View From Here

Attended a visitation/funeral Sunday. Our first home in Wheaton, Ill. In 1971 gained us first neighbors Jerrie and Terry. We had two children there, and they had four. Through the years we have remained in touch, the kids more closely than the adults. The first house, neighborhood, kids and their neighborhood and school friends. Jerrie was 77. My ex, Ann, is 78. I’m 80, nearly 81. A life of years come and gone. Each year unique and important. The connection to others enhanced those in our own household. We were not alone then, or now. We are in relationships – community – with others, many others. And that is important. Yes, the gathering on Sunday was sad but also joyous. Many of the people had not seen one another for many years. They – we – knew of each other and their life events, but we had not been in touch. So many changes but the relationships from then to now remain. They recall a past well lived. They define a new present we must learn to live into. It just is. This is th...

Offense or defense? I was raised with military matters mainly framed as defensive strength to protect our nation. I still view the military this way. Of course, in times of military action during war, offense becomes a proper objective but only in the sense of preserving safety and peace for our nation. Others may view the military as offensive in the main, but then they would be at odds with the name of the Federal department in charge of the military, the Department of Defense. DOD. Defense Department. Having said this, I wish to praise our military for its defensive posture and public service. Think of the national disasters and how often the military arrives on the scene to rescue people from harm. They restore order in such instances and help local authorities get back to business. We rely on the military for many things. Security and safety are the primary identities, but others exist, too. Think of NASA and many other departments of the federal government and how military ...

Some people call me a dreamer. Others may think of me as an idealist. Me? I think of myself as a pragmatist aiming to accomplish good things we all mostly want but too often abandon as too difficult to achieve. Giving up on our ideals, I fear, limits our achievements. It is precisely those achievements we need to support and work toward. Some of those achievements are world peace; equal opportunity for all including women, people of color and national identity; free trade to challenge all national economies to develop their own strengths and capabilities to compete and invent new products, services and technologies. Free and open economies employ more people and spread the wealth to more people throughout the globe. That places more of us on an equal plane to achieve a higher standard of living. And maybe happiness, too? I work with a lot of volunteers and entrepreneurs - people who see a need and work hard to fill it. In doing so they create new businesses, new jobs and a higher s...

Living with imperfection is a lifelong process. It is a must to learn and adapt to. Why? Because life is imperfect much of the time. It just is. By definition. As much as we want perfection, it doesn’t happen automatically. Well, almost never. Discipline is needed to perform well. A range of performance achievement is a variable. Scoring 100% on any task is the ideal; the reality is much less. Of course, we want the best for ourselves and our reputation. The truth, however, is more sobering. Perfection rarely happens. Too many variables affect outcomes – weather, personality, character, timing, less than ample resources – you know the items that spell victory or failure. They exist in every endeavor. We work hard to improve the world. We get hooked on a problem that is especially pertinent to our lives and find the motivation to make a difference. We define desired outcomes for that problem area, research various solutions, find the resources to implement one of the resources, and ...

At any given moment, tech is hi or low. Usually this is dependent on attained age. The younger you are, the higher your technology level of understanding. The older you are, the likelier you are to suffer frequent tech meltdowns. That is certainly true for me. Please understand that I have been using technology for most of my adult life, certainly since the 1980’s. I was an early adopter of home computing and a personal PC at the office. Even had an early luggable (40 lbs. turned out to be a burden!). So, I am familiar with technology and the early learning process required. Thinking back, I most likely used at least three different brands of word processing. Shifting to the latest one was a painful process of unlearning the current product and learning the new one. Painful is a polite term to use for this disruption of personal life. As technology advanced to higher levels and vast increases of access to more people, the challenge to keep up with technological change increased as ...

Presidential Election : The probable candidates are likely Biden and Trump. The latter will happen if court decisions do not preclude his place on the ballot. No other candidates have appeared on the scene to change this prediction. That is lamentable on two counts: first, both of these candidates are too old to take on the responsibilities of the Presidency. Period. That may appear harsh to some, but I am nearing 81 and can relate to the challenges of aging. I have experience and a long view of history and social issues; that makes my contributions positive. But the threat of disability or death while in office are too serious to take on without serious examination. Elder people have a valuable role to play in our society and governance. I just feel their involvement ought not be tied to being elected. Appointed, certainly. The second count: focusing on advanced age in candidates hinders development of younger talent. Our national leadership succession should be an active process....

