The value of spiritual exercise

11 Jun 2012 4 Comments

by Dr. John Persico Jr. in Uncategorized

We often hear the comment from someone getting older that they are “Aging like fine wine.”  Well, yes, wine does gets better with age, but sadly, the human body does not. My joints and muscles are no longer as flexible as they once were. My body does not recover as fast from aches and pains as it once did, and I no longer dream of playing football on the weekends or any rough contact sports for that matter.  My body seems to be aging more like cheese.  It is getting softer and moldier around the edges.  It might still be edible but it is not as fresh as it once was.  The good side of this issue is that my brain is more nimble and astute than ever. (IMHO) 
The body will inevitably deteriorate, (even with plastic surgery, knee and hip replacements etc.), but the brain does not necessarily age the same way. Studies have shown that IQ can remain the same throughout one’s life, if you keep “exercising” the brain by reading, studying and learning. Now of course, the body will stay in better shape as well if you keep up with some exercising.  However, no amount of exercising is going to keep the body in the same shape as when we were 21 or younger. 
Then we come to the soul and spirit. Here is where age can really excel over youth. Through experience and moral exercise, we can all become better then we were. We can continue to grow spiritually and morally throughout our entire lives. We can leave this earth as better people. We can give back to the world some of what we took from it. However, this also requires exercise. It requires exercise of both moral and spiritual values.  It requires moral and spiritual discipline. You will not grow in either area if you do not take the time to practice skills that lead to moral and spiritual development.  The virtues of faith, hope, charity and love must be practiced daily or they atrophy like old moldy cheese.
What exercise do you get each day?  Do you exercise morally and spiritually as well as physically and mentally?  Which areas do you need to concentrate more on?  Are you aging like a fine wine or like moldy cheese?  What do you need to do to perk up your aging process? 

Does it really belong to me?

08 Jun 2012 4 Comments

by Dr. John Persico Jr. in Uncategorized

A few days ago I received an email from a reader named Karen who lives in Australia or “down under” as many refer to the country.  Karen noted that her two teenage sons had found my blog useful for some of their school work and that some of my subjects were interesting to them.  Her older son is a senior in high school and has been studying the idea of “belonging.”  She suggested that I write on the subject of “belonging” and how it fit with time or perhaps just write on the topic as a new series of blogs.  I told Karen that I would think on this some as I used the “incubation” method of developing material.  I usually get an idea, put it on a notecard and let it “gestate” for a few days and then see if the muse of creativity visits me. 
One of my best ways of getting ideas for this blog has been to reflect on the idea while I am jogging.  So yesterday I did about 4 miles while thinking about the idea of “belonging.”  What does it mean? What are the ramifications?  Does the concept have the same meaning to people as it does to things?  What about how it applies to land and other legal titles?  My name belongs to me.  My house belongs to me.  My car belongs to me.  My property belongs to me.  My children belong to me.  However, my wife does not belong to me nor can I buy anyone like I buy a new motorcycle or a new coffee pot. 
Ownership is intimately related to “belonging” as is the idea of responsibility.  We are responsible for those things that belong to us. Thus, we are responsible for our children until they are adults and then they no longer belong to us.  We are not responsible for our relatives or our friends or our spouses and we would not say they belong to us. However, many people, (more men I think than women) act as though their spouses belong to them.  Some people have a perverted idea of what a marriage license or in other cases even a relationship means and they quite literally start to act as thought the other person they are in a relationship with is someone they own.  They attach the idea of belonging to people as though they are chattel or some type of product that they can buy, sell or trade.  How many times have you read some comment like “If I can’t have her, no one can.”  Each day the newspaper (at least in the USA) has some story about a guy who either murders his former wife or murders his estranged wife because “she left him or wanted to leave him.”  When I say this is a perverted sense of “belonging”, I think it is perverted because it carries the ideas of ownership to people.  It assumes that we own people like we own a product and that we have exclusive rights to their time, affections, attention and even bodies.  Should such “property” decide to “terminate” the relationship, it is a catalyst for feelings of betrayal, anger, jealousy and even hatred.  “If I can’t own them, if they no longer belong to me, I will see that they no longer belong to anyone else.” 
Here is where the idea of time comes in.  We get married and we promise to remain faithful until “Death do us part.”   Those who take the idea of belonging to extremes take this idea to mean that never can the other person “belong” to anyone else.  Their affections and body belong to only one person and that belonging is for perpetuity.  No one has a problem with this idea when it comes to things or property but when it comes to people; most modern cultures tend to regard the idea of anyone belonging to another as at best out of date and in many cases as simply sick.  I noted above that children are an exception.  It is often heard “who does that kid belong to?”  Children do belong (at least in a legal sense) to parents, guardians or foster care but this ownership only lasts until they become an adult.  After some legal age of responsibility, children no longer belong to their parents and any parent who continued to refer to their children that way would be thought of very strangely.   
As you may have noted, the concept of “belonging” not only implies a sense of ownership but it also implies a sense of responsibility.  Things that we own are things that we are responsible for. I own a dog or other pet and I am responsible for that animal.  If my dog bites or attacks someone, I can be sued or fined for the offense. We are responsible to different degrees for the things we own and land infers a different responsibility than my ownership of a new car.  Many legal warranties will specify my responsibilities for my new car and of course there are any numbers of legal ordinances which specify my responsibilities for my automobile.  Who was it said that great “power brings great responsibility?”  I suppose it can be said that the more possibilities something has for hurting others, the more responsibilities the owner has.
By the way, I find two different definitions for the concept of “belonging” in the online dictionaries.  One implies ownership and the verb form implies classification.  The latter is an interesting concept that I may explore some other time. 
Be·long·ing (Noun)
1.     A personal item that one owns; a possession. Often used in the plural.
2.     Acceptance as a natural member or part: a sense of belonging.

