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Never Alone…

RJ Walters

I have let it be known before that I am a mall walker.  Every Friday I walk up to three miles at the local mall. It is good and safe exercise for this 70+-year-old deaf guy. :)  One of the things I do pretty regularly during these mall walks is to take unofficial surveys.  Sometimes I count the number of women wearing heels higher than 1 inch (around 2%). This time I chose to count the number of kids younger than thirty who are walking the mall clinging their cell phones. I’m not talking about them having them in their … Continue reading Never Alone…

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One Day At A Time…

RJ Walters

The title of this post has multiple meanings. It was once a TV show about a single Indianapolis mother who was raising two teenage girls. It was a comedy but also showed some of the serious sides of parenthood. It is also a theme associated with  Alcoholic’s Anonymous. That is you work through each day at a time to stay sober.  But, I want to take the phrase and apply it to our retirement years, and maybe even the time outside those years. I am a dreamer.  That is a good thing, but it also can be a bad thing. I am … Continue reading One Day At A Time…

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What To Do about Extreme Poverty In The USA?

RJ Walters

When you think about extreme poverty I’m sure you mostly think of third world countries. It is hard to imagine that over 3 million people in the US  live on less than $2 per day. According to the World Bank, 769 million people lived on less than $1.90 a day in 2013; they are the world’s very poorest. Of these, 3.2 million live in the United States, and 3.3 million in other high-income countries (most in Italy, Japan and Spain)… Even for the whole population, life expectancy in the United States is lower than we would expect given its national … Continue reading What To Do about Extreme Poverty In The USA?

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Still Committed To Each Other… But…

RJ Walters

I want to start out this post with something I said here at RJsCorner about seven years ago: I must admit that I am probably more adventurous than many seniors.  I enjoy constant stimulation. I enjoy planning and doing things that I have never done before. To sit around the house day after day is very boring to me. My senior years certainly give me an opportunity to do some adventurous things. Unfortunately, like many other seniors I imagine, I am married to a spouse who doesn’t share my sense of adventure. She is much more inclined to spend her … Continue reading Still Committed To Each Other… But…

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Collections/Obsessions

RJ Walters

The TV show American Pickers is basically about obsessions.  Most of the episodes are about a couple of Le Claire Iowa men going to “pick” people’s collections.  Many have thousands of square feet of barns, outbuildings, and old houses stuffed with things they have purchased throughout their lives. They dig things out from massive piles and ask if it is for sale? More often than not the answer is “no, I don’t want to sell that”. The item is likely something that they threw into a barn 30 years ago and hasn’t seen the light of day since then! So, why does it … Continue reading Collections/Obsessions

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Nantucket…

RJ Walters

  I made an “executive” decision a while back to use Flickr as the residence of my future InsearchOfAmerica photo arrays. Just added a new photo album there. If you ever wondered what the island of Nantucket looks like click here. We were there in 1999. We knew that would be our last year living on the east coast so Yvonne insisted we go to Nantucket so she could buy a lightship basket to add to her collection. The island is not as famous as Martha’s Vineyard but still had its share of multimillionaire’s summer cottages and thousands of small shops. The … Continue reading Nantucket…

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And Then There Is The Son…

RJ Walters

Simply stated, I don’t believe in aristocracy. I don’t believe that knowledge or wisdom is necessarily inherited. So, when one generation wants to pass massive wealth or power to the next generation I bristle. The example below is one of the tragic consequences of this practice. While evangelical leader Franklin Graham has been a staunch supporter of President Donald Trump, his father Rev. Billy Graham publicly warned against the prospect of religious figures becoming too attached to a political stance. via FACT CHECK: Did Billy Graham Warn Against Mixing Religion and Politics? I mourn the passing of Billy Graham this … Continue reading And Then There Is The Son…

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Christian Nationalism

RJ Walters

Sadly, one of the things I believe the church has become very good at is to take some particular words from the bible and twist them around to more conform to their way of thinking. That is what today’s post is going to be about. Sometimes small alterations make a great deal of difference. For instance, we have about 90 percent of the same genes as cats and more than 98 percent of the same genes as chimpanzees. But those little differences matter a lot. This is also true when it comes to faith. I have been doing some reading in A Church … Continue reading Christian Nationalism

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Flirting in the Workplace..

RJ Walters

One of my daily reads is from my friends over at The Drabble. They welcome anyone to submit their words but it must be 100 words or less.  It is very creative how so many can pack so much in so few words.  Here is an example from a recent post: By Alex ColvinIn In an age of reconsidering appropriate behavior at the workplace, how does one flirt at work? Well, I’ve got it down to a science. 1. Flirt. 2. Profusely apologize. 3. Run away as fast as you possibly can. It’ll go something like this: “Well, hello Nancy … Continue reading Flirting in the Workplace..

