Instant Default

How you live and respond to other people can make a positive difference in their lives. Bring energy, love, and life ... (Choose to Live Each Day Fully, Susan Smith Jones, Day 72)

If two people in a relationship were exactly alike, one of them would be unnecessary. (Touchstones, 11 February)

A good affirmation has five basic ingredients: it's personal, it's positive, it's present tense, it's visual, and it's emotional. (Stephen R. Covey, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, p. 133)

I will not permit myself to become emotionally involved in matters that should not be my concern. I will not interfere with the working out of another's difficulties, however dear and close we may be to each other. (One Day at a Time in Al-Anon, 23 February)

Soon you will have forgotten all things; and soon all things will have forgotten you. (Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, VII-21)

• Yesterday I went for an hour-long walk at Schrom Park. It's been several months since I walked at this park. I have to drive a little more than a mile to get there. Often I don't want to subject myself to the risks of driving to go there. It's not that I question my driving ability. I'm concerned about aggressive drivers, people reading books placed on their steering wheels, people talking on cellphones and so on. I walked five laps around the park in an hour. I listened to my Oasis music player while I walked. I wore my pedometer. At the end of the walk I discovered that the pedometer opened after just one mile. It doesn't work when it's open.
  
• Today is the 109th anniversary of the birth of my father. He was born on 9 March 1900. I remember him when we lived in Bellevue, NE as being very involved in the civic affairs of our community and county. May he Rest in Peace.
  
• Yesterday there was a front page article in The Washington Post about mortages that are going into "instant default." That is to say, the buyers stop making payments before the first payment is made or after the first payment is made. We all should be asking our leaders, "How can this be happening? Who is making loans for home purchases to people who obviously can't afford to own them? Why is this still going on?" This is further proof that the situation is out of control and that the people we've allowed to be in charge of the government and the banks either don't have a clue or just don't "give a damn." Stay tuned for more bad news in the days ahead.
  

Mr. Dickie