It’s Important to be good to yourself

In one of Robyn Carr’s novels she has a character say, “I’m very good to myself.” It epitomizes my philosophy of life perfectly. While that may appear selfish, it none -the-less is my whole-hearted belief.

I cannot explain just exactly when, where or how I came to this view. It does sound hedonistic, but I firmly believe it was hoisted upon me in my formative years. Poverty, insecurity, neglect all contributed to it.

Being good to myself started by getting away from my hometown environment. Coupled with that was a need to be educated. So at the age of sixteen I left home and hitch-hiked to Boston and treated myself to learning.

My natural curiosity for learning was fed by getting more and more education. I was good to me.

I had an emptiness in my soul, so I treated myself by getting religion. It satisfied me and my beliefs evolved.

I also possessed an artistic hunger, so I satisfied it through music: playing five instruments and singing. I also married a fabulous musician. She taught me good Gospel music. My second wife taught me about money. My third wife has been good for me in love and companionship. All three wives have been good to me and for me.

Stella and I celebrated our 19th anniversary a few days ago. We hope to live together and live as close to God’s goal in Genesis 6:3 “Man’s allotted years are 120”. I repeat, Stella and I are trying to get as close to that as we can.

I posit the answer to my previous statement, “I’m very good to myself.” I’ve often been asked, “What one word best describes you?” Without hesitation, I respond, with the word, “Curiosity.” It certainly reflects my personality.

Ideas spark my interest; people-ethnic diversity capture my attention; animals of all species, from dogs to elephants and fish, are of great interest to me; and, of course, all kinds of music.

Since I majored in College and Seminary in Mid-East History, I am very curious about the whys, wheres and how comes of the various religions. I have a great propensity about their beliefs-especially Christianity, Islam and Judaism.

I am constantly delving into the comparisons; especially their differences.

This curiosity is consistent, mainly because most disciplines are in a constant state of flux. Even science. One of my favorite stories is about the noted MIT-Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

It seemed that the annual exam in General Science had been stolen. The Administration was angry with the Professor. They complained that all the students would have the answers from the previous years. He quelled their anger by saying, “Yes, the questions were the same. But the answers in science CHANGE every year. He was exonerated.

Not only do I have a basic curiosity with academic subjects but I also have an insatiable curiosity about two other fields of learning: HUMOR and MAGIC.

A few years ago, I made a trip around the world to study humor in various places. In the different countries, the humor was paradoxical. I kept tabs on the preferences for kinds of humor. For example, first was sexual humor; second was political humor; third was senior jokes; fourth was ethnic and fifth was religious humor.

In my “sit down humor shtick” I usually ask the audience which kind of humor they wanted to hear. I always have two or three jokes for each of the five levels I’ve mentioned.

Here’s an example of my humor.

A minister was preoccupied with thoughts of how he was going to ask the congregation to come up with more money than they were expecting, for repairs to the church building. Therefore, he was annoyed to find that the regular organist was sick and a substitute had been brought in at the last minute.

The substitute wanted to know what to play. “Here’s a copy of the service,” he said impatiently. “But you’ll have to think of something to play after I make the announcement about the finances.” During the service, the minister paused and said, “Brothers and Sisters, we are in great difficulty; the roof repairs cost twice as much as we expected and we need $4,000.00 more. Any of you who can pledge $100.00 or more, please stand up.”

AT THAT MOMENT, THE SUBSTITUTE ORGANIST PLAYED THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER. AND THAT IS HOW THE SUBSTITUTE BECAME THE REGULAR ORGANIST!

For many years, I’ve been a devotee of magic. I usually begin with a historical sketch about magic-interspersed with jokes-followed with examples of magic performed by famous people. Muhamad Ali, Steve Allen, Johnny Carson, Jimmy Stewart, etc.

I can’t remember when I’ve not been curious about sports.

In the musical Mame, the heroine says, “Life is a banquet and I want to taste it all.” To me life is a curiosity and I’m curious about all of it.

In my younger days, I’ve played football, basketball, ping-pong, golf, racquet ball and tennis. I’ve enjoyed them all. Currently I follow all of the listed above on TV.

Amen. Selah. So be it.