Well, OK, this thing is most likely to happen to me. But it even surprised me that it did happen. The backstory is I have been off cable TV and streaming for over a year now. I like it. Am used to it. Very little advertising. No current TV news. And no sports. I have felt a reduction in blood pressure and anxiety since I began streaming TV programs. I am not alone in this outcome! OK, so now comes Super Bowl 2024. I haven’t watched a football game in ages, so I looked forward to the hype and advertising of the big game this year. Pam and I agreed to watch it at her place following a very nice, homemade supper. We got situated in the living room, TV on, streaming tuned for live TV, and we found the super bowl. We settled in. Good early play. Low scoring at the beginning. A little slow but streaming removed us from the onslaught of advertising. It was still there, but not the live ads. We were treated to the streaming ads, and boy, were we disappointed. No award-winning ads, just r...

Thinking about things, whether current events in the public eye, or private moments confronting me. These are happenings that mean something to each of us. Not all experience is the same; we feel and know the happening in our unique way. Perhaps it was at a time when career was deeply engaging and little personal time was available to properly digest what was going on around me. Maybe it was a time when money was scarce, or plentiful. A time of significant family happenings is another variable that alters how we perceive our surroundings. Our education affects these things as well. So, in many ways, how we come to value or understand anything outside our immediate control, is dependent on many factors. This is why I think public opinion is so diverse. Add to those differences of region, history and climate, and a multitude of other factors become immediately apparent. Recently I have viewed old news reels and TV news programs. What was reported at that time is now better understood...

In recent months I have been watching old reruns of “What’s My Line?”  The show started broadcasting in February, 1950. It ran until October, 1968, for a total of 17.5 years. That is 869 programs. A game show, a panel questioned contestants to learn their occupation. The challenges were interesting and fun. The panelists involved became a strong feature of the program. The emcee was John Daly, a news analyst for radio and television. Arlene Francis, an actress on stage and film, Dorothy Kilgallen, a newspaper journalist, and Bennett Cerf, the founder and CEO of Random House Publishers, were the primary panel members with guest panelists keeping the panel at four persons. Chief among those were Steve Allen, Tony Randall, Joey Bishop, and Robert Q. Lewis. Comedian Fred Allen was also a frequent panelist. A secret guest contestant was presented with the panelists blindfolded. Those guests were usually show business personalities or famous people from some other walk of life. The...

Many topics in the news, in personal happenings and long term philosophical internal debates. Each different from the other. All important in logic base that supports so many other thoughts. Accumulation of experience, loss and gain, effort and reward. Inching forward we know about ‘things’ and allow ourselves the luxury of thinking about them. Idle thoughts mostly, we are called to consider some topics more seriously from time to time. One though is friend lost through the decades. We spent six years as neighbors. Similar in age we shared many of the same maturing events. Awareness coming to near adult life from that of a kid’s experience. Still not mature, but all the same, shared and discussed earnestly in private moments. He went on to university in the east, I attended college in the Midwest. We corresponded maybe monthly, then quarterly, then silence. We visited each other a few times. Even explored some of the cultural gems of New York City: food, concerts, Broadway musicals a...

The year just began yet here we are in month two of that year. Winter has been warmer here in the Chicago area, but we still have had severe cold and snowy nights. Daytime gloom has been ever present like years past. That’s the ugly side of winter in the Midwest. Gloom. With COVID sequestering, we learned to stay indoors and away from crowds. We learned to spend more hours alone. But we also learned to focus better on tasks set before us. We could separate ourselves from what was happening outdoors. And so, weather doesn’t matter as much as it once did. Of course, shopping for necessities is hampered, but only for a day or so. If you commute, winter weather is a bad chore at best. I had a heavy commute for many years. Four hours a day – two hours in each direction – and it included 2.5 miles of walking on each end of the commute. Standing and waiting for trains was another cold reality. The train ride of 40 to 50 minutes was OK; I used it to read work files, books and news magazines. I...