Belonging  present participle of be·long (Verb)
1.     (of a thing) Be rightly placed in a specified position: “learning to place the blame where it belongs”.
2.     Be rightly classified in or assigned to a specified category.
Suffice it to say, I have been focusing on the first or noun definition.  In this term, “belonging” also implies a sense of time.  We only own something as long as we are alive.  Something can only belong to us as long as we live. We can put something in a trust, but that simply transfers ownership.  My car, motorcycle, house, property and other objects that now belong to me, will no longer belong to me after I am dead and departed.  They will cease to be mine.  We can’t take them with us.  Some of the Pharaohs apparently thought they could and their tombs were found with numerous possessions as well as corpses of their wives and slaves.  Back in Ramses day, a man truly owned his wife as well as other people.
 
Going back to the idea of time and “belonging” and ownership, it is interesting how many of us act as though these things that we own can be taken with us.  We hoard, acquire, shop, buy, accumulate but eventually we die.  Our “belongings” are now junked, trashed, sold or liquidated to make cash for someone else.  Those things we thought most precious for our lives now become someone else’s junk.  Note the many estate sales, where relatives are heard to say, “I can’t believe they had so much junk.”  One person’s treasures are another person’s junk. 
Things no longer belong to us when we die. We no longer have any responsibility for them.  You can’t take it with you but you can ruin your life thinking that these things that you own, these things that belong to you have some form of transubstantiation.  You can delude yourself into thinking that they can be changed into something permanent and timeless or that they have some sense of immutable value.  The only true value they have is to you. When you die, they may or may not have any value to anyone else.  They may simply go into the junk pile of history.  Discarded and forgotten along with most of the rest of the stuff that you have spent years acquiring. 
Next time you think that something “belongs’ to you, ask yourself why it is important to own anything?  Is life simply about acquiring more? Does he or she who has the most toys win? What do you really win?  Our lives are defined by those “gods” that govern our behavior.  If you live to acquire, what god are you worshipping?  Will he/she let you take it with you? What will be written on your tombstone that will survive longer than your possessions?  Perhaps the words: “It all belonged to him.” 
Thank you Karen for the idea for my blog today.  I hope your older son will take my ideas and play with them. I would love to see his paper or final project. It occurred to me that the second definition under Noun would create an entirely different perspective. To belong to something rather than something belonging to you is a very different issue.  Something more to think about.  

Don’t Waste My Time!

