Good Morning All and here’s to the last official day of Autumn! Only five shopping days left ’til Christmas!
Here’s to friends Max (auto designer extraordinaire in San Francisco), who celebrates his 25th birthday today; and to Lisa (Marketing & Business Development Manager & Medical Staff Coordinator extraordinaire in Kellogg ID), who celebrates her 49th birthday today! Happy Birthday to you two and have lots of fun on your special day of celebration! Happy Birthday wishes also go to T.V. Producer Dick Wolf of “Law & Order” fame, who is 73 today; to musician/singer Alan Parsons of “The Alan Parsons Project” fame, who turns 71 today; and to track & field and Dallas Cowboys football star Bob Hayes (at one time in the 1960s, “fastest human in the world”), who is 77 today. Here’s to all of you too!
It’s been painful to watch the news this past few weeks, as the impeachment process kicked into high gear. What a travesty all the way around! Both major political parties in power are showing disgraceful conduct in the Halls of Congress. It’s my humble opinion that we would never have found ourselves in this mess were it not for a lack decency, mutual respect and civility in the conduct of our nation’s political affairs. All parties share the blame. Our democratic republic is a fragile thing, dependent on the goodwill and commitment to high principles of governing. Fortunately, our nation’s founders showed great wisdom in designing the structure of our government, as they understood the “Pride Of Man” and the tendency of people to be carried away with egos, self-centeredness and hubris, all results of “The Fall Of Man.” Hopefully, our system of government will survive this low point in our nation’s history and we can find leaders that will inspire us and appeal to what President Lincoln referred to as “the better angels of our nature.” There is much work to be done to preserve our system of government and way of life in the great US of A. Big challenges lie ahead (i.e. tackling the budget and deficit that threaten to undermine important programs that benefit the people and keeping our nation out of “foreign entanglements”, among many others). Prayers are lifted up that the people will be better served by its political leaders in the future. I was struck by the following quote that appeared in our local newspaper this morning:
“The only way we stop this spiral is for all of us to finally say—enough. Let us step back from the abyss and let’s begin a new politics of respect and fairness and decency which raises what has come before.”
—Congressman Richard Gephardt (Missouri), Democratic Leader of the U.S. House of Representatives during the Impeachment of then President Bill Clinton
Here’s the word definition for the day:
“Celerity”: “Swiftness or rapid movement”…In oceanography, individual wave speed.”
Sometimes, one wishes that our government would move with more “celerity” in solving the pressing problems/issues of our time.
Here is the pun for the day:
“If a clock gets hungry, it goes back four seconds.”
I came across the 1969 Topps Football Card for Jim Butler, who was born in 1943 and played running back for eight seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers, Atlanta Falcons and the St. Louis Cardinals. Butler grew up in Delray, Florida and played college football at Edward Waters College in Jacksonville, Florida. To this day, he is the only alumnus from the school to ever play in the NFL. He was the leading rusher for the Atlanta Falcons in each of his four seasons with the team (1968-1971), and was selected to the Pro Bowl in 1969. Butler is known best for a film clip that showed him moving into punt formation as the center snapped the ball just as he crossed between him and the punter. The football bounced off Butler’s rump, a film clip that was often shown to highlight the woebegone Steelers of the 1960s…a classic NFL “bloopers” film clip. His nickname was “Cannonball” due to the fact that was only 5 feet, 9 inches tall, but weighed 194 pounds. One of his Steelers teammates, Dick Hoak, was quoted as saying that “Cannonball had a lot of talent, a lot of speed…they used him to return kicks because of his speed. He was strong, short and stocky.” Dan Rooney, the Steelers’ owner, once said that “Jim Butler is an excellent guy…He really fit in well with our team. He was a good man, and he was a good football player. Jim Butler died prematurely at the age of 70 on February 10, 2014 of dementia…Here’s to Jim Butler!
Here are some thoughts for the day:
“You can talk to a fade, but a hook won’t listen.”
—Lee Trevino, PGA golfing great
This is the terrible fix we are in. If the universe is not governed by an absolute goodness, then all our efforts are in the long run hopeless. But if it is, then we are making ourselves enemies to that goodness every day, and are not in the least likely to do any better tomorrow, and so our case is hopeless again…God is the only comfort, He is also the supreme terror; the thing we most need and the thing we most want to hide from.”
—C.S. Lewis, “Mere Christianity,” as quoted in “C.S. Lewis’ Little Book Of Wisdom” (2018)
“Creation is brimming with thankfulness…the mountains, exultant they stand,
the seasons rejoice in Your faithfulness, all life is sustained by Your hand.
You crown ev’ry meadow with color; You paint ev’ry shade in the sky.
Each day the dawn wakes as an encore of
magnificent, marvelous, matchless love.”
—Keith & Kristyn Getty, “Magnifient, Marvelous, Matchless Love” (2000)
“You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance.”
—Psalm 32, verse 7
Here’s to a great Friday and lots of love & good wishes always!
Press on,
Papa ‘a (Dad, Uncle Mark, etc.)