Poem For Our Time

I found this today as I do so many things this week, online, since we're all at home, isolated. I thought it fantastic and so appropriate.

When this is over

May we never again

Take for granted

A handshake with a stranger

Full shelves at the store

Conversations with the neighbors

A crowded theatre

Friday night out

The taste of communion

A routine checkup

The school rush each morning

Coffee with a friend

The stadium roaring

Each deep breath

A boring Tuesday

Life itself

When this ends

May we find

That we have become

More like the people

We wanted to be

We were called to be

We hoped to be

And may we stay

That way – better

For each other

Because of the worst

– Laura Kelly Fanucci

Be well out there, y'all. Stay safe. Stay home.

Quote of the day--on friends and friendship

“Let us be grateful to the people who make us happy;  they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.”   

--Marcel Proust

The good and bad

The good thing--great, really--about accepting that organized religion is silliness, is that you know you're on solid ground. You know you're not blowing smoke up your own skirt, so to speak. You know you're not kidding yourself.  You know there's no pretense.

The bad?

The bad thing?  Things?

You realize that everything is, to an extent, to a large extent, absurd.

All that matters is relationships.

All that matters is doing right.

Doing good.

Doing well.

And doing well by another human being.

Helping others.

Family.  Friends. Colleagues.  Acquaintances.  Heck, even strangers.

And love.  Ultimately, love.

But ultimately, too, truthfully, as John Cougar Mellencamp so rightfully said, in naming his album, "Nothing really matters, and what if it did?"

Most of us can't handle that kind of blunt truth.

What becomes most important, after people and relationships and love and truth and beauty is art and light and all these really wonderful things that are out there.

From the movie, "Moulin Rouge" (forgive me):

"The greatest thing you'll ever learn, is just to love, and be loved in return."

It's a blessing and a curse.

It's a helluva way to go through life.

It's a helluva way to go on.

Quote of the day

"Old friends pass away, new friends appear. It is just like the days. An old day passes, a new day arrives. The important thing is to make it meaningful: a meaningful friend - or a meaningful day." --Dalai Lama

Got hope?

I was talking to a friend last evening and we both agreed that kids today, lots of them, are about enough to give you hope for them, for us and for the planet and our collective future. I'm sure it's not all of them, no, but there are a great deal of them out there who are far less racist, far less fearful, far less homophobic and just, overall, far less judgemental and ugly and hateful than previous generations. I think it stems from the fact that it's basically not allowed at most schools and taught by the teachers in each grade that they have to be tolerant and open-minded and not judgemental or ugly. I'm not being all pollyanna about this, either, don't get me wrong. I just run into more kids who express this tolerance and acceptance and open-mindedness. I also talk with plenty of friends and even strangers who see the same things and feel the same way. So here's to hope and the future. Between this and the fact that technology is bringing more effective and less expensive solar energy about quicker than we thought, it really is enough to give one hope. Now, we adults just have to make sure we don't kill each other with some bombs, first.

Quote of the day

"Truly great friends are hard to find, difficult to leave, and impossible to forget." --Randolf, G.

Bo Ling's Restaurant on the Plaza

I had dinner on the Plaza last week, at Bo Ling's, if you can't tell, and I have to say, it was nice to be back. 

Bo Ling's is like that.  It really is like an old friend--you've known each other for years and they rarely, if ever, let you down.

And I write about it for that reason--because it's like seeing an old friend again--but for a couple more, too.

Like running into that "old friend" again, you find they've made themselves better, fortunately.  They've improved in some ways, it seems.

Besides still offering good, dependable Chinese (actually Chinese-American) food, it seems like their internal marketing is much better.

One example of that is the fact that there is also now a more pure, true, separate Chinese menu that they also offer.  They may have had this for some time but I haven't been there in quite a while so it was new to me and it's a great addition for those who either know and like more authentic Chinese food or for the more adventurous.

The second thing I noticed about their internal marketing of their restaurant is that now they offer a very cool, self-promoting, coloful plastic bag with handles to take your inevitable carry-out with you as you go.  It's just a nice, smart, simple touch and it seems to make a big difference, in its own small way.

But here's where you notice the "old friend" still has a couple things--literally, two--they could change and so, improve with.

That "old friend" has some of the harshest, brightest lighting in any restaurant of any town I know.  Do these people not know what a dimmer switch is and what it can do?  Holy cow.  If the light were any in the dining room, we'd have gotten sun burns.  If someone could and would just tell them to soften that lighting, it would do wonders for the atmosphere and ambiance in the restaurant.  Really.

Lastly--thankfully, I could only see two thing the "old friend" needed--there's that green on the walls.  Whew.  That is bad.  It really does look like the color of very fresh pea soup.  It's far too harsh.

They either need to paint the walls a softer, more appealing shade of green--and quickly--or get rheostats for the lighting in the main dining room.  Softer lighting hides an assortment of faults.