Reading books is a journey through life and is a great way to keep on sharpening the gray matter between the ears. The soul of the reader is all about the pages and not about the finish. Reading catches your fancy when you are young and clings to the interesting soul throughout the working years and regains the golden value in the retirement years.

A book every week or two is easy and very enjoyable for the soul reader, whereas the non-reader forces him or herself to the end and figures the journey through the book is a painful ordeal. I have never understood that type of person. I love books and I love the story, be it fiction or non-fiction. The many tales and trials and tribulations of the human condition is never ending and always interesting. Well worth the read.

Books enhance a single experience and add value to the life well read. I endorse reading a book a month or better. Life is short and limiting. Why limit yourself, read a good book and share it with everyone you know.

I have recently noticed that wherever I go, everything is digital. I wonder what happened to the old big hand and little hand clocks. They were everywhere when I was younger. Now all the schools, businesses and airports have these ugly digital things blinking away. I don’t think they are bad. I simply think they are less than art inspired.

Those big clocks had the big and little hands in so many different combinations were always so beautiful. They could be made in many different styles and some didn’t even have numbers. If you knew how to tell time, you could tell what time it was. Now these digital clocks make telling time much easier. But it’s not like that was much of chore in the first place.

In my opinion, the removing of these large pieces of art in favor of the easier clocks is just another sign of the dumbing down of America. Some of the kids these days have no concept of phrases like quarter past or till. They don’t understand these phrases because they don’t understand how a real clock actually works and some have no idea how to tell time with them!

My wife and I recently saw Food, Inc., a documentary by Robert Kenner. We were stunned to find out the lengths to which the public is kept in the dark about the food we eat. This is an even more important issue given that we are in a national obesity crisis.

One thing that I found particularly disturbing was the ways that food companies like Tyson, Perdue and Smithfield keep the farmers under their thumb. The farmers must continually buy expensive new equipment or face termination of their contracts with the companies. This keeps them heavily and constantly in debt.

Since most people love white meat, the food companies have genetically modified chicken so they have bigger breasts. This is achieved by injecting them with hormones. Naturally these hormones make it into our bodies, causing any number of health problems for us.

Our beef has also been tainted because cows have been taught to eat corn feed instead of grass. This deprives the beef of the natural nutrients that grass fed cows have long provided. In turn, it affects our bodies in a negative way.

What we took from the film was the need to know what is in our food. We cannot assume that our best interests are being looked after. Knowledge is the best weapon.

I am one of the growing numbers of nameless Americans that cannot afford health insurance. I consider myself a self-insured person. I see the doctor at least once a year for an overall checkup. Years ago, I was diagnosed with gout and have been living with this easily treatable affliction for as long as ten years now.

Health is a wonder, especially when the news comes that health is also fleeting if taken for granted. I have recently been informed that I am a borderline diabetic. I am amused at this diagnosis because it seems much like being borderline pregnant. It seems to me that one is either a diabetic or not a diabetic. But alas, I won’t allow my cynicism to belittle the very dangerous news of my condition.

And since I am an American with no health insurance and now am in possession of a pre-existing condition, my chances of gaining affordable health insurance seem to be near impossible. I am forced to take responsibility for my health and work to possibly reverse the condition since I am still diagnosed as “borderline”. I am looking forward to an increased health awareness and responsible and healthy life choices to reduce the need for expensive healthcare treatment. Carpe diem!

I had lunch today with a dear friend and she asked looked at me with weary eyes and asked, “why is hate winning”. I much as I didn’t want to admit it, she had a point. As bad as September 11^th was in 2001, our rush to war and vengeance has cost many more lives as well as the treasure and the reputation of our nation. Had we stopped, and I am including myself, to think about what we have all been taught in our Christian Churches throughout the land, we might have taken a different view.

“Vengeance is mine says the Lord” comes to mind now that I look back with 20/20 hindsight. But I guess we as a nation didn’t really trust God to do that or we would have taken a different route. Why do we find it so easy to send men and women to war and so hard to make sure our neighbors and fellow workers have health insurance so they might live better and longer lives? Why are we so quick to judge and listen to those who are spewing hate and just as quick to label those who talk peace as pansy’s and wimps? What does it say about us when we sit back and let hate win? I like my friend am starting to wonder why IS hate winning?