Super "Two for Tuesday" in NY

I love New York, especially when especially big things happen and today it's "Two for Tuesday!" here in the Big Apple:

1. The NY Football Giants celebrated the aftermath of the catch (aka an improbable super bowl victory) with a ticker tape parade through the Canyon of Heroes. The last time a parade was held there was pre-9-11 when the Yanks won the World Series. I was there, just like I was in '99. Everyone loves a parade, especially if Boston is miserable as a result.

2. The Democratic Primary in New York was held today - I voted before 8:00 am and the woman who handled my registration remarked, "I remember you - you vote in every election." It's true, I do. I firmly believe that if you do not vote, you are not truly a citizen and therefore you do not have the right to complain about whatever you find lacking in your society (and you know how much I love to complain). While I didn't create the world I live in, I can help to alter it as much as possible. Voting is one concrete way you can help affect change. Each vote matters, whether you think it does or not.

Let's save for another post the ludicrous fact that before I even had a chance to vote, my democratic choices were winnowed down to two ( I would liked to have voted for Joe Biden). The great fact of the day is that I had the singular pleasure of actually voting for a great friend of mine - he was on the ballot in my district as a delegate for Barack Obama. While I have friends and family who are elected officials, I never got to pull a lever for them. The only downside was that I couldn't bring Bingham in with me - they were cracking down this year.

As an aside, did you know the Dead got back together to rock out for Obama? I think that is pretty cool.

Being Present

The importance of being present is beyond belief for life is brief and a day can be spent so easily. Is it possible to be present with so much going on at once? The juggling of tasks, of events, of moments, of movements is an arduous undertaking. Can the every day be elevated higher so that every day is important? Is there meaning in the mundane, in the routine, in the rituals that we accept as annoyances and nothing more? Does a shared smile on a line in a store do anything more than improve a moment? Some days are long and boring while a few spark the soul. As the former greatly outweighs the latter are we just lurching across a desert from one oasis to the next?

Is it possible to stay in a heightened state of awareness for hours, for days, for months, for years, for decades, for a lifetime? Should life be a battle (for that is really the only time a person is truly hyperaware, when he or she is afraid that at any moment, the enemy will strike to take his or her life)?

The vigilance of a scout should be the model for the level of awareness that you should have when on the phone with family, during the day at work, while in class in school. To stay alert all day every day is tiring, so the question is then how do you gain enough stamina to fight the drowsiness, to remain alert?

I ask questions not to teach in the Socratic method - I ask because I wonder and do not know. Use the comments and post your view. Though only one person usually reads these posts, namely me, if there is someone else out there I'd like to hear what you have to say.

Untitled status meeting #1

Keystone cops run around in a circle, around a conference table as many blank faces stare on. The clients sit baffled amid the talk - wondering why this is being discussed, why they are here, why this is happening, what thy did to deserve this role. The to-do list crawls along, inching like a worm, the time passing like slow drops on stone. I'm being worn away, my talents diminished by the elongation of time for I do not respond well to the rack, to being stretched out by all that is transpiring...