Some random thoughts that have been swirling around in my head.
The Pro Bowl sucks. I read today that it garnered the most viewers of any professional all-star game. So what. That is not winning anything. That is barely getting by. Who cares? The game is horrible. 42 - 0 before the AFC decided to try a little. By then, the NFC had stopped playing.
I do not know about you, but this Albert Pujols negotiation is getting very old very fast. Either sign him or don't, but the constant articles are killing me. I read that Jayson Stark (ESPN) wrote that the Cardinals were Albert Pujols, or some such thing. That is patently ridiculous. I am 36 years old. I have loved the Cardinals for as long as I can remember. Will I stop loving them if he leaves. No. Hell, as long as they make a reasonable offer, I am good with that. I am not certain he will take that. For all of his discussion of God, he seems to be driven by the almight dollar.
speaking of God and religion. I grew up Catholic. I went to Mass. I had First Communion, Confirmation, etc. I have confessed my sins to man on the otherside of a wooden screen. I work for a Jew. I know people who are very religious and I know athiests (or people who could be athiests). The only thing I have noticed in all of them, they are not that different. I know people get very worked up about religion, but, frankly there is not much difference between the people. Considering this, it makes no sense that people argue, fight, cajole, become enraged, yell, snipe, and scream about religion and whose religion is better, stronger, etc. I guess, though, in the end people need to feel like they belong and its not really belonging if you let everybody in. You need to exclude people so your group appears to better which, in turn, helps people's self worth and confidence.
In a perfect world, people would have that self worth and confidence without the group dynamic, but, alas it si not to be for the majority of people.
I just finished reading Hunger Games. The book was very good. I know that it was primarily written for young adults, but the story was fantastic. The story moved very quickly. The story revolves around a young woman / girl who is forced to take part in the barbaric games of the government to protect her younger sister. I was impressed and I recommend it to anybody looking for an easy, quick, but entertaining read.
Finally, as I sit in my chair before a "historic" snow storm, I am thinking, Man I want it to be spring. I am friggin tired of WINTER. I need some warmth.
Be Easy and Be Happy.
It is what the title says, it is simply what I think. nothing more and nothing less.
Monday, January 31, 2011
Saturday, January 22, 2011
As I mentioned in a previous entry, I am the father of 3 small children. The oldest is 4, the second is 20 months, the smallest is 3 1/2 months (the boy). I have tried, and continue to try, to instill certain values in them. Question what you read or hear. Don't accept what anybody tells you as gospel truth. Be curious. Be respectful. Share what you have.
I have tried to keep the oldest aware that not everybody has the stuff we have. Some people don't have enough food, clothes, etc. We try (and I hope all parents try) to show their kids the people we'd like them to be. Lord knows I am trying. It is difficult, though, to be the person you want them to be. I tend to be impatient, judgmental, and often unfairly critical of people I don't even know. I don't want my kids to be that way.
In any event, we just keep pushing forward and teaching what we hope is how to be a good person. Interestingly, my daughter will start soccer next week. All of the lessons we teach (sharing, don't take things from people) will be untaught during teh first practice. Like most sports, you have to try to take the ball. You don't share with people that are not on your team. in fact, somebody might actually get pushed to the ground. I am curious how she will handle the change in lessons.
A friend of ours from down the street has a 4 year old boy. He joined soccer last summer and had some trouble with the competition. I dont' think that is abnormal. For a child's early life, we teach them to act a ceratin way, and then they join a soccer or basketball team and those lessons don't serve them well. I know it is part of them growing up, but I am interested in how children handle that change.
I suppose it is really just more of life and learning. In the end, we do the best we can with the kids and hope they turn out a little better than us.
By the way, enjoy this link. I found this unbelievably funny. It is video of a woman texting, not watching where she was going, and falling in a fountain. Maybe we all should be more aware of our surroundings. :)
I have tried to keep the oldest aware that not everybody has the stuff we have. Some people don't have enough food, clothes, etc. We try (and I hope all parents try) to show their kids the people we'd like them to be. Lord knows I am trying. It is difficult, though, to be the person you want them to be. I tend to be impatient, judgmental, and often unfairly critical of people I don't even know. I don't want my kids to be that way.
In any event, we just keep pushing forward and teaching what we hope is how to be a good person. Interestingly, my daughter will start soccer next week. All of the lessons we teach (sharing, don't take things from people) will be untaught during teh first practice. Like most sports, you have to try to take the ball. You don't share with people that are not on your team. in fact, somebody might actually get pushed to the ground. I am curious how she will handle the change in lessons.
A friend of ours from down the street has a 4 year old boy. He joined soccer last summer and had some trouble with the competition. I dont' think that is abnormal. For a child's early life, we teach them to act a ceratin way, and then they join a soccer or basketball team and those lessons don't serve them well. I know it is part of them growing up, but I am interested in how children handle that change.
