Cornerstones

School libraries are the foundations of our culture – not luxuries.
—    Laurie Halse Anderson
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On This Day In:
2023	Faith Is A Challenge For All
2022	Looking For Solutions To Climate Change
	4 – 40hrs
2021	Our Identity Crisis Continues
	There’s No Hiding Place (Don’t Look Back)
2020	In Need Of Concerted Action
2019	Anything / Everything
2018	Touching A Nerve
	Good Fences Make Good Neighbors
	I Have Realities In My Past
2017	Did I See You In Chapter 13?
2016	As I Recall (I Got It Honest)
2015	Less And More Irritation
2014	That Marvelous Feeling
2013	Exceptional
2012	A Wild And Crazy Believer
2011	A Lack Of Scarcity
	The Joy Of Prevention

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A Gale Force Of Love

And if I say, even so, that it has been only the rare human who has given me an animal’s worth of love back, it’s not because I underestimate the power of human love.  It’s because I have been lucky enough to live in the unconditional, unwavering, uncommon, gale force of love directed at me from my animals.
—     Pam Houston
[This quote was found on a blog I follow:  Live & Learn
Which is located at:  https://davidkanigan.com/
The specific post is at:  https://davidkanigan.com/2019/09/05/lightly-child-lightly-not/
The post was a “memorial” to his pet dog which had recently passed.
Please visit the original site if you have some spare time.    —    kmab]
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On This Day In:
2023	Starting Today, Be You
2022	Removing Self-negotiation
2021	Republican Congressional Leadership Continues The Big Lie
	You Just Can’t Hide (Dance To The Music)
2020	Cut To The Chase
	Fun Fog
2019	True Piety
2018	I Would, Too (A music-video for all) (I Would Tell Myself)
2017	100th Day (of the Trump Presidency)
	Both Unlucky
2016	Or Blog
2015	Stretched Today?
2014	Outta Here
2013	Getting Words Right
2012	There’s A New Dog In Town
	Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is
2011	A Conservative Is…

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Try Sweating

Think about love, or hate, or joy, or pain – whatever makes you feel something, makes your palms sweat, or your toes curl.  Focus on that feeling.  When people don’t express themselves, they die one piece at a time.  You’d be shocked at how many adults are really dead inside — walking through their days with no idea who they are, just waiting for a heart attack or cancer or a Mack truck to come along and finish the job.  It’s the saddest thing I know.
—    Laurie Halse Anderson
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On This Day In:
2023	Life’s Great Illusion
2022	3rd (40)
	Might Still Flicker Or Shine
2021	Keep Growing
	I Keep Looking (I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For)
2020	I Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Plans
	One Earth
2019	Beautiful Rules
2018	Skepticism
2017	WWGD?
2016	Growing Greatness
2015	When It Is Darkest
2014	Knowledge And Doubt
2013	Three Thoughts
2012	Gentle Reader
2011	Leave The Light On For Me Anyway

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Depth, Layers And Color

As we were coming home from our morning’s dog walk, I noticed how beautiful the sun was lighting our front garden.
It’s seems true that the beauty of a garden is not just the vibrancy of life.  It is also the subtle shades of color variation and the depth of items which catch the onlooker’s vision.
There’s a ephemeral beauty in a California morning light on a colorful garden.  Of course, there will be a similar beauty later in the day and again tomorrow morning, but for this moment – it is here now in a way it will never be again…
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On This Day In:
2023	Tread Softly, It Works…
2022	Whatever One Can
2021	Horticulture Anyone?
	Take To The Sky (Natural High)
2020	Heroes Die Too
	Front Update
	Still More Hope Than Fact
2019	The Ones Worth Remembering, Anyway
	Boot Edge Edge (My New T)
2018	To Reach The Next Threshold
2017	Streaking Tales
2016	Singular Reality
2015	He Says It’s Hard To Get There From Here
2014	Question From A Founding Father
2013	Make Heroes
2012	See And Hold
2011	Am Not, Are So

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Joy And Freedom

Pleasure and freedom from pain, are the only things desirable as ends.
—    John Stuart Mill
To truly laugh, you must be able to take your pain and play with it.
—    Charlie Chaplin
Find a place inside where there’s joy, and the joy will burn out the pain.
—    Joseph Campbell
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On This Day In:
2023	Tread Softly, It Works…
2022	Whatever One Can
2021	Horticulture Anyone?
	Take To The Sky (Natural High)
2020	Heroes Die Too
	Front Update
	Still More Hope Than Fact
2019	The Ones Worth Remembering, Anyway
	Boot Edge Edge (My New T)
2018	To Reach The Next Threshold
2017	Streaking Tales
2016	Singular Reality
2015	He Says It’s Hard To Get There From Here
2014	Question From A Founding Father
2013	Make Heroes
2012	See And Hold
2011	Am Not, Are So

