2014 Outlook

Enough people are predicting good things for America in 2014 it is hard to not get caught up in the joy of optimistic expectations. It is also a good place to be: feeling good about yourself, those you love and those you don't even know from "shore to shining shore." It is too much to believe that all bad things will be righted, that hunger and disease will disappear from our beautiful country, and all will be right with our world. Nevertheless, I put myself among the optimists for 2014 and will do my small part to work for the best in our lives and the life of our country. It won't take a lot of effort on my part (or yours.) A simple random act of kindness from time to time, a little donation here and there to a worthy cause or a needy person. Uttering a kind word or better yet 'I love you' to the ones closest to you who feel good about themselves (and you) when they hear it from you.
It is my wish for all that 2014 will be one of the best years of our lives and we will all look back in 2015 and know it was. God Bless all of us and the USA!

Click for complete blog. 

Comment to: arch@archibald99.com

Widow and widower take a second chance on life.

A South African Remembers Mr. Mandela

A gentleman I met ten years ago in Cape Town, South Africa, sent along a copy of his remarks made at his Rotary Club in Cape Town and I consider them most worthy for sharing:

Hello All

It's nearly the end of the year and Denise and I wish you all a very blessed and also merry Christmas.

The last few days have certainly allowed us all to focus, one way or another, on the meaning of life, on the value which needs to be given to real values, on humility, generosity and also to focus on our society and our social conscience. This event, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela's death, has given us the opportunity to rethink the issues of showing empathy to our fellow beings, caring for those who need it, of showing us all the responsibilities to be faced – our responsibilities. And it has highlighted the job that needs still to be done most urgently to improve and uplift our South African society. May this occasion, sad as death is, also have a positive effect in creating a new vision in the minds of those who run this country and coerce them and in turn all of us to live and lead in a substantive and effective manner.

Thank you Mr Mandela for  once again reminding us about caring.

May you rest in peace, but your principles blossom.

Regards

Steven Boers

Cape Town Rotary Club 

/Architects Boers Associates 

(Complete blog here.)

Nelson Mandela

In January 2003, my late wife and I went to South Africa on the recommendation of our oldest son whose work had taken him there on several occasions. We flew from Atlanta to Johannesburg, checked into a hotel, went to a mall, bought a book of country maps, rented a car and drove all around beautiful SA for the next two months. One of the stops along our journey was a visit to

Robben Island Prison

Robben Island where Nelson Mandela had been imprisoned for more than 20 years.

Mandela's cell.

We walked in the stone quarry where he labored. We could only imagine what life must have been for him there and, like former President Bill Clinton, we remain amazed that Mandela came out of 27 years imprisonment with love and a desire for reconciliation of all South Africans in his heart.He said he lived on hate for the first eleven years and then slowly his mind changed his heart.
Mr. Mandela died last week at age 95. South Africa mourns him and will be a lesser place in his absence. The good he accomplished in his one term in the presidency has been squandered in recent years but his memory lives on and with effort South Africa can be again a leader on the continent and a land of fulfillment for all races and creeds.

May his soul rest in peace. 

A Merry Christmas and Happy New Year greeeting

Having crossed the 82^nd meridian of life I pause to wish a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to those living people who played a significant role in my vibrant, interesting and mostly pleasurable life, to wit: my brother and sisters; neighbors and boyhood friends in places I lived; teachers from first grade through high school and fellow students encountered along the way; folks I worked with prior to going in the service and those I hung with after work; men and women I was privileged to associate with during eight years of Air Force service, including those who trained me and advanced my career; the wonderful people over the next 50 years who I met in my work, college and graduate school, community, church, political and social life; my five children  

who made me and their late mother proud by turning out to be good people in their own lives and mating with a good husband and wives and making us proud grandparents; the many folks we came in contact with around the world, especiallyin China, Australia and South Africa; doctors and nurses who have helped keep me going all these years; the fine women and men who cared for my wife in her advanced and declining years; those neighbors and strangers who became fast friends and sustained me in many wonderful ways during those difficult years; and my new wife

and her family and the recently acquired friends and neighbors who continue to make my life worth living.

Merry Christmas one and all and Happy New Year!