The World of Grandpa Don
A work in progress - complete but not finished |
What's New In the world of Grandpa Don On this page I have recorded what I found significant during the past week as well as my thoughts about those events and other reflections. I started doing this before the practice became popular on the internet This is my diary, written a little each day and published weekly. At times I may seem to pontificate on a subject that comes to mind during the week. I do not intend it as a demand or even a suggestion that everyone should think or act as I do. It is rather, intended to let you know what goes on in my mind ... how I am motivated to live as I do.
If The World of Grandpa Don
appeals to you, |
Week Ending Friday May 16 2008 |
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I have finally done it! The cool days last Friday and Saturday kept me inside and I took the opportunity to add the code for visitor tracking to the remaining pages of this web site. While I was at it I make sure that each page has a proper unique name.in the internal code of the page. Along with that I have been updating the old background that I had used and still remained on some of the pages.
Well, it doesn't look too bad in the little sample but on an entire page it was dull and ugly. And speaking of dull and ugly, ... add the words deluge and monsoon rains and you get the picture of Mother's Day morning. Mikey got me up before 6 and then refused to go out. I went back to bed until almost 8 and he still refused to go out. Finally at about 9:30 I got smart and opened the garage door, letting him venture out the front of the house which, facing south, was sheltered from the rain driving from the North. All the storm retention areas which are normally grassy fields and some are soccer fields, were lakes. At Mass, celebrating Pentecost the presider announced that this is the last Sunday of the Easter Season on which he normally would sprinkle the congregation with the waters of baptism, the sprinkling would be omitted since we all hade been sprinkled more than enough getting to the church. Amen! . The rain had abated by the time that Mass was over but Mother's Day continued wet and cold. The Albano boys, Marc & Joe, prepared Sunday dinner and I joined the family including Dominick and Sarah for deliciously marinated and grilled shish kabobs. We had a delightful afternoon. Anthony was missed but the baseball season has called and he was in Michigan for "spring training". Our Mother's Day was very special this year. My grandson Dominick and his wife Sarah are "with child" (mostly Sarah), expecting the arrival in November. I will be a Great Grandpa! But that is no fantastic accomplishment on my part..All I need to do is to continue to live, the hard work is now up to others (Sarah). You might say that Anne and I started the ball rolling in 1958 with the birth of our daughter Anne Marie. (See Starting a Family ) Dom and Anne Marie gave it a kick in 1980 with the birth of Dominick. (See Lift Up Your Heart ) Last Monday Dominick and Sarah made a visit to the doctor's office and had the joy of listening to the strong heart beat of the new life developing within Sarah. Of course we know that this miracle of God's creation started long long ago and has carried through many many generations, a prime example of God's plan for us to cooperate with Him in the continuing of His creation. It is not only a new life, but a continuation of life, for each life depends upon the lives that preceded it to exist and to survive. We congratulate the parents to be. A new adventure begins! By the bye, that was the really Big news that I have been touting for the last several weeks. They have already started to prepare for their new offspring. The 24' round above ground pool will be delivered and installed this week. It is a little large for a "birthing pool" but I don't think it is meant for that purpose. But the expecting mom will enjoy floating around this summer to get the "load off" for a while and I am sure that our little great-grand-somebody will start to enjoy it next summer.
Our parish had been having trouble with sending email and the gal who is the resident computer guru had called to let me know that in order to fix it, the email service, as well as the web site would be shut down for a while. She asked what the IP address of the web site was which I thought was strange because our non-resident computer guy should have known it, Well, their email went down on a Wednesday and so did the web site. They were still down on Thursday morning and when I went to Bible Study, the receptionist said that they were told it may be down until Monday. However, the web site came alive on Saturday but the email was still not working.. I emailed Kevin, the guy who had been taking care of things and found out that it was no longer his responsibility. It seems that the parish found a cheaper way to handle things! Something like telling the astronaut that his space ship was constructed by the lowest bidder on the project. Kevin tells me he could fix it if they asked him. But, someone did something right and on Monday the parish email was working.
A publication arrived from the Marist Brother's organization and I was
pleasantly surprised to see an article by Vince Andiorio on the front.
