“You may find that making a difference for others
makes the biggest difference in you.”
— Brian Williams, Journalist 

One night I was traveling from Columbia, SC, back home to Hilton Head Island. My daughter, who was then 19 years old and two of my cousin’s little girls were with me. It was summertime, and they were going to spend a week with us. You can imagine the excitement in the car. The only problem, it was late, dark, pouring buckets of rain, and shortly outside of Columbia on I-26, the traffic came to a complete halt.

We were in quite the precarious situation. As each of us sat there waiting and wondering, the tension grew. I could tell the girls were worried and even a little scared. We literally were in complete darkness. We had no idea as to when the traffic would start moving again, if the rain was going to let up, or how long we would be stuck.

‘Twas the night before Christmas,
when all through the house,
Everyone was angry, even the mouse.

The tempers had flared, it seemed nobody cared
The TV shows told us there’s no hope, no prayer.

A parent received an email from her son’s teacher:
Sam is often unfocused and is on his phone during class.
The problem: The parent, the teacher, the principal, the school,
the superintendent and the school board. Why?
Because they are allowing students to have cell phones in the classroom.

We all now know smart phones are highly addictive, and there is proof that app and technology innovators purposely inject the phone with addictive tech widgets. Isn’t this the same as when tobacco manufacturers laced their cigs with toxic additives known to cause addiction? The tobacco industry got smoked to the tune of trillions of dollars in law suits and lost sales. That hasn’t happened to big tech yet, but I foresee it coming once we are all too messed up to put our phones down long enough to go to work or school.

“Mingle often with good people to keep your soul nourished.”
— Anthony Douglas Williams

I grew up in a household where friendships were revered. Almost every Friday night my parents would hang out with their friend group and whoop it up. I got dragged along well into my teenage years but, for the most part, I didn’t mind because their friends had children who also got dragged along. Us kids would play, while our parents did the same. We also rarely went to to the lake or the beach without friends or family joining us. To say the least, the importance of friendships was ingrained in me as the key to fun.

They say America runs on Dunkin’, and I wish it were true.
But it seems more and more that America runs on over-stimulation.
Whether you believe “less is more”, “enough is enough” or
“too much is not enough,” I’m here to say I experienced too much,
and it’s time to realize enough is enough
because in many cases, less is more.

I was lucky to travel down to Jacksonville in August for the Jacksonville Jaguars, Cleveland Browns pre-season football game. It was my first NFL game, and I had a great time. Getting out of town occasionally resets my mind and rejuvenates my energy. Sometimes a change of scenery is just the cure for a case of the mundanes. I went with a bunch of friends, we went to a crowded energy-filled sports bar for pre-game cold beers and then headed to the stadium.