A picture is worth a thousand words......

Women's Health

There is an interesting article in this month's edition of Women's Health magazine exploring the changing roles of men and women in society. I got my wife a subscription., mostly because I want her to take care of herself and I'd like to keep her around for the duration. Perhaps she'll even outlive me, who knows.
She bought Men's Health for me a few years back. The editor is a bit misguided. The mag is overall a good thing.

My comment on the article is that the Alpha male is not dead. Just because I'm submissive to a woman doesn't mean that I'll let just anybody have their way. We're still here. Ready, willing and able.

Loss

I always feel for folks who didn't have a good relationship with their father. I have several friends and acquaintances whose fathers died young, or were bastards, or were just not in the picture. I cannot imagine.

I lost my dad a year ago March. We were very close. My sister pointed out to me that he would stand up for me and with me no matter what. She said" "You were the light of his life from the day you were born until he took his last breath." And that's how it was.

We didn't plan that, nor contrive to make it happen. It just was.

It's particularly difficult, for me anyhow, to lose a person like my father, who loved me so dearly. How do you go on? I have been, but life has been throwing up additional obstacles for me, making the going tough. A selfish older brother who really does nothing but for himself, a nearly untenable job change. ( I really have to get something going on here!) Mother is mentally sharp, but physically infirm and hoping to die so she can be with dad. So, this does not beg a comment. Just my thought for the day.

For those who read this, I hope you had loving parents who thought that the best thing in the world was to spend time with you. I did. I make a point to tell my girls that there is nothing that brings me greater happiness than to be with them.

Nosce te ipsum

The Ancient Greek aphorism "Know yourself", Greek: γνῶθι σεαυτόν gnōthi seauton (also ... σαυτόν ... sauton with the ε contracted), was inscribed in the pronaos (forecourt) of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi - according to the Greek periegetic (travelogue) writer Pausanias (10.24.1).
The aphorism has been attributed to at least six ancient Greek sages:
Chilon of Sparta (Chilon I 63, 25)
Heraclitus
Pythagoras
Socrates
Solon of Athens
Thales of Miletus
Other sources attribute it to Phemonoe, a mythical Greek poetess. In a discussion of moderation and self-awareness, the Roman poet Juvenal quotes the phrase in Greek and states that the precept descended de caelo (from heaven) (Satire 11.27).
The saying "Know thyself" may refer by extension to the ideal of understanding human behavior, morals, and thought, because ultimately to understand oneself is to understand other humans as well. However, the ancient Greek philosophers thought that no man can ever comprehend the human spirit and thought thoroughly, so it would have been almost inconceivable to know oneself fully. Therefore, the saying may refer to a less ambitious ideal, such as knowing one's own habits, morals, temperament, ability to control anger, and other aspects of human behavior that we struggle with on a daily basis.
It may also have a mystical interpretation. 'Thyself', is not meant in reference to the egotist, but the ego within self, the I AM consciousness.
In Latin, the aphorism is generally given as nosce te ipsum. The Latin version of the aphorism is written on a plaque above the Oracle's door in the Matrix film series, where it is rendered in a non-traditional Latin; that is to say temet nosce ("thine own self thou must know") translated in the Matrix as know thyself.
In the true theological sense, "Know Thyself" is a fundamental tenet of the question of life's meaning. To truly 'know oneself' in this sense involves a deeply personal, spiritual transformation whereby a person would seek to orient themselves towards understanding their own phenomenological perceptions of reality, so as to gain earnest insight into aspects of one's own existence. Thus the theological sense of "Know Thyself" entails an experiential revolution of spirit in the sense of the Socratic periagoge

I post this as it never ceases to amaze me the number of people I encounter who really seem to have no idea who they are. Not that I'm the prince of knowing myself, but I do try.

Most telling are the perceptions of others. What do other people, those who know you, say about you?

I am a social animal. I like to have lots of folks around all the time. We connect, talk to one another and see just what's what.

So, anyone who reads my posts. Please share a thought won't you?

Good Girls Don't

...but I do! Really the heading for this post should be "The things some guys won't do, but I will." I like the heading I posted better so....

I was sitting on my neighbor's porch one evening last summer, talking about the usual things. The kids, the yard, vacations etc. She complained that she'd hurt her back and was a little miffed because she couldn't bend down to polish her toenails. Now, there was a little boy inside me who was jumping up and down in his chair waving his hand in the air saying "Oh, oh! Pick me!" BUT of course I couldn't do that so I said: "Ask Jeff (her husband) to do it for you." Her response? "Oh, he'd never do that for me."

Really? I get to touch you and be sweet to you and make you happy? Hmmm, can't see the down side to anything there.

Another day: sitting in the living room watching TV with one of my adorable sister's in law and her husband. She complained that her feet were really sore and gee, she wished she could have some foot rubs. The little boy was practically falling out of his seat this time...OH PICK ME!!!

Instead I suggested to her husband that perhaps he might oblige her. His response with a laugh "I'm not touching those stinky things."

Go figure.

An Epihany

When I was twelve years of age or thereabouts, my folks and I traveled to Kentucky for spring break. We stayed at Shakertown and did some sightseeing in the beautiful areas around there. We stopped in Bardstown. In the center of that town is a traffic roundabout. On one side of that is a large limestone slab. Next to that slab is a plaque noting the significance of the slab that it was used as an auction block for slaves.

I posed atop the stone for a photo. As dad was taking the pic, an attractive young woman in her twenties happened by. She was wearing a plaid skirt and penny loafers as I recall. She asked my father how much would he take for me and some of the things I might be trained to do for her.

I just about swallowed my tongue. Then and there I wanted nothing more than to be her slave. I pictured myself ironing her clothes, being her house boy. If I displeased her, she'd punish me. If I was obedient I might be permitted to kiss her feet as a reward.

Of course, I was terribly ashamed of myself for having such feelings. It was less than manly after all.

Rosemary

Also when I was but a wee lad: I had a girl friend in the neighborhood. I'll never forget the first time I saw her. Were were probably 6 years old. I was enamored completely. She had long golden brown hair and olive skin. She had a long pretty nose with a little bump right at the middle. (One of my faves as far as noses go.)She was all around a very pretty girl.

We became good friends, played together nearly every day in the summer for a number of years up to about the age of 12 or so. We rode bikes, swam, fished climbed trees and shared sweets.

Sometimes we'd wrestle. I'd let her win. She'd pin me down and make me smell her feet. She always seemed to have the same pair of canvas Keds. A summer day in those left her toes quite ripe. Something like sweet malt vinegar on french fries at the county fair. Of course, I relished every opportunity and maneuvered myself to be defeated by her whenever I could.