Somedays You're the Fire Hydrant....

Kathy and I used to own two Rottweilers named Midnight and Raven. They were both male dogs. When we would let them loose in the backyard, it was amusing to watch them follow each other around marking and remarking their territory. Raven would sprinkle his ownership on a helpless bush and Midnight would be right behind him to reclaim it for himself. On and on the struggle for ownership would rage in our backyard.

Struggling to possess and own is not limited to the canine world. Attempting to carve out territory and proclaim ownership is, unfortunately, a temptation for us. We want to take and hold as though we can grasp these things forever. But what we have today will be someone else’s tomorrow. We are simply momentary caretakers.

Far from being depressing, this is liberating. We are free to enjoy without the burden of ownership. Possessions can be enjoyed and shared, rather than becoming chains that bind us or things that possess us. There used to be an adage that stated “He who dies with the most toys wins.” Maybe, but he who dies with the most toys still dies.

Love Hurts

One of my all time favorite album reviews was a three word appraisal of Cher’s album Love Hurts. With acid pen, the critic had simply stated: “Not this much.” Beautiful! “Brevity is the soul of wit.”

Yesterday Kathy was reading a quote from a book which said “Love always leaves a mark.” It is true. Love always wounds and love always hurts. It must be so because love is always costly. If we truly love someone, then we are willing to inconvenience ourselves, sacrifice, give and disrupt our lives for the sake of another. Love that costs nothing is nothing at all.

It may be that this is why so few of us will ever find love. We have bought the deception that love only brings personal joy and satisfaction. Because we have become conditioned to believe that love is never painful, we begin to pull away at the first sign of discomfort.

Love requires sacrifice. Love can be costly. But, a life without love is infinitely more agonizing.

And Then The Fight Started...

I asked my wife, "Where do you want to go for our anniversary?"
It warmed my heart to see her face melt in sweet appreciation.
"Somewhere I haven't been in a long time!" she said.
So I suggested, "How about the kitchen?"
And that's when the fight started....

My wife was hinting about what she wanted for our upcoming
Anniversary. She said, 'I want something shiny that goes from 0 to 150 In about 3 seconds.'
I bought her a scale.
And then the fight started...

My wife and I were sitting at a table at my high school reunion, and I
Kept staring at a drunken lady swigging her drink as she sat alone at a nearby table.
My wife asked, 'Do you know her?'
'Yes,' I sighed, 'She's my old girlfriend. I understand she took to
Drinking right after we split up those many years ago, and I hear she
Hasn't been sober since.'
'My God!' says my wife, 'who would think that a person could go on
Celebrating that long?'
And then the fight started...

I took my wife to a restaurant. The waiter, for some reason, took my
Order first.
"I'll have the strip steak, medium rare, please."
He said, "Aren't you worried about the mad cow?""
"Nah, she can order for herself."
And then the fight started...

Saturday morning I got up early, quietly dressed, made my lunch,
Grabbed the dog, and slipped quietly into the garage.
I hooked up the boat up to the truck, and proceeded to back out into a Torrential downpour.
The wind was blowing 50 mph, so I pulled back into the garage, turned on the radio, and discovered that the weather would be bad all day.
I went back into the house, quietly undressed, and slipped back into bed. I cuddled up to my wife's back, now with a different anticipation, and whispered, 'The weather out there is terrible.'
My loving wife of 10 years replied, 'Can you believe my stupid husband Is out fishing in that?'
And then the fight started ...

My wife sat down on the couch next to me as I was flipping channels.
She asked, 'What's on TV?'
I said, 'Dust.'
And then the fight started...

The Future of Gaming?

From Reddit

Life Itself

“The friendship that can cease has never been real.” - Saint Jerome

This quote haunts me because it causes me to realize how superficial many of my relationships have been. Many have entered my life only to leave at some point. In some ways, however, this isn’t always bad. There are some alliances that are meant to be temporary. If we remained in contact with everyone we met, we would soon have no time for anyone.

When we try to “lock in” or force relationships, we are compelling something that must be a choice. The best friends – our truest friends – are the ones that have chosen to remain with us and who we have chosen to stay alongside. These friendships which do not cease are real, genuine and authentic. They must be – by their very nature – few. But they are life itself.

