I'm usually a pretty serious guy. Just ask my wife, Ellen, and/or my family about that! I'll admit that I have frequently used this blog for "getting on my soapbox" about a lot of things that are going on in this world. Usually I write about things that appear to be going bad or wrong out there. And, there certainly are a lot of things that trouble me and cause me to get serious sometimes. But...
Sometimes you just gotta laugh out loud about life.
It was just a couple of days ago on Friday, sometime in the mid-afternoon. I had just received an e-mail at work that hit me kind of funny. So, I decided to forward it on to a couple of people I really love, who I thought might be amused by it as well. As fate would have it, the forwarded e-mail ended up triggering some persistent giggles on the part of at least one of the loved ones who received my forward. Then she called me. At the office, mind you! Well, my apologies to anyone who happened to be sitting around me at work that afternoon, particularly if they were trying to get something done on a Friday afternoon. In a truly serendipitous moment, we both absolutely lost it on the phone! Once the laughter started, it began to snowball even further, to the point of being just a little bit ridiculous! Tears flowed. Knees were slapped. Hilarity became contagious. And finally, I ended up saying, "Stop! Stop!" as I gasped for my next breath. It was a really, really big surprise to both of us! Not what either of us was expecting when the call commenced.
Sometimes you just gotta laugh out loud about life.
Earlier in the week, I received a series of e-mails about a particular subject from family members, including the one who caused me to get completely out of control on the phone on Friday. For some unknown reason, a little birdie inside of me said, "Oh, go ahead! Have some fun with this why don't you?" So, relatively uncharacteristically of me, I did have fun with it. Probably fooled a lot of my family members who don't normally see me pulling pranks or laughing that much or hearing jokes emanating from my mouth. But, I just couldn't resist! I couldn't pass up the opportunity to smile, giggle, and/or laugh to myself. Maybe the stresses of life have been taking their toll on me lately? Maybe it was time for me to just have some fun and relax a bit? Chill out about things happening in my life? I don't know exactly what was going on, but...
Sometimes you just gotta laugh out loud about life.
Many, many years ago, I remember experiencing totally uncontrollable laughter unexpectedly with my Mom. Neither of us are particularly funny people, as a rule. But, in this particular instance, we were over-the-top ourageous in our laughter. We just could not stop no matter what we did. It was another tears flowing, knees slapping, unending hilarity, gasping for a breath moment. Too funny! What made it even funnier was that my Dad was there, but he wasn't getting what we were laughing at. The more my Mom and I laughed, the more my Dad appeared to become completely disgusted with the two of us. It was a completely infectious moment for my Mom and me. We literally could not help ourselves. I am beginning to giggle just thinking about it! Have you ever had one of those moments (kind of like the "I love to laugh" scene in the movie Mary Poppins)? If so, cherish the memory! Remember moments like that when life gets hard and when things don't seem to be going the way you want them to go. Let it go because...
Sometimes you just gotta laugh out loud about life.
It says in Proverbs 17:22 that "A joyful heart is good medicine." Also, I believe it was author and humorist Erma Bombeck who once said (after she found out she had terminal cancer) that if she had it to do all over again, she'd laugh more. Good advice! Let's all laugh more!
So, for today - nothing serious, nothing dire, nothing too spiritual or intellectual or political. I'll save all that for some other blog, some other week. Rather, for today...
Sometimes you just gotta laugh out loud about life.
Got a good laughter story to share? I'd love to hear it. :-) Oh, and did you heard the one about...
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Sunday, August 15, 2010
There ought to be a law!
This past Friday, I spent the whole day in a seminar entitled, "Legal Issues for Texas Architects and Landscape Architects." Since I am a licensed Landscape Architect in the State of Texas, I needed some continuing education credits for my annual license renewal and this seminar gave me eight TX CEPHs, including the required one for Sustainable Design and the required one for Barrier-Free Design. Those of you not in the architecture or engineering profession might be saying to yourselves right now, "Ho-hum..." Keep reading.
