Reverance, Not Flamboyance

Veteran of World War II salutes in a cemetery during playing of Taps on Memorial Day, 2013.

    What is the most respected song in the United States?
   Most people would cite 'The Star Spangled Banner,' which is our National Anthem. I don't agree. Some performers don't respect the song. They sing it with flamboyance to showcase their voices. Audiences often cheer before the anthem finishes.
   I believe the most respected song in America is 'Taps.'
   Every Memorial Day, in towns all over the nation, Taps is performed by one bugler or one trumpeter. The melody is simple and haunting.
   Musicians perform it straight. They don't juice it up. It's performed at vantage points distant from audiences.
   Heads bow during Taps. Veterans salute. When the song ends, silence hangs in the air.

Trumpeter plays Taps apart from audience, at same event.

   Taps has lyrics, even though it's known as an instrumental piece. The opening stanza is appropriate for a song memorializing fallen soldiers.
  
'Day is done, gone the sun.
From the lakes, from the hills, from the sky
All is well, safely rest
God is nigh.'

Carnival of Memories

 

   At last weekend's carnival, the longest line was at the cotton candy booth. I would have expected longer lines for some of the rides.

   Cotton candy isn't just about eating. Watching strands of sugar expand on a stick fascinates children. For them, it's oh so cool when they're handed that blob of candy.

   As time marches on, our culture changes for better and for worse. Life seems more complex. But traveling carnivals don't change all that much. Taking children to a carnival, and buying them cotton candy, links us to our pasts when lives were simpler. 

   Perhaps nostalgia made that line longer.

Beauty Within

   Before the prom, high school students in my town rendezvoused for a sendoff.
   Three limousines garnered attention. That said, family cars provided most of the transportation.
   Prom attendees posed for pictures with dates, with families, and with friends. 
   Some attendees were asked to pose with friends more often than other attendees. What made those individuals popular but not others? From what I could tell, the styles of their attire had nothing to do with it. Nor did their physical appearances. What made those students popular was their character and personalities.
   It's nice to be reminded that true popularity results not from outward beauty, but from beauty within.

Art of Unconversation

Teenagers view screen on a mobile device during a festival two weeks ago near my home.

   'Make the other person feel important and do it sincerely.'
   That is advice about the art of conversation. It is included in the book, How to Win Friends and Influence People, by Dale Carnegie. The book sold fifteen millions copies.
   Lots of people check in online while engaged in face to face conversations. They don't consider it rude to look down at a mobile device. They assume it's just the way things are done.
   That assumption is wrong.
   During conversations, people who succumb to distractions lose respect. By loosing respect, they diminish their career prospects. They pay social costs as well, even if those costs aren't evident right away. 
   To bolster this viewpoint, consider another quote by Carnegie: 'When dealing with people, remember you are not dealing with creatures of logic, but creatures of emotion.' 

Melting Pot and Burning Candles

  
   America's 'melting pot' culture was on display last night.
    Some Catholics in Massachusetts gathered to honor Our Lady of Fatima; it was her feast day. They held candles, walked behind a statue of her, and recited prayers.
   At the final ceremony, a priest asked people to recite the 'Hail Mary' in their native languages. Groups of people stepped toward a microphone. They recited the prayer in Aramaic, Chinese, Gaelic, Indonesian, three languages from India, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, and a few other languages.
   Only one word was uttered the same way. That word was 'amen.'
   Critics describe religion as divisive. Yet last night, a religious observance joined together people of different stripes.

Reaping the Whirlwind of Greed

This printing plant once published several newspapers. Now it's shut down.

   What happens to the greedy?

   Consider the plight of newspapers. During their good times, they charged exorbitant rates for classified ads. They imposed onerous contracts on freelance contributors. In short, newspapers practiced greed. Since then, most newspapers have suffered declines in circulations and revenues.
   For years I bought pizza from a restaurant in my town. The owners were Greek immigrants. Their prices were fair and their service was friendly. Different owners took over that business. They jacked up the prices. At first they benefited from their greed. But now, lots of people, myself included, no longer patronize that restaurant.
   Greed is considered one of the seven deadly sins. This implies that greediness will be punished in the afterlife.
   In commerce, is greed is a harbinger of decline? For souls, can greed can lead to ruination?

Why I'm Cutting Back on Television

   A neighbor placed a television beside their driveway. They were offering it free to passersby. By coincidence, one had recently broken down in our home.
   I didn't take the freebie.
   The time I spend watching television has dwindled. Its appeal does not jive with my middle aged mindset.
   An urgency has come to the fore of my life. To achieve the dreams I've deferred, I need to get off my butt and get cracking. Like other middle aged guys, I'm peeling away the Walter Mitty mask. No more screwing around.
   This urgency isn't confined to temporal matters. Moral implications factor in more than before. I contemplate how the things I say, and do, and fail to do, will affect me on my day of judgement. That reckoning is looming closer. At fifty-six years of age, I can't ignore it any more.
   Watching television distracts me, a late bloomer, from the pursuit of dreams. It plays no role in laying a moral foundation impacting the fate of my soul.
   I am not a moralizer turning my nose up to the networks. I watch a few hours of television each week. Some shows are pretty darn good. I was glued to the tube when the Boston Celtics battled the New York Knicks during the NBA playoffs.
   Television competes with a midlife crisis. That's why this middle aged viewer is cutting back on it.

Garage Guests

A wren delivers food to its chick inside a box.

   Tweeting sounds are coming from within my garage. A baby wren has hatched.
   The parent birds constructed their nest inside a box. It contains a metal cable stored topsy turvy. Perhaps they regard this layout as similar to branches and sticks on a tree.
   The mother and father wrens fly back and forth, all day, with food for their baby.
   Their work ethic reminds me of a metaphor by Jeffrey Holland: 'God gives every bird its food, but he does not throw it into the nest.'