Ironies in Our Lives

      Growing up, if you are fortunate, you are surrounded by people who know all your faults but love you anyway. We notice the inherent irony of this situation many years later when we are surrounded by people who know our faults but who treat us less than kindly. What is it about all the accumulated education and experience that routinely causes this occur? One would think we would become more compassionate regarding everyone's faults, including our own, as "we grow old and grey and full of sleep" as Yeats would say. The bitterest irony is that our harshest critics are sometimes ourselves. Again, with all the education one would think we could at least cut ourselves some slack. I am as guilty as anyone of this character trait and am working to change it. To this end I resolve to surround myself with reminders of my idyllic childhood growing up in a home with a stay-at-home Mom, and a baseball field I could see from my bedroom window. To make this easier I took an idea from Bill Nolan and had this picture framed and placed in my office just like he did. You will notice him kneeling in the first row. I realize I have posted this picture more than once but it does have a certain positive energy emanating from it well worth the re-posting. It also shows many of the people who knew me best as a youngster; those people whose affection was genuine, and whose presence in my life will likely never be replaced.