LIFE'S KISSES & COLORS

THE GIFT OF THE KISS

Kissing is a universal expression of affection, friendship, and of course love. It is executed in different ways in different cultures. The elegant head-bowing kiss of the hand....the dainty touch-of-the-lips on both cheeks...the bear-hug kiss...the passionate mouth-devouring-kiss. At its core, the kiss is an act of union between you and the object of your attentions.

What's especially interesting about kisses is the way we choose to dispense them. To friends they are a salute...to family, a reassurance...to lovers, a prelude.

Union is the operative word here. As frightened and self-conscious as we mere mortals all are in this staggering world of dangers and complexities, there is always this little hunger inside that can best be sated only by contact with other equally frightened and self-conscious mortals.

Yes, there was the Judas Kiss; and we all fear the lie behind some kisses. On the other hand, there is the Mother Kiss; and from birth forward we find ourselves seeking its enormous comfort again and again.

THIS SIDE OF THE RAINBOW

Colors...! These are the visual splotches and splashes that fill the canvass of our life from the palette of our god. Life in a black-and-white world would hardly be life at all.

Green -- it registers spring and summer and bounty on our retinas. Orange -- it is the voice of the sun in our lives. Blue -- the feel of sea and sky that brightens our faces. Brown -- the strong earthen smell of soil under our feet. Red -- the surge of festivity shooting through us.

There is an entire rainbow of colors this side of the rainbow, in which we move and live and feel and thrill. To lose one's sight is to lose this ecstasy. Perhaps this is why a young Galilean long ago walked the shores of the Jordan. He said he had come to make the lame walk, and especially the blind see.

While we have it, our sight is surely among our noblest gifts.

LITTLE THINGS REALLY DO MEAN A LOT

LOOKING PAST THE SPOTLIGHT

Spotlights are among the busiest items in our world. Why? Because they're always looking for someone new and exciting to target; and for the rest of us to gawk at. But then there's a question to be answered: What about all those not in life's spotlights? They are obviously in the majority, so why don't we pay them at least equal attention?

I'm not sure if it's being counter-culture or simply contrary, but my eyes always drift toward those at the margins of the action. When the soloist is glowing in the concert hall spotlight, I can't help studying all those musicians back in the shadows working hard to make the star sound good...or in the theatre, all those crew members and volunteer ushers who remain in the shadows, but make what's happening happen...or the nameless but indispensable guys around the baseball dugouts...or the uncelebrated but imperative custodians in schools and on campuses...and especially those remarkable Secret Service agents behind their dark glasses protecting our President 24/7.

Am I missing something by watching the folks in the background rather than the ones in the foreground...? I don't think so. Because they're the untold back-stories that truly flesh out the stories...

THE LOST PENNY

For the serious students of history, they may want to step beyond their libraries and websites to understand todays from yesterdays. What I have I mind is a simple object lesson no further away then your local checkout counter.

Most of these have little Penny Trays. Somewhere customers can leave their left-over pennies for the next customer. But now here's the lesson! Watch to see who usually do this. That's right, the younger cooler customers who have little time for trivia like pennies. On the other hand, the older the customer, the more likely they will not toss those pennies away.

Habits from another time when pennies really did count. As a matter of fact, more of every little thing counted before our easy-money-Wall-Street ethos replaced our once-upon-a-time work ethic. Not a big thing, maybe, but a convenient lesson in generational history.

Oh wait...! There is one thing that seems not to have changed. The concept of what makes a star on Oscar Night. Watch him. George Clooney would be a star no matter what generation he happened into...proving that maybe after all some things never change.

A STUDY IN THREES

The number three has forever been considered a magical number. All sorts of theories-- religious and otherwise -- so here are three cases where three is central to the tale. One can decide for themself what all this means, if anything. At the end, this trinitarian offers his own theory >>

AN OLYMPIC SURPRISE?

Cornell researchers have found third-place Olympian winners (Bronze) are happier than second-place winners (Silver). "Silver medalists tend to fixate on the near miss, while bronze winners are thankful to win anything."

POLICE BRUTALITY?

