Love, Life and Beauty As Viewed By Some of OUR Elite

Anais NinLove never dies a natural death. It dies because we don't know how to replenish its source. It dies of blindness and errors and betrayals. It dies of illness and wounds; it dies of weariness, of withering, of tarnishing.

Dorothy ParkerLove is like quicksilver in the hand. Leave the fingers open and it stays. Clutch it, and it darts away.

Kahlil Gibran Ever has it been that love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation.

Alfred, Lord Tennyson'Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.

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John Greenleaf WhittierFor all sad words of tongue and pen, the saddest are those 'It might have been.'

G. K. ChestertonThe way to love anything is to realize that it may be lost.

Barbara DeAngelisYou never lose by loving. You always lose by holding back.

Alfred, Lord Tennyson'Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.

The best way to end this little jouney through life and love is the following:

Laughter Is The Best Medicine!!!

What is best? Love or Competition?

When he was younger he was always ready to do battle. Coming from a very sports oriented  family competition was always in play. There was a very brief moment he considered entering boxing because the competition there was the greatest as it always had the element of danger involved. But then he soon realized that no matter how long it took, sooner or later there would always be someone who would be better leading to a serious beating and humiliation. He decided to heed the words of a favorite uncle who was involved in many battles

during WW II, "He who stops and runs away lives to fight another day.".

However his involvements in other sports such as baseball, basketball, horse racing and gambling such as cards, craps and betting on fights kept the competitive spirit alive and well. As he matured he also became aware of the competitiveness between the sexes especially in the matters of romance.

 
Somehow dating became a game. Have a good time dancing, good food, a couple of drinks. Then came the kisses and what-have-you when he would try to get to first base and she would maybe let him get as far second but third and home was a real strategic battle that involved many moves which included words and negotiations that resembled at times nations at the peace table.  The outcome of such could lead to a longer relationship where the war of words continued until the game was declared over and the teams returned home to rest and enter the fray another day.

As he matured, he hated the term "Got Older", he realized that romance was not really a game to be played but an experience that was a shared loving not a competitive battle. He finally met the one who didn't want to play a game but live a life. But she was a victim of her past as was he and without realizing it there were elements of the game being played.

But this time he decided not to compete. This wasn't a game to win or lose. This was a situation that would have a profound affect on his life forever.  so he had to stifle his desire to compete and channel his energies to do the right thing even if it meant being humble, although he wasn't exactly sure how to be humble. There was no need to argue. No need to win the arguments. There was only the need to be aware of her needs and then hopefully she would be aware of his needs.

In other words he replaced competing with loving which is different than loving to compete. Competing is winning. Loving is not concerned with winning but just being happy when the loved one is happy.
St Paul said it best:

 He still competes but at this stage of his life he keeps the competition to sports as he tries to let love rule the other areas of his life. It ain't easy but it is a helluva lot more fun and life-affirming.

Thoughts About This And That

The President of These United States is going to make a major address about combating our enemies, which for now is ISIS more so than al-Qaeda  or Syria, or the Taliban or whatever. Sometimes it gets very confusing as to is our enemy; who hates us or just has a very deep dislike for us.  Right now the Middle-East has taken our attention away from Russia and Putin but just a little while ago it almost felt that the Cold War was thrust upon us once more. The whole mess in the world is so complex, and there is very little real information we have that our government lets us have that none of us little guys can really make a good judgement as to what we should or not do. At times I feel like that little kid in the 1950's that practiced what to do when the bombs were going to start to drop, mainly, get under the desk, kneel in a crouched position with your head between your legs and your arms hugging your knees and if it got real bad, kiss your ass goodbye. However there other things going on in the world which I do have opinions about and can express these opinions even though I haven't all the information. But I am going to do just that. What the hey?

Kirsten Gillibrand is the smartest move our then Governor, David Paterson,  made. He was criticized if your might remembered because there were others mentioned including Caroline Kennedy but he picked her  to succeed Hillary Clinton in the Senate. She is a gem. Fights gallantly for women's rights and is liberal enough to keep in mind the middle class and worker's rights. David Patterson doesn't get enough credit for this.

