Posts Tagged ‘good deeds’

Year 2021: Moving Forward

January 1, 2021

I read the Comics in the Sunday Oregonian – pretty much that’s all I read, I skip the news part. Anyway, some of my favorites are Pearls Before Swine by Stephan Pastis (always a good one with a tongue-in-cheek perspective on things like Covid), Dilbert (I like the office humor even though I’m retired), Mother Goose & Grimm (usually only 3 panels, large print, and the humor goes straight to the funny bone), Pickles (the main characters are older like me), and Mark Trail (I love the nature stuff).

Where Do We Go from Here?

Is redundancy good or bad? I tend to avoid redundancy except when I’m repeating something that I think may help someone else. Often I include ideas, links, etc. from previous blogs. For example, I found this website with a very interesting Woody Guthrie article, which I included in my New Year 2020 blog. It shows Guthrie’s list of resolutions in 1943 (from his journal). You should look at the entire list of 33 resolutions and think about them. Some are just humorous, but others you might want to add to your own list.

Woody Guthrie’s Doodle-Filled List of 33 New Year’s Resolutions From 1943

For me, I would change number 8, “Write a song a day” to “Do a good deed every day”. I tried that resolution one year and discovered that it isn’t that easy, so maybe once a week is more do-able. Even something simple like moving your neighbor’s trash containers back into their yard after the pickup. Hopefully, this will be my good deed for January 1, 2021 if someone who reads my blog is encouraged by it.

Other Links that You May Like

You may know or have surmised if you read my blog that I have a daily routine of morning meditation where I read my Bible and make my initial journal entry for that day. The journal entry includes that day’s Daily Word affirmation – today’s is, “New Year: Living from divine nature, I begin again.” The Bible verse is from Isaiah 42:9, “See the former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare.”

Daily Word Affirmations

Daily Word Articles

Karl Anthony Sings “Angels” at Unity Village. Not sure why I included this piece of music except that I like the singer’s music, and the gesture behind the music (helping the kids) makes you want to shake his hand (well, at least an air-shake).

A Daily Word article Feeling Grateful in All Things (Daily Word, November 2020)

Besides the Unity publications, which I obviously really like, there are others, such as Guideposts publications, which have daily readings to help get your day started.

A Web article:  Quick Simple Acts of Kindness

This is a link from a previous blog that may help you chart a meaningful and rewarding path for 2021.

Happy Year 2021 to You All

This post has a lot to chew on, so I’m going to forego any additional quotes, music, and pictures this time. I hope you have a fantastic year 2021.

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Celebrate Veterans Day – November 11, 2015

November 11, 2015

Is it an important holiday and how should we celebrate it?

I think most, if not all of us, would answer “yes” to the first part of  the question. It’s the second part that I want to focus on. I’ll explain what prompted me to do this blog today. Don’t miss the important web link at the bottom.

Supertramp – Take the Long Road Home

United States of America

United States of America

I was not shuffling around my house (doctor’s post-surgical instructions) but sitting in my lounger with my legs elevated and my cryo cuff with ice cold water firmly attached to my right knee joint, and I looked at my crutches that were propped up on the couch. Obviously, this being November 11, Veterans Day, I had been thinking about stuff – for example, my crutches are temporary (hopefully), but how about the vets who are permanently disabled.

Let me briefly interject a thought here. I’m hoping that my readers will be open-minded about war. Whether you are pro-war or anti-war is none of my business. All I’m asking of you in this modest, non-political piece is to respect and honor what others have done on our behalf.

How about some word pictures? A double amputee in a wheel chair rolls up the ramp and into the airport waiting area. He has a family there to greet him, which is a good thing. His young daughter bends down to give him a big hug. They both have tears in their eyes. On the same flight a young woman walks off the plane. One side of her face is disfigured. No one is there to greet her, and she is disappointed, but she manages a smile. She’s back in America and so glad to be here.

I’m a vet and proud of it. Ironically, I wasn’t always patriotic. However, I received my draft notice from the “BBQ King” (that’s what we called LBJ in those days). I’ll skip the details about how I failed my induction physical and ended up in the Navy Reserves. Those details are in another section of this blog.

What Did You Do in the War, Daddy?

And your point is?

It’s time to get to the point. Here’s what I would like to suggest. Make it your mission to honor a vet, any vet, not just today but often. It could be something as simple as saying hello, shaking their hand, or patting them on the back to acknowledge what they did. If you have time, buy them a cup of coffee or just spend a few minutes talking to them. Ask them about their service. If they don’t want to talk about, don’t push it. For some the memories are too painful. Remember, you’re recognizing the fact that they gave of themselves in serving this great country.

Ending Notes

I would like to end with music and a web link. The music is an old piece that brings back memories from my shipboard life in Vietnam. One of the pasttimes of the sailors on my ship was to record music (reel-to-reel tape in those days) to send back home. It was a nice diversion.

Blind Faith – Can’t Find My Way Home

Here is a link to a local charity that works with vets. I’ve done volunteer work for them and can vouch for their mission, which is to help our vets to survive (literally) and to be able to reassimilate into society after their service. Consider donating in whatever way you can to their very worthy cause.

Returning Veterans Project

Rufous-sided Towhee

Rufous-sided Towhee

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Good Deed, One Per Day

August 25, 2015

Man Feeding Gulls

Man Feeding Gulls

Introduction

If you look at my “2015 Preview”, three bullets from the bottom of the list is the title of this post. Off we go, but first a bit of an introduction to my writing process.

Starting with a blank sheet of paper (actually it’s on-screen) and trying to figure it out is interesting. It makes you appreciate all those movies and TV episodes about a writer sitting and staring at a blank sheet of paper for hours, with nary a word on the page. What’s that called, even successful writers suffer from writer’s block.

It’s not something I fret about – it’s part of the process for me in deciding where is the best place to start and where do I want to go with this idea. OK, yes, sometimes it’s an idea that’s been rattling around in my head for a while. Doesn’t Gibb’s have a “rule” for this situation?

Gibbs’s Rules

I decided Number 5 was the closest to what I wanted to say in this blog post. It says “You don’t waste good.”

OK, so I’m a goody two shoes, coming up with this goodness idea, it doesn’t fit in contemporary society, right! Big deal, no matter what the mainstream media would have you believe, just listen to Don Henley’s song (any Eagle’s  fans out there?), you can form your own opinion. So, if you’re a naysayer, move on, you don’t have to read my blog, but I wish you would read it.

Dirty Laundry

Here’s the back-story. One of my New Year’s resolutions was “try to do at least one good deed a day”. Without hesitation I will say that I’m WAY behind on that goal. But hang on, there is a parallel concept – I need to synthesize good deeds with this whole goodness theme. In very basic terms, the concept is “goodness counts” or “goodness is important” or “goodness is unselfish”.

Real Life Good Deeds

How about some examples. Thanks to Reader’s Digest for the following cover story in their July/August 2015 edition. Be patient with this link.

Everyday Heroes

There are actually 13 examples in the Reader’s Digest stories – starting with a woman in Chicago who helped to resettle teen girls from other countries to the story about a man in California who helped bring a beach back to life. Yes, those were amazing things that the 13 people did, giving of themselves to help others. Even a story (#10) about a librarian in Ferguson, Missouri. Why does Ferguson, Missouri ring a bell? Oh, isn’t that where all the riots were happening last year (and again this year)? How did the media miss covering the story about what the librarian did in Ferguson? They must have focused on other things that were happening. Oops, sorry, I couldn’t resist a dig on media bias in the good ole USA.

OK, let’s focus in on goodness from the perspective of discovering goodness in our own lives, each one of us, by NOT focusing on ourselves. There is a higher power – for me that would be God – that should drive our purpose in life. I know that runs counter to what many of us learned from day 1, that we should decide what we want to be, what to do with our lives, set goals, be ambitious, dream about our future. All of this focuses on ourselves. Obviously the 13 people in the Reader’s Digest stories were not focusing on themselves. Maybe just a bit of a digression to examine basic meanings of good and goodness.

Definitions and Examples from Merriam-Webster

The quality or state of being good such as:

The quality or state of being kind, honest, generous, helpful, etc.

  • I believe there is (some) goodness in everyone.
  • Even if you don’t agree, at least have the goodness to be polite!
  • She agreed to help him out of the goodness of her heart (because she is a kind and generous person).

People use I swear to goodness, I hope to goodness, or I wish to goodness to add force to a statement.

I wish to goodness that you would hurry up!

You get the idea. Goodness can take many forms and have many applications.

Bottom Line

Did I, the blogger writing this blog, do a good deed today? I’m thinking. Nope, but there’s always tomorrow. It doesn’t have to be a major act like the everyday heroes in the examples. Maybe something simple, let a person get in line in front of you at the grocery store or someone is stuck trying to break into a long line of traffic (maybe they’re late for a job interview), or whatever. There is a vast ocean of opportunities out there, give it a shot, do a good deed today!

Off the Kauai Coast

Off the Kauai Coast

Blackbird

By the Beatles of course, short and sweet. I don’t know which Beatle wrote this tune, but I’ve always liked it.

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