View From Here

Headlines should pinpoint a topic of interest to the reader. Those are keywords. It helps the reader sort through the bevy of material to enable faster scanning. Opting for items of interest for that reader is the goal. Today’s news channels appear to favor fear over topical content. The result is a fear-based reporting warp that heightens reader concerns. The vortex of public dread becomes ever larger in this climate. Moods shift to lower levels and normal activity focuses more on preparing for a disaster. Those moods trigger lower stock prices, higher pricing on consumer goods and other negative happenings. Suicides, too, rise. Often, crime increases. Negativity. Fear. Loathing. Anxiety. Cheap shots to human vulnerability. All of them. Disgusting. Rather we should focus on the topic and the doing of actions that are more appropriate. At least provide the options to do something about the topic rather than only reporting the fear factor. I say this because doing something positi...

Things bought and sold. In a marketplace. Not the same place for everything. Each ‘thing’ has its own market. Some goods are very much like another in the group of goods. Like agricultural markets in corn, soybean, wheat, and so forth. Even in those narrow markets, distinctions are often drawn that separate the market into several submarkets: winter wheat, summer wheat, varietals of wheat, or corn or whatever. Timing has much to do with these markets. So too, the storage of bulk goods. If plentiful stores are maintained, price fluctuation is minimal. If stored goods are small, prices can and do shoot up. Supply and demand are the rule of such markets. Many factors affect supply and demand. Some are season, some weather related, others are affected by global circumstances far away where wars, tattered economies and weather phenomena reign. Stock markets may appear as bulk goods, but that is not true. There are manufacturing sectors making vastly different goods that comprise several...

Groups, family, neighborhoods, work colleagues, town, village, city. We live in community nearly all the time. Yes, there are solitary personalities that shun others, prefer the simplicity of living alone, doing for themselves, and avoiding others as much as possible. To truly live the solitary life, living off the grid in the woods or forests is the likely locale for such an existence. We have read tales of such people. We wonder about their ability to truly do for themselves – food, clothing, housing, medical care – and all the rest of what we take for granted. The solitary existence is not likely in our modern day. We depend on so many others to live a quiet life with the least complexity. That is not very possible; just imagine this person trying to make an appointment to see a doctor! Complexity of the social order does require reliance on others. But the sense of community is something else entirely. Ask a member of a religious order what community means. Priests, nuns and ...

Not stuff like in things, objects, the desiderata of daily living. No, I’m referring to thinking about ideas, the sort of ‘stuff’ that leads to wondering and uncovering more meaning. An example: looking at a fresh bloomed flower. Take a peach-colored rose, maybe the Peace Rose. The petals are delicate, soft and oh so perfectly colored. The hues of pink and peach fused to a memorable blush. The surface looks like suede, maybe dewy, but with almost magnified goodness, the lumps that make up its surface. The aroma that comes forth, slowly at first, then fully blossoming in the nose. A Peace Rose bloom is memorable. Always in your mind when you need it. It makes me wonder. It allows me to appreciate it and then, in comparison, how other blooms react on my brain. Think of other things, stuff. Why do proton or neutron beams pass through steel I-beams? Through layers of rock and earth’s strata to arrive at a distant point still whole? How does that beam of atomic material do that sort o...

Looking for the bright side of things is much preferred than the dark side. More pleasure comes from pondering brighter outcomes based on championing failures and turning them to the good. Such is possible because the wreckage of failure provides valuable bits and pieces that can be used for the good. Yes, this is the ‘glass half full versus the glass half empty’ argument. Viewing the world with a positive attitude helps make good things happen. The reason for this has been debated throughout man’s history on this planet. For me the reason is simply put: Good helps imagine the better or best outcome. Once that is done, it is easier to implement what is needed to move from today to the future with better outcomes. Ponder that for a bit. If we know where we are headed, we get there with more certainty. We may even find the shortest route. We look for signs of the destination along the journey to boost our morale and energy. And focus. The opposite is also true. If we don’t know whe...

