by the GreenMagi
I remember waking up that spring morn' in a naturally good humor. Looking out the window, my eyes fell upon a bird. The bird had landed on my fathers’ woodpile. It was a cardinal, with bright red feathers. The bird was so beautiful in contrast with the green grasses and wildflowers, growing around the woodpile.
The morning dew looked like thousands of tiny crystal sequins around a single rose. A rose so bold, it flies without roots. And into my memory, the red bird flew, and perched itself within a smile.
Then, on my way to work there was a great downpour. And there it was, like a dying flame in the rains. My beautiful red bird sat in just the spot to catch death. Wounded it sat, shaking off the rain, and afraid. Ruffled feathers and crest, not so sharp.
This bird was not bold, it was fearful of everything. My mind wandered to its nest as I steered my car away from its path, but in the very act I thought perhaps it would be best if I ended the red bird’s suffering. But no. Each moment of life is a blessing in itself. In a cold and dark universe, Life is to be celebrated; and I completed the swerve.
Then I thought I should move the bird onto the grass, so that its last moments might be a tad softer and less frightening. Then I passed by the best spot for turning around, because I would be late, and I had to behave responsibly. And responsible wasn’t pulling over to ease the passing of one dying bird.
Not much longer, when its death was sure, I cried for my failure. Through my tears I saw my true responsibility.
Two red birds. One made me smile and the other made me cry. One brought to my mind the beauty of life, the other revealed my own horrible nature and death. How I had confused my duty and the moment had passed. What better way could I have thanked the first than by showing kindness to the second? Will my perceived responsibilities one day make red birds out of people? One day to sacrifice family and self on duty’s sword.
Where is the balance? I can hardly save all the red birds!
The balance may be found in doing the right thing at the right time. The pentacle moment; turning off the road when its raining and when its not. My greatest duty is to myself, that I might make it to my grave with as few red birds as possible.
Monday, 16 July 2007
Tuesday, 10 July 2007
The World According to Mr. Rodgers
by Dr. Fred Rogers
Won’t You Be My Neighbor
I have always wanted to have a neighbor
Just like you!
I’ve always wanted to live in a neighborhood with you…
So let’s make the most of this beautiful day;
Since we’re together we might as well say,
Would you be mine?
Could you be mine?
Won’t you be my neighbor?
Excerpt from: The World According to Mr. Rodgers
It’s not the honors and the prizes and the fancy outsides of life that ultimately nourish our souls. It’s the knowing that we can be trusted, that we never have to fear the truth, that the bedrock of our very being is firm.
Won’t You Be My Neighbor
I have always wanted to have a neighbor
Just like you!
I’ve always wanted to live in a neighborhood with you…
So let’s make the most of this beautiful day;
Since we’re together we might as well say,
Would you be mine?
Could you be mine?
Won’t you be my neighbor?
Excerpt from: The World According to Mr. Rodgers
It’s not the honors and the prizes and the fancy outsides of life that ultimately nourish our souls. It’s the knowing that we can be trusted, that we never have to fear the truth, that the bedrock of our very being is firm.
Contemplating Suicide
by An Anonymous Chinese Boy (Circa 30 BCE)
My tears fell and fell
And I went on sobbing and sobbing
In winter I have no great coat
Nor in the Summer, thin cloths.
It is no pleasure to be alive.
I had rather quickly leave the earth
And go beneath the Yellow Springs.
The Spring winds blow
And the grass is growing green.
In the third month ~ silkworms and mulberries,
In the sixth month ~ the melon harvest.
I went out with the melon harvest.
I went out with the melon cart
And just as I was coming home
The melon cart turned over.
The people who came to help me were few,
But the people who ate the melons were many,
All they left me were the stalks ~
To take home as fast as I could
My brother- and sister-in-law were harsh.
They asked me all sorts of awful questions.
Why does everyone in the village hate me?
I want to write a letter and send it to
To my mother and father under the earth,
And tell them I can’t go on any longer
Living with my brother- and sister-in-law.
My tears fell and fell
And I went on sobbing and sobbing
In winter I have no great coat
Nor in the Summer, thin cloths.
It is no pleasure to be alive.
I had rather quickly leave the earth
And go beneath the Yellow Springs.
The Spring winds blow
And the grass is growing green.
In the third month ~ silkworms and mulberries,
In the sixth month ~ the melon harvest.
I went out with the melon harvest.
I went out with the melon cart
And just as I was coming home
The melon cart turned over.
