Words of Wisdom, II

More quotes from my last 11 years of reading. Original explanation having already been given, there's no need for more. Only addendum would be I'm finding that some that meant a lot to me when I found them are seemingly now not that special anymore. 

We read, we learn, we grow, we change.

The hardest-learned lesson: that people have only their kind of love to give, not our kind.                                                                                                                        Mignon McLaughlin, journalist and author (6 Jun 1913-1983)

History is a vast early warning system.                                                                                                              Norman Cousins, editor and author (24 Jun 1915-1990) 

I can't understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I'm frightened of the old ones.                                                                                                                                                  John Cage, composer (5 Sep 1912-1992) 

Would the boy you were be proud of the man you are?                                                                                                                       Laurence J. Peter, educator and author (16 Sep 1919-1990) 

Anger is the middleman of emotions. We’re angry because we’re sad or hurt. Why not cut right to the real one?                                                                                                                                      paraphrased for the book by Catherine Ryan Hyde, When I Found You

Revisited

And Again, My Life In the Comics

I'm sure I've told this story here before: Having been playing volleyball with friends for years (and now it's been decades), more for the coming together than any love of the game, we found we'd been rated.

A newcomer to Ithaca had gone looking for volleyball. He then told a friend of mine who played with us, unbeknownst to the newcomer, that he'd found the best and the worst teams, and surprisingly, they played on the same night in the same gym. We were the worst.

Someone might think we'd have been mortified or indignant, but we weren't. We were impressed that we were even considered part of the volleyball culture of the town! Who knew? Before, we'd just been friends enjoying the court before going out for dinner; now we were players, wow!

It's All In the Perspective

Travel Times

Three trips in one month, and now home.

Madison: gardening, cards, treasure hunting, finding volunteers out at dinner, beers with friends. All that and coming home with a gift of a chicken. A wonderful visit!

Vermont: our third trip to Green Mountain Bluegrass, larger every year. Music, views, laughing, tenting. Can't ask for more than that!

Camp Gregory: Over the week we had 21 people and ten dogs. Cards and tequila (Baby, Barb and Big shots). Rain, sun, cards, laughs, walks and good food, and even better friends and family. It's a tradition we love. 

                                                                                   Photo by AAC

But, of course, after all that traveling, I love to come home to Biggie and Gus. 

Home again, home again, jiggety jig.

August

Coming In

Fog in the morning.

                                                                                           Heading out

Summer

Words of Wisdom

When I taught school, I had books of quotes but also bits of pieces of paper with quotes I'd found, or ones students had given me; those being extra special. 

Each day I'd put the date on the board with any homework due and then, a quote. When students offered me one, I knew they'd been reading them. That made my heart sing. 

Retiring, I began a list of found quotes on my computer. Now twelve years in there are many pages. Looking at them the other day, I thought, "No board to use them on, but my blog?" 

Here are the first few: 

To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards of men.                                                                                                                     Ella Wheeler Wilcox, poet (1850-1919) 

Patience is also a form of action.                                                                                                                                Auguste Rodin, sculptor (1840-1917)

We live in a world in which we need to share responsibility. It’s easy to say “It’s not my child, not my community, not my world, not my problem.” Then there are those who see the need and respond. I consider those people my heroes.                                                                                Fred Rogers, television host, songwriter, and author (20 Mar 1928-2003) 

If you break your neck, if you have nothing to eat, if your house is on fire, then you've got a problem. Everything else is an inconvenience. Life is inconvenient. Life is lumpy. A lump in the oatmeal, a lump in the throat, and a lump in the breast are not the same kind of lump. One needs to learn the difference.                                                                                                                       Robert Fulghum, author (b. 4 Jun 1937) 

It’s like, at the end, there's this surprise quiz: Am I proud of me? I gave my life to become the person I am right now. Was it worth what I paid?                                                                                                                                   Richard Bach, writer (b. 23 Jun 1936)

I believe the greatest gift I can conceive of having from anyone is to be seen, heard, understood, and touched by them. The greatest gift I can give is to see, hear, understand, and touch another person.                                                                                                                Virginia Satir, psychotherapist and author (26 Jun 1916-1988) 

It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves.                                                                                                             Edmund Hillary, mountaineer and explorer (20 Jul 1919-2008) 

Revisited 

Morning Views

Gus looking at the green bug on the sill had me looking at him.

Which, then, became Gus looking at me looking at him.

Here's Looking at You

Me and Many

 

Made me laugh. We look at ourselves and wonder, can we take the competition on? Do we want to? Is it worth it? When young, you betcha. As we age, not so much. 

Luckily, I play volleyball, a team sport more than most. While I want younger players around me and against me, I also know I can contribute, and at this stage of the game (of life), that's enough.

Playing Smarter Not Better

We, and You, Matter

And here's to New Yorker once again. This morning's reading was on a topic I hold dear, perfectionism. I don't want it and I have never wanted it, in me or anyone. When our oldest was born, she was touted as perfect by her father and a good friend. I objected, saying no one should have that tag on them, it being far too hard to achieve, impossible actually. Now, here this morning, my favorite magazine was validating my belief. Amazing. (And when I couldn't fit the image in perfectly, I thought that was perfect for this piece.)

And not only that, being perfect, which was five of the six pages of the article, there was also what I do ardently believe in: mattering. What we do must matter. It was the core of my teaching. I wanted kids to feel like what they did mattered. Not that it was perfect but that they had tried and in trying they were a success because they could then try again the next time, getting better (not perfect).

When I read this bit, I thought of my mother. She instilled in me a sense of mattering, and in the strangest way, in cooking. I'm not a cook. My middle sister was, but Mom made me believe there were some things I did so well, only I could do them for her. One: making brownies...from a mix. I had to add the egg, oil and water - so silly - but somehow that became something I was good at. So too at beating the eggs, cream and sugar to make homemade whipped cream. But the one example that I think of the most? As an adult, owning a home and having Mom visit, it was her wish to have tuna fish sandwiches for lunch. She always said I made them so well. Yes, tuna fish from a can. Sandwiches. 

From perfection to mattering. Striving to be perfect exacts such a toll and creates stress internally for the one doing the striving while erecting barriers to the world. Mattering does the opposite. It's a two way street. Others in caring and seeing us for who we are make us matter. We then strive to matter, and in so doing, we connect to the world.

To try, to do one's best, and then to walk away willing to try again. That's my credo.

Perfection Be Damned