This has been the last year of Dereck Jeter's active playing career.  Truly a great career at a position that requires great athleticism. But come on now he was great but not the greatest. The guy who saved baseball and had a stadium called the house that he built was Babe Ruth. True he came from the hated Red Sox and was Baltimore born but he truly took baseball out of the "Black Sox" scandal by hitting more home runs than some teams did. He brought people into the stands. He was a great picture holding some records for pitching in the World Series for more than 30 years. The Yanks kissed him off to the Boston Braves for his last playing days and then the Brooklyn Dodgers as a joke of a coach. They gave him a day when he was dying of cancer in 1947 and a plaque.  He was flamboyant and had a personality bigger than Baseball and the guys he played with.

 
All I am saying is Jeter was great but not the greatest and all this going on with him is lifting his pedestal so high that if he is ever knocked off it the crash will be stupendous and he will never be able to put Humpty Dumpty back together again. The Yanks are doing all this because it brings in money but when stars like Joe DiMaggio left he left with nothing more than a press conference. His day came much later.

 
Robin Williams was a great funny man and a very good actor. But he was flawed. He had a fragile personality and should have been looked after much more closely than he was. But he was on a pedestal and too revered so he ended up committing suicide. We should mourn losing him, but recognize he was not to be idolized because he was a god with clay feet.  Joan Rivers seemed to be a very compassionate woman but not in her comedy. She was rough and hurtful. But this is what got her to the top of her profession. At her death it was reported that she too was lifted high on a pedestal and she would be missed.
Some say Williams and Rivers will never be replaced but I predict they will and soon the cry will be, "The King and Queen are dead. Long live the King and Queen".

By the way, I predict this year, 2014 will not be a playoff year for the New York Yankees which is too bad because it would have been a nice ending to Jeter's 20 year career with the Yanks. But I predict next year, 2015, the Yanks will win their 28th World Series. Remember you read that here, but don't bet your fortune on it.

Before It Passes, Live The Moment

He was feeling pretty good about everything. There was nothing too major disrupting his life, everything was going along very smoothly. The fact was he was feeling pretty content and a little bored. Then in a moment without any warning everything that was going smoothly hit a bump in the road. It all happened in a flash. 

He was walking across the street and a car came around the corner and hit him, not hard but hard enough to knock him to the street. The car came to a stop and a young man stepped out and offered his hand to help him to his feet asking if there was anything he could do to help. He responded rather brusquely, "Get away from me . You've done enough already!". The young man asked again if he could do anything to help. He didn't answer this time and although this all was happening in only a few minutes it seemed as if time was standing still, not moving. Thoughts were flashing through his mind. He wondered if he was hurt, hurt badly or just bruised. He actually visualized his life changing in a flash of a moment, maybe even ending. What was seemingly a contented but boring existence now seemed precious. He saw his life flashing before him, his children, grandchildren, his love all such wonderful things, persons, all vanishing. He saw that quick as a flash everything that was important was vanishing and he really never appreciated the moments shared, the love given and taken, everything was taken for granted.

The young man shook him out of his revere by reaching down and touching him again on his hand and repeating his question about how he was feeling and if he could help him. He looked up at him and saw a guy who could have been one of his sons. He thought I could call for an ambulance, sue the poor bastard, and change his life perhaps forever and he too would feel the impact of life changing in a flashing moment. But his thoughts also imagined his family, now or in the future would be impacted. 

He shook the cobwebs from his head and even though it might be considered foolhardy he decided that he was not going to let this incident impact him negatively nor would he allow it to impact this young guy negatively either. So he gruffly told the guy to back off as he rose to his feet. He moved his arms and legs, a bit sore he thought but not bad. The young guy wanted to give him his number and such but he told him to be more careful in the future and to go on his way. 

As he continued on the way to the store for the Daily News he thought life was indeed very fragile and it could change so quickly that there is no time to change anything, to prepare. So he made the promise to himself that he would not forget this moment and he would try and live every moment as if it was his last. He would try to drink in the wonder of life, the colors all around and the wonderful gifts that were all about. 

He didn't know, couldn't know how long he would have before it would be all over, no one does, but he would keep the thought in his head that he would enjoy his children, grandchildren and his life to the fullest.

He would try very hard to drink in the wonders all about him. And most of all he would do the utmost to increase the fullness of his present loving relationship. For what is life but a brief passing moment in this cosmos and the time we have should be enjoyed in all it's loving fullness.  

