How well do you keep track of your time?

Happy Halloween. See my post on Halloween, which I suppose I should have posted today but did not. I guess it has to do with my "obsessive personality," the subject of today's blog. Anyway, maybe how we deal with holidays also speaks to our personality. For me, keeping track of time is perhaps the most important thing in my life.

Keeping track of time! The concept of tracking time brings forth images of tracking some wild beast in the woods. Deer, moose, bear, cougars, tigers all leave very distinctive tracks. Time also leaves distinctive tracts. Time leaves physical as well as emotional tracks on all of us. Not to mention the tracks time leaves on the environment. Emotional tracks are evident in the greater cautiousness and fears we have as we age. From experience, once burned, we no longer want to get so close to the flame. Indeed, many of us will not even go near the fire again. Divorce, rejection, death, pain all leave emotional scars. For some of us they may never quite heal. Physical tracks show up as lines, creases, joint aches, hair thinning, broken bones and disease. I often joke that physically I am aging more like cheese then a fine wine. I am getting squishier and somewhat moldy around the edges.

Perhaps you see the ideas of tracking time through a different lens. Maybe you think of the need to track your minutes and seconds each day, a twist on tracking your dollars and cents. Certainly, if you watch your time carefully, you will have more of it. Mark down your time spent each day in an Excel spreadsheet and carefully log your corresponding activities. This last task seems somewhat obsessive to me and I am often accused of being a Type A personality. I once worked at a job where I was required to mark my work in fifteen minute intervals each day and log what I was doing during each interval. After I left this job, I decided I would never work for anyone again where I had to justify myself at this level of detail. It was simply an exercise in obsessive control and domination.

Type A personalities are supposed to be more compulsive and more aggressive than Type B personalities. I wonder if type A personalities are more prone to track their time? Are Type B personalities more prone to go with the flow? Do Type B people live more moment to moment? Are you a Type A or Type B personality? Do you go with the flow or do you track your time? Regarding the physical and emotional tracks that time leaves, how have you fared? What emotional tracks has time left in your life? What physical tracks do you see time making for you?

Is greed really good? Does it motivate or is it a Sin?

The phrase “hard times” reminds us of those days when things really were tough. They might have been when we had no money, no place to live, no one who cared about us, or when we faced all of the problems of the world alone. Studs Terkel interviewed hundreds of people for his book “Hard Times”, which told the story of the Great Depression through the words of the people who actually lived it. Many people still remember the Great Depression when unemployment rates soared to thirty percent and higher. It affected people not only in the US but in many other countries as well. Ironically and tragically, some people today still live no better than many did in the Great Depression. The world is full of areas where poverty and unemployment are rife and where “hard times” are the norm.

When we think of the hard times in our life, we may appreciate more where we are now and what we have now. This is a good thing. However, how often do we think of the hard times in the lives of others? What does the phrase “hard times” mean to people who live where there is no medical care or where starvation and disease still kill thousands? The “Great Recession” is “hard times” to those who have no job and are out of work and whose home is being foreclosed. Greed became good in the 80’s with Gordon Gecko’s infamous “Greed is good speech.” Thank God, the Wall Street Occupiers and others are now trying to return us to more commendable values. Greed is not good. Greed may not be the worst of all sins, but “it is the gateway to all others.”

It became fashionable to believe that: “They just need to pull themselves up by their bootstraps. If only they had our work ethic or were more like us, they could have what we have. They could live the good life.” This logic assumes that all things in the world are equal and that all circumstances are equal. It does not take much research or knowledge to realize that this is not true. People do not always bring their hard times on themselves by ignorance or sloth. We cannot always control the world and events around us. Remember the quote by Rudyard Kipling “There but for the grace of God go I.”

Jesus Christ said: “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy” (Matthew, Chapter 5-7). He did not say “blessed are the hard-hearted, or blessed are those who pull themselves up by their bootstraps, or blessed are those who have the most.” Funny, how many of us can forget the help we needed or wanted when hard times were upon us. Can you find some way to share your good fortune today with others? What can you do today to take some hard times away from someone else? Be grateful for what you have today and see if you can share some of your good feelings and benefits with others. Let’s all work on rolling back the “greed is good ethic that has permeated our culture.”

How are our lives like a circus today? The first multi-taskers?

A three ring circus! The phase usually means something that is wild, crazy, chaotic, and unpredictable. In a three ring circus, you have multiple acts and performances going on at the same time. Today we often hear talk about multi-tasking, but circuses have been multi-tasking long before the word was even in use. Have you ever thought about the planning and coordination that must go into a circus? You can have clowns, acrobats, lion tamers, horses, dogs and jugglers all performing at the same time. Not an easy production to manage! When we think about the fast paced life that many of us live, it cannot compare to a circus.

