Acts of Random Rudeness

Treat everyone with politeness, even those who are rude to you - not because they are nice,  but because you are.  ~Author Unknown

I decided to sit in my peaceful car and drink my flavored coffee in front of my favorite Hess Express. As I sat there, a very large man was in his car  with his family carefully eating chicken wings and dropping them out the window to the asphalt below.


I kept thinking, "How rude! Where did he grow up? What kind of an example is he for his family? Who does he think cleans up after him? How beastly!"


I tried to muster up the courage to confront his actions. (Did I tell you he was a monster of a man?) I realized that if I said anything, he might pound me in the asphalt right next to the chicken bones. So, here I am writing about it for the choir. For sure, I bet you strive to live neat, pleasant lives and don't create paths of chicken bones along your journey. I am all for that.


At Hess or the Post Office I might be the guy holding the door for you as you rush to buy your coffee or mail your letter. The world needs a little more kindness and thoughtfulness.  I have some favorite clerks in the Post Office because they are cheerful and friendly, while doing a rather tiring job.  Nevertheless, my mailman isn't one of my favorite postal workers. If a workman is parked near my street mailbox, he writes a note and saves the mail for the next day, which seems to be more work than jumping out the truck, taking a few giant steps, and actually delivering the mail. 


Yesterday a neighbor was having a totally new driveway put in and there were a number of construction trucks parked next to the curb. Once again we didn't get any mail, as well as three other neighbors. Our mailman could have chosen to go for a short walk and deliver to all four houses, but he chose not to do so. Did he think that would build good will toward the Post Office?


I really don't understand it when others are unwilling to go out of there way to do the right thing, whether it be about chicken wings or delivering the mail.   

Written In Stone

This is another piece of writing that came across the Internet. I've seen it before, but I still like it. It's written in capital letters, and it is screaming good advice at you about friendship. If you're working on stone, maybe it's easier to write in uppercase letters. And thanks ahead of time to the friends that drop by and read this.

STONE  
TWO FRIENDS WERE WALKING  
THROUGH THE DESERT   . 
DURING SOME POINT OF THE 
JOURNEY, THEY HAD AN 
ARGUMENT; AND ONE FRIEND 
SLAPPED THE OTHER ONE 
IN THE FACE  

THE ONE WHO GOT SLAPPED  
WAS HURT, BUT WITHOUT 
SAYING ANYTHING, 
WROTE IN THE SAND  ,  

TODAY MY BEST FRIEND  
SLAPPED ME IN THE FACE  . 

THEY KEPT ON WALKING, 
UNTIL THEY FOUND AN OASIS, 
WHERE THEY DECIDED 
TO TAKE A BATH  

THE ONE WHO HAD BEEN 
SLAPPED GOT STUCK IN THE 
MIRE AND STARTED DROWNING, 
BUT THE FRIEND SAVED HIM. 

AFTER HE RECOVERED FROM 
THE NEAR DROWNING, 
HE WROTE ON A STONE:  

'TODAY MY BEST FRIEND 
SAVED MY LIFE'  

THE FRIEND WHO HAD SLAPPED 
AND SAVED HIS BEST FRIEND 
ASKED HIM, 'AFTER I HURT YOU, 
YOU WROTE IN THE SAND AND NOW, 
YOU WRITE ON A STONE, WHY?' 

THE FRIEND REPLIED 
'WHEN SOMEONE HURTS US 
WE SHOULD WRITE IT DOWN 
IN SAND, WHERE WINDS OF 
FORGIVENESS CAN ERASE IT AWAY.     

BUT, WHEN SOMEONE DOES  SOMETHING GOOD FOR US, 
WE M UST ENGRAVE IT IN STONE 
WHERE NO WIND 
CAN EVER ERASE IT' 

LEARN TO WRITE 
YOUR HURTS IN 
THE SAND AND TO 
CARVE YOUR 
BENEFITS IN STONE.

