I don't where these originated, I heard them from Deepak Chopra.   We could change the world with these questions. Especially Facebook.   1. Is it true? 2. Is it kind?

  I have little occasion to find myself inside a bank anymore.     As a child growing up, I have distinct recollection of my first Citibank passbook. I couldn’t wait to physically go to the bank, make a deposit, and see how the amount would change.  

As I watched the coverage of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, I noticed that I was extremely uncomfortable watching the news reporters give live feeds from outside during the storms. I watched, with a bit of disbelief, a news reporter from CNN reporting from the middle of the flooded streets of Miami advising everyone that there was a mandatory curfew in effect as the streets of Miami were an extremely dangerous place to be. The juxtaposition between where she was standing and what she was saying was not lost on me.

This morning into afternoon members of the Bearak, Stone and Stark clans gather to celebrate a special milestone: Mom’s 80th.  If not for my involvement a primary election involving my good friend and client, the party (and this blog) would have occurred the weekend before.

How often do you lie to your friends or loved ones? I'll bet it's more than you are willing to admit. No one wants to be the bearer of bad news, but the fact is that in this life, you often have to be cruel to be kind. Protecting other people's feelings, most times, doesn't do anything but make situations worse.   I've had close friends lie to me and I can always tell when they do. Maybe it's coming from a good place but it just angers me and feels like they are hiding something.  

You may know that we have had a house in Paradise (Key West) for 20 years and some have even rented it.  It is a small house on a nice street with many neighborly people.  Cayce dubbed it the Klein Cottage and may have been our last visitor.  I am writing this last Sunday morning as Irma is making land fall in Paradise as a Category 4 hurricane with 120 MPH winds and an anticipated accompanying sea surge.  I fear the worst and will know the verdict when you read this. 

As I tore myself away from CNN to write this blog, a zipper across the screen reported that power would be restored in eastern Florida by this weekend and in western Florida by September 22nd. I reflected. That's about the length of time that it took to restore electricity to our home after Sandy. Empathy. "The capacity to understand or feel what another person is experiencing from within the other person's frame of reference, i.e., the capacity to place oneself in another's position." Being empathic is easier when we have lived through similar circumstances.

I knew if I wrote a blog about HRC, that it would be potentally polarizing. She brings up a lot of strong feelings in people. My reason for writing the blog becomes, then, more appropriate. I want to write about not caring what people think of me.