Well, maybe our lives feel like a circus at times, but most of us are probably not quite at their level of complexity, not to mention risk taking. Lion tamers, acrobats, trapeze artists are all risking their lives each time they get in a ring. For many people, circuses seem exotic and exciting. Kids once dreamed of leaving home and joining a circus. Many movies have been made about circus life and the romance and drama amidst the big top.

Compare your life to a circus. Are you the ringmaster, a high wire artist, a clown or one of the support people that make the circus work behind the scenes? What part of the circus life do you live? Is your life filled with exciting drama, risk-taking, death defying stunts or mostly the daily chores of watering the elephants and camels? For some of us, life may be picking up the poop behind the horses. Real life is not always exciting and glamorous. What part of a circus would you add to your life if you could? What gets in the way? Have you ever thought of running away and joining a circus? What stopped you?

Do you know what it once meant to have a "Roman Holiday."

Have you ever heard the term “Roman Holiday?” Do you know what it means? Allwords.com defines it as: “An event or occasion when pleasure is taken from the suffering of others. Etymology: so called because days of gladiatorial combat in ancient Rome were public holidays.” Does this definition surprise you? Did you think the phrase had a more benign meaning? Perhaps, you thought it meant something like having fun in Rome while on vacation. Well, in one sense, it does, but the “fun” came at the death and suffering of others. Do we still take Roman Holidays? Some people might say boxing, football and many contact sports are enjoyed more for their violent elements than for the athletic prowess they display. Nevertheless, while we might enjoy these sports, it does not mean that we enjoy the suffering of others.

We may in fact enjoy violence, but I draw the line at thinking that many of us really go to events to see people hurt or suffer. In fact, I have a hard time understanding how even the ancient Roman citizens could have been so callous and insensitive. Perhaps, we would have to live in that era to understand why a Roman holiday would have been fun. Today, I think there is a greater sensitivity and awareness of obvious cruelty. Even in contact sports, I see little evidence of a Roman holiday.

Has the world really grown and become more caring or do I have my rose colored glasses on? Are we less likely to go on a Roman holiday? Do you want to see anyone hurt or get any pleasure from the suffering of others? Do you secretly hope to see a crash during a NASCAR race or do you want to see the acrobat fall during the high wire act at the circus? I will bet not. Why would you or anyone else want to see someone hurt?

What was tthe happiest day of your life?

What was the happiest day of your life? It is a lot more pleasurable to think about the happy times in our lives. However, finding the happiest of the happy may not be so easy. The bad times seem to be etched in our minds, but how quickly we forget the happy times! Taking a journey through my past to answer this question, my mind sorts through weddings, vacations, love affairs, graduations, diplomas, certificates, first kisses, jobs, sporting events and sundry other activities and accomplishments. Somewhat surprisingly, I cannot fasten upon any of these as the “happiest day of my life.” Why is this? Am I looking in the wrong places? What about those book contracts, those great pay increases, and those unexpected financial windfalls? None of these seem to do the trick either! What about those great people I have met in my life? Did they help me to have the happiest day of my life? I must answer no to both of these questions also.

So where then is the happiest day of my life? Why is it so elusive? Have you thought of your happiest day yet? What made it your happiest day? Was it easy to remember? Did you find it had much competition? Or perhaps, you are like me, unable to think of the happiest day in your life? Maybe, the happiest day of our life is still to come and we are just waiting for it? On the other hand, maybe yesterday was the happiest day of our life and we just did not realize it. Are you happiest when you simply live one day at a time and are thankful for the day you live? I think that each day that I can appreciate the smell of fresh air, the joy of a loving spouse, a good job to go to and excellent health is surely the happiest day of my life.

What was the worst day of your life? I will share my mine but time changes one's perspectiive.

What was the worst day of your life? This is probably something you really don’t want to think about very much. I asked myself this question just a few minutes ago. It does not seem fair to ask you to think about it, if I have not done it. I thought about the day my first wife left me for another man. I had quit my job and moved back to her home state with her. She came out a few weeks early to find work and help get us someplace to live. We had both planned on doing this after we graduated college. I had to stay back to pack and get out furniture and belongings out. When I joined her in Wisconsin, things did not seem right. She seemed distant and cold. I spend the days looking for work.

One day I came home early one day to find her in bed with another guy. I hardly said a word. I took some clothes and moved to an apartment in a small town not far away from where we had planned to live. I wanted to be able to see my daughter as my wife had made it clear that she no longer wanted to live with me. I had no friends, no job and now no family. I called the only person I thought might be able to help, my mom. I asked her to come out and spend some time with me. She said she was sorry but she could not. My brother was facing a statutory rape charge and she had to go to court with him to help his case. I said I understood. At this point, I felt rejected by the whole world. Even my mother did not seem to care about me. I don’t think I could have felt any lower or worse. I had no job, no family, no friends and was living in a new town 1500 miles from where I grew up and where I did not know a single person. .

