The Friday Post ~ 12th January 2018

Hello there, and a very happy Friday the 12th of January to you!

How are you?  What have you been up to this week?  Done anything out of the ordinary?  Been a little bit naughty and spent some money in the January sales?

Me?  Well I’ve been cleaning my craft room and getting things into some sort of  ‘New Year = New Order!’  Every now and again I will go through these phases of changing things around and “getting things in order” – when I have actually come to realise that this ‘getting things in order’ routine, is simply a case of re-organising stuff I have.  At the time I’m doing it, this re-organising makes total sense, but then (roughly) six weeks passes and I need to re-organise all over again!  Tsk tsk …. this is the problem with cleaning.  Nothing ever stays clean, and within days of doing it you have to do it all over again!

But anyhoo ….  you haven’t come here to read about my domestic trials and tribulations, you’ve come for Fridays Edumacation Lesson, which your family has paid a princely amount of money for you to attend, so we’d better get on with it, eh?

Button up your coats.  Tighten your belts.  Seat belts on – exit doors duly noted to the left, right and under the floor … get ready …. we’re going in!

On This Day In History

1773 – The first public Colonial American museum opens in Charleston, South Carolina. The Thirteen Colonies were part of what became known as British America, a name that was used by Great Britain until the Treaty of Paris recognised the independence of the original United States of America. These thirteen British colonies in North America rebelled against British rule in 1775. A provisional government was formed which proclaimed their independence, which is now celebrated as having occurred on July 4, 1776, and subsequently became the original thirteen United States of America. The colonies were founded between 1607 (Virginia), and 1733 (Georgia), although Great Britain held several other colonies in North America and the West Indies.

1866 – The Royal Aeronautical Society is formed in London. Founded in 1866 The Royal Aeronautical Society, also known as the RAeS, is a multidisciplinary professional institution dedicated to the entire global aerospace community.

The objectives of The Royal Aeronautical Society include; to support and maintain the highest professional standards in all aerospace disciplines; to provide a unique source of specialist information and a local forum for the exchange of ideas; and to exert influence in the interests of aerospace in both the public and industrial arenas.

Throughout the world’s aerospace community the name of The Royal Aeronautical Society is widely known and respected. Many practitioners from all disciplines within the aerospace industry use the Society’s designatory post-nominals such as FRAeS, CRAeS, MRAeS, AMRAeS, and ARAeS (incorporating the former graduate grade, GradRAeS).

The Staff of the Royal Aeronautical Society are based at the Society’s headquarters at No.4 Hamilton Place, London, W1J 7BQ. Although centred in the United Kingdom, the Royal Aeronautical Society is a worldwide Society with an international network of 63 Branches

1895 – The National Trust is founded in Britain. The National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, usually known as the National Trust, is a conservation organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Trust does not operate in Scotland, where there is an independent National Trust for Scotland.

According to its website:

“The National Trust works to preserve and protect the coastline, countryside and buildings of England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
We do this in a range of ways, through practical caring and conservation, through educating and informing, and through encouraging millions of people to enjoy their national heritage.”

History
The National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty was formed in 1895 and is a charitable organisation registered under the Charities Act 1993. Its formal purpose is:

The preservation for the benefit of the Nation of lands and tenements (including buildings) of beauty or historic interest and, as regards lands, for the preservation of their natural aspect, features and animal and plant life. Also the preservation of furniture, pictures and chattels of any description having national and historic or artistic interest.

The Trust was founded on 12 January 1895 by Octavia Hill (1838–1912), Robert Hunter (1844–1913) and Canon Hardwicke Rawnsley (1851–1920), prompted in part by the earlier success of Charles Eliot and the Kyrle Society. A fourth individual, the Duke of Westminster (1825–1899), is also referred to in many texts as being a principal contributor to the formation of the Trust.

In the early days the Trust was concerned primarily with protecting open spaces and a variety of threatened buildings; its first property was Alfriston Clergy House and its first nature reserve was Wicken Fen. Its first archaeological monument was White Barrow.

The Trust’s symbol, a sprig of oak leaves and acorns, is thought to have been inspired by a carving in the cornice of the Alfriston Clergy House.

Membership
The Trust is one of the largest membership organisations in the world and annual subscriptions are its most important source of income. Membership numbers have grown from 226,200 when the Trust celebrated its 75th anniversary in 1970 to 500,000 in 1975, one million in 1981, two million in 1990 and by 2007, membership had reached 3.5 million.

