Newly leaked

 NEWLY LEAKED document details Donald Trump’s plans if he is elected President.

--He will construct the world’s largest escalator to ride to take the oath of office.
--He will commission Eric and Junior to write some poetry for the Inauguration.
--He will pardon every person convicted in the siege of the Capitol.
--He will commission plush toys of Putin, Xi, Maduro, Kim, and Bashar for the Oval Office and invite these dictators to the White House to see them.
--He will require Melania to say at least one full sentence per week in public.
--He will complete the border wall, making it 20 feet taller and electrifying it.
--He will pardon himself for his past criminal behavior and pre-pardon himself for any future criminal behavior.
--He will expand the size of Melania’s closet at the White House and re-landscape with palm trees.
--He will give a MAGA hat and a roll of paper towels to every poor child in America.

From 100 Lives (Condensed)

 His father was a Marine, his mother worked part time as a classroom aide. He was comfortable in his body and played several sports in middle school and high school. He graduated from a small college and soon worked for the government. Then he didn’t. Then he did. Then he didn’t. He was a corporate consultant for a short time and then retired. His impact on the lives of his grandchildren and on the T-ball teams he coached would be something they would always recall. He was diagnosed with invasive cancer, refused chemo and within weeks was dead.

From 100 Lives (Condensed)

 As a baby, he laughed all the time. He kept laughing through elementary school and middle school. In high school, classroom learning became the dead time between his social education in the halls. In preparation for the SAT, he gave full attention to his hair. After graduation he went to beauty school, opened his own shop and became an accomplished and sought-after beautician in his hometown. One day on his way to work, he was knocked from his scooter, killed instantly by a drunk driver. His obituary reported, “… he was a beloved hairdresser with a bubbly sense of humor, and a Baptist.”

Student athletes

 I don’t know about you, but I get very discouraged with all of this “student athlete of the week” business. Athletics is extra-curricular, but what about academic studies in the curriculum? What about honoring the student scholar of the week, or the student musician of the week, or the student artist of the week, or the student scientist of the week, or the student poet of the week?

The best we can?

Sometimes I am overcome with a deep sadness.
Is this the best we can do as human beings?
Is this the best we can do with all our creativity and imagination.
Is this the best we can do with all our wealth?
Is this the best we can do as a human community?
Is this the best we can do with our formidable minds?
Is this the best we can do with all our wisdom?

Is this the best we can do with our capacity to love? 

Sins

 Every day we are flooded with corporate marketing that sugar coats our age old sins in very sophisticated and entertaining ways.

Vanity? No, it’s youthful beauty, creams, oils, botoxing, weight loss plans, eyelid rejuvenation, hair styling, fashion and more.
Envy? No, we deserve the most and the best and everything that others have. Why not?
Pride? No, we are the center of the Universe of Me and we deserve it all.
Gluttony? No, it’s all we can eat right there in the grocery snack and candy aisle.
Sloth? No, mindless leisure can never be out of reach.
Greed? No, to get the newest, the most stylish, the stuff that celebrities tell us we need, we must consume, consume, consume. Every day is Black Friday.

Death

 I’ve been thinking about death. I’ve seen too many elderly in nursing homes who have no awareness of who they are or where they are. They sit drooling, with infrequent family visits. Others where suffering can only be alleviated by drugs. If I cherish life, I have to ask myself: What is life? If I affirm human dignity, I have to ask myself: What is human dignity?

I don’t want to be the object of obligatory care and awkward visits that I have no awareness of. The personal resources I’ve accumulated during my life were meant for family and charity not simply for care to keep me teetering on death. Life is not simply still breathing. Life is joy, pleasure, consciousness and dignity.
I know I can be dead while I’m still alive. I know my dignity is what I earn while I am still alive.
I’m thinking about death.