Claims And Issues

Claims and Issues -- Author's Note: Commercial Advertising Not Authorized and Not Linked.

 

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BROOKS ROBINSON.

Brooks Robinson left this world on Tuesday.  He was 86 and some say he was the best third baseman who ever lived.

I am one of those people.

Edna St. Vincent Millay wrote about the kind of death that most of us will experience, perhaps, in her poem, A Dirge Without Music:

A fragment of what you felt, of what you knew,

A formula, a phrase remains,--but the best is lost.

Brooks Robinson worked in an occupation that recorded his job performance in pictures and on film.  As a ballplayer, the best of Brooks Robinson is not lost, it endures.

As a person, the memory of Brooks Robinson endures even without the pictures or the videos.

GO FORWARD

I DON'T WANT TO GET COVID.

Covid Vaccine (Bryan Anselm / Redux)

I got the Covid booster shot two days ago.  After getting an injection of a weakened form of the latest variation of the virus, I built up an immunity but I had a bad reaction.  That explains why I did not post an article yesterday.

I cannot truthfully say that I doubted our precautions against getting Covid these past two years and more, but I had begun to question them.  Not any more, not after the past two days in bed, weak and sweating.  When I got up to walk, I had to force myself not to fall because my balance was so out of focus.  Speaking of "out of focus," my vision is still blurry.

Still, there isn't any question about it in my mind:  I would get the shot again if I had it to do over.  I don't want to get Covid.

GOING FORWARD

YOU HAVE CHOICES.

You have choices.  You can retreat from risk or take the risk.

    "Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever hope to achieve greatly," said the Greeks.

    You can be afraid of making mistakes, or make mistakes and learn from them.

    It's your choice.

GOING FORWARD 

CERTAINTY IS NOT CURIOSITY.

Certainty is not curiosity.

        Be truly curious, be willing to fail.

        And be willing to learn after that.

GOING FORWARD

BEING FLEXIBLE HAS RISKS BUILT INTO IT.

Being flexible risks being willing to learn something that might change you.

    Be flexible.  Take that particular risk every time.

GOING FORWARD

BE WILLING TO FAIL.

Being open to change means being willing to possibly fail.

    Be open to change.  Be willing to possibly fail.

    How else are you going to learn if you never fail?  You are no different from every other human being on the planet, you know.

GOING FORWARD

SO MUCH FOR BUSINESS MODELS AS A WAY OF LIFE.

This article continues from the articles posted here yesterday and the day before.

Bank Run 1933.

GO FORWARD.

MONEY IN THE SHORT TERM

An Astronaut's View From Space.  (Photo via NASA)

 

The capitalist and the journalist in yesterday's article shared at least one character trait.   They both liked making money in the short term even though what they were doing to make money in the short would not last in the long, so to speak.

          In the long term, not so much.  If you are even still here in the long term.

          Nothing wrong with making money.  Lots right about it, in fact.  Just make sure that the way you choose to make your money, that you also choose to outlast it.

GO FORWARD TO BE CONTINUED ....

CAPITALISTS AND ROPE, JOURNALISTS AND FAKE NEWS.

Lenin famously described a capitalist this way:  "A capitalist is someone who will sell you the rope that you hang him with."

            In the U.S. today, journalists write constantly about the person who continues to put the noose of "fake news" around their necks.

GO FORWARD

MAYBE NOT OPTIMISM, BUT ALWAYS HOPE.

Faith is said to mean a belief in things unseen.

          The same might truthfully be said of hope.  Hope will abide even when there is little evidence to support it.

          Keep hope alive.

GO FORWARD

OPTIMISM vs. PESSIMISM.

Pessimism is when you expect everything to turn out bad.

         Optimism is when you think that things will always be good.

         Mark Twain famously said that "I am not a pessimist.  I am an optimist that did not arrive."

         As between pessimism and optimism, I consciously prefer to choose optimism.

GO FORWARD

ON BEING A GIVER OF CARE.

Compassion.  (Ted S. Warren/Associated Press)

I prefer the term "supporter" to describe myself, but many people use the term, "caregiver."  It's the same thing. 

          The qualities are the same by whatever name.  A person in that position should have flexibility, resilience and innovation.  She or he will accommodate, adjust, and allow themselves to be utilized.

GO FORWARD

WHAT TO DO WHEN THE CONTRACTOR DOES NOT COME.

Unless you have another contractor on tap to do the same job, don't fire this one.

         Be patient.  See what kind of a job this contractor does for you, if this is a new contractor.

GO FORWARD

THREE SQUARE MEALS A DAY.

Lunch is good.

    So is breakfast.  And so is dinner.  Three square meals a day.

    There have been times in my own life, and I am sure that there have been times in your life, when we did not get three square meals a day.  Thankfully for me, such times did not last very long.  I never starved.

    Now I count calories.

    I also count myself very, very fortunate.

