too strong to overcome? Did all the hippies morph into bank officers and corporate CEO’s or were they brainwashed into moving to the suburbs and watching NFL football every weekend? 
If I go onto Amazon.com and look up the subject of “sixties” under books here are the first few titles of over 17,000 books on the subject that you will find:
The images and titles of these books no doubt bring back memories to many of you. Hippies, protest marches, psychedelics, peace signs, changing times, pot and hope are only a few of the icons we raised.  These are now the stuff of “once upon a time” and old faded memories.  I wonder where all the hippies went?  Are they sitting around reading books on the sixties and wondering how pot bellies replaced beach bodies?  Or are they all applying for social security benefits and hoping to find that foursome on the golf course in the sun? 
For me, the dream of the sixties became the exigencies of the seventies.  I went back to school in 1971 after serving in the military during the Vietnam War from 1964-1968. I got married, had a baby and became focused on supporting my family and “getting ahead.”  I became the “me” generation and wanted to be rich and successful.  The only true metric of any value seemed to be to make more money.  I wanted to be known for something and to be SOMEBODY. I also wanted to be secure from debt and poverty. 
To this day, I can’t say with any honesty that I have escaped these desires.  I vacillate between Gates and Buffett and OHSO and Tolle.  It is like being torn between two competing dreams both offering the path to happiness.  What is the real secret of life?  Does it lie in material fulfillment or spiritual fulfillment? The world is a large labyrinth with paths leading in both directions.  I find myself often lost in this maze of admonitions, directions and proverbs. Did the other hippies get lost in here as well? 
Were you ever a hippie or protestor?  Where did your hippie go?  Why is being a hippie now considered wrong by some people?  What values did hippies have that we should admire?  Should we all be part hippie? What is wrong with protesting against injustice? Why are so many people against the Occupy movement?  Would we rather the young generation simply tolerate injustice and get along with business as usual?  

What is a New York Minute like?

27 Apr 2012 Leave a comment

by Dr. John Persico Jr. in Uncategorized

A New York minute is an interesting term.  A New York minute is a fast, frantic, in-year-face, speedy and harried measure of time.  It is the opposite of the stereotypical Southern minute where time is slow and unhurried. Years ago, if you had been to Alabama and New York, you would have seen the difference in time immediately. Of course, today everyplace is changing and (I fear) there has been an exorable move towards the NY standard.  I am from New York and despite having lived in the Midwest for over thirty years; I still get accused of being on New York time. Probably because I do almost everything fast and have been multi-tasking before the word was coined.  In my own mind, I have slowed down considerably from when I was an “East Coaster” and I enjoy the Midwest because things (at least when I first arrived) seemed slower and mellower out here. Perhaps, it has to do with the farm cycle versus the industrial cycle.
It is interesting that we allow time zones to measure our time but we don’t use “specific place” zones, except in slang.  For instance, how would a Minneapolis minute compare to a San Francisco minute or a New Englandminute?  Today, they might all be about the same.  Thus, the term a NY minute is slowly passing out of use as we all become mini New Yorkers.  However, there are still places in the world that are not on NY time and perhaps you will get to visit one someday.  Even in parts of the US, there are places where the culture is not vested in moving fast.  One can take a trip to the Boundary Waters in Northern Minnesota or up Lake Chelan in Washington to Holden Village.  At these places, the emphasis is not on how many things you can get done or how much you can accomplish in 24 hours. There is a totally different emphasis.
In the Boundary Waters, you smell the flowers and you live according to paddle time or fishing time.  At Holden Village, the emphasis is on spirituality and finding your true center of being.  At both places, you forget time and you begin to live by the more ancient cycles of the sun, moon and stars.  I have been to both of these places and I want to go back someday. The peace and serenity you find at each is truly beyond description.
Have you ever been to New York? Where would you like to go that is not on NY time? How do you expect time would be for you there? What if time was like that for you right here and now?  What if in your own residence, you could set your own time standards? What would they be?  Would you slow your life down or speed it up? What do you think a good measure of a life well lived would be? 

