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Month: June 2018

Don’t wish your life away

June 29, 2018Ed Ackerman Leave a Comment

Just saw a TV commercial that made me want to scream. Scream at the guy on the screen who was making the biggest mistake a person can make. The guy is sitting in the front seat of his car when… Continue Reading →

The lucky ones

June 27, 2018Ed Ackerman Leave a Comment

As a public speaker I don’t tell jokes. I want to make people laugh, but not with things like, “Two lawyers and a rabbi are stranded on a desert island …” I never want an audience to think I spent… Continue Reading →

Cute jokes

A World Cup sidebar

June 22, 2018Ed Ackerman Leave a Comment

Do you remember where you were when you heard the Berlin Wall was coming down? Don’t feel bad. Most of us don’t. We know precisely where we were when we heard John F. Kennedy had been shot. Or when we… Continue Reading →

Berlin Wall, Red Square

World class

June 20, 2018Ed Ackerman Leave a Comment

Forget Colin Kaepernick or any other professional athlete who has chosen to use the National Anthem as an opportunity to protest. Instead, take a look at yourself and how you approach the playing of the Star Spangled Banner. A couple… Continue Reading →

The National Anthem

Smart guy, that God

June 15, 2018Ed Ackerman Leave a Comment

Jesus tells us if we want to find ourselves we must first lose ourselves. And if we want to be first, we must be willing to put ourselves last. And we pretty much think this is impossible. So does God.… Continue Reading →

Fatherhood

Flag’s glory never grows old

June 13, 2018Ed Ackerman Leave a Comment

I don’t recall how I knew of the John Greenleaf Whittier poem Barbara Frietchie in June of 1967, after all there was no such thing as Google then, but I do recall using its two most memorable lines in my… Continue Reading →

Flag Day

101 … and counting

June 8, 2018Ed Ackerman Leave a Comment

His hearing isn’t good at all these days. Even the latest hearing aids are little help. And he excuses himself frequently to use the bathroom. That’s the Lasix. Water retention is the enemy now. But at 101 years old, my… Continue Reading →

G-Day

June 6, 2018Ed Ackerman Leave a Comment

June 6. D-Day. But as of June 6, 1983, also G-Day. To me, anyway. That’s when my daughter Greta was born. And I was changed forever. Of all the possible definitions or descriptions of me, “Dad” is the one I… Continue Reading →

Daughters

No donuts please

June 1, 2018Ed Ackerman Leave a Comment

I am celebrating National Donut Day by not eating a donut. I never eat donuts. And that is not hyperbole. I read the average person in America eats 31 donuts a year. I eat none. I barely remember the last… Continue Reading →

National Donut Day

About the Optimist

Ed Ackerman Ed Ackerman, a consulting editor and columnist for the Greater Pittston Progress, has served the people of Greater Pittston for 48 years, starting in the newspaper field at age 17. The Pittston resident will share his thoughts in this blog and in a weekly column published in the Progress. greaterpittstonprogress.com

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