From “The Human Condition: A User’s Manual,” by Arnold Kunst 5 May “Discuss, as calmly as possible, ‘What’s the worst possible thing that could happen here?’ See the big picture – either things aren’t as bad as you thought and you should go ahead, OR things really could go from bad to worse and maybe you need to cut your loses right now and get out. Conclusion: some bridges in life need to be crossed, others to be burnt.” – Arnold Kunst
From “Lincoln 365,” by Arnold Kunst
May 5
“For God's sake, learn to listen. Say, ‘How are you?’ and mean it. Say/ask clarifying things only. Move the conversation forward only when the other person clearly is listening. Don't ever accuse, or threaten, or judge. Ever.” - Arnold Kunst
From “Me Too, 365,” by Arnold Kunst
4 May
“I am not patient.” – Gloria Steinem
From “The Human Condition: A User’s Manual,” by Arnold Kunst
4 May
Reality seems replete with injustice. On the same tree two apples are subject to the same climatic conditions, the same soil conditions, and the like. Yet the wind that appears to blow equally on both will blow one off the tree onto the ground where it will rot and die, while the other will remain to ripen fully. Life on a fairly regular basis presents me with a steady diet of roughly similar ‘injustice,’ and if I’m not careful I’ll end up clinging overmuch to what is passing. The clinging, of course, is understandable. Augustine of Hippo says in his Confessions: "You have made us for Yourself, Oh Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You." In short, as for water in a parched land I seek out the security that only heaven will provide, but like a child, I've got problems with delayed gratification. So naturally I cling overmuch to a mother, a spouse, an offspring, a bank balance. And with all the apparent fickleness, all the apparent iniquity of life itself, these can be snatched away from me in the twinkling of an eye.
So how do I reconcile all this with the belief in a prodigiously loving, solicitous God? A God not with a will that He demands I obey but rather a longing He craves I comply with? What seems to be evil from my [puny] perspective must not be nearly as evil as at first appears, but only apparently so. For now I see as through a mirror darkly, but then, as Paul says, I shall see face to face; now I know in part, then I shall know even as I am known. If the evil apparent in this or that calamity were what you might call heremetically-sealed evil, He wouldn't allow it to happen – I think it's that simple. But evil, all manner of evil, does happen, and on a regular basis. For the seed must first fall into the ground and die before it springs forth to give life a hundred fold. He's got it all figured out; it is my place, as it was Job's, to say, "The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away; blessed be the name of the Lord."
From “Lincoln 365,” by Arnold Kunst
May 4
A friend once reported finding Lincoln sitting in his chair so collapsed and weary that he did not look up or speak when he addressed him. Lincoln put out his hand mechanically as if to shake hands when the friend told him he had come at Lincoln’s bidding. It was several minutes before he was roused enough to say that he “had had a hard day.”
From “Me Too, 365,” by Arnold Kunst
3 May
“We do not have to become heroes overnight. Just a step at a time, meeting each thing that comes up, seeing it as not as dreadful as it appears, discovering that we have the strength to stare it down.” - Eleanor Roosevelt
From “Me Too, 365,” by Arnold Kunst
2 May
“We need to find God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. See how nature - trees, flowers, grass - grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence... We need silence to be able to touch souls.” - Mother Teresa
