Aesop Had It Right

I love good manners. It may seem that bad behavior gets a whole lot of press what with ‘real housewives’ and kids of one ‘shore’ or the other, but I assert that neither the ‘housewives’ nor the ‘shore’ kids are real representations of our true humanity.

When I look about me, I see true representations of decency and kindness everywhere.

I see the gentlemen that hold doors for their family and strangers alike going in and out of restaurants or businesses.

I see the parents offering infinite patience and answering question after question, while their toddlers closely examine whatever it is that has them so enraptured.

I see the traffic stopped both ways on a busy road while lost and scared dogs make their way safely across.

I see a person with a cart full of groceries allowing the person behind them holding one item to proceed ahead of them.

Quiet representations offered every day without asking for anything in return. Representations that never make the news, even though decent behavior is newsworthy.

To those that offer kindness naturally because that is who they are, thank you. On days when your will is sagging, know that your generosity of spirit is noticed and others are grateful for the example you continue to volunteer by your actions.

Treat everyone with politeness, even those who are rude to you - not because they are nice, but because you are. ~Author Unknown

Thank You Mr.President

I loved Ronald Reagan.  I thought he was absolutely delightful as a president and after reading the book 'I Love You, Ronnie: The Letters of Ronald Reagan to Nancy Reagan' I love that he was a man completely devoted to his wife.

Reagan's son spoke about how his Dad, the eternal optimist, loved giving the thumbs up and that one day during a Presidential motorcade a protester ran up to the car and flipped him off.  Without batting an eye, the President looked at Ron Jr. and said "You see, son?  It's catching on!"

I love how President Reagan formed a genuine friendship with Mikhail Gorbachev and that friendship is one of the factors attributed to the end of the cold war.  The picture I found is one of him belly laughing at a joke told by Queen Elizabeth.  I like to believe many foreign dignitaries found him a breath of fresh air.

He was nicknamed the Great Communicator and bestowed his gift upon all those lucky enough to be around him.  When his son, Michael, was getting married, the President put pen to paper:

"Dear Mike:

. . . You've heard all the jokes that have been rousted around by all the "unhappy marrieds" and cynics. Now, in case no one has suggested it, there is another viewpoint. You have entered into the most meaningful relationship there is in all human life. It can be whatever you decide to make it.

Some men feel their masculinity can only be proven if they play out in their own life all the locker-room stories, smugly confident that what a wife doesn't know won't hurt her. The truth is, somehow, way down inside, without her ever finding lipstick on the collar or catching a man in the flimsy excuse of where he was till three a.m., a wife does know, and with that knowing, some of the magic of this relationship disappears. There are more men griping about marriage who kicked the whole thing away themselves than there can ever be wives deserving of blame.

There is an old law of physics that you can only get out of a thing as much as you put in it . . . Let me tell you how really great is the challenge of proving your masculinity and charm with one woman for the rest of your life . . . It does take quite a man to remain attractive and to be loved by a woman who has heard him snore, seen him unshaven, tended him while he was sick and washed his dirty underwear. Do that and keep her still feeling a warm glow and you will know some very beautiful music. If you truly love a girl, you shouldn't ever want her to feel, when she sees you greet a secretary or a girl you both know, that humiliation of wondering if she was someone who caused you to be late coming home . . .

Mike, you know better than many what an unhappy home is and what it can do to others. Now you have a chance to make it come out the way it should. There is no greater happiness for a man than approaching a door at the end of a day knowing someone on the other side of that door is waiting for the sound of his footsteps.

Love,
Dad

P.S. You'll never get in trouble if you say "I love you" at least once a day."

He wrote love letters to Nancy all through their marriage, love letters she cherished long after his memory had faded; he was an old fashioned romantic.  I love that he was such a gifted writer. 

In one of his last public addresses he wrote about heading into the 'sunset of his life' and even though he was so very gently telling us he had Alzheimers disease, the message was one of hope and gratitude and love of country.  How very lucky I feel for having been a witness to his graciousness and good humor.

May The Fourth Be With You

I love the Fourth of July.  While I'm Canadian by birth, I've been in the states for a long time and year after year I am bowled over by the level of patriotism I feel from Americans.

After 9/11, you could see thousands of people at the military recruiting offices standing in line, standing for what they believed in.  Defending their country.

You could see thousands of people standing in lines at blood banks, standing for what they believed in.  Helping their fellow man with their own blood if need be.