Now, looking back at that moment, I am thinking: “Well, if that is the worst day of my life, then things have never really been very bad for me.” I had not lost my legs or eyesight. I had not been diagnosed with incurable cancer. I had not lost any children or my wife. Indeed, my life was not really all that bad. I can think of many who have had it a great deal worse. By contrast, I did not have any right to complain. There will be many of you who have had days that make mine look like a picnic. However, in another sense, my worse day, your worse day is all relative. I felt like it was a very terrible day. I thought about suicide and I was depressed for two weeks. I could have checked out of this life. At the time, it seemed easier to do this then deal with a world where I was unwanted by even my own mother. It reinforced feelings of inferiority and negativity. Nevertheless, I did not check out and now ironically, I can look back and say that things have never really been terrible in my life. I have had bad things happen, but overall I have many more things to be thankful for.

Have you answered the question yet? What was the worst day in your life? What does it bring to mind for you? Have things gone from bad to worse for you or is your life getting better? If things are getting worse, where can you go for help? There are people who want to help you. There are people who will care about and love you. The worst day in your life can be the start of a new life where each day can only be better. Give life a chance. Ask someone for help. If you have already weathered the worst day of your life and things have only gotten better, then take some time to share your happiness and joy with a friend or family member. Many of us have blessings that the world would love to share.

What does "payday" mean to you?

Pay Day! What day that can bring more happiness or sorrow to anyone’s heart than “Pay Day?” The meaning of the day might seem self-evident, until you wonder where the word “pay” derives from. Just to enlighten you on some meaningless trivia, Dictionary.com describes the history of the word pay as follows:

The word pay ultimately derives from the Latin word pāx, "peace." However, it is not the peace of the one who pays that is involved in this development of meaning. From pāx, meaning "peace" and also "a settlement of hostilities," was derived the word pācāre, "to impose a settlement on peoples or territories." In Late Latin, pācāre was extended in sense to mean "to appease."

Thus, the word really means to enforce a settlement on a conquered people. Hopefully, today, our bosses do not impose a forced settlement on us and instead we get a bundle of loot. There are many who would disagree with this statement and with forced cutbacks and give backs becoming common, it would be hard to argue this point. Nevertheless, however it is received; it just goes from one hand in to the other hand out. Who among us does not have more bills than income? Until the “Great Recession,” the average American spent five percent more than they earned. This was true in much of the developed world. We were spending more than we were making. We have become a consumer driven world economy and it has become too extreme. We need a better balance between production and consumption and Green. Green is really a way of thinking about how our consumption and production will affect the world today and tomorrow. We cannot keep expecting other countries or other generations to shoulder the burden for our extravagance.

Come payday, you may be in the camp of happy people or sad people, depending on how much loot you have left over. Payday can be a relief in any case, if it keeps the debt collectors just one more week away. Sadly, it is harder to juggle bills than in the past. With electronic transfers and instant cash and all the other new ways of managing money, we often have very little time between the deposit of our pay checks and when we pay our bills. If you are doing on-line bill pay, you probably have your money taken out of your account in less than twenty four hours. Gone are the days when you could “float” a check for a week or so. In today’s world, paydays just don’t go as far as they used to.

How do you handle your pay check? Are you in the modern world of on-line bill pay or do you get cash and pay your bills with checks? Do you have direct deposit or do you still get to pretend that you are rich for a few hours? Do you look forward to paydays or do you dread the day?

Are things better or worse than we think?

We live in troubled times. How often have you heard these words and think they surely apply to the times we live in? However, if you reflect on this thought for just a short time, you may question this assumption. Did our parents living through two world wars live in troubled times? Did those growing up with the European wars of the 1800’s live in troubled times? How about those living in the US during the War of Independence? How about those living in the Dark Ages or those living during the fall of the Roman Empire when the barbarians were overrunning Europe? How about those living during the Greek wars with Persia? How about living during the times described in the Bible when tribes routinely massacred other tribes? I wonder if Adam and Eve would have thought they lived in troubled times with an evil devil lurking about trying to seduce them. Indeed, can you find me a period in history that did not appear to be troubled?

You get the point by now I hope. It would seem that the entire history of the world is one long list of “troubled times.” Maybe life is really just one big Yin and Yang. Troubled and untroubled times routinely alternate with each other on a random basis. No particular sequence except that they are roughly even in their frequency. (I would like to think the untroubled times outnumber the troubled times, but I see no evidence of this either way) Thus, we might just as well say we live in untroubled times and that the history of the world could be seen as one vast period of tranquility. Like the question, “is the glass half full or half empty?” perhaps it all depends on your perspective.

