Professor Elam

The only gift is a portion of thyself.  The poet brings his poem, the painter his picture.

Well put way back in 1844 by RWE.   Yes that gosh awful season of greed and imposed necessity is upon us.  It is a national retail frenzy and oft forgotten religious holiday.  RWE’s essay on Gifts is perhaps the classic comment on this most difficult of challenges in our lives.  Click on the hyper link to read this classic again, or for the first time if you have not had the pleasure.

And don’t overlook what RWE is saying. I heard recently about a fellow who never purchases a store bought greeting card.  Rather he fashions his own molding its content and message for the specific occasion and person to whom it is aimed.  There is great merit in this idea and exactly what Emerson is saying.  Your appreciation for what someone else has done for you is certainly better expressed by saying just that than the purchase of a soon fogotten something or other.

In that regard, a while back I challenged everyone to name their favorit gadget or thing or gizmo. This season of gift giving my be a good time to re visit that request as I only got  a couple of responses.

Right now I would say a couple of my favorite tangible things are a handy wool wind breaker with just enough cashmere (10%) to give it  a soft to the touch feel and a nice warmth on these chilly mornings, I found it marked down at Men’s Wearhouse for 80 bucks.  My other favorite is surely my Olympus digital camera, I am still using the 2100 UZ more than the newer SP 500 as I am more familiar with the software for the 2100.  Are you taking digital shots of your family , friends and life around you?  You should be, trust me, deacades from now you will wonder where the time went.  The digital camera is a computer with a lens, but only handy if you use it to record life around you.

A couple we know attended the Rolling Stones Concert in Austin last weekend.  Cheryl noted that there were lots of ‘old people there.’  That happens with a group that dates to 1965. Trust me, start that photo album now, the years go by faster than you think.