Friends:
"Dust unto Dust ... "
Be not dismayed because the delivery of the AJC has bit the dust and will no longer arrive at our front doors ... we have the Brunswick News which provides far superior entertainment, and me, of course, to editorialize. Read on.
We all know the magnetic attraction a beach has, since we live here, but last week it was a stage where two tragic comedies played out. The Brunswick News reported them in pictorial detail. First, a pilot ditched his Bonanza in the surf and swam ashore; and secondly, a "joy ride" by a FLETC student resulted in his SUV, one new police vehicle and 4 tow trucks being mired in the sand, requiring a front¬end loader to extricate them, and all of which destroyed the walkway to the beach. But wait ... ; Only 5 escaped the sand, and the last tow was swallowed up by sand and sea at high tide. Surely someone's to blame for this misadventure, right? Who? What? Arrogance or ignorance?
I have my own thoughts, lest you be disappointed. It was the "joy ride" and the sand that deserves the blame. Heck, we've all been young and students - and students are still learners, like we were once, right? And we all took "joy rides" on the beach growing up ... tricycles, then bikes, the long walks, playing golf by chasing sand crabs with flash lights and broom sticks. As we aged, our "joy rides" morphed into bon fires, roasted marshmallows and hot dogs on coat hangars, ever remembering the tragic result if these edibles got into the sand. And as age would have it, our "joy rides" changed significantly when alcohol supplanted marshmallows, and oh, the fun began, as well as some unintended consequences! But, through it all, the sand always won with vivid reminders, as it were.
A harmless "joy ride" by a Federal Agent trainee - a future keeper of the law, aided and abetted by Glynn County's Finest with the support of Toot-Toot Wrecker Service - provided all the news we needed for the week. Like I said, beaches have their appeal, and "joy rides" of all kinds have their consequences - but the sand always wins! It reminded me of a certain verse:
" ... And on the pedestal these words appear:
"I am Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains: round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away."
The moral? You can supply your own, but as for me, it says that no matter what "joy ride" you take on a beach or in life, the sand always triumphs .... "Dust unto Dust!"
Bud
February 22, 2007
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Thursday, February 15, 2007
Looking Thrice at a Penny....
Friends:
Looking Thrice at a Penny
I'm leaving Atlanta (again!) for the Coast today and I'm thinking about pennies - yes, pennies, since that's about all I earned on this trip. Indians have a saying that in order to see things as they really are one must look at them more than once. I often try this, and I've been looking at a penny now for about an hour. Here's what I saw!
First Look: It's made up no longer of copper but a zinc alloy and appeared in 1909, commemorating the Centennial of Abraham Lincoln's birth. There are about 444 billion pennies in circulation. Stamped on one side is the bust of Lincoln; on the other side, the Lincoln Memorial. Inscribed on the former "In God We Trust" and "Liberty" and the mint date. On the latter, "United States of America" and the "one cent" (presumably in the event we forget who we are or how to count).
Second Look: After some meditation along I-16 - a good road on which to think and nap -- I also noticed irony and metaphor: Lincoln, proclaiming "Liberty," but himself yet a slave on a worthless piece of zinc, pleading for "Emancipation," to a coin of value more worthy of his stature ..... which reminds me of the Pharisees' comment about Jesus: "He saved others, himself he could not save." And now think of the despicable treatment of the penny --- you see them lying about everywhere, among cigarette butts and similar detritus, unwanted, common -- yet, a reminder of a man who acted on the faith of his convictions to free an enslaved race. And again a Bible verse comes to mind; " .... and by it he, being dead, yet speaketh." See what thoughts occur along I-16?
Final Look: Yes, one penny buys little. But did you know that states, counties and cities, use what's called a SPLOST -- special purpose local option sales tax - whereby the multiplicity of pennies funds much of our infrastructure? In Glynn County, a five-year SPLOST is planned to generate $92 million for new schools - -all from a one-penny sales tax levy. Imagine!! So it seems to me that Honest Abe is still doing his work of emancipation - even on an ugly coin of little value .... Imagine!!
Well, it reminds me of the importance of all the small, unseen, common things we each do in our daily lives -- they may seem irrelevant, but the third look proves otherwise. I like what Mother Teresa says:
"Small acts of kindness with great love." Imagine what they will produce!
Bud
February 15, 2007
Looking Thrice at a Penny
I'm leaving Atlanta (again!) for the Coast today and I'm thinking about pennies - yes, pennies, since that's about all I earned on this trip. Indians have a saying that in order to see things as they really are one must look at them more than once. I often try this, and I've been looking at a penny now for about an hour. Here's what I saw!
