Maunderings, Old and New

 Test your self-esteem:  "If you were the last person on earth, would you be ugly, beautiful or of average good looks?"

If you have money, you wonder if people like you just for your money.  But, then, if you were the most likable person in the world, you'd wonder if people liked you just for your likability.

You wonder if there are people comfortable in their own skin who would still like to be somebody else, only keeping their own skin. 

If you had drop-dead good looks, and everyone you met actually dropped dead, would you ever get tired of it?

Do you suppose there are people in the world actually starving to death because they don't know how to work self check-out?

There are couples who will always be first to arrive at a party no matter how many times they drive around the block.

I'm not saying that history is not interesting, although I don't understand this obsession with its chronological order.

Thoughts From Our Resident Cynic

 There is no more fruitless exercise than trying to impress your relatives.  The only thing that impresses your relatives is your ability to fool other people.

I have never heard the words, "It's all part of God's larger plan" without wishing God had considered a smaller plan.

It is hard to respond to ignorance, since it rarely has any questions.

Nobody ever said, "That's a very good question" and answered it.

In Genesis, we have the story of Adam and Eve, a then-average couple living in Paradise, a then-average neighborhood.  It is the story of the insatiable human desire to rise above the average.

Thoughts for the Thoughtful

An Elderly Skeptic Looks Back

Often in thought did I question and doubt,

    But always, when stricken by grief,  

Did I find on my tongue a questing prayer

    To the God of my disbelief.

***

We all have conversations with God, the churchgoer weekly and in public, the skeptic daily and in private.

Life is an ongoing battle, the ultimate triumph finding someone to surrender to.

"You can accept a falling out that changes your plans, but it's hard to accept a betrayal that changes your memories."

As much a part of friendship as offering help when needed is accepting help when offered.

A Lone Wolf Laments

Those times I pridefully said, "No, thanks." 

Oh, how I've come to regret them.

Oh, why, when people offered to help

Did I not just smile and let them.

Speaking For Myself

All I have ever asked of a teacher is this:  "Teach me not what you have been taught but what you have learned."

What makes evil so hard to uproot is that it can usually cite tradition.

If everyone would know their own best interest, and act upon it, the world would have no need for altruism.

The difference between instruction and education?  Parents instruct their children; children educate their parents.

It varies from person to person,

One multiple doesn't suffice --

The number of times you must do it

To learn not to do it twice.

How's That Again?

You get to a time in life when you would consent to be ignored just for the attention.

There was never an awkward silence that could not be turned into a regrettable conversation.

Before there can be a theory that explains everything, one must define everything.

It is hard to have a political debate with a person whose brain has been redistricted.

There is in most religions a patriarchal strain that believes it was actually Eve who tempted the serpent.

It is rare that the circumstances that give you an advantage in life cannot configure themselves into a set or principles.

Always An Easy Way

 "There is always an easy way out, and it often comes disguised as some kind of noble act, as when you decide that someone who deserves better from you would be better off without you." 

No Need For Words

In the end a loving relationship consists largely of silences, trust having no need for words.