View From Here

Somehow, we all get along, day by day or hour by hour. Some days it is the minutes that count. We all have those days, right? So, on days of illness, we manage to whimper on with the day whether in the office or not. On the job or not. We make allowances for ourselves, and hope others do as well. If not, oh well. I have watched people with serious illnesses cope with the day-to-day reduction in abilities caused by illness. Old age doesn’t count! But older people do know what I’m talking about. We see people in the stores or on the street coping with disabilities and doing just fine. Of course, a helping hand is appreciated and totally unexpected. Rocky has Parkinson’s and it is at an unpleasant stage. Balance, walking gait, even stutter walking is an everyday occurrence. Falling? We take that in stride these days and stand in awe on how little the falls injure Rocky. He manages to fall on soft surfaces or grab nearby sturdy objects to slow his fall. Even on hard surfaces he man...

Any time guns are talked about, someone always wants to bring in another topic. That topic of course draws attention away from guns, like causes of violence, mental health issues, and the like. Problem is, the cause of violence and specifically gun violence, is not readily known. Why? Because the NRA has tied congress’ hands on research that would do anything to tie guns to negative topics. It is a condition of the donations the NRA makes to politicians’ campaign funds. Logic tells us the cause of much violence is mental health. Logic tells us emotional upsets are often the cause of violence – divorce, spousal cheating, death of a loved one, loss of job, loss of a fortune. Logic also informs us that handy weapons of destruction are a cause of violence – jumping off a bridge, or building, or grabbing a knife to revenge an explosive anger. Guns, too, are readily available. Very available. Research needs to be done on violence involving guns. Causal data would be useful in understandi...

Imagine that! Rocky has a birthday so close to Thanksgiving. Yessir, Rocky’s 78 today. Born in Chicago, relocated to the western suburbs of Cook County, and ultimately to DuPage County, Rocky has been a part of Chicagoland for his entire life. This guy of mine has been many things. A database manager, pilot, truck driver, ceramist, lapidarist, and woodworker, Rocky has an artistic streak a mile wide. Of more importance is being a father of two boys, grandfather to seven and great grandpa to three. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with the Safford’s in St. Charles. The Downers Grove Safford’s joined with the West Chicago and Geneva clans as well. Plenty of great food, a feast really. The Falco family is scattered over a wider landscape and did their own thing. So did the Drozdik and Bourge families. Most were connected during the day in one way or another. Memories of holidays past is a common theme for the day. The ‘remember when…?’ phrase was used to overdone. And laughter of c...

This is not in the US Constitution but rather in the Declaration of Independence. Still, it stands as one of our steadiest ‘guarantees’ of being a citizen of the United States. If a country can’t instill a sense of freedom to live life freely and openly, enjoy the freedom of movement and thinking, and generally encourage a free pursuit of what makes you happy, what then is the purpose of that nation? Quality of life is a core value. If the nation allows anything that threatens this value, is it being true to its promise? A key question as our nation continues to experience unbridled violence in its restaurants, nightclubs, stores, shopping malls and on our very streets. Violence not incidentally, perpetrated with guns of all kinds and sizes. Guns designed for hunting and sport, guns meant for protection and defense, guns designed to kill hundreds of people in a theater of war. The central tool of this carnage is guns. Let that truly sink it. Yes, knives are used in violent acts...

My favorite holiday of all. It is a day of gathering family and close friends. It is a day of feasting on traditional foods. The day has its own special aroma. The weather is crisp yet indoors it is warm, humid from all the cooking, and a soft buzz of conversation. Yes, Thanksgiving is a day of thankfulness. We intentionally think upon the things we so often take for granted. So easy to do; it takes some effort to recall all that we are grateful for. And there is a lot of that. Health. Family. Peace. Comfort. Finances. Career. The quality of our homelife. And friends. Very much our friends. The news is a downer. So much attention on threats, murders, crimes, carnage of weather, disruptions of violence, politics and challenges we have little control over. The news is what happens to us or could. Being grateful is a reminder that there are so many aspects to life that the news cannot disrupt. It is there for us to enjoy and value. It is always there. It is up to us to see it, feel ...

