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A New Week

Now that mid-term week has passed, I can again focus on returning to every day postings.

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At Mass on Sunday, the first reading caused me to think quite philosophically about our role in life. In a round-about way, the notion was simply that our life is about trying to do good for people, about working hard to make our community and world a better place. We all have faults, but we can, if we strive to, have a positive impact during our time here on Earth.

In many ways, the above philosophical construct has shaped my own vision of life. It is important for me to try to have a positive effect on those around me, on my family, on my students, on my community. Unfortunately, almost every day I feel I come short in terms of the amount of impact I should have. I rarely feel I have utilized my day as effectively as I could have.

However, I must state that the strategy of "I can only change myself and my own thoughts and reactions" is still being adhered to and has been an enormously helpful policy to me. There was one minor episode where I did not follow this advice and became quite angry and frustrated at first... this was last Wednesday. However, the difficulty was short lived... for after only a very brief time (a few minutes), I was able to recognize and convert my anger into changing myself and then the hurt and disgruntled feelings dissapated. I was very happy that I was able to turn around this situation that could easily have accelerated into something far more difficult.

I am hoping to have a happy, hopeful, productive, and helpful week for myself and those around me.

PipeTobacco