Thanksgiving is not a holiday but an act.

 Sunday, November 20th, Year 3

Sunday Meditation; Still Crazy After All These Years.

Thanksgiving is not the holiday but the act...We need to remember that.

My birthday is close to Thanksgiving every year.  Sometimes they fall on the same day.  I'll turn 70 soon and as I've age I have come to really enjoy watching my chronometer rollover.  I enjoy people who take the time to wish me well, the gifts our kids come up with and the homemade pumpkin pie.  It fun being the center of attention for something other than the big wet spot  running down the leg of your jeans.

This year being the big 7-oh and that is oh-so-something else!  I have had a wonderful life, it hasn't always gone the way I would have liked and the world's probably a better place because it didn't. I know I am much better off that God knows how "to just say No!" to my fervent prayers.  I think I have done a lot maturing in my thinking, in say, the time since I retired.  I'm still crazy, but happily so.  Crazy is liberating, you can be that ballerina in that rainbow colored tutu, who in the moonlight danced atop the backyard's picket fence in your childhood dreams or that conductor of the philharmonic, with a wave of the baton summoning a legion of drums , screeching violins, and wailing bagpipes beating out crescendo, after crescendo.  Flight of the Valkyries, with a hint of Nantucket Sleigh Ride, Wagner would be proud, ditto Felix Pappalardi.

Yah, I like crazy. You can wear your favorite plaid shirt with those comfy striped yoga pants to the post office and nobody notices.  The Crazies hit about the same time your Wisdom peaks and you finally understand John Lennon's completely in "Imagine". You now understand Politics is a disease to which no cure has been found. It's highly infectious, affecting most parts of our thinking but seeming to bolster those parts that support fantasy and expand the ego, while playing havoc by what appears to be the systematic dismantling of rational reasoning and the ability to discern between fact and fiction.  The idea that housing all politicians in group homes in our state capital's and Washington D.C.  has proven to be a total disaster is beyond debate.  Wisdom does not find an answer for this dilemma.

Wisdom is an interesting condition to experience.  It seems to me that the older you get, the higher you can fly.  Things just look different from way up there.  Mountains really do look like mole hills.  You can't tell where one country ends and another tribe starts, for that matter you don't have to barely get off the ground before you notice humans all look and act pretty much the same - something I would never have noticed when I was, well, grounded, so to speak.  When your flying high, all the vaunted repositories of human knowledge become so small they almost disappear, especially when compared to what the Universe has not yet revealed of itself.

 Wisdom has fallen out of favor in the investment community.  Nobody in their right mind would recommend to a young couple to invest any of their IRA funds in Wisdom, the chart just sucks. Just having it in your portfolio seems to act as a drag on the desire to own, or accumulate shares of Stuff and it appears the bigger your share of Wisdom you possess, the less you are willing to participate in buying into Conspicuous Consumption IPO.  One look at the chart tells you everyone wants in on Conspicuous Consumption, the crowd just can't be wrong, can they?

Wisdom has definitely fallen out of favor.  Disagree?  Try this; when you are with all your buddies, clear your throat in an authoritative manner, lean slightly forward and in a low voice, state you are giving up golf, or gaming or your day job to pursue Wisdom.  If you are youngish and show signs of Early Onset Wisdom with Complimentary Crazy Syndrome don't expect them to return future phone calls.  If you really want to see the extent this pervades your neighborhood, train your child up, that the pursuit of Wisdom is the most important thing they need to do.  Do this to the extent that when asked by adults, "What do you want to be when you grow up?", your children (both male and female) respond with just one word - "Wise".  I must warn you, doing this in earshot of certain audiences can bring about unannounced visits by the Children Protective Agency representatives.

I need to close this down and get ready for doin' church so I'll end with this;

An anonymous friend gifted me a coffee cup with the statement "Of course I'm right, I'm bobb" printed on it.  I've given that a lot of thought, wondering if my ego was really that big, or what?  As I lock in on the approaching 70 mile stone, I am of mostly of three opinions; (A) whatever is under discussion is basically trivial and therefor arguing over your solution compared to mine is a waste of our time. (B) The big stuff, worthy of endless hours of debate and the expenditure of considerable thought, are always of the type of questions or situations which man has not yet evolved to the level capable of discerning the solution (singular). Therefore at this time there is no "one" right answer, and in these cases are unsolvable by either me, or you, at this time. HOWEVER, these endless debates are necessary, for just as the blowing winds move the shifting sands a particle at a time to eventually expose a vast hidden treasure, so too does the continual discussion on The Big Issues.  Only the constant discussion will expose more and more hidden facets of the big stuff.  Eventually enough facets will be uncovered that some wise person will connect the dots and have the biggest AHA! moment ever experienced in the course of human existence. (C)  I think I am correct to insist all solutions must include the attribute of Kindness, not it's counterfeit of "being nice" or worse yet "showing tolerance".  I learned this after watching my oldest son sending his kids off to school with his final words to them being, "remember, (in all things) Be Kind".  Don't tell me old crazy dogs can't learn new tricks.

Luvyaall,

bobb