got lots of notes that i need to compile into a new blognote but can't force it and the overall flow of life and now work and the summer and WORK are kinda getting in the way of my free-flowing mindexpanding thought process---did i say WORK was getting in the way!!!!!
it's also contributing, so we'll see what transpires---
I owe the blog the songlist compiled from the camino, so here it is--
THE LIST OF SONGS MENTIONED AND REFLECTED UPON DURING THE WALK AND THE BLOGNOTES OF THE CAMINO WALK , OCT-NOV 2007.
in chronological order as best i can---if you desire or need the playlist/copy just ask
song title, artist performed by
1)I'm Ready , Tracy Chapman
2)Reflections of My Life, The Marmalade
3)Long Way Home, Springsteen
4)Over the Moon, Rent soundtrack
5)I'm Gonna be (500 Miles), The Proclaimers
6) To The Morning, Dan Fogelberg
7)Walk On, U2
8)These Are Days, 10,000 Maniacs
9)Gonna Change My Way of Thinking, Dylan
10)Into the Mystic, Van Morrison
11)Get Up- Stand Up, Amnesty Int'l Live Version w Chapman, Springsteen, Peter Gabriel, N'Dour
12)Get Up-Stand Up, Bob Marley
13)Waiting In Vain, Bob Marley
14)Oh Happy Day,St Francis Choir from Sister Act (of course!!!!)
15)Oh Happy Day, Bebe Winans featuring Debbie Winans
16)At This Point in My Life, Tracy Chapman
17)Thunder On the Mountain, Dylan
18)Walk Like a Man, Springsteen
19)Sunshine on My Shoulders, John Denver
20)Carry You to Jesus, Steven Curtis Chapman
21)Heaven, Bar Scott
22)Prove It All Night, Springsteen Live 9/19/78 Capitol Theatre bootleg
23)Spirit in the Night, Springsteen Live 9/19/78 Capitol Theatre bootleg
24)Darkness on the Edge of Town, Springsteen
25)I Shall Be Released, Dylan
26)Always & Forever, Heatwave
27)One of Us, Joan Osborne
28)Sweet Jesus, Gary Chapman
29)Children of the World, Amy Grant
30)War, Edwin Starr w Bruce Springsteen 5/16/99 Birmingham England Springsteen Bootleg
31)War, Edwin Starr
32)Tighten Up, Archie Bell & the Drells
33)Ain't No Stoppin Us Now, McFadden & Whitehead
34)Sad Eyes, Springsteen
35)Spirit Lives On, Building 429
36)You've Got a Friend, James Taylor
37)Prelude and the Sound of Music, Maria and the original soundtrack
38)That Extra Mile, the Winan's w R Kelly
39)All Over Me, The Benjamin Gate
40)Seconds to Fall, Fury in the Slaughterhouse
41)On My Way to You, MercyMe
42)Who'll Stop the Rain, Creedance Clearwater Revival
43)Time to Wonder, Fury in the Slaughterhouse
44)Heaven's Here on Earth, Tracy Chapman
45)We Fall Down, Donnie McCurkin
46)The Impossible Dream, Luther Vandross
47)Something More, Sugarland
GOD, lot's of songs, huh!!!!
48)I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, U2
49)Raise Your Hands, Springsteen Capitol Theatre bootleg
50)Santa Claus is Coming to Town, Springsteen, Midnight Hour bootleg
51)Walkin Man, James Taylor
okay, so i think in a nutshell somehow each of these songs was referred to and specifically mentioned in the blog trip on my camino, in the order listed (hopefully). Most of them were on my IPOD, but several of them were heard on the trip in places by "coincidence", of course, but then they turned into something so much more in the footsteps that followed my hearing them.
Peace
tt
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Saturday, July 12, 2008
FOR A "REAL" CHANGE!!!!!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Prescriptions for REAL CHANGE, acknowledging that "you CAN'T do THAT"!!!!!!!!!!--
THREE THINGS THAT ARE VERY UNLIKELY BECAUSE YOU CAN'T DO THAT!!!!
BUT I THINK WE'D ALL BE BETTER OFF IF WE DID---
HERE GOES!!!
#1 you can't do that!!!!
National-- now that there are two very legitimate and non-legacy (non-baggage) candidates for President of this great country, one might ask is there really any hope for us to truly address OUR significant problems such as affordable health care, solvent social security, a rational and simplified tax policy, and incentivize our youth by imparting them with being part of our country's future by giving back through my "Youth of the Nation Volunteer Year” (one year of service after high school required service). How might we actually make that progress that has been so elusive? I think we need a new prescription, so that we STOP thinking in terms of Democratic or Republican agenda's and start talking about America's Agenda--
I vote for John McCain for President and Barack Obama (remember, he's the one with 4 years of public office experience and has youth on his side) for Vice-President!!! With the agreement that we do NOT hold a national election in 4 years and Obama becomes president (and he has a FEMALE VP!!!) and we save a bunch of election money and TV ad's with politicians attacking each other on insignificant things and belittling each other on the significant ones.
I vote for CHANGE, and this lineup guarantees it for the next eight years. This plan is economically prudent and politically progressive. If this doesn't happen then I guess I'll have to pick among these two candidates and their selected VP mates. I prefer my suggested choice above.
#2) you CAN’T do that!!!!
STATE--
Is there any state in our Union that can hold a candle to NJ’s barrage of insidious corruption that never fails to show its face, even in seemingly honest politicians who just can't say no because they know how many others of their brethren are fat and happy on the take. NJ, despite the new Hall of Fame, still has its dual legacies of political corruption and political inertia!!!!
Two Prescriptions--
1) Part-time state employees getting a cushy job and fat pension at the end of their careers happens so often that honest, hard-working politicians are afraid to break the system knowing that a few years out THEY will be the direct beneficiary of this ridiculous and costly policy. REMOVE PART-TIME employees from state pension benefits NOW.
That is a start on our road back to solvency.
2) New Jersey should take advantage of a unique opportunity. NJ should recognize the Republic of Cuba as a partner and negotiate an exclusive diplomatic pathway that gives NJ the rights to Cuba transport landings. All flights from NJ to Cuba come w a $25 surcharge (each way) paid to the state.
Cuba was a hostile nation with strategic implications.......... In 1962!!!!!!!!!! I heard a recent speech where in one sentence the countries Iran, North Korea, Iraq, and CUBA were uttered with references of terrorist threats. NJ could both move our national dialogue forward and open up a wonderful people and culture of food and music (not to mention cigars) to a needy populace that would only benefit from the open door that NJ should extend. And we should negotiate with Cuba to have an "exclusive landing rights only from NJ policy " for 5 years so it actually does help our state get solvent (and we of course could resell those rights to Florida so those folks could save on the jet fuel.)
#3) you CAN’T do that!!!
LOCAL
Finally, locally, right here in Rumson.
Let's recognize that we are an "auto" culture, not a walking or biking culture. Let's also recognize it is both a strength (fast) and a weakness (no health benefits, environmentally unfriendly, and much more dangerous). I propose that, to facilitate our own health, our own joy, our sense of purpose and actually put our citizens welfare first, that we remove expediency and speed from our mind and spend some money to have a walk/bike path through our town just like we have three roads through our town (Rumson, Ridge, and River Rd.). My son has a job in Sea Bright, and his mom doesn't feel it’s safe that he ride his bike alongside the SUV populace of our area (myself included).
And yet, there is no alternative that is safe and secure. In all our development, we have put our citizens at risk. But Tom, we all get around using cars so your idea is ridiculous. Really??? Maybe we shouldn't, especially during the summer, get around in cars.
Perhaps with $4.00 or $5.00 gas, with our population generally overweight and out of shape, and the global warming crisis continuing to evolve, just perhaps, we should have at least ONE truly safe alternative in this great town of ours so both children and adults can have a safe way to get to the beach, or simply go for a walk through the whole town. Specifically, it seems only natural that we do this with Ridge Road (perhaps we turn it into a one way street with the other side being for pedestrian/bike traffic, recognizing that no residents on that street will want a Long Branch type appropriation of their property.
Save money, help the environment, get healthy, and enjoy the tranquility of getting somewhere without a car!!!!.
You can't do that????? Or can you!!!!!
I recently heard Wendy Kopp, the Founder of Teach for America, speak at a college commencement ceremony. Wendy was named one of the top 100 most influential people in the world according Time Magazine 2008. In 1989, to the dismay of her Princeton professors and fundraising experts, she started Teach for America to address and CHANGE the failing public school syndrome in lower socio-economic urban areas in America. Unanimously, her advisors told her that she “couldn’t do that”. Fortunately for America and the students her organization has touched, she didn’t believe it. She thought she could. And she did. 5000 college graduates now work for TfA throughout the USA.
I think we can too. As outlandish and unique as my suggestions are, we can choose to CHANGE. I’ll take the bike path, or the recognition of Cuba as a non-hostile republic, but if you really ask what I’d like, I’d like ‘em all.
For a CHANGE.
tt
Prescriptions for REAL CHANGE, acknowledging that "you CAN'T do THAT"!!!!!!!!!!--
THREE THINGS THAT ARE VERY UNLIKELY BECAUSE YOU CAN'T DO THAT!!!!
BUT I THINK WE'D ALL BE BETTER OFF IF WE DID---
HERE GOES!!!
#1 you can't do that!!!!
National-- now that there are two very legitimate and non-legacy (non-baggage) candidates for President of this great country, one might ask is there really any hope for us to truly address OUR significant problems such as affordable health care, solvent social security, a rational and simplified tax policy, and incentivize our youth by imparting them with being part of our country's future by giving back through my "Youth of the Nation Volunteer Year” (one year of service after high school required service). How might we actually make that progress that has been so elusive? I think we need a new prescription, so that we STOP thinking in terms of Democratic or Republican agenda's and start talking about America's Agenda--
I vote for John McCain for President and Barack Obama (remember, he's the one with 4 years of public office experience and has youth on his side) for Vice-President!!! With the agreement that we do NOT hold a national election in 4 years and Obama becomes president (and he has a FEMALE VP!!!) and we save a bunch of election money and TV ad's with politicians attacking each other on insignificant things and belittling each other on the significant ones.
I vote for CHANGE, and this lineup guarantees it for the next eight years. This plan is economically prudent and politically progressive. If this doesn't happen then I guess I'll have to pick among these two candidates and their selected VP mates. I prefer my suggested choice above.
#2) you CAN’T do that!!!!
STATE--
Is there any state in our Union that can hold a candle to NJ’s barrage of insidious corruption that never fails to show its face, even in seemingly honest politicians who just can't say no because they know how many others of their brethren are fat and happy on the take. NJ, despite the new Hall of Fame, still has its dual legacies of political corruption and political inertia!!!!
Two Prescriptions--
1) Part-time state employees getting a cushy job and fat pension at the end of their careers happens so often that honest, hard-working politicians are afraid to break the system knowing that a few years out THEY will be the direct beneficiary of this ridiculous and costly policy. REMOVE PART-TIME employees from state pension benefits NOW.
That is a start on our road back to solvency.
2) New Jersey should take advantage of a unique opportunity. NJ should recognize the Republic of Cuba as a partner and negotiate an exclusive diplomatic pathway that gives NJ the rights to Cuba transport landings. All flights from NJ to Cuba come w a $25 surcharge (each way) paid to the state.
Cuba was a hostile nation with strategic implications.......... In 1962!!!!!!!!!! I heard a recent speech where in one sentence the countries Iran, North Korea, Iraq, and CUBA were uttered with references of terrorist threats. NJ could both move our national dialogue forward and open up a wonderful people and culture of food and music (not to mention cigars) to a needy populace that would only benefit from the open door that NJ should extend. And we should negotiate with Cuba to have an "exclusive landing rights only from NJ policy " for 5 years so it actually does help our state get solvent (and we of course could resell those rights to Florida so those folks could save on the jet fuel.)
#3) you CAN’T do that!!!
LOCAL
Finally, locally, right here in Rumson.
Let's recognize that we are an "auto" culture, not a walking or biking culture. Let's also recognize it is both a strength (fast) and a weakness (no health benefits, environmentally unfriendly, and much more dangerous). I propose that, to facilitate our own health, our own joy, our sense of purpose and actually put our citizens welfare first, that we remove expediency and speed from our mind and spend some money to have a walk/bike path through our town just like we have three roads through our town (Rumson, Ridge, and River Rd.). My son has a job in Sea Bright, and his mom doesn't feel it’s safe that he ride his bike alongside the SUV populace of our area (myself included).
And yet, there is no alternative that is safe and secure. In all our development, we have put our citizens at risk. But Tom, we all get around using cars so your idea is ridiculous. Really??? Maybe we shouldn't, especially during the summer, get around in cars.
Perhaps with $4.00 or $5.00 gas, with our population generally overweight and out of shape, and the global warming crisis continuing to evolve, just perhaps, we should have at least ONE truly safe alternative in this great town of ours so both children and adults can have a safe way to get to the beach, or simply go for a walk through the whole town. Specifically, it seems only natural that we do this with Ridge Road (perhaps we turn it into a one way street with the other side being for pedestrian/bike traffic, recognizing that no residents on that street will want a Long Branch type appropriation of their property.
Save money, help the environment, get healthy, and enjoy the tranquility of getting somewhere without a car!!!!.
You can't do that????? Or can you!!!!!
I recently heard Wendy Kopp, the Founder of Teach for America, speak at a college commencement ceremony. Wendy was named one of the top 100 most influential people in the world according Time Magazine 2008. In 1989, to the dismay of her Princeton professors and fundraising experts, she started Teach for America to address and CHANGE the failing public school syndrome in lower socio-economic urban areas in America. Unanimously, her advisors told her that she “couldn’t do that”. Fortunately for America and the students her organization has touched, she didn’t believe it. She thought she could. And she did. 5000 college graduates now work for TfA throughout the USA.
I think we can too. As outlandish and unique as my suggestions are, we can choose to CHANGE. I’ll take the bike path, or the recognition of Cuba as a non-hostile republic, but if you really ask what I’d like, I’d like ‘em all.
For a CHANGE.
tt
Sunday, April 27, 2008
TOMMY T'S FREEDOM TOUR IDEA FOR THE "YOUTH OF OUR NATION"
TOMMY T’S FREEDOM TOUR IDEA FOR THE YOUTH OF OUR NATION—
Barack? you getting this?--just making sure now that you have Bruce's endorsement!!!!
OKAY, I CUT AND PASTED THE LAST POST BECAUSE I'VE GOTTEN SOME NICE FEEDBACK AND THE "IDEA" IS SOMETHING THAT RESONATED WITH PEOPLE WHO FEEL OUR COUNTRY'S MORAL FIBER NEEDS SOMETHING TO ADDRESS OUR ILLS--
SO, HERE IT IS SEPARATED OUT FOR YOU
Not sure you remember I talked about going to New Orleans in December to help some folks move back into their homes for XMas? I never really elaborated (believe it or not I missed some details!!!) on that trip, on the fact that ONE Wall Street firm paid the expenses of the 50 volunteers with a donation for that trip??? The name of that firm??? BEAR STEARNS!!!!!!!
well, during my trip to New Orleans with "H.E.A.R.T. 911" the WTC rescue workers group,( http://www.heart911.org/ ) to learn more about this great org)....I met a great group of people that were in our "Camp Hope" barracks who had volunteered as part of AmeriCorps youth volunteers team and had been assigned to New Orleans for 1 or 2 years. These kids were 18-24 years old, some were in college and some weren't, but ALL were working and helping as part of an engaged community (very much like my Community of Pilgrims!!!), and of course bunk beds were part of the territory. ALL made the choice to volunteer--
Ready??? I'm READY, as Tracy Chapman sings--I'm not sure how we "teach" the pure old fashioned American Dream, and I know the "RIGHTS" people wouldn't want me to “impose” things on people-- BUT we do have TO DO something!!!!! Don't we??
What do I propose????I propose we attempt to transform, TRANSFORM our NATION's YOUTH---
Pretty bold sounding, eh????
Let me continue, and finish all in one---
The "YOUTH of THE NATION"
Except this time we tell people if you WANT to live here, in the USofA, then you've got to do just ONE THING, ONE TIME in your life as a citizen, and we'll PAY YOU for it too!!!
We need to give our youth, more than anything else, the HOPE and the LOVE--- and unfortunately we need to face up to the fact that we need to do a better job teaching THE HOPE and THE LOVE IN THIS CURRENT DAY IN AGE???, don't we???--- the only way one LEARNS HOPE and LOVE is by experiencing it through GIVING, and GETTING, HOPE and LOVE---
One needs to get away from the internet, cable, TV, and just DO SOMETHING---
So I propose that we REQUIRE 18 year-old students finishing high school in our country to enlist in AmeriCorps--- REQUIRED---ENLISTMENT--- DRAFT THEM!!!!!! If they don't have anything to do well then guess what?? problem solved-- and if they do well then they can choose when to take a breath and take a walk and give of themselves a little >>>
WELL<<>>>>>…….WELL<<>YOUTH ONENESS!!!!!!!!!, as I like to call it---
When someone asks you what you're doing after high school, EVERYONE will have AT LEAST one answer, and that answer, I'm highly confident, will lead to others--- and somewhere in all the MANURE they walk through-- GUESS WHAT---- my BET is they will FIND THEIR PONY-
--And it is very clear to me that we need to start doing something more to give our nations’ youth that HOPE and LOVE and CONFIDENCE in their futures-- not just the smart ones, or the rich ones, or the middle ones, but "ALL" THE ONES---and it is also very clear that today's programs, the ones your taxes are paying for, are falling far short of their goal and therefore we are wasting money on unproductive and unsuccessful attempts—
It’s a different age, and we need a DIFFERENT PROGRAM----and we MIGHT need a NEW LEADER to LEAD us with it---
I've seen money thrown in vast amounts in directions that reap no dividends in the name of opportunity???? And they have largely FAILED to TRANSFORM--At least they, all our youth, will know they are ALL CONNECTED by this LOVE, this common mission that they know they and their fellow schoolmates will be experiencing at some point after high school, --and perhaps it will calm the psycho A student who can't take not getting into Harvard, and perhaps it will give the directionless kid in south city center a new purpose and choice in a road mired with poverty and no hope.
