"Be thankful that you are one of the lucky ones"

I am tardy in posting the following link to an eyewitness account of 11 September 2001. It was sent to me last Friday via email and it has stayed with me since. I think it is always very important to view your life realistically and to remember that it likely can always be worse.

In the account, Diane Swonk, Chief Economist at Mesirow Financial, recounts what happened to her on that fateful day, and I particularly appreciate the following lines: "Remember those we lost on 9/11 and all those since then, including the casualties of the Great Recession. Take a meal to a family who is hungry, donate a coat to the homeless who will soon have to weather the winter and, for at least one moment, stop blaming and be thankful that you are one of the lucky ones."

A new threat to homeland security

The life of a pampered, indoor cat is not quite as cushy as you might think. In addition to bug patrol, shedding in a continuous, even pattern throughout the house and championship napping, there are always those evil forces that must be monitored. For Spenser, and just about every other domestic cat in the world, the biggest threat to his homeland security has been the vacuum cleaner. When I pull the vacuum out of the closet (not nearly as often as I should), his senses go on high alert and he puts as much distance as possible between him and The Beast. Even the turning of the doorknob on the closet door is enough to make him snap out of a deep sleep.

Now there is a new threat in town: a paper shredder. Our file cabinet is stuffed to the gills and I know there are many papers in there that need to be disposed, but in a safe manner. Two weeks ago Staples had a deal on an 8-sheet crosscut shredder: normally $69.99, it was on sale for $49.99 with a rebate of $20. Our shredder died years ago, so I bought the new shredder and brought it home.

I fired it up for the first time this morning, as I began my tedious evaluation of the file cabinet contents. Spenser was asleep upstairs, but as soon as I started shredding, he came running...and then promptly backed away! It seems that he is both fascinated by and terrified of it. After the initial fright, he hunkered down about fifteen feet away, never taking his eyes off The New Beast.

I supposed I should feel a bit sorry for Spenser, but I don't. I might even unnecessarily shred a few more things just to annoy him!