Take the time today to reflect on a bad decision you made

26 Apr 2012 Leave a comment

by Dr. John Persico Jr. in Uncategorized

Yesterday, I went to a Men’s group meeting in Luck, Wisconsin.  This is an interesting group of men led by Mr. Dan Beal, a former high school principal.  They have been meeting every other Wednesday for over eight years now. Each meeting, one man hosts a subject or idea or topic for discussion.  With plenty of coffee and snacks, the group meets for about two hours and shares their ideas on the subject.  Good fun, fellowship and camaraderie are had by all.  In addition, one always learns something from sharing ideas with other people. The subject for yesterday’s discussion was selected by Russ Hanson and dealt with selecting a single decision in our lives that we most regretted and then speculating on “what would our lives have been like”if we had chosen another decision.
I tried very hard for a week to think of a single decision that I regretted and that I would do over. I could not come up with one. I called my friend Bruce and ran this by him.  He said “It does not seem doable. How could you make another decision?”  I agreed with this perspective but it seemed somewhat arrogant to say that there was nothing in my life that could not be changed or perhaps another road I should have taken.  I decided to use the following decision as the basis for my contribution to the group. I wrote it out as follows:
I made this decision when I turned 18 years old.  The year was 1964.  I made it a time right after high school when I could not get into college and the Vietnam War was building up.  The decision I made has profoundly affected my life ever since.  Indeed it is probably the single most important decision I have made in my entire life.  Its repercussions still affect my life to this day.
I decided to go into the USAF.  You may ask why and here are my reasons:
  1.       I liked the uniforms and thought they would attract more women.
  2.        I assumed it took more brains to be in the Air Force than the Army or Marines
  3.       I had some vague ideas about being a war hero 
  4.          I was sick of living at home and wanted to see the world

I note that this decision was a major mistake.  I will not bother you with the myriad reasons why. Suffice it to say, that none of my reasons really panned out. Thus, the path I should have trod, the decision I should have made was this:  I should have joined the US Marines.  You asked us to speculate as best we could on the changes that this decision would have made in our lives.  However, I can safely say that in my case, this is not mere speculation but true unadulterated fact. I believe beyond a shadow of a doubt that had I joined the Marines and been a Jar Head instead of a Wing Nut the following changes would have occurred in my life:

  •            I would have had relations with a lot more women. Maybe as many as Wilt Chamberlain and that is as some of you know more than 20,000 women.  It turns out, according to reliable statistics, that the Marine uniform is very sexy to a great deal more women than the US Air Force uniform or most any other uniforms.
  •            I would quickly have been selected for OCS and risen in time to at least a 3 star General.  I would have been decorated many times over, seen true combat and no doubt have been at least awarded a Silver Star, a ticker tape parade on Broadway and a meeting with then President Lyndon B. Johnson, whom I might add I subsequently met but that is another story.
  •            As a result of my war hero status, I would have pursued a career in politics and easily have become a US Senator from Wisconsin and perhaps even run for President of the US. With my brains, good looks and military connections, It is highly likely I would have become the next president of the United States instead of Richard Milhous Nixon.
  •           I would now be receiving a tremendous pension. I would be rich beyond belief and living in a great big mansion near Bone Lake where I would be protected by a whole bunch of secret service men who no doubt would be partying with local women even as I speak.
  •             And last, most important and not least, if I had been a US Marine instead of an Air Force wing nut, I would have a really cool tattoo of a bull dog on my right arm instead of the bare skin that now adorns it.
Thank you for allowing me to share my fateful decision with you all here today. I can only hope that if the Hindus are right and I am reborn again, I will make the right choice on my second time around.
By the way, for those of you who might have missed it, there is a moral to this story: Clothes really do make the man!
Well that is my talk and my contribution to the discussion.  Now it is your turn. What decisions have you made that if you had your life to do over, you would change? Why would you change it?  How would your life be different today if you had? 

Are you always right on time or are you the waitee?

