Waiting Quietly In The Dark

If you can see only what light reveals and hear only what sound announces, then in truth you do not see nor do you hear.
—     Kahlil Gibran
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On This Day In:
2021	Sustainable Development
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2020	#IncompetentDonald Is A Clear And Present Danger
	VOTE – “We The People” Can Save America
2019	Why #45 Is Fated To Endanger Our National Security
2018	Dehydrated
	Dehydrated II
2017	And Some Of Us Have Books
2016	I See No Proof
2015	Whither Tea Party?
2014	Nothing Is Known Absolutely
2013	Decoration Time
2012	The Beatitudes
2011	Good Fences Make Good Neighbors
2010	Back On The Asphalt
	No Sweep – Rangers Win Game 3 by 4 to 2
	Greek Myths For Kids

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Try To Choose Wisely

We choose our joys and sorrows long before we experience them.
—    Kahlil Gibran
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On This Day In:
2022	How About: Just Be Kind…
2021	Try To Choose Wisely
	Found It
2020	We Have A Window
2019	No Escape
2018	Except When It Is From The Oval Office
2017	Bad Karma
2016	Poor Management Choices
2015	Is It Still Dark Out?
2014	Rule One
2013	Spelling God’s Name
2012	Love Your Life And Sing
	Feeling Under the Weather?
2011	Cheers, Friend!

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Pity The Nation (Part 2)

PITY THE NATION
(After Khalil Gibran)
Pity the nation whose people are sheep
And whose shepherds mislead them
Pity the nation whose leaders are liars
Whose sages are silenced
And whose bigots haunt the airwaves
Pity the nation that raises not its voice
Except to praise conquerers
And acclaim the bully as hero
And aims to rule the world
By force and by torture
Pity the nation that knows
No other language but its own
And no other culture but its own
Pity the nation whose breath is money
And sleeps the sleep of the too well fed
Pity the nation oh pity the people
who allow their rights to erode
and their freedoms to be washed away
My country, tears of thee
Sweet land of liberty!
Written by:  Lawrence Ferlinghetti
[Please note:  “Khalil Gibran” is also spelled “Kahlil Gibran“.  The latter is how I “normally” spell the name as this is how it appears on the several books I own.
I found this as a posting on FaceBook by an old friend from grammar school:  Mit (Mithras) Maurille.  Part 1, yesterday’s post was found on the internet.  It is available on multiple sites.     —    kmab]
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On This Day In:
2021	Practically Worthless In Every Way
	It Never Was
	Frustrating Incentive
2020	You Too?
	Six Degrees
2019	A Branching Stream
	Day 9: One Day At A Time
2018	Pity The Nation (Part 2)
	Day 1: Redux
2017	Good Blogs, Too
2016	My Prediction For #AmnestyDon
2015	Worth A Try
2014	I’m Feeling It
2013	May I Have A Little More, Please?
2012	Increasing Doubt
2011	You Can’t Touch This

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Pity The Nation (Part 1)

Pity the nation that is full of beliefs and empty of religion.
Pity the nation that wears a cloth it does not weave
and eats a bread it does not harvest.
Pity the nation that acclaims the bully as hero,
and that deems the glittering conqueror bountiful.
Pity a nation that despises a passion in its dream,
yet submits in its awakening.
Pity the nation that raises not its voice
save when it walks in a funeral,
boasts not except among its ruins,
and will rebel not save when its neck is laid
between the sword and the block.
Pity the nation whose statesman is a fox,
whose philosopher is a juggler,
and whose art is the art of patching and mimicking
Pity the nation that welcomes its new ruler with trumpeting,
and farewells him with hooting,
only to welcome another with trumpeting again.
Pity the nation whose sages are dumb with years
and whose strongmen are yet in the cradle.
Pity the nation divided into fragments,
each fragment deeming itself a nation.
―    Kahlil Gibran
From his book:  “The Garden of The Prophet“
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On This Day In:
2021	I Think They Mean It
	An Endless Stream
2020	ITF (365) – Update
	Word Up!
	My Fear: A Second More Tyrannous Term
2019	Reality And Imperfection
	Day 8: One Stone
2018	Pity The Nation (Part 1)
	Day 41: Hiccup Or End Of Days?
2017	Sharp-Edged Beauty
2016	Start, Keep, Finish
2015	Lifetime Friends
2014	Acknowledgement
2013	Longevity, Tenacity and Diversity
2012	What Reagan Really Cared About
2011	Seeming Sane (Or Not)

