Winter
The Point
Lines
Moon Rise
When family or acquaintances pass away, it leaves you a little stunned, like getting jolted awake while in a dreamscape. You’re left thinking it over – life and death – death and life. Seems to me we know death as juxtaposed to life. The contrast is in what we know of life. Death is the black side of duality – the unknown shadow. So what is life – is it true – “life is what we make it?” How about the eight senses: sight, touch, taste, sound, smell, logic, emotion, and dream. Yes, I added a few. Good and bad – all you see, all you hear, scents floating in the air near and far, the taste of food and drink, the sound of rain and music, logic and emotion, a dream. Surfing encompasses all these things; love encompasses all these things; time with friends and family; your relationship with animals – life. You embrace it everyday and, once in a while, spend some time relishing the flavor – the senses. Are you seeing; are you touching; are you tasting; are you hearing; do you take time to savor the scents that you encounter; do you contemplate, read, love, and dream? Even at work! I didn’t know Scott well. He showed up after being out of the lineup for quite awhile due to injury. It was pleasant to surf with him – and heck – he went left most of the time. He was a good surfer and definitely had soul. He was also good to talk to on the cliff. Like I said – I didn’t know him well, but isn’t that the case with a lot of the guys we know from the lineup. I surfed yesterday. I was out at second bowl when I saw Scott walking down to Tiburones. I’m sure he spied the left – not big, but breaking on the shallow part of the reef. The surf was breaking close to shore – I gave him an arm wave as he slowly made his way down the beach. Later, as I got out of the water, I looked down to Sharks to see how the waves were shaping up. I saw Scott sitting on the left. Today I found out that Scott passed while surfing. It made me think about life – why I want it so and what Scott left behind. All you see, all you hear, scents floating in the air near and far, the taste of food and drink, the sound of rain and music, logic and emotion, a dream. See you on the other side when my time comes – but now I live.
Rant -
Not surprising: “Other countries negotiate very aggressively with health care providers and set rates that are much lower than we do.” They do this in one of two ways. In countries such as Canada and Britain, the government sets prices. In others, such as Germany and Japan, they’re set by providers and insurers sitting in a room and coming to an agreement, with the government stepping in to set prices if they fail.
In America, Medicare and Medicaid negotiate prices on behalf of their tens of millions of members and, not coincidentally, purchase care at a substantial markdown from the commercial average. But outside that, it’s a free-for-all. Providers largely charge what they can get away with, often offering different prices to different insurers, and an even higher price to the uninsured.”
Check the effort -
The living are soft and yielding; the dead are rigid and stiff. Living plants are flexible and tender; the dead are brittle and dry. -Lao Tzu, philosopher (6th century BCE)
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