An Oregon man is suing the police arguing they have harassed him for giving them the middle-finger salute over what he calls police brutality. An obvious devotee of the 1st amendment, Robert Ekas, 46, says: "I did it because I have the finger and right to do it!"

THE LESSON OF CURSING?

Three Nepalese villages recently celebrated their annual 10-day Cursing Festival. The village youth engage in an orgy of insults like "Monkey face, I hope your sons are as ugly as frogs" and "I hope your buffaloes die of diarrhea."

++++++++++++++++++++++++

In trying to connect the three dots to these three dots in a world of dots, I submit: one and two are self-explnatory. It's the third that's the real payoff! It introduces to the Western World a fist-and-gun-free opportunity to blow off steam without blowing off heads. A suggestion that will forthwith be forwarded to Washington DC. If they can count as high as three, it just may give them all an idea....

A WEEKEND PASTICHE

LOVE IN FOUR FOUR TIME

Ever listen to that great 1924 Jones & Kahn hit "It Had To Be You?" There's a line that reads: ...being glad just to be sad thinking of you. Can you think of any simpler yet nobler way of capturing the essence of an all-consuming love? If you've never felt this, perhaps you've never really been in love.

Consider that the next time you listen to Dooley Wilson sing it in "Casablanca." Or then there's an old Chicago friend, Megan Cavanagh, who sings it in "A League of Their Own." Sometimes tin pan alley composers can penetrate the human soul more deeply -- yet simply -- than even the Aristotles and Aquinases.

And what's nice about them, they're not a homework assignment....

LAST CHANCE TO BUILD YOUR OWN SNOW FORT

Gratefully, Spring is about to melt our long dreary Winter. But wait....! Did you let another Winter go by without building a snow fort??

I'm guessing you did. Just like I did. Bad idea! Why should snow be left just to the kids? If you're anything like me [and I'm not saying you would ever want to be] you certainly must recall the fun of snow forts. Building them, stocking them, defending them. The giddy sense of accomplishment is one of a long ago kind. But these next few Chicago days may be your last chance.

First, though, you have to be willing to get a little messy. And also be able to get down on knees long unaccustomed to plopping in snow...

THE LIMELIGHT OF LAUGHTER

Sometimes the most accurate reading of a society is what makes it laugh. A few generations ago, we laughed at movies with Abbott & Costello, Lewis & Martin and Red Skeleton. TV shows like "I Love Lucy," "Father Knows Best," and "Leave It To Beaver."

Today...? Well, we mostly seem to laugh at "The Simpsons" and "Family Guy." And you don't even want to get into today's angry, crouch-grabbing standups.

So what does it all mean? On one end of the ideological spectrum we hear dire warnings of the End Times. On the other, we hear proud brayings about an Open Society. All of which leaves some of us in the middle, mostly chuckling at ourselves. Really, what's funnier..?

GOD & THE COMMON MAN IN AMERICA

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE COMMON MAN...?

Here's a trend that's been unfolding ever since the Founding Fathers argued against it in the Constitution -- the rich getting richer while the poor get children. It's one of those exquisite contradictions in American democracy whereby everyone is equal to become as financially and fashionably unequal as they can...!

The trend has been with us from the very start of our republic. Recently, it's been re-illustrated by the way the income of the 400 richest Americans just rose a whopping 31% in 2007 (before the recession hit). However, due to a medley of tax cuts on wages and capital gains, the super-rich paid only a 16% income tax rate. This on incomes which average $345 million/year. [Reported by the nonprofit Tax Analysts in the "San Francisco Examiner"].

Protecting the rich in America began early on. Alexander Hamilton, Washington's first Secretary of the Treasury, sought the support of the wealthiest Americans by favoring their wealth. He said, "They need to feel they have a stake in this new republic." One hundred and ninety years later, President Reagan called it "trickle-down economics" and President Bush called it "bailout." Either way, in America the Rich Man has become more indispensable than the Common Man.

Every few generations, the Common Man notices this, and rises up in another populist outcry. This time they call themselves the Tea Party. Next time -- who know, but there will be a next time. All part of the recurring discordant notes in the symphony of democracy....

OH, AND WHATEVER HAPPENED TO GOD....?