War and peace, heaven and hell, happiness and pain, life and death, love and hate, they are all inescapable. Life goes on, time passes and what do you remember? Do you see a panorama of death and depression or do you see a panorama of life and hope? Do you think you are living in untroubled or troubled times? Can you think of any period in history you would prefer to live in? Why?

Poems about time can be so profound and beautiful. Here is one I really like.

Poems about Time: There are so many poems on time. Many of them are so beautiful and eloquent. Poets are able to express in a few words the essence of time and what it means to our lives. Here is one poem that I particularly liked:

God's time by Olufunmbi Aransiola

I knelt to pray but not for long,
I had too much to do.
I had to hurry and get to work
For bills would soon be due.
So I knelt and said a hurried prayer,
and jumped up off my knees.
My Christian duty was now done,
My soul could rest at ease.....
All day long, I had no time
To spread a word of cheer
No time to speak of Christ to friends,
They’d laugh at me I'd fear.
No time, no time, too much to do,
That was my constant cry,
No time to give to souls in need
But at last the time, the time to die.
I went before the Lord,
I came, I stood with downcast eyes.
For in his hands God! held a book;
It was the book of life.
God looked into his book and said
“Your name I cannot find
I once was going to write it down...
But never found the time.”

If you want to find more poems about time, go to the following website: http://www.poemhunter.com/poems/time / you will find many great poems about time at this site. Have you ever thought of writing a poem about time?
What is the essence of time for you? If you could distill time and its importance to your life in a few words, what would they be? Here is my contribution:

Time,
I’m born.
Time,
I die.
What happens in between?

Does anyone really care about the doomsday clock? Do you know what it measures or why?

The Doomsday Clock! You may have heard of it but I would bet that you do not know what it is and what it measures. According to Wikipedia: “The Doomsday Clock is a symbolic clock face maintained since 1947 by the Board of Directors of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists at the University of Chicago. It uses the analogy of the human race being at a time that is "minutes to midnight" where midnight represents the threat of global disaster. Originally, the analogy represented the threat of global nuclear war, but since 2007 it has also reflected climate-changing technologies and "new developments in the life sciences and nanotechnology that could inflict irrevocable harm. As I write this book, the Doomsday clock is at six minutes to midnight. Six minutes does not seem like a long way off from destruction. One wonders whether this group of scientists is really the most pessimistic people on earth or the most realistic.

Imagine measuring the time to destruction for the human race? When the idea for the clock was formed, the US and Russia were in a nuclear arms race that had people building fall-out shelters and schools practicing drills for a nuclear attack. With the Cold War behind us, why does the clock still loom so close to destruction? I would recommend we use the clock to measure the amount of time we have left on the earth if we continue to pollute the waters and air. Maybe we should change the name of the clock from the Doomsday Clock to the “Oblivion or Extinction Clock.” It would measure the amount of time we have left until the human race becomes extinct. Given our present levels of environmental degradation, this might come before a nuclear war.

What do you think the Extinction Clock should read for time right now? Do you think that humans are causing global warming or do you think it is part of a natural earth environmental cycle? By the way, what does it really matter who is causing it? If indeed we are going to face severe drought, hurricanes and other problems, then shouldn’t’ we be doing something about it instead of arguing? As individuals, we can all do something. We are not helpless in the face of stupidity.

If you are interested in finding out what you can do, go to the following website: http://www.globalwarmingsolutions.org / you can make a donation, find ways to reduce pollution or find efforts that you can devote some time do. Someone once said: “People get the governments they deserve.” If we remain indifferent or apathetic in the face of problems and ignorance, the Extinction Clock will continue ticking away. We can stop the clock by taking action and each doing our part. Are you going to be part of the problem or part of the solution?

What do you think of playing before working?

Life is short, eat desert first. I don’t know who said this and I actually don’t care. If the world can be divided into those who never eat their desert first and those who sometimes eat their desert first, I am definitely in the “never” group. I have always identified with the ants in the Aesop tale about the “Ants and the Grasshopper.” It is funny because I am almost compulsive about having to do my work before I can play. It does become compulsive when you are a workaholic and you cannot even play after you have worked, since of course, your work never ceases. Do you know anyone like that?

My younger sister Sheri (one year younger than I) died several years ago. She died of cancer most likely induced through her three packs a day smoking habit. I am sure that Sherry was a compulsive worker and in the “never” group when she was younger and healthy. However, once her prognosis was a certainty and she began the countdown to her death, she changed many of her lifelong habits. She would actually go to a restaurant and start with desert. This was appalling and unthinkable! Regardless of the fact that she had less than a year to live, how could she possibly start with desert first. However, the more I thought about it, the more I could see the logic. Why save room for desert, when you don’t have to worry about saving anything?

