There isn't much to do besides steering when you are driving around your lawn on a mower. The brain power for this activity does not strain my capacity (although there are some who would disagree) so my mind has a tendency to wander elsewhere.

There has been such a concentration of high visibility death recently. A Jackson, two Kennedys, a soldier from St. Johnsbury in Afgahanastan, 2 bigwigs in the TV News community, Farrah Fawcett. One of the things said about all of these people is that they were, in some way, great people.

What is great? What must be done to attain greatness? Is it fame, fortune, infamy, the number of people who morn your passing or appreciate your life?

By all accounts, Sen. Kennedy did horrible things during his lifetime. We'll never know the truth about Mary Jo or the drunken rape scandal. His first wife divorced him, in part due to his philandering. He drank too much, frequently. But he achieved greatness in the minds of many, including mine.

Michael Jackson lived in a swirl of constant questions about his sexuality and yet half the world mourns his end of life.

The young soldier who died in vain in a foreign country's war had not enough life experience to attain greatness, until he was blown up by an IAD.

Farrah Fawcett was mostly just a very beautiful woman with great hair, and a pretty good actress.

Did these people have any common thread which contributed to their Great designation?

I don't think so. In fact, I don't think that greatness is all that special. Anyone can be great with perseverance and the right attitude. It happens to thousands of people all over the world every day. The only thing the people mentioned here had in common was fame, which has nothing to do with it. Fame only means that everyone is going to be told stuff about you whether or not you want it.

But people need to hear about it. There is an innate human desire to associate in some way with the perceived good in others, and to ignore the occasional, or frequent, strays into a less than perfect life. (As an aside, how much longer will we be hearing about Michael Jackson than Ted Kennedy?) After all, it's just who those people are and as long as the meandering doesn't become a permanent lifestyle----. In the end, we can forgive the famous for their indiscretions, as bad as they may be, but we have trouble offering the next door neighbor the same consideration when he backs in to our trash can by mistake.

We are all guilty of occasionally showing less consideration to the people around us than to strangers. It's one of those offbeat pieces of human nature that I just will never understand. What I do know is that in my world, I have a need to try and understand the opposing point of view. How can I understand my own opinion fully without that?

Charlotte tells me, fairly often, that I need to shave off my mustache. She says it makes me look old. She read an article somewhere, written by someone who has much to say about such things, that mentioned all the older men wondering around with mustaches, grey hair and ponytails and how they all look like they are still trying to live the 20 year old life of a Dead Head but no longer look the part. This is being used against me. Damn fashion writers. I happen to like my mustache, so it's still on my face. I think I have a solution though. I'll just grow a ponytail and let my sideburns get long. That should solve the problem!