“Our attitude towards what has happened to us in life is the important thing to recognize. Once hopeless, my life is now hope-full, but it did not happen overnight. The last of human freedoms, to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, is to choose one's own way.” 

Viktor Frankl

Happy Thanksgiving

I am grateful for:

Knowledge of God the Father

the healing sacrifice of Jesus Christ

to God and American Soldiers for the blessing of freedom.

go to blog to view video: www.alwaysmee.blogspot.com

“When I dare to be powerful - to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid.”

Audre Lorde (1934-1992);
writer, poet, and activist

A Fence or an Ambulance

Joseph Malins -1895 (a poem about prevention)

'Twas a dangerous cliff, as they freely confessed,

Though to walk near its crest was so pleasant;

But over its terrible edge there had slipped

A duke and full many a peasant.

 So the people said something would have to be done,

But their projects did not at all tally;

Some said, "Put a fence 'round the edge of the cliff,"

Some, "An ambulance down in the valley."

But the cry for the ambulance carried the day,

For it spread through the neighboring city;

A fence may be useful or not, it is true,

But each heart became full of pity

For those who slipped over the dangerous cliff;

And the dwellers in highway and alley

Gave pounds and gave pence, not to put up a fence,

But an ambulance down in the valley.

"For the cliff is all right, if your careful," they said,

"And, if folks even slip and are dropping,

It isn't the slipping that hurts them so much

As the shock down below when they're stopping."

So day after day, as these mishaps occurred,

Quick forth would those rescuers sally

To pick up the victims who fell off the cliff,

With their ambulance down in the valley.

Then an old sage remarked: "It's a marvel to me

That people give far more attention

To repairing results than to stopping the cause,

When they'd much better aim at prevention.

Let us stop at its source all this mischief," cried he,

"Come, neighbors and friends, let us rally;

If the cliff we will fence, we might almost dispense

With the ambulance down in the valley."

"Oh he's a fanatic," the others rejoined,

"Dispense with the ambulance? Never!

He'd dispense with all charities, too, if he could;

No! No! We'll support them forever.

Aren't we picking up folks just as fast as they fall?

And shall this man dictate to us? Shall he?

Why should people of sense stop to put up a fence,

While the ambulance works in the valley?"

But the sensible few, who are practical too,

Will not bear with such nonsense much longer;

They believe that prevention is better than cure,

And their party will soon be the stronger.

Encourage them then, with your purse, voice, and pen,

And while other philanthropists dally,

They will scorn all pretense, and put up a stout fence

On the cliff that hangs over the valley.

Better guide well the young than reclaim them when old,

For the voice of true wisdom is calling.

"To rescue the fallen is good, but 'tis best

To prevent other people from falling."

Better close up the source of temptation and crime

Than deliver from dungeon or galley;

Better put a strong fence 'round the top of the cliff

Than an ambulance down in the valley.

...new beginning...

this quote explains some of my behaviors of the last week or so:
Much as we may wish to make a new beginning, some part of us resists doing so as though we were making the first step toward disaster.
William Bridges

"Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are." 


~ John Wooden

“To meet at all, one must open ones eyes to another; and there is no true conversation no matter how many words are spoken, unless the eye, unveiled and listening, opens itself to the other.” —Jessamyn West

"...when all things go wrong to us, we must believe that God is doing the very best."
Stowe, Harriet Beecher. Uncle Tom's Cabin, or Life among the lowly pg 63

"I can honestly say that I was never affected by the question of the success of an undertaking. If I felt it was the right thing to do, I was for it regardless of the possible outcome."

--Golda Meir,
4th Israeli prime minister

By confronting our failures, we come closer to reaching perfection.

The Power of Teamwork click on the "Watch The DVD Movie" link.

 A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of being right, and raises at first a formidable outcry in defense of custom. But the tumult soon subsides. Time makes more converts than reason.   
Paine, Thomas