The Maxwells

Ghislaine Maxwell, associate of Jeffrey Epstein, was recently convicted of being a sex predator. While her behavior is criminal and abhorrent, I couldn’t help but reminisce about her father.

Back in the late 1980s, I worked for Macmillan Book Clubs, Inc. in the Macmillan building on 3rd Avenue in midtown Manhattan.

I worked on the 10th floor. During my time there, the company was purchased by Robert Maxwell, who was described as a very wealthy English businessman. After his purchase of the company, he commandeered the whole top floor. Rumor had it that it was going to be his penthouse apartment.

I remember sneaking up there with a coworker to see what was being done to the space. All I recall is a gutted floor where renovation hadn’t started. Then, we heard that Robert Maxwell disappeared while out on a yacht. It was assumed by many that he killed himself.

Soon after, I left the company for another job, and lost track of Macmillan for a long time. When I decided to check on its fate, I learned that it didn’t exist anymore, except for the divisions that were absorbed by other publishers.

Years later, I walked by my old building. It was sad to see that it no longer bore the Macmillan name in big gold letters. It was sadder to think of the man who destroyed the company. And now his daughter has destroyed young girls’ lives. Destruction must be in their genes.

Agnostics, Atheists, and the Next Life

Now that I’m over 60 years of age, I think I have some knowledge of people.

More than 30 years ago, my father used to say that he was a student of human nature. Naturally, being in my twenties, I scoffed at his pronouncement. I probably didn’t even have a reason to doubt what he said. When you’re in your teens and twenties, you doubt whatever is said by anyone older than you … unless they’re famous and long dead.

Of course, it turned out that I became what I consider a student of human nature. Anyone older than 50 has had experience with many personalities. Most of us absorb and contemplate — even on a subconscious level — what we’ve seen and learned about people.

And, what I cannot comprehend is how people can not accept that we have a Creator –– a power far more immense than we are –– and, especially, an afterlife.

I understand that people may think that they are smarter than the “sheeple” who follow a faith, especially if they were raised to think that this current existence is everything and that there is nothing afterwards.

But, if these same people open their eyes to everything that surrounds them and everything their bodies can do, isn’t there a shred of wonderment?

When a loved one dies and they see butterflies plunge into their faces, cardinals appear in their yards, birds hovering nearby, light flashes in their homes, electronics or electricity acting oddly, or feel pinches on their bodies, don’t they at least wonder?

Why would someone be so close-minded as to deny hope? I guess that’s what I wonder about the most.

I just wish people who don’t believe in an afterlife had hope. If this is all that there is, there are times when you’re tempted to give up. But if you look around for proof of an afterlife and find it, then you’ll know that this is just a trial period. When you start a new job, you realize that you’re on probation for a certain amount of time, and you plough through, trying not to think about it, but doing your best so that you’ll be kept on permanently.

That’s what I consider this life to be. No matter how great a life someone else seems to have, he or she is undergoing huge trials. We may not know about their problems, but none of us get through this life without experiencing pain. Doesn’t it make sense to think that it’s all for a purpose? Otherwise, some of us would skate through life. But nobody does.

And, whether you believe in an afterlife or not, you have to believe that your behavior affects others. As a person of faith, I have learned that nothing is more important than love. As trite as that sounds, it just means to consider and respect others, even if you don’t understand them or like them.

I’ve found that the people I know who have no faith in God or an afterlife still want to be good people. I suspect that they just want to contribute positively to the future, which is an admirable desire. I just wish they knew that they were also contributing to their future in the next life.

But, maybe they are not ready to acknowlege that. There’s always the next life.

This Week Doesn’t Count

The time between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Day doesn’t count … according to a close friend. I am more than happy to agree with her. Of course, I know that the day of reckoning will come soon enough on January 2. But having a respite is nice. It’ll be short-lived, but I hope I’ll enjoy the time while it lasts.

The thing is, time is elastic. It can be short, or it can be excruciatingly long. Or it can be both. I think back on terrible times and they seem like they occurred yesterday, or years ago when they actually happened. Happy times have the same elasticity, too. I’ve often wondered about the veracity of quantum physics, but I don’t know enough about it to understand how it works. So, I’ve decided to believe in it, like faith.

So much in life is based on faith, like love and like God. I know many people who are fervent believers in God, but the majority of the United States thinks it is too educated to believe in a higher power. I wonder why. If they believe in love (which can’t be seen), why can’t they believe in God (who is also love)?

As is often quoted, “There are no atheists in foxholes,” why don’t desperate people turn to God? Even if you don’t believe in God, why wouldn’t you beg Him for what you need when you have nowhere else to turn? Even if you’re denied your request, what have you lost? But, if you receive what you asked for, will you write it off as luck, or a coincidence? It’s up to you to believe or not. God give us all the chance to believe. It’s totally up to us.