I just wished my 19-year-old granddaughter Kira happy birthday. She is a freshman at DePaul University in Chicago. New to 19, new to a college campus. New being quite a bit on her own for the first time. I remember how that was. A long time ago, but I remember the similar sensations in 1961. Fall was coming on. Leaves were changing. The air was balmy and soon turned chill, crisp. I knew the change of seasons differently than before. Alone and self-reliant. Alone and in a new community. So many faces to remember. So many things to get used to – classes, class schedules, location of those classes, and all in relation to the dorm, the cafeteria and so many other important sites. At least Kira is 35 miles from home. I was 1000 miles alone. Thinking on these things this morning, I realized how new life experiences at young ages seemed so fresh. Sometimes they were daunting; other times they were tantalizing, unique. In the long run, however, they became the new reality and expectations....

Some years ago, a neighbor and I finished clearing snow from our driveways and walks during a huge storm lasting 3 days. The year was 1978. That winter we totaled over 90-inches of snow for the season. Snow was stacked everywhere and at high numbers. Those of us who lived through it, commuted, worked and yet found time to shovel. Remember this storm? It was titanic. Well, I digressed. Once we finished shoveling our own snow piles (and neighboring sidewalks), we said, “let’s go to the local mall and help people who are stuck in the parking lot. And we did just that. For some reason, we wanted to help out others. They didn’t ask for help, but we knew if we were caught in a similar situation, we would welcome helping hands. They didn’t ask for the help. It was simply there and accepted. They were relieved and safely on their way home. We felt good; rewarded. That was the high of the day! When we are in need, however, do we ask for help? Or do we struggle on through woes aplenty?! ...

Albert Einstein quote: “Do not grow old, no matter how long you live. Never cease to stand like curious children before the great mystery into which we were born.” Ponder that awhile. Let its openness to the unknown take flight in your brain. Relax with the thought and feel the power it holds for you, the unlimited futures it portends. Do you feel it? Do you sense how right he was? Is this power awake within you? Only you can answer those questions or feel the effect of his words. For me, I observe many people working to bring positive outcomes to our communities. Thing about just that. isn’t it phenomenal that millions of people work every day at teaching, counseling, nursing, doctoring, researching, building and generally making life better for countless people day in and day out? Driving along an expressway in a large urban area we see big buildings and small, businesses, schools, laboratories, colleges, universities, and corporations. Within their walls are countless people a...

Puerto Rico vs Storms : Another blow to Puerto Rico by a hurricane. For a lovely land of lush vegetation and beautiful ocean landscapes, Puerto Rico is a sitting duck for passing tropical storms. The people of this island have survived many storms, but in recent years, the toll seems worse and worse. Replacing infrastructure so it is less vulnerable is one long-term answer. Replacing stormy worthy housing is another long-term solution. But who is willing and able to make this happen? Puerto Rico does not have the financial capability of doing this, but our federal government is. Perhaps a real working partnership between the US government and Puerto Rico's is the answer. Long-term solutions may build a sustainable economy that pays its own way forward. Meanwhile, these are US citizens in trouble and our help is very much needed. Putting on Shoes : Recent falls have injured back muscles and knees. Thirty days have passed, and mending has happened. However, an intended walking exerci...

 With Texas and Florida sending planes and buses filled with new immigrants crossing their borders to Chicago, New York and Washington DC, they have capitalized a political movement around immigration. Yet both states gain from immigration and have for generations.  Texas and Florida governors are turning the immigration problem into a major political issue and hoping that other republican governors do the same. Too bad. Ugly behavior on anyone cooperating with this. Both Abbott and DiSantis hail from immigrant ancestors. We all do. We are a nation of immigrants. I know, I know, many will burst out saying, “I was born here.” So was I, but our roots are in immigration. The only exception are native Americans, the Amer-Indians our forebears so industriously tried to erase from our soil.   The rest of us all are related to immigrants from all over the globe. That is fact. Most of our ancestors were welcomed with open arms. It was a natural course of life in America. Th...

We talked about time’s tempo recently. Today we talk about being on time or late, tardy. The latter appears to be a lifestyle trend these days. People come and go whenever they want to, at least that is how it seems. Attend a meeting and watch how many arrive late. Some are just 5 minutes behind schedule, others are 10, 15 or even 30 minutes late. I know, there are excuses for lateness. Traffic, trains running behind schedule, weather delays, and so forth. We have all been inconvenienced by these things. They happen. And my dog ate my mail so I didn’t know I had a bill to pay. This actually happened to me. Scanning my check book, I noticed I usually paid the bill at this time of the month, so I called them, and they gave me the amount and mailing address. They chuckled, too; guess they heard of that excuse before! But really, why can’t we just get with a good calendar routine? Coming late to a meeting causes later starting time for everyone, or an interruption as latecomers enter...