07 Jun 2012 2 Comments

by Dr. John Persico Jr. in Uncategorized

Stop wasting my time!  This is a comment that is frequently heard and seldom reflected on. What does it mean to waste someone’s time?  Does the person know they are wasting your time? What was the person doing that “wasted” your time? Is it like wasting food or wasting money?  When someone tells you something that you are not interested in, does it waste your time?  In a country where the average person watches more than 25 hours a week of TV, it seems preposterous that anyone could dare use a phrase like “stop wasting my time.”
We spend over 14 hours per week watching people hitting a ball, carrying a ball, throwing a ball and bouncing a ball in games that we call sports, but we do not consider this a “waste” of our time.  If sports and TV are not time wasters, then what qualifies?  The average time spent watching sports (2.3 hours per day) is seven times greater than the average time spent participating in sports (.31 hours per day).  Perhaps watching sports exercises one’s eyeballs?  So what does it really mean to waste your time?  Is this time when you are not doing anything?  Whose fault is that if you have nothing to do? 
If we were honest, we would admit that most of us waste our own time with silly meaningless activities designed to take our mind off living and perhaps really accomplishing something. We are each experts at ways to waste time.  TV, gambling, casinos, watching sports, newspapers, endless meetings, etc. are only a smattering of the myriad ways we waste our time each day. Wasting time is a very subjective concept, since what I think is very wasteful, you might think is very useful.  My ideas of what constitute a valuable use of time might fit your definition of “time wasters.” Nevertheless, we all have our own ideas of what time wasting means to us. 

What if more of us started “wasting” our time on the activities that could really make a difference to the world?  What would the world be like, if more of us took an interest in government, law and politics and less in TV, gambling, sports and other activities?  What if we spent more time in charitable activities, loving others, finding ways to bring peace to the world, building bridges and creating friendships with those in need?  What if we spent 25 hours a week on these activities instead of watching TV?  Could you spend one hour less on TV this week and one hour more on peace?  Where would you start?  When will you start?  Why not today? 

What is the point of saving time? Is time management just a crock?

06 Jun 2012 2 Comments

by Dr. John Persico Jr. in Uncategorized

“Find More You Time!” This was a heading from a recent magazine cover. The byline was: “ten tips to try today.” Would you like to know what they are?  First, let’s talk about the subject of this article. How often do you see tips for saving time? Seems just about every day another article or expert is telling you how to “save” time? Do you know anyone who has time in a bank someplace?  “Yesterday I saved forty minutes and added it to my bank. I now have six hundred hours in my bank to use or to extend my life-time with.”  Wow, now that would really be something! Imagine if we could add all of our “saved” time on to the end of our life.  I have not heard of any time savings plan that would allow us to do that. Mores the pity!  I have not even heard of any savings plan that would let me transfer savings time from today to tomorrow.

Whenever I “save” time, I usually end up just relaxing. I suppose I could apply it to my next task and have more time to do it in, but it never seems to work that way. I mean, if you save time traveling someplace, what does that really get you? Look at those fools who tailgate and weave in an out of traffic as though it was the Indianapolis 500.  They drive like they think they are going to get an award for being first to work.  It might get you more time to do the next job or it might get you to an early grave.  Savings time seems to be akin to those ubiquitous diet plans that are always going to save you calories and thus help you lose weight.  Do you see all of the people that have lost weight?  Show me all the successful people that are time savers.

Maybe we are trying to do the wrong thing. Maybe saving time is not the right way to look at time. If we cannot really save time, then why describe it that way? What most of these ideas are about is really doing things faster or more efficiently. However, isn’t that what puts us on the treadmill in the first place? Always trying to do things faster and more efficiently; how many of us have become multi-taskers and to what benefit? Does multi-tasking really make us more productive or does it just cause us more stress. Maybe we need to learn how to waste time more.  Maybe we need to play more and have more fun?

Are you always trying to save time?  Have you managed to store time up for a rainy day? Are you always multi-tasking? Are you stressed out about not having enough time?  Is your concern for saving time making you happier or more productive? What if you took more time for fun and play in your life?  .

Can time affect your diet?