To be honest, I have never started at a restaurant with desert first. Maybe I am too worried about chucking it all and joining the grasshopper by spending my days in frivolity and play. I go on vacation and even continue my daily routines of exercise and diet. In my mind, I am thinking “why throw out all of my daily work for a week of debauchery?”

Nevertheless, we all need to eat desert first at least occasionally. If there is a time for everything, then there is certainly a time for letting go and just having fun. Putting desert first is symbolic of letting go and throwing conventions to the wind. How often do you eat desert first? When was the last time you just let go and threw out your daily compulsions? How compulsive are you? What would happen if you were less compulsive? Would your life be happier or better balanced?

Will cell phones transform our view of time and save the world?

Cell phone time versus wrist watch time! Have you noticed that fewer people seem to be wearing watches these days? Perhaps this is truer for younger people. When I question my students about this, they point out that they do not need a watch since they are carrying a cell phone. When you think about it, cell phone time is more accurate than most watches. Most watches are self-set and most cell phones are linked to the correct time via satellite connections. Thus, the younger generation should have more access to accurate time than a generation that relies on wrist watches. Have you thought about the implications this could have for the way we view the world? Will the younger generation view the world more accurately and objectively than the older generation? Will lateness and tardiness become a thing of the past?

Soon, most cell phones will be GPS enabled and then no one will be able to get lost. One by one, our excuses for missed appointments and arriving late are being destroyed. With news and vital information and even advertisements arriving via cell phones, the younger generation will be linked to the world in ways that we would never have dreamed possible years ago. What will all this linking and being wired in mean for our brave new world? Will the next 100 years be as dynamic and volatile as the last 100 years of human history? Will events and history happen at an even more rapid pace? Will the new generation be able to save the world from the mistakes of the past generation? Tune in next week for the next episode and find out!

Do you carry a cell phone or wear a watch? What do you rely on for time? Which generation do you belong to? How has your view of time changed over the past few years? Are you more or less conscious of the time in your life?

What if you could go back in time? What would you change or where would you go?

If I had a time machine, my time machine would not sit idly in the garage. I would be soaring through the past like an eagle soars on the winds. I can think of hundreds of places and people I would visit. Imagine, the past becoming alive again and us being able to be a part of it. Each day would be a new adventure as I traveled back in time to relive the major events of history. I would visit dinosaurs, see the Roman Empire at its peak and have supper with Alexander the Great when he was still a young teenager.

Do you believe in time machines or that we may someday be able to visit the past? There are dozens of movies in which time travel has been the main theme. Think what the world would be like if time machines became as common as the automobile. Yes, there is the troublesome “time paradox.” This paradox assumes that we could not live in the present if we went back and somehow changed our past. However, what if the time paradox was wrong and we could change the past and not affect the future. The very idea is a contradiction. Think about hundreds or thousands of people going back on a regular basis to change the past. People who wanted to change their stock picks, people who wanted to change their spouse, people who wanted to change foolish decisions that they made. What an interesting or crazy world it would be.

If time travel became common, we would need rules for traveling like we have rules of the road today. We would need red lights and stop signs for different parts of the time continuum. A mandatory rule instead of “don’t speed” would be “Just go back and look.” How many people would obey the rules? Right! About as many people as obey speed limits and stop signs. Well, forgetting the time paradox, what if you could go back? Where would be the first place you would go back to? What if you could only go back in time three times? Like the genie, that only grants three wishes, your machine only has enough energy for three visits. Where would you go? Why? What or who would you most want to see? What would you change about the past if you could?

What have you learned about humbleness in your life?

“One night in Bangkok makes a hard man humble.” These words are lyrics from the musical Chess. The song was written by Murray Head. The words bring back memories of hard nights and humbleness that we have all encountered in our lives. Are there any of us who have not partied too hard, only to regret it the next day or who have burnt our candles at both ends only to get our fingers burnt as well? Hopefully, with age comes maturity and we gradually learn to be more humble in our expectations of what our bodies can endure. On the other hand, perhaps it is simply that our bodies wear down and we can no longer subject them to the abuse that we did when we were young.

Today, two drinks can get you a DWI and cost you much money, jail time and even your job. Perhaps, we could all learn more humbleness by watching and learning from the mistakes of those who have gone before us. Sadly, it often seems as though people all want to make their own mistakes and suffer the consequences rather than sip from the Fountain of Wisdom. The Fountain of Wisdom is the repository of knowledge and experiences from those “hard men” who have gone before us, only to be humbled by the realities of life. We should all drink daily from this fountain but most of us are not humble enough to do so. The philosopher Santayana said “Those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it.” All too many of us will repeat the past because we are too proud to listen to others. The next time you think you are a “hard man”, think twice before you are humbled; as the saying goes: “Pride goeth before a fall.”

