A Fable, by Mark Twain
Once upon a time an artist who had painted a small and very beautiful picture placed it so that he could see it in the mirror. He said, "This doubles the distance and softens it, and it is twice as lovely as it was before." The animals out in the woods heard of this...
Happy Birthday To . . Sam & Agnes
September 18, 1709 Samuel Johnson "The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good." September 18, 1905 Agnes de Mille "The truest expression of a people is in its dances and its music. Bodies never lie."
Poem: “When the Violin,” by Hafiz
When The violin Can forgive the past It starts singing. When the violin Can stop worrying about the future You will become Such a drunk laughing nuisance That God Will then lean down And start combing you into His Hair. When the violin can forgive Every wound caused...
Happy Birthday To . . . Ken & Phil
September 17, 1935 Ken Kesey "You don't lead by pointing and telling people some place to go. You lead by going to that place and making a case." September 17, 1945 Phil Jackson "If you meet the Buddha in the lane, feed him the ball."
Ten Jugs of Wine
A Tale from Japan Ten men decided to celebrate the New Year with a big crock of hot sake wine. Since none of them could provide for all, they each agreed to bring one jug of wine for the large heating bowl. On the way to his wine cellar, each one thought, “My wine is...
Happy Birthday to . . . Julián & Joaquin
September 16, 1974 Julián Castro "In the end, the American dream is not a sprint, or even a marathon, but a relay. Our families don't always cross the finish line in the span of one generation. But each generation passes on to the next the fruits of their labor."...
Poem: “People,” by Jean Toomer
To those fixed on white, White is white, To those fixed on black, It is the same, And red is red, Yellow, yellow- Surely there are such sights In the many colored world, Or in the mind. The strange thing is that These people never see themselves Or you, or me. Are...
Happy Birthday To . . . José & Agatha
September 15, 1830 José de la Cruz Porfirio Díaz Mori "A dog with a bone neither barks nor bites." September15, 1890 Agatha Christie "Fear is incomplete knowledge."
A Precious Stone
A wise woman who was traveling in the mountains found a precious stone in a stream. The next day she met another traveler who was hungry, and the wise woman opened her bag to share her food. The hungry traveler saw the precious stone and asked the woman to give it to...
Happy Birthday To . . Alice & Margaret
September 14, 1857 Alice Stone Blackwell "Justice is better than chivalry if we cannot have both." September 14, 1879 Margaret Sanger "No woman can call herself free who does not own and control her body."
Poem: “Reminder,” by Michael Ryan
Torment by appetite is itself an appetite dulled by inarticulate, dogged, daily loving-others-to-death— as Chekhov put it, “compassion down to your fingertips”— looking on them as into the sun not in the least for their sake but slowly for your own because it causes...
Happy Birthday To . . . Daniel & Marie
September 13, 1660 Daniel Defoe "Vice came in always at the door of necessity, not at the door of inclination." September 13, 1830 Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach "Those who understand only what can be explained understand very little."
The Worried Mouse
There was a mouse who was always in anguish because he was afraid of the cat. A magician had compassion of him and converted him into... a cat. But then he started to feel afraid of the dog. So the magician changed him into a dog. Then he started to feel afraid of the...
Happy Birthday To . . . Jesse & Stanislaw
September 12, 1913 Jesse Owens "Life doesn't give you all the practice races you need." September 12, 1921 Stanislaw Lem "Is it progress if a cannibal uses a knife and fork?"
Poem: “What Changes,” by Naomi Shihab Nye
My father’s hopes travel with me years after he died. Someday we will learn how to live. All of us surviving without violence never stop dreaming how to cure it. What changes? Crossing a small street in Doha Souk, nut shops shuttered, a handkerchief lies crumpled in...
Happy Birthday To . . . Jessica & Mickey
September 11, 1917 Jessica Mitford "You may not be able to change the world, but at least you can embarrass the guilty." September 11, 1943 Mickey Hart "Life is about rhythm. We vibrate, our hearts are pumping blood, we are a rhythm machine, that's what we are."
Poem: “I Am Not I,” by Juan Ramón Jiménez
I am not I. I am this one walking beside me whom I do not see, whom at times I manage to visit, and whom at other times I forget; who remains calm and silent while I talk, and forgives, gently, when I hate, who walks where I am not, who will remain standing when I...
The Feather Pillow
A young man spread a false rumor about an old man who lived at the end of his street. Overcome with guilt, he worked up the courage to apologize. He humbly walked to the old man’s door and said he was sorry. The wise old man looked at him. He said that he would...
Happy Birthday To . . . Franz & Mary
September 10, 1890 Franz Werfel "Religion is the everlasting dialogue between humanity and God. Art is its soliloquy." September 10, 1935 Mary Oliver "To live in this world, you must be able to do three things: to love what is mortal; to hold it against your bones...
Poem: “Kindness,” by Naomi Shihab Nye
Before you know what kindness really is you must lose things, feel the future dissolve in a moment like salt in a weakened broth. What you held in your hand, what you counted and carefully saved, all this must go so you know how desolate the landscape can be between...
Happy Birthday To . . . Ralph & Kurt
September 9, 1871 Ralph Hodgson "Some things have to be believed to be seen." September 9, 1890 Kurt Lewin "If you want to truly understand something, try to change it."
Poem: “Often After a Public Event,” by Andrei Codrescu
often after a public event a pretty girl curly black hair framing literary ambition or a shy tall boy black curly hair burning with sympathy will say something in a foreign accent to me we are from bosnia hungarians or jews my mother was born near your city back then...
Happy Birthday To … The Swami & Ruby
September 8, 1887 Swami Sivananda "A mountain is composed of tiny grains of earth. The ocean is made up of tiny drops of water. Even so, life is but an endless series of little details, actions, speeches, and thoughts. And the consequences whether good or bad of even...
The Old Apple Tree
This is an intriguing story with many applications in contemporary politics. The animals state a case for compassion and justice; the farmer does not care, until he sees a glimmer of self-interest. The result is the same — the tree is saved — so does his motivation...