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Embrace the free coffee!

Embrace the Free CoffeeI’m still working on my feelings about conformity and guilt. Today my lesson was brought to me by the friendly barista working the drive through window at the coffee shop.

This morning I cruised into the drive through at my local coffee shop with loyalty card in hand, ready to buy my usual $2 morning cup of coffee (expensive I know, but totally worth it!).

As I pulled up to the window, the young woman looked at me and told me, “The car in front of you paid for your coffee.”

“Damn”, I said, “I hate it when they do that!”

She frowned, looking a bit confused, and asked “Why is that?”

Sighing, I said, “How much is the order for the car behind me?”

She looked over her shoulder to the register and replied, “$13.97.”

“That’s why…” I muttered under my breath.

She just smiled at me and said “Embrace the free coffee!

I took a deep breath, exhaled, and realized the wisdom of her words. Smiling, I pulled off, sipping my coffee and enjoying it all the way to work.

The Starfish Story

I’ve always loved this story, and try to remember it when things get a little tough.

While walking along a beach, an elderly gentleman saw someone in the distance leaning down, picking something up and throwing it into the ocean.

 

As he got closer, he noticed that the figure was that of a young man, picking up starfish one by one and tossing each one gently back into the water.

 

He came closer still and called out, “Good morning! May I ask what it is that you are doing?

Starfish_Conni_Robertson

 

The young man paused, looked up, and replied “Throwing starfish into the ocean.

 

The old man smiled, and said, “I must ask, then, why are you throwing starfish into the ocean?”

 

To this, the young man replied, “The sun is up and the tide is going out. If I don’t throw them in, they’ll die.”

 

Upon hearing this, the elderly observer commented, “But, young man, do you not realize that there are miles and miles of beach and there are starfish all along every mile? You can’t possibly make a difference!”

 

The young man listened politely. Then he bent down, picked up another starfish, threw it into the back into the ocean past the breaking waves and said, “It made a difference for that one.”

 

I am building a temple

Stone WallThree builders were carrying the same exact work.

-What do you do? -each of them was asked.

-I carry stones, said the first one.

-I’m earning a living, responded the second one.

But the third one replied: “I am building a temple”.

Thanksgiving – The Forgotten Holiday

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays, but alas, it now seems to be just a bookmark, almost forgotten amid the consumer frenzy. I have so many fond memories of Thanksgiving from my youth, but now it just seems to be “that meal we eat right before BLACK FRIDAY…”

When I was younger I remember writing an essay about Thanksgiving.  I don’t remember it all but I do remember describing some of what I loved about it. The morning always began with the smell of sausage cooking for the apple and sausage stuffing for the turkey.  Then for hours there was the smell of the turkey roasting in the oven, the pumpkin pies baking away, and all the other various goodies being prepared for the family gathering later in the day.

Now believe me, families can often be trying and getting them all together in one room can sometimes be an adventure.  My parents had also divorced so there was frequently the challenge of which house was I spending the holiday at this year.  But you know what?  No matter which house, and which family it was all about coming together and being thankful for the bounties that we had received that year.

We all know that Thanksgiving goes back to our more agrarian society when harvest had finished and and we were all preparing for winter and a much slower time for the next few months.  Yes, the world has changed a lot and I’m sorry to see Thanksgiving so diminished.

Now of course we live in our consumer driven society.  It seems that we have Halloween where candy and costumes are jammed down our throat, and as soon as that is over; wham! we’re on to Christmas.

Don’t get me wrong, Christmas is great, but man, what happened to Thanksgiving?

I have some neighbors a couple of doors down from my house who like to really do up the decorations for each holiday.  Halloween at their house a yard full of twinkling orange lights, spooky grave stones, pumpkins, bails of hay, giant spiders and ghosts flying through the trees.  Very cool and fun to see what they add each year.  Once Halloween was over I watched and hoped that they would move on to Thanksgiving, but alas, there was but a small 1 foot square banner hanging beneath their mailbox wishing “Happy Thanksgiving.” I would have loved to see the bails of hay and the corn shock bundled in front of their house stay a couple of days to at least celebrate a bit more of the autumn seasons, but no, they were bundled into garbage bags and out on the street for the next collection.

It’s the week before Thanksgiving, and all around town, the green garland and the bright red bows are up proclaiming the coming Christmas season.

I know we live in a consumer driven society, but I long for the days, where we would pause a bit at this time of year and gather and give thanks.  Now it seems like it’s just a big meal before the big shopping weekend.  It’s all about Christmas now.

Again, don’t get me wrong, Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and all the other December holidays are great, but wait…what about that November holiday??

I wonder if they still cut out paper turkeys, and pumpkins, and things of this holiday in schools any more?  At least they get a few days off so that families can gather, but it truly seems to me that we have lost the holiday of Thanksgiving.  It almost seems like we roll from October directly into an extended 60 day December.

Ah well, I for one will do my best to remember the Thanksgiving of years gone by, when it wasn’t all about hitting the sales the next day, but rather a time to gather with friends and family and give thanks for the abundance of this year.

I wish you and yours a most wonderful Thanksgiving and may the bounty of this harvest season follow you through out the year to come!

UPDATE:  A friend of mine posted this on Facebook today and it pretty much sums it all up!

Just Thinking Out Loud

I have so many things bouncing around inside my head that I finally decided that I needed a place for them to escape to, so here it is. This will be a site of random thoughts, ideas, cogitation, and anything else that may come to my mind that I need to get down.

I’ve decided to release them to the Universe by posting them here, so whether anyone reads them or not, it doesn’t matter.  They are free of the confines of my brain and winding about through the ether’s.

Don’t know how you found your way here, but I’m glad that you did and hope you enjoy your stay!