Before And After

Every generation imagines itself to be more intelligent than the one that went before it, and wiser than the one that comes after it.
—  George Orwell
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On This Day In:
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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A Moment Of Union

Even in sin, the act of love  – done with love –  is shadowed with divinity.  Its conformity may be at fault, but its nature is not altered, and its nature is creative, communicative, splendid in surrender.  It was in the splendor of my surrender to Nina and she to me, that I first understood how a man might surrender himself to God  – if a God existed.  The moment of love is a moment of union  – of body and spirit –  and the act of faith is mutual and implicit.
―  Morris L. West
From his novel: “The Devil’s Advocate“
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On This Day In:
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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Instinct For Presence

Our spirit has an instinct for silence.
Every soul innately yearns for stillness,
for a space, a garden where we can till, sow, reap, and rest,
and by doing so come to a deeper sense of self and our place in the universe.
Silence is not an absence but a presence.
Not an emptiness but repletion.
A filling up.
—  Anne D. LeClaire
Found at one of the blogs I follow:  http://upwardbound.me/
The specific link is:  http://upwardbound.me/2016/09/09/our-spirit-has-an-instinct-for-silence/
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On This Day In:
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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You Have Just Begun To Climb

Kiril Lakota:  [the shadow of the cross is on the Pope’s empty chair during this exchange of dialog]  Leone, how does a man ever know if his actions are for himself or for God?
Cardinal Leone:  You don’t know.  You have a duty to act.  But you have no right to expect approval, or even a successful outcome.
Kiril Lakota:  So, in the end, my friend, we are alone?
Cardinal Leone:  Yes.  I have seen three men sit in this room.  You are the last I shall see.  Each of them, in his turn, came to where you stand now, the moment of solitude.  I have to tell you there is no remedy for it.  You are here until the day you die.  And the longer you live, the lonelier you will become.  You will use this man and that for the work of the church.  But when the work is done, or the man has proved unequal to it, you will let him go and find another.  You want love.  You need it, as I do.  Even though I am old.  You may have it for a little while, but you will lose it again.  Like it or not, you are condemned to a solitary pilgrimage, from the day of your election until the day of your death.  This is a Calvary, Holiness.  And you have just begun to climb.
—  Morris West
The above conversation is from the movie adaptation of his novel: “In The Shoes Of The Fishermen“
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On This Day In:
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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Heavy On The Starch

There are other measures of self-respect for a man, than the number of clean shirts he puts on every day.
—  Ralph Waldo Emerson
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On This Day In:
2017	But The Beginning Of What?
2016	Today’s Rule
2015	Remembering Oklahoma City
2014	Who Was That Masked Man?
2013	Enemy Mine
2012	Strengthen Me
2011	Service, Please
2010	The Church In Crisis…

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How Much I Will Miss The Trump Administration

“Indispensable Man”
Sometime when you’re feeling important;
Sometime when your ego’s in bloom
Sometime when you take it for granted
You’re the best qualified in the room,
Sometime when you feel that your going
Would leave an unfillable hole,
Just follow these simple instructions
And see how they humble your soul;
Take a bucket and fill it with water,
Put your hand in it up to the wrist,
Pull it out and the hole that’s remaining
Is a measure of how you’ll be missed.
You can splash all you wish when you enter,
You may stir up the water galore,
But stop and you’ll find that in no time
It looks quite the same as before.
The moral of this quaint example
Is do just the best that you can,
Be proud of yourself but remember,
There’s no indispensable man.
The above poem was written by: Saxon White Kessinger
The poem text was found as an image at: The Year(s) of Living Non-Judgmentally
The specific link to the post is:  http://annkoplow.wordpress.com/2017/10/16/day-1750-water/
The site is maintained by: Ann Koplow
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On This Day In:
2017	We Need To Continue Experimenting
2016	Consistently
2015	We Must Dissent
2014	Now What?
2013	Judgement
2012	Stuck In My Mind
	Life’s Hope
2011	Just Getting Up
	Directions Please

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RIP – Our Silver Lady

At the end of your life you will never regret not having passed one more test, not winning one more verdict, or not closing one more deal.  You will regret time not spent with a husband, a friend, a child or a parent.
—  First Lady Barbara Bush
Commencement Address, Wellesley College, 1990
RIP  —  Born: 8 June 1925 — Died: 17 April 2018
[While I did not agree with many of President Bush’s (41) policies  –  okay, probably none of his policies, First Lady Barbara Bush was IMHO the greatest Republican First Lady of the last century.  The nation was better for her service and the world a kinder place for her living.  Rest In Peace…  —  KMAB]
On This Day In:
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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