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Choose To Rise

Bad things do happen;  how I respond to them defines my character and the quality of my life.  I can choose to sit in perpetual sadness, immobilized by the gravity of my loss, or I can choose to rise from the pain and treasure the most precious gift I have — life itself.
—    Walter Anderson
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On This Day In:
2023	Searching For Meaning As Well As The Path
2022	Think Global, Act Local
2021	Even The Tiniest Hole
	Turn Your Back To The Wind (Life Is A Highway)
2020	I’m Tired Of “Winning”
	If You Could… (If You Could Read My Mind)
	The Economy Or Your Life?
2019	Impeach #45 – (#TraitorInTheWhiteHouse)
	Time For Loving
2018	No Pride There
	London To The Hague
2017	At Least Twenty To Go
2016	A Sweet Smelling Blog Post
	Pre-Reacher
2015	Getting The Story Right
2014	Like Shells On The Shore
2013	More And Why
2012	How To Gain Effective Fire
2011	Patriot Act

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A Reasonable Question

Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing.  How can great minds be produced in a country where the test of a great mind is agreeing in the opinions of small minds?
—    John Stuart Mill
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On This Day In:
2023	SSSH! I’m Trying To Listen
2022	Prayers For Mariupol
2021	Assumptions Are Fatal In Science
	Starting To Look Back (It Won’t Be Like This For Long)
2020	Down On Earth
2019	Are You Moving?
2018	We Can Only Pray
2017	Heavier At That End
2016	The Difference Is Craftsmanship
2015	However Vast The Darkness
2014	The Omnipresent Teacher
2013	Don’t Waste
2012	Earning Thanks
2011	Fuzzy Vision
2010	Movies and Book

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Fighting Ourselves

All I do know is as we age, the weight of our unsorted baggage becomes heavier. . . much heavier.  With each passing year, the price of our refusal to do that sorting rises higher and higher.   . . . Long ago, the defenses I built to withstand the stress of my childhood, to save what I had of myself, outlived their usefulness, and I’ve become an abuser of their once lifesaving powers.  I relied on them wrongly to isolate myself, seal my alienation, cut me off from life, control others, and contain my emotions to a damaging degree.  Now the bill collector is knocking, and his payment’ll be in tears.
—     Bruce Springsteen
As quoted by:  Michael Hainey
From his article:  “The Mind is a Terrifying Place.  Even for Bruce Springsteen“
Published in:  Esquire Magazine;  dtd:  27 November 2018
[I found this quote on one of the blogs I follow:  “Live & Learn” which is located at:  https://davidkanigan.com/
The link to the specific post is:  https://davidkanigan.com/2018/12/04/will-i-be-confined-by-my-dna-or-will-i-define-who-i-am/
Please visit the original site if you have some spare time.   —   kmab]
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On This Day In:
2023	“You’re Fired!” (A Nice Letter)
	I “Make” Ours Each Morning
2022	The Grand Essentials
	Second 40
2021	Adding Spice
	Be Who You Must (Part Of The Plan)
2020	Mo, Cilla, Mushy Peas And Rain
	No New Wars
2019	An Epitaph For #45 (#LyingDonald)
2018	Before And After
2017	Verbs
2016	Not Too Tidy
2015	Little Understanding
2014	Open Early
2013	Movies And A Lifetime Of Lyrics
	This Truth
2012	Cheaper To Hold
2011	Resistance Is Futile
	One Great, One Enjoyable, One Terrible…
	Unfortunately, No Approval Is Required

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Deal With It

I imagine one of the reasons people cling to their hates so stubbornly is because they sense, once hate is gone, they will be forced to deal with pain.
—     James A. Baldwin
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On This Day In:
2023	Set Asides
2022	I Love Flowers
	Hope And Fear: Global Warming / Climate Change
2021	I Should Have Started Earlier
	To Soothe Your Soul (All Day Music)
2020	Let’s Make It So
2019	Today’s Question
2018	A Moment Of Union
2016	Symptoms
2016	Tossers
2015	Hunger
2014	Outside Dependence
2013	Doing Right
2012	A Short Course In Human Relations
	If Death Be My Future
	Strive
	Such A Fool
2011	I’m Working For A Living

