This Is A Time…

This is a time for each and every one of us to look into our own heart, to look into our own community, find someone who is in need, find someone who is wanting, find someone who is looking up to us, and for each and every one of us to reach down, to reach back, to reach across, to lift up a fellow American and put him on the road to success in this wonderful country of ours.
—    Colin Powell
From his speech at the “President’s Summit for America’s Future” (1997)
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On This Day In:
2021	Feeling Younger
	In It
2020	One Person
2019	More Likely Unsinging
	What’s At Stake…
2018	But What Are You DOING About November?
	Or His Elected Position
2017	Some Good
2016	Edges
	Sums
2015	I Hope Not
2014	Study The Means Of Expressing Yourself
2013	That Stubborn Thing
2012	Like Mike
2011	Flawless Or Candid
2010	Browning…

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Stuck Feeling Rich

A poor, charitable person can sometimes feel rich, a miserly Croesus never.
— Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach
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On This Day In:
2021	Choose Strength
	Release Your Fears
2020	No Fear
2019	Propaganda vs. Art
2018	What Did You Bring Up?
2017	Waiting For My First Strike
2016	Mostly Just Masticating
2015	Don’t Mess With Mosa
	How Long Is This Run?
2014	The Importance Of Being Forgetful
2013	Anyway
2012	Habit Forming
2011	And In The Other Hand(ful)
	In Love With Words
	Boundless Naïveté
	Who Did You Say Signed Off On This Treason, Pat?

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Happy Thanksgiving (2021)!

As long as I have food I don’t need when someone else has none, or have two coats and someone else has none, I share in a constantly repeated crime.
—     Leo Tolstoy
Happy Thanksgiving to all my readers / followers!
Today, (like every day) I am thankful for a loving family and for friends I enjoy spending time with.  Next, I am thankful I live in this day and age (toilet paper, indoor plumbing, refrigerated food, relatively hi-speed internet) with all of our advancements.  And, finally, I thank God (or the universe) for not having been given an “easier” life.  It’s difficult to say I’ve lived a “hard” life because I have been graced with so many opportunities, but I’ve tried to squeeze the marrow from the bone and live life with few (and no major) regrets.  I doubt it (my life) would have been as interesting or as much fun, if it had been easier.
Hopefully, as you read this, you too are thankful for whatever graces / blessings you have this day…  And be prayerful for (and charitable to) those less fortunate.
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On This Day In:
2020	Still In School
	The First Deuce
	Escape From Planet Junkyard
2019	Will John Bolton Testify?
2018	Just Maybe
2017	Police In My Review Mirror
2016	Full And Rich
2015	Go Deeper
2014	Intentional Mapping
2013	The Sweet Path
2012	Living Free And Abolition
	Morning Wood
2011	I Resemble That Remark

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Choice

“Are you a socialist?” Ted Turner asked Carl Sagan.  “I’m not sure what a socialist is,” Sagan replied.
But I believe the government has a responsibility to care for the people,” Sagan said.
“I’m talking about making people self-reliant, people able to take care of themselves,” he continued.  “There are countries which are perfectly able to do that.  The United States is an extremely rich country, it’s perfectly able to do that.  It chooses not to.  It chooses to have homeless people.”
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On This Day In:
2021	Outside Yet?
	Have You Ever Won?
2020	Choice
	More Rain Forecast
2019	He Claims It’s Fake News And Spies
2018	Mine, Too
2017	Who’s Turn Is It Now?
2016	Before You Vote In November…
2015	Two Faithful Thoughts
2014	Love Light
	Orange October (III) – Giants Advance To National League Championship Series (NLCS)
2013	Nothing Ridiculous
2012	Keeping Faith
2011	Summon Us, Don’t Criticize Us
2010	Obama’s Wars – Book Review
	Game Two – Hearbreaking Loss

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Love And Charity

A mature person is one who does not think only in absolutes, who is able to be objective even when deeply stirred emotionally, who has learned that there is both good and bad in all people and in all things, and who walks humbly and deals charitably with the circumstances of life, knowing that in this world no one is all knowing and therefore all of us need both love and charity.
—    Eleanor Roosevelt
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On This Day In:
2019	Tomorrow Is Valentine’s Day
	Inverted U Curve
2018	Still More Prejudice
	A Well Trod Path Of Hopes, Expectations And Surprise
2017	…And With It Civilization
2016	Just Like My Mother
2015	All Omissions Are Mine
2014	Precise Order
2013	Uh, No. Not Really…
	Deep Regions
2012	A Pre-Valentine’s Day Message
2011	Easy Like Sunday Morning
	May I Have A Little More, Please…
2010	Valleys and Peaks

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Still Looking

The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.
—    Mahatma Gandhi
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On This Day In:
2019	Too True
2018	Simon Says
2017	Next Cell
2016	Important Knowledge
2015	Are You Still The Exception?
2014	In Answer
	Days Are Passing
2013	Opportunity
2012	Appropriate Qualities
2011	A Place To Hang My Hat

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Six Reasons Why #DumbDonald Will Always Be A Failure

Six essential qualities that are the key to success:  Sincerity, Personal Integrity, Humility, Courtesy, Wisdom, Charity.
—    Dr. William Menninger
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On This Day In:
2018	The Trouble With Bookstores
	Another No Chew Diet
2017	Biased World View
2016	Control In The Age Of Entanglement
2015	Okay, Maybe Not Ceaseless
2014	Can Do
2013	Are You Helping?
2012	Inside All Truth Is A Vacuum
2011	So, Whom Are We Trying To Fool Then?

