April 20,2024

    I just finished walking 3.4 miles in under two hours from my home to the post office and back to mail a birthday card to my granddaughter. I wanted her to get the card before her birthday, I wanted to get exercise to keep my body including my heart healthy and  maintain my better body weight, and be out with sunlight and mild breeze. As I walked on the streets, parks, and stores to the post office I obeyed the crosswalk directions and signals, kept to the side walks and paths, and did deposit the birthday card at the post office. Earlier I greeted a friend who comes every few years to fix my computer which he did and we talked about his new job, his wife's job, some background about his parents and Rebecca shared some interests in jewelry making which his wife enjoys. His wife teaches at La Pietra Girl's school and I commented that we hiked with another art teacher from this school in the past and that the school had some horseback riding classes. He shared some experiences about horses he was invited to ride in California when visiting a friend and his trepidation on riding a very large black stallion. Our conversation together was interesting, my computer now is working, and I feel like I walked a bit in the sun. 

    So my personal message to my granddaughter was sharing a memory her father had when I was reminiscing with him about family dinners at Sizzler restaurant when my granddaughter was very young.  He recalled that one time he found his step son, his daughter and his father (me) under the table playing while others were eating at the table the normal way. 

    My habit in the morning is to peruse the news. I'm recently drawn to articles about everyday life maybe because our small Monday group discussion led to a conversation in which two participants felt that a large percentage of our American population were involved through viewing or reading very misinformed maybe fake news sources. Though I believe also that some people are involved being influenced by these venues I shared that I thought that there is a large percentage of people just living their lives by listening to music even singing the words, viewing various post and videos for their amusement and interest, participating in sports either directly or as spectators, playing games and doing crossword puzzles or other puzzles, etc. So recently I read an article about Tiktok (https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/04/18/business/media/tiktok-ban-american-culture.html?searchResultPosition=1). To some politicians and pundits the Chinese government may use the data of the Tiktok users in some potential nefarious manner and other people view some of the Tiktok videos as propaganda, false news, and influence peddling. Nevertheless, I was clueless since I never viewed Tiktok myself. So I took the plunge. What I viewed was a smattering some of which was loud and aggressive but a lot very amusing, funny, beautiful, and interesting. My wife enjoys her iPhone app which tests her recognition and puzzle solving skills. I'm more into seeing if I can play some music usually classical or some jazz which sounds interesting if not accurate to the writer's intentions. I also like to read about the new discoveries and conjectures about how matter, energy, space, black holes, changing physical laws may be discovered. Looking at Tiktok, playing the piano, walking to the post office, singing a song, etc. is living your life which I think most of us are doing. I don't think were sitting on the edge of our chairs or gnashing our teeth because some politician is acting like an idiot, making others, seem misinformed, or just found very crooked and facing prosecutions. 

    The other day when going to the blood drawing laboratory my phlebotomist was singing under her breath the words to a song that was playing on the radio. So I asked her about her singing and whether she liked to perform. She shared how at high school she was prepared to sing some song on stage but had such stage fright that she could not proceed. She shared something frightening to her, very personal to me a stranger and I'm very pleased. Since my computer was not working until today and my laptop downstairs also is on its last legs at dinner a few days ago my grandson went upstairs to see if he could revives the blank screen I was getting on that computer and my daughter brought over a computer pad device that give me access to email and the web. In a few days I'll be getting a replacement cardiac pacemakers that has leads to stimulate both the left and right ventricles of my heart which may improve my cardiac ejection fraction. My wife is there to support and assist me post surgery. Then a gas bubble injected in my left eye to hopefully reattach a part of my retina that is peeled back so my nephew bought a chiropractic furniture with a hole so lying flat with my face down, I can watch videos while I lie that way for four days to have the bubble flatten the peeled retina hopefully with some reattachment. I am fortunate to have such assistance and attention. 

    The wars, the environmental changes, the potentiality of Agamemnon from nuclear fallout all are serious risks we all face. We can only solve these issues or we can succumb to their effects depending on our humanity and common purpose. How can you be right when everything is at risk?

    Well, maybe just living our lives is the best we can do for today!   

Leonard Jacobs