And perhaps the whole youth of the Nation will connect as one, in ONENESS!!!!!!!, on this one project----
We formerly had military enlistment, through the draft---Now, let's DRAFT our youth into a 9 month volunteer program where we feed them (some of them aren't getting that in this country, by the way!!!), we teach them, we mentor them, and somewhere in all this I'm sure we will LOVE them too---
Yeah, I know, PARENTS are suppose to do this??? Well, the Florida girls assault story aside, I don't think the country should stand idly by while the erosion of our moral fiber weighs in the balance.
WE need to find this path now, while people are young, and touch them in a way most of them will never experience—
...and dream, and hope, in this land of ours—this land of hope and dreams!!!!!!!!
New Idea, New Time, New ROAD, NEW Path, NEW CAMINO, for us------
so i'll send this little missive along and see where this lands in DC-
TO LOVE, because Love is truly the greatest power we have in this world, and it is our bridge that survives us into the next. It is, and it will be, our legacy. Yours and Mine.
On the end of one journey, and the beginning of a new one,
Knowing that I know little, but I understand more than I did before this sabbatical started,
I leave you, and my sabbatical behind, with this prayer from St. Therese of Lisieux –
--Saint Therese is known as the "Saint of the Little Ways"
Saint Therese's Prayer
May today there be peace within.
May you trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be.
May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith.
May you use those gifts that you have received, and pass on the love that has been given to you.
May you be confident knowing you are a child of God. Let this presence settle into your bones, and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love.
It is there for each and every one of us.
Nuff said-music and joy and dance and love—trusting that you are exactly where you are meant to be-
Peace
TT
THE END—really!!!!!
Barack? you getting this?--just making sure now that you have Bruce's endorsement!!!!
OKAY, I CUT AND PASTED THE LAST POST BECAUSE I'VE GOTTEN SOME NICE FEEDBACK AND THE "IDEA" IS SOMETHING THAT RESONATED WITH PEOPLE WHO FEEL OUR COUNTRY'S MORAL FIBER NEEDS SOMETHING TO ADDRESS OUR ILLS--
SO, HERE IT IS SEPARATED OUT FOR YOU
Not sure you remember I talked about going to New Orleans in December to help some folks move back into their homes for XMas? I never really elaborated (believe it or not I missed some details!!!) on that trip, on the fact that ONE Wall Street firm paid the expenses of the 50 volunteers with a donation for that trip??? The name of that firm??? BEAR STEARNS!!!!!!!
well, during my trip to New Orleans with "H.E.A.R.T. 911" the WTC rescue workers group,( http://www.heart911.org/ ) to learn more about this great org)....I met a great group of people that were in our "Camp Hope" barracks who had volunteered as part of AmeriCorps youth volunteers team and had been assigned to New Orleans for 1 or 2 years. These kids were 18-24 years old, some were in college and some weren't, but ALL were working and helping as part of an engaged community (very much like my Community of Pilgrims!!!), and of course bunk beds were part of the territory. ALL made the choice to volunteer--
Ready??? I'm READY, as Tracy Chapman sings--I'm not sure how we "teach" the pure old fashioned American Dream, and I know the "RIGHTS" people wouldn't want me to “impose” things on people-- BUT we do have TO DO something!!!!! Don't we??
What do I propose????I propose we attempt to transform, TRANSFORM our NATION's YOUTH---
Pretty bold sounding, eh????
Let me continue, and finish all in one---
The "YOUTH of THE NATION"
Except this time we tell people if you WANT to live here, in the USofA, then you've got to do just ONE THING, ONE TIME in your life as a citizen, and we'll PAY YOU for it too!!!
We need to give our youth, more than anything else, the HOPE and the LOVE--- and unfortunately we need to face up to the fact that we need to do a better job teaching THE HOPE and THE LOVE IN THIS CURRENT DAY IN AGE???, don't we???--- the only way one LEARNS HOPE and LOVE is by experiencing it through GIVING, and GETTING, HOPE and LOVE---
One needs to get away from the internet, cable, TV, and just DO SOMETHING---
So I propose that we REQUIRE 18 year-old students finishing high school in our country to enlist in AmeriCorps--- REQUIRED---ENLISTMENT--- DRAFT THEM!!!!!! If they don't have anything to do well then guess what?? problem solved-- and if they do well then they can choose when to take a breath and take a walk and give of themselves a little >>>
WELL<<>>>>>…….WELL<<>YOUTH ONENESS!!!!!!!!!, as I like to call it---
When someone asks you what you're doing after high school, EVERYONE will have AT LEAST one answer, and that answer, I'm highly confident, will lead to others--- and somewhere in all the MANURE they walk through-- GUESS WHAT---- my BET is they will FIND THEIR PONY-
--And it is very clear to me that we need to start doing something more to give our nations’ youth that HOPE and LOVE and CONFIDENCE in their futures-- not just the smart ones, or the rich ones, or the middle ones, but "ALL" THE ONES---and it is also very clear that today's programs, the ones your taxes are paying for, are falling far short of their goal and therefore we are wasting money on unproductive and unsuccessful attempts—
It’s a different age, and we need a DIFFERENT PROGRAM----and we MIGHT need a NEW LEADER to LEAD us with it---
I've seen money thrown in vast amounts in directions that reap no dividends in the name of opportunity???? And they have largely FAILED to TRANSFORM--At least they, all our youth, will know they are ALL CONNECTED by this LOVE, this common mission that they know they and their fellow schoolmates will be experiencing at some point after high school, --and perhaps it will calm the psycho A student who can't take not getting into Harvard, and perhaps it will give the directionless kid in south city center a new purpose and choice in a road mired with poverty and no hope.
And perhaps the whole youth of the Nation will connect as one, in ONENESS!!!!!!!, on this one project----
We formerly had military enlistment, through the draft---Now, let's DRAFT our youth into a 9 month volunteer program where we feed them (some of them aren't getting that in this country, by the way!!!), we teach them, we mentor them, and somewhere in all this I'm sure we will LOVE them too---
Yeah, I know, PARENTS are suppose to do this??? Well, the Florida girls assault story aside, I don't think the country should stand idly by while the erosion of our moral fiber weighs in the balance.
WE need to find this path now, while people are young, and touch them in a way most of them will never experience—
...and dream, and hope, in this land of ours—this land of hope and dreams!!!!!!!!
New Idea, New Time, New ROAD, NEW Path, NEW CAMINO, for us------
so i'll send this little missive along and see where this lands in DC-
TO LOVE, because Love is truly the greatest power we have in this world, and it is our bridge that survives us into the next. It is, and it will be, our legacy. Yours and Mine.
On the end of one journey, and the beginning of a new one,
Knowing that I know little, but I understand more than I did before this sabbatical started,
I leave you, and my sabbatical behind, with this prayer from St. Therese of Lisieux –
--Saint Therese is known as the "Saint of the Little Ways"
Saint Therese's Prayer
May today there be peace within.
May you trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be.
May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith.
May you use those gifts that you have received, and pass on the love that has been given to you.
May you be confident knowing you are a child of God. Let this presence settle into your bones, and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love.
It is there for each and every one of us.
Nuff said-music and joy and dance and love—trusting that you are exactly where you are meant to be-
Peace
TT
THE END—really!!!!!
Saturday, April 19, 2008
THE TOMMYT FREEDOM TOUR HAS ENDED!!!!!!!!!!
I know this brings great joy to many of you who have labored and strained to get through elongated and wordy emails or blog posts!!!!!!!! It is over===THIS IS IT—the last note of sabbatical.
So---what do we have here??
FINITO
BETTY-the readings
The Current State of Affairs-2007/08
4/18/08 note finishing –first week of work-
TRANSFORMATION
The “darkness”
Interconnectedness
TOMMYT’S FREEDOM TOUR IDEA FOR OUR NATION’S YOUTH-
THE END
YES, somewhere in the body of this letter is the official announcement-- the Sabbatical is OVER, finito, DONE-- as of 4/14/08. From 9/13/06 you've listened and read and either enjoyed or deleted the various, numerous, lengthy musings of a man on sabbatical. Well, here it is, the last note that sends me back to the world of employed, from U2 in Hawaii, the Super Bowl 2007, the Hoyas in the final four, a Baja Cali motorcycle trip, a summer at the beach (literally ALL summer, not a week), the POPE in ROME, and last, certainly not least, a 500 mile walk through Spain meant to both end a sabbatical and renew the meaning of life all in a few million footsteps--the Camino de Santiago!!!!!
And here we are---
Yet, I don't want to rush into this, my last note, and end it before my usual notes have barely begun--
So, as usual, let me digress---
It is 3/31/08, March 31st, and I'm on a plane (as usual) going to Florida to see my Mom. We just said goodbye, literally, for the last time to one of the senior matriarch's of our extended (my sister-in-law's mother) family, better known to my kids as Applegate. Mrs. Applegate, or Betty as she insisted I call her, lived to be 93 years old and lived a life that made my sabbatical pale by example. She even went to Antarctica, but she did it at AGE 82!!!!! So her immediate family had a wonderful service to celebrate her life and how blessed we all were to have her in ours. They had four readings, and the Pastor noted that each of them was "starred" ** in her bible, the one her father had given her on April 11th, 1926, hence why they were selected---
(The readings)----!!!!!!—cited and paraphrased a little-
Song of Solomon 2:10-13—
Set me as a seal upon your heart,
as a seal upon your arm;
for love is strong as death,
passion fierce as the grave.
Its flashes are flashes of fire,
a raging flame.
Many waters cannot quench love,
neither can floods drown it.
If one offered for love
all the wealth of his house,
it would be utterly scorned.
1 Corinthians 13: 1-13
2If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing
12Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
13And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
Matthew 5: 13-16
Salt and Light
13"You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.
14"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. 15Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.
John 15: 9-12
9"As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love. 11I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.
READINGS OVER--- relax and reflect---------------------------------------------
Betty was born in??... Let's see, I guess she was born in 1915. Middle of World War I-- Ford cars just started rolling, Woodrow Wilson was President, and, quite frankly, LIFE was a lot simpler then ---
But then again, life was pretty simple a mere 9 months ago, when the stock market was on its high, housing prices were going to go through roof AND the SKY this time, and people had no fear to mind those depression era themes like "rather go to sleep supperless than than rise in debt(B.Franklin)". --- people seemingly borrow money and spend money and live with no concern for much,
so simple when ......
And now look at the landscape---
It's not 1915, and it's not even 2007, and now we are all so much smarter than we were just a few short months ago--
NOW,
--Cranes are falling down in NYC--
--Barack's winning yet the press is treating him like he's always playing defense-- except Rolling Stone, who's doing enough attacking of his opponent to make Republicans look meek--
--The stock market, well, we'll cover that soon enough, and don't even get me started on the "bond" market-
--housing prices, and home loans, are in such dire straits that politicians are coming to the rescue, which will be sure to screw up housing in the USA like Japan screwed up their banks in the 90's!!!
--And our current President is where he is, and Jan '09 just can't here soon enough so the world can have someone else to blame for everything-- Hillary, yeah, she was against the war right after she voted "for it"!!!!
--Iraq-- I wrote back in Spain that Edwin Starr had it right in his song "WAR", it's absolutely good for nothing"-- and now that we've been in Iraq 5 years it's clear we screwed up, and now it will be up to the next president to try and fix it--- get the peace, keep the flow of oil, and attempt to grow a democracy in the middle of a desert--
It seemed like such a worthwhile ideal, to give freedom and hope, but our execution of that noble ideal has simply failed-. Period. I'm sure history will have a fuller story on this episode in Iraq, but the current view is we missed an opportunity to secure the peace right away and it has now slipped away.
It use to be so "simple"---- heavy stuff--
So, what's a music fan suppose to listen too???? Well, -I've got some news---
KITTY's BACK IN TOWN!!!!!!!
Ooh. Ooh ooh ooh. All right, all right!!
Ooh Ooh ooh ooh all right, all right-
Are you with me?
It's 10/19/74, Schenectady, New York, and Bruce and the band so fresh and raw, and the room they are playing in sounds from the recording like it could a basement of a house and the crowd sounds like they all live right down the street-- it could be Freehold, or Toms River, or Point Pleasant Beach at "the Beach House", --
And it brings me back to remembering I've been listening to these songs while all this autobiographical stuff has been happening since??? 1973/1974, yeah, since right about then--
Pre Born To Run??? YUP-- read that "Rocket Man" post in the blog to get more of the flavor of this life, my life, should you care to know where this mind of mine came from, but suffice it to say here that Bruce and the boardwalk and the Ferris Wheel and the SwissBob and ROSALITA seem like they were and are ALWAYS there---intertwined-- all they needed to do is to have some space, some FREEDOM, and then ""ROSIE can come OUT tonight!!!"""
And all my friends, my colleagues, my associates, my family, and YOU, YOU can all come too, figuratively, through the words that I've shared with you over these last 18 months..
Kitty's BACK, AND ROSIE's coming out, and we're gonna PROVE IT once again, ALL NIGHT!!!
Where were we? and where are we?
The world has gotten complicated, its no longer just get a job, join a firm, and just let the work and the meritocracy speak for itself---because one firm that stood proudly on that ground has just been fed (no pun intended by FED) to the wolves, or saved by the sheep, depending on your point of view--
TRADER's make decisions and stand by them-- the thing I don't get is why so many people who AREN'T traders are in positions of powerful decision-making--- it is getting embarrassing and damn expensive to watch notable "leaders" completely LACKING in leadership and skilled decision-making (and I’m not even talking about the political leaders, I’m talking about business leaders, you, know, global titans of power and wealth that get it SO WRONG it’s incredible, and sad, and enormously impactful on people’s lives..)
Bear Stearns was a great firm, but the thing I liked most about them is that THEY REQUIRED senior people to donate 10% of their income to charity, and they didn't care what school you went to, or what town you came from. The pure American Dream, as I liked to think of it.
EXCEPT THE ENDING!!!!!!!!!!!!
So, Tom, knowing what a mess this world is, why are you thinking about coming BACK???? Into it? That financial markets world you left 18 months ago (or three years ago depending on your point of view)???
Thinking about it? No!!!! I have thought about it, and I KNOW this is the right thing and I've found the right place and the right people for this move. And they've found me, too, or we wouldn't be writing this note.
But, this is the time, and here we GO!!!!!!
It's NOW APRIL 18th, as I didn't want to finish the "note" until I could send it---so, it's 6pm or so on 4/18, Friday night and I'm on a train to DC to see my two girls at Georgetown, and I've completed my first WEEK of WORK, so NOW I can finish and publish this final note that I told you I wouldn't send until I WAS WORKING, and I AM--- AM, that sounds like "am", as in 5:10am, which is when my alarm rang this morning, and that is truly the best measure my body has that I am WORKING!!!! Because sabbatical days, trust me, DO NOT start at 5:10am--- although I did fairly frequently have a routine around 5:10pm!!!!!!!
So to the finish--- and what's happened since --- I thoroughly enjoyed my first week of work and think I have been fortunate to find a place that calls me to my mission--- not quite like a sabbatical, and in one week you get underneath the hood and you see that like most businesses and corporate environments you have your "happy" and "unhappy" people, you're "love it here" and "not so much"!!!
But I'm about building, experiencing, growing, and raising, not about "where we are" but more about WHERE ARE WE GOING--- so any of these sound bites, the "10 bankers left", the "tough markets affecting the stock", the rest of it to me seem like such small problems when my mission is to help my colleagues figure out how to grow our business while it appears many/most of the competitive landscape is focused on shrinking--
I have to be the only person in the financial markets that met 20 people this week with the sole purpose of "recruiting them"!!!!!!
Ooohhh ooohhh oooh ALL RIGHT-
Oooooh ooohhh oooh "all right" ,
ALL RIGHT
KITTY's BACK IN TOWN, and SANDY, and the E STREET Shuffle---
And you know who was back in town today? in the BIG NYC, that same city where people don't sleep and I WORK!!!!!??? For MY first week of work, of course you'll say it's just another silly boardwalk coincidence, that my MAIN man Most Excellency the POPE, you know, HIS MOST EXCELLENCY POPE BENEDICT, the very same ONE I stood next to in DEC '06 when I was on SABBATICAL!!!!!!!!
