Billion

Billion....700 billion to be exact.

Am I the only one tired of hearing about the "bail-out" or "buy-in" plan to rescue our failing economy?

Am I the only one weary of hearing the "Wall Street vs. Main Street" references from our presidential candidates?

700 billion is a lot of money. I am not sure how much exactly, but I know it is a lot. I decided to try to get my mind wrapped around the amount, so I went to my calculator on my laptop. The number is to big to fit on my calculator in a way that I can work with.

I wanted to know what 700 billion would buy so I did a little research.

Here is what I found.

For 700 billion you could buy every NFL, MLB & NBA Team.

You could build each team a new stadium

AND, pay each player 200 million dollars.

If you changed 700 billion into US quarters and put them side by side

you will go around the globe 122 times.

If you stacked 700 billion quarters it would reach 3 million miles into space.

If you took 700 billion and converted them into $1 bills it would

circle the earth about 2662 times and would weigh 770,925 tons.

700 billion equally divided among US citizens would give

each person nearly $3,ooo.

Here are a couple of other interesting things to consider....

Did you know....

700 billion is 9 times the amount spent on education in the US in 2007

It is 140 billion more than what has been spent on the

Iraq war since the invasion

It is the amount spent on importing foreign oil into the US each year

It is twice the amount of all money given to all charitable

organizations in the US in any given year

I am perplexed by the magnitude of this number. I am saddened by the occasion that has gotten us to this point. This is not a Democrat, Republican, Independent, Green Party issue. It is a moral issue that assaults the sensibilities of reasonable people.

The answer is illusive and will not be easily found.

America is facing a test of her integrity and competence. Politicians, economists and commentators are not adequate to lead America out of this conundrum. The Speaker of the House and Minority leaders do not have the fortitude to show the way. The President seems locked in the abyss of helplessness. What should happen?

It is time for people like you and I to step up and provide leadership in our circles of influence. We cannot wait for Washington DC or the State capitol to suggest a plan. We must be willing to stand up, speak up and be counted at this crucial time.

Well, I feel better now that I have committed my thoughts in writing. I am ready to take action and make certain that my financial house is in order. I wonder what would happen if each of us took responsibility and didn't wait for someone else to help us.

Just a thought.

Braces

Have you ever seen something that took you completely by surprise?

A couple of days ago I was wondering through St. Jacobs Farmers Market in Ontario. There were Mennonites everywhere.

I grew up in Amish and Mennonite country so there is nothing surprising in that.

What shocked me was seeing a little Mennonite girls about eight years of age. That is not surprising.

But she smiled at me. That was a little surprising.

But when she smiled I was really surprised.

She was wearing braces. That's right orthodontic appliances...railroad tracks....braces.

A Mennonite girl wearing braces....am I the only one that thinks that is strange.

This world, it is a changin'!

If little Mennonite girls are wearing braces, what's next?

Stay tuned.

Reflections

Over the last 72 hours my wife and I have had the opportunity to be at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival.


We saw three plays. One was a Shakespeare play filled with irony and drama. We saw two musicals that were playful, provocative and entertaining. After each play I reflected on the message the playwright tried to communicate. Often what you see in the play is a reflection of what the writer was trying to communicate. Rather than being direct, he hides the plays meaning inside of the dialogue and requires the observer to extract its meaning.


Sometimes I get the meaning. Sometimes I have to really work to see what he is trying to say. This weekend I got it.


In addition to attending the plays, the experience of being in Stratford Ontario was a rewarding one.


There were bookstores everywhere and everytime I would walk pass by I would wander inside and fare sumptiously from the volumes


There was a farmers market that offered all kinds of homegrown vegetables and flea market items.

There was a horse auction offering draught and riding horses.

There was plenty of places for fresh coffee.

There was a lot of restaurants to feed "play attending patrons."

The experience a a veritable cornucopia of experiences. I tried to be fully present in every moment and allow the time away to refresh my mind and soul.


Today I am reflecting on my time away and giving thanks for the Stratford experience.

Tomorrow I head back to my day to day responsibilities...the memories of this weekend are fresh in my mind and will continue to influence and shape me as I embrace my responsibilities.


I am thankful for the experiences that have enriched my creativity and life.

Baaaack

I'm Baaaack!

After three days in the uttermost parts of the earth (Petoskey) I have returned to the land of cellular service and internet signals.

There were both in Petoskey but to get a cell signal you have to contort in configurations that look like old TV antennaes on top of homes in Scranton Pennsylvania.

Finally, I walked downstairs in the hotel where we were staying and asked about internet service in the hotel.

"Oh, yes...we have wireless internet throughout the whoooooole hotel."

I said, "I have been here two days and nights and I got nothin'"

He looked at me with a pitiful stare. Mumbling, he walked off to "check" on things.

He came back a few minutes later and said, "try that." I did. I had internet.