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Lead To Action

All knowledge is sterile which does not lead to action and end in charity.
—    Cardinal Desire Joseph Mercier
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On This Day In:
2021	Still Dangerous
	My Destiny
2020	Explaining And Gilding
	That Way
2019	Lead To Action
2018	Listen And See
2017	The Big Illusion
2016	What Are You Thinking About?
2015	What The Framers Chose
2014	Lost Anything Lately?
	A Life Of Science
2013	Serve The World
2012	Acquaintance, n.
2011	On Why His Father Was A Great Teacher
	A Baker’s Dozen

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The Best Gifts

The best gifts to give:
To your friend, loyalty;
To your enemy, forgiveness;
To your boss, service;
To a child, a good example;
To your parents, gratitude and devotion;
To your mate, love and faithfulness;
To all men and women, charity.
—    Oren Arnold
[In the original, the quote is a single sentence.  I’ve modified the format to suit my “poetic” taste.  There is a variation on this quote which reads:  ]
“A Christmas gift suggestion:  To your enemy, forgiveness.  To an opponent, tolerance.  To a friend, heart.  To a customer, service.  To all, charity.  To every child, a good example.  To yourself, respect.”    —    Oren Arnold
[I like both versions – even when it’s not Christmas Season.    —    KMAB]
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On This Day In:
2018	Sweep!!!
	We Must Be Living In TRULY Historic Times
2017	The Best?
2016	Timely Opinions On “The Donald”
	Even Allowing For Coincidence
2015	First Things First
2014	Without The Other
2013	Earn This
	Seeking A View
2012	Stumblin’ Along My Way
	We’re Proud Of You, Jr!
	Union Card
	Two Philosophies
2011	Simply Unpredictable

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A Higher Standard

The bread which you do not use is the bread of the hungry; the garment hanging in your wardrobe is the garment of him who is naked; the shoes that you do not wear are the shoes of the one who is barefoot; the money that you keep locked away is the money of the poor; the acts of charity that you do not perform are so many injustices that you commit.
—   St. Basil the Great
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On This Day In:
2018	Irreplaceable Sparks
2017	Saving For April 15th
2016	First Wish
2015	Tracing Shadows
2014	One Thing
2013	More Is Less
2012	The Screw-Up Gene

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And Start With Charity

Most High glorious God,
Enlighten the darkness of my heart.
Give me right faith,
sure hope and perfect charity.
Fill me with understanding and knowledge,
That I may fulfill your commands.
—     St. Francis of Assisi
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On This Day In:
2017	First Things First
2016	Why Would We Expect Truth From A Liar?
	Unknown Fear
2015	Something Pagan
2014	A Note To Self
2013	Determining Our Degree Of Freedom
2012	Journalism And Fantasy
	Known Knowns
	Jerk, n.
2011	Love Questions

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Last

We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread.  They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing:  the last of the human freedoms — to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.
—     Viktor Frankl
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On This Day In:
2017	Could You Repeat The Question?
2016	Still Busy?
2015	Why, Just This Morning…
2014	Just Kindness
2013	Now Shaking
2012	Absurdity, n.
2011	Minor Changes
	Things I’ve Learned From Life – Nana Carter
	Acting Out

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Have Thee Paid Yet?

I will charge thee nothing but the promise that thee will help the next man thee finds in trouble.
—     Mennonite Proverb
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On This Day In:
2017	Hopefully, I’m Good Company
2016	Maybe Not Most
2015	Differences That Matter
2014	But Sometimes It Takes A Village
2013	Laughter > Grief
2012	Pioneers
2011	It Is Free

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Heart Trouble

If you haven’t got charity in your heart, you have the worst kind of heart trouble.
—    Bob Hope
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On This Day In:
2015	From The Inside Out
2014	Alone And Free
2013	Superstition Is Your Way
2012	Escape Hatches
2011	Sing Like No One Is Listening

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To The Extent

To the extent that people are willing to give of themselves, to devote themselves to pursuits beyond their own immediate calculations of self-interest, they tend to be more successful, to contribute more to society and to receive more benefits themselves.
—   George Gilder
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On This Day In:
2015	Ambition
2014	More Branches To Climb
	Just In Time — Happy Thanksgiving (2014)
2013	For And Against
2012	De Mortuis Nil Nisi Bonum
2011	Similar And Different
2010	Reminiscing
	Differences

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