The Confessions of Ira Short

Every day, life gives us a little nudge, a peek, a whisper in the ear, "Here it is." And if you aren't paying attention, you'll miss it. I watch for them now, those brief seconds when an infinite variety of things suddenly align and you find yourself immersed in the sublime. If you are lucky, you will enjoy a moment of wonder, or awe, or epiphany before the sunlight changes or the cloud disappears. Personally, I don't believe in fate, or the idea that your life is set or predestined in any way. In 60-plus years, my experience of the world (external to me) is that it consists of seemingly random events that aren't random at all, but rather unpredictable. Their unpredictability lies in the fact that there is not a single bright line between cause and effect. Between cause (A) and effect (Z) lies an alphabet of mitigating factors, often unseen and unknown inputs that can dramatically change the outcome of events. In looking back at events in my life, I can

I literally try to end every day by asking myself, "What did you learn today?" It's really very simple. During the course of the day, you should be able to learn something, however trivial, that you didn't know yesterday. And then it becomes a question of, "What will I learn tomorrow?"