There is one purpose to life and only one: to bear witness to and understand as much as possible of the complexity of the world - it's beauty, it's mysteries, it's riddles. The more you understand, the more you look, the greater is your enjoyment of life and your sense of peace. If an activity is not grounded in "to love" or "to learn", it does not have value.
            Anne Rice - "Servant of the Bones"


LEARNING
After a while you learn the subtle difference between holding a hand and chaining a soul
You learn that love doesn't mean leaning
And company doesn't mean security
You begin to learn that kisses aren't contracts
And presents aren't promises.
And you begin to accept your defeats
with the grace of an adult and not the grief of a child
You learn to build all your roads on today
Because tomorrow's ground is too uncertain for your plans
After a while you learn that even sun shine burns
If you get too much.
So plant your own garden, decorate your own soul
Instead of waiting for someone to bring you flowers.
And you will learn that you really can endure
That you really are special
That you really do have worth.
So live to learn and know yourself
In doing so, you will learn to live.

There is no fate worse than death. Where there's life, there's hope.
 

The heaven cannot help being high; the earth cannot help being wide. The sun and the moon cannot help going around, and all things of creation cannot help but live and grow.
            Mao Tse Laotse
 

All we learn in life emanates from the past.
 

We breathe the light,
We breathe the music,
We breathe the moment
As it passes through us.
 

Life is an unrelenting comedy. Therein lies the tragedy of it.
 

What keeps us going from day to day in a world that is filled with death, destruction, and careless disregard for human life? Hope? Hope for something better? Hope that tomorrow may be the first step of the rejuvenation of a burned out planet. Or are we just afraid of death so much that we must grab at every glimmer of hope no matter how small so that our lives don't seem worthless.
 

You must believe, in anything. If you do not believe, you have lost faith and the will or energy to live.
 

The hope is in tomorrow, that something new will come with the next day.
 

The choices we make dictate the life we lead.
 

May you live as long as you want, and may you never want as long as you live.
 

Life is useless to us if we don't see the great beauty surrounding us.
 

No more worries
No more fears
Know these tears
Gathered over the years.
            Melissa Rabin
 

When you get to the end of your rope; tie a knot, hang on, and swing.
 

The bad thing about good things is they must always end. But the good thing about bad things is they too must end.
 

God granteth the serenity
To accept the things I cannot change,
Courage to change the things I can,
And the wisdom to know the difference.
 

Some people live on the earth, not in it.
 

Do one thing, and do it better than anyone.
 

Dwelling on the negative simple contributes to it's power.
 

An Eternity of Unknown Memories
What is time,
But an echo in the wind.
Like a long lost ancient rhyme,
Or a long forgotten friend.

Some say it's the flames we burn in,
But I do not share that thought.
I say it's the life we've lived,
And the battles that we've fought.

So what is time without us?
Nothing more than an unknown friend.
And that is when our lives become,
Forgotten echoes in the wind.
            William Streithorst
 

Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,
Old Time is still a-flying;
And this same flower that smiles today,
Tomorrow will be dying.

The glorious lamp of heaven, the sun,
The higher he's a-getting,
The sooner his race be run,
And nearer he's to setting.

That age is best which is the first,
When youth and blood are warmer;
But being spent, the worse, and worst
Times, still succeed the former.

Then be not coy, but use your time,
And while ye may, go marry;
For having lost but once your prime,
You may forever tarry.
            Robert Herrick
            1591 - 1674
 

Old barriers weaken. There is something of dissolution and change about our time. Old things walk again, and new things are born. We may live to see the end of an Age.
 

They are not long, the weeping and the laughter,
Love and desire and hate:
I think they have no portion in us after
We pass the gate.

They are not long, the days of wine and roses:
Out of a misty dream
Our path emerges for a while, then closes
Within a dream.
            Ernest Dowson
            1867 - 1900
 

First things first. Take care of what can be done now before worrying too long over what might never be.
 

The greater the risk, the greater the profit. But the glitter of the profit can sometimes outshine the risk involved.
 

Adolescence is only a step in life, not a career in itself. When one matures, one knows there is more to life.
 

Living is struggling to do something impossible - to succeed, or die, knowing you had tried.
 

The future is set. There is no fate but what we set for ourselves.
 

It is death that gives life it's meaning.
 

Life is sacred, precious, a thing to value, to cherish, not to be taken lightly or wantonly. If you have lost all respect for death, you have no respect for life.
 

May today's pain be replaced by tomorrow's joy.
May today's death be replaced by tomorrow's life.
 

The world is full of could haves and should haves. We have to live for the can dos or I wills.
 

There are two tragedies in life. One is never getting your heart's desire. The other is getting it.
 

To see the path of light clearly, you must walk in the shadows.
 