THEY SAY IT TAKES A  
MINUTE TO FIND A SPECIAL 
PERSON,     

AN HOUR TO  
APPRECIATE THEM,        

A DAY  
TO LOVE THEM,  

BUT THEN,  

AN ENTIRE LIFE 
TO FORGET THEM.  

SEND THIS TO 
THE PEOPLE YOU'LL NEVER 
FORGET.       

For Jessica

Debra Ross in this week’s KOA newsletter for Rochester ended her newsletter with the following, and this is what she wrote:

"Recently, the New Yorker had a front-page piece about a study that purported to show that having children does not, on average, increase happiness. There has been a lot of debate about this since that article was published. Last night, I came across this true gem of a blog post from a writer named Jennifer Lawler. Here's part of what she has to say:

Only an academic would undertake a study like this, defining happiness as something along the lines of “satisfaction with life” and “feeling rewarded by your work.” If there’s an occupation more likely to make you feel incompetent and unrewarded than being a parent, I have never heard of it...If you weren’t an academic, you might define happiness as the experience of being fully alive. To know grace, and despair, and the kind of hardness you have to learn to stand against; to watch your family fail you when you need them the most, and have your ex-husband look around, shrug his shoulders, and hold out his hand to help you up again.

The essay is simply beautiful, and made me look at the entire question a new way."

Debra is right. This essay on a blog drew over 240 responses the last time I checked. It’s certainly worth reading. Thank you, Debra Ross, for sharing. The connection is below...

http://jenniferlawler.com/wordpress/?p=747

A Pile of Books

Wish I wrote it...

Books to the Ceiling

By Arnold Lobel

Books to the ceiling,
books to the sky.
My pile of books are a mile high.
How I love them!
How I need them!
I'll have a long beard
by the time I read them.

What Is A Book?

A Book

By Lora Daunt

A book is pages, pictures and words
A book is animals, people and birds
A book is stories of queens and kings
Poems and songs - so many things!
Curled in a corner where I can hide
With a book I can journey far and wide
Though it's only paper from end to end
A book is a very special friend.

If the Rocker Fits, Then Rock On!

From the Internet and in my mailbox today... NOW WE’RE THE OLD FOLKS! By Annie Must          Another year has passed  And we're all a little older.  Last summer felt hotter    And  winter seems much colder.       I  rack my brain for happy thoughts,      To  put down on my  pad,    But  lots of things,    That  come to mind    Just  make me kind of  sad.       There was a time not long ago      When life was quite a blast.        Now, I fully understand    About "Living in the Past".       We used to go to friends homes,      Football games and lunches.      Now we go to therapy, to hospitals,       And after-funeral brunches.        We used to have hangovers,       From parties that were gay.      Now we suffer body aches     And sleep the night away.      We used to go out dining,    And  couldn't get our fill.      Now, we ask for doggie bags,      Come home and take a pill.        We used to often travel    To places near and  far.    Now, we get backaches    From riding in the car.      We used to go out shopping    For new clothing at the Mall        But, now we never bother...      All the sizes are too small.          That, my friend is how life is,     And now my tale is told.    So, enjoy each day and live it up...      Before you're too darn old!!         You  pass this way only once so enjoy it while you can, Live Laugh and  Love!

Take Me Out to the BALLGAME!

Okay, here are some baseball quotes that I like, and tonight I am going to a Red Wing game...What does the writing say next to the baseball? "The harder I work, the luckier I get." That's a good one, and there are plenty more...  

