What Is And What Is Not

Life is the fire that burns and the sun that gives light.  Life is the wind and the rain and the thunder in the sky.  Life is matter and is earth, what is and what is not, and what beyond is in Eternity.
—     Lucius Annaeus Seneca
[This quote was found at a blog I follow:  “A Pondering Mind“
The site is located at:  https://aponderingmind.org/
The specific post can be found at:  https://aponderingmind.org/2020/05/09/life-is-the-fire/
Please visit the original site if you have some free time…    —    kmab]
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On This Day In:
2023	A Balancing Act
2022	Truly And Simply
2021	Lessons
	We Used To Sing (Brown Eyed Girl)
2020	And #45 Is Flat On His Face
2019	I’m Still Hungry
2018	What Matters
2017	By Far
2016	Until…
2015	Or Infinitesimal
2014	I’ve Looked At Clouds
2013	Undiscovered Ocean
2012	Feeling Old? (Part 2)
2011	What About Freedom?

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Joys

One thing is certain, and I have always known it — the joys of my life have nothing to do with age.  They do not change.  Flowers, the morning and evening light, music, poetry, silence,
—     May Sarton,
From:  “At Seventy:  A Journal“
One of life’s most fulfilling moments occurs in the split-second when the familiar is suddenly transformed into the dazzling aura of the profoundly new.
—     Edward Lindaman
From:  “Thinking in the Future Tense:  A Workout for the Mind“
[Both quotes were originally found at a blog I have been following for several years:  davidkanigan.com
The specific link to the post is:  https://davidkanigan.com/lightly-child-lightly-378/
The first was a blog post.  The second was a response to a comment about the blog post.  Please visit the original site if you have some spare time.    —    kmab]
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On This Day In:
2023	Feeling GAS* (Again)
2022	And Even Fewer Regrets
2021	Today Counts
	I Hope You’ll Understand (Ramblin’ Man)
2020	Maybe #IncompetentDonald Really Is A Great Manager
2019	Your Only Choice
2018	A Good Definition
2017	Getting It Done
2016	Getting To Know Me
2015	Why I Pay Taxes
2014	Inequality Of Sacrifice
2013	I Never Saw A Moor
2012	Fill In The Blank
	Not For Naught
	Cliff Notes To Life?
2011	Conference Games Sunday

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Lighting The Way To Unity

We need more light about each other.  Light creates understanding, understanding creates love, love creates patience, and patience creates unity.
—    Malcolm X
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On This Day In:
2022	Start By Living This One
2021	Almost, But Not Quite
	Just Messin’ (It’s A Shame)
2020	The Definition Of A Modern Republican Senator
	#45 Has Got To Go (Back Stabbers)
2019	Just Rewards
2018	Diet Resolutions For The New Year
	Day 3: Late December Diet / Fast
2017	Daily, Mr. President, Daily
2016	We Did This
2015	I’m Talking To You
	Forced (Again)
2014	We Are Not A Fearful Nation!
2013	Risking Truth
2012	Working On Reality
2011	Massive Contradictory Changes

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Stay Surrounded

Always surround yourself with friends that have plenty of light in them.  That way, you will always have candles around you when days are dark.
—    Suzy Kassem
From her book:  “Rise Up and Salute the Sun“
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On This Day In:
2022	Sounds Like Three Ways To Me…
2021	Live Well
	Lately (Have I Told You Lately That I Love You)
2020	Every Touch Vibrates
	When She Smiles (Ain’t No Woman Like The One I Got)
2019	Six Reasons Why #DumbDonald Will Always Be A Failure
2018	The Trouble With Bookstores
	Another No Chew Diet
2017	Biased World View
2016	Control In The Age Of Entanglement
2015	Okay, Maybe Not Ceaseless
2014	Can Do
2013	Are You Helping?
2012	Inside All Truth Is A Vacuum
2011	So, Whom Are We Trying To Fool Then?

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Be A Candle

As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light in the darkness of mere being.
—    Carl Jung
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On This Day In:
2022	A Strange Situation
2021	Small Moments, Lived Well
	Shaking My Confidence (Cecilia)
2020	Two Happy
	Every Time I Look Around (How Bizarre)
	Boxing (Day: 3) – Double-End Target Setup
2019	Stand Up, Hook Up, Shuffle To The Door…
2018	Ridiculous Idea
2017	Waddle On!
	A Severe Challenge — When The President Is A Liar
2016	The Best Of Circumstances
2015	Reverberating Silence
2014	Wrong Again?
2013	Improper Faith
2012	One More Rung
2011	Sunday Morning Earlies (Hugging trees and smiling…)
	Hurry
	Updates On Life
2010	It’s Gettin’ Deep In Here

