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The law according to Murphy

It is 1949 at Edwards Air Force Base in California. Capt. Edward Murphy is an engineer working on a project to see how much sudden deceleration a person can stand in a crash. After discovering that a transducer was wired wrong, Capt. Murphy curses the technician responsible for the error and says, “If there is any way to do it wrong, he’ll find it.” The contractor’s project manager, listening nearby, is keeping a list of similar adages and calls this one “Murphy’s Law.” Similar philosophies have existed for years, but since 1949 the position that “anything that can go ...

People struggle

People struggle. But there is a fictional world that wants us to deny this. In that fiction, everyone has a set of bootstraps connected to some miraculous source that, if simply pulled upon, will lift them from their struggles to the magic of prosperity. Folks, that’s a Hallmark movie. When I moved back to Webster City I found some friends who were struggling. One, in particular, had not been raised to go without. Yet, there she was, in a position of struggle. She had a job and a child. But it wasn’t a high-dollar job, so it covered essentials most of the time, but that was it. ...

It’s time to join the Diet Club

Welcome to the Diet Club. This is the comedy club for people who feel the need to diet but would rather laugh about it. The season of excess calories is upon use. All those high-calorie holiday foods and sitting around watching TV during the cold weather will take their toll. Soon it will feel like the laundry water has been shrinking those shirts. But, what the heck, we can always go to the Diet Club! I have to tell you, the recent weather has already cut my exercising down to zip and I’m thick and tired of it. But, it’s all my own fault — even before the holidays have begun I ...

Gratitude

This week, as I held my dear friend’s hand, I tried my darndest to focus on gratitude. She is 93 and dying. Frankly, she is looking forward to it. But God hasn’t yet allowed her to cross the threshold from this world to the next and that is testing her patience. She is grateful she is dying, but she would also like to get on with it. I will miss our many conversations over the years we have known each other when one of us says something definitive, to which the other responds amen. There is comfort in knowing your beliefs so parallel those of someone you admire and respect. ...

A Veterans Day to remember

Once in a while, the matter of choosing a subject to write on can become a bit overwhelming. With Veteran’s Day taking place last week and a gathering of our kids and grandkids the same week, I have to admit it was daunting to come up with an individual to cover in this column. So, in ...

Knowledge talks, wisdom listens

When I learned to read I quickly became a little nerd, reading anything I could get my hands on. It’s amazing what a kid can learn by reading, especially when he finds stuff he shouldn’t be reading. That’s a topic for another column. While I have learned a great deal from reading, I’ve learned even more from listening — to parents, mentors, friends and peers. The earliest bit of wisdom I recall was from my mother. “Don’t tell lies!” she warned as we walked to school on the first day of kindergarten. Her words are well-remembered because I apparently was a bit of a ...