You see, you spend a good piece of your life gripping a baseball, and in the end it turns out that it was the other way around all the time.  ~Jim Bouton, Ball Four, 1970


If a woman has to choose between catching a fly ball and saving an infant's life, she will choose to save the infant's life without even considering if there are men on base.  ~Dave Barry


People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball.  I'll tell you what I do.  I stare out the window and wait for spring.  ~Rogers Hornsby


Baseball is the only field of endeavor where a man can succeed three times out of ten and be considered a good performer.  ~Ted Williams


I'm convinced that every boy, in his heart, would rather steal second base than an automobile.  ~Tom Clark


A hot dog at the ballgame beats roast beef at the Ritz.  ~Humphrey Bogart


You gotta be a man to play baseball for a living, but you gotta have a lot of little boy in you, too.  ~Roy Campanella


No game in the world is as tidy and dramatically neat as baseball, with cause and effect, crime and punishment, motive and result, so cleanly defined.  ~Paul Gallico


There are three things in my life which I really love:  God, my family, and baseball.  The only problem - once baseball season starts, I change the order around a bit.  ~Al Gallagher, 1971


A baseball game is simply a nervous breakdown divided into nine innings.  ~Earl Wilson


Baseball was made for kids, and grown-ups only screw it up.  ~Bob Lemon


What is both surprising and delightful is that spectators are allowed, and even expected, to join in the vocal part of the game.... There is no reason why the field should not try to put the batsman off his stroke at the critical moment by neatly timed disparagements of his wife's fidelity and his mother's respectability.  ~George Bernard Shaw


I see great things in baseball.  It's our game - the American game.  It will take our people out-of-doors, fill them with oxygen, give them a larger physical stoicism.  Tend to relieve us from being a nervous, dyspeptic set.  Repair these losses, and be a blessing to us.  ~Walt Whitman


Baseball is a fun game.  It beats working for a living.  ~Phil Linz


When they start the game, they don't yell, "Work ball."  They say, "Play ball."  ~Willie Stargell, 1981

Will the Real Joe Sottile Please Stand Up?

I love this photo, and if had started reading at his age, maybe my whole life would have been different. As it was, my life is more complicated than I ever thought it would be. That is, because I wear many hats in my so-called "retirement." 

We all wear different hats in life, especially as we get older. My hats include those of a husband, father, grandparent, uncle, friend, teacher, essayist, instructor, tutor, performer, golfer, biker, children’s poet, and an adult poet.

Over the past three decades I have written many children’s poems.  During that time, I sometimes have played this recording in my head, “Someday I am going to get more serious about writing adult poetry and join an official writing group.”  Now I feel old enough, and I have taken the plunge. I am more than willing to share my poetry for adults and chase around for publishers.

I feel passionately about poetry, whether it’s written for children or adults. Exactly how passionately? Well, I have strong beliefs about the value of poetry. I am working on a poetry handbook for homeschoolers, and what follows is an excerpt from the introduction:

“Poetry can help you understand the world better and yourself better. Poetry can provide an avenue for you to untangle mixed-up feelings. Poetry can make you laugh and encourage you to take problems in stride. Poetry can give you words of courage to remember in times of stress.

Poetry can be a friend that goes wherever you go. Poems can be tucked into your book bag or your brain matter, and taken with you on any journey, short or long. In other words, poetry can play an important part in your life as a road map to courage, compassion, laughter, fun, success, and self-knowledge. This will become clearer as you read on.

Getting involved in poetry can make you a better listener, observer, reader and writer. Most kids will admire your brain power, and adults will clap wildly as you enter the room. (Okay, am exaggerating about the loud applauds, but you can do that in poetry—exaggerate, and you tickle someone’s funny-bone. You have the power to make others laugh or to take your words  seriously.) Poetry is great stuff, and best of all: you’re the boss of your words. You can do whatever you set out to achieve, if you are determined.”

I am determined to share what I have learned and what others have learned about the world through poetry. I have a popular website for kids, parents, and teachers at www.joe-sottile.com , which features a monthly poetry contest for kids in grades 1-12 and photos of where “Silly” Sottile was last seen usually doing poetry.

You can help me to blog more often about what I believe in as a poet and person who wears many hats, if you become one of my “followers” at http://poetryinsider.blogspot.com My main goal is to blog about stuff that is meaningful to writers and change the world on poem at a time.