Friends | Seeking genuine friendship vininirl: Happy, happy Christmas, that can win us back to the delusions of our childish days; that can recall to the old man the pleasures of his youth; that can transport the sailor and the traveller, thousands of miles away, back to his own fire-side and his quiet home! vininirl: "The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away." Pablo Picasso. vininirl: "I'm opposed to millionaires, but it would be dangerous to offer me the position." "You'd take it?" "I would leave the funeral of my dearest enemy to go and assume its burdens and responsibilities." ~Mark Twain, The American Claimant vininirl: The Curlew Cried BY OODGEROO NOONUCCAL Three nights they heard the curlew cry. It is the warning known of old That tells them one tonight shall die. Brother and friend, he comes and goes Out of the Shadow Land to them, The loneliest voice that earth knows. He guards the welfare of his own, He comes to lead each soul away To what dim world, what strange unknown? Who is it that tonight must go: The old blind one? The cripple child? Tomorrow all the camp will know. The poor dead will be less afraid, Their tribe brother will be with him When the dread journey must be made. ‘Have courage, death is not an end,’ He seems to say. ‘Though you must weep, He is kindly and is your friend.’ Three nights the curlew cried. Once more He comes to take the timorous dead To what grim change, what ghostly shore? vininirl: As Afghanistan suffers, America has to take a long look at how we've perpetuated horror & how we can provide healing. We must welcome refugees & at last become the country we say we are. Today is the day to take in the tired, the poor, the huddled masses yearning to breathe free. Amanda Gorman vininirl: "For last year's words belong to last year's language And next year's words await another voice. And to make an end is to make a beginning." T.S. Eliot vininirl: Life is a process of becoming, a combination of states we have to go through. Where people fail is that they wish to elect a state and remain in it. This is a kind of death. Anais Nim vininirl: “Life is like a camera. Focus on what's important. Capture the good times. And if things don't work out, just take another shot.” ― Ziad K. vininirl: "To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow". Now is the time. Ive sown seeds for chives parsley thyme. Also violas and scented phlox. Finally for the moment, sunflowers. Share your story vininirl: Blessed in the Good Old Days We met and we married a long time ago We worked for long hours when wages were low No TV, no wireless, no bath, times were hard Just a cold water tap and a walk in the yard No holidays abroad, no carpets on floors We had coal on fires and we didn't lock doors Our children arrived, no Pill in those days And we brought them up without any state aid They were safe going out to play in the park And old folk could go for a walk in the dark No Valium, no drugs and no LSD We cured most of our ills with a good cup of tea No vandals, no muggings, there was nothing to rob We felt we were rich with a couple of bob People were happier in those far off days Kinder and caring in so many ways Now I am alone I look back through the years I don't think of the bad times, the trouble and tears I remember the blessings, our home and our love That we shared them together I thank God above. |
Life will break you. Nobody can protect you from that, and living alone won’t either, for solitude will also break you with its yearning. You have to love. You have to feel. It is the reason you are here on earth. You are here to risk your heart. You are here to be swallowed up. And when it happens that you are broken, or betrayed, or left, or hurt, or death brushes near, let yourself sit by an apple tree and listen to the apples falling all around you in heaps, wasting their sweetness. Tell yourself that you tasted as many as you could