Tag Change

This or That

Michael 8 Comments

I hadn’t planned on doing this today. I was going to do that. When I discovered eventually I’d have to do that, I thought today would be a good day for that. In fact, I even said to myself, “Self,” I said, “Thursday would be a good day for that.” And indeed, it would, but so would Monday be, so instead I’m doing this.  And equally indeed, on Monday I’ll do that.

This is promoted by yesterday’s Uplift post. No surprise there as usually Thursday RRSB posts do recall Wednesday Uplift posts. Not always, and it wouldn’t have been had I done that instead but I’m doing this so that’s that.

This, about as far as I can tell, is an absolute original thought Diem and I had and posted yesterday. Quiet Change. I’m capitalizing them here although we didn’t there because the more I think about it, the more I think this concept of Quiet Change is something special.

A few sentences from the post:

So which is it – change is all around and within us as a natural part of our existence, or change happens when we take the steps to initiate it? It’s probably more neither than both. Yes, we are closing our ears to the noise about change, both the change being inevitable and change being instigated. Change is self-fulfilling. So we say.

Too often we use change as an excuse for our actions, or inactions, rather than an impetus to them. We call for the need for a change then wait for others to do the hard work of change. Or we explain away lapses in performance or even in judgement by citing something that had changed without our knowledge. We’ve turned change into the noise that detracts, distracts, and deflects us from responsible action.

The quiet side of change too often is overlooked.

We contend that people make change artificially difficult and use it as an excuse for bad or incomplete decisions and procrastinated or poorly executed action. The magic to Quiet Change is it allows us to work with it, appreciating the positives of the process and progression.

If I say so myself, “Self”, I’d say, “that’s something on the Internet well worth the time to read.” So why don’t you Listen for the Quiet.

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A change in the air

Michael 5 Comments

Once upon a time they lived happily ever after (1)Yesterday was first day of Autumn. Or today. Today is the first full day of Autumn.  The distinction is most likely only important to whichever weather person was on air yesterday versus who is on air today. Either yesterday or today you must have noticed the difference when you woke up? The trees are now covered with bright colorful leaves, pumpkins are lining all the by-ways, there’s a smell of warm apple cider in the air, and that air is decidedly cooler than it was yesterday with decidedly fewer daylight hours. Well, maybe not quite. In truth there isn’t much difference between summer and fall if yesterday and tomorrow are the comparisons. If you’re in the Southern Hemisphere, just read this paragraph backwards. There’s not much change between the last day of Winter and the first of Spring either. Seasons just don’t change that quickly.

In truth, any change seldom happens quickly, but it happens. And it happens inexorably. Things you barely notice from day to day add up so over time the change becomes monumental. Take yourself for example. You likely are not noticeably different than you were yesterday, maybe not from last week, perhaps even barely noticeably different from last year. But compared to five years ago, ten years, twenty years…the change is remarkable.

Something that rarely changes is our desire not to change. Almost everybody prefers the familiarity of now to the point they would choose a future to be no different than the now. Except now. Our “now” is taking a great toll on us. It is a hard now that we’d gladly change for calmer times. Unfortunately, those calmer times may come with their own set of peril. To me, Eden is the fictional town of Mayfield were the Cleavers raised their two sons, a few miles from Bryant Park where Uncle Charlie helped Steve Douglass raise his three sons, which isn’t so far from the Springfield were Jim Anderson knew best how he and Margaret would raise their two daughters bookended around their only son. Springfield barely changed from week to week yet somehow, it’s unrecognizable now when Homer and Marge struggle with their brood. I’d rather live in the Springfield of the fifties, the Mayfield or Bryant Park of the sixties, than the 21st century Springfield or any other model community even if it meant living in a politically incorrect time of two genders, people advancing on merit, family values, and inter-generational respect.

So, now you’re going to ask, what about segregation, marginalization, anti-Semitism, homophobia, the Cold War, and inner-city gangs? So, now I will ask you, why are all those still going on? Last week a young man in a Pittsburgh, PA suburb shot three people at a baby shower, for his expected child by the way, over an argument of who would transport the gifts from the venue to the home. Over 4500 Asian hate crimes were reported in the first seven months of 2021. In one week in May 2021, the Anti-Defamation League found more than 17,000 tweets using variations of the phrase “Hitler was right.” Violent crimes against the marginalized group of hearing, visually, and physically challenged persons are more than double for non-challenged males and over three times as prevalent against women versus their non-challenged counterpart. Just last month, the Associated Price reported that a parent barged into his daughter’s elementary school in Northern California and punched a teacher in the face, sending him to an emergency room, over mask rules. So, I ask those who say my idyll is a paradise for only the privileged white male, how they would like to respond to these.