They had been so busy checking people in and out of the Stafford Bay View that they forgot to maintain the signal.

Life is a lot like that. We can get so busy that we fail to maintain the "signal."

Now that I am back on line I will be sharing some pictures and stories from my travels. Believe me, there have been a lot of both. You may get a couple of posts over the next few days so stay tuned.

Fall

It is hard to believe that fall is right around the corner in our neck of the woods. While others are sweltering in torrid heat, we are seeing leaves on trees turn colors. The autumn air is coming our way and we are anxiously awaiting its arrival.

Late last fall we carved pumpkins on the deck. We laughed and enjoyed an afternoon of culinary carvings.

I was assigned the responsibility of cleaning up the pumpkin guts.

I did the best I could but there were a few seeds left over and I brushed them off the deck into the flower bed beside the deck.

Imagine my surprise when a huge vine emerged from underneath the warm spring soil. Thinking it was a weed, I made a mental note to pull it later. Time got away from me and before long the huge vine began to sport yellow flowers followed by small green gourd shaped objects.

Then the sun kissed the green objects and turned them into orange pumpkins.

I have watched them all summer and tonite I took the big butcher knife outside and harvested the pumpkins. I don't know if it is the right time or not but cool weather is coming and I have already seen pumpkins at the grocery store, so now I have three pumpkins.

One is going to my son.

One is going to my daughter.

And we will keep one for ourselves.

Fall is here and it is my favorite time of the year. The harvest (three pumpkins) is done for our small farm.

We used to sing a song at Thanksgiving that had these words....

"All is safely gathered in

ere the winter storms begin"

We will carve the pumpkins soon....then we will be shovelling snow....

Confusion

I was flying home from Houston last evening and when we boarded the airplane at Bush Intercontinental Airport I noticed something unusual in the row in front of me.

There was a man and a woman who looked like a husband and wife.

They were seated in the Exit Row.

You know the shtick....the flight attendant came back to tell us that we were sitting in the Exit Row and in addition to having extra leg room we had extra responsibilities.

I have heard the speech hundreds of times so I was already doing something else while all of this was taking place.

All of us seated in the Exit Row grunted an affirmative response to the questions posed by the flight attendant. Everybody except my neighbors one row ahead of us.

They were busily reading the instructions entitled "In the Event of An Emergency"

After a few minutes they summond the flight attendant who sighed and walked back toward them.

What happened next was shocking.

The man spoke and said, "Excuse me, there is a discrepancy between the written instructions and the instructions printed on the Exit Door. One says pull the door in and store inside the plane and the other says open the door and throw it outside the plane. Which one is it?

Say what? The man's comment had my attention.

I realize that in the event of an emergency I and a hundred others will have already crawled over the man ahead of me while he is still trying to decide whether to store the Exit Door inside the airplane or throw it outside.

But wait there's more.

The Flight Attendant took the written instructions and began to read them. The last thing I heard him say was, "you know I have worked for the airlines a long time and I have never really read the instructions myself."

"WHAT?"

Here's the bottom line...I prayed a lot. There was no emergency requiring my neighbor to take action.

The flight attendant finally mumbled something like, "If we have an emergency do whatever you think."

I am glad to be back on terra firma.

Family

Over the last several days I have had the opportunity to be with my extended family. Many people live in close proximity to their family and have the privilege of seeing them often. Unfortunately, we do not get to visit each other as often as we would like so we try to take full advantage of the times when we are together.

I am in Houston for my nieces wedding.

We participated in all of the activities leading up to today's wedding. We ran errands, moved tables, decorated tables for the reception, rehearsed for the wedding, and attended the rehearsal dinner. It was cool to be together and to watch the anticipation and excitement.

Last night after all of the wedding eve festivities, my wife and I stopped by Panera Bread to enjoy coffee with my aunt who lives in Phoenix. She is my mother's sister.

We sat outside in the fresh Houston air and watched the sun set over the Texas Horizon. We sipped coffee, shared stories, laughed, swapped lies, sipped coffee, told childhood stories, sipped coffee until the half moon rose in the night sky.

I listened as my aunt regaled us with stories, many of which I had already heard and some which were new to me. I had lots of questions as we talked about family and I felt as though she was a link to a past I was to young to remember.

All families have stories.

Last night the stories told around the Panera Bread table encouraged my heart by reminding me of the rich heritage that is mine. I laughed when I heard some of the stories because they reminded me that our family is "human" and that we do not have it all together. Some of them helped me to better understand why I am the way I am and that even if I had it all together I wouldn't remember where I put it.

Finally, after the coffee was gone and the stories were told, I said, "let me tell one more story," and I did. It was a funny story about my uncle. We laughed.

I am thankful for a family that is strong enough to laugh together, live together, laugh together and last together.

Today we add another member to our family and I have the privilege of pronouncing them husband and wife.

I am heading off to the wedding