Quote for the Week

"Tell the story of the mountain you climbed.  Your words could become a page in someone else's survival guide."

Life Lesson: in a Jam Jar

There once was a professor of philosophy who in front of his class took a large, empty pot of jam and without saying a word, began to fill it with golf balls. 

Then he asked his students if the jar was full.  The students said yes.

The professor then took a box full of marbles and poured the marbles into the pot.  The marbles filled the gaps between the golf balls.  The professor asked the students again if the jar was full.  The students said yes.

Then the professor took a bag of sand and poured it into the pot.  Of course the sand filled all the remaining gaps and the professor asked again if the jar was full.  The students unanimously answered yes.

The professor then added two cups of coffee into the jar, filling the small gaps between the grains of sand.  The students started laughing.  After they stopped, the professor said, "I want you to realize that this pot of jam represents Life.

The golf balls are the very important things in life such as family, children, health, everything you are passionate about.  Our lives would still be full if you lost everything else and these were the only things that remained.

The marbles are the other things that count in our lives such as work, house, car, etc.

The sand represents everything else, all the small things in life.

If we had first poured sand into the jam pot, there wouldn't have been any room for anything else such as the golf balls or marbles.

It's the same thing in life.  If we put all our energy and time into the small things, we will never have any time or space for the things that really matter.

Pay attention to the things that are really important to your happiness.  Play with your children, take time to go to the doctor, have dinner with your spouse or partner, exercise and take time to enjoy your favorite pastimes.

There will always be time to do the cleaning and fix the faucets on the kitchen sink.

Take care of the golf balls first, the things that really matter.  Choose your priorities.  The rest is just sand."

One of the students raised his hand and asked what the coffee meant.

The professor smiled and said. "It's good that you ask.  I only added the coffee to show that although your lives may seem full and busy, there is always room for a cup of coffee with a friend.  "Good day to all," and he left the classroom.

Scandals of the Week (Politics Not Included)

Altuve, Springer, Bregman.  In 2017 the Astros were our heroes, a bunch of great guys who loved baseball and each other.  They gave us a World Series championship. They gave us much needed respite after horrible Hurricane Harvey decimated our city.  Now we have learned that our heroes have feet of clay, that 2017 was the year of sign-stealing, that their Series crown is forever tarnished.  Except for Carlos Correa's, their apologies were at best wooden, at worst insincere.  What a disappointment.  Last year I watched the Astros every time I was home, I cheered when Altuve's walk-off home run landed them in another World Series, I was sorry they didn't win the championship again, but I still thought they were special.  

Will I watch the Astros in 2020?  I don't know.  Maybe if they win on their own merits without cheating.  We'll see.

To recline or not to recline, that is the question.
If you missed the brouhaha about the American Airlines passenger who reclined her seat,squashing the man behind her in the back row and his retaliation, punching her seatback nine times, you didn't read this week's news.  The internet is divided on who is in the right.

I'm not sure.  Personally, I never recline my seat.  I can fall asleep anywhere, even on a plane. sitting straight up.  If I gave it a try, I might be able to fall asleep standing.

What do you think?

Books of January

The Wives.  Story of a man's three wives and how they connect to one another.  Don't waste your time on this one.  Sorry I did.

Where the Crawdads Sing.  I've been wanting to read this for some time since it's been at the top of the best seller lists for ages.  I found it engrossing with beautiful descriptions of the natural world.  But (very important) you have to suspend your disbelief and accept the author's premise that an abandoned six year-old could survive alone in the marsh (and that her whole family, one by one, would abandon her in the first place).  Once you do,  you'll enjoy the book, I hope as much as I did.  It's pretty long, but I finished it in 3 days.

Lesser Known Heroes: Answers

                                        Christa Macauliffe, the "teacher in space" who
                                        died in the Challenger explosion

                                          Ruby Bridges Hall, at age 6, the first black
                                          student in her New Orleans elementary school

                                           Elizabeth Blackwell, the first woman to graduate
                                           from medical school in the United States

Claudette Colvin

Months before Rosa Parks, 15 year-old Claudette

refused to give up her seat on the bus

Rachel Carson

"The Mother of the Environmental Movement" 

who wrote The Silent Spring

Temple Grandin, a woman on the autism spectrum whose

understanding of animals led to improvements in treatment of cattle

Juliette Gordon Low, founder of the Girl Scouts

Female Heroes

Okay, that's a fictional hero, but there are more women than you think who have been heroes.  Here are some who are listed among the 50 most famous:

                                            Harriet Tubman

                                      Eleanor Roosevelt

                                         Helen Keller

                                  Billie Jean King

                      Clara Barton, founder of the Red Cross


And here are some that I personally think of as heroes:

Diana Nyad who, after failing many times, finally swam from Cuba to Florida

Sally Ride, first woman in space

Barbara Jordan, whose insightful questions made her famous during the Watergate investigation

1. 

                                Betty Friedan, whose book The Feminine

                               Mystique, inspired the feminist movement 

     

                      Catherine Graham, who took the reins of the Washington Post after her husband died.  I keep a quote of hers that inspired me on my desk:  "To do what you love and to feel that it matters, how can anything be more fun?"

                  Louisa May Alcott, whose Little Women 
                  inspired hundreds of young girls.  I wanted
                  to be all four of the March sisters--loving 
                  Meg, independent Jo, shy Beth and prissy
                                           Amy

                   Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the Notorious RBG

                                         Gabby Giffords

                      And a special shout-out to Katie Sowers,
                        the first female coach in the NFL

Do you remember these female heroes?  (Answers tomorrow.)
Christa McAuliffe
Ruby Bridges Hall
Claudette Colvin
Rachel Carson
Elizabeth Blackwell
Juliette Gordon Lowe
Temple Grandin