THE TITLE IS TAKEN FROM a line in Mark Twain’s Roughing It, and it always comes to mind when I hear someone (or myself) voice a semiserious regret. I don’t carry many of these — not out of “holiness;” it…
Category: Living
Each moment is different. Here are some of mine.
Pithyism #24
A GOOD DAY IS ONE in which the artist heaves a stone and the ripples wash up smiles and murmurs. (Or, put another way, “Blessed be the One who makes the makers.” I don’t know that one needs to “believe”…
Introductions
SOMETHING HOLY/TENDER/FRAGILE/GIDDY THERE IS ABOUT someone introducing a member of one world to a member of another: as, one’s relatives to one’s colleagues, one’s colleagues to one’s friends, one’s friends to one’s relatives. It’s more than just a person-to-person connection.…
5 Thoughts: The Solstice Eclipse
1. A CORRECT USE OF FACEBOOK is evidenced by all the pictures my friends took of last night’s eclipse. (Also nice: Chanukah’s virtual latke banquet.) 2. The overhead wonder was no less wondrous for being swathed in translucifying cloud at…
Pithyism #6-7/8
EVERYBODY IS A BIT LOONY, until you understand their reasons.
Viral Into Life
WE’VE ALL SEEN THOSE VIDEOS of people semi-spontaneously bursting into song in public places, to the bemusement, amusement, and eventual participation of the earshot citizenry. Let’s take it offline, folks. Bust into song. Right now. Wherever you are and with…
Fear of Fear Ourselves
WE ARE FROZEN INTO SOCIETAL uselessness through fear of liability: who’s responsible, what are the ramifications, an obsessive-compulsive moral handwash. Perhaps that’s one reason scapegoating is so popular: release of tension. Everything flows when the ice is cracked with a…
Pithyism #38N122W
NOTHING HAPPENS IN THE WORLD without someone from Sonoma County being involved in some way. (Those who know, know.)
Pithyism #0.0
IF YOU ARE SEARCHING FOR Truth, It’s somewhere It shouldn’t be.
Season’s Regreetings
THE NEXT TIME SOMEONE OUTSIDE your comfort zone wishes you a merry holiday-you-don’t-celebrate, don’t take umbrage — just wish them a happy “Same To You.” This three-syllable Teflon Shield of Banter will save you from giving and receiving earnest but…
Mindfulness Question
EXACTLY WHAT IN YOUR LIFE requires an opinion? And can kneejerk acceptance be as valid a personal evolutionary strategy as kneejerk fulmination? Contemplating these questions may not make you wiser, but may make you happier. (But there’s no real guarantee…
One Conversation
WE WERE DISCUSSING SYNAGOGUE FUNDRAISERS, and I suggested an egg toss. E. G., who knows who he is but may not want you to, looked at me with the sad seriousness of the ex-military and first responder. “Eggs aren’t for…