Alfie and Me 2

by

Leo Crocker Rogers

My idea of a five-star hotel is a clean room, a cot, and a down sleeping bag in the winter and air conditioning in the Arizona summer.

My idea of a five-star restaurant is a clean table with a salt shaker.

My idea of a good time is running a 10K in 41 minutes in 155 degrees and then standing under a garden hose.

I had an awake dream of you doing so much – being a family person, championing teen boys/girls, guiding them from sense to Soul – those precious ones who believe this life is more than materialism, you making tons of money to bring good to the community, and I was not impressed – well, I was, and I am with your indubitable prowess, but I felt it was so much less than you were to do. And then I felt as if I were you, and what was I not doing that I was expecting you to do? Was I being what I expected you to be? And if not, why not? Was I simply dreaming that you are and will do more than I have done?

Home is the building where you know where the front door key is hidden. Not every one has such a building and some only have a memory of one. If you do not, or did not have one, perhaps you can make one for another. Having one or giving one is a cherishable memory. In some places, home is where there is no front door key – my home for example.

The only value of yesterday is that it got us to today. Nothing more. We do not learn from yesterday. We do not learn from experience. We honestly only learn from revelation. All other so-called learning is our or someone else’s history repeating itself. The only thing new under the sun is revelation.

The simple naturally rejects the complex. "The Lord preserveth the simple." Ps 116:6

E-mails, texting, and twitter devalue communication. Through electronics, separation seems normal. It is fast. It is flashy. Where are the eyes?

She said she took her toothbrush with her to clean her ring.

Esoteric financial documents are those that the attorney says will benefit us, but after reading the documents, we do not understand them. Are we at risk? We are. So we sign anyway. Is that really how we wish to live?

The older we get, the fewer the things we love, until the singularity sets in. Then we are home.

We do not live our lives in separate glass jars, but we do live alone.

Don’t lie to me. Never lie to me, not even about when you said you sent a letter. I am your friend, and I know things do not always go the way we expect. Account for that and be ahead of the game so when you stumble, you are still on time. When you wish to spare my feelings, remember as your friend, what I treasure is not tears or laughter, but honesty.

If there is anything more depressing than the memory of a solitary bad time, it Is a memory of collective bad times. Why in this green earth do societies recall the bad? They say they recall the bad to preclude future bad. That is like recalling the dark to be sure the dark never comes. What do we want? Dark memories or tomorrow’s light? What chased the dark clouds away? It was not more dark clouds. Let there be light, that is to say, allow there to be light, and light will be there.

Finaglers and manipulators. Insurance companies are Las Vegas legitimized.

With tears in their eyes they promise never, never ever to do it again. And yet they have year after year. What makes you think their promise to you is any different than the tens they have made before, tears notwithstanding?

What can and should we do differently? Nurture our youth. Have a parent in the home. In WWII, in San Diego, Consolidated Aircraft was building airplanes. Men built them until the men were drafted. Who took over? Rosy the Riveter. Did she do a good job building airplanes? Indeed, very well. The Rosies paid attention to detail and were willing to do repetitive work without coloring outside the lines. After the war, the Rosies returned home to raise people like me. And just as they built great aircraft, they built good people. Just as they were on the job at Consolidated, they were on the job at home. While that may not be popular today, someday it will be again. Women have a different way of thinking than men. Men fight. Women cultivate, educate, inspire, pay attention to details. And so, what do we want to do differently? We want the best people in the world raising our children, nurturing and cultivating them. That job is not for fighters but nurturers. How important are our children? More important than gold. Let the best take care of the future’s best.

Alfie was in a room. I was in a room. My room had no doors or windows. The room had only a mirror and a table. How did I get out? I looked in the mirror and saw. I took the saw and cut the table in half. When I put the two halves of the table together I had a whole, and I climbed out the hole.

"What is it all about, Alfie?"