I suppose it is really just more of life and learning. In the end, we do the best we can with the kids and hope they turn out a little better than us.
By the way, enjoy this link. I found this unbelievably funny. It is video of a woman texting, not watching where she was going, and falling in a fountain. Maybe we all should be more aware of our surroundings. :)
Monday, January 17, 2011
Martin Luther King Day
Its MLK day and I have read countless posts, seen people post video s of his speeches, and seen countless commercials and specials regarding what MLK meant, and means, to people. I have read interviews with Black athletes in which they try to describe what MLK meant to them and what he did for them.
All of it is bullshit. I read quotes that people post. I see videos people post. I see commercials, specials, and interviews, and in all of these instances I wonder how many people really are trying to move forward from the hideous past that is the United States. Clearly those that have posted quotes and videos understand what MLK meant. They probably try to live as he lived in their own lives. God knows, I could do better at that, but the advertisements, commercials, interviews, and specials just cause me more pain.
Athletes today have no real understanding of what it could have been like for MLK. Why? B/c they don't know what is like today to be a "normal" person. so many of them are so far removed from reality they could not begin to understand how things are for normal people.
I don't pretend to understand what is like growing up in North St. Louis. I did not have to. I was blessed with great parents who were able to provide my brother and I a childhood where we wanted for nothing. Consequently, I have had the benefit of good schools, college, law school, and other benefits that many people just do not have.
I have, though, in my practice represented hundreds of people who have grown up poor. I have heard the stories about how difficult it really is to move forward. How difficult it is to go to school, when nobody cares if you go. How it is almost impossible to find a job near your home b/c the businesses have closed. I have heard, and even understand, that growing up in a neighborhood where you have to be worried about gun shots is something that is unknown to most people.
The question is would MLK have stood by and done nothing while there are children in these neighborhoods living like that? Would have have placed blame or played the victim? Or would he have empowered people to come together and change their neighborhoods together. One person may not be able to change teh world, but one person can inspire thousands and those thousands can change the world.
MLK was that person. Are there any more of those people left? There seems to be a dearth of leadership that can effect real change. Perhaps it is cynicism, perhaps I am jaded, but where is that person. Why do we (Black People) play the victim? why blame others when the problems are in our own house, own neighborhoods. I know the solution will not be easy, it will take work, but the solution is out there. It is found in the teachings of history, by MLK, by John F. Kennedy, other philosophers, and people who have suggested or wrote that you need to look inward to effect change. Will the neighborhoods change b/c the Mayor wants it to change or will they change when the neighborhoods actually decide things are different from this point forward. Its time for that change.
Be happy.
All of it is bullshit. I read quotes that people post. I see videos people post. I see commercials, specials, and interviews, and in all of these instances I wonder how many people really are trying to move forward from the hideous past that is the United States. Clearly those that have posted quotes and videos understand what MLK meant. They probably try to live as he lived in their own lives. God knows, I could do better at that, but the advertisements, commercials, interviews, and specials just cause me more pain.
Athletes today have no real understanding of what it could have been like for MLK. Why? B/c they don't know what is like today to be a "normal" person. so many of them are so far removed from reality they could not begin to understand how things are for normal people.
I don't pretend to understand what is like growing up in North St. Louis. I did not have to. I was blessed with great parents who were able to provide my brother and I a childhood where we wanted for nothing. Consequently, I have had the benefit of good schools, college, law school, and other benefits that many people just do not have.
I have, though, in my practice represented hundreds of people who have grown up poor. I have heard the stories about how difficult it really is to move forward. How difficult it is to go to school, when nobody cares if you go. How it is almost impossible to find a job near your home b/c the businesses have closed. I have heard, and even understand, that growing up in a neighborhood where you have to be worried about gun shots is something that is unknown to most people.
The question is would MLK have stood by and done nothing while there are children in these neighborhoods living like that? Would have have placed blame or played the victim? Or would he have empowered people to come together and change their neighborhoods together. One person may not be able to change teh world, but one person can inspire thousands and those thousands can change the world.
MLK was that person. Are there any more of those people left? There seems to be a dearth of leadership that can effect real change. Perhaps it is cynicism, perhaps I am jaded, but where is that person. Why do we (Black People) play the victim? why blame others when the problems are in our own house, own neighborhoods. I know the solution will not be easy, it will take work, but the solution is out there. It is found in the teachings of history, by MLK, by John F. Kennedy, other philosophers, and people who have suggested or wrote that you need to look inward to effect change. Will the neighborhoods change b/c the Mayor wants it to change or will they change when the neighborhoods actually decide things are different from this point forward. Its time for that change.
Be happy.
