Your Date With Destiny

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An inconspicuous spot stands apart in a dimly lit corner of a musty, but comfortable, restaurant. The usual red and white checkered cloth covers this tiny table for two. The only light in the darkly paneled corner comes from a lone candle atop the table’s center. A worn wooden chair occupies a position on each side. The slightly overdressed couple sits casually. Their rigidly relaxed bodies betray the dull seriousness of their conversation.

Ever the curious sort, you’ve always wanted to meet fate. She’s now poised across from you, having accepted your invitation. Things aren’t going well.

“Tell me,” she says with forced interest, “what is it you really want to do?”Continue Reading “Your Date With Destiny”

Letting Go

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There’s a scene at the end of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade where Indy, despite being precariously perched on the cusp of certain death, desperately reaches 525200_73544751_balloon_release_stock_xchng_royalty_free_300for the elusive Holy Grail. “I can get it,” he gasps to his father, “I can almost reach it, Dad…”

Professor Henry Jones, who had been searching for the Holy Grail his whole life but now just as desperately is trying to save his suddenly smitten offspring, gently says, “Indiana.” His surprised son looks up at him. “Indiana,” continues the father, “let it go.”

And so he does.

Imagine spending your whole life striving to achieve that one goal, only to purposely back away when it lay within your clear grasp. How would you feel? What would be so important to have you “let it go”? And could you ever again hold as deep a conviction as what once drove you to that precipice?
Continue Reading “Letting Go”

Japan Inc. Buys the Moon

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[This Commentary originally appeared in the February 1, 1990 issue of The Mendon-Honeoye Falls-Lima Sentinel.]

 

CarosaCommentaryNewLogo_259Born in the 1960s, I might be called an Apollo Child. The term, of course, has nothing to do with any astrological myth. It aptly describes that first generation which fully expected to read of space travel as history, not as science fiction.

The intricacies and loftiness of heavenly flight glorify the post war success of America. NASA drove into our psyche the thirst for reaching ever upward. No problem – no matter how complex, no matter how new, no matter how large – lacked a solution.

Please don’t misjudge this zest for youthful idealism. While one can almost always solve a problem, one must recognize all solutions have a cost. Sometimes we simply cannot Continue Reading “Japan Inc. Buys the Moon”

Excelsior!!!

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[This Commentary originally appeared in the June 1, 1989 issue of The Mendon-Honeoye Falls-Lima Sentinel.]

CarosaCommentaryNewLogo_259 Latin. What a great language. I’m glad I took it in high school. I wish I had more time to study it now.

Excelsior. I first remember learning the history and importance of the word from Miss Dispenza in 11th grade. After a many year hiatus, Gates-Chili High School brought Latin back to the classroom my junior year. I thought the course would offer insights into grammar, linguistics and history (particularly Roman history), so I took it. Thanks to Miss Dispenza, the class rewarded me – an upperclassman – and about twenty freshmen with a vast array of fascinating and useful morsels of the mind.

New York State chose Excelsior as its motto with good reason. For many, many years, New York State led the United States, (at least until everyone took the Continue Reading “Excelsior!!!

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