Celebrate Freedom!

Today's holiday, Independence Day, came and went without much fanfare, at least for me.  Of course I am appreciative of my freedom, and honor those who paid the ultimate price for that very freedom I have to enjoy.  Freedom isn't the ability to do whatever I want or please, it is the option to live and behave as I ought: to live a moral and ethical life, extending love, courtesy, kindness, and, most of all, civility toward those I come in contact with.  Most people don't realize this is the very definition of freedom.  For a vast majority of the citizenry, freedom is simply a "You can't tell me what to do!" kind of attitude.  How wrong can they be?!  I encourage my readership to re-think what freedom is, and to take a new look at how our actions affect other people.  Do I have a positive or negative influence on those around me?  On a less-serious note, I experienced another day of intense productivity.  First, I took off for another bicycle ride through the surrounding neighborhoods.  Lots of pictures were taken in the hopes of restoring those that were lost over the weekend.  Then my mother and I finally figured out how to have our face-to-face chat online.  She lives five hours away, and we have been talking about how to chat via the internet for quite some time.  We hear of people Skype-ing, and we wanted to check in to it.  The tool we used was Google Hangouts.  (Neither one of us are tech savvy, so it took some minor tweaking before we got it right.)  I didn't keep track of the time, but she said we talked for about an hour.  We will have to make regular (weekly) appointments so we can chat "in person".  Then I took care of a bunch of stuff on the computer: organizing and labeling pictures in their proper folder, tweaking the genealogy files, and so much more.  Now I'm about to read some before heading to bed later on this evening.  I hope your day/holiday was as fulfilling as mine.  Happy Fourth of July!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Party on the Porch (Amon Carter Museum)

On Saturday, September 30th, I attended the annual Party on the Porch sponsored and hosted by the Amon Carter Museum.  I attended this function about twelve years ago with a friend and his family.  For whatever reason, the festivities fell off my radar till I saw a banner for it a few weeks prior.  Deciding it would be good for me to get out, even if it was alone, I requested a ticket and downloaded it to my phone.  The best part of the shin-dig was it's free of charge!  Yes, you read that correctly.  Both Party on the Porch and the Museum itself are funded by a perpetual trust established upon the death of Amon Carter himself.  (Take that, you other museums who charge an entrance fee!  Because of the lack of admission, I am able to frequent the art gallery as often as I can.)  Free parking for the event was available across the street at the surface lots of the Health Science Center.  (Another plus to showing up for the event.)  There were several people managing the entryway.  On
Read more

Seeking Closure!

Last week I was able to get away from the land of exile in order to visit and spend time with family.  Even though part of our plans for a trip to East Texas fell apart, I very much enjoyed spending three wonderful days with my mother in Yoakum.  During this time, as she still had to work her shifts at the church, I was able to scratch off quite a few items from the bucket list.  Many of these items have been on there for several years awaiting much-needed closure.  On top of the list, but really in no particular order, was to visit the Alchoholics Anonymous group in Victoria where I tried to get sober in 2004.  Even though I didn't recognize anyone in attendance, I did enjoy the time spent in fellowship.  Then a visit was made to Memory Gardens Cemetery where three acquaintances are interred.  One in particular, my friend Amy, was buried there in 2021.  Regretting not being able to attend her funeral services, I made every effort to locate her grave, along with the graves of her m
Read more

Reprieve from the War Front

** This is another letter from my father in Korea during the war of 1950-1953.  My intention in posting these letters is to capture the very personal side of war.  The letter is typed as written.  Any mistakes in grammar, punctuation, and etc. are intentional. 17-Oct-53 Dear Mom & Dad           I have just returned from a splendid seven days leave in Japan.  My seven days were filled with just about everything a person could want in a leave.  Steak, lobster, french fried potatoes, and onions, and many other fried foods.  The special service hotel at which I stayed is the most beautiful in Tokyo, Ga-Jo-En KANKO Hotel.  It is composed of three buildings connected by hallways, five stories high.  It has many facilities such as Grill, Bar, Cocktail Lounge, PX, Game Room, Barber Shop, Dining Room, Wrapping Service, and Dining Room, where meals are very cheap: 15 cent breakfast, 25 cent lunch, 45 cent supper.  The elevators of the Hotel are lined with mother-of-pearl formed into wa
Read more