HEAR, HEAR THE GANGS ALL HERE/A Tribute to the Blackberry

HEAR, HEAR THE GANGS ALL HERE/A Tribute to the Blackberry

(A New Addition is made each Monday and Thursday, Coming up on Thursday...some new ways to keep those resolutions)

Before the Blackberry, email and all the other wonderful newfangled ways we communicate these days… for centuries man communicated by sending smoke signals or yelling.

I still remember my first telephone. It consisted of two tin cans connected by a piece of string. High fidelity was not one of its outstanding qualities but a playmate and I could talk over a fairly long distance and it was intriguing. It was but a childish extension of the wondrous invention of Alexander Graham Bell. The year was 1876 and he was granted patent no. 174,465.
It was the natural outgrowth of a family that had long been involved in the transmission of coherent speech. His grandfather invented a device for overcoming stammering and his father perfected a system of visible speech for deaf mutes.

This man, born March 3, 1847 had tutored Helen Keller and worked extensively with the deaf. Now in his twenty ninth year he invented a way for the human voice to shrink the miles for vocal communication. “Mr. Watson, come here I want you,” and the words traveled no further than from one room to another. Within a year people in Boston were talking to people in New York. By the end of the 1880’s there were 47,900 telephones installed in America. These first subscribers were hardy breeds who were required to put up their own line to connect with another.

It took until 1915 for the telephone to go Intercontinental. What one inventor had described as a toy was taking over. I am old enough to remember having a party line. The coin operated telephone preceded my birth by five years, 1923. The mobile phone came into being one year later and was of great advantage to the police force. It was a distinct disadvantage to the criminal.

The first touch tone telephones were put to use in Baltimore, Maryland in 1941. The buttons were pushed by operators in a central switching office. It was too expensive for general use. By the early 1960’s low cost transistors made it possible for a private home to have this easier and faster means of dialing.

The first picture phones in 1956 were primitive at best. By the 1964 World’s Fair the picture had improved but not public acceptance. The cell phones we now take for granted actually began in 1983.

It is fascinating to follow the telephone from its humble beginnings to what we now take for granted in our twenty first century. I hate to shop but now shop with my wife by cell phone. She sees something in the grocery store and calls me to see if I am interested.

Do we talk too much while saying little? Are we better off with telephones than without? In answer to the question, consider this. Before the telephone if you wanted to go see someone you hopped on your horse and began perhaps a five or ten mile journey. If the person you were calling on had had the same idea and started in your direction by a different road the results were less than pleasing. At the end of each of your journeys you would still be the same distance apart.

With telephones, of course, we simply pick up the phone and say, “Joe/Jane, is it convenient to drop by?”

Thanks Alexander. We love you.

DECEMBER, THE WARMEST MONTH IN THE YEAR

(New thoughts are posted each Monday and Thursday)

“There has been only one Christmas…the rest are anniversaries,” wrote W. J. Cameron. And so it is that mankind once again renews his perpetual prayer for Peace on earth, Good will toward man.

Some little children will actually tell you they have heard in the distance the “Ho,Ho,Ho’s” of Santa’s helpers. It is the season for miracles, so why not?

For all the stress of Christmas shopping there are still more smiles on happy faces and the desire for giving is far greater across the land. Watch a candle slowly melting away and if you stop and think about it, as it gives out light without asking anything in return it becomes a symbol of what Christmas is all about.

There are the inevitable Christmas jokes. “I once brought my kids a set of batteries for Christmas with a note on it saying, “Toys not included.” Or “You know you’re getting older when Santa starts looking younger.” Someone has even suggested in a jocular manner that the worst Christmas gift is a fruitcake and that there really is only one fruitcake in the world that keeps being sent over and over again.

Would you be particularly creative this year? Then give a potted evergreen tree from your local nursery. This way, when Christmas is behind you it can be planted in your backyard rather than thrown into your local landfill. Just imagine down through the years looking at one particular tree in your parade of Christmas gift trees and saying, “Ah, Yes, I believe that one joined us ten years ago.

SOME INTERESTING WAYS TO IMPROVE YOUR DAYS

SOME INTERESTING WAYS TO IMPROVE YOUR DAYS

(New thoughts are added each Monday and Thursday)

The good thing about promoting from within? You don’t have to ask for references!

Would your spouse or child be unhappy to be reminded on a fairly regular basis that they are something special? A little creativity can accomplish this and both of you will be the happier because of it.

How? Try from time to time putting a note in a lunch box, pocketbook or coat pocket that reads, “I love you…You looked so pretty (handsome) when you left this morning…I’ll be praying your brain works well when you take that test today…I just want you to have a good day and I wanted you to know it. THINK HOW YOU WOULD FEEL IF YOU GOT SUCH A NOTE.