05 Jun 2012 Leave a comment

by Dr. John Persico Jr. in Uncategorized

Staying fit by the clock.  Can time affect our diets? Some experts proclaim that there is a best time for everything. They say this applies to eating, sleeping, drinking and exercising.  By following the best times, they report that you can stay healthier and happier. Staying fit by the clock is a philosophy that stresses consistency.  You exercise and eat at consistent times during the day.  However, with the many changes that each of use face in our lives, we must fit our exercise and eating into the varied patterns that our daily schedule will face. Modern life does not seem to allow many of us the luxury of a fixed schedule that never changes.
For instance, in terms of my own exercise schedule, I find that it must be flexible to accommodate my teaching schedule. My teaching schedule changes from quarter to quarter. Thus some quarters, I am teaching nights and others quarters it will be days. I adapt my exercise schedule to these changes. Some months, I exercise in the morning, some in the afternoon and some in the evening. There might be better times to exercise, but some exercise is better than no exercise regardless of when I do it. I have even run as late as 11 PM when it was dark and quiet. I bought some of those headlamps to wear when running trails at night. It is a very eerie feeling to run at dark with these lights giving me a true sense of tunnel vision in the woods.  
I also like to pay attention to my body clock as well as my time clock. I don’t care if it is “eating” time or supper time. If I am not hungry, I am not going to eat. Eating by the clock seems foolish to me. We have so many experts giving us advice that we forget to listen to our own common sense. What does your body tell you?  Do you feel good?  Do you feel healthy? Are you proud of your looks and your health? If not, then you probably need to do something different. Explore, read, and ask an expert but DO NOT put all of your health and happiness into an expert’s hands, no matter how many degrees they have. How can you take charge of your life and your time now?  What is keeping you from taking responsibility for your own life? If you already feel that you do, wonderful. 

Does it really pay to be the "early bird?"

04 Jun 2012 4 Comments

by Dr. John Persico Jr. in Uncategorized

When I was young, I learned the saying “the early bird catches the worm.” Somehow, I really internalized this phase and it has become a sort of mantra for me. I can hear myself saying this a million times over in my life. Perhaps this ingrained bit of advice has become the defining way I live my life. I am forever up early; early to appointments, early to airports, early to parties, early to events.  It does not really matter what the meeting is, I will be early for it. 
Reflecting on it a bit, what does this little advice about catching worms really mean?  I have seldom, if ever, caught a worm and when I did, it was in the evening.  I remember shining my flashlight at night on the lawn and finding all sorts of worms. I don’t ever recall seeing any worms in the morning. You might say, well it is evident that getting up early helps you get the day going sooner, you have more time to spend and you will be more successful. At least, that is what I think it was supposed to mean. I have done this all my life, always gotten up early, been early to all my appointments and I am still waiting for my worm.  Maybe, if we knew what worm we were supposed to be looking for, it would be easier.  However, I am still not sure what kind of worm I want or even if I really want to catch a worm.  Judging by the amount of late people out there, it would appear that many other people are not interested in catching worms.   
Is there any validity to this bit of wisdom?  Will you really be more successful, if you are an early bird?  Do you think the “early birds” are catching more worms in life than the latecomers?  Have you caught all the worms you want yet?  Did you find “getting up early” was your key to success? Do you think you would be more successful, if you were more of an early bird?  What works for you in your life, sleeping late or getting up early? Does it really make a difference?

June, a month for fun and new starts and endings.