Yeah, so the POPE is Back, and KITTY's BACK, and BRUCE fan's the world over have lost another member of the clan-- Danny Federici passed away 4/17th and has joined Terry and I can't help and reflect about how sad that E Street Band must be, and how sad all us fans are, and I just acknowledge that we're all here for such a short time, in such a WIDE open space, that we just HAVE TO make the MOST of our GOD-GIVEN TALENTS, whether they turn us into a great teacher, a wonderful social worker or medical field caregiver, a GIFTED ORGAN PLAYER, simple laborer, or just a humble priest turned POPE—we’ve go to take advantage of our FREEDOM
Use the talents, and LEAD with your HEART-and, (you've heard me say this before),
LET LOVE BE YOUR CORNERSTONE!!!!
Whatever that calling is in each of us, it's hard to lose identity, our identity, during periods like the current one--- where economic moments collide with market moments and in the wink of an eye and industry lops 100,000 jobs of the top (that's where the financial industry is heading during this contraction by my estimates)-- and WORK is such an "IDENTITY" thing---isn't it?
What do you want to be when you grown up?
What are you studying to be?
What do you do?
What did you do?
Remember those Camino comments and my point about "why" not "what??, as in "why are we here" not "what do we do", as in work---
In all phases of our life, from a young child to an old man, people ask you to IDENTIFY yourself by the WHAT YOU DO???
It's hard to deny that "what we do", the why we wake up and our habit and our daily routine in this world an awful lot of the time revolves around WHERE, WHAT and HOW WE........ WORK!!!!!!!!!!
And LOSING that IDENTITY, even if its for a SABBATICAL,, but ESPECIALLY when its taken from you and was providing the food on the table (not to mention if you were a 10 or 20 year BEAR STEARNS veteran watching all your identity and hard work going out the window without your having ANY control), when one loses their JOB--- now THAT is HARD!!! And tough to deal with and an emotional and complicated challenge--
Here an NOW, when ONE needs to find that NEW identity to replace the old---[and I recognize that ALL of us are SO MUCH MORE than "where we work" or "what we do" but funny enough we kinda become known for that "workspace" we occupy, and we also become known for the reputation we carry in that SPACE---]
We might have "OTHER" identities,, like father, mother, "POPE", etc, but this "work" identity is undeniable--- it both gives us a PURPOSE and an IDENTITY--
Whether you're caring for the elderly, or working on Wall Street, people know who you are, and people know you, through your identity.-- your "work"-- maybe less so today than 100 years ago when “work” meant farming, fishing, and the advent of the industrial revolution was getting into full swing, but our identity is still very tied up in OUR WORK-
For instance, I knew DAN FEDERICI as "on the organ, Mr Dan Federici", when Bruce was introducing the band during concerts, just simply the sound of the E Street band that always brought me back to the boardwalk with his organ or accordion- ALWAYS, that was his identity to me.--and it was tied to..... His WORK-- that is, as artistically as he did it, even still, that was "his job"!!! And now it happens to be someone else's, and now that person will be "identified" by the "job" he inherited--- ps. That new person has it because he used his God-given talents to his fullest, clearly-- and that is also Danny's legacy, a lasting imprint on the minds of millions of fans as key ingredient in the sound known as the E-Street band.
Pretty nice legacy, and very warm and joyful memories, and this is from a distance.
So, Rest in Peace, Mrs. Applegate, and Rest in Peace, Mr Dan Federici-- and now God has at his side the greatest organ player this side of E Street, Main Street and Wall Street-
And nicest little lady this side of Pasadena-
And now to me--- and my NEW IDENTITY!!!!!! it's onto to helping all these displaced workers in our economy find a new place, a new identity, and I'm in the fortunate role of being able to be assisting and perhaps offering an opportunity to some of those people--- and that should be a lot of fun, HENCE why I thought the job would be fun, HENCE why I TOOK the damn JOB!!!!!!!!
FIND THE PONY---that is my advice to anyone suffering through these challenging times-- like Reagan said, a "recession" is when your neighbor is out of work, a "depression" is when YOU'RE OUT OF WORK!!!!
Find that PONY---in all this mess, with ALL THIS MANURE in the room we call the financial markets, THERE JUST HAS TO BE a PONY!!!!! In here somewhere!!!!!!!
So, I finished my first week at Jefferies & Co, and I've got a great partner, and his daughter was just accepted to G'Town!!!!! So we have that in common, and so work it is and I'm off on a new CAMINO!!!, a new path, a new walk, and it feels pretty good!!!!!! And the people seem great, and it's small, and there are (so far) NO MEETINGS!!!!! So it's all looking pretty good, but just like those Bear vet's one never knows what's around the corner---- Lead with Love and let the rest take care of itself--EVEN in WORK!!!!!!!
Trust me, one week back and I know LOVE works-----and I know loving work works too!!!!!!!!
But, to be clear, the "job" identity isn't something we get away from, but we shouldn't get LOST in it either---
The FACT of the MATTER is that PEOPLE give us jobs, just plain ordinary people who might be big and powerful and rich or not--but just people all the same--
There are two identities given to us by God, in contrast---- "Parent" is one, "spouse" is the other---so when you LOOK at the BIG PICTURE and you START out on your career or RESTART your JOB career don't get lost in IT so MUCH that you lose your REAL IDENTITY as a person, as a friend, as a soulmate, as a loving and giving parent--
Work helps define us and what we do, but it does not define WHO WE ARE!!!!!!!!!!!!
or WHY WE ARE HERE!!!!!!!! never lose sight of that-
So you can find me at my blog or on Bloomberg now if you have one, and all my old emails work so keep any thoughts or prayer requests coming--- and keep in mind those suffering in one way or another, a number of those who just aren't use to it and one year ago had a bright future and outlook---because now they have to FIND THEIR PONY---and things probably look bleak if they don’t keep the big picture in mind-
Of course, if they ask me, I might tell them to just take it easy and go take a walk......>>>. A LONG one, and slow down and seek and find the face and spirit of God in all that is around us....
TRANSFORMATION-----
Big word, kinda like INNOVATION, but INNOVATION, even capitalized, doesn't mean TRANSFORMATION!!!!
I want to spend this last part of this LAST NOTE (really!!) On the word TRANSFORMATION---- and I want to apply it, not just use it in a sentence---
I think the last 18 months of my life have been TRANSFORMATIONAL for me---- I have progressed in the things I care about, in how I think, and the way I walk on my PATH, my CAMINO--and I truly know how incredibly lucky and blessed I was to be able to do almost exactly what I wanted without a care for this time at this moment in my life--- I don't know why I am so blessed, and I trust and pray that I just need to continue the walk I am on--- wherever it leads me--LEADING with LOVE (and no, this doesn't mean I will never raise my voice in the office-- I haven't TRANSFORMED that MUCH)----
I have a desire to inspire--- how's that roll off the tongue -" A DESIRE TO INSPIRE!!!!!!" Anyone being touched by or reading this or accidentally ending up in this paragraph-- my desire for you , my prayer for you, is for you to be TRANSFORMED too, in a very simple, meaningful way, BY LOVE---
I know we can all do more than we do in this world to further the cause of LOVE, so I'm hoping that at least one thing in this long, winding, erratic run-on blog has touched you and inspired you to transform someone else with YOUR LOVE --- the more they need it, the more important it is that you take that step---
I'm saddened still as I write this by a recent incident in our town (yes, our home town that one never thinks things happen in except bliss!!)-- and that event was the passing away of a 14 year-old child of her own will and choice---- and these words don't come lightly --
And I think, and can't help but think, that somewhere on our path WE missed an opportunity to LOVE, and that "Darkness" on the edge of town I spoke of somehow crept inside of town won out over love, in a very extreme way ---
When one chooses permanent solutions to temporary problems it becomes extremely sad and ??? well, you can finish that sentence with your own thoughts--
Now I know most of you reading are not "connected" to this event (although I am hard- pressed to call the death of a 14 year-old "an event") and this is a "thing" that happens sometimes and it is an incredible tragedy and everyone is extremely sad and sorry and feels even worse for the family in this story.
But don't look for an explanation from me, things like this really can't be "explained"-- I tremble writing--- how do you even start to try and figure it out? You don't know, and I certainly don't know-- I don't know why the darkness won, but it did—---------BUT, you also can't just IGNORE IT and just go about your day thinking that everything goes BACK TO "NORMAL", "WHATEVER THE HECK THAT IS"!!!
And I'm sad- and I feel just plain bad for those affected--- and the NET is very, VERY WIDE--
And that goes back to my point about "interconnectedness"--- we are ALL interconnected, and a pebble in the ocean in Japan will ripple in some way through the vast ocean and impact us right here on the Eastern seaboard---
And we are all so interconnected that we CANNOT MISS opportunities to CONNECT--- with those that are "LIKE" us, whatever that means, but especially with those that "aren't like us"-- you know, different, needy, aloof, whatever- adults, children, YOUR CHILDREN, MINE, we need to show the way- the WAY to LOVE, by CONNECTING ourselves---BY SLOWING DOWN in a very fast world--- and taking time with people that we can and do touch.
You remember the teachers in the hallways when you were rushing to class????
"WALK, Don't Run"!!!!!! they would yell, so you upright your body and move your straight legs really fast---
WALK, DON'T RUN!!!!!!!!! Slow Down---and see the signs being directed at you---
That's it-- because if we miss that opportunity, you just never know the ripples --not that you "caused" those ripples, but they happened nonetheless—and the point is not about causing ripples, but THAT WE do not miss the opportunity to CAUSE RIPPLES OF LOVE, MY "RAISE THE LOVE RATE" comment—THAT’s RIGHT, be a FORCE in RAISING THE LOVE RATE---
So, today, lastly, CONNECT, all over, with LOVE--- and if you're not getting this, then SLOW DOWN, WALK, don't run, in the pace of your life and the people's lives you touch.
Pls keep your fellow man, your neighbor, your family, your country, YOUR GOD, and your own SELF in your prayers--- oh, yeah, try it, so today after reading this I'm hoping I can do a little transforming myself--- AND SLOW DOWN a little so you can even notice some of those folks--
Say a prayer for the people dealing with this tragedy in my town, and say a prayer for our youth, our Nation's youth, that they have the strength to overcome the challenges posed by this new age that they are growing up in-- it's quite a hard place, much different than that simple place Betty Applegate grew up in 1915, and between the internet and the TV and the girls in Florida beating a neighborhood "popular" girl, it is a world that is being challenged by the "progress" we have made on some fronts-- and the “lack of progress” we haven't made on others---right here, down the block, next door, across the street, and right in our own home---
We NEED to TRANSFORM IT with love, and we need to recognize THAT TRANSFORMATION is more important than any old JOB or WORK or IDENTITY--- we're a little too caught up in THAT!!!!!!!
So, after you've said that prayer, and you're still with me, I've got my proposal for you---
It's MY IDEA on how we can TRULY TRANSFORM---
TOMMYT’S FREEDOM TOUR IDEA FOR THE YOUTH OF OUR NATION—
Barack? you getting this?--just making sure now that you have Bruce's endorsement!!!!
Not sure you remember I talked about going to New Orleans in December to help some folks move back into their homes for XMas? I never really elaborated (believe it or not I missed some details!!!) on that trip, on the fact that ONE Wall Street firm paid the expenses of the 50 volunteers with a donation for that trip???
The name of that firm??? BEAR STEARNS!!!!!!!
well, during my trip to New Orleans with "H.E.A.R.T. 911" the WTC rescue workers group,( http://www.heart911.org/ ) to learn more about this great org)....
I met a great group of people that were in our "Camp Hope" barracks who had volunteered as part of AmeriCorps youth volunteers team and had been assigned to New Orleans for 1 or 2 years. These kids were 18-24 years old, some were in college and some weren't, but ALL were working and helping as part of an engaged community (very much like my Community of Pilgrims!!!), and of course bunk beds were part of the territory. ALL made the choice to volunteer--
Ready??? I'm READY, as Tracy Chapman sings--I'm not sure how we "teach" the pure old fashioned American Dream, and I know the "RIGHTS" people wouldn't want me to “impose” things on people--
BUT we do have TO DO something!!!!! Don't we??
What do I propose????I propose we attempt to transform, TRANSFORM our NATION's YOUTH---
Pretty bold sounding, eh????
Let me continue, and finish all in one---
The "YOUTH of THE NATION"
Except this time we tell people if you WANT to live here, in the USofA, then you've got to do just ONE THING, ONE TIME in your life as a citizen, and we'll PAY YOU for it too!!!
We need to give our youth, more than anything else, the HOPE and the LOVE--- and unfortunately we need to face up to the fact that we need to do a better job teaching THE HOPE and THE LOVE IN THIS CURRENT DAY IN AGE???, don't we???--- the only way one LEARNS HOPE and LOVE is by experiencing it through GIVING, and GETTING, HOPE and LOVE---
One needs to get away from the internet, cable, TV, and just DO SOMETHING---
So I propose that we REQUIRE 18 year-old students finishing high school in our country to enlist in AmeriCorps--- REQUIRED---ENLISTMENT--- DRAFT THEM!!!!!! If they don't have anything to do well then guess what?? problem solved-- and if they do well then they can choose when to take a breath and take a walk and give of themselves a little >>>
WELL<<>>>>>…….WELL<<>YOUTH ONENESS!!!!!!!!!, as I like to call it---
When someone asks you what you're doing after high school, EVERYONE will have AT LEAST one answer, and that answer, I'm highly confident, will lead to others--- and somewhere in all the MANURE they walk through-- GUESS WHAT---- my BET is they will FIND THEIR PONY-
--And it is very clear to me that we need to start doing something more to give our nations’ youth that HOPE and LOVE and CONFIDENCE in their futures-- not just the smart ones, or the rich ones, or the middle ones, but "ALL" THE ONES---and it is also very clear that today's programs, the ones your taxes are paying for, are falling far short of their goal and therefore we are wasting money on unproductive and unsuccessful attempts—
It’s a different age, and we need a DIFFERENT PROGRAM----and we MIGHT need a NEW LEADER to LEAD us with it---
I've seen money thrown in vast amounts in directions that reap no dividends in the name of opportunity???? And they have largely FAILED to TRANSFORM--At least they, all our youth, will know they are ALL CONNECTED by this LOVE, this common mission that they know they and their fellow schoolmates will be experiencing at some point after high school, --and perhaps it will calm the psycho A student who can't take not getting into Harvard, and perhaps it will give the directionless kid in south city center a new purpose and choice in a road mired with poverty and no hope.
And perhaps the whole youth of the Nation will connect as one, in ONENESS!!!!!!!, on this one project----
We formerly had military enlistment, through the draft---Now, let's DRAFT our youth into a 9 month volunteer program where we feed them (some of them aren't getting that in this country, by the way!!!), we teach them, we mentor them, and somewhere in all this I'm sure we will LOVE them too---
Yeah, I know, PARENTS are suppose to do this??? Well, the Florida girls assault story aside, I don't think the country should stand idly by while the erosion of our moral fiber weighs in the balance. WE need to find this path now, while people are young, and touch them in a way most of them will never experience—
...and dream, and hope, in this land of ours—this land of hope and dreams!!!!!!!!
New Idea, New Time, New ROAD, NEW Path, NEW CAMINO, for us------ so i'll send this little missive along and see where this lands in DC-
TO LOVE, because Love is truly the greatest power we have in this world, and it is our bridge that survives us into the next. It is, and it will be, our legacy. Yours and Mine.
On the end of one journey, and the beginning of a new one,
Knowing that I know little, but I understand more than I did before this sabbatical started,
I leave you, and my sabbatical behind, with this prayer from St. Therese of Lisieux – --Saint Therese is known as the "Saint of the Little Ways"
Saint Therese's Prayer
May today there be peace within.
May you trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be.
May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith.
May you use those gifts that you have received, and pass on the love that has been given to you.
May you be confident knowing you are a child of God. Let this presence settle into your bones, and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love.
It is there for each and every one of us.
Nuff said-music and joy and dance and love—trusting that you are exactly where you are meant to be-
Peace
TT
THE END—really!!!!!
I know this brings great joy to many of you who have labored and strained to get through elongated and wordy emails or blog posts!!!!!!!! It is over===THIS IS IT—the last note of sabbatical.
So---what do we have here??
FINITO
BETTY-the readings
The Current State of Affairs-2007/08
4/18/08 note finishing –first week of work-
TRANSFORMATION
The “darkness”
Interconnectedness
TOMMYT’S FREEDOM TOUR IDEA FOR OUR NATION’S YOUTH-
THE END
YES, somewhere in the body of this letter is the official announcement-- the Sabbatical is OVER, finito, DONE-- as of 4/14/08. From 9/13/06 you've listened and read and either enjoyed or deleted the various, numerous, lengthy musings of a man on sabbatical. Well, here it is, the last note that sends me back to the world of employed, from U2 in Hawaii, the Super Bowl 2007, the Hoyas in the final four, a Baja Cali motorcycle trip, a summer at the beach (literally ALL summer, not a week), the POPE in ROME, and last, certainly not least, a 500 mile walk through Spain meant to both end a sabbatical and renew the meaning of life all in a few million footsteps--the Camino de Santiago!!!!!
