"I sing God's music because it makes me feel free. It gives me hope. With the blues, when you finish, you still have the blues." --Mahalia Jackson, Gospel Singer, on her choice of music
Thursday, September 29, 2016
The Right Spirit
"I sing God's music because it makes me feel free. It gives me hope. With the blues, when you finish, you still have the blues." --Mahalia Jackson, Gospel Singer, on her choice of music
Labels:
Bible,
disappointment,
happiness,
Jesus Christ,
music,
Perseverance,
religion,
success
Wednesday, August 3, 2016
Solitude
Laugh, and the world laughs with you;
Weep, and you weep alone;
For the sad old earth must borrow its mirth,
But has trouble enough of its own.
Sing, and the hills will answer;
Sigh, it is lost on the air;
The echoes bound to a joyful sound,
But shrink from voicing care.
Rejoice, and men will seek you;
Grieve, and they turn and go;
They want full measure of all your pleasure,
But they do not need your woe.
Be glad, and your friends are many;
Be sad, and you lose them all,—
There are none to decline your nectared wine,
But alone you must drink life’s gall.
Feast, and your halls are crowded;
Fast, and the world goes by.
Succeed and give, and it helps you live,
But no man can help you die.
There is room in the halls of pleasure
For a large and lordly train,
But one by one we must all file on
Through the narrow aisles of pain.
― Ella Wheeler Wilcox, 1883
"Solitude" is Wilcox's most famous poem. She was travelling to Madison, Wisconsin, to attend the Governor's inaugural ball. On her way, there was a young woman dressed in black, crying, sitting across the aisle from her. Miss Wheeler moved next to her and tried to comfort her. When they arrived, the poet was so unhappy that she could barely attend the festivities herself. Looking in the mirror, she suddenly recalled the sorrowful widow and she wrote the opening lines of "Solitude."
Labels:
death,
disappointment,
humanity,
irony,
literature
Saturday, July 2, 2016
Declaration
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." --Thomas Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence, July 1776.
Link to full text of the Declaration of Independence
Link to full text of the Declaration of Independence
Labels:
Fourth of July,
happiness,
humanity,
knowledge,
patriotism,
Perseverance
Saturday, May 28, 2016
Zig-Zags
Overheard: "I blame Obama for Trump."
Well, I blame "W" for Obama. And I blame Clinton's sexual peccadillos for "W" getting into power and for the failure to launch something more Centrist (we were "almost" there!) And I blame Regan's 2nd term for cementing the Republican "Let's help the rich get richer" operations, which pushed too many people right into the arms of the Dems. That time led to a greater imbalance in favor of the wealth and of corporations, the widening gap between rich and poor, and the eroding of the middle class. There was an outcry for more economic equality, but this also opened to door to all this extreme societal liberalism. (We could otherwise have marched slowly & steadily towards compromises on decent treatment for everyone without this new sensibility that we shouldn't have our own opinions about morality anymore.)
The pendulum swings just stink... and they've affected nearly every aspect of our lives.
Labels:
Centrism,
disappointment,
economy,
failure,
humanity,
irony,
Marie Byars,
moderation,
patriotism,
politics,
property
Friday, April 1, 2016
Hail, Hail, Fredonia
Labels:
April Fools,
Duck Soup,
funny,
Groucho Marx,
humor,
Marx Brothers,
politics
Tuesday, March 1, 2016
Reflection
(Lent)
"Our Lord and Master Jesus Christ...willed that the whole life of believers should be repentance.” ~Martin Luther; 1st of the "95 Theses"
"Our Lord and Master Jesus Christ...willed that the whole life of believers should be repentance.” ~Martin Luther; 1st of the "95 Theses"
Labels:
humanity,
Jesus Christ,
Luther,
religion,
success
Tuesday, December 1, 2015
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