Day: September 21, 2018

Talk, talk, talk, talk….humans do a lot of it! Politicians, religious leaders, professors, newscasters, plain old man and woman on the street, etc., etc. You name them, they talk. I talk…a lot.

Quotes about talking are numerous: “talk is cheap” “If people listened to themselves more often, they would talk less” “The less you talk, the more you’re listened to.” Those who know do not talk; those who talk do not know.” One must talk little and listen much”

My theory about humanity is that we would be a much kinder, gentler species if we had evolved without a voice box. Only missing that one part of our body…nothing else. Same brain, same senses, everything but….a voice.

Think about humanity as a whole having to go through our own history signing to each other instead of talking. How much different do you think we would be? There are a lot of things we do with our voice, but would we miss them if we had never known them?

How much closer attention would we have had to pay to each other? Would we be a more personable and culturally interwoven species without all the different languages having developed? Would touch have played a more important part in our development? Our eyes convey so much of our inner soul even as we are, just think about what they would convey if we had no voice. How much more acute would our other senses have become without the “easy way out” of talking?

Would we have had less war?

Maybe this will give you something to think about……if I see you out and about, we’ll talk about it.

Rarely since my Dad died in 2010, have I dreamt of him. Maybe twice. I don’t know why, because I really loved that man.

Last night I dreamed about him, and I gotta get this down before it starts to fade with the daylight.

We were playing in a golf tournament, as we often did, and we were on the schedule to tee off, and I kept forgetting things. I forgot my shoes and was going to play barefooted. I forgot my clubs and he went and got them. I forgot golf balls, and he gave me some of his. Finally, when I didn’t have tees he said, : “damn son, one of these days you’re going to have to start taking responsibility for your stuff on your own!”

Then I hit a great drive down the fairway and he said: “Nice drive son, now let’s move forward!” I was the happiest I can remember in such a long time! He said: “Let’s move forward”.

It was a super round of golf. Me, Dad, Ted and Matt.

You can’t ever go back to the past, all you can do is hit your best drive, and move forward. I’m ready now to move forward, and although I’ll cherish all my past memories, I’m going to be happy making new ones.

Thanks for helping me again Dad. You were always there for me when I needed you.

I got out and walked the “hills of Somerset” this morning. It was so very foggy. I though of going down the road to Woodstation and walking, but dreaded driving in the thick pea soup. So I walked the hills and thought.

I thought about all the years I have lived, and all of the joy I have experienced with my family and friends, bittersweet with the absence of so many who I have loved so dearly..

I thought about the condition of humanity, and how, although there is very little I personally can do about it, I will do as much as I can.

I thought about the passing of the seasons, and how autumn is almost upon us, although you can’t tell right now, but soon it will be here. The pumpkins and cornstalks and hay bales will be out in people’s yards. The pumpkin farms will be full of little kids taking hay rides and picking them out a great big orange one to take home to carve into a Jack O’ lantern.

I thought about how my granddaughter is getting married this weekend. The very first of my grandchildren to take this step. I wish I could be there, but she knows how I love her and wish her the very best.

I saw baby Evie, now 2 3/4 years old, heading out for nursery school. How much she has changed in such a short period of time.

I love to walk, because it does give me time to think, and to reflect on things. I think that even though our country and our world is in such a big mess, there is still love to be had, and memories to be made, and people to make happy. There are people who need help, who we need to help.

As the ghost of Jacob Marley told Ebenezer Scrooge when Scrooge told him he was a good man of business: “Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, benevolence, were all my business. The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!”

Mankind is our business, whether it’s our beloved families or perfect strangers who are in need. Get out and walk today if you can and think about all these things.