Here is a picture from our 2009 trip west. It was taken at the Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site in Topeka Kansas. The picture was taken during when the federal government mandated school integration in the 1960s.  The pure hate showing in the face of the girl on the right scared me when I say it then and scares me even now. That girl is now a senior citizen; I often wonder if the hate showing here consumed her life or was she able to overcome it? Continue reading Brown v. Board of Education..

  With Fall now in full swing here in the Midwest I am looking back on summer. Continue reading Butterflies and Flowers

They say as you get older you need to exercise your brain so it doesn’t go soft. In that light this new category just popped into my head so I thought I would give it a try.  We all need to learn, or maybe re-learn, new words. So here is the word for today vi·car·i·ous [vahy-kair-ee-uhs, vi-] –adjective  1. performed, exercised, received, or suffered in place of another: vicarious punishment. 2. taking the place of another person or thing; acting or servingas a substitute. 3. felt or enjoyed through imagined participation in the experience of others: a vicarious thrill. 4. Physiology . noting or pertaining to a situation in which oneorgan performs part of the functions normally performed byanother. I am thinking mostly of number three.  That is we often live our dreams through the experiences of others. I have to admit that I am a junkie when it comes to the TLC channel program entitled … Continue reading Vicariously….

  I believe that Christ loathes our personal pride and selfishness and celebrates our humility and compassion. I believe churches should be recognized by their works today not by their buildings or ceremonies either past or present. I believe that Jesus meant us to follow his example, not idolize him. I believe that God created the universe as more than a just holding tank where we wait until we go to heaven. Continue reading I Believe…

Just in case you forgot, winter does come early in some years.  This picture was taken on October 8, 1989 in Indianapolis.  We got over the foot of snow that day!   Continue reading October Snow!!!!

I want to feel that I have changed the world at least to some small degree. So the above question at least occasionally enters my mind. This query is somewhat related to the previous post about being childless. If I were fortunate enough to have had children I could at least hold out hope that they might change the world because I gave them life. I could think that maybe my kids or grandkids will be the ones who: 1) solve global warming, 2) cure cancer, 3) bring peace to the Middle East, or 4)something maybe less dramatic but equally … Continue reading Will the World be Different Because I Was Here?

All of us who have lived a good portion of our lives have some regrets on how some things have turned out. One of my biggest regrets is not having children. As I mentioned before my wife Yvonne and I did not meet and get married until we were over forty years old. Yvonne was already in menopause by then so children were not in our future. We did discuss the possibility of adopting but like many other things we procrastinated so long that even that option was not really doable. But, given that my deafness is congenital I was … Continue reading Life’s Regrets….

The above title is somewhat of a shocker from a person like me who is reflecting on his retirement years. So, let me finish the sentence here. Retirement is a meaningless void until you make it otherwise. The second part of the sentence definitely changes the first. Yes, retirement does usually clean off the blackboard of life so that it is ready for a new agenda. We no longer have the long string of responsibilities that tied us to a job for so many years. For the most part we are free to re-invent ourselves in a different light. That … Continue reading Retirement is a Meaningless Void….

“Stuff” has been on my mind lately so I pulled out a November 2008 blog post on one of my other blogs and re-posted it below. I am in the process of cleaning out my barn and it is loaded with stuff (shame on me!!). Sometimes I would just like to throw it all away and start over again; maybe this time I could refrain from the temptation of accumulating it all over again. But I kind of doubt it. <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> November 2008 Ok this maybe anti-American but Jesus was definitely anti-stuff.  When Jesus sent out his disciples to spread … Continue reading Stuff

We often have casual conversations about the weather over our back fences or to people we are not intimately familiar with. When we can’t think of anything else to say we talk about the weather! Well, I seem to be in one of those funks where words and not coming easily right now so let’s talk about the weather. Is it just me or has this some been an unusually hot one! I know as I am getting older I can’t seem to take the heat as I once did. When I was in high school I worked summers putting … Continue reading Let’s talk about the weather….

I have been having some pretty grumpy days lately so I find it necessary to revisit the issue of happiness. We all want to be happy especially in our retirement years. The pursuit of happiness is even in our country’s founding documents. Happiness is more than a feeling; it is actually much more a choice. We all have known people who seem to be grumpy and unhappy no matter what their circumstances are. They seem to just refuse to be happy. To many of them the government is the enemy who steals their happiness. For others they refuse to be … Continue reading Choose to be Happy..