Great article by Bob Greene about Jeff Zaslow, the author who helped Randy Pausch write “The Last Lecture”. If you haven’t read the Last Lecure, I highly recommend it.

Bob Greene’s article talks about doing your best at all times. He says it’s not often that it pays off, but it’s an admirable endeavor.

“The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world’s problem.” – Ghandi

Sendak: “I would tell them to go to hell. That’s a question I will not tolerate.”

Reporter: “Because kids can handle it?”

Sendak: “If they can’t handle it, go home. Or wet your pants. Do whatever you like. But it’s not a question that can be answered.”

Sendak: “This concentration on kids being scared, as though we as adults can’t be scared. Of course we’re scared. I’m scared of watching a TV show about vampires. I can’t fall asleep. It never stops. We’re grown-ups; we know better, but we’re afraid.”

Reporter: “Why is that important in art?”

Sendak: “Because it’s truth. You don’t want to do something that’s all terrifying. I saw the most horrendous movies that were unfit for child’s eyes. So what? I managed to survive.”

“Tell me who admires you and loves you, and I will tell you who you are.”

Scroll thru slowly and read carefully to receive and enjoy full effect.

The following is the philosophy of Charles Schulz, the creator of the ‘Peanuts’ comic strip.

You don’t have to actually answer the questions.

Just read the e-mail straight through, and you’ll get the point.

1. Name the five wealthiest people in the world.

2. Name the last five Heisman trophy winners.

3. Name the last five winners of the Miss America pageant.

4. Name ten people who have won the Nobel or Pulitzer Prize.

5. Name the last half dozen Academy Award winners for best actor and  actress.

6. Name the last decade’s worth of World Series winners.

How did you do?

The point is , none of us remember the headliners of yesterday.

These are no second-rate achievers.

They are the best in their fields.

But the applause dies..

Awards tarnish.

Achievements are forgotten.

Accolades and certificates are buried with their owners.

Here’s another quiz. See how you do on this one:

1. List a few teachers who aided your journey through school.

2. Name three friends who have helped you through a difficult time.

3. Name five people who have taught you something worthwhile.

4. Think of a few people who have made you feel appreciated and special!!

5. Think of five people you enjoy spending time with.

Easier?

The  lesson:

The people who make a  difference in your life are not the ones with the most credentials..

the most money…or the most  awards.

They simply are the ones who care the most.

Pass this on to those people who have made a difference in your life, like I did.

‘Don’t worry about the world coming to an end today. It’s already tomorrow in Australia!’

1) Certainty is unattainable
2) The wise man will suspend judgment and will seek tranquility rather than the truth
3) Since all theories are probably false, one might as well accept the myths and conventions of his time and place

Neither the senses nor reason can give us sure knowledge: the senses distort the object in perceiving it, and reason is merely the sophist servant of desire. Every syllogism begs the question, for its major premise assumes its conclusion.

Every reason has a corresponding reason opposed to it; the same experience may be delightful or unpleasant according to circumstance and mood; the same object may seem small or large, ugly or beautiful; the same practice may be moral or immoral according to where and when we live; the same gods are or are not, according to the different nations of mankind; everything is opinion, nothing is quite true. It is foolish, then, to take sides in disputes, or to seek someother place or mode of living, or to envy the future or the past; all desire is delusion. Even life is an uncertain good, death not a certain evil; one should have no prejudices against either of them. Best of all is a calm acceptance: not to reform the world, but to bear with it patiently; not to fever ourselves with progress, but to content ourselves with peace.

I’ve never known a musician who regretted being one.
Virgil Thompson

Received this from a friend at our Brigadoon show yesterday. A photo from the orchestra pit and a poem:

“Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take –
but by the moments that take our breath away.”

I do not have information on the writer of this quote – seems a bit of a mystery with several different stories about it….

– Louis Pasteur (French Chemist and Microbiologist, 1822-1895)

Tenacity is a pretty fair substitute for bravery, and the best form of tenacity I know is expressed in a Danish fur trapper’s principle: “The next mile is the only one a person really has to make.”

 – Eric Sevareid

– Carl Schurz