A LIFE WELL LIVED

If anybody can be said to have succeeded in living life wall-to-wall, it is Mundy.  He is the happiest person I have ever met. There are many different ways of describing happiness and success.   Ralph Waldo Emerson, the American essayist and poet, put it thus:

"To laugh often and much; To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; To appreciate beauty, to find the best in others; To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded."

ON POVERTY AND WEALTH

Many years ago, I made a note of something William Saroyan said about wealth. I kept it with all the many scraps, notebooks and diaries  in which I scribble words that impress me.  I found it the other day, and want to share it with you:

Poverty is not having but wanting

Wealth is having and not wanting

Great wealth is neither having nor wanting.

The greatest wealth of all is having so little that one must notice how much one has in having life itself.

BART'S POEM

My friend, Bart Wolffe, writes beautiful poetry.
Today he put this poem on his Facebook page.

Across the cold gust flies some bird whose heard cry breaks the rain’s breath with loneliness, an outflung wish, tempest tossed and lost as I. Its voice is wordless and yet it speaks every bleak tear my eye can’t shed.

You can see more of his poem's and books here:

here

You can even download some free!

What to do with the Elderlies...

A friend sent me an email that said this:


Let's put all retired folk in jail and the criminals in a nursing home.  This way the seniors would have access to showers, hobbies and walks.   
They'd receive unlimited free prescriptions, dental and medical treatment, wheel chairs etc and they'd receive money instead of paying it out. 
They would have constant video monitoring, so they could be helped instantly, if they fell, or needed assistance. 
Bedding would be washed twice a week, and all clothing would be ironed and returned to them. A guard would check on them every 20 minutes and bring their meals and snacks to their cell.    
They would have family visits in a suite built for that purpose. 
They would have access to a library, weight room, spiritual counseling, pool and education. 
Simple clothing, shoes, slippers, PJ's and legal aid would be free, on request. 
Private, secure rooms for all, with an  exercise outdoor yard, with  gardens. 
Each senior could have a PC a TV radio and daily phone calls. 
There would be a board of directors to hear complaints, and the guards would have a code of conduct that would be strictly adhered to. 

The "criminals" would get cold food, be left all alone and unsupervised. 
Lights off at 8pm, and showers once a week. 
Live in a tiny room and pay £900.00 per month and have no hope of ever getting out.   
Justice for all we say. 

THE SWAN - by Mary Oliver

A favourite poem combined with a favourite photograph

On supporting artists...

(Don't talk, just kiss - Mundy-Castle, 1993)

If we, citizens, do not support our artists, then we sacrifice our imagination on the altar of crude reality and we end up believing in nothing and having worthless dreams. ( Yann Martel -Life of Pi )

IDEALS

The difficulty is not so much that of moving towards an ideal, or even remaining in a fixed relationship to it, as of trying to slow up the pace at which we are always moving away from it. (from an old notebook)