I understand there are people who do not like other people. To some being gay is foreign, odd and yes abhorrent. Same for people who dislike immigrants, foreigners in their land, people of color and pretty much anyone who is different from themselves. But do they shoot those they dislike? What about people who think differently from others? What about people who like things that you don’t? What is it about being different that upsets people so much? We are the land of individuals, freedom to be yourself, to espouse your own thoughts, beliefs, religions and orthodoxy. If that is the core of who we are as a nation, then why do people kill each other? More than that, why do we allow access to so many tools of death? I know, freedom is freedom. But what limits do intelligent people place on themselves to ensure safety and life itself? Saturday’s shooting at Club Q in Colorado Springs is an example. Twenty-five people were shot, five killed outright. The hater was the shooter and ...

Glad to know the Senate will be in the hands of democrats for the next two years or so. That will give it some time to overcome the warp of Mitch McConnell. However, the House being controlled by republicans is not a good omen. The House controls the purse strings of the federal government. A lot of nasty business can be done and thwarted at the same time by fiddling around with budgetary policies and actions. The worst omen of all, however, is the avowed intent to investigate democrats by the republicans. The same old revenge forces in our government spell continuation of the nasty cat and dog fights of the past many years. The only investigation conducted recently is the one looking into the January 6 th Capitol Attack. The only reason that project was under democrat control is due to republicans boycotting the effort. And the Capitol attack was an attempt to overthrow the government. If we don’t investigate that thoroughly, what should we investigate? The republicans have dem...

Well, there are nicer words to use, like Crisp and Holiday-ish. Whichever you choose, the weather has turned as it must and suddenly it is wintertime, although still technically fall. We are even in daytime temps below freezing and quite chill nighttime temperatures. Of course, precipitation is the frozen kind. White flakes lazing downward toward warmer surfaces turning to slush. Two inches of slush before it collapses on itself, melts and runs off. Still, it is snow, the first of the season and always widely discussed! For me the cold temps are the worst. It means gloves, jackets and cautions against frigid wind. OK, winter weather is expected and in the main it is OK. Most days and nights are easily survived. No big deal. We take it in stride. More serious conditions, we can reschedule activities and simply stay indoors. The pandemic taught us there is always reading, music, TV and naptime if meetings cannot be covered by Zoom. Actually, we learned a lot of good things from...

A SCORE colleague died last week from a sudden heart attack. He was near 80 and had not had previous cardiac issues. His death was a surprise and shock to many. This has led to self-questioning on health, life/work balance, and a host of other what ifs. As we age, we meet the alternative, not aging. It is a fact of life and to be expected. In whatever form it takes. That is the way it is and always has been. But one day this event in another’s life changes the way we look at life itself. Some will slip into depression; others will rekindle resolve to work toward goals worthy of the effort. That is what time is for, right? We can either live it in self enjoyment or serving others. Or both. Rather than mourn the death of a friend or colleague, we should celebrate the life he/she led and the good they did. It is the life story that should be remembered, not the death.  One  is a fact of life. The other is a wondrous machination of effort, thought and talent. It is a journey...

Getting out of bed we encounter the new day. We will follow our routine towards doing our day’s duty, our tasks of import. In doing that we will meet problems to be solved, work to be done, people to work with. Problems will be defined and pondered. We will work at solutions. We will find some while others go unanswered. The nature of work is doing repeated tasks of a job description. One of those tasks is making the best of things not working well. When such do not improve, we determine the nature and scale of the issue, the problem. We wonder if this problem will block our progress forward, or cause unnecessary expense, or thwart our objectives into becoming something unwanted. If big enough, we define the problem and research alternative solutions. The cost of same, the damage from same, the timelines involved and a host of other aspects of the problem. Scratching our heads and sharing this problem in discussion with others is often what we do. All with no solutions but a grea...

This is the season for darkness. Daylight Savings Time has expired for another year and so we are cast once again into the inky blackness of early night. The sun rises earlier of course, and that is a plus in an otherwise dim light. Driving late errands once again requires headlights. The dreaded oncoming headlights appear once again as a demon of age. Not seeing things, people and landmarks becomes yet another seasonal hazard. I always wondered why Halloween trick and treaters had to work with early night. Today that problem has been solved with DST ending just after Halloween. But remember when that was not so? Pondering early darkness the other evening brought awareness to thoughts of Thanksgiving, and of course to the Holiday Season just before us. Suddenly it is not warm weather thinking but cold, snow and Christmas trees. Surprising how quickly this happened. The days will continue to shorten until December 21 when once again the days will lengthen ever so slowly. By Febr...