The whole purpose behind requiring licensed design professionals in the State of Texas to garner a certain number of continuing education credits each year for renewal of their licenses is to keep them current in their professions. It also helps remind them on an annual basis of their overall charge in having a license issued by the state - that is to protect the health, safety and welfare of the citizens of Texas as we practice. Whew! Some of you might still be saying, "So what?" Keep reading.
Well, about halfway through the seminar the thought occurred to me that everything I was hearing that day (from eventually all six attorneys who spoke to us), had to do with the miscellaneous interpretations of laws that had been passed by either our federal or state governments in recent years. Needless to say, there were times when I even felt like the speakers did not fully comprehend the laws that had been passed, even though they were declared to be the experts of them! Very frequently the speakers went back through all of the numerous, progressive "add-ons" to the original laws that had been passed, describing the necessities for how laws had to be modified to address issues that weren't covered or even fully considered by the initial piece of legislation. Ugh!
That is when it hit me. I remember hearing this phrase many times growing up. We in this country for too long have been all too quick to say, "There ought to be a law!" Something doesn't set well with us, we see something we don't like happening, someone we know is somehow made uncomfortable by a circumstance and we immediately say to ourselves, "There ought to be a law!"
I'm here to tell you that I think our mantra going forward should rather be, "There ought to be fewer laws!"
For the past 40-50 years when we as a nation have come up against something we don't like and/or don't think should be happening, our knee-jerk reaction has frequently been to introduce legislation attempting to fix or change whatever we personally deem wrong. Oftentimes without regard for any other point of view. After all, too frequently in this country it's all about me, right? And then, when a law is passed in its oftentimes compromised state, we frequently have to go back and amend that law over and over again to get it right. We seldom do.
I am beginning to think that this is no longer a good way to run a country. Rather, we should all just look around us, determine what each of us can do as individuals to make the necessary adjustments in our own lives to demonstrate a better way for others to follow, and then do that. Even if others don't follow, so what? Just live a life, set an example, prove that your way is the best way by living it and leave everyone else to their own business. It's still a free country, right? Right?
Case in point - one of the topics at my seminar on Friday had to do with laws dealing with accessibility. What a great cause! We as a design community should be making sure that everything that gets built is as accessible as possible. However, universal accessibility for each and every possible instance everywhere in the world (no matter when it was built) is probably unrealistic and a big distortion of what was originally intended. Similarly, another topic at the seminar had to do with the "greening" of our buildings. Once again, a great cause! I support it. We as a design community should be making sure that everything we do in our responsibilities as licensed design professionals promotes sustainability. That just makes good common sense. Local materials, less energy, better health for occupants of our buildings, etc. However, you cannot legislate compulsary "greening" for each and every building type all over the world, nor should we even try to! It's just unrealistic to think it will happen! And the costs of attempting to do so will ruin us financially.
So today, we have a lot of cries for laws that mandate proper foods to eat, or mandate generic details for universal healthcare, or mandate the prohibition of certain activities, etc. I'm telling you, all of that is dangerous, and someday soon we may all discover that it is also probably regrettable.
Therefore, starting today, I'd like to advocate a nation-wide campaign that says we should change the language in our country from one that says, "There ought to be a law!" to one that says, "There ought to be fewer laws!" Anyone care to join me in this cause? In my humble opinion, our freedoms and liberty in this country depend on us doing this different in the future than we have done it in the immediate past.
There ought to be fewer laws.
The whole purpose behind requiring licensed design professionals in the State of Texas to garner a certain number of continuing education credits each year for renewal of their licenses is to keep them current in their professions. It also helps remind them on an annual basis of their overall charge in having a license issued by the state - that is to protect the health, safety and welfare of the citizens of Texas as we practice. Whew! Some of you might still be saying, "So what?" Keep reading.
Well, about halfway through the seminar the thought occurred to me that everything I was hearing that day (from eventually all six attorneys who spoke to us), had to do with the miscellaneous interpretations of laws that had been passed by either our federal or state governments in recent years. Needless to say, there were times when I even felt like the speakers did not fully comprehend the laws that had been passed, even though they were declared to be the experts of them! Very frequently the speakers went back through all of the numerous, progressive "add-ons" to the original laws that had been passed, describing the necessities for how laws had to be modified to address issues that weren't covered or even fully considered by the initial piece of legislation. Ugh!
