At eighty-seven years of age, I may be considered part of the WWII generation.  My memories date back to our home in Switzerland, where my grandfather had the basement windows protected with flower bunkers rather than sand bags.

My father was back and forth between the U.S., where he was earning his citizenship, and Switzerland, but was still a member of the Swiss National Guard.  His rifle was kept in a small ante-room in the hallway, and I could see it whenever I wanted.  But the best part was where they kept the gas mask.

It was on a shelf in the bathroom with the overhead pull chain to flush the toilet.  I was only eight years old, and the humor of the situation dawned on me years later.

I have a washer-dryer that cured itself.  It malfunctioned, and so I called up Lowe’s where we had bought it, and was informed that the warranty had run out but there was still a chance to renew it.  I did, over the telephone, for a price of $410.

Unfortunately, I didn’t remember that I had renewed it with a subsidiary of Lowe’s a month earlier.  Heaven has pity on les miserables like me, so the washer-dryer healed itself.  It now works fine.

I’ll try to get a refund from one of the companies, but in the meantime I’m amazed at the workings of Providence (fate, to you).

At eighty-six, it’s still great to be alive.  I don’t think I’d say that if I lived in the Sudan, and I had some qualms when the doctor at St. Francis Hospital offered me quadruple coronary bypass about seven years ago.  But I live in Western Civilization, and that has made all the difference.

In the Mideast, war is breaking out with a people that are not part of the Western Judeo-Christian peace – it is a hard lesson to learn when you are part of Hezbollah.  But life is full of hard lessons.

In contrast, I love it when everything goes according to plan and new ideas pop up that are related to what I’m thinking about.  I’ve done nothing to deserve the favor of the Holy Spirit, but my parents had me baptized and all the rest followed in this civilization.

I am fascinated not just by the stars, but by men such as Natalie Portman’s father, who works at the Northwell Birth Clinic, giving childless women another chance.  He is one of hundreds of people who devote their lives to a cause that is greater than they, but which would not exist without them.

We live in a universe that not only has multicolored and fascinating nebulae or star clouds, but here on Earth, people who devote their lives to selfless and hidden causes.  Usually they are quite modest about it. Is there anyone you know who goes about working in a soup kitchen?  Yet how necessary is their work, and often without pay.

This modesty, characteristic of Western Civilization, goes back to the man who originated many of its ideas, but humbled himself to die on a Roman cross.

Heaven is not above a joke or a humorous exchange.  I lost my wallet today.  I called Phil’s restaurant where I had recently paid for take-out, and the counter manager said he had seen me put it in my pocket.  I prayed.  When I searched the kitchen, the bathroom, the study, I found nothing.

I had put the wallet in the same pocket as always, and checking the car, I found  the wallet nestled in the driver’s seat.  But then, checking my other pocket, I found the rosary was missing.  That’s what I call an even exchange!