Changes in routines provide unexpected pleasures. First, cutting cable TV proved beneficial in these ways: over $100 savings per month; huge reduction in annoying advertisements; near absence of fear inducing news reporting. The peace of mind this brought to my life was staggering. I still get the news but more factually and edifying than TV news programming. Second, time management is less pressurized. The important things still get done but without the drama. Well, almost no drama. With the important things under control the little things fall into place easily. Third, expectations are more reasonable and appropriate. Calm emerges. Fourth, time is available to inspect topics put off, discovery of important thinking increases. Pondering does indeed produce moments of intersection with the profound. Richness follows. Fifth, watching others from a calmer perspective, is very entertaining. Many years ago, I chose to rise early in the day, 5 am now in retirement. Before retire...

For nearly 11 years I have been writing this blog. Each morning as I write the date, I marvel at the passage of time. September 13 th this morning. The next day is September 14 th . And so, on and on. This daily activity – I do write blog drafts in advance of their publish date, sometimes a week in advance – causes me to watch the calendar days slip by. Day after day, the first of the month rolls around faster and faster. Then too, the ides of each month (15 th ), and finally the last day. The days go by quickly, but now the months are flying by. I’m not watching the clock, but age seems to go faster and faster. This may sound nonsensical to write about, but the passage of time does have its tempo according to age. In youth we find time drags. As we mature, the pressure of time appears as assignments and duties of a career demand more and more attention. As we age further, we have experience and perspective enriched by the passage of time. We make sense of the happenings of today....

This is not a maudlin plea for sympathy. No, it is a statement of fact so others can glimpse the truth, the facts about physical pain. Having recently fallen twice, my lower back muscles were wrenched and continue to suffer spasms. Each spasm yields pain. Deep pain. The kind that causes an involuntary yelp. The kind of pain that causes more injury, like my second fall. The first fall was caused by a calloused foot slipping on the kitchen floor while stooping down to wipe up a coffee spill. The foot kept sliding away from me, uncontrollable as it came to be. That inevitable slide toward the floor registered on my mind and a plan of escape was hatched. Escape from what, you ask. Well, the pain and injury of a heavy fall. Broken bones – hips, ribs, elbow, arm – and stretched or sprained tendons. I didn’t want the rest of my life defined by a stupid fall in the kitchen. I well knew others who had fallen and never fully recovered from their injuries. Each maladjustment led to another he...

Of course, it is sad that Queen Elizabeth II has died. She lived a long life, 96 years. She managed her realm for 70 years, a record for England, and most likely a world record. She graced her nation and held her poise through thick and thin. She was quite the lady. Proud, unshakable, purposeful. Yet, being the royal leader of England no longer means political hegemony or worldwide governance. It once did, but those days are gone. The royal role is figurative only. It is a thing of nostalgia, beautiful, showy and glamorous. But that’s it. Today England has a democratic order with a professional class of administrators running the nation of England, the United Kingdom. King Charles III will do just fine in his new role; after all, he has had his lifetime being trained. Likewise, Prince William has been and is in training so he can become king when Charles dies. We can become enamored with England’s royal personalities. We have been so for many generations. I think this will contin...

Larry Kudlow, a Fox News business correspondent stated President Biden inherited a booming economy and now we are headed toward a recession. How could he have messed this up so badly? Just the opposite is true of course. The economy had been struggling through the COVID pandemic with all of it shocks and woes. Massive spending stabilized the economy but with a whole set of other problems created by those fixes. Then the Ukraine/Russo war exacerbated shipping supply chains, then energy markets, and a whole lot of other problems radiating out from those complications. The economy has been battered and bruised to be sure. Then, on Biden’s watch absorption of these ills was the agenda of the day. Employment was back in the swing as employers geared up for improved markets. Job creation has been stunning. And these are good jobs, good pay with solid prospects for growth. Inflation was the result set into motion by the earlier developments. With expanding employment inflation was kindled...

