Notations From the Grid (W-End Edition): #RandomThoughts on Success & LIfe

Please enjoy these #RandomThoughts:

It’s fitting that one of the most important things you can do as a parent requires you to think about something that’s very nearly impossible for a parent to consider. It comes to us from Marcus Aurelius by way of Epictetus:

As you kiss your son good night, says Epictetus, whisper to yourself, “He may be dead in the morning.” Don’t tempt fate, you say. By talking about a natural event? Is fate tempted when we speak of grain being reaped?

No one wants to think about that. You want to think only good things about your kids. Damn these philosophers and their silly, academic exercises. Except that’s not what this is. Marcus wasn’t speaking flippantly. He lost nine children. Nine! Seneca, we gather, lost one early too. It should never happen, but it does. It heartbreakingly-world-wreckingly-nobody-deserves-it does.

The point of thinking about this unthinkable thing is not morbidity. It has a purpose. A parent who faces the fact that they can lose a child at any moment is a parent who dares not waste a moment. A wise parent looks at the cruel world and says, “I know what you can do to my family in the future, but for the moment you’ve spared me. I will not take that for granted.” That’s what you must do—about your children, about your wealth, about peace in your nation, about the fair weather.

It can all go away in a second. There’s nothing we can do about that. We can, however, drink in the present and be grateful for every waking moment.

Notations From the Grid (Weekly Edition): #RandomThoughts

As a new week dawns, please enjoy: 

Another Exciting Week....

Things are never boring in Washington. Just this week saw the President justifying his "conservative" credentials on the back of the poor and the desperate. I heard today that he justified his veto of the S-Chip program (the insurance program for kids) on the fact that it "costs" too much and that government programs ought to encourage people to buy private insurance. The President is living in Fantasyland. Health Insurance is increasingly becoming a luxury for many Americans. It seems that Conservatives and Republicans think that it is a privilege and not a right. Whenever such things occur, I am reminded of what John Kerry said during one of the debates: don't get sick. That's exactly the message that the President sent out today.

As the President was telling the country about his desire to limit the role of government and the desire to be fiscally prudent (what a joke!!!), he sent forth his largest submittal to Congress for $ 190 Billion to fund the wars in Iraq & Afghanistan. Nobody dares to remind him of how he has continued to mislead the country. Nobody in the mainstream press is working to call him to account over his overt attempts to re-write and rejustify history. At least, icons like Senator Byrd are there to remind the ever-powerful President and Adminstration that Congress will not be a rubber stamp. The President will get the money--because we are at war that we did not need to be in.

I nearly fell out of my chair laughing when I saw the GAO report which just came out with a report of $ 146 Million in travel expense abuses. What a record to run on...if any Republican survives in 2008, it will be a miracle....

Also, BTW, I saw the amen crowd in Congress speaking up for Blackwater (including Tom Davis and Darrell Issa). I guess their view is that we have to simply not say anything and let the neo-mercenaries do pretty much whatever they want. Yes, they rescued the Polish Ambassador today. Well, for $ 600/Day, they better do something.

I am thankful for guys like Henry Waxman that just won't give up and will hold the feet of the Administration to the fire. Democrats have to win...for the sake of us all....