Sure, there is love, security and a lot more in life.  However, after 84 years, I've found that something called   confidence   is key to a successful life of comfort and happiness.  The beauty of this state of mind is that you can help anyone around you--not only your family and friends, but more so, your community, local and throughout the world--to gain confidence by suggesting a pathway towards this objective. At one point, the title of this posting today was THE GIFT OF CONFIDENCE.  This is because one grows up with no sense of what confidence is all about.  I found that someone in your family, teachers, coaches and even organizations provide you this gift that, if you learn it right, can lead to a better life.  Actually all of them, in my case, were involved. But then, I thought about that word, confidence, and found it is a lot more meaningful to underscore the significance of power. Confidence is contagious.   You can more effectively...

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 chang...

First, yes, the  Donald Trump/family New York fraud court case began today   with The Donald personally in attendance.   Trial will last into December and at worst will only cost him $250 million, which he'll contest.  No jail time for this infraction. Got this in my e-mail this morning: Good morning, Patrick! We are excited to share the historic news that California Gov. Gavin Newsom will appoint EMILYs List President Laphonza Butler to fill the seat of the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein. As EMILYs List founder Ellen Malcom said,   the governor has made an extraordinary choice .   Laphonza was the first Black woman and the first mother to lead EMILYs List. She will become the only Black woman serving in the U.S. Senate and the first openly LGBTQ+ person to represent California in the chamber.   And as a champion for labor rights and working people everywhere, we know that she will serve the people of California honorably. The California 2024 Senate e...