The Books I Didn't Write (but should have)

My previous goals were to START a book but now my goal is to FINISH a book. In no particular order, these are the ones I'm leaving behind to FINISH the one I'm working on.


"The Economics of Irrational Thought and Illogical Reasoning"

"Outright Lies and Foolish Dares"

"Half-truths and Outright Perjury"

"The Logical Way of Putting It From the Republican Side"

"Evolution of Warfare"

"An Introduction to Information Warfare"

"I'd Rather Be Me Than Reasonable"

"Flowers in the Middle of Shit"

"There Are Some Things That Even Satan Wouldn't Do"

"Pretending to Be Interested in Others"

"Lessons From An Idiot"

"I Was So Very Small" (My feeble attempt at poetry. Be thankful I quit without sharing.)

Intolerance and Impatience

Today I hope for intolerance and impatience.

If you see hatred or bigotry, do not tolerate it. Be intolerant. Be indignant. Take a stand for what is right.

If your child is rude to another or misspells a word, correct them.

If your elected representative fails to look out for the best interest of your community or the world, call them on it. Write, call, text … make your displeasure known. Support a better candidate.

If your child cannot read, do not wait for their next report card. Take your child’s narrow behind (or wide behind if that be the case) to the library. Read to them, with them, for them. Make flash cards. Turn off the television and take away the electronics. Require reading.

If you are in the store and the clerk decides to pay more attention to another worker, remind that clerk that their employer and its suppliers and their customer are depending on that person doing their job to the best of their ability at all times.

If you see someone throw litter on the street, admonish them. If you can’t admonish them and stay safe, at least pick it up. Do not allow the trash to remain.

If someone you love is abusing drugs or alcohol, tell them how their behavior is affecting you. Be firm. Do not tolerate their bad behavior in your presence.

If you are lonely, be a friend. Do not patiently wait for a friend to find you. Go outside of yourself and make it happen.

Be intolerant and impatient today. Make something good happen.

Day 14. Did I Ever Get Out of the Station?

Day 14 and nowhere near the end of my journey. This journey reminds me of pretty much everything else in my life. I lose focus. I end up at the wrong place and even though it's usually a very nice place to be, it's not where I intended to go.

I was supposed to hope for something everyday, but I did not do that. It didn't have to be the same thing, but it could have been. It didn't have to be something large or even attainable. All I was supposed to do was hope. But I didn't. Instead, I was me and questioned everything and tried to dissect hope so that I could understand it.

Is hope really dead in me? Just thinking that thought makes me sad. I can't imagine my life without hope. Perhaps it is just the opposite. Perhaps I hope so much and dream so big that trying to quantify it is what is stifling me.

So now I'm at a crossroads. Do I stick to my arbitrary deadline of 14-days for this journey or do I stay on the hopeful train and ride it to the end? I don't see where this is going, but does it even have to go anywhere?

Can I just hope for hope's sake?

Day 13. One More Day And Then What?

One more day on this journey of hope. This is hopefully my next to last post about the topic. Talk about your roller coaster ride. I'm glad I'm not being graded. I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I choose the topic. In fact, I had several columns written on that first day, but none of them were posted. There were:

- "Hope Needs a Back-up Plan" (and the corollary "My Spouse is My Back-up Plan")
- "With Hope Comes Disappointment"
- "Do Smart People Hope?"

and my favorite:

- "Is Hope Only for Christians?"

One more day on this journey of hope. The two things I hoped for have not come to pass. Many other wonderful things have come my way but the two things I hoped for never materialized. Things I dared not dreamed came true thanks to people I had no idea were paying attention. (Thanks GT and MI.) Has hope worked for me? I don't know. Although my faith in humanity has been restored by the kindness of many, I'm seeing things through a different lens right now.

What I need is a conservative treaty of hope and courage – a way of honestly distilling historical wisdom through the lenses of modernity, of integrating new insights into the growing structure of law, ethics,and morality of restoring a passionate service to God to the center of my spiritual concern. Rather than worrying about whether I am of any religious persuasion, let me create my own agenda based on whether I am true to my understanding of God’s will, my own take on God's plan for me.

I'm right back where I started. Hope is for dreamers. I plan, I research, I analyze, and I evaluate but I rarely dream. David's dreams are big enough for the both of us. Perhaps that is God's plan for me. Perhaps I did "waste" years going to school just so I would be strong enough and wise enough to heal and raise our son. Perhaps I am only here not to become great but to remind others of their potential for greatness.

If you are reading this, then I give you my permission to become as great as you can dream. You have my permission to change the world. That is my hope, but I still have one more day on this journey.

Day 12. Still wondering

Hope.

The more I think about it, the less sense it makes.

The scientist in me is taking over.

Hope and despair are both just emotions.

Neither makes sense to me.

Control. That's an action. That makes sense.

DAY 11

Sometimes all it takes to keep a hitting streak going is to swing at the ball.

Hope is a Matter of Choice

Ask and You Shall Receive. How many times have I heard that and not understood? It wasn't until the Davids made me watch "Evan Almighty" (instead of allowing me to watch "White Christmas" another time) that my misunderstanding was revealed to me. I learn from the strangest places.

I asked for strength, and God gave me the opportunity to be strong. I chose strength.

I asked for courage, and God gave me the opportunity to be courageous. I chose to be courageous.

I asked for wisdom, and God gave me the opportunity to be wise. I chose to be foolish.

I asked for peace, and God gave me the opportunity to be peaceful. I chose conflict.

I asked for hope, and God gave me the opportunity to be hopeful. I am choosing to be hopeful.

I am choosing wisdom.
I am choosing peace.
I am choosing hope.

Merry Christmas everybody.