And in closing, a few thoughts from my book POOR RICHARD’S ALMANACK FOR THE 20TH CENTURY.

If a parent shows the manners of an alley cat they shouldn’t expect their children to treat them as if they had a pedigree.

It is a dark day when a man has a ton of problems and only a pound of fortitude.

Brotherhood is love combating the loneliness of the world.

(Copies are available on amazon.com and other book outlets)

I AM CHRISTMAS

(New thoughts are posted each Monday and Thursday)

I AM CHRISTMAS

I am Christmas. I am the wide eyes of a child at break of Christmas Day. I am the somber look of an old man’s memory. I am the holy look of Christ’s worshipers in prayer. I am the glad, great cry of the carolers in the winter night.

I am Christmas. I have looked on the first star of Bethlehem. I saw, on the first Christmas Eve, three wise men. I felt the presence of shepherds in their awe. I perceived the Christ child in his crib.

I am Christmas. I have gathered many symbols around about me. I have my fir tree from Germany. I have my yuletide from Jol in Iceland. I have my jolly old Saint Nick from the Land of the dikes. I have mistletoe from Celtic Britain. I have America’s own particular gift of commercialization. I have the story of the Nativity from that book so close to men of all nations.

I am Christmas. I am the rustle of the wrappings from asunder on Christmas morn. I m the whistle of the toy train trembling on the tracks. I am the cry of the doll so real it almost talks. I am the family arm-in-arm, in transit from friend to friend.

I am Christmas. There is no other like me; though you search the world up every river, round every bend. I offer an abundance of love and good cheer. I break the back of hostilities for a spell. Even battlefields have become quiet for a time. And bullets have been traded briefly for the spirit of brotherhood. I am the hope of the world caught up in one special day. I am the promise of something good in men let loose in a 24 hour period.

I am Christmas. I am the miracle of a Scrooge. I am the memory of a snowy village twinkling in the night. I m mercy with a “Merry Christmas” on my lips and a gift in my hand.

I am Christmas. And to each of you who hold me close and shout out my merry greeting at this happiest of seasons, the VERY BEST TO YOU.

LOVE AS A WAY OF LIVING

(these postings are added to each Monday and Thursday)

Since it is Christmas consider GIVING the finest gift of all.

Gift wrap the art of love. Frame it with your attitude and actions. Do not just leave it under the tree or confined within the walls of family ties but give it wings so that it can fly from one grand opportunity to the next.

Be not careless with this emotional giant for it is what this Christmas season is all about or else it is not a Christmas season.

Plato called love, “divine madness; but call it what you will the eternal questions continue. How do you find it, feel it, and finally fax it from the center of your heart.?

Paul in the Bible says that love is PATIENT. And that really becomes a challenge when you realize the Greek translation underlines that it means patience toward people rather than toward things. Which isn’t easy... because some people can be actively ornery and continuously cantankerous.

Take Abraham Lincoln and his Secretary of War Edwin Stanton. Stanton, appointed by Lincoln to his cabinet, called ole Abe “a low, cunning clown” and “the original gorilla.” And that was on days when he showed restraint. What did Lincoln do in return? He treated Stanton with the utmost courtesy. He knew he was the best man for the job and he would not fire him.

Then, one night in Ford’s theatre, at 10:15 PM, Lincoln was shot. He died the next morning at 7:22, and Stanton, with tears pouring down his cheeks, looked down at the now still form and said, “There lies the greatest ruler of men the world has even seen.”
The strength of patient love had, at the very last, finally prevailed.

Love is KIND. And how can you and I do this? It begins with our eyes. One has to be aware of other people’s needs to even begin to do something about it. In short, don’t wait for people to be kind...rather show them how.

Love is HUMBLE. Some of you may have heard of a man by the name of William Carey. He was a great man of God who as a missionary translated the Bible into no fewer than 34 Indian dialects. When he was young he had been a shoe cobbler, and one evening at a dinner party a man who disliked Carey sneered, “I believe, Mr. Carey, you once worked as a shoemaker.”

“No,” replied Carey, “I was only a cobbler. I only mended shoes. I did not make them.” Carey was known throughout the Christian world as a great linguist. But Carey had no designs on becoming an egotistical fool. He was quite content with being referred to as a cobbler OR a linguist, or both. He had no delusions of grandeur.

Love has GOOD MANNERS. I love the Phillips scripture translation which reads, “Love doesn’t allow itself to be rude, curt and ill-mannered.”

Love? If I love you and you love me as much as we should love each other, it isn’t that we will never have to say, “I’m sorry.” It is rather that each of us will accept the two word apology with a three word reply, “I forgive you,” said either by word or deed or both.