You could see acres and acres of American flags down every street and down every road as they flew from vehicles driving down the freeway.  People showing what they believed in.  Their home.  Their country.

Some around the world say America has much to learn as it is such a young country. I say it has the vitality of youth and the daring brashness to defend its liberty. To say justice belongs to all men. To say that here on this soil, the pursuit of happiness is your right.

While I love the family get-togethers, the tug of wars, pie-eating contests, and three legged races, the cook-outs, lemonade and the idea of hotdogs (even though I can't seem to eat a hotdog), what I love most about this country are the people.  These amazing people so fiercely loyal and so generous of spirit.  The true-blue patriotism you show when the national anthem is sung and those F-14's fly overhead.  The thunderous applause and cheers you let loose to show your appreciation.  It sends goosebumps down my arms each time I witness this.

So, thank you, my boisterous, loving American friends, for welcoming me here all those years ago.  I love living here and couldn't imagine calling any other country home.

Two Wolves

My Dad sent me this.  I loved it, so I thought I would share...

One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people.

He said, "My son, the battle is between two wolves inside us all.

"One is Evil - It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.

"The other is Good - It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith."

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather: "Which wolf wins?"

The old Cherokee simply replied, "The one you feed."

Bubbling Over For Buble

About fifteen years ago I 'discovered' Dean Martin music for myself.  I loved the feel of it and the fun of it and was a little disappointed that so very little music at the time was even close to it.  Harry Connick Jr. came about but didn't seem to resonate with me the way Dean did.

A few years passed and a new guy from Canada (Yay!) hit the airwaves.  Enter Michael Buble.  He talked about growing up with his Grandpa and what a gift he felt he had been given by listening to the standards with him.  Well, God bless Michael Buble's Grandpa because that boy can SING!!!

Not only does he have a timeless voice, he seems to be enjoying himself so much when you see him sing.  It doesn't feel overly-produced, it feels effortless the way he entertains the audience (the sign of a great entertainer).  I love watching the joy he radiates doing something he so obviously loves.

I love that I can sing along to his songs. 

I love that his music makes me want to get up and dance. 

I love that my heart feels lighter just listening to him sing.

I love that he unwittingly serves an as example of loving life by doing what you love.

Love Actually

I re-watched one of my favorite movies recently.  It's called Love Actually.  The first time I saw it, I hadn't even made it through the entire opening credits when I decided right then and there that it was going to be one of my favorite movies ever.

It opens with people hugging and kissing at the arrival gate of the airport and the voice over:

“Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport. General opinion's starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don't see that.

It seems to me that love is everywhere. Often it's not particularly dignified or newsworthy, but it's always there - fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends.
When the planes hit the Twin Towers, as far as I know none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge - they were all messages of love.

If you look for it, I've got a sneaky feeling you'll find that love actually is ... all around.”

Just re-reading that gives me that prickly behind the eyes whoosh of emotion.  Those are the types of things I look for as my day unfolds around me.  Moments I'm lucky enough to witness and tuck away and pull out  any time for a feel good moment later.  Some are bigger than others, some just small little snippets of good humor and human kindness that I'm lucky enough to see.  The funny thing is that the more I look for these wonderful little moments of courtesy and decency, the more of them I witness.

I looked up kindness in the thesaurus and found forty one words that can be used in its stead:

affection, altruism, amiability, beneficence, benevolence, charity, clemency, consideration, cordiality, courtesy, decency, delicacy, fellow feeling, forbearance, gentleness, good intention, good will, goodness, grace, graciousness, heart, helpfulness, hospitality, humanity, indulgence, kindliness, magnanimity, mildness, patience, philanthropy, serviceability, solicitousness, solicitude, sweetness, sympathy, tact, tenderness, thoughtfulness, tolerance, understanding, unselfishness.

Forty one opportunities to look at things with a softer eye.

So, gentle reader, today I leave you two quotes that seemed fitting.  I couldn't decide which I liked better, so had to have them both (like two fabulous pairs of shoes on sale - who can decide!!!):

Beginning today, treat everyone you meet as if they were going to be dead by midnight. Extend to them all the care, kindness and understanding you can muster, and do it with no thought of any reward. Your life will never be the same again.

~Og Mandino

Today, give a stranger one of your smiles. It might be the only sunshine he sees all day.
~Quoted in P.S. I Love You, compiled by H. Jackson Brown, Jr.