Ironies: Major and Minor

     I was reminded today that life is full of ironies, both major and minor.  While enjoying my mid morning coffee, the doorbell rang and expecting our handyman who has been repairing some dry wall I yelled "Come on in?"  To my surprise it wasn't him.   As the door bell ringer came in, Nancy, my wife, greet her!   In her hands was a gift.  She is a parishioner at one of Nancy's pulpit gigs and has been very supportive of Nancy while recovering from her fractured wrist.  Casseroles and whatever unexpectedly arriving at or door over the last several months.   That is no irony.  But what she delivered today struct me as ironical.  One thing was a mature zucchini!  This being in the context that we have a vegetable garden producing a plethora of zucchinis!   In fact, today we had put aside four of them to take to my Living History Museum fellow volunteer guides.  We graciously received her gift with thanks while hoping she would not see the largesse we had set aside in plain sight further in our home. She is a joyful upbeat person and we in no way wanted to dampen her joy in giving.

    One would hope that ironies could be as minor as the one above.   In contrast, on this same day as I  guided an "elderly couple" through the the Living History Museum barn and agricultural component who exhibited significant impairment of their mobility.   In our chat, they revealed they were in their mid 70's.   The shocking irony to me was here I was a post 90 year old assisting these people.   I feel incredibly fortunate that I have maintained my mobility this long.   Clearly, there is no formula for predicting what each day will bring.   Each day can bring any number of ironical situations.   Perhaps the best we can do about that is to get a good laugh out of it and move on.

Bindings!

     Skiers are well aware of bindings as a device to keep them attached to their skis and to release the boots at critical times in falls.   I have had the thought that bindings are metaphors for other kinds of bindings in our lives.  Just as ski bindings are designed to keep us attached for most of  the time, they are also made to release at critical times.

    Thinking in the above terms in relation to personal bindings of our lives, the message is that most of the time we want to remain in relationships that nurture us and engender mutual benefits and respect.   However, there also seem to be times when the relationship can falter and be non productive for both parties. There is a certain fall from grace that demands a separation for a while.   However, just like getting up from a fall, recovering our skis, dusting ourselves off and resuming our run that is probably a good thing to do in a broken relationship.  Again carrying this farther, if you have broken a leg in the ski accident there will be an interlude to recover.   Such is it is for our human relationships. So there is work to be done in healing in the case of physical injury and also healing in emotional relationships.  Something for all of us to think about.

    Just a little clarification of what led me to the above thoughts.  My dear pastor wife Nancy preached a sermon yesterday on the subject of prayer. It was a masterful exposition of the elements of prayer grounded in the Lords Prayer which is a fundamental Christian tenet.  What really shook me to the core, was her leading the congregation to take a moment to pray for someone that would spring to mind for whatever reason.  What shook me, was the desire to pray for a grandchild that I am estranged from. We are living in separate worlds.  His is so foreign to me that I am stricken both with anger and grief.  However, Nancy's pastoral exercise revealed to me that I must find a way to forgive, forget and heal even if my estranged grandchild and I can't reconcile. Release and reconnect is the goal. Think about those things the next time your ski binding release.  And if you are not a skier, maybe a good thing to think about in a metaphorical sense.

Trickle Down Economic: Does It Work?

    Last night on the game show Jeopardy the final jeopardy answer was Trickle Down Economic Theory.  It stimulated my thinking about wealth inequality in the United States.   As far as I can tell this theory is supported by many politicians has not worked.   As the wealthy one percent has gotten wealthier from tax relief, the result has impoverished the bottom ten percent of wage earners.   If this theory is not working, why are we continuing to foster this policy?   In fact, this approach has significantly increased US debt by trillions.   At the same time more of the lower income individuals have not reaped the benefit of national domestic product growth.  Today I did a bit of research to understand the complexities of this issue.

    First I was led to Googling to get a some inkling what it is all about. However, my memory was jogged to recall the days when I would have lunches at the Cornell University Statler Hotel Faculty Club with the famed behavioral economist Robert H. Frank.  (Google him if you want his full story.  He is now retired to emeritus status living in Florida). Then I reached down to my bookshelf and pulled out my autographed copy of his 2011 book The Darwin Economy.   After skimming the preface and a few salient chapters that elucidate elements of taxation benefits versus costs, I find no justification for extensive tax cuts that move wealth upward. In fact it does not result in investment that gives support to the economic middle and lower class of United States. It would seem that greed has no bounds and seeking to outdo our fellow human beings is a bugaboo to the development of a just and civil society.  That's my screed for now.  However, I will try to put my outrage aside and seek a better understanding of how we as Americans have arrived at this state.  