The members elect half of the Council of the National Trust, and periodically (most recently in 2006) vote on the organisations which may appoint the other half of the Council. Members may also propose and vote on motions at the annual general meeting, although these are advisory and do not decide the policy of the Trust.

In the 1990’s a dispute over whether stag hunting should be permitted on National Trust land caused bitter disputes within the organisation and was the subject of much debate at annual general meetings, but it did little to slow down the growth in member numbers.

There is a separate organisation called The Royal Oak Foundation for American supporters.
The Royal Oak Foundation is an alliance of American citizens supporting the mission of the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, a conservation organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The foundation is headquartered in New York City.

Founded in 1973 the Royal Oak Foundation is a United States tax-exempt non-profit organisation. The foundation supports the preservation and conservation of natural beauty, historic properties, houses and gardens in Britain.

In the United States, the foundation sponsors the Drue Heinz Lecture Series, which delivers lectures in major U.S. cities on the subjects of architecture, social history, landscape design, interior decoration, and decorative arts.

Membership is open to the general public, and includes free admission to historic properties operated by the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty.

External Links:  The National Trust Website   /   The Royal Oak Foundation Website

1908 – A long-distance radio message is sent from the Eiffel Tower for the first time.

1915 – The Rocky Mountain National Park is formed by an act of U.S. Congress. Rocky Mountain National Park is a National Park located in the north-central region of the U.S. state of Colorado. It features majestic mountain views, a variety of wildlife, varied climates and environments—from wooded forests to mountain tundra—and easy access to back-country trails and campsites. The park is located northwest of Boulder, Colorado in the Rockies, and includes the Continental Divide and the headwaters of the Colorado River.

The park has five visitor centres. The park headquarters, Beaver Meadows Visitor Center, is a National Historic Landmark, designed by the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture at Taliesin West.

The park may be accessed by three roads: U.S. Highway 34, 36, and State Highway 7. Highway 7 enters the park for less than a mile, where it provides access to the Lily Lake Visitor Center. Highway 36 enters the park on the east side, where it terminates after a few miles at Highway 34. Highway 34, known as Trail Ridge Road through the park, runs from the town of Estes Park on the east to Grand Lake on the southwest. The road reaches an elevation of 12,183 feet (3,713 m), and is closed by snow in winter.

The park is surrounded by Roosevelt National Forest on the north and east, Routt National Forest on the northwest, and Arapaho National Forest on the southwest.

Ecosystems
The lowest elevations in the park are montane forests and grassland. The ponderosa pine, which prefers drier areas, dominates, though at higher elevations Douglas fir trees are found. Above 9,000 feet (2,700 m) the montane forests give way to the sub-alpine forest. Engelmann Spruce and Sub-alpine Fir trees are common in this zone. These forests tend to have more moisture than the montane and tend to be denser. Above tree line, at approximately 11,500 feet (3,500 m), trees disappear and the vast alpine tundra takes over. Due to harsh winds and weather, the plants in the tundra are short with very limited growing seasons. Streams have created lush riparian wetlands across the park.

Climate
July and August are the warmest months in the park, where temperatures can reach the 80’s although it is not uncommon to drop to below freezing at night. Thunderstorms often appear in the afternoons, and visitors should plan on staying below tree line when they occur. Heavy winter snows begin around mid-October, and last into May. While the snow can melt away from the lowest elevations of the park, deep snow is found above 9,000 feet (2,700 m) in the winter, causing the closure of Trail Ridge and Fall River roads during the winter and spring. Most of the trails are under snow this time of the year, and snowshoeing and skiing become popular. Springs tend to be wet, alternating between rain and possibly heavy snows. These snows can occur as late as July.  The west side of the park typically receives more precipitation than the drier east side.  Rocky Mountain National Park (official Site)

1915 – The United States House of Representatives rejects the proposal to give women the right to vote.

1942 – President Franklin Roosevelt creates the National War Labor Board.  The National War Labor Board, was reestablished by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, on January 12, 1942.  It became a tripartite body and was charged with acting as an arbitration tribunal in labor-management dispute cases, thereby preventing work stoppages which might hinder the war effort. It administered wage control in national industries such as automobiles, shipping, railways, airlines, telegraph lines, and mining. The Board was originally divided into 12 Regional Administrative Boards which handled both labor dispute settlement and wage stabilisation functions for specific geographic regions. The National Board further decentralised in 1943, when it established special tripartite commissions and panels to deal with specific industries on a national base. It ceased operating in 1946, and thereafter labor disputes were handled by the National Labor Relations Board, originally set up in 1935.

