I Simply Want to be Your Brother

I started work this week just like any other. Run through a list of everything I didn't finish last week and tack it on to longer list of plans for the coming week. Given I have other interest and that time does have boundaries, completing the list is a zero sum game. And this week the list lost.

I decided to take the week off. No travel. No meetings. No plans.

As of late I felt like a 45 playing on 33 1/3. People talking to me were making unintelligible sounds and my ability to respond was even more retarded. I was a bit worried I was going back into atrial fibrillation - fortunately not. I think we all just overload once in awhile and a bit of time to clear the mind is needed.

So I decided to read a book. I picked "A Retreat with Pope John XXIII - Opening the Windows to Wisdom" by Alfred McBride. Not a NY Times bestseller, but a pretty good choice for Holy Week.

John XXIII was a loving little character who became pope at the age of 77. A very unassuming man, his words are full of wisdom and simplicity. Sit quietly and listen.

"I want to talk to you with the greatest of frankness...Things have been said and written about me that greatly exaggerate my merits. I humbly introduce myself. Like every other man on earth, I come from a particular family and place. I have been blessed with good physical health and enough common sense to grasp things quickly and clearly; I also have an inclination to love people, which keeps me faithful to the law of the Gospel and respectful of my own rights and those of others. It stops me doing harm to anyone; it encourages me to do good to all...No doubt the great position entrusted to me exceeds all my capacities. But above all I commend to your kindness someone who simply wants to be your brother, kind, approachable, understanding."

Gosh, what a beautiful take on life. I'm going to remember it when I go back to writing my list next week.