#234 Musings Beyond the Bunker (Wednesday December 29)
Good morning!
Given that this is the interstitial period between Christmas and New Years and no one really wants to have a long read, I’m going to keep it short and spiritual.
I’M FEELING MORTAL
I’ve lived a reasonably healthy life and have avoided surgeries of any kind. I’ve been reasonably lucky as far as personal health. But as I sit here, now officially on Medicare, contemplating back surgery and discovering little aches and pains, I have to acknowledge that this 35 year-old personality is stuck in the body of an older guy. I’m not sure how that happened, but there we are.
At 65, I think it fair to state that “middle age” is in the rear-view mirror, unless, of course, we plan on making it to 130. As we enter what experts call the “third act” of our lives, we all must struggle with how we want to live it. Many have retired and are busily working on visiting all the places they put off visiting; others are working on their golf game, so that they may live long enough to “shoot their age”; others engage in “list checking,” visiting as many baseball stadiums, presidential libraries, countries, mountains, states, or whatever that they choose. And some of us see continuing life along as we have, with a little more time that is our own and with enhanced senses to take in the wonders that we may have overlooked in our fast-paced lives.
Health and time—the two most precious commodities we have, in addition to family, friendships and values, which will see us through each precious day at a time.
STRIKING A BALANCE
As I think of the debates about how our history should be taught in schools , I was moved by a modern-day interpretation of the “Prayer for our Country,” as delivered by Rabbi Josh Knobel. It strikes a happy balance of reverence and hope, in a modern context. I was so taken by it that I asked if I could reproduce it. Here it is:
A Prayer for the United States of America
by Rabbi Josh Knobel
God and God of our ancestors, we ask You to bless this nation and its peoples.
Open our arms and our hearts and our minds to one another.
Let us never withhold Your gift of dignity from our fellow human being.
Grant us the determination to preserve the wonders of creation
And the steadfastness to safeguard all created in Your image, male and female alike.
Teach us to honor the guardians of life and liberty,
Whether they proudly wear the uniform of our nation or defiantly wield signs of peaceful protest.
Grant us the resolve to spurn the enemies of freedom and justice,
Whether they brandish the weapons of fear, or greed, or hatred.
May we remember that we can only reap the fruits of virtue, of peace, and of love
By sowing the seeds of virtue, of peace, and of love.
Then, shall justice roll down like water, righteousness like a mighty stream. Amen.
Have a great day,
Glenn
From the archives: