Beginning to understand

A couple of weeks ago, I called Shawn Sabau. Shawn is my financial planner. When I call him, it is hardly ever about the few dollars I can invest. However, when I have a vexing question, I can count on Shawn to assist me, which he has done many times over the years.

My call this time had to do with getting all my ducks lined up. Things in my life will soon radically change in an extremely positive way. I look forward to that opportunity; nonetheless, I needed to organize my life. As I mentioned an array of things that I had to do, Shawn listened, asked questions, and explored ways to address my concerns. Again, I thanked him as I have done so many times in the past.

After the call, I went back to my computer. However, something happened. I had a strange sensation or feeling. It related to my living a life well lived. It paralleled the realization that I experienced after doing the dance with death. Both events were transformative by reenergizing me. Dylan Thomas poetically expressed my feeling in Do Not So Gentle into that Good Night. This is the first stanza of his poem and sums up my Weltanschauung about living a life well lived.

Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light

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The Silence Was Deafening When Ginger Wasn’t Underfoot

06/16/25

What Troubles Me In My Twilight Years

06/13/25

The World About Which I Dream Often Isn’t the World in Which I Live.

06/11/25

My Artistic Eye Doesn’t Like an Overcrowded Mess

05/30/25

The Little One Has Grown Up

05/28/25

Becoming I Am Legend In My World

05/26/25

Churchill and Trump The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly Times

05/12/25

Teaching Trump Before He Becomes Pope Pius Trump

05/09/25

Bobby and Being a Legend Will Help America

05/07/25

The Less You Have, The More You Give An Important One-Liner

05/05/25

The Haunting Question Remains What Will You Teach?

05/02/25

The Reciprocity of Teaching A Mirror Image

04/30/25

Cave Artists and Jackson Pollock Taught Me About Painting and Life

04/28/25

Trump Is On the Road Again Caution To the World

04/23/25

History Repeating Itself Unless We Learn From the Past

04/18/25

The Parable of the Three Female Elephants Will Reveal Who You Are

04/16/25

Cast Away Awaken Me Who Are the Cast Aways Today?

04/14/25

Booker’s Summation And My Add-Ons

04/07/25

The Man and the Moment The Picker's Mentors

04/04/25

Creating My Yellow Brick Road It’s a Metaphor

04/02/25

We Need to Heed the Warnings.... Quite Early in the Morning

03/31/25

I Wish I Was Still Teaching Art History But Why?

03/24/25

Then and Now History Repeats Itself—Two Out of Three Times

03/21/25

Which Man Are You in the Arena? It’s An Either/Or Choice

03/17/25

I Am Legend And the Darkseekers

03/14/25

Plagiarism in Mother Russia And in America

03/12/25

Problems Drive Us No Pain, No Gain

03/10/25

Addressing the Cancer of Discrimination “If Only We’re Brave Enough To Be It.”

03/07/25

Lessons We Need To Learn And Not Fade into History

03/05/25

Our Orange President Offers Gold Cards To the World

03/03/25

Reflections on My Surgery Talk About Being Lucky

02/28/25

I Had a Bad Cold Last Month What’s the Big Deal?

02/17/25

Life is All About Your Owner’s Manual Check Your Owner’s Manual.

02/14/25

Planting My Mango Tree And Pondering Planting a Breadfruit Tree

02/12/25

The Truth of My Mantra It Is in Giving That We Get.

02/10/25

Groundhog Day Essential Learning about Life

02/05/25

My Dog Named Ginger Pooh And Her Health Report

02/03/25

The What If Question Asked Three Times

01/29/25

Johnny Appleseed Past and Present

01/24/25

It All Started with And Ti Ti’s Scarf And Ends with My Golden Kata

01/22/25

My Birthday Gift Who Is Happier?

01/17/25

My Dilemma of Growing Old While Remaining Alive

01/08/25

Happy 6th Birthday to A Ngal Lay My Great Granddaughter

01/06/25

Charlie Chaplin’s Advice For a Long Life

01/01/25

What We Learned from Amazon Before It Is Too Late

12/30/24

I Have Finally Seen the Light My Third Dance

11/29/24

Thinking about Thanksgiving More Clearly

11/27/24

It’s Med Time-- A Follow-up to Sauna Time

11/22/24

It’s Sauna Time If You Want To Enjoy Life

11/20/24

What If.... It's All About My Mantra.

11/13/24

Puerto Rico Then and Now

11/11/24

Amid the Chaos A Suggestion about the Next Four Years

11/08/24

The Music That Floated Around in My Head On Election Night

11/06/24

It's a Long, Long Road From Which There is No Return

11/04/24

A Saint and a Sinner Michelle Obama and Lev Parnas

10/30/24

Happy Birthday Ginger She Turned Eight Today

10/28/24

What I Admire about Kamala And How She Will Change America

10/25/24

Robert Reich Paying Homage... To a Special American

10/23/24

Linking Up with My Family During Thadingyut

10/21/24

Trump is Correct...Partially He Just Missed Who the Enemy Was

10/16/24

What’s With the Water? Water, Water, Everywhere

10/14/24

Professor Keating and I We Both Took Mrs. Davis’s English Class

10/07/24

Another Set of Photos for Ti Ti Remain Driven in Life

10/04/24

Trump Psychoanalyzes Harris But He Reveals His Psych Issues in the Process

10/02/24

Another Eureka Moment Thank You, Nancy

09/30/24

“I Want To Be Your Protector” Said the Neanderthal

09/27/24

Following in the Footsteps of Lt. Zogg It’s All About Being Determined

09/25/24

Two Worlds and Two Realities Pick Your Choice

09/23/24

A Funny Thing Happened To Me As I Age, Not So Gracefully

09/16/24

Discovering a Mentor In a Field of Dreams

09/13/24

The Cat Lady By the Dog Gentleman

09/11/24

Another Set of Photos For Ti Ti from PaPa Al

09/09/24

Becoming a Monkey King It's More Than Mere Monkey Business

09/04/24

“The Apple Doesn’t Fall Far from the Tree” The Bobby Paradox

08/30/24

We Are All Teachers Be Careful What You Teach

08/28/24

Become a Bo Bo Gyi It's About Giving to Get.

08/26/24

The Snowman vs Allen How To Change the World

08/23/24

Creating Elysium In This World

08/19/24

Destiny or Fate It is Another Either/Or Issue

08/16/24

What’s with Nancy Nurenberg? It’s All About Feeling Dumb and Poor

08/14/24

The Duality of Daffodils Carpe Diem

08/12/24

Replying to Ti Ti’s Request For a Photo of PaPa Al

08/09/24

Get With It Roar Like a Lion

08/07/24

You Know that You Are Getting Old When You Don’t Know All the New Words and Slogans

08/05/24

Lessons Learned in Former British Colonies Like America, South Africa, and Myanmar

07/31/24

The Third Old Man Or Three Coins in the Fountain of Life

07/29/24

A Story of Two Old Men And How They Will Be Remembered

07/26/24

Hear Ye! Hear Ye! Let the World Know It is Snow’s Birthday!

07/22/24

Ukraine and Myanmar An Unfortunate Parallel

07/15/24

My Kierkegaardian-esque Parable Either / Or

07/12/24

A Parable about Geese Waddle or Fly

07/10/24

It’s Déjà Vu All Over Again With the Father and Son

07/05/24

Once Upon a Midnight Dreary What Would Kierkegaard Do?

07/03/24

How to Become Rich Without Any Much Money

07/01/24

How Will We Be Remembered Another Either / Or Essay

06/28/24

Another Funny Thing Happened At My Barber Shop

06/21/24

We Need to Get Honest Much Sooner Than Later

06/19/24

A Funny Thing Happened At My Doctor’s Office

06/17/24

I’m Leading Death Again On My Dancefloor of Life

06/10/24

Let Me Get This Straight Trump Is An Innocent Man

06/07/24

Learning from Kipling “You’re a Better Man than I Am, Gunga Din!”