And here we are---
Yet, I don't want to rush into this, my last note, and end it before my usual notes have barely begun--
So, as usual, let me digress---
It is 3/31/08, March 31st, and I'm on a plane (as usual) going to Florida to see my Mom. We just said goodbye, literally, for the last time to one of the senior matriarch's of our extended (my sister-in-law's mother) family, better known to my kids as Applegate. Mrs. Applegate, or Betty as she insisted I call her, lived to be 93 years old and lived a life that made my sabbatical pale by example. She even went to Antarctica, but she did it at AGE 82!!!!! So her immediate family had a wonderful service to celebrate her life and how blessed we all were to have her in ours. They had four readings, and the Pastor noted that each of them was "starred" ** in her bible, the one her father had given her on April 11th, 1926, hence why they were selected---
(The readings)----!!!!!!—cited and paraphrased a little-
Song of Solomon 2:10-13—
Set me as a seal upon your heart,
as a seal upon your arm;
for love is strong as death,
passion fierce as the grave.
Its flashes are flashes of fire,
a raging flame.
Many waters cannot quench love,
neither can floods drown it.
If one offered for love
all the wealth of his house,
it would be utterly scorned.
1 Corinthians 13: 1-13
2If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing
12Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
13And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
Matthew 5: 13-16
Salt and Light
13"You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.
14"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. 15Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.
John 15: 9-12
9"As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love. 11I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.
READINGS OVER--- relax and reflect---------------------------------------------
Betty was born in??... Let's see, I guess she was born in 1915. Middle of World War I-- Ford cars just started rolling, Woodrow Wilson was President, and, quite frankly, LIFE was a lot simpler then ---
But then again, life was pretty simple a mere 9 months ago, when the stock market was on its high, housing prices were going to go through roof AND the SKY this time, and people had no fear to mind those depression era themes like "rather go to sleep supperless than than rise in debt(B.Franklin)". --- people seemingly borrow money and spend money and live with no concern for much,
so simple when ......
And now look at the landscape---
It's not 1915, and it's not even 2007, and now we are all so much smarter than we were just a few short months ago--
NOW,
--Cranes are falling down in NYC--
--Barack's winning yet the press is treating him like he's always playing defense-- except Rolling Stone, who's doing enough attacking of his opponent to make Republicans look meek--
--The stock market, well, we'll cover that soon enough, and don't even get me started on the "bond" market-
--housing prices, and home loans, are in such dire straits that politicians are coming to the rescue, which will be sure to screw up housing in the USA like Japan screwed up their banks in the 90's!!!
--And our current President is where he is, and Jan '09 just can't here soon enough so the world can have someone else to blame for everything-- Hillary, yeah, she was against the war right after she voted "for it"!!!!
--Iraq-- I wrote back in Spain that Edwin Starr had it right in his song "WAR", it's absolutely good for nothing"-- and now that we've been in Iraq 5 years it's clear we screwed up, and now it will be up to the next president to try and fix it--- get the peace, keep the flow of oil, and attempt to grow a democracy in the middle of a desert--
It seemed like such a worthwhile ideal, to give freedom and hope, but our execution of that noble ideal has simply failed-. Period. I'm sure history will have a fuller story on this episode in Iraq, but the current view is we missed an opportunity to secure the peace right away and it has now slipped away.
It use to be so "simple"---- heavy stuff--
So, what's a music fan suppose to listen too???? Well, -I've got some news---
KITTY's BACK IN TOWN!!!!!!!
Ooh. Ooh ooh ooh. All right, all right!!
Ooh Ooh ooh ooh all right, all right-
Are you with me?
It's 10/19/74, Schenectady, New York, and Bruce and the band so fresh and raw, and the room they are playing in sounds from the recording like it could a basement of a house and the crowd sounds like they all live right down the street-- it could be Freehold, or Toms River, or Point Pleasant Beach at "the Beach House", --
And it brings me back to remembering I've been listening to these songs while all this autobiographical stuff has been happening since??? 1973/1974, yeah, since right about then--
Pre Born To Run??? YUP-- read that "Rocket Man" post in the blog to get more of the flavor of this life, my life, should you care to know where this mind of mine came from, but suffice it to say here that Bruce and the boardwalk and the Ferris Wheel and the SwissBob and ROSALITA seem like they were and are ALWAYS there---intertwined-- all they needed to do is to have some space, some FREEDOM, and then ""ROSIE can come OUT tonight!!!"""
And all my friends, my colleagues, my associates, my family, and YOU, YOU can all come too, figuratively, through the words that I've shared with you over these last 18 months..
Kitty's BACK, AND ROSIE's coming out, and we're gonna PROVE IT once again, ALL NIGHT!!!
Where were we? and where are we?
The world has gotten complicated, its no longer just get a job, join a firm, and just let the work and the meritocracy speak for itself---because one firm that stood proudly on that ground has just been fed (no pun intended by FED) to the wolves, or saved by the sheep, depending on your point of view--
TRADER's make decisions and stand by them-- the thing I don't get is why so many people who AREN'T traders are in positions of powerful decision-making--- it is getting embarrassing and damn expensive to watch notable "leaders" completely LACKING in leadership and skilled decision-making (and I’m not even talking about the political leaders, I’m talking about business leaders, you, know, global titans of power and wealth that get it SO WRONG it’s incredible, and sad, and enormously impactful on people’s lives..)
Bear Stearns was a great firm, but the thing I liked most about them is that THEY REQUIRED senior people to donate 10% of their income to charity, and they didn't care what school you went to, or what town you came from. The pure American Dream, as I liked to think of it.
EXCEPT THE ENDING!!!!!!!!!!!!
So, Tom, knowing what a mess this world is, why are you thinking about coming BACK???? Into it? That financial markets world you left 18 months ago (or three years ago depending on your point of view)???
Thinking about it? No!!!! I have thought about it, and I KNOW this is the right thing and I've found the right place and the right people for this move. And they've found me, too, or we wouldn't be writing this note.
But, this is the time, and here we GO!!!!!!
It's NOW APRIL 18th, as I didn't want to finish the "note" until I could send it---so, it's 6pm or so on 4/18, Friday night and I'm on a train to DC to see my two girls at Georgetown, and I've completed my first WEEK of WORK, so NOW I can finish and publish this final note that I told you I wouldn't send until I WAS WORKING, and I AM--- AM, that sounds like "am", as in 5:10am, which is when my alarm rang this morning, and that is truly the best measure my body has that I am WORKING!!!! Because sabbatical days, trust me, DO NOT start at 5:10am--- although I did fairly frequently have a routine around 5:10pm!!!!!!!
So to the finish--- and what's happened since --- I thoroughly enjoyed my first week of work and think I have been fortunate to find a place that calls me to my mission--- not quite like a sabbatical, and in one week you get underneath the hood and you see that like most businesses and corporate environments you have your "happy" and "unhappy" people, you're "love it here" and "not so much"!!!
But I'm about building, experiencing, growing, and raising, not about "where we are" but more about WHERE ARE WE GOING--- so any of these sound bites, the "10 bankers left", the "tough markets affecting the stock", the rest of it to me seem like such small problems when my mission is to help my colleagues figure out how to grow our business while it appears many/most of the competitive landscape is focused on shrinking--
I have to be the only person in the financial markets that met 20 people this week with the sole purpose of "recruiting them"!!!!!!
Ooohhh ooohhh oooh ALL RIGHT-
Oooooh ooohhh oooh "all right" ,
ALL RIGHT
KITTY's BACK IN TOWN, and SANDY, and the E STREET Shuffle---
And you know who was back in town today? in the BIG NYC, that same city where people don't sleep and I WORK!!!!!??? For MY first week of work, of course you'll say it's just another silly boardwalk coincidence, that my MAIN man Most Excellency the POPE, you know, HIS MOST EXCELLENCY POPE BENEDICT, the very same ONE I stood next to in DEC '06 when I was on SABBATICAL!!!!!!!!
Yeah, so the POPE is Back, and KITTY's BACK, and BRUCE fan's the world over have lost another member of the clan-- Danny Federici passed away 4/17th and has joined Terry and I can't help and reflect about how sad that E Street Band must be, and how sad all us fans are, and I just acknowledge that we're all here for such a short time, in such a WIDE open space, that we just HAVE TO make the MOST of our GOD-GIVEN TALENTS, whether they turn us into a great teacher, a wonderful social worker or medical field caregiver, a GIFTED ORGAN PLAYER, simple laborer, or just a humble priest turned POPE—we’ve go to take advantage of our FREEDOM
Use the talents, and LEAD with your HEART-and, (you've heard me say this before),
LET LOVE BE YOUR CORNERSTONE!!!!
Whatever that calling is in each of us, it's hard to lose identity, our identity, during periods like the current one--- where economic moments collide with market moments and in the wink of an eye and industry lops 100,000 jobs of the top (that's where the financial industry is heading during this contraction by my estimates)-- and WORK is such an "IDENTITY" thing---isn't it?
What do you want to be when you grown up?
What are you studying to be?
What do you do?
What did you do?
Remember those Camino comments and my point about "why" not "what??, as in "why are we here" not "what do we do", as in work---
In all phases of our life, from a young child to an old man, people ask you to IDENTIFY yourself by the WHAT YOU DO???
It's hard to deny that "what we do", the why we wake up and our habit and our daily routine in this world an awful lot of the time revolves around WHERE, WHAT and HOW WE........ WORK!!!!!!!!!!
And LOSING that IDENTITY, even if its for a SABBATICAL,, but ESPECIALLY when its taken from you and was providing the food on the table (not to mention if you were a 10 or 20 year BEAR STEARNS veteran watching all your identity and hard work going out the window without your having ANY control), when one loses their JOB--- now THAT is HARD!!! And tough to deal with and an emotional and complicated challenge--
Here an NOW, when ONE needs to find that NEW identity to replace the old---[and I recognize that ALL of us are SO MUCH MORE than "where we work" or "what we do" but funny enough we kinda become known for that "workspace" we occupy, and we also become known for the reputation we carry in that SPACE---]
We might have "OTHER" identities,, like father, mother, "POPE", etc, but this "work" identity is undeniable--- it both gives us a PURPOSE and an IDENTITY--
Whether you're caring for the elderly, or working on Wall Street, people know who you are, and people know you, through your identity.-- your "work"-- maybe less so today than 100 years ago when “work” meant farming, fishing, and the advent of the industrial revolution was getting into full swing, but our identity is still very tied up in OUR WORK-
For instance, I knew DAN FEDERICI as "on the organ, Mr Dan Federici", when Bruce was introducing the band during concerts, just simply the sound of the E Street band that always brought me back to the boardwalk with his organ or accordion- ALWAYS, that was his identity to me.--and it was tied to..... His WORK-- that is, as artistically as he did it, even still, that was "his job"!!! And now it happens to be someone else's, and now that person will be "identified" by the "job" he inherited--- ps. That new person has it because he used his God-given talents to his fullest, clearly-- and that is also Danny's legacy, a lasting imprint on the minds of millions of fans as key ingredient in the sound known as the E-Street band.
Pretty nice legacy, and very warm and joyful memories, and this is from a distance.
So, Rest in Peace, Mrs. Applegate, and Rest in Peace, Mr Dan Federici-- and now God has at his side the greatest organ player this side of E Street, Main Street and Wall Street-
And nicest little lady this side of Pasadena-
And now to me--- and my NEW IDENTITY!!!!!! it's onto to helping all these displaced workers in our economy find a new place, a new identity, and I'm in the fortunate role of being able to be assisting and perhaps offering an opportunity to some of those people--- and that should be a lot of fun, HENCE why I thought the job would be fun, HENCE why I TOOK the damn JOB!!!!!!!!
FIND THE PONY---that is my advice to anyone suffering through these challenging times-- like Reagan said, a "recession" is when your neighbor is out of work, a "depression" is when YOU'RE OUT OF WORK!!!!
Find that PONY---in all this mess, with ALL THIS MANURE in the room we call the financial markets, THERE JUST HAS TO BE a PONY!!!!! In here somewhere!!!!!!!
So, I finished my first week at Jefferies & Co, and I've got a great partner, and his daughter was just accepted to G'Town!!!!! So we have that in common, and so work it is and I'm off on a new CAMINO!!!, a new path, a new walk, and it feels pretty good!!!!!! And the people seem great, and it's small, and there are (so far) NO MEETINGS!!!!! So it's all looking pretty good, but just like those Bear vet's one never knows what's around the corner---- Lead with Love and let the rest take care of itself--EVEN in WORK!!!!!!!
Trust me, one week back and I know LOVE works-----and I know loving work works too!!!!!!!!
But, to be clear, the "job" identity isn't something we get away from, but we shouldn't get LOST in it either---
The FACT of the MATTER is that PEOPLE give us jobs, just plain ordinary people who might be big and powerful and rich or not--but just people all the same--
There are two identities given to us by God, in contrast---- "Parent" is one, "spouse" is the other---so when you LOOK at the BIG PICTURE and you START out on your career or RESTART your JOB career don't get lost in IT so MUCH that you lose your REAL IDENTITY as a person, as a friend, as a soulmate, as a loving and giving parent--
Work helps define us and what we do, but it does not define WHO WE ARE!!!!!!!!!!!!
or WHY WE ARE HERE!!!!!!!! never lose sight of that-
So you can find me at my blog or on Bloomberg now if you have one, and all my old emails work so keep any thoughts or prayer requests coming--- and keep in mind those suffering in one way or another, a number of those who just aren't use to it and one year ago had a bright future and outlook---because now they have to FIND THEIR PONY---and things probably look bleak if they don’t keep the big picture in mind-
Of course, if they ask me, I might tell them to just take it easy and go take a walk......>>>. A LONG one, and slow down and seek and find the face and spirit of God in all that is around us....
TRANSFORMATION-----
Big word, kinda like INNOVATION, but INNOVATION, even capitalized, doesn't mean TRANSFORMATION!!!!
I want to spend this last part of this LAST NOTE (really!!) On the word TRANSFORMATION---- and I want to apply it, not just use it in a sentence---
I think the last 18 months of my life have been TRANSFORMATIONAL for me---- I have progressed in the things I care about, in how I think, and the way I walk on my PATH, my CAMINO--and I truly know how incredibly lucky and blessed I was to be able to do almost exactly what I wanted without a care for this time at this moment in my life--- I don't know why I am so blessed, and I trust and pray that I just need to continue the walk I am on--- wherever it leads me--LEADING with LOVE (and no, this doesn't mean I will never raise my voice in the office-- I haven't TRANSFORMED that MUCH)----
I have a desire to inspire--- how's that roll off the tongue -" A DESIRE TO INSPIRE!!!!!!" Anyone being touched by or reading this or accidentally ending up in this paragraph-- my desire for you , my prayer for you, is for you to be TRANSFORMED too, in a very simple, meaningful way, BY LOVE---
I know we can all do more than we do in this world to further the cause of LOVE, so I'm hoping that at least one thing in this long, winding, erratic run-on blog has touched you and inspired you to transform someone else with YOUR LOVE --- the more they need it, the more important it is that you take that step---
I'm saddened still as I write this by a recent incident in our town (yes, our home town that one never thinks things happen in except bliss!!)-- and that event was the passing away of a 14 year-old child of her own will and choice---- and these words don't come lightly --
And I think, and can't help but think, that somewhere on our path WE missed an opportunity to LOVE, and that "Darkness" on the edge of town I spoke of somehow crept inside of town won out over love, in a very extreme way ---
When one chooses permanent solutions to temporary problems it becomes extremely sad and ??? well, you can finish that sentence with your own thoughts--
Now I know most of you reading are not "connected" to this event (although I am hard- pressed to call the death of a 14 year-old "an event") and this is a "thing" that happens sometimes and it is an incredible tragedy and everyone is extremely sad and sorry and feels even worse for the family in this story.
But don't look for an explanation from me, things like this really can't be "explained"-- I tremble writing--- how do you even start to try and figure it out? You don't know, and I certainly don't know-- I don't know why the darkness won, but it did—---------BUT, you also can't just IGNORE IT and just go about your day thinking that everything goes BACK TO "NORMAL", "WHATEVER THE HECK THAT IS"!!!
And I'm sad- and I feel just plain bad for those affected--- and the NET is very, VERY WIDE--
And that goes back to my point about "interconnectedness"--- we are ALL interconnected, and a pebble in the ocean in Japan will ripple in some way through the vast ocean and impact us right here on the Eastern seaboard---
And we are all so interconnected that we CANNOT MISS opportunities to CONNECT--- with those that are "LIKE" us, whatever that means, but especially with those that "aren't like us"-- you know, different, needy, aloof, whatever- adults, children, YOUR CHILDREN, MINE, we need to show the way- the WAY to LOVE, by CONNECTING ourselves---BY SLOWING DOWN in a very fast world--- and taking time with people that we can and do touch.
You remember the teachers in the hallways when you were rushing to class????
"WALK, Don't Run"!!!!!! they would yell, so you upright your body and move your straight legs really fast---
WALK, DON'T RUN!!!!!!!!! Slow Down---and see the signs being directed at you---
That's it-- because if we miss that opportunity, you just never know the ripples --not that you "caused" those ripples, but they happened nonetheless—and the point is not about causing ripples, but THAT WE do not miss the opportunity to CAUSE RIPPLES OF LOVE, MY "RAISE THE LOVE RATE" comment—THAT’s RIGHT, be a FORCE in RAISING THE LOVE RATE---
So, today, lastly, CONNECT, all over, with LOVE--- and if you're not getting this, then SLOW DOWN, WALK, don't run, in the pace of your life and the people's lives you touch.
