MY HEROES

Let me start by saying I love sports and I’m not too proud to claim

Despite the exorbitant salaries and the criminals I still love to watch the game.

We tend to think of our athletes as heroes, they are admired and embraced

But since we hardly know them...isn’t our hero worship a bit misplaced?

The other day a pitcher for my team--that would be the Rays from Tampa Bay

Was sick but went to the mound and pitched 6 innings anyway.

He was lauded as a hero in the paper just for going in

And giving our team the opportunity to come out with a win.

I think it was admirable and certainly his reputation I don’t want to smear

But wouldn’t it be easier to go to work sick if you made 9.8 million dollars every year?

9 million dollars to pitch once every 5 days...that’s a lot of fortune for his fame

9 million dollars to throw 100 pitches in perhaps 33 or 34 games.

And he’s not even one of the highest paid pitchers, but no doubt he has the riches

For he makes two-hundred and fifty-thousand dollars every time he pitches.

What makes a hero is not a strong arm, a good back swing or a great bat...

It seems to me a hero is quite a bit more than that.

What about the mom or dad who never makes the front page

As they try to provide for their families while making a minimum wage?

What about the everyday people of whom we often don’t speak

Working 8 to 10 hours every day, 40 or more hours every week?

What about the teachers, the doctors, the nurses, there are so many...take your pick

The first responders, the soldiers, the truck drivers who go to work when they’re sick.

Who after working two-thirds of their day would love to be of the belief

That they could call their manager, say their tired, and get some needed relief.

Who would love after coming home early...to have the added perk

Of resting for another 4 days before going back to work.

I do not begrudge this pitcher, certainly he has a talent that’s quite rare

But when it comes to picking the heroes in my life...I choose to look elsewhere.

LITTLE EYES

I remember watching a sunset with Ava and as we gazed out on the sea

She asked if I would pick her up so she could see as good as me.

“Why is that?” I asked lifting her up as we admired the changing sky.

“Because,” she said through childhood innocence, “I have little eyes.”

You have to love the way a child’s mind works, there’s no pretense no deception

There is a candor and a frankness in the innocence of their perception.

Like the little boy who’s mom is pregnant who looked like he’d be sick

When his mommy said, “Hey Adam do you want to feel the baby kick?

He learned a valuable lesson, this boy who’s only 5 

When he jumped up and responded, ‘You mean that thing’s alive!”

There’s the memory of two brothers one mother shall always keep

Of the night when one whispered to the other, “Tell me when you’re asleep.”

When told her shoes were on the wrong feet a little girl’s response was short and sweet

She said, “Don’t try and trick me mommy, I know these are my feet.”

There are many stories of how our children view things differently

As they try to make sense of a world through the little eyes they see.

But eventually we all grow up...and I have to wonder at what cost

For it seems to me as our eyes expand our innocence is lost.

With little eyes we travel through the world without a trouble or care

With bigger eyes we begin to see dangers lurking there...

So the next time we watch a sunset I’m going to squat down to Ava’s size

If she asks I’ll simply tell her...I want to see the world through little eyes.

HAPPY WINSTON CHURCHILL DAY

It seems there was a time in history when our Congress did agree...

Let’s return to April 9th back in 1963.

First let’s step back further...to the years 1939 to ‘45

When Winston Churchill’s during World War II helped democracy survive.

Now back to April 9, 1963, for Congress decided on that day

To make Sir Winston an honorary citizen of the good old USA.

(Churchill joins Mother Theresa and 5 others whom our Congress have all deemed

Worthy enough to be so regarded and held in such esteem.)

He is admired for his courage, his leadership and his wit

And it is to his English drollery I now this poem commit.

When a woman complained about how drunk Winston was, he smiled and said smugly. 

My dear, tomorrow I shall be sober...but you will still be ugly.

Once at a formal dinner this same woman somewhat indignantly

Said, Winston if you were my husband I would add poison to your tea.

“Nancy,” Winston countered, “I need no time on which to think it

If I were your husband,” he said raising the cup to his lips, “I definitely would drink it.”

But Winston was not only known for his witty retorts...his personality could galvanize 

Throughout his lifetime he was famous for being perceptive, insightful and wise.

When asked one day about courage Winston--never known to be passive or weak,

“Courage,” he said with confidence, “is what it takes to stand up and speak.”

Then with his next breath this honorary citizen whom our Congress thought to christen

Reminded us it also takes courage, as he said, “To sit down and listen.”

When I look at our Congress today it seems they heed only half of what Winston said 

As they seldom sit down and listen...preferring to stand up and speak instead.

