It is time to stop the cacophony of human events and the reporting on human events to give our spiritual side a moment to rise to our consciousness.

To me, this means turning off the television and the computers and being with friends and family for the holiday season. It means getting down to the meaningful things in life, those things that we commit to and sacrifice for. For many years, my commitment and sacrifice were made for my kids and the people with whom I work. Now the focus has transitioned to my grandchildren and those who have taken the reigns and are running the business that my dad created nearly 75 years ago.

I am grateful for the years that I managed this business and that I was able to gracefully transition the management to younger and more able folks than me. More importantly, I am grateful that I can share my successes with others through charitable giving of time and money. It seems to me that charity makes life more valuable and meaningful. So I encourage all of you reading my column to give to others and reflect on how giving adds meaning to life and shifts your mood and attitude.

We all live in a time of great opportunity to participate in and impact the world and the lives of others. We Pennsylvanians are blessed with a great university as well as the responsible development of our natural resources, namely our natural-gas resources. It is wonderful to live in an area benefiting from natural-resource development. It is our responsibility to use the opportunities this opens up to educate ourselves for the benefit of all our friends, families and neighbors.

I am sure that my old opinionated self will show up in 2012 with notions of how the world should be run. But for now, I am recharging what it means to be human with the peace, togetherness and meaning that family and friends bring to the Christmas season and the turn of the calendar into the New Year.

Have a merry Christmas, a happy holiday season and a terrific New Year celebration.