"Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom."
Marcel Proust, Pleasures and Regrets (1896)
Life unfolds in moments. Don't miss it.
“The one who plants trees, knowing that he or she will never sit in their shade, has at least started to understand the meaning of life.”
Rahindranath Tagore
Robbie Burns
Man Was Made To Mourn
written in 1784
When chill November's surly blast
Made fields and forests bare,
One ev'ning, as I wander'd forth
Along the banks of Ayr,
I spied a man, whose aged step
Seem'd weary, worn with care;
His face was furrow'd o'er with years,
And hoary was his hair.
"Young stranger, whither wand'rest thou?"
Began the rev'rend sage;
"Does thirst of wealth thy step constrain,
Or youthful pleasure's rage?
Or haply, prest with cares and woes,
Too soon thou hast began
To wander forth, with me to mourn
The miseries of man.
"The sun that overhangs yon moors,
Out-spreading far and wide,
Where hundreds labour to support
A haughty lordling's pride; -
I've seen yon weary winter-sun
Twice forty times return;
And ev'ry time has added proofs,
That man was made to mourn.
"O man! while in thy early years,
How prodigal of time!
Mis-spending all thy precious hours-
Thy glorious, youthful prime!
Alternate follies take the sway;
Licentious passions burn;
Which tenfold force gives Nature's law.
That man was made to mourn.
"Look not alone on youthful prime,
Or manhood's active might;
Man then is useful to his kind,
Supported in his right:
But see him on the edge of life,
With cares and sorrows worn;
Then Age and Want - oh! ill-match'd pair -
Shew man was made to mourn.
"A few seem favourites of fate,
In pleasure's lap carest;
Yet, think not all the rich and great
Are likewise truly blest:
But oh! what crowds in ev'ry land,
All wretched and forlorn,
Thro' weary life this lesson learn,
That man was made to mourn.
"Many and sharp the num'rous ills
Inwoven with our frame!
More pointed still we make ourselves,
Regret, remorse, and shame!
And man, whose heav'n-erected face
The smiles of love adorn, -
Man's inhumanity to man
Makes countless thousands mourn!
"See yonder poor, o'erlabour'd wight,
So abject, mean, and vile,
Who begs a brother of the earth
To give him leave to toil;
And see his lordly fellow-worm
The poor petition spurn,
Unmindful, tho' a weeping wife
And helpless offspring mourn.
"If I'm design'd yon lordling's slave,
By Nature's law design'd,
Why was an independent wish
E'er planted in my mind?
If not, why am I subject to
His cruelty, or scorn?
Or why has man the will and pow'r
To make his fellow mourn?
"Yet, let not this too much, my son,
Disturb thy youthful breast:
This partial view of human-kind
Is surely not the last!
The poor, oppressed, honest man
Had never, sure, been born,
Had there not been some recompense
To comfort those that mourn!
"O Death! the poor man's dearest friend,
The kindest and the best!
Welcome the hour my aged limbs
Are laid with thee at rest!
The great, the wealthy fear thy blow
From pomp and pleasure torn;
But, oh! a blest relief for those
That weary-laden mourn!"
Resilience is the art of bouncing back, not as the person you were, but as someone stronger, wiser and more determined. When life pushes you to your limits, it's a call to dig deeper, to find strength you didn't know you had. Every fall is a chance to rise again, more powerful than before.
“I think there are enormous obstacles to deep reading now. I think that the tyranny of the visual is a frightening thing.”
— Harold Bloom
WHY FIT IN WHEN YOU ARE BORN TO STAND OUT!
- DR SEUSS
THE MORE THAT YOU READ, THE MORE THINGS YOU WILL KNOW. THE MORE THAT YOU LEARN, THE MORE PLACES YOU'LL GO.
- DR SEUSS
“Few people know how to take a walk. The qualifications are endurance, plain clothes, old shoes, an eye for nature, good humor, vast curiosity, good speech, good silence and nothing too much.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson
Source: Letters and Documents
“Solitude is for me a fount of healing which makes my life worth living. Talking is often a torment for me, and I need many days of silence to recover from the futility of words.”
—Carl Jung
“The only thing I know is this: I am full of wounds and still standing on my feet.”
—Nikos Kazantzakis
'This Sacred Scene' by Amanda Gorman
We gather at this hollowed place / because we believe in the American dream.
We face a race that tests if this country we cherish / shall perish from the Earth / and if our Earth shall perish from this country.
It falls to us to ensure that we do not fall, / for a people that cannot stand together / cannot stand at all.
We are one family / regardless of religion, class or color.
For what defines a patriot is not just our love of liberty / but our love of one another.
This is loud in our country's call because while we all love freedom, / it is love that frees us all.
Empathy emancipates, / making us greater than hate or vanity, / that is the American promise.
Powerful and pure, / divided we cannot endure / but united, we can endeavor to humanize our democracy / and endear democracy to humanity.
And make no mistake, / co-hearing is the hardest task history ever wrote.
But tomorrow is not written by our odds of hardship / but by the audacity of our hope, / by the vitality of our vote.
Only now approaching this rare air / are we aware / that perhaps the American dream is no dream at all / but instead a dare / to dream together.
Like a million roots tethered, / branching up humbly, / making one tree, this is our country / from many, one, / from battles, won, / our freedoms sung, / our kingdom come has just begun.
We redeem this sacred scene / ready for our journey from it together.
We must birth this early republic / and achieve an unearthly summit / let us not just believe in an American dream, / let us be worthy of it.
Samantha Kubota
Have a heart that never hardens
A temper that never tires
And a touch that never hurts.
Charles Dickens
German poet Heinrich Heine was once asked why men no longer build great cathedrals.
He replied: "People in those old times had convictions; we moderns only have opinions. And it needs more than a mere opinion to erect a Gothic cathedral."
“So much can be accomplished in one focused hour, especially when that hour is part of a routine, a sacred rhythm that becomes part of your daily life.”
— Dani Shapiro