Good morning. It’s January 14, 2021. Let’s start out today with a quote from the Buddha who said “Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned.” That is a good piece of advice to think about as we move through the chaos. Buddha also said, “What we think, we become.” If you’ve got a few minutes, just type google “Buddha Quotes” and start reading. Today is Feast Of The Ass Day, International Kite Flying Day, National Dress Up Your Pet Day, National Hot Pastrami Sandwich Day, National Poetry at Work Day and Take A Missionary To Lunch Day. Ever had a pastrami on rye in a deli in New York City? If you haven’t, you’ve missed an awesome experience. Onto historical footnotes. In 1641 the United East Indian Company conquers city of Malacca, 7,000 killed. Think about this for a second. Malacca is in Malaysia. The United East Indian Company, a Dutch mega-corporation that has its own army, attacks a foreign city and in the process killed 7,000 people. In 1699 Massachusetts holds day of fasting for wrongly persecuting “witches” who they burned to death. This is the day in 1878 US Supreme court rules race separation on trains unconstitutional. Finally, in 1977 “Fantasy Island” starring Ricardo Montalban premieres on ABC TV. Each episode opened with Tattoo saying Ze plane! Ze plane! Today is the birthday is the birthday of Martin Niemoller. He was the Lutheran minister who spoke against the Nazis. “First they came for the Jews…” This is another of his quotes: “If your intuition tells you not to do something, then don’t. Your intuition is not stupid”. This also happens to be the day in 1898 that Lewis Carroll (Alice in Wonderland) stopped living at the age of 65. Lewis said, “I can’t go back to yesterday – because I was a different person then.” I think that means that each new day makes us a new person. Maybe so. Abide.
