“It wasn’t raining,
when Noah built the Ark!”

In 1907, Robert Baden-Powell, an English soldier, penned the Scout motto: “Be Prepared”.  In Scouting for Boys, published  a year later, Baden-Powell wrote that to Be Prepared means “you are always in a state of readiness in mind and body to do your duty.”  Two years later, in 1910, the Boy Scouts of America was founded; their motto – Be Prepared!   Many years later, so the story goes, a young boy turned to Baden-Powel after hearing the scouting motto and asked, “Prepared for what?”   …

“I believe that at our best, America is a beacon for the globe.
We will lead not only by the example of our power,
but by the power of our example,” – J. Biden

Do you think Tom Brady will be at his best today?  How about Patrick Mahomes?  Does the Super Bowl come down to which team is at it best?  There are so many factors to consider, but I’m just going to consider one, what does it mean to be, “at our best?”

…

 

“Happiness is a state of mind, 

it is simply the way we see the world”

In late December, prior to his inauguration, then President-elect Joe Biden said, “One thing I promise you about my leadership during this crisis: I’m going to tell it to you straight. I’m going to tell you the truth. And here’s the simple truth: Our darkest days in the battle against Covid are ahead of us, not behind us.”  I wish I was his speech writer, because I would have said it differently, “Our greatest challenges in the battle against Covid are ahead of us, not behind us.” …

“Weeping may endure for the night,

but joy cometh in the morning”

I think it happened during President Biden’s Inauguration.  It was a combination of factors; a nation’s capital, which only two weeks earlier had been ransacked and ravaged by a mob, now gleaming brilliantly on a cold, sunlit Washington DC morning; an inauguration speech that honestly addressed the issues that threaten and divide us while also reminding us of our collective responsibility to repair our nation; and the words of 22 year-old poet laureate, Amanda Gorman, “We lift our gazes not to what stands between us, but what stands before us. …

“You can’t fix something,

by breaking something else!”

In the early morning hours of January 7, Congressman Andy Kim (NJ) was making his way back to the House Chamber when he found himself in the desecrated shambles of the Capitol Rotunda.  As he surveyed the landscape he saw garbage and debris, empty water bottles, cigarette butts that had been put out on statues, shattered glass, smashed furniture, and Trump banners littering the floor.  In the middle of it laid an American flag. …