The other day I wrote about how the pandemic has changed my clothing behavior and style selection. Another reality affecting this arena is also age. Think about it. I live in a building with an interior gang garage. Each condo has its assigned parking spot. We travel down a heated hallway, enter a heated elevator, descend to the heated lobby, then into the heated garage and into our cozy warm car. Turning on the engine also engages the heater in cold months. We travel down the streets to a destination, often also a garaged facility (think shopping mall, hospital, medical clinic, etc.) where the garage is covered but not heated. A quick walk from car to entry door does not call for heavy outerwear. A light jacket or sweater suffices despite the outdoor temp of 18 degrees. When I was still working and commuting, I was exposed to whatever deplorable weather conditions existed. Subzero temps, blizzard miseries, and torrential rain, ice and slush. We dressed to survive those condition...

As expected, many elections have not yet been settled. Close counts require closer scrutiny, adding mail-in ballots and absentee ballots. Then there are the disputed votes and the endless processing involved in making any election count final. Once the ballots have been tallied, then there is the endless analysis of what it all means. What nuance was told by the voting public, and which nuances were absolved. Then there are the state constitution amendments and ballot referenda to be analyzed to death. In the end, what the public meant by their voting actions is not open to question. Too many variables make this so. Local context and regional issues warp some count totals. Others are wrapped up in candidate loyalties and regional pride. You and I vote on the person, the issue and the interpretation of campaign literature. We know what we trust and what we don’t. Others do as well. And yet, the conclusions are so very different! Political Science is a social science, not an empi...

As in eye glasses. I have four pair. One bifocal for general use. One pair for the computer. Two for reading at different focal lengths – lap and arm lengths. I have three of them lined up on the sofa’s arm adjacent to my recliner. One pair is permanently at the computer unless I forget and wear them into the living room. I don’t need glasses to drive. Long distances are fine but reading the instrument panel and radio settings need the bifocal thingy. Long ago I realized I read books and journals at two different focal lengths. The first is holding up the reading material or at a tabletop, the second is when the reading material is resting in my lap. I finally bought different glasses for those two tasks. I remember my mother having reading glasses, regular glasses with bifocals, and a pair for playing the piano. She often mixed them up and wondered if her eye prescription had changed. I do the same thing, of course. To make matters worse most of my glasses look alike. I will lik...

An organ concert. Just sitting in a church pew listening to the roars, rumbles and tweets of the organ. Prefer Bach, but Cesar Franck would work as well. So much music to enjoy. When was the last time I enjoyed such a musical event? It has been years. The American Guild of Organists would know where and when an organ recital was planned. Near me? Oh how I hope. Wearing attractive clothing. Since the beginning of the Pandemic, all I worried about were shirts. Those without ties, as well! Pants? Hardly worth a mention. If it stretches, that’s the important thing. So sweatpants have been my uniform for nearly 3 years. Going out into public? Depends on the activity. Shopping or errands require no dress up. Sweats will work just fine. I see the ads for very nice things on the internet. I fancy some of them. But then I remember I have nowhere to wear such things. Comfort has won out again! Hot apple pie. No ala anything. Just hot apple pie. Succulent. Tart. Sweet. Cinnamon-y. Flaky crust...

As I track political movements throughout the states, I am appalled at some regions for their positions. Arizona is a good example. It is a conservative state controlled by Republicans and conservative ideologues. That is uncomfortable for me to live with, so I remain a citizen of Illinois. Yet, I have traveled often to Arizona and enjoyed its vistas, sights and weather. I understand why it is a destination state for older folks. I wonder what it is like to live in a state that does not welcome or appreciate gay people. I wonder why Arizonans think that border immigration is uniquely their problem unshared by other states. Afterall, illegal immigrants wind up somewhere, mostly not Arizona. Illinois is one such destination. I wonder what it is like to live in a state that controls women’s bodies to the point of banning abortions. I wonder how all these negatives (in my mind at least) affect daily living environments. Truth be told, however, each do not play out much in our daily lives...

