Choices & Decisions

Commentary Social No Comments

Yesterday I chose to go outside and I survived.  Today I may decide to do the same.  Rather,  I WILL do the same- that is my choice, that is my decision as I have now finally decided upon the choices available to me.

So what’s that mean?

I suppose that with no choices there really could be no decisions, only fate and possibly accidents.  Probably other possibilities too but let’s stick with these for now.

If I choose to jump and land cleanly then I may have made a wise choice.  If I choose to jump and then land badly and fall then it is likely I did not choose to fall and that would certainly not have been my decision.  But in deciding to jump I should have known that the possibility existed that I might fall so even though it was not planned, it was an accident, and I am still responsible for the decision that led to the unplanned outcome am I not?

Responsibility.  Likely you know something about that.  Likely you have dealt with it in your dealings with your kids if you have any; or your students; or your employees; or maybe even yourself somewhere along the way.

But it appears to me that more and more people are avoiding taking full responsibility, heck even partial responsibility, for themselves, their own lives and their own actions.  Why is it that so many radio or TV ads seem to claim “it’s not your fault”?  Ok, then whose fault is it?

Oh, I see, the fault, the responsibility belongs to someone else is that right?  But wait, maybe it was just unplanned and no one is at fault- it’s just an accident that I spend more than I make; or that I wound up in a messy divorce; or that my kids have no manners; or that I rammed into the guy in front of me even though I was at least two feet behind him; or that I have nothing to show for my life; or that the Bears lost, the earth spun around, the house is a mess, my car ran out of gas on the freeway, my dad lives on welfare, spring follows winter,  these books are overdue at the library, I have a lot of health ailments, and the rent check is still in the mail.

It seems to me that if you believe there are things wrong in the world today- in your lives, with your family, at your school or work, in your community or state, with your country- then a good place to start to fix all that would be for someone to take the responsibility of owning the thing that is wrong and then making a firm commitment AND best effort to get it fixed.   Isn’t that the way things are supposed to work in the world?  Do they?  Really?

Life can be a real struggle, we all know that.  Most of us have been through many struggles in our lives.  And what worked best, ignoring things or facing them and taking the responsibility to take care of them?

And it isn’t just problems that need ownership; it’s just about everything we do.  And there seems to be so little of it these days that perhaps if we focused a bit more on taking personal responsibility, perhaps if we focused even a bit more than that on teaching our kids to do the same (as in no excuses, no finger-pointing, no ignoring the issue, no tattling) we might just wind up with a better life, a better country, and a better world.

Now if Washington D.C. could manage to do the same perhaps we’d really manage to get somewhere but that’s a whole other story for sure.

See your choices; make your decisions; and take ownership (responsibility) for what then comes.

And Again…

Observations No Comments

Almost enough about the weather already but, okay, I’ll allow just one more.

It is Wednesday now and the sun is STILL out and shining and it is a bit warmer then yesterday.  But it is very, very windy.  I have been out for a ride today and am feeling better about some things and not so sure or good about others.  I am parked now in my driveway and using this portable computer (some call it a laptop but I long ago quit using it that way due to very hot batteries) to compose today’s entry. 

This is now the third day and, for three days, assuming that I post this one, I will have posted an entry on to this blogpad.  Hey, for me that almost amounts to success.  For in all the very little I have achieved in my life this may rank right up there with the best of the mediocre.  Wonder how I’ll be feeling if I hit four or even five days in a row.

I may even attempt a double entry one day soon- not sure I’ll be able to handle that much productivity though.  Will need to tough it out.

So what’s with the stars and what’s with the stripes and what has that to do with anything associated with the name of this site?  Or even with any of the entries posted so far, these three (yes, that’s right, I said three!) days in a row?

Heck, I’m not sure that I know y’know? 

Perhaps it had something to do with how I once felt about this country- not feeling that much anymore.  Maybe it had to do with the sense of pride I used to feel when seeing the flag and hearing the anthem- how quaint and so 19th century.  Or it could be that, to me, one represents the beginning as the other trends toward the eventual (imminent?) ending.

Stripes then (there are 13 right?) and stars now (all 50, red or blue, left or right, big or small, contiguous or otherwise..)  Does that even make any sense?  If not then I am sorry.

I think that I am more of a stripe kind of guy.  I managed somehow to know a good bit of history so have been able for the most part to see around and through all that which tends to get bent or even twisted depending on the what, where and whofrom associated with the sender.

History.  How quaint, how useless, how, well, 19th century.

How much do you know?  Can you give a decent rundown of the major successes and failings of the centuries?  What worked and what did not?  Or do you just repeat what you hear from your favorite media source or college professor?  Beware the past lest you play the rerun. 