In tragedy and despair, when an endless night seems to have fallen, hope can be found in the realization that the companion of night is not another night. The companion of night is day, that darkness always gives way to light, and that death rules only half of creation, life the other half.
 

Time steals away commitment and loosens ties. Friendships are reduced to tales of the past and vague promises of the future, neither strong enough to recover what was lost. But that is what life does - it takes you down separate roads until one day you find yourself alone.
 

Time is a harsh taskmaster and does not allow for personal indulgence.
 

Walk softly,
Earth receives,
Foot and paw,
Hoof and claw,
With equal grace.
But it is the way of the wild
Not to overstep
The bounds of hospitality.
This is a wild place.
Follow me
Walk softly and leave no trace
That rain and snow cannot erase.
 

The Road Not Taken
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as a far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, and I -
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
            Robert Frost
 

There is no point in dwelling on the past. It is the future that matters.
Sometimes, when we seek to prevent disaster, we play right into it's hands.
 

Stop Those Tears
Even though
the night is long
and the hours seem to crawl
stop those tears
that fall from your eyes.

Even though
the day is long
and the minutes seem to crawl
stop those tears
that fall from your eyes.

For tomorrow
has got to be better
than today,
and each tomorrow
is made worse
by tears shed today.

So sit through it all
and you'll find
that through the tears
a smile will form
and laughter will echo
in your ears.
            Paul Sinnott
 

Life is just a path.
If you follow your heart
It will lead you in the right direction.
 

For this is Wisdom; to love, to live
To take what fate, or the Gods may give.
To ask no question, to make no prayer,
To kiss the lips and caress the hair,
Speed passion's ebb as you greet its flow
To have, - to hold - and - in time, - let go!
            Laurence Hope
 

Education's purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one.
            Malcolm S. Forbes
 

In dwelling, live close to the ground
In thinking, keep to the simple
In conflict, be fair and generous
In governing, don't try to control
In work, do what you enjoy
In family life, be completely present.
        Tao Te Ching
 

Ever notice that "What the hell" is always the right decision?
            Marilyn Monroe
 

There is much in life that is not fair. All we can do is strive to make things better.
 

Sharing multiplies joy and divides grief.
 

If you look at the past year and you don't shed any tears, in joy or sorrow, consider it a wasted year.
 

There is no truth in life, only differences of opinion.
 

The key to immortality is first living a life worth remembering.
 

In life, change is the only constant.
 

Time is a predator that stalks us all our lives. Perceive time as a companion that goes with us on the journey to remind us to cherish every moment, because it will never come again.
 

Life is time
Time moves
To move is energy
Energy never dies
Life is energy
Life lives forever
            Armanda Sutherland
 

Life is such a wheel that no man can stand upon for long. And it always, at the end, comes around to the same place again.
            Stephen King
 

If you really know what you want out of life,
it's amazing how opportunities
will come to enable you to carry them out.
            John M. Goddard
 

We journey through this world but once,
And have a short time to stay,
Whatever good we mean to do
Had best be done today.
For such another golden chance
We may await in vain
Now is the time because we shall,
Not pass this way again.
 

Life's under no obligation to give us what we expect. We take what we get and are thankful it's no worse than it is.
            Margaret Mitchell
 

It is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees.
 

Although the constant shadow of certain death looms over every day, the pleasures and joys of life can be so fine and deeply affecting that the heart is nearly stilled by astonishment.
 

Life must be before death, and joy before grief. Else there are no such things as death or grief. These are only negatives. Life is positive. Death is only the absence of life, just as night is only the absence of day, and if this is so, there is no such thing as death. There is only life, and the suppression of life, that we, foolishly, say is death.
            Frank Norris
 

The Station
Tucked away in our subconscious is an idyllic visit. We see ourselves on a long trip that spans the continent. We are traveling by train. Out the windows we drink in the passing scene of cars on nearby highways, of children waving at a crossing, of cattle grazing on distant hills, of mountains and rolling hillsides, of city skylines and village halls.
But uppermost in our minds is the final destination. On a certain day, at a certain hour we will pull into the station. Bands will be playing and flags waving. Once we get there so many wonderful dreams will come true and the pieces of our lives will fit together like a complete jigsaw puzzle. How restless we pace the aisles, damning the minutes- waiting, waiting, waiting for the station.
"When we reach the station, that will be it!" "When I'm 18." "When I buy a new 450SL Mercedes Benz!" "When I put the last kid through college." "When I have paid off the mortgage!" "When I get a promotion." "When I reach the age of retirement, I shall live happily ever after!"
Sooner or later we must realize there is no station, no one place to arrive at once and for all. The true joy of life is the trip. The station is only a dream. It constantly outdistances us.
It isn't the burden of today that drive men mad. It is the regrets over yesterday and the fear of tomorrow. Regret and fear are the twin thieves who rob us of today.
So stop pacing the aisles and counting the miles. Instead, climb more mountains, eat more ice cream, go barefoot more often, swim more rivers, watch more sunsets, laugh more, cry less. Life must be lived as we go along. The station will come soon enough.
            Robert J. Hastings
 