01 Jun 2012 2 Comments

by Dr. John Persico Jr. in Uncategorized

June is the first day of summer for most of us in the Northern Hemisphere.  It is the time when school is over and summer vacations begin. In Minnesota and Wisconsin, our road construction season has already started.  Snowbirds have returned north and those who never left have already been to their summer cabins to get them ready for weekend visits to the lake and fishing.  Flowers are blooming and the grass now needs weekly mowing. Campers, RV’s, ATV’s, sailboats, motorcycles and canoes have all be taken out of storage for fun and pleasure.
June really demonstrates that time is cyclical as once again; we go through all of our favorite summer rituals. June is traditionally the most popular month for weddings in North America.  There will be any number of brides looking forward to years of wedded bliss and relatives wondering what to buy the newlyweds.  For those already partnered, it will mean enjoying more weekends at home with friends and relatives or perhaps a trip to visit relatives in another place. June is a time to play and a time to relax.  It can also be a time to stretch our boundaries and challenge our ideas of the world.  Travel to another country can open horizons for all of us as we experience another culture and way of life.  Regardless of what we do, in summer we all enjoy those warm days of sunshine, made even longer by the interesting juxtaposition of the sun and the earth.  Some of us wish these months could go on forever and so we think of moving to places where there is an “endless’ summer.
However, reality never seems to match fantasy and many will just endure the short but sweet northern summers. A few of us will become snowbirds and the rest will remain locals.  For people who live in warmer climates, it is inconceivable to live in Minnesota or Wisconsin year round. Those that do visit here generally come in the summer. One often hears the remark from visitors “Oh, how green it is in Minnesota.”  While living in Hawaii, I was amazed at how many Hawaiians wanted to visit Alaska. It was a very popular vacation destination for many Hawaiians. Perhaps summer for some is going to a very cold place. The grass may not be greener but it is always different. 
Summer vacations can be a time for growth and change as we use our time to try new things, go now places and meet new people.  I am going to discontinue this blog as it has been written and move to a new format by the end of this month.  Right now, I am not sure what it will be. I have enjoyed writing and doing this blog over the past three years or so.  It has helped me find an outlet for my ideas and creativity. However, I am now starting to tire of doing a daily blog and have decided to move to another format. I may choose another theme or just write a blog on my ideas each week or randomly. At this time, I am not sure what format to move to but I will serve notice that by the end of June, I will be retiring Time.  
What does summer mean for you? Where are your memories of summer pasts and your dreams for summer future?  What would you most like to do this summer if you could do anything in the world?  What changes would you like to make in your life this summer?  What is stopping you? 

Why Waste My Time Voting?

31 May 2012 Leave a comment

by Dr. John Persico Jr. in Uncategorized

Went to the mailbox this morning and what did I find?  Right, another “Vote for Me” flyer!  I started to throw it away but as I find it difficult not to at least scan any piece of written literature (I use the term loosely here), I noticed it had pictures of both Barrett and Walker on it. I should mention that it also included a third party candidate named Trivedi whom I had never heard of.  I suddenly was very interested in this flyer. Was it a Walker ad somehow lampooning Barrett or was it a Barrett ad somehow lampooning Walker? It seemed very strange having both of their pictures on the same ad. There was a mystery here. Sorry Wilma\Wanda, I could not resist putting these pictures here.  🙂

For those of you who are not from Wisconsin, I should back up a little. On June 5th we are having a recall election for the present Governor named Scott Walker.  Walker is a Republican who has managed to offend a great deal of the electorate.  To his detractors he is an evil villain out to undo 100 years of labor history by marginalizing unions and stripping public employees of their pensions and other benefits. To his supporters and in fact those who voted him in by quite a margin, he is a hero.  To the latter, he is a staunch defender of free enterprise and the rights of the little man who has been plagued by big government and lazy overpaid union workers. 
After Walker successfully attempted to make some changes in pensions and union rights, a large number of Wisconsin residents drew up a recall petition to force another election.  Over 500,000 Wisconsin voters signed this petition. The election is scheduled for June 5, 2012.  Walker has or will spend over 25 million dollars in advertising and Barrett (Former Democratic Mayor of Milwaukee) will spend about 1 million (Since that is all Barrett has).  I have not a clue how much Trivedi will spend since I never even heard of him until looking at this flyer.
So back to the strange mysterious flyer.  Were Walker and Barrett supporting anything together?  Were they somehow saying anything nice about each other?  Could this flyer be some sort of a bipartisan reaching across the aisle, if so, for what purpose?  Did this flyer signal a shift in electioneering from the negative to the positive side?  Reading the materials they have already sent out, it does not sound like they could be in the same room together without hurting each other.  Both have loudly proclaimed each other to be out and out liars.  What could they possibly be doing together to show any harmony or kindness to each other much less to benefit the people of Wisconsin? Was there some sort of subliminal message embedded in the ad that would induce me to vote for one candidate or the other?  I did not want to be too quick to assume any well-meaning intentions in this flyer.  Some enlightenment might be attained by finding out which one of the many “Friends of” committees paid for this ad.
Well, reading on (the Flyer that is) I was pleasantly surprised. Here is what the ad copy said:
“It’s time to do our civic duty.  Be sure to do your duty and vote. The only way to ensure a positive result for Wisconsin is for as many citizens as possible to vote on June 5.  Your Vote is Your Choice.” Paid for by the Legacy Foundation, Iowa. 
A little investigation shows that the mission of the Legacy Foundation is to:
Advance individual liberty, free enterprise and limited, accountable government. Our efforts center around public policy research and alternative policy initiatives in, but not limited to, these core areas: state fiscal and tax policy, the creation of an entrepreneurial environment, education, labor-management relations, citizenship, civil rights and government transparency issues.

