The New York Times reports that Tommy Lewis has died in Huntsville Alabama. He was 83 years old. Who was he that the NY Times would carry his obituary? He was infamous for one sudden, spontaneous decision he made when he was playing football for Alabama many years ago. Thomas Lewis was a senior and the captain of the University of Alabama's South Eastern conference championship team at the time of the the 1954 Cotton Bowl Classic. The Alabama Crimson…
Unless we get rid of our TV's and radios plus stopping reading newspapers we will continue to be subjected to an infinite number of things to worry about. The most recent is Ebola, but we have terrorist attacks, unpaid bills, political incompetence and multiple other things both personal, national and international to occupy our worrying. So, here are some thoughts about the subject. Let's start with Scripture. Matthew Chapt 6 says: "I tell you, therefore, do not worry about your life, about…
Friday, October 3rd and Saturday, October 4, 2014, are Yom Kippur. The name means "day of atonement." It is a day set aside to atone for the sins of the past year. On Yom Kippur, the judgment entered in the "books" is sealed and it is a chance to change the judgment by demonstrating repentance and resolve to make amends. It is a complete Sabbath for prayer and fasting. Most of the holiday is intended to be spent in prayer…
Two years ago Tara Parker–Pope wrote an article in the New York Times "Over-treatment is Taking a Harmful Toll. " In it she describes the research which reveals what she calls "an epidemic of over-treatment – too many scans, too many blood tests, too many procedures" which costs the nation's healthcare system some $210 billion a year according to the Institute of Medicine. It also takes a human toll in pain, emotional suffering, severe complications and death. I am reading…
We just returned from a short salmon fishing trip to Sonora Island in British Columbia. We were at the Sonora Resort which is about 230 miles by air from Seattle. On Tuesday we flew on Kenmore at Lake Union in a float plane for less than three hours and landed on a bright, beautiful day at the resort. Sonora Island is within the Discovery Islands at the mouth of Bute Inlet, which is one of the deepest Inlets in North…
Here are a collection of inspirational thoughts from a file i kept on motivation which I repeat here without any particular order. Maybe something here will touch your spirit. I hope so. "I shall not pass this way but once; any good therefore, that I can do or any kindness that I can show to any human being, let me do it now. Let me not defer nor neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again." (Unknown) Winston…
My two sisters and I were born in the town of Anacortes, Washington. My father and his parents had emigrated from Italy through Canada to Anacortes. My mother's family immigrated from what is now Croatia and the small island of Brac to Anacortes. Mother and dad met in Anacortes and married. In 1989 the local paper, the Anacortes American, printed an article by my dad, Paul luvera Senior, about the early days of Anacortes. In it he said that his…
Each time I allow myself to go on a rant it inevitably offends someone. But, it's time for me to do it again. I will leave out my views about those who maintain huge dams, nuclear plants and huge, ugly wind towers are a good idea for power sources. Here are a couple of things that trouble me. Yes, I know, there are a lot of people who probably don't agree, but this is America and we all are entitled…
Last weekend my Gonzaga Law School class reunion took place in Spokane on Friday and Saturday. I was there on Friday and pleased to see class mates Gene Annis, Joe Gagliardi, Phil Raekes and Pat Sullivan there. Fred Frohmader, Dennis smith, Bob Kovacevich and Richard Guy, the other surviving members of the class were not there on Friday when I attended. Lita and I had to return on Saturday so I missed seeing anyone else that weekend. What's significant is…
I've been thinking about Robin Williams and the demons he had to have to drive him to end his life as he did. I suspect we all have some thoughts that wake us up in the middle of the night. The worries about what might be or the regrets of the past, but depression so grave as to result in a tragedy like this is beyond sad. Robin Williams talked about worry In the movie Jack where his character said: "“Please, don’t…
