Contact

 Contact

For the second time I watched the movie Contact. It won 14 awards and Jodie Foster won the Golden Globe award for best actress. The movie is about searching for intelligent life in the universe.

With ought giving too much away, the women managing the SETI program gets a message from a planet many, many light years away. Now the United States and other Nations realize we are not alone, political, military security and religious concerns are voiced.

The intelligent life sends information that will enable Nations to build a device so that some one person can visit them. The fight as to who that will be gets political, military concerns and especially religious concerns. The women managing SETI is a scientist and doesn't believe in God. Because of her lack of belief in God, she doesn't get picked, but events happen where she is sent.

She goes and sees her dead father in a setting that is all about peace and love. The setting and her father is manufactured to make her comfortable. Even though she is told that it is manufactured, she realizes the intelligent life is all about peace and love.

I already said too much about the movie, but I wanted to share the messages I got from this wonderful movie. Intelligent life does exist in the Universe. With the trillions and trillions of stars in the Universe at least one planet has to have intelligent life.

The second thing I got from this movie is that it's not about a God that oversees our life, it's about the power of the Universe whether that's one dimensional or multi-dimensional. I'm a computer scientist. I don't believe in a God. However, I am spiritual. I do believe there is something more we can see and understand with our limited five senses. Therefore, I believe my spirit will go out to the Universe when I die.

The third thing I got from this movie is the Universe is all about peace and love. It's not about power, religious and territorial war, politics, prejudice, money and all that negative shit. I say, how can you be a spiritual person and  believe in anything other than peace and love.

The last thing I realized about this movie is that searching for life outside our world is not necessary when there are human beings who believe in peace and love right in our country - right in our neighborhood - right in our house. 

Go find those people and give them the peace and love we all deserve. 

Mr. Perfect

 Mr. Perfect

When it came to my health, I always told my doctors that I'm Mr. Perfect. After many, many check-ups, I was still Mr. Perfect (BTW, I don't count my bad back because that's something I've been living with most of my life and it never stopped me from loving and getting the most out of life). 

Then it happened. After a trip to Los Angeles six weeks ago, I got COVID/Pneumonia. Two trips to the hospital (6 days overall) and a month of recovery, I'm almost back to Mr. Perfect. My head is still a little weird (OK, more weird than normal), I'm thirsty all the time, and my taste buds are about 80 percent. Doctors say it might be a year before I'm Mr. Perfect again.

These last two months have given me a new perspective on my life. Being Mr. Perfect almost all of my life, I assumed that if I eat well, don't take drugs (and now Alcohol), and exercise, I will continue to be Mr. Perfect. I don't feel that way now.

More than ever, I realize my health can change at any moment. I can't take it for granted. When I'm healthy, I need to appreciate it more. If I become unhealthy, I need to do everything to make me better. Most of all, I can't let sickness stop me from loving life.

What about YOU? Are you appreciating your health? Have you stopped loving life if you're sick? Are you doing everything possible to make sure your;

Mr. Perfect