Unexpected Truth

"If religion were true, its followers would not try to bludgeon their young into an artificial conformity; but would merely insist on their unbending quest for truth, irrespective of artificial backgrounds or practical consequences." -- H. P. Lovecraft

"It strikes me that people with a secure sense of their own faith are often the least liable to get upset by parodies or comedies about it. Religions may deal in divine truths, but they are run by human beings. And the combination is often funny. True believers know that; and don't care when they're made fun of. Insecure believers - and they often need fundamentalism to keep their own souls untroubled by doubt -- are the touchiest." -- Andrew Sullivan

"Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction." -- Blaise Pascal

"I think vital religion has always suffered when orthodoxy is more regarded than virtue. The scriptures assure me that at the last day we shall not be examined on what we thought but what we did." -- Benjamin Franklin [letter to his father, 1738]

“Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blindfolded fear.” – Thomas Jefferson [letter to his nephew Peter Carr, 1787]

A Guest Blog Well-Worth Reading

My friend Mike sent me this and I asked him if I could reprint it for you. There is a lot of wisdom here! - Bodie

January 26, 2009

Good morning!

One of the unintended consequences of a 24-7 blackberry/twitter world is that our attentions are seldom focused. During the inaugural, I met a pro athlete who told me that several thousand people were following his every (and I mean every) move through a new technology: twitter (My question, who cares? But obviously I am wrong...many do). Like me, you likely flit from activity to activity, crisis to crisis...overwhelmed and even 'high' on movement and stimulus trying to take in all that is available. For many of us, the elusive goal of simply trying to get on top of our lives seems unachievable. We are spending more and more time with our ipods, iphones, computers, and other slick devices and less and less time with people or pondering. Yes, pondering; observing, being struck by the awe and pain of life and the simple things around us.

One of my dear friends and mentors, John Whitehead, former Chairman of Goldman Sachs, did something incredible when he was running the firm. John would take off the month of August each year and was 'unreachable'. Is that insane or what? But just possibly, the greatest of the man’s virtues lies in this discipline of breaking the insane rhythms of busyness.

17th century French thinker Blaise Pascal observed, “Nothing is so intolerable to man as being fully at rest, without a passion, without business, without entertainment, without care.” Even back then he spoke of 'diversions' or activities simply intended to take up our time, preventing us from thinking, observing, listening, or feeling. And that was in the 17th century (Wouldn't you love to see a debate between Blaise Pascal and Steve Jobs of Apple...but then all is possible -'yes, we can!'- given the new technologies).

Sometime back, I came across the experiment related below with a violinist in the Metro in Washington, DC. I was reminded of it again when John Gray from Orlando kindly sent it my way recently. It raises a number of important questions: Do we have time to take in beauty? Is listening to our surroundings a lost art? Is there any such thing as 'private' space in our lives any more? Do we have eyes to see? What is this relentless movement and stimuli actually doing to our heath... not having any restorative time?

The ancient wise men who in collaboration with God thought of the idea of a Sabbath might have been on to something. For centuries, 'blue laws' were typically observed even in secular cultures. The reasoning was that we needed a day free from work to rest, gain perspective, and focus upon the truly important things in life. Such 'limits' were deemed good for society, families, and individuals. Now, with the 24-7 world we live in, this is gone. So, I ask: Is that progress?

An assignment for me (and possibly you) might be to decide that next week you are going to do two things. First, block out two consecutive hours where you can merely think, sit, and walk. The key here is to have no agenda. This might be incredibly difficult for some of us. But, it should provide an excellent opportunity to learn about yourself. Take notes. Why was it so uncomfortable for some yet so energizing for others? Second, observe and write down 5 things that you typically might not 'see' unless you determined to do so Pay attention to the mosaics in the lobby of your office building, the contours of a tree at dusk, listening to a great aria in a dark room, etc. There is beauty all around and it will feed our souls if we allow it. The trouble is that we live in cultures that don't prize the acts of pondering and observing. Our world celebrates 'action'. We are producing children that are driven...but to what end. Will they be 'richer' inside or merely richer?

Oops, got to go. I am a busy man! (The currency of our time is busyness...are we busy being busy?)

What is this life,
full of care.
if we have no time
to stand and stare.

w.h. davies

Be alert to what truly matters,
Doug