Monday, October 31, 2011
Happy Halloween and Homemade Popcorn Balls
Monday, October 17, 2011
Mark Twain - Part 1
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Chuck Lorre - Vanity Card #359
Monday, October 10, 2011
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Henry David Thoreau
Saturday, October 8, 2011
Song Lyrics
Friday, October 7, 2011
Solitude
I love the stillness of the wood: | |
I love the music of the rill: | |
I love to couch in pensive mood | |
Upon some silent hill. | |
5 | Scarce heard, beneath you arching trees, |
The silver-crested ripples pass; | |
And, like a mimic brook, the breeze | |
Whispers among the grass. | |
Here from the world I win release, | |
10 | Nor scorn of men, nor footstep rude, |
Break in to mar the holy peace | |
Of this great solitude. | |
Here may the silent tears I weep | |
Lull the vexed spirit into rest, | |
15 | As infants sob themselves to sleep |
Upon a mother's breast. | |
But when the bitter hour is gone, | |
And the keen throbbing pangs are still, | |
Oh, sweetest then to couch alone | |
20 | Upon some silent hill! |
To live in joys that once have been, | |
To put the cold world out of sight, | |
And deck life's drear and barren scene | |
With hues of rainbow-light. | |
25 | For what to man the gift of breath, |
If sorrow be his lot below; | |
If all the day that ends in death | |
Be dark with clouds of woe? | |
Shall the poor transport of an hour | |
30 | Repay long years of sore distress — |
The fragrance of a lonely flower | |
Make glad the wilderness? | |
Ye golden hours of Life's young spring, | |
Of innocence, of love and truth! | |
35 | Bright, beyond all imagining, |
Thou fairy-dream of youth! | |
I'd give all wealth that years have piled, | |
The slow result of Life's decay, | |
To be once more a little child | |
40 | For one bright summer-day. |
March 16, 1853. |
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Let Me Live In a House By the Side of the Road
House by the Side of the Road
public domainThere are hermit souls that live withdrawn
In the place of their self-content;
There are souls like stars, that dwell apart,
In a fellowless firmament;
There are pioneer souls that blaze the paths
Where highways never ran-
But let me live by the side of the road
And be a friend to man.Let me live in a house by the side of the road
Where the race of men go by-
The men who are good and the men who are bad,
As good and as bad as I.
I would not sit in the scorner's seat
Nor hurl the cynic's ban-
Let me live in a house by the side of the road
And be a friend to man.I see from my house by the side of the road
By the side of the highway of life,
The men who press with the ardor of hope,
The men who are faint with the strife,
But I turn not away from their smiles and tears,
Both parts of an infinite plan-
Let me live in a house by the side of the road
And be a friend to man.I know there are brook-gladdened meadows ahead,
And mountains of wearisome height;
That the road passes on through the long afternoon
And stretches away to the night.
And still I rejoice when the travelers rejoice
And weep with the strangers that moan,
Nor live in my house by the side of the road
Like a man who dwells alone.Let me live in my house by the side of the road,
Where the race of men go by-
They are good, they are bad, they are weak, they are strong,
Wise, foolish - so am I.
Then why should I sit in the scorner's seat,
Or hurl the cynic's ban?
Let me live in my house by the side of the road
And be a friend to man.
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.
Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.
About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn't even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor's code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you'd have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.
I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I'm fine now.
This was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope it's the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept:
No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.
Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.
When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960's, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.
Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish." It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.
Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.
Thank you all very much.