We often read of the inadequacies of the minimum wage. We hear stories how a family ekes out a living with both parents working more than one job at minimum wage. For example, Dad has two jobs at $7.50 an hour for a total of $30,000 gross income for a year. Mom works one full time job at $7.50 and earns $15,000 for the year. That is a total of $45,000 for the year. Is that enough to support a family? No, not with kids added to the picture. A family of four needs roughly $50,000 annually to survive – rent or mortgage, utilities, food, some medical care, transportation and clothing. A lot of skimping is needed to run a balanced budget household with those parameters. So why do we have some people at minimum wage and others earning $50/hour? Many earn well above the $50/hour. In fact, many two-earner homes with good jobs earn upwards of $100/hour. That’s $400,000 per year. Now that income is manageable: mortgage, two cars, property taxes, utilities, home maintenance and repairs, medic...

Every day we reinvent ourselves. A bit here, a bit there, little by little the new you shapes a new future; even those dying, those with limited capabilities dwindling down to the inevitable day they cease to exist. Those we think are encased in poverty and hopelessness; they change continually. Oh, we don’t notice it because we aren’t looking. We see poverty, disability and limited lives as static. But then, we see ourselves that way, too, don’t we? I know, I know; we fix things daily, do our chores and think of better times ahead. We educate ourselves in schools, take classes and follow a routine laid out for us by schools and parents. But do we really intentionally change for the better? I watch kids gravitate to whatever captures their interest. I watch their rapture with technology. I wonder how this will help them morph into capable, achieving adults. Years later we see the change. The grandchild who never did his homework. The youngster who screamed through frequent tantrums...

A thought flashes itself. Is it relevant to the moment? Is it a profound idea that dawns? Is it a memory of a few days' past, or one haunting of the distant past? The encyclopedia of the mind is not always of fact. It is often of little things, fleeting. Like smells. Wafting breezes that caress the skin. A haze that diffuses light just so, a ghost of light, a shadow of hue, a halo or billow of remembrance. Sounds, too; and movements that trip recall of something distant. I recall thinking these things over the years. Aging, however, has brought perspective and depth of experience. The memory tickles yet other moments from the past. Sometimes it is a photo album of friends, neighbors, colleagues and loved ones lost to our present. Something they did is mirrored in a moment of today, and they come fully to mind. What it means is more valuable with passage of time. We see the world always, but nuances flutter from comparisons to things we experienced today. We see more deeply. R...

Interesting arc of change regarding labor in the USA. New business formations are up significantly reports the Small Business Administration. SCORE.org is a volunteer agency once a part of the SBA. SCORE provides free mentoring to entrepreneurs wanting to start their own businesses and helps existing small businesses to weather challenges so they can survive and thrive. SCORE’s national cadre of volunteers number more than 11,000. They do all of their work for free. These people are mostly retired from either their own businesses (founded, owned and operated by them) or from the executive suites of larger corporations. Mentoring is not consulting, but rather guidance, heart to heart talking through problems and complex options. SCORE National has the data but roughly 140,000 new jobs were created in 2021. That number should be equaled or exceeded in 2022. If they thrive, these jobs will multiply handsomely over the next five years. This is why SCORE does what it does. If this inter...

Lindsay Graham, erstwhile Senator representing South Carolina, states firmly that if Trump is prosecuted in court, the American people will riot in the streets. My question for Sen. Graham is, “Either we do that or what?” Reality tells us that Americans rioted at the US Capitol Building, a shrine to America’s history and experiment with democracy against all odds. That experiment has had good years and bad ones. Although we would like to think that the USA is the best, biggest and most worthy nation on the face of the earth, the truth is that our country has been both good and bad. The bad, by the way goes all the way to evil. We don’t want to believe that, but historians will tell you that is the truth. Of course, the press should be telling us this as well, but they don’t because the press is not free; it must pander to retain financial support in order to operate. That is a nasty truth none of us want to hear, but we must. Americans rioted at the Capitol. Americans buy guns ...

I have lived in many places as I near 80. I was born in southern California, lived in three towns (not counting the Pasadena hospital in which I was born), moved to two places in Massachusetts (one very temporary, maybe a month, the other 6 years), then on to New York in one home, then to Illinois for college. After 4 years of education at one campus, I moved on to my adult homes in Illinois which now number 7 communities. I spent 51 years in three homes, so stability has marked my life in many ways, especially in residences. Whether there is another home or two remaining in my future, only time will tell. Watching TV programs, movies, documentaries, in addition to reading novels focused on places, I am reminded continually of my times in many homes. The sense of place is big in my life. While young, our family traveled extensively throughout the western United States. We camped and hiked in many places in California, Oregon, while meandering throughout many western states staying in...