Upside Down Cats

Today is the twelfth of NaBloPoMo. I have vowed to write about things for which I am thankful each day of November.

Today I am thinking about what it means to me to have been born in the United States. When I was ten years old my sister got me a subscription to National Geographic for Kids. It was my first exposure to people who lived in other parts of the world. I remember having a revelation...that I could have just as easily been born in India or Africa as New Jersey. I tried imagining being me on the inside, but looking different and living differently. It kind of blew my mind, because I had very limited experience with diversity. In my house, those who were different from us were known as Protestants.

Continue reading "Lucky To Be Me" »

I'm sure we all have possessions that are special to us - and only us - for purely sentimental reasons. They have no real value to anyone else...or, if they do, the sentimental value we attach to them is just as great, if not greater. I'd like to share stories about some of my treasured nostalgic belongings. I have quite a few, so I'll consider this the first in a series of posts on the topic of prized possessions.

Here's the story of how a particularly cherished treasure entered my life...

Continue reading "Prized Possessions - Vol. 1" »

I was reading Michael Wade's blog, Execupundit, again and I was struck by his post about philanthropists. It told about how several exceedingly wealthy men generously donated their wealth ("up to "90% of his fortune ($350 million, or tens of billions in today's dollars") in the case of Andrew Carnegie) to create libraries, establish universities and support the arts.

These are lofty, albeit worthy, causes, and our culture would not be as rich if not for their desire to enrich and give back to the society which had given them so much. I'm sure we have our share of modern-day philanthropists, too. Bill Gates comes immediately to mind...Yet I don't see any reason why the rest of us collectively can't improve our lot too, by sharing what we have to spare.

Continue reading "Maybe We Can Make The World A Better Place" »