Love? It is a roof over our head that never leaks no matter how hard the rains of sorrow fall.

Are you readying your package of love for Christmas morn in particular, bringing to that exciting time… which can sometimes be a little hectic as well as happy… a special patience, a special kindness, special good manners and special humility. I hope so…for yes…it is the finest gift you will ever give.

HOW TO TURN PROCRASTINATION INTO A FRIEND RATHER THAN A FOE (2)

How to turn Procrastination into a Friend rather than a Foe (2)

(New ideas are posted each Monday and Thursday)

I didn’t procrastinate so here are the next ideas on how to defeat Procrastination. The total is one now one dozen and may following these ideas multiply your peace with yourself quotient by the number 12.

7. You can’t write yourself too many notes. Most procrastinators rely on what they see as their perfect memory and then conveniently forget.
8. Are you a perfectionist? They are often the worst procrastinator because they end up coming to the conclusion that if they can’t do something perfect they might as well not do it at all.
9. Fear of rejection. If you don’t try, you can’t be rejected. Is this you?
10. Ask yourself the questions, how long will it actually take to get done what needs to be done? Is it worth the time? What will happen if I continue to put it off? Write your answers down. The reason for naming the amount of time for a task is that a shorter task will look easier when viewed against one that takes a much larger amount of time…and this way you may well be motivated to, at least, go ahead and do the shorter time consuming task.
11. Create your own anti-procrastination day of the week or month. Let this be a day you celebrate like some other holidays, celebrate by getting things you’ve been putting off actually done.
12. Sometimes messiness is one of the greatest friends of procrastination. Need I say more.
And so for what they are worth, I am glad to have shared with you dozen ideas that have worked for me and hopefully you will consider putting into practice at least some of them. And by so doing, stop constantly reviewing problems but rather in a far shorter time start trying to solve them.

How to turn Procrastination into a Friend rather than a Foe

(New thoughts are posted each Monday and Thursday)

Procrastination is a thief. It steals the best of intentions and leaves them on a large pile of excuses.

One poet seeking to add humor if not solution to the problem wrote, “Procrastination is my sin, it brings me naught but sorrow. I know that I should stop it. In fact, I will….tomorrow.”

There is, of course, productive procrastination. Such as saving time by not raking the leaves and waiting until the wind blows them away or not changing the clock for Day Light Savings Time because, after all, in six months it will have to be done all over again.

Have you ever stopped to think how much is done in the last minute? You know, of course, I am talking about any of us who at least more than once in our lives have waited until the last minute to get something done.

I suppose one could argue that there is a certain exhilaration about procrastination as one thinks about all the wonderful things they are going to do some day, some how, somewhere. So, what can be done to slow it down if not bring the problem to a halt?

1. Well, if a project or need to do something seems too big, break it up into smaller parts. I remember the first time I hiked the Appalachian trail. When I reached a point where I was tired and wanted to quit but still wanted to keep going I said to myself, “I can walk to that rock up ahead. And then after that I can walk to that tree and so on…” The lawn is too big to mow. Think front yard and then tomorrow back yard. Or a teenager, I can clean off my be desktoday, if not the whole room. Etc., etc.

2. Make a contract with yourself and sign it, something like “I pledge to get the job (name it) I need to get it done today.” When you have signed it put it in a prominent place to remind yourself what you signed.

3. REWARD YOURSELF! Make it something you wouldn’t have gotten if you hadn’t followed through on your contract to yourself. Remember, if procrastination is truly your problem it has been around a long time and you need all the help you can give yourself to defeat it.

4. Deal with one thing to do at a time. Long lists of things to do only make it easier to procrastinate.

5. Tie something you don’t want to do into a daily chore that you have already developed a habit for doing.

6: This is stretching creativity a bit but imagine that you are the thing on the list you keep ignoring. Would you like being ignored for as long as you have been doing it?

(Six more ideas on how to defeat Procrastination in my next posting)

WHAT IS CHRISTMAS? JUST SOME THOUGHTS ON IT… AND SOME THINGS TO DO TO MAKE IT EVEN BETTER

(New thoughts are added each Monday and Thursday)

One of the first harbingers of the coming season is the arrival of Christmas cards. Depending upon how organized, or not, your friends and family are… some may actually arrive sometime after Christmas.

Why did Christmas cards become so popular? Well, give credit to England’s new railway system back in the year 1840. It helped the public postal service work faster and more efficiently. That coupled with the fact a card could be sent for half the price of a letter really got things moving. And as the price of printed cards dropped, more and more, Christmas greetings were sent. This tradition spread to America and at first almost all Christmas Cards were entirely religious. Today they run the gamut from baseball players dressed as Santa to the more traditional Santa still streaking across the sky. .

