A Beacon of Light

“Autumn has arrived. I hear it in the whispering of leaves.” Dr. Anujj Elviis While Doctor Elviis may acknowledge the arrival of autumn by the whispering of the leaves, my experience has been a little different. Year after year, I know autumn has arrived when I hear and feel the deep, persistent cough in my chest. I can…

“There is no greater disability in society than the inability to see a person as more.” Robert M. Hensel I recently had a front-row seat to an unsettling scene at the grocery store. Standing at the checkout line at Safeway with a basket half-full of groceries, I found myself behind an elderly woman with just a handful of items…

“There is a  calmness  to a life lived  in gratitude.”   Ralph H. Blum I’ve long believed that gratitude makes a difference. It’s easy to embrace that philosophy when life is going well, when relationships are harmonious, when our health is good, and when the future looks promising. But what about those days when life doesn’t…

“There’s no place like home.” L. Frank Baum Lincoln Street in Santa Clara was a great place to live. I moved in to my small, two-bedroom house adjacent to the Santa Clara Mission Cemetery in June 1979 and lived there until October 1986. When I moved in, I was single and unattached. The $200/month rent (for the…

Benjamin Franklin once said, “Those who love deeply never grow old.” This is certainly an achievable goal we can set for ourselves. A friend shared a YouTube video with me the other day. I finally had time to watch it tonight. It’s one of those videos I come across every now and then that I…

“Miracles happen  every day. Change  your perception of  what a miracle is  and you’ll see them  all around you.”   Jon Bon Jovi I first learned about miracles in elementary school. As a student at St. Gabriel School in San Francisco, I was taught that Jesus performed many miracles throughout his earthly ministry. In fact, more…

“It wasn’t raining when Noah built the ark.” Howard Ruff A few days ago, I posted an article on this blog about the uncertainty of what we might experience in terms of weather over the next several months. Three different readers responded with basically the same question: Given the reality and randomness of earthquakes in California, aren’t you…

“The ability to recover  gets harder  the older you get.” Buster Posey My youngest son, Brendan, had a dream. So in March 2024, he made the decision to quit his job and venture into the world of entrepreneurship. He created True Form Basketball, a program that provides individual and group instruction on the fundamentals of basketball.…

“Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’” Martin Luther King, Jr. Why do I help others? Because I can. It’s that simple. A M D G

“Solitude is not the  absence of love,  but its complement.”   Paulo Coelho For most of my life, I have been energized by being around other people. I am fairly outgoing by nature, and I enjoy being part of moderately-sized groups where conversation, laughter, and shared experiences create a sense of connection. I also spent my…