25 Apr 2012 Leave a comment

by Dr. John Persico Jr. in Uncategorized

Right on time!  This phrase could be seen as a compliment.  I would guess most of us would take it that way.  Another way of looking at it might be to say, you were correct or exactly on the time we agreed on. Whatever way you look at it, most of us appreciate it when someone is “right on time.” Generally we reply to a compliment with a “thank you.”  However, few people ever seem to answer: “thank you” to someone who is on time.  I wonder why we don’t seem to recognize people who are complimenting us for being on time?  Do we simply expect people to be on time? Therefore, it is not really worth a real compliment. 
If you think about it, being on time is not such a common phenomenon.  In fact, if you think about it, it is not very common at all.  How many times each week have you gone to a meeting that started late or that several people showed up late for?  How many events that you showed up for on time started late?  I have often seen them delay a plane take off because a bunch of people were arriving late.  Of course, I feel bad for the people who might miss their flight but I am also concerned over my connections and missing my departure schedules. You are sitting on the plane wondering how long they will wait for the late comers.
Being on time is not a natural state of affairs.  People who are on time have to work at it. It is not easy to be on time.  A great deal of effort, responsibility and planning are needed to be “right on time.”  Any time someone does something that makes your life more pleasant, isn’t it worth a compliment?  When people show up on time, it makes my life easier and more pleasant. No one today has a great deal of time to waste just sitting around waiting for someone who is irresponsible and thoughtless. Yes, sometimes accidents happen.  However, have you ever noticed that they always seem to happen to the same people? The same people are late over and over again.  Thus, maybe we should note those people who work at being on time. 
What if you started thanking the people in your life who were right on time?  How would they react?  Would they feel more appreciated? Would you like to be more appreciated for the effort you make to be right on time?  Would being acknowledged for or acknowledging the effort by others to be right on time make any difference in your friendships or in your life? 

Has the recession taught us the value of long-term thinking?

24 Apr 2012 Leave a comment

by Dr. John Persico Jr. in Uncategorized

A common refrain in many organizations is “Always time to do it over, never time to do it right.”  How often have you seen this in your company? When I was consulting, it was one of the most popular problems we dealt with.  I would repeatedly hear employees use these words to describe how things were done in their workplace.  It was no wonder that American quality fell behind that of the Japanese during the eighties. We became a country where we did little or no long term thinking or planning. Our planning horizon was sixteen weeks.  This is the length of time between quarterly reports. Our goal was firmly fixed on the corporate stock price. Could we have a more fickle or less worthwhile target?  We are so busy doing things short term that we find it easier to fix the problems this creates rather than thinking things through and avoiding the problems in the first place. We ignore the old admonition that “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”
When I look back to the date I started consulting (September 1986), I ask myself, “Have we changed?” As a nation and as a people, are we looking any more long-term? Have we moved away from simplistic measures of success? Are we looking at more forward thinking or are we still primarily reacting to changes?  We have just gone through one of the worst recessions in history and have we learned anything from our experience?  Many would argue that it was short-term thinking that was the major cause of the recession. We spent and spent and bought and bought and borrowed and borrowed like there would be no tomorrows.  A few wiser people tried to warn us about this long-term debt and increased deficit spending, but most of us were too busy “shopping until we dropped” to worry about the future. We were like the grasshopper fiddling while the summer slowly passed by.  Finally, the winter came and you know what happened to the grasshopper. 
We are now in the situation of slowly recovering from this recession.  Many are still unemployed. Many are still homeless or in foreclosure.  Many are still in debt up to their eyeballs.  But we are still asked and perhaps willing to build billion dollar stadiums for the pleasure of watching our favorite sports teams on Saturday and Sunday.  Sports seems to have become the “Opiate of the Masses.”  No times or recession can be too bleak as long as the NFL is still playing on Sunday.  We can wait until November to find a new savior who will pull us once and for all out of this recession and restore us to our rightful place as the most powerful and prosperous nation on the face of the earth and indeed in the history of mankind.  Our new savior needs to do this with little or no effort on our part and certainly not ask us to save more or put off until tomorrow what we want to buy today.  Its not our fault if the country was in recession, it is the fault of the politicians who mismanaged the economy.  How dare they ask us to spend less and save more. Why is it taking Obama so long to fix things?  
Do you think long-term or are you primarily always reacting to short-term crisis?  Do you plan for the future or are you focused simply on what problems and troubles today will bring?  What role does long-term thinking play in your life?  

Is it too late?

23 Apr 2012 2 Comments

by Dr. John Persico Jr. in Uncategorized

We have all hear the phrase or said “I wish I could turn back the hands of time.” Have you ever thought how this could be done with a digital clock?  We no longer can turn back hands.  We now must press buttons.  Thus, progress and time marches on and on and on.  However, what if we could get progress to march backwards? What if we could turn back the hands of time?  Imagine all the events that it would be possible to alter.  Would we be smart enough to prevent disasters?  For instance, what if we could go back to the beginning of WW II?  Would we be able to find a way to stop Hitler and the Holocaust?  What if we could go back to the assassination of Julius Caesar?  Could we grab him by the toga and warn him that his best friend was going to kill him?  Do you think he would believe you?  If there were a way to turn the clock back, who would have the power to do so?  Can you imagine everyone running back into history to change things?  Who would decide what to change?
But let us imagine just for today, that you had the power to turn your own clock back.  Just for today, imagine if you could change your history. What time would you turn it back to?  Where would you turn it back to?  Then what would you do?  What would you use your power to change or do differently?  Would you try to save the world or simply undo some stupid things that you personally did?   
Sadly, we all seem to forget that while we can not take back any actions or words that hurt others in the past, we can make amends for them today. What if you made a list of things that you would like to change in the past and started today to make amends for those things?  Could you pick one thing you would like to make amends for each week and work on it?  How would you feel?  How would this change your life?  You really do control your own destiny and perhaps can turn back the hands or as least digits of time.  It is never too late to change things if you start today. 