What do you remember from your “humbled nights?” When was the last time, you had a night you would rather not remember? When was the last time you stayed out all night or drank everyone else under the table? Do you still think you are a “Hard Man?” Can you take the council of elders? Have you learned how to avoid bad experiences by listening to the wisdom of those older and wiser?

Why funerals are better for you than parties!

A good reputation is more valuable than
costly perfume.
And the day you die is better than the day
you are born.
Better to spend your time at funerals than at parties.
After all, everyone dies ---
so the living should take this to heart.
Sorrow is better than laughter,
for sadness has a refining influence on us.
A wise person thinks a lot about death,
while a fool thinks only about having a good time.

Ecclesiastes: 7:1-4

I was listening to a sermon on Sunday which had to do with Ecclesiastes 5. I could not resist reading more and came upon the above bit of wisdom. I had to read it twice before it finally made sense to me. At first I thought it either sarcastic or just plain morbid. Who wants to think that laughter is worse than sorrow? Don’t most of us want to have a good time? Who would rather go to a funeral than a party? What does the writer mean that sorrow has a refining influence on us?

The more I reflected on these words, the more I realized the wisdom of the author. Our times are now full of people who think only about having a good time. The common person today wants to have it ALL NOW and furthermore feels entitled to it. Once upon a time, it seemed only the young had such grandiose notions of their rights and entitlements. Today, it is equally the old and young. It is no longer a generation definer. Old and young alike want more and want it now. They know their rights but sadly have no clue or idea as to their responsibility. Perhaps we need more signs or information so people can understand that as Sister Giovanni once told me “John, there are no rights without responsibilities.” Parents, students, teachers, lawyers, politicians and just about everyone in our culture today knows their rights but how many could tell you what their responsibilities are?

By the way, this is not a class thing, not an ethnic thing, not an age thing, not an income thing and not an education thing. Young and old, rich and poor, educated and uneducated, all clamor for their rights. Rights without responsibility are the sine qua non of “having a good time.” It is the proverbial free ride through life. Work easy, rest a lot and get rich. It used to be that getting rich meant: hard work, education and good moral values. Today the path seems to be more often through one of the following:

• Sue someone
• Win a lottery
• Get a government subsidy

Recently, you could add “get discovered” by some TV reality show to the above list.
Maybe it is not such a bad thing to think that “we can have it all and not get hooked.’ On the other hand, maybe a better guide to life would involve finding a balance in how we spend our time. What if we spent as much of our cultural and social time on responsibilities as we did on rights? I can only dream:

• Crime would plummet
• Students would respect their peers and teachers
• Road rage would disappear
• Politicians would all be honest
• Greed and avarice would become things of the past
• The old would respect the young and vice versa
• People would spend as much time on politics as on sports
• Eggheads would be as valued as Jocks

Well, I just woke up from my dream. Pure fantasy. I am afraid the clock will not go back and as the writer from Ecclesiastes said in the next verse:

“Don’t long for ‘the good old days.’ This is not wise.” Eccl 7:10

What will it take to restore the obligations of responsibilities to our national conscience? Will we be able to get people to think more about death and less about having a good time? Do you feel that we have a problem here? Do you know your social, ethical, and moral responsibilities to others? How many of the people around you do? Do you value your soul as much as your possessions?

A little whimsy today on Grandmother and Grandaunt clocks. Do you own one?

I have decided to buy a Grandmother clock! You mean you have never heard of a Grandmother clock. Why should this concept seem strange? Particularly in this day of equal rights and political correctness, maybe clocks should be more neutral or maybe we should create a Grandmother clock, at least in the interest of fairness. I was curious if anyone else had thought of the idea of a Grandmother clock or if I was just a “Johnnie come lately” so I looked up Grandmother clock on the Internet. I found over 28,000 hits and the following definition: “Grandmother clocks are usually considered to be a smaller floor clock measuring 80 inches or less. Grandmother clocks are perfect for smaller rooms, hallways, landings and smaller foyers.” I even found Grandson and Granddaughter clocks.

The next question I had was “how come I have never seen or heard anyone talk about Grandmother, Grandson and Granddaughter clocks?” Oh well, that’s a question for another day. It’s nice to know that everyone can have a clock. Do you suppose uncles, aunts, nieces and nephews, not to mention father and mothers also have clocks? Well, go ahead: “Make my day and look it up on Google.” Go ahead and tell me that I am really out of step. I suppose there are clocks for names too; like John clocks and Peter clocks and Mary clocks and Emily clocks. Maybe that could be a line of business: “Name clocks.” Each type would be somewhat different and would be unique to the individual name.

