Momma’s rules. My mother’s had very few rules for Jeny and me.
One was the ever popular — never stay over three days. The exception for us has been the people who have lived with us. We started in 1964 to have people live with us and never regretted the many experiences we had and friendships we developed through that hospitality. At last count, we have had over 30 people live with us for extended periods of time.
The second rule was never to play bridge with your wife as your partner. The message was intended as a means to minimize conflicts in a marriage. Jeny and I have followed the rule. We have never have been bridge partners, but in retrospect I wonder whether learning to work together to achieve a goal is good way to build a relationship.
The third rule was to raise your children to live with someone else from the day they are born. Implicit in this was the post-depression idea to only have two children. We failed the implicit part. We have had the joy of seeing our three children build their own families.
The one disadvantage to the last rule is your children or grandchildren may choose to live far away. We had a great time with our oldest granddaughter and her fiancé this last week. We deeply appreciate them making the effort to visit from their home in Oxford England. He is from Germany and we are delighted for both of them. They make a good couple. That makes it easier to handle the distance and knowing at our age we will rarely see them. We are thankful for What’s App!
Help. I am having a serious intellectual and emotional struggle within myself. Thanks to insightful comments by a reader regarding my thoughts about America First, I have a genuine intellectual struggle going on.
In both the Old Testament and the New Testament people of faith are commanded to “Love thy neighbor as thyself:” Leviticus 19:8 in the Old Testament and Luke 10:27 in the New Testament. If I am to have my faith perspective guide my political views, I see two things in the law/commandment. First, we are to love ourselves. Of course that means appropriate love. That to me says to look after the self-interests of America is something we should do.
The tough part is we should do it in ways that love our neighbors as ourselves. That is a very difficult task to me and the one with which am struggling.
When I visited Honduras, I observed the French supporting the construction of hospitals and the hydroelectric dam that provides power for much of Central America. My hosts were pro-America. They still made it clear, American money was being used to support military bases.
I could not help but ask myself — would our self-interests be more accepted in Central America if we had done more for domestic growth and less for a military presence? Would we be seen more as loving our neighbor as ourselves?
It is those kinds of questions with which I am struggling.
I welcome your thoughts.
This and That
Our son the economist reminded me – cancelling student debt increases inflation.
I should have guessed it—I like the balanced approach of Mark Gordon, the Republican governor of Wyoming. His party voted to censure him.
Wyoming GOP convention recap: Republican Party goes all in for Trump, all out for governor (msn.com)
Good News
In the two weeks since my last blog, many good stories have been shared. Here are but a few:
Heartwarming
A Mom Saved Another Mom’s Life After Seeing A Flyer In Her Son’s Taekwondo Studio (sunnyskyz.com)
Courageous and Heartwarming
Seven Good Samaritans Rescue Man Trapped In Burning Car On Interstate 94 (sunnyskyz.com)
First Responder
Peace
Jerry
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