1967 – Dr. James Bedford becomes the first person to be cryonically preserved with intent of future resuscitation. James Hiram Bedford (20 April 1893 – 12 January 1967) was a University of California psychology professor who had written several books on occupational counselling. He is notable as the first human being to be cryonically preserved(frozen, in this case). Among those in the cryonics community, the anniversary of his cryonic suspension is celebrated as “Bedford Day”.

In June 1965, Ev Cooper’s Life Extension Society offered to preserve one person for free stating that “the Life Extension Society now has primitive facilities for emergency short-term freezing and storing our friend the large homeotherm (man).  LES offers to freeze free of charge the first person desirous and in need of cryogenic suspension” (For the Record). This ultimately turned out to be Dr. Bedford. He was frozen on January 12, 1967 in Glendale, California at age 73.

Bedford was frozen by Robert Prehoda (author of the 1969 book Suspended Animation), Dr. Dante Brunol (physician and biophysicist) and Robert Nelson (President of the Cryonics Society of California). Nelson then wrote a book about the subject titled We Froze the First Man. Modern cryonics organisations perfuse cryonics patients with an anti-freeze (cryoprotectant) to prevent ice formation (vitrification), but the use of cryoprotectants in Bedford’s case was primitive. He was injected with some DMSO, so it is unlikely that his brain was protected. He was truly “frozen”.

Bedford’s body was maintained in liquid nitrogen by his family until 1982. Then it was moved to Alcor Life Extension Foundation, and has remained in Alcor’s care to the present day.  In May 1991, his body’s condition was evaluated when he was moved to a new storage dewar.  The examiners concluded that “it seems likely that his external temperature has remained at relatively low subzero temperatures throughout the storage interval.”

External Links:

• ‘Never Say Die’  Time Magazine, Feb. 3rd 1967
• The First Suspension
• Evaluation of the Condition of Dr. James H. Bedford after 24 years of Cryonic Suspension
• Letter to Bedford giving his history.

1971 – The Harrisburg Seven: The Reverend Philip Berrigan and five others are indicted on charges of conspiring to kidnap Henry Kissinger and of plotting to blow up the heating tunnels of federal buildings in Washington, D.C.

The Harrisburg Seven were a group of religious anti-war activists led by Philip Berrigan. The group became famous when they were unsuccessfully prosecuted for alleged criminal plots during the Vietnam War era. Six of the seven were Irish Catholic nuns or priests. The seventh was Eqbal Ahmad, a Pakistani journalist, American-trained political scientist, and self-described “odd man out” of the group. In 1970, the group attracted government attention when Berrigan, then imprisoned, and Sister Elizabeth McAlister were caught trading letters that alluded to kidnapping National Security Adviser Henry Kissinger and blowing up steam tunnels

Background
Father Berrigan was serving time in the Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary, in central Pennsylvania. Boyd Douglas, who eventually would become a FBI informant and star prosecution witness – was a fellow inmate. Douglas was on a work-release at the library at nearby Bucknell University. Douglas used his real connection with Berrigan to convince some students at Bucknell that he was an anti-war activist, telling some that he was serving time for anti-war activities. In fact, he was in prison for check forgery.

Douglas set up a mail drop and persuaded students transcribe letters intended for Berrigan into his school notebooks to smuggle into the prison. (They were later called, unwillingly, as government witnesses.) Douglas was the chief prosecution witness.

The trial
U.S. Attorneys charged the Harrisburg Seven with conspiracy to kidnap Kissinger and bomb heating tunnels. They filed the case in the city of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Activist attorney and former Attorney General Ramsey Clark led the defence team for their trial during the spring months of 1972. Unconventionally, he didn’t call any witnesses in his clients’ defence, including the defendants themselves. He reasoned that the jury was sympathetic to his Catholic clients and that sympathy would be ruined by their testimony that they’d burned their draft cards. After an extraordinarily long deliberation, the jury remained hung and the defendants were freed.

Douglas testified that he transmitted transcribed letters between the defendants, which the prosecution used as evidence of a conspiracy among them. Several of Douglas’ former girlfriends testified at the trial that he acted not just as an informer, but also as a catalyst and agent provocateur for the group’s plans.

There were minor convictions for a few of the defendants, based on smuggling mail into the prison; most of those were overturned on appeal.

