Good Deeds

What does it mean to do a good deed? Is it something you do for others, or could it be somehting you do for yourself? Perhaps doing something helpful for others helps you in return? I have often heard that to build self esteem, one must do esteem-able acts. Problem often arrises when one does an act of good deed, then feels a certain entitlement. This sense of entitlement comes in conflict with the reality of the purpose. The purpose in my opinion is to just always do the next right thing without regard of what might be received in return. Then, one might ask, why do good things for other people when I'm not going to get anything in return? You could do that. You could take that position of negativity and see how it works for you. My experience has been that positive energy attracts like positive energy. Who wants hang out or be around an ego maniac whom think they are entitiled to all the light of the world, yet fails to share their riches with other. These riches are not the financial ones that have broken friends and famiies apart for years. Afterall, when you die, what good does money good for you anyway? When you're in your 80's and 90's and all you have left are your thoughts and memories, wouldn't it be nice to have no regrets. Start simple. Holding the door for someone with their hands full, letting that person in front of you in traffic, flashing a beautiful smile at your neighbor with a kind "good morning", giving your time to those that crave connections, or saving a life at a pet adoption are ways to make the day of someone you may never see again. You never know how far one good deed will go. Enthusiasm is contagious and by starting with yourself right now, can foster a culture of love. My mother always said, "the world is round". She meant that whatever you send out will eventually return to you. Send out negative energy, get negative energy. Send out positive energy, get positive energy. The world in turn is a reflection of you.

Moody Spring Break

In elementary and high school, this was a highly sought after time of the year, third to Summer Break and Winter Break. Now that I am back in school on a campus, I had the same feeling of years past. The anticipation and excitement of a vacation and a break from studying. Well, I'm not as young as I use to be and the excitement of the day ended up sleeping late in the hotel room without any four-legged children waking me up at the crack of dawn whining for food or bathroom needs. Yes, the years of crowds of sexy people at the beach playing volley ball and swimming are a thing of the past. At least for this year. We traveled to Galveston which is only about 2 1/2 hours South of College Station. The beach is nice, but it was just my luck that the weather was a little too cool for beach time. Overall, it ended up being a great getaway. We did some much needed sleeping and reconnecting without digital distraction and school work. We enjoyed shopping and did a little site seeing. One of the highlights of sightseeing was a home called the "Moody Mansion". The Moody family moved to Galveston in late 1800's and purchased the home in 1900 just after a huge hurricane. The home is beautiful and definitely ahead of it's time with ventilation systems and even electricity early on. Carlos, being a history major as his bachelor's loved the history of it, while I enjoyed the design of the home, but especially the stories of the previous residents. As we passed through the home, I had a strange feeling of a presence in a room on the first floor. Now, I am not psychic not claim any 6th sense, and I wasn't sure if it was the layout of the room or perhaps just an odd feeling at that moment. I returned to the room before we left and had the same feeling. It was like a thickness in the air, a presence close to me, and the thought of a gentlemen in the room. It wasn't at all a scary or negative feeling, just like someone trying to get my attention. When reading the history of the family and listening to the tour guide, the name 'Shearn' as something odd and perhaps some 'gay-related' about this family member kept highlighting in my mind. When we left the home, I felt drained. I felt like I need to rest or get a coffee. I told my Carlos my experience and he reported not sensing anything. Later that night, Carlos took upon himself to do some research on the family. Come to find out, Shearn Jr., whom died in 1996 had a lover with a Las Vegas entertainer, another male. According to some post on the Internet, he was peculiar and at times odd as to have penguins as pets and a sliding board going from a second floor room to the pool at his home. There were not any records of him passing away in the Moody Mansion or any sitings of the such, but I do wonder if his spirit is there along with other family members. Then, as Carlos and I were visiting his family's home, he wanted to make his presence known to us. To let us know, there were "family" members in this Moody family. Even though the experienced initially made me feel physically drained and then upon finding out about Shearn Jr. character, made me feel a little aghast that my feelings at the home were on target, I did however felt a little more welcomed to the city of Galveston with a connection of sorts to the home and it's previous family.

http://www.moodymansion.org/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shearn_Moody,_Jr.

Instant Communication

When I was growing up, I spent every summer with my grandmother in a Virginia summer cottage. The nearest town was about a 20 minute drive away, but we did have a mailbox and a "party line" phone. The phone worked, but it was expensive to call long distance and this was way before answering machines and cell phones. It wasn't like we were ever bored. We had the Rappahannock River to play in, kids our age to play with, we went swimming, fishing, and caught crabs in crab traps. For a few years, I even had a small boat to travel around the river in. The only TV was black & white with only 2 channels on a clear day, and if it was from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm, the TV was monopolized by my grandmother watching the Price is Right and all the soap operas. This was a time period when we played outside creating our own entertainment or read a book on rainy days. Now this was in the early 1980's and computers were barely starting to make it's was into the home. Communication between home computers was not heard of. How did we stay in contact with everyone we knew? My cousin's and I would wait patiently everyday for the mailman to come deliver the mail. We knew the sound of the truck on the dirt road and would get excited with the thought a letter coming for us. The point of the mail delivery was contact from others outside of  our immediate world. I had a few pen pals, and would read their letters with delight and then hurry to write a letter back to them so it would get in the next day's outgoing mail. I suppose when this is all you have to communicate with, you utilized to your best. In those pen pal letters, we shared tons of information about what our days were like and how we felt about life. We asked questions that needed further discussion and we took our time to make sure the ideas flowed evenly.

Now back to the modern world. I would be surprised if an hour doesn't go by that I don't check my iPhone for new messages and emails. Facebook is my homepage on my desktop and I have over 1200 "friends" on there. What troubles me is the depth of the conversations I have with my actual friends now. Sometimes I get a "like" and sometimes I get a few words in comments. It's a great convenience for someone like me living 1000 miles from family and close friends to stay in some form of connection with them and keep up with each others lives. It has enabled me to connect with some people I had lost contact with in previous years. It's almost as if you're not on Facebook, then you don't exist, and if you do exist on there, is that really you. Some people I know fairly well, but the persona the portray is not the same as I know them. I suppose you have to take the good and the bad with it. On one hand, the convenience is nice, but on the other depth and meaning is lost.