My John clock would be made out of diamonds, platinum, gold, rubies and sapphires. It would be ten feet tall and would tell analog time. The numbers on the face would be diamonds, rubies and sapphires. The hands of the clock would be silver and the pendulums would be made out of solid gold. The case would be made of ebony and the face of the clock would be made of non-endangered ivory. My clock would always run fast. Can you design a clock for your name? What would it look like and what would it be made out of? Would it run fast or slow?

Why do we celebrate so many holidays in October?

October is the tenth month of the year. Our primary association with October is fall and the leaves turning colors leading us into the bleaker season of winter and snows. There are several quite memorable holidays in October including: Halloween, All Hallows Eve, Oktoberfest and Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead. Some of these holidays celebrate a continuation with life after death. The Aztecs and other Central American tribes celebrated a Day of the Dead since they viewed death as a continuation of life. Instead of fearing death, they embraced it; to the Aztecs, life was a dream and only in death did they become truly awake and alive. In countries that celebrate Halloween, we can see a similar association with the spirit world as manifested in ghosts, vampires, goblins and witches.

Oktoberfest of course is another story. The first Oktoberfest took place in 1810 in Bavaria to celebrate the marriage of Prince Ludwig and Princess Therese. It has since evolved to become known as one of the largest beer drinking parties in the world. Numerous places now host “Oktoberfest” days complete with lots of beer, German sausage and polka music. In Minnesota, Oktoberfest may occur in September since by October it might be too cold to sit outside and enjoy a pitcher of beer. By the beginning of October, our leaves will be at the peak of their colors and by the end of October, the leaves will have mostly fallen and we will be counting the days until our first snow storm. Of course, this year Karen and I are in Arizona for October and will not be back until the beginning of April. The images are very different down here but the holidays and traditions remain the same.

October seems like a month to start thinking about hibernating and winding down before the winter begins. It is hard to describe the eerie beauty of the MN woods in October once all the leaves have fallen and before the snow has turned. If we are lucky, we get what is called an “Indian Summer” where we get a few extra days of really warm summer like weather before the cold crashes down on us. We revel in these days, for we know, we will soon become like hobbits and take to our abodes to succor the warmth. We will have our supply of fireplace wood amply stacked for the long dark cold winter months to come. The gales of November will soon follow the gremlins and goblins. Many people no longer wait until after Thanksgiving to put their Christmas lights up. Halloween has become the new marker as the day to start putting lights up and even begin the annual Christmas shopping season.

Why do things seem to keep happening faster and faster and earlier and earlier? Why is Halloween now a major holiday in so many parts of North America? What does October mean to you? Do you connect with your departed ancestors? Do you look forward to the changing colors or simply can’t wait to get to an Oktoberfest party? Do you start thinking about Christmas or do you put it off until after Thanksgiving?

What memories do you keep recycling? Have you ever wondered why?

As time goes by, we see the memories, places, events and dreams we have experienced pass through our lives as though we were looking out a window. But the memories of our lives do not simply pass by once never to return. They seem to travel by in an endless circle, where they come by again and again. Indeed, some come by more often than others. Many of these memories bring poignant thoughts of better days or happier times. Some bring remorse and sadness as we think of the mistakes and missed opportunities in our lives. Others bring regrets that we may have thought were long over. Memories can bring both happiness and sadness. The happy days of the past may also bring sadness as we wish we could spend time with our mom, father, siblings, or friends again. Alas, we cannot go back except in our memories. Certain events cannot be summarized with single feelings. Some of our memories bring back old questions which we still have not answered. What if I had only? Why did we? What did they do that for?

Hindsight is not always 20-20 as many times we do not have answers for our lives. Looking at the past, we may think of new reasons but we are never sure if they are the real reason or not. After my first divorce, I started looking for the reasons my marriage failed. Within a few years, I was up to 32 reasons. I began to wonder if they all caused my marriage to fail or perhaps it was only one of them. Which one was the big question? It took a few years for me to get over the quest for a solution. However, twenty five years after my first marriage ended, a new “reason” popped into my mind. I am not sure if this is the “real” reason or just a new reason. I am becoming reconciled to the fact that I may never know. This is a very hard position for anyone to accept. We want to believe that there is reason for everything.

Have you ever wondered why some memories seem to come by more frequently than others? What memories seem to repeat themselves in your life? Are they happy or sad? Are they moments of success or failure? Are they things you wish you could do over differently or would you do them exactly the same again? Maybe you can still do something about the past. What if it were not too late?

How often do we not have enought time? Do you want to know why?

