“None but a blockhead ever wrote except for money.”

I have raised one child, effortlessly. He turned out better than many whose parents sacrificed play time to save for college and stayed up all night worrying, making them too cranky to play. He’s gainfully employed, disease- and baby-free. He has all he needs to do whatever he decides to do with his life. And we played.

I took him to Vegas when he was 8 and we had a ball. Three years later, we stood in a Denver park silently fishing for puny bluegills. Out of nowhere, BS (“Beloved Son”) said,

“Dad, I don’t want to go to Vegas this year. I just want to stay here and fish with you.”

Kahlil Gibran has some advice for parents who make raising kids difficult:

http://www.katsandogz.com/onchildren.html

Making money is not the same as getting rich, quickly or slowly. I always have all the money I need, even when my creditors seem to run desperately short. Making money is as easy as breathing. You take it in, take what you need from it, and let the rest out. If you hold your breath too long, you die. Same with money.

“The tough part is editing and re-editing a piece until it is perfect. The tough part is handling rejection. The hard part is competing against thousands of people trying to do the same thing.”

Man, you really do have problems.

Everything always changes, so what’s perfect can only get worse. You’ll never finish editing. Papa didn’t have to re-write that page 90-some times. He had problems too.

Nobody rejects you. They just don’t need what you’ve written and then tried to sell to them. I never write anything that someone hasn’t already said he needs. So nothing I write is ever rejected.

“She (the Tao) alone does not compete, therefore the world can never overcome her.” ~ Lao Tzu.

“If your happiness depends on what other people do, then you really do have a problem.” ~ Richard Bach, author of “Jonathan Livingston Seagull”

But go ahead and stand by what you said. “I know enough to know that I don’t need to know any more” are a person’s dying words.

@ David – The writing part isn’t hard for me, or the idea phase coming up with ideas I love, and love writing about. The tough part is editing and re-editing a piece until it is perfect. The tough part is handling rejection. The hard part is competing against thousands of people trying to do the same thing.

It’s like how Hemingway wrote A Farewell to Arms. He had to rewrite the last page 90 some ought times. I doubt that was easy, but I think he loved what he was doing.

It has been suggested that chairs be removed from all legislators’ chambers and the heating/air conditioning turned off. That would get them moving and reduce the number new laws dramatically.

Ray