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I’m sitting in a lounge chair on the top deck of the Disney Wonder cruise ship. I will refrain from commenting on the name of the ship, which is presently docked at Ketchikan, Alaska.

The snow topped mountains and densely forested slopes stand in stark contrast to the lingering images in my mind from an outstanding book I’ve just finished — Midnight in Chernobyl: The Untold Story of the World’s Greatest Nuclear Disaster by Adam Higginbotham. It is one of the best books I’ve read recently, a compelling account of the nuclear disaster at a nuclear power plant in Russia in 1986 when it was still the USSR.

As a soft wind blows into my face, I find myself wondering if it contains radioactive particles from one of the peacetime nuclear “accidents”, including Chernobyl, that humans are responsible for causing. This triggers in me a fear I’ve lived with practically my entire life. It also raises a question central to that fear: can human beings be trusted with nuclear power?

In 1947, when I was seven years old, I worried almost every day that the Russians would detonate an atomic bomb above Los Angeles, creating a human disaster larger than those at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, in which hundreds of thousands of people were killed.

I wonder if Micky Mouse, patron saint of the world of Disney (and a little older than me) has ever shared my concerns.

Robert Frost wondered if the world would end in fire, or ice.

As I sit here on vacation, reading and contemplating nuclear disaster, I think that I should probably go join the rest of my party for some good-old, light-hearted fun. But instead, I find myself indulging my natural inclination to think about problems and try to solve them.

On this week-long trip I’ve also nearly completed reading Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Am I lucky, or just a glutton for punishment?

At any rate, I’ll end this blog simply by sharing the poetic thoughts of Frost writing about Fire and Ice.

“Some say the world will end in fire,

Some say in ice.

From what I’ve tasted of desire

I hold with those who favor fire.

But if it had to perish twice,

I think I know enough of hate

To say that for destruction ice

Is also great

And would suffice.”

Hopefully I’ll feel more cheerful next week and won’t succumb to reading Grimms Fairy Tales).

Alan

My father turned 18 in 1932 during the heart of the Great Depression. I learned from him at an early age that money was both scarce and important.

Even when I was only twelve years old and my weekly allowance was sixty cents, I always saved some of it, and was very careful in spending the rest. I was so frugal, in fact, when I was 23 a friend asked me why I didn’t occasionally splurge on some unnecessary indulgence.

“It’s not the $20.00,” I said, “but the $1.50 a year I would lose in interest for the rest of my life.”  He probably thought I was nuts.

But as careful as I was, I still occasionally lost money, usually because I was taken advantage of, but also because I sometimes bought items that I later regretted. It goes without saying that I was upset about money much of the time. (Like whenever I was awake.)

I finally decided that the stress wasn’t worth it, so I gave myself a “budget” of $10,000 a year with which to indulge in things I didn’t need or to lose to someone who wasn’t honest.

This probably didn’t save much, if any, money, but it did buy me peace of mind. From that day to this I have not kept track. I think I remained within my budget, but more importantly, I know I have felt a lot better about my life without worrying about how I spend every dime.

So if something you’re doing in your life bothers you on more than an occasional basis, I recommend that you develop your own personal strategy to deal with it, as I did with spending money.

As far as I know, the purpose of life is to enjoy it, and not to make your children wealthy.  (Note:  many of them may read this. And comment.)

At the moment I’m seated for lunch on a cruise ship. Paid for (drum roll please) from my savings.

Sorry, kids.

Alan

As you probably know, our universe has been around for more than three billion years.  While I’m able to think in terms of millions of people or millions of dollars, I admit that I have no real concept of what a billion is.  Let’s just say it’s a very long time, especially when compared to a single human lifespan.

As you also probably know, human beings have been around for several hundred thousand years. But it’s easy to forget that many tools we enjoy today have not always been available to us.

How about electricity?  Usable electricity is a relatively recent innovation, and one I think we should appreciate more than we do. From transportation to artificial lights to central heating and air conditioning, electricity is the common thread.  Can you imagine what life would be like without it?  And yet, electricity has only been available for use since the days of Thomas Edison (1847-1931).  He developed many devices for electric power generation, as well as mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures.

So where am I going with this?

I think we should appreciate the technological advantages of living in our world today. Human ingenuity and creativity have engineered so many conveniences that we now take for granted. For example, most of us enjoy watching television, and yet it only became a part of our culture during my lifetime. Before that people had to sit around the living room and talk to one another.  Horrors!  When my father was born (in 1914) radios were not in general use, there were no interstate highways, and people walked to their place of worship on Sundays or travelled in a horse-drawn buggy.

I have no idea what the future will bring, but I do believe that each of us should strongly appreciate the fact that today we seldom have to climb five stories of stairs (that’s what elevators are for) and we can drive home safely – at seventy miles an hour – even when it’s dark. I for one enjoy watching football on TV, and I love being able to take a hot shower every day.

And so, if you’re looking for something more to appreciate in your life, I hereby nominate Electricity!

Hip hip, hooray!

Alan