The Happiest Moment of Your Life

Death is not an end, but a beginning;
not a horror, but a joy.
It is not a closing down,
but an opening up.

The happiest moment of your life
will be the moment it ends.

That's because it doesn't end but only
goes on in ways so magnificent,
so full of peace and wisdom and joy,
as to make it difficult to describe
and impossible for you to understand.

~Neale Donald Walsch
Conversations with God

Of Note: A friend emailed yesterday and said his teenage son had died in his sleep. No words can begin to console a parent who has lost a child, especially so unexpectedly. 600 people turned out for the visitation, and 300 of his classmates somberly stood in silence for a candle vigil. It is hard to imagine at a time like this that death could be the happiest moment of a life, particularly when the life has been cut short at such a young age. But our inscrutable soul is in charge and has its reasons. An noted author put it this way: "What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the Master calls a butterfly."

Today's Weather Report: Nothing can describe for those who've never experienced it, the cold of 25 below zero. That's what it was this morning upon awakening, and it's only minus 12 degrees now. Even in the house, layers of clothing are required to stay warm--which is only relative term at these temps. Don't know if you remember the pictures of the tall sunflowers which graced the garden this summer, but this is what remains. The birds were delighted earlier in the season to eat the seeds but now are long gone. The snow is the only thing that keeps the plants company now.

Watch For Change Snippet: In the coming days, we must be wary of "greenwashing." That does not mean painting an object green. Rather, it's a new term for making something appear environmentally friendly when in fact, it is not. This word came to my attention when reading a car review on the Escalade Hybrid. The author said the concept of making a huge SUV a hybrid was laughable and only produced for the purposes of "greenwashing." It might be one of the reasons the Big Three automakers are in trouble. The Pulitzer Prize winning New York Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman speaks similarly about the environmental party we've been having rather than a real revolution. He believes a revolution comes with pain of some kind which precipitates real change. Anything else is just window dressing. As Americans mature into true global citizens and embrace the values of cooperation and personal responsibility, the party will end. In its place will be a more stable world capable of supporting its collective inhabitants, and greenwashing will be considered an outdated tactic well left behind.