The trial gained some notoriety for the use of scientific jury selection – use of demographic factors to identify unfavourable jurors – to keep the defendants from being convicted.

1991 – Gulf War: An act of the U.S. Congress authorises the use of military force to drive Iraq out of Kuwait.

1998 – Nineteen European Nations agree to forbid human cloning. Human cloning is the creation of a genetically identical copy of a human being, human cell, or human tissue. Although the possibility of cloning human beings has been the subject of speculation for much of the twentieth century, scientists and policy makers began to take the prospect seriously in the 1960’s. Nobel Prize winning geneticist Joshua Lederberg advocated for cloning and genetic engineering in a seminal article in the American Naturalist in 1966 and again, the following year, in the Washington Post. He sparked a debate with conservative bioethicist Leon Kass, who wrote at the time that “the programmed reproduction of man will, in fact, dehumanise him.” Another Nobel Laureate, James Watson, publicised the potential and the perils of cloning in his Atlantic Monthly essay, “Moving Toward the Clonal Man,” in 1971.

Human cloning also gained a foothold in popular culture, starting in the 1970’s. Alvin Toffler’s Future Shock, David Rorvik’s In His Image: Toward Cloning of a Man, Woody Allen’s film “Sleeper” and the The Boys from Brazil all helped to make the general public aware of the ethical issues surrounding human cloning.

Ethical implications
The cloning of human beings is highly controversial. Advocates of human therapeutic cloning believe the practice could provide genetically identical cells for regenerative medicine, and tissues and organs for transplantation. Such cells, tissues, and organs would neither trigger an immune response nor require the use of immunosuppressive drugs. Both basic research and therapeutic development for serious diseases such as cancer, heart disease, and diabetes, as well as improvements in burn treatment and reconstructive and cosmetic surgery, are areas that might benefit from such new technology. New York University bioethicist Jacob M. Appel has argued that “children cloned for therapeutic purposes” such as “to donate bone marrow to a sibling with leukaemia” might someday be viewed as heroes.

Proponents claim that human reproductive cloning also would produce benefits. Severino Antinori and Panos Zavos hope to create a fertility treatment that allows parents who are both infertile to have children with at least some of their DNA in their offspring.

Some scientists, including Dr. Richard Seed, suggest that human cloning might obviate the human ageing process. How this might work is not entirely clear since the brain or identity would have to be transferred to a cloned body. Dr. Preston Estep has suggested the terms “replacement cloning” to describe the generation of a clone of a previously living person, and “persistence cloning” to descregligible SENS (Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence) one of the considered options to repair the cell depletion related to cellular senescence is to grow replacement tissues from stem cells harvested from a cloned embryo.

Opponents of human cloning argue that the process will likely lead to severely disabled children. For example, bioethicist Thomas Murray of the Hastings Centre argues that “it is absolutely inevitable that groups are going to try to clone a human being. But they are going to create a lot of dead and dying babies along the way.”

There were, as of December 2008, no documented cases of a living human being produced through human cloning.  However, the most successful (though inefficient) common cloning technique in non-human mammals is the process by which Dolly the sheep was produced. It is also the technique used by Advanced Cell Technology (ACT), the first company to successfully clone early human embryos that stopped at the six cell stage. The process is as follows: an egg cell taken from a donor has its cytoplasm removed. Another cell with the genetic material to be cloned is fused with the original egg cell, transferring its cell nucleus to the enucleated donor egg. vIn theory, this process, known as somatic cell nuclear transfer, could be applied to human beings.

ACT also reported its attempts to clone stem cell lines by parthenogenesis, where an unfertilised egg cell is induced to divide and grow as if it were fertilised, but only incomplete blastocysts resulted. Even if it were practical with mammals, this technique could work only with females. Discussion of human cloning generally assumes the use of somatic cell nuclear transfer, rather than parthenogenesis.

In January, 2008, Wood and Andrew French, Stemagen’s chief scientific officer in California, announced that they successfully created the first 5 mature human embryos using DNA from adult skin cells, aiming to provide a less-controversial source of viable embryonic stem cells. Dr. Samuel Wood and a colleague donated skin cells, and DNA from those cells was transferred to human eggs. It is not clear if the embryos produced would have been capable of further development, but Dr. Wood stated that if that were possible, using the technology for reproductive cloning would be both unethical and illegal. The 5 cloned embryos, created in Stemagen Corporation lab, in La Jolla, were later destroyed.

