At Your Service by Maggie Inge

Over the weekend, thousands protested and hundreds were arrested as part of the initiative referred to as Occupy Wall Street (and several other locations around the country.) The movement is rooted in the frustrations arising from the on-going effects of the recession. Much like the Tea Party movement, it is populated by people whose resources have been diminished by the economic downturn and whose fears are that the downward spiral is not going to stop. The difference between the two movements is who they blame for the inequity.

It’s been a bad day. Not a hurricane-flood bad day, although it is raining (again); it’s the garden-variety bad day – the kind that everyone has from time to time. It is the kind of day when one notices that the skies are grey and everything else is painted in the same hue.

The sound of children’s laughter is like no other. The high-pitched squeals that punctuate the constant rumble of joy expressed give special meaning to summer days. Add to that the reverberations off the sun-dappled waters at Pine Hill Lake or a favorite swimming hole and you have a perfect moment.

If you’ve found yourself putting off important tasks over and over again, you’re not alone. In fact, most of us procrastinate to some degree.

Have you noticed that 35 mph feels like a rapid pace when you are driving down Main Street; but move over to the Reservoir Road, where that is the posted speed limit, and it feels like a long, slow, slog? The standard highway speed limit of 55 mph feels like a reckless pace along stretches of Route 28 and like you are standing still on the Thruway.