Nothing is forever in this world, even your problems

If I could go back in time, one of the things I would tell my younger self is not to worry so much about what other people think about him or inflate the importance he thinks small events will have on his future.

Because sometimes, especially when we are young, we become our own worst enemies when we inhabit a distorted world where we imagine that everybody we see is judging our every move and we worry that people will gossip about us behind our backs (or worse embarrass us on social media!) if we happen to do something outside of culturally accepted norms.

These worries can be harmful if they cause us to withdraw and lead a cautious life. Instead of living in the moment and boldly taking on new and interesting challenges, we play it safe and stop taking chances because we are frightened how people will view us if we make a mistake.

We think that if we don’t make a good impression, then we will be ridiculed or ignored, forever limiting our opportunities to succeed in the future. Constantly worrying about what others think about us can lead to anxiety and even depression, but even worse, it prevents us from achieving our full potential.

What I would tell my younger self is that the truth is, in most cases, that other people are not thinking about you! They are too wrapped up thinking about themselves and their own life to waste time thinking about or remembering anything that we do (good or bad). I laugh when I look back now at all of the small things that seemed so big to me when I was young and I realize I assigned them way more importance in my mind than they deserved.

When I was in school, I remember being paralyzed with fear at the thought of public speaking . In Junior High, the Principle asked me to get up at an Assembly and introduce an act in front of the whole school. I practiced the introduction over and over and thought I had it memorized; but when the lights came up and I was facing the entire Assembly, I completely blanked, muttered something incomprehensible, and stumbled backstage.

I was mortified and walked around for the rest of the week with my eyes downcast, imagining that all my classmates were talking about me and my embarrassing performance. That episode left a mental scar that stayed with me throughout high school. I would have anxiety whenever I was asked to speak in front of an audience. My mind kept imagining another disaster – and even when I managed to get through a speaking assignment without a major mistake – my thoughts kept focusing on how I should have done better.

I didn’t start to feel comfortable speaking in public until I went to College and attended a Speech class that exposed me to methods for dealing with anxiety and the practice of focusing on positive outcomes rather than the fear of failing. That young boy who feared public speaking would never have believed that his older self would someday speak to an audience of hundreds at engineering conferences, participate as a Lector in his church community, happily officiate weddings for friends and family and deliver eulogies to honor the deceased.

I’m sure nobody but me thinks back to that moment in 1973 when I flubbed my speech in front of the school assembly; and my worst fears about being ridiculed by my classmates never happened. My friends joked with me saying they were glad the Principal hadn’t asked them to do the introduction and the rest of my classmates quickly forgot the incident as they were too occupied concentrating on all the events and drama happening in their own life.

That moment and other traumatic events in my life, like failing my first driving test or watching the Red Sox choke away the World Series to the New York Mets in 1986 have taught me an important life lesson that is best summarized by an expression coined by the great Charlie Chaplin:

“Nothing is forever in this world, even your problems”

Charlie Chaplin

Charlie Chaplin from the film “Modern Times”

Chaplin was no stranger to problems. His childhood in London was one of poverty and hardship, as his alcoholic father was absent and abusive and his mother was committed to a mental asylum when he was 14. He was sent to live in a workhouse twice before the age of nine. Reminiscing upon his childhood, Chaplin wrote “I was hardly aware of a crisis because we lived in a continual crisis; and, being a boy, I dismissed our troubles with gracious forgetfulness“.

Despite these less than ideal childhood circumstances, Chaplin managed to start performing in music halls and working as a stage actor and comedian, where he developed his Tramp persona. He was scouted by the film industry and moved to America where he began appearing in comedies starting in 1914. Within four years he became one of the best known figures in the world.

Troubles found their way into Chaplin’s life again in the 1940s when a number of controversies led to a rapid decline in his popularity. He was accused of communist sympathies, and some members of the press and public found his involvement in a paternity suit, and marriages to much younger women, scandalous. A politically motivated FBI investigation against him was opened by J. Edgar Hoover which forced Chaplin to leave the United States in disgrace and settle in Switzerland.

Chaplin eventually overcame these problems as well. He married the daughter of playwright Eugene O’Neil when he was 54 and lived happily with her and their 8 children until he died at the age of 88. During this time he was awarded honorary degrees from many prestigious universities and was finally invited back to America in 1972 when he was given a [12 minute standing ovation] at the Academy Awards for “the incalculable effect he has had in making motion pictures the art form of this century“. Charlie Chaplain continues to be held in high regard today, with his movies The Gold Rush, City Lights, Modern Times, and The Great Dictator often ranked on lists of the greatest films of all time.

I think about Charlie Chaplin’s wise observation that nothing lasts forever in this world when I encounter problems in my life that seem as if they are insurmountable. I try not to worry so much about what other people are thinking and remind myself that life will go on, problems will eventually fade, and other people’s opinions can not defeat me or define my future as long as I remain productive and engaged in positive pursuits. It gives me hope to believe that all suffering eventually ends.

There is one final point that is important for us all to consider; which is that just as troubles do not last forever, neither do the good times. This is an unfortunate corollary to Chaplin’s idea that often goes without saying. Sometimes we take the good times for granted and fail to fully appreciate our good fortune.

So, I hope that when things are going well in your life, you find time to slow down, live in the moment and acknowledge your blessings, because the good times become all the sweeter when you realize that they will not last.

There is no such thing as bad weather, only unsuitable clothing

Humans have reached a point in their evolution where they can use technology to manufacture artificial climate silos in their homes, cars, and workplaces that insulate them from the effects of uncomfortable weather conditions. Even on the field of play, athletes labor under precisely controlled environmental conditions designed to prevent their performances from being disrupted by wild card weather elements.

This capability to create our own ideal environment is a relatively new phenomenon. It was only 250 years ago when the first efficient wood stoves were invented and only 100 years ago in the 1920’s when cars started to be mass produced. My mother who is 93 grew up in a house that had no indoor plumbing or home heating (except for the kitchen stove). The first new car I bought in 1982 did not come with air conditioning.

Back then, weather conditions were a big deal because you couldn’t avoid them. It was not really possible to separate life’s activities from the daily whims of Mother Nature. By necessity, people were exposed to the elements every day and had to learn to adjust their lives according to the ever-changing weather conditions.

They never knew what surprise weather conditions they would have to face when they woke up and would have been astonished at the advances in the meteorological sciences which gives us the capability to predict future weather events.

Today, we take it for granted that we can get accurate weekly, daily and hourly weather forecasts for any location in the world; but the value of this foresight is diminished by the fact that most people don’t even bother to check weather forecasts any more because our technology can overcome the weather. The outside weather now has very little impact on our life.

I was not sheltered from the weather when I was growing up. I had a paper route that required me to get up before sunrise to deliver newspapers to the homes in my neighborhood. Spring, Summer, Winter and Fall under hot, cold, rain or snowy conditions I delivered those papers. I walked to school on the other side of town in all kinds of weather conditions. I camped out with my friends in their backyards, at the city playground, and at the town cemetery. I spent many hours out in nature fishing, hiking and trapping with my father and brothers.

It is a shame, I think, that most people try to avoid having any direct exposure to the elements. I think the avoidance of what many people refer to as “bad weather” has taken some of the fun, excitement and wonder out of living. Some of the most memorable moments in my life have occurred when I stepped outside to embrace the elements head on.

Moments such as:

• Laughing while running with my children through the puddles on my street in my bare feet and shorts during a rain storm that broke up a prolonged heat wave.
• Paddling down a frosty river in an aluminum canoe during a cold and windy November afternoon to help my older brother check his trapline – my hands and feet numb from the 10 below zero wind chill.
• Walking home from a card game at a friend’s house during the great Blizzard of 1978 and losing my sense of direction in the whiteout conditions.
• Riding around with my Dad in a DPW snow plow, cleaning up the streets of the city after a big snow storm.
• Fly Fishing in the middle of a rain storm, catching one trout after another, only stopping when a bolt of lightning suddenly came down out of the sky and struck a tree on the other side of the river, setting it on fire.
• Walking home from my job late at night in the middle of a light snow flurry and being mesmerized by the big snowflakes doing a dance as they floated slowly down illuminated by the parking lot flood lights.
• Listening to the rain fall on the roof of my tent while camping – the repetitive sounds of the rain drops lulling me to sleep.
• Playing soccer with my colleagues after work during the steaming dog days of summer and drenching ourselves with water (and cold beer) to cool down.
• Standing in the face of gale force winds at the top of Mount Monadnock while doing some Fall hiking – the temperature 50 degrees cooler at the top than it was at the base of the mountain.

Sure, I was wet and cold or uncomfortable from the sun, heat and wind during many of these moments; but that is what made the moments even more memorable to me. We become so used to our creature comforts and living within such a narrow range of climate conditions, that it becomes remarkable to us when we choose to step outside and expose our bodies and our senses to something new and different.

I’m glad that I was taught not to fear bad weather, otherwise I never would have gathered first hand experience of the fury and majesty of our remarkable planet. I am in agreement with Alfred Wainwright who once wrote “There’s no such thing as bad weather, only unsuitable clothing”.

Wainwright was an author, illustrator and naturist who devised the popular Coast to Coast walk in England.  A shy and unhappy kid, Alfred hated to be inside. To escape, he began walking up to 20 miles at a time; and creating detailed maps and drawings of his local area and all the places he visited in England.

Wainwright believed that the precious moments of life are rare and to be treasured:

“The precious moments of life are too rare…we should hoard them as a miser hoards his gold, and bring them to light and rejoice over them often. We should all of us have a treasury of happy memories to sustain us …to be stars shining through the darkness.”

