An Imagined Conversation between Two “Aliens” From Another Galaxy

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First alien: “ I’ve heard that Earth is a place where the inhabitants are allowed to practice Free Will, where their fates are not predetermined. Given the good fortune of living in a country that allows it, one can pretty much do and be anything they want.”

Second alien: “Why that’s quite the responsibility!”

First alien: “Responsibility, I have heard from several sources, is the ability to respond. So, wherever an Earth inhabitant finds themselves, and in whatever circumstances they are born into, they get to respond to that. They are allowed to act in answer to wherever they are and whatever is there for them! Aside from their personal religious or spiritual convictions, they are not necessarily given a  set of rules on how to act or react. Nor do they have predetermined fate.”

Second alien: “Are you saying that each inhabitant gets to lead themselves and decide for themselves what their

A Little Gem

I remember being a kindergardener and having my mother tell me the world did not revolve around me. This came as a shock. Like most five-year-olds I was convinced that I was the center of the universe. The realization that other people had needs that mattered just as much as mine, need not have been a rude one, but it was. I wasn’t ready for it. I went into my bedroom and cried my eyes out. Eventually I came out,  a very different little girl -- looking at the world very differently. 

Over the subsequent years of my childhood my mother also told me “Put your nose to the grindstone,” “Take that chip off your shoulder,” “Get down off of your high horse,” “Wipe that smirk off of your face,”  “Don’t say anything unless you have something nice to say,” and that “Life is not a party.” Had she not, on the other-hand offered up hope with  “You could wear a burlap sack and pull it off with a smile on your face,” “Beauty is in the eyes