Life is not fair...

BUMMER… the Royals can’t get a break.  Jeremy Affeldt, Royals pitcher and a friend, called and left a v-mail on my cell on his way to Kauffman Stadium to say hey, spread some love and to figure out a time to hang out.  I called him back because he was scheduled to pitch against the A’s tonight.  “Go after the batters dude… you are the man.”  As game time approached the rain set in.  I wanted to watch Jeremy throw but was convinced the game would not be played.  Vicki and I decided at the last minute to go to the matinee showing of United 93.  United 93 – you should see it, but I suggest going when you are not under any kind of stress because the movie is very stressful from start to finish.  The ending – even though everyone knows what happened – is shocking and emotionally overwhelming.  The only other movie that has caused me to sob as uncontrollably was Hotel Rwanda.  Vicki went to the restroom when the movie was over and I went to the car and pretty much cried like a baby.  I was struck not only by the tragic loss of life on September 11 but all the suffering, war and loss of lives around the world since then.  I just wanted to go home.  On the way home I turned on the radio literally to try to get control over my emotions and was shocked to hear that the Royals were actually playing.  The rain was coming down hard but they were already in the third inning – 5 to 0 Royals over the A’s.  Just then Jeremy struck out a batter and the announcer proclaimed “this is Affeldt’s fifth strikeout of the game.”  Jeremy had picked up where he left off in his last start – on fire.  Then I hear Reggie Sanders had hit a grand slam homerun in the first inning.  “YES, Jeremy has another win wrapped up… alright.” I enthusiastically proclaimed to Vicki.  OK, my depression from the movie was quickly lifted, kind of embarrassing, I know.  I couldn’t even believe they were playing.  We were only seven miles from the stadium and it was raining hard.  Well, the rain didn’t stop and a rain delay was called, we waited and waited and finally the game was called.  Nothing counted, not the strikeouts, the grand slam or the 5 to 1 score.  Stink!  Life is not fair.  Life isn’t fair, not only in the small things like a rain out for a team that can’t seem to get a break but also in the really major things in life and death like United 93. 

Comments

[Daniel]

I'm glad to hear that the movie was good. I was concerned about the timing of it, but have heard some great things about it.

[Daniel]

Dad, this is the what I was reading to you. This guy is awesome.

You need to sign up for Roy H. Williams, "Monday Morning Memo?" To sign up, go to www.wizardacademy.com. Here is an excerpt from last weeks:

Sleep Is The New Sex

"Men think about it every seven seconds or so. Women romanticize it. Teenagers yearn for the weekends, when they might get a little of it... Sleep is the new sex." – Susan A. Nielsen, journalist for The Oregonian

The National Sleep Foundation has confirmed what you've long suspected: Americans aren't getting enough sleep.

The culprits are:

Email: It just won't let us unplug from the grid. We stay up late, tapping out messages lest someone be offended by our lack of response.

Caffeine: Our shortage of sleep has deepened in lockstep with the rising popularity of gourmet coffee. Coffee goes up. Sleep goes down. Surprised?

Alcohol: A little wine may help put us to sleep, but it also keeps us from sle..."

again, www.wizardacademy.com

[Daniel]

Here is a great quote:

Trendy marketing cookbooks teach us how to mix the dry powder of jingoistic buzzwords with the water of passing fads. But I have no tongue for mental Jell-O and I've long doubted its nutrition."
-Roy H. Williams

[Daniel]

Another memo -

--

Hunger of the Candle for the Flame:

You are a column of wax.

Your purpose began as a spark, a flicker easily ignored. But you didn't ignore it. You turned to face it and your head caught fire.

Grace Hansen admonishes, "Don't be afraid your life will end; be afraid it will never begin." In other words, be afraid you will never catch fire.

Lethargy. Apathy. Malaise. Aimlessness. Depression: Five different words for the absence of a flame.

What is it that burns in your soul and shines through your eyes?

Did you know that humans would rather be angry than bored? Anger is an ugly flame, but it feels better than no flame at all. This is why people who have no creative vision spend so much time being angry. Anger gives them purpose.

Try not to walk in their shadow.

Jorge Luis Borges, consumed by the tiger of time, is gone. But when he walked among us he looked directly into the lens of life's camera and said, "Time is the substance of which I am made. Time is a river that sweeps me along, but I am the river; it is a tiger that tears me apart, but I am the tiger; it is a fire that consumes me, but I am the fire. The world, unfortunately, is real; I, unfortunately, am Borges."

Time is the fire, the animator of us all. You step into it at birth. You step out of it at death and grow cold, a column of wax once more. Your candle is spent.

What did it light?

You've heard me say it many times... I repeat it again today, not because I can think of nothing else to say, but because it's vitally important to your happiness:

"Lives, like money, are spent. What are you buying with yours?"

Roy H. Williams

[Mike]

Great stuff Daniel, thanks. Really great stuff.