The people who came to help me were few,
But the people who ate the melons were many,
All they left me were the stalks ~
To take home as fast as I could
My brother- and sister-in-law were harsh.
They asked me all sorts of awful questions.
Why does everyone in the village hate me?
I want to write a letter and send it to
To my mother and father under the earth,
And tell them I can’t go on any longer
Living with my brother- and sister-in-law.
The Arrow & the Song
by H.W. Longfellow
I shot an arrow into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where;
For, so swiftly if flew, the sight
Could not follow it in its flight.
I breathed a song into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where;
For who has sight so keen and strong,
That it can follow the flight of song.
Long, long afterward, in an oak
I found the arrow, still unbroken;
And the song, from beginning to end,
I found again in the heart of a friend.
I shot an arrow into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where;
For, so swiftly if flew, the sight
Could not follow it in its flight.
I breathed a song into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where;
For who has sight so keen and strong,
That it can follow the flight of song.
Long, long afterward, in an oak
I found the arrow, still unbroken;
And the song, from beginning to end,
I found again in the heart of a friend.
Where Secrets Lie...
The Day is Done
by H.W. Longfellow
The day is done, and the darkness
Falls from the wings of night,
As a feather is wafted downward
From an eagle in his flight.
I see the lights of the village
Gleam through the rain and the mist,
And a feeling of sadness comes o’er me
That my soul cannot resist:
A feeling of sadness and belonging,
That is not akin to pain,
And resembles sorrow only
As the mist resembles rain.
Come read to me some poem,
Some simple and heartfelt lay,
That shall sooth this restless feeling,
And banish the thoughts of day.
Not from the grand old masters
Not from the bards sublime,
Whose distant footsteps echo
Through the corridors of time.
Who Hath a Book
by Wilbur D. Nesbit
Who hath a book
Has friends at hand.
And gold and gear
At his command;
And rich estates,
If he but look,
Are held by him
Who hath a book.
Who hath a book
Has but to read
And he may be
A king indeed;
His kingdom is
His inglenook;
All this is his
Who hath a book.
A Wise Old Owl
by Anonymous
A wise old owl lived in an oak;
The more he saw the less he spoke;
The less he spoke the more he heard:
Why can’t we all be like that bird.
by H.W. Longfellow
The day is done, and the darkness
Falls from the wings of night,
As a feather is wafted downward
From an eagle in his flight.
I see the lights of the village
Gleam through the rain and the mist,
And a feeling of sadness comes o’er me
That my soul cannot resist:
A feeling of sadness and belonging,
That is not akin to pain,
And resembles sorrow only
As the mist resembles rain.
Come read to me some poem,
Some simple and heartfelt lay,
That shall sooth this restless feeling,
And banish the thoughts of day.
Not from the grand old masters
Not from the bards sublime,
Whose distant footsteps echo
Through the corridors of time.
Who Hath a Book
by Wilbur D. Nesbit
Who hath a book
Has friends at hand.
And gold and gear
At his command;
And rich estates,
If he but look,
Are held by him
Who hath a book.
Who hath a book
Has but to read
And he may be
A king indeed;
His kingdom is
His inglenook;
All this is his
Who hath a book.
A Wise Old Owl
by Anonymous
A wise old owl lived in an oak;
The more he saw the less he spoke;
The less he spoke the more he heard:
Why can’t we all be like that bird.
Thursday, 5 July 2007
Selecting a Mistress...
Benjamin Franklin ~ Philadelphia, 25 June 1745
Advising a young man as to the selecting of a Mistress.
My dear Friend,
I know of no medicine fit to diminish the violent natural inclinations you mention; and if I did; I think I should not communicate it to you. Marriage is the proper remedy. It is the most natural state of man, and therefore the state in which you are most likely to find solid happiness. Your reasons against entering into it at present appear to me not well founded. The circumstantial advantages you have in view by postponing it, are not only uncertain, but they are small in comparison with that of the thing itself, the being married and settled. It is the man and woman united that make the complete human being. Separate, she wants his force of body and strength of reason; he, her softness, sensibility and acute discernment. Together they are more likely to succeed in the world.
A single man has not nearly the value he would have in the state of union. He is an incomplete animal. He resembles the odd half of a pair of scissors. If you get a prudent, healthy wife, your industry in your profession, with her good company, will be a fortune sufficient.
But if you will not take this counsel and persist in thinking a commerce with the sex inevitable, then I repeat my former advice, that in all your amours you should prefer old women to young ones.
You call this a paradox and demand my reasons. They are these:
1. Because they have more knowledge of the world, and their minds are better stored with observations, their conversation is more improving, and more lastingly agreeable.
