ON BEING GOOD

How good one feels, when one is good at last! It is so worth the wait, in fact, that, as soon as one is bad again, one is immediately persuaded to stretch the badness a bit more, make it last, at least until the next occasion of goodness. Thus are the heights of goodness raised to these admirable summits, and the more lowly delights in between given a moral luster they might otherwise lack.

For alas, what is the good in being only good? It's not in the good, after all, that the value resides, but in the rarity of the good, the effort invested in the good. Flood the world with diamonds: what then is the value of those in your crown? No, keep the diamonds hid; dole them out one at a time, like De Beers so reputably does, and get true value for every carat of your morality; then - and only then - can you say, with earned conviction, a priceless crown on your head and and a forward look in your eyes: "I'll be good again one day!"

WINSTON

Received the sad news that my long-time blog buddy Winston Rand has suddenly passed away, just a day or two after leaving one of his always uplifting comments on a post of mine.

I'd never met Winston, or even spoken to him, just luckily got to know him through words over years, and always looked forward to his observations. I knew him in that way you can when you read the writings of a person who loves the spirit that lives in the flow of thought shared with kindred spirits, as in the unique relations of the blog. I never would have 'met' Winston were it not for this new technology that has so privileged us all.

So often, Winston was the first to leave a comment on something I'd posted, his words showing me that he was a kind man and an optimist - a combination of integrity that the world can always use more of - ever looking to the bright side of even dark things. There was light in all his words-- his empathy for that styrofoam cup in the midst of heavy traffic is a perfect example of the depth and perception of his observations, and stands as testament to a good and caring man. Those feelings of mine were borne out to the full when I read the touching words written by Winston's wife ("Roomie," as as he lovingly called her) that form the final post on his blog, Nobody Asked, where Winston can always be visited.

Enjoy heaven, Winston. I hope to meet you there in person before too long, if I can change my habits in time.

You always added sunshine to my day.

MORNING WAVES

The fierce wind that dragged along two steely days of heavy rain came back last night with a vengeance that threatened to clear the deck of all my seedlings, when all the while it was bringing in its train the mild morning of a fine blue day, horizon to horizon, souled by a gently muscular breeze.

In the fresh warm sun of the morning I was drawn like a magnet to go out on the deck and lay for a time in the golden light, while the breeze from the north bathed me in the honey-orange-gardenia fragrance of the full-blooming Carolina jasmine that covers the northern rail of the deck in creamy yellow blossoms.

In those moments of sun-warmed scent splashing over me on waves of Siberian cool I had a human glimpse of what we'd all feel if there were nothing but goodness and joy in the world...