The current law on human cloning
U.N.
On December 12, 2001 the United Nations General Assembly began elaborating an international convention against the reproductive cloning of human beings. Lawrence S. B. Goldstein, college professor of cellular and molecular medicine at the University of California at San Diego, claims that the United States, unable to pass a national law, forced Costa Rica to start this debate in the UN over the international cloning ban. Unable to reach a consensus on a binding convention, in March 2005 a non-binding United Nations Declaration on Human Cloning was finally adopted.
Australia:  Australia had prohibited human cloning, though as of December 2006, a bill legalising therapeutic cloning and the creation of human embryos for stem cell research passed the House of Representatives. Within certain regulatory limits, and subject to the effect of state legislation, therapeutic cloning is now legal in some parts of Australia.
European Union:   The European Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine prohibits human cloning in one of its additional protocols, but this protocol has been ratified only by Greece, Spain and Portugal. The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union explicitly prohibits reproductive human cloning, though the Charter currently carries no legal standing. The proposed Treaty of Lisbon would, if ratified, make the charter legally binding for the institutions of the European Union.
U.S.   In 1998, 2001, 2004 and 2007 the U.S. House of Representatives voted whether to ban all human cloning, both reproductive and therapeutic. Each time, divisions in the Senate over therapeutic cloning prevented either competing proposal (a ban on both forms or reproductive cloning only) from passing. Some American states ban both forms of cloning, while some others outlaw only reproductive cloning.

Current regulations prohibit federal funding for research into human cloning, which effectively prevents such research from occurring in public institutions and private institutions such as universities which receive federal funding. However, there are currently no federal laws in the United States which ban cloning completely, and any such laws would raise difficult Constitutional questions similar to the issues raised by abortion.
U.K.  The British government introduced legislation in order to allow licensed therapeutic cloning in a debate in January 14, 2001 in an amendment to the Human Fertilization and Embryology Act 1990. However on November 15, 2001 a pro-life group won a High Court legal challenge that effectively left cloning unregulated in the UK. Their hope was that Parliament would fill this gap by passing prohibitive legislation. The government was quick to pass legislation prohibiting reproductive cloning Human Reproductive Cloning Act 2001. The remaining gap with regard to therapeutic cloning was closed when the appeals courts reversed the previous decision of the High Court.

The first licence was granted on August 11, 2004 to researchers at the University of Newcastle to allow them to investigate treatments for diabetes, Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease.
Religious objections:   The Roman Catholic Church, under the papacy of Benedict XVI, has condemned the practice of human cloning, in the magisterial instruction Dignitas Personae, stating that it represents a grave offence to the dignity of that person as well as to the fundamental equality of all people.

“Variations and voids:  The Regulation of Human Cloning around the world”  – an academic article by S.Pattinson and T. Caulfield.

2004 – The world’s largest ocean liner, RMS Queen Mary 2, makes its maiden voyage.
2005 – Deep Impact (space mission) launches from Cape Canaveral on a Delta 2 rocket.
2006 – The foreign ministers of the United Kingdom, France, and Germany declare that negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program have reached a dead-end and recommend that Iran be referred to the United Nations Security Council.

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Born on this Day

1904 – Fred McDowell, American blues musician (d. 1972)

1925 – Scottie MacGregor, American actress best-known for her comic performance as Harriet Oleson from 1974 to 1983 on the NBC television series Little House on the Prairie.

1926 – Ray Price, American singer. Some of his more famous songs include “Release Me”, “Crazy Arms”, “Heartaches by the Number”, “City Lights”, “My Shoes Keep Walking Back to You”, “For the Good Times”, “I Won’t Mention It Again”, “You’re the Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me”, and “Danny Boy.” He was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1996.

1932 – Des O’Connor, British television presenter

1933 – Michael Aspel, English broadcaster

1944 – Joe Frazier, American boxer

1945 – Maggie Bell, Scottish singer (Stone the Crows)

1946 – Cynthia Robinson, American musician (Sly & the Family Stone)

1948 – Anthony Andrews, English actor

1951 – Kirstie Alley, American actress

1957 – John Lasseter, Academy Award-winning American animator and the chief creative officer at Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios. He is also currently the Principal Creative Advisor for Walt Disney Imagineering

1974 – Melanie Chisholm, British singer – best known as one of the five members of the pioneering pop group Spice Girls, where she was nicknamed “Sporty Spice”

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Died on this Day and Remembered here

1897 – Isaac Pitman, British inventor (Pitman Shorthand) (b. 1813)

1960 – Nevil Shute, English writer (b. 1899)

1976 – Agatha Christie, English writer (b. 1890)

2003 – Maurice Gibb, British singer, songwriter, and musician (Bee Gees) (b. 1949

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PLAYTIME BELL RINGS!

dinger dinger dinger ding!