Eternity - 1800-1808
He who binds to himself a joy
Does the winged life destroy
But he who kisses the joy as it flies
Lives in eternity's sun rise.
            William Blake
 

In your decisions, your relationships, your plans and ambitions, keep in mind that the value you receive from anything is in direct proportion to the value you put into it. Life is an opportunity to make a difference that only you can make. Do, and you will be. Create, and you will have.
            Ralph Marston
 

O Yet We Trust
O yet we trust that somehow good
    Will be the final goal of ill,
    To pangs of nature, sins of will,
Defects of doubt, and taints of blood;

That nothing walks with aimless feet;
    That not one life shall be destroyed,
    Or cast as rubbish to the void,
When God hath made the pile complete;

That not a worm is cloven in vain;
    That not a moth with vain desire
    Is shrivelled in a fruitless fire,
Or but subserves another's gain.

Behold, we know not anything;
    I can but trust that good shall fall
    At last - far off - at last, to all,
And every winter change to spring.

So runs my dream; but what am I?
    An infant crying in the night;
    An infant crying for the light;
And with no language but a cry.
            Alfred, Lord Tennyson - 1850
 

Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It's the transition that's troublesome.
            Isaac Asimov
 

Whether we believe we can or whether we believe we can't, we're probably right.
            Henry Ford
 

All things which humans hold sacred can only come from difficulty, struggle, and the growing idealization of bliss and perfection, which can only flourish in the mind when paradise is utterly lost.
 

This only is denied the Gods: the power to remake the past.
            Aristotle
 

To act on sheer instinct without knowledge is folly. It is the mark of the barbarian, the triumph of belly over brain. Yet to know and act, and not to understand the consequences, can be worse. One must wait for alternatives to develop, then choose which action to take. Sometimes there is only one, and life resolves itself into the simplest possible choices. Sometimes there are many, and you have to trust yourself to make the right one. Or at least the one you can live with.
 
 

Reflections ARE
Reflections aren't just from the past
They are things that are here to last
Memories are not just yesterday
They are wondrous parts of us that stay.

Looking back at those things that were so good
Like a happy thought that is as it should.
There are times and people near forgotten
But reflections color things so caught in

The web of our mind, like azure blue sky
Upon the water now caught by the eye.
And stately trees of emerald green
Echoing their past of things once seen.

While laughter comes from so deep within
Yesterday's warmth can blanket one's skin.
And as I reflect on times long ago
I pull out the good and the rest I throw

To the winds that are billowing hard;
To the storms that may now sweep the yard;
To places I need no longer go
And I find peace as bright as the snow.
M.J.M. ©1999

We are all growing older. Time sneaks up on us. And one day it will steal the people we love. But, I don’t think it’s time that steals. It’s life that takes what we are unwilling to give. But life is all we have, and time to live it in.
 

A POEM....
To realize the value of one year
    Ask a student who has failed a final exam.
To realize the value of one month
    Ask a mother who has given birth to a premature baby.
To realize the value of one week
    Ask an editor of a weekly newspaper.
To realize the value of one hour
    Ask the lovers who are waiting to meet.
To realize the value of one minute
    Ask a person who has missed the train, bus or plane.
To realize the value of one second
    Ask a person who has survived an accident.
 

To laugh often and much,
to win the respect of intelligent people
and the affection of children,
to earn the appreciation of honest critics
and endure the betrayal of false friends,
to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others,
to leave the world a bit better,
whether by a healthy child,
a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition;
to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived.
This is to have succeeded!"
            Ralph Waldo Emerson
 

Chance makes a football of a man's life.
            Seneca, Letters to Lucilius (1st Century)
 

Take every opportunity that is offered in your life.
It may never be offered again.
 

The only graceful way to accept an insult is to ignore it; if you can't ignore it, top it. If you can't top it, laugh at it. If you can't laugh at it, it's probably deserved.
            Joseph Russell Lynes
 

Beshere's Formula for Failure
There are two kinds of people who fail: those who listen to nobody and those who listen to everybody.
 

Follow a proper goal, for it’s doom to wish for what the gods have placed beyond your grasp
 

People can be divided into two categories: traveling people and arrival people. Some enjoy the journey more than the destination.
            Jeffrey Deaver - "The Empty Chair"
 

 

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