“Gee, I don’t have enough time to write in my time book today.” How often has that happened, that you scheduled something to do and then just did not have enough time to do it? Why does this happen? Obviously, it happens because something else comes up that we judge to be more important. Since it is more important, it has a higher priority for our time and goes to the top of our “to do” list. My sister unexpectedly came over to visit, the baby was born, the car broke down, I was fired, the sun came out, we had a blizzard, etc., etc., and etc. We can find a million reasons for not having time and there would still be more. Two things are undeniable here. The first is, we are making a choice and prioritizing our time. We have the option of not changing our schedules but it can be quite difficult to avoid it. The second is, “shit happens.” We cannot control the world, other people, or the weather.

When the unexpected arises, which it invariably will, we must be prepared to be flexible. We all know what happened to the dinosaurs. Actually, do we really know why the dinosaurs died? Was it because they were inflexible or did a big asteroid simply obliterate them? What if despite our best efforts to be “flexible” a big asteroid simply obliterates us? Well, please don’t lose too much sleep over this. It will change your schedule but that’s okay, because no one else will care.

Regarding your life, how often do you not have enough time? Is it a common or uncommon occurrence? What do you attribute this to? Are you in the flexible or inflexible camp? Do you take responsibility for your decisions or do you blame “events beyond your control?”

How can we "take" our time? Perhaps the world would be a better place if more of us did.

When someone tells you to “take your time”, do they really mean it? Or do they really mean: “I will be patient with you but you are keeping me waiting.” Perhaps, they mean: “Please do not rush; I will try to be patient.” However, is it your time or their time that is being taken when you “take your time? What time could you take anyway? Where would you take it from? Can you reach into a barrel and pull time out or pluck it out of thin air? If time is in short supply, perhaps you cannot just take time, you must pay it back. This assumes that a law similar to the law of conservation of matter and energy also pertains to time. Such a law would state that there is no extra time in the universe, but that it is merely transferred from one person to another.

I suspect people do not always mean what they say or say what they mean. Whenever I say “take your time”, I know it is an effort on my part to be patient. It becomes a good opportunity for me to practice patience. Sometimes when I am at an intersection and the car in front of me just seems planted, I think “Take your time.” I have been known to honk or get agitated. I once remember getting ready to really lay on my horn, only to notice a disabled license plate on the car. Other times, I have noticed very young or very elderly people in the car. I think, “what if it was my mother in the car or a young beginning driver?” I feel guilty those times when I have laid on the horn. What does it take to exercise a little patience and let them “take their time?”

When someone tells you to “take your time”; are you grateful? Do you appreciate that they are letting you take their time as well as your time? Do you always take your time or do you try to get your work done as quickly as possible? What are the advantages of taking your time? What are the disadvantages? Can you see pro’s and con’s to taking your time? Maybe the world would be a better place if more of us took our time. What do you think?

What does time have to do with the Energizer Bunny? What are the 3 secrets to Happiness?

Energizer bunnies never run down, they just keep on running and running and running. Clocks are like bunnies as well but we don’t identify with them as we do with the energizer bunny. The bunny ads are very catchy for the precise reason that so many of us feel like these bunnies, we keep on running and running and running. Some pundits have described life in modern society as akin to being on a tread mill or like rats running on wheels in a cage. At the end of the run, where are we? Do we go back to the same place we began or do we find ourselves better off? Is working harder to earn more so that we can buy more so that we can play more the solution? Is happiness the accumulation of material things that allow us to more play time? If so, then accumulating more and more money so that we can have more and more things should be the path to happiness. Instead, it seems that most people are on the path to increased debt and increased stress. Someone once said, only three things are needed to be happy:

1. Someone you love and who loves you
2. Something you love to do
3. Something to hope for

Perhaps it takes more to be happy, but these three goals provide a good start. Ironically, the path to achieve these goals is more connected to how we spend our time than how we spend our money. You cannot buy love. You cannot buy happiness in your life but you can spend your time wisely and this will result in happiness. Spending your time with people and relationships rather than things will lead to more and better relationships and you will find more happiness in these things than in the material things of life. This is not to say that we should not own things or that some things are not essential for life. However, the mindless pursuit of materialism for more and more things has long been recognized by the prophets and wise people of the world as the path to misery. A recent Time Magazine article noted a study which showed that people who made more than 75,000 dollars a year were no happier. It appears that, at least in the USA, happiness peaks at 75 grand a year. Making more than that does not lead to increased happiness.

Are you on the energizer bunny treadmill or do you balance your life with people and friendships? Do you spend as much time on relationships as you do shopping? Have you found the love of your life and do you carefully nurture and spend time renewing that love or are you too busy acquiring new things? Are you working on the three things needed for happiness or are you working on acquiring more “things?”