Happy, Happy, Happy Time

Went to see Mom today. Did a few things for her. We watched the Pope's mass at Yankee Stadium together. It was very moving. I was so "proud" of the audience. It gave me great hope for our country, that maybe there are still people who think and feel the way I do about things. We live in a very secular world. Unfortunately, there is not an emphasis on the "good" things that people do or that happen. We hear mostly about the bad things people do and the sad news items of the day. The commercials feed the materialism of our culture. I'd like to see the emphasis change from what we can get or gather for ourselves to what we can do to help each other. What acts of kindness can we do each day or week? If everyone consciously tried to do at least one act of kindness a day for someone else perhaps our "me, me, me" culture would begin to change. Someone recently said that along with our inherited "freedom" comes responsibility. Remember what JFK said, "Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country." I'd like to see people ask, What can I do to make the world a better place, and not ask,"what's in it for me?" I'm not a philosoper, and don't write eloquently, but I'd like to see our culture change back to a day when people had manners with strangers as well as friends and family, when people showed respect for others and behaved and dressed with decorum. a time when people held the door for the person behind them and men removed their hats in a building. Let's bring back modesty in many forms; not only in dress but also in behavior. The "good old days" were not "good" in many ways, we've made much progress, but we've also lost somethings along the way. I'm reminded of the words from a song. "You could be better than you are. You could be swinging on a star." Strive to be "better", I guess that's the message.