WISHES

drawn tight
under secret wishes of
the monday morning club
are rules for the dead and dying

one

that all birds disappear
in 5/8 time as
coffee pours from a thermos

two

that our fingerprints smear
exactly as our friends have warned

three

that when bells strike
towers remain smiling.

E-Mail Reply

The following copy/paste is my reply to an e-mail I received from a friend tonight. It was one of those "Jesus Loves You" chain letters that actually claims to deliver " a miracle in your life soon" if it gets forwarded to 10 people. She is still my friend and always will be, but..... (sigh)

Xxxxxxxx -

I read the message all the way through, but did not pass it on. Not because I was offended or refuse to believe in anything, but because I don't know what to believe in when it comes to the question of God. Maybe there is one and maybe there isn't, but every religion I have experienced, studied, or read about has failed for me personally. The way I describe myself is "agnostic buddhist", which means that most of the tenets of buddhism make sense to me, except for the stories of him walking and talking right after being born, or other supernatural events attributed to his life. Buddha himself may even be a fictitious character created by someone who thought the message would be accepted more widely if people thought there was a "divine being" involved. Doesn't matter to me. ( But I'm getting sidetracked here... )

I was born a Roman Catholic, but have never accepted their version of things because they have never answered the basic question I have had from childhood : If the Roman Catholic Church is the One True Church, why does any other church or religion even exist ? Is it some kind of test God is conducting upon us ? Or what ? Someone might say it is enough JUST TO BELIEVE. To not worry over these things and to just trust God. Well, that's a heck of thing to do in a church whose preists have been molesting children for all these years. It's crazy. And what about the Holocaust ? Was the Christian God punishing the Jews ?

Sorry to get so heavy here. I'm not trying to start an argument or be a smart aleck. I just wanted to give an honest reply to your e-mail. Whoever started this chain put a lot of heart and honest feeling into it and I don't want to make fun of them. Everyone needs to find transcendence in the human experience and I am no exception. Life is an extraordinary journey and who knows what it all ultimately means.

Love,
Dave

Las Vegas, What Are These Odds ?

Evening rush hour on a Monday and I need a few grocery items. The parking lot is impossible so I grab a metered spot across the street, which means a quarter will have to be found and sacrificed to Mayor Daley's latest best friends.

In my car, the twin cup-holders serve as mathematical constants. On the left, we have the bottle of water. It could be tap, mineral, or "fresh mountain", but it is impossible to reduce in value or eliminate from the automotive equation. On the right is the 1 or 2 inch-deep stash of loose coins. Their value may increase or decrease but their presence is a given.

Having parked my car, I picked up the bottle, took a swig, and replaced it to the cup-holder. Then I grabbed a quarter, plus a few other coins to use towards my purchase. Everything seemed to be in order with no variables interrupting my errand.
Another Monday. Another grocery stop. Another sleepwalk through city life at it's most mundane.

When I arrived home, the cat greeted me and demanded his usual attention and food. A pleasure. He is 16 and honestly, his time left is best represented by "X". I opened a fresh can, transferred it to a plate, and served it with a side of organic milk.
After putting away the groceries, I grabbed the water bottle and headed for the computer. And that is when the elegant equation of my evening broke down.

There, in the bottom of the bottle, sunk beneath 3 1/2 inches of water claiming to be "natural !", "alpine !", and "spring !" was a penny. A humble disc of copper that has been a prime factor in most every cash transaction ever calculated. It had fallen perfectly and silently into the approximately 1 inch-wide mouth of the bottle itself.

What are the odds ? I'm no odds-maker, but I can isolate a couple factors for the boys in Vegas.

The path my hand traveled from cup-holder to pocket.

The individual size and overall quantity of the coins themselves.

The carelessness with which I handled the coins.

That last one is a real kicker, too. Because I make my living at counting, recording, and depositing EXACT cash amounts for my company. I have done this for more than a decade and I'm good at it. Accuracy counts. Pennies are as unforgiving as hundred-dollar bills in that department and you're either on or off. No errors allowed.

So I ask you, Mr. Vegas Oddsmaker, shrewd assesor of risk and careful judge of life's variables : What are the odds that something like that could happen ? And whatever odds you give, can I double-down ?