Money Is Important. I’m sure that most of you read this column with the hope of gaining some insight as to how to manage your finances. For the most part, that’s what I try to convey. There are a lot of important things to talk about at this point like how to manage your cash flow in light of future tax increases, the soft real estate market, and potential estate tax changes. These things will have a profound effect on our financial future, but frankly, I am bored with talking about money. You can read a myriad of discussions about these topics in previous posts which started in 2006 but I would ask you to grant this old coot an opportunity to talk about something else.
We Took A Walk In The Woods. The woods next to our house bear little resemblance to the way they were when we bought the land in 1995. Two major hurricanes swept through here and ruined almost 75 trees, some of which had been here for more than a century. One very large pine tree gave way to a lightening strike and pine beetles are slowly chewing on several more. If there is a benefit to any of this it’s that we can more easily see what’s going on here. For example, in the early morning, there is a doe and fawn that often come through on their way to wherever deer go in daylight. You can also stand in awe of the trees that are left, including a majestic pine tree that the beetles haven’t found yet. Another is the holly tree that is shown in the picture above. That poor tree is about 15 feet tall and has been battered by wind and larger trees that knocked off its branches as they fell. Still, it had the energy to cover itself with beautiful red berries for this, the Christmas season. Twenty years ago I might not have seen this tree. I might have walked by it with my brain too consumed with day-to-day problems to bother converting the sensory input to the scene that I enjoyed so much on that sunny morning.
It is Christmas Eve. I have been thinking about miracles. I have read the Christmas story in Bible and watched several visual versions on TV. It is a beautiful story whether or not you believe in miracles. I recently watched a U-tube version of a good-bye speech made by a middle-aged lady dying of cancer. Much of her speech discussed the impossibility of the miracles reported in the Bible, including the virgin birth. While I respected the courage she exhibited mere days before her death, I must disagree with her statement that these miracles were impossible. As I look at the holly tree with its red berries, I am incapable of understanding the theory that this beautiful specimen originated from random collisions of molecules and subsequently evolved to its present state. That simple example is no more far-fetched than the Christmas miracle. Both the creation theory and the random collision theory may be possible and I am capable of fully understanding neither.
I Don’t Have To Understand To Appreciate It. Perhaps turning 70 has changed me but the beauty of this Earth leaves me in awe. I apologize to my friends who are of different faiths and those who are atheists. I am in no way attempting to influence the beliefs of others. For my Christian friends I say Merry Christmas and for the rest, I say Happy Holidays. I value relationships with friends and family more than any measure of wealth I could attain now or in the future.
We Took A Walk In The Woods. The woods next to our house bear little resemblance to the way they were when we bought the land in 1995. Two major hurricanes swept through here and ruined almost 75 trees, some of which had been here for more than a century. One very large pine tree gave way to a lightening strike and pine beetles are slowly chewing on several more. If there is a benefit to any of this it’s that we can more easily see what’s going on here. For example, in the early morning, there is a doe and fawn that often come through on their way to wherever deer go in daylight. You can also stand in awe of the trees that are left, including a majestic pine tree that the beetles haven’t found yet. Another is the holly tree that is shown in the picture above. That poor tree is about 15 feet tall and has been battered by wind and larger trees that knocked off its branches as they fell. Still, it had the energy to cover itself with beautiful red berries for this, the Christmas season. Twenty years ago I might not have seen this tree. I might have walked by it with my brain too consumed with day-to-day problems to bother converting the sensory input to the scene that I enjoyed so much on that sunny morning.
It is Christmas Eve. I have been thinking about miracles. I have read the Christmas story in Bible and watched several visual versions on TV. It is a beautiful story whether or not you believe in miracles. I recently watched a U-tube version of a good-bye speech made by a middle-aged lady dying of cancer. Much of her speech discussed the impossibility of the miracles reported in the Bible, including the virgin birth. While I respected the courage she exhibited mere days before her death, I must disagree with her statement that these miracles were impossible. As I look at the holly tree with its red berries, I am incapable of understanding the theory that this beautiful specimen originated from random collisions of molecules and subsequently evolved to its present state. That simple example is no more far-fetched than the Christmas miracle. Both the creation theory and the random collision theory may be possible and I am capable of fully understanding neither.
I Don’t Have To Understand To Appreciate It. Perhaps turning 70 has changed me but the beauty of this Earth leaves me in awe. I apologize to my friends who are of different faiths and those who are atheists. I am in no way attempting to influence the beliefs of others. For my Christian friends I say Merry Christmas and for the rest, I say Happy Holidays. I value relationships with friends and family more than any measure of wealth I could attain now or in the future.
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