Lets take some time for a book today!

20 Apr 2012 Leave a comment

by Dr. John Persico Jr. in Uncategorized

Book time is my favorite time.  This is when I am already past the “startup” of a new novel and I find the time to just sit down and relax with it. I often go into an old bedroom in our house as it somehow seems more peaceful.   Book time might be just before going to bed or sometimes when I have nothing to do.  The world never seems more peaceful.  It feels like hiding in a cave. When I was a child, book time was when I would go to the library. I discovered libraries at an early age and it was like discovering paradise.
We have one of the nicest libraries in the world in Frederic.  The library head is named Chris and some of the librarians are Lori, Paul and Marlene.  They are all very helpful and customer service is never wanted for at the library. Each day they make pots of coffee for the patrons and they never forget to refill the pots.  Once or twice per week someone brings cookies or pastries to share. There are nice areas for just discussion or reading and they have children hours once per week.  On any given day, I can find Brian or Jerry or Ken there and have an interesting discussion about something going on in the world. There are book clubs and many other activities sponsored by the Frederic library.  Recently they bought a bunch of Kindles and you can check these out.  There are several classes that they offer for patrons on using the new technology and the little library in Frederic is truly a Cyber Library.    
The best thing about libraries though are that they are peaceful and quiet and full of all the ideas, fantasies, mysteries and great things of the world. I fell in love with books there. I probably love books more than anything in the world.  I love them not only because of what they represent, but because of where they can take you and what they can make you. When I was young, I was taught that knowledge was power and information was a precious resource. The balance of power has shifted now due to modern technology and the internet.  Perhaps today it is more important who you know than what you know. Nevertheless, I persist in my love of books, and knowledge and theory and ideas.  I am bothered however by one major shift in our culture.
We seem to live in a society that is more and more obsessed by sports.  It is a society where star athletes are heroes and computer geeks are nerds.  It is a society that places more value on baseball, football and basketball than on books and reading.  Perhaps foolishly, I dream of a society where towns have signs up for leading academic students , leading music majors, leading drama classes, leading art students and not just for the “Football champions of 03” or the “ Class AAA Baseball Champions of 2011.” I dream of a society where drama coaches, music coaches and art teachers are as highly paid as NCAA athletic coaches. I dream of a society where as many students show up to watch the debating matches and chess matches as show up for the basketball games.  I dream of a society where there is no such thing as nerds and geeks and where developing brain power is as sexy as developing muscle power.  
Do you read enough?  Do you value ideas as much as you value “who won the Super bowl?”  Would you pay as much for a beautiful work of art or a ticket to the symphony as you would for a ticket to an NBA playoff game or a Super bowl game?  Do you spend as much time reading as you do watching sports?  Do you concern yourself with politics and culture as much as you do with popular NASCAR and Hollywood celebrities?  Do your children?  Why not?  Do you think your life might be different if you valued ideas more? What might change? 

No time for sex on the beach!

19 Apr 2012 2 Comments

by Dr. John Persico Jr. in Uncategorized

 

