Each day we go about our business, walking past each other, catching each others' eyes or not, about to speak or speaking. All about us is noise. All about us is noise and bramble, thorn and din, each one of our ancestors on our tongues. Someone is stitching up a hem, darning a hole in a uniform, patching a tire, repairing the things in need of repair.
Someone is trying to make music somewhere with a pair of wooden spoons on an oil drum with cello, boom box, harmonica, voice.
A woman and her son wait for the bus.
A farmer considers the changing sky; A teacher says, "Take out your pencils. Begin."
We encounter each other in words, words spiny or smooth, whispered or declaimed; words to consider, reconsider.
We cross dirt roads and highways that mark the will of someone and then others who said, "I need to see what's on the other side; I know there's something better down the road."
We need to find a place where we are safe; We walk into that which we cannot yet see.
Say it plain, that many have died for this day. Sing the names of the dead who brought us here, who laid the train tracks, raised the bridges, picked the cotton and the lettuce, built brick by brick the glittering edifices they would then keep clean and work inside of.
Praise song for struggle; praise song for the day. Praise song for every hand-lettered sign; The figuring it out at kitchen tables.
Some live by "Love thy neighbor as thy self."
Others by first do no harm, or take no more than you need.
What if the mightiest word is love, love beyond marital, filial, national. Love that casts a widening pool of light. Love with no need to preempt grievance.
In today's sharp sparkle, this winter air, anything can be made, any sentence begun.
On the brink, on the brim, on the cusp -- praise song for walking forward in that light.
Transcript from www.nytimes.com/2009/01/20/us/politics/20text-poem.html?r...
Image courtesy : www.wordle.net/gallery/wrdl/452635/Inaugural_poem_recited...
I recently read a fascinating piece by Maham Javaid in the Washington Post analyzing the World Happiness Report . The report, produced by the Wellbeing Research Center at Oxford and the UN, looks beyond GDP to find what actually drives life satisfaction. I've always held the philosophy that happiness should be a state of mind—something that shouldn't depend on others. But I admit, that is difficult to adhere to. It's hard to stay internally happy when you don't receive kudos for extra effort, or when you find yourself analyzing praise to see if it was just an afterthought. While my own philosophy has always been that happiness shouldn't depend on others, the data suggests that for most of the world, happiness is inherently social. Here is what the top-ranking countries teach us: 🇫🇮 Finland: Material Security Finland takes the top spot, but not because they are outwardly the "happiest" people. It's about anxiety reduction. "Researc...
Comments