I just found out something that might be important. The weather on the day I was born. Apparently, on my birthday...the original...it was 54 degrees sunny but windy in Los Angeles. I cannot substantiate that as fact, but the information came to me in the form of an advertising gimmick that offered the opportunity to punch in a few numbers on an web page and get this valuable insight. Free!
Now what. Maybe there is a writing prompt here. Maybe the weather on the day you were born says more about your personality than we think? Maybe. Where does that leave folks born in a storm or heat wave? Am I to believe that my 54 degree first day make me rather moderate, with a bright attitude that is prone to be blown off course from time to time. Or could that be you too?
Aside from savants who often remember the weather on every day of their lives, I wonder how many people would rely on this data as anything reliable? So how do we learn previously unknown things that might help us navigate our brief lives? Other folks comes to mind first. Here the slope can be treacherous...at times.
To see ourselves as others see us is a real privilege. I sometimes think I have an exaggerated sense of self. Perhaps having the bully pulpit of the classroom for many years contributes to this. But then I hear from someone about something long buried in the past and I think that maybe, yes, I did have a hand in shaping a few lives along the way. It's never an overt or purposeful endeavor. It just happens from a combination of things. Immeasurable, to be sure but delightful in it's recognition.
Malcolm X used to say, "the chickens will come home to roost," in describing the wrongs done to African Americans. At this moment in time, we are seeing more of the chickens and getting a good glimpse of the roost. Just think how many atrocities have gone un-videoed and how many are popping up currently. There are homeward bound chickens all over the current political scene and system. This reckoning will hit a temporary climax with the next Presidential election. Core values, what it means to be American and the ethical and moral consequences of our actions now are at stake. That's all. I wonder what the weather was like on the day the Constitution of the United States was written? But then as Bob Dylan has so often reminded us, "You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows."
Now what. Maybe there is a writing prompt here. Maybe the weather on the day you were born says more about your personality than we think? Maybe. Where does that leave folks born in a storm or heat wave? Am I to believe that my 54 degree first day make me rather moderate, with a bright attitude that is prone to be blown off course from time to time. Or could that be you too?
Aside from savants who often remember the weather on every day of their lives, I wonder how many people would rely on this data as anything reliable? So how do we learn previously unknown things that might help us navigate our brief lives? Other folks comes to mind first. Here the slope can be treacherous...at times.
To see ourselves as others see us is a real privilege. I sometimes think I have an exaggerated sense of self. Perhaps having the bully pulpit of the classroom for many years contributes to this. But then I hear from someone about something long buried in the past and I think that maybe, yes, I did have a hand in shaping a few lives along the way. It's never an overt or purposeful endeavor. It just happens from a combination of things. Immeasurable, to be sure but delightful in it's recognition.
Malcolm X used to say, "the chickens will come home to roost," in describing the wrongs done to African Americans. At this moment in time, we are seeing more of the chickens and getting a good glimpse of the roost. Just think how many atrocities have gone un-videoed and how many are popping up currently. There are homeward bound chickens all over the current political scene and system. This reckoning will hit a temporary climax with the next Presidential election. Core values, what it means to be American and the ethical and moral consequences of our actions now are at stake. That's all. I wonder what the weather was like on the day the Constitution of the United States was written? But then as Bob Dylan has so often reminded us, "You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows."
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