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Still Dreaming

The timeless in you is aware of life’s timelessness.  And knows that yesterday is but today’s memory and tomorrow is today’s dream.
―    Kahlil Gibran
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On This Day In:
2014	Good Wins
2013	Before
2012	Look To This Day
2011	One View Of Man

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Become An Affliction

One just man causes the Devil greater affliction than a million blind believers.
—    Kahlil Gibran
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On This Day In:
2022	Make It Easy
	On A Lighter Note
2021	I Hope Not
	Diggin’ It
2020	Organized Skepticism
2019	An Interest In Life
2018	Two: A Current President With Both
2017	Watch This Space
2016	Beyond The Foundation
2015	Become An Affliction
2014	Just Setting Out
2013	Scott’s Inscription
2012	Good Knowledge
2011	Social Safety Nets

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To Infinity And Beyond

To understand the heart and mind of a person, look not at what he has already achieved, but what he aspires to.
―    Kahlil Gibran
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On This Day In:
2022	Putin’s War On Ukraine: Choosing Lies
2021	How Many Times
	I’m Breaking My Silence
2020	When Looking Around
2019	Except Dying
2018	History Will Judge Him Favorably
2017	Are You Confused?
2016	The Golden Mean
2015	To Infinity And Beyond
2014	Taken Back
2013	Windows Or Doors
2012	All Rise
2011	Vote Weight

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Leaving On A Mid-Night Train

If you love somebody, let them go, for if they return, they were always yours.  If they don’t, they never were.
―    Kahlil Gibran
[I don’t know if this is interesting to anyone else, but the first time I distinctly remember hearing this quote was when Lee Majors was being interviewed just after his separation from Farrah Fawcett-Majors back around 1979.  They were later divorced in 1982.    —    kmab]
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On This Day In:
2022	In My Defense…
2021	Mike Could Have Saved Us A Bundle On Border Walls
	Is It Too Late?
2020	And Then There Was Yellow
	At This Moment
2019	Sin Less Every Day
2018	Probably Only A Little Easier
2017	Stars Above
2016	Where Do You Stand?
	Health Update
2015	Leaving On A Mid-Night Train
2014	Questioned Faith
2013	At Home In Fire
2012	A Tale Of Two Books
	More Meaning
2011	Back At The Millstone
	To Learn, Teach

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Value Beyond Price

They deem me mad because I will not sell my days for gold; and I deem them mad because they think my days have a price.
― Kahlil Gibran
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On This Day In:
2014	Ouch!
2013	Revelations
2012	Movies And Juicing
	Brady Gets #4 (Prediction)
	Happy To Get Up
2011	What About Good Blogs?
2010	Slowly, Slowly…

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Looks Good To Me

Your living is determined not so much by what life brings to you as by the attitude you bring to life;  not so much by what happens to you as by the way your mind looks at what happens.
―    Kahlil Gibran
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On This Day In:
2022	End The Filibuster
2021	Be Creative, Question Assumptions
	By No Means
2020	I’ll Eat To That (Gemütlichkeit)
	To The Front
2019	#ContinueToResist
	Except Willful Ignorance And Prideful Stupidity
2018	More Executive Time For #DumbDonald
2017	Watched The Inauguration
	Two Geniuses
2016	Come Dance And Laugh With Me
2015	Looks Good To Me
2014	Desire For The Sea
2013	The Fierce Urgency Of NOW
	Happy Inauguration Day!
2012	One Path
	Sorrow And Joy
	The Seven Year View
2011	Emergent Practicality

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Say What?

