Just a busy, busy day. In the morning, I had Bikram, then raced home to shower and make it to my 11 am chiropractic appointment. I had time between that appointment and my 1:30 dental appointment. I dropped off some unused items at Petco in their donation box. It was then next door to Office Max to Xerox papers regarding the Will and information on what to do if I become incapacitated or die.
Damon is the primary executor with Karin as his backup. I will send the original signed sheets of the Will to Damon with copies to Karin, so she would know who and what to ask for if Damon was no longer available. Both Damon and Karin have electronic copies of the Will. All they need are the original signed copies to activate the trust.
Besides those papers, two promissory notes will still be due after my death (unless I live to 108), information on my Long-Term Health Care Insurance, and information on an Annuity that is not with Raymond James. Besides that, I included information on agencies to call upon my death to stop payments: Social Security, New Jersey Pension and Benefits, and The State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio.
I still had time before the dental appointment, and I was able to stop off at Habitat for Humanity to drop off some donations. There will be lots more where that came from.
Yvette came up to check on Elsa. She was already doing much better but not chasing balls yet. When Yvette went to rub her belly, she saw that her abdomen was all black and blue with one spot blood-red although the skin wasn’t broken — seeing that sent chills up and down my spine. I realized that while they didn’t mean to kill her if they had continued tossing her about as they were, they would have.
I have thanked Marsha repeatedly for rushing into the fray to help me rescue Elsa. She said she had no choice. I told her, “There’s always a choice.” She could have gone into her house to call the police. By the time they arrived, Elsa would have been dead. Every time I think of it, I get an adrenaline surge.
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Musings: I’m putting this separately so those who are not interested can choose not to read it.
Brooks talks about giving our all for a purpose outside or bigger than ourselves gives meaning to our lives. Giving our all for any purpose is energizing and wonderful. We’re not designed to sit around and run on idle all the time. That’s for unused machinery. When we treat ourselves like that, feel useless and get depressed.
But does this drive lead to moral behavior? No guarantees. A devoted football fan is prepared to display his painted body in the middle of winter to support his team. While this act may undoubtedly be considered a sacrifice for a cause outside of himself, can we consider it a higher moral act?
A member of the KKK filled with righteous indignation involved with hunting down and killing a member of a minority group gets that feeling. He or she is involved in something larger than himself or herself. He or she is running on full throttle. He or she loses himself or herself in this activity. He or she feels great. Does this make it moral?
I feel Brooks too often refers to the feelings involved with giving your all and equating it with something good. I wish there were an easy formula for determining what is moral. In the past, even in the relatively recent past, we lived in smaller and more homogenous groups that laid out rules for behavior that everyone in the group was expected to conform to. Not that everyone did; I doubt that has ever happened. Today we don’t live that way. Moral relativity is the active mode. There are no ‘shoulds’ anymore.
For some, the absence of ‘shoulds’ means the absence of any restrictions on their behavior. These folks lack moral imagination. Unfortunately, many don’t think there is a need for any ethical considerations. The goal is pleasing oneself, and that’s it. Now that sounds like an uncomfortably empty existence.
These folks deny the human condition. We’re social animals, and we are designed to help each other survive. If we fail to do something that forwards this cause, there are consequences, not from the world around us (unless we have actually broken the law) but from within us. We are born with a need to participate in a grand design.
I think many people fulfill this need by having children. Others are called to other ways of contributing. There may not be one way; we each have to find our way. If we don’t look for it and find it, we are lost souls.
