Pandora's Other Box

Yesterday’s topic was a little out of the way, even for me. On the other hand, this is what being a “free mind” is about. No topic is forbidden and there is no editor to bug this writer… How ’bout that for freedom of choice? As a friend said to me last night on the phone… “That’s a deep topic, honey…” Yes, indeed! There are many ramifications to the concept of “renaissance” and what its connotation(s) is(are) … Warning:  What follows may … or not … be related.  Don't say I did not warn you ... We have become awfully busy within our worlds, often forgetting there are myriads of parallel and congruent worlds out there; worlds with which we constantly interact. No, nothing “paranormal” or mystical, much simpler than this. Each one of the people with whom we come into contact, is a world unto him/herself. We wander in and out of those worlds (as they do ours), more often than not without even realizing that particular biosphere is actually inhabited by another human bein...

The Renaissance Epoch, as a period of “rebirth”, has been acknowledged for a few centuries … This conceptual term comes from an era when art, creativity, imagination and the overall being of the human state and mind were a primary issue. It was a time when life was renewed; it was exciting … and learning of new issues was a priority.  The term “Renaissance Man” or Woman, for that matter, has a number of connotations, all having to do with creativity, intellect and accomplishments at different levels and in different fields. We think of Leonardo Da Vinci and his paintings come to mind. Yet to me, it was his incredible creative genius, his ability to push his mind into the realm of the “What If?” and come up with detailed renditions of gizmos which would not be feasible or possible for centuries yet. Among Da Vinci’s concepts: the helicopter; the battle tank, the double hull for ships, the possibility of harnessing solar power, anatomic discoveries, a rudimentary calculator… ...

Truly, there is no rhyme or reason or previous intention for this entry. It has come to the front because a friend asked me earlier if I had heard from another common friend in Venezuela … … The answer is no; I have not. Unfortunately, there has been no news from this person in over 10 years. However, the uptake of this mini conversation is that it brought me around to thinking ( nothing new here, right?) about Venezuela and a difficult morning spent there on February 4th, 1992 mainly because it indirectly involved the person about whom I was being asked. Hotel Row in La Guaira... Would you come to the seminar?   Starting in 1981, my trips to Venezuela became a steady staple of my business life. Giving seminars to different groups of managers and corporate types, my name became fairly well known within the life insurance world in this country. Especially since most of our seminars were held at the Macuto Sheraton in the area of La Guaira, by the beach ( This area ...

Yes, it has become the day which starts the Christmas gift buying frenzy in our society and marks the possible financial survival of several shops and chains… … but it has become much more than this. It is now a microcosm of what our society is and what it has become. And further unbecoming.  The sight of thousands of people waiting in line and, in too many instances, hitting each other, pushing and punching their way into a store as the doors are opened for this event, is a sight to be forgotten. Makes a solid case for being the script of a horror movie … “The Crazy, Maddened Multitude Roars” … “Watch as thousands compete for a few offerings of our marketing gurus; Blood!! … Sweat!! … (No, I will not say tears; that was too good a band to malign here!) Only the hardiest survive, taking home the golden fleece … The Throngs get ready ... set...   It seems that material offerings have become the end all at the foot of the modern “I Want It” religion’s altar. ...

We are called to say thanks for our bounty on this special day but… Should we not wake up every day and be thankful for all we have, whether a lot or a little? ( in our minds our lot is usually not enough, anyway). At a very early age, I remember that my grandfather used to tell me a little story which we all know in one version or another… “There was this man who always complained because his shoes were a little old and tight and he had no money to buy new shoes … then one day he saw a man who had no legs, and understood that small issues were just that: insignificant”. We tend to make a regular pastime of complaining. Sort of a national game; about the weather, the time, the clothes, the car being older, the cost of living, la tia (auntie) Cachita who came and didn’t leave…. You name it, we complain. Turn it around … make a daily game of saying thanks for what you do have. Take stock of your life and the bounty will be far more than you think. Start by the fact that...

This time of the year, just before what is known as the “High” Holiday season begins, we all go through a cleansing process. In doing so, we mentally empty the negative contents of the inner vessel and ready it up for the upcoming year… to be filled again. It has been said that guilt is the mightiest weapon the Catholic Church has at its disposal; to those born into Catholic families, it is generationally taught from the cradle and it perpetuates itself throughout their lives. This becomes especially so amongst the poorer folks in the developing societies who look to the church as a saving body, for they have not much more to hang their hats on in this lifetime. The biggest fear instilled is that if the tenets are not followed very closely, their selves will be considered outside the church and, therefore, unable to reunite with the spirit of The Father upon their death(s). I am a believer; have been so by choice for many years now. Yes, my early training was within the Cath...

It has been said by the folks who actually study these things, that early memories are a part of our lives, often hidden in the background, like a lurking feline waiting for the right moment to pounce on the unsuspecting victim … any one of us. The reality, at least for me, is that some of these early memories made enough of an imprint to have stayed with me throughout my life. In fact, some of them (from about age 5 on ) have made it to these posts as narratives.  I suppose there is a message to be analyzed in there, somewhere between the lines. Sometimes I wonder, when wandering into these bits of the past, as to whether some of these memories so vividly remembered are machinations of a fast working mind, or real. They are a gift... to be cared for...   As the old question goes … If a tree falls in a forest and no one hears it… Is there sound? So, if these are remembered as memories … are they not so? When we go back as far as we can in our life and try to brin...

We live in a society where complaints are common. Often because there is something we want and we cannot get it right then and there… Then something happens which brings focus on what we do have and how lucky we are, in general terms, to have it. Yesterday an email came to me. It was from my aunt, who lives in Florida and had the title … “Life in Cuba ”. I thought for sure this was another one of those chain letters common within the Cuban community, depicting how much better life was before the current government came to power (which it was, by the way). But, on opening the mail (it was from my aunt, after all…) the content jumped at me. It turned out to be a forwarded letter, written anonymously, from a 26 year old living in Cuba . A member of the newer generation which, thanks be to Our Lord, has begun to question the long standing status quo in the island. Censorship is a common issue in Cuba, where true internet access is denied the average person but, some of th...