Category: Life

Meshugener!

Oy vey.

When it comes to more crazy per square foot, I’ll put Illinois right thechildrennext to California any day!

Seems State Rep. Will Davis, Hazel Crest (do I need to tell you his party affiliation?) wants to add a $0.25 tax on every purchase of…sneakers. He figures the state could raise an extra $3 milldoh for Illinois’ YouthBuild programs which teach kids construction skills. Rep. Davis says,

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Our National Pastime

footballOkay people, it’s time to face facts. When God created sports, He started with football. Not the goofy and tedious game of kick-ball Europeans play, but real, red-blooded, American Football. Yeah, with a capital “F.”

Sorry Canada, that ain’t football you’re playing. As for you Australia, I don’t even know what to call that sport. Looks more like rugby to me. And those refs in lab coats…what’s up with that??

Over the years there have been many attempts to copy our true national pastime. The XFL, BYFL, and Arena League come to mind—don’t get me started about the abomination that is Lingerie Football! But as with all imitations, they fail to satisfy because they just don’t have the raw power, and emotion of the real thing.

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Ghost

ghostSilent ghost, perched upon my garden wall,
What brought you here? What is it that you see,
That makes you peer so intently at me,
Through winter’s misty pall?

Is it idle curiosity, or perhaps a tiny mouse,
That so captivates your persistent gaze?
I do perceive, despite the icy haze,
Your ghostly presence outside my house,

Is but a token of how life goes;
One moment we are here, the next are gone.
Comes the morning, we may not see the dawn,
Or wake to carry on despite life’s throes.

You seem to say, all you have is now,
Follow your endeavors through.
The God of Life will make them true,
And bear them fruit somehow.

I look again and you have fled,
As ghostly silent as you came.
Still, I am here but not the same;
Your lesson sealed inside my head.

Owen Groesser, Hero

owenHere is a young man who some would say didn’t get a fair shake in life. That’s not how Owen sees it.

You can read the article about Owen’s heroics here. He even made it on SportsCenter! But that’s not why he’s my hero. Owen is my hero because he’s taken the life he was given and made the most of it. No complaining, no whining, no quitting.

I’ve had the privilege to know several people with Down Syndrome and I can say that every one of them have this same attitude. They are not consumed with worry over what they can’t do. For them, the world is full of possibilities. Of the DS people I know, some are singers and composers, artists, poets, athletes, and even a congressional intern!

Some people in this world think that children like Owen should never have been born. They would counsel parents against going through with the pregnancy because of the many health problems the child will face, and the many sufferings and sacrifices the family will have as a result. Kids like Owen are not viable they say.

To them I say, a good life is not one without pain, a good life is a life well lived.

Home Sweet Home

method-cottage

Okay, this post might seem a bit off-topic, but it does suggest some things to think about vis-a-vis how we live.

Gizmag is a fun stop for people interested in new technology. I check it out every day while doing my rounds of the intertubes—hey, I’m a writer. It’s my job. Anyway, I highly recommend it. But some of the tech I read about is more useful than others. I saw something the other day that was very intriguing to me personally, and not just a way to turn your iPhone into a garden sprinkler or another solar-powered bottle opener.

I’m talking about prefab homes. Not just a re-purposed (oooh, I hate that word!) shipping container, but a real house with doors and windows and bedrooms and everything! Now this is nothing new, but it’s not something we see a lot of today.

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Flowers and Other Living Things

I never used to like gardening. The extent of my forays into the yard consisted of mowing the lawn and raking leaves. A friend of mine who is an avid gardener and the possessor of a large, wooded plot of land in constant need of tending, got me to reevaluate my whole attitude toward plants. Now I love fussing around in the garden. Planting flowers, pruning bushes, hedges, and trees provides a great sense of satisfaction. Plus it gives me a good excuse to smoke a cigar.

Nothing is quite so lovely as sitting in the shade, listening to the trickle of water in the pond, the merry music of the birds, the sighing of the leaves as the breeze wanders through the trees—hey, that rhymes!—and contemplating how much God must love His creation. They say gardening is good for the soul, and I agree.

You know what though? The most important thing I’ve learned from gardening is that living things always respond best to gentleness and patience. Just look at this little calendula. When I got hold of it, it was in a tiny pot, overwatered, and dying. I stuck it in my favorite nursery pot, let it dry its feet, fed it, and waited to see what would happen. Just a couple weeks ago, I checked on it and here’s what I saw…

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