“It Was the Best of Times; It Was the Worst of Times”

Starting out this blog with the quote above could be seen as trite or clichéd, but it pretty well summarizes where my mental state is right now and the motivation for writing down some of these things bouncing around in my head.

Some of the many blessings for which I am truly grateful – my wonderful family around the world, and the love and support they relentlessly offer; living in the USA, with all the wonderful things this country has to offer; having a job which easily provides for everything I need, and also allows me to afford most of what I want, as well; the best house that I could ever have imagined, with all of the amenities built in and located in a quiet community that affords me the chance to “get away from it all” when I am home; great neighbors, which I can depend on for help when I need it, and which depend on me when they need help; and last, but certainly not least, my faith and the very real presence of the Supreme Being that I personally feel in my life.

Some of the things I think about and cause concern at some level – living in the USA (as the only “superpower” left, and given the current situation in Washington politics on both sides of the aisle, we are at once becoming the world’s preeminent bully and a pariah nation with a bull’s-eye painted on our collective backs); the influence of the Almighty Dollar and the culture of consumerism in this nation, and how that translates through Wall Street to the management of major public corporations; the ever-present demands on my time to do any of dozens of worthwhile activities (from volunteering for organizations like my church, Habitat, and others, to spending quality time with my family, to enjoying various hobbies which have interested me at various times, to maintaining and improving my health through exercise, to ……….); and lastly the reduction in what I’ll call “neighborliness”, both in our local neighborhoods and in the larger “global” neighborhood and certainly with respect to the approaches the various religions take relative to one another.

As I noted in my intro, getting some of my feelings about these and other issues out of my own head and onto “paper” is really an attempt by me to organize some of my thoughts and perhaps work my way out of some the feelings of melancholy I periodically experience. I decided to publish these thoughts in blog form for very selfish reasons – the foremost of which is “Does anyone else share these feelings, or am I the one that’s messed up?”

One favor I ask of anyone who may wish to comment – don’t try to persuade me to take your opinion and don’t psychoanalyze me. If you disagree with something I have to say, that’s fine. I firmly believe in the First Amendment and ALL of the implications that brings – the Patriot Act not withstanding. I have, and will be sharing, some of my very personal convictions about specific issues. One of the major goals here is to sort through all this seemingly disparate thoughts, find common threads, and apply the learnings that will inevitably fall out of these exercises to my life and how I approach and live out the remainder of my days.

Thanks for your interest and taking the time out of your day.