Ah yes, there is a change in the air. If we could only tell which way the wind will blow next.

Have a Little Faith

Michael 2 Comments
 
Over the weekend my daughter and I were discussing how people are no longer allowed to change their minds. Well of course, they can, and many do, but the world in general doesn’t like change. It may have to do with how many people can no longer think for themselves. Not that they don’t want to think for themselves but that they’ve lost the ability to do so. So many have gotten so used to doing whatever they are told, including what to think, they have lost faith in their own ability to reason. 
 
Reason says there are things that happen of which we are aware and we can explain and we have to adapt to survive. Sometimes those are physical things. People who study the earth’s geological history know that even in the absence of man the earth is getting warmer. The sun is getting hotter, the earth’s orbit around the sun is changing, the speed of the earth’s rotation is changing, and instability deep within the earth the leads to volcanic eruptions continues. Just as the earth moved from its ice age to a state that can support human life it will someday move beyond that point to be uninhabitable by man. That doesn’t mean we don’t do what we can to lessen man’s impact. We can and should make changes, and many, many billions do make changes to preserve the environment. But we should not be so arrogant to think we’ll always have the climate we want and are comfortable with. We may have to change because the earth is certainly going to whether we believe it or not and that change is going to have an impact on us.
 
Reason also says there are things we cannot explain but they happen anyway. These are the changes we have a harder time with globally. Christians throughout the world recognize the power of change in the life of St. Paul of Tarsis who changed from persecutor of early Christians to one of Christianity’s greatest evangelists. His change was one taken on faith,  hearing words heard by no one else. Arguments can be made that Paul saw that it was “better” that he serve the way of God rather than that of Caesar but then one has to make the argument for what constitutes better and how far one goes to make one’s point and no matter how you defend or attack those arguments it doesn’t change the fact that somebody changed his mind and in his mind the change was for what he considered better. He did not let what he was told earlier in his life prevent him from believing what he was told later. Regardless of what you believe, he believed and changed and that change made an impact in the world. 
 
Over the last year we’ve heard what could be construed as conflicting reports on everything from what to use to wash your hands to how and when to wear your masks to whether it is safe to play sports and at what size does a gathering become a risk. That’s not to say that if we were told something – by experts – in October of 2020 that contradicts what we were told – by experts – in March 2020, that what was said earlier in the year was wrong. It means the experts learned something new about something that changed. Something became different, something that is measurable and addressable. You may not like that the virus mutated and that it might be best addressed by re-institution of isolation procedures but the mutation happened and just not believing is not an option. You can decide to not isolate but that won’t change that a mutation occured. And that others also probably will.
 
This is probably why, unless it has stood the test of a couple thousand years like the words of Paul, we should probably not “take as gospel” things we hear and may even ourselves say. But like Paul, we should recognize that even though we firmly believed something yesterday we can be open to believing something completely different tomorrow because whether you believe or not, the world will be different tomorrow.
Having a little faith in what you hear today, and believing in the change you make tomorrow, might make a big difference and have a great impact in your world.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Summer Eve

Michael 2 Comments

Friday is the first day of summer here. Actually it’s the first day of summer everywhere north of 0° latitude and points south of there will see the first day of winter. Either way the day will usher in a change of seasons. If you are reading this while standing on the equator please step one way or the other and join us. Thank you.

Okay, from this point I’d written another few hundred words on how like the seasons my life has changed. I couldn’t post that. It was depressing. Even to me. You know what? I’m not the only one who has changed. In some fashion we’ve all changed – some planned, some expected, some surprisingly, some shockingly, some barely. But change we have and like the seasons we will get about 3 months to acclimate to our new normal just in time for the next big (or little) change and we’ll deal with it and wait another few months and do it again.

If we got everything we wanted we would never have a reason to try for something better, we’d never try for more, we’d never wish for something else. Getting what we want is good and fun and satisfying but do we want to be just satisfactory?

So yes, Friday is the first day of summer, or winter, but don’t get too used to it. Like everything else in life the only thing you can count on it to do is change. In a way, that’s actually pretty refreshing.