GO FORWARD and REMEMBER THE NEEDY!

Children in Masks (Mary Altaffer / Associated Press)

WHEN YOU GET OLDER, AND THE MEDICAL BILLS KEEP COMING ....

 

Try Medicare.

It's your right.  You paid into it all your life before now.

GO FORWARD

Physical Therapy and Laptop (Adobe)

WHAT TO DO WHEN YOUR INBOX IS FULL.

 

Start deleting.  There is so much dead wood there it's like a forest under attack by beetles.

    You would be surprised how much you can cut out of your inbox, and your life as well.  You don't need all the things you have accumulated.

    Time to find that out and then act on it.

(Notebook and Computer Image Courtesy Free Photos)

GO FORWARD

PAIN GIVES YOU AN ALERT, BUT THEN SERVES NO PURPOSE.

Pain is the body's way of alerting us to a situation we need to take care of.

    After the alert is issued, pain serves no purpose.  You've heard I'm pretty sure of "No pain, no gain"?  Crackers.

    Once pain has alerted us, it has done its job.  Totally.

GO FORWARD

IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY!

Happy Birthday!

GO FORWARD

THE ONE BEING SUPPORTED.

Try to remember what it's like to be a supporter when you're the one being supported.

    It's rarely if ever about us alone.

GO FORWARD

SUPPORTING ACTOR.

To support someone, it's important to try to remember to think like they think in the moment, to feel as they feel right now.

    Supporting actors earn awards, too, you know.  Their biggest reward, not award, is in the doing.

GO FORWARD

YOU SAY IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY, CHILD!

(Robert Jaeger / New York Times)

You say it's your birthday, Kate!

  Many happy returns this day, and every day.

  You do us proud.

    I remember when you were born.  Keep on doing good, my dear, keep on.

GO FORWARD

LEARNING. JOINING. LISTENING.

(American Bar Association)

Since virtual access came along, I have attended lots of meetings.

 

Probably as many in the past couple of years as in this entire Century, so far.  

    Learning by joining.  Learning by listening.  I generally join virtual meetings to listen and learn.  In 2023, that's something.

 

GO FORWARD

YOU SAY IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY!

(Peter Ringenberg / University of Notre Dame)

Dianne turns 70 today.  Long live Dianne!

Many happy returns, love.  Your being here has made many happy returns for me!

GO FORWARD

PEOPLE WHO NEED PEOPLE ....

There's usually more than one reason that a person did or said something.  It is also true that usually one of those reasons does not involve us at all.

    Think of the reasons that you did or said something.  Then think of how someone else who saw what you did or heard what you said might have thought you meant.  Try to understand before you yourself react.

GO FORWARD

FLEXIBILITY IN ALL THINGS AT ALL TIMES.

Whew!  Writing that headline was a tough thing to do as I took it to heart.  Always being flexible is the ultimate in flexibility, though, right?

    It's hard.  As the fictional Jimmy Dugan said in the movie "A League of Their Own," if it was easy everybody would be doing it.  Let's have more of it.

GO FORWARD

CELL OR 'PUTER?

Some people say that Zoom is best on their Cell;

Others say that WebEx is good for their 'puter.

So far as I can see

Either one's good for me.

GO FORWARD

TALK ABOUT THE EXPERIENCES YOU SHARE.

Share an experience and talk about it.  Any experience will do.

    It could be a TV program, a baseball game, a speech, a song, or anything else.

    Talk about your shared experience with the people who shared it with you.  It enriches the experience and your relationships.

GO FORWARD

ADVOCACY. ACTIVISM. SUPPORT GROUPS.

Some groups are formed to provide support.

    Other groups come together to advocate, causes, change, a person.  

    Them that advocate are clearly activists, sometimes in the face of strong resistance which the activists often know in advance they are going to face.

    Of those that provide support in exchange for seeking it in a support group, it is often true that they are activists in their own right as well. 

GO FORWARD

 

WHEN HURRICANES GO ....

These words are written before Idalia became a Hurricane and before she arrived here in Florida.  You are reading them after (we all hope) Idalia has left Florida.

    Comings and goings.  Count on 'em.  They are some of life's constants.

GO FORWARD

WHEN HURRICANES COME ....

Tropical Storm Idalia (soon to be renamed Hurricane Idalia) is coming here to Florida.  I will be posting a couple of articles here in advance, on the strong chance that we will lose power later.  

A Hurricane Seen From Space (Photo by NASA)    

Hurricanes have a way of upending our timetables in Florida.  Other areas also experience hurricanes, and some experience other things like earthquakes and fires.  When these events that are beyond our control come to visit, they replace everything on the "to do" list with their own needs that are suddenly thrust upon us.

    I don't know about you, but at times like these I rediscover something.  It is a good thing to be flexible, even when there are no hurricanes on the horizon.

GO FORWARD