Poem: “I have only just a minute,” by Dr. Benjamin E. Mays
The late US Representative Elijah Cummings recited this 54-word poem by Dr. Benjamin E. Mays, a pioneering civil rights leader who was the president of Morehouse College during Martin Luther King Jr. education there, during his first congressional speech. King cited...
Happy Birthday To . . . Indira & Zygmunt
November 19, 1917 Indira Gandhi "You cannot shake hands with a clenched fist." November 19, 1925 Zygmunt Bauman "Power, in a nutshell, is the ability to get things done, and politics is the ability to decide which things need to be done."
The Wrong Place
A father before he died said to his son: “this is a watch your grandfather gave me, and is more than 200 years old. But before I give it to you, go to the watch shop on the first street, and tell him I want to sell it, and see how much he offers you”. He went, and...
Happy Birthday To . . . Oliver & Vachel
November 10, 1730 Oliver Goldsmith "You can preach a better sermon with your life than with your lips." November 10, 1879 Vachel Lindsay "You can't crush ideas by suppressing them. You can only crush them by ignoring them."
To Be Hopeful
"TO BE HOPEFUL in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness. What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives....
Happy Birthday To . . . Eugene & Will
November 5, 1855 Eugene V. Debs "While there is a lower class, I am in it, while there is a criminal element, I am of it, and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free." November 5, 1885 Will Durant "Truth always originates in a minority of one, and every custom...
Poem: “Epitaph,” by Merrit Malloy
When I die Give what’s left of me away To children And old men that wait to die. And if you need to cry, Cry for your brother Walking the street beside you. And when you need me, Put your arms Around anyone And give them What you need to give to me. I want to leave...
Happy Birthday To . . Ivan & Jonas
October 28, 1818 Ivan Turgenev "Most people can't understand how others can blow their noses differently than they do." October 28, 1914 Jonas Salk "Hope lies in dreams, in imagination, and in the courage of those who dare to make dreams into reality."
Poem: “The Moment,” by Margaret Atwood
The moment when, after many years of hard work and a long voyage you stand in the centre of your room, house, half-acre, square mile, island, country, knowing at last how you got there, and say, I own this, is the same moment when the trees unloose their soft arms...
Happy Birthday to Ignatius & Anita
October 23, 1491 St. Ignatius of Loyola "Be slow to speak, and only after having first listened quietly, so that you may understand the meaning, leanings, and wishes of those who do speak. Thus you will better know when to speak and when to be silent." October 23,...
Poem: “The Courtesy of the Blind,” by Wisława Szymborska
The poet reads his lines to the blind. He hadn’t guessed that it would be so hard. His voice trembles. His hands shake. He senses that every sentence is put to the test of darkness. He must muddle through alone, without colors or lights. A treacherous endeavor for his...
Happy Birthday To . . . AJ & Martina
October 18, 1904 AJ Liebling "Freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one." October 18, 1956 Martina Navratilova "The difference between involvement and commitment is like ham and eggs. The chicken is involved; the pig is committed."
Fable: The Astronomer in the Well
An astronomer was in the habit of going out every evening to look at the stars. Then, one night when he was in the suburbs absorbed in contemplating the sky, he accidentally fell into a well. A passer-by heard him moaning and calling out. When the man realized what...
Happy Birthday To . . . Albert & Charlotte
October 13, 1870 Albert J. Nock "The mind is like the stomach. It is not how much you put into it that counts, but how much it digests." October 13, 1944 Charlotte Bunch "There is no private domain of a person's life that is not political, and there is no political...
Fable: The Man Bitten by an Ant, and Hermes
One day, a sailing ship sank to the bottom of the sea with all its passengers. A man who was witness of the shipwreck claimed that the decrees of the gods were unjust, for to lose a single impious person they had also made the innocent perish. There were a great many...
Happy Birthday To . . Robert & Bernice
October 4, 1542 St. Robert Bellermine "Peace and union are the most necessary of all things for men who live in common, and nothing serves so well to establish and maintain these as the forbearing charity whereby we put up with one another's defects." October 4, 1942...
Fable: The Drowning Boy
A boy had gone down to the river to bathe but because he didn't know how to swim, he was in danger of drowning. The boy then saw a man walking by and called to him for help. As the man was pulling the boy out of the water, he said, 'If you don't know how to swim, why...
Poem: “The Cold Within,” by James Patrick Kinney
Six humans trapped by happenstance In bleak and bitter cold. Each one possessed a stick of wood Or so the story’s told. Their dying fire in need of logs The first man held his back For of the faces round the fire He noticed one was black. The next man looking ‘cross...
Happy Birthday To . . . Frances & Madeleine
September 28, 1839 Frances E. Willard "This seems to be the law of progress in everything we do; it moves along a spiral rather than a perpendicular; we seem to be actually going out of the way, and yet it turns out that we were really moving upward all the time."...
Fable: The Fisherman and His Net
A FISHERMAN, engaged in his calling, made a very successful cast and captured a great haul of fish. He managed by a skillful handling of his net to retain all the large fish and to draw them to the shore; but he could not prevent the smaller fish from falling back...
Happy Birthday To . . . Horace & John
September 24, 1717 Horace Walpole "Justice is rather the activity of truth, than a virtue in itself. Truth tells us what is due to others, and justice renders that due. Injustice is acting a lie." September 24, 1775 John Marshall "To listen well is as powerful a means...
Poem: “The Sacrament of Letting Go,” by Macrina Wiederkehr
Slowly She celebrated the sacrament of Letting Go… First she surrendered her Green Then the Orange, yellow, and Red… Finally she let go of her Brown… Shedding her last leaf She stood empty and silent, stripped bare Leaning against the sky she began her vigil of trust…...
Happy Birthday To . . . Paulo & Mike
September 19, 1921 Paulo Freire "Liberating education consists in acts of cognition, not transferals of information." September 19, 1932 Mike Royko "It's much harder to be a liberal than a conservative. Why? Because it is easier to give someone the finger than a...
Poem: “Morning Meditation,” by Rainer Maria Rilke
Have patience with everything unresolved in your heart, and try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked rooms or books written in a very foreign language. Do not search for the answers, which could not be given to you now, because you would not be able...