Musings
Change Becomes You
“One’s purpose is often hidden. Often we do not have the slightest idea what we are, until we become it.”12 That is author Kevin Tobia’s paraphrase of something Nietzsche wrote. I don’t completely agree, but it begs the larger question of what makes us, us. In his article titled “Change Becomes You,” Tobia raises some…
Read MoreIt’s Supposed to be Hard
“It’s supposed to be hard. If it wasn’t hard, everyone would do it. The hard is what makes it great.” —Tom Hanks in A League of Their Own Last Saturday, at 7:30 a.m., hundreds of ordinary people of all ages, shapes, and types got into Lake Hefner and started swimming in 3-foot waves whipped up…
Read MoreWorking Man
Efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction. John F. Kennedy My uncle Dusty (married to GOK’s eldest daughter, Barbara) sent me a link to a TED talk. I am always humbled when someone with Dusty’s life experience shares something me that impacted him. So, I was eager to watch and listen and…
Read More1 Out Of 100
“In all affairs, it’s a healthy thing now and then to hang a question mark on the things you have long taken for granted.” Bertrand Russell I often take for granted the blessings I enjoy. Since today is Labor Day I thought it fitting to remind myself how blessed I am to be living and…
Read MoreLeft Behind
Nobody showed you how to live? Me either Get a steady job, couple kids Act decent But I’ve been on a ten-speed thinking about the time as the sun sets Like, what would I do different if I hit rewind and did it again? These lyrics in a song by K.Flay called “Dreamers” had me…
Read MoreDoes It Hurt?
“Does it hurt?” “What?” “Dying.” That’s the beginning of a conversation between 13-year-old Jonah and an old man named Buddy who is dying from heart failure in a television series I was watching. Buddy replies, “Life hurts.” Yes, it does. I am struck by the irrationality of the behavior I see in the world all…
Read MoreThe Big Dipper
It has been a rough few weeks for my family, so I want to tell you a story. When I was young, we used to go to a place called Spring Lake Amusement Park. The park is gone now. It wasn’t in great shape when we went there, but it was still a magical place. There…
Read MoreJust The Facts Ma’am
Actually, Jack Webb’s ‘Joe Friday’ character (in the popular 50’s TV series “Dragnet”) typically used the phrase “All we want are the facts, ma’am” (and sometimes “All we know are the facts ma’am”) when questioning women in the course of police investigations. Dragnet was acclaimed for its attention to detail and realistic portrayal of the…
Read MoreA Fork In The Road
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I – I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference. In the poem “The Road Not Taken” (1916), Robert Frost is confronted with two paths in the woods that appear similar, and he chooses to walk down one (maybe the more challenging),…
Read MoreKing of the Forest
What makes a King out of a slave? Courage. What makes the flag on the mast to wave? Courage. What makes the elephant charge his tusk in the misty mist or the dusky dusk? What makes the muskrat guard his musk? Courage. That is courage according to the Cowardly Lion in The Wizard of Oz.…
Read More