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Prayer Flags

I write poems on birch bark and hang them in the woods. I call them prayer poems.  As they fade and break apart in the weather, like prayer flags, I hope the thoughts of the poems travel on.
—    Jeremy Proehl
[This quote was found at one of the blogs I follow:  Live & Learn
Which is actually at:  davidkanigan.com
The specific post is located at:  But our reality, some blend of print and digital, material and immaterial – Live & Learn (davidkanigan.com)
Please visit the original site if you have some free time…    —    kmab]
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On This Day In:
2023	No Trick At All
2022	Particularly Peaceful Neighbors
2021	Thoughts
	It’s A Rich Man’s World (Money, Money, Money)
2020	Pax Et Justitia
2019	And Unlawful Orders From A President
2018	Instinct For Presence
2017	Hard Enough
2016	Jumps
2015	One View Of Failure
2014	We Speak For Earth
2013	Inward Urgency
2012	Delayed Reviews
	Fulfilling My Duty
2011	Interference

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Treat With Caution

“The truth.”  Dumbledore sighed.  “It is a beautiful and terrible thing, and should therefore be treated with great caution.  However, I shall answer your questions unless I have a very good reason not to, in which case I beg you’ll forgive me.  I shall not, of course, lie.”
―     J.K. Rowling
From:  “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone“
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On This Day In:
2023	With Every Dawn
2022	40Hrs
	Might I Have A Little More, Please
2021	All I See Are Nails
	More Money (For The Love Of Money)
2020	We Will Get Through This
2019	I Asked My Family Doctor Just What I Had (Good Lovin’)
2018	You Have Just Begun To Climb
2017	Equal Protection Under Law
2016	A Stubbornly Persistent Illusion
2015	Or You Don’t
2014	If You Ever Fall…
2013	Glory Days (part 2)
2012	They Follow A Pattern – If You Know What I Mean
	What I Live For (Precis)
2011	Giving

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Actually, We’re Apes Not Monkeys

We are just an advanced breed of monkeys on a minor planet of a very average star.  But we can understand the Universe.  That makes us something very special.
—    Stephen Hawking
[I’m not convinced we’re all THAT special.  Also, we are trying to understand the Universe.  It remains to be seen if we “can” or not.    —    kmab]
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On This Day In:
2023	But Not The Only One
2022	Still Looking
2021	Are You Okay? (Money)
	But It’s A Slow Form
2020	#IncompetentDonald Manages Like A Virus
2019	Of Course, You Still Have To Listen
2018	Coming Home (Cherish)
2017	It’s Just Around The Bend
2016	In What Direction?
2015	Embarrassing Myself Again
2014	I’ve Never Have Had
2013	Glory Days (part 1)
2012	Feeling Old?
2011	Even When I Wish Really, Really Hard
	Skeptical Fathers
	Cha-cha-cha-changes

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100%

Give me 100 percent.  You can’t make up for a poor effort today by giving 110 percent tomorrow.  You don’t have 110 percent.  You only have 100 percent, and that’s what I want from you right now.
—     John Wooden
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On This Day In:
2023	Mountain Or Molehill?
2022	The Invisible Community
2021	I’d Add Planning
	Whisper A Little (Dedicated To The One I Love)
2020	I’m From Missouri
	Do Not Take Freedom For Granted
2019	Before & After
	Quiet, Please!
2018	Heavy On The Starch
2017	But The Beginning Of What?
2016	Today’s Rule
2015	Remembering Oklahoma City (The Change)
2014	Who Was That Masked Man?
2013	Enemy Mine
2012	Strengthen Me
2011	Service, Please
2010	The Church In Crisis…

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Celebrate Associations

The most beautiful things are not associated with money;  they are memories and moments.  If you don’t celebrate those, they can pass you by.
—     Alek Wek
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On This Day In:
2023	It’s About Perspective
2022	I’m Still Friends
	More Cherry Than Candy Apple (Or My Continuing G.A.S.*)
2021	The Heart Of Science
	Too Thin (Thin Line Between Love And Hate)
2020	Up Again
2019	Advice From #1 To #45
2018	How Much I Will Miss The Trump Administration
2017	We Need To Continue Experimenting
2016	Consistently
2015	We Must Dissent
2014	Now What?
2013	Judgement
2012	Stuck In My Mind (I Know That My Redeemer Lives)
	Life’s Hope
2011	Just Getting Up
	Directions Please

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Quietly Held

Solitude isn’t loneliness.  Solitude is when the entire serene universe seems to surround and hold you quietly.
—     Victoria Erickson
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On This Day In:
2023	Old Math: It’s Actually Two
2022	For An Extended Period
2021	Surrender With Hope
	A Little Grace (La Bamba)
2020	Two Midway
	Invisible Hands
2019	Speaking Of #45
2018	A Higher Loyalty
	RIP – Our Silver Lady
2017	Slowly Cutting Their Own Throats
2016	Man’s Advantage Over God
2015	Deeply
2014	Hi-Yo Silver, Away!
2013	Warning:
2012	Thinking About Beauty
2011	A Founding Father’s Argument Against Public Funding Of Religious Education
	Weekend Update
	So Far, So Good

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