Blog Archive
July 2026
A New Year, A New Board of Directors
07/01/2026
Home Sweet Home...No Moving Required
07/01/2026
How Did You Get Here?
07/01/2026
Scams, Frauds, AI…Oh No, Not Again
07/01/2026
Two's Company!
07/01/2026
Village Magic
07/01/2026
June 2026
Ability Resource Fair - A.R.F.!
06/01/2026
Goals, Priorities and Tasks. Oh, My!
06/01/2026
Jabber-Walkies
06/01/2026
LGBTQ+ Bars: A Book-talk
06/01/2026
Ladies Who Lunch
06/01/2026
President’s Message
06/01/2026
April 2026
Altadena’s Coyote Comeback
04/29/2026
Catch it Before it's Gone!
04/29/2026
Legacy Project
04/29/2026
Not Too Old To Get Carded
04/29/2026
President's Message
04/29/2026
Stuck in Milwaukee - Airplane Travel 2026
04/29/2026
The Art Journaling Workshop
04/29/2026
Think You're Losing Your Mind?
04/29/2026
Visiting The Getty
04/29/2026
March 2026
My Home For Now
03/30/2026
My Home for Now
03/30/2026
Do I Really Need a Will and/or a Trust?
03/26/2026
Everybody Needs a Blankie
03/26/2026
Kickoff: Prepared 50+ Emergency Preparedness
03/26/2026
The Birth of an Archive for Pasadena Village
03/26/2026
Too Smart to be Scammed?
03/26/2026
“I DIDN’T KNOW THAT!” A Refresher Course
03/26/2026
Across the Waiting Room
03/11/2026
February 2026
Status - February 28, 2026
02/28/2026
AI Presentation
02/26/2026
Exploring the “Cheech”
02/26/2026
Mary Mejia is Here to Make a Difference
02/26/2026
One Year On
02/26/2026
President’s Message – March 2026
02/26/2026
January 2026
Hearts & Limbs in Zambia
01/28/2026
Lost Trees of Altadena Return Home
01/28/2026
President's Message: WHY the Village Works
01/28/2026
TV: Behind the Scenes
01/28/2026
Trauma to Triumph
01/28/2026
Plans for 2022
By John Tuite · Posted 12/22/2021
Men's Time Topic Discussion for Tuesday, January 4th
Welcome Men of the Village! I am struck by the significance of the New Year: 2022! It could be my last year on Earth! It could be your last year on Earth…when seen in that context, it seems paltry in the light of resolutions…short term changes in behavior that we know, if successful, will affect our health, our weight, our eating patterns, our exercise habits, perhaps even our daily routines by adding prayer, meditation, or spiritual reading.
How are we going to address the weight, the influence, the meaning of this date in my life? What things should I choose to think about this year, read about, talk about, discuss, and ruminate on? Shall I choose twelve topics and spend a month on each learning twelve new facts? Astronomy, Zoology, Philosophy, History, the Brain…or other things of interest: the Spirit, the generations, the discovery of the animal Man, Religions, the Great Books….the topics go on...
I’m currently fascinated by David Brooks, the editorial writer for the New York Times, and a national motivational speaker. I’m reading a book he wrote about four years ago which has the fascinating title, "The Road to Character." Not easy reading but I find myself going back rereading pages, and searching for ideas and people whom I passed over rather quickly the first time. That’s the kind of book that I call favorite, whether I like it or not, but I follow the author as a challenge, to figure out what he’s saying and what the basis of his/her arguments are.
In “The Road to Character” he focuses on the deeper values that should inform our lives. Responding to what he calls the culture of the “Big Me”, which emphasizes external success, Brooks challenges us, and himself, to rebalance the scales between our “resume virtues”, success and fame, and our “eulogy virtues”, those that exist at the core of our being: kindness, bravery, honesty, and faithfulness. Something my Franciscan friend, Richard Rohr, calls “Falling Upward”.
He then traipses through history looking at a variety of people who found various ways of facing their circumstances and eking out a conclusion to the human question: “Was my life worth it? Did I make a difference?”
What are your plans for 2022? Tell us!
John Tuite
Welcome Men of the Village! I am struck by the significance of the New Year: 2022! It could be my last year on Earth! It could be your last year on Earth…when seen in that context, it seems paltry in the light of resolutions…short term changes in behavior that we know, if successful, will affect our health, our weight, our eating patterns, our exercise habits, perhaps even our daily routines by adding prayer, meditation, or spiritual reading.
How are we going to address the weight, the influence, the meaning of this date in my life? What things should I choose to think about this year, read about, talk about, discuss, and ruminate on? Shall I choose twelve topics and spend a month on each learning twelve new facts? Astronomy, Zoology, Philosophy, History, the Brain…or other things of interest: the Spirit, the generations, the discovery of the animal Man, Religions, the Great Books….the topics go on...
I’m currently fascinated by David Brooks, the editorial writer for the New York Times, and a national motivational speaker. I’m reading a book he wrote about four years ago which has the fascinating title, "The Road to Character." Not easy reading but I find myself going back rereading pages, and searching for ideas and people whom I passed over rather quickly the first time. That’s the kind of book that I call favorite, whether I like it or not, but I follow the author as a challenge, to figure out what he’s saying and what the basis of his/her arguments are.
In “The Road to Character” he focuses on the deeper values that should inform our lives. Responding to what he calls the culture of the “Big Me”, which emphasizes external success, Brooks challenges us, and himself, to rebalance the scales between our “resume virtues”, success and fame, and our “eulogy virtues”, those that exist at the core of our being: kindness, bravery, honesty, and faithfulness. Something my Franciscan friend, Richard Rohr, calls “Falling Upward”.
He then traipses through history looking at a variety of people who found various ways of facing their circumstances and eking out a conclusion to the human question: “Was my life worth it? Did I make a difference?”
What are your plans for 2022? Tell us!
John Tuite