Another trend that's been with us from the start is the pull and tug of religion in America. Some argue we were founded as a Christian nation. Others insist we were founded in large part by the very rejection of religion back in Europe. Still others simply say it doesn't make any difference...!

Well, it does to Arthur Mijares from Contra Costa, California. He's launched a campaign to rename Mount Diablo, because "to me and millions of other followers of the Christian faith, the devil is derogatory, pejorative and offensive."

Mijares wants the mountain called Mount Reagan. President Reagan did like to associate himself with the role of the Gipper from Notre Dame. I'm not sure, though, that he associated himself as the rival of the Devil. But while the courts work this out, Mijares' outrage is one more discordant note in our democracy where everyone is always passionately against something.

We call it the American Way....

HUMAN NATURE - A SPLENDID CONUNDRUM

RE-JUDGING THE OLYMPICS

The Olympics are a global marvel. All that talent and beauty and commitment. And yet from the sidelines, one wonders. Taken collectively, the number of work-hours by these athletes and their coaches must total in the tens of millions. All those hours eventually come down to just a few minutes or seconds of achievement.

As splendid as these achievements of the human body and spirit are, there is an inevitable self-absorption involved. The Olympics are, in the final measure, a Me affair. I think of all the achievements those tens of millions of brilliant work-hours might have realized in the world beyond these individuals. All those hours instead dedicated to society's pursuit of health, education, welfare, environment and peace. As in the case of such traditional communal efforts like scouting, volunteering, Doctors Without Borders, and the Peace Corps.

This is not a call to cancel the magic of the Olympics. No! Simply to raise the question of what marvels all this Olympian time and talent might mean invested away from the games and out in the world...

SUING AS THE NEW SPECTATOR SPORT

We've long been a litigious society. We sue at the drop of a mistake, little or large. This habit has become a virtual convention when it comes to our manufactured products. Lately, the automobile industry in particular. From a culture of "buyer beware" we've become one of "seller beware."

Now while safety is important, how many times do the litigants admit that the most serious safety issues with their cars are not an occasional mechanical defect...but rather the monstrous defect of their own bad driving and maintenance?

Human nature -- this amazing proclivity we have for finding fault everywhere but within ourselves. I'd guess that for every fatality caused by a car, there have been countless thousands caused by the defect behind the wheel. I know this to be true, because I'm one of those defects. And you...?

THE WIZARDRY OF GADGETRY & THE CENSUS

THE WIZARDRY OF OUR GADGETRY

The culture seems to keep coming back to the wizardry of its gadgetry. From Silicon Valley to the local Radio Shack, we're daily dazzled by these new powers we're being handed in the form of palm-size magic. iPhones, iPods, iPads, Blackberries. Like a child in the middle of a Christmas toy pile, which and when to use first...?

It's always hard to make predictions. Especially about the future. But here are two that both captivate and contradict at the same time:

* These hand-held devices are allowing us to become little mobile universes of instant information and communication. Their power to bedazzle us is easily documented by scanning your everyday horizons. People everywhere clicking and clacking on their devices with the intensity that always accompanies great power

* And yet at the very same time that we're reaching out and touching someone somewhere in the world, we're ironically doing it in The seclusion of a cocoon. Our own private world which connects us at the same time it cocoons us from the real world

There's no reason why contradictions can't co-exist. And so this media contradiction will continue. But always with the whisper of a question -- with what unintended consequences? No, you won't find them listed on the manufacturers warranty. Rather, you and I are writing them as we go along....

THE WIZARDRY OF OUR CENSUS

We've now begun the sweeping job of the 2010 US Census. I've checked the questions, but found one important one missing: What pills do you take...?

Hey, don't laugh. that's a big one. In today's America virtually everybody takes pills. From vitamin complexes to memory enhancers...from birth control pills to death control pills...from legal to illegal...plus a gazillion other options that bulge out of our pharmacy's behind-the-counter stacks, and on-the-shelf displays.

When I was 20, my number was zero. Today it's nine and counting. I ask the government: How in the whole wide world can you leave off this enormously revealing question...? Oh, I hear you...! Americans don't like revealing themselves. Something to do with our sacred right to privacy.

A right we seem to readily give up any night of the week shouting at the local sports bar. But that's another story...