Walking and Reading

I was pulling out of my neighborhood yesterday and waited at the intersection for a guy to cross the street in front of me. Nothing unusual about that...except...he was completely oblivious to his surroundings. He had a book open in his hand and he never looked up from it. Stepped right off the sidewalk and crossed in front of my car and continued on his way. Completely engrossed, absorbed into another world contained on the pages in his hand. I just laughed.

And then I remembered Lauren, with the handle of an upright vacuum cleaner in one hand and a novel in her other hand. I acted like I was watching the TV, but I was actually watching something FAR more interesting: Lauren. She had no idea that she had been vacuuming the same spot for at least 5 minutes. She had no clue that someone was 'watching TV' and the vacuum cleaner was drowning out the sound (how rude) and she had no idea that it didn't matter because she was providing more entertainment than whatever was on TV at the time. I watched for a good 20 minutes. She would take her hand off of the handle and turn the page. Her hand would gently and slowly feel around the air, mindlessly searching for the handle again, while she stayed in the story. I bet she read at least a paragraph, unaware of her other hand floating around until it landed on the vacuum cleaner handle, vacuum still running, and rested there for another paragraph before she started pushing and pulling again, robotically. And her face was priceless--intense concentration, and every so often a soft smile showed up and vanished again with the next sentence.

I finally laughed out loud and she looked up at me. I was almost embarrassed to bring her back to the very boring present. Wherever she was had to be more interesting than a vacuum cleaner, a guy on the couch, and a TV showing Gilligan reruns. I guess I ruined my enjoyment too, because Lauren unplugged the vacuum and took it to another room to resume her 'vacuuming' and reading. Now all I was left with for entertainment was Gilligan.

Then there was Ricky. (Is there a disorder named for people who watch other people read?) Ricky loves westerns. I once watched him read the last two pages of a novel for at least half an hour. He kept reading a few lines, then he would stare away and think, then read or re-read a few lines, and stare some more. When I finally saw him close the book, I laughed at him and asked about the story, and why it took so long to read the last couple of pages.
"I didn't want to say goodbye to the characters. I was imagining what it would be like to be friends with them. I love them!"

I think his eyes might have been wet.

Oh, the power of a good book.

It's STILL a Wonderful World

Here's a real treat, just to follow up the last post about Armstrongs. It's just another example of how amazing and creative people keep giving us reasons to enjoy such a 'Wonderful World."

My Favorite Armstrongs

Let's start with Neil Armstrong, who was the first man to walk on the moon. I just teared up. The FIRST...MAN...to WALK....ON the MOON!!! It was 1969 when he made this 'one giant leap for mankind,' and I can't help losing my breath thinking about all the inventions and risks and determination and calculations that were behind putting three guys in the tip of a rocket and sending them some 250,000 miles away to step on a cold and lifeless world trapped in our gravity. It wasn't that far back in our history when people wondered what that thing was shining in the night sky. I hope I never get used to that fact. I hope I'm always amazed at such a human accomplishment as I am today. Neil, you're the man. (Buy an astronaut T-shirt at STORE.CHRISRICE.COM)

Next comes Lance Armstrong. Seven Tour De France wins, and an inspiring example of another kind of human accomplishment. Pushing one's own body to its limits and constantly improving physically. Being the very best in the world at something, seven times! Oh yeah, and throw in the challenge of dealing with cancer. I just teared up again. Lance, you're the man.

Ok, one more Armstrong to complete the list: Louis. You know, Satchmo. I almost daily hear his never-to-be-matched voice in my head singing those happy words, "...and I think to myself, what a wonderful world." Mr. Armstrong, it IS a wonderful world.


And my three favorite Armstrongs have done their part to make it a little more that way. Thanks, guys.

Leaplings

Happy Birthday to all you Leaplings!

Leaplings are people born on February 29. Since that date only occurs in a leap year, I can only imagine the confusion as a kid trying to figure out why you are so special to be born on such a day.