Went down to have a coffee at the library yesterday and read the daily paper.  You can’t beat the prices since both are free.  On the first page of the local section of the news, I noticed the following headline:  “Nude beach is no party for the DNR:  Arrests for drugs, lewd activity up; woods in surrounding area close.”  Reading further, I was shocked and appalled to find that couples at this beach in Wisconsin were actually taking their clothes off and then going into the woods to have “OMG, Sex.”  One bystander noted “I don’t know what fun they get out of that.”  The woods just north of Mazomanie, Wisconsin “includes a naturally secluded beach that offers spectacular views of the surrounding forests and bluffs.” Evidently, it strikes some folks as a good place to spend an afternoon.
I could not believe what I reading.  What kind of perverts, what kind of weird obscene people, what kind of misanthropes would have sex in such a place?  I had to see this for myself. I grabbed my Bushnell 4000-500x high resolution binoculars and jumped in my car to drive down to Mazomanie.  I yelled to Karen as I left, “be back in a while, I am going to see some perverts.”  It did not take me long to get there. I pulled up quietly behind a rise overlooking the beach where I hoped I would not be noticed.  I slithered up the hill and slowly raised my head.  I spied one nude couple who were talking to each other. They looked promising. I adjusted my Bushnell 4000-500x high resolution binoculars and waited. Sure enough, after about an hour of talking, the couple lay down and started kissing. I was very disappointed since I had hoped for more.  However, I kept my focus on them and sure enough, a short while later; they both got up and headed for the woods. I could not believe it.  They were going to have sex in the woods.  I adjusted my Bushnell 4000-500x high resolution binoculars to the maximum power.  I was flabbergasted. I was appalled! I was insulted! I was speechless! Due to the nature of this blog, I cannot tell you what they were doing but it was sinful.
Can you imagine!  What if a little child walked by and had some binoculars like mine?  What if an elderly couple was taking a walk in the woods and they came upon this fornicating couple?  What If some stargazers with high power telescopes were looking in the wrong direction and they saw this obscene act.  What could such people be thinking?  Where is their sense of propriety?  What did they think God made beds for?  I rushed back home to tell Karen what I had seen.

“Karen, Karen, I yelled as I arrived home. You would not believe it. They were having sex in the woods and they had no clothes on.”  Karen replied “What’s the big deal; people have sex in the movies all the time and what about those sexy X-rated films you like. They show people having sex without clothes on.  Most of TV is about sex these days as well. Why would anyone get upset about someone having sex?”

 

“Karen, you don’t understand.  Those are actors and actresses.  This was the real thing.  They were really doing it.”  “Come with me I said, and I will show you.”  Karen said, “I have a better idea, why don’t we jump in bed and you can show me there?”  I did not think she was taking me seriously so I told her later and went on to my computer.   I wanted to look up “pornography” and see if anyone had encountered a similar situation to the problem we are having in Mazomanie, Wisconsin. Perhaps, some other community had the same kind of perverts we have in Wisconsin and have found a solution to the problem.
As I was surfing the web, I found additional information on the Mazomanie nude beach problem.  The DNR has now closed down portions of the beach flanking the road. It has also recruited wardens to hide in the woods and bluffs to observe the beach.  They have set up high powered telescopes in hopes of “curtailing sex in the woods.”  The DNR spokesperson said that with increased surveillance, they would be able to keep people in full view and hopefully decrease incidences of lewd behavior. Several DNR agents had volunteered for the job.  I thought maybe I should call them and see if they needed more help.  I also have several friends who might be interested.  After all, my Bushnell 4000-500x high powered binoculars are state of the art equipment. I could see perverts almost a mile away with them.
I was interrupted while sending in an application by Karen who noted that supper was ready and that we could watch TV while eating.  I said well “Should we watch old episodes on Hulu of Desperate Housewives and Sex in the City or new episodes of GCB, Smash, Girls, Apartment 23, or Mad Men?”  Karen said “haven’t you had enough sex for one day, how about we watch some old reruns of the Mousketeers.”  I said “that sounds like a great idea. Annette Funicello was really hot in those days.”

What does it mean to be a hypocrite?  How come we are obsessed with sex but real sex offends so many of us?  What is unnatural about “sex in the woods?”  Do we secretly want to have wild risqué sex but need to keep up appearances of decorum and sanctimonious eschewal of the real thing?  What could the DNR do to better spend our tax money?  Would you like to buy a pair of high powered 4000-500x Bushnell binoculars cheap?

Anticipation time can help you to plan your life more effectively!