The only thing on my mind today is my daughter's birthday. Elizabeth was born on this date 51 years ago. Doesn't seem possible. Today she is the mother of two college girls, one a senior, the other a freshman. Two young women preparing to step out into the world with the hopes and dreams made possible by their mom and dad. Those dreams are theirs, of course, but the nurture the came before is colossal but subtle. We build our lives one day at a time while each of those days is an hourly construction. Little by little life is lived and assembled. We are not always aware of the machinations or the why. But they are there just the same. The age of 51 is young to me these days, but to Liz it may seem impossibly old. Just wait for 79 my dear! For a parent it is easy to cast the mind back through the years. It is not, easy, to understand the passage of all that time. What happened when, and to what consequence? What came next and why? How are all these things related. And what does i...

Thoughts on China : China is a nation of long history. Its culture is starkly different from so many others. Its color, pageantry, and cuisine so alluring. The discipline of the mind to concentrate on thinking, creating and innovating. The commitment to education and personal growth. These are attributes of a nation that remains a mystery to so many. But China is all these things and more. With a population of 1.4 billion souls (India is a close neighbor with 1.35 billion), managing this large slice of humanity is not easy. Logistics alone are mind boggling.   Feeding and providing health services are major enterprises. Yet they do this year in and year out. They have done this for uncounted generations. Knowing them and working with them is a difficult but positive pursuit. Avoiding the work of knowing them is a poor move. We are the losers. China will forge her history as she has always done. Alone. Mysterious. Better that we engage and share the history. Can’t Believe It’s T...

Background or frontal noise? Jarring or subdural hum? Comforting or annoying? Yes, many descriptors for noise. Some are OK, others complimentary (imagine!), while still others are related to the maddening nature of a common pollution of our lives. A rattle in my car was always a mean discovery, especially for a car with low mileage. Used to be car rattles appeared around 12,000 miles on the odometer, while common rattles were caused by contents of the car, not the car itself. I have driven many cars in recent years where no rattles were present, other than the contents thing. Thinking about this I realized that no rattles came with owning foreign brands. This embarrassed me somewhat as I never owned a foreign car until buying Mercedes for frequent travel to wintry northlands for business. That’s when I discovered the quiet rides. Soon I was replacing those cars with subsequent Mercedes, and still the rides were silent with the exception of personal contents finding a way to mak...

The clients come in many sizes and shapes. Age and ethnicity, too. Men, women, equally excited to start a new business. They have this dream to build their own business and make the American Dream a reality for them. And their families. I have felt this dream within as well. It is captivating to experience. It beckons an altered view of possibilities. My specialty in SCORE.org are nonprofits. Most of my clients want to start their own charity and make the world a better place. Or maybe just their block or neighborhood. Some clients have been in operation for a few years but need help to survive a critical challenge or two. But all are settled in their mission to do good, and the vision to be impactful to a wider base in several years. That is a lot of good these folks intend to make happen. More often than not, they succeed. My job is to make that potential more certain. I often come away from mentoring sessions feeling enthused about the world. From my perspective people are p...

The breaking and entering to Paul and Nancy Pelosi’s home in San Francisco is one of many signals that our national incivility toward one another has gone far beyond reasonable limits. Paul Pelosi was attacked, beaten and nearly killed. He still has a long recuperation from brain surgery caused by the attack. The culprit was caught. His intent is not yet fully clear, but his words make it clear he wanted to hurt Nancy Pelosi. He wanted her to be home. She wasn’t so Mr. Pelosi received the violent attention. Like the January 6 th attack on the US Capitol, people went from complaining and insulting to physical and dangerous. They broke into the Capitol building. They smashed windows, doors and decorative items. They broke into private offices, stole government and private property, and beat anyone who stood in their way. Strangers or policemen, it did not matter. Brutally beaten. Some were admittedly scared to death. At least five of those police died from their injuries. Moving b...

Big topic. Trust is one in itself. Trusting others is another. Trusting organizations yet another. I form my trusts in individuals and concepts. The latter helps me understand the context in which I’m living. The context in which I know the other – idea, person, organization. Forming a general sense of the person or situation helps me see the working components. The context tells me if important pieces are present to help understand the situation. Is the other person knowledgeable of the particulars of this particular context? Is that person representing his/her talents and skillsets properly, and honestly? Clues are assembled that inform me that this is so. Now I feel I can trust the person. Testing understanding of the context leads to discussion and sharing ideas. Sorting those helps spotlight reliability of my assumptions that I can trust the other person. These are transactions of living with others. Each context provides a fresh testing ground in which we build trust. I hav...