Aging
John Mortimer, the creator of "Rumpole" died in January at age 85. He wrote about the indignities of dying: "Dying is a matter of slap-stick and pratfalls. The aging process is not gradual or gentle. It rushes up, pushes you over and runs off laughing. No one should grow old who isn't ready to appear ridiculous."
Royal Law
James 2:8 talks about the "royal law." He says: "If you really keep the royal law found in scripture, "love your neigbor as yourself," you are doing right."
Life Travels in Circles
This weekend the Seattle paper had an article about a local Indian tribe and it's new casino. A 76 year old member of the tribal council who was complaining about an issue was quoted as saying "Life travels in circles. It will come back to them." I think she is both wise and right.
St Teresa of Avila
Outspoken and courageous Catholic religious of the 1500's who believed intelligent women were more easily directed spiritually: "God preserve us from stupid nuns!"
Love Spouse:
Churchill once wrote his wife Clementine: "Thank you for being rash enough to marry me. Foolish enough to stay with me and for loving me in a way I thought I would never be loved." On another occassion he was asked about would he would like to be in a second life. He said: "If I could not be who I am, I would most like to be Mrs. Churchill's second husband." The late Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield of Montana said about his wife Maureen "What we did, we did together. In short, I am what I am because of her." When the legislature erected a statue of him he agreed only if she was cast along side him and her name go first.
Feeling Guilty
In his book "Let's Face It" Kirk Douglas talks about the pain of having a son commit suicide. He says the doctors told them to apply the "three C's" test: They didn't cause it, they couldn't cure it and they couldn't control it. Excellent advice
Children
Henny Youngman used to say: "I've got two wonderful children" and then he would pause and add: "two out of five ain't bad."
Shakespeare:
"Our doubts are traitors,
And make us lose the good we oft might win
By fearing to attempt."
Proverb
"Man works from Sun to sun, but a woman's work is never done
National Catholic Reporter:
"When someone tells you to ask yourself, 'What would Jesus do?' remember that one valid answer is 'Freak out and knock over tables'
David Rockefeller:
"A family advisor once said the two most expensive things a Rockefeller can do are run for public office and get divorced. Nelson, did both."
Random Thoughts:
someone once said "Jesus wears the disguise of common, ordinary humanity." Flannery O'Connor once said of riding the subways of New York: "You see few people you wish you knew and thousands you are glad you don't know." The title of David Craig's song "You don't miss your water til the well runs dry" is a profound observation.
Homer Hickam in "The Coalwood Way" says:
"Words are as much an art as definition"and, in referring to his mother's use of "inspired vexations so I could rise above my petty ones..."
Friends & enemies:
When Warren Harding discovered the friends he had appointed had been guilty of government theft and fraud he said to a friend “My God, this is a hell of a job.. I have no trouble with my enemies. But, my damn friends...They’re the ones that keep me walking the floor at nights”
War vs Peace
France's Clemenceau once observed: "Ii is much easier to make war than peace."
Never stop learning new things:
It was said of Thomas Jefferson that "he grew old learning new things."
Biblical Wisdom about acceptance:
“But by the grace of God, I am what I am...” 1 Corinthians 15:10
Courage
"Keep calm and don't be afraid. Do not lose heart" Isaiah 7:4
War:
"Never think that war, no matter how necessary, nor how justified, is not a crime. Ask the infantry and ask the dead" Ernest Hemingway
Short Course in Public Relations:
The six most important words are: "I admit that I was wrong." The five most important words are: "You did a great job!" The four most important words are: "What do you think?" The three most important words are: "Could you please..." The two most important words are "Thank you." The least important word is: "I"
Know thyself
"We have met the enemy and it is us" Walt Kelly comic strip Pogo Earth Day 1971
Woody Allen says that the brain is his second favorite organ.
Our Daily Bread:
RBC Ministries publishes a paper back daily mediation book with some inspiring thoughts. In one mediation, it makes reference to the movie Gladiator and quotes from the movie General Maximus Mewriduius talk to inspire his men before a battle in which he tells them "What we do in life echoes in eternity" There is great truth in that statement
Retirement: When the fire goes out -
John Davidson, the poet, once said "The fires are out and I must hammer the cold iron." His days of greatness were gone. And Fielden Hughes in his book Down the Corridors, talks about the time for school teachers to retire. He says when they lose their own sense of wonder and cease to be excited all they have left is a dreary stock in trade to offer. The time to retire he says is "When the fire goes out."
