Viewpoint


My name is Patrick M McCormick and I have created this blog as a platform for my political views as well as those of select contributors.

I believe that American Politicians have lost sight of their goal: To uphold the Constitution and protect the rights of the people of the United States. They argue and bicker on the floor of their respective houses, positioning themselves for the next election, while they accomplish very little business for the citizens of this country.

Meanwhile our economy is sliding downward. Millions of our precious jobs have have been exported overseas. Our social safety net and other public services are being cut. Our middle class is rapidly disappearing and the numbers of citizens existing below the poverty line is increasing dramatically.

I plan to examine the causes of these terrible changes to our American way of life. Your comments will help us all arrive at some important conclusions.

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

An Old Man’s Advice to His Young Daughter

By Patrick McCormick
9/14/2010

Insight is a strange thing, it always bumps into you when you least expect it.

My daughter and I were watching a program about various mental disorders that affect some children. The show addressed the percentages of a child contracting one horrible thing or another. The information presented was upsetting for her to watch.

She said, “I’m going to write down all of the different things that can affect a baby from birth to its adulthood and see if I can determine what percentage of kids grow up without problems”, I countered, “Don’t bother; the list would be too long, besides the ending to life is always the same”. She looked at me, “Death”, I added. A frown came over her face. “I don’t like to think about death”, she said.

Out of the blue, these words fell out of my mouth, “Look at it this way, if you were born 60 million years ago you would have been a dinosaur.” “That’s true”, she agreed. “ There were two kinds of dinosaurs, ones that ate plants and those that ate meat” I offered and went on, “The plant eaters died from a bowel obstruction or got eaten by the predators…. the predators got injured chasing prey and the other predators ate them….Even then, the ending was the same”.

Oh dad, “You make it sound awful”. I nodded my head and sighed, “Life is what it is honey. Some days are beautiful, some days you are walking on thorns. My advice to you is to enjoy all of it. Go out into this world and breathe it, taste it, feel it. Live it like every day was your last. Don’t do anything you're not proud of, but smell all of the flowers you can.” She looked at me with a whimsical smile, “Is that what you did Pop”? I laughed, as I answered her, “Not often enough”.

She slid over and we hugged. I added a last bit of fatherly advice, “Look at it this way kid, when I look back at my life it’s just as if I had seen it in a movie”. She looked at me and I looked at her, “Sit back and enjoy the show darling… buy some popcorn”. She kissed me and said, “Thanks for the ticket Dad”.

It was one of the best moments of my life.

1 comment:

  1. Nice feeling , huh Pat? I always cherish those moments.

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