He also believed that direct exposure to nature in all its forms was one of the the surest pathways to create happy memories:

“Oh, how can I put into words the joys of a walk over country such as this; the scenes that delight the eyes, the blessed peace of mind, the sheer exuberance which fills your soul as you tread the firm turf? This is something to be lived, not read about. On these breezy heights, a transformation is wondrously wrought within you. Your thoughts are simple, in tune with your surroundings; the complicated problems you brought with you from the town are smoothed away. Up here, you are near to your Creator; you are conscious of the infinite; you gain new perspectives; thoughts run in new strange channels; there are stirrings in your soul which are quite beyond the power of my pen to describe. Something happens to you in the silent places which never could in the towns, and it is a good thing to sit awhile in a quiet spot and meditate. The hills have a power to soothe and heal which is their very own. No man ever sat alone on the top of a hill and planned a murder or a robbery, and no man ever came down from the hills without feeling in some way refreshed, and the better for his experience.”

Alfred Wainwright

So if you want to create new perspectives and feel a powerful stirring in your soul, I suggest you take Mr. Wainwright’s advice and find yourself some suitable clothing that allows you to get out and experience the weather in all its forms. Be one of the people who feels the rain and not one of the crowd who just gets wet!

The Life of the Dead is Placed in the Heart of the Living

My uncle Rheo served in the Navy during World War II, but he died prior to the creation of the National Veteran Cemeteries which are funded by the Department of Veteran Affairs to honor the men and women who have honorably served the United States during the nations wars. He ended up being buried in a single plot at his local town cemetery.

Three of his brothers (Roger, Romeo and Andrew) also served in the military, but because they died at a later date they were provided a full military funeral and no-charge burial at a Massachusetts Veterans Cemetery. This never seemed fair to our extended family, so this summer we initiated a process to have my Uncle Rheo disinterred from his burial location and moved to the Veteran’s Cemetery – where he could be laid to rest in the presence of his brothers and among his fellow servicemen.

Having written before about the important role my Uncle Rheo had in my life, the family asked me if I would speak at his memorial ceremony. I have included a copy of my eulogy for this much loved man below – I hope all my readers were blessed to grow up with a similar loving presence in their lives.

A Celebration of Life: Rheo Gilbert Meunier (1923 – 1984)

Rheo Gilbert Meunier (1923 – 1984)

I’m honored to stand up here today to speak about my beloved Uncle Rheo. I was only 24 years old when he died in 1984 but I can honestly say that not a week has gone by in the 37 years since he passed away when I haven’t thought about him.

He was a giant of a man in so many ways – someone who was bigger than life, blessed with an infectious smile and that big Meunier heart. I can just picture him now, beaming down at us, happy to see everyone gathered here today and happy to be resting with his brothers.

It was my good fortune that my mother chose her big brother Rheo to be my Godfather. Rheo was one of those rare Godparents who took his role seriously. His relationship with me did not end after the baptism ceremony – it was only starting. He became an important part of my life and a model to me of Christian living, showing me by his words, actions and friendship what it meant to be a good man.

He packed a lot of living into his shortened life, growing up on a small family farm with his 5 brothers and two sisters during the hard days of the Great Depression. His formal education ended when he was 12, cut short so he could stay home to help his father run the farm. He grew into a strong, handsome and strapping young man from all his strenuous labor.

He was part of the Greatest Generation, enlisting in the Navy in 1942 when he was just 19 years old and serving four years fighting for his country during World War II; seeing action in the North Atlantic and doing tours patrolling the Suez Canal and the Russian coast.

When he returned from the war, he was able to land a good job working as an electrical lineman. He ended up working at the Municipal Light Company in Templeton for 36 years – rising through the ranks to the position of Foreman.

He was a victim of a freak accident while working on the job early in his career. He was strapped high on a telephone pole trying to repair a downed wire when the pole snapped in half crashing to the ground with Rheo still attached.

It was a testament to his strength and determination that he managed to survive that tragic event. He slowly recovered his strength and regained much of his athleticism – however he did suffer some permanent internal damage to his body that would bother him throughout his life.

But it was not in his nature to complain about his bad luck or to let unfortunate circumstances dampen his spirits. He was a glass half-full kind of guy; someone who always saw the sunny side of life. Despite his situation we always saw him smiling, laughing, energetic and full of life.

He was a man of action with plenty of money to buy toys like convertible sport cars, motorcycles, cabin cruiser boats and snowmobiles; and to take skiing vacations in the Swiss Alps, scuba diving excursions in Hawaii, fishing expeditions to Cape Cod and river rafting & hiking adventures in Colorado.

Despite his James Bond lifestyle that we envied so much he always had time to spend with his extended family. He made it a point to visit with each of his seven siblings every few weeks just to stay in touch with their lives and to show interest in the activities of his 34 nephews and nieces.

I always thought it was a shame he didn’t have a family of his own, but as I look back on it now, I realize he actually had the biggest family of us all. He often said that he loved his nephews and nieces so much, he didn’t feel the need to have children of his own.

And his nephews and nieces adored him too. Looking forward to his visits when he would tell them interesting stories about his exotic travels, share with them his talent for yodeling or take them on exciting adventures and outings.

He would also generously volunteer to lend a hand whenever friends or family needed help. I remember him coming to our house one day when I was a young boy to help install electrical wiring at our house.

I shadowed him while he went about his work and while he patiently explained to me what he was doing and showing me all the tools he was using and how they worked. I was fascinated and think the experience kindled in me my interest in electricity and electronics which later led to my career as an engineer.

When his father passed away, Rheo became the primary caretaker of his mother. Rheo agreed to live with her, support her and take care of her so that she could continue to stay in the home she so loved.

In his 60th year he suffered a tragic series of events that contributed to his death from a sudden and massive heart attack. The first event occurred near Christmas in 1983. While he was out working late at night helping to restore power outages in the town, his Mother accidentally started a fire while trying to cook a ham for the family holiday dinner. His mother perished while trying to put out the fire and Rheo lost his mother, his home and most of his earthly possessions that night.

Then, in the space of two months’ time, Rheo’s brother-in-law passed away, his best friend lost his business to a fire and the Camp he owned was destroyed. The stress and grief were too much for his heart to take and led to his fatal heart attack in March of 1984.

The packed Church and military honors bestowed on him at his funeral showed how he was loved and respected by his community and family. I was honored to be one of the pallbearers selected to carry his casket; along with seven of his other beloved nephews.

Although he was a religious man and regularly attended Sunday Services at his local church, he never lectured me about religion or preached to me about God. I did learn, however, so much about morality from what I saw him do.

Whenever he saw me, he would make it a point to sit with me, look into my eyes and take a genuine interest in learning about what was happening in my life. On my birthdays he would give me a card and some money or a cool gift; on Easter he would give me my own chocolate bunny to enjoy; for my 1^st Communion he gave me a Savings Bond.

Beyond that, he would go out of his way to spend time with me during the year. Rides in his convertible car with the top down to get ice cream, snowmobile rides through his snowy woods and ocean fishing trips in his cabin cruiser boat. He was a perfect role model for a young boy growing up and learning about the world

And not just me! The funny thing is that, at the time, I thought I was special, but listening to everybody’s remembrances of Rheo after he was gone made me realize that he did these kinds of things for everybody – he had that quality that made everyone feel special!

Even in death, his generous spirit was still being revealed as he left money in his will for all of his brothers and sisters. My parents were grateful that they were able to invest the inheritance they received from him to help them in their later years.

One of the most precious gifts I ever received was Rheo’s gold Swiss watch – which my mother was able to obtain and give to me after he passed away. I treasured that watch for many years and would always wear it on special occasions and think of him.

I decided to give this watch as a gift to my sister Linda’s son Rheo (who was named after his Great Uncle) when he celebrated his sacrament of Confirmation because I could see in him a glimmer of the same spirit that drove his namesake great uncle.

Emily Dickinson, the writer, once wrote the words: “Of our greatest acts we are ignorant” to a friend of hers who was unaware that his interest and encouragement in her work had saved her life.  I don’t think my Uncle Rheo ever thought he was doing any great acts for me and he was probably unaware of the positive impact he had on my life.

I regret that because of his sudden death I never got the opportunity to tell him about the great acts he did for me, how important he was in my life and how grateful I was for all that I had learned from him.

I guess it is a lesson for us all to take the time while we still can to tell the people we love how much they mean to us and; like Rheo, to be a similar loving presence touching the lives of the people in our life in a positive way.

There is a saying that the life of the dead is placed in the heart of the living and I like to think that Rheo is still with us in a way. I see glimpses of him in the wide Meunier clan. A little bit of him lives on in each one of us who knew him; and through us, I think a little bit of him has also been passed on to the next generation too.

So, let’s celebrate the memory of Rheo Meunier, for his well lived life, for the loving spirit he brought to the world and for all the good deeds he did. Today we remember and honor his legacy as we welcome him to his final resting place.

A Prayer of Benediction for Rheo Meunier

Eternal God and Father, we praise you that you have made people to share life together and to reflect your glory in the world. We thank you especially now for our beloved brother, uncle and friend; Rheo Meunier whom we come here to remember today, for all that we saw in him of your goodness and love during his life and for all that he has meant to us.

Grant, O Lord that Rheo may sleep in eternal peace here in his new resting place. May it be a place of solace, of peaceful rest and glorious light. May he see your face and know the splendor of God and may his soul live in unending fellowship with you.

We ask this through Christ our Lord, Amen

Feeling Like a Stranger Nobody Sees

Bob Dylan recently celebrated his 80th birthday by releasing a film noir streaming art movie of him singing songs from his early career. The movie was filmed entirely in black & white and was appropriately named Shadow Kingdom because throughout the film dark shadows obscure the musicians and most of the surroundings.

Screenshot from Bob Dylan’s Shadow Kingdom Film

The set reminded me of something right out of an old twilight zone episode, a 1940’s style dark and smoky nightclub where the dozen or so people in the barroom sit at tables with their drinks and cigarettes, or mingle out on the dance floor slowly grooving to the music of Bob’s four piece band.