Pls keep your fellow man, your neighbor, your family, your country, YOUR GOD, and your own SELF in your prayers--- oh, yeah, try it, so today after reading this I'm hoping I can do a little transforming myself--- AND SLOW DOWN a little so you can even notice some of those folks--
Say a prayer for the people dealing with this tragedy in my town, and say a prayer for our youth, our Nation's youth, that they have the strength to overcome the challenges posed by this new age that they are growing up in-- it's quite a hard place, much different than that simple place Betty Applegate grew up in 1915, and between the internet and the TV and the girls in Florida beating a neighborhood "popular" girl, it is a world that is being challenged by the "progress" we have made on some fronts-- and the “lack of progress” we haven't made on others---right here, down the block, next door, across the street, and right in our own home---
We NEED to TRANSFORM IT with love, and we need to recognize THAT TRANSFORMATION is more important than any old JOB or WORK or IDENTITY--- we're a little too caught up in THAT!!!!!!!
So, after you've said that prayer, and you're still with me, I've got my proposal for you---
It's MY IDEA on how we can TRULY TRANSFORM---
TOMMYT’S FREEDOM TOUR IDEA FOR THE YOUTH OF OUR NATION—
Barack? you getting this?--just making sure now that you have Bruce's endorsement!!!!
Not sure you remember I talked about going to New Orleans in December to help some folks move back into their homes for XMas? I never really elaborated (believe it or not I missed some details!!!) on that trip, on the fact that ONE Wall Street firm paid the expenses of the 50 volunteers with a donation for that trip???
The name of that firm??? BEAR STEARNS!!!!!!!
well, during my trip to New Orleans with "H.E.A.R.T. 911" the WTC rescue workers group,( http://www.heart911.org/ ) to learn more about this great org)....
I met a great group of people that were in our "Camp Hope" barracks who had volunteered as part of AmeriCorps youth volunteers team and had been assigned to New Orleans for 1 or 2 years. These kids were 18-24 years old, some were in college and some weren't, but ALL were working and helping as part of an engaged community (very much like my Community of Pilgrims!!!), and of course bunk beds were part of the territory. ALL made the choice to volunteer--
Ready??? I'm READY, as Tracy Chapman sings--I'm not sure how we "teach" the pure old fashioned American Dream, and I know the "RIGHTS" people wouldn't want me to “impose” things on people--
BUT we do have TO DO something!!!!! Don't we??
What do I propose????I propose we attempt to transform, TRANSFORM our NATION's YOUTH---
Pretty bold sounding, eh????
Let me continue, and finish all in one---
The "YOUTH of THE NATION"
Except this time we tell people if you WANT to live here, in the USofA, then you've got to do just ONE THING, ONE TIME in your life as a citizen, and we'll PAY YOU for it too!!!
We need to give our youth, more than anything else, the HOPE and the LOVE--- and unfortunately we need to face up to the fact that we need to do a better job teaching THE HOPE and THE LOVE IN THIS CURRENT DAY IN AGE???, don't we???--- the only way one LEARNS HOPE and LOVE is by experiencing it through GIVING, and GETTING, HOPE and LOVE---
One needs to get away from the internet, cable, TV, and just DO SOMETHING---
So I propose that we REQUIRE 18 year-old students finishing high school in our country to enlist in AmeriCorps--- REQUIRED---ENLISTMENT--- DRAFT THEM!!!!!! If they don't have anything to do well then guess what?? problem solved-- and if they do well then they can choose when to take a breath and take a walk and give of themselves a little >>>
WELL<<>>>>>…….WELL<<>YOUTH ONENESS!!!!!!!!!, as I like to call it---
When someone asks you what you're doing after high school, EVERYONE will have AT LEAST one answer, and that answer, I'm highly confident, will lead to others--- and somewhere in all the MANURE they walk through-- GUESS WHAT---- my BET is they will FIND THEIR PONY-
--And it is very clear to me that we need to start doing something more to give our nations’ youth that HOPE and LOVE and CONFIDENCE in their futures-- not just the smart ones, or the rich ones, or the middle ones, but "ALL" THE ONES---and it is also very clear that today's programs, the ones your taxes are paying for, are falling far short of their goal and therefore we are wasting money on unproductive and unsuccessful attempts—
It’s a different age, and we need a DIFFERENT PROGRAM----and we MIGHT need a NEW LEADER to LEAD us with it---
I've seen money thrown in vast amounts in directions that reap no dividends in the name of opportunity???? And they have largely FAILED to TRANSFORM--At least they, all our youth, will know they are ALL CONNECTED by this LOVE, this common mission that they know they and their fellow schoolmates will be experiencing at some point after high school, --and perhaps it will calm the psycho A student who can't take not getting into Harvard, and perhaps it will give the directionless kid in south city center a new purpose and choice in a road mired with poverty and no hope.
And perhaps the whole youth of the Nation will connect as one, in ONENESS!!!!!!!, on this one project----
We formerly had military enlistment, through the draft---Now, let's DRAFT our youth into a 9 month volunteer program where we feed them (some of them aren't getting that in this country, by the way!!!), we teach them, we mentor them, and somewhere in all this I'm sure we will LOVE them too---
Yeah, I know, PARENTS are suppose to do this??? Well, the Florida girls assault story aside, I don't think the country should stand idly by while the erosion of our moral fiber weighs in the balance. WE need to find this path now, while people are young, and touch them in a way most of them will never experience—
...and dream, and hope, in this land of ours—this land of hope and dreams!!!!!!!!
New Idea, New Time, New ROAD, NEW Path, NEW CAMINO, for us------ so i'll send this little missive along and see where this lands in DC-
TO LOVE, because Love is truly the greatest power we have in this world, and it is our bridge that survives us into the next. It is, and it will be, our legacy. Yours and Mine.
On the end of one journey, and the beginning of a new one,
Knowing that I know little, but I understand more than I did before this sabbatical started,
I leave you, and my sabbatical behind, with this prayer from St. Therese of Lisieux – --Saint Therese is known as the "Saint of the Little Ways"
Saint Therese's Prayer
May today there be peace within.
May you trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be.
May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith.
May you use those gifts that you have received, and pass on the love that has been given to you.
May you be confident knowing you are a child of God. Let this presence settle into your bones, and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love.
It is there for each and every one of us.
Nuff said-music and joy and dance and love—trusting that you are exactly where you are meant to be-
Peace
TT
THE END—really!!!!!
Sunday, March 30, 2008
WRITTEN MARCH 1ST-- 25TH ANNIVERSARY DINNER AND GIANT'S SUPER BOWL VICTORY REFLECTIONS
I know I keep using words like FINALE and FINISH and "sabbatical ends", and you're not going to hear from me again UNTIL I'm working-HAVE a JOB, you know, AM EMPLOYED!!!!
But I've continued to adjust and subsist in this spiral of a sabbatical and the joys and experiences that have been encountered.
It's TOUGH out there---- and I'm not kidding!!!!!!
My wife and I decided to go to Anguilla for 5 days as I told her our 25th Wedding anniversary would be approximately one month into my new job and I didn't think it proper to tell new boss(es) I'm in need of a vacation after having been on one for a straight 18 months!!!!!
So off we go, we learn about the Island, we read the books written by the Blanchard's, the salad dressing couple from Vermont who moved to Anguilla 15 years ago to take "a trip to the beach" and made it their home. We arrived at Cap Jaluca, an out of this world beachfront resort that seemed appropriate for celebrating the likes of us (Liz and I) and our hard and enjoyable work of being in love throughout these 25 years time. We love the beach and its relaxing, mellow nature. I think of all the things we have done together sitting on the beach and it fits us truly best. Talking, enjoying company, dining, drinking, reading, contemplating, praying, walking dogs, mourning, recovering, even WRITING can be done quite simply and comfortably on a beautiful, sparsely populated beach with nothing on your feet, very little clothing on your body, and suntan lotion smothering your skin. It fits us. WE are an US. No two ways about it, we get on and examine our lives and reflect and observe, and we look again at each other and say-- is it us? Are we deluding ourselves into thinking we're really normal and committed and comfortable in each other's space or in our own (six weeks without me, six weeks in Spain without her, and we know that it works either way. We are tethered at the hip, like an adult umbilical cord that has gone wireless and telepathic over 28 years (I met her at a bar in 1980, don't forget). Traveling in Asia for weeks, frequent, constant trips the world over for something called "work", and just the normal I'm not going anywhere for two weeks, then I leave on any particular Monday morning at 5:45 am and the next time we have a conversation is Friday night sometime between 7-9pm, depending on which year or decade of the work-career path I was in. And I always relied on Liz to pursue her career with equal and fervent passion, as I was somewhat passionate about her focus, which was of course the one, then two, then ultimately three children I was part-time assisting her in raising. It was an unspoken, unwritten, non-verbal agreement that we had committed to this particular life and woke everyday seemingly enjoying it, pausing occasionally and getting away one-on-one (an essential ingredient in a one-on-one relationship is to go away from here to there (wherever) to make sure there IS a one-on-one; when kids, jobs, clubs, stress, strife, and exterior family presence exists nonstop during the everyday thing we call life!!!!) to regroup the mental and physical nodes of connection and affirming that enjoyment of one another.
So there you have it, we went away and found ourselves at this wonderful restaurant, Blanchard’s, on the NW side of Anguilla looking out to the Ocean, with the beach sand about 5 yards away, our table's two seats facing outward to the Caribbean, and the night sky just turning pink/blue as the Sun has set on the western horizon, and we sit down to a magnificent, slow-paced, sumptuous, naturally fresh dinner. The non-cream based Corn Chowder flavor actually pinged inside your mouth, letting you know there were no fresher ingredients for this soup on the face of the Earth!!!!!! The restaurant's colors and the Blanchard's son's artwork, which adorned each and every wall, oozed beach and blue and soft and subtle but celebratory. We weren't having dinner in a restaurant; we were participating in a culinary and sensory event. The ocean scent combined with the food and the wine combined with the wait staff's deferential but extremely attentive treatment allowed Liz and I to spend some time thinking back on all that has been, all the twists and turns, all that we know, and truly take a breath in our own little space at that table, and reflect and actually discuss, man to woman, what it was like to be.... us. And that's exactly what we did. We know, are fully aware, and as best we can try to fully APPRECIATE, how incredibly blessed we've been on this, our 25th anniversary dinner. We went deep, recognizing that we enjoy and are pretty good at enjoying each other’s company. In a REAL way, without artificial ingredients like pomposity, ostentatious ness (this email excluded because I'm a little concerned with how carried away I'm getting but seem to think there is some higher purpose by me writing this-- you know, a couple in love or “falling out of it" reads this and says "let's try and do that" or something--) okay, where was I-
Without pomp, condescension of others or each other, acknowledging how incredibly quotidian, residential, middle/lower class roots (she's the middle one, by the way) heritage'd, rural, working class, political outsiders, unmoving and non-shaking--- JUST THE TWO OF US in a restaurant with every table full, but without awareness or distraction of their presence, enjoying the moment of celebration for all that has come, and being thankful and thanking God for it, and praying he keeps us safe for all that is to come ahead.
How did the anniversary sidetrack start?? Oh yeah, I said "it's TOUGH" out there!!!!! And I mean it.
What do I mean? Well, one week building houses in New Orleans (December '07) will open your eyes, one meeting with someone dealing with a child (young adult) telling you (their father) to go to hell, one coffee with a single-divorced mom whose child is in college and recognizing her life's focus is moving on and she is left asking "what's next??” all the while wondering if she will ever love another with the faith she put in her original love???-- That’s kinda what I mean?
Or going to the local bar/restaurant, and realizing the majority of that's nights clientele are all falling out of one relationship, managing others, managing kids, and at war with lawyers and money and someone who use to be their "dream" partner.
Or, someone dealing with the incredible loss of their special someone and knowing they have to rebuild, renew, and "get on"--but HOW?
Or the professional executive or working class laborer caught up in the current economic malaise and wondering how he burdened himself with commitments that seem extraordinary large now that the professional work path has been tossed up in the air and no one knows where it will land!!!!!!!!
That’s what I mean by "it's TOUGH out there.
And you know what??? YOU, and certainly I, don't know!!!!!!!! We DON'T KNOW how tough it is for "them", and we don't know the story we think we KNOW, and we don't know DICK or Harry or Mary or Suzie of Johnny so well that we can truly appreciate what they are going through, how they are dealing, and what their Camino holds in store for them when they go home, or next week, or next year or even the dramatically dark thoughts that they had last night----
SO, we should really, REALLY stop talking and judging and opining on the stuff we THINK we know-
We SHOULD just LOVE!!!!! That's it, JUST LOVE!!!!!!
Again, I'm the one just off the trail, you know, that 500 mile walk that took 36 days and spent it walking through Spain, the Camino de Santiago, and I've rejoined my Camino here, my road, my path, and I'm observing people on theirs, and I'm saying here that as people go through their 40's, their 50's, their late 30's, and they midway through make-or-break years or episodes of relationships, or career paths, or lack thereof given Wall Street continues to implode peoples own confidence in their futures, there is a WHOLE LOTTA stuff going on-- and I'm HOPING everyone gets through the STUFF and we all wind up HAPPY TOGETHER-
you know
Remember you and me,
- think about u day night,
So happy together!!!!
For all my life!!
And poof, something twists and turns and the divorce rate is 50% and the LOVE rate is going the other way!!!
That's right, the LOVE RATE!!!!!!!!
The amount of time we spend each day loving one another as we love ourselves each day, every day, it's called the "LOVE RATE" and its going down while the divorce rate, the hate rate, the gossip rate, the judge 'em because I think I know and she's been wronged and he's an a-hole rate (or visa versa)-- all those rates are going up----
It ain't right, people, and we gotta start givin a "lotta love"
It's gonna take a "lotta love", by Nicolette Larson circa 70's music scene-
NOT the love you feel in the 500 person plate charity dinner you attended 3 months ago, I MEAN the "love" you gave while spending time with someone clearly in need of it (your time) and actually listening to what it is THEY are saying, THEY are dealing with, and sharing some compassion and perspective.
And this brings me to ANGER!!!!! We have got to lose the ANGER, people--and we've got to help the people who've got it to LOSE THEIR ANGER. How many stories do I hear about a relationship that has fallen on hard times and a breakup progresses and
the whole objective becomes get the kids AS ANGRY as I am at the OTHER Spouse--- if you're a friend on one side of these things you might even agree that he/she (the other one) is a real a-hole and deserves whatever consequences they are getting--
But encouraging, coaching, coaxing, and conniving someone else to hate one part of two that was responsible for their being kids in this world to begin with is, in my book, hurting the LOVE RATE!!!! Not to say it's screwing with the kids mind ("heck, I'm all messed up I might as well take the whole ship with me!!!")
Well, this where we come in, or maybe one day you come in for me or I for you or who knows, as WE don't KNOW!!!!!! But WE, YOU and ME, we gotta be there showing the path to love, engaging with love, embracing with love, and getting people to surrender to LOVE---
So, if you're wondering how I'm doing after having left my Camino way back in Spain, I guess you can see I'm observing things here but one of my lenses sees things from there--- the walk, the peace, the solitude of a contemplative, SLOWLY moving mind that captures the moment and tries, really tries, to find the goodness and the Godliness in those moments.
What am I doing about? The LOVE RATE? Simple, I'm spending time talking, and listening, and I've even come up with an alternative career path for sometime in my future which I'll go on record here and say anyone feeling they'd like/need to talk to me about it (whatever the "it" is for them) I'm available, and in fact I've already had a few of these-- unscheduled, unplanned, natural conversations that start somewhere and end up, unpredictably, somewhere else that no one of the two would have even dreamed a mere 5 minutes before (I'm not a mind reader, and I've already established above we know nothing, or certainly less than we think about whatever is going on in who we are talking about).
So, me, I'm setting up the TommyT Life Coach sessions, and anyone is invited and welcome--- (by the way, I'm not kidding and I'm READY and I'll be AROUND and available!!!!)
We'll let's just see how it goes---
What can you expect???
1) Music analogies for sure!!!!! And I'll probably pick an opening song for listening and reflection and maybe even a closing song--
SONG/MUSIC THERAPY, although I don't like that word associated with "coaching" because I'll be COACHING, NOT CURING!!!!! If you need a CURE then I'm not the right way to go!!!!
2) An email follow-up with my afterthoughts that might take longer to read then the session!!!! Oh yeah!!!! I can see it now--- dear xyz, -I've been thinking, and--
Well that's how this email, the one your reading right here, got started-- I started with the plane door closing on my way to Steamboat to go skiing with Allie and Matt is meeting us there Tuesday (it's Saturday, march 1st) and the plane door closed, I started reading a story about Bono and how great a world citizen he is and all, and then started thinking and put the article down and the bbery up and AWAY WE GO--- and I started with the concept of sharing the magnificent time this group of people had being together on Super Bowl Sunday watching the Giants win, --- really, that is where I started and you know what, an hour or two into and I haven't even told you about that and you've joined my 25th anniv celebration, we've discussed a very important and new governmental index, the "LOVE RATE", and I've launched a new business even as I can't determine which of three paths I'm going to pursue as I go back to "BEING EMPLOYED"!!!!!!!!
And now I've written a short, non-fiction story!!!!!!