If I Were a Rich Person?

    I have been pondering the last day or so, how I would behave if I had amassed a billionaire fortune. Would I really want more?  Would I be dominated by greed?   Would I do ostentatious things? Would I be generously charitable? I would hope that the answer to last question would be a resounding yes!  

    As I read about the billionaire class, I find that overwhelmingly there seems to be competition to see who can amass the the greatest wealth and who can put on the most elaborate display of how they can spend multi millions on pleasures to feed their egos. On top of that they seem to be impervious to developing empathy for the poor and downtrodden where they could be generous to give them a hand up out of their distress.   What am I missing?   It is inconceivable to me that a human being with any kind of moral compass, can't see the need to share the wealth. I think that the billionaire could share at least a tenth of their income with those in need and for good works without making a dent in their desire for an ostentatious life style.

    Now that I have pointed a finger at them, I am reminded when you point your index finger at someone or something, three fingers are pointing back at you.  Greed rears its ugly head wherever you are on the wealth spectrum.  I am reminded that especially as Christians we are to give sacrificially regardless of our station in life.  However, we are flawed human beings so we don't always live up to that ideal.  Today I reviewed the lyrics of the song "If I Were a Rich Man" from Fiddler on The Roof. I had forgotten many of them.  I had thought that in Tevye's dream of being rich he would think of some generous allocation of the wealth he dreamed he would have. However, that is not the case.  His dream of riches centered on how much he would be honored and how much ostentation he could create.  What a bummer to realize that was his desire.  

    I conclude with the desire to shed my disgust with the greed of the one percenters, and to live up to being generous in my own station in life.  

    

Observations on the Ranges of Human Types

    Today I was a volunteer docent  at my local museum. My duties primarily involve greeting and guiding visitors to the four different venues. I consider myself to be sufficiently versed in the collections to do an adequate job in some sections and a more expert job in others. However you could say I have a range of expertise more suited to some sections than others.  Regarding ranges, I find it fascinating to observe the ranges of characteristics of our visitors.

    First, today was a study in the range of ages of visitors.   Our youngest visitor was a four year old who was extremely bright and inquisitive.  He was a delight to interact with.  On the range of responsiveness, he was extraordinary.   Moving along on the range of age we also had visitors of young adult to middle age to more senior and perhaps even as ancient as I am. In each category there was also a range of responsiveness to our overtures to assist the with their visits.   Some were satisfied to simply walk around on their own without hearing any of the background stories we as guides can deliver.  Others, accept limited historical introductions.  A few were interested in more extensive information that we can deliver. Such it is to be interacting with the general public. At the end of the day, our guide group gathers to debrief our range of experiences with the guests.  The debrief often leads to amazement that there are so many different behaviors of the human species.

    Finally, I am continuing to think about the ranges of human types of authors of poets and prose.   More to come in a few days.

     

On Writing and Competing Passions

     One can have a multitude of passions!  I have been reflecting on that lately.  I am now inclined to pursue more writing after being somewhat lax about my efforts to put my thoughts into this blog and other writing opportunities.  

    In following one's passions it often is necessary to get some training to be good enough to have excellence in your efforts.  In skiing I took lessons many years ago which helped me to be more accomplished in the sport.  Probably didn't take enough since I never reached the pinnacle of performance that I would like,

    Regarding writing, I have been reviewing my journey to become at least a competent writer.   However every writer should be connected to an editor.  I am delighted to have a wonderful wife as editor.  She is an excellent writer and  even taught English at one time. She edits my scribblings and makes them much better than my raw product.

   My real journey to becoming a "writer" started with my Freshman year at Syracuse University in 1952.  My writing was so poor that I was assigned to a remedial writing class for Liberal Arts Majors.   Even though I moved on to Cornell University to an Engineering Major, it was one of the best things that ever happened to me. The skills I picked up in that remedial class have served me well over the 72 years that have followed.  From the Freshman year at SU, I moved on to completing three degrees in engineering culminating in a Ph.D.  And remarkably, for a naive farm boy of the 1950's I was blessed with a long academic career at Cornell University.  All of this ties into developing  a smoldering passion for excellence in writing.   Writing both my Master's and Ph.D.'s theses forced me develop clarity in communication of complex subjects.   That clarity rewarded me later in my professional career with multiple research paper awards from my engineering professional society.  

