the Tonga Room

I am seized with a strong desire to go to the Tonga Room, San Francisco's archetypal Tiki bar, before it gets closed, IF it gets closed, which I sincerely hope it WON'T...

This is a great example of the "meant to be" conflicting with the "what is". If I was meant to go to the Tonga Room, which my gut is telling me is the case, then plans to close the place clearly run against the grain... against the grain of the meant to be.

an unsung American hero

In 1953, Dr. Ernst Wynder presented a paper suggesting a connection between cigarette smoking and lung cancer. Apparently, at the time, such an idea was seen as wildly speculative and radically against the collective grain. Well, sometimes time proves such crazy ideas as this one correct. It would appear that this is such a case.

So where are the coins with Dr. Wynder on them?? The stamps?? The bank notes?? Doesn't this country know a national hero when it is handed to them on a silver platter?? Why the heck isn't this guy a household name?? And why wasn't a world class non-smoker such as myself familiar with him until now??

Credit must be given to T.R. Reid, who mentions Dr. Wynder in his extremely important and well written book The Healing of America: a global quest for better, cheaper and fairer health care. The book is a handy, fascinating, easy to read overview of the different kinds of health care systems found throughout the world, which in turn serves as a prescription for fixing the American health care mess. You will find mention of Dr. Wynder, and more about his work, in the chapter on preventative medicine and public health ("An Apple a Day").

Come to think of it, T.R. Reid is also an American hero for writing this book. By bringing this information to our attention, he is doing the U.S. a huge service. So where are the postage stamps?? The coins?? The bank notes?? The grade school essays?? I will add both names, Wynder and Reid, to my list of unsung American heroes.

the disconnect between "what is" and what is "meant to be"

One way of looking at history is as a chronicle of the disconnect between "what is" and what is "meant to be", and the interplay of those two things. Sometimes the two are aligned, but often they are not... The "meant to be" -- being the will of the universe, of God, of call it what you like -- never goes away. It is by design the resting point, the final destination of the process of creation.

"Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven"

Sometimes the realization of the heavenly blueprint comes about smoothly, other times not so much. The discords arising from the disconnect can sometimes render the earth a very rough battleground. But history illustrates that there is a whole range of different paths to the same intended destination. Velvet revolutions are possible, and should be promoted... don't you think?

the absence of internal limits

Going for an evening walk, I felt the limits of my external world closing in on me. I've done this walk too many times and it goes nowhere. Surely the larger world has more to offer than this. It does, but for now I am here... Then I recalled Hegel's definition of infinity: not the absence of external limits, but the absence of internal limits. That helped.

three times ten times three

Today is 10-10-10 and aunt Lana turns ninety. There is something mathematical going on there. Three times ten is thirty, times three is ninety.

obstacles & opportunities

This morning while laying in bed I had a profound moment of Indian philosophy. I thought about Ganesha, who is technically not only the remover of obstacles, but also the placer of them. If you think about it, so much of life is determined by the presence or absence of obstacles... And what is the removal of an obstacle, but an opportunity??

So it took me my entire life up till now, but the complementary relationship between obstacles and opportunities has never been so clear. I hereby christen this blog with those words.

Needless to say, opportunities are a lot more fun than obstacles, and so the general direction of life consists of the removal of the latter so as to allow for the creation of the former...