SUPER BOWL SUNDAY!!!!!!
Well, we can't have the GIANTS in the Super Bowl without first talking about how I didn't go to Green Bay for the Championship game after telling a good friend we were going AFTER the Giants beat the Cowboys!!!!
Well I told Bonnie (friend whose Mom is a bigger fan than all of you!!!!) we were going, but then Tuesday became Wednesday and the Green Bay weather report was for MINUS 2 degrees at game time, coupled with the fact that I had an old small TV in my great room, convinced me to let my MS boys have all the freezing fun
And I would go buy a new TV and have a party----
So a small crowd came over (yes, you were invited, I'm quite sure!!)
We watched the game and the emotion continued to rise to the point that it burst as the GIANTS won, and we're going to the SUPER BOWL!!!!!!
And heck, I actually WENT to the SUPER BOWL last year too!!!! So, I started my planning and stuff and then reminded myself that the Super Bowl is one DAMN expensive game and despite my calling it a sabbatical, its still UNEMPLOYED and my BURN RATE would make a DOT.COM look conservative--- oh, and the whole family would "love" to go!!!!
So, I strategically gather the troops in fiendish plan to save a TON of money (my personal life coach skills coming into play!!!)--
Who are the troops???? Well, there all as old as me and have been around me since I was a kid, my homies, my boys from St. Joe's of Toms River, my lifelong friends from grammar school and high school, mostly known as my football teammates (except Jack, he's the musician!!).
Well, I send the signal out to them via radar that we are going to have the "mother" of all super bowl parties, and softly whisper to Liz that we should stay home and have all the troops and their families and in-laws and all up to the house for the party since a lot of them are Giants fans!!!(Oh, did I mention, I'm a NEW YORK fan, no bias--love 'em all, but in ‘69, as a 9yr old kid, my affinity was my dream team seasons of METS, JETS, and KNICKS!!!)
Taking my dad to the 1986 World Series Gooden-Clemens game was just one way I thanked him for making me a Met's fan (again, love the yanks, but I am what I am).
And the troops give the signal that all systems are go, and all the kids are coming, and we are going to have North Carolina outer banks vacation (that where we all would go from 1993-2004, until life got too complicated with ALL the kids and ALL the sports and ALL the schedules) reunion right in my great room, and there'd be this pretty big (okay, HUGE) TV there to watch the game!!!!
The kids, all of them from the North Carolina crowd show except my girls, who are away at college. The rest of them spread from age 16/17 to age 5 or so, and a whole potpourri they are!!!!! Matt, my son, and all these kids just come together like they have grown up their lives together, which they have, and its like they are all cousins and we are all called uncle Tommy or Aunt Lizzy and the like--
And most of the people who are invited come, and the neighbors come, and Baktu from Pakistan, who is visiting as a student with one my of my homies, well he comes too!!!!! Baktu lives with John and Adam and he's attending St. Joe's of Toms River,
only now they call it Monsignor Donovan as they named the school after the founder, Father Larry Donovan, who we all knew quite well.
Well, we had been doing these Super Bowl party in the 80's and 90's, but the lateness of the game and the kids going to school and the rest of us going to work the next day made it inconvenient for everybody to do this every year and traveling to Rumson from all over the state was just a hassle.
BUT, the Giants making the Super Bowl, and excitement with the WAY they made it made coming together as a group for this night undeniable.
So, we did it!!!!!
And so did the GIANTS!!!!
We set the rules up front, the great room was a room of focus-- plenty of space elsewhere for other talk, but once the game started the focus in the great room was to be the football game on the screen (and the commercials, of course).
Small talk, other chatter, kids playing happened, if it happened at all, elsewhere in the house or outside.
And the first half progressed and the GIANTS were very much in the game, and except for one play they outplayed the Pat's.
HALFTIME SHOW--- We had our own!!!!! We had a couple of piano players play. (Baktu being the concertist!!), we had the traditional, FULL BLASTED STEREO version of "Seasons of Love" from Rent, with everybody singing and clapping and grooving and dancing ( this was quite a sight for the neighbors as they hadn't seen this troop age of 20+ people in harmony before)
Then we watched the Tom Petty show, then went back to the stereo on superpower for Guns & Roses!!!!, then sat down to focus on the 2nd half.
It was all coming together!!!! The game, the people, the shared reunion of most and the first union of others, but this night was one of unison. It was OUTSTANDING, and we as the parents were starting to watch a few other things too, like these great kids that have such connectivity, respect, honesty and freedom with each other like they have with few other people in the world. That's right, they all have great friends and schoolmates where they live, but with this group there is no pretension, no "peer" pressure, no need to be anything other than just what they were last year and 5 years ago on the beach. I had the sense that all us parents were taking a little of the "watching the kids" enjoy each others company as much as we were enjoying the parents company and obviously we were ALL fully engaged with the game as it entered the fourth quarter.
I never sat down during the fourth quarter. After the Pat's went ahead and the Giants were getting the ball with 2+ minutes to go I proclaimed to the group that this was OUR time, right here, right now, in my very loud and enthusiastic way, to help the Giants BELIEVE, we had to BELIEVE they were going to win this game.
The same way I knew G'Town was going to beat Kentucky being down by 12 pts at the half in 1984, the same way I KNEW the Mets were going to pull it out in 1986 and stayed in the car to listen to Game 6 instead of pulling into the parking garage and losing the radio signal (and the next batter was Mookie!!), the way-- well, you get my drift.
It was so much fun being with these people in this moment, my guess is we felt just as good as the Giants did, minus 1!!!!
I'm sure many people have incredible experiences of how much fun and joy they had in the simple act of watching a game.
And that brings this post to a close. It won't be sent, so if you're reading and hopefully enjoying this thanks for coming to the blog. RAISE THE "LOVE RATE" all day long.
and for a closing, as usual, I have a little something that caught my eye in the aftermath of the Giants victory over the Pat's, and knowing that I'm writing about the Giants and also about love and romance and blessings, I thought I would close by sharing with you the public announcement at Fordham Prep High School, made the morning of 2/5/08, the day after the Giants victory.
4 February 2008 - Giants Super Bowl Victory--Fordham Prep High School announcement--
Please stand for this morning's prayer:
Today is the Jesuit Feast of the Martyrs of the Mission, but I think these holy men will forgive us if instead we reflect this morning on another great religious theme: miracles in the desert, in particular the one that took place last night in Arizona.
The sports section in recent years has rivaled police blotters for stories that seem to expose the dark side of human nature. Headlines are more likely to feature words like sadism, salaries, and steroids, than they are words like challenge, character, and championship.
But last night's victory by the Giants over the Patriots was filled with moving images and life lessons that reflect sports and humanity at their best.
The Giants game plan reminded us that the hard work of planning and executing can make up for what may be inferior talent.
Their total team effort reminded us that we are at our best when we work for and with others. And it reminded us that each of us can make a contribution, whether we're a star adored by millions or a no-name loved only by our mothers.
The play of the defense reminded us that we can do great things when we act with enthusiasm and intensity.
The images of Jacobs and Bradshaw reminded us that sometimes we measure success in inches, and, at other times, we've got to look to burst out of our current environs to seek new horizons.
Manning to Tyree reminded us never to give up even when we're being dragged down, to always use our heads to keep our acts together, and that a Hail Mary is never out of place.
Watching Peyton root for Eli reminded us that, unlike the Cain and Abel story, genuine glory seeks to be shared, not hoarded.
And, most importantly, this year's Super Bowl is a reminder, going as far back as the Tower of Babel story, that it is not for humans to seek perfection; rather, we are called to do the best with we've been given and to ask God that that be enough.
Let us pray: Heavenly Father, we thank you for the gift of sports in our lives, for the fun and recreation they make possible, but especially for the values they can teach and the virtues they can instill.
Amen.
italics are mine---
May those "virtues", those we saw on that field that day, flourish in a world that needs them
tt
But I've continued to adjust and subsist in this spiral of a sabbatical and the joys and experiences that have been encountered.
It's TOUGH out there---- and I'm not kidding!!!!!!
My wife and I decided to go to Anguilla for 5 days as I told her our 25th Wedding anniversary would be approximately one month into my new job and I didn't think it proper to tell new boss(es) I'm in need of a vacation after having been on one for a straight 18 months!!!!!
So off we go, we learn about the Island, we read the books written by the Blanchard's, the salad dressing couple from Vermont who moved to Anguilla 15 years ago to take "a trip to the beach" and made it their home. We arrived at Cap Jaluca, an out of this world beachfront resort that seemed appropriate for celebrating the likes of us (Liz and I) and our hard and enjoyable work of being in love throughout these 25 years time. We love the beach and its relaxing, mellow nature. I think of all the things we have done together sitting on the beach and it fits us truly best. Talking, enjoying company, dining, drinking, reading, contemplating, praying, walking dogs, mourning, recovering, even WRITING can be done quite simply and comfortably on a beautiful, sparsely populated beach with nothing on your feet, very little clothing on your body, and suntan lotion smothering your skin. It fits us. WE are an US. No two ways about it, we get on and examine our lives and reflect and observe, and we look again at each other and say-- is it us? Are we deluding ourselves into thinking we're really normal and committed and comfortable in each other's space or in our own (six weeks without me, six weeks in Spain without her, and we know that it works either way. We are tethered at the hip, like an adult umbilical cord that has gone wireless and telepathic over 28 years (I met her at a bar in 1980, don't forget). Traveling in Asia for weeks, frequent, constant trips the world over for something called "work", and just the normal I'm not going anywhere for two weeks, then I leave on any particular Monday morning at 5:45 am and the next time we have a conversation is Friday night sometime between 7-9pm, depending on which year or decade of the work-career path I was in. And I always relied on Liz to pursue her career with equal and fervent passion, as I was somewhat passionate about her focus, which was of course the one, then two, then ultimately three children I was part-time assisting her in raising. It was an unspoken, unwritten, non-verbal agreement that we had committed to this particular life and woke everyday seemingly enjoying it, pausing occasionally and getting away one-on-one (an essential ingredient in a one-on-one relationship is to go away from here to there (wherever) to make sure there IS a one-on-one; when kids, jobs, clubs, stress, strife, and exterior family presence exists nonstop during the everyday thing we call life!!!!) to regroup the mental and physical nodes of connection and affirming that enjoyment of one another.
So there you have it, we went away and found ourselves at this wonderful restaurant, Blanchard’s, on the NW side of Anguilla looking out to the Ocean, with the beach sand about 5 yards away, our table's two seats facing outward to the Caribbean, and the night sky just turning pink/blue as the Sun has set on the western horizon, and we sit down to a magnificent, slow-paced, sumptuous, naturally fresh dinner. The non-cream based Corn Chowder flavor actually pinged inside your mouth, letting you know there were no fresher ingredients for this soup on the face of the Earth!!!!!! The restaurant's colors and the Blanchard's son's artwork, which adorned each and every wall, oozed beach and blue and soft and subtle but celebratory. We weren't having dinner in a restaurant; we were participating in a culinary and sensory event. The ocean scent combined with the food and the wine combined with the wait staff's deferential but extremely attentive treatment allowed Liz and I to spend some time thinking back on all that has been, all the twists and turns, all that we know, and truly take a breath in our own little space at that table, and reflect and actually discuss, man to woman, what it was like to be.... us. And that's exactly what we did. We know, are fully aware, and as best we can try to fully APPRECIATE, how incredibly blessed we've been on this, our 25th anniversary dinner. We went deep, recognizing that we enjoy and are pretty good at enjoying each other’s company. In a REAL way, without artificial ingredients like pomposity, ostentatious ness (this email excluded because I'm a little concerned with how carried away I'm getting but seem to think there is some higher purpose by me writing this-- you know, a couple in love or “falling out of it" reads this and says "let's try and do that" or something--) okay, where was I-
Without pomp, condescension of others or each other, acknowledging how incredibly quotidian, residential, middle/lower class roots (she's the middle one, by the way) heritage'd, rural, working class, political outsiders, unmoving and non-shaking--- JUST THE TWO OF US in a restaurant with every table full, but without awareness or distraction of their presence, enjoying the moment of celebration for all that has come, and being thankful and thanking God for it, and praying he keeps us safe for all that is to come ahead.
How did the anniversary sidetrack start?? Oh yeah, I said "it's TOUGH" out there!!!!! And I mean it.
What do I mean? Well, one week building houses in New Orleans (December '07) will open your eyes, one meeting with someone dealing with a child (young adult) telling you (their father) to go to hell, one coffee with a single-divorced mom whose child is in college and recognizing her life's focus is moving on and she is left asking "what's next??” all the while wondering if she will ever love another with the faith she put in her original love???-- That’s kinda what I mean?
Or going to the local bar/restaurant, and realizing the majority of that's nights clientele are all falling out of one relationship, managing others, managing kids, and at war with lawyers and money and someone who use to be their "dream" partner.
Or, someone dealing with the incredible loss of their special someone and knowing they have to rebuild, renew, and "get on"--but HOW?
Or the professional executive or working class laborer caught up in the current economic malaise and wondering how he burdened himself with commitments that seem extraordinary large now that the professional work path has been tossed up in the air and no one knows where it will land!!!!!!!!
That’s what I mean by "it's TOUGH out there.
And you know what??? YOU, and certainly I, don't know!!!!!!!! We DON'T KNOW how tough it is for "them", and we don't know the story we think we KNOW, and we don't know DICK or Harry or Mary or Suzie of Johnny so well that we can truly appreciate what they are going through, how they are dealing, and what their Camino holds in store for them when they go home, or next week, or next year or even the dramatically dark thoughts that they had last night----
SO, we should really, REALLY stop talking and judging and opining on the stuff we THINK we know-
We SHOULD just LOVE!!!!! That's it, JUST LOVE!!!!!!
Again, I'm the one just off the trail, you know, that 500 mile walk that took 36 days and spent it walking through Spain, the Camino de Santiago, and I've rejoined my Camino here, my road, my path, and I'm observing people on theirs, and I'm saying here that as people go through their 40's, their 50's, their late 30's, and they midway through make-or-break years or episodes of relationships, or career paths, or lack thereof given Wall Street continues to implode peoples own confidence in their futures, there is a WHOLE LOTTA stuff going on-- and I'm HOPING everyone gets through the STUFF and we all wind up HAPPY TOGETHER-
you know
Remember you and me,
- think about u day night,
So happy together!!!!
For all my life!!
And poof, something twists and turns and the divorce rate is 50% and the LOVE rate is going the other way!!!
That's right, the LOVE RATE!!!!!!!!
The amount of time we spend each day loving one another as we love ourselves each day, every day, it's called the "LOVE RATE" and its going down while the divorce rate, the hate rate, the gossip rate, the judge 'em because I think I know and she's been wronged and he's an a-hole rate (or visa versa)-- all those rates are going up----
It ain't right, people, and we gotta start givin a "lotta love"
It's gonna take a "lotta love", by Nicolette Larson circa 70's music scene-
NOT the love you feel in the 500 person plate charity dinner you attended 3 months ago, I MEAN the "love" you gave while spending time with someone clearly in need of it (your time) and actually listening to what it is THEY are saying, THEY are dealing with, and sharing some compassion and perspective.
And this brings me to ANGER!!!!! We have got to lose the ANGER, people--and we've got to help the people who've got it to LOSE THEIR ANGER. How many stories do I hear about a relationship that has fallen on hard times and a breakup progresses and
the whole objective becomes get the kids AS ANGRY as I am at the OTHER Spouse--- if you're a friend on one side of these things you might even agree that he/she (the other one) is a real a-hole and deserves whatever consequences they are getting--
But encouraging, coaching, coaxing, and conniving someone else to hate one part of two that was responsible for their being kids in this world to begin with is, in my book, hurting the LOVE RATE!!!! Not to say it's screwing with the kids mind ("heck, I'm all messed up I might as well take the whole ship with me!!!")
Well, this where we come in, or maybe one day you come in for me or I for you or who knows, as WE don't KNOW!!!!!! But WE, YOU and ME, we gotta be there showing the path to love, engaging with love, embracing with love, and getting people to surrender to LOVE---
So, if you're wondering how I'm doing after having left my Camino way back in Spain, I guess you can see I'm observing things here but one of my lenses sees things from there--- the walk, the peace, the solitude of a contemplative, SLOWLY moving mind that captures the moment and tries, really tries, to find the goodness and the Godliness in those moments.
What am I doing about? The LOVE RATE? Simple, I'm spending time talking, and listening, and I've even come up with an alternative career path for sometime in my future which I'll go on record here and say anyone feeling they'd like/need to talk to me about it (whatever the "it" is for them) I'm available, and in fact I've already had a few of these-- unscheduled, unplanned, natural conversations that start somewhere and end up, unpredictably, somewhere else that no one of the two would have even dreamed a mere 5 minutes before (I'm not a mind reader, and I've already established above we know nothing, or certainly less than we think about whatever is going on in who we are talking about).
So, me, I'm setting up the TommyT Life Coach sessions, and anyone is invited and welcome--- (by the way, I'm not kidding and I'm READY and I'll be AROUND and available!!!!)
We'll let's just see how it goes---
What can you expect???
1) Music analogies for sure!!!!! And I'll probably pick an opening song for listening and reflection and maybe even a closing song--
SONG/MUSIC THERAPY, although I don't like that word associated with "coaching" because I'll be COACHING, NOT CURING!!!!! If you need a CURE then I'm not the right way to go!!!!
