Thanks, Mom

My Mom, it should go without saying, will forever have that very special place in my heart. Cancer took her long ago; she left us in 1983 when I was just 35 years old, while she was only 64...much too early for either of us.

So, when I see something like the video below, dedicated to Moms everywhere, it strikes a special heart string.  The string that only Mom can affect.

Now, I must say to you Dads, don't get all discombobulated over this. Remember, this program is sponsored by Proctor and Gamble. You know, the Bounce, Pampers, Tide and Bounty people, to name but a few. Make sense?

Athletes, like the ones that will make the Summer Games in London this year, are a very special, dedicated, hard-working and gifted group. Most often though, there exists a special someone who has pushed, prodded, encouraged, driven and accompanied them along that long journey.

Fashionable Ideology

I tripped across this piece, published by one of the information sources I follow, PJ Media. I think Mr. Rubin has hit the sadly bent nail on the head.

...the fashionable hatred is not those who look down on other races or nations or homosexuals as inferiors who should be despised. Such thought crime is rare in the West today. It has been replaced by hatred of the truly religious, the non-big city, the non-leftist people who don't think the right things. Roughly 50 percent of Americans so view the other 50 percent today. Much of the media, entertainment industry, publishing, schools, and politicians do so. 

Taking another swipe at that nail, Rubin says...

One of the great successes of leftism (pretending to be liberalism) in North America and Europe today is that it has made itself so fashionable, so identified with sophistication, intellectual quality, and what used to be called the upper class. Not the old upper class of country clubs and yachts...but the upper class of merit, the truly good, who hate racism and are saving the earth.
Funny how many of these people are quite wealthy themselves. The message is:  My money and success is justified by my holding proper attitudes. Al Gore may have a big house and a big carbon footprint, but that's okay because he talks about how these things are evil. 

Give it a full read when you have a bit of time.

Rubin's Full Article—click here

I think you'll find yourself nodding your head and thinking, "yeah, sad but true!"

I know I did.

To Believe

I received this link via email and could not, unfortunately, find a way to embed the video. I guarantee you won't be disappointed by taking the time to follow this link and ponder the message during the next 5 minutes of your day:

Outstanding Voice, Outstanding Message

Oh, from the mouths of babes, as the saying goes...

I know, I know, its an Imagine, Kumbaya, We are the World kind of thing, but we can dream once in a while, can't we?

Speaking of dreams, Nobel and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Pearl S. Buck once said,

There are many ways of breaking a heart. Stories were full of hearts broken by love, but what really broke a heart was taking away its dream—whatever that dream might be.

How true. Dream on...

Think Different

"Here's to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They're not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can't do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do."

Just Do It...Now!

"Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things you did not do than by the things you did do. So, throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."

                                                                                      Samuel Clemens ~ a.k.a. Mark Twain
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A couple years back, I lost a great friend and recently retired work associate to cancer. Prior to his retirement, he said he wanted to do just a couple things when he quit working:

• stand on The Continental Divide in the Rocky Mountains out West
• travel to Minnesota to the headwaters of the Mississippi, where he understood one can walk across that great river

Bob, very unfortunately, never got the chance; the damn cancer made those trips impossible. 

A lesson from which each of us can learn a great deal. 

Life = Risk

We all need a figurative kick in the seat of the pants occasionally.

Ponder this:

A tip o' the hat to Barry Ritholtz at The Big Picture.