Tag: Opinion

According to Wikipedia, "Fire and Ice" is one of Robert Frost's most popular poems. It was published in December 1920 in Harper's Magazine and in 1923 in his Pulitzer Prize−winning book New Hampshire. It discusses the end of the world, likening the elemental force of fire with the emotion of desire, and ice with hate.

We moved from Los Angeles to the San Jacinto Valley in 1986, and have never regretted it – we love the people and the location. But we have often been dismayed by the shenanigans of local government officials, and surprised that so many of them seem ill-equipped for the their duties.

Never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee" is a quotation from a work by John Donne (1572-1631), in which he explores the interconnectedness of humanity. He wrote the line in Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions, Meditation XVII: The longer quote to put this into context is, "No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.

"The LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being" (Genesis 2:7). Life begins with your first breath and ends with your last. If you Google "quotes for breathing," you find literally hundreds of quotes. Breath is hope. George E. Miller said, "With every breath hope rises." Breath is life.

When I was 5, I needed to have my tonsils out. At that time, we had no health coverage; few people did. In the mid-50s, there was little prepaid healthcare and most health services were non-profit. My parent was not able to pay outright for surgery on my tonsils and the required 3-day hospital stay.