06/05/24

A Poem for Ti Ti Who is Now Twenty

06/02/24

What’s It All About, Alfie According to Longfellow

05/31/24

Repeating the Past Make Sure You Understand the Past

05/24/24

My Grandmother’s Words Haunt and Inspire Me

05/20/24

I Wonder Whether the Elk Did the Dance He Acted Like It

05/17/24

Ginger and I Have Done the Dance Each of Us Twice

05/15/24

Every Day is Like Survival You're My Lover Not My Rival

05/13/24

How Much Land Does a Man Need? An Edited Tolstoy

05/10/24

What’s with Bohemian Rhapsody And Our Takeaway

05/08/24

The Flying Dutchman Then and Now

05/03/24

Field of Dreams A Haunting Return

04/24/24

Lincoln and His Better Angels Or Trump and His Worst Demons

04/22/24

Immortal Beloved Beethoven’s, Shakespeare’s, and Mine

04/19/24

What Did Rowe Learn from Beethoven? Erasing

04/12/24

What I Discovered When I Wasn’t Looking

04/08/24

Bush’s Bus Ride Leadership or Roadkills

04/05/24

“We Are Made of Star-Stuff,” But We Don’t Realize It.

03/27/24

Standing on the Hill Our Human Destiny

03/20/24

Who Will Bring Trump to Justice Not the Courts

03/18/24

Träumerei Then and Now

03/15/24

Resurrecting the Quest of Men in Black Before the Election

03/13/24

Trump Has Some Issues with Taylor Swift Beyond His Legal Woes and Coming Up with a Half Billion Dollars

03/11/24

It’s Better to Burn Out Than to Fade Away

03/06/24

Odysseus’ Long, Long Journey Both Odysseus and Odie

02/26/24

Bo Bo Gyi And His Advice to His Granddaughter

02/19/24

Kicking the Can Down the Road, Again 50th Mass Shootings in America This Year

02/16/24

St. Valentine’s Day The Real St. Valentine’s Day

02/14/24

The Box or Jar of Pandora Another Parable

02/07/24

The Two Faces of Prometheus Which Face Will You Pick?

02/05/24

Trump Wasn’t the First Trump There Have Been Others

02/02/24

My Hill of Beans Paradox Created by the James Webb Space Telescope

01/26/24

My Birthday And the Age of Aquarius

01/24/24

My Third Dance with Death And Its Effect

01/22/24

Snow and Fatty Are Following in Ti Ti’s Footsteps

01/19/24

First, There was Jacques Cousteau Now, There is Ti Ti

01/12/24

It Was To Be a Short Phone Call But It Wasn’t

01/05/24

This Is a True Story... About Guts

01/03/24

Starting a New Year With a New Battery and Insight

01/01/24

What’s It All About... The Paradox of Life

12/29/23

Do You Hear the People Sing... Who Will Not Be Slaves Again!

12/22/23

Why Write? Answers from Vonnegut and Faulkner

12/20/23

Solar Flares and CMEs Impending Impact

12/18/23

PaPa Al’s Reply To Ti Ti’s Posting, I Love Education Posting

12/15/23

The Paradox of Learning It Is an Either/Or Knowledge Base

12/13/23

Yin-Yang Beyond My Personal World What About Your World?

12/11/23

My Yin Yang World Dreams vs. Reality

12/08/23

The Orange Jesus... Is from a Planet in the Andromeda Galaxy

12/04/23

What Would T.E. Lawrence Do In Gaza and Israel?

11/29/23

Bananas Flambé for GiGi An Extraordinary Woman

11/15/23

Let Me Get This Straight “If you go after me, I’m coming after you.”

11/13/23

If I Were Q I’d Tell the Whole Story of the Téméraire

11/08/23

Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night A Lesson Taught by Dylan Thomas

11/06/23

The Reason for Being An Either/Or Situation

11/03/23

The Ripple Effect An Either/Or Issue

11/01/23

Ginger’s 7th Birthday What’s Life All About, Alfie?