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Wide And Yawning

There is a wide, yawning black infinity.  In every direction, the extension is endless;  the sensation of depth is overwhelming.  And the darkness is immortal.  Where light exists, it is pure, blazing, fierce;  but light exists almost nowhere, and the blackness itself is also pure and blazing and fierce.
—    Carl Sagan
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On This Day In:
2023	Wide And Yawning
2022	Where One Goes
2021	A Direct Relationship
	Another Night Train South (Can’t You See)
2020	One Person’s Roses…
2019	In The Long-Run
2018	#NeverAgain
	Doss II
	Doesn’t / Does
2017	Talent Hates To Move
2016	Looking To November
2015	It Isn’t The End
	Prospero’s Precepts
2014	Friends
2013	Learning Bitter
2012	Remembrance, Minstrels & Going Off To War
	May I Have More Happiness, Please?
2011	There Is No God, But God
2010	Another Running Book…

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Let’s Get Crackin’

There are cracks in everything;  that’s how the light gets in.
—    Leonard Cohen
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On This Day In:
2023	Let’s Get Crackin’
2022	MLB: End The Lockout, Sign A CBA
2021	And Keep Doing So
	I’ll Forgive You By And By (I Would Die 4 U)
2020	Well Over!
	The Group
2019	Carrying Humanity
2018	Not Necessarily In This Order
	Stock Market Sets More Records Under #DumbDonald
2017	An Accumulation Of Acts
2016	Here’s Lookin’ At You Kid
2015	How To Be Omnipotent
2014	The Promise Of Future Love
2013	Christian, n.
2012	Praise
	Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood
2011	A Few More Lyrics From The Past
	5 For The Price Of 1

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Even If Only A Flicker

I’ve always thought that people need to feel good about themselves and I see my role as offering support to them, to provide some light along the way.
—    Dr. Leo F. Buscaglia
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On This Day In:
2022	Even If Only A Flicker
2021	Chocolate
	Never Knowing (Candle In The Wind)
2020	In Passing
	Look A Little Bit Closer (The Tracks Of My Tears)
2019	Especially Mine
	90 Day Health / Weight Update (Dec 2019)
2018	And Some Never Do
2017	When We Know We Are Loved
2016	Good Acts
2015	Will You Be Leaving Soon?
2014	Just Long Enough
2013	R.I.P. – Tom Laughlin
	Seeking Success?
2012	All Aboard
2011	Sail On, Sailor

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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:
2022	Waiting Quietly In The Dark
2021	Sustainable Development
	Duke, Duke, Duke (Duke Of Earl)
2020	#IncompetentDonald Is A Clear And Present Danger
	VOTE – “We The People” Can Save America (The Times They Are A Changin’)
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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A Wonderful Tension

There’s this wonderful sort of tension in the wind — that moment when you’re held there suspended is a very beautiful moment … a moment of clarity in a very chaotic situation.  …  It’s like a shaft of light that penetrates.
—    Andy Goldsworthy
From:  “Leaning Into the Wind”
[Originally found at one of the blogs I follow:  “I can’t sleep” AKA:  “Live & Learn“
Located at:  https://davidkanigan.com/
The specific post is located at:  https://davidkanigan.com/2021/04/15/lightly-child-lightly-295/
Please visit the original site if you have a spare minute.    —    kmab]
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On This Day In:
2023	Once Upon A Time There Was Air You Couldn’t See…
2022	A Wonderful Tension
2021	Little And Large Choices
	I Got Something To Say (When The Going Gets Tough)
	Alternate Reality
2020	When?
2019	Two Guides
2018	A Call For You
2017	Because I Read
2016	On What Matters…
2015	Social Security
2014	Bewitching
2013	Visiting Joy
2012	Dedication To Today
2011	Project Second Chance – Adult Literacy
	Turning Coal Into Diamonds

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And Fields Of Green

It is sometimes said that scientists are unromantic, that their passion to figure out robs the world of beauty and mystery.  But is it not stirring to understand how the world actually works — that white light is made of colors, that color is the way we perceive the wavelengths of light, that transparent air reflects light, that in so doing it discriminates among the waves, and that the sky is blue for the same reason that the sunset is red?  It does no harm to the romance of the sunset to know a little bit about it.
—    Carl Sagan
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On This Day In:
2022	Good AND / OR Bad
2021	And Fields Of Green
	Success Has Been So Easy (Don’t You Want Me)
2020	Build It To Last
	Thumpin’ Bass (Get The Funk Out Ma Face)
2019	30 Day Health / Weight Update (Oct 2019)
	When Reason Comes
2018	One Of The Great Ones
2017	Mirror In The Oval Office
	True Courage
2016	What’s Your Excuse?
2015	Some Meaningful Resemblance
2014	Bloom
	Orange October (VII) – The Giants Win The Pennant!!
2013	Walking The Walk
2012	Legacy Of Star Trek (TOS)
2011	Tolerating The Intolerant
	Passionate Germs
2010	Giants Win Game 1 In Philly (4 to 3)!!