That is when it hit me. I remember hearing this phrase many times growing up. We in this country for too long have been all too quick to say, "There ought to be a law!" Something doesn't set well with us, we see something we don't like happening, someone we know is somehow made uncomfortable by a circumstance and we immediately say to ourselves, "There ought to be a law!"
I'm here to tell you that I think our mantra going forward should rather be, "There ought to be fewer laws!"
For the past 40-50 years when we as a nation have come up against something we don't like and/or don't think should be happening, our knee-jerk reaction has frequently been to introduce legislation attempting to fix or change whatever we personally deem wrong. Oftentimes without regard for any other point of view. After all, too frequently in this country it's all about me, right? And then, when a law is passed in its oftentimes compromised state, we frequently have to go back and amend that law over and over again to get it right. We seldom do.
I am beginning to think that this is no longer a good way to run a country. Rather, we should all just look around us, determine what each of us can do as individuals to make the necessary adjustments in our own lives to demonstrate a better way for others to follow, and then do that. Even if others don't follow, so what? Just live a life, set an example, prove that your way is the best way by living it and leave everyone else to their own business. It's still a free country, right? Right?
Case in point - one of the topics at my seminar on Friday had to do with laws dealing with accessibility. What a great cause! We as a design community should be making sure that everything that gets built is as accessible as possible. However, universal accessibility for each and every possible instance everywhere in the world (no matter when it was built) is probably unrealistic and a big distortion of what was originally intended. Similarly, another topic at the seminar had to do with the "greening" of our buildings. Once again, a great cause! I support it. We as a design community should be making sure that everything we do in our responsibilities as licensed design professionals promotes sustainability. That just makes good common sense. Local materials, less energy, better health for occupants of our buildings, etc. However, you cannot legislate compulsary "greening" for each and every building type all over the world, nor should we even try to! It's just unrealistic to think it will happen! And the costs of attempting to do so will ruin us financially.
So today, we have a lot of cries for laws that mandate proper foods to eat, or mandate generic details for universal healthcare, or mandate the prohibition of certain activities, etc. I'm telling you, all of that is dangerous, and someday soon we may all discover that it is also probably regrettable.
Therefore, starting today, I'd like to advocate a nation-wide campaign that says we should change the language in our country from one that says, "There ought to be a law!" to one that says, "There ought to be fewer laws!" Anyone care to join me in this cause? In my humble opinion, our freedoms and liberty in this country depend on us doing this different in the future than we have done it in the immediate past.
There ought to be fewer laws.
Sunday, August 8, 2010
It is not good for the man to be alone...
I'm alone in our house right now. My wife and youngest son are in Oregon visiting family/friends. I stayed home alone.
Truth be told, I was really looking forward to doing this alone thing. I always do. I always say to myself when I know that I will be alone and have the house to myself, "You can do this, you can do that. You can get all those things done that you're always wanting to do." I fool myself into thinking that I will be able to read books/magazines uninterrupted. That I will be able to set my own schedule for everything I do. That I will not have to worry about the schedule/activities of anyone else. Who am I kidding?
It is not good for the man to be alone.
God had it right when He spoke these words recorded in Genesis 2. Even though we are basically selfish creatures, frequently more self-focused/self-centered than we should be, we really do need each other. We need other people.
When I am alone (like my current situation), it seems my self-focus/self-centeredness increases. Not only that, I begin to almost resent other people who innocently invade my aloneness. When we are alone, generally not a lot of good happens. When we allow our self-focus/self-centeredness to increase, we can forget the value of other people in our lives and how much we really need them.
This past week, a friend of mine, Herrick, a friend I've known for over thirty years, lost his sweet wife, Mary. She finally succumbed to the ravages of a terrible disease that complicated and compromised her life the past several years. I ache for Herrick right now. He is alone in the home he shared with Mary for almost 50 years. Now, of course, for the time being, he does have people in his house - his children and their families, his friends, his neighbors, people from his church, etc. But, someday soon, he will have to face the fact that he is now all alone in that house. And, I am certain that when that happens, he will agree with God that, "It is not good for the man to be alone."