We met Vince when he was teaching at Marist HS when my sons Dan & Tom
were attending there. He is now a parishioner at St Julie Parish and
still teaches at the high school. He was one of several Marist men whom
we have had the privilege of knowing. We attended the celebrations of
two of these young men as they took their vows as brothers. The were
gracious enough to not only have us celebrate Anne's parent's 50th
anniversary in the beautiful chapel at Marist high school but they
composed and participated in the beautiful liturgy. Anne and I were the
guests of the Marist Brothers in Massachusetts on two occasions. And, of
course, the Marist brothers are now teaching two of our granddaughters
at the now coed high school. Several of them are included as
"Friends of Grandpa Don". Vince's article is a prime example of
"Ordinary people doing extraordinary things for God" and as such is now
included in my :Witness to Faith" section. (See
ONE HEART ONE There is a group of "Witness" stories from students of St. Mary's Secondary School in Ontario that I have included on this web site. The school is publishing a book of the school's D.R.E.A.M.S. Project and my friend Don Hall, their Chaplin, sent a copy of the cover which was designed by one of the students. I have redesigned the contents page for their place in the World of Grandpa Don to include the cover of the book and give credit to the student, J.C. Pinheiro. ( see The D.R.E.A.M.S. Project ) The stories, again, exemplify "Ordinary people doing extraordinary things for God"
It is magic! A notice came in the mail from the IRS that my $600 tax rebate had been sent. So I went on-line and checked my bank account and there it was, electronically deposited and ready to be spent. That will be no problem. Just the filling of the gas tank and buying groceries will eat that up in no time at all. I had thought of getting a new printer because of the problems I experienced with the paper feed on my ancient HP model but I so seldom use it that it is not a pressing problem. Maybe I'll go out and buy some 1˘ stamps. I bought a 100 count roll of 41˘ stamps before Christmas and still have a lot left. I also have a supply of "Forever" stamps and a few 1˘ stamps. The postal Service would love for us to stock up on the "Forever" stamps ... why not buy a couple years worth? Of course the strategy there is that you buy them long before you use them, in effect, loaning the government money on which they pay no interest. Well, actually the discount you get on future service if you hold them long enough could be considered the interest they pay. It's all a crap shoot. Does anyone remember using postage stamps as currency? When cash was king and you ordered something from a mail-order house by sending the cash in the mail, in place of coins, you sent postage stamps. Government publications were always purchased that way. Put that in your "remember when" scrap book. There was an interesting interview on TV this morning with the author of a book about the end of the American dominated world. It seems that the global economy that many fear, is progressing to the point where we Americans may have to get of our high horse and open our eyes to the new reality. We no longer have the tallest buildings. The richest man in the world in not an American. The largest publicly held corporation is not an American Company. The American dollar is not the most valued currency. Oh sure, there are vast differences in our standards of living. Take a look at "What is eaten in one week: a perspective". But even there we are not on top. But the point is that it we are moving toward an equalization of wealth and prosperity ... a good thing in the long run. The ideal, of course would be to have everyone come up to our level (or maybe a little lower, nourishment-wise based on my body weight.) Our American world was like the rest of the world during the industrial revolution with the landed gentry and the industrialists (the rich) squeezing every bit of profit possible out of the working man (the poor). The unions did a great job in forcing fair treatment until the government was pressured into passing fair labor laws. We now have a large middle class, one which has a very good (rich, by some standards) standard of living. Unions now seem to exist for the care and feeding of union officials although they do provide some balance of power. We complain that our jobs are going "off-shore" and that is a problem not only because there is unemployment here as a result, but because the poor of the underdeveloped countries are being exploited as the poor here once were. Fair Trade is supposed to even out the inequities, not only allowing for the flow of goods across borders, but the fair treatment of those who produce the goods. We also complain about the people who immigrate to our shores and take what jobs are available. As long as their are borders between country and unequal standards of living in countries, immigration must be regulated, but with compassion. We have long been proudly proclaimed the land of opportunity. It would be better if there was equal opportunity throughout the world. The "world economy" is moving in that direction. There will be inequities and unfortunately, some of us will need to adjust, change jobs and find a different way to survive and thrive. "Welcome to Life ... expect adversity." Hopefully many more like the Aboubakar family of Breidjing Camp in Chad will not need to live in a tent with a food expenditure for one week of $1.23 which they must accept as charity because there is no work for them. And maybe my great-grandchild will witness an emigration from the US to some new land of opportunity. I am not saying that it would be good ... or bad. I am just saying that we can expect change. It is up to those who follow us to direct the change in the right direction. We can work and pray for justice ... and not just us.