I realized while watching that Bob was clearly the oldest person in the film – there doesn’t appear to be a person in the band or in the audience who is older than 40 – most appear to be in their 20’s and 30’s. I’m not sure if it was his intention, but it would not surprise me to learn that Bob specifically wanted to surround himself with young people. After all, he is the man who wrote Forever Young and the one who made famous the observation that “He not busy being born is busy dying“.

For Bob it seems as if age is not a number but an attitude, and throughout his career he has refused to become a nostalgia act or to live on his past glories. Instead he has continuously changed and reinvented himself; and along the way he has succeeded in making music that is relevant and appealing to every generation. One look at the mix of young and old faces at his concerts demonstrates his ability to speak to all ages.

Which is difficult to do because in today’s society the elderly are often overlooked by the young. As people get older, they often get the feeling that they are being ignored and that they are becoming invisible within their communities. A couple lyrics from Bob Dylan’s later songs indicate that even someone as famous as him is not immune from this feeling.

Walking through the leaves, falling from the trees
Feeling like a stranger nobody sees

Lyrics from song Mississippi by Bob Dylan

I see people in the park forgetting their troubles and woes
They’re drinking and dancing, wearing bright-colored clothes
All the young men with their young women looking so good
Well, I’d trade places with any of them
In a minute, if I could

Lyrics from song Highlands by Bob Dylan

In these lyrics, Bob ponders the predicament which many old people find themselves in. Just when they should start feeling fortunate for reaching their seventh or eighth decade of life, their bodies become old and frail and they find themselves becoming unvalued outsiders. It seems as if the world speeds up and they just become spectators to life happening around them.

Strangers who once smiled and acknowledged them as they walked past begin passing by without even a glance. They become self-conscious about their appearance and failing senses and withdraw further into isolation, sadly contributing towards their own “invisibility”.

The author Helen Garner, in her 2015 essay The Insults of Age, writes that women especially have always had an acute awareness of growing old. Her essay explores all the cruel ways in which getting older means being erased from a culture that equates youth and beauty with value. “Your face is lined, and your hair is grey, so they think you are weak, deaf, helpless, ignorant and stupid. It is assumed that you have no opinions and no standards of behavior and that nothing that happens in your vicinity is any of your business.”

My father as he got older suffered from COPD (which made it a struggle for him to breathe) and hearing decline (which made it hard for him to follow group conversations). Despite this, he was beloved by his eight children for his wisdom, good nature, and the code of honor with which he lived his life.

But I remember my mother telling me about an incident that occurred that was very hurtful to my father when he was older. There were a group of people sitting around the table having a discussion about a specific topic. My father ventured to offer his opinion on the subject when one of the young people interrupted and told him that “Nobody really cares what you think“.

Those words were a shock for my father to hear. He was a man of integrity who was used to being treated with respect and dignity throughout his life and whose opinion was always highly valued. To bluntly be told that nobody cared what he thought was like a slap in the face. With incidences like this happening to the elderly is it any wonder why they become confused and retreat into isolation?

There was a time in the past when the elderly were revered, cared for, and sought out for their wisdom. It seems that today they are instead viewed as a burden and out of touch with the way the world operates. There is a generation of people that are overlooked every day.

Age should not define a person or diminish respect from others. According to the American Psychological Association, people who do not feel connected are at increased risk of depression, dementia, and poor self-esteem – all factors that can affect physical and mental health and overall life satisfaction.

And this problem between the generations is only likely to get worse as aging adults shuffle themselves off into sterile retirement communities that bill themselves as “God’s Waiting Room” while young adults flock to the vibrancy and vitality of urban cities. Both sides lose in this segregation of the generations as it becomes difficult for the young to imagine what their life might look like when they are older and the old forget what it is like to see the world for the first time through new eyes.

In a society that idolizes youth and youth culture, it can be difficult to understand and address the challenges older adults face. Changing society’s perception of the elderly is beyond me, but I can try to go out of my way to fully engage with the older adults I encounter in my day-to-day activities – to show them that I see them and that they are not invisible!

If each of us made a small effort to be friendly with the older adults we encounter, to listen to what they have to say and to treat them with dignity, then we would all be richer for the experience. Old folks have a lifetime of experiences to share and many interesting stories to tell – if we only give them the chance.

Perhaps there is a selfish motivation behind my efforts to fight the stigma of aging. After all, pretty soon I will be considered an old timer (my ten year old grandson already calls me an oldster); and I hope people will still see me and treat me with dignity as my body runs down. Invisibility is a good Superpower to have in the movies but, I imagine it must get pretty lonely in real life when nobody ever really sees you.

3 a.m., Hello My Friend

My sleep patterns are a mystery to me. I do not understand why they frequently change or why I so often find myself waking up in the middle of the night, usually at 3 a.m. I have difficulty falling back to sleep even when I practice the usual tricks that have helped put me to sleep in the past (quiet music, meditation, prayer). When those tricks fail me, I eventually rise from my bed to work on some boring task until such a time that my body and mind feel ready to sleep again.

Apparently I am not alone in experiencing periods of interrupted sleep. Sleep experts report that around a third of the population has trouble sleeping and difficulty maintaining continuous sleep throughout the night. I wonder if many of them, like me, have more than a passing familiarity with the 3 a.m. hour.

The author Ray Bradbury had something to say about 3 a.m. in his dark fantasy novel, Something Wicked This Way Comes:

“Three AM. Charles Halloway thought, it’s a special hour. Women never wake then, do they? They sleep the sleep of babes and children. But men in middle age? They know that hour well. Oh God, midnight’s not bad. you wake and go back to sleep, one or two’s not bad, you toss but sleep again. Five or six in the morning , there’s hope, for dawn’s just under the horizon. But three, now, Christ, three A.M. Doctor’s say the body’s at low tide then. The soul is out. The blood moves slow. You’re the nearest to dead you’ll ever be save dying.

Sleep is a patch of death, but three three in the morn, full wide-eyed staring, is living death! You dream with your eyes open… you lie pinned to a deep well bottom that’s burned dry. The moon rolls by to look at you down there, with its idiot face. It’s a long way back to sunset, a far way on to dawn, so you summon all the fool things of your life, the stupid lovely things done with people known so very well who are now so very dead  – and wasn’t it true, had he read it somewhere, more people in hospitals die at 3 A.M. than at any other time…?

Ray Bradbury, “Something Wicked This Way Comes”

Why do many people feel afraid or uneasy about the time between midnight and sunrise – especially 3 a.m.? Is it some embedded memory of the horror novels and films we consumed in the past or is it an instinct left within us from our distant ancestors who had to battle nocturnal predators for thousand of years?

For starters, 3 a.m. is sometimes referred to as The Witching Hour, the time of night when some believe the veil between life and death is at its thinnest, allowing spirits and ghosts to travel more easily between the two worlds. The time between 3-4 a.m. is also thought of by some as the Devil’s Hour. The Catholic Church in 1535 forbade activities during the 3-4 a.m. hour because Jesus was crucified at 3PM – and the inverse of that would be 3 a.m. – making it an hour of demonic activity. The number 3 can be used to make a mockery of the Holy Trinity, also making it an ideal time to carry out acts of evil.

Over time, fear of the Witching or Devil’s Hour became common amongst large groups of people, so foul meaning was attached to it. If we’re always waking up disturbed at 3 a.m. then something dark and ominous must be at fault. I have a friend who shared with me that he becomes anxious if he happens to wake up at 3 a.m. and he has to get down on his knees and pray the Rosary in order to calm his spirit . Even those who do not fear spirits or ghosts seem to believe that nothing good really happens at 3 a.m.

My background in engineering has conditioned me to look for scientific explanations to mysterious phenomenon rather than the actions of sinister spirits, ghosts and demons from the shadow world. My research into the topic has revealed that human biology and evolution may have something to do with our often confounding sleep experiences, as well as our tendencies to wake up in the middle of the night.

For most people, 3 a.m. comes along right about the time our body is coming out of a REM phase, the moment of our deepest sleep; when our heart rate slows, our body temperature drops, and our brain turns off as many functions as possible so it can repair itself and so we can get truly deep rest. If we happen to wake up suddenly at the end of an REM phase, we are going to feel very disoriented. The natural reaction to these strange feelings is fear and unease because we can’t help but feel panic when we wake up feeling unlike anything we ever feel when we are conscious.

These nighttime awakenings are distressing for most sufferers, but there is some evidence from our recent past that suggests a period of wakefulness occurring between two separate sleep periods was normal. Throughout history, various medical texts, court records and diaries mention instances of segmented sleep – commonly referred to as “first” and “second” sleep.

In Charles Dickens’ book Barnaby Rudge (1840), he writes:

“He knew this, even in the horror with which he started from his first sleep, and threw up the window to dispel it by the presence of some object, beyond the room, which had not been, as it were, the witness of his dream.”

Anthropologists have documented that bi-modal sleeping was common in preindustrial Europe when sleep onset was determined not by a set bedtime, but by whether there were things to do. Historian A. Roger Ekirch’s book At Day’s Close: Night in Times Past describes how households during this time period retired a couple of hours after dusk, woke a few hours later for one to two hours, and then had a second sleep until dawn.

Ekirch noted that references to the first and second sleep started to disappear during the late 17th century as the Industrial revolution took hold. He believes the practice of consolidated nighttime sleeping started in the upper classes in Northern Europe and filtered down to the rest of Western society over the next 200 years.

Interestingly, the problems of reported insomnia start to appear in literature at the same time as accounts of split sleep start to disappear in the late 19th century. So it may be that modern society is placing unnecessary pressure on individuals to seek continuous consolidated sleep every night – even though there are natural biological tendencies in the human machine towards bi-modal sleep patterns.

