Wednesday, February 02, 2005

HAPPY GROUNDHOG DAY to the woodchuck people!

GOOD MORNING, GROUNDHOG DAY!
February 2, 2005

In the US popular tradition holds that the groundhog, or woodchuck, comes out of his hole after a long winter sleep to look for his shadow. If he sees it he regards it as an omen of 6 more weeks of bad weather and returns to his ho.e. If the day is cloudy and, hence, shadowless, he takes it as a sign of spring coming and stays above the ground. (Note: statistical evidence does not support this tradition).

I hope you all saw the delightful movie with Bill Murray about Groundhog day, and doing it over and over until he finally got it right with the girl of his dreams, a really funny and charming move. Moral: we can do it over and over in life until we “get it right”! (tho not always with the same person :-) As I like to say in my college classes when asking for dialogue on controversial subjects: "Nothing you say here goes on your Permanent Record!"

Enjoyed sharing some of my story and the role of monasticism in the middle ages with the Honors History Class being conducted by my friend, Guido Caspani, yesterday afternoon at the University of Kentucky. It was the monks that provided human services to all people during those times before there was welfare, service organizations, city or state or federal governments, hospitals, schools, libraries, or any kind of other aid available when people were hurting. "Whatever you do to the least of my brethren, you do to me." For over a thousand years in Europe, monasteries were the only place of refuge, of education, or solace or service.
Most history books do not tell that story.

Anyway, dear friends, Spring is around the corner, and skiing season in the Ohio Valley, mainly Perfect North Slopes near Cincy on the Ohio, is more than half over. Have a good day!

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