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Ahead Of My Time

Michael 6 Comments

I have 3 clocks that are battery powered. Well I guess technically I have 5 of them if you count the 2 in the cars. Six if you count the clock radio in the bedroom that is corded but it has a battery backup since it used to be an alarm clock.  Actually it still is an alarm clock but I don’t use the alarm function any more. In fact I hadn’t even used its alarm feature when I was working and needed to get up early on a regular basis. I still kept the battery in it even though it didn’t need to consistently keep accurate time, and I still do because I like it to keep consistent time because it’s really a pain to reset the time if it should stop in a power failure.

Now where was I?

Oh right. I have 3 clocks that are battery powered. Four actually but one uses a really weird size that nobody carries. It hasn’t kept time for about 14 years but it looks good on my desk.

Oh. Sorry.

I have 3 clocks that are battery powered. To keep them running and to not have to open them up at odd and unexpected times of the year, I change their batteries every fall when we change from daylight saving time back to standard time. I figure as long as I have them opened up I might as well change the batteries whether they need them or not. And that’s worked pretty well for the last 40 years when I bought my first battery powered clock. Well, there was 1986 when I actually moved over the weekend that the time changed and we packed the clocks with their batteries in place and still running. (Not intentionally, it just worked that way) (That was probably dangerous.) (But nothing bad happened.) When we unpacked them they were hung on their walls and the batteries weren’t given a thought. Not until they started running slow 8 months later. Then I remembered what I forgot.

SlowClock

So slow it’s running backwards!

Sorry. I digressed again.

I have 3 clocks that are battery powered. I usually change the batteries when we change the time in the fall but they are all running slow. I think I forgot last year.

Did I tell you about the 3 battery powered clocks I have?

 

Spare Change

Michael Leave a comment

Saturday evening I was in the car and spun the dial on the radio. Figuratively, that is. What I really did was touch the SCAN button but how pretty of a picture does that paint. The dial landed on the beginning of “Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye.” The original.  steamBy Steam. From 1969. If you don’t know it or any of its copycatters, check it out here.

See, it’s a real song. A whole song. Not just a chorus you hear at baseball games after the pitcher is pulled.

I thought while listening (I can multitask) “God, I hated that song.” And then I went on to think more while listening more (still multitasking more) “Hey, hey, that’s not a bad song.”

I really did dislike it then and I even disliked more (or stronger) Banarama’s 1983 knock-off. But back to the sixties. I disliked Steam’s greatest hit though I shouldn’t have. If you’ve paused reading this post to check out the above noted video you’ll know why. That was me back then. Dressed and groomed pretty much in the form of… well, in the form of whoever they are. Steam wasn’t even a real group but one of those fake front bands to stick a name on a label when a bunch of studio musicians happen across a catchy little ditty some record producer thinks might make a few bucks. And that was me in high school. A fake front. Not quite nerd, not quite popular, not quite athletic, not quite stylish in my long collared, puffed sleeved, vested, flaired, and not quite straggly look. Somehow, like Na Na Etc Etc, I endured well into the 21st century.

Probably it was because of the changes that we made and/or were subjected to that we endured as well as we did. Na Na shifted from catchy little ditty requiring greedy producer to be popular to catchy little hook requiring bored baseball park organist to be popular. I’m now quite stylish.

The moral of the story is be true to what you are now, but be ready to change. Just in case.

That’s what I think. Really. How ‘bout you?

(Video by kenwaman via YouTube)

Five Minutes Wait

Michael Leave a comment

If you don’t like the weather just wait five minutes. It’ll change. How many times have you heard that, said that, or wished that? Unless you maybe live on St. Lucia not during hurricane season. Around here those five minute changes are actually getting fairly commonplace. It’s sort of scary sometimes. Let me take you through 48 hours of last weekend.

Friday morning followed a couple warmish days for February north of the 40th parallel. With temperatures expected to be around 40 degrees at midday we had just completed a week of daytime highs in the 50s and 60s. At wakeup time it was about 54 degrees. We should have expected it to be closer to 24 degrees but a warm week happens just as often as the cold week.

It shouldn’t have been unexpected. The forecasters actually predicted warmer weather. Even though over half of the month to date had been at or below average for February, the half that was higher was high enough to predict that this month would be the warmest February on record. Days and weeks and months of weather being any but what’s expected are expected around here. A warmest February on record didn’t get the global warming proponents any more excited than the coldest February on record in 2015 got the global warming opponents excited. We’ve come to learn to expect the unexpected. (Trite, but descriptive.)

