Question of the Day -- On "Pro-Life"

Professor Robert Reich asks a terrific question today.

"Wouldn't it be nice if pro-lifers focused on ending gun violence? Or suicide prevention? Or abolishing the death penalty? Or stopping police killings? Or fighting poverty? Or combating the opioid epidemic? Or ending wars? You know, things that would actually save lives?" --Robert Reich @RBReich

Quote of the Day -- On God and Gods

"If there are gods and they are just, then they will not care how devout you have been, but will welcome you based on the virtues you have lived by. 

If there are gods, but unjust, then you should not want to worship them. 

If there are no gods, then you will be gone, but will have lived a noble life that will live on in the memories of your loved ones."

--Marcus Aurelius

Quote of the Day -- Sunday Edition

Look again at that dot. 

That’s here. 

That’s home. 

That’s us. 

On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every ‘superstar,’ every ‘supreme leader,’ every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there — on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.

The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds.

Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.

The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand.

It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we’ve ever known. 

-- Carl Sagan

Quote of the Day -- On Living

“You are capable of more than you know. Choose a goal that seems right for you and strive to be the best, however hard the path. Aim high. Behave honorably. Prepare to be alone at times, and to endure failure. Persist! The world needs all you can give.”

―Edward O. Wilson

Link:  E. O. Wilson

Kids Today.... Huh

Kids today

They have it so easy.

Why, when I was a boy, we had to reach ALL THE WAY TO THE RADIO DIAL in the car, to turn up the volume or change a station. None of this fancy shmancy pushing a button on the steering wheel to turn it up or change the station.

And putting the window down?? Fuggedaboudit! We had to ROLL IT UP OR DOWN. None of this pushing a button to raise or lower it.

And clocks!

When WE switched to Daylight Savings Time, we HAD TO GO AROUND TO EACH AND EVERY CLOCK IN THE HOUSE and change the time. None of this automatically having the time change for you on these cell phones and computers.

I tell ya.

Kids today have it easy.

We get no respect.

Quote of the Day

Quote of the day -- on rules for living

Quote of the day -- sharing III

“Live from abundance;

Utilize with economy;

Share in advance.” 

― Geoffrey M. Gluckman, Deadly Exchange

Quote of the day -- on living

Quote of the day -- on life. And what's important

Quote of the day--on this life, living and this world

“It’s just an accident that we happen to be on earth, enjoying our silly little moments, distracting ourselves as often as possible so we don’t have to really face up to the fact that, you know, we’re just temporary people with a very short time in a universe that will eventually be completely gone. And everything that you value, whether it’s Shakespeare, Beethoven, da Vinci, or whatever, will be gone. The earth will be gone. The sun will be gone. There’ll be nothing. The best you can do to get through life is distraction. Love works as a distraction. And work works as a distraction. You can distract yourself a billion different ways. But the key is to distract yourself.”

--Woody Allen

With thanks and a hat tip to Matt Payton's Tumble-o-rama from whom I lifted this quote, earlier this week.

Links:  WoodyAllen.com - The Official Website of Woody Allen

Woody Allen - IMDb

Woody Allen - Wikipedia

On Capitalism, life and living today

Quote of the day--on life and living

"There is nothing to do but be.

To nourish the soul is to rest in being.

Our greatest unhappiness comes from our longing. Our greatest peace comes from our being.

When you stop taking the mind so personally and become aware of the process, you see that the mind is actually just a level. It's not who you are, it's an aspect of what you are."

--Steven Levine

Quote of the day--on life

Quote of the day--on people, life and living

"The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn, like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes 'Awww!'"

--Jack Kerouac, "On the Road"

Quote of the day---on life

As we grow up, we learn that even the one person that wasn't supposed to ever let us down, probably will. You'll have your heart broken and you'll break others' hearts. You'll fight with your best friend or maybe even fall in love with them, and you'll cry because time is flying by. So take too many pictures, laugh too much, forgive freely, and love like you've never been hurt.

 Life comes with no guarantees, no time outs, no second chances. you just have to live life to the fullest, tell someone what they mean to you and tell someone off, speak out, dance in the pouring rain, hold someone's hand, comfort a friend, fall asleep watching the sun come up, stay up late, be a flirt, and smile until your face hurts.

Don't be afraid to take chances or fall in love and most of all, live in the moment because every second you spend angry or upset is a second of happiness you can never get back.

 ~ Unknown

Quote of the day

Things to keep in mind:

(Sunday) Quote of the day

"I don't think life is absurd. I think we are all here for a huge purpose. I think we shrink from the immensity of the purpose we are here for."

--Norman Mailer

Quote of the day

"The meaning of life is to find your gift.

The purpose of life is to give it away."

--Joy J. Golliver

I love this idea