Which makes me wonder as we celebrate Churchill’s wit...perhaps even he would admit

If Congress only listens to half of what he said...does that make them all half-wits?

LOOK TO THE STARS

If you look to the heavens this evening...if you can remember, or if you care

You will be treated to a celestial event that is relatively rare.

Once every couple of years because of the way their orbits intertwine

The Earth, the Sun and the planet Mars wondrously align.

It means that Mars and Earth will be in opposition and if you’re wondering why

It’s because they will be on opposite ends of a line as you look across the sky.

Astronomers take their defining seriously as they explore our outer space

Which makes me wonder, lately, about some stars in the human race?

Say Gwyneth Paltrow looked at the sky tonight...her definition would be more supple.

She wouldn’t see planets in opposition...just consciously uncoupled.

If I use her logic...when I look into the mirror there’s not a bald man standing there,

Just a man who for whatever reason is taller than his hair.

In the end we’re only kidding ourselves when these definitions we begin forcing

For I am still a bald man and Gwyneth is divorcing.

Perhaps that’s why we love to look to the heavens...for their sheer simplicity

Up there we are relatively sure of the wonders that we see.

Down here on Earth our definitions can be a little nebulous and obscure

And the way that we define ourselves...well...we can’t always be too sure

So this evening I’ll look with awe to the sky and rub my bald head joyfully

As I give thanks that Gwyneth Paltrow doesn’t practice astronomy.

DON'T HAVE THE TIME?

Time has become oppressive to us...with so many places to go and people to meet

Since I don’t want to take up to much yours I’ll make this short and sweet.

Remember to prioritize your time in all you say and do

And don’t forget those people in your life who are also important to you.

Because when I ask and you say you don’t have the time...what I hear and what I see

Is that I’m not that important and you don’t have time...for me.

CAPTURING THE FOG

I have heard it said that trying to relive our childhood, as through this life we clog,

Is impossible; a fools errand; it’s like capturing the fog.

At one time I agreed with this; I assumed once we became women and men

Those good old days were over never to return again.

But now I see things differently I think with each new sunset, each new dawn

The person we were yesterday has changed but is never gone.

That person joins all the others from our past in a giant reservoir 

Allowing us to continually synthesize into the people who we are.

In a way we are constantly adding to ourselves--each day we change the sum

As we evolve from every person who we were, and are, into who we will become.

Is it impossible to recapture our childhood? I think not; our memory captures it for us

And as we sleep, perchance to dream, it wondrously restores us.

And although we may not ever again be that particular child...this I know 

We awake each morning to embrace the wisps of that child from long ago.

Responsibilities and obligations may change life’s roller coaster ride

But we needn’t worry about that child...he has never left our side.

So we don’t have to relive our childhood we only need be aware

That if we look within your heart and soul...we’ll find him nestled there

It makes perfect sense to me after all as a species look what we have done

We’ve climbed mountains, put a man on the moon and harnessed the power of the sun.

We have touched the clouds, we fall in love, we make houses out of logs

Don’t tell me we can’t do something simple like capturing the fog.

Hey a quick look out my window and I see a new morning’s about to dawn

As luck would have it, it’s foggy...excuse me while I head out to the lawn.

GROWING OLD TOGETHER

I’m going to give you a simple fact that you may find convoluted

But I think I’m on solid ground when I say it cannot be refuted.

In spite of all the products to make us look younger...no matter what they say

Each and every one of us is getting older everyday.

We can lather on the anti-aging cream and stay out of inclement weather

But the truth is everyone of us is growing old...together.

We can follow steps for younger looking skin, we can take showers that are colder

But when we wake up in the morning we’re all one more day older.

I saw an article the other day on how to look 7 years younger in 7 weeks

And I started to peruse it as my curiosity was piqued.

If I followed their simple steps...even Dr. Oz agreed

I could look 7 years younger in 7 weeks...guaranteed.

But then I thought why stop at 7 years when I could have much more

After all 61 minus 7 is only 54.

If I repeated their system a second time wouldn’t I be in heaven

If after 14 weeks on their plan I now looked 47?

Next I realized.. if I persisted... if I somehow possessed the drive

In 63 weeks if I kept going I could look like I was 5.

Then it hit me...when I reached this point in 5 more weeks what would people say

Because if my math is correct by that time I should just fade away.

So I have decided for me at least since I’m getting older I will be more wise

I’ll try to eat the right things, get plenty of sleep and find time to exercise.

For me looking younger is not important.  I’ll try to ignore that myth

And be happy to have found a person whom I’ll grow old together with.