Category Archives: Thoughts For the Day

“Love is not love which alters when it alteration finds, or bends with the remover to remove.” I have read or spoken or thought of those words almost every day for 34 years and some. Shakespeare’s Sonnet 116. The Unitarian … Continue reading →

Happy birthday to my brother, brother! It is unproductive to worry.  Optimism is an art worth perfecting.

The evidence is mounting: hard-nosed, right-wing ideas are taking hold.  It is unsettling that people in Texas and in Mississippi and in Virginia—across the country—are buying the messages being sold by unthinkably short-sighted and cold-hearted tea-party politicos.  If the political events … Continue reading →

There’s some good in almost everyone. You just have to dig a little deeper in some people than in others.  On occasion, though, after you’ve done all the digging you can do, you discover you’ve come across the exception.  When … Continue reading →

Today is my sister’s birthday. Happy birthday, sister! I hope you have a great, celebratory day! Come see us!

Intimacy is never wrong.  It can be awkward, it can be unsettling, it can feel dangerous, it can seem out of place, but it’s never wrong.  For society’s convenience, intimacy has been neatly tucked into a single drawer that should be … Continue reading →

All of us sometimes get frustrated with the slow pace of change. We want to see the results of a diet or exercise regimen within a week.  We expect our new commitment to smiling at everyone we meet to pay immediate dividends.  And … Continue reading →

As I stare at the hologram in front of me, I wonder how his jowls got so unruly, how his neck grew so wide, how his eyes became so shallow.  It’s not a hologram; it’s almost a mirror, created by … Continue reading →

The difference between comfort and distress can be something as simple as a breeze. Understanding that simple fact sometimes makes me grateful for  things I didn’t realize were important.

If I had one thing I could change about my life so far, it would be this: I would like to  have been a better, more caring, more compassionate and empathetic person.  It takes years for a person to be … Continue reading →

A few pearls of wisdom I have gathered thus far: The organization that employees you does not love you.  It has no heart. You are replaceable. Be prepared to move on. You are not the place you work, the money you make, nor … Continue reading →

The only permission you need is your own.  But be prepared to suffer the consequences when that permission is given at the expense of another.

Just a little left of center of this image is a dead tree.  The first few days I was here, seeing it bothered me; I wanted to remove it.  But lately, I have begun to see it as beautiful. Yesterday, a … Continue reading →

Words can be like balloons.  They might float through the air, taking one’s mood higher with them, or they may stumble along the pavement, bouncing into brambles alongside the road. Swallow: graceful, swift-flying bird or draw into the throat and esophagus. Tender: delicate and soft … Continue reading →

Challenges build character.  Challenges shape personalities.  Challenges prepare us to fight against the forces that would have us give up and admit defeat. I am facing a first-world challenge at the moment; a dead HVAC system in the house we … Continue reading →

Creating matter from light is just around the corner. Well, maybe.  I found this program fascinating.

I do not want to get a root canal today.  But I will, nonetheless. “You can’t always get what you want. But if you try sometime, you just might find you get what you need.”

She is wearing rags and feathers From Salvation Army counters And the sun pours down like honey On our lady of the harbour And she shows you where to look Among the garbage and the flowers There are heroes in … Continue reading →

Even if behind altruism there is a motive of recognition and self-respect, altruism is a good thing.  The reward is intangible, but warranted.

Look closely at the least impressive flowers and you will see magic on a stem. What does it take to remind ourselves of the exceptional beauty all around us? I think it takes just this: pay attention and think about what … Continue reading →

As I sit in my study with the windows open, listening to the cardinals and mockingbirds and wrens and who knows what else, the thought running through my mind is this: if everyone else in the world were as fortunate … Continue reading →

I find polygamy distasteful. But should I, and should society at large, have the right to forbid its practice among consenting adults? There are so many other laws, social and legal, that impose the social preferences of one group of … Continue reading →

Only when you notice it’s missing does it matter. If it’s gone and you didn’t notice, it never made enough of a difference to matter.  Think of people you didn’t notice until they were gone.  They didn’t matter to you. … Continue reading →

Serenity is temporary. Chaos is temporary. Everything is temporary. There must be a lesson in that realization; it was here a moment ago, but it’s gone.

When dreams fade and one believes the future holds no promise, the process of decay begins. But dreams, alone, cannot stifle the process.  One must strive to make those dreams into reality, lest dreams become meaningless fantasies. Taking action, however plodding, toward … Continue reading →