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Eyes of a Child
Today, I took my two oldest daughers (4 and 20 months) to City Museum. On weekends, I try to take them someplace fun, the zoo, the science center, etc. I love spending tiem with them, but maybe for reasons that you would not expect. Of course, they are my girls. I would do anything for them, in a heartbeat, but I find myself being able to do things that I just did not do before I had children. Taking these trips with them to various places has made me realize the benefit of seeing life, again, through the eyes of a child.
I am a lawyer. I deal with people's problems every day. People call me, in a panic, b/c they need something or want something. Usually, if they are coming in to see me, they have had a particularly bad day. Thigns are not good. Further, I often deal with people who are not being honest to me for one reason or another. This tends to make me (and I think most people) cynical and jaded. It makes you into the adult you told yourself that you would never be.
As I take these trips with the kids, as I talk to them, as I watch them look at things and get exicted, it reminds me of the joy that you felt, as a kid, when you looked at something. You remember the wonderment, the innocence, the pure unadulterated happiness that came from playing outside, going to the zoo, seeing a bird's nest, or splaching in a puddle.
I know, that as an adult, it is tough to remember all of the fun that you (we) used to have. We all sprinted like we had no cares in teh world. We all splashed in puddles. We all rode our bikes with reckless abandon. We all looked at lions and tigers in amazement. We all looked at bird's nest and actually thought about what it took for the bird to make it. We all walked into the zoo and were so excited that we could not help ourselves. We had to sprint from one animal to another. We all wanted to ride the carousel. We all wanted to see the apes and monkeys. We all liked sliding down slides, and climbing on monkey bars. We all pretended to be something or someone else. We all had fun.
I notice now, that there are a lot of adults that have simply forgotten how to have fun. Not adult fun, just fun. how many people do you know that still laugh at silly jokes, that actually look like they are happy with their lives. if there is one thing to learn from kids (and I think there are many things to learn from them) its actually try to be happy. its look at things like they do, for the first time. Its get excited about something fun and new or different. Its be nice and kind to people. its avoiding using the word "hate". its a lot of things that we, as adults, have forgotten.
These are just more of my beliefs, thoughts, and philosophies. Be happy.
I am a lawyer. I deal with people's problems every day. People call me, in a panic, b/c they need something or want something. Usually, if they are coming in to see me, they have had a particularly bad day. Thigns are not good. Further, I often deal with people who are not being honest to me for one reason or another. This tends to make me (and I think most people) cynical and jaded. It makes you into the adult you told yourself that you would never be.
As I take these trips with the kids, as I talk to them, as I watch them look at things and get exicted, it reminds me of the joy that you felt, as a kid, when you looked at something. You remember the wonderment, the innocence, the pure unadulterated happiness that came from playing outside, going to the zoo, seeing a bird's nest, or splaching in a puddle.
I know, that as an adult, it is tough to remember all of the fun that you (we) used to have. We all sprinted like we had no cares in teh world. We all splashed in puddles. We all rode our bikes with reckless abandon. We all looked at lions and tigers in amazement. We all looked at bird's nest and actually thought about what it took for the bird to make it. We all walked into the zoo and were so excited that we could not help ourselves. We had to sprint from one animal to another. We all wanted to ride the carousel. We all wanted to see the apes and monkeys. We all liked sliding down slides, and climbing on monkey bars. We all pretended to be something or someone else. We all had fun.
I notice now, that there are a lot of adults that have simply forgotten how to have fun. Not adult fun, just fun. how many people do you know that still laugh at silly jokes, that actually look like they are happy with their lives. if there is one thing to learn from kids (and I think there are many things to learn from them) its actually try to be happy. its look at things like they do, for the first time. Its get excited about something fun and new or different. Its be nice and kind to people. its avoiding using the word "hate". its a lot of things that we, as adults, have forgotten.
These are just more of my beliefs, thoughts, and philosophies. Be happy.
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Introduction
This is my first blog post, EVER. I have never done this before but there is a lot going on that I thought I should or could comment on. I am going to use this blog as a diary, for stories, and for my opinions on various matters, from politics to sports. I have opinions, and I will probably share them here. You may not like them, and many of them probably won't be popular, but they are mine. I will share my basic philosophies of life, what I want and, more importantly, what i hope to share with my children. I hope you like reading this as much as I like writing it.
I will try to update this every other day or so, but if something strikes me, I'll write about it. I know that to get your blog to be popular, I am supposed to focus the informatioin. I am doing the exact opposite. I will write what I want, when I want.
Enjoy!
I will try to update this every other day or so, but if something strikes me, I'll write about it. I know that to get your blog to be popular, I am supposed to focus the informatioin. I am doing the exact opposite. I will write what I want, when I want.
Enjoy!
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