Mark Knows It All

Several weeks ago I had the privilege of attending a 50th anniversary celebration for some acquaintances of mine. I don’t really know these folks all that well, but they are great people, and as a couple are dedicated to their passion for music. The entire evening was filled with great songs, good food and drink, and toasts and well earned and deserved compliments and praise. It was a hell of a party. During one of the musical presentations, another couple who were good friends of the guests of honor, stepped up to the microphone to offer a very special gift. I will call them Ted and Julia, who themselves are well into transition from middle age to the golden years. Julia, who has some physical problems, sat down on a chair. Ted stood by her side, with his arm on her shoulder. Together, they sang two madrigals, a cappella, to celebrate their friends’ anniversary. It was simple and unadorned, and a little shaky, but heartfelt through and through. Ted and Julia honored the anniversary co...

Okay, folks, every now and then one has to put down the fun stuff and ponder the more serious matters of life. For your consideration, I have provided you with some philosophical statements about the nature of man and the nature of government. Read through each one of them, and decide whether you agree, or disagree. If you get bogged down, a shot of bourbon might help you to the end. 1) Man cannot be a potential pawn of other men, nor be a part of a general collectivity in which the sacredness and the separate identity of individual human beings are ignored. 2) Man’s development, in both its spiritual and material aspects, is not something that can be directed by outside forces. Every man, for his individual good and for the good of his society, is responsible for his own development. The choices that govern his life are choices that he must make: they cannot be made by any other human being, or by a collectivity of human beings. 3) The economic and spiritual aspects of man’s nature ar...

Has this ever happened to you? You walk into a Dunkin Donuts to buy one glazed and a cup of coffee. In front of you is an innocuous looking person who walks up to the counter, and responds to the question “Can I help you?” with the following: "I would like 5 dozen donuts, and I don’t know what I want. Let me see, I want 2 of the donuts to be chocolate covered cake, no, make that three, no make that two, and don’t make them cake, make them like the glazed, forget that, make them cake, with sprinkles, no, leave the sprinkles off….” And that is just for the first two donuts, more than four dozen to go. The only thing worse is being at the Deli Counter at Rulli Brothers Italian Grocery Store in Boardman where some little ethnic lady is ordering five pounds of lunch meat two slices at a time, then goes and pays for it with exact change out of a buried coin purse located somewhere in a very large black bag. I was once in a movie theater trying to buy a box of popcorn. I had to ta...