While we wait for governments to solve our problems for us and complain about the progress or lack thereof we should keep in mind that justice and morality mandated by law does not work very well. Rules are written and tend to be too specific, not allowing for circumstances or discernment of their actual intent. The Catholic Church intended to have us practice a day of sacrifice each week and made a rule that we could not eat meat on Fridays. So some had a shrimp cocktail and Dover Sole followed pie pie alamode. The letter of the law was followed but hardly the spirit. The rule was wisely abandoned. By the way, for those who did eat the meat, the sin (if any) was not in the consumption of meat, but in the defiance of the rule. In regard to labor laws and rules, lets look at one of the simple ones ... Sick Days. It is a good idea to make allowances for employees who become sick to stay at home, not only to recover, but to prevent infection of other employees. Besides, if forced to report for work, their productivity would probably be effected. But some employees abused the generosity of the employer and employers made rules ... a certain number of "sick days" were allowed. But we have taken this as an entitlement and the rules are abused by "using up" our "sick days" for other reasons. This is not justice. Some have made a career of "beating the system". We have lost the moral difference between can and should. "Mother, can I go out?" ... "Yes you can, but you should clean your room first." When you ask yourself, "Can I take office supplies home with me?" the answer may be "Yes you may" if you do company work at home but if you are running a side business at home the answer is "Definitely no ... that is theft". If you rationalize it because they really don't pay me enough so "I am making up for it", the action is dubious, to say the least. I once asked the president of our company if he realized that it was common knowledge that a manager was stealing from the company. He replied that he knew but he was otherwise a good manager and the amount he stole was deducted from his year-end bonus. The situation was perpetuating itself and demoralizing the employees. Finally it got so bad that the manager was fired ... publicly ... It was UGLY!. I wonder ... maybe that is the way God works it. Scary!, isn't it? Oh, I didn't mean you ... that other one ... over there. But you say ... "Everyone else is getting away with it!" The term "getting away with it" is a sure indication the someone is getting cheated. Try cheating at cards and see what eventually happens. I have not been immune to these common temptations. I remember the time I went to buy a new pool filter. It was too expensive but as I left the store the young salesman followed me out, handed me his phone number and said to call after 7. He sold me a top of the line model at a price that was ... well, you could say that it was a steal. I picked it up at his house. I got exactly what I deserved on that occasion, ... the filter had a leak in it! Alex Kapocius sent the email that started this "soap box" session leading me to the perspective on what we eat and by the time I had written all the above he sent a link that puts a fitting end to it. I don't have a lot of "dash" left in me but I would like to make the most of it. ( See The Dash ) We must also keep in mind that you and I are the ones everyone else refers to when they say "Everybody does it!" Let's see if we can become a somebody at whom everybody can look and say ... "There is somebody who is not doing it, ... maybe we shouldn't." Then ... when there are enough Somebody's, mayhap we can graduate to being a Nobody when people can say "Nobody is doing it!". The problem, of course, is that to become a Nobody we must check our egos at the gate. What gate? ... The pearly one of course. ..
I spoke of justice and that was one of the first words encountered at Bible study on Thursday. The commentary tells us that the word used in the original Greek of the book that we translate as "justice" means "Having a right relationship wit God". In our discussion we visited the concept that justice does not mean conforming to the letter of the law but going beyond that to the moral and ethical values that the law tries to uphold. Those who live justly are those who have gained wisdom or are at least trying to find her. We read, "... into a soul that plots evil, wisdom enters not." This study of the Book of Wisdom is going to be a joy for me. It is a shame that our Protestant brothers have rejected it as part of the bible. It is the first of the Jewish writings that address the question of how evil men seem to be rewarded (in this life) while those who are good can suffer. Before going to Bible study I took Mikey for his grooming. I met Marc and Sampson on the way in. Marc is the only Albano at home right now but has an invitation to start work with the tax accountants whenever he wants. He can start to learn to do audits and other functions. Besides, the company is close to signing a new lease and will completely revise their filling system. They will need all the help they can get. Today he will be there when the new family pool is delivered. Their old one finally gave out and as they disassembled it it literally fell apart, apparently held together by sheer will power. Joe has taken a job at Crowley's Boat Yard helping to put them in the water for the sailing season. Dom has gone back to work with strict limitations on the use of his right arm.
In my reading Thursday afternoon a fact popped out at me like a bullet.
It was a reference to the fact that ego
needs enemies! We do not claim to want
enemies ... we want friends. But when we allow our egos to dominate we
allow ourselves to be dominant in some way. We want more than the next
guy, whether it be money, power, things, knowledge, prestige or
whatever. You do not dominate without opposition ... presto!
Enemies!. Years ago I was introduced to the writings of Dale Carnegie.
He stressed in "How to win friends and Influence People" that you must
be genuinely interested in them and their
needs. This was his way of telling us to check our ego at the gate.
People of true wisdom have been telling this to us for thousands of
years but a paradox is hard to sell. To better ourselves we
must forget ourselves in favor of others.
My final thoughts for this week ... that's a lau |
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Grandpa Don Plefka
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Anne
wanted everyone to be 'Nice'. This button was in one of her dresser drawers I cleaned out in August of 2004
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