It’s a Habit


Childhood habits persist. I learned a number of lessons early that continue to impact my behavior. I could probably make a longer list with a little thought, but here are a few examples:

1 – Never say: “It’s not there;” say, “I can’t find it.” Actually, as one gets older, there are more and more occasions when this advice is useful. An alternative strategy is to blame it on Black Holes.

2 – “Clean your plate. Remember the starving Armenians.” I don’t believe any Armenians were still actually starving when I was given this advice but my mother was undoubtedly given that advice when the Armenians were having tough times after World War I and she passed it on. This, however, is bad advice these days when eating out. One honors the memory of the starving Armenians better by taking half of all restaurant meals home.

3 – When it snows, make a snow man. In upState New York there were many opportunities to make snow men and old habits, as I say, persist. The recent snow had reached the right consistency yesterday, so I did what needed to be done.

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