Although we aspire to have consolidated sleep, this may not suit everyone’s body clock or work schedule. Perhaps some of us are more suited to the segmented sleep pattern practiced by our pre-industrial ancestors. In fact, some forms of segmented sleep are still accepted in today’s society. Cultures that allow for an afternoon siesta, for instance, acknowledge that our internal body clock lends itself to such a schedule because we naturally experience a reduction in alertness in the early afternoon.

A number of recent studies have found that split-shift sleep schedules provide comparable performance benefits as one big sleep, as long as the total sleep time per 24 hours adds up to around 7 to 8 hours. Several shorter sleeps during the course of a day can be just as beneficial for our health, performance and safety.

So my recommendation for all of you who have trouble sleeping is to forget about demons and witches, forget about manufactured sleep drugs, forget about trying to achieve what society tells you is the perfect consolidated sleep pattern – and simply find a sleep pattern that works for you and one that matches your own unique rhythm.

If you can manage to do that then maybe you will, like me, come to see 3 a.m. less as a foe and more as a friend!

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There is a Season for Everything Under the Sun

One of the things I enjoy about my blogging hobby is that it leads me to discover authors who are writing thoughtful blogs on interesting subjects. I recently came across one such blog entry written by Maria Popova who was reviewing a book by Katherine May titled Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times.

In her book, May writes about her experience living through a deep and disquieting period that she describes as one of the “winters of her life”. The thing about the blog that caught my attention was the author’s perspective that life is like the seasons, constantly changing throughout our lifetimes.

We are in the habit of imagining our lives to be linear, a long march from birth to death in which we mass our powers, only to surrender them again, all the while slowly losing our youthful beauty. This is a brutal untruth. Life meanders like a path through the woods. We have seasons when we flourish and seasons when the leaves fall from us, revealing our bare bones. Given time, they grow again.

Excerpts from Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times by Katherine May

Our culture leads us to believe that life progresses along a linear scale from helplessness towards ever-increasing flourishing, but in reality life is like the seasons, operating in a cyclical fashion, with many periods of ups and downs. Imagining life to operate only in a linear fashion can be harmful when people start to falsely believe that something is wrong with their life if it does not get progressively better as they get older or when they need to take detours along the way.

If we accept that our lives are more cyclical, with periods containing many Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter seasons of the spirit, then we can become better equipped to understand that there will periods of happiness and sadness throughout our life – as well as periods of strength and fragility.

When you start thinking about periods of your life as seasons, you come to realize that people live through many winters in their lifetime – some mild, some severe – and that it is possible, like the trees, to emerge from those winters not only undiminished but ready for new growth.

It is reassuring to think that our winter seasons do not need to be fallow and unproductive and that they can be a productive period when we are given the time and space we need to go on growing. Albert Camus wrote “In the depths of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer”. If we garden the winters of the soul with care, we can set in place seeds that will bloom into future summers of strength.

Katherine May makes the observation that trees enter a waiting phase during winter where the tree has everything it needs to make it through severe weather:

“Its fallen leaves are mulching the forest floor, and its roots are drawing up the extra winter moisture, providing a firm anchor against seasonal storms. Its ripe cones and nuts are providing essential food in this scarce time for mice and squirrels, and its bark is hosting hibernating insects and providing a source of nourishment for hungry deer. It is far from dead. It is in fact the life and soul of the wood. It’s just getting on with it quietly. It will not burst into life in the spring. It will just put on a new coat and face the world again.“

We all need to take an example from the trees and approach the winter seasons of our life in a similar way. Retreat, face our our sadness, let go of the things in our life that are no longer bearing fruit, be nourished by the strong roots of our personal friends and communities and get ready to face the world again.

The winter seasons of our life are usually characterized by sadness that is triggered when we experience loss of one kind or another. Those of us who have lived through winters know that there are self-punishing ways to be sad, and self-healing ways to be sad. The key to skillful wintering is to learn the difference between the two so that we are stronger when the season begins to turn – just like the branches of a tree during the depths of winter are covered in tiny dormant buds that will spring to life when the weather turns.

Since we are all certain to encounter winter seasons during our life, May concludes with a warning against judging people when they are down on their luck and experiencing misfortune. It is better she writes to encourage empathy, compassion and understanding for those that we find suffering:

Here is another truth about wintering: you’ll find wisdom in your winter, and once it’s over, it’s your responsibility to pass it on. And in return, it’s our responsibility to listen to those who have wintered before us. It’s an exchange of gifts in which nobody loses out.

This may involve the breaking of a lifelong habit, one passed down carefully through generations: that of looking at other people’s misfortunes and feeling certain that they brought them upon themselves in a way that you never would. This isn’t just an unkind attitude. It does us harm, because it keeps us from learning that disasters do indeed happen and how we can adapt when they do. It stops us from reaching out to those who are suffering. And when our own disaster comes, it forces us into a humiliated retreat, as we try to hunt down mistakes that we never made in the first place or wrongheaded attitudes that we never held. Either that, or we become certain that there must be someone out there we can blame.

Watching winter and really listening to its messages, we learn that effect is often disproportionate to cause; that tiny mistakes can lead to huge disasters; that life is often bloody unfair, but it carries on happening with or without our consent. We learn to look more kindly on other people’s crises, because they are so often portents of our own future.

This is good advice for the next time you find the seasons changing in your life. Do not despair – remember that every season can be profitable for our growth and survival. I have lived long enough to know that we can experience winter seasons during the blush of our youth and that it is possible for spring and summer seasons to joyfully populate the twilight of our years.

There is no telling when good things or terrible things will happen to us and we cannot know the entire meaning of it all, but we can know that life can be beautiful even in the darkest of seasons. So rejoice during all your seasons under the sun and remember that all our emotions and actions, both negative and positive, have important meaning and we become more majestic when we learn from them all.

My Mind is in Darkness

There is a moment in the Rock Opera Jesus Christ Superstar, when Judas – right before he is about to commit suicide by hanging himself – sings out:

My mind is in darkness.
God, God I'm sick. I've been used,
And you knew it all the time.
God, God I'll never know why you chose me for your crime.

Judas’ realization that his mind was moving into darkness and his acknowledgement that he is sick struck me as a painful description of what many people with mental illness must feel as they try to overcome life’s challenges and often impossible expectations.

According to the World Health Organization, Depression is one of the most pervasive and debilitating health conditions in the world, one that affects an estimated 350 million people worldwide and contributes to the suicides of 800,000 people every year (one person every 40 seconds). It is recognized as being at the core of numerous mental health conditions and it is a leading cause of disability among adults.

In 2015, UCLA launched a study to better understand the causes of depression and to find ways to improve detection, evaluation, and treatment methods. Nearly 10,000 of the school’s freshmen were subjected to depression screening during their student orientation. The depression screening found that almost 12% of UCLA freshman reported “frequently” feeling depressed in the past year.

“That depression has not been identified as our number-one health issue astounds me,” UCLA Chancellor Gene Block said in announcing the results of the screening program, “…if you haven’t experienced depression yourself, you know someone who has“.

The familiar symptoms of depression are persistent low mood, exhaustion, loss of appetite and sex drive, an inability to enjoy life or cope with everyday activities. Less obvious symptoms include disordered and distorted thinking, agitation, physical aches and pains, and insomnia.

Depression is difficult to treat because it is not really known what causes it. We know it results from a complex interaction of social, psychological, biological and genetic factors; and that people who have gone through adverse life events are more likely to develop depression.

Further complicating diagnosis, depression doesn’t always act the same way from individual to individual, or from episode to episode, which can range from mild to severe. An episode can last from a few days to weeks, months, or even years when there are multiple interrelating causes.

Treatment for depression is a bit of a guessing game, with only a 50% success rate after the first treatment. Each sufferer often needs something different. Antidepressants sometimes work, but not always. Talk therapies help some people, but not others. Someone may feel better with increased social contact, a change in relationships, or a new job. For others, becoming less busy or starting an exercise regime is what makes the difference. Sometimes the passage of time is what helps. Unfortunately, because depression plays havoc with the capacity to see things clearly, it’s hard for a depressed person to know what they need.

Too many people, especially in the past, shunned people suffering from mental disorders and labeled them as crazy, defective or even criminal – categorizing them as people to be avoided and deserving to be outcast from everyday normal society. Mental health professionals now say that those struggling with mental illness should not be punished or ostracized, but looked at instead with compassion and empathy – and provided access to medical treatment and services.

I was listening to Outsiders, a podcast series about the homeless community in Olympia, Washington that was developed by KNKX Public Radio and The Seattle Times. The team spent one year in the city documenting the stories of people grappling with the hardships of homelessness.

One episode tells the story of Jessica, a woman in her 30’s who has been homeless for two years. During her interview, Jessica reveals that her father left her when she was young because “he loved the drink more than he loved her“. Her mother became addicted to methamphetamines and shacked up with a series of boyfriends to support her drug habit. She was first molested at the age of 4 by one of her mother’s boyfriends and during her teen years she was pimped out to pay her mother’s bills.

Jessica was constantly moving and never lived in a stable home. She first got pregnant by an abusive boyfriend, who made her give up the child for adoption. She had a second child and lived in an apartment as a single mother for several years, but she was evicted when she could no longer afford to pay the rising rent. She lost custody of her daughter when she became homeless. She is striving to find employment and a place to live so she can reclaim her daughter; but she has developed a drug habit that helps her to block the pain she feels during the long nights spent in her tent under the city bridge. She is losing all hope.

So often, one’s lot in life is determined by its beginnings – whether a person grows up in an environment where they feel loved, respected and supported. What chance did Jessica have to become a functioning adult given the circumstances of her formative years and the trauma she has endured? How can a person live with hope when they grow up with nobody they can trust? Can I honestly say that my situation in life would be much different than Jessica’s if I had grown up under similar conditions?