2) An email follow-up with my afterthoughts that might take longer to read then the session!!!! Oh yeah!!!! I can see it now--- dear xyz, -I've been thinking, and--
Well that's how this email, the one your reading right here, got started-- I started with the plane door closing on my way to Steamboat to go skiing with Allie and Matt is meeting us there Tuesday (it's Saturday, march 1st) and the plane door closed, I started reading a story about Bono and how great a world citizen he is and all, and then started thinking and put the article down and the bbery up and AWAY WE GO--- and I started with the concept of sharing the magnificent time this group of people had being together on Super Bowl Sunday watching the Giants win, --- really, that is where I started and you know what, an hour or two into and I haven't even told you about that and you've joined my 25th anniv celebration, we've discussed a very important and new governmental index, the "LOVE RATE", and I've launched a new business even as I can't determine which of three paths I'm going to pursue as I go back to "BEING EMPLOYED"!!!!!!!!
And now I've written a short, non-fiction story!!!!!!
SUPER BOWL SUNDAY!!!!!!
Well, we can't have the GIANTS in the Super Bowl without first talking about how I didn't go to Green Bay for the Championship game after telling a good friend we were going AFTER the Giants beat the Cowboys!!!!
Well I told Bonnie (friend whose Mom is a bigger fan than all of you!!!!) we were going, but then Tuesday became Wednesday and the Green Bay weather report was for MINUS 2 degrees at game time, coupled with the fact that I had an old small TV in my great room, convinced me to let my MS boys have all the freezing fun
And I would go buy a new TV and have a party----
So a small crowd came over (yes, you were invited, I'm quite sure!!)
We watched the game and the emotion continued to rise to the point that it burst as the GIANTS won, and we're going to the SUPER BOWL!!!!!!
And heck, I actually WENT to the SUPER BOWL last year too!!!! So, I started my planning and stuff and then reminded myself that the Super Bowl is one DAMN expensive game and despite my calling it a sabbatical, its still UNEMPLOYED and my BURN RATE would make a DOT.COM look conservative--- oh, and the whole family would "love" to go!!!!
So, I strategically gather the troops in fiendish plan to save a TON of money (my personal life coach skills coming into play!!!)--
Who are the troops???? Well, there all as old as me and have been around me since I was a kid, my homies, my boys from St. Joe's of Toms River, my lifelong friends from grammar school and high school, mostly known as my football teammates (except Jack, he's the musician!!).
Well, I send the signal out to them via radar that we are going to have the "mother" of all super bowl parties, and softly whisper to Liz that we should stay home and have all the troops and their families and in-laws and all up to the house for the party since a lot of them are Giants fans!!!(Oh, did I mention, I'm a NEW YORK fan, no bias--love 'em all, but in ‘69, as a 9yr old kid, my affinity was my dream team seasons of METS, JETS, and KNICKS!!!)
Taking my dad to the 1986 World Series Gooden-Clemens game was just one way I thanked him for making me a Met's fan (again, love the yanks, but I am what I am).
And the troops give the signal that all systems are go, and all the kids are coming, and we are going to have North Carolina outer banks vacation (that where we all would go from 1993-2004, until life got too complicated with ALL the kids and ALL the sports and ALL the schedules) reunion right in my great room, and there'd be this pretty big (okay, HUGE) TV there to watch the game!!!!
The kids, all of them from the North Carolina crowd show except my girls, who are away at college. The rest of them spread from age 16/17 to age 5 or so, and a whole potpourri they are!!!!! Matt, my son, and all these kids just come together like they have grown up their lives together, which they have, and its like they are all cousins and we are all called uncle Tommy or Aunt Lizzy and the like--
And most of the people who are invited come, and the neighbors come, and Baktu from Pakistan, who is visiting as a student with one my of my homies, well he comes too!!!!! Baktu lives with John and Adam and he's attending St. Joe's of Toms River,
only now they call it Monsignor Donovan as they named the school after the founder, Father Larry Donovan, who we all knew quite well.
Well, we had been doing these Super Bowl party in the 80's and 90's, but the lateness of the game and the kids going to school and the rest of us going to work the next day made it inconvenient for everybody to do this every year and traveling to Rumson from all over the state was just a hassle.
BUT, the Giants making the Super Bowl, and excitement with the WAY they made it made coming together as a group for this night undeniable.
So, we did it!!!!!
And so did the GIANTS!!!!
We set the rules up front, the great room was a room of focus-- plenty of space elsewhere for other talk, but once the game started the focus in the great room was to be the football game on the screen (and the commercials, of course).
Small talk, other chatter, kids playing happened, if it happened at all, elsewhere in the house or outside.
And the first half progressed and the GIANTS were very much in the game, and except for one play they outplayed the Pat's.
HALFTIME SHOW--- We had our own!!!!! We had a couple of piano players play. (Baktu being the concertist!!), we had the traditional, FULL BLASTED STEREO version of "Seasons of Love" from Rent, with everybody singing and clapping and grooving and dancing ( this was quite a sight for the neighbors as they hadn't seen this troop age of 20+ people in harmony before)
Then we watched the Tom Petty show, then went back to the stereo on superpower for Guns & Roses!!!!, then sat down to focus on the 2nd half.
It was all coming together!!!! The game, the people, the shared reunion of most and the first union of others, but this night was one of unison. It was OUTSTANDING, and we as the parents were starting to watch a few other things too, like these great kids that have such connectivity, respect, honesty and freedom with each other like they have with few other people in the world. That's right, they all have great friends and schoolmates where they live, but with this group there is no pretension, no "peer" pressure, no need to be anything other than just what they were last year and 5 years ago on the beach. I had the sense that all us parents were taking a little of the "watching the kids" enjoy each others company as much as we were enjoying the parents company and obviously we were ALL fully engaged with the game as it entered the fourth quarter.
I never sat down during the fourth quarter. After the Pat's went ahead and the Giants were getting the ball with 2+ minutes to go I proclaimed to the group that this was OUR time, right here, right now, in my very loud and enthusiastic way, to help the Giants BELIEVE, we had to BELIEVE they were going to win this game.
The same way I knew G'Town was going to beat Kentucky being down by 12 pts at the half in 1984, the same way I KNEW the Mets were going to pull it out in 1986 and stayed in the car to listen to Game 6 instead of pulling into the parking garage and losing the radio signal (and the next batter was Mookie!!), the way-- well, you get my drift.
It was so much fun being with these people in this moment, my guess is we felt just as good as the Giants did, minus 1!!!!
I'm sure many people have incredible experiences of how much fun and joy they had in the simple act of watching a game.
And that brings this post to a close. It won't be sent, so if you're reading and hopefully enjoying this thanks for coming to the blog. RAISE THE "LOVE RATE" all day long.
and for a closing, as usual, I have a little something that caught my eye in the aftermath of the Giants victory over the Pat's, and knowing that I'm writing about the Giants and also about love and romance and blessings, I thought I would close by sharing with you the public announcement at Fordham Prep High School, made the morning of 2/5/08, the day after the Giants victory.
4 February 2008 - Giants Super Bowl Victory--Fordham Prep High School announcement--
Please stand for this morning's prayer:
Today is the Jesuit Feast of the Martyrs of the Mission, but I think these holy men will forgive us if instead we reflect this morning on another great religious theme: miracles in the desert, in particular the one that took place last night in Arizona.
The sports section in recent years has rivaled police blotters for stories that seem to expose the dark side of human nature. Headlines are more likely to feature words like sadism, salaries, and steroids, than they are words like challenge, character, and championship.
But last night's victory by the Giants over the Patriots was filled with moving images and life lessons that reflect sports and humanity at their best.
The Giants game plan reminded us that the hard work of planning and executing can make up for what may be inferior talent.
Their total team effort reminded us that we are at our best when we work for and with others. And it reminded us that each of us can make a contribution, whether we're a star adored by millions or a no-name loved only by our mothers.
The play of the defense reminded us that we can do great things when we act with enthusiasm and intensity.
The images of Jacobs and Bradshaw reminded us that sometimes we measure success in inches, and, at other times, we've got to look to burst out of our current environs to seek new horizons.
Manning to Tyree reminded us never to give up even when we're being dragged down, to always use our heads to keep our acts together, and that a Hail Mary is never out of place.
Watching Peyton root for Eli reminded us that, unlike the Cain and Abel story, genuine glory seeks to be shared, not hoarded.
And, most importantly, this year's Super Bowl is a reminder, going as far back as the Tower of Babel story, that it is not for humans to seek perfection; rather, we are called to do the best with we've been given and to ask God that that be enough.
Let us pray: Heavenly Father, we thank you for the gift of sports in our lives, for the fun and recreation they make possible, but especially for the values they can teach and the virtues they can instill.
Amen.
italics are mine---
May those "virtues", those we saw on that field that day, flourish in a world that needs them
tt
Saturday, January 26, 2008
TOMMYT FREEDOM TOUR SABBATICAL FINALE FINISH--EPILOGUE
first things first---It's January, 2008---hey, didn't this sabbatical start in ???--in like 2006!!!!!!!!!!!
yes, it did!!! It's like when we moved into our house, I told my wife we would renovate the 110 year old barn right away, and I told her the sabbatical would last six months---oh well---
at the bottom of this email (way down about a mile or kilometer!!!) is the link to my Camino Photo book---you should be able to go to it by clicking, but we'll see if this all works--
Second, the Camino "songlist" of songs I cited on my Camino blog will be up on the blog at some point soon, and if you'd like a copy of that songlist and disc just let me know--
OKAY---the FINALE FINISH NOTE---
The TommyT Sabbatical Advisory Service is up and running---and it appears that more people than I know are currently finding themselves on a sabbatical (either through their own doing or someone else's--like someone who lost $$$BILLIONS OR THE PEOPLE WHO MANAGE those that lost $$$gabillions) !!! and squandered the reputation and market-cap of some seriously large companies whose well-being a lot of people who go to work everyday depend on--). Anyway, I don't charge anything for sabbatical advice so if you need it feel free to call on me.
So where did we leave each other??? Some of you I left announcing my Grand Finale (El Grand Finale), but some of you decided the adventure was interesting enough to follow and went to my blog (that's where this email came from--it's published on my blog) during my trek through Spain once or even went blogging everyday. I certainly didn't know I would be writing as much as I did when I left, but looking back on it I'm very glad I was "called" to walk the Camino de Santiago, Spain and I'm also glad I shared it with those who decided to peek into one man's mind on an adventure of a lifetime.
So on Thanksgiving morning, 2007, I started out for Santiago on the last day of trekking. After a beautiful morning sun (the last picture on the blog)and the rain and hail that came at midday, I actually did make it to Santiago and walked into the final destination, the Cathedral where the statue of St. James resides as well as his remains.
And there you have it, I did it !!!!!!!!! I walked a little over 500 miles over 36 days, mostly alone but on the Camino I met all kinds of people from all walks of life who found their way there for equally unique reasons as I did. And that capped off a one-year hiatus from the hustle and bustle of Wall Street.
Conclusions?? Observations?? Insights? I think I covered most of it where it was best covered, on my blog during the trip on the Camino. How would I sum up an experience like that one, the one where you walk 500 miles through mountains with a backpack and sleep in bunk beds next to total strangers and take warm or cold showers (depending on which Ritz!! you are staying in that night)--showers that last about 80 seconds if you're lucky!!!!. Sum that up, TOM!!!!!!!
Okay, I will.
TOM's summary!!!!!
It's quite simple. "ONE never knows how fast life is passing one by until ONE slows down enough to see". That's my quote, so cite me if you use it!!!!
I talked about my three kids (kid's---hah---21, 18 and 14!!). And this May, 2008 I will be celebrating 25 years married to the same woman I met in a bar in Seaside Heights, New Jersey (I think she will be celebrating too, but understandably she ended up with the shorter end of the stick on this trade).
When one goes 3 MPH (miles per hour) while walking for seven hours a day for 30+ days in row---well that certainly changes the pace of life, of thought, of everything, at least for a little while.
And things happen that wouldn't have happened if one were traveling at 70 or 80 MPH, or on the subway train rushing to work, or on a plane getting to the next destination---THERE BARELY ISN'T ANY TIME TO DISCOVER WHY the person next to you is on the plane, let alone the other 199 people. When you walk, there is always time, unless you don't allow for it.
And when one slows down enough, things do happen. Good things, magical things, mystical things, holy things, sacred things---THEY JUST HAPPEN, right before your eyes, and you get to see them up close and realize you are PART OF THE MOMENT, not passing it by.
And somewhere in all that slowdown mode you really can, if you are open to it, see the face of God in all the things and people you meet.
I was (open to it) and I did.
There, that's my summary. I saw God's face in the smiles of a few people I hadn't seen in weeks since I lost them earlier on the Camino trail, only to see them that final day in Santiago at the Pilgrim's mass in the Cathedral. I also saw and felt an emotion quite rare, as if sent within me from somewhere else, that I had just had an experience that will never be recreated by anyone at anytime again---with these people and they with me--my community of Pilgrims--we know what we went through to get here (Santiago), the discoveries we made about each other, but oh so much more the discoveries or revelations that we uncovered within ourselves. AGAPE!!!
It's as if two people who did this walk together don't NEED words to understand each other, and speaking to someone who didn't do it leaves one at a LOSS for the words to describe it.
BUT, I GAVE it my best try!!!!
It's all in the blog in some way shape or form!!!!!!
AND THEN I SAW BRUCE!!!!!!!!!!!
After Santiago I went to Finisterre, the most western tip of the continent of Europe just so I could see it. Then on Sunday, November 25, I flew to Madrid and did the European priceline.com and stayed in my first hotel on the trip and went to the Palacio De Deportes and caught the Bruce Springsteen show in Madrid. Of course the first person I see inside the arena, right next to the stage, is a fellow Pilgrim named Pablo that I had never met on the Camino but I was told by Fabio from Brazil that "Pablo lives in Madrid so look for him at the show". And sure enough, since I was moving slowly enough (I could have just gone straight home to New Jersey), I ran right into Pablo and both of us were pretty amazed. It's all in photos in the attached storybook. I enjoy Bruce and his concerts, but I felt a little in awe of the Spanish zest for a Bruce concert--it was as if they considered this not too different than their favorite Football (soccer) team and this was, by a decade mile, the most enthusiastic and joyful crowd that I have been part of for a Bruce show since....... okay, since 9/24/99 at the Spectrum in Philadelphia (Bruce's 50th Birthday show).
Arrived in Jersey for a couple of days and then went to New Orleans with H.E.A.R.T. 9/11 and we spent a week helping the folks down there get back into their homes for the holidays, and I met even more great people there. And they had bunk beds, so i was right at home--and COLD SHOWERS at Camp Hope in St. Bernard's Parish.
And now I'm home. Holidays are over, kids are back to school, we've all said our HAPPY NEW YEAR's, and now everyone is back to doing whatever it is they do----except ME!!!!!!
I've had plenty of dinners reacquainting and meeting people and talking about the future and what I will do, and it appears there is light on the horizon in this awfully dark financial markets world. Some people even told me that all my blog writings made sense and that they ENJOYED reading about my adventure!!! I am grateful that a few of my musings mights have had a positive or uplifting or simply entertaining impact on a few souls, so thanks for reading.
And NOW I am trying to find my next mountain to climb among all the litter we call the CDO/SubPrime/SOCGEN_FRAUD/leveraged loan/OUT-OF-CONTROL Risk POSITIONS toppled mess.
As the saying goes, WITH ALL THIS MANURE IN THIS PILE THERE'S GOT TO BE A PONY IN THERE SOMEWHERE.
WELL, that is what I am going to find---I'm going to throw that manure on every wall and splatter it near and far until I find that PONY!!!!!!!!!!
What kind of PONY will I ride?? A Technology pony, with e-trading focus? A trading desk pull up a chair, grab a book and start Trading 'em pony?? Maybe both!!!!!!!! Now that would be fun.
or Something brand new????
So I'm in search of my next perfect job---I am not in search of a perfect retirement!!! I KNOW I found the PERFECT SABBATICAL!!!!!!
So where does that leave me with MY CAMINO????
UNPACKING, of course. Each day, in some, shape, or form, I find another layer of experience that folds into my world here. And I unfold it and let it out. I am hopeful, and I sense it is really all up to me, that I keep unpacking forever.
"YOU'RE never lost" when you're on the Camino, and you're never "unpacked" after you've finished it---the CAMINO is constantly coming from within--especially when you slow down and let it come.
Trials and tribulations---more and more it is clear that one of the challenges we face, as we get older is the challenge of taking care of and caring for our parents, if we are so inclined (I'd call it duty, but I know many people don't). Surrounding us this holiday season were many stories of elderly parents of both near and far family/friends who were dealing with health issues/hospitals/death. It is becoming an important part of our life and I truly believe we can do a better job of educating and enlightening those who are thrown into the crisis moment and then have to start looking for answers as to what to do, what kind of healthcare is available-etc--I don't have an answer but let me know if you know of some and I will share them.
I just read the obituary of a man I knew distantly but knew his children as well and I knew it captured their dad incredibly well but it also reminded me of the Camino, so I will share the line that caught my eye with you...
