Traditions

It’s probably a safe bet to say that every culture has their traditions.

Some traditions are older than others. Some are recent. Some traditions are good. Some are not so good. And, some traditions can actually be harmful. That’s just the way life is.  

Civility

It was in the new yesterday: William F. Buckley Jr. had died. He was 82.

I always enjoyed watching his talk show "Firing Line." I enjoyed reading his works. Mostly, I enjoyed that he didn’t seem to care all that much about being politically correct, yet managed to project a constant civilized manner.  

Homeless Children

Because of the illness I went through late last month, and because I’m technically still "recovering" from it, I’ve been diligent about trying to make sure that I eat healthy. I haven’t always succeeded.

Today, for example, I stopped in a McDonald’s and bought myself one of their ice creams sundaes (hot caramel). I’m sure that it wasn’t exactly a healthy choice, but it sure made my tummy feel good. When my tummy feels good, I feel good. So with all this feeling good, when I stepped out of the door I was humming to myself with contentment.  

A Relevant Difference

This morning after I had bought my hot chocolate, I happened to walk past one of those "newspaper" type boxes that are filled with real estate magazines. Those things are all over the place. I didn’t really give it a second thought – until late this afternoon while I was watching the news.

At one point during the broadcast, the current state of the real estate market was brought up. It mentioned that the number of foreclosures were up 50% from last year. So for every two foreclosures last year, there are three this year. Not good news.

The Luncheon

I know some of the local area homeless. A good number of them, in fact. Because there are so many however, it’s difficult to know all of them.

Today I met a homeless gentleman I’ve never met before.

I spotted him sitting by himself. Just him and all of his worldly possessions. On top of his backpack was a plastic supermarket bag. He had a small "Kaiser Roll" in his hands and was in the process of making himself a sandwich. Just the bread and a couple slices of lunch meat. On the ground beside him was a bottle of soda.