2. Because when women cease to be handsome they study to be good. To maintain their influence over men, they supply the diminution of beauty by an augmentation of utility. They learn to do a thousand services small and great, and are most tender and useful of friends when you are sick. Thus they continue amiable. And hence there is hardly such a thing to be found as an old woman who is not also a good woman.
3. Because there is no hazard of Children, which irregularly produced may be attended with much Inconvenience.
4. Because thro’ more Experience, they are more prudent and discreet in conducting an Intrigue to prevent suspicion. The Commerce with them is therefore safer with regard to your reputation. And with regard to theirs, if the affair should happen to be known, considerate People might be rather inclin’d to excuse an old woman who would kindly take care of a young man, form his Manners by her good counsels, and prevent his ruining his Health among mercenary Prostitutes.
5. Because in every animal that walks upright, the deficiency of the fluids that fill the muscles appears first in the highest part: The face first grows lank and wrinkled; then the neck; then the Breasts and arms; the Lower Parts continuing to the last as plump as ever: So that covering all above with a basket, and regarding only what is below the girdle, it is impossible of two women to know an old from a young one. And as in the dark all cats are grey, the Pleasure of corporal Enjoyment with an old woman is at least equal, and frequently superior, every knack being by practice capable of improvement.
6. Because the sin is less. The debauching of a virgin may be her Ruin, and make her for life unhappy.
7. Because the Compunction is less. The having made a young girl miserable may give you frequently bitter reflections; non of which can attend the making of an old woman happy.
8thly and Lastly. They are so grateful!!!
Thus much for my Paradox. But still I advise you to marry directly; being sincerely affectionate friend.
Advising a young man as to the selecting of a Mistress.
My dear Friend,
I know of no medicine fit to diminish the violent natural inclinations you mention; and if I did; I think I should not communicate it to you. Marriage is the proper remedy. It is the most natural state of man, and therefore the state in which you are most likely to find solid happiness. Your reasons against entering into it at present appear to me not well founded. The circumstantial advantages you have in view by postponing it, are not only uncertain, but they are small in comparison with that of the thing itself, the being married and settled. It is the man and woman united that make the complete human being. Separate, she wants his force of body and strength of reason; he, her softness, sensibility and acute discernment. Together they are more likely to succeed in the world.
A single man has not nearly the value he would have in the state of union. He is an incomplete animal. He resembles the odd half of a pair of scissors. If you get a prudent, healthy wife, your industry in your profession, with her good company, will be a fortune sufficient.
But if you will not take this counsel and persist in thinking a commerce with the sex inevitable, then I repeat my former advice, that in all your amours you should prefer old women to young ones.
You call this a paradox and demand my reasons. They are these:
1. Because they have more knowledge of the world, and their minds are better stored with observations, their conversation is more improving, and more lastingly agreeable.
2. Because when women cease to be handsome they study to be good. To maintain their influence over men, they supply the diminution of beauty by an augmentation of utility. They learn to do a thousand services small and great, and are most tender and useful of friends when you are sick. Thus they continue amiable. And hence there is hardly such a thing to be found as an old woman who is not also a good woman.
3. Because there is no hazard of Children, which irregularly produced may be attended with much Inconvenience.
4. Because thro’ more Experience, they are more prudent and discreet in conducting an Intrigue to prevent suspicion. The Commerce with them is therefore safer with regard to your reputation. And with regard to theirs, if the affair should happen to be known, considerate People might be rather inclin’d to excuse an old woman who would kindly take care of a young man, form his Manners by her good counsels, and prevent his ruining his Health among mercenary Prostitutes.
5. Because in every animal that walks upright, the deficiency of the fluids that fill the muscles appears first in the highest part: The face first grows lank and wrinkled; then the neck; then the Breasts and arms; the Lower Parts continuing to the last as plump as ever: So that covering all above with a basket, and regarding only what is below the girdle, it is impossible of two women to know an old from a young one. And as in the dark all cats are grey, the Pleasure of corporal Enjoyment with an old woman is at least equal, and frequently superior, every knack being by practice capable of improvement.
6. Because the sin is less. The debauching of a virgin may be her Ruin, and make her for life unhappy.
7. Because the Compunction is less. The having made a young girl miserable may give you frequently bitter reflections; non of which can attend the making of an old woman happy.
8thly and Lastly. They are so grateful!!!
Thus much for my Paradox. But still I advise you to marry directly; being sincerely affectionate friend.
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