Conversation enriches the understanding,
But solitude is the school of the genius.
—    Kahlil Gibran
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On This Day In:
2021	Misunderestimated
	The Sincerest Form Of Flattery
	Four Fifths Of Music
2020	Doctor’s Orders
	Make That Seven Orders…
2019	Innocent
2018	Ripost
2017	Just Asking…
2016	And 4
	How Tall Do You Stand?
2015	More Prejudice
2014	Say What?
2013	Daring Errors
2012	Are You Comfortable?
	I Just Have To
	In Flux
2011	True New
2010	A Job Well Started Is A Job Half Done
	I See With My One Good Eye

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Look Again (At Life’s Illusions)

When you are joyous, look deep into your heart and you shall find it is only that which has given you sorrow that is giving you joy.  When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight.
—    Kahlil Gibran
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On This Day In:
2021	Are We Talking About Health Insurance / Oil Companies, Facebook Or Faux News?
	When MTV Was Young (And Fun)
2020	Resting
	A New Day Just Means We Continue The Struggle (With A Smile)
2019	One For Two
	Why Trump Insults Pelosi and Schiff
2018	The Worst
2017	#DonTheCon In The Oval Office
2016	Are You Like #AmnestyDon And Sarah Palin?
2015	Begin Today
2014	Look Again (At Life’s Illusions)
2013	None Knows
2012	Yet
2011	No End In Sight
2010	Back At It…

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Without The Other

Reason and learning are like body and soul.  Without the body, the soul is nothing but empty wind.  Without the soul, the body is but a senseless frame.
—   Kahlil Gibran
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On This Day In:
2013	Earn This
	Seeking A View
2012	Stumblin’ Along My Way
	We’re Proud Of You, Jr!
	Union Card
	Two Philosophies
2011	Simply Unpredictable

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Light In Darkness

When Reason speaks to you, harken what she says, and you shall be saved.  Make good use of her utterances, and you shall be as one armed.
For the Lord has given you no better guide than Reason, no stronger arm than Reason.
When Reason speaks to your inmost self, you are proof against Desire.
For Reason is a prudent minister, a loyal guide, and a wise counsellor.  Reason is light in darkness, as anger is darkness amidst light.
Be wise — let Reason, not Impulse, be your guide.
Yet be mindful that even if Reason be at your side, she is helpless without the aid of Knowledge.
Without her blood-sister, Knowledge, Reason is like houseless poverty, and Knowledge without Reason is like a house unguarded.  And even Love, Justice, and Goodness avail little if Reason be not there too.
—    Kahlil Gibran
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On This Day In:
2013	How ‘Bout Just Obeying The Law?
2012	Or Maybe Not
2011	My Interval Is Too Short!

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Perfection

You ask me, my brother, when will man reach
perfection. Hear my answer:
Man approaches perfection when he
feels that he is an infinite space and a sea
without a shore,
An everlasting fire, an unquenchable
light,
A calm wind or a raging tempest, a thundering
sky or a rainy heaven,
A singing brook or a wailing rivulet, a tree abloom
in Spring, or a naked sapling
in Autumn.
A rising mountain or a descending valley,
A fertile plain or a desert.
When man feels all these, he has already
reached halfway to perfection. To attain his goal
he must then perceive
that he is a child dependent upon his mother,
a father responsible for his family,
A youth lost in love,
An ancient wrestling against his past,
A worshipper in his temple, a criminal in
his prison,
A scholar amidst his parchments,
An ignorant soul stumbling between the darkness of his
night and the obscurity of his day,
A nun suffering between the flowers of her faith and
the thistles of her loneliness,
A prostitute caught between the fangs of her
weakness and the claws of her needs,
A poor man trapped between his bitterness and his
submission,
A rich man between his greed and his conscience,
A poet between the mist of his twilight and the
rays of his dawn.
Who can experience, see, and understand
these things can reach perfection and
become a shadow of God’s Shadow.
—    Kahlil Gibran
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On This Day In:
2013	Memorial Day Video
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2012	Congrats, Nephew!!
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	The Flash: Omnibus
	JLI: vol 1
	Flash: Rebirth
	Burning Images
	What Do You Believe?
2011	Are We Still At War With The Poor?

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