    After retirement, I have enjoyed writing projects primarily connected with history.  Every once in a while, my curiosity about something has thrown me into the joy of exposition of past events that correlate with my intellectual interest in technology,  agriculture and reflections on sociological changes. Although I am mostly writing for my own satisfaction, I am  pleased to observe that some of my readers are entertained. 

    My readers, if you are not into writing, I suggest you give it a try. It can be lots of fun exploring prose and poetry to stimulate the mind and relieve stress.  Meanwhile, I think I have rambled enough, but hope this provides some insight to the possible existence of passion for writing regardless of what level of skill you attain.    

Reflections on Geezer Issues

     I just finished some landscaping maintenance chores.  At this time in my geezer life I am needing to pace myself more than usual. I suspect that all of us over 90 find that necessary whether we are skiers or not skiers. Therefore, perhaps in this blogging I may have to reflect more on issues other than those related to skiing and the ski community. So, if you have been one of my followers at some time the last 15 or so years, you are going to see a variety of subjects coming up in my postings.

    One thing that has come to mind is the possibility of attempting to write a novella by creating a fictional rendition of  my experiences as a volunteer at our Living History Museum of Central New York. As the oldest docent at the museum,  I am a personification of living history. When guiding people and describing the origins of historical items I can speak with authority as one who has lived in those eras.   For example, I have personal experience with rationing of sugar and coffee during 
World War II.  This is relevant to aspects of military history items in one section of the museum. This leads me to thinking of possible weaknesses of geezer behavior with all of that stored experience.  One weakness is going on at length with too much verbiage. This creates a glazed look in the eyes of visitors. I have been training myself to avoid that.  

    I closing today, I am pleased to report having a new experience with weekly Zoom sessions with some Cornell University friends that I have not had the opportunity to interact with until lately. They all qualify as geezers by age, but likely would not be be comfortable being identified by the geezer term.   Believe it or not the oldest member of the group is 101!   Fortunately, I find interacting with this group well within in my comfort zone.  (I did spend 40 years as a Professor.) These are gentleman who are brilliantly sharp and provide another stimulation in my later life.   I conclude that at any age there will be more joys and wonderful surprises.  May that be it the same for you readers.  Enjoy life to the fullest is a great mantra as far as I can tell.  Cheers!

Construction Hazards - Driving Challenges

    I consider myself a pretty competent driver even in my more senior years.  Just as I also rate myself a relatively competent skier as I move into my 90's.  However, today I was challenged to deal with aggressive drivers and a plethora of highway construction as we delivered an e-bike to Syracuse to be put on sale.   GPS mostly guided us quite well with only a few issues.   However, because of the complexity of lane changes and bottle necks of construction it was a high stress trip.  

    The real kicker for this delivery was the road closure access to the bike sales company when we arrived at our destination.  We were able to park relatively close, but I ended up schlepping the bike up a steep hill to the entry door of the shop.  Thankfully, I am fit enough to negotiate that terrain.   Grateful to the shop owner for helping me make it up the final 20 feet or so!  

    So, whatever we do, we aren't guaranteed to have an easy go of it.  On the ski slopes we have some of those days too.  In spite of that, there are plenty of good days to make up for it.  Happy summer everyone!    

When To Call It Quits?

     I have a circle of "geezer" skier friends that are either active on the slopes or retired from the ski scene.  The other day at a closing event for a church Nancy and I were married in, I chanced upon a couple who had terminated their skiing activity a few years ago.  The closing event for the church was emotional, moving and underlined that events occur that require us as individuals and as  institutions to move on.   These changes can come  both involuntarily and voluntarily.

    In my conversation with my friends, I learned that they certainly would like to be on the slopes, but they had jointly decided that the risk at their age was inappropriate.  As she said, a fall and a broken hip would be devastating to coping with the rest of her life.   His comment was more to the feeling of danger by crowds, boarders and out of control people on the slopes.  Out of this conversation, I was led to ponder the question.   "When to call it quits?"   Even though we may be dedicated, skillful and avid skiers, there may be a time to consider terminating skiing.  That does not necessarily mean we give up on an active life.   We can very well healthily pursue other activities, albeit more sedate in nature.  My friends have made that adaptation and now concentrate on their golf game!   That's not my cup of tea, but I am sure walking, spinning on my recumbent bike and other pursuits can be a substitute for me.  Not only that, we have and ping-pong table in the basement where my wife is sure to beat me at that game when she recovers from her broken wrist.

    So, in conclusion, there will be the day when skiing will abandoned.   I hope I will know when that day is and make a voluntary decision, rathe than having it pushed on my by an unexpected event on the slopes.  However, as I stepped out to the fresh air of a recent July morning, it is just great to be alive!