These are the Jokes folks!

(a bunch of one-liners for you . . . )

I just bought underwater headphones and it’s made me loads faster. Do you know how motivating it is swimming to the theme song from Jaws? I mean my anxiety is through the roof but record times.
🙂

Red sky at night: shepherd’s delight. Blue sky at night: day

🤗

It all starts innocently, mixing chocolate and Rice Krispies, but before you know it you’re adding raisins and marshmallows – it’s a rocky road.

😀

The anti-ageing advert that I would like to see is a baby covered in cream saying, ‘Aah, I’ve used too much.’

😁

My friend said she was giving up drinking from Monday to Friday. I’m just worried she’s going to dehydrate

🤣

Jokes about white sugar are rare. Jokes about brown sugar, Demerara.

😆

My sister had a baby and they took a while to name her and I told her to  ‘Hurry up!’.  I didn’t want my niece to grow up to be one of these kids you hear about on the news where it says, ‘The 17 year old defendant, who hasn’t been named’.  

😅

I went to Waterstones the book store and asked the store assistant for a book about turtles,  she said ‘hardback?’  I said  ‘yes and with little heads”

😝

and finally . . . 

If anyone knows how to fix some broken hinges,  my door’s always open.   😂

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Thought for the Day

Too often I hear people say that in their lives they would like more time to just sit and think and enjoy.

We don’t practice simply enjoying ‘nothing’, do we?  It’s something that concerns me a lot …  because if we don’t do it when we are younger, we can be left not knowing how to do it in later life.

Part of the problem is our work ethic.  For some reason, we feel we must justify our existence by always being busy and useful.  Everything we do must have a purpose and we must constantly live with one eye on what we shall be doing tomorrow.  The old month by month tyranny of the calendar was replaced by the daily tyranny of the Filofax, which is now supplemented with the hourly tyranny of e-mail/twitter/whats-ap/skype/Facebook (other social media(s) are available), is really not doing any of us any favours

According to the book of Genesis, although human beings are ‘made’ to be able to work, more wonderful than work is the enjoyment of the ‘Sabbath’.  Sunday.  The day when even God himself rested in order to savour what he has made!  

We seem to have lost the capacity for that sort of enjoyment.  We seem to have forgotten how to just sit and do nothing but think about what we’ve achieved.  What have we done in our lives that is pleasing to us.  We seem to have forgotten how to do this and we need more than anything to recover it.  But how?

In the Christian Gospel, we are told to that to enter the Kingdom of God we must become as little children,  a reference not to their supposed innocence, but their capacity for self-forgetfulness in play.  They do something because it is fun and worthwhile in itself and not because it has some further justification.  This is what we tend to lose in our busy lives where everything must be done for a purpose.  If we are to reach an old age that we can enjoy and feel good about, we need to regain the capacity for enjoyment long before we are old.  Perhaps then, in our evening walk, we shall find ourselves enjoying God’s company in the cool of the day, and finding ourselves happy and fulfilled.

We don’t need to work from morning till night.  We need to work, rest, and play.  That’s what this whole life/existence thing was designed for.  That’s what we are meant to do.  That’s the whole point of it all.

Take a little time today to do nothing but sit.  Sit with your God, if you believe, or just sit with life if you don’t.  Spend a little time doing something that gives you joy.  Even if it’s going out, buying a children’s colouring book and crayons and colouring to your heart’s content.  There would be less illness . . .   less worry  . . .  less tension,  if only people allowed themselves to let their inner child loose once in a while.

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Thank you so much for coming and sharing a coffee moment with me.  I love being in your company.

I wish you a really great day.  Smile as much as you can.  Take time to have a little fun and laughs somewhere along the way.  You’ll feel better for it.  I know you will.  And remember …. to stop now and again and just allow yourself to ‘be’.  Stop doing.  Stop talking.  Stop thinking.  Just be.  Give yourself a minute or two away from your daily life, and instead give yourself a moment of a life of doing nothing – not even thinking.  Just BE.

Have a wonderful day, and a truly fabulous weekend.  Be good to yourself, and …  may your God go with you.