As a society we are quick to judge people without knowing their full story. It is no surprise that the majority of the homeless population consists of individuals who have a tragic story to tell. Many suffer from PTSD like symptoms due to childhood traumas they suffered at the hands of their dysfunctional and abusive families.

Military veterans suffering from PTSD are provided subsidized government housing and free access to medical services to treat their symptoms; but no such programs are offered to homeless people who are left having to fend for themselves and end up falling through the cracks and becoming invisible.

The homeless population do not even benefit from temporary Government assistance programs which could have a meaningful positive impact to their life (like direct payments given to citizens through the stimulus plan) because they do not have a permanent address and there is no way to contact them.

Breaking the Blues

But you don’t have to be poor and homeless to suffer from depression. All you have to do is follow the lives of the rich and famous to understand that money and possessions do not guarantee happiness. The fact that there are over 12 thousand mental health facilities in the United States alone demonstrates that Depression is an equal opportunity illness that affects all levels of the socioeconomic ladder and every class of society.

Over the course of my life, I have encountered close friends and family members fighting to overcome frightening episodes of mental health distress that have darkened their minds. Most of them were fortunate enough to seek out and find professional treatment that helped them navigate their conditions.

To be honest, I have noticed that my own mind is subject to occasional bouts of the blues. These bouts appear irregularly in my life and it is often a mystery to me what brings them on or how long they will last. I tell myself it is OK to feel blue sometimes (reminding myself of the expression that a good day is a laugh and a cry) as long as it doesn’t negatively affect my relationships with the people I love or make me blind to the beauty that can be found in each day.

Over time I have discovered various coping techniques which I can employ to help me bust out of these bouts of the blues. Employing one or more of these techniques usually helps light to sneak in and drive out the darkness trying to spread over me.

• Exercise – I don’t know the science behind it, but I do know that when I exercise regularly I tend to feel better both physically and mentally.
• Meditation – Helps me to empty my mind, lowers my stress levels and allows me to look at life’s problems and uncertainties from a new perspective.
• The Arts – Listening to a concert, visiting a museum, attending a play; all of these activities bring to life for me the infinite capacity and wonder of the human spirit.
• Writing – When my first wife was fighting her losing battle with breast cancer, I began a Gratitude Journal. Every day I would write down three things that happened during that day that made me grateful. It helped me to think about something positive beyond the big sadness in my life. This Words To Live By blog also gives me a monthly opportunity to express myself about the topics that are taking up space in my mind.
• Religion – There is something comforting in attending Catholic Mass, knowing that the same rituals – celebrating the Good News that there is a higher power and that death is not the end – have been practiced by my ancestors and by untold millions worldwide for centuries.
• Wilderness – My happy place is being out in Nature, whether it be taking extended hikes through wilderness areas, walking the trails of my town, biking down a scenic road; or, my favorite – wading a cold mountain stream in search of hungry trout.
• Reading – A good book is like a magic carpet which can transport me to different worlds and different ages. Somerset Maugham felt that the habit of reading provides a refuge from almost all the miseries of life.
• Grandchildren – Seeing the world through the eyes of your grandchildren is one of life’s most rewarding experiences. Watching them grow brings back happy memories of the past and instills hopeful thoughts of the future.
• Sleep – It’s hard to be joyful when you are tired. I’m amazed how much more pleasant the day is when I get a good night’s sleep or when I get to have a nap during the day.

I suppose all these blues busting techniques share one common element; they all tend to steer me away from the self-absorbed thoughts that typically run around in my head and they get me to start thinking about other people and about higher callings.

Warren Zevon, in his song “Don’t Let Us Get Sick“, describes how he uses this coping strategy to deal with his problems:

I thought of my friends
And the troubles they've had
To keep me from thinking of mine

Bob Dylan once gave his prescription for fighting the blues on his Theme Time Radio show, which I think is good advice to follow whenever we find our minds shrouded in darkness:

“I’m gonna tell you the magic formula for fightin’ the blues. What you got to do is go out and help someone more unfortunate than you. Go to an Orphanage. Play football with kids. Go to retirement homes. Go to Soup Kitchens. Go into Prisons. Go see some people. There are people everywhere who aren’t as well off as you. No matter how bad you have it, somebody’s got it worse. Instead of adding to the sadness in the world, why not lend a hand. Help somebody out and not just on Christmas. Why don’t you give it a try year round.“

Bob Dylan – Theme Time Radio Hour (Christmas Episode)

Wishing you all good mental health and a way for you to always make your dark clouds disappear…

There is no Right or Left, there’s only Up and Down

Many people throughout the years have attempted to get Bob Dylan to reveal his political affiliations. The historically important songs he has written throughout his career, along with his cultural reputation as the voice of a generation, have made both Republicans and Democrats eager to claim him as their own. Both sides proudly point to specific lyrics in his songs that they say proves Dylan is either a right-leaning Conservative or a left-leaning Liberal.

A Democrat could point to this verse from Dylan’s 1975 song “Hurricane” to argue that Bob Dylan is a liberal because he thinks systemic racism is built into American society and that the criminal justice system is corrupt and needs to be reformed.

"Meanwhile, far away in another part of town
Rubin Carter and a couple of friends are drivin’ around
Number one contender for the middleweight crown
Had no idea what kinda shit was about to go down
When a cop pulled him over to the side of the road
Just like the time before and the time before that
In Paterson that’s just the way things go
If you’re black you might as well not show up on the street
’Less you wanna draw the heat"

Likewise, a staunch Republican could argue that Dylan’s 1983 song, “Neighborhood Bully” indicates that Dylan is a conservative because he is a strong supporter of Israel’s right to use force to protect themselves from their hostile Arab neighbors.

"The neighborhood bully just lives to survive
He’s criticized and condemned for being alive
He’s not supposed to fight back, he’s supposed to have thick skin
He’s supposed to lay down and die when his door is kicked in
He’s the neighborhood bully"

The truth is that Bob Dylan has always been an independent spirit and he has always managed to keep his specific political leanings a mystery. When pressed on his positions after President Kennedy’s assassination Dylan declined to reveal any loyalties to political parties, saying only to the reporter that to him “There is no Right or Left, there’s only Up and Down“.

I admire Bob for his discipline to remain above the fray when it comes to the petty politics of the day. It is a strategy that has allowed him to freely practice his art and speak his mind, unencumbered from the demands of party line expectations. Dylan admitted in his 1964 song “My Back Pages” that he feared becoming his own enemy “in the instant that I preach“.

The fact that both parties can point to past statements uttered by Dylan to back up one or more of their political positions is a good indication that Bob does not base his opinions on whether an issue is supported by the left or right; but instead he considers each issue independently and makes up his mind based on a position’s moral merits – in other words, whether the position is good (Up) or bad (Down).

The country would be better off if more people looked at issues, not as Right or Left, but as good or bad. Too many people today blindly follow the positions of their party’s leaders, keeping a closed mind to the arguments of their opponents and failing to objectively examine political issues so as to determine what they ought to believe. If more people did this, then there would be less debate about whether a policy proposal originated from a conservative or liberal playbook and more discussion about whether a policy is right or wrong.

Throughout history, America has benefitted from good ideas and policies that have originated from both Republican and Democratic leaders. It is a shame that politics today are so partisan that politicians refuse to support legislation that is good for the country, simply because the idea originated from the other side. It is an even greater shame that politicians will rubber stamp legislation that is bad for the country simply because their party leaders and corporate donors support it.

I consider myself a political moderate; conservative on most fiscal issues and liberal on most social issues. Based on this, you would think I would fit into the the category of an Independent voter; however my distaste for the increasingly far-right policies of the Republican party over the last few decades have led me to vote almost exclusively for Democratic candidates.

In order to win elections, Republicans have turned to populist techniques. They try to whip up the passions of the “common people” by presenting overly simplistic and emotional answers to complex questions – using tactics like blaming minority groups for the country’s problems, exaggerating dangers to scare people, lying to drown out reasoned deliberation and insulting anyone who disagrees with them.

Donald Trump is only the latest and best example of a long line of political leaders who fit the definition of demagogue as described by the historian Reinhard Luthin:

“A demagogue is a politician skilled in oratory, flattery and invective; evasive in discussing vital issues; promising everything to everybody; appealing to the passions rather than the reason of the public; and arousing racial, religious, and class prejudices – a self-professed ‘man of the people’ whose lust for power without recourse to principle leads him to seek to become a master of the masses.”

Historian Reinhard Luthin

Demagogues exploit a weakness inherent in most democracies which is the greater numbers of lower class and less-educated voters. These are the people most prone to be whipped up into a fury and led to reckless actions by a politician who is skilled at fanning the flame of resentment.

Democracies are instituted to ensure freedom for all as well as popular control over government authority. Demagogues can however, turn power deriving from popular support into an authoritarian force that undermines the very freedoms and rule of law that democracies are made to protect.

For centuries, political leaders in the U.S. have used racial prejudice as a tactic to shore up support from white Americans, particularly those white Americans who feared they were losing social status as Black Americans made civil rights gains. In the 1960’s Richard Nixon used the infamous Southern strategy to persuade white southerners to vote for him by stirring up fear of Black empowerment.

Bob Dylan recognized in his 1963 song “Only a Pawn in their Game” how southern politicians (both Democrat and Republican) used the poor white working class as pawns to protect their political power:

A South politician preaches to the poor white man
"You got more than the blacks, don't complain
You're better than them, you been born with white skin, " they explain
And the Negro's name
Is used, it is plain
For the politician's gain
As he rises to fame
And the poor white remains
On the caboose of the train
But it ain't him to blame
He's only a pawn in their game

The deputy sheriffs, the soldiers, the governors get paid
And the marshals and cops get the same
But the poor white man's used in the hands of them all like a tool
He's taught in his school
From the start by the rule
That the laws are with him
To protect his white skin
To keep up his hate
So he never thinks straight
'Bout the shape that he's in
But it ain't him to blame
He's only a pawn in their game

Sadly, Donald Trump has continued and perfected the tactics of the demagogue to whip up the passions of the lower class and less educated segments of the American population; and to punish any politicians within his party who dare to express an opinion which he does not support. His influence has turned the Republican party into the Party of Mean People by pushing a xenophobic platform that is anti-immigrant, anti-regulation, anti-civil rights, anti-science, and anti-gun control.