"Throughout his life he believed faith, family, honesty and integrity were the cornerstones of his success"---
Although incredibily saddening to know of the passing of a loved one, it is truly a blessing to have a memory of this nature and the love that has been shared. To think someone THIS good was part of one's life.
We all have our cornerstones, and the foundations cited above are among the highest ideals anyone can have, in my opinion.
What are YOUR cornerstones???? That is what the CAMINO, your Camino and mine, are there for---to take a moment to explore, discover, uncover or define one's cornerstones--one's life.
So, where does that leave us???
Well, the blog exists, so if I have something to say I'll likely throw it up there.
When I find that next mountain, I am sure you will hear about it one way (this way) or another, so you'll know where to find me.
And that leads me to a FINISH---the next time you hear something from me it won't be from my sabbatical!!!!!!
I will be employed---doing what and where is still to be determined, but determined I am to find it.
On my walk, during one of those days I was going slowly enough, I happened upon a conversation between two people--and it lead to books and favorites. I was introduced to a book that day that I noted and read upon my return. As simple and short as this book is I found it equally incredible that I waited till this time in my life to read it---which was fortuitous because had I read this book at another time in my life I might have been traveling a little too fast to catch it the way I did this time.
I became fascinated once again with the coincidences of coincidence---things seem to happen if you let them, and books seem to mean something if you're open to their meaning--and the time is right--etc
The book won a Pulitzer in 1927--
The theme, or question, of the book, according to the author, "is there a direction and meaning in lives beyond the individual's own will".
Sentences just jumped out at me--
Deep
"Now he discovered the that secret from which one never quite recovers, that even in the most perfect love one person loves less profoundly than the other"
The story is of a missionary priest, Brother Juniper, trying to "prove to his converts that our destinies are controlled by God and "everything"--even the apparently random accidental collapse of a bridge, has a divine purpose"
And of the five people on that bridge that day who lost their lives when it collapsed, the last lines of the book go on to say---
"But soon we shall die and all the memory of those five will have left the earth, and we ourselves shall be loved for a while and forgotten. But the love will have been enough; all those impulses of love return to the love that made them. Even memory is not necessary for love."
And the last line of the book reads;
"There is a land of the living and a land of the dead and the bridge is love, the only survival, the only meaning"
from the "Bridge of San Luis Rey" by Thornton Wilder.
May you love and be loved, in your work, in your walk, YOUR CAMINO, in your life. Fill it with love. Let that be your cornerstone.
-------------------------------------I pray it is mine.
Peace,
Tt
----- Original Message -----
From: Shutterfly <mailto:share@service.shutterfly.com>
To: tthees@comcast.net <mailto:tthees@comcast.net>
Sent: Sunday, December 23, 2007 1:22 PM
Subject: tom, your Photo Book was shared
yes, it did!!! It's like when we moved into our house, I told my wife we would renovate the 110 year old barn right away, and I told her the sabbatical would last six months---oh well---
at the bottom of this email (way down about a mile or kilometer!!!) is the link to my Camino Photo book---you should be able to go to it by clicking, but we'll see if this all works--
Second, the Camino "songlist" of songs I cited on my Camino blog will be up on the blog at some point soon, and if you'd like a copy of that songlist and disc just let me know--
OKAY---the FINALE FINISH NOTE---
The TommyT Sabbatical Advisory Service is up and running---and it appears that more people than I know are currently finding themselves on a sabbatical (either through their own doing or someone else's--like someone who lost $$$BILLIONS OR THE PEOPLE WHO MANAGE those that lost $$$gabillions) !!! and squandered the reputation and market-cap of some seriously large companies whose well-being a lot of people who go to work everyday depend on--). Anyway, I don't charge anything for sabbatical advice so if you need it feel free to call on me.
So where did we leave each other??? Some of you I left announcing my Grand Finale (El Grand Finale), but some of you decided the adventure was interesting enough to follow and went to my blog (that's where this email came from--it's published on my blog) during my trek through Spain once or even went blogging everyday. I certainly didn't know I would be writing as much as I did when I left, but looking back on it I'm very glad I was "called" to walk the Camino de Santiago, Spain and I'm also glad I shared it with those who decided to peek into one man's mind on an adventure of a lifetime.
So on Thanksgiving morning, 2007, I started out for Santiago on the last day of trekking. After a beautiful morning sun (the last picture on the blog)and the rain and hail that came at midday, I actually did make it to Santiago and walked into the final destination, the Cathedral where the statue of St. James resides as well as his remains.
And there you have it, I did it !!!!!!!!! I walked a little over 500 miles over 36 days, mostly alone but on the Camino I met all kinds of people from all walks of life who found their way there for equally unique reasons as I did. And that capped off a one-year hiatus from the hustle and bustle of Wall Street.
Conclusions?? Observations?? Insights? I think I covered most of it where it was best covered, on my blog during the trip on the Camino. How would I sum up an experience like that one, the one where you walk 500 miles through mountains with a backpack and sleep in bunk beds next to total strangers and take warm or cold showers (depending on which Ritz!! you are staying in that night)--showers that last about 80 seconds if you're lucky!!!!. Sum that up, TOM!!!!!!!
Okay, I will.
TOM's summary!!!!!
It's quite simple. "ONE never knows how fast life is passing one by until ONE slows down enough to see". That's my quote, so cite me if you use it!!!!
I talked about my three kids (kid's---hah---21, 18 and 14!!). And this May, 2008 I will be celebrating 25 years married to the same woman I met in a bar in Seaside Heights, New Jersey (I think she will be celebrating too, but understandably she ended up with the shorter end of the stick on this trade).
When one goes 3 MPH (miles per hour) while walking for seven hours a day for 30+ days in row---well that certainly changes the pace of life, of thought, of everything, at least for a little while.
And things happen that wouldn't have happened if one were traveling at 70 or 80 MPH, or on the subway train rushing to work, or on a plane getting to the next destination---THERE BARELY ISN'T ANY TIME TO DISCOVER WHY the person next to you is on the plane, let alone the other 199 people. When you walk, there is always time, unless you don't allow for it.
And when one slows down enough, things do happen. Good things, magical things, mystical things, holy things, sacred things---THEY JUST HAPPEN, right before your eyes, and you get to see them up close and realize you are PART OF THE MOMENT, not passing it by.
And somewhere in all that slowdown mode you really can, if you are open to it, see the face of God in all the things and people you meet.
I was (open to it) and I did.
There, that's my summary. I saw God's face in the smiles of a few people I hadn't seen in weeks since I lost them earlier on the Camino trail, only to see them that final day in Santiago at the Pilgrim's mass in the Cathedral. I also saw and felt an emotion quite rare, as if sent within me from somewhere else, that I had just had an experience that will never be recreated by anyone at anytime again---with these people and they with me--my community of Pilgrims--we know what we went through to get here (Santiago), the discoveries we made about each other, but oh so much more the discoveries or revelations that we uncovered within ourselves. AGAPE!!!
It's as if two people who did this walk together don't NEED words to understand each other, and speaking to someone who didn't do it leaves one at a LOSS for the words to describe it.
BUT, I GAVE it my best try!!!!
It's all in the blog in some way shape or form!!!!!!
AND THEN I SAW BRUCE!!!!!!!!!!!
After Santiago I went to Finisterre, the most western tip of the continent of Europe just so I could see it. Then on Sunday, November 25, I flew to Madrid and did the European priceline.com and stayed in my first hotel on the trip and went to the Palacio De Deportes and caught the Bruce Springsteen show in Madrid. Of course the first person I see inside the arena, right next to the stage, is a fellow Pilgrim named Pablo that I had never met on the Camino but I was told by Fabio from Brazil that "Pablo lives in Madrid so look for him at the show". And sure enough, since I was moving slowly enough (I could have just gone straight home to New Jersey), I ran right into Pablo and both of us were pretty amazed. It's all in photos in the attached storybook. I enjoy Bruce and his concerts, but I felt a little in awe of the Spanish zest for a Bruce concert--it was as if they considered this not too different than their favorite Football (soccer) team and this was, by a decade mile, the most enthusiastic and joyful crowd that I have been part of for a Bruce show since....... okay, since 9/24/99 at the Spectrum in Philadelphia (Bruce's 50th Birthday show).
Arrived in Jersey for a couple of days and then went to New Orleans with H.E.A.R.T. 9/11 and we spent a week helping the folks down there get back into their homes for the holidays, and I met even more great people there. And they had bunk beds, so i was right at home--and COLD SHOWERS at Camp Hope in St. Bernard's Parish.
And now I'm home. Holidays are over, kids are back to school, we've all said our HAPPY NEW YEAR's, and now everyone is back to doing whatever it is they do----except ME!!!!!!
I've had plenty of dinners reacquainting and meeting people and talking about the future and what I will do, and it appears there is light on the horizon in this awfully dark financial markets world. Some people even told me that all my blog writings made sense and that they ENJOYED reading about my adventure!!! I am grateful that a few of my musings mights have had a positive or uplifting or simply entertaining impact on a few souls, so thanks for reading.
And NOW I am trying to find my next mountain to climb among all the litter we call the CDO/SubPrime/SOCGEN_FRAUD/leveraged loan/OUT-OF-CONTROL Risk POSITIONS toppled mess.
As the saying goes, WITH ALL THIS MANURE IN THIS PILE THERE'S GOT TO BE A PONY IN THERE SOMEWHERE.
WELL, that is what I am going to find---I'm going to throw that manure on every wall and splatter it near and far until I find that PONY!!!!!!!!!!
What kind of PONY will I ride?? A Technology pony, with e-trading focus? A trading desk pull up a chair, grab a book and start Trading 'em pony?? Maybe both!!!!!!!! Now that would be fun.
or Something brand new????
So I'm in search of my next perfect job---I am not in search of a perfect retirement!!! I KNOW I found the PERFECT SABBATICAL!!!!!!
So where does that leave me with MY CAMINO????
UNPACKING, of course. Each day, in some, shape, or form, I find another layer of experience that folds into my world here. And I unfold it and let it out. I am hopeful, and I sense it is really all up to me, that I keep unpacking forever.
"YOU'RE never lost" when you're on the Camino, and you're never "unpacked" after you've finished it---the CAMINO is constantly coming from within--especially when you slow down and let it come.
Trials and tribulations---more and more it is clear that one of the challenges we face, as we get older is the challenge of taking care of and caring for our parents, if we are so inclined (I'd call it duty, but I know many people don't). Surrounding us this holiday season were many stories of elderly parents of both near and far family/friends who were dealing with health issues/hospitals/death. It is becoming an important part of our life and I truly believe we can do a better job of educating and enlightening those who are thrown into the crisis moment and then have to start looking for answers as to what to do, what kind of healthcare is available-etc--I don't have an answer but let me know if you know of some and I will share them.
I just read the obituary of a man I knew distantly but knew his children as well and I knew it captured their dad incredibly well but it also reminded me of the Camino, so I will share the line that caught my eye with you...
"Throughout his life he believed faith, family, honesty and integrity were the cornerstones of his success"---
Although incredibily saddening to know of the passing of a loved one, it is truly a blessing to have a memory of this nature and the love that has been shared. To think someone THIS good was part of one's life.
We all have our cornerstones, and the foundations cited above are among the highest ideals anyone can have, in my opinion.
What are YOUR cornerstones???? That is what the CAMINO, your Camino and mine, are there for---to take a moment to explore, discover, uncover or define one's cornerstones--one's life.
So, where does that leave us???
Well, the blog exists, so if I have something to say I'll likely throw it up there.
When I find that next mountain, I am sure you will hear about it one way (this way) or another, so you'll know where to find me.
And that leads me to a FINISH---the next time you hear something from me it won't be from my sabbatical!!!!!!
I will be employed---doing what and where is still to be determined, but determined I am to find it.
On my walk, during one of those days I was going slowly enough, I happened upon a conversation between two people--and it lead to books and favorites. I was introduced to a book that day that I noted and read upon my return. As simple and short as this book is I found it equally incredible that I waited till this time in my life to read it---which was fortuitous because had I read this book at another time in my life I might have been traveling a little too fast to catch it the way I did this time.
I became fascinated once again with the coincidences of coincidence---things seem to happen if you let them, and books seem to mean something if you're open to their meaning--and the time is right--etc
The book won a Pulitzer in 1927--
The theme, or question, of the book, according to the author, "is there a direction and meaning in lives beyond the individual's own will".
Sentences just jumped out at me--
Deep
"Now he discovered the that secret from which one never quite recovers, that even in the most perfect love one person loves less profoundly than the other"
The story is of a missionary priest, Brother Juniper, trying to "prove to his converts that our destinies are controlled by God and "everything"--even the apparently random accidental collapse of a bridge, has a divine purpose"
And of the five people on that bridge that day who lost their lives when it collapsed, the last lines of the book go on to say---
"But soon we shall die and all the memory of those five will have left the earth, and we ourselves shall be loved for a while and forgotten. But the love will have been enough; all those impulses of love return to the love that made them. Even memory is not necessary for love."
And the last line of the book reads;
"There is a land of the living and a land of the dead and the bridge is love, the only survival, the only meaning"
from the "Bridge of San Luis Rey" by Thornton Wilder.
May you love and be loved, in your work, in your walk, YOUR CAMINO, in your life. Fill it with love. Let that be your cornerstone.
-------------------------------------I pray it is mine.
Peace,
Tt
----- Original Message -----
From: Shutterfly <mailto:share@service.shutterfly.com>
To: tthees@comcast.net <mailto:tthees@comcast.net>
Sent: Sunday, December 23, 2007 1:22 PM
Subject: tom, your Photo Book was shared
Congratulations tom,
Your photo book was shared successfully! Below is a copy of what your recipients will see.
To share your photo book with more friends, just forward this email to them.
From: tom thees
----------------
Photo
Book from tom thees <http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AZuWjFmzbtGLCyA&emid=sharpbshar&linkid=link3>
<http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AZuWjFmzbtGLCyA&emid=sharpbshar&linkid=link4>
<http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AZuWjFmzbtGLCyA&emid=sharpbshar&linkid=link2>
If selecting "Look now" doesn't work, copy-and-paste this address into your browser:
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AZuWjFmzbtGLCyA <http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AZuWjFmzbtGLCyA&emid=sharpbshar&linkid=link5>
<http://www.shutterfly.com/shop/product_c18000/Photo_Books> <http://ai.shutterfly.com/ai?hb=DM541019M7FD&ai=EMC-share_PB_sharer>
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T
Friday, January 25, 2008
October 11, 2007 invitation note TOMMYT FREEDOM TOUR GRAND FINALE---EL GRAND FINAL!!!!!
----- Original Message -----
From: Tom Thees
To: tom thees
Sent: Thursday, October 11, 2007 6:09 PM
Subject: TOMMYT FREEDOM TOUR GRAND FINALE---EL GRAND FINAL!!!!!
WOW!!!! THAT WAS SOME SUMMER!!!!!!!!!!
and since I was in the OCEAN on Columbus Day MONDAY with 80+ degree air it still is some summer!!!!!!!!!
Especially for those of you NOT on sabbatical and employed in my working sector of the universe, better known as the CREDIT Market's. Well, this summer it was known as the 'LACK OF CREDIT' markets, and now everyone who never learned what commercial paper does in our economy has a bit more education. Yeah, that's it, it was an EDUCATIONAL summer. The kids who know how to drive Range Rovers as their first car now know a thing or two (or $BILLION) about trading in markets that have volatility!!!!!!!!!
WELL, quick and to the point----here we are at the GRAND FINALE of my sabbatical!!!! Yup, I'm going back to work. Where, what, who, when, oh those things are still to be determined. But for now, I've determined I've got too good a FINALE to try and top this one!!!!!! AND THEN IT'S ONTO WORK IN 2008.
Baja Cali, U2 in Hawaii, Coach K, Bill Gates, THE POPE in ROME, they are all going to take a back seat to this one I've got cooking ( I think, anyway, or why the heck would I be doing it and calling it the FINALE). NO hotels, no credit cards, no luggage, but it will beat them all.
Not interested, don't care, don't have the time as you dig out from the summer markets---no worries, you, and everyone, here and now has an option---
You can opt in, and go to my blog, http://tommytfreedomtourblog.blogspot.com/
and subscribe to the feed so you get my updates from the "EL GRAND FINAL"
you can always GOOGLE THE BLOG, by TYPING, ONE WORD NO SPACES, tommytfreedomtourblog in your google window
or opt out, and then you'd have to pay for the book version when you tell your friends "I was on his email list when"!!!!
YOUR CHOICE, as always. Only one difference is that you will not be getting any emails from me on my "EL GRAND FINAL", as I can only post to my blog and will NOT have email (or your email either, which you may consider the EIGHTH WONDER OF THE WORLD given how long some of my emails have been).
SO, we are moving this dialogue to my BLOG, and I am going to SPAIN for the "EL GRAND FINAL"!!!!!!!!!!!
TOM, WHAT'S ON THE BLOG??---
EVERYTHING---my Tour Updates, my other writings/musings over the last few months, my wife's birthday present!!!! It's all there for you to read and hopefully enjoy and be entertained and potentially even provoke a thought or two on your own life!!!! Hey, almost like the lottery, YOU NEVER KNOW!!!!
SO, TO THE BLOG IT IS!!!!!
AND WE'LL CONTINUE THERE---
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