Anyway, Friday I woke up to 54 degree weather and a morning forecast of it getting warmer. Indeed, by 1:00 it had breezed past (with calm winds) the previous date record of 70 degrees on its way to a high a few hours later of 76 degrees under clear, sunny skies. I got to see none of this being locked away against my will at the dialysis clinic. When I emerged from their binds a bit after 4:00 in the afternoon my car thermometer confirmed I was living in a parallel city that should have been occupying the Southern Hemisphere. As pleasant as it was I could honestly say I didn’t like it and wished it would change.

You see, I wanted it to change because it is still winter. As much as I have been less tolerant of colder days as I have entered my older days I still want seasons. If I didn’t enjoy a few weeks every year of rain and new growth flowers in the spring and falling leaves and brisk mornings in the fall and even cold and snow in the winter, I’d move to St. Lucia. I also wanted it to change because there a hockey game was scheduled to be played outside Saturday evening. Who wants to see outdoor hockey in mid70 degree weather. I don’t even like to go to baseball games when it’s that hot. Not to worry. God is a hockey fan and He’ll take care of it I told myself. It took a few more than five minutes.

Saturday at wake up it was the same 54 degrees that greeted me Friday morning and at 1:00 in the afternoon the weather service was still recording temperatures in the 50s. But then (probably because I was outside rather than chained to a medieval medical machine yet dressed like I was outside the day before) the temperature took a dramatic plunge. An hour later it was ten degrees colder, another hour another ten degrees and by 4:00 as I was finally home and changed into more appropriate clothing for February weather, February weather returned with a gusto (and with wind gusts approaching 40mph).

At 6:00 when the gates opened for the game the temperature had dropped to 36 degrees and snow flurries were flitting in the glow of the high intensity lighting. At face-off the recorded temp was exactly 32 degrees. And all was right with the world.

Sunday morning I woke up to the temperature at 26 degrees, a drop of 50 degrees in 40 hours. Maybe a little chilly for some but according to the weather people exactly average for the date.

Exactly average. How unimpressive is that? But it’s ok. If you don’t like it, just wait five minutes.

That’s what I think. Really. How ‘bout you?

Change for the Better

Michael Leave a comment

Who said, “Oh please don’t change?” Change is good! The only constant is change. Change makes things happens. You know what I mean by change. Loose change. Pocket change. Coins.

Yes, coins. Every night I empty my pocket of change. I don’t specifically hoard change. During the day if I can spend change I use those coins. Sometimes I might even drop a few into the “Need A Penny Take A Penny” dish at the cash register at the farm market up the road. But at the end of the day I relieve myself of my metallic burden and each morning I start with empty pockets – some mornings more easily than others.

Does it ever amount to anything? Well, there is a new commercial on TV during the daytime that proposes that if you are between 50 and 85 you can come up with enough spare change to buy life insurance for a month. I don’t spend mine quite so impulsively.

About twice a year I sit down with my Mason jar wherein I toss my daily haul. Back when I was working and was spending more time on irresponsible buying I used a big old pickle jar like you’d see on a counter of an old-fashioned country general store. But I digress. Last weekend we had a couple rainy days so I spent my indoor time putting off rolling coins for a while. After sufficient procrastination I broke down and counted and stacked and rolled. And when I added it up I’ll head off to the bank in the next couple days with about $134.00.

It’s not much but enough that I refuse to spend it on food or shelter. I’ll find something to blow it on and sometime after New Year I’ll do it again and I’ll blow that wad.

Now let’s see. What can I get with this new found money? A field level seat at the ball game? A couple of tickets to a play? A round trip to one of a few destinations on a low-price budget airline with advance purchase? Sixty-five round trips to several destinations on Mega-Bus with advance purchase? A really, really cheap cruise? Half a TV? Quarter of a phone? More life insurance? Whatever It is I’ll probably write about it some time. Stay tuned. Change is exciting!

That’s what I think. Really. How ‘bout you?

In Pursuit of (a Thankful) Perfection

Michael 1 Comment

A few years ago He of We included in the Thanksgiving blessing thanks to God for making the family somewhat dysfunctional.  After all the relatives were done gasping and sputtering he explained that the imperfections are what keep the family together as we all support those who need it when they need it.  A few weeks ago on some television show he heard the head of the household give his fictional blessing thanking God for his imperfect family.  After all the relatives were done gasping and sputtering he explained that the imperfections are what keep the family together as they support those who need it when they need it.  Somebody has been paying attention.

