"jan gan bat paa huhng louh fo..."

This Chinese proverb is pronounced - "jun gum but pa hong low fa" - which means "TRUE GOLD DOES NOT FEAR BIG RED FLAMES" - Hmmmmm... So, let me so, what's that mean today? Economy; if you have skills that are in demand, you have value, or, if you have an asset that isn't over inflated, overpriced, over leveraged, out of trust, out of the mainstream, you have value, or, if you invest in companies that have real value, and they are creating a larger GNP (gross national product) rather than taking away from it, then you have value, and you will not fear any Big Red Flames. Integrity; If your word matters, if your word is your bond, if you believe in the Golden Rule (Do Unto Others as you would have them do Unto You) and, you do not seek the unfair advantage against others, you work hard every day, forgive others, ask to be forgiven, then you will never fear any Big Red Flames. I look back over the last 54+ years of my life and wish MANY TIMES that I had chosen things (made decisions) differently. I suppose I would still have chosen to be a "cut-up" and humorist. But I think I would have thought long about hard about the saying, "there is a time and a place for everything." Maybe. Life's laughter is a hard thing for me to sidestep. Most of you who know me, know I can be very irreverent at times. I don't mean anything by it. Sometimes things just pop out! At least I am not exclusive here, and I am willing to self indict. BUT, I *am* feeling life's refinement process helping me along. I *am* being tempered. When I was younger it was against my will. Today, I see the wisdom in all this. Keep it simple. Love more. Err on the side of kindness. Pray for your enemies, and forgive them. Pray that you will be forgiven too. You don't take anything with you when you live this mortal life, but you do take your relationships, your intellect, your "who you really are" self. Your things stay behind, your money gets argued over, your body decays, your teeth fall out, the tax man says "goodbye", and everything you stewed over is at end. Did you do all you could? Did you live up to your capabilities? Get my drift? Good. Then you are TRUE GOLD and you shall never fear the Big Red Flames! (Oooo, thats hot!)