I could not detect any conspiracy theory here.  Thus, I was shocked but also very pleased.  Here was an ad (seemingly bi-partisan) that is actually extolling people to vote.  An ad that is not telling you who to vote for but simply reminding people that it is their responsibility and privilege to participate in the most important process in America.  Despite the wars and deaths sacrificed to preserve this freedom, most Americans do not vote.  In fact, do you realize that only about 50 percent of Americans usually vote in the Presidential election and less vote in most other elections?  It is very likely that more Americans will watch the Super Bowl than will turn out to vote in November.  It is also likely than the upcoming recall election will be decided by a minority of the electorate in Wisconsin.  This is not sad or a shame, it is an outrage.  Below are the actual voter figures from 1960 to 2010.
National Voter Turnout in Federal Elections: 1960–2010
This page provides information about voter statistics, including age of voting population, voter registration, turnout, and more.
Year
Voting-age
population
Voter
registration
Voter turnout
Turnout of voting-age
population (percent)
2010**
235,809,266
NA
90,682,968
37.8%
2008*
231,229,580
NA
132,618,580*
56.8
2006
220,600,000
135,889,600
80,588,000
37.1
2004
221,256,931
174,800,000
122,294,978
55.3
2002
215,473,000
150,990,598
79,830,119
37.0
2000
205,815,000
156,421,311
105,586,274
51.3
1998
200,929,000
141,850,558
73,117,022
36.4
1996
196,511,000
146,211,960
96,456,345
49.1
1994
193,650,000
130,292,822
75,105,860
38.8
1992
189,529,000
133,821,178
104,405,155
55.1
1990
185,812,000
121,105,630
67,859,189
36.5
1988
182,778,000
126,379,628
91,594,693
50.1
1986
178,566,000
118,399,984
64,991,128
36.4
1984
174,466,000
124,150,614
92,652,680
53.1
1982
169,938,000
110,671,225
67,615,576
39.8
1980
164,597,000
113,043,734
86,515,221
52.6
1978
158,373,000
103,291,265
58,917,938
37.2
1976
152,309,190
105,037,986
81,555,789
53.6
1974
146,336,000
96,199,0201
55,943,834
38.2
1972
140,776,000
97,328,541
77,718,554
55.2
1970
124,498,000
82,496,7472
58,014,338
46.6
1968
120,328,186
81,658,180
73,211,875
60.8
1966
116,132,000
76,288,2833
56,188,046
48.4
1964
114,090,000
73,715,818
70,644,592
61.9
1962
112,423,000
65,393,7514
53,141,227
47.3
1960
109,159,000
64,833,0965
68,838,204
63.1
*Source 2008 election results: http://elections.gmu.edu/Turnout_2008G.html.
Read more: National Voter Turnout in Federal Elections: 1960–2010 — Infoplease.com http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0781453.html#ixzz1wOx9Lwom
The flyer went on to say “ON JUNE 5th, YOUR VOTE IS IMPORTANT.”  Dam right, your vote is important.  Whether you are Republican or Democratic or Independent, it is the most important right and responsibility that you have in America. It has often been said (In fact, I say it often myself) that “People get the government and the politicians they deserve.”  If you would rather be watching the baseball game on Election Day or some idiotic television sitcom, then you have absolutely no right to complain about your government or the quality of the politicians that serve you in office. My good friend and mentor Sister Giovanni often said:  “People want rights without responsibilities.” 
For more than a generation now, we have been hearing about the “entitlement” generation. This is simply people who want their rights without any responsibilities.  This is nothing but lazy mindless thinking and behaving.  Sister G also said “For every right there is a corresponding responsibility.”  If you want to live in a free country, if you want a choice of who runs your country, if you want to be able to walk the streets a free person with the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, you have to pay for it. There are no free lunches. Your payment is the responsibilities you must undertake to ensure and protect the freedoms I have mentioned. One of the most important of these responsibilities is that of being informed. Meaning you take the time to learn about the records and backgrounds of those running for office.  Most important (to restate it again) is that you get out and vote.
Are you registered to vote?  Do you know where your voting place is? Have you arranged your time to fit in voting?  Do you know the records of those running? Have you selected a candidate based on a solid knowledge of facts and not rhetoric? Are you making up your own mind or are you going along with your friends and relatives?  Are you looking at who will do the best job both long and short term or are you only worried about who will help you make the most money in the short term?  Are you as concerned with the social, global, environmental and ethical policies of your candidate as you are with his/her economic policies  Do you realize that without a future there will be no tomorrow’s?  