What fun is it if everybody gets along all the time?  How would anybody grow if there was never an incentive to be better tomorrow than one is today?  Isn’t part of giving thanks improving from year to year – from day to day even?  Otherwise it’s just an exercise for everybody else to conform to one person’s idea of normal, regardless of how abnormal that normal may be – or might even be is.

Once upon a time all of the traditions that we hold so dear on Thanksgiving weren’t.  They weren’t traditions, they weren’t habits, they might not have even been normal.  But they stuck.  For some reason everybody decided that on Thanksgiving we would have turkey and stuffing with cranberry dressing.  Turkeys are impossible to cook properly, cranberries are the sourest of all the fall fruits we could possibly pick, and to quote a well know TV celebrity chef, stuffing is evil.  Somehow, this terrible trio became the standard for our most family-centric holiday.

Eventually we learned how to prep that bird so it stayed juicy throughout cooking, figured out how to sweeten those bog berries, and learned that you could make a stuffing that actually cooked all the way through when you do it in Pyrex rather than poultry.  The imperfections guided our practices to make a new normal.

So this week when you are practicing your blessing, think about not just what you are thankful for but what you’d wish you could change.  Then be thankful that you might get the chance to change them.

Who knows, maybe someday our Thanksgiving feast will start at 9 in the morning so one can be first in line at the Pre-Black-Friday Sale as part of a new tradition.  Yeah, right.

Now that’s what we think. Really. How ‘bout you.

 

If You Give a Teen a Penny

Michael 3 Comments

This weekend we finally got to it, the annual Maple Festival where we picked up a trinket or two, saw grain being milled into flour, and bought a year’s supply of locally produced maple syrup. It was a success.

One of locally produced items we weren’t able to get at the festival was local honey. Another one of our food extravagances. If you’ve never had locally produced honeys, syrups, relishes, and such you are missing something special.  Spend the extra dollar and spoil your taste buds.   But we digress. One of locally produced items we weren’t able to get at the festival was local honey. Fortunately we found a farmer’s market just a bit outside the grounds where local relishes, piccalillis, mustards, and yes, honey are available. We stopped in and explored the greenhouses. Then we perused the shelves, made a few selections, and dropped them off at the counter while we continued our search of local treasures. After a while we were set to finalize our purchases and move on to lunch.

She went first, splitting the bounty on the counter in front of the cash register which itself was in front of a brand new, first day on the job, high school student and part time helper. She already was a little confused (she the helper, not She of We), and asked if everything wasn’t all together. Her mentor explained that it appeared we had separate piles and would be checking out separately. And so she began to ring through Pile #1, collected the debit card from She, punched the requisite buttons, generated a receipt, and bagged up the bounty. And all went well adding to the success of the day.

Next up was He. It wasn’t difficult to determine which pieces were his since they were those that remained from Pile #1. Pile #2 was soon rung into the register and a total announced. $15.76. He dug into the pocket and pulled out a twenty dollar bill and a penny, offered them to the brand new, first day on the job, high school student and part time helper and watched her turn into the proverbial deer in the headlights. High beams even. She stared so intently at the cash in her hand it brought to mind the Amazing Kreskin and can she bend the penny with her mind. Apparently her mind wasn’t up to the task. The penny stayed as it was, where it was, until she asked, “What’s the penny for?” Her mentor suggested that He didn’t want to walk around with a pocket full of change. She suggested she punch $20.01 into the cash register and see what happens. He shook his head trying valiantly not to call the brand new, first day on the job, high school student and part time helper a dolt. (Somehow he succeeded but it gave him a headache.)

Somewhere along the way we’ve read in papers that standard test scores for reading and math are improving at staggering rates and today’s high school graduates are even more prepared to enter the world than those of say, 30 or 40 years ago. Apparently somewhere along the way math questions have eliminated all to the right of the decimal. And with it, went our pennies.

If you give a teen a penny, she’s going to ask what it is for. When you tell her what it’s for she’ll not believe you. She’ll check a nearby mirror to make sure she isn’t frowning. She’ll refresh her makeup and then remember she owes you change. Chances are she’ll still have that penny and ask what it is for.

Now, that’s what we think. Really. How ‘bout you?