The followers of Donald Trump do not make an effort to weigh the moral implications behind the “conservative” policies they blindly support – as long as Trump supports it, they support it – even if the policy is bad for the country and works against their self interests.

The fact that Donald Trump lost his re-election bid is a sign of hope, but it remains to be seen if he will keep his hold on power or whether some Republicans will be courageous enough to break with the conservative party line and start thinking independently about what is best for the country.

As a way to encourage that break from party line thinking, I hereby offer up this list of virtuous political principles that I hope would be adopted by all citizens of good faith after careful consideration. I don’t consider these political principles liberal or conservative – I advocate support for them simply because I believe they would be good for our democracy and make our country stronger:

• Voter Access: It is good for the country when there are fair and open election laws that make it easy for citizens to participate in our democracy; and bad when state and federal authorities set up roadblocks that make it difficult to vote or when they enact legislation that suppresses the vote.
• Quality Education: It is good for the country when every child has access to a quality education and bad when poorly performing schools prevent students from achieving their full potential. Parents of students attending failing schools should be given the ability to move their children to a better school.
• Quality Health Care: It is bad for society when its citizens do not have access to quality health care and it would be good to pass legislation that works towards making Universal Health Care a right and not a privilege.
• Environmental Protection: It is bad when governments ignore climate change science and good when they undertake meaningful steps that will preserve and protect the environment for future generations.
• Civil rights: It is bad for the country when citizens are treated unfairly because of their race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religion or disability; and good when individual civil rights are protected and citizens trust the criminal justice system.
• Compassionate Immigration: It is good for the future of our country to have a robust and compassionate immigration policy that respects the dignity of all applicants; and bad to have an isolationist policy that keeps out skilled workers and those who are being severely persecuted in their homelands.
• Living Wage: It is bad for the fabric of society when families earning minimum wage live below the poverty line and good when working families are provided a living wage.
• Economic Inequality: It is bad for society when greater than 70% of the country’s wealth is concentrated in the hands of 10% of its citizens and good when corporations and governments enact policies that lessen economic inequalities.
• Food Security: It is good when policies are put in place to protect citizens who live in poverty from hunger. It is bad that 1 in 10 households live with food insecurity and 16% of children do not know where there next meal is coming from.
• Fiscal Restraint: It is bad for the country’s future and the future of our children for the government to continually run up such large national deficits – and good for the government to cut unnecessary programs which allows the country to live within its means.

I hope the next time you asked to form your opinion on a political issue, you will ignore what the political parties are telling you to think, and instead, like Bob Dylan, choose the position that you think will best lift the country up, not bring her down.

The Prayers of All Good People are Good

As the days lengthen and Spring approaches here in the Northeast, my thoughts customarily turn to matters of the spirit. It is my Catholic upbringing and roots that have instilled in me the impulse to observe the yearly ritual of Lent – a period of 40 days that begins with Ash Wednesday and ends with the celebration of Easter Sunday. It is done in remembrance of the 40 days Jesus spent in the desert prior to beginning his public life, as well as to give thanks and praise for the great sacrifice that followers believe Jesus made to reconcile us with God.

Lent is meant to be a time of repentance and self-examination which is marked by prayer, almsgiving, and fasting (from foods and festivities). It asks Christians to contemplate eternity, examine all areas of their life and to focus on activities that will repair injustices in our personal relationships with God, with ourselves, and with our neighbors.

Historically, Lent has been an important time in the religious calendar for Catholic and other Christian denominations, but the number of souls observing the practices of Lent has gradually been diminishing for years. It is difficult to convince people of the virtues of self-denial or making amends for past mistakes in today’s modern culture of instant gratification – one in which acknowledging faults is seen as weakness. Most Christian denominations prefer to focus on the glory of the Resurrection while downplaying the message of sorrow and grief that is represented by the Cross.

For many, observing Lent is uncomfortable because it smacks of religious duty and shame. They point out that Jesus himself never established the tradition of Lent as a commandment for his followers to observe and that he actually chastised the religious leaders of his day because “They crush people with unbearable religious demands and never lift a finger to ease the burden”.

How individuals decide to worship is a matter between them and God, but for me I choose to observe the practices of Lent because they force me to take a hard look at my life and reflect on those things that are stopping me from achieving a greater awareness and intimacy with the Creator. Lent also helps me gain the spiritual discipline I need to overcome bad habits that are preventing me from being at greater peace with myself and my neighbors.

Besides the spiritual benefits, Lent also helps to nurture the important life skills of patience and self-sacrifice. Learning how to delay our impulses for immediate pleasure in favor of long-term goal achievement is a useful skill required for healthy human growth. Being able to control our impulses gives way to the formation of new brain pathways and new habit formation.

Psychological studies show that people who are able to delay their desires for possessions and outcomes are much better adjusted and happier in life. The ability to override the impulse to seek instant pleasure needs to be nurtured in children so that they learn at an early age that impulses will pass, but long term goals are unlikely to be achieved without the ability to sacrifice short-term desires.

The famous “Marshmallow experiment” conducted by psychologist Walter Mischel in 1972 at Stanford University found that young children who were able to wait longer for their preferred rewards (an extra marshmallow) tended to have better life outcomes, as measured by school test scores, educational attainment, body mass index and other life measures.

I can’t help but think that the Lenten habits of sacrifice and self-denial that I have practiced over the years has had a hand in the successful achievement of “non-spiritual” goals throughout my life. The decisions I made to focus on studies rather than parties in College, to live a modest lifestyle, to exercise and watch what I eat, reaped benefits in my later life; when they enabled me to secure a good job, provide for my family, retire early and remain healthy enough in my old age to play with my active grandchildren.

While I advocate the virtues of the Catholic tradition of Lent, I want to make it clear that I believe no single religion can lay claim to the mystery of God. There are many paths to the Divine and we run the risk of becoming self-righteous and arrogant when we start to believe that our practices are the only way to God.

This is beautifully illustrated in a passage from the classic novel My Antonia by Willa Cather. The novel tells the story of an orphaned boy living in 19th century Nebraska, Jim Burden, and a newly arrived family of Bohemian immigrants, the Shimerda’s, who are struggling to make a living farming the harsh but fertile prairie.

The scene is Christmas, and Mr. Shimerda, the Bohemian neighbor, who is having a hard time keeping his family warm and fed (and understands little English) comes to visit Jim Burden and his grandparents at their home. Here’s what the narrator Jim tells the readers:

“As it grew dark, I asked whether I might light the Christmas tree […]. When the candle-ends sent up their conical yellow flames, all the colored figures from Austria stood out clear and full of meaning against the green boughs. Mr. Shimerda rose, crossed himself, and quietly knelt down before the tree, his head sunk forward. His long body formed a letter ‘S.’ I saw grandmother look apprehensively at grandfather. He was rather narrow in religious matters, and sometimes spoke out and hurt people’s feelings. There had been nothing strange about the tree before, but now, with someone kneeling before it—images, candles… Grandfather merely put his finger-tips to his brow and bowed his venerable head, thus Protestantizing the atmosphere[. . . .]

At nine o’clock Mr. Shimerda lighted one of our lanterns and put on his overcoat and fur collar. He stood in the little entry hall, the lantern and his fur cap under his arm, shaking hands with us. When he took grandmother’s hand, he bent over it as he always did, and said slowly, ‘Good wo-man!’ He made the sign of the cross over me, put on his cap and went off in the dark. As we turned back to the sitting-room, grandfather looked at me searchingly. ‘The prayers of all good people are good,’ he said quietly.”

Mr. Shimerda’s visit on Christmas Day disrupts the religious harmony the Burden family typically feels in their home. They feel an uncomfortable undercurrent of blasphemy occurring due to the gap in beliefs between the different religions. The Shimerdas came from a western region of the Czech Republic with a large Catholic population while the Burdens were observant Protestants. By his action of kneeling in front of the Burdens purely symbolic Christmas decoration, Mr. Shimerda transforms the tree into an explicitly religious icon.

While the Burdens may not identify, or even agree, with this act of religious display in their house, Mr. Burden decides to tolerate it quietly. “The prayers of all good people are good,” he remarks as Mr. Shimerda vanishes into the Christmas night. It is a noble sentiment and a triumph of religious tolerance on the frontier prairie.

It becomes a moment of divine insight in an era when Protestants and Catholics would not even enter each other’s churches or let their children intermarry. Even Catholics of different ethnicities often didn’t mix, as can be seen in towns even today that feature multiple large churches, only blocks from one another, that cater to different ethnicities (French, Polish, German, Lithuanian, etc.).

It is a good lesson for us to remember, even in this day and age, when so many people have left organized religions to pursue their own personal ideals of spirituality. It is important for us to move beyond our religious silos and be open to all the good people we encounter who may not share our religious heritage but still want to pray for us, hold us in the light, or send us good thoughts or healing energy. All these things can be comforting and helpful when they come from well-intentioned, sincere people with good hearts.

In this season of new life and growth may you bask in the prayers of all good people and no matter what your religious persuasion or beliefs are, may it always be said of you that your prayers are good!

The Dirt of Gossip Blows into my Face

Frank Sinatra was my Dad’s favorite singer and one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century, selling more than 150 million records during his long music career. His rise to fame began in the the 1940’s and lasted all the way into the 1990’s, when my Mom and Dad actually got to see him perform live on a concert stage in Worcester, MA.

