My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style. ~ Maya Angelou Let’s start with a serious question. When you die, how do you want to be remembered? For many of us, we want to be recalled as someone [...]
Don’t Retire—Aspire!
Sooner or later I’m going to die, but I’m not going to retire. – Margaret Mead I recently retired from paid employment (again), but this time I mean it. Although I could have continued working part-time, I decided that the precious years I have remaining could be better spent with family—namely a new grandson (let [...]
The Wisdom Pyramid: Improving Your Knowledge Diet
Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge we have lost in information? T. S. Eliot (quoted in The Wisdom Pyramid) Many of us remember the food pyramid taught in health class back in the day. As a quick refresher, the food pyramid highlighted five different food groups that [...]
Truth in the Age of Facebook
Truth is so obscure in these times, and falsehood so established, that, unless we love the truth, we cannot know it. - Blaise Pascal It has been said that we now live in a post-truth culture, one that is signified by appeals to our emotions and personal beliefs rather than objective facts. We probably see [...]
Forgetting to Remember
Right now I’m having amnesia and déjà vu at the same time. I think I’ve forgotten this before. — Steven Wright Where in the heck did I put my cellphone? If you’ve entered the age of being a “young” senior like me, you’ve undoubtedly encountered the above scenario (with cellphone easily replaced with keys, glasses, book, [...]
Unity: The Way Forward
Our newly elected President has promised to unify our country, to bring together opposing parties and to help heal our nation of the division and rancor that has developed in recent years. Yet the responsibility of unifying a divided country does not lie solely on the shoulders of one man. It falls on all of [...]
2020 Hindsight: Lessons Learned
Thirty days has September, April, June, and November, All the rest have thirty-one, Except for March, which had eight thousand. (Anonymous reflection on the year 2020) Last year at this time, I wrote about setting goals for the new year (“Foresight is 2020”). Now that the year 2020 is in our rearview mirror, let’s [...]
A Christmas Story Reimagined
The young girl’s hands trembled in her lap as she struggled to find the words. Barely fourteen, she had recently found out about her “condition” but not through normal channels. Her fiancé, Joe, sat next to her, his face revealing a look of quiet consternation. Sadness even. They had only become engaged a few months [...]
So you want to write a book . . .
Everyone has a book inside of them—but it doesn't do any good until you pry it out. —Jodi Picoult It’s been said that everyone has a book inside of them waiting to be written. If that’s the case, my book* seemed to be begging to be written. The fact that I did not initially or [...]
In Search of the Elusive Middle Ground
I met those of our society who had votes in the ensuing election, and advised them, 1. To vote, without fee or reward, for the person they judged most worthy, 2. To speak no evil of the person they vote against, and, 3. To take care their spirits were not sharpened against those that voted [...]
Grace Notes 