I had three events canceled today, one by nature and two by myself. The one canceled by nature, a snowstorm, was my grandson’s first middle school band concert in Pulaski, WI that was to be tonight. This one is easy to accept and actually left me with more time at home.

The other two were a lunch with a friend who is going to the Holy Land in a few days, and a Doctor’s appointment this afternoon. I had to cancel these two because I did not listen to my wife last night when her car broke down at a suburban library parking lot. I put my faith in the word of a locksmith who promised to take care of the situation over that of my wife to have it towed to an auto shop near her job. The locksmith failed to deliver and we ended up towing the car to the same place where we could have delivered it last night. Thus I canceled two events — the lunch and an appointment.

In a posting recently I said how I was going to write more about the Gandhi principle of Swadeshi, the use and service of our immediate surroundings over those more remote or foreign. It is sort of like what our mothers used to say to us “Charity starts at home.”

Yesterday I felt stupid since I was neglecting to practice what I preach on Swadeshi, cleanliness, maintaining the house and self discipline. I made a new resolution to start with my home and self, even fixing the garage door opener that broke some months ago. But then last night I made the same old mistake, listening to a person I did not know over my dear wife.

When something like the snowstorm changes our schedule it is easy to accept since we cannot control nature. However, when we make the same old mistakes and do harm to ourselves by our stupidity it is more difficult to endure.

A poet said: “Man is made to make mistakes.” Someone else said that only a fool makes the same mistakes again and again.

Over five years ago when my wife lost her part time job because of budget cuts, my grandson, 7 years old at the time, said she was “canceled.” He had something there. The snow canceled the concert tonight but I, myself, canceled the lunch and appointment.

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