That “essence of new car”

Don’t you just love that new car smell?  Or walking into a new house that still has that fresh clean fragrance of, well, prior to kids, dogs, and cats?  Not that I’ve ever had a new car or a new house; I’m a definite “second-hand Rose” (or third, or fourth…), but there is something about newness that makes you want to keep it that way as long as possible.

Until it’s no longer new, that is. 

There’s a truism that says “familiarity breeds confidence”.  The problem is that confidence can degrade into neglect, whether it’s a house or car, or a relationship, or even my own

Where’s the door?

Tolerance.  It’s the buzzword in everyone’s vernacular these days, and it’s bantered around like an explosive tennis ball.  It’s the holy grail of attitudes.  It’s the banshee of political careers. 

But no one appears to want to be tolerant of my apparent intolerance.

Of course, it hasn’t always been that way.  I am quick to agree that many intolerances are wicked—racial prejudice is at the top of my list.  But I’m really quite thankful that the Bostonians threw the British tea into the harbor (no offense intended to my Anglican readers), happy that Neville was replaced by Winston and that no one said “ho hum” concerning Pearl Harbor.  I’m also quite pleased that some guy