Not everyone has a bucket list naming the things they most want to do before they die, but maybe we should. In the movie “Bucket List” a band of old friends decided to get together and do all of the stuff they had on their list. Their list was: To witness something truly majestic; Help…
The cartoon character Charlie Brown always seems to be concerned about something. In one comic strip in the series Charlie comes up with a new idea for dealing with life. Charlie explained, “I’ve developed a new philosophy: I will dread only one day at a time.”: Reader’s Digest, November 2014, p.28 This begs the question,…
In the 1983 movie “Trading Places”, a snobbish businessman, played by Dan Aykroyd, is forced by his boss, who had made a bet with his brother, to trade places with a homeless man played by Eddy Murphy. The film touched on a variety of social issues such as stereotypes about race, homelessness, and materialism. In…
There is a beautiful poem by May Sarton that sums up what we should all wish for ourselves. It reads as follows: “I would like to believe that when I die that I have given myself away like a tree that sows its seeds every spring and never counts the loss, because it is not…
It depends on what your definition of success is. We traditionally assume that success means having a great career that pays very well. We all want enough income to provide a comfortable present and a secure future. Being free of financial worries seems like a pretty good definition of success to most of us. Some…
A cartoon captured a child’s imagination of what she’d no doubt overheard before. Holding her doll while talking with a friend, she said, “Between the time spent going to school and doing my homework it’s hard to spend quality time with my doll.” Chicken Soup for the Mother’s Soul, Canfield & Hansen, 1997, p.213 Quality time to…
The All India Institute of Medical Sciences has tracked a unique statistic: how many people have died while taking a selfie. Their research confirms at least 259 such deaths around the world in the last six years. Drowning is the leading cause followed by transportation (taking a picture as a train/car approaches). Other causes are…
At some point in our lives, we all face challenges of one kind or another. Some challenges are welcomed and some might not be quite as easy to accept. We like challenges such as playing a game to win, or of accomplishing something we take on willingly like making something for ourselves or someone else. …
Through research conducted by Coca-Cola it was discovered that 83% of young Americans (age 17 to 24) were inspired to do a random act of kindness for someone else after having received one themselves. Kindness is contagious! USA Today, 7/24/18, p.1D I was on my way to a meeting in a city a few hours from…
Some of us older folks feel a little intimidated by the latest technology. Since we didn’t grow up with computers, smart phones and tablets, we’ve had a steep learning curve, just when we are least able to learn new things quickly and tend to forget things even more quickly. Most of us can do the…