Happy Birthday David Moore. I only remember your birthday because you're a leapling. I haven't seen you in probably 20 years, or is that 5 leap years? Have no idea what's up in your life, but I remember that you are a leapling. So happy birthday to an old youth group and high school friend. I think you turn 11 this year?

Thinking about leap years made me wonder how the other few minutes of difference between the actual solar year and our calendar year are gonna work out. You know, those pesky minutes that are leftovers, that don't get compensated for by adding a day to the calendar every four years.

Somebody has done some SERIOUS calculating.

In fact, many different cultures have widely varying ways of dealing with this solar v. calendar phenomenon.

Check out wikipedia's article on leap years. It'll blow your mind.

And have an extra piece of birthday cake in honor of the 200,000 or so leaplings in America today. (Maybe I'll just add an extra quarter-of-a-piece of cake to mine every four years. Wait, that won't work! Man, I'm glad it's not up to me to figure this one out!)

Leaplings are cool.

I'M CHRIS RICE AND I APPROVE THIS MESSAGE

Greetings fellow Americans! (and everybody else too, but this message probably only applies to the U.S. right now during an election year). I don't intend to leave anyone out of the discussion, it's just that I have what I feel is an urgent message for the current political environment here in my homeland. And yes, I'm kinda using the blog as a 'commercial' but I think it's a way to involve more people in communicating an important message.

We Americans have forgotten that we're actually 'same team' here. Of course we have a wide range of differing opinions, but we can't let that divide us and paralyze us from the important work our country needs. Elections are one of the processes in this important work, but the sometimes nasty conflicts that election times bring need to be TEMPERED by a higher principle of intelligent, peaceful disagreements.

So, here's one way to encourage that civilized kind of discussion, with as few words as possible, and in a grassroots, personal-realm-of-influence kind of way (and EVERY ONE OF US has a personal realm of influence!) This might be a tool to help you give a message of PEACE to people around you in this sometimes not-so-peaceful time! Maybe overly simple, maybe too idealistic? And maybe the start of a sweeping movement toward a healthier nation who gets along better!



"VOTE, DON'T YELL" t-shirts are available ONLY at STORE.CHRISRICE.COM. This one T-shirt just might keep our country from falling apart during this crazy election year! Ok, maybe not singlehandedly, but part of the medicine our country needs.

Based on the song "You Don't Have To Yell" from my latest CD, here's a message you can wear to encourage intelligent discussion and influence the process of our country's election without all the typical yelling and hate-spewing we're hearing on the campaign trail by all sides, and by all the 'expert' news analysts who can't seem to out-scream each other to make their points.

Hopefully, as I always try to do with my work, presenting a message to make people think and reason. The back of the T-shirt displays my favorite line from the song:



"Louder doesnt' make you right."

How true, and how important a message for the days ahead.

Join the conversation. START the conversation with this T-shirt. And for goodness sake, 'don't yell.'

Available in navy or white! (S, M, L, XL)

Click here to go to the CHRISRICE.COM store!

My Addictions

Here's a list of my current addictions:

1) Rock Climbing
2) Buying books on barnesandnoble.com

Just so you know.

Yes We Can

I'm sure some of you will misunderstand me posting this. There is no political statement here, I promise. I'm sure we're all tirelessly processing information from all the candidates and from all the angles. So this is no endorsement. Honest.

Because voting is the SMALLER part of our privilege and responsibility. Our personal day-to-day toil to bring light into dark places is more important, regardless of who sits in places of power. That's what I see in this video.

Let's redefine "places of power" to mean every single one of us.

What are you going to do with YOUR power? By all means, VOTE with it. But don't stop there. The responsibility for our country and neighborhoods continues with each of us individually. On the stump, Mr. Obama often quotes poet June Jordan, "We are the ones we've been waiting for."

This video got me thinking about that.

(Comments are disabled on this one. The intention is for thinking, not for reacting. There are plenty of political blogs for that. Thanks for understanding.)