As to Santa, he really was real - a Christian leader in Myra (modern day Turkey) in 4 AD. Tradition tells us that St. Nicholas was a shy, good man who wanted to help the poor, but anonymously. To make sure no one knew where the gifts or money came from, he sometimes had to be very inventive. One time, or so goes the story; wanting to give a poor family money for the wedding of their third daughter, he found he could not throw the purse in through an open window, as he had done with the other two daughters. So he climbed up on roof and dropped the purse down the chimney. Fortunately, it landed in one of the stockings that had been hung to dry over the warm hot coals. And thus the Christmas stocking.

And how did we get to know him as Santa Claus? It came about as a mispronunciation of the Dutch SinterKlaas which was their way of saying St. Nicholas.

Keeping alive the International flavor of this article may I remind that in Hungary, children clean their shoes and then put them outside next to the door or window. For them it is the equivalent of hanging a stocking. If they have really been bad, they may find a golden birch placed next to the candies. This symbol for a spanking probably got the message across. Were you ever threatened with the promise of a piece of coal in your stocking if you didn’t behave? Well, yes, another strange custom from places far away.

In Finland, many families visit cemeteries to place candles on the grave stones of family members.

In Belgium, a special sweet bread called ‘cougnou” is served for Christmas breakfast. It has been made in a shape meant to represent the baby Jesus.

Hopefully your Christmas is more of holy and not of humbug. And the answer to which is true depends on what you emphasize. So here are some thoughts on how to make this Christmas even better than last year. Well, if not necessarily better, at least to some degree different.

How about having a cookie exchange with a neighbor? That way you each get to sample each others favorites.

If you live where it snows, don’t just look out the window at it, go for a walk in it. And if there is a park nearby, even better.

Have a game night as Christmas approaches. Checkers or monopoly if you still have an old board lying around. Or better still make up a game or two on your own. A kind of family project. It may not be the greatest ever played, but they will be all yours.

There are many kinds of gifts that can be given at Christmas. Obviously, the nicest one is a nicer you, so work at being a better person than you already are. Work on your smile power. Pack away some patience for use when things get hectic.

This idea isn’t for everyone, but think about it. Is there a widow or widower down the street with their family a thousand and more miles away? How would they feel if you asked them to be a part of your family at Christmas time?

Almost everyone makes New Year’s resolutions. This year make some at Christmas time. Such as a resolution to be polite to the over-worked sales clerk who isn’t moving as fast as you would like. To pray before you eat if you have gotten out of the habit. To say “Thank you” and “Please” more often. And, yes…OF COURSE… HAVE A MERRY CHRISTMAS ONE AND ALL.

JOT IT DOWN

(new additions are made each Monday and Thursday)

I have a little notebook in which I jot down ways to improve my life. The ideas and suggestions come from many sources and about many things, and I write them down because I want to remember them and refer back to them. It has nothing to do with my being 80 because just like when I was 30, I sometimes do forget things. It has everything to do with living better and enjoying life more.

Therefore, I was intrigued to recently read that if I reduce something to a word having less syllables or put it down three times such as Bob, Bob, Bob it will help me to remember that the my new friend’s name is Bob, Bob, Bob Claughton, Claughton, Claughton. Maybe it’s an echo effect. So I decided to apply it and see if it works. Smile, smile, smile as a way of reminding me I’ll like myself better if I increase my smile quotient. Or exercise, exercise, exercise. Or diet, diet, diet. Or listen, listen, listen. It works. Try it.

Some of my jottings are so simple I would wonder why I have to write them down. The answer is simple, I need to nudge myself in this busy world.

Be nice. One day, when I had simply done something nice for someone, I realized one more time that being nice gave me a warm and fuzzy feeling that lasted long after the deed. Being nice is a double edged gift; good for the recipient and good for the doer.

Be patient. My wife says I am a patient impatient man which, of course, means that I am prone to impatience so I just work harder at overcoming this tendency. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that impatience is a cloud and sends out more shadows than shining.

Don’t expect perfection. When I was young I collected rocks, but never found a perfect one. Have you ever seen a perfect flower? Have seen anything perfectly perfect? When I look in the mirror each morning I do not see perfection. This does not mean I should not try to improve. It does mean I must not drive myself crazy trying to be perfect.

Don’t do it to yourself or those around you? If you want to be happy you have to learn how to try to love and understand people, warts and all…including yourself. If there is a secret to having more shining moments, this is the place to begin and come back to again and again.

Be a volunteer. There are many good causes that would love your help. If getting out is difficult, offer to make phone calls. Serve on a committee if you are blessed with mobility.. In short, give some of your time to others and you will be rewarded a thousand.

I love the way the philosopher Epicetus put it, “God has entrusted me with myself.”