Michael, a closet Ole Miss Rebel

(No place to hide!)



Let the truth be known to the whole world: Michael Sea is a closet Ole Miss fan. I have proof:

1.He called to tell me that he is applying for the University of Mississippi Medical Center ER residency this afternoon. “Make sure to mention that you are a legacy,” I encouraged him. “That will give you a leg up in getting in.” “I don’t think that will help,” he said. “It will,” I affirmed. I think that’s what he will do. Of all the ER residencies in the nation, the fact that he chose to apply for UMC in Jackson only goes to prove that he has hidden feeling for the school, and it has ripened to come out.

2.Anyone who knows Michael knows what a softie Michael is as far as his feelings for old things and old times are concerned. I can vouch that Ole Miss is his first love, a love rooted in his heart that cannot be replaced by any other school. How can he forget the cold winter night when his father dressed him up in red and blue Ole Miss warm-ups and took him to Ted Smith Coliseum to watch the Rebels play? How can he ever forget the magical night when Gerald Glass outscored Chris Jackson, or the weekend when Shaq came to town and our boys dominated him?

3.Oh, the pictures of the magnolias on the Grove that he used to hug and climb as a little boy, and the golden maple trees and the dogwoods on campus that have been forever etched in his heart. They must bring his heart joy and pain when they resurface in his mind year after year, giving him a pensive mood and making him long for home. Besides, how can any impressionable little boy forget the scene where so many Southern belles richly adorn themselves on Saturday afternoon, going to a football game as if going to dance in a ball?

4.His strong feeling for Aggieland is really a disguise and a futile attempt to make him forget his first love. Sooner or later, we will find out the truth. Therefore let us encourage Michael not to torture himself by hiding his secret infatuation with Ole Miss and to come out of the closet. There is no shame in doing that, Michael. Ole Miss is a grand old university worthy of your love and admiration. Come back to the family. The Colonel and your Ole Miss are waiting for you with open arms, and the band will play “Dixie” for your homecoming.

No Call!

GUILTY!!!


I was expecting the Aggies to lose even when they were ten points ahead and about eight minutes from upsetting the mighty Bruins; therefore, the notorious no-call at the end of the game didn’t bother me all that much. That’s how things are supposed to end in the real world, isn’t it? The little guys are always victimized by the class bully and, no matter how hard the less-endowed try, the bully always comes out on top. We all know too well how the jocks always get the cheerleaders and homecoming queens and we get the rejects and the nerds and there is nothing we can do but feel sorry for ourselves and hope for a better world where fair is fair and sunshine always burns away filthy air. I do by no means consider the proud fighting Aggies little guys, but in the world of college basketball, we are relatively small, especially compared to UCLA.

Going back to the no-call.

1.The bad guys may get to the Final Four, or even win the whole thing, but we are still the ones who will get the last laugh – a moral victory is, in fact, a real victory in my book - the Book of Judgment, that is.

2.Being robbed of a victory, or a possible victory, is better than victory itself, for a victory will quickly be forgotten, but a near-victory will forever be remembered. Remember the one that got away? O the yearning that creates so much pain akin to joy! Have I lost you here, dear readers?

3.We have gained so many friends by losing. Misery does love company, for most of us are wannebes, not bes. Believe it not, I even overheard some sympathetic comments coming from the talking heads on the Red Raider radio program. Amazing! The people who enjoy hating everything Aggie finally came to their senses and sided with the good guys.

4.The no-call further fortified the Aggie notion of “us-against-the world” and made us more united as a family. By the way, am I part of the proud Aggie family, Michael? Can I cash in all the hours that I have earned from Ole Miss for an Aggie ring?

5.Of course, there is always next year. The expectation bred by failure is far greater than by success, and the joy of a long-awaited triumph tastes much sweeter than otherwise.

6.Therefore three cheers for the no-call and for all the losers in the mad pursuit of an inglorious crown in this long “Ides of March.”

Things to do to make you happy

(A cardinal feeding at my birdfeeder outside our dining room)



Happy thoughts about yourself
Happy thoughts about other people.
Pray for the people you like.
Pray for the people you don’t like.
Do the right thing that you have been avoiding doing and avoid doing the wrong that you have been thinking about doing.
Smell the flowers and listen to the birds
Look up more and look around less; think about what you have more and think about what you don’t have less.
Give yourself a treat by going to ice cream parlor and quit thinking about your weight.
Sing to yourself.
Think about the ones who love you the ones who used to love you and congratulate yourself for being so lovable and lovely.
Think about eternal things and not so much about temporary things.
Do nothing for a day.
Go hiking.
Praise God for sunrises, sunsets, tulips, hyacinths, good appetite, good food, hamburgers, hotdogs, sneezes, kisses, friends, green tea, good conversations….. and thousands of other things.
Easter
Jesus.

(Feel free to add more things that make you happy!)

March Madness

I am an Ole Miss Rebel and always will be, but following my alma mater’s sport has been fun or, to be more exact, not as discouraging as watching Aggie sports. I have very little expectation for my school, and their occasional successes brought a lot of joy and excitement for me. Not so with Aggie sports though, since we always have lofty hopes for them and more often than not, our hopes are dashed to the ground and we can’t help but become disillusioned about Aggie everything. I am just speaking from the perspective of a tee-shirt fan though.

Watching Aggie sports can really make one mad, but it’s pretty insignificant in the scheme of things compared to some real issues in life. We men have an inclination of blowing things up out of proportion, treating the less important things in life as if they were the most crucial and viewing the most vital things as nonessential or unimportant. I was once a fool and still am, because my love for sports has made me mad and, at some occasions, I was madder than others.

Kathy had just given birth to a ten plus pound boy after hours of labor in a strange hospital in a strange land, yet moments after our third baby was born, I became very anxious to get back to the college campus where I was teaching. “What’s the important thing you need to do?” Kathy was puzzled, wondering why I had to leave at such crucial moment when she needed my help the most. “Well, I have to go back to take care of some things,” I lied to her with a straight face. The truth was that I didn’t want to miss our Friday’s basketball time for faculty and staff. I took off in my little Ford and left a helpless mother and a new-born baby behind in a hospital in Taiwan.

I was a fool, and my love for basketball really did me in that time. March Madness is drawing nearer and nearer and the Aggie basketball team seems to be on life-support. Please be reminded: don’t be a fool like me who once put the last thing first and the first thing last.

Make Love Stay

Tough to do, isn’t it. But rest assured, it can be done. To love is just a matter of choice, and it is always a better option than not to love, or to hate. We will always have someone to love if we choose to love, and our love for that special someone will always be there if we want it to be there. Love will not escape from us unless we let it slip by not loving anymore. In one sense, we love for our own sake, not for our lover’s sake. To love is really a healthy thing to do.

There is really no such thing as “breaking up,” for after a relationship happens, no matter how brief or bitter it is, it becomes a part of our being and is integrated into our lives one way or another. We can choose to love or to hate the ones who have left us or broken our hearts, but the former is always a better option. By doing so, the ones we used to love, or to like, will become a blessing rather than a curse to our lives, and when we think about the good times we used to share, there will be joy, not sorrow. “So there will be laughter when we remember…”

To love is a lot more productive and life-affirming than to hate. One produces life, and the other death. The choice is easy.

Burning Bush

Before spring
The flowering Quince
Started to bloom
Like a sweet voice spoken
From a burning bush
Falling on many deaf ears.