Life On the Margins4 Comments

The Trouble with Lies…

RJ Walters

Being unable to read is illiteracy. That is tragic but something even worse is being able to read but choosing not to.  Of course, you know who I am talking about. We have never had a president in our history who was proudly illiterate until now.  He claims he is a genius and graduated first in his class at Wharton College.  A reporter recently found public records of those who made the Dean’s List during those years and Mr. Trump was never on the list. So how could someone who graduated at the top of his class not make the … Continue reading The Trouble with Lies…

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Saving Jesus

RJ Walters

This post is about some insightful words from a book entitled Saving Jesus from the Church: How to Stop Worshiping Christ and Start Following Jesus by Robin R. Meyers. This book solidified my belief that the words of Jesus have been losing focus in the church. Here are the words for today. Strangely, we have come to a moment in human history when the message of the Sermon on the Mount could indeed save us, but it can no longer be heard above the din of dueling doctrines. Consider this: there is not a single word in that sermon about what … Continue reading Saving Jesus

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Being Prepared…

RJ Walters

Even though I was never a Boy Scout, I am a person who tries to be prepared for the challenges I will be facing. If I want to discuss a controversial topic I try to study both sides to see where my feelings might reside. “Think For Yourself” is one of my primary mantras in my life. I simply don’t let others tell me what to think. But then again, maybe that is one of the reasons I was never a Boy Scout (ha). Then I see the current Oval Office occupant who is totally unprepared for the many challenges he faces.  I know he never dreamed he would actually occupy that prime real estate, he was just having fun dissing people. Maybe that is an excuse for being … Continue reading Being Prepared…

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Our Own Version….

RJ Walters

MIDDLESBORO, Ky. (AP) — A snake-handling pastor who appeared on the National Geographic television reality show “Snake Salvation” has died after being bitten by a snake during a weekend church service in Kentucky. SOURCE: Snake-handling Ky. pastor dies from snake bite – Yahoo News. While this is maybe of the extreme part of the spectrum it is still a typical example of how we pick and choose what we want to be the image of God.  It takes one verse out of the tens of thousands found in the Bible and uses it for the main focus of spirituality.  “You shall … Continue reading Our Own Version….

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Looking Back…

RJ Walters

I now have over 3,000 posts here at RJsCorner and in a number of them I made some predictions. Every once in a while I need to revisit those posts, especially those where I got my predictions wrong. This is one of them. In this post below, I predicted that there was no way Trump could win the presidency. But I did leave myself an out by saying it depends on how many of us vote, so maybe I was right after all.  I guess my faulty logic was that I gave the general electorate too much credit for being informed voters.  … Continue reading Looking Back…

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Cleveland Treasures

RJ Walters

For this Artsy Saturday, I wanted to give you some pictures that I see as the quintessential Cleveland.  I am not a sports nut by any stretch of the imagination so their well-known teams just aren’t “Cleveland” to me.  The Cleveland Clinic is a crown jewel for the city but I will talk about that in a future post. When I visited the city a few years ago I discovered that it has a much more diverse population then I imagine. Part of that is ethnic neighborhoods. The restaurant sign below is in the Italian district. The city center includes the Terminal Tower … Continue reading Cleveland Treasures

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Facades

RJ Walters

There is just something about small-town facades that fascinates me. It is probably because of the symmetry and patterns.  I am currently working on a photo collection that will soon be available in the “Photo Collections” pages in the header above.  This one was taken recently in Rockville Indiana. One thing unusual about this photo is that none of the windows above the store are boarded or bricked up. I imagine all of them are occupied as apartments.  Rockville is in the middle of “covered bridge country” and has a huge fall festival around them. Continue reading Facades

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Other People’s Dreams..

RJ Walters

This is going to be one of those philosophical posts so hang on to your hat.  I have always been a dreamer. For the most part I didn’t imagine that my lofty dreams would ever come true and for the most part, they didn’t. :) When I was young my dreams were often a result of the many fictional books I read. My favorite authors during those years were John Steinbeck and Jack London. These two guys took me to places I never knew existed and to people very different from me. When I got a little older I started dreaming … Continue reading Other People’s Dreams..

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Liar Liar, Hair On Fire

RJ Walters

I know I swore this kind of stuff off but here is a snippet that I just couldn’t resist posting. I’m not much on hashtags but this one I couldn’t avoid inventing. #LLHOF perfectly describes this Time Magazine cover of January 23. The FactCheckers say that the current Oval Office occupant #COOO lied almost 2,000 times in his first year in office. I don’t know if that includes just his tweets but I’m sure it doesn’t include when he lies in the West Wing. I wonder if all those who voted for him are holding him up as a shining … Continue reading Liar Liar, Hair On Fire

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Paoli Wall

RJ Walters

For this artsy Saturday, I wanted to give you something simple yet beautiful. While I was coming back from a three day RV trip to southern Indiana I stopped at Paoli Indiana for lunch. After eating I decided to take a short tour of this three-street town and came across this picture.  It may not be symmetrical but I love the patterns that came through so well in the afternoon sun. One of my Aspie traits is to see and appreciate pattern where others wouldn’t. I  guess this is one of them. Continue reading Paoli Wall

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I’m An Air Force Pilot..

RJ Walters

I want to make it clear up front that I personally am not an Air Force Pilot. :)  I heard this simple phrase on a show I was watching a few minutes ago and realized that that description will come to mean something very different in the next few years. The technology involved in our warplanes has simply outgrown the human interface sitting in them.  When air-to-air combat happens now the pilots of the two planes never actually see each other. Instead, a computer lock on to the target and all the pilot does is push a button.  Computer-guided bombs are … Continue reading I’m An Air Force Pilot..