Today is Memorial Day, a national holiday to remember those who died in our wars, since the Revolutionary War, nearly 1.2 million military personnel.   Nearly half from the Civil War .  In comparison, those Covid-19 deaths passed 1.1 million in four years.  This day is a good time for you to reflect on their ultimate sacrifice as we continue to fight for freedom and justice around the world.  This not a happy day, but a meaningful one. From  Time  magazine : After the Civil war, was called Decoration Day to honor the graves of fallen Union soldiers at the end of May because of springtime blossoms. The holiday only became official in 1968. The day has shifted from solemnity to celebration, with American flags at half-mast and a moment of silence at 3PM. Finally, the price of freedom is expensive.   The USA spends more on defense than the next 9 countries, combined . There will be ceremonies at military graveyards, parades, barbecues and the like.   But most enjoy this 3-day weekend for

While love and happiness prevail, my mind nevertheless wanders and wonders a lot.  I see homeless people and realize that with only a wrong decision or two, that could have been me.   I have been lucky,  Very lucky. I consider my life to be a success.  Of the  117 billion born , surely I rank in the top one-tenth of one percent.  In other words I am among the best 11.7 million  Homo sapiens  who ever lived.  I'm tempted to improve this by another order of magnitude to 1.17 million, for it has only been in the past century that life became tolerable for most, but all this analysis is meaningless, for what is success? In this thoughtful mood, I looked back on certain points in my life and wondered where I would be today if I made another decision.   A big one was, which college? As a junior at McKinley High School in Honolulu I was only an above-average student, with no athletic talent and little social skills. Then my life changed.  My blog describes this all. I did not bother to ap

I began some mild  euphoria two years ago, and entered into an almost constant state of higher euphoria six months later.  Yet, there was always something troubling me. I woke up this morning with an unusual sense of peace.  Not the ultimate one we all will someday face, a lot more comforting.  The events of the past few days combined to impart a feeling that all will be well and the best is yet to come. At the top of the list is health.  All is well with me and vaccines are coming to someday end this COVID-19 pandemic.  Deliveries of the Pfizer/BioNTech version began this morning in the USA, and inoculations are in full swing in other parts of the world. Mask-wearing will still be a must for much of this year and next, but someone asked me to order this plastic thing you place between face and mask, and I found out that I could strenuously exercise with this insert.  It's called a face bracket, and, depending on where you get it , it could cost less than a dollar each.  I also h