CONTINUE: a poem, by Maya Angelou
My wish for you Is that you continue Continue To be who and how you are To astonish a mean world With your acts of kindness Continue To allow humor to lighten the burden Of your tender heart Continue In a society dark with cruelty To let the...
Poem: “I know the way you can get,” by Hafiz
I know the way you can get When you have not had a drink of Love: Your face hardens, Your sweet muscles cramp. Children become concerned About a strange look that appears in your eyes Which even begins to worry your own mirror And nose. Squirrels and birds sense your...
Happy Birthday To . . . Woodrow & Denzel
December 28, 1856 Woodrow Wilson "In the Lord's Prayer, the first petition is for daily bread. No one can worship God or love his neighbor on an empty stomach." December 28, 1954 Denzel Washington "You pray for rain, you gotta deal with the mud too. That's a part of...
Poem: “Allow,” by Diane Faulds
There is no controlling life. Try corralling a lightning bolt, containing a tornado. Dam a stream and it will create a new channel. Resist, and the tide will sweep you off your feet. Allow, and grace will carry you to higher ground. The only safety lies in letting it...
Happy Birthday To . . . Robert & Margaret
December 23, 1926 Robert Bly "It’s all right if you grow your wings on the way down." December 23, 1943 Margaret MacMillan "An apology offered and, equally important, received is a step towards reconciliation and, sometimes, recompense. Without that process, hurts can...
Poem: “Unconditional,” by Jennifer Welwood
Willing to experience aloneness, I discover connection everywhere; Turning to face my fear, I meet the warrior who lives within; Opening to my loss, I gain the embrace of the universe; Surrendering into emptiness, I find fullness without end. Each condition I flee...
Happy Birthday To . . . Morihei & Margaret
December 14, 1883 Morihei Ueshiba "As soon as you concern yourself with the 'good' and 'bad' of your fellows, you create an opening in your heart for maliciousness to enter. Testing, competing with, and criticizing others weaken and defeat you." December 14, 1897...
Poem: “Hermanidad,” by Octavio Paz
I am a man: little do I last and the night is enormous. But I look up: the stars write. Unknowing I understand: I too am written, and at this very moment someone spells me out.
Happy Birthday To . . . John & Tip
December 9, 1608 John Milton "He that studieth revenge keepeth his own wounds green, which otherwise would heal and do well." December 9, 1912 Tip O'Neill "All politics is local."
Poem: “Making Life Worth While,” by George Eliot
Every soul that touches yours - Be it the slightest contact - Get there from some good; Some little grace; one kindly thought; One aspiration yet unfelt; One bit of courage For the darkening sky; One gleam of faith To brave the thickening ills of life; One glimpse of...
Happy Birthday To . . . Abbie & David
November 30, 1936 Abbie Hoffman "You measure a democracy by the freedom it gives its dissidents, not the freedom it gives its assimilated conformists." November 30, 1947 David Mamet "Every reiteration of the idea that nothing matters debases the human...
Two Farming Brothers
This story is passed down in both Hebrew & Arab versions. In the Hebrew version, King Solomon is believed to have built the first temple on the ground where the two brothers met and embraced. In the Arab version, at the end of the story: "In the morning, each brother...
Happy Birthday To . . Dale & Bruce
November, 24 1888 Dale Carnagie "If you want to gather honey, don't kick over the beehive." November 24, 1946 Bruce Bueno de Mesquita "There is an interesting interplay between power corrupting and corruption empowering. The causality does not go one way."
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...