Nostalgic memories of my Dad cheerfully crooning old Sinatra tunes led me to a Netflix documentary called Sinatra: All Or Nothing At All; which documents Frank’s 60 year career from its humble beginnings to his life as a music giant, touching on all the personal battles he struggled with along the way.

Francis Albert Sinatra was born in Hoboken New Jersey in 1915, the only child of Italian immigrants. His energetic and driven mother and his illiterate father were the proprietors of a tavern in Hoboken. Frank spent much of his time there after school working on his homework and singing along to the tunes on the bar’s player piano for spare change. He developed an interest in music at a young age, particularly big band jazz, and was especially influenced by the intimate easy listening vocal style of Bing Crosby.

Sinatra got his break fronting popular bandleaders Harry James and Tommy Dorsey and found success as a solo artist in 1941 when he began topping the male singer polls. His appeal to the teenage girls of that time revealed a whole new audience for popular music – which had been recorded mainly for adults up to that time. His popularity became officially known as “Sinatramania” and his bright blue eyes earned him the nickname “Ol’ Blue Eyes“.

Frank never learned how to read music, but he worked very hard to improve his singing abilities by working regularly with a vocal coach. He became known as a perfectionist, renowned for his dress sense and performing presence and insisting on recording all his songs in front of a live band.

Sinatra led a colorful personal life. He was often involved in turbulent affairs with women, had connections to Mafia bosses, and had several violent and well publicized confrontations with journalists and work bosses he felt had crossed him.

Despite the negative publicity, everyone recognized the important contributions Frank Sinatra made to society through his music. He was honored with America’s highest awards and was named by music critic Robert Christgau as “the greatest singer of the 20th century“. He died in 1998 but he remains to this day an iconic and popular figure.

In 1995 a birthday tribute, Sinatra: 80 Years My Way, was broadcast from Los Angeles featuring a star-studded cast of performers singing songs meant to honor the “Chairman of the Board“. I was surprised to learn that Bob Dylan, my favorite artist, was among the cast of performers who appeared on stage that night.

On the surface, it seems like Frank Sinatra and Bob Dylan would be unlikely to have much in common. After all, they come from different generations and practiced totally different musical styles. Frank worked with a big band using his smooth velvet voice to interpret other people’s songs; while Dylan wrote and sung his own material employing his unique rough and weathered blues voice.

But the two artists had great respect for one another and if you dig deep into the life and careers of the two men it is not hard to understand why:

• Both men came from humble beginnings; Frank the son of blue collar workers and Tavern owners in Hoboken NJ and Bob the son of a Hibbing MN Appliance Store owner.
• Both were self-made men who dropped out of school to pursue their musical interests. Frank would sing for free on NY Radio stations and found jobs singing for cigarettes or his supper. Bob hitchhiked across the country singing at Folk Clubs and coffee shops for tips and crashing on friend’s couches in New York’s Greenwich Village.
• Both men had to learn how to cope with the fame and attention that comes with achieving sudden fame and popularity. Sinatra had to travel with bodyguards while Dylan learned to disguise himself in public and hide his family away from the hordes of fans who would show up at his doorstep at all hours of the day and night to ask him his opinions about politics and the meaning of life.
• Both men had a small circle of loyal friends who they trusted, both lived through a series of romantic relationships, and both were known to be moody for wanting to protect their privacy and do things their way.
• Both men spoke out against injustice. Frank publicly championed the rights of all people, regardless of race and set an example by the diverse group of people he associated with in his personal life. Bob wrote the great Civil Rights anthems of the 1960’s that encouraged passing of the landmark 1960’s Civil Rights laws.
• Both men managed to have successful musical careers for more than 60 years. One was simply referred to as “The Voice“; while the other was burdened by the press with the title of the “Voice of his Generation“.
• Both men were primarily responsible for what is known as “The Great American Songbook“. Frank’s iconic singing of the work of the great songwriters from the 1940 and 50’s led to the first Great American Songbook; while Bob Dylan’s original and poetic songs became classics and the key components of America’s second Great American Songbook.
• Both men were honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Congressional Gold Medal and Grammy Lifetime Achievement Awards. Both men were included in Time Magazine’s list of the 20th century’s 100 Most Influential People.

Even though the two men were not close, it is not surprising that they would each have admiration and respect for one another – simply because of the similarities between their life experiences. Dylan once told an amusing story about the first time he met Frank which indicates the two men knew they were made of stuff that was a cut above everyone else.

“We were standing on his patio at night when he took me aside and said, ‘You and me, pal, we got blue eyes, we’re from up there,’ and he pointed to the stars. ‘These other bums are from down here.’ I remember thinking that he might be right.”

Bob Dylan relating what Frank Sinatra said to him at their first meeting

While browsing Youtube, I was happy to stumble across this [video clip] of Bob Dylan singing his song “Restless Farewell” to Frank at his 1995 80th birthday television tribute. The lyrics for this poignant song are reprinted below:

Restless Farewell by Bob Dylan

Oh, all the money that in my whole life I did spend
Be it mine right or wrongfully
I let it slip gladly to my friends
To tie up the time most forcefully
But the bottles are done
We've killed each one
And the table's full and overflowed
And the corner sign says it's closing time
So I'll bid farewell and be down the road

Oh, ev'ry girl that ever I've touched
I did not do it harmfully
And ev'ry girl that ever I've hurt
I did not do it knowin'ly
But to remain as friends you need the time
To make amends and stay behind
And since my feet are now fast
And point away from the past
I'll bid farewell and be down the line

Oh, ev'ry foe that ever I faced
The cause was there before we came
And ev'ry cause that ever I fought
I fought it full without regret or shame
But the dark does die
As the curtain is drawn and somebody's eyes 
Must meet the dawn 
And if I see the day, I'd only have to stay
So I'll bid farewell in the night and be gone

Oh, ev'ry thought that's strung a knot in my mind
I might go insane if it couldn't be sprung
But it's not to stand naked under unknowin' eyes
It's for myself and my friends my stories are sung
But the time ain't tall
Yet on time you depend and no word is possessed by no special friend
And though the line is cut, it ain't quite the end
I'll just bid farewell till we meet again

Oh, a false clock tries to tick out my time
To disgrace, distract and bother me
And the dirt of gossip blows into my face
And the dust of rumors covers me
But if the arrow is straight
And the point is slick
It can pierce through dust no matter how thick
So I'll make my stand and remain as I am
And bid farewell and not give a damn

I can’t help thinking that Bob chose to sing this particular song as a farewell because it beautifully captures the independent spirit and steadfast nature of both Frank Sinatra and Bob Dylan; two men who walked in the same shoes, trying to live life to the fullest and navigating the journey on their own terms.

I believe the song captures the essence of both men. Both men lived life generously, sharing their fortune with friends, family and worthy causes. Both men loved greatly and regret past hurts to companions that can’t be undone. Both men picked up the torch to fight battles to overcome injustice, battles that must now be picked up by others. Finally, both men remained true to themselves, refusing to be swayed by public opinion or what impact their actions would have on their popularity.

The last verse is especially striking to me. As Frank Sinatra is nearing the end of his life, does he feel bewildered and bothered by a false clock that is trying to tick out his time? Does he remember all the “dirt of gossip” that blew into his face through the years or think about the “dust of rumors” that seemed to always cover him? If he does, Bob advises Frank not to give a damn about it because Frank was always a straight arrow with a sharp point and “if the arrow is straight and the point is slick it can pierce through dust no matter how thick“.

Maybe the reason both men were able to bust through the dust and dirt that swirled around their life is because when they got up to sing they had a way of capturing the universal emotions of the human spirit in a way that always felt true.

Frank expressed this exact sentiment directly when he was asked about all the gossip and innuendo that always seemed to surround him. He said; “Whatever else has been said about me personally is unimportant. When I sing, I believe I’m honest.“

So, here’s to those two restless spirits, Frank Sinatra and Bob Dylan; may they live forever through their music and may their music continue to remind all of us “other bums” to bravely pursue our lives with authenticity and honesty.

Keep On the Sunny Side

It seems like everyone I talk to believes that 2020 was a terrible year. It’s easy to understand why given the COVID-19 pandemic, the global recession, numerous episodes of racial injustice, refugees fleeing their homes, continued global warming, and to top it off, a bitter election year battle for the soul of the America.

Every day we are assaulted with negative news about wars, shootings, protests, pollution, inequality, poverty and the proliferation of nuclear weapons. These stories suggest that the world is in bad shape and many people living today are convinced that things here on earth have never been worse.

Despite all the depressing news coverage, people ought to be told that the world has actually never been better than it is right now. As hard as it is for us to believe – humans, as a species, are doing a lot better than we ever have.

That is the conclusion that Harvard professor and acclaimed science writer Steven Pinker comes to in his 2018 Ted Talk and in his book Enlightenment Now. Pinker argues that the world is not that bad. In fact, he says when you look at all of the objective data, our world is in the best shape it’s ever been and humanity is improving every day. He concludes that now is the best time in the history of the world to be alive.

We know that people did not live well in the distant past, regardless of how much money they had. For the vast majority of human history — if you were lucky enough to survive childbirth, life really was nasty, brutish and short. It was lived at the edge of starvation, and to modern eyes it looks unpleasant, boring and sometimes terrifying.

Pinker uses numerous categories as a yardstick to measure the variety of ways that the world is better for humans now compared to the past:

We’re all Living Longer

The average life expectancy of people today compared to the past clearly shows that humanity is flourishing. Just 250 years ago, one-third of children in the world’s richest countries did not live to see their fifth birthday. Today, even in the world’s poorest countries, more than 94% of children survive past their fifth birthday.

The life expectancy of a person born in England in the year 1558 was 22 years old! It slowly increased over the next few hundred years but it wasn’t until 1907 that the average life expectancy reached 50.

