Author Archives: John Swinburn

If I’ve written about hugs recently, I hope I will be forgiven for another round of hug-appreciation; I just feel the need to give accolades to the value of hugs. Hugs used to make me very uncomfortable. I felt like … Continue reading →

Love is that condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own. ~ Robert Heinlein ~ (from Stranger in a Strange Land) It is possible to love another person, a stranger, so intensely as to be … Continue reading →

Emotions can consume a person, the way flames consume a fireplace log. After the conflagration, only ashes remain; the burnt-out, misshapen scraps of a façade that became fuel. That’s the problem with emotions. Although they can enrich life and make … Continue reading →

There is no poison worse than hatred, nor no medicine better than love. I wrote those words more than eight years ago, a couple of months before I moved to Hot Springs Village. Though I do not recall exactly what was … Continue reading →

Last night—as I sat skimming through an assortment of CreateTV programs—it occurred to me that I should spend less time being “entertained” by television. Instead, I should spend more time watching educational programs and learning about topics that capture my … Continue reading →

I look in the mirror and see someone I do not recognize. He is an imposter. Someone far larger than I, attempting without success to fit into my body. Someone slack and pasty, a pretender who cannot possibly be the … Continue reading →

When I rose from bed this morning, the aches and cramps that accompanied the launch of the day startled and surprised me, though they are not new. But they are more pronounced. “I used to be young,” I said to … Continue reading →

Wouldn’t we (Humanity, that is) be surprised to learn Nature is a sentient being and that she has finally decided to rid herself of a constant thorn in her side? How might we react if incontrovertible proof showed the monstrous … Continue reading →

I “hear” the beat of my heart. Or perhaps I feel the blood coursing through the vessels in my head, near my ears. The difference between the sensations of sound and touch is almost indistinguishable when both are so faint … Continue reading →

Today would have been the forty-second anniversary of my marriage to my late wife. We had been married for forty years and eight months when she died. Every milestone event in which she played a significant part—birthday, anniversary, major holiday, … Continue reading →

Cornelius turns 78 years old today. Let’s look back 78 years to when he was born and then 78 years before the year of his birth. And let’s continue looking backward, 78 years at a time, in that fashion to … Continue reading →

Yesterday’s guest speaker for my church’s “insight service,” the principal of Little Rock Catholic High School for Boys, was much more interesting than I had expected. The speaker, Steve Straessle, offered both a polished delivery and an engaging message. His … Continue reading →

Dogwood blossoms fall. Leaves replace their soft beauty with rugged resolve. Wishes tell stories, many of them bald-faced lies. But still, we listen. Sleep escapes the night. So many long, restless hours, Waiting for the day. Feel the scorching flames … Continue reading →

Gazing into a crisp, cold, dark pre-dawn sky is a radically different experience from gazing into a crisp, cold, bright mid-day sky. All other aspects of the experience being the same, the daytime sky gives me more of a sense … Continue reading →

Dogmatism and skepticism are both, in a sense, absolute philosophies; one is certain of knowing, the other of not knowing. What philosophy should dissipate is certainty, whether of knowledge or ignorance.    ~ Bertrand Russell ~ Acknowledging one’s own secrets … Continue reading →

When I woke this morning, I remembered everything—the whole dream. I should have transcribed it then, because now I remember only fleeting scenes. I remember the woman’s friend, Max Sabrrir, finding me after we got separated while he was inquiring … Continue reading →

A few days ago, in a conversation with a friend, I revealed that I often had been extremely demanding and hard on my staff during my work life. She said she, too, had high expectations of her employees—when those expectations … Continue reading →

Today’s blog post has been detained for questioning. In the event the answers do not lead to criminal charges, the post will be released on its own recognizance and will be free to muddy the internet with random thoughts and … Continue reading →

How do people become corrupt? How do people fail to embrace ethics and consequently engage in unethical behavior? Or, after accepting and internalizing an ethos of integrity that translates into moral behavior, why do they abandon integrity in favor of … Continue reading →

Mi novia and I got our second COVID vaccine boosters on Friday. Mine had no effect on how I felt yesterday, but mi novia felt achy and very tired. In fact, she spent much of the day either sleeping or … Continue reading →

Yesterday, I painted the laundry room in my current home. Today, I will finish that job with some touch-ups and will tackle the big “bonus area” behind the garage. I should have painted both rooms years ago; I intended to … Continue reading →

Trying to define yourself is like trying to bite your own teeth.    ~ Alan Watts ~ Scraggly. The dictionary definition of the word is: “irregular; uneven; jagged” or “shaggy; ragged; unkempt.” The word and its associated definitions describe my … Continue reading →

Several months ago, on a whim, I explored housing availability and prices in various places along the Texas coast. Later, I looked into houses on acreage in places as far-flung as Dripping Springs, Oklahoma and El Paso, Texas and Grant … Continue reading →

Jeder nach seinen Fähigkeiten, jedem nach seinen Bedürfnissen. ~ Karl Marx ~ We know the concept, in English, as “From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.” The concept suggests a philosophy in support of free … Continue reading →

The Road Not Taken is among that relatively small cluster of narrative poems that deliver a summary of every lifetime ever lived. Robert Frost, in writing that masterpiece, might have felt the overwhelming emotions hidden just beneath the surface of … Continue reading →