18 Apr 2012 Leave a comment

by Dr. John Persico Jr. in Uncategorized

Anticipation time is that time when we are waiting for something to happen.  It is when we know in advance that something will happen.  Whether it is good or bad, when we are anticipating something, it can seem like forever.  Time can move very slowly when we are in an anticipatory mood. Those of us who like to plan may try to control these events.  I have been accused of being overly controlling.  My excuse is that I am a strategic planner and that is my nature. I plan my vacations two to three years ahead. I love the anticipation.
For instance, Karen (my spouse) and I had decided to go to Peru a few years ago. It was fun for me to visualize what it would be like to climb Machu Picchu and to take the train in Peru. I was anticipating that we would take a small boat ride up the Amazon River. In my mind, everything worked fine.  I anticipated no problems.  Guess what. Everything worked exactly as I visualized and anticipated it would.  I planned my first overseas trip twenty five years ago.  Since the first, Karen and I have gone on 20 trips to 33 different countries. Each trip was planned more than two years in advance.  We post pictures of where we want to go, buy books, get maps, contact people, get local newspapers and get more and more excited as the day draws near.  In many ways, our anticipatory time goes very fast.  There are so many details and so much to work out to make sure that everything goes as we anticipate. And so far, all of our trips have gone exactly as planned and each one has been more fun and interesting than the last.  I am now planning a trip to South Africa for next year.
However, regardless of how much we try to control the time in our lives, there are inevitably events we cannot control.  On Monday morning, your boss says “I want to see you in my office on Friday.”  Your annual performance evaluation, an important presentation or an upcoming court date are just a few of the many different events that will create “anticipatory time” in our lives. Some of these events will not be ones that we would choose.  These will create “negative” anticipatory time.  I call this the time we have to wait that is not fun and that creates stress in our lives.  Positive anticipatory time may also go slow but it is time that is fun to think about and where we are anxious for the time to move fast.  In both cases, we want the time to go by but in one case, it is with positive anticipation and the other with negative anticipation.
What do you like to anticipate in your life? Are you in control over your anticipations or do you just go with the flow? Would more planning help you to have more fun with anticipation?  What can you do to minimize the “negative” anticipation in your life?  Are you leading the type of balanced life that helps to minimize stress and problems?  If not, how can you get more balance in your life?  A balanced life will have less negative and more positive anticipatory time. 

Today is the best day in the entire world history!

17 Apr 2012 Leave a comment

by Dr. John Persico Jr. in Uncategorized

This is the best time in the world.  Today is the best day in the world.  There has never been another day that is better than right now. There is no better time than October 2, 2012.  Perhaps it might seem foolish to make such a claim. Perhaps tomorrow it might sound foolish. To some it will always sound foolish.  There are those who might say it is looking at the world with rose colored glasses. Others might attribute it to a foolish optimism.  Very few would see it as a statement of realism.  It will never be possible to prove it as a statement of fact.  Yet, it determines to a large extent what we do with our lives and what we attempt to do in the world. My view of the world today will affect most of the things that happen to me today and of course my attitude tonight whether or not this was a great day. 
A few weeks ago when we were traveling back home, we stopped in Austin to visit my wife’s son.  He found a job down there about a year ago and Karen had not seen Kevin in nearly a year.  While Karen was visiting Kevin, we stayed in a nice room with a kitchenette. I went to the local Wal-Mart to pick up some deli items. There was a young man behind the counter and we greeted each other. He sounded very cheerful and I asked him if he was having a nice day.  He replied “I am always having a nice day.” I said, oh, you must be feeling healthy and happy when you can make such a statement. He said “No, I don’t need to be healthy.  I get up each morning and as long as I am alive, healthy or not, I am going to have a nice day.”  I left with my goodies but I could not forget this young man’s attitude.  Neither health nor working at a rather low paying job was going to affect his view of life and the world.  I have always declared a nice day as one where I woke up feeling  healthy and he took it a step further as one where he simply work up. 
When you believe that the world feels wonderful, it changes your whole perspective on life.  On the days when I can grasp this thought, there is no other place I want to be. Things are going just right, all is well.  I feel healthy, happy and contented.  I am not unhappy with the right wing or left wing or chaos anywhere in the world.  I can just accept the world for what it is.  It is a wonderful feeling.  I sometimes wish the feeling could last forever.  I think of the quote from Dickens that: “this is the best of all possible worlds.”  Where else could I go? 
 If we look around us, we can see a beautiful place full of beautiful people and extraordinary places and opportunities. Of course, we can see the opposite if we are minded to.  There will always be war, hatred, killing and violence. It is part of human nature.  But are you part of the problem or part of the solution?  If you are not doing your share to end the problems of the world, why complain about them?  Take some time to end violence, to end poverty and to end war.  But for today, try to find only the good out there.  
See if you can find three things that make you happy or three good things that you like about the world.  Try to be aware today of the good things in your life. Write them down and look at them again when you wake up tomorrow. See if you can feel why this is the best of all possible times and today is the best of all possible days.  Tomorrow will be even better.  Can you make the choice?  

Previous Older Entries

%d bloggers like this: