SecondIron's Blog

It had been raining for two days straight with the New Year upon us and the coldest weather of the season moving in, all anyone wanted was to get home.  I walked my normal route out of the office to my truck, letting the day’s events fall out of my mind so I did not bring them home.  As I started to turn towards the lot where my truck sat waiting peacefully for me to get in out of the rain, something no someone caught my eye. He walked towards me in the rain, slowly, as if he was unsure whether to cross my path, turn down the side street or even turn around.  Instantly, as I have many times in the past in our city my mind started to prejudge, thinking of ways to avoid eye contact much less conversation, where is my wallet is it secure, I am out here by myself with this guy, what should I do?  Then it happened as it has many times before; he raised his head from under his rain jacket and with eyes full of hurt and pain asked me “can you help me?’” By general rule, I do not give to people on the street, at least not money for we all know where that goes right?  For some reason this time felt different, I casually replied, “Sure, let me see how much I have in my truck”.  He followed behind me, not too close to be intrusive, but enough to make known that he […]

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Once again we are burdened with the finality of another year; it is gone and done with all the blessings and messings we must move on creating a new you.  Many of us will make New Year’s resolutions today to fulfill tomorrow and break by January 31st if not sooner.  While we let 2013 go out with a bang or a whimper (you decide) we welcome the New Year of 2014 with open arms ready for new beginnings.  Here is some food for thought as you countdown the clock tonight.. ◇ Become the person where the mirror does not scream in horror each day. ◇ Be a little kinder to those you pass by, they may be having a worse day than you. ◇ Use a friendly wave or the sign of the cross rather than the middle finger when someone cuts you off..Blessing them on their way. ◇ Read more books that will benefit your life spiritually, financially or emotionally rather than magazines and other smut based on sleazy dreams and lives of people you will never be. ◇ Instead of watching the news that is full of negativity use that time to spend with your family the headlines, weather and sports reports will be there to catch up on at any time. ◇ Feeling a bit empty, try filling someone else’s life, whether at a soup kitchen, giving your time to your favorite charity or just taking the time to be interested in the welfare and well-being of someone who can never repay you. […]

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We are entering into the season of giving and will be spending time and money on our family and friends to share the holiday spirit.  While we all tend to get caught up in the material side of Christmas and the real meaning slips away a little bit.   While we are bombarded by the glam and glitter of the sales and the last-minute shopping for those that mean the most to us, we all tend to forget. We forget the homeless man on the street corner that was holding the cardboard sign this morning on the way to work this morning. We forget the pregnant single mother that is scraping together change to buy groceries at the store; we get impatient that this woman was not prepared to pay for what she picked to feed herself.  We forget the elderly widow down the street that will be alone with her T.V. dinner on Christmas as her children no longer visit her.  We forget the neglected and abused dogs and cats in the shelters and on the streets that eat scraps and fight to stay alive another night.  We forget all these things as we rack up our credit card bills buying Christmas gifts that will end up in someone’s closet, garage or yard sale.  We are consumed with the newest and shiniest item this year, while there are others that would be doubly blessed with our hand me downs that we are apt to throw away this year to make room for the new. In […]

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