December 8th

It is not my custom to title my blogs with merely a date.  Yet it is today's date and for some reason, the date beckons me to parlay it's significance.

I could start this blog entry by saying today is the day I am breaking through my (apparent?) writer's block. However, since I appear to be typing effortlessly right now, I will skip that point.  Simply continuing forward with writing this now seems to alleviate my burning need to understand or justify the dry spell.

This date in history is marked in sad remembrance of the death of John Lennon.  I still have a naive, child-like part that believes there should be some sort of special dispensation for certain people so that they don't have to die.  I think there should be some sort of heavenly administrative process that allows for individuals to cast devotion votes that would allow significant people to stick around and continue to express their unique gifts not just for their generation but for all time.

Our culture seems to popularize fictional stories about bureaucratic policies that determine who dies and when. (Think: "Logan's Run" or "The Hunger Games.")  Perhaps, if I have really broken the spell of writer's block, I should write a novel about a world where we get to vote who lives forever and it won't be a vampire story either!

No doubt politics would intervene somehow; or Madison Avenue would find a way to commercialize and taint the popular vote.  But ideally, every decade we would each be given a certain allotment of votes for people that we would endorse to continue living to give forth their brilliance to generations to come.

As I really give this idea credence, I realize that most of the people I would 'vote' for are the creative ones whose talents continue to this day to enrich my life.  John Lennon, Jim Henson, Steve Jobs, Mozart, Gene Kelly to name a few.  Historically, I would easily choose Lincoln, Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and well, Jesus the Christ.

In an odd way, many of the people that might garner the biggest popularity votes are ones whose untimely deaths added to the depth and impact of their lives. People like Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr. and well, ... Jesus the Christ. 

Of course, there would be a desire to 'save' and vote for special family members or friends. In this category I would keep Marilyn Moody, and the whole retinue of fur-family members, Wunjo, Nick, Max, Molly Brown, Rosie and Zeke.

Whose to say that if this 'voting process' were legitimate and in place, how different our lives--even the world-- would be if some of the people (and animals) could still be around today.

Which then brings me to the fact that today's date was my father's birthday.  Frank M. Don (Donofrio) of Chicago, Illinois.  I didn't know him--barely met him.  I doubt I would want to vote to keep him around for eternity but maybe in the interview and screening process, I might get a chance to at least talk to the guy and get a few answers.  And yet, maybe the answers about his absence in my life would spoil the scenario that played out so I could become who I am.

Maybe this humble post will spark your own list of people to legendize into eternity so that they continue to create, to express, to serve, to love and to make a difference in your life.

(Thank you to my dear friend, Denise Black who gifted me with her photo of this beautiful tribute).