Quote of the Day -- William Least Heat Moon

When you’re traveling, you are what you are right there and then. People don’t have your past to hold against you. No yesterdays on the road.

-- William Least Heat Moon

Quote of the Day -- John Adams

Facts are stubborn things. They cannot be altered by our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions.

-- John Adams

Quote of the Day -- Kurt Vonnegut

We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.

-- Kurt Vonnegut

Quote of the Day -- H.L. Mencken

The demagogue is one who preaches doctrines he knows to be untrue to men he knows to be idiots.

-- H.L. Mencken

Quote of the Day -- Baruch Spinoza

I have striven not to laugh at human actions, not to weep at them, not to hate them, but to understand them.

-- Baruch Spinoza

The Power of Positive Thinking

I recently finished reading Living Out Loud: Sports, Cancer and the Things Worth Fighting For by Craig Sager. Memoirs are not my favorite genre, but Craig was a high school classmate so I wanted to read his book.

Craig was fairly well-known in the sports world as a "sidelines" reporter always wearing outlandish, colorful sports coats and ties. He was a great interviewer, and above all, he was persistent. He often succeeded in getting the interview that others couldn't. He lived an out-sized life, taking risks, spending lavishly on some things. In short, living out loud.

In his early sixties, Craig was diagnosed with a lethal form of leukemia and waged an epic battle for several years to "beat" the loathsome disease and extend his life. Doing battle and not letting enemy cancer beat him was part of Craig's nature. He was also strongly motivated by the desire to see his young children mature. Craig defied the odds several times during his battle with cancer, but ultimately, the Emperor of Maladies defeated him.

Throughout the book, Craig advocated the value of being determined and optimistic -- the importance of having the will to beat cancer. Much of what he said and did was very admirable, but I also found myself having some politically incorrect reactions as well. Not everyone has the strength or the resources to fight like Craig did. Some people get worn out and just want to end the battle, for themselves and for their families. Are they less admirable? Are they cowards?

I remember an uncomfortable moment in church many years ago (one of those moments that eventually drove me away). A couple was giving "testimony" about the power of prayer. Their unborn child had been diagnosed with spinal bifida and the prognosis was grim. But rather than aborting, as their doctor recommended, they decided to continue the pregnancy and pray. Lo and behold, their baby was born with much milder than predicted medical issues. The moral of the story being abortion is bad and prayer saves the day.

I was horrified on many levels. Most importantly, I felt profoundly sympathetic for any parents sitting in the congregation whose pregnancies had resulted in children with disabilities of any kind. What were they to think?  That they just hadn't prayed enough? Sometimes life deals you a rotten hand. You can try to think positively and make lemonade from lemons, but sometimes things are simply rotten and unfair.

Thirteen years ago, my husband had a coronary episode. He was (and is) an extremely fit man -- a marathon runner at the time. He ate a very healthy diet, drank very sparingly, and had never smoked. Basically, did everything right and yet, he ended up with major blockage and three stents in his coronary arteries. Living well could only go so far in the face of a bad genetic hand. True, the damage was minimal because he led such a healthy life, but it still did and does feel very unfair. 

I'm not advocating that we stop trying to live well and battle the odds. I'm not advocating that we think negatively instead of positively. I'm not advocating replacing optimism with pessimism. But I am advocating realism and recognizing that life is simply not fair sometimes. And we shouldn't be too quick to judge those who haven't been as fortunate as we have.

Quote of the Day -- Marshall McLuhan

A point of view can be a dangerous luxury when substituted for insight and understanding.

-- Marshall McLuhan

Quote of the Day -- May Sarton

The constant remaking of order out of chaos is what life is all about, even in the simplest domestic chores such as clearing the table and washing the dishes after a meal…but when it comes to the inner world, the world of feeling and thinking, many people leave the dishes unwashed for weeks so no wonder they feel ill and exhausted.

-- May Sarton

What Age Do You Imagine?

I recently listened to a podcast that suggested you could discover something about yourself by considering whether you more often imagine yourself to be young (a teenager or twenty-something just getting started in the world) or whether you think about yourself at the end of your life looking back and imparting wisdom.

So I wonder what it says about me that I lack the imagination to think about myself at any other age than what I am today?  I certainly remember being young, in high school or college, being a not-so-young parent, struggling to juggle a career and kids. But I really can't imagine being any of those things again. And I often find myself surprised when my Facebook friends have birthdays to discover how young some of them are. How many years that have yet to work. Apparently, I'm in denial about age in general.


And even though I accept that I'm now the matriarch of our little clan, I don't think of myself as old. Older yes, advanced middle age for sure, but definitely not old. Like most of my friends, I joke and complain about getting older and what it does to my body and occasionally my memory. But I struggle to envision myself being really old, and all that goes with it, like perhaps losing my independence before I'm ready. People often say that one of the beauties of youth is believing that you'll live forever. I don't know if that belief ever really goes away until you're faced with a serious illness. Blessedly, I lack the imagination to envision myself as old.


I guess the bottom line is that I'm content being just the age that I am. I'll continue to do my best to forestall the bad parts of aging and be grateful for the benefits of having reached this stage of a more leisurely contemplative life.

Quote of the Day -- Old Norse Havamal

He is truly wise who has traveled far and knows the ways of the world.

-- Havamal Viking Proverb