Humility, of course, is a noun derived from the word “humiliation.” Generally, one has to have a good solid dose of the latter in order gain the virtues of the former. I have had my share. In fact, one of the challenges in writing this rather lengthy essay was to select only two of scores of such experiences to share with you.

One of my earliest memories of humiliating myself in full view of all my friends and peers occurred in the eighth grade. I considered myself a pretty good speller back in those days. So, on this particular morning in Mr. Decker’s science class, the students were asked how to spell “vacuum.” Having a perennial “D” average throughout most of my school years, I was excited to have the rare chance to show everyone how smart I really was, even though I never did any homework whatsoever.

Hand up! Hand up! Me! Me! I know! I know!

“Okay, okay, Skip, please spell vacuum for the class.”

“Yessir, it is spelled v-a-c-u-m-e,” I said, quite pleased with myself, actually.

Continue “Humility”

Someone once said that there is a thin line between fishing and doing nothing. I have written of the sport of fishing in the past, and those of you who may have read those pieces no doubt understand that I prefer fishing activities that might be better described as the latter than the former.

Anyway, I have an old wooden fishing bobber sticking up out of the corner of a little cane basket I keep on my side-counter in the kitchen. This basket is basically a back-up to my more traditional junk drawer (more on that another time), except the various odds-and-ends in there are more likely to have some actual utility in the near term – with the exception of that bobber. So, one might wonder, why have I not relegated it to the junk drawer? Funny you should ask. Actually, I am not sure. But I think it might be because it reminds me of a great fishing trip I once took with my son Jay and how much fun we had.

Continue “Gator bait”

When washing dishes or conducting other cleanup work around the kitchen, I am inclined to use liquid Joy detergent. What a strange name for a soap product. Especially when I find it hard to believe that anyone is likely to be joyous about participating in the types of activities for which it was invented.

Continue “Joy to the world”