  

The Wonder of Being Alive

A great talent and from what I've read and heard a beautiful human being chose to end his life. His mental illness gave him no other option but to call it quits while he still had so much to give which included love to his daughter, wife and friends as well as a talent that brought laughs, tears and relief of the world's burdens to many of us. His demise has brought many to contemplate how many feel when depression overtakes them. So we as a society have been dwelling on the ills that drive us into despair leading to death of body and spirit. But I would like to take this moment to dwell on what makes living in this crazy world so worthwhile.

We walk to and fro destinations and never look around, never noticing the wonder of nature and the magic of life all around us. The trees seem so majestic and alive as the branches sway to the gentle wind kind of like waving to us saying "Here we are. Stop and take notice." admire the beauty of such inanimate objects like leaves, flowers of many colors and branches reaching up to the heavens as if to praise the creator whoever he or she might be. The birds are all about us flying or just perching on branches or wires atop of poles looking down on us. Squirrels are darting out from under cars racing to get to the other side of the street. Sounds of dogs barking and cats trying to get home after a night out on the town. Life in all it's colors are all about us and we hardly stop to notice and drink it's beauty all in.

We never even take notice of the wonder of our bodies. We are only electro-chemical beings. Our skins are solidified chemicals. Our thoughts are electro-chemical charges which cruise through our body through nerve networks with our brain sending all sorts of impulses throughout our framework using spine and spirit. We cry when we are sad. What is that about? We laugh. What a wonder that is. Laughter can lower blood pressure, release hormones that lift the spirit and keep our general well being in good shape. What the hell is that all about? The sense of touch is wonderful yet if pushed too hard that sense can bring pain. The taste of food can be a wonderful experience yet sometimes too hot and disagreeable. Yet our senses are taken for granted until they become lessened or lost. Maybe this should be the impetus of trying to remain healthy so we can continue to experience all the good things we take for granted.

One of the most gratifying experiences we can have is the experience of love. The old song says "You're nobody until somebody loves you.". For most of us we start out by being loved by Mom, Pop, then family and friends. The ultimate is being in a real loving intimate relationship with a person with whom you must share your life with or there is a hole in the life you've chosen. All those senses I've mentioned come into play, the touch of hands, the meeting of lips, entwining of bodies, the meeting of one's very soul. Far too mysterious to me to try to define.

So let us be affected by those who can't for whatever reason enjoy all the joys life has to offer, affected in a way to make their lives better if we can, at the least to support them in their need. But let us never lose the fact that there is much joy, wonder, colors galore that dazzle right here for all of us to enjoy and enjoy it we must or all the good is wasted. So live, love laugh and be happy!

    

Life, Love and Infatuation

He was a little too old for this sort of thing. He met a lady and they seemed to hit it off just right. The more they saw each other the more he thought about her. But she just didn't believe his words, not that she thought he was not telling the truth but that he was acting like a teenager who was suffering from infatuation not love.

Try as he would she just didn't believe him. She was a realist and really had no time for romance which was for kids not the mature who would put the rush of infatuation behind them as they attended to the problem's that adults have which included attending to love on a more mature level.

He came to the conclusion that the only way to convince her of his true feelings was to use the lyrics of a great Nat King Cole hit called "Paper Moon". His main argument was why should only the young have the thrill of a kiss, the feel of a soft body, the dizziness of being with someone you love? These lyrics fit all ages and maybe age is only a number and who the hell believes in numerology anyway? So he sent these lyrics and hoped she would take the time to let the feelings of the written word come through.

 It is only a paper moon

Hanging over a cardboard sea
But it wouldn't be make believe
If you believe in me

It is only a canvas sky
Sailing over a muslin tree
But it wouldn't be make believe
If you believe in me

Without your love
It's a honky-tonk parade
Without your love
It's a melody played on a penny arcade

It's a Barnum and Bailey world
Just as phony as it can be
But it wouldn't be make believe
If you believe in me

Without your love
It's a honky-tonk parade
Without your love
It's a melody played on a penny arcade

It's a Barnum and Bailey world
Just as phony as it can be
But it wouldn't be make believe
If you believe in me

Of course the ending to this fable is a happy one as she finally believed him as he expressed his feelings and of course she returned them Unrequited love is terrible but love shared is bliss.