No One Asked Me But… (February 22, 2023)

By DR. LARRY MOSES

No one asked me but… I am PERS worst enemy for I retired nearly thirty years ago. I love retirement. I got a call from a friend the other day and he asked what I was doing. I said nothing. He said that is what you said you were doing when I called yesterday. I told him I wasn‘t done yet.
When you retire you have a lot of time to think and some crazy thoughts come to mind.

Here are a few examples: What do you do when you see an endangered animal eating an endangered plant? Would a fly without wings be a walk? Why do they lock gas station restrooms? Are they afraid someone will clean them?

The other day I was thinking about my grandchildren. I remember when one of the granddaughters asked how old are you Grandpa I told her I was 82 years old and she asked: ‘Did you start at one?’
I remember one afternoon telling my grandson about all the things I used to do when I was a kid. In the summer, we played ball from sun up to sun down. We built clubhouses with no girls allowed. We played war in the woods behind our house using walnuts for ammunition. We explored the tunnel that ran under Urbandale Avenue using wax milk cartons for torches. We jumped our bicycles over ramps through rings of fire.

When I finished, he said, “You know, Grandpa, I wish I had met you sooner.”
The other day I was thinking about how attitude affects our success in life. It brought to mind the story of a young boy playing in the back yard. He shouted out “I am the greatest hitter in the world!” and threw the ball up, swung and missed.

He picked up the ball again and said “I am the greatest hitter in the world!” He threw the ball up and swung the bat and missed.

He picked up the ball and said “I am the greatest hitter in the world.” He swung and missed for strike three.

Then the boy said, “I must be the greatest pitcher alive because I just struck out the greatest hitter in the world.”
That is a positive attitude.

Thomas Edison stated that each experiment that did not result in a working light bulb was a success in finding out what did not work.

The doctor who developed the model for DNA took eight years setting up his first experiment.
When it failed, an assistant asked,“What do we do now?”
The doctor replied, “I don‘t know about you, but tomorrow morning I will begin again.”
That is a positive attitude.

You may have to contend with prejudice due to the color of your skin, your gender, your religious belief. You can dwell on the unfairness of it and become a victim. Or you can work hard and become a victor by making yourself so valuable that those issues won‘t matter.
That‘s a positive attitude.

I believe you have a right to get angry but you never have the right to be mean. Mean people are like slinkies. They serve no useful purpose but it is fun to watch them fall down the stairs. In fact, one of the problems today is that we do not get angry enough. We should become angry over the moral degeneration of our nation. We should become angry over injustice anywhere in the land. We should become angry as our elected officials continue to ignore the Constitution and we continue to lose our rights as American citizens.

With everything else I have written here today, I believe the most important decision you will make is who you choose to walk through your life with. I was fortunate that when I was 17, I met my best friend and we have transversed this world hand in hand these 66 years.

Someone asked how well I knew her. I said, “Are you kidding me? We have been hanging out together since 1957; she, for all intents and purposes raised me.”
They said, “If you know her so well what is her favorite flower?”
I said, “That is easy. It‘s Pillsbury”.

Some other things I have learned over the last 83 years are:

No job pays enough to make it worthwhile to compromise your principles.

No matter what you are looking for, you will not find it until your ask you wife where it is.

When you get directions to a specific place and someone tells you can‘t miss it, you will.

No one on their death bed ever said, “Darn, I wish I had worked more week-ends.”

Never refuse to shake hands with a working man because his hands are dirty. He may be the only one to whom a handshake means anything.

Only God is more important than family.

The smartest people I know are not the best educated people I know. But I still believe the more education you have, the better off you are.

If you have to argue with a woman, choose one you don‘t like, because you will not win and she will never forget nor forgive.

Most people who champion a cause that requires a sacrifice seldom make the sacrifice themselves.

Two heads are not better than one if both heads are sitting on fools.

Doctors bury their mistakes, lawyers send their mistakes to prison, and unfortunately a teacher‘s mistakes end up in the legislature running the country.

Your attitude toward the events of life will, more than anything else, determine how you survive those events.

The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude to me is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than success, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, gift, or skill.

Here is a thought. If you love something, set if free. If it comes back, it will always be yours. If it doesn‘t come back, it was not yours to begin with. However Ladies, if it sits in your living room, messes up your stuff, eats your food, uses your telephone, takes your money, and doesn‘t appear to realize that you have set it free —you are either married to it or gave birth to it.

Thought of the week…Yesterday is History, Tomorrow is a Mystery and Today is a gift: that’s why we call it The Present.