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The Chain Must Be Broken

Darkness cannot drive out darkness;  only light can do that.  Hate cannot drive out hate;  only love can do that.  Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction…  The chain reaction of evil — hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars — must be broken, or we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation.
—    Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
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On This Day In:
2022	And Counting…
2021	Or The Person You Love
	Still Beating For You (Can’t You Hear My Heartbeat)
2020	The Chain Must Be Broken
	Back To Me… (Truly Madly Deeply)
2019	Love Like This… (Something Just Like This)
2018	Open Hearts Find Strength
	Day 32: Planning The Future
2017	Thinking Out Loud (Thinking Out Loud)
2016	Fighting Change
2015	Get Change
2014	Trapped (Again)
2013	Someone Else Believes
2012	The Practical Value of Science
2011	Seize Gladly The Difficult Task
	A Constitutional Conversation
2010	The Fierce Urgency Of Now…

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3rd November 2020

Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness.
—     Desmond Tutu
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On This Day In:
2022	People, Relationships And Experiences
2021	I Regret To Admit (I Do)
	Two Ways (Love On A Two Way Street)
2020	3rd November 2020
	He Sat Down And Opened Up His Mind (Old Dogs and Children, and Watermelon Wine)
2019	Just Two?
2018	I Resemble That Remark… (6!)
	Day 14: Two Weeks!
2017	Try It, You’ll Like It
2016	Echo Chamber?
2015	Embrace The World Like A Lover
2014	Democratic Beliefs (for the next President)
2013	And Go Now!
2012	A World Safe For Diversity
2011	What If I Don’t Want To?
2009	Restful Sunday and a Movie About Boys’ Dolls (Action Figures)

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The Spirit Of A Fighter, The Heart Of A Saint

Rest In Peace:  John R. Lewis
U.S. Representative for Georgia’s 5th congressional district
21 February 1940 – July 17, 2020
You are a light.  You are the light.  Never let anyone — any person or any force — dampen, dim or diminish your light.  Study the path of others to make your way easier and more abundant.  Lean toward the whispers of your own heart, discover the universal truth, and follow its dictates.  […]  Release the need to hate, to harbor division, and the enticement of revenge.  Release all bitterness.  Hold only love, only peace in your heart, knowing that the battle of good to overcome evil is already won.  Choose confrontation wisely, but when it is your time don’t be afraid to stand up, speak up, and speak out against injustice.  And if you follow your truth down the road to peace and the affirmation of love, if you shine like a beacon for all to see, then the poetry of all the great dreamers and philosophers is yours to manifest in a nation, a world community, and a Beloved Community that is finally at peace with itself.
―    John Lewis
Take a long, hard look down the road you will have to travel once you have made a commitment to work for change.  Know that this transformation will not happen right away.  Change often takes time. It rarely happens all at once.  In the movement, we didn’t know how history would play itself out.  When we were getting arrested and waiting in jail or standing in unmovable lines on the courthouse steps, we didn’t know what would happen, but we knew it had to happen.
Use the words of the movement to pace yourself. We used to say that ours is not the struggle of one day, one week, or one year.  Ours is not the struggle of one judicial appointment or presidential term.  Ours is the struggle of a lifetime, or maybe even many lifetimes, and each one of us in every generation must do our part.  And if we believe in the change we seek, then it is easy to commit to doing all we can, because the responsibility is ours alone to build a better society and a more peaceful world.
―    John Lewis
Both quotes are from his book:  “Across That Bridge: A Vision for Change and the Future of America“
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On This Day In:
2022	Natural Remedy
2021	Or Internet Access To My Blog
	Jumpin’ Sticks (Juke Joint Jump)
2020	The Spirit Of A Fighter, The Heart Of A Saint
	Corporate Cults
2019	Most Hire
	Just The Three Of Us
2018	Sounds Like #45’s White House
2017	Have We Started Winning Yet?
2016	Still Springy
2015	Well Concealed
2014	The History Of Warriors
2013	A Cult Of Ignorance
2012	Counting Valor
	Understanding Faith
2011	I Can Hear You Now
2010	Inception

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The Tragedy Of Trump Republicanism

We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark;  the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.
―    Socrates
[I would say today’s Republicans fear light – AND – specifically the light which comes from science, truth and facts.  —  kmab]
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On This Day In:
2022	I Remember…
2021	Biden Won By Almost 7 Million Votes
	Waiting Outside My Door
2020	The Tragedy Of Trump Republicanism
2019	What Do Your Children See You Doing?
2018	Is #45 STILL Losing America
2017	We Sleep To Remember And We Sleep To Forget
2016	Useful Gift
2015	Who’s The Boss?
2014	What Counts In The Future
2013	Improper Sequence?
2012	Two Gems
2011	A True Test

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