Thought For The Day

This is the true joy in life,
being used for a purpose recognized by
yourself as a mighty one;

Being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish
little clod of ailments and grievances, complaining that
the world will not devote itself to making me happy.

I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community
and as long as I live,
It is my privilege to do for it whatever I can.

I want to be thoroughly used up when I die,
for the harder I work, the more I live.
I rejoice in life for its own sake.

Life is no "brief candle" to me.
It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for a moment,
and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it
on to future generations.



---- George Bernard Shaw

Khalil Gibran

Children
Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you, yet they belong not to you.
You may give them your love but not your thoughts.
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.
You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;
For even as he loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable.

Marriage
Then Almitra spoke again and said, "And what of Marriage, master?"
And he answered saying:
You were born together, and together you shall be forevermore.
You shall be together when white wings of death scatter your days.
Aye, you shall be together even in the silent memory of God.
But let there be spaces in your togetherness,
And let the winds of the heavens dance between you.
Love one another but make not a bond of love:
Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.
Fill each other's cup but drink not from one cup.
Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf.
Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone,
Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music.
Give your hearts, but not into each other's keeping.
For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts.
And stand together, yet not too near together:
For the pillars of the temple stand apart,
And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other's shadow.

A Piece of Advice From Tyra's Mom

Last night I was at Target (Yes - Target, I love it and I don't try to pretty it up by calling it Tar-jay either) and I was goofing around with W at the checkout stand with the articles in the magazines. Glamour had an article something like '20 sex secrets you must now'.

omg - I must know! I must have that magazine!

But then I thought, I haven't bought a magazine in a long time so what the hell. The secrets weren't sexy ladies but there was an article about Tyra Banks that truly impressed me. She seems so down to earth and straight forward that I developed a newfound respect for her. I also have to give props to her mom for raising her so well (starting out in South Central LA, no less). I think if I had a daughter I'd be comfortable with them seeing her as a role model. Shoot, she may even be my role model for a little while!
One peice of advice that I truly loved was that every woman (I'm going to teach this to my son's too) was that you should always have FU money. As in - 'You're Not Treating Me Right - well FU."

At a basic level FU money is an account that's all yours that consists of first and last month's rent (mortgage -whatever), a couple months worth of your expenses (car note, food etc) and money for just doing some fun stuff for you.

If you're over 25 I'd say you probably want to get a bit more sophisticated with your financial planning but damn I think this is a good place to start.

Don't take it from me - Take it from Tyra's mom.

There were a couple of other interesting insights in there but I won't ruin it for you. Pick up the issue of Glamour with Jennifer Lopez on the cover.

PS - Don't waste your time on the 'sex secrets'.