Needless to say, my title is a shameless pitch for comments but, of course, I’m going to share what’s on my mind first. You’re welcome to add anything on yours, please. It’s now two weeks since The Boston Explosion aka The Boston Bombings and I think we’re getting over the initial shock. I am still reeling from the details that my son shared about what happened to him that morning, which I’ll share in a moment.
Please fill in the blank with your comment, below!
I like to vary my columns and every now and then just share random thoughts. Plus we all like lists and after doing 25 such lists for 12Most.com, I’ve gotten into the habit of writing in lists, at times. I tend to be arbitrary in the number on any list, much as I do in the Men vs. Women blog series, so herewith some things on my mind right now:
~~ My son texted me the Monday of The Boston Bombings saying he was okay. It was the first I’d heard of it. I immediately went to the TV where I sat much of the rest of the day. However, it wasn’t until Thursday that he shared exactly what had happened to him.
Given it was a holiday in Boston; he had no school that day. A buddy and he decided to head over to the Finish Line. His friend wanted a coffee so they stopped first at a nearby Starbucks. My son doesn’t drink coffee. The barista messed up his friend’s order so they had to wait an extra few minutes for the re-do. Coffee in hand, they headed towards the finish line.
Nate, Matt, Alex, Arnie, and Daniel at site of Boston Bombings – all were close by when it happened!
Very soon, they encountered people coming back and exclaiming that there had been some sort of horrible explosion. The boys turned back. Had that barista gotten their coffee order right, there but for fortune, they might have been in the midst of it all. Serendipity? Luck? Who knows?
I immediately came up with a quote that defined my feelings of both relief and gratitude. Given that I’m a new golfer, I utilized a standard line from golf:
Golf is a game of inches…Life is a game of moments.
~~ There’s one phrase that makes me crazy and is somewhat ubiquitous in life and public discourse. It’s the use of the redundancy of Reason Why. You don’t need “why” or you don’t need “reason.” Try it out and help me change this annoying misuse of words!
~~ Politics – you can’t live with them, you can’t live without them. Of course, you can choose to hide your head in the sand, but I have chosen to wade into the waters of political expression – publicly – with no more apologies. Every now and then, I write a political column. The one on Occupy Wall Street got more hits and comments than just about anything I’ve ever written.
But, I just added a political pundit to my radio show. I’ve gotten mixed feedback, with someone really upset that I strayed from my mostly parent-centric subject matteer. I don’t care. It’s my show and I’m going to take the shot. If you don’t try something new, you won’t grow and/or learn. What do you think? Go to the Radio Show tab and listen to the incredible Cherylyn LeBon and let me know?
~~ Life isn’t fair and I’m glad. As a parent, we often confront our kids’ exclamation that life isn’t fair. Think about it. If life were really fair, wouldn’t it be horribly boring? If every time we did something bad, we immediately got punished, we’d never do anything bad. The converse is also true. But, just as my first item on this list of musings, isn’t the serendipity of life part of what makes it interesting?
Naturally, when something truly tragic happens to someone completely undeserving, I feel horrible and wish it hadn’t happened. But, truly if this were applied in life, where would we get meaning? There would really be no more free choice.
I think that’s enough for this column of random and unconnected
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