“Knowing is half the battle.”

As an avid watcher of of Saturday morning cartoons, I took G.I. Joe’s message to heart. Still, I used to wonder,  “What’s the other half?”

I think that the other half is doing.

Simply doing all you can to make the world a better place. Sometimes, it’s overwhelming to look at all that needs to be done. But the most important thing is to start somewhere and do something.

Approximately 207,090 new cases of breast cancer will be diagnosed in the United States this year. Most of us know someone who has battled this terrible illness. Some of us have fought or will fight breast cancer.

Keith, Randy, and I will be running the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure on 10/9/10. Donations are accepted and processed through the Susan G. Komen website.

Give what you can!

We all have those moments where we look to the past and wonder how we ended up in our current destination.

Nostalgia seems to blow in, on the autumn wind, rustling through piles of orange leaves before settling in my chest. Compelled to see old photos and read carefully folded notes, I go out to the garage and shuffle boxes. While I sit on the cold cement floor, I wonder about the people I used to know. I wonder about the person I used to be.

Children have ideas about what they’ll do when they get big. High Schoolers graduate and choose a path.

Life rarely (if ever) goes the way one imagines or plans.

John Lennon once said, “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.” A good friend of mine, who has Down’s Syndrome, once advised me, “Life is Life, Terra. Life is Life.”

Life is Life. At the time I thought, “Huh?” But a few years have past since then and I now think, maybe, I kinda get it. When you’re in a good place in your life, it appears the stars were alined to bring you to that point. By contrast, when things in your life are less than perfect, your mind aches from running scenarios…trying to find where you went wrong. Maybe the happiest people in this world know that both pain and pleasure are temporary, that everything is in flux.

Even when things appear to be stopped, we are moving still.

Maybe the happiest people know that Life is Life. And they breathe in the beautiful moments, knowing that sometimes even memories don’t last. And they exhale the ugly, painful stuff…knowing that, however lasting it feels right then, it is on its way out.

My husband showed me http://www.thewildernessdowntown.com/. It’s a music video that was filmed to include the town you grew up in. For nostalgic individuals like myself, this is a must watch!

What are the best books of all time?

The answer is definitely a matter of opinion, but according to this list I have read 6 out of 100 of the best books of all time. Though I have not yet read Slaughterhouse Five, by Kurt Vonnegut. I think I will make it my number 7.

Recently, I finished Galapagos by the same author. Without giving away too much, this story is about the de-evolution of humanity. How our brains shrink over the course of a million years, and we become sea creatures. Vonnegut is very direct about his view that “big brains” are the root of all problems within society. He lays it on pretty thick, so much so that I felt like someone punched me in the heart at the end.

Underneath the general theme that we are all so completely messed up is a deeper message about the unique value of humanity.

You wake up late. Get a speeding ticket on the way to work. Find a note on your desk reminding you of an overdue report. But a co-worker brings you a coffee with a sympathetic smile and suddenly it’s all okay.

What goes on in the small circle of each individual life appears to go on in the larger sphere that we all share. With each misfortune (and all to frequently occurring tragedies), what happens when the dust clears is surprisingly enough to make it all worthwhile once more. Vonnegut presents this point as well as other insights into human nature so elegantly…Galapagos is worth a listen while you jog or mow the lawn.