10/30/23

Sagan’s Golden Records On the Horns of a Dilemma

10/27/23

Breath of Fresh Air From My Web Administrator

10/20/23

Me and My Echocardiogram Beyond a Diagnosis

10/18/23

Lawrence of Arabia... A Mentor of Mine

10/11/23

Let’s Do the Math It is an Either/Or Choice

10/09/23

The Evolution of Humans To the Present Day

09/27/23

My Second Shot Or the First Insurrection

09/22/23

My World of Xanadu Another Personal Parallel Essay

09/20/23

Ti Ti’s Surprising Email To Her Grandfather

09/18/23

Tyson’s Two Thoughts Regarding AI and a Ticking Clock

09/15/23

Creating My Alive Life Gone Will Be the Days of Being Dead Tired

09/11/23

Jumping Hoops for a Prescription Raises Ethical Issues at Various Levels

09/04/23

Another Dance for Ginger Learn and Live in the Moment

09/01/23

Ginger’s Gifts From Michelle

08/25/23

Michelle The Sculptor and Writer

08/23/23

Holding Hands with Neal Katyal What My Teacher Taught Me

08/21/23

Thomas and Trump The Teacher and Student

08/16/23

St. Francis Expanded My Learning At Many Levels

08/14/23

Haunting Photos Then and Now

08/09/23

Grasp This Truism From St. Francis and Buddha

08/07/23

What I Learned In My Twilight Years Giotto Revisited

08/04/23

Oppie and Me The Similarities are Striking

07/24/23

“The Young and Fearless at Heart” The Hope for the World

05/29/23

College Days Part II Onsite...Finally

05/26/23

Gosh Josh You Are So into Your Masculinity

05/24/23

Heart of Royalty An Either or Choice

05/10/23

Watergate To Mar-o-Largogate What Will the Crooks Do?

05/03/23

Helping Marjorie Taylor Greene Slay Her Dragons

05/01/23

When Slaying Dragons An Instruction Manuel

04/28/23

Les Misérables Then and Now Chevalier the Latest Incarnation

04/24/23

Find Your Gift And Gave It Away

04/21/23

Doubting Thomas Teaching Gilgamesh to Thomas

04/19/23

The Times They Are A-Changin’ Again The Tennessee Three

04/17/23

I’m Alive Because I’m White If I Wasn’t White....

04/14/23

Ginger’s Tribute to Her Vet “Thanks, But Can You Get Me Bigger Treats?”

04/12/23

A Golden Opportunity Explaining Ti Ti to her Class

04/10/23

A Suggestion of a Mentor A Sequel to Picking a Mentor Article

04/07/23

Picking Mentors Choose Wisely

04/05/23

Witch Hunts Question: Who Is the Witch?

03/29/23

The Effects of the Sun’s Coronal Hole Be Prepared

03/27/23

We Are All Greeks Shelley, Vangelis, and Hawking

03/17/23

NASA Discovered Six Massive Galaxies So What?

03/08/23

Music Explains Me Music Drives Me

03/03/23

Learning from Lao Tzu To Live Life Daringly

02/13/23

Learning from Two Astrophysicists About this World

02/10/23

Fatty and Bo Bo Gyi Addressing Our Nation’s Problems

02/06/23

Let’s Get Honest About White Camelot

02/03/23

Education is a Double-Edged Sword How To Address Learning

02/01/23

Aggressive Chimpanzees Outside of Africa

01/30/23

The Evolution of Aldie According to a 21st Century Darwinian Theory

01/23/23

What’s It All About Alfie? From an Eighty-Year Old Alfie

01/20/23

My Quest for Eldorado In Three Parts

01/16/23

Grasping Reality I Can’t Explain It

01/09/23

The Benefit of Pain Take Advantage of It

01/02/23

What Drove My Father and Drives Me? Pain

12/30/22

It’s All About We An Important Lesson of Life

12/26/22

Be Careful Whom You Choose as a Mentor Hatanaka or Scrooge

12/23/22

“Only This and Nothing More” Quote the Raven

12/21/22

I Wish that I Had Asked My Father About WWII

12/19/22

Repeating the Past...Part II Tokyo Rose

12/16/22

Problems are Assets Seize the Problems

12/09/22

The Reckoning Day Of the Invincibles

12/07/22

My Way Morphing to My Mentoring

12/02/22

A Picture is Worth a Billion Words Or Pick Your Mentors Wisely

11/30/22

If You Are Looking for a Mentor... I Have a Suggestion

11/28/22

My Twilight Hauntings... About Immortality

11/25/22

My Quest to Understand Why? Why Everything

11/21/22

Camelot Revisited By Looking Again at the Past

11/07/22

Ginger is Now Six As We Do the Dance

10/28/22

Growing Up Without Transparency And Finally Discovering It

10/14/22

Facing Storms of Life Another Either/Or Situation

10/07/22

Trying Times Testing Souls

09/23/22

Picking Mentors It Will Change Your Life

09/09/22

A Tribute to a Thinker My Thinker Shawn

08/26/22

Seeing Things More Clearly On My Yellow Brick Road

08/24/22