dkSez : : : : : : Don Kahle’s blog

• I’m afraid all my children know about long-term commitment, they’re learning from their cell phone companies. It starts with romance, but ends with a contract “to have and to hold” — a hand-held device.

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Accepting responsibility is just one more act of everyday heroism we should be able to ask of our police officers. Instead, we blame the system, arguing that everyone shares responsibility, so nobody has to own it.

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If a chicken and a pig get together to make some ham and eggs, the chicken’s involved, but the pig has to be committed.

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Busy storefronts have merchants inside. They open their doors and sweep their sidewalks. They shoo away miscreants. They call the police when things get out of hand. Empty buildings don’t do any of that. Empty buildings cause most of the trouble downtown, yet their owners pay less for the services that aim to keep downtown safe, clean and attractive.

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Wandering through the Lane County fairgrounds this time of year, I often feel like a fly on a spin-art machine. Holiday Market is colorful and dizzying, in equal measure.

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Choices we make today affect choices we’ll have tomorrow. But it’s no less true that expectations we have for tomorrow affect choices we make today.

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The past becomes present again, and we’re better for it. We see ourselves in context of who we were and where we came from. We needn’t open the gift. The gift opens us.

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Shelter and clothing keep humans warm by covering them from the outside. But food isn’t warmth until the body processes it. Likewise, respect is a fuel that can be converted into dignity — another warmth.

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Well and good. Let them vote their conscience. But it’s time we exposed those who vote no for funding measures and then complain when the dog catcher isn’t available on Sundays.

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Our mothers meant well when they warned us not to trust strangers, but true hospitality requires that we forget that lesson, or temper it with courage. If we really want diversity, strangers can help us more than our friends. But we don’t know any strangers. All we know is not to trust them.

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