I don't think it is a coincidence that my circumstances of being alone are juxtaposed with my friend Herrick's being alone. I believe that God allowed this to teach me some very important lessons. It's not a mistake that I am seeing this being alone experience in fresh, new ways right now. My perspective on being alone is changing.
Am I saying that you should ALWAYS be around other people and never have a moment to yourself? No. I'm just saying that we all need to be careful when we are in the circumstance of being alone. Careful that we don't allow the self-focus/self-centeredness we all struggle with to deepen/grow. Rather, we need to turn this alone time into opportunities to bless other people. Here's a few things I might try to do the next several days while I am alone:
- I can pray for my wife and son, that they will have a wonderful time with family/friends.
- I can pray for my friend, Herrick, and his family; that God will comfort them as they mourn.
- I can write to my friend, Herrick, encouraging him in his time of need by telling him how much I loved his Mary, and remind him of all the wonderful ways the two of them lived life to the fullest.
- I can ask some neighbors out for lunch (as I did today), telling them with both my words and actions how much they mean to us as neighbors and how blessed we are to be living next to them.
- I can call some people I don't normally take the time to call and surprise them with that.
Well, I think you get the idea.
It is not good for the man to be alone. Seize the opportunity when you are alone the next time to think about the needs of someone else, not just your own. And then act on those thoughts. You probably won't regret it.
Now, off to that book I was going to read...
Truth be told, I was really looking forward to doing this alone thing. I always do. I always say to myself when I know that I will be alone and have the house to myself, "You can do this, you can do that. You can get all those things done that you're always wanting to do." I fool myself into thinking that I will be able to read books/magazines uninterrupted. That I will be able to set my own schedule for everything I do. That I will not have to worry about the schedule/activities of anyone else. Who am I kidding?
It is not good for the man to be alone.
God had it right when He spoke these words recorded in Genesis 2. Even though we are basically selfish creatures, frequently more self-focused/self-centered than we should be, we really do need each other. We need other people.
When I am alone (like my current situation), it seems my self-focus/self-centeredness increases. Not only that, I begin to almost resent other people who innocently invade my aloneness. When we are alone, generally not a lot of good happens. When we allow our self-focus/self-centeredness to increase, we can forget the value of other people in our lives and how much we really need them.
This past week, a friend of mine, Herrick, a friend I've known for over thirty years, lost his sweet wife, Mary. She finally succumbed to the ravages of a terrible disease that complicated and compromised her life the past several years. I ache for Herrick right now. He is alone in the home he shared with Mary for almost 50 years. Now, of course, for the time being, he does have people in his house - his children and their families, his friends, his neighbors, people from his church, etc. But, someday soon, he will have to face the fact that he is now all alone in that house. And, I am certain that when that happens, he will agree with God that, "It is not good for the man to be alone."
I don't think it is a coincidence that my circumstances of being alone are juxtaposed with my friend Herrick's being alone. I believe that God allowed this to teach me some very important lessons. It's not a mistake that I am seeing this being alone experience in fresh, new ways right now. My perspective on being alone is changing.
Am I saying that you should ALWAYS be around other people and never have a moment to yourself? No. I'm just saying that we all need to be careful when we are in the circumstance of being alone. Careful that we don't allow the self-focus/self-centeredness we all struggle with to deepen/grow. Rather, we need to turn this alone time into opportunities to bless other people. Here's a few things I might try to do the next several days while I am alone:
- I can pray for my wife and son, that they will have a wonderful time with family/friends.
- I can pray for my friend, Herrick, and his family; that God will comfort them as they mourn.
- I can write to my friend, Herrick, encouraging him in his time of need by telling him how much I loved his Mary, and remind him of all the wonderful ways the two of them lived life to the fullest.
- I can ask some neighbors out for lunch (as I did today), telling them with both my words and actions how much they mean to us as neighbors and how blessed we are to be living next to them.
- I can call some people I don't normally take the time to call and surprise them with that.
Well, I think you get the idea.
It is not good for the man to be alone. Seize the opportunity when you are alone the next time to think about the needs of someone else, not just your own. And then act on those thoughts. You probably won't regret it.
Now, off to that book I was going to read...
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