The role of thePlaintiff Trial Lawyer:
Republicans have sought to cast presidential candidate, John Edwards, as a money-chasing trial lawyer. Edwards response is an excellent summary of the role of a plaintiff trial lawyer:
"I spent most of my adult life representing kids and families against very powerful opponents, usually big insurance companies,And my job was to give them a fair shake, to give them a fair chance."
Wisdom of a Capuchin monk:
Padre Pio (1887 - 1968) was a Capuchin Franciscan monk, stigmatist and mystic. The Church beatified him in 1999 in recognizing his holiness and spiritual wisdom. In 1914 he wrote a letter in which he said "the instinctive movement of our hearts is a movement towards God, which is nothing more then loving one's own true good...The idea is not a product of my own mind, but is found in holy scripture where we read: 'He who abides in love abides in God and God abides in him."
Quote
"If I arrive at the pearly gates and St. Peter said what have I done to deserve entry, I'd ask, 'Did you see my Lena Horne story?'" The late Ed Bradley, Emmy awarfd winning "60 minutes" reporter who died November 9th
The Civil Jury System:
"Whenever our civilization wants a library to be catalogued, or a solar system to be discovered, or any other trifle of this kind, it uses its specialists. But when it wishes anything done which is really serious, it collects tweleve ordinary men standing around. Jesus did exactly this." G.K. Chesterton
First Fig
"My candle burns at both ends; it will not last the night; But, ah, my foes, and, oh, my friends - It gives a lovely light" (Edna St. Vincent Millay)
Life Challenges:
When bad things do happen to us, it’s our attitude about what happened that determines how we react. Dr. Bernie’s Segal’s mother used to say to him every time he complained that something bad had happened : “God has redirected your life. Good things will come from this”
Quote:
"Moral indignation is a technique used to endow the idiot with dignity" Marshall McLuhan
Life
Wall Street Creations (www.wallstreetcreations.com) sells a plaque that reads "Life's journey is not to arrive at the grave safely in a well preserved body.
But, rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out, shouting 'holy shit...what a ride!'"
Professional Golfer John Daly:
"All my exes wear rolexes"
Just Do it
"In youth, because I could not be a singer, I did not even try to write a song; I set no little trees along the roadside, because I knew their growth would take so long. But now from the wisdom that the years have brought me, I know that it may be a blessed thing to plant a tree for someone else to water, Or make a song for someone else to sing"
Our Lives
Every human being either adds to or substracts from the happiness of those with whom he or she comes in contact (author unknown)
Advancing medical Science
One hundred years ago TB was the leading cause of death in the United States
Courage
The highest courage is to dare to be yourself in the face of adversity. Choosing right over wrong, ethics over convenience and truth over popularity. These are the choices that measure your life. Travel the path of integrity without looking back, for there is never a wrong time to do the right thing. (Author unknown)
Sailors of the Seas
They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters, these see the works of the Lord, and His wonders of the deep Psalm 107
The Beauty of Brevity
The Lord's Prayer has 66 words. The Gettysburg Address has 286 words. The Declaration of Independence has 1,322 words. But government reglations regarding the sale of gabbage total 26,911 words according to the National Review
The Wit of the Staircase
"Esprit d'escallier" (es-PREE des-cah-lee-E is a French saying which is not directly translatable, but means roughly "the wit of the staircase." It refers to the regret one often has after an encounter about something you should have said or replied. An experience I often have myself.
A Thought
My New Mexico friend Carl Bettinger shared this quote with me by Stanford Meisner "The music is not in the notes, but in the silence between the notes. Silence is the absence of sound, it is not the absence of meaning"
The Wisdom of Dorothy Day
"The safety of the rich lies in almsgiving. We must give until we become blessed...Christ came to make the rich poor and the poor holy...Yes, charity begins at home, but we are also our brother's keeper" (Dorothy Day died November 29, 1980)
Quotes to Ponder
"Calmness can lay great events to rest" Ecclesiastes 10:4
"When sorrows come, they come not as single spies, but in battalions" Hamlet IV:5
What is Love?
An unknown poet has answered the question, what is love? this way: Love is: silence - when words would hurt, patience - when another's curt, deafness- when another's angry, gentleness - when another's sad, promptness - when a need is seen, courage - when life is mean
Retirement:
Ben Hecht, the playwrite had an actor in the move The Scoundrel, say "When the eagle grows weary of flying, he dreams of returning to the chicken coop”
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