Just a thought by Judith Martin-Straw
Just A Thought- Up the Spiral
Public speaking is known to be one of the things we fear instinctively, like loud noises. While I have the curious habit of reaching for the things I fear most, I feel that it's only by testing the waters that I ever learn to swim. I don't attempt to do things I know take real training and experience; say, flying a plane or conducting an orchestra. But if what is needed is just courage and will, [...]
Just A Thought- Parents Don’t Vote
Parents Don’t Vote I was at a party recently when my friend Madeline set me on fire with one casual comment; “Parents don’t vote.” I said, “That’s not true. I’m a parent and I vote.” I named several other politically involved parents that I know to refute her argument. But further research proved that she was right. Looking at the database of voters who participated in the [...]
Another Torch Song –
I’m not a sports fan. I will watch the occasional game for fun, if it’s a social event, but I just never sit and watch sports by myself. I’m not anti-sport. I played AYSO soccer, and I swam in high school. I love to play, but just watching doesn’t do it for me- until they light that torch, and then I’m hypnotized. I love the Olympics. I love them unquestioningly and slavishly. After [...]
Just a Thought- Sustaining the Moment
In the moment I stop to consider it, the moment is already gone, and I have to laugh. George Carlin once noted “There is no present; there is only the immediate future and the recent past.” Trying to define any recent moment has been like trying to hold a handful of rain. I love the rain, but the flash photography of the lightning has only shown that everything is in flux, and the thunder and [...]
Just A Thought- It’s not team sports
While the national news is still filled with the repercussions of a blue state electing a red senator, I’m completely irritated with the color-coding system. It is certainly easier than thinking, but I’m just fed up with the idea that politics fit into such neat little categories. Whoever we are, we are more than blue and red. It’s not team sports. It has just been sold to us as such [...]
Just a Thought- Dr. King, Of Course by Judith Martin-Straw
The danger if having a national holiday in one’s honor is that there is the risk of being turned into a greeting card, simple, palatable and undemanding. Of all the radical philosophies to come out of the sixties, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s embrace of non-violence is one that continues to offer political inspiration in an age of suicide bombers and extremist philosophies. While most of [...]
Just a Thought- Philosophy Refresher by Judith Martin-Straw
Mary Daly died at just the right time on January 3 last week. I have been heartbroken and weary with all the funerals I have attended lately, but when I heard that one of my favorite philosophers had left the planet, it was the cue that I needed to pick up her books again and remind myself why she was so inspiring. I first discovered Mary Daly on the shelves of a used bookstore in Long Beach. [...]
Just A Thought- Honesty and Policy
I think of myself as an honest person. I believe that lying is wrong, and that telling the truth is the best way to go. I recently had a situation where it was brought home to me very clearly that honesty is not always the best idea in every situation and it has made me reconsider the policy itself. “Mommy I can’t breathe.” Four of the most terrifying words in the English language, [...]
Just a Thought- Well Worth the Weight
The moment that I am struggling with the fact that it’s too cold to open a window, and it’s dark at five o’clock in the afternoon, the mail carrier shows up with five pounds of baklava. Yep, really, five whole pounds. There is winter, and then there are holidays. It is of course a gift, sent from a thoughtful relative, who wants to sweeten the celebration. As I am the only person around [...]
Just A Thought – It’s a Wonderful Life
It Really is a Wonderful Life- I always find it fascinating how the stories we are drawn to become our stories. Is it that we already know, at some intuitive level that this plot twist is coming up in our own text? Or that loving the story as much as we do, we find a way to play the role in real life? Think about your favorite novel or your favorite fairy tale, and consider there’s an [...]
