A Look Back To Help Look Forward

Imagination is more important than knowledge. For while knowledge defines all we currently know and understand, imagination points to all we might yet discover and create.
-Albert Einstein

This morning my son came to me and told me that he was frustrated because he felt like there wasn't enough time to learn everything. I asked him what he meant and he told me that he mean everything. He wants to learn everything.

I suppose that I must have smiled because he looked at me and told me that it wasn't right for me to laugh. I said that I wasn't laughing and he said that I was and it is only because I already know everything. That really made me laugh. Maybe he read my post about eternal life.

Ain't Got You- Bruce Springsteen That song has a lot of meaning for me. The lyrics speak to me. Sometimes I wish that I could write and sing the way he can. I don't sing well, but I do sing loud. I can belt it out, but the problem is it sounds like hell.

It is a strange position to have those eye staring up at me as if I am some sort of guru, an oracle who can dish out sage advice. Sometimes I have the perfect answer and sometimes I make it up on the fly.

Today I took a look back at some old posts to try and help me look forward. As I sift through four years of blogging I see a bunch of recurring themes and wonder if this is how life is always going to be.

As is my wont I'll share links to some of the posts that caught my eye and intersperse commentary.

Bad Blogging- Also Known As This Stuff Sucks- My blog and my writing continue to evolve. I used to wonder if I had come up with my best ideas way back when, but now I am not so sure.

If you have an important point to make, don't try to be subtle or clever. Use a pile driver. Hit the point once. Then come back and hit it again. Then hit it a third time-a tremendous whack. – Winston Churchill

Churchill was right, or maybe that is the excuse I use to continue to recycle old posts.

Happy Holidays Continued- Interaction with the public offers so many...stories.

My daughter likes to try and tease her older brother about her hair, or should I say that she and I both have very dark hair and he does not.

Actors From The 80s- Look at pictures of these actors now and then and you realize that many years have passed. I don't feel old, don't really look it either. But when I see these guys I realize that I must have aged too.

Someone recently asked me to tell them what it was like to watch Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan play. He is 24 and doesn't really remember.

How I Cook- I don't spend enough time cooking, but I still love to do it.

And now for some more quotes that resonate with me:

The possibility that we may fail in the struggle ought not to deter us from the support of a cause we believe to be just.
– Abraham Lincoln

Just because something doesn't do what you planned it to do doesn't mean it's useless.

– Thomas Edison

When you have exhausted all possibilities, remember this. You haven't.
– Thomas Edison

It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education.
– Albert Einstein

If everybody is thinking alike, then somebody isn't thinking.
– Gen. George S. Patton

I skate to where the puck is going to be, not to where it has been.
– Wayne Gretzky

I used to do a lot of hiking. Back in the day I was famous for blazing my own trail. I didn't do it to be tough or to show off, I did it because something caught my eye and I went to take a closer look. It probably would have been easier to use the trail, but that is not really how I do things. Sometimes I find the harder way, no I usually find the harder way. I need to change that.

I may not always have a perfect plan to follow, but I know more or less what the ultimate goal is. Along the way I may pick up a few scrapes and bruises, but I'll get there, hopefully without getting attacked by the Flying Monkeys. I might even have my own scarecrow and tinman to accompany me.

I Confess- Most of the time I read these and think that I should have come up with better answers.

My Interview- Brian's blog was one of the first that I started reading. I still enjoy it. Maybe it is because I have seen him ask so many of the same questions that I do.

These days I do a lot less of the introspective posts than I used to, although I am trying to get back into the groove.

Parents- List Your Child's Most Irritating Toy/Show - Kind of self explanatory, isn't it.

This next post is one that I may have to feature again on its own as it asks a key question whose answer probably changes over time.

What is happiness worth to you?