So stars, so stripes.  Wave it still does.  And today it does so in the chilling cold of coming winter.  I see tatters and I see tears (is that a tare tear or a tier tear?)  I see what was and what may be coming and I worry that confidence can decay and success can fully wither when what was known no longer is.   Tread with care, live near fear.  Beware the Ides of March.

And Then…

Observations No Comments

It’s a new day, a different day and with it comes a different view.

It is no longer Monday but is now, surprisingly, Tuesday.  It is no longer snowing but there is still a good bit of snow, for early November at least, on the ground.  But not on the streets, or the sidewalks, or driveways…the sun is out and although the air temperature is still a bit below freezing the sun is out and that solar warmth is absorbed below by the asphalt and the concrete and has melted the snow cover that was so recently there.  Some of what is out there still lies covered but some lies bare.

It is a different day, a new day and it is clear; and sunny; and looks warm through the windows.

Some of the sunniest days in my rather extended memories happened to happen on some of the coldest days.  It looks so warm through the windows, out there, outside of here.  Even the glass is slightly warm to the touch on such days even through the wind and bitter blow.   Brrr but it’s warm today.

Sometimes it is all about appearances isn’t it?

A long time ago I wondered what it would be like and now, today, in so many ways, I know.  Sometimes it was a surprise and sometimes not.  Sometimes I knew just how it would feel and with that often came a letdown- nothing new, nothing different…just as I knew it would be.

But sometimes there are surprises.  Sometimes good ones, sometimes not.  Sometimes seen, sometimes not.  Sometimes welcome and sometimes not.  Just surprises.

I once knew a man who thought he had it all- and I did as well.  The only thing that he seemed to find out as time went on was that it wasn’t really all or nothing, just something less than all and something more than nothing.  He seemed sad to finally, one day, realize this, but he kept on, trying to rebuild all from something other than nothing.  I lost touch with him and often wonder if he was successful.  I’d imagine he was at least partially so, having had it all and having come from not much more than nothing.

And so it is sometimes with days like these that follow on from days like those, from a day like yesterday.  If you didn’t know any better you’d think it was a nice, warm day and you might just head outside, calendar be damned, in just your favorite jeans and a short-sleeved shirt.  And just as you’re ready to step out and enjoy the day that early blast of arctic air hits you and you pause, perhaps shiver a bit, and take note- it isn’t as you imagined it would be.  So then now has arrived a new choice, do you see?

In fact, there are a few, even several.  And that’s usually the case in most things if you really think about it.  And time is much more friendly when there are still choices to be had, and choices still left to be made.

Happy Yet?

Reflections & Memories No Comments

I’ve thought a lot about what my first post should be- probably thought too much.  I’ve started several different times only to backtrack and start again.  This one makes the final cut no matter what okay?

I was wondering today just how many of you out there are really happy with the way things are- at home, at work, at school, in your city or town, in your state, in the country, in the world…beyond.  That covers  most everything I would imagine.

Here in the Chicago area it is November 11 and we seem to be having an early snowstorm.  Wonder what that means- warming, cooling, end of the world soon perhaps?

Oh well.  It is gloomy outside and here I am feeling rather somber but not sad, pensive but not overly thoughtful, flat but not completely featureless.  It is November and it does snow here in November so maybe it’s just, um, normal.  Like you?  Like me?  Or are we mis-fitted to the place where we have come?  Perhaps maybe not so normal after all.  But is that bad or even all that unusual?

Did I mention that it is a Monday as well?

When I was younger things were a great deal different and days like this did not seem all that gloomy or gray- just, well, different. 

I remember having to deliver a whole big bag of heavy newspapers early in the morning on days like this, trying hard to keep them dry and trying hard to get the first few delivered in order to lighten the load on the handlebars.  And always having that one house or two where I would oh so carefully position my bike, with the heavy papers, while I ran swiftly but short-strided (wouldn’t want to slip!) up to the house or flat to place the paper where it would stay dry and be easy to retrieve.  That’s the kind of paper boy I was and the tips were good! 

But, invariably, as I ran to the front of the building I would hear the awful sound of my bike as it crashed to the ground and, more often than not, ejected several previously dry and freshly rolled papers from the bag and into the snow.  If it was a cold, dry snow there was still hope but, if warm and wet, well, what a mess.

Sounds like a real bummer huh?  Guess it was, then, but now?  Maybe not so bad so many years down the road.    I can still feel the cold, see the snow flying on those still-dark winter mornings, hear the crash of the bike as it gives way no matter how carefully positioned.  Just like it was yesterday or, maybe the day just before that.

So now it continues to snow as I listen to the somewhat melancholy “Everything Happens to Me” by Donald Byrd & Doug Watkins (ain’t Pandora just great?).  The day grows longer and I wonder how many of you out there are really happy with things.  Could be worse y’know- it could be, well, snowing.