Who is Padre Pio and what can he tell us about how to use our time?

30 May 2012 2 Comments

by Dr. John Persico Jr. in Uncategorized

“I recommend you to have a firm and generous proposal to always serve God with all your heart.  Do not worry about tomorrow. Think about doing good today.  And when tomorrow comes, it will be today and then you can think about it.” –  Padre Pio, July 4, 1917. 
A few years ago, Karen and I went to Italy to visit. We visited Rome and did all the traditional sites. We saw the Vatican, the Pieta, the Spanish Steps, the Coliseum and many other famous sites that now elude me.  After a week of Rome, we left for the town of Quadrelle outside of Naples.  We love to spend time in both city and country, leaning more heavily to the time we can spend in the more rural areas. Quadrelle was a fabulous little town in the Campania region of Italy. It was close to the Amalfi Coast as well as many attractions such as Pompeii, the Isle of Capri and the Castle at Caserta. In addition, it was smaller and friendlier than Rome.
One of the things that struck me in this small town and the surrounding area was the love that the local people had for a monk named Padre Pio.  There was a statue of him in a little park in town.  Before coming to Italy, I had only passing acquaintance with him and no real knowledge of his life. To me, he was just another “Saint” or perhaps someone whom they were debating over sainthood.  To the locals, there was no question that he was a saint. One might think he became a saint because of great accomplishments, great deeds or great heroics. However, it was just the opposite. Padre Pio was a very simple man. He was not high up in any orders of the church hierarchy.  In fact, for many years, his own church persecuted him as a fraud and psycho.  Today he is loved because he was a very wise and kind man. The quote above is from one of his many letters explaining how to live more fully.
Many great spiritual traditions advise us to live in the present and not worry about things we cannot fix or times that we have no control over. Nevertheless, many of us spend our time needlessly worrying about the future and forget about living for today. What can you do today that would add some measure of good to the world? The Boy Scouts say: “Do a good deed daily.” That’s not such a bad idea. Doing a good deed each day is a great way to live in the present. What is one “good deed” you can do for someone today?  

What is "lost time" and how do I find it?

29 May 2012 2 Comments

by Dr. John Persico Jr. in Uncategorized

Have you ever gone “in search of lost time?”  Is it really possible to find lost time?  Is it like losing your keys?  How do we lose time?  Do we simply forget to where we put it or does it fall out of our pockets?  Or is it more like losing your memory?  Where do we go to search for lost time?  Have you ever found lost time in a closet or under your bed?  What do you do with it if you do find it?  
What if you could not lose time? What if it were simply a metaphor for the way we squander and consume our time in wasteful ways?  For instance, how often have you sat in a traffic jam on the way to work or how often have you been kept waiting in a doctor’s office for an appointment.  Or have you ever had one of those days where you just were not able to accomplish anything and then the day was over. Each of these situations probably felt like “lost time.”
Where does all this lost time go?  Somewhere in the world, there must be a treasure trove of lost and stolen time.  It is the greatest treasure ever accumulated since the time of Solomon.  Think about all the time we lose every day in traffic jams, missed appointments, downtimes, equipment failures, poor instructions, missed communications and simple forgetfulness.  Unfortunately, even the most avid treasure seekers will probably never find this fortune trove of time. 
What if you could try real hard and never lose time again?  “Impossible” you might say, “How can I speed up traffic or the doctor?”  If we have no control over our time then it might be proper to blame time robbers and not ourselves for lost time.  “A thief stole my time today.”   How often do we blame others or blame fate for our “lost time?” How many days a year do you lose your time?  How many days a year is time stolen from you by a time robber?  Is it ever your fault when you lose time or is someone else always to blame.  Do you think there are ways you could cut down on losing your time?

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