First Look: It's made up no longer of copper but a zinc alloy and appeared in 1909, commemorating the Centennial of Abraham Lincoln's birth. There are about 444 billion pennies in circulation. Stamped on one side is the bust of Lincoln; on the other side, the Lincoln Memorial. Inscribed on the former "In God We Trust" and "Liberty" and the mint date. On the latter, "United States of America" and the "one cent" (presumably in the event we forget who we are or how to count).
Second Look: After some meditation along I-16 - a good road on which to think and nap -- I also noticed irony and metaphor: Lincoln, proclaiming "Liberty," but himself yet a slave on a worthless piece of zinc, pleading for "Emancipation," to a coin of value more worthy of his stature ..... which reminds me of the Pharisees' comment about Jesus: "He saved others, himself he could not save." And now think of the despicable treatment of the penny --- you see them lying about everywhere, among cigarette butts and similar detritus, unwanted, common -- yet, a reminder of a man who acted on the faith of his convictions to free an enslaved race. And again a Bible verse comes to mind; " .... and by it he, being dead, yet speaketh." See what thoughts occur along I-16?
Final Look: Yes, one penny buys little. But did you know that states, counties and cities, use what's called a SPLOST -- special purpose local option sales tax - whereby the multiplicity of pennies funds much of our infrastructure? In Glynn County, a five-year SPLOST is planned to generate $92 million for new schools - -all from a one-penny sales tax levy. Imagine!! So it seems to me that Honest Abe is still doing his work of emancipation - even on an ugly coin of little value .... Imagine!!
Well, it reminds me of the importance of all the small, unseen, common things we each do in our daily lives -- they may seem irrelevant, but the third look proves otherwise. I like what Mother Teresa says:
"Small acts of kindness with great love." Imagine what they will produce!
Bud
February 15, 2007
Thursday, February 8, 2007
"The Rear-View Mirror is a helpful Device..."
Friends:
The rear-view mirror is a helpful device ...
It has many practical uses, like improving one's attitude on departure from some hideous place ... and believe me, there's nothing quite like a view of Atlanta in your rear-view mirror. It's also pretty good for women who either forgot to apply makeup or who are sprucing up while driving carpool and talking on the cell. Perhaps it's most useful function is to warn us of approaching danger, like police who need to make their monthly financial quota. In high school, I found it particularly useful for keeping check on the back-seat activities in my car on Friday nights after the ball game, which were always suspect but very interesting.
Rear-view mirrors have metaphorical merit and application as well. Note: the rear-view mirror is always smaller than the car windshield, perhaps reminding us that the road ahead has more to offer than the one behind. And rear-view, backward glances are rarely instructive, only introspectively ... new life is always found on the horizon. But perhaps sometimes the backward glances are beneficial, because we often see time creeping ever closer with its constant reminder of "Do it now, Do it now." Satchel Paige, the baseball legend of another era, once remarked that he didn't look back because "somebody might be gaining on him." And we all know who that Someone is: The Grim Reaper!
Y
es, the rear-view mirror is a useful device ... may yours always reflect pleasant places and times with no regrets.
Bud
February 8, 2007
The rear-view mirror is a helpful device ...
It has many practical uses, like improving one's attitude on departure from some hideous place ... and believe me, there's nothing quite like a view of Atlanta in your rear-view mirror. It's also pretty good for women who either forgot to apply makeup or who are sprucing up while driving carpool and talking on the cell. Perhaps it's most useful function is to warn us of approaching danger, like police who need to make their monthly financial quota. In high school, I found it particularly useful for keeping check on the back-seat activities in my car on Friday nights after the ball game, which were always suspect but very interesting.
Rear-view mirrors have metaphorical merit and application as well. Note: the rear-view mirror is always smaller than the car windshield, perhaps reminding us that the road ahead has more to offer than the one behind. And rear-view, backward glances are rarely instructive, only introspectively ... new life is always found on the horizon. But perhaps sometimes the backward glances are beneficial, because we often see time creeping ever closer with its constant reminder of "Do it now, Do it now." Satchel Paige, the baseball legend of another era, once remarked that he didn't look back because "somebody might be gaining on him." And we all know who that Someone is: The Grim Reaper!
Y
es, the rear-view mirror is a useful device ... may yours always reflect pleasant places and times with no regrets.
Bud
February 8, 2007
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