Wondering

It’s another fine morning and my mind is wandering and that’s always a good thing. Wouldn’t you hate to wake up without a sense of adventure? That today is a whole new ball game? OK, maybe it’s just me, but I love to see what has happened in the world overnight and dream of what might be.

(Some people say that I’m a pessimist. I prefer to say that I’m an optimistic realist. I am always looking for change; a change for the better. Pessimists don’t do that.)

Here are some quotations that my wandering mind found in its travels.

Sometimes the appropriate response to reality is to go insane. - Philip K. Dick

In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on.
- Robert Frost

The petty economies of the rich are just as amazing as the silly extravagances of the poor. - William Feather

When I was younger, I could remember anything, whether it had happened or not. - Mark Twain

Tradition is what you resort to when you don't have the time or the money to do it right. - Kurt Herbert Alder

I particularly like what Robert Frost said. Every politician should be reminded of this fact. Heck, we should all try to remember it! And the Mark Twain quote is appropriate at any age.

This week’s edition of the Economist has a special article on religion, entitled the new wars of religion. Lots of interesting articles and surprising facts. One of the larger megachurches (Pentecostal) has 830,000 members and it grows by 3,000 members a month. During a service, and there are 7 of them; 12,000 people are in attendance, while another 20,000 view the service via television in other buildings around the perimeter of the main church. The choir (one of 12) is backed by an orchestra (3 of those). 38,000 children are in Sunday school. During that period between services, when there are 60,000 comers and goers, special white jacketed ‘traffic directors’ manage the crowd. And the service is instantly translated into English, Japanese, Chinese, Spanish, French, Indonesian, Malay and Arabic. Translated from what language? Korean. This church is located in Seoul. The Yoido Full Gospel Church.

“…a young opera singer performs while the money is collected—by the sackful in gold and scarlet bags—and piled up in front of the pulpit.” You have to wonder about the budget for something like this. Or is that just some pessimistic thought creeping in?