Today the average worldwide life expectancy is 70 years old and in developed countries it is over 80. There is nowhere on Earth where life expectancy is less than 50.

The advancements we’ve made globally in the last 100 years, even in our poorest, most war-torn countries, are incredible. The life expectancy in Somalia today is higher than the highest life-expectancy of any country in the world 100 years ago. In this respect even the poorest of third world countries is better off today than the richest, most powerful countries were in the early 20th century.

It is hard for those of us living today to imagine living during a time when so many people died so young. But all you have to do is walk around an old cemetery of people who lived in the 17th and 18th centuries to get an idea of how commonplace it is to encounter the gravestones of infants and children who died at a very young age; and how remarkable it is to encounter a gravestone of someone who lived past 80.

As an example, during a recent hike I came upon an old cemetery and was struck by the tragic family gravesite of Ansel & Esther Howard. They had three daughters: Sally born in 1825, Silvia born in 1827 and Nancy born in 1834. All of them died young. Nancy in 1836 at the age of 2, Silvia in 1845 at the age of 18 and Sally in 1846 at the age of 21. What heartache their parents must have suffered.

Family Gravesite of Ansel & Esther Howard

We’re Healthier Now

A big factor behind the gradual increase of human longevity has been incremental advancements made by the medical field over time. The discovery of antibiotics, vaccines, targeted medicines and proven disease treatment protocols – along with the increasing availability of clean tap water – have kept us alive and made our lives less miserable.

Our increasing knowledge of the human machine and how to keep it healthy has directly led to more people adopting healthy lifestyle regimens (diet, exercise and sleep) that when followed prevent or delay the onset of aging related diseases.

Thanks to the discovery of antibiotics like penicillin, developing an infection does not have to mean death or the amputation of a body part; and thanks to vaccines, virulent contagious diseases like Smallpox (which was responsible for the deaths of more than 300 million people in the 20th century) no longer terrorize the earth.

We’re Safer Now

If you only paid attention to the news, you would probably think that crime is at an all-time high, when in actuality the American crime rate is at a 50 year low and roughly half of what it was in 1990. In the last thirty years alone, the homicide rate has dropped from 8.5 per 100,000 to 5.3 per 100,000.

There is also less conflict between countries today. Before the advent of modern democracies most of the world was run by fanatics and madmen like Attila the Hun and Genghis Khan who would destroy entire cities and murder their populations over the slightest provocation.

During the 1950s, there were an average of six international wars per year going on, with approximately 250 people per million dying war-related deaths. In the last ten years the world has averaged only one war per year with less than 10 people per million dying per year. There has also been a reduction in the number of nuclear arms from more than 60,000 in 1988 to 10,325 in 2017.

There are still far too many conflicts in the world, but as hard as it might be to believe, there are much less of them than there ever have been before.

And let’s not forget that a great Civil War was fought to eliminate the scourge of a robust slave trade that abducted millions of Africans, shipped them to foreign shores where they lived in bondage and were subjected to the atrocities of rape, beatings, family separations, lynchings, racial hatred and political disenfranchisement.

Other developments over the last 50 years years that have served to make us safer include:

• Labor laws ensuring greedy businesses do not exploit children or force workers to toil under unsafe operating conditions.
• Civil rights laws preventing discrimination against employees and job applicants on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, or age.
• Department of Transportation agencies establishing codified safety standards for automobiles, highways, railroads, aircraft, boats and the safe transport of hazardous materials.
  • Because of our adherence to these safety standards over the last century we’ve become 96% less likely to die in a car accident, 88% less likely to be killed on the sidewalk, 99% less likely to die in a plane crash, 95% less likely to be killed on the job, and 89% less likely to die from a natural disaster.
• Environmental Protection regulations protecting the nation’s air, land and water from being polluted by the waste generated by the Industrial Revolution.

Prior to these environmental protections laws, the industrial waste generated by factories was allowed to be dumped directly into the environment poisoning the air, land, and water and sickening the people who came in contact with it. Thirty years ago in the US, there were 35 million tons of hazardous particulate matter in the air, today that has been reduced by 40% to 21 million tons.

As a young boy growing up in the 1970’s I remember there were rivers that were considered too polluted to fish because they were downstream from a paper mill or factory. Other rivers had no fish because they had been killed from the sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide compounds that poured into the streams in the form of “Acid Rain”. Today, these rivers run clean and the fish thrive.

There is Less Poverty Now

Global poverty is one of the worst problems that the world faces. The poorest in the world today suffer with diminished health because they are often hungry, poorly educated and have no reliable access to electricity, plumbing or medical care.

For much of history, only a small elite enjoyed living conditions that would not be described as ‘extreme poverty’ today. But with the onset of industrialization and rising productivity, the share of people living in extreme poverty started to decrease. Over the course of the last two centuries, one of the most remarkable achievements of humankind has been the reduction in the share of people that are living in extreme poverty.

Two hundred years ago 90% of the people in the world suffered from extreme poverty, today less than 10% do. As recently as 50 years ago, half of the people in the American South lived in extreme poverty and had no hope of improvement – but today no southern state has a poverty rate higher than 20%.

Cutting the global poverty rate in half since 1990 has translated into approximately one billion less starving, desperate people in the world today.

The trend continues to be positive due to globalization of the world’s economies and government social programs that provide aid to the needy. It is important however, for us living today to recognize how incredibly privileged we are to live at a time when, thanks to technological advancements, even the poorest citizens live in more comfort than the richest kings of yesterday.

We’re more Educated Now

When my mother was a young girl growing up in the 1930’s she was lucky to attend elementary school through the 7th grade. She was part of a farming family and her father thought it was more important for her and her seven siblings to stay home and help him run the farm.

That was the norm back when children were put to labor at an early age on the farm or in the factories. Educating children was not a priority or a requirement, so many children never participated in formal school training.

Before the 17th century, only 5% of Europeans could read or write. Today, more than 90% of the world’s population under the age of 25 can read and write. Literacy is at an all-time high and a more educated populace has had a direct effect on lowering the global poverty rate.

In addition, patriarchal dominated systems around the world are now being pressured to offer equal education opportunities for the women in their country that were denied in the past.

We’re more Productive Now

Constant advancements in science and technology have been the foundation underlying most of the reasons why humans are better today. Poverty, life-expectancy and quality of life are all better because science is being harnessed to make us more productive.

Take hunger as an example. Back in the 1970s, many people were concerned that the world would not have enough food to keep up with the growing population. That fear was portrayed in the old movie Soylent Green. Food shortages would have been a major problem indeed, had not science made remarkable advancements in the areas of agriculture and food-resource management which enabled the food industry to exponentially increase their crop yields.

People also have more free time today to devote to productive pursuits because new labor-saving gadgets have been invented that dramatically reduce the amount of time we spend doing housework. In the last 100 years, the average time spent doing housework has fallen from 60 hours a week to fewer than 15 hours a week! That gives modern humans an additional 45+ hours per week to spend pursuing productive activities, making it possible for women to leave home, join the workplace, and make positive contributions to society.

Finally, the advent of the world-wide Internet and global cellular communications has had a tremendous multiplying effect on society’s productivity. We take it for granted today that most everybody has a smart phone genie in their pocket that, within seconds, can connect them to anyone at any time, give them precise directions on how to navigate to any destination, play any song ever recorded or answer any question that they can think up.

None of this technology existed 20 years ago. Think about how amazing it is that you can find just about anything you want within seconds – a book, a movie, a new pair of boots. We get to live in the kind of world that used to be imagined only in science-fiction novels. My 92 year old mother, who we are training to use an iPad, stares at us in wide-eyed wonder when we show her what she can do with the device. She can attend her Church service, visit with her grandchildren and watch her soap opera all without leaving her chair!

Of course, constant communication and information overload also plays a part in explaining why everyone is so convinced that things in the world are so bad now. Everything is so immediate, the entire world laid out in real-time before us – and that can be scary and stressful.

But the information overload may actually help save us because it makes us look the world in the face and confront all the evil that has nowhere to hide anymore. We can’t pretend George Floyd wasn’t unjustly killed because we all watched him slowly murdered by the police on our TV screens and Twitter feeds. In a sense, the outrage, horror and disgust that gets generated by exposing these heinous events actually helps keep the world from spinning further out of control by bending the arc of the moral universe further toward justice.

Contemplating all the ways that the world is better for humans today compared to the past was a good exercise for me because, as my wife reminds me, I do have a tendency sometimes to focus on the negative (when I do this, my wife calls me Eeyore because my behavior reminds her of the gloomy sidekick character portrayed in the Winnie the Pooh children’s books).

You can always fool yourself into seeing a decline if you compare the constantly bleeding headlines of the present with the rose-tinted memories of the past.

Pinker concludes that while the world still has plenty of problems to solve, it’s healthier for us to look at the big picture and see the glass as half full. “We will never have a perfect world, but there’s no limit to the betterments we can attain if we continue to apply knowledge to enhance human flourishing and if we think of issues like climate change and nuclear war as problems to be solved instead of apocalypses in waiting.”

I have a new appreciation for all the blessings that come with living in the present age, I feel grateful to be a beneficiary of all the progress the world has made, and I look toward the future with optimism, in the hope that it will be an even better world for my grandchildren.

So, I salute 2020 as the best year ever! Henceforth, whenever I feel my inner Eeyore rising, I will remember how good I have it and remind myself to always keep on the sunny side of life.

There’s a dark and a troubled side of life
There’s a bright and a sunny side, too
Though we meet with the darkness and strife
The sunny side we also may view

Keep on the sunny side, always on the sunny side
Keep on the sunny side of life
It will help us every day, it will brighten all the